Not the best of all possible worlds: A litany of distressing news in my local newspaper

 This morning, I scanned my local newspaper as I sipped my first cup of coffee and was slammed with a litany of depressingly lousy news. 

First, Anthony Robinson, a 17-year-old high school student, was shot and killed just after getting off a school bus. The police arrested a 16-year-old and charged him with first-degree murder. 

Second, the Baton Rouge police charged a third student with felony hazing after Caleb Wilson, a fraternity pledge at Southern University, died from injuries he received during a hazing ceremony.

Third, a federal judge halted the scheduled execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr., a convicted murderer, to consider Hoffman's argument that execution by nitrogen gas constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of his constitutional rights.

And there's more. Ashley Lights, a 39-year-old mother, was arraigned on charges of criminal abortion for reportedly giving her teenage daughter abortion-inducing drugs that Lights ordered online from New York.

All these news stories are depressing, but they're particularly dispiriting because they highlight our society's inability to solve our most profound and pervasive social problems.

The United States has struggled with the issue of school violence since the Columbine school massacre more than 25 years ago. Yet a 16-year-old Baton Rouge kid was apparently able to obtain a loaded pistol and gun down a high school student.

Louisiana strengthened its anti-hazing law after Max Gruver, an LSU fraternity pledge, died of alcohol poisoning in 2017. One LSU student was sentenced to prison for negligent homicide in the wake of that tragedy, but fraternity hazing continues in Louisiana.

And then there's the ongoing litigation to stop capital punishment in this country, which has stretched out over decades while more than 2,000 men and a few women sit on death row.

I'm adamantly opposed to the death penalty for one reason: the practice brutalizes our society. Nevertheless, I don't understand why one man's execution is delayed in Louisiana to determine whether death by nitrogen gas is unconstitutional while a man in South Carolina is executed by a firing squad.

I'm also troubled about the criminal case against Ashley Lights, the mother who allegedly obtained abortion-inducing drugs from a state where such drugs are legal and then gave them to her daughter in Louisiana, where abortion is a crime.

Like most Americans, I believe abortion is wrong, but I'm sympathetic to women caught in desperate circumstances or who become pregnant through incest or rape. The prosecution would not want me on the jury if Ms. Lights's case goes to trial.

Most of the issues highlighted in my morning newspaper will be resolved in the courts, but the larger issues that these cases symbolize will continue to fester for many years. These events remind me that I do not live in the best of all possible worlds and that my puny efforts will do little to make the world a better place.

Voltaire is right to remind us that all we can do in this world of violence and injustice is cultivate our gardens.

My spring garden is planted in tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, and popcorn. If my popcorn is a success, I can at least take comfort in knowing that my homegrown popcorn is better than Orville Redenbacher's.

Jesse Hoffman Jr., scheduled for execution on March 18

Let the Good Times Roll! Murder, Corruption, Abuse, and Negligent Homicide in South Louisiana

I was obsessed by Hurricane Barry, which, the media assured us, was going to overtop the levees and destroy New Orleans. Mesmerized, I watched the Weather Channel so much last week that I feel like I  should get an online degree in meteorology.

But Barry punked out on us with minimal damage so I turned my attention to reading the local news. So what's going on in South Louisiana?

Matthew Naquin, a former LSU student and fraternity member, was convicted of negligent homicide in the death of Max Gruver, an LSU freshman from Georgia. Gruver's Phi Delta Theta fraternity brothers forced Gruver to chug hard liquor in a hazing exercise the frat boys euphemistically called "Bible study." Gruver died of alcohol poisoning, so full of booze that a testifying toxicologist said he was "a dead man walking." At the time of his death, his blood alcohol count was six times the legal limit for driving.

In other news, Ronn Jermaine Bell was arrested for the murder of Sadie Roberts-Joseph, a local civil rights activist who was found suffocated in the trunk of her car. In addition to her civil rights work, Roberts-Joseph was a landlord, and Bell was two months behind on his rent. Was Roberts-Joseph killed over a rent dispute? A motive has yet to been determined.

Also in the news, police charged Salvatore Euggino with negligent homicide in a hit-and-run accident near St. Francisville. Police say Euggino killed a 50-year-old pedestrian with his car. This incident occurred on Monday, just one day after Euggino was charged with reckless driving in another incident. According to the Baton Rouge Advocate, Euggino also faces negligent homicide charges relating to a head-on car accident last March that killed a 34-year-old woman.

Also this week, Sarah James, a 19-year-old LSU sophomore, was struck and killed by a car on Nicholson Road near the LSU campus.  Ms. James had a life full of promise ahead of her and wanted to be a doctor. The newspaper story didn't identify the car's driver.

Over in New Orleans, four police officers were fired for engaging in an unauthorized high-speed pursuit of some joyriders in a stolen car. Two teenage kids were killed when their car rammed into a hair salon. The hair salon caught fire and a woman inside was also killed.

And then today's Advocate reported that Moses Evans, a justice of the peace and former police officer, was arrested on a "litany of domestic abuse counts." According to the newspaper report, Evans is "accused of  brutally abusing his now ex-girlfriend and her three children over more than a decade, causing them severe injuries and permanent disfigurement."

Finally, Ray Nagin, New Orleans' telegenic mayor during Hurricane Katrina, lost the appeal of his conviction on charges of bribery and money laundering, rendered 5 years ago. The news story said Nagin wrote his appeal brief himself while serving time in a federal prison camp in Texas.

Much of the mayhem that occurs in South Louisiana takes place at the margins of society, and middle-class Louisianians don't think much about the murder, abuse, and corruption that the local newspaper reports on a daily basis. Laissez les bons temps rouler, we like to say. Let the good times roll!

But maybe Louisianans could do more as individuals to nurture a saner and healthier culture. Perhaps we could slow down a little bit, drive a little slower, drink a little less, try to be a little more civic-minded, and let the good times roll at a more moderate pace. Or maybe, to borrow a phrase from the immortal Merle Haggard, we'll keep our eyes closed to the pathological currents in our communities and continue to allow them to roll downhill like a snowball headed for hell.

"Are we rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell?"