Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt in Morgan City is reopening under new management. The store, which closed its doors Sept. 29, was purchased by Glenda Lecompte, owner of the Houma store.
According to Lecompte, “I trying to get inventory together now. There is no official date for opening, but I’m trying for as early as next Friday.”
On Sunday, July 11, 1965, Franklin businessman Albert Blevins departed Patterson airport in a private aircraft. Blevins never came home.
A search for the missing man and his plane was carried out, and the St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune reported on the incident. According to the Banner-Tribune, Blevins was a skilled pilot with four years of experience who frequently took plane rides on Sundays.
On that Sunday he left the airport between 3 and 3:30 p.m. and there was a reported electrical storm followed by a heavy rain and strong gusts of wind shortly after his estimated time of takeoff.
The search for Blevins never produced a find of either him or his aircraft, and the incident turned into a cold case.
Fast forward to Oct. 23, 2019, when a post displaying the St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune articles about the disappearance of Blevins was placed on a Facebook page called THE WAY IT WAS..Franklin, La.
This page, which is a public group of over 1,900 members, focuses on sharing old photos and stories of St. Mary Parish with its followers.
One of its followers, Brian Carter of Morgan City, saw the post and it brought up a memory he has from when he was a child that may be related to the case.
“I was either 4 or 5 years old, my dad Russell Carter and my mom Della Carter, we were all in the boat raising nets in the Atchafalaya River,” Carter said.
“We saw the plane fly over and it had gotten real bad that day, raining and lightning, so we went further away from where the rain and the lighting was and we were watching and the lightning hit a plane,” Carter said.
“We saw (the plane) come down in the Atchafalaya Basin and we knew where the plane landed, and we have known all our lives,” Carter said.
His parents didn’t report the incident when they witnessed it in 1965.
“They didn’t want to get involved, back then, and I didn’t know how to go about it, I was a little kid,” Carter said.
“I didn’t know the way later to go about searching for any of it, so I just left it alone, but then I read the story and it brought it to my attention and I said I need to let somebody know what I remember,” Carter said.
Carter got in touch with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office to tell them his story.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Carter made his report with them and they have given all the information to the last agency involved in the search in 1965.
“My parents have passed away and then I stumbled on to that post on Facebook and I said that could be the airplane they were searching for, so I got in touch with the Sheriff’s Department and we went out (Tuesday) so I could show them the exact spot it was in the Atchafalaya,” Carter said.
“I’m just hoping this proves to be something,” Carter said. “That way the family can get some closure.”
The number of young Americans watching online videos every day has more than doubled, according to survey findings released Tuesday. They’re glued to them for nearly an hour a day, twice as long as they were four years ago.
And often, the survey found, they’re seeing the videos on services such as YouTube that are supposedly off limits to children younger than age 13.
“It really is the air they breathe,” said Michael Robb, senior director of research for Common Sense Media, the nonprofit organization that issued the report. The group tracks young people’s tech habits and offers guidance for parents.
The survey of American youth included the responses of 1,677 young people, ages 8 to 18. Among other things, it found that 56% of 8- to 12-year-olds and 69% of 13- to 18-year-olds watch online videos every day. In 2015, the last time the survey was conducted, those figures were 24% and 34%, respectively. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Overall screen time hasn’t changed much in those four years, the survey found. The average tween, ages 8 to 12 for the purposes of this survey, spent four hours and 44 minutes with entertainment media on digital devices each day. For teens, it was seven hours and 22 minutes. That did not include the time using devices for homework, reading books or listening to music.
But the findings on video-watching indicate just how quickly this generation is shifting from traditional television to streaming services, often viewed on smartphones, tablets and laptops. Among the teens surveyed, only a third said they enjoyed watching traditional television programming “a lot,” compared with 45% four years ago. Half of tweens said the same, compared with 61% in the last survey.
