MCHS Students of the Month
Submitted Photo
Morgan City High School has named its Students of the Month for September. They are, from left: freshman Guadalupe Ramirez, senior Myllah Brown, sophomore Kirsten Legendre and junior Zan Alcina.
Submitted Photo
Morgan City High School has named its Students of the Month for September. They are, from left: freshman Guadalupe Ramirez, senior Myllah Brown, sophomore Kirsten Legendre and junior Zan Alcina.
Submitted Photos
Central Catholic Elementary recently observed Community Helpers' Week. Local hairdresser Olivia Blanchard, visited Pre-K3 to speak to them about what she does. The children were fascinated. Following her presentation, they practiced cutting "hair"! Pictured above are the Pre-K3 children of Central Catholic with Blanchard and teachers Heather Walker and Erica Clements. Also pictured,bottom photo, is Bentley Chau practicing his cutting skills.
Dr. Selika Stackhouse Sampson, daughter of Ernest Stackhouse and Glenda C. Stackhouse of Patterson, has been appointed interim director of the Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Science Office of Continuing Education.
Sampson, a native of New Orleans, went to Tallahassee 24 years ago to pursue a doctorate of pharmacy degree at Florida A&M.
Her family says Stackhouse believes in the the motto "To Whom Much is Given, Much is Required." During her career, she has worked at such companies and agencies as Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, AmeriSource Bergen, Walmart, the Florida A&M Health Department Pharmacy, Neighborhood Medical Center, Magellan Healthcare and North Florida Medical Weight Loss Clinic at Cross Creek Medical.
Her father, Ernest Stackhouse, was inducted into Berwick High School's Hall of Fame at homecoming Friday.
Kimberly Lowry, local Edward Jones financial adviser, will host a coffee club at noon Nov. 1 at CC's Coffee in Morgan City. Please note: this session is for women only and lunch will be served.
The coffee club is an informal gathering whereby Edward Jones financial advisers provide an update on the stock market and the economy in a relaxed environment.
"The coffee club offers us an opportunity to learn from one another and receive market updates," Lowry said. "I look forward to keeping individual investors informed about the current market and economy, as well as have fun and get to know some of my neighbors."
Seating may be limited. To reserve a seat, call Katelyn Toups at 985-395-4755.
Paul’s Agency has welcomed two new hires: Catherine Listi to the Morgan City office, and Amy Gaudet to the Houma office.
A lifelong resident of St. Mary Parish and graduate of Nicholls State University, Listi joins the Morgan City office as a personal lines manager. She joined the team in September and is tasked with assisting with personal insurance needs for clients.
Prior to her time at Paul’s Agency, Listi gained seven years of experience in insurance, with a background in insurance sales and servicing. She is licensed in property and casualty, and life and health insurance.
When not immersed in insurance, Listi enjoys spending her time with her husband, daughter and family, and attending local events.
In August, Paul’s Agency welcomed Amy Gaudet, lifelong resident of Lafourche Parish, to the Houma office as a Client Service Manager to service client and producer needs.
Before joining the team, Gaudet worked as an account executive for a nationwide insurance company for 19 years and is licensed in Property and Casualty.
Outside of work, Gaudet stays busy with her children and husband, but occasionally finds time to enjoy crafts like creating apparel and gifts for her friends and family.
When Virginia Yongue died Oct. 5 in Breaux Bridge, one of the tributes to her suggested that she is now heading a committee in heaven.
That’s probably not quite right. She is surely heading at least three committees, sitting on a handful of others, and working quietly in the background for a few causes that as yet have no committee ─ all the while making everyone around her think that they are the most important people in the room.
If juggling a dozen things didn’t come naturally to her, she learned to do it quickly ─ as a mother who was much involved in the lives of her 10 children; wife of a busy doctor and manager of his practice; church, school, and community volunteer; or helper in fun events such as the Lafayette Mardi Gras or Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival.
She was recognized with the Lafayette Civic Cup in 1997; Breaux Bridge’s Distinguished Community Service Award in 1998; Our Lady of Lourdes’ Franciscan Spirit Award in 2007; The Bishop’s Service Award in 2009; and a Leader in Philanthropy Award by the Community Foundation of Acadiana in 2014.
The honors were richly deserved, but she never sought any of them. As often as not she was genuinely surprised that she should even be considered for them. “Darlin’,” she’d say when congratulated for them (everyone was darling to her), “I was just helping out.”
She helped everywhere: president of the Breaux Bridge Chamber of Commerce and of the Crawfish Festival, chair of the campaign to put up a statue of Breaux Bridge founder Scholastique Picou Breaux, and was as a member of the Breaux Bridge Historical Society and of Les Vingt-Quatre, the organization that restored the Alexandre Mouton house in Lafayette. She served on the boards of the UL Foundation and the Acadiana Symphony and was a member of the Lafayette Parish Medical Auxiliary, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Louisiana Rehabilitation Center, Acadiana Opera Society, Fine Arts Foundation, Friends of Humanities, Lafayette Natural History Museum, Grief Center, Vita Program, and Faith House, and that’s not the whole list.
She was a lecturer and eucharistic minister at St. Bernard Church, sat on the parish council and was active in the prison ministry, Catholic Daughters, and the Altar Society, and, according to her obituary, spent her spare (!) time “learning, entertaining, dancing, baking, gardening, reading, needlepointing, playing bridge, genealogy … traveling… [and] spending time with her extended family and friends.”
Amazingly, she never seemed busy or rushed or abrupt. She was always gracious. She lways had time to visit a bit, to ask about how things are going, to share a smile.
Several of the tributes to her remarked on her generosity not only with material things but also her time, talents, spirit. She said that came from her mother, who had “a warm and giving nature.”
That may have been part of her inspiration, but the biggest part was simply that she loved her family, her church, her community, and practically everyone she met, and was able to pass her inspiration on to them.
When Virginia came to you and said, “Darlin’, I need you to help me with this,” it was impossible to say no — as several celestial committees are now finding out.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, "Cajuns and Other Characters," is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.
BALDWIN _ In the annual friendly rivalry known as Fire on the Bayou, the Franklin Hornets rallied for two second half touchdowns, pinning a 20-12 loss on the West St. Mary Wolfpack Thursday in District 7-2A at Wolfpack Stadium.
Franklin (3-3, 3-0) stretched an 8-0 halftime lead into a 20-12 victory behind second half scores on a 65-yard touchdown by run by Zylan Perry in the third quarter along with a 20-yard TD scamper by Malik King in the fourth stanza.
With the win, the Franklin Hornets retained possession of the helmet trophy which is awarded to the winner of the friendly rivalry each season.
“We played a sloppy game tonight,” Franklin Coach Tremayne Johnson said. “