Naomi Martin

New Orleans musician saved from robbers by barking dog

This story was published in The Times-Picayune on December 21, 2011. 

Had it not been for the presence of his cousin’s pit bull, local musician Glen David Andrewswould have been one of the victims robbed at gunpoint outside a Capital One, one of three such armed robberies Monday morning, outside banks in Mid-City, Broadmoor and Gentilly.

It was 8:45 a.m. Monday when Andrews, his cousin and Blue, a large and rambunctious pit bull, piled into an SUV to go to the Capital One at Canal Street and South Carrollton Avenue.

Andrews, a trombone player, said he was planning to deposit $3,500 from the weekend’s work to divide among his six band members.

Around 8:50 a.m., they pulled up to the bank’s entrance on the corner where about six people, some with deposit slips in their hands, were waiting for the bank to open. Andrews said two people in the group were young men — maybe 20 or 21 — wearing black hooded sweatshirts, standing apart from each other.

As Andrews got out of the passenger side to join the group, Blue began to bark, loudly and incessantly.

A man, walking up to join the bank customers, joked to Andrews: “Hey man, you can’t shut your dog up?” Read more of this post

Suspect in toddler’s shooting arrested, ‘person of interest’ dead, Serpas says

This story was published in The Times-Picayune on December 20, 2011. 

A suspect wanted in the shooting death of a toddler who was playing Sunday afternoon in the B.W. Cooper public housing development has been arrested, and a “person of interest” in the murder was shot to death Monday, New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Tuesday.

U.S. marshals arrested Narkee Hunter, 23, at his Terrytown home on Tuesday, Serpas said.

Police are still looking for another suspect, Terrious Owney, 24, in connection with the same shooting.

Charles Louis Anderson III, 26, whowas shot to death Monday inside a house in St. Roch, had been identified as a “person of interest” in Sunday’s shooting, Serpas said.

The Times-Picayune reported earlier today that detectives believed Anderson’s death on Monday was linked to the double shooting a day earlier, according to law enforcement sources. Read more of this post

Owner of horse that collapsed and died on Bourbon Street has been under investigation

This story was published on page A1 of The Times-Picayune on Dec. 19, 2011. 

The owner of the horse that dropped dead on Bourbon Street Sunday afternoon has been offering buggy rides to tourists in the French Quarter for months. At issue is whether he charges for them.

The city’s Taxicab Bureau has been investigating Steven Chambers, 51, of New Orleans, after complaints by carriage companies that Chambers, who is unlicensed and uninsured, was operating illegally. The companies also allege Chambers mistreated his horses and did not clean up after them. Read more of this post

Armed robberies near Tulane and Loyola prompt changes in security efforts

This story was published in The Times-Picayune on December 8, 2011. 

John McCusker, The Times-Picayune

After a recent spike in armed robberies near Tulane University, campus police are doubling the amount of off-campus patrols in the surrounding neighborhoods and changing the way students request a shuttle bus.

Students were victims in four of the area’s seven robberies since Thanksgiving.

So far this semester, at least 23 people have been robbed while walking in the area, 14 of whom were students. Eleven of those students were held up at gunpoint. Read more of this post

‘Gentilly is open for business’

Published July 18, 2011 in The Times-Picayune.

Gentilly’s 19 neighborhood associations have been waiting for this kind of attention for a long time.

After years of relatively stagnant recovery since Hurricane Katrina in both repopulation and commercial activity, Gentilly is about to become the focus of several groups hoping to jumpstart the economy in the neighborhood.

Capital One and the Urban League of New Orleans have created the “Grow Gentilly” small business plan competition, in which two companies already in business in Gentilly will win cash prizes, along with technical and professional assistance.

The winning business will receive $10,000 with the runner-up to get $5,000, money that Capital One officials describe as “strategic investments,” Gentilly also has the eye of the NOLA Business Alliance, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s new public-private partnership tasked with economic development. The group has identified Gentilly as a high priority area and is developing a strategy to attract large retail centers there.

“We’ve been asking for people out there to invest in Gentilly,” said David Welch, of the Gentilly Community Improvement Association, the umbrella organization over Gentilly’s 19 neighborhood associations. “We’re trying to get the message out that Gentilly is open for business.”

Read more of this post

Louisiana farmers settle suit on genetically modified rice

This article was published in The Times-Picayune on July 10, 2011.

After years of court battles, Louisiana rice farmers will finally recoup some of their losses stemming from one of the largest genetically modified seed contaminations ever.

Bayer CropScience, the German biotech conglomerate, agreed last week to pay $750 million in damages to 11,000 rice farmers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri.

The settlement aims to compensate for Bayer’s 2006 accidental leak of a genetically engineered strain of rice into the U.S. rice supply, which rendered billions of dollars’ worth of the crop unfit for export to most countries.

“We lost a lot of money,” said John Owen, a rice farmer in Rayville, who, along with 450 other Louisiana farmers, is seeking damages for the losses his farm suffered, which he values at 15 percent of his annual net revenues. “I think the settlement will be welcomed. I don’t know that it’ll make everyone completely whole, but it’s a step in the right direction. Some farms had to go out of business.”

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