The 2011 PABI Board: seated from left, Danica Ansardi, Kim Turlich Vaughn, Denise Buford, Corey Arbourgh, Cathy Madere, Thomas Rush, Treasurer Ed Camnetar, Dale Benoit and Chad Breland. Standing from left, Michella Ford, David Pavlovich, Jeff White, John Tesvich, 2010 Chairman Bart Breland, 2011 Chairman Mike Ford, Chairman Elect Reid McLellan, Darren Barrois, First Vice-Chairman Kevin Guidry, George Pivach II, and Executive Director Bobby Thomas.

Governor Bobby Jindal was the keynote speaker at PABI's 2011 Installation of Officers.

Governor Bobby Jindal addressed hundreds of attendants of last week’s 2011 Plaquemines Association of Business and Industry Installation of Officers. Mike Ford was inducted as the 2011 chairman.

News lately has focused on the changes Gov. Jindal proposed to make to the higher education system in Louisiana. The governor spoke on this subject.

Although Louisiana teachers are paid at or above the southern average, Jindal said, teachers are leaving because of security.

He said often a parent will criticize a teacher when their child is reprimanded for acting up.

“We’re not doing (students) any favors making excuses for them,” Jindal noted.

Accountability in the classroom extends from the child’s behavior to the students’ performance.

He referenced Southern University of New Orleans’ graduation rate of only 5 percent.

“Shame on us for accepting that as the status quo in Louisiana,” the governor said.

Statewide, less than 40 percent of students complete a degree program within six years, Jindal said.

“If we’re not willing to accept second worst on the football field, we shouldn’t second worst in the classrooms,” Jindal said.

Locally, Jindal announced that funding for the Peter’s bypass road had been approved; $30 million will be spent in Plaquemines Parish.

Jindal made comments on another local issue: the drilling moratorium.

“Support industries are being hurt by this moratorium,” he said. “Making us more dependent on foreign oil doesn’t make the Gulf safe.”

Governor Jindal closed on a note of optimism however.

“The best days are ahead of us,” he announced. “2011 will be a better year than 2010.”

Jindal also made some predictions:

• 1- The Saints will win the Superbowl
• 2- The Tigers will get a national championship
• 3- “Louisiana will continue to out perform the national and southern economies.”

Chairman Ford
“Opportunity.”

“If that doesn’t describe Plaquemines Parish, then I don’t know what does,” said 2011 PABI Chairman Mike Ford.

With a high attendance from local parish officials, Ford acknowledged a somewhat competitive relationship between the business organization and some elected officials.

“That changes,” he said. “We’re going to be a united front. We want to settle the differences here and be in Baton Rouge together.”

Now representing 212 member companies and thousands of jobs for PABI, Ford said he has several goals in 2011.

Members must visit local civic organizations and the military to really get the word out on what PABI offers, he said. A catalogue of services is one of these ways to encourage membership networking and the general use of PABI member businesses.

Ford also said PABI will be turning its eye on the port.

“It would be ashamed to let a great asset sit there and not develop just because of politics,” he said.

He wants PABI to really study the Wal-mart shopping center recently proposed in Belle Chasse. To date, the PABI board as neither officially endorsed nor criticized the project.

Another project will be to encourage the construction of the Plaquemines Parish Medical Center in Port Sulphur.

Ford left the audience with a thought from President Ronald Reagan: “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”