Mayor Donna Lanceslin is not giving up on Baldwin

By JANELL PARFAIT
The St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon at The Forest in Franklin on Wednesday for the parish mayors to give local updates from their respective communities.
Mayor Donna Lancelin of Baldwin was the first leader to speak.
“We have things going on, conferred from what you may have heard on television or what you may have read in the newspaper,” Lanceslin said. “There’s no way that Baldwin is filing for bankruptcy.”
According to Lanceslin, the town received financial assistance from state Sen. Bret Allain, State Rep. Sam Jones and St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff.
“They’ve given us a grant to help beautify the boulevard that you see on highway 83,” she said.
The local chapter of the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha helped clean the town park in preparation for the parish’s upcoming recreational baseball season.
West St. Mary High School’s basketball team managed to play in the state championship, which concluded in March, she added.
“West St. Mary has been here for 17 years, and we have never gone to state (championship) with our basketball team,” Lanceslin continued. “And that was something for Baldwin that lifted the spirit of the community together.”
“Whatever it is we’re doing in the town of Baldwin, we’re doing it especially for the children,” she said.
A summer enrichment program will soon take place at Raintree Elementary School. The program will help students prepare for standardize testing.
“But we are still trying to do our best with what we have,” Lanceslin said. “We’re not putting the blame on anybody or anything like that, because it’s my job; and I took the job saying that I’m going to do the best that I can for the town of Baldwin. Whether I have money or not, I’m going to try to do my best.”