YouTube was their overwhelming first choice for online videos, even among the tweens who were surveyed — three-quarters of whom say they use the site despite age restrictions. Only 23% in that age group said they watch YouTube Kids, a separate service aimed at them and even younger children. And of those, most still said they preferred regular YouTube.
“It puts a lot of pressure on a parent to figure out what they can reasonably filter,” Robb said.
When presented with the findings, YouTube said that, in the coming months, it will share details on ways the company is rethinking its approach to kids and families.
For now, Farshad Shadloo, a spokesperson for YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, reiterated the company’s terms of use on age: “YouTube is not a site for people under 13.” Among other things, the company also cited its restriction filters and YouTube Kids.
Even so, many children with online access are adept at getting access to regular YouTube or other streaming content — partly because their parents are overwhelmed, said Sarah Domoff, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Central Michigan University who studies tech’s impact on youth and families.
Those parents could certainly be doing more to track screen time, she said. But, as she sees it, filters on services such as YouTube also aren’t adequate.
“It’s really hard to block out certain things unless you’re really standing over your child,” Domoff said. That’s especially hard to do when devices are portable.
Some are skeptical about how much YouTube will really change a service that easily leads its users, young and old alike, down a “rabbit hole” of video content, much of it created by everyday people.
“If your model is built on maintaining attention, it’s really hard to do something,” said Robb, of Common Sense Media.
His advice to families: “Protect homework time, family time, dinner time and bed time. Have device-free times or zones.”
Domoff added, “There needs to be a game plan.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Delta Air Lines’ new Terminal C is opening at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, part of an $8 billion project to modernize the entire facility.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined Delta CEO Ed Bastian and other officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday.
Seven new gates will begin operating Monday. The terminal will eventually have 37 gates across four concourses.
Last December, a new concourse opened in LaGuardia’s Terminal B, which serves American, United, Southwest and Air Canada.
Cuomo said the progress contradicts naysayers who thought it would be impossible to rebuild the airport while still using it. Old facilities are being demolished only as new ones are completed.
Other planned improvements include more tarmac space to reduce gate delays, restaurants and other amenities, new roads and rail service between LaGuardia and midtown Manhattan.
The new Delta terminal will have technology that helps pilots park their planes and automatically positions passenger boarding bridges.
The facility is powered by a Con Edison substation, with major electrical equipment housed on the upper level to protect against flooding if there’s a major storm. Another feature is a system that makes ice at night, when energy demand is lower, and uses it to help cool the building during hot summer days.
About 31 million passengers are expected to use LaGuardia this year.
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The missing piece in St. Mary’s state legislative representation falls into place beginning Saturday, when early voting for the Nov. 16 primary opens.
State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, qualified for reelection without opposition. State Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray, easily won reelection over Clayton Voisin in the Oct. 12 primary. Amedee’s District 51 covers portions of extreme eastern St. Mary.
That leaves House District 50, which covers the bulk of the parish. And it leaves the runoff between two Franklin men, Republican Vincent J. St. Blanc and Raymond Harris, who lists no party affiliation.
St. Blanc was the top vote-getter in the five-candidate primary field with 3,713 votes, or 33%, of the vote in St. Mary. Harris won a place in the runoff with 2,936 votes, or 26%.
Districtwide, including St. Martin votes, St. Blanc got 3,921 votes, or 33%, while Harris received 2,961, or 25%.
That was with a full ballot of state and parish offices that drew voter turnout of about 46%. This time the top of a shorter ballot will feature the runoff between incumbent Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards and Republican challenger Eddie Rispone.
Harris and St. Blanc both talk about going after voters the old-fashioned way, knocking on doors and speaking to small groups, in a race where the two runoff contestants will probably end up spending less than $30,000 combined.
“The pace has picked up and been more intense,” Harris said. “I’ve actually lost weight.”
He finds that as the runoff draws nearer, people are starting to pay more attention.
“People are getting more interested,” Harris said.
St. Blanc sees something else, an impact from the nonstop political battles in the nation’s capital.
