RSS Feed

On August 1st, 2021, a bittersweet day that will forever be ingrained in our hearts as the day Shirley Paul Bailey, age 92 returned home to his Heavenly Father.
Shirley Paul Bailey was born on September 07, 1928. He was a native of Four Mile Bayou, Louisiana and a longtime resident of Amelia, LA., where he established his family and business. He was the brother to Ervin, Ory, Floyd, EJ Bailey and Hilda Bailey Duval, who preceded his death. and is survived by his sister Barbara Bailey Gaudet of Amelia, Louisiana. Dad was the husband to Clara Ann Bailey, who also returned home to heaven on May 4, 2020. Together they had seven children Randy Bailey (Christine), Wayne Bailey, Aline Bailey Rentrop (James, Sr.), Phillip Bailey(deceased), Melissa Bailey, Eric Bailey and Karen Bailey Brown (Eric). Shirley was a grandpa to Tiffany Bailey, Danielle Bailey Sansone, Damon Bailey, James Rentrop Jr., Jenna Rentro-Farragaut, Cody Powell, Carissa Powell Eldridge and Cheyenne Bailey, as well as a great grandfather.
In 1954 at the young age of 26, Dad, along with the dedication of his wife Clara, established a grocery store in Amelia Louisiana, calling it Bailey’s Lakeview Grocery. After countless days of working on a shrimp boat & as a commercial fisherman, he was able to open a 12 × 12 grocery store which later grew into the building that still stands today. Despite the odds of not even having a high school education, he proved that whatever your heart desire, it can be obtained through hard work, dedication and persistence. He was a wise businessman who built and maintained a profitable business establishment for more than 60 years which afforded security for his family. The store was his livelihood, his purpose and the reason he got out of bed in the morning. Dad loved his customers and loved hearing the latest news around town. He enjoyed times in the store behind the counter where he sat with friends and family laughing and talking about life events. Dad would help many people throughout his lifetime. He believed in working for what you want in life, because through this comes appreciation & character. This was one of the many valuable lessons that Dad taught us. He was adored, admired, loved, liked and disliked by a few, but he was authentic, what you see is what you get. So today, let’s celebrate a lifelong lived and hold near and dear the memories of Dad that brings us tears of joy and rest assured that his soul is eternally in heaven with all the loved ones who left before him
Today is all that’s promised. We can only change the present. Until the day I see my dad again, I will hold on to all the memories we shared. I was privileged to be the one by his side looking after him, caring, loving him and assuring him that he was not alone. Dad loved the best way he knew how, and one thing is for sure he was always there when we needed him. Let’s take comfort in knowing that he is now resting in peace with the Angel’s and Our father Above.
Please join us as we come together to celebrate the Life and Legacy of Shirley Paul Bailey. Graveside services are scheduled for Tuesday, August 10, 2021, at 12:00 PM, St. Andrew Cemetery in Amelia, Louisiana.

Michael Wayne Besse
Michael Wayne Besse, 67, a native of Morgan City, LA and resident of Berwick, Louisiana, passed away Aug. 4, 2021.
Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Dewanna Besse, his son Chad Besse and wife Holly, his daughter, Danielle Businelle and husband Anthony, and for granddaughters Zoey, Charlotte, Kaylee, and Catherine. He was preceded death by his parents, Stella and Eugene Besse, one sister, Rae Ann Haase and in-laws, O’Reese and David Lutnick. His grandparents, Eugene C. Besse and Andrea Besse and Elphege and Lavinia Solar.
A memorial service will be held at a later date to be determined by the family. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to help defray medical and funeral costs.
Samart Funeral Home of Houma, LLC is in charge of arrangements.

(Editor’s note: The charges listed here and the narratives that go with them are provided by the police agencies that made the arrests. Guilt or innocence has not been determined in court.)

An Amelia man faces a methamphetamine possession charge after a traffic stop Wednesday, according to arrest reports.

