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Sheriff Blaise Smith advises the public of a missing juvenile from Amelia, Glendy Marisol Geless.
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**Glendy Marisol Geless, 15 years old.
**Last seen this morning (March 16, 2021) at the bus stop located at the intersection of Barrow St. and Calhoun St.
**Clothing: white collared shirt, tan school pants, black belt, blue backpack, white shoes.
**She is NOT believed to be in imminent danger at this time.
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If you have information on the location of Glendy Marisol Geless, please contact the SMPSO at 337-828-1960.

St. Joseph’s Day, albeit in a scaled-down celebration, will be observed Friday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Patterson.
The Rev. Herb Bennerfield said the annual March 19 celebration was canceled a year ago because of COVID-19. However, the church left the traditional St. Joseph’s Altar and any items that it could for the past year awaiting Friday’s celebration.
While this year’s celebration will be tempered — the normal spaghetti dinner still won’t be held because of the COVID-19 pandemic — Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. in the church by Diocese of Lafayette Bishop Douglas Deshotel. Deshotel will bless the altar following Mass.
While the St. Joseph Altar is a longtime Sicilian tradition and Patterson and Morgan City have many residents of Sicilian descent, Bennerfield said the Patterson church didn’t have an altar for nearly 15 years prior to his arrival. Bennerfield said he talked with the late Frank Guarisco about having one when Bennerfield began leading the church.
“That was all I said to him,” Bennerfield said. “The man was just phenomenal.”
Since 2014, St. Joseph Altar celebrations have taken place at the church.
“It’s like a daylong party sort of to honor our patron saint, and again, it has a Sicilian heritage behind it,” Bennerfield said.
The tradition is a big celebration in Italy, especially Sicily, according to Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte’s website, yearofstjoseph.org. St. Joseph is considered Sicily’s patron saint, and the St. Joseph’s Tables began there.
According to the yearofstjoseph.org, St. Joseph is credited, as per legend, of helping end a drought in the Middle Ages. After the citizens prayed to him, asking for assistance, rain later came. In appreciation, a table with certain foods was prepared to celebrate him, and the food was shared with those less fortunate. The tradition continued from there.
While it’s a Catholic tradition, Bennerfield said those of other denominations have joined in the festivities.
“Everybody likes to be honorary Sicilian on St. Joseph’s Day,” he said.
St. Joseph also holds a special place for both the Diocese of Lafayette and the international church. Deshotel declared a Holy Year of St. Joseph beginning March 19, 2020, while Pope Francis declared it the Holy Year of St. Joseph worldwide in the church, beginning Dec. 8.
Bennerfield said 2020 marked the 150th anniversary that St. Joseph was declared “the patron saint of the Universal Church” by Pope Pius IX in 1870. While Bennerfield said Joseph had been a saint for a few thousand years, this title of “the patron saint of the Universal Church” meant he watched over the church and prayed to God for the Church.
March 19 is more than St. Joseph’s Day in Italy. It’s also Father’s Day, according to the yearofstjoseph.org. Joseph served that role, too, as he was the foster father of Jesus.
While St. Joseph Catholic Church in Patterson could not keep the food out, it kept what it could on the altar during the past year. There are other items on it, such as candles and flowers.
“We have all sorts of religious objects on it, little statues of St. Joseph,” he said. “Things like that. Holy pictures.”

