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St. Mary Parish residents are doing well at complying with executive orders issued by Parish President David Hanagriff, including during the Easter weekend, city and parish leaders said this week.
The orders, which have been in effect since April 6, limited the hours of grocery stores, dollar stores, convenience stores and pharmacies to 6 a.m.-8 p.m. daily. Exceptions were permitted for outside operation of fuel pumps at gas stations and 24-hour pharmacies using drive-through service. Also, the number of people who could be inside the businesses at one time was limited to 35% of the capacity determined by the state fire marshal.
“I think for the most part, everything’s going smoothly,” Hanagriff said. “Of course, like anything else, we’re going to have certain situations and instances where people aren’t complying, but the stores, for the most part, are doing a great job.
“All our large grocery stores, they’ve put policies in place, and they’ve really stepped up.”
St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith said his office has received more phone calls from the public to get a better understanding of the things that are permitted.
“Sometimes when they hear from a voice of some sort of authority, they seem to believe it more than if they read it,” he said.
Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur said the guidance provided by parish leaders during this time is what citizens needed.
“They just needed the instructions, because I know deep down they all want to be safe,” he said.
The parish’s executive orders are set to expire April 30, and while Hanagriff said it is too early to tell if that order will be extended, he currently has no plans to do so.
“Our numbers are stabilizing with the exception of the nursing home in Franklin,” Hanagriff said of Legacy nursing facility. “Our numbers actually aren’t bad as far as cases and the spread.”
As of Monday night, there were two deaths, while 23 residents and six staff members were infected with the virus.
Hanagriff said the state is involved with trying to stop the spread at the nursing facility, which is the source of the parish’s rising cases.
He said when the return to a more familiar way of life in the parish happens, it will be an “easing” back in.
Hanagriff said he would recommend the elderly and those with underlying conditions remain under a stay-at-home order because he said they are where the “disproportionate number of the deaths that are occurring here.” He anticipates that order staying in effect until May and potentially June.
The remainder of the population could begin slowly going back to their normal routines, possibly first with relinquishing the executive orders and hopefully open more restaurants and other things, Hanagriff said.
“At one point, we have to go back to work, and we have to get back to some type of normal life here,” Hanagriff said.
He said with guidance from parish officials, citizens can achieve those goals.
During the current situation, parish leaders said that following the guidelines is something not just for the citizens.
“We’re doing the same thing, following the guidelines set forth by the governor,” Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said of him and his family.
In Patterson, Mayor Rodney Grogan implemented a dusk-to-dawn curfew of 8 p.m.-6 a.m. daily shortly before the parish’s mandates came.
Grogan said he had to implement it to slow what had become a high amount of COVID-19 cases in the city.
He said the measures from the city and the parish have kept people off the streets.
“It’s like a ghost town in Patterson,” he said.
While he said the city did hold a Good Friday program at City Hall, Grogan said it was streamed live on Facebook and played on the radio and citizens practiced social distancing, staying in their cars.
He said equipment was sanitized after each of the event’s seven speakers addressed the crowd.
Grogan said the curfew in Patterson would stay in effect until further notice and that instituting it was never meant to trample on anyone’s rights.
“I’m not going to impose something on someone that I’m not going to appreciate … but when I knew basically the numbers and as they were coming back and they were more favorable towards Patterson, that’s why I got together with the chief and I discussed it with the council and moved forward,” he said.

Tony Joseph Vidos Jr., 66, a native of Morgan City and resident of Berwick, died Sunday, April 12, 2020, at his residence.
He is survived by four sons, Tommy Vidos of Morgan City, Corey Vidos of Bayou Vista, Tony Hano Jr. of Ponchatoula and Paul Garrison of Patterson; two sisters, Victoria Clark of Berwick and Jacklyn Davidson of Lafayette; and four grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter.
No memorial will be held at this time.
Twin City Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

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, April 13
5:36 a.m. 600 block of Front Street; Utility.
5:51 a.m. Veterans Boulevard; Suspicious subject.
7:59 a.m. 500 block of General MacArthur Street; Criminal damage to property.
8:20 a.m. Third and Greenwood streets; Stalled vehicle.
8:38 a.m. 600 block of Terrebonne Street; Removal of subject.
8:47 a.m. 7200 block of La. 182; Theft.
9:53 a.m. 500 block of Brashear Avenue; Disturbance.
10:25 a.m. 600 block of Marshall Street; Theft.
11:25 a.m. 300 block of Grizzaffi Street; Arrest.
11:39 a.m. 3000 block of Allison Street; Civil.
12:38 p.m. 1600 block of Federal Avenue; Theft.
2:27 p.m. 2000 block of Allison Street; Utility.
3:06 p.m. 500 block of Freret Street; Civil.
4:04 p.m. 500 block of Orange Street; Complaint.
6:02 p.m. 1200 block of Fig Street; Complaint.
6:30 p.m. 6000 block of La. 182; Accident.
7:00 p.m. Bowman Street; Complaint.
7:27 p.m. 1200 block of Fig Street; Complaint.
8:04 p.m. Sixth near Marguerite streets; Juvenile problem.
8:06 p.m. 300 block of Glenwood Street; Welfare check.
9:54 p.m. 200 block of Second Street; Complaint.

