Friends Held Fundraiser For Convicted Ex-Councilman Oliver Thomas

Oh, how nice. Was Stan "Pampy" Barre in attendance?

"Join us in the spirit of the season as we gather for unity in the community and to support our friends Oliver and Angelle Thomas," the brunch invitation read in part.

Toward the bottom, in smaller type, was: "Your generous contribution to help sustain the Thomas family will be greatly appreciated. Make checks payable to: Angelle Thomas."

The T-P also reported another interesting tidbit about ole Ollie:

Thomas has gotten word that he will serve his time in Atlanta, in a facility that includes both a high-security penitentiary and a "satellite camp for minimum-security male inmates," according to the Bureau of Prisons' Web site.

Presumably, Thomas will stay in the camp section, although officials said they could not comment.

Maybe the vocal corruption probe critics can become his regular visitors. They can discuss why corruption probes are such a bad idea.

Harris County DA Has 'Skeletons'

News here in Houston, Texas never ceases to amaze me. Now the Harris County, District Attorney's secret quirks has now been exposed. He has been sending "sexy emails" to his secretary.

They surfaced as exhibits in a civil rights lawsuit filed against the Harris County Sheriff’s Office by two brothers who photographed deputies executing a search warrant on a neighbor’s property.

The lawsuit alleges DA Chuck Rosenthal refused to investigate the sheriff’s office.

While preparing for the case, attorneys for the brothers ran across some e-mails of an intimate nature that Rosenthal had sent to his executive secretary.

In a message dated Aug. 10, Rosenthal wrote, “The very next time I see you, I want to kiss you behind your right ear.”

The DA should lose his job for this one. It is obvious that the sheriffs office had the goods on him that he did not want exposed. Do us a favor Rosenthal: STEP DOWN FROM OFFICE.

Can We Trust The Grinch?

The feds filed a motion to postpone Stan "Pampy" Barre's sentencing until April. An excerpt from said motion read as follows:

Barré "is cooperating with the government regarding other matters under investigation, but not yet completed."

Can we trust this scuzz ball? After all he is a psychopath. I hope the feds have corroborating evidence to back up his statements. That scuzz ball will do anything for a buck.

This Old House Focuses On New Orleans

In a city chock-full of 150-year-old houses with wooden porches and scrolling wrought iron, New Orleans would seem perfect fodder for This Old House.

But when producers of the television show surveyed the city's post-Hurricane Katrina landscape, they found old houses were only part of the story.

They couldn't ignore the pastel-colored homes being built for displaced musicians, or the construction projects spearheaded by actor Brad Pitt. So both will be included in the show's 10-episode series scheduled to begin airing nationally next month on PBS.

Houston''s Greenway Theatre To Close

The Greenway Theatre, which has screened films in the basement of Greenway Plaza for 35 years, will close at the end of this year.

Employees say Landmark Theatres lost its lease at 5 East Greenway Plaza. Landmark, a chain that specializes in independent and foreign films, has operated the Greenway since 1994.

Four Felons Get Christmas Present

Just in time for Christmas, judgment day was postponed for four New Orleanians convicted in noteworthy public corruption cases, guaranteeing each one at least three more months of freedom.

Former Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms, restaurateur Stan "Pampy" Barré, businessman Reginald Walker and former Johnson Controls project manager Terry Songy all were scheduled to be sentenced the second week of January.

Now, at the request of prosecutors, none will face the music until April.

The postponement is an indication that federal investigators still are probing leads provided by members of the group, all of whom pleaded guilty to felonies and signed plea agreements requiring them to cooperate with the government.

Jolie & Pitt draw attention to kids' health issues

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt used their star power Saturday to help The Children's Health Fund focus attention on the more than 46,000 children still displaced 2 1/2 years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed their homes.

Though the mood was light among many of the attendees, the tone of the topic at hand was dire and distressing. Having used their star power to draw the excited crowd and media attention, Jolie and Pitt remained mum and let the experts do the talking.

"We are seeing an exacerbation of problems," said Mississippi pediatrician Persharon Dixon, who ticked off a list of ailments that she said are afflicting children at an alarming rate in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, including stress, hypertension, diabetes and depression.

The news conference at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School follows closely the release of a study that found that more than 46,000 children along the Gulf Coast are still struggling with mental health problems and other serious aftereffects of the 2005 hurricanes.

The study -- completed by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund -- estimated that more than half of the still-displaced children in Louisiana exhibit one of three "risk factors" that can have a permanent impact in their lives. The factors are a drop in academic achievement, limited access to health care and clinically diagnosed depression or behavior disorders.