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FRANKLIN — Nearing the end of a year marked by a hurricane and a flood, the St. Mary Levee District staff reported progress Thursday on two big-dollar projects designed to protect St. Mary from both threats.
Contracts have been awarded on the first phase of the Bayou Chene permanent flood control structure, an attempt to prevent the back flooding that made life hard for Stephensville residents this spring and summer.
And bids are due Oct. 24 on a flood gate that would protect the area near Franklin, Garden City and Centerville from flooding in the Charenton Canal.
At Thursday’s district board meeting at the St. Mary Courthouse, consulting engineer APTIM’s Jeffery Pena said contracts have been awarded to Patriot Construction for the first phase of the Bayou Chene work.
Patriot will get $464,000 for clearing and grubbing and $2.9 million for dredging.
The contracts still to be awarded are for a floodwall, a 400-foot gate, and work on Avoca Road and the Tabor Canal.
In all, the project is expected to cost about $80 million. Funding was secured through the state government Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Act.
This year marked the fourth time a barge was sunk in Bayou Chene to protect residents in St. Mary, lower St. Martin and surrounding parishes from flooding when the Atchafalaya River runs high. A barge was used in 1973, 2011, 2016 and this year, with costs running into the millions.
The permanent project is due to be complete in October 2021, Executive Director Tim Matte said.
The Bayou Teche flood gate is expected to cost about $11 million. It would protect the area from storm surge flooding by way of the Charenton Canal.
Matte told the board members that the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has committed $4.1 million to the project.
All the permits are in place, Pena said, and pre-bid meetings and site visits were conducted Aug. 8 and Oct. 8.
Once it’s underway, the flood gate is expected to take 240 days to complete. Matte told the commissioners that the flood gate may not be finished by the start of the next hurricane season June 1, but it should be ready by the peak of the season.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Without a clear Republican favorite for Louisiana governor, President Donald Trump travels to the state Friday for an election eve rally that’s less about the GOP candidates and more a slash-and-burn hit against Democratic incumbent John Bel Edwards.
Trump’s message to voters in Lake Charles will be less precise than traditional get-out-the-vote events.
He’ll seek to unite a squabbling Republican Party against the Deep South’s only Democratic governor, trying to keep Edwards from a primary win, while not telling voters which GOP contender to back in Saturday’s election.
“Republicans must get out and vote for either of our two incredible candidates,” Trump said in one of several tweets about the Louisiana governor’s race.
Republican loyalties are split among two major candidates: Ralph Abraham, a third-term congressman and physician from rural northeast Louisiana, and Eddie Rispone, a businessman and longtime political donor from Baton Rouge who is making his first bid for office.
Abraham and Rispone each will attend the rally.
Both claim long-term support from Trump, even as they quarrel over who backs the president more.
“The president deeply cares about Louisiana. Louisiana loves President Trump. It is a match that is literally made in heaven,” Abraham said.
The president is not endorsing either candidate to maximize chances that Edwards will fall below the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff, according to a White House aide and a campaign aide, both of whom asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss strategy. Trump plans to endorse whichever GOP candidate makes it to a runoff against Edwards, the aides said.
In Louisiana, all candidates run against each other, regardless of party, on the same primary ballot. With polls showing Edwards well in the lead, national Republicans have bombarded the state with millions in advertising and visits from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. to urge anti-Edwards votes and force a Nov. 16 runoff.
“Trump is going to energize the base, the people, the conservatives, make them recognize that we need to do something different,” Rispone said.
Pollster John Couvillon thinks such visits will have marginal impact, animating voters who already planned to show up at the polls. He thinks Edwards’ bigger problem is the U.S. House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, stirring up interest from voters in a red state who’ll want to cast their ballots in opposition to anyone aligned with Democrats.
“To some extent, you can’t entirely escape what has become the stigma of the national Democratic Party here in Louisiana,” Couvillon said.
Edwards isn’t the type of liberal, anti-Trump Democrat with whom the president usually clashes.
Louisiana’s governor is an anti-abortion, pro-gun West Point graduate who avoids criticizing Trump, talks about his strong rapport with the White House and calls the impeachment inquiry a distraction for Washington. He doesn’t focus on party affiliation and tries to avoid national political feuds in a state Trump won by 20 points.
