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News of Tallulah
Courtesy of the Madison Journal Jack Boggan On Line Editor |
A DVD presentation was made at a recent School Board meeting, pitching the issue of the school board revoking the lease of the Tallulah High School building to the Madison Parish Police Jury, and subsequently turning the magnificent and historic building over to City of Tallulah to be converted to a Tallulah Government Center.
The scripted DVD presentation showed more than 70 color photos taken inside and outside of the THS building, showing the vandalism, arson, and theft that has taken place during the 33 months the building has been leased to the police jury. The photos also show water damage to the ceilings and some of the floors as a result of the windows being wide open and letting the rain come right into the building to do its damage.
The narrated copy, reinforced with graphic copy on the screen, related numerous terms of the lease that the police jury had failed to comply with. And one of the terms of the lease was that if the police jury fails to comply with
the terms of the lease, "the lease is terminated." Some of the specific lease violations include: (1) The police jury is supposed to maintain the building in a manner that it would be in compliance with all building codes. (2) If the police jury did not make use of in during the first twelve months of the lease, the lease would terminate. (3) The police jury would maintain the security of the building.
At the end of the recorded DVD presentation, Mayor Eddie Beckwith, Jr. made a verbal presentation supported by a display of architectural renderings of what the highly damaged, vandalized and arsonized building would look like when it is restored as the Tallulah Government Center.
The school board called a special meeting a few days later and agreed to terminate the lease after first making a courtesy call to the Police Jury to explain the school board's revocation of the lease.
We are told that the legal procedure for terminating
the lease with the police jury is now in progress and is on the fast track
to become completed.