One of the justices of the peace preparing to testify before the Louisiana House Judiciary committee absently rearranged the colored cards indicating who is for a bill (green), who is against (red) and who would just provide information. By the time state Rep. Joseph A. Stagni, R-Kenner, sat down with a bag full of cannoli from Gendusa’s Italian Market in Kenner, the cards were arranged side-by-side: green-white-red, the Italian flag.

House Bill 173 provides for the appointment of an ad hoc justices of the peace within in the same parish. Stagni (means pond or lake in Italian) noted that he and the two witnesses brought to testify – Jefferson Parish Justices of the Peace Charles Cusimano II and Kevin J. Centanni – were Italian.