St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars.
On September 9, 2021, we published this feature wherein we praised the talents of a young attorney, Michael Adley, who is a partner in the law firm of Gibson Law Partners, LLC.
The reason for our praise was simple: he filed this Pre-Trial Memorandum on behalf of his client, Billy Broussard. Broussard, subscribers may recall, is battling the St. Martin Parish Government (SMPG) regarding his hauling vegetative debris onto a 33-acre property located on Duchamp Road in St. Martin Parish. He purchased the property in September of 2020 as a first step toward an eventual mushroom farm. The vegetative debris is intended to serve as a food source for the eventual mushrooms to be harvested from the property.
We praised Adley’s Memorandum in large part because we viewed it as one of the best such instruments we’ve ever read (and we have read a ton of pleadings over the years). Why did we view his Memorandum as so authoritative and well-composed? Because he itemized what we assess as three strong legal arguments for dismissing the case against Broussard, which began with the SMPG filing a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), which several individuals with far more legal knowledge than us have described as “flatly illegal,” to shut down all of Broussard’s farming activity. Adley’s arguments can be succinctly summarized as follow:
1. SMPG failed to keep a copy of its zoning maps on file with the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court, thus rendering any zoning ordinances unenforceable. Adley further asserted that SMPG President Chester Cedars has been aware of and acknowledged this “fatal flaw” since as far back as 2012.
2. Prior sworn testimony by SMPG Attorney Alan “Sprinky” Durand that, beyond 500 feet from the road, SMPG “has no zoning.” Broussard’s vegetative debris, which he uses to gradually fill several very deep canyons on his property, is all located more than 500 feet from the road.
3. A SMPG Ordinance which Cedars literally crammed down the Council’s throat (our words, not Adley’s), and which was IMMEDIATELY deployed days after it passed in August 2021 to support SMPG’s TRO, violated the “Dormant Commerce Clause,” was written to specifically target Broussard, and was far too vague to survive a Constitutionality challenge.
Our praise of Adley notwithstanding, we bit our lips hard to refrain from lambasting him after he made the decision to continue (postpone) the scheduled hearing to convert the TRO to an Preliminary Injunction. Literally the day prior to the hearing, September 13, 2021 (hearing was 9/14/21), Adley advised Broussard to acquiesce to pausing the case and continuing the hearing without a future date scheduled in order to entertain a “compromise process” being proposed by SMPG President Chester Cedars.
We expressed to several close associates that agreeing to any such “compromise process” would be akin to jumping into a pit full of rattlesnakes and hoping to manage to somehow miraculously climb out. Though we remained mute and refrained from publishing our thoughts, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns could not resist expressing his frustration at that development at a January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting. Specifically, Burns expressed frustration and disappointment, “at not being able to attend the aborted court hearing (on 9/14/21) and report upon its outcome on camera soon thereafter.”
Being blunt, we viewed Adley’s aborting of the hearing as being analogous to a head football coach, with his team on the one-yard line, opting to get “cute” with a bubble screen rather than handing the ball off to a massive fullback sure to bulldoze his way into the end zone.
What is now apparent is that Adley’s decision (continuing the football analogy) resulted in the ball ricocheting off the receiver, and the cornerback catching the ricocheted football and intercepting the “cute” bubble screen! The only thing subject to debate now is the fact that fans are murmuring (and referees reviewing a replay) to ascertain whether the cornerback may have stepped out of bounds on his return some 30 yards before finally being tackled on the other team’s side of the field!
In our minds, not only did Adley kill the drive with a bone-headed coaching decision, but he cost his team (Broussard in this analogy) approximately $32,000 in legal fees from his mystifying decision! That’s Adley’s approximate billings from the date of his decision notwithstanding him having allegedly stated to Broussard (upon advising him to agree to the “compromise process”) that, “You won’t be writing many more checks to us now!” Where we come from, checks totaling $32,000 constitute a ton of money, but perhaps Adley and his firm view it as chump change is about all we can figure!
Apparently, it never occurred to Adley to agree to proceed with the court hearing and make a request of the judge to delay her decision for 72 hours (or perhaps a full week) pending a POTENTIAL mutually-agreed-upon resolution negating the need for a ruling. The judge should have certainly been amicable to that request, but instead, Adley opted to place his client in the full faith and trust of the hands of a Parish President who has made little secret of his extreme disdain for Broussard (CLICK HERE to see that open disdain on full display)!
How disastrous has Adley’s decision to have Broussard embark on this Cedars-proposed “compromise process” been? Well, as we stated in the headline, it has emitted a vile stench of corruption and totalitarianism by Cedars and, after numerous hours of making public records requests and examining court records, we’re now prepared to support our statement about Cedars and the motley crew with which he aligned during this “compromise process.”
