Leonard Gray / L’Observateur / May 13, 2000

Well, it’s been a week of sadness and surprises for all of us.

Tuesday was the first anniversary of the bus crash which took 22 people from us, marking Mother’s Day as a day, no longer of celebration but of pain, for many families.

The names will not be forgotten, and our prayers remain with them and their families. In LaPlace, Dorothy Richard, Agnes Agee, Rita Gaillard, Rose Streva,Lorina Rogers, Dolly Sposito, Anna Johnston, Shirley Gauff, Marion Mancuso, Emily Torres, Aurora Rios, Olivia Humphries, Calvin Johnston and Timothy Victor; in Edgard, Florence Mathieu; in Reserve, Juanita Marse, Isma Keller, Darnella Cambre, Arto Marse, Bellie Elfer and Mildred Remondet; in Kenner, Jewel Williams.

Our prayers also remain with those injured in the crash and their families and friends. And though it may be hard for some, we should also pray for thedriver, Frank Bedell, who paid the ultimate price for his errors in judgement.

It was a time for memorial services and holding their memories fresh in our hearts. We will not forget them.Elsewhere, it was a week which will live long in Louisiana history – the federal conviction of four-time former governor Edwin Edwards.

It was a common jest that the smart money was on either acquittal or a hung jury for the always-controversial Edwards. Indeed, it had to have beenincredibly difficult to even seat that jury, since people who have spent any amount of time in Louisiana have firm convictions regarding him.

Edwards is already being assessed heavy fines and faces the real possibility of spending his remaining years behind prison walls. He also faces more trialsand the possibility of more fines or imprisonment.

Edwards was possibly the last of the old-style, good-old-boy politicians who skipped through the law with a wink and a smile, using his charm, influence and considerable powers of persuasion to get his way.

Those powers, though, failed to sway this jury, and Edwards may soon get what many feel is his long-awaited and just due. Predictably, many of hisfriends and supporters remain on his side – a mark of his success as a politician.

Immediately after Edwards’ conviction on federal charges, man-on-the- street interviews showed he still commands considerable support and influence, regardless of what has happened.

Through Louisiana history, only a small handful of governors have made a lasting mark. One thinks, naturally, of Huey Long, with whom all subsequentgovernors have been compared, and Spanish colonial governor Ulloa, whose high-handed practices sparked the 1768 revolution which cradle was in the River Parishes.

However, the long career of Edwin Edwards, with its peaks and valleys, will make fascinating study for the next century, long after Edwards himself is gone from our midst.

LEONARD GRAY is a reporter for L’Observateur.

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