U.S. News - shreveport

Dec

2012

6:10am, EST

'True Blood' town evacuated after 6 million pounds of explosives found

Louisiana State Police via AP

This photo released by the Louisiana State Police shows piles of explosive powder that were found by authorities at the Camp Minden industrial site in Doyline, La.

By NBC News

Police have evacuated a town in northwest Louisiana while they move out around 6 million pounds of illegally stored explosives.

About half of the approximately 800 residents of Doyline, where scenes from HBO's popular "True Blood" series have been filmed, were evacuated Friday after authorities discovered around 1 million pounds of explosive powder stored by Explo Systems Inc. at Camp Minden, a former army ammunition plant.

Authorities moved to evacuate the town of its remaining residents Sunday after discovering up to six times more M6 artillery propellant -- 6 million pounds -- at the site, according to NBC station KTAL in Shreveport.

Police and Explo employees have moved just under 1 million pounds of the explosives into 18-wheelers, and have segregated another 250,000 pounds of the material for future removal, KTAL reported late Sunday.

'Time-consuming' process
In a statement, police said the process was “time-consuming” but so far there had been “no unexpected problems, incidents and injuries.”

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The explosives had been improperly stored, officials said. The material should have been housed in a bunker approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and registered with the Louisiana State Police explosives division.

Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton did not expect the evacuation order to be lifted until Tuesday, KTAL reported.

Doyline has shut local schools on Monday and was considering staying shut on Tuesday as well, according to Webster.

Doyline is situated about 270 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Louisiana State Police Col. Mike Edmunson said that the owners of Explo were in South Korea, but were scheduled to return to the United States on Monday, according to KTAL.

State police said the improperly stored materials were discovered during a follow-up inspection to an Oct. 15 explosion at the Camp Minden property.

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According to its website, Explo “has been demilitarizing / recovering explosives / propellant for over 15 years” and “has a unique, on-site capability for purifying valuable TNT from tritonal for reuse.”

It has operated at Camp Minden for seven years, according to the site.

Phone calls to the Louisiana State Police went unanswered early Monday. The man who answered the phone at the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office said he was not authorized to comment to the media.

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Jan

2012

11:10am, EST

Revealing proposal: La. official wants to ban pajamas in public

"It's pajama pants today; next it will be underwear tomorrow," said a Louisiana politician who wants to ban the wearing of pajamas outside of the home. KTAL-TV's Morgan Thomas reports.

By msnbc.com staff

Privates ought to remain private, says a Louisiana lawmaker who wants to ban people from wearing pajama pants in public.

Caddo Parish District 3 Commissioner Michael Williams is pushing for an ordinance that would prohibit residents from appearing in public places in pajama pants, defined as “a garment sold in the sleepwear section of department stores.”

Williams told the Shreveport Times he was moved to push for an ordinance after an incident at a local Walmart in which he and others were offended by a customer clad in pajamas.

"I saw a group of young men wearing pajama pants and house shoes," he said, according to the Times. "At the part where there should have been underwear," his private parts were showing through the fabric.

He told Williams the Times that “pajamas are designed to be worn in the bedroom at night."

“If you can't (wear pajamas) at the boardwalk or courthouse, why are you going to do it in a restaurant or in public? Today it's pajamas," Williams said. "Tomorrow it's underwear. Where does it stop?"

Read local coverage from the Shreveport Times

Williams’ proposal may have a hard time passing legal muster.

Marjorie R. Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, last week sent Williams a letter saying clothing is a form of expression protected by the Constitution, The Advertiser reported.

“To ban the wearing of pajamas, like any other form of attire,” Esman wrote, “would violate a liberty interest guaranteed under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. … The government must demonstrate a rational basis for its ban – and Caddo Parish’s has no legitimate rational basis for regulating the attire of its residents."