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The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Marine Section answered four calls for assistance in August and carried out two search and rescue operations, Sheriff Blaise Smith said.
—7:14 a.m. Aug. 6, Taylor's Point
A detective with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a call from dispatch in reference to a stranded bass boat in the GA Cut. Dispatch further advised that a boater called stating he ran aground and needed assistance. The deputy made contact with the boater via cell phone and was provided with coordinates to the location.
The boater and a passenger were in the boat and sustained no injuries when the vessel ran aground. The deputy advised the boater that the Sheriff's Office would be responding and if his situation was to change to call back.
The deputy responded to the location given in SMB-2, a marked patrol vessel. Upon arrival, he observed both individuals standing near a bass type fishing vessel at Taylors Point. A towline was secured to the vessel and it was successfully towed off the sand bar. The is nothing further to report in this incident.
9:39 a.m. Aug. 8, Charenton Lake (Taylor's Point)
A deputy with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a call from dispatch advising of a stranded vessel in Charenton Lake. Dispatch further advised that a citizen called stating there was a stranded vessel near Taylors Point. The caller stated she and her husband had pulled a vessel off the sand bar near Tay-lors Point then the vessel ran aground again and this time they could not reach it.

Deputies responded in SMB-4 a marked patrol vessel. Upon arrival at the Charenton Beach Boat Launch, it was observed that a good Samaritan in a surface drive type vessel had towed the stricken vessel back to the boat launch. The deputies helped them trailer their vessel. There is nothing further to report.

3 p.m. Aug. 10, Atchafalaya River M/B 120
A deputy with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a SAR text from the United States Coast Guard in reference to a vessel adrift in the Atchafalaya River at Mile Board 120. The SAR text further stated the vessel seemed to have been recently occupied but no one was present on board. The deputy then advised dispatch and supervisors of the situation.
Two deputies responded in SMB-3, a marked patrol vessel. While en route, the deputies coordinated search efforts with the USCG and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Upon arrival at M/B 120, the deputies observed a 22-foot aluminum skiff with a Suzuki outboard and shrimp fishing gear tied alongside another vessel. The operator of the other vessel stated he found the vessel drifting at this location then stood by with it until we arrived.
The deputies learned who the vessel belonged to and contact was made with the man who positively identified the vessel as his. The deputies towed the vessel and secured it at the Berwick Boat Launch.

1:05 p.m. Aug. 20, Point Chute
Adeputy with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a call from dispatch advising of a disabled vessel in Bayou Long. Dispatch further advised that the boater called stating he was experiencing engine trouble and needed assistance. The deputy made contact with the boater via cell phone and was pro-vided with coordinates to his location and learned that he had his two sons with him.
Once their location was plotted it was determined that they were in St. Martin Parish. Dispatch was advised to contact the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office and relay the information and they were advised to call if they needed assistance. Moments later, the St. Martin SO responded that they had a deputy in route. Sometime later, the St. Martin Sheriff’ called back advised that they needed St. Mary's assistance.
The deputy responded in SMB-4, a marked patrol vessel. Upon arrival, one adult and two juveniles were ob-served seated in a vessel at the coordinates given. A towline was secured to his vessel and the boaters board-ed the patrol vessel after donning life vests. The boaters and their vessel were transported to the New Ver-dunville Launch without incident.

5 p.m. Aug. 21, Southwest Pass
A deputy with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a call from dispatch in reference to a stranded fishing vessel in Southwest Pass. The deputy advised dispatch that the area was in Iberia Parish to notify them. Moments later, the deputy was contacted by a deputy with Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, who advised he was busy with an investigation. The deputy made contact with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and asked if they had an Agent nearby and was advised that an agent would be making contact with the boater.
Sometime later dispatch called advising of another stranded vessel on Marsh Island and again the deputy ad-vised dispatch that the area was in Iberia Parish. The deputy made contact with IPSO and advised them of the situation and that an airboat would be needed for this one. The LDWF then called asking if St. Mary could han-dle the stranded vessel in South West Pass as he was being redirected to the stranded vessel on Marsh Island.
The deputy obtained permission to respond and had dispatch pull a C-1 for assistance with IPSO. The deputy and two reserve deputies responded in SMB-5, a marked patrol vessel to South West Pass where we observed a 19-foot Nautic Star with two persons on board. A towline was secured to the vessel and the two boaters donned life vests and boarded the patrol vessel. They were then transported to the Quintana Boat Launch without incident.

