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FRANKLIN — While public attention has been focused on the new threat from COVID-19, a new St. Mary Parish department has been at work protecting against a health hazard Louisiana people know too well.
This week is National Mosquito Control Awareness Week. And parish Public Works Director Jean Paul Bourg is looking back on an experiment that he believes is working well.
About the time Bourg became public works director 2-1/2 years ago, he attended a Louisiana Mosquito Control Association conference. There he learned that federal funding administered at the state level was available for an in-house program.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is especially interested in mosquito control as a way to fight West Nile virus, encephalitis, Zika and other diseases.
Most of the mosquito control was provided under contract. The big name among contractors in this region is Cajun Mosquito Control of New Iberia, operated by Jesse Boudreaux. The company provides mosquito control for local governments and has become a go-to source for reporters when mosquito-borne diseases appear in trapped mosquitoes.
When the parish government hired a control contractor for unincorporated areas, the spending sometimes exceeded the $180,000 a year raised by the $2 per month residents pay on their water bills for mosquito control, Bourg said.
Complaints or requests for spraying came in to the Parish Courthouse and went directly to the contractor. And if additional spraying was needed, the parish paid additional costs with no direct control over the spending.
The parish government decided to switch to an in-house program and obtained a $250,000 grant.
Secily Firmin, who had worked for Cajun Mosquito Control, was hired as the mosquito control supervisor. She’s the only full-time employee in the parish program.
“A lot of people misunderstood that we were going to use [the grant] to pay employees,” Bourg said. But the grant was used largely for equipment.
The program has four pick-up trucks and sprayers, two ATVs for jobs like spraying along golf course cart paths, a microscope and other tools to send samples to the LSU Veterinary School for testing, mosquito traps, a backpack sprayer and other items.
Parish employees drive the spraying trucks part-time.
The program has three major components:
—Spraying. The unincorporated areas — excluding Cypremort Point, which has its own property tax for mosquito control — are divided into 10 zones. Spraying is conducted in each zone once a week, and will be increased to twice a week later in the year.
Another acquisition with the grant money is GeoTracker software. It tracks the spaying trucks and records the time any location was sprayed, how fast the truck was going and the rate at which the chemical was sprayed.
—Larvicide. The program treats areas of standing water where mosquitoes might breed.
—Surveillance. Mosquito traps are placed at 15 points around the parish. The traps are checked twice a week to see if disease is present. The only case so far, Bourg said, is an instance of St. Louis encephalitis in 2018.
At the end of the program’s first full year, it had operated with less than the $180,000 in mosquito control revenue.
“That’s not what we expect every year, but it was within the budget,” Bourg said. “We saved money for the parish and provided better service.”
Bill Decker is managing editor of The Daily Review.

BATON ROUGE — A racially charged debate on the House floor about a resolution to establish a task force to make recommendations about policing ended with remarks from Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, about his own experiences with law enforcement.
The House approved the resolution 99-0, but only after Republicans had pushed privately before the debate to remove references to George Floyd, a black man who died when a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes.
Rep. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, proposed the amendment to remove any mention of Floyd’s death. House members passed it with 67 yeas and 32 nays.
“Blake, we could have filled filled pages with names,” said James.
In an effort to ensure approval for the study that could lead to police reform, however, James reluctantly agreed to the amendment.
The resolution, written by Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, had been approved by the Senate with the reference to Floyd’s death. Since the House amended it to remove that reference, the resolution will be returned to the Senate for consideration.
Under the resolution, the task force would be called the Police Training, Screening, and De-escalation Task Force. It will study law enforcement training and practices and make recommendations to the Legislature.
James had agreed before the debate to delete the references to Floyd, but Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, was not privy to the conversation.
When the resolution came up for debate on the floor, Bacala, who had worked in law enforcement, said language in the resolution about blacks being three times more likely to be killed by law enforcement officers than whites addressed only one side of the issue.
“If we’re going to talk, let’s talk,” Bacala said. “Let’s don’t limit what we’re willing to speak about to things that only some people want to speak about,” he said. “Of 800,000 law enforcement officers in this country, in that same period of time, 584 were killed in the line of duty, which means that the rate that cops die in the line of duty is 40 times higher than blacks.”
James responded that he had agreed to pass the amendment that “watered down the bill” in order to avoid that kind of public conversation but that he would not “run from it.”
“We all know that police officers get murdered,” he said. “But do you know what happens to the people that murder police officers? If they survive, they get arrested.”
James noted that Bacala passed legislation earlier in the session making it illegal to throw water on police officers.
“You know what happens to police officers that kill people that look like me? Blake? Tony? They get a taxpayer-funded vacation. In Baton Rouge, Blane Salamoni got a taxpayer-funded vacation for over a year,” James said, referring to a police officer involved in the killing of Alton Sterling, a black man in Baton Rouge.

