Bob and Lelo Kerivan started sharking up the wine industry in 1986.  They converted a 75-acre field in Oregon’s Southern Illinois Valley to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Gewertztraminer, and Pinot Gris grapes using new planting and pruning techniques that were unheard of in the United States.  “You’re crazy!” exclaimed the experienced growers of the region, but the Kerivans ignored the criticism and marched forward.

Northshore Conifer The Vinery

As my retriever returned with a fine drake pintail my buddy whispered from his end of the duck blind, “Check him for jewelry!”  It took a second for what he was saying to sink in but as usual this bird had no leg band. Well, there was a double-banded snow goose I’m certain I shot but was quickly scoffed up by a claim jumper next to me in the goose pit but that’s another story for another day. 

You would think after 40 plus years of shooting quail, doves, woodcock, rails, gallinules, mergansers, snipe, coots, ducks and geese, it would be harder for me NOT TO HAVE shot a banded bird. I’ve got hunting buddies who have collected so many leg bands they’ve made necklaces and bracelets. I’ve sat next to them in blinds, on levees, in fields and swamps and watched as the birds they’ve shot brandish their special “jewelry.” But for me, no such luck.  Just once I’d like to make that toll-free call to report details of my kill and learn the life story of my quarry – hasn’t happened, at least not yet.

Northshore Conifer The Hunt

             Inside an old train depot in downtown Covington is one of the northshore’s best dual personality restaurants. By day, Lola is a bustling sandwich shop that serves homemade soups, sandwiches and salads. By Friday night, it transforms into a quaint contemporary creole bistro. The owners are Keith Frentz and Nealy Crawford-Frentz. Two young and talented Johnson and Wales trained chefs who were just recently honored at Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine’s 8^th annual “Chefs to Watch” awards last month. 

Northshore Conifer Stiring It Up!

                  As our nation emerges from an economic downturn that has had global repercussions, Louisiana – and St. Tammany in particular – has weathered the storm quite well.  Although certain market sectors have been more impacted than others, the overall data reflect positively on our business community, labor force, and local and state governments. 

Northshore Conifer Our Environment

Although the northshore is a quiet bedroom community with a great quality of life, more and more people are getting upset about what is happening to their country. While life may be good on the local level, on a national level, there is grave concern about the direction of the Obama administration. An increasing number of outraged people are taking a stand to show their opposition to what is happening in Washington D.C.

In late August, the Obama administration announced that the federal deficit for the ten year period ending 2019 will reach $9 trillion, more than the total of all of the yearly deficits since the founding of the nation. By 2019, the national debt will comprise three-quarters of the nation’s economy.

Our national debt is already close to $12 trillion. We should conclude this fiscal year with an annual budget deficit of $1.8 trillion; quadruple the level of the last Bush budget. While Bush pushed through the $700 billion TARP bailout, Obama has accelerated spending to an unprecedented...

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Northshore Conifer Ringside - Politics with a Punch!

Downtown Abita Springs is the new home of a young Choctaw maiden, surrounded by native animals, poised to drink from a flowing spring.  The new, bronze statue of the legendary Abita Princess is, perhaps, not far from the actual spot where her human counterpart lived hundreds of years ago and drank from the waters depicted in Gabriele Mossa’s creation.   The statue preserves an important moment in Abita’s history and it’s most appropriate that it is dedicated to the memory of the man responsible for preserving the character of the old resort town.

Northshore Conifer Our Environment

  I received a second letter from a reader this month, and I can’t tell you how much this encourages me.  As it was written in a different color crayon from the first, I can only assume this means my readership has doubled – publisher, please take notice!   

              This one begins, as did the first, with, “Dear Mr. So-called History Person,” and ends immediately thereafter with, “What about Fort Pike?”  Now, when a reader has taken the time to think about a question and couch it in a way that so concisely and incisively cuts to the very heart of the matter, it is difficult for even an orthodox procrastinator like me to ignore it for very long.

            First, a disclaimer: I was in the Air Force.  We didn’t have “forts.”  Like the Navy, we had “bases,” plus the occasional “station.”  Now bases, as in “home base” or “base camp” are just what they sound like.  Air and naval forces hang around these locations until there’s work to be done, but go elsewhere to engage the enemy...

Northshore Conifer Past Tense

I don’t like to miss a thing.  If there is something eventful happening on the northshore chances are you’re going to see me.  Festivals, special events, fundraisers, farmer’s market – you name it, I’m there! There’s only one thing I love as much as being out and about all over this northshore, and that is letting everyone know about the fabulous things we have happening here.  I’ve made it a full time job keeping myself informed of what’s going on around me in my community and now I’ll be sharing it with you. 

Northshore Conifer On The Sceen

 We all know the old adage: sometimes the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Well, unfortunately, something akin to that happened with some of the content of this column in August.

          At that time we reported that this year's edition of the Sunny Days race to benefit an ailing youngster in our area would be staged on  October 24th to coincide with the Fall Foliage sales promotion by our many wonderful businesses in Old Mandeville.

