Vol. 30

No. 23

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Section PageAnniversaries 1DAudibel 6DCrossword 4DClassifieds 6CEditorial 4AGeorgia Talbot 2DHome and Garden 2DReal Estate 1CRheta Johnson 4DSenior Menu 4DSports 1BTV listings 4DWeather 4D

INDEX

hammondstar.com

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SUNDAYAugust 10, 2014

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NEW ORLEANS — Doctors said a shark bit a 7-year-old New Orleans boy swimming with his family in Lake Pontchartrain on Friday afternoon.

Shelly Trentacosta said her family was swimming and sail-ing in the lake when her son,

Trent, began screaming and they found his foot was covered with blood.

Doctors who treated wounds to his heel and big toe later said he had been bitten by a shark.

After viewing photos of the wounds, University of New Or-leans shark expert Mitchell Che-

valier agreed.Many boaters, including lo-

cals from Tangipahoa, enjoy Lake Pontchartrain and may be unaware of the presence of sharks, but Chevalier said there are plenty in the brackish water at certain times of the year. Che-valier tags sharks for UNO and

the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration. That includes bull sharks, which are among the world�s man-eaters.

The boy is expected to fully re-cover, his mother said.

He�s unable to walk on his

Shark bites boy in lake

Associated Press

Youth expected to recover from injury to foot

The secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veteran�s Affairs will be in Ponchatoula Tuesday to discuss the VA health care system.

The meeting will be at the Ponchatoula Community Cen-ter on Range Road, starting at 2 p.m., and will give veterans an opportunity to share experienc-es they�ve had with the system, including VA clinics, hospitals and mental health services.

State Secretary David LaCerte said all VA medical centers are being required to host one town hall meeting in their communi-ties before the end of September.

Tangipahoa Parish Council-man Louis Joseph, a Vietnam War veteran, plans to attend. He invites all the veterans to come out, no matter their age or when they served.

Joseph said he�s interested in the VA outsourcing some ser-vices.

�Instead of going to a VA facil-ity for health care, maybe veter-ans can go to the nearest doc-tor�s ofÞ ce or hospital,� he said. �I know there is a movement to allow veterans who cannot go to clinic to private hospital to do that.�

Despite recent anger at the federal VA, Joseph said he thinks the VA and the federal government are trying hard to correct the problems. Joseph said he has recently spoken with numerous veterans and they

Veteransinvited toforum onVA care

BY JACOB RESTER

crime@hammondstar.com

Please see VETERANS | 3A

The scratching of pen on paper was audible as writers and readers took notes during the keynote address of the Þ fth annual Berries, Bridges and Books Writer�s Conference held at Woodland Park Baptist Church early Saturday.

Erica Spindler, a New York Times bestselling romance/ suspense writer, advised the more than 50 attendees on traditional versus self-publishing, how to access and abide �the dark gift� of book ideas, and how to kill your char-acters without scaring your friends and family.

�The best thing you can do is to focus on writ-ing the most awesome novel you can,� she said. �Love what you write about. Just because vam-pires are really big right now doesn�t mean you should write vampires.�

Spindler said the publishing industry is quite

WRITE GAME

BY SARAH WILSON

reporter@hammondstar.com

Southern authors, aspiring writerscome together at annual conference

Photos by Sarah Wilson

BOOK LOVE - New York Times best-selling romance/suspense author Erica Spindler delivers the keynote address at the fifth annual Berries, Bridges and Books Writer’s Conference held at Wood-land Park Baptist Church early Saturday.

PIC SNAP - Jan Herrington takes a photo of her friend, Rachel Sharpe, with author Erica Spindler. Sharpe, of Covington, said she recently got a book deal and came to the writer’s conference to make local connections.Please see CONFERENCE | 3A

The local United Way will launch its 2014 campaign and Children�s 90-Day Challenge on Friday at the Louisiana Children�s Discovery Center during Hot August Night, Executive Director Donna Bliss announces today.

Activities will begin at 6 p.m. in front

of the center, 113 N. Cypress St., Ham-mond, and will include comments and information from city Grants Adminis-trator Lacy Landrum, lifetime United Way Leadership Council member Vic

United Way drive starts Friday

Please see CAMPAIGN | 2A

Please see SHARK | 3A

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