Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

It may have taken months to get it done, but residents that live in the Frenchmen's Bend Subdivision in northern Ouachita Parish, will get to ride the neighborhood streets in their golf carts. At Monday night's regularly scheduled meeting of the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, the "Golf Carts" ordinance as it is known, was passed 5-1 by Jurors, with Dist. "B" Juror Jack Clampit voting "no" over safety concerns. The ordinance originally sponsored by former Dist. "C" Juror Walt Caldwell, was continued by his successor, Juror Larry Bratton, will now become law. The ordinance had been passed over numerous times before Caldwell left, but there appeared to be a consensus among residents to allow the carts on the neighborhood streets. The Frenchmen's Bend Country Club and Golf Course is within the subdivision, making easy access for residents who live there that own golf carts.

The streets in the subdivision are classified as "local" that provide access to residents are not typical "through" traffic as part of a continuous route, nor do they carry commercial trucks with heavy loads. Frenchmen's Bend is surrounded on three sides by Bayou Desiard and the fourth side by a railroad right-of-way. From a traffic standpoint, the subdivision is an "island" with single roadway entrance and no "through" streets.

In other parish business, it is illegal to keep livestock on lots smaller than an acre in residential subdivisions in the unincorporated areas of Ouachita Parish. The ordinance sponsored by Dist. "F" Juror Lonnie Hudson is primarily aimed at horses, an item that had been discussed among Jurors at various meetings, was seen as a nuisance by his constituents. The ordinance contends that livestock of that nature creates a risk of odors, flies, vermin and other conditions that contributes to them being a public nuisance. The ordinance also contends that the keeping of livestock on small lots of property in those subdivisions, "creates undesirable conditions for said livestock". Hudson said that the prohibiting of livestock in those subdivisions "is in the public's interest". The ordinance passed by a 5-1 vote.

Photo Ouachita Parish Police Juror Lonnie Hudson