ARTISTS GUILD
Unlimited Everett Street Gallery, Morgan City, has amended its hours due to the unusual circumstances with COVID-19. Hours are: 1-4 p.m. Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Wearing masks and social distancing are to be observed until further notice.
Submitted Photo
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry was notified that a resident in St. Rose received an unsolicited package of seeds originating from China. At this time, recent reports indicate that unsolicited packages of seeds have been received by people in Utah, Virginia, Washington and the United Kingdom. If seeds are received, call 225-925-4733 to report it. LDAF inspectors will collect the seeds and test them for positive identification.
The St. Mary Parish School Board has withdrawn a proposed 0.45% sales tax for teacher and staff raises from the Aug. 15 ballot, Superintendent Teresa Bagwell confirmed Wednesday.
"The withdrawal of the tax measure comes as the economic impact of continued coronavirus infection remains of serious concern in addition to discrepancies in the ballot language itself," Bagwell said in a press release Wednesday. "The school board acted this week to verify their intentions to withdraw the tax measure and submitted it to the appropriate state election officials."
The School Board passed the first resolution calling for a new 0.50% sales tax in December. Members said Lafourche Parish schools were proposing a half-cent tax of their own for the same purpose, and St. Mary officials said they needed to raise pay to compete for new teachers, especially teachers graduating from Nicholls State. The St. Mary board hoped to have the tax on the May 2020 ballot and have the funding in place by the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.
But opposition developed quickly from other local officials, most importantly from state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin. Allain objected to the timing, saying the tax shouldn't go before voters in an election likely to have a low turnout. He also objected to language dedicating a portion of the tax toward a technology fund.
Other opposition focused on the potential impact on St. Mary's economy, which slumped for more than five years before coronavirus restrictions and the stay-at-home order because of depressed oil prices.
But Allain's opposition was key because he sits on the State Bond Commission, approval from which was need to get the tax proposition on the ballot. Over the course of three months, the board removed the technology fund from the tax dedication and reduced the tax to 0.45%. The School Board finally received State Bond Commission approval for the May election in time to see the election postponed to Aug. 15 because of the coronavirus.
"The school board is highly cognizant of its role as a governing body to serve as responsible stewards of public funding while correspondingly acting to recruit and retain certified teachers," Bagwell said in a press release Wednesday.
"In December, the board voted to begin the process of placing a sales tax measure on the ballot that would make St. Mary competitive with surrounding parishes in this area. However, a public health emergency and its effects on the local economy resulted in a reconsideration of the measure.
"In the end, board members agreed that it was most appropriate to withdraw the tax measure altogether given the critical circumstances faced by local citizens."
The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the police department at 985-380-4605.
Monday, July 27
7:53 a.m. 1500 block of Bernice Street; Alarm.
8:01 a.m. 200 block of Franklin Street; Stand by.
9:01 a.m. 500 block of Barrow Street; Criminal damage to property.
12:10 p.m. 500 block of Roderick Street; Animal complaint.
12:24 p.m. Victor II Boulevard and Myrtle Street area; Accident.
1:01 p.m. 2300 block of Tupelo Street; Welfare concern.
1:07 p.m. 300 block of Egle Street; Animal complaint.
1:13 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Warrant ; Arrest.
1:35 p.m. 200 block of Franklin Street; Disturbance.
1:55 p.m. 200 block of Belanger Street; Suspicious subject.
2:21 p.m. 7200 block of La. 182; Accident.
2:40 p.m. 1100 block of Fourth Street; Suspicious subject.
2:51 p.m. 7500 block of La. 182; Complaint.
2:51 p.m. 300 block of Grizzaffi Street; Animal complaint.
3:28 p.m. 900 block of Duke Street; Animal complaint.
3:55 p.m. 2400 block of Apple Street; Criminal damage to property.
4 p.m. 7800 block of La. 182; Disturbance.
4:14 p.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Criminal damage to property.
5:26 p.m. 1000 block of Brashear Avenue; Theft.