1:30 p.m., GA Cut near Bayou Benoit Landing
A deputy with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office Marine Section received a call from dispatch advising of an unconscious adult male that launched from the Bayou Benoit Boat Launch. The deputy advised dispatch the area should be in Iberia Parish.
Dispatch advised the 911 operator stated they had made contact with IPSO and was told the cell ping showed the vessel to be in St. Mary Parish. The deputy entered the coordinates into my chart plotter and determined the coordinates given put the vessel in the Little Wax Bayou South of Berwick.
This is not impossible but highly unlikely. The deputy called dispatch back and advised to recheck the coordi-nates. The deputy contacted the 911 operator and she stated the coordinates were a historical ping and that she didn't think the vessel was actually at that location. The deputy obtained the name of the caller and their cell number and made an attempt to make contact with the caller, but was sent to voice mail.
The deputy then contacted the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office and advised of the situation, and requested that a patrol deputy would head to the address of the caller. The caller called back, stating she was in a vehicle on the levee near the Bayou Benoit Landing with the male subject (now conscious) complaining of pains. She also stated she was headed to the nearest hospital with him. There is nothing further to report at this time.

Patrol activity: In the month of August, the Marine Section deputies patrolled the areas of Bayou Teche east of the Calumet Cut, areas south of the Intercoastal Waterway west of the Calumet Cut to Cypremort Point. Made vigorous patrols of the Wax Lake Delta, Big Wax Bayou to Shell Island, and the Atchafalaya Delta Wild-life Management Area.
Smith also reported these arrests:
—Damien Kane Keller, 36, Saturn Road, Bayou Vista, was arrested at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday on charges of theft and criminal trespass, and on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of theft by shoplifting. Keller was released on a summons to appear Dec. 11.
—Brian John Klein, 39, Klein Lane, Patterson, was arrested at 9:16 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of possession Schedule III drugs, and on a warrant for assault-aggravated (five counts) and disturbing the peace by fighting. No bail has been set.
—Bryan Crochet, 47, 3Third Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 1:14 a.m. Wednesday on a warrant for domestic abuse battery. Crochet was released on a $2,500 bond.
Morgan City Police Chief James F. Blair reported these arrests:
—Mariah Christen Howard, 27, Egle Street, Morgan City, was arrested 10:25 a.m. Tuesday on a warrant for child desertion.
Officers located Mariah C. Howard at her residence and placed her under arrest on an active warrant held by the Morgan City Police Department. She was transported to the Morgan City Police Department for booking and incar-ceration.
—William Nicholas Larocca, 18, McDermott Drive, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:01 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of possession of marijuana (first offense).

A K-9 Officer conducted a traffic stop in the area of La. 70. The driver was identified as Larocca.
During the traffic stop, the K-9 officer detected the odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. K-9 Dally was deployed around the exterior of the vehicle and detected the presence of illegal narcotics.
Officers located suspected marijuana and placed Larocca under arrest. He was transported to the Morgan City Police Department for booking and incarceration.

The holiday season is steeped in tradition. Baking is one tradition that comes with the holiday territory.
Many people may only bake in November and December, so it’s understandable if they’re a little rusty come the holiday season. These baking tips can lead to successful yields of cookies, cakes and other holiday treats.

Follow the recipe carefully
When cooking, it is easy to add an extra dash of this or a pinch of that. But baking is a science and the ingredients are used in a ratio to produce a desired chemical reaction while cooking. To ensure success, do not substitute ingredients unless the recipe tells you how to do so, and measure each addition carefully.