While Edwards’ efforts to keep the president at bay in the governor’s race have been unsuccessful, the Democratic incumbent isn’t complaining about the rallies. Instead, he has downplayed them, calling it unsurprising that Trump backs members of his own party in the “hyperpartisan” environment of Washington. He said he would continue to “work well” with the president and focus on his own, bipartisan approach to governing.
“That’s the way we have moved our state forward, gotten out of the ditch. I work well with Republicans, with Democrats and with independents, anybody who wants to show up and work in good faith with me,” Edwards said.
He’ll need that crossover vote to win a second term.
Republicans nationally have targeted Edwards for ouster since his longshot election victory four years ago. But work to unify around one major contender failed, with the state’s top-tier, well-known GOP officials passing on the race.
Neither Abraham nor Rispone has been able to break away as the top competitor, even as Rispone poured $11 million of his own personal wealth into the campaign.
Party leaders’ efforts to keep the men from fighting each other have failed, raising concerns the backbiting could wound both GOP contenders and help Edwards. Republicans blame attacks among their own candidates for helping to elect Edwards four years ago.

August 4, 1930 — October 9, 2019
Margaret Pintado Peltier, 89, a resident of Morgan City, passed away Wednesday, October 9, 2019, at Ochsner St. Mary.
Margaret was born August 4, 1930, the daughter of Lee Pintado and Pearl Pokey Pintado.
Margaret was a parishioner of St. Bernadette Church in Bayou Vista for many years, where she was also a longtime adorer. Margaret was a homemaker her whole life, and mostly stayed in with her family, but she did enjoy going out dancing.
She will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by two sons, Daniel Boudreaux and wife Janie of Bayou Vista, and James Boudreaux and his wife Jamie of Bayou Vista; four grandchildren, Lynette Pennison and husband Jeff, Chantelle Sarria and husband Alex, Malachi Boudreaux and wife Paula, and Amy Boudreaux; and nine great-grandchildren, Jollie Boudreaux, Juliette Boudreaux, Jillian Boudreaux, Parris Nicole Pennison, Annabelle Sarria, Andre’ Sarria, Jaylon Boudreaux, Jayla Boudreaux and Lionel Johnson.
Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, Lee and Pearl Pintado; first husband and father of her children, Charles Floyd Boudreaux; second husband, Andrew Peltier; and her siblings.
A Memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at St. Bernadette Church in Bayou Vista with Father Bennerfield III officiating. Visitation will be held Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at St. Bernadette’s Church Hall from 9 a.m. until the time of Mass with a rosary being recited at 10:30 a.m.

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.
Thursday, Oct. 10
5:59 a.m. 7300 block of La. 182; Alarm.
7:26 a.m. Iowa Street; Patrol.
7:34 a.m. U.S. 90 eastbound overpass; Stalled vehicle.
8:08 a.m. 1200 block of Youngs Road; Line down.
8:13 a.m. 2400 block of Tupelo Street; Theft.
8:18 a.m. 1100 block of Levee Road; Animal complaint.
8:26 a.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Complaint.
8:30 a.m. 800 block of Victor II Boulevard; Stand by.
8:58 a.m. La. 182 and Myrtle Street; Accident.
10:21 a.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Warrant.
10:59 a.m. 700 block of Franklin Street; Medical emergency.
12:15 p.m. La. 182 City Court area; Accident.
12:27 p.m. 1100 block of Victor II Boulevard; Remove a subject.
4:05 p.m. 600 block of Freret Street; Complaint.
4:09 p.m. 300 block of South Railroad Avenue; Hang up call.
4:45 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Assist.
5:07 p.m. 2300 block of Cypress Street; Medical emergency.
5:41 p.m. 200 block of Aucoin Street; Fire.
8:17 p.m. 300 block of Second Street; Disturbance.
10 p.m. 500 block of Aucoin Street; Loud music.
10:17 p.m. 3100 block of Lake Palourde Drive; Alarm.
10:20 p.m. 1100 block of Brashear Avenue; Stand by.
10:54 p.m. 500 block of Lawrence Street; Medical.