Sound Off Louisiana

At the January 5, 2026 Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) meeting, Chairman Jennifer Cobb Reed prepares to introduce a non-agenda item to begin requiring full-blown licensure for hair braiding in Louisiana with said license requiring 600 hours (it’s presently 500) to expand Federal funding for braiding instruction.

Today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature focuses on three (3) key topics from the last meeting of the LSBC of Monday, January 5, 2026:

#1:

Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns remains to this day fuming mad at the “demonstrably false” statements made during the 2025 Regular Legislative Session regarding the financial standing of the LSBC.

Accordingly, Burns has made it crystal clear that, going forward, the Members of the Board and anybody affiliated with the Board (Executive Director, attorney, etc.) better have their acts together and be knowledgeable about that subject matter.  Doing so should avoid a repeat of this May 14, 2025 Senate Commerce Committee debacle wherein LSBC folk could not even respond to the most basic questions about the Board’s financial condition.

Therefore, when Burns addressed the Board at that January 5, 2026 meeting, he wanted to ensure there is no excuse for having a repeat of that May 14, 2025 debacle nor the subsequent Legislative testimony in which “demonstrably false” testimony was given by multiple then-on-staff representatives of the LSBC.  Here’s video of him driving that point home:

1/5/26:  Burns drives home the point that any Board Member or anyone in any way associated with the LSBC will be held accountable for the kind of “demonstrably false” statements made about the LSBC’s financial position should a repeat of any such false statements be made at future Legislative testimony.

In the video above, Burns made it clear that, at the point of every meeting going forward, the financial statements of the Board will be made public via publication on this blog.  We are doing so via a table on which we will continue to make entries for each future meeting.  Here is that table, which will routinely be published going forward:

#2:

Burns next made clear the fact that, not surprisingly,  after Vietnamese manicurists got so frustrated with the Board that they filed a Writ of Mandamus against the individual Board Members, suddenly Attorney General Liz Murrill stated to the LSBC that she would not be issuing an opinion on the Board’s authority to issue a Declaratory Order of the nature the manicurists seek.

The fact that Murrill would not be issuing any such opinion was something that Burns made clear he’d stated numerous times both on this blog and stating so publicly to the Board during public comment at previous meetings.

Being blunt, we believe that Murrill and the Board were in collusion to simply drag the matter out by seeking the opinion in the first place!

Let us not forget that on January 6, 2025, Board Attorney Sheri Morris indicated the Opinion would be forthcoming by the next meeting.

In our opinion, the fact that statement was even uttered and is now proven to also obviously be “demonstrably false,” combined with the fact that common sense dictates that someone in the AG Office told Morris that, provides compelling evidence to us that the Board and the AG Office were in cahoots to simply drag this matter out as long as possible.

The proverbial “gig was up” once the Plaintiffs got so frustrated that they ended up needing to file a Writ of Mandamus to force the LSBC to adhere to its legal (and we believe moral) obligation to have done back in September of 2024 when the Declaratory Order was first sought by the manicurists.

Here’s video of Burns stressing those points along with subsequent discussion of the Declaratory Order matter:

1/5/26:   Burns expresses his sentiments about the LSBC dragging out for 16 months a Declaratory Order sought by Vietnamese manicurists along with subsequent discussion of the matter by the LSBC.

#3:

Last, but certainly not least, the LSBC Chairman Jennifer Cobb Reed introduced yet another non-agenda item (she’s making a habit of that practice just as she deployed the same inappropriate mechanism for the hiring of Erin Marceaux not long back) which would call for requiring 600 hours for what would be a future license for hair braiding rather than the existing 500 hours for an “alternative hair permit.”  The discussion makes it crystal clear that the purpose of the planned change is to facilitate Federal funding for hair braiding instruction:

1/5/26:  LSBC discusses expanding the number of hours to obtain the authority to perform hair braiding activities in Louisiana from 500 to 600 and to transition from an “alternative hair permit” to full-blown hair braiding licensure.

We are going to wrap this feature up by providing this link for the January 5, 2026 meeting of the LSBC in its entirety and emphasizing that relatively new Executive Director Erin Marceaux elaborates upon a number of changes with LSBC inspectors.

