Deputies arrested in Marrero beating

LSU TROUNCES
SOUTHERN IN NCAA
FIRST ROUND
SPORTS
NATIONAL, A-6
MUSIC PRODUCER PHIL SPECTOR
SENTENCED TO 19 YEARS TO LIFE
I
HURRICANE
SECTION
COMING
SUNDAY
INSIDEOUT
Couple build
hurricaneresistant
home
t
BREAKING NEWS AT NOLA.COM
Gill
Pratt
takes
leave at
SUNO
SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2009
RIVER
PARISHES EDITION • 75¢
XXXXXXXXXX
Trailer deadline
looms for 2,000
Deputies
arrested
in Marrero
beating
2 teens say they were punched by
pair of Jeff cops while handcuffed
She won’t receive
pay during time off
By Allen Powell II
West Bank bureau
By Bruce Eggler
Staff writer
A week after she was indicted
on federal racketeering charges,
former state Rep. and New Orleans City Councilwoman Renee
Gill Pratt has
taken an unpaid leave of
absence from
her job at
Southern University at New
Orleans.
The univerReneé Gill
s i t y a n Pratt
Scheduled to be nounced Friarraigned
day that Gill
Friday on
Pratt “has volfederal charges
untarily taken
an administrative leave of absence for an indefinite period without pay”
from her job as SUNO’s director of admissions, recruitment
and retention. The leave is effective immediately.
See SUNO, A-7
KEVIN ZANSLER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
Owner’s
son-in-law
is slain
in bar
Warlette Journee-Smith, left, her husband Ernest Smith Sr., and sons Jadon and Ernest Jr. are eager to get
out of their FEMA trailer and back into their house. The couple has been financing repairs to the hurricanedamaged camelback piece by piece.
Killing is the fourth
in 24 hours in N.O.
As Warlette Journee-Smith returned home from work in recent
days, her heart often sank upon
By Adam Duvernay
Staff writer
A 31-year-old man was shot in
the head and killed Friday afternoon inside a Hollygrove bar,
the fourth fatal shooting in New
Orleans within a day, authorities
said.
New Orleans Police Department officers found Kendrick
Baker dead inside the Beautiful
People Lounge at 2802 Cherry
St. shortly after gunshots were
reported at 1 p.m.
Baker was the son-in-law of
an owner of the bar, according
to another of the establishment’s owners.
The bar was not open when a
gunman walked in and shot
.. .
See KILLINGS, A-6
––––––––––
FEMA promises
‘new options’
––––––––––
By Katy Reckdahl
Staff writer
LOW
87 69
agency would during the next days
finalize “new options” to get families in trailers the help they need.
“No one will face eviction from
a temporary unit while transition
measures are implemented,”
Stevens said.
The news was heartening to
housing advocates, who have in
the past few months sent the
names of elderly or handicapped
See TRAILERS, A-6
See BEATING, A-10
Obama declares FEMA ready for hurricane season
––––––––––
Storm preparations
‘pretty simple,’ he says
––––––––––
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
President Barack
Obama said preparation for the hurricane season that begins Monday
isn’t complicated, but it is critical to
public safety.
“They’re pretty simple,” Obama
said after a hurricane preparedness
briefing Friday at the National ReWASHINGTON —
SUNNY AND SEASONABLE
HIGH
seeing the notice posted this
month on her FEMA trailer,
along with roughly 2,000 others in
the metro area.
“It says that if we’re not out by
Monday, they’ll prosecute me,”
said Journee-Smith, 35, who
shares the trailer with her husband, Ernest Smith, 40, and their
young son, Jadon.
But her fears were eased Friday afternoon by FEMA press secretary Clark Stevens, who said the
Two Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies were
arrested Friday and booked with battery in connection with the beating of two Marrero teenagers outside a vacant apartment complex last
weekend.
Cornell Farlin, 26, of 3320 Wall Blvd. near
Gretna, and Shawn Henry, 29, of 742 Fairfax
Drive, Terrytown, were fired and surrendered to
sheriff’s investigators. Farlin was booked with two
counts of aggravated battery
and two counts of simple battery. Henry was booked with
one count of simple battery.
Farlin is being held in lieu of
$21,000 bond, while Henry’s
bond is $500.
Farlin could not be reached
for comment. An attorney for Cornell Farlin
Henry said he is not prepared to Was booked
make a statement.
with two counts
The deputies are accused of of aggravated
punching and kicking James battery and two
Shoulders, 17, and Khrystian counts of simple
Thompson, 17, while they were battery
handcuffed outside a vacant
apartment complex in the 6200
block of South Judah Street on
May 23 about 11:50 p.m. Farlin
is also accused of hitting both
teens with his police baton.
The teenagers, along with two
friends, were playing with paintball guns when deputies re- Shawn Henry
sponded to a report of gunfire, Was booked
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell with one count
Normand said Friday.
of simple
Normand said Farlin refused battery
to give a statement to investigators about the incident, while Henry, after several
interviews, admitted hitting one of the teenagers.
Deputies Jessica Bergeron, Eddie Martin and Renoid Berthelot were present during the incident,
and they corroborated the teenagers’ account,
Normand said. Those deputies are being investigated administratively, the sheriff said.
Normand stressed that his office moved
quickly to investigate the teens’ claims because he
is concerned about maintaining the public’s trust.
His office chose to investigate the incident crimi-
Weather,
D-6
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
DEATHS
sponse Coordination Center with
key members of his administration.
“It’s a matter of having a basic
emergency supply kit with items
such as water, some nonperishable
food, an all-weather radio, a flashlight, a first-aid kit; making an
emergency family plan; staying informed of developments in your
area; and learning about your community’s emergency plans.”
Obama expressed confidence that
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which he criticized
during his presidential campaign, is
ready for the hurricane season un-
E
C-8
B-6
See FEMA, A-10
EDITORIALS
LIVING
MONEY
B-4
C
C-9
GERALD HERBERT / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATIONAL
PEOPLE
RELIGION
A-6
A-14
C-6
SPORTS
WASHINGTON
WORLD
D
A-5
A-13
President
Barack Obama
attends a hurricane preparedness meeting
Friday at FEMA
headquarters in
Washington,
D.C. On the
president’s left
are Homeland
Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano and
FEMA Director
Craig Fugate.
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YEAR
NO. 130
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