Due to disruptions brought about by COVID-19, Louisiana lawmakers are now expecting at least one special session to be called in Baton Rouge, possibly following the June 1 adjournment of the ongoing regular session. Essential budgetary and health care needs will need to be addressed, and additional lawmaking hours will be required.
Our senators and representatives convened their regular session on March 9, the same day Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Louisiana’s first official case of coronavirus. Roughly five weeks have passed since then, and the Legislature has yet to find an opportunity to safely return to Baton Rouge to get the policymaking ball rolling.
As such, many others who ply a trade inside the Capitol aren’t ruling out a second special session for 2020, either, maybe in the fall. There have been some suggestions that a second special session could be dedicated to the topic of economic development. (The governor, for his part, recently announced that an economic development task force was being formed to help guide the state’s recovery.)
To be certain, lawmakers have a variety of topics they want to cover this calendar year, and a regular session followed by a single special session may not be enough. For example, about two weeks ago most lawmakers I interviewed said their constituent calls largely involved queries about school closures. But since then unemployment questions have dominated district offices. So you can expect to see that on a committee agenda in some form in the coming months.
Tort reform may have to wait, as far as the ongoing regular session is concerned, but an economic development special session could allow a token bill of sorts to be advanced, temporarily satisfying the thirst that developed during the last election cycle. The messaging connected to the importance of tort reform, however, isn’t going anywhere.
Speaker Clay Schexnayder, according to a spokesperson, has assembled a small group of representatives to reach out to business and industry to seek ideas for “super-charging” the Louisiana economy. Whatever emerges from that exercise could end up on an agenda too.
In terms of revenue, lawmakers and lobbyists alike seem to be quietly circling around the sales tax structure and statutory dedications. (For now.) Just the mention of both issues will surely stir up a violent reaction from some folks, but they’re nonetheless part of the general conversation.
Historically, lawmakers have turned to sales tax changes during times of emergency and great need. While opponents would argue that it targets the poorest among us, the Legislature has traditionally viewed the sales tax structure as a path of least resistance when compared to other forms of higher tax rates.
Statutory dedications, meanwhile, have been a thorn in the side of conservative lawmakers for a while, and Sen. Sharon Hewitt led a panel through a review of all 370 statuary dedications a couple years ago in hopes of shedding new light on the matter and configuring a new management style for the funds.
Speaking of special sessions, the only one that’s actually anticipated should be called some time next year, to tackle the decennial task of redistricting. That undertaking is roughly a year away, but some leaders are already sweating the most basic functions of the survey effort underway by the U.S. Census.
Door-to-door appeals are on hold due to the pandemic and the deadline to complete the headcount, which is used to allocate federal dollars and draw election lines, has been pushed back from July to August. Lawmakers and governors in a few states are asking for another extension as Census officials contend they’re sticking to the mandated Dec. 31 deadline for handing over a finished product to Congress and the president.
We can hope a learning curve on the legislative level won’t accompany the Census questions hampering the feds. Dwight said a redistricting training session for legislative leaders next month has been canceled and a September seminar in Portland for House and Senate committee members is uncertain at best.
If members want to follow the legislative model from the 2011 process, they’re just eight months away from scheduling statewide meetings and 12 months away from the House submitting a redistricting plan.
In late 2009 committee members also participated in a two-day training event, but the Legislature wasn’t facing the kind of turnover that marked this current term. So no such training exercise was held last year, but freshmen House members did receive a 10,000-foot view briefing from the staff.
The good news in all of this is that the Legislature can be somewhat nimble. They could reconvene their regular session in early May and work around the clock. Along with the governor they could host one special session after another if needed, although that’s unlikely. Lawmakers will adapt, plain and simple.
Let’s just hope they deliver for us as well. There’s no eliminating politics from this process, and any promise to do so would be fool-hearted. But politics can take a seat in the proverbial back row, staying six feet away from anything truly important. That kind of social distancing would most certainly be welcome.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow