By Ken Grissom

t_news@bellsouth.net

BATON ROUGE – The state Bond Commission at its March meeting approved the sale of $4.2 million in GO Zone bonds for a public-private tourism venture on the St. Martin Parish side of the Atchafalaya Basin.

The private capital will be matched two-to-one with funding made available through the federal stimulus package.

According to plans published on the state Facilities Planning Web site, the nearly $13 million project will include cabins, a swimming pool, volleyball courts and its own landing on the West Protection Levee near Coteau Holmes.

“This is a one-time deal,” said John Bouvillion with the State Land Office, public partner in the project. “Nothing like it has ever been done before, and frankly, we’re pretty excited about it.”

The private partner in the venture is Where the Sun Shines Resorts, Inc., of Roselawn, Ind.

“We expect to draw natourists from all over the world,” said Barry Trigg, the company’s president. “We are affiliated with the International Federation of Nature Resorts, which has a worldwide membership of over 700.”

A “natourist,” Trigg explained, is both a naturist and a tourist, like an “ecotourist” but without clothes.

Asked whether he was concerned about mosquitoes, Trigg replied that local officials have promised an aggressive aerial spraying program during the warm months.

Neither Parish President Guy Cormier nor Parish Councilman Lloyd “Red” Higginbotham, in whose district the resort will be located, were available for comment.

Historian-journalist Jim Bradshaw said the project does have some precedent in the area.

“It’s a little-remembered – or maybe a little-admitted – fact that there was a large nudist colony at Cecilia before the Great Flood of 1927,” he said.

“I believe most of them relocated to Austin, Texas,” Bradshaw said.

The facts and circumstances surrounding this issue expire after midnight on April 2, 2009.