Spoon out themeasurements
It can be tempting to dig a measuring cup right into a bag of flour, but scooping packs the ingredients down — potentially causing you to use more than the recipe calls for. Instead, spoon the flour into your measuring cup gently and use a straight edge to level it out. Even better, use a scale and metric measurements to ensure exact amounts of wet and dry ingredients.

Read up on temperature
Certain ingredients, like butter and eggs, are temperature-dependent. Cold butter in biscuits helps them to rise up flaky and delicious. Eggs brought to room temperature enable the emulsification process to work more readily. The difference in temperature can mean a completely different chemical reaction, so follow the recipe accordingly.

Calibrate the oven
Purchase an oven thermometer, set your oven to 350 F, the standard baking temperature, and see what the thermometer reads. If it is different, adjust cooking times accordingly or have the oven repaired. Cooking at the wrong temperature might mean the recipe doesn’t turn out right.

Use unsalted butter
Most recipes will call for unsalted butter so you aren’t adding unwanted sodium to the recipe, affecting dough consistency and flavor.

Position pans centrally
Pans should be on the center rack of the oven. If the oven isn’t wide enough to put multiple pans side by side, place them on different racks and slightly offset them to enable air circulation.

Use parchment paper
This unsung hero of baking can keep cookies from spreading out on baking sheets, prevent cakes from sticking to pans and may even help batter and dough bake evenly.

Flip cakes
Cool cakes upside down on a cooling rack. This will help flatten out the tops, which makes it easier to stack and level cakes for layered cakes. A few tips can go a long way to helping holiday baking go more smoothly.

Ochsner St. Mary will be offering a drive through flu shot fair Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the hospital.
Flu shots are available for patients, ages six months and older, by appointment. To book an appointment, visit ochsner.org/flu or call 1-866-OCHSNER.
Patients should bring an ID and their insurance card to their appointment.
The flu can have a serious impact on the health of communities, and this year with COVID-19, it’s critical for everyone to get a flu shot to protect themselves and others, Ochsner said in a news release.
For more information, visit ochsner.org/flu.

Stephensville Elementary may be small in numbers, but the Lower St. Martin Parish school is doing big things on the state and national level.
Last week, the school was named one of 10 Louisiana schools that have won 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools awards.
Stephensville was one of three Louisiana public schools recognized as “Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools,” the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday. These schools rank among Louisiana’s highest in narrowing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.
Principal Chris Shirley said it is “an extremely rare honor” to receive this national recognition. Less than 400 schools nationwide were named Blue Ribbon schools this year.
He deflected any praise for the honor, giving it all to his teachers.
“The teachers are really the ones who are pulling the majority of the weight,” Shirley said. “They’re the ones who are coming to school prepared every day. They’re the ones who are with the students for seven and a half hours a day, making sure they get what they need, teaching to a very high level of rigor, and it’s because of that and their dedication that the students are succeeding.”
Stephensville Elem-entary has a student population of 117 in grades prekindergarten through 8th grade. Data for the award was based on the 2018-19 school year when enrollment was around 125.
As for their award, Stephensville was recognized for its work to bring economically disadvantaged students up to par with their peers, Shirley said.
“Students who are economically disadvantaged or in impoverished situations tend to do more poorly than peers who are from homes who make a higher mean income,” Shirley said. “That’s just a sad fact of the world.”
He said more than half of Stephensville Elementary’s students are classified as economically disadvantaged, but the school still is excelling, as evident by the National Blue Ribbon honor.
“Basically, we are bringing up the kids who typically struggle the most at a rate that is better than the national average,” Shirley said.
He said the key to that has been two fold.
The first factor is the teachers’ work ethic, Shirley said, noting that even though they work from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., their job goes beyond those hours.
“It’s really an endless, tireless profession that when done correctly, you see amazing results, but when done correctly, it takes up an immense amount of time,” he said.
The second aspect is a sense of community.
“We don’t have a lot of issues because our community is supportive of our school,” Shirley said. “They believe in us, and they know that we’re trying, so I think that goes a long way.”