kevinn1972

This is a great thread guys! Unfortunately, what is going on in New Orleans isn\'t exclusive to the city. I\'m from DeRidder, for those that don\'t know that\'s about 45 miles north of Lake Charles. I\'ve been a Saints fan my whole life. It would kill me for the Saints to leave NO. But I\'ve got to tell ya, I\'ve been in the Air Force 14 years, and I\'ve lived in states that have programs that actually help their citizenry, and Louisiana as a STATE just cannot seem to get it\'s crap together. For instance, in North Dakota, limited gambling is allowed in bars with a ceiling on the max bet of I think it was $25. Blackjack, pull tickets, things of that nature. The thing is, the ones that run these table and get the money are charity organizations. Traditional businesses and private citizens cannot run a gambling table, that\'s illegal. So they have gambling but instead of the profits going to these giant corporations, the people of the state get the money paid back to them through the services of these charities. That\'s just an example. Ourp oliticians brought in the boats and that was supposed to create all of this new revenue, which was supposed to go towards economic development projects and education and what happened? When I graduated, there were guys that graduated with me that could just barely read, and from what I hear from my family, not a whole lot has changed. The problem is that we\'ve been let down by our politicians for so long that we expect it now, and some people don\'t really get upset about it because that is what they\'re used to!!
I love my home state. I know how great the people in this state are. I challenge anyone to find a people that smile and enjoy life more than the people from this state. But I will never move back. I retire from the Air Force in 5 1/2 years, and the fact is there isn\'t opportunity in Louisiana. Too many of our bigger cities have dead neighborhoods that are overrun by drugs and crime and economic neglect. I\'m tired of driving through towns and there\'s a whole section of town that noone lives in, but the buildings are still standing when they should\'ve been torn down 15 or 20 years ago. DeRidder is a great example. We\'ve got buildings that in my memory (I\'m 32), I cannot ever remember any business being there. So those buildings sit there rotting and it reflects on the city. Outsiders get the impression that\'s how our town is and our citizens are. Then they make the decision not to bring their business into the town. Louisiana\'s education system hasn\'t put out a solid base of educated people, and I mean technically educated, in my lifetime. Our politicians don\'t work together to make the state better. They look out for themselves and worry about reelection and that is it.
Tough decisions have to be made. Tough people with a high level of integrity need to be in positions to affect change for this state. I look at my home state and I am very sad, because this state has the greatest people there are. I believe that our people just need someone to show them the way, and there will be no turning back. This state could flourish and be a model of hope for the rest of the country. But until our state government gets fixed, it\'s never gonna happen.

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your crotch, and your arms be too short to scratch.