It's Happening!!! The St. George trial started Monday, May 2. Media stopped covering 5/10.

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An organizer of the voter-approved effort to incorporate St. George testified Monday that race and income played no part in the carving out of the boundaries of the proposed majority-White city. But an attorney for the city-parish challenged Chris Rials on that point, noting that the predominately-Black and low income Gardere area was originally included in the proposed St. George boundaries during a 2014 incorporation attempt but excluded from the proposed city that voters backed in 2019. The proposed city is middle- to upper-middle-class.

Rials, the vice chairman of the petition that drove the 2019 election where 54% of the voters living within the proposed boundaries of the city voted in favor of its incorporation, explained that Gardere was removed from the boundaries because only 1 in 20 voters in that area signed the 2014 petition. Gardere, he said, was excluded due to "lack of participation" in the 2014 process. The signatures of 25% of the registered voters in the proposed city were needed before the matter could be put before voters, he added. "We never looked at race. We didn't look at income," Rials said while being questioned by Brett Furr, a lawyer for East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and Metro Council Pro Tem LaMont Cole, who have sued to stop the new city's establishment. The trial of that lawsuit kicked off Monday in the 19th Judicial District Court and is expected to last at least a week.

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"Baton Rouge, like many cities, isn't without challenges. We've got our problems. But the evidence will show that the creation of St. George isn't the answer. In fact, it will make things worse," Furr told the judge.

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Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul testified that, after St. George's creation was approved by voters, the city-parish asked all department heads to prepare two budgets: a standstill budget and one contemplating a 20% budget cut. Such a cut, he said, would have a "significantly detrimental impact" on the police department's ability to do its job and would force layoffs.

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A local Fortune 500 business owner who staunchly opposes St. George becoming East Baton Rouge Parish's fifth municipality told a judge Tuesday he believes the creation of a new city will have negative financial and social impacts on Baton Rouge.

John Engquist, who also is a developer, opted last year for H&E Equipment Services to be annexed into the city of Baton Rouge rather than remain within the proposed boundaries of the city of St. George. At the time, Engquist threatened to pack up his publicly-traded company and move out of state should the firm and his nearby planned Materra residential development be forced to remain in St. George.

Engquist testified that he believes the boundaries of the majority-White St. George were "racially motivated," a perception that he said harms his ability to recruit employees. "Perception becomes reality," he said.

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The mayor and Cole's attorneys will continue calling witnesses Wednesday. They have called at least 10 so far. The defense could call nearly three dozen witnesses.

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