Since the time of that last meeting, we have been made aware of an entire plethora of alleged illegalities transpiring throughout the LSBC’s operations.

In fairness to Marceaux, however, and also especially since there is an ongoing Legislative Auditor Office Performance Audit which may well expose those alleged illegalities, we are intentionally refraining from making any reference to those allegations on this feature, nor will we make public comment on them at the upcoming February 2, 2026 meeting.

Nevertheless, we’ve been informed that Marceaux is keenly aware of those allegations, and we want to afford her the opportunity to initiate corrective action prior to us beginning our diligent investigative process which may ultimately result in us making such allegations of illegal acts very public.

On February 17, 2017, then-Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) Chairman T. J. Doss leans back and smirks at his then-colleague, Jared Caruso-Riecke, upon hearing that another then-colleague, Lloyd Grafton, had just resigned soon after citing, “a total lack of integrity” on the Commission.

We preface this feature with the famous words “pride comes before a heavy fall.”  Perhaps no words are more appropriate than those when it comes to former LSPC Chairman and former LSP Trooper T. J. Doss.

According to former LSPC Member Lloyd Grafton, Doss openly called for his then-fellow Louisiana State Troopers Association (LSTA) Members to elect him to the LSPC so that he could, “get rid of (Executive Director) Cathy Derbonne.”

Grafton did not reference Doss by name, but everyone who knew anything about the corrupt practices of the LSTA and the LSPC (which continue unabated to this day) knew precisely who he meant.  Let’s take just a brief moment to watch Grafton calling Doss out for his efforts to oust Derbonne (again without referencing Doss by name):

2/17/17:  Grafton (without naming him) openly states former LSP Trooper J. J. Doss sought to be elected by Troopers to the LSPC to, “get rid of (Executive Director) Cathy Derbonne.”

Later in that same meeting, Grafton would announce his resignation from the LSPC, and those words prompted Doss to lean back in his chair, smirk toward then-Commissioner Riecke as if to silently say, “another mission accomplished.”  Let’s take just a brief moment to see Doss with that brash smirk on his face:

2/17/17:  Citing a “total lack of integrity on this Commission,” Grafton resigns, after which then-LSPC Chairman T. J. Doss leans back in his chair, looks over toward then-colleague Jared Caruso-Riecke and smirks.

Doss, in tandem with Riecke, succeeded in strong arming a resignation out of Derbonne, after which Derbonne sued the LSPC alleging “constructive discharge,” a suit which ultimately cost taxpayers $272,000 in settlement proceeds and legal fees.

Perhaps emboldened by his accomplishment of getting Derbonne to resign from the LSPC, Doss openly flaunted his perceived extreme power by prominently checking into the Watermark Hotel along with then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella.  Here’s that video which was filmed by Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns (in tandem with still photos taken by another blogger):

Then-LSPC Chairman, T. J. Doss, checks into the Watermark Hotel in Baton Rouge with then-Vice Chairman Monica Manzella hours after an LSPC Meeting earlier that day.

The hotel check in occurred after Manzella and Doss first enjoyed a feature movie at Movie Tavern in Baton Rouge, which was their first destination after the LSPC meeting.  Here’s video of them departing the theater, again taken by Burns:

Then-LSPC Chairman, T. J. Doss, accompanied by then-Vice Chairman, Monica Manzella, exit the Movie Tavern theater in Baton Rouge after enjoying a movie (and judging by Doss’ large mug, at least one beer for him) shortly after an LSPC meeting.

Once these two videos were viewed far and wide, then-Governor John Bel Edwards sought Manzella’s resignation and then-LSP Col. Kevin Reeves, showing at least a small modicum of integrity, demanded that Doss too resign. Both Doss and Manzella reluctantly complied and tendered their resignations from the LSPC.

We never really heard much more out of Doss after the above incidents until September 30, 2025, at which time we received communications from a rock-solid reliable source that T. J. Doss had “retired.”  The source added details to what prompted Doss’ abrupt “retirement;” however, we are refraining from publishing those details for reasons which become obvious very soon.

Being perfectly candid, we have been hit with so many alleged acts of LSP trooper wrongdoing within the last three months that the Doss matter actually slipped through the cracks for us.  Nevertheless, upon reviewing older communications, Burns realized that he had not followed up with the communication pertaining to Doss (for which Burns apologized to his source).

On December 18, 2025, Burns reached out to LSP Public Information Officer Captain Russell Graham.

Burns’ inquiry was simple:  “Does T. J. Doss remain employed by LSP and, if not, can you provide the date of his retirement?”

Graham replied that it was his “understanding” that Doss “retired.”  He added:  “Lt. (Jared) Sandifer reached out to IA yesterday to get that date for you and I’m sure will reach out once he gets it.  Mr. Doss retired after many years of service and was eligible to do so.”

Lt. Sandifer contacted us the next day, December 19, 2025, and stated this:  “I can confirm that TJ Doss retired effective 8/23/2025.  Thank you.”

Less than two (2) hours later, however, Sandifer contacted us again to ensure this matter is accurately reported.  He had this to say: “I’ve had additional conversations with IA and HR, and I wanted to clarify one point for accuracy.  Doss did not technically retire.  He resigned.”

The repeated references to IA prompted us to submit a Public Records Request to LSP on that same day, December 19, 2025.  Specifically, we requested:

“All documentation pertaining to any Internal Affairs investigation into former LSP Trooper Thomas “T. J.” Doss which took place from the period of January 1, 2025 through August 25, 2025.”

As could easily be predicted, on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, we received the following response from LSP:

“The Louisiana Department of Public Safety, Public Safety Services has reviewed your request and has determined that the records requested are exempt from disclosure under FOIA for the following reasons:

Letters of counseling or other investigations that do not result in discipline – LSP Comm Rule 12.9 provides that Letter of Counseling are not considered “public.” Any investigation that does not result in discipline is not considered “public.”

So, apparently the Doss investigation entailed a matter so serious that he would end up feeling a need to “technically resign,” yet nothing exists other than a “letter of counseling” entailing the matter.  Okay.  That sounds about like what so many troopers told us to expect once they learned that Gov.-Elect Landry had reportedly selected a team of Hodges and Besson to run the show!

What this boils down to is Gov. Jeff Landry’s top-down approach of blocking public records almost from the very second he was sworn into office.

Further, knowing his past similar history during his entire eight-year tenure at the AG’s Office, we expected nothing short of that attitude and approach by Landry, which is precisely why we gave him a “back-handed endorsement.”

Here’s one thing anyone can take to the bank:  That is the absolute last endorsement of Landry we will ever make, and Burns has resolved himself that he will never vote for Landry again in his lifetime.

As outlined at the start of this feature on widespread law enforcement corruption and favoritism, Burns’ long-time friend and former FDIC coworker, Martin Cooper, had this to say entailing WAFB’s present public records request lawsuit against LSP:

LSP’s response to everything now is screw you, sue me. which most people don’t have the means to do. Even for those who do, like WAFB, it doesn’t matter because if LSP loses, they just dip into the public kitty and pay.

We are where we are entailing LSP doing precisely what Cooper references above largely as a result of the following votes by the House and Senate:  House Vote and Senate Vote.  Apparently, these Legislators voted the way they did in the apparent belief that public agencies would operate in good faith.

Well, in the matter of LSP, they’re operating in anything but good faith.

Therefore, since the Legislature created this mess as sponsored by Rep. Les Farnum (R-Sulfur), as Burns stated on the video on the law enforcement corruption and favoritism feature just linked, the only logical solution is to increase the penalty for failing to conform with Louisiana’s Public Records Act from $100/day to $5,000/day.  As Burns stated on the video, $100 a day is a “joke” to an agency like LSP.  They will gladly pay that to conceal matters they don’t want published.  Trust us (and we think our readers possess plenty of intellect to know without having to lean on “trusting us”), that is precisely what LSP is doing in this Doss matter.

Where does that leave us?  We have to hope that a major media outlet with deep pockets such as Cooper described (WAFB?) will take interest in this matter and file yet another lawsuit against LSP.  If they do, we’ll surely follow it with keen interest!