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Many readers who love Louisiana literature will gather this weekend in St. Francisville to celebrate the life and works of novelist Walker Percy. He was, to me, a literary icon who spent most of his life in Louisiana.
Many consider him to be America’s most significant Catholic writer. And he was passionate about Louisiana, so passionate that he took the time to give me some good advice about what he considered to be the insidious politics in the Bayou State.
I first heard about Dr. Percy (he was a psychiatrist by training) back in 1961 when I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. I was writing a weekly column for the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. Percy was a Carolina graduate, and had also written regular columns for the Tar Heel back in the late 1930s. His first novel, “The Moviegoer,” had just won the National Book award, and there was a lot of buzz about him in Chapel Hill.
One of the amusing stories that circulated around the English Department at Carolina was about Percy taking his freshman English placement test. He had just read Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury,” and wrote his entire essay in one long paragraph without punctuation. He was promptly placed into a class for slow learners and was told that he needed a lot of help to pass English composition.
The Moviegoer was set in New Orleans, a place I had never visited. Percy’s descriptions of the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and the streets of the Crescent City were enchanting to me, and one of the reasons I decided to attend Tulane Law School.
One of my courses in constitutional law was taught by Professor Billups Percy, Dr. Percy’s brother.
His uncle, Will Percy, had written an important history titled “Lanterns on the Levee,” a memorial to the South of his youth and young manhood, where he describes life in the Mississippi Delta. The introduction was written by Walker Percy.
I went on to read all of Percy’ novels. His main characters are “seekers” who struggle with an existential crisis in their lives. They habitually search for God with varying success, and often look for some form of redemption. He writes how he personally found redemption in the Catholic Church.
I had never met Dr. Percy until receiving a phone call in 1987. At the time, I was serving as secretary of state, and was running for governor. I had written a 180-page plan I called The Brown Papers, my vision of how Louisiana could prosper in future years.
Few people read it.
One spring day, my secretary buzzed that I had a phone call from someone named Walker Percy.
I assumed it was someone with the same name.
When I returned the call, Dr. Percy told me he was some obscure writer from Covington, and he was impressed with my plan.
Would I have time, if I were in the area, to come by for coffee and a chat? Would I have time? I drove over to his home the next afternoon.
We talked late into the evening, sharing ideas about what Louisiana could be with all its natural resources and creative talent.
He told me what he had repeatedly written in a number of publications. “What happened? Louisiana is a state richer in mineral resources, the top gas producer in the country, possessed of the largest port, endowed with a natural wealth, which in its use might have been expected to yield manifold benefits for its people. But it’s marshes have been plundered and polluted, one of the highest cancer rates in the county and the loss of fifty square miles of wetlands yearly.”
He went on to lament that Louisiana should be much more than what he decried as “a slightly sleazy playground for tourists and conventioneers.”
He said he was still optimistic about the state’s future, that he was in my corner politically, and to call on him at any time. We visited on one other occasion in Covington, and exchanged a number of phone calls up until his death in 1990.
In one conversation before his death, he told me he didn’t consider himself to be a southern novelist, and did not want to be compared to William Faulkner.
He felt that Faulkner had this tragic sense of history, and that Percy wrote about the new South. And he was deeply concerned about the state’s future.
He was right on the money in so many things he wrote and said. Walker Percy would have been a pretty darn good Louisiana governor.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

Submitted photo
Mayor Duval Arthur recently signed a proclamation in honor of Berwick High's homecoming, which includes the Oct. 3 football game with Thrive Academy. Seated from left are Madison Izaguirre, Madison Comeaux, Baylee Smith, Arthur, Alayr Knope, Helaina Stansbury and Caroline Izaguirre. Middle row: Vintrell Boyd, Maddox Sampey, Carter Dupuis, Aidynn Lecompte, Vincent Dohmann, Miguel Melendez and Layf Bella. Back row: Maya Ladday, Isabell Ortiz, Landyn Lacoste, Makenzie Linn, Jordyn Gaudet and Leslie Ellis.

The Morgan City Council on Tuesday introduced a 2026 budget, a document on which federal funds and a natural gas system upgrade project have a big impact.
Also Tuesday, the council introduced ordinances forbidding the indoor use of barbecue grills and lower the charges for utility customers who want security lights.
The council proclaimed Senior Citizen Center Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and approved plans for a long list of coming events.
The proposed 2026 budget anticipates revenue of about $61.3 million and spending of $60.5 million.
In his budget message, Mayor Lee Dragna said the revenue figure is $4.2 million lower than the 2025 budget.
“However, a considerable amount of grant monies that were expected to be received in 2025 in connection with the PHMSA Natural Gas Distribution Grant will not be received until 2026,” Dragna wrote.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration awarded a $7 million grant to the Morgan City government in 2023.
The biggest source of city revenue will be utility operations, anticipated to bring in $27.8 million, just less than $100,000 below the 2025 figure.
Anticipated tax revenue amounts to $10.9 million, up about $140,000 from this year’s budget.
Spending is budgeted at $60.5 million, which includes $14.9 million in capital outlay. That includes the gas line rehabilitation work, the bulk of which is expected to be done next year.
The city government employs 195 people full time and 31 part time. Those who have at least a year on the job will get a 2% raise at a cost to the city of $152,808.
A hotel occupancy tax that began in 2023 will bring in an estimated $188,595 for increasing tourism and economic developments.
The city government responded to rising insurance costs by self-insuring its property, and the budget set aside $300,000 for that purpose.
“It is our intention to present a budget that allows our city to maintain a level of service our citizens are accustomed to,” Dragna wrote.
Another ordinance introduced Tuesday, banning indoor use of barbecue grills, was introduced at the request of the Morgan City Fire Department. A second section, applying to dwellings other than one- or two-family homes, would prohibit grills from being “used, kindled or stored” on any balcony, under any overhang or within 10 feet of any structure.
The ordinance on security lights has a new range of charges for four LED wattages. The monthly charge for a 175-watt LED would drop from $4.25 to $3. For 1,000-watt LEDs, the charge would drop from $16.50 to $10.
Also Tuesday:
•The council changed its last two meeting dates of the year to Nov. 18 and Dec. 16 to avoid conflicts with the holiday season. Meetings are usually held each fourth Tuesday.
•The council proclaimed October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Kelli Cantu of Chez Hope, the region’s domestic abuse assistance agency, said 2,100 people were helped in 2024 though shelter or other services.
•The council proclaimed September to be Senior Citizen Center Month. Council on Aging Director Beverly Domengeaux said the council operates centers in Franklin, Patterson and Morgan City. The council also offers meal delivery, homemaking help and respites for caregivers.
•The council approved plans for “an all-inclusive trunk or treat” 1-3 p.m. Oct. 19 at Lawrence Park. The event is designed to be “a fun, safe and sensory friendly celebration for children and families with special needs and their siblings.”
•St. Mary School Board member Lindsey Anslem is planning a prayer event for students and teachers at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Lawrence Park.
•The council approved plans for a rodeo at Atchafalaya Bit & Bridge Club on Saturday, pending a Police Department OK for alcohol sales. The slack, or preliminary competition, begins at 10 a.m. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m.
•The council gave the green light to the Pumpkin Patch activities at the Petting Zoo and Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. The event is a St. Mary Outreach-United Way fundraiser in the form of field trips that include pumpkin decorating, feeding the farm animals, relay games and cookie decorating.

Early voting for the Oct. 11 election opens Saturday with a School Board sales tax renewal on the ballot.
Early voting will run Saturday through Oct. 4, excluding Sunday. The hours are 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Registered voters can cast early ballots either at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse in Franklin or the Registrar of Voters Office, 301 Third St., Morgan City.
On Oct. 11, voting will be 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at individual precinct locations.
The parishwide proposition renews for five years a 0.45% sales tax dedicated to teacher and staff salaries. The renewal would be for five years. The tax is expected to raise $5.1 million a year.
Before it first passed on March 20, 2021, the tax was more controversial than the 62%-38% approval margin might suggest.
The board first proposed a 0.5% sales tax for staff pay and a technology fund.
Before it first passed on March 20, 2021, the tax was more controversial than the 62%-38% approval margin might suggest.
Local officials criticized the proposal for its economic impact. Then-state Sen. Bret Allain, a member of the State Bond Commission, objected to the technology fund dedication and threatened to support moving the proposition from an off-cycle municipal election date to a November election date, when passage was considered to be more difficult.
The board came back with a proposal for a 0.45% tax with no technology fund dedication.
The proposition passed in an election with a 15% turnout.
In 2021, the tax was expected to raise $3.9 million a year.
School officials said the resulting $3,000 raise for certified employees and the $1,500 raise for other staff members were needed to attract and maintain quality employees, especially after Lafourche Parish passed a teacher pay tax of its own.
At the Sept. 11, 2025, School Board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Buffy Fegenbush said the tax revenue has affected an average of 1,200 employees a year since collections began in 2021.
“These funds help the school system maintain competitive compensation and provide stability in classrooms and services,” Fegenbush said.
As of Sept. 1, St. Mary had 30,425 registered voters. The Republican and Democratic parties each claim about 35% of the parish’s voters, and the rest belong to no party.
Here’s the full text of the proposition:
Shall the Parish School Board of the Parish of St. Mary, State of Louisiana (the “School Board”), be authorized to continue to levy and collect a sales and use tax of 0.45% (the “Tax”), for a period of 5 years, beginning July 1, 2026, in accordance with Louisiana law (an estimated $5,100,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the Tax for an entire year), with the proceeds of the Tax (after paying the reasonable and necessary expenses of collecting and administering the Tax) to be dedicated and used to supplement salaries and benefits paid by the School Board for teachers and other personnel employed by the School Board?