First, we’ve already reported upon Broussard’s second complaint against LSP Trooper Scott Lopez. Lopez is a key component of the SMPG “Trilogy” of Lopez, Blake Dubroc (lives next door to the property and runs a used car lot on his own property), and Cedars.
We’re not going to say much about Lopez just yet (we’ll have more to say on him shortly), but we do want to point out that, at the 40-second mark of the video of Lopez on the preceding link, he goes out of his way to indicate that a “log” of Broussard’s hauling commenced on July 29, 2021. Lopez did not just “fall out of bed” and choose that day!
How and why did he choose July 29, 2021? Simple, through public records request (the results of which we’ll provide shortly), we know that Lopez had been diligently reading Sound Off Louisiana features on this whole saga, and he was therefore well aware that we have been in possession of his time sheets covering March 1, 2021 through JULY 28, 2021!!
The SECOND he uttered the date, July 29, 2021, we knew EXACTLY why he uttered it! The reason is simple. Lopez does not want LSP Internal Affairs delving into whether he engaged in Broussard-monitoring activity while he was on LSP time even though Broussard states that Lopez told him on June 14, 2021 (well before July 29, 2021) that he had been, “working with Parish officials.” We’ll see if LSP Internal Affairs’ staff is bright enough to pick up on how Lopez selected the “July 29, 2021” date and the degree to which they delve into how much (if any) of his actions entailing Broussard and/or his drivers transpired on the taxpayer’s dime!
Again, entailing Lopez, he made numerous emphatic statements on the video of the linked feature above that Broussard “acted illegally” during the time Lopez/Dubroc were running this “surveillance.” Apparently, Cedars did not inform Lopez that, as part of that “compromise process,” SMPG officials gave their full blessings to Broussard resuming all debris hauling to the site while the “compromise process” transpired!!
We can only assume that Lopez was in the dark when he made all those bold statements of Broussard committing “illegal acts,” because, as a law enforcement officer, if he was not in the dark, surely he would have pointed out the fact that Cedars and SMPG officials WOULD HAVE TO BE COMPLICIT in all these “illegal acts!”
Instead, and we heard and videotaped every single second of Lopez’s presentation to the Council on January 6, 2022, and the ONLY individual Lopez accuses of “illegal acts” is Broussard! Furthermore, we literally quit counting the number of times Lopez made such claims on the video on the first link of this feature!
For the record, Broussard asserts that SMPG officials personally told him, “You’re going to get the variance. There may be some token opposition, but we can manage that!”
Now, we’ve already provided prior texts in which there’s no denying that Lopez actively recruited Blake Dubroc to assist him in shutting Broussard’s operations down. Dubroc is certainly an interesting gentleman in his own capacity! Let us first introduce Duboc by providing a 37-second video clip of Adley, who served at Broussard’s attorney at the January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting, familiarizing everyone with where Broussard’s property is located (after all, we may as well derive a little benefit from Broussard’s $32,000 paid to Adley, huh?):
Adley introduces himself at the January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting and educates everyone in attendance regarding where Broussard’s property is located.
Let’s now provide a table of a few of Dubroc’s escapades, all of which are on file at the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court for anyone who may wish to check up on our itemizations in the following table:
| Date of Dubroc Event and Notation of Criminal or Civil Matter | Nature of Dubroc Event |
|---|---|
| March 15, 2001 - Civil | Marcus Andrus: alleged redhibitory defect on auto sold (also claimed Dubroc sought to “backdate extended service agreement” to which Andrus responded: “I want no part of your illegal and fraudulent scheme.”) |
| June 26, 2001 - Criminal | Disturbing the peace while intoxicated. |
| June 19, 2004 - Criminal. | Refusing to leave a bar at the required closing time. |
| September 2, 2004 - Criminal. | Simple assault and battery. |
| October 13, 2004 - Criminal | Illegal burning (only specifies "solid waste"). |
| November 3, 2004 - Criminal. | Not leaving bar at required 2 a.m.. closing time (arrested due to other outstanding warrant(s)). |
| March 9, 2005 - Civil. | Files restraining order against his wife, Melissa. |
| April 25, 2005 - Civil. | Iberia Bank files suit for unpaid credit card ($7,600). |
| April 29, 2005 - Civil. | Ideal Auto Sales, $1,000 worth of auto work allegedly performed, $500 payment made, after which stop-payment immediately issued. |
| June 10, 2005 - Civil. | Harley Davidson files suit for unpaid note on motorcycle ($11,200). |
| August 12, 2005 - Civil. | His wife Melissa files restraining order against her husband, Blake. |
| February 21, 2006 - Criminal. | Felony charge of assault with a firearm. On 11/13/08, DA case nolle prossed (not prosecuted). SMPG President Cedars, who was Assistant DA at the time, likely made the call NOT to prosecute Dubroc! |
| March 15, 2007 - Civil. | Garnishment filed on 4/29/05 entry above. |
| July 15, 2008 - Civil. | Jessica Broussard affidavit for alleged $2,500 in “car repair work.” (Answer filed denying and that was that). |
| June 15, 2009 - Civil. | Bank of America, Garnishment & Executory Judgment from Lafayette Parish, ($23,800). |
| March 16, 2019 - Civil. | Filed TRO against then-son-in-law (who lived with Dubroc’s daughter in a mobile home behind his house) allegedly engaged in harassment and that son-in-law “blocked access to and from the used car lot.” |
Regarding the August 12, 2005 restraining order filed against Dubroc by his wife, Melissa, we feel compelled to divulge that in that restraining order, Dubroc’s wife accused Dubroc of the following acts:
Slapping her, punching her, choking her, shoving her, kicking her, and threatening her life.
Only five months later, as evidenced by the linked document on the February 21, 2006 felony charge for Aggravated Assault with a Firearm, Dubroc’s wife was allegedly once again the subject of Dubroc’s rage. Let’s highlight a bit from that linked document at this time, shall we?
RS. 14:37.4 -AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A FIREARM, an assault committed by the discharge of a firearm or dangerous weapon committed upon Melissa Dubroc.Count #2: ON OR ABOUT JANUARY 21, 2006, IN THE PARISH OF ST. MARTIN, BLAKE P DUBROC DID KNOWINGLY OR INTENTIONALLY COMMIT R.S. 14:110 SIMPLE ESCAPE, by the intentional departure from a place where the defendant is legally confined or detained from the lawful custody of a law enforcement officer or corrections officer, wherein human life is not endangered. Place of Confinement: Broussard Police Department Patrol Vehicle, Detaining Agency: St. Martin Parish Sherft’ s Office.The above affiant received information from Melissa Dubroc who informed that she and the above suspect along with her step-sister and a male friend came to her residence at approximately 5 :00 a.m .. While at the residence the above suspect began accusing her of having an affair with the male subject. Melissa informed she and the suspect got into a physical altercation. The above suspect became angry, went into the gun cabinet and retrieved a hand gun ( Ruger 9mm ). The suspect shot (3) three times into the floor towards Melissa’s direction. Melissa managed to get the handgun away from the suspect. In speaking with witness, they cooperated Melissa’s explanation as to what took place. Upon my arrival along with Broussard P.D. personnel Officer Pedro Alexander, we detained the above suspect and placed him in the back seat of Officer Alexander’s Unit. While myself and Officer Alexander was processing the scene in the residence, the suspect manage to escape out the unit. The suspect was later captured near the crime and transported to the St. Martin Parish Sheriffs Office.
Some subscribers openly wondered why we didn’t provide a video of the entire January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting. The answer is simple. All any subscriber needs to do is view an old episode of the Jerry Springer show. That would be a step up compared to the content and conduct of that meeting, and the above entries provide a good reason for why we declined to even upload the video in its entirety. Nevertheless, we’ll provide the following brief (20-second) video to show the total lack of regard for orderly conducting of a meeting by numerous parties entailing the whole Broussard matter:
Obnoxious mystery lady (our efforts to uncover her identity have failed to bear fruit) doesn’t even wait for the January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting to conclude before openly confronting Broussard in a very hostile manner.
Now, as we stated, LSP Trooper Lopez, arguably because Cedars didn’t want to be directly identified as working with a sketchy character like Dubroc, actively recruited Dubroc to conduct the surveillance on Broussard and his operations. Dubroc would take the photos (and four very short videos), text them to Lopez who, in turn, would text them to a SMPG official. Here’s the link for those very revealing and colorful texts.
We will note that SMPG officials first tried to pacify our public records requests for the texts above by mailing us (at no charge) black-and-white printouts of the texts linked on the preceding document. We quickly told them that “dog wasn’t going to hunt” because the texts were totally illegible, and one would have thought that observation was readily evident prior to them mailing them to us (and we believe it was).
Nevertheless, we will point out that they did subsequently print out the texts on a color printer, scan them to a PDF file, and email them to us (again, at no charge, for which we expressed our sincere appreciation).