The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Section made arrests Tuesday on charges of oxycodone and marijuana possession, Sheriff Blaise Smith said.
—Cody S. Lucore, 29, Stephensville Road, Stephensville, was arrested at 7:16 p.m. Tuesday on charges of improper lane usage and possession of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance (oxycodone) with intent to distribute. No bail has been set.
—Claude Williams, 33, Utah Street, Berwick, was arrested 9:34 p.m. Tuesday Tuesday on charges of possession of a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance (marijuana) and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in the presence of a minor. Williams was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
—Courtney Bourda, 37, Utah Street, Berwick, was arrested at 9:34 p.m. Tuesday on charges of possession of a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance (marijuana) and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in the presence of a minor. Bourda was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
Smith also reported these arrests:
—Schyler Stelly, 26, General MacArthur Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 2:01 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of disturbing the peace by fighting. Stelly was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
—Shauntell Nicole Hartdegen, 37, La. 20, Schriever, was arrested at 8:24 p.m. Tuesday on charges of proper equipment required on vehicles, general speed law and driving under suspension. Hartdegen was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
—Shannon Wainwright, 48, Arenz Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 11:22 p.m. Tuesday on charges of obstructing public passage and possession of marijuana. Wainwright was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
—Samantha Davis, 30, Arenz Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:27 a.m. Wednesday on charges of proper equipment required on vehicles, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Davis was released on a summons to appear Sept. 24.
Morgan City Police Chief James F. Blair reported these arrests:
—Kyler Anthony Ross, 33, Lawrence Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 11:06 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of criminal damage to property less than $1,000 and a warrant for nine counts of failure to appear.
—Kearsten Richard, 20, Morgan City was arrested at 11:18 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of criminal damage to property less than $1,000.
Officers were called to an address on Brashear Avenue for a disturbance. They learned Ross and Kearsten Richard had damaged property at the address. A warrant check revealed the City Court of Morgan City held active warrants for Ross’ arrest.
Both Ross and Richard were placed under arrest and transported to the Morgan City Police Department for booking and incarceration.
—Shanika Shantle Guidry, 38, Barrow Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 6:39 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of driving under suspension.
An officer conducted a traffic stop in the area of Federal Avenue. The driver was identified as Guidry. A computer check revealed her driver’s license was under suspension.
She was placed under arrest and transported to the Morgan City Police Department for booking and incarceration.

Rich, creamy and decadent, cheesecake is enjoyed across the globe.
There are many famous cheesecake bakeries in North America. Those who can’t resist digging their forks into this beloved dessert may assume that cheesecake traces its origins there. In fact, cheesecake traces its origins to the ancient Greeks.
The first ‘cheesecake’ is believed to have been created from a ricotta-type cheese base on the Greek island of Samos. Excavated cheese molds were found there that dated to around 2,000 B.C.
Cheesecake was considered a good source of energy and there is evidence that even Olympic athletes were fed cheesecake during the first games. Greek brides and grooms also were known to rely on cheesecake as their cake of choice for weddings. Original cheesecakes were made from flour, wheat, honey and cheese, then formed and baked, according to Cheesecake.com.
After the Roman conquest of Greece, cheesecake was adopted by the Romans. Their name for this type of cake was ‘placenta’ and it was baked on a pastry base or sometimes inside of a pastry case, advises What’s Cooking America.
Cheesecakes also were called ‘libum’ by the Romans, and were used as an offering at the gods’ temples. Cheesecakes also were introduced to other areas of Europe thanks to conquering Roman armies. By 1,000 A.D., cheesecake could be found throughout northwestern Europe, England and Scandinavia.
Through the years, cheesecake’s popularity spread elsewhere. However, New Yorkers say that cheesecake was not really cheesecake until it got an Empire State makeover in the 1900s.
Many New York restaurants have their own versions of cheesecake, with Turf Restaurant laying claim to the first cream cheese-based cheesecake recipe in 1929. Turf Restaurant owner Arnold Reuben’s cheesecake recipe, also known as Jewish cheesecake thanks to his heritage and the recipe’s kosher ingredients, was allegedly a favorite of actors and actresses seeking late night indulgence after shows, according to bakefromscratch.com.
New York dairy man William Lawrence accidentally invented cream cheese in 1872 while trying to recreate a soft, French cheese known as Neufchatel. Little did Lawrence know that this mistake would inadvertently revolutionize cheesecake recipes.
Cheesecake technically is a pie and not a cake, and there are versions that are baked and others that firm up in the refrigerator without having to cook a custard base. Many cheesecake aficionados have a favorite cheesecake recipe.
This classic and iconic New York cheesecake, courtesy of Philadelphia Cream Cheese brand, is an ideal one to make your own.
NEW YORK CHEESECAKE
1¼ cups graham crumbs
¼ cup butter, melted
5 packages (8 oz.) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 can (19 oz.) cherry pie filling
Preheat oven to 325 F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan or to 300 F if using a dark nonstick 9-inch springform pan.
Mix crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until center is almost set.
Run a knife or metal spatula around the rim of the pan to loosen cake; cool before removing the rim of the pan. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Top with pie filling before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator.