Louisiana Political News Service

TOWN TALK
By Tom Bonnette
(excerpt)

Avoyelles Parish Police Jury President Henry Hines was arrested early Sunday morning outside of the Bailey Hotel in Bunkie after an alleged argument with a hotel employee.

"He didn't want to drive and was waiting on a ride, and they had a few words," Bunkie Police Chief Mary Fanara said Wednesday.

Fanara said Hines, 39, was waiting on the ride after leaving a party at around 4 a.m. and was told by the employee the restaurant was closing. According to police reports, the employee said Hines told her, "What if I don't want to leave, what are you going to do to me?" and told her that her problem was that she "needed to get some."

According to police reports, Hines then alledgedly called the employee a "bitch" and said "Your problem is that you haven't had any lately."

Hines allegedly grabbed the employee when she tried to call the police, the records state, but then allowed her to call. Hines left the hotel after the telephone call was made, police said.

Hines did not cooperate after police arrived and was arrested for disturbing the peace, simple battery and resisting an officer, police said.

Police took Hines to the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office, where he was jailed and later released on $2,500 bail.

Hines, the son of state Senate President Don Hines, was re-elected to his third term as Police Jury president in January 2005.

Hines was detained by police the night after his election on suspicion he was intoxicated after an accident in the parking lot of The Tiger Club on Main Street in Bunkie. He was not given a sobriety test because the accident happened in a private parking lot.