Plant a 'white tree,' grow your economy

Good Lord. Imagine what an economy Louisiana could grow if only someone would convince the people of Jena to stick Negro necks through those nooses hanging from "white" trees.

I wonder whether the Alexandria Town Talk would cover that as unironically as it did this:

The choice of Alexandria as a staging ground for the Sept. 20 "Jena Six" rallies brought money and acclaim to the city, officials say.

According to an estimate provided by the Alexandria/Pineville Convention & Visitors Bureau, events directly related to the Jena rallies pumped $569,240 into the Alexandria economy.

The figure was reached by estimating money spent by both out-of-towners and locals for three events: syndicated radio talk show host Michael Baisden's book signing at the Alexandria Riverfront Center on Sept. 19; the NAACP convention at the downtown Alexander Fulton Hotel and Convention Center from Sept. 19 to Sept. 22; and the rally in front of Alexandria City Hall on Sept. 20.

During the Alexandria rally, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he and other organizers chose the city as a staging area so Jena would not benefit economically from the thousands coming from out of town.

The three events were attended by about 5,550, tourism officials estimate.

The economic impact was calculated by combining hotel rooms rented and money that was spent at other local businesses, said Shanna Worth, the spokeswoman for the Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Alexandria City Councilman Myron Lawson said Friday the numbers given by tourism officials are much lower than he thinks they should be.

"They have woefully underestimated the impact," Lawson said.

He estimates the economic impact to Alexandria at $1.5 million $2 million.

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