Northshore Conifer Chamber Hammond

“Button, button, who’s got the button?”  is an out-moded children’s game involving concealment and chicanery much like the current “hot-button” issue of health care reform.  The difference of course is that this issue isn’t child’s play, but in an ironical way, it is about children.  While political pundits, special interest groups and the majority of concerned citizens are involved in heated debate on this topic, it is critical that we consider the impact of our decisions on those who are without voice in the controversy.  Misinformation, disinformation and no information clouds what is already a very murky issue.  Children must rely on the wisdom and mature judgment of adults, especially children who currently depend on society for much needed medical and dental assistance.  They are a vulnerable population who would suffer the most if we as a nation don’t get health care reform right.  This is far more than the very real and valid arguments concerning spiraling long-term health care cost projections associated...

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Northshore Conifer My Two Cents

How can we be protected from storm surge?

                     Most of us in St. Tammany don’t think of our Lake Pontchartrain shoreline as “coast”. But it is. We live on an estuary. It is part of an intricate ecosystem that developed thousands of years ago that evolved into a series of water bodies. St. Tammany had one of the largest coastal wetland areas remaining in Lake Pontchartrain. “The formation of these coastal marshes is dated at 4,365 years ago....”1 One segment in our defense against storm surge is the series of barrier islands known as the Chandeleur Islands which started to form approximately 2,000 years ago. Today, those islands have been terribly damaged and cannot protect us as they used to. This subjects our coast to more storm surge.

                      In the early 1990's some scientists had already sounded the alarm about the Louisiana Gulf coast and a large swath of the northshore’s coast had been submerged by lake waters. The League of Women Voters of St. Tammany protested...

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Northshore Conifer The League

            Carl Gustav Jung stated that “[t]he pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”  It’s important to note, however, that while these concepts are coterminal, they are hardly equivalent.  On the other hand, in Immanuel Kant’s world in which reason is the fundamental authority for morality, perhaps the sense/nonsense and right/wrong continua should at least intersect at some point.  The pendulum metaphor finds application throughout human endeavor, whether physical or metaphysical.  A normal heartbeat is represented by a sine wave, or sinus rhythm, a familiar representation of a cycle.  We view our economy’s cycle with alarm, noting our place in the trough, while hoping for an amplitude shift that will evidence improvement.  Human nature is such that we believe that things will improve eventually and the cycle will continue. ...

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Northshore Conifer Growing Pains

 Pack your bags, grab a sweater and head to the beach. Whether you enjoy food and wine, nature, performing arts, or shopping, there is a ton to do and see this season at the shore.  “The fall is our best kept secret,” said Tracy Louthain, Director of Public Relations and Visitor Services at the Beaches of South Walton. 

Northshore Conifer Get Outta Here

             On the evening of August 21, the 14^th annual “Hot August Nights” in Hammond was hotter than ever, but I am not talking about the temperature. Although it had rained earlier in the afternoon, the streets were jam- packed with people from throughout the Florida parishes seeking out new businesses, old friends and plenty of entertainment.

Northshore Conifer Our Environment

            “No news is good news” is how the old saying goes.  Most of the news is bad: war, economic woes, crime, and natural disasters.  The crisis of coastal wetlands loss in Louisiana is constantly in the news.  But that doesn’t affect you, right?  After all, you live on the northshore, not south of New Orleans where people need to worry about that sort of thing. 

Northshore Conifer Rhonda Landry, Staff Writer

        The advent of the Internet has revolutionized the way the financial services industry conducts business, empowering organizations with new business models and new ways to offer 24x7 accessibility to their customers.

Northshore Conifer Our Environment

            The party’s over! Yes, our largest annual fundraiser, the $10,000 Raffle, was held August 15, and it was lots of fun, especially for the big money winner, Pam Angelle.

            The party is also over in other less literal ways.  The time has come for local citizens to pay closer attention to the issues of the day, ask questions, and speak up. There are more than enough sources of information today in addition to radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and the web—we now have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, and yes, even more sources than “just” those.

             I became a news junkie post-Katrina.  Despite all these new sources of information, I still get much of mine from television.  Ironically, our big party was the Saturday after one news show announced the day known every year as “tax-free day,” the day that we really start to take home the money we work so hard for, the day that our taxes for the year are paid.

             Now wait a minute, I thought!  That day is in...

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Northshore Conifer Chamber West

             It's not everyday that the Hammond Chamber of Commerce invites its members to "Talk Trash" over lunch, but with Sidney Torres confirmed as the keynote speaker for the Hammond Chamber Community and Business EXPO luncheon, that's exactly what we’re doing. The luncheon, which will kick off EXPO day, will be held on September 17, from 11:30am - 1:00pm at the Southeastern Louisiana University Center.

            A long-time entrepreneur, Torres began honing his skills in the business world at the young age of 20 by renovating shotgun houses in New Orleans. With an eye for recognizing opportunity in the direst situation, Torres consistently and continuously reinvents his businesses to meet the challenges of the ever-changing economy.               Now, as owner of SDT Waste and Debris Services, LLC, Torres has 180+ employees, 75 trucks, and municipal contracts with the City of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, Tangipahoa Parish and The Village of Folsom. The company is also the largest waste services...

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Northshore Conifer Chamber Hammond

 The Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (LACCE) held its Fall Conference in Jennings, Louisiana August 20-21.  During the conference, the Chamber of the Year Awards were presented to East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce for the Small Chamber Category and Lafayette Chamber of Commerce for the Large Chamber Category.  Attending the conference to accept the award was the chamber staff, Dawn Sharpe Brackett, CEO; Kendra Hamrick, IT Director; JoBeth Kavanaugh, Membership and Events Director; and Kay Schewe, Information Specialist.

Northshore Conifer Chamber East