RSS Feed

From the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office:

In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 30, 2021, several car burglaries were reported in the Patterson area. Through the investigation, the suspect you see in these images was captured on several surveillance videos in the area.
.
The suspect is possibly a white male, thin build, wearing a white or light-colored "National Geographic" hoodie with a black shape on the back. The suspect vehicle was a pickup truck possibly grey in color. The suspect is a person of interest in not only the Patterson burglaries but in other burglaries committed in nearby areas the same night.
.
If you recognize this person or have information (or surveillance camera images) that would help us to identify this person, please contact us here on facebook, or by sending a crime tip on our website at www.stmaryso.com. You can remain anonymous.

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have dear friends, one of whom has been diagnosed with untreatable cancer. The doctors told him to go home and maximize his quality of life. The first step he took was to completely cut us out.
We had been friends for years. They watched the big football games with us at our house. When he was diagnosed, I was the first person outside of his family he called. They stood up with us when we renewed our vows. I have cut cords of firewood for them. We traveled together.
Recently, the wife posted on Facebook that when undergoing trials you find out who your friends really are. We have been tossed aside like worn-out shoes.
My question is, when he passes, if we learn about it, would it be appropriate to attend the funeral to say goodbye to this man we dearly love and offer our condolences to the widow?
ALREADY BEREAVED IN KANSAS

DEAR ALREADY BEREAVED: Everyone reacts differently after receiving a diagnosis like the one your friend received. Some people reach out for support, but a sizable number do the opposite. They “circle the wagons,” which may be what this man has done.
It would be interesting to know if his wife was aware of the message you were given, because from what she posted, she may not have been. I think it is time to reach out to her privately and ask her how you can be supportive — if only to her. And yes, when he passes you should pay your respects and offer condolences. Funerals are for the living.

DEAR ABBY: For the past few months I’ve been seeing a gentleman in his late 50s who lost his last girlfriend, “Vera,” in a tragic accident. Her death was less than a year ago and he is still grieving, which I respect and am not uncomfortable with. My beau has low self-esteem. He thinks the relationship he had with Vera made him a better person, and that without her he will be less so.
I understand his sorrow and that he needs more time to sort through his feelings but, if things work out with us, and we continue to see each other, I want to know how I can also make him feel like I’m helping him be a better person. He says it was “just the relationship they had” and that he doesn’t know how to put it into words.
I don’t want to replace Vera or copy her, but I do wish I could understand what she did to help him believe positive things about himself.
NEW GIRLFRIEND IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

DEAR GIRLFRIEND: In order to understand that, it would be helpful to see if he can explain the reason for his low self-esteem. Was it hypercritical parents? Difficulty fitting in with peers that started when he was in school? Not receiving enough positive feedback in his youth?
Once you gain more insight, you may be able to find the answers you are looking for. Both partners in a relationship should use whatever attributes they have to make EACH OTHER feel positive. However, please recognize it should not be your responsibility to prop him up on a continuing basis.
***
For everything you need to know about wedding planning, order “How to Have a Lovely Wedding.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby, Wedding Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

One of the Louisiana Legislature’s most powerful members wants to make simplifying the state’s tax system a priority for this year’s session and beyond.

“I’ve got three years to get this across the finish line,” said Sen. Bret Allain, who chairs his chamber's Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.

Allain has reached his term limit in the Senate and cannot run for his current office again.

Jim Patterson with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry hosted a conversation with Allain that was posted online. Allain said Louisiana could create more jobs if the state’s tax structure was “simpler and more predictable.”

The current system, in which high rates are offset by a long list of rebates, exemptions and deductions, leads to poor ratings from organizations such as the Tax Foundation and the Council on State Taxation and helps scare away investment, Allain said.

“We charge taxes on people and in some cases give the money back,” he said, naming the business inventory tax that most states don’t charge as an example. “We get scored very poorly for charging tax on inventory to start with, but we get no credit as a state for giving the money back.”