“They believe what’s going on in Washington is what’s going on in the Louisiana Legislature,” St. Blanc said. “It isn’t.”
St. Blanc’s campaign emphasizes his experience as a 13-year member of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System’s Board of Supervisors. That experience includes efforts to improve St. Mary’s community colleges, including the integration of Morgan City’s Young Memorial campus into the community college system, and working with the Legislature to get the necessary legislation passed.
“Come in and we’ll change your life and create a future,” St. Blanc said.
And when workers are trained, economic development will follow, he said.
Harris points to his 13 years of experience as Franklin’s mayor.
He emphasizes the need to acquire the resources needed to make St. Mary attractive to potential employers.
Whoever wins will succeed Franklin Democrat Sam Jones in the House. Jones has been active in key local issues such as the acquisition of a new management company for Morgan City’s hospital and funding for a permanent flood control structure on Bayou Chene. He may be a tough act to follow.
“I’m not intimidated by the challenge,” Harris said. “I feel I’m up to the challenge.”
“I can be effective, too,” St. Blanc said.
The District 50 race could play a role, one way or another, in the growth of Republican strength in the Legislature.
Republicans have already won enough seats for a veto-proof majority in the state Senate. Whether the House follows suit depends on the Nov. 16 runoffs.
Also appearing on the St. Mary ballots in the Nov. 16 primary:
—The Parish Council District 3 runoff between Rodney Olander and Peter Soprano.
—The Parish Council At-Large District 10 runoff between Jeremy A. Chesteen and Gwendolyn Landry Hidalgo, which will appear on all parish ballots.
—The Louisiana secretary of state runoff between incumbent Kyle Ardoin and “Gwen” Collins-Greenup.
—A 7½-mill property tax renewal for Recreation District No. 5. The tax costs $18.75 a year for a $100,000 primary home, or $93.75 for a $200,000 primary home.
Early voting runs Nov. 2-9, excluding Sunday. The hours are 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
St. Mary voters can cast early ballots at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin or the Morgan City Registrar of Voters Office, 301 Third St. Bring a photo ID.
This story has been changed to reflect vote Oct. 12 primary totals both in St. Mary and districtwide.
October 14, 1936 — October 25, 2019
Theresa Trevino Alcina, 83, a resident of Morgan City, passed away Friday, October 25, 2019, at Franklin Health Care Center.
Theresa was born on October 14, 1936, in El Paso, Texas the daughter of Abelardo Trevino and Maria Frias Trevino.
Theresa was one of the nicest and sweetest people you could ever meet, who never said a harsh word about anyone. She loved her family and enjoyed all the time she was able to spend with them. Theresa loved to go dancing with her husband as well as travel together. Theresa worked for many years at Wyandotte Elementary teaching English to Spanish-speaking students. She was a member of Cornerstone Ministries for over 20 years.
She will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by five children, Sandra Alcina Gaspard Middleton and husband Michael of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Mark Anthony Alcina and wife Cheryl of Morgan City, Ricardo Joseph “Ricky” Alcina of Houma, Jesse James Alcina of Morgan City, and Tracy Alan Alcina and wife Michelle of Lehi, Utah; seven grandchildren, Phillip, Gary, T.J., Nicholas, Taylor, Tate and Nash; six great-grandchildren; and one brother, Ruben Trevino and wife Ofelia of Bayou Vista.
Theresa was preceded in death by her parents, Abelardo and Maria Frias Trevino; husband, Felix Alcina; one son, Victor Eugene Alcina; and three brothers, Oscar Trevino, Ref Trevino and Alfred Trevino.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, November 1, 2019, at Twin City Funeral Home with Pastor Tommy Fromenthal officiating. A visitation will be held from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 31, 2019, at Twin City Funeral Home with the visitation resuming Friday, from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. Following the service, Theresa will be laid to rest in the Morgan City Cemetery.