Assumption
Sheriff Leland Falcon reported these arrests:
—Christopher J. Adams, 47, Lake Polourde Road, Amelia, was arrested Wednesday on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia (third-offense penalty), driving on a roadway laned for traffic and proper equipment required on vehicles.
A uniformed patrol deputy observed a vehicle commit a traffic violation near La. 662 and U.S. 90 and initiated a stop of that vehicle.
The deputy made contact with the driver, now identified as Adams.
The deputy noted behavior consistent with illegal drug activity and decided additional investigation was warranted. The deputy requested consent to search the vehicle and during that process, a quantity of methamphetamine and assorted drug paraphernalia was seized.
Adams was arrested and booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center with bond set at $45,000.
—Charles Joseph Barbier, 39, Cypress Street, Belle River, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, illegal carrying of weapons in the presence of controlled dangerous substances, possession of drug paraphernalia, use of multiple beam road lighting equipment, expired motor vehicle inspection tag and driving on roadway laned for traffic.
The deputy observed a vehicle commit a traffic violation Thursday on La. 70 near Pierre Part and initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle.
The deputy made contact with the driver, now identified as Barbier and conducted an interview.
At some point, Barbier began to display hostility toward the deputy. Due to conditions at the time and the actions of the driver, the deputy requested consent to search the vehicle/ which was denied.
The deputy requested assistance from a K-9 unit. The K-9 conducted an open-air sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of illegal narcotics. A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of suspected methamphetamine and a handgun.
Barbier was arrested and booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
— Jesus Uriel Diaz-Lopez, 20, Rayne Court, Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested Thursday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.
A uniformed patrol deputy observed a vehicle Thursday evening on the shoulder of La. 398 with its emergency flashers activated. The deputy made contact with the occupant of the vehicle, now identified as Jesus Uriel Diaz-Lopez and inquired to determine if he was in need of assistance.
The deputy noted conditions consistent with illegal drug activity and investigated further. At some point, the deputy conducted a pat-down search of the subject and located a quantity of suspected methamphetamine in his pocket.
Diaz-Lopez was arrested and booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending a bond hearing.

St. Mary
Sheriff Blaise Smith advised on Aug. 6 that over a 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 39 complaints and reported this arrest:
—Nicholas Francis Jr., 18, Berwick, was arrested at 3:28 p.m. Thursday on a warrant alleging aggravated assault with a firearm. Francis was released on a $7,000 bond.

St. Martin
Sheriff Becket Breaux reported this arrest:
—Beau Latiolais, 38, Grand Anse Highway, Breaux Bridge, was arrested Thursday on a charge of simple domstic abuse battery.

BATON ROUGE—LSU professors pleaded with the Board of Supervisors and upper administration Friday to allow faculty to teach remotely or at lower classroom capacity in the fall as COVID-19 spreads rapidly and strains hospitals in Louisiana.
President William Tate did not directly respond to any professors’ concerns. He said the university intends to mandate the vaccine once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants final approval.
The tension comes amid a fight between LSU administration and faculty over mandatory COVID vaccines. Although LSU has maintained that requiring vaccines presented legal challenges, Louisiana colleges need only Louisiana Department of Health approval to mandate them.
Professors are switching their focus to convincing the university to return to previous COVID-19 protocols that would allow them to teach their classes away from campus, where only around 26% of students have reported being vaccinated.
The 2021 COVID-19 protocols that LSU released Wednesday did not include a vaccine mandate or say what the school would do when the FDA start providing full approvals. News reports say that could come as soon as Labor Day for the Pfizer vaccine.
LSU’s protocols also include temporary online options only for the fewer than 5% of classes with over 100 students. They also state that unvaccinated students will be tested monthly throughout the semester.
Professors must file a request and be accepted under the federal disabilities act to teach their classes remotely in the fall.
Rosemary Peters, an associate professor of French, told the board that her 5-year-old son is immunocompromised and cannot be vaccinated.
“If I teach in person, I put him at risk,” she said.
Psychology professor Jeanne Donaldson said LSU administrators are putting students and faculty at risk by forcing professors to cram into classrooms.
“There’s no room for social distancing. It’s not safe,” she said.
History professor Meredith Veldman held up the front page of The Advocate from Friday morning showing stories about Baton Rouge hospitals being strained.
“We call on President Tate to honor his promise and follow the science,” Veldman said. “It’s unconscionable to ask faculty, staff and students to return to campus under current conditions.”
Physics professor Ravi Rau said LSU should not be deterred to mandate the vaccine by legal threats from “the ignorant attorney general,” Republican Jeff Landry. Rau wrote a letter to the Reveille last week criticizing the university’s reasoning behind not mandating the vaccine.
No members of the Board of Supervisors said anything during the meeting in response to the faculty appeals.
Hospitals across Louisiana are reaching a breaking point as the delta variant spreads, increasing the probability that some people may be denied care, according to The Advocate.
Cases will likely continue increasing as the fall semester begins, potentially peaking around mid-September, according to the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, created by scientists who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Classes start on Aug. 23, and the FDA has said that it is aiming to give full approval to the Pfizer vaccine by Labor Day.
Tate also did not say how long students will have to get vaccinated once it is mandated or how long the process will take given that more than 20,000 of the 35,000 students expected on the Baton Rouge campus might still need vaccines at that point.
The nine universities in the University of Louisiana System, which have 95,000 students, are taking a similar approach.