Allain said his top priority is changing how the state handles personal and corporate income tax. Some House Republicans want to repeal state income taxes entirely, an idea that former Gov. Bobby Jindal floated but quickly abandoned when faced with opposition from legislators.

Allain has challenged representatives of the oil and gas industry to propose changes to how their industry is taxed. The industry has complained about the state’s high severance tax rate for oil but has pushed back against a proposal to lower that rate because it would involve higher taxes on natural gas.

While broadening the tax base by cutting out tax breaks while lowering the rates to raise the same amount of money often is popular in theory, it can be tricky politically because some people end up paying more. And it can be hard to predict how much money a new tax system will raise.

Allain said an overhaul might cost the state a little money in the short term but create benefits over time.

“We’re crunching the numbers as we speak,” he said. “I think there’s a way to thread the needle.”

Local former coaches who have worked with or coached against LSU’s new defensive coordinator have described him as a hard worker and are not surprised to see him in his current position.
Daronte Jones, who had one-year assistant coaching stints at Franklin and Jeanerette High schools, was hired as LSU’s defensive coordinator Tuesday.
He comes to the Tigers with plenty of experience at various college and professional stops in addition to his high school experience. Most recently, he served this past year as defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings.
He thanked LSU Coach Ed Orgeron and the administration in a release announcing his hiring.
“I am blessed and thankful to be part of the LSU family, community, and the strong traditions of this program,” he said in the LSU release. “Geaux Tigers.”
At Franklin High, he coached defensive backs during the 2003 season under then-head coach Jerry Martin.
“He was very good at getting his message across to the kids,” Martin said. “They responded real well to him. He’s probably the best defensive backs coach I’ve ever seen. He was very, very good with them, and he played defensive back in college.”
From that experience as a defensive back, Jones could pass the knowledge to the players, according to Martin.
That season, the Hornets won the district title.
“Daronte was a big reason for that, because it was very difficult to do anything defensively on us, especially on the secondary,” Martin said.
Ty Burdett, who served as defensive coordinator at West St. Mary, also had good things to say about Jones.
“I know that the kids that I’ve all talked to during that year, they loved him,” Burdett said. “He was good guy, well-liked by the team. He was a personal fella, open to conversation. He was just a real-good guy.”
After his stints at Franklin and Jeanerette, Jones took a job at Bowie State as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, worked as cornerbacks coach at UCLA, as defensive backs coach with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, served as secondary coach and later assistant head coach at the University of Hawaii, worked with former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda at the University of Wisconsin and then worked in the NFL ranks with the Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals and the Vikings, according to an LSU release.
“Daronte is a great addition to our staff,” Orgeron said in a news release. “We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of coaches, including Dave (Aranda), and every person we spoke with raved about his knowledge and passion for the game. He’s going to bring tremendous energy to our defense, and he will put our players in position to make plays, no matter the situation or scheme.”
Players and coaches were impressed with the job he did this past year with the Vikings, too, in a situation where they had four rookies in their defensive backfield and no offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent Minneapolis Star Tribune story.
“He’s been earning his money this year,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith told the paper in December. “He does a really good job of communicating exactly what we need to get done and things that we can expect while also not overloading the group with things that can bog you down.
“There can be a balance there based on just experience levels,” Smith added. “He’s been doing a great job of starting at the fundamentals and expanding from there and giving us enough information to grow without handicapping us.”
For students, Burdett and Martin said that the success of Jones shows what can be done with hard work.
“It gives kids that opportunity to see somebody work hard and move up, because coach always talked about where he wanted to be. He wanted to be a professional coach, and he did. He got to that level, and now, where he’s at making $1.3 million in a year, his contract, I know St. Mary Parish didn’t pay him that much,” Burdett laughed. “But yeah, if you work hard, build on your dreams and put the effort in, doors open up for you, and they did for him for sure.”