Paul Denova does not typically take longvacations or much time off of work. But after a near-fatal carcrash on the eve of Mardi Gras last February, Denova was forced totake a break from trimming, grooming and shaving dailycustomers.
    After a six-month hiatus, the55-year-old LSU Union Barbershop barber has returned to duty.
    ”You’re minding your own business, goinghome, and boom, you’re hit,” Denova said.
    Denova said he was driving home towardDenham Springs, La. when a drunk driver began swerving in and outof traffic on Florida Boulevard. The driver then entered Denova’slane and hit him head-on.
    ”My femur went through my pelvis,”Denova said with a casual smirk.
    Denova suffered major injuries to hiship and elbow. He also broke his nose and four ribs from the airbaginflating.
    Underneath a white terry-cloth sweatband, Denova’s reconstructed elbow, held together with 10 screwsand a metal plate, still bears scars of the traumaticexperience.
    ”I have 80 percent use of my left arm,”Denova said. “And I’m left handed.”
    As Denova stretched out his arms, hedemonstrated the lack of flexibility in his arm, showing how itwould not fully extend or bend.
    Denova said he was in a wheelchair forthree months before he began learning to walk again.
    ”I sure feel sorry for guys now inwheelchairs,” Denova told one of his regular customers Wednesdayafternoon in the Union.
    Denova said the 45-year-old driver, whocoincidentally attended the same high school as Denova, was notarrested, even though Denova said it was his third or fourthDWI.
    ”He wrote me a letter saying he wassorry and he wished he could take it back,” Denova said.
    But Denova said he wishes the man wouldhave had the courage to apologize to his face.
    Despite his injuries, theself-proclaimed “man stuck in the 60s,” with a long braided strandof hair, said he is feeling good and back to his old ways.
    Fellow barber John Cantu jokingly saidhe still has to keep an eye on him.
    And one of Denova’s regular clients saidhe still is “quick as a cat.”