Now, make no mistake. Cedars and Lopez (with a “little help from our friends” like Blake Dubroc) had little trouble stirring up a mob-like setting for that January 6, 2022 Zoning meeting. What transpired? Word began to spread (no doubt with assists by Lopez and strong encouragement from Cedars) that Broussard was operating a “dump.” The following flyer was distributed far and wide throughout the neighborhood (including, as Adley points out in the video above, to people who had absolutely no idea whatsoever where Broussard’s property is even located, notwithstanding that Broussard has been operating on the property for a year and a half!):
Flyer widely circulated among St. Martinville residents to generate the mob-like setting which transpired at the January 6, 2022 SMPG Zoning meeting.
Now, notice how the flyer above encourages folk to go to Facebook (the absolute authoritative source for accurate news, right?). Well, some folk certainly did, and let’s take a look at a few of those Facebook posts, shall we?:
Here’s another Facebook post for everyone’s viewing pleasure:
And another:
And another:
Now, make no mistake, while Broussard has no issue with Dubroc’s used car lot, plenty of other neighbors apparently do, to wit:
One thing we’ll give Dubroc’s daughter credit for is unmitigated gall! Notwithstanding all of her Facebook posts above, she makes a polite request of Broussard for some free firewood from Broussard. Here’s that text:
Broussard, ever trying to be a nice and cooperative neighbor, told Ms. Dubroc that her son was welcome to come pick up some firewood. Broussard even loaded the tree materials up into her son’s truck, and the next thing everyone sees on Facebook is an open invitation for folk to purchase the firewood! Here’s that Facebook post:
Now, make no mistake, Cedars and Lopez (and with a “little help from our friends” like Dubroc) found a heck of a crew to stir up the mob. They even went so far as to have T-shirts printed to fight Broussard’s zoning request, and then used those T-shirts to publicly deface the required legal signage Broussard had to purchase for the property, to wit:
Now, make no mistake! The “dump” flyer above called for a meeting of December 16, 2021 to organize opposition to the zoning request notwithstanding the fact that numerous Facebook posters above readily stated they had no clue where this property even was located. We have little doubt that the mob emerged after the meeting feeling totally emboldened! Why do we believe this? Simple, let’s take a moment to listen to a voice message left on Broussard’s phone the very next day, December 17, 2021 by SMPG’s star witness for its litigation against Broussard , who would be Blake Dubroc, shall we?:
December 17, 2021 profanity-laced, vile and threatening voice message from Blake Dubroc, whom LSP Trooper Lopez leaned upon heavily to supply the photos (and a few short videos) of Broussard’s activities on Duchamp Road.
Is it little wonder that, when we went to SMPG offices to obtain the videos off their cell phones that they would emphasize, “Now these videos were not taken by Trooper Lopez. They were taken by a neighbor,” and not name Dubroc? What was our response? We inquired, “You mean, Mr. Dubroc?” Their response: “Yeah, him.”
We can only assume that SMPG officials didn’t want to reveal the fact they were having to depend on such a sketchy character as Dubroc to block Broussard’s zoning request notwithstanding them having assured Broussard and his legal team that, in exchange for calling off the scheduled court hearing on September 14, 2021, they’d assure Broussard he was “going to get what you’re seeking. We may have some token opposition, but we can manage that.”
Now, on Monday, February 14, 2022 at approximately 2:00 p.m., a phone call was made by a long-time friend of SMPG Council President Chris Tauzin to him. A wide-open inquiry of Broussard was made. The caller, who intentionally didn’t reveal the fact that he is a 25-year friend of Broussard, indicated that Tauzin spent a considerable amount of time lambasting Broussard, after which the caller allegedly stated: “You know, I would be inclined to believe what you are saying were it not for one thing: I’ve known Billy Broussard for 25 years, and the man you describe is nothing like him!”
Tauzin allegedly then proceeded to inform the caller, “It doesn’t matter at this point! The hole is too deep, and nobody can change that now. I don’t care if the President of the United States tried to intervene at this point. The hole is simply way too deep.”
The full SMPG Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, and we certainly plan to attend and videotape the little “dog and pony” show that the Council plans to conduct. We believe that efficiency should dictate that Tauzin open discussion of Broussard’s item as follows: “We are going to dispense with public comment and comments by Council members on the Duchamp Road rezoning request because, as I have stated, ‘the hole is too deep.’ Parish President Cedars is adamantly opposed to Mr. Broussard’s operations, and that fact has been well-documented. Therefore, I will entertain a Motion to Deny at this time. Motion to Deny by Councilman xxxxxx, seconded by Councilman yyyyyy. All those in favor vote green, and all those opposed vote red. The board is lit green by every member of this Council. It’s unanimous: Mr. Broussard’s application is denied!”