5:31 p.m. 600 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard; Disturbance.
5:43 p.m. 200 block of Halsey Street; Civil matter.
5:45 p.m. 500 block of Barrow Street; Fire.
5:53 p.m. 1100 block of Marguerite Street; Assistance.
7:08 p.m. 300 block of Egle Street; Disturbance.
7:09 p.m. 300 block of Aucoin Street; Removal of subject.
7:13 p.m. 400 block of Belanger Street; Theft.
7:45 p.m. 1900 block of Cedar Street; Complaint.
Tuesday, July 28
12:23 a.m. 600 block of Greenwood Street; 911 hang up.
1:35 a.m. 100 block of Mount Street; Alarm.
2:42 a.m. 700 block of Federal Avenue; Alarm.
Earlier this month, before he as sworn into office for the very first time, Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis turned heads in a major way. His 52% primary win against a five-candidate field that included his Democratic predecessor, Jamie Mayo, was a shot heard across Louisiana’s political universe.
Few were as surprised as Ellis’ campaign manager, Jason Hebert of the Political Firm. While Hebert was certainly confident that he had a solid candidate who was runoff-bound, he wasn’t prepared for the extent that early voting pushed Ellis over the edge.
Early voting accounted for 46.5% of the total vote haul, of which Ellis, a rookie candidate and an independent, notched 59% against an incumbent.
“We set our sights on early voting at the outset of the campaign, but we didn’t know how big it was going to be,” said Hebert. “We do races in Texas and sometimes see 52%, but it was the highest watermark we’d seen back home in Louisiana.”
Mail-in voting for the July 11 election also set an all-time record, quadrupling in size statewide compared to the 2016 presidential primary ballot.
With so many votes now up for grabs across different venues, political professionals are scrambling to adapt to this new but not totally unexpected landscape.
Looking ahead, based on trends holding or building, it means campaigns need to spend sooner in the cycle and consultants and candidates must plot even earlier. It also means the November general will play host to three different elections of suddenly equalized importance.
The first round will be early voting, which stretches from Oct. 20 to Oct. 27, excluding that Sunday. The difference-maker in the July election was that the early voting process was amended to add an extra week to accommodate for COVID-19.
Some politicos are now pushing to make the second week permanent, arguing it increases voter engagement.
“I don’t think we’re putting that genie back in the bottle,” said Hebert.
The second round will arrive via mail-in ballots, for which the deadline to request an absentee will be Oct. 30. Anticipating that the July mail-in ballots could potentially surge alongside early voting, Hebert’s team invested more than usual in chase mail. A sort of reminder for voters, chase mail is used to encourage those who requested an absentee to finish the job.
Finally, the third and final round will arrive in the form of good, old-fashioned in-booth voting, which takes place Nov. 3. Uncertainty clouds that date, as any increase in COVID-19 cases could depress voter participation on Election Day. Campaign managers and candidates will little choice but hedge their bets — and their funds.
This kind of Holy Trinity election cycle has been in the makes for a while, with the past few years featuring consistent upticks in early voting. But the trends have never felt as abiding.
Even turnout for the July 11 primary was higher than expected, with Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin initially predicting 10% participation. On Election Day, the figure was actually 21%.
To be fair, not everyone views the change in early voting and mail-in ballots as a watershed moment. Some view it as a flash in the pan, a trend that will subside as COVID-19 becomes a memory. With no reliable timeframe for when that might happen, however, campaign managers and consultants have no choice but to accept these factors as part of the new political reality in Louisiana.
So the buzzwords are sooner and faster, because the July upset in Ouachita Parish, if nothing else, proved once again that the earliest bird can turn the worm. “Monroe is small part of a larger state, but that election was a wakeup call on both sides to finally start taking early voting and absentee voting seriously,” said Hebert.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.
“What’s the plan?”
For many, before 2020, that question was usually reserved for routine decisions such as where to get dinner on any given night, how to spend a weekend after a long work week or how to tackle the latest home improvement project.