CONCERT
Morgan City Live Community Concert Association presents Shades of Bublé at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19. Season subscriptions for remaining four concerts: $45, adults, $10, students K-12. Single concert tickets: $25, adults; $5, students K-12. Tickets available at the door or www.morgancitylive.com. St. Mary Council on Aging offers free transportation to and from concerts for senior citizens (60+) in St. Mary Parish. Provide at least a 24 hour notice.
BSA FUNDRAISER
Boy Scout Troop 41, Patterson, “Buy a Brick” fundraiser is ongoing. Bricks: $75, 4-by-8 inches; $85, with clip art or logo. Money raised supports Troop 41 programs. To purchase a brick contact a troop member or to order online visit www.polarengraving.com/BSATroop41.
As a precautionary measure, M.E. Norman Elementary, Morgan City Junior High and Central Catholic Elementary and High School were briefly placed on lockdown Wednesday morning. A psychiatric patient left Ochsner St. Mary Medical Center without clearance and Morgan City Police Department made the recommendation to lockdown the schools in the area surrounding the hospital. The lockdown was lifted at approximately 11:20 a.m.
Editor's note: This story appears on the Douglas County, Kansas, government's website.
Jillian Rodrigue, deputy director for Douglas County Emergency Management, grew up in southern Louisiana in a small town called Berwick, which is nine miles from the Gulf of Mexico. She describes it as Cajun country and an area prone to hurricanes.
In 1992, Rodrigue, who was in second grade at the time, recalled evacuating and heading north with her mother, sister and other family members due to Hurricane Andrew. Her father, who was a first responder at the time, stayed in the area. She recalled being under tornado warnings for hours.
When they returned home, a tree had gone through the roof and ceiling of her house and they didn’t have power. “I was scared that the house was going to collapse. I wasn’t eating or sleeping. I was struggling,” Rodrigue recalled, but noted that in reality the house was completely safe.
A roofing contractor, who was working on fixing their house, could tell that Rodrigue wasn’t doing well, so he asked if she’d like to help with a project, which was picking up nails in the driveway so no one would get a flat tire. “For hours, that’s how I kept myself from worrying about everything else. He gave me a task that I could focus on and I’ve carried that with me ever since then,” Rodrigue said, adding she uses the story in community presentations.
Rodrigue graduated from high school in Berwick,and then attended Nicholls State, where she was considering a career in social work.
During a drive to work, she saw her first tornado and that piqued her interest in weather. She decided to transfer to the University of Louisiana at Monroe because it had a meteorology program.
Following the landfall of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, an Emergency Management team visited the university and brought a mobile response vehicle to help first responders with communications due to a large power outage. This vehicle supported six counties in Mississippi which had no other means of communication after Hurricane Katrina. “That’s when it all clicked and I knew what I wanted to do,” she said.
In April 2007, after earning a bachelor’s degree in meteorology, Rodrigue was hired by Douglas County Emergency Management as a planner. Three weeks later, she was deployed to Greensburg, Kansas, where an EF-5 tornado had caused massive damage. Rodrigue thought she was going to be doing data entry, but instead, she helped build Incident Action Plans - something she had never done before.
Seven months later, in November 2017, she was promoted to Assistant Director and the reality of living in a state with four seasons started to set in.
“In Louisiana, everything shuts down when a snowflake falls. We had over 30 inches of snow during my first winter here and I was like, ‘Why did I move here?’” she said, laughing.
Over the years, Rodrigue has fallen in love with the seasons. She likes measuring snowfall and taking pictures of frozen bubbles. She enjoys spring thunderstorms and watching the lighting from a safe place. “I can get real nerdy about clouds,” she said. “Weather has always played a significant role in my life.”
Rodrigue said Emergency Management’s responsibility is to make sure agencies are ready to respond to any disaster or event through planning and training. When the event happens, the Department’s role is to help coordinate the efforts and resources to help residents who are affected. “We get going on people’s worst days generally, but that’s what we’re here for. We hope to plan and never use them.”