Now, as we begin to wrap this feature up, we would be remiss if we did not divulge the fact that we have been contacted by other attorneys in St. Martin Parish expressing their extreme joy that the corruption and totalitarian rule of SMPG by President Cedars is being exposed.
Some have expressed a desire to review legal invoices since Cedars became Parish President. Accordingly, back in October of last year, we visited SMPG offices and spent two days scanning all those records (comprised of thousands of pages of invoices).
We have been pre-occupied with all of the corruption of Louisiana State Police; however, we are making progress on getting all of those invoices organized by firm and making the PDF files for those invoices searchable. Once we have the mission accomplished with a webpage created for easy access to any firm’s invoices, we will certainly publish a feature to where anyone in the world can examine those legal invoices anonymously!
Now, if SMPG has any money problems, we would suggest contacting the Jerry Springer producers and informing them that SMPG meetings such as January 6, 2022 (and we fully expect March 1, 2022) can serve as a revival of the show, and SMPG would expect significant revenue from offering broadcast rights to such absurd antics!
Also, if anyone is curious as to why Dubroc is so up in arms about Broussard’s property, let’s clear the air a little. Dubroc once owned the property, and it ended up in the hands of another St. Martin Parish resident. When he died, he transferred the property to his two daughters, one of whom is reportedly a very wealthy physician in Florida.
Sources indicate that Dubroc expressed interest in buying the property soon after the daughters inherited the property from their father. The heirs were allegedly interested in pursuing a sale to Dubroc; however, when Dubroc apparently deemed them not to be acting fast enough for his liking, he sued them. The end result was a judgment against Dubroc for a fence encroachment on the property but the whole litigation also resulted in those two daughters allegedly saying, “No way in hell we would ever consider selling to him now!”
Broussard approached them about purchasing the property, and they agreed to sell the property for $92,000 with $10,000 down and the remainder financed at 3% for 10 years. Dubroc just may be furious that it wasn’t him who was afforded such favorable terms to acquire the property, and the potential just may exist that SMPG officials are actively trying to run up Broussard’s legal fees as a means to force him to have to liquidate the property to pay those fees! If so, no doubt Dubroc would be a waiting prospective purchaser.
Now, we have one final commentary to make because it is a matter that has stuck in our craw for a very long time regarding this matter. That matter being the absolutely piss-poor reporting of Daily Iberian reporter Dwayne Fatheree, who falsely reported in this feature that Broussard had been burning (he stated that FOUR times in one article) when Broussard AND his Councilman BOTH stated in the meeting Fatheree covered that Broussard was “NOT BURNING!” What’s galling is that Fatheree touts himself as a reporter who likes to “dig things up.” We would suggest that he review this feature for remedial training on how to TRULY “dig things up!” Of course, judging by some of the other commentary in his article, that would require him to remove his head from Cedars’ posterior long enough to actually observe the contents of the meeting!
Now for our final commentary. Obviously, anyone can hire any attorney they so desire. Having said that, we speak only for Sound Off Louisiana in stating that we would not hire the firm of Gibson Law Partners or Michael Adley to represent us over a matter even as trivial as two pieces of bubble gum.
Using the football analogy presented above, fans are very, very fickle. We cheered Adley and the firm for what we believed to be a stellar Pre-Trial Memorandum, and that praise we believe was fully justified. So too, however, is our harsh criticism of Adley and his firm for abandoning Broussard the day before the Preliminary Injunction hearing and representing him and guiding him straight into what should have been an easily-recognizable rattle-snake-infested “deep hole” that Tauzin readily admits that Broussard now finds himself in.
We find that action on the Gibson firm and Adley individually, versus an alternate course such as holding the Preliminary Injunction hearing on September 14, 2021 and requesting that the judge defer ruling for a short time to test just how serious SMPG officials were at a TRUE compromise to have been far more prudent on Adley and Gibson’s parts, to be an absolute unmitigated disaster that, for our own purposes, would preclude us ever hiring that law firm. Again, however, we are only speaking for Sound Off Louisiana.
Unfortunately, just like you don’t get “do overs” in football games after making a horrendously bad call (like the bubble screen when the ball is on the opponents’ one-yard line), Adley and crew won’t get a “do over” here. Nevertheless, this feature can serve as permanent landmark to document their colossal failure, at least in our eyes, to go for the jugular and, instead, in the words of some attorneys who openly questioned why the the firm agreed to this “compromise,” wound up “playing tidily winks in a bare-knuckles arena!”
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