"Bloody Tangipahoa" veteran recalls wild times, Bad Boys  Bryan
McMahon By Bryan McMahon on March 06, 2009 at 10:39 AM, updated
March 06, 2009 at 10:51 AM  Milton Blount has seen some of the
wildest of what Tangipahoa Parish has to offer, and now in his
seventh decade of life, and after close to three decades knowing
the Times reporter, he said he is ready to tell him at least
some of his story, on the record.  Milton Blount  The era of
"Bloody Tangipahoa" extended into the late 1960's and '70's,
continuing an era of violence best documented by Southeastern
Louisiana University history professor Dr. Sam Hyde in his book
on this area entitled "Pistols and Politics."  It is an era
Ponchatoula's Milton Avery "Budgie" Blount remembers well.  Now
72 but still built rock hard, he says with assurance "I'll whip
any 25-year-old who wants to fight."  Blount is related to the
first governor of Tennessee William Blount, so his American
roots run deep. His grandmother was a Cherokee, married to Avery
Blount, the grandfat