Gov. John Bel Edwards will propose using portions of Louisiana’s share of the $350 billion in government aid called for in the American Rescue Plan Act to pay for infrastructure improvements, promote tourism and replenish the fund that pays for state unemployment benefits, his top budget official said Monday.
Louisiana’s share of the aid is expected to be almost $5.2 billion, including about $3.2 billion to state government, not counting $180 million reserved for construction projects. The rest will go to local governments.  
Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said the federal government has not issued the rules governing how the money can be spent. He said administration officials just had their first discussion about how to do so Monday morning. The Louisiana Legislature would have to approve a bill to spend the money, and Edwards has not begun to meet with legislative leaders about his proposal, Dardenne said.
So the administration’s plan is a work in progress, but putting “hundreds of millions of dollars” into the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, as Dardenne put it, is one priority Edwards shares with many legislators.  
The fund, which had a balance of more than $1 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic, has been tapped out by unprecedented demand, forcing state officials to borrow money from the federal government to pay legally required benefits. The Legislature suspended laws last year that otherwise call for tax increases on businesses and reduced benefits for unemployed workers when the fund balance gets low.
Responding to the pandemic and replacing lost government revenue are two of the allowed uses of the state’s allocation, and Dardenne said replenishing the fund falls into both categories. States also can use the money to pay for water, sewer and broadband infrastructure, and the administration plans to propose spending a “significant amount of money in those areas,” Dardenne said.  
Tourism also will be a focus, Dardenne said, noting that local tourism boards and major assets such as the Superdome, which the state owns, have seen steep revenue declines. As the pandemic lifts and people begin traveling again, Dardenne wants Louisiana to benefit from the pent-up demand, he said.
A dozen cities in Louisiana are receiving allocations directly from the federal government, Dardenne said. Those cities are Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Bossier City, Houma, Kenner, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, Shreveport, Slidell and Thibodaux.
Dardenne expects parishes also will be getting money directly from the federal government, but the state likely will be responsible to distributing money to smaller municipalities.
Dardenne expects to release the administration’s plan before the legislative session begins April 12. He expects official federal guidance to be available soon, noting the first half of the state allocation is supposed to be made within 60 days.
“The real trick in proper utilization of these dollars is going to be to make certain that there’s a meshing of the various sources of funding that’s available,” he said.
Jim Patterson with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry said he would like to see enough of the federal money put into the unemployment fund to at least cover the state’s debt to the federal government, which is anticipated to be between $180 million and $200 million. He said an additional $400 million to $500 million would keep taxes and benefits at their current level under the laws that were suspended last year.
There also will be calls to increase unemployment benefits for workers and improve the distribution system that has been severely tested by the high demand. Louisiana’s maximum weekly benefit (not counting federal pandemic relief) is $247 per week, which is the second-lowest payout in the nation.
“But the rush to refill the trust fund obscures bigger problems with the state’s unemployment system, which pays paltry benefits and erects too many barriers for people who’ve lost their job through no fault of their own,” the Louisiana Budget Project, which advocates for policies it believes will benefit low- and middle-income residents, said in response to business leaders’ calls for “bailing out” the fund.

Berwick is off to a 7-1 start this season to lead Tri-City area baseball teams.
Most recently, the Panthers won their third straight with an 11-1 victory at Central Lafourche Tuesday.
Berwick, ranked No. 4 in the latest Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 3A power rankings, started the season with a four-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory at home against Vandebilt Catholic and three straight victories in Morgan City’s tournament. Berwick defeated Morgan City 14-4, topped Lusher Charter 10-0 and defeated East St. John 11-1 at the tournament.
After Berwick’s lone loss, a 4-1 defeat to Covenant Christian last week on the first day of Berwick’s tournament, the Panthers have re-sponded with three straight victories. The Panthers concluded the tournament with two victories as they defeated Terrebonne 3-2 and routed Central Catholic 11-1 before Tuesday’s victory.
Berwick will continue action this weekend in Central Catholic’s tournament.
Central Catholic
Central Catholic snapped a three-game losing streak with an 11-0 victory at home against Westgate Tuesday.
The Eagles, who are 6-3 this season and ranked No. 12 in the latest Louisiana High School Athletic Association Division IV power rankings, won their first four games of the season before dropping three straight.
Central Catholic opened the season with a 4-3 victory at E.D. White before three straight victories in Morgan City’s tournament. Central Catholic defeated Patterson 8-0, topped East St. John 9-5 and was victorious against Morgan City 17-0.
The Eagles then dropped three straight in Berwick’s tournament this past week, falling to Terrebonne 3-2 before back-to-back 11-1 losses to New Iberia and Ber-wick 11-1.
Central Catholic will continue play in its tournament this weekend.
Patterson
The Patterson Lumberjacks have started the season with a 6-4 record.
The squad, ranked No. 17 in the latest Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 3A power rankings, had its two-game winning streak snapped with an 11-5 loss to New Iberia on the road Monday.
However, the squad bounced back a day later with a 15-0 victory against Franklin on the road.
Patterson began its season with a 10-0 victory against John Ehret at home before going 2-1 at Morgan City’s tournament. Patterson fell to Central Catholic 8-0, defeated Morgan City 11-0 and was victorious against Lusher Charter by a 19-6 count at the event.
Patterson fell to Assumption, 4-1, on the road last week before winning two of three at its tournament to conclude the week. After falling to Thibodaux 3-2 Thursday, Patterson defeated East Iberville 14-0 Friday and Episcopal of Acadiana 5-2 Saturday to close the event.
Patterson will return to action at Central Catholic’s tournament this week.
Morgan City
It’s been a tough sea-son so for the Morgan City Tigers.
While the Tigers are ranked No. 37 in the latest Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class 4A power rankings, the squad is 0-9. Most recently, Morgan City fell to Thibodaux 18-0 in the first day of Central Catholic’s tournament Thursday. The squad fell at home to Comeaux 19-4 Monday.
Last week at Berwick’s tournament, Morgan City fell to New Iberia 15-1, dropped a 10-0 contest to Terrebonne and lost 12-0 to Covenant Christian Academy.
Morgan City also participated in its own tournament earlier this season.
This season, the Tigers have played Terrebonne twice and also Berwick, Patterson and Central Catholic.
Morgan City will continue play this weekend in Central Catholic’s tournament.