Our poor state lives in continuous infamy, not just being always near last in what a state would want to be first in re: quality of life issues nor always near first in those categories one would wish to be last in (that's old news), but always in the highest profile issues in the national spotlight over which we have little control:

One of the DC Snipers, John Muhammad, was raised in Baton Rouge. The snipers committed murders here as well.

John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban, is a Baton Rouge native.

Steven Hatfill, the fired LSU counter-terrorism school�s associate director, was the �person of interest� in the unsolved anthrax investigation.

The first human case of West Nile Virus appeared in Baton Rouge.

A U.S. soldier accused of killing a fellow serviceman by throwing grenades into tents at a 101st Airborne Division, Sgt. Asan Akbar of the 326th Engineer Battalion, spent his middle school years in Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge still has a serial killer on the loose, having taken his 5th known victim recently.

Pray for us, please. The last serial killer victim lived two blocks from my daughter's apartment. This is just plain harrowing.

pax,
jb

Man alive! The place done fell apart since I left!

That's all just an unfortunate accumulation of incidences, JB, and not much related to the good spirit of that friendly city. Still, yes, the image issue is one that some will latch onto.

Wow....you betcha! That must've been awful to have your daughter so close to the serial killer. In my prayers for sure! (I love Louisiana and lots of good people come from there ).

God bless,
Terri

This just in: William Muhammad Bilal, the stepfather of the American soldier accused in the fatal grenade attack on his fellow troops, is in custody facing federal weapons charges. I just saw his Baton Rouge home being raided by FBI agents on TV! To top it all off, he had been sentenced to life in prison for rape but his sentence was commuted by Edwin Edwards, former governor of our great state who is federal pen himself. The other candidate that opposed him last time he ran, David Duke, reports to federal prison in 3 weeks. People have described that gubernatorial election as like watching a train wreck --- while you're on the train!

Sordid --- sad. HELP!!!!!!!!

pax,
jb

You think bin Laden and Saddam are hiding somewhere in Baton Rouge?