Part 6 of 6: Have the courage
The courthouse lights went out.
Not because a hurricane had knocked down the power lines. Because Tangipahoa Parish couldn’t pay the bill.
By the late 1980s, parish government was six months behind on its electricity payments. The sheriff brought a generator into the courthouse parking lot.
Outside, residents didn’t need an accountant to explain the parish’s financial trouble. They drove through it.
R…