One of those days was May 28 of this year when an EF-4 tornado moved across Douglas County, destroying 13 homes and causing damage to 73 homes, two commercial businesses and a home office. “People are still rebuilding and figuring out what that looks like for them,” Rodrigue said. “It’s going to be a long process physically and emotionally. The first tornado drill we did afterward really jarred some people. It’s a healing process.”
She encourages people to seek help if they are struggling. She knows firsthand. “There were many times that I just had to stop on the night of May 28 and in the days and weeks following because all of that emotion came flooding forward and some of it at the most inopportune times. When I walked out to my car that night, I just lost it because that was my community and those were my people underneath that tornado warning.”
]In the days, weeks and months following the tornado, Rodrigue has visited with residents impacted by the tornado.
“What I love about my job is getting to help people. We keep going when a lot of people stop.”
The Douglas County Emergency Management Department has an annual budget of about $264,000 and three full-time employees and one part-time employee. The department staff is supplemented after hours and during events by two duty officers, a public information officer, and two Mobile Command Vehicle managers.
As deputy director, Rodrigue oversees a number of programs, including: operations, volunteers and public education. Operations includes ensuring the Emergency Operations Center, where emergencies are coordinated, and the Mobile Command Vehicle are ready and staff and partner agency representatives understand and are prepared to execute their roles and responsibilities when either is activated for a potential or ongoing disaster or planned event.
The agency also provides a lot of education through community programs, training and preparedness fairs. “We have to know a little about a lot of different things,” she said. Being out in the community is one of her favorite parts of the job.
More importantly, she said it’s about building relationships with partner agencies, so everyone is on the same page and knows who will take the lead on particular items during an incident because of their expertise. “It’s a coordinated effort which includes local, state, federal, private and nonprofit partners and it is effective and efficient. We couldn’t do it alone,” she said.
Rodrigue also oversees the volunteer program which includes three volunteer groups who help Emergency Management: Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Auxiliary Communications Team (ACT) also known as the amateur radio operators, and SkyWarn which are the storm spotters. Rodrigue, with support from the volunteer coordinator (who also serves as a duty officer), schedules volunteer training, participation in community preparedness activities, and fulfills requests for support from partner agencies.
There are about 40 volunteers and Rodrigue said they played a vital role in Douglas County’s response to this year’s tornado and August 1 flooding event. “
They were working long hours and that just speaks volumes about them and their character and willingness to serve. So far this year, they have given over 2,000 hours of service.”
During an Oct. 23 volunteer recognition, Rodrigue received a standing ovation from the volunteers and was also recognized by Douglas County Commissioners. “We would remiss if we didn’t recognize Jillian for her remarkable steady hand in the midst of multiple storms this year and her absolute commitment to the cause which is the health, welfare and safety of our community and the support of all the people who do the work of Emergency Management Services,” Commissioner Nancy Thellman said. “
Jillian is a faithful public servant and a rock as well. We greatly appreciate her work and services.”
New Emergency Management Director Robert Bieniecki said, “Having only worked with Jillian for a short period of time, it is clear to me that she is passionate, driven and essential to the success of the Emergency Management program in Douglas County.”
So, what are Rodrigue’s tips for preparedness?
• Talk to your insurance company about what your policy does and does not cover. Verify if you need flood insurance, even if you don’t live in the floodplain.
• Sign up to receive weather and other emergency alerts. While there are many apps you can use, Douglas County offers a free system. Visit http://dgcoks.org/notify to register today!
• Build a preparedness kit with items you may need during or immediately following an emergency. A list of suggested supplies can be found at https://www.ready.gov/kit. Don’t forget your pets.
• Make a Plan for where you will take cover (for severe weather) or if you need to leave your home (fire, flood or other reason to evacuate your home). Include everyone involved. Also, include how you will communicate if you are separated.
“It’s just about being ready if you need it,” she said. “It’s not going to stop the disaster, but planning ahead can take away a little of that anxiety and helps you move toward recovery.”
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