The News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana • Page 1

WINTER DENIM West Monroe wins I Cold weather calls for dark blues, but look for lighter colors as spring approaches, ID i while rebuilding, 1C WWW.THENEWSSTAR.COM Newsteir TUESDAY January 15, 2008 Northeastern Louisiana 50 cents 9 oat raoiK Jindal takes office vowing to bring change and calling displaced Louisianians home again s- vv Associated Press BATON ROUGE Pledging a "clean break with the past," Republican Bobby Jindal took office Monday as Louisiana's 55th governor, promising to help the storm-battered state shed its shady reputation and to seize the opportunities for change offered by Hurricane Katrina. "We have the opportunity born of tragedy but embraced still the same to make right decades of failure in government," Jindal said in his inaugural speech. Jindal's election puts a decidedly new public face on Louisiana government, often stereotyped as a haven for backslapping good 'ol boys who hold office for decades. The 36-year-old son of Indian Jindal is the nation's first elected Indian-American governor and Louisiana's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction. He's the nation's youngest sitting governor, and many of his top administrators are new to the halls of the Louisiana Capitol.

"We will come to this Capitol to make a clean break See JINDAL 6A Area people out in force at ceremony By Greg Hilburn ghilburnthenewsstar.com BATON ROUGE Terry Baugh of West Monroe scanned the crowd here Monday on the Capitol steps during the inauguration ceremony of Gov. Bobby Jindal and saw familiar faces everywhere. "Northeastern Louisiana is well represented, and I'm glad to see it," Baugh said. "What more could you ask for? There's the West Monroe band on stage doing a phenomenal job and people from all over our region here as part of history." Ayres and Connie Bradford of Ruston were among those in a gallery just to the left of Jindal. encouraged Bobby to get a lot more involved in North Louisiana, and he did," Ayres Bradford said.

"And here we are." "I'm expecting the state to make great leaps because of his vision for Louisiana," Connie Bradford said. Brothers Joseph and Eddie Hakim and their families were seated near the Bradfords. "We're very excited," Joseph Hakim said. "Jindal's going to do a bang-up job." Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said Jindal has already shown support to northeastern Louisiana by helping regional legislators land key leadership positions in the House and Senate. Among those leadership positions: Rep.

Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, chairman of House Appropriations; See AREA 7A AP Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal takes the oath from Louisiana Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Pascal Calogero Jr. on Monday in Baton Rouge. Jindal became the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States. EXTENDED COVERAGE INSIDE TODAY'S THE NEWS-STAR AND AT THENEWSSTAR.COM y' Photos of the inauguration ceremony, including local faces.

The West Monroe band performs. Arrivals at the ball West Monroe High School band serenades crowd, 6A Jindal uses luncheon to ask lawmakers' help, 6A Celebration spills over to the night's ball, 6A Legislature convenes, elects leaders, 7A Thompson, Walsworth tries out new seats, 7A Notebook, 7A Editorial, 3B West Monroe High School band prepares West Monroe High School band plays At the inaugural ball Buddy Caldwell of Tallulah is sworn in as attorney general, making him the only northeastern Louisiana resident to take the oath Monday for statewide office. Story, 7A Read the text of Jindal's speech at thenewsstar.com First barge loads at Ouachita port 7 "This is the first load out that we've actually had a barge," Trichell said. "It feels great. It's a stimulus for this whole economy, and that's what we've been saying all along and here's the proof." Construction on the $2.8 million river dock was completed last summer.

The purchase of a $1.8 million, 275-ton crane followed. Monday's historic load included more than 200 tons of wet scrubber equipment being shipped down the Ouachita River by James Machine Works to a plant in Port Allen. Some of the scrubber sections were more By Robbie Evans revansthenewsstar.com The Greater Ouachita Port on Monday reached a defining moment in its nine-year history. The port's Ouachita River dock facility was used for the first time to load cargo onto a river barge. Port director Paul Trichell said the years of development work on the port have begun to pay off in jobs and economic development.

Trichell spent part of the morning at the Monroe Regional Airport preparing to board a plane to take aerial photographs of the occasion. said. "Since our assembly shop is in Monroe, we're able build the subassemblies here, and if there are any situations that arise our support staff and engineers can run over and address them. "It's certainly opened up new markets for us and bringing outside money into Ouachita Parish." Organized efforts to build the port began in 1999 and in 2004 the port completed a $1 million operational rail spur project. An $817,000 storage yard was completed a couple of months ago, which allowed the port to begin accepting containers from river barges.

than 20-foot wide and weighed more than 70 tons. Marty Herlevic, director of field operations for JMW, said the availability of loading facilities at the port has already had a positive effect on the company's viability and created jobs locally. The company was able to build the scrubber subassemblies at a location near the port and send the completed pieces to the customer via barge, a major benefit for both JMW and its customers. "In the past, we had to take pieces (of equipment) into the facilities and assemble them on site, which takes up space at (the customer's) facility," Herlevic Michael DunlapThe News-Star Workers load a wet scrubber made by James Machine Works onto the first barge loaded at the Greater Ouachita Port on Monday. MSiCJs I THENEWSSTAR.COM: Looking for something to do? Visit our events calendar 2B 3B IB 4C 50 4D 4D Business Classified Comics Crossword Weather forecast, 4A High: 55 Low: 87 214,904 predicted page views Monday at thcnewsstar.com Deaths Editorial Lottery Television 2B 3D Dear Abby 20 Art ELECTRIC RANGE $2PB 6) am Kr i nm rum iff Ml.