Word: parishes
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Leander Perez's power has passed down to one of his sons, 55-year-old Chalin, president of the five-man parish Commission Council. Unlike his flamboyant father, Chalin comes across as a dark-suited conservative lawyer. His is not the voice of a segregationist, but of a typical official with very rich constituents. "We are one of the most overemployed areas in the United States," he says. And it is true that there are plenty of jobs for blacks as well as whites in the oil and sulfur companies, in fishing and orange growing. "We try to maintain...
...sheriff of Plaquemines' daughter and moved down from Chicago. One of his clients is Merlis Broussard, 45, a barrel-chested black construction worker who once helped dig a crayfish pond behind Chalin Perez's new home. They have just won a federal court suit to end the parish's method of selecting council members, which has long kept blacks from exercising political power...
Broussard knows better than anyone the problems of being black in Plaquemines. He was born and still lives in Ironton, an all-black town of 200 nestled against the levee. Ironton has no running water; instead, the parish delivers wat^r by truck to each home once or twice a week. Broussard's wife developed a serious kidney ailment eight years ago, probably from drinking cistern-stored water. Two or three times a week he had to drive her to Charity Hospital in New Orleans. "They lent me a dialysis machine, but I had no water to hook...
...Parish officials, who point out that two white towns also lack running water, say it would cost $200,000 to bring pipes to Ironton. But they recently bought a golf course in a corner of the parish. Asked about these priorities, Chalin Perez replied: "That golf course provides recreation for many people. It's a question of judgment for elected officials to make...
...translates for his uncle as a white-haired mechanic explains the problem with the carburetor. "How much we owe you?" asks the boy. The mechanic shakes his head, refusing payment. Like many others, he is embarrassed by the way the Vietnamese refugees are being chased out of the parish...