‘I’m all for keeping the parish neat”

– Jay Roberts after DA tells him to clean up campaign signs after Tuesday’s election

Current Port of South Louisiana Commissioner and former St. Charles Parish Councilman Jay Roberts had such a knack for yanking up political signs BEFORE the September election that District Attorney Harry Morel has ordered him to keep up the good work AFTER the November vote. “It’s not like I don’t enjoy pulling them up,” Roberts, chuckling, told the St. Charles Herald Guide exclusively. “And I’m all for keeping the parish neat.”

Both Roberts and Murphy Majoria have made a plea agreement with District Attorney Harry Morel that includes a $350 fine a 12 months of unsupervised probation.

The district attorney is requiring the sign snatchers to clear out signs near 22 west bank polling places on the morning after the Nov. 7 election as part of a first offender pretrial intervention program.

The Sheriff’s Office noted that the Luling businessmen were cited after someone yanked school board candidate Angela Fenerty’s “vote-for-me” signs out of her yard just days before the Sept. 30 election.

According to an official report on file with the sheriff, both Roberts and Majoria were issued summonses for criminal mischief in connection with the incident, which occurred around 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28.

The signs belonged to Fenerty, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the school board in District 2. Her husband, Clifford Fenerty, reportedly told police that a neighbor had spotted two men knocking down a large “Vote for Angela Fenerty” sign on the lawn at the Fenerty home at the corner of Barton and Walnut Rd. in Luling.

Fenerty said the neighbor went on to say that the men plucked smaller signs from the lawn and tossed them into the back of their pickup truck before driving away.

Fenerty told cops that he followed in his car. He said he observed the suspects making additional stops along the way.

Fenerty said he tailed the suspects until a patrolman who had been alerted to the alleged situation caught up with him – and them – at the intersection of Milling Ave. and 3rd St. in Old Luling.

When questioned by the cop, said the official report, Roberts claimed ownership of the truck. He reportedly told police that Majoria had been removing campaign signs from lawns and that he, Roberts, hadn’t tried to stop him.

Majoria told the cop, the report continued, that he pulled up signs belonging to both Angela Fenerty and her opposing school board candidate, Mary Bergeron, who won the seat .

Majoria said that it was his idea to remove the signs, and offered that didn’t have authorization to do so from either candidate, the official report said.

The investigating officer reportedly found 12 campaign signs belonging to Fenerty and five campaign signs belonging to Bergeron in the bed of Robert’s truck.