In 2020, the question now is used routinely to determine actual important life decisions like whether we all still have a job, life savings or a future… whether our children will ever go back to school… whether sports, entertainment, travel or tourism are allowed… whether it is safe to venture outdoors, go to the store, visit neighbors, shake hands or even hug family.
It has been an alarmingly quick evolution in mind-numbing severity, without any consistently clear guidance to be found, and despite all that has changed in such a short period of time, the same simple question remains: what’s the plan?
The truth is, no one on the planet truly knows… which is scary as hell.
When most of the nation shut down commerce and the schools several months ago, the justifiable rationale was a convincing mix of hospital capacity challenges, ventilator shortages and the general unknown of this new virus spreading across the land. Against that backdrop, it was hard to argue with the extreme responses being tried at the time. Now, months later, we thankfully find ourselves with a better understanding of ventilator usage, medical treatment protocols, and the virus’s impact on healthier and younger people. While there are still huge questions to be answered in terms of hospital capacity and vaccine timelines, gone are the days of publicly discussing drastic PPE shortfalls and how best to reuse old ventilators in a hospital setting. In fact, you can now pick up an individually wrapped mask or two at the CVS counter as you check out, right alongside the gum and gossip magazines. American ingenuity to the rescue.
But months into this whole thing, it does seem we as a nation are all collectively stuck on what to do next and how best to incorporate a heavy dose of American ingenuity to our federal, state and local public responses, especially when it comes to the absolute need for some economic recovery and for students to return to school. When in reality, we should have started with school in mind. We should have been thinking of school as an essential service, just like the grocery and hardware stores that remained open in those early days. Because as this drags on, we are realizing, a little too late, just how much of our economy, our pubic health, social services and indeed, our children’s future and well-being, is dependent on our schools.
It’s ok to admit we need some outside the box thinking right about now. It doesn’t make someone a bad person to worry about the economic fallout of all of this. It shouldn’t be beyond the pale to start having some frank discussions about new approaches to safely dig us out of this shutdown cycle we can’t seem to escape.
In the days after the floods of 2016 or the tragic hurricanes of 2005, Louisiana did whatever it took to recover quickly. The National Guard was deployed, citizens stepped up to help their fellow man, critical goods were dispersed in numerous distribution locations and pop up sites were literally put in place overnight to treat, house and feed those in need of medical care. Remember the Cajun Navy and the shelter at Celtic Media Center? Remember after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike the National Guard was quickly trained to drive RSD school buses to help folks evacuate, even retrofitting some of those buses and National Guard vehicles to handle complicated medical patients?
Where is the thirst for creative ideas today to get us back on our feet quickly and safely? If the justification today for continued economic shutdowns is largely hospital capacity, lack of supplies and the risks of spread to more vulnerable populations, why aren’t similar triage concepts or sites from those storm lessons used now? If a drive-up test is available at several locations in an area near you, why not make it just as easy to use an empty conference center, ballroom or sports arena or two to set up socially distanced beds to handle non-critical care if needed to help with hospital capacity? Even if you had to incentivize other medical personnel and medical students to help with some of the non-critical care, if places like that were up and running, could more of our economy be back open already?
A few weeks from now, school is scheduled to start up. Families across Louisiana are depending on that happening safely and on time so that they can hopefully get back to work and get their children off the couch and back to learning. It has been several months since many have been in a classroom and experienced the benefits of in-person learning. So, what creative plan is being drafted and driven to make sure this goes smoothly, as well as safely? It seems every school has a different plan that changes by the day.
Why not consider longer school hours or new temporary locations to space out children while allowing them to attend each day? If virtual curriculum is going to be used instead, why not set up socially distanced areas in the community where parents can bring students to collectively learn virtually and safely, allowing parents to return to work? Most schools have gymnasiums, cafeterias… most local governments have other facilities, courtrooms, gathering halls, etc. Many hotels are losing their shirt right now staring at empty ballrooms and conferencing space. Why not use some of these federal funds to rent some of those spaces to provide an in-person learning experience? Where is the creative solution to give parents a guarantee that a safe, five-day-a-week learning environment is ready for their child next month?
To be fair, State Superintendent Cade Brumley has made it crystal clear he thinks the students are best served by going back to school as scheduled. He is to be commended for that. Where is the chorus from other administrators, teacher unions and elected officials for getting students back in school? If a nurse, doctor, hardware worker or grocery clerk can safely work nonstop the last few months, why can’t an educator be asked to develop a reasonable plan to do the same for our children?
Main Street small businesses across the country have seen their doors closed by government mandate and then gradually reopened one percentage at a time. Larger companies have trimmed costs by drastically cutting expenses like travel, contractors, maintenance, advertising, etc., which is a fiscal punch hitting local small businesses that feed off this type of spending more than others. Parents have trouble working, either remotely or in person, with our schools closed. The federal loan programs that have masked much of this impact are about to run out. Economic reality is about to hit hard for many working families, and it is not going to be pretty unless we can get some creative solutions soon.
We all should know by now this virus will be with us for a long time. Most businesses I speak with are more than willing to do whatever it takes to help control the spread, but they are also sick and tired of being sacrificed and made to feel guilty for wanting to save their livelihood at the same time. They do not mind wearing a mask, or a pink tutu for that matter, if it allows them to stave off bankruptcy, foreclosure, and unemployment.
It is time for a plan that goes beyond ignoring the economic realities of the world and just waiting for Congress to simply dump borrowed money on the problem. Testing will continue to show confirmed cases for months if not years, we must have a more complex answer to this phenomenon for the next several months besides shut it all down until the curve flattens for good.
We have to learn to live with this. We have to adapt.
Politics has started to spread across the land on this issue just as much as the virus. One side attacks the other side, neither listening to the other. Social media has become a garbage dump of misinformation and inflammatory political rhetoric. The truth is everyone is trying their best, but everyone is really frustrated. We need to stop giving a damn about who gets the credit or blame for all of this and start focusing more on what we in Louisiana always do in the face of a tragedy: rally together, help our fellow man, make a plan and do whatever it takes to get through this quickly and safely.
The first step of a plan is to define the goal. That first goal should be finding a way to safely restart our schools with in-person instruction even if longer hours, innovative locations or spacing accommodations are needed to do so. Society, the economy, Louisiana students and their working parents need schools to open and the last several months should have been ample time to prepare for this moment. If schools open up, working parents can start working on rebuilding their incomes to provide for their family.
Look, everyone gets it, the challenge of COVID-19 is enormous. The problem is tough to figure out. 2020 just is not very fair. But then, neither is life… and the sooner our students learn that and see our example of overcoming what we’re letting cripple us, the better off they will be to find their own paths to success in the face of adversity one day.
The path back to normalcy seems to begin with safe and open schools. That lesson plan should start today.
Stephen Waguespack is president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.
The 24 hours ending at midday Wednesday saw one of the biggest one-day totals for COVID-19 deaths so far in St. Mary, St. Martin and Assumption.
A total of nine deaths -- five in St. Mary, three in St. Martin and one in Assumption -- were reported for the Tuesday-Wednesday period by the Louisiana Office of Public Health.
The new fatalities pushed the number of deaths since the pandemic began over 100: 47 in St. Mary, 40 in St. Martin and 19 in Assumption.
Statewide, the 69 deaths reported Wednesday also showed an increase over recent totals. But hospitalizations were down in Louisiana.
No notice that backlogged cases were included with the new numbers that appeared on the OPH website Wednesday, which has been the case when daily numbers were inflated by the entry of older positives.
But "they are late in reporting," St. Mary Coroner Dr. Eric Melancon said in a text message Wednesday.
"Most are isolated cases that died outside the parish."
More St. Mary deaths that have already occurred have yet to show up in the state statistics. The Coroner's Office count shows 51 COVID deaths with test results pending on another.
In St. Mary, 20 new cases raised the total since the pandemic began to 1,342.
In St. Martin, 11 new cases raised the total to 1,453.
Six new Assumption cases made that parish's total 521.
The total of 37 cases in the three parishes are about one-third the highest one-day case counts from the last few weeks.
Statewide:
--1,735 new cases raised the pandemic total to 112,773.
--The 69 deaths raise the toll to 3,769.
--The number of people in hospitals dropped by 39 to 1,544.
--The number of people on ventilators was up seven to 221.
Mr. Randy L. Rudolph, age 64, a native and resident of Baldwin, La. passed away on Tuesday, July 7, 2020 at Iberia Medical Center in New Iberia, La.
Graveside Ceremony will be held on Thursday, July 30 , 2020 at 11,30 a.m. in The Special Providence Baptist Church Cemetery, 814 Martin L. King St., Baldwin, La. The Interment also will take in The Special Providence Baptist Cemetery.
Mr. Rudolph is survived by a brother, Jacob Rudolph of Baldwin, La.; five sisters, Mercedes Watson and Betty Joe Leonard both of Baldwin, La., Hattie M. Richard of Abbeville, La., Sarah Simmon of Greyburg, Texas, and Elsie Jones of Franklin, La. He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, and five sisters.
Officiating Minister, Rev James F. Otis. The Otis Mortuary, Inc. of Franklin, Louisiana is in charge of arrangements.
Ms. Savannah Butler, age 70, a resident and native of Franklin, La., passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 19, 2020 at Ochsner Medical Center, in Jefferson, La.
Visitation will be observed on Saturday, August 1, 2020 at Otis Mortuary Chapel, 501 Willow Street, Franklin, La.from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and Funeral Ceremony commencing at 11 a.m. The Interment will take place in the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery, Freetown (Glencoe), Louisiana.
Ms. Butler, is survived by two daughters, Angla Butler of Patterson, La. and Beula Butler of Doraville, Georgia; a son, Jameison Vedol of Franklin, La.; three grandchildren, Bryce, Brea, and Bria Butler all of Doraville, Georgia; godchildren, Joyce Fine, Durell McCurtis, and Rudy Viltz.
NOTE: Mask or face covering” must be worn for visitation and funeral service.
Officiating Minister, Rev Deandra Johnson. The Otis Mortuary, Inc. of Franklin, Louisiana is in charge of arrangements.
Tucker ‘Fred’ McDaniel, Jr., 67, a resident of Centerville, LA passed away peacefully on Monday, July 27, 2020 at 8:02 am at his residence.
A public viewing will be conducted from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm on Friday July 31, July 31, 2020 at Jones Funeral Home 1101 Main Street Franklin, LA. (All visitors are asked to adhere to the CDC/local regulations by wearing masks and practicing social distancing). A graveside service will be held on Saturday August 1, 2020 at 11:00 A. M in the Franklin Cemetery - Main Street in Franklin.
Memories of Tucker, Jr., or "Fred" as he was known to many, will forever remain in the hearts of his special nephew/son who he reared, Stanley Butler, Jr. and a special nephew, Johnell McDaniel both of Franklin, LA; his two siblings, Sherald McDaniel-Butler of Centerville, LA and Johnell (Carolyn Roberson) McDaniel of Franklin, LA; a god-daughter Sherae Anderson of Franklin, LA; aunts, uncles, three nephews, four nieces, twelve great-nephews, eleven great-nieces, three great-great nephews, five great-great nieces, devoted friends, and a host of other relatives and friends.
Tucker Jr. was preceded in death by: his parents, one brother, one nephew, and both his maternal and paternal grandparents.
Jones Funeral Home of Morgan City/Franklin/Jeanerette/Houma in charge of arrangement.
Please visit; www.jones-funeral-home.com to send condolences to family.
Franklin Banner-Tribune
P.O. Box 566, Franklin, LA 70538
Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874
Morgan City Review
1014 Front Street, Morgan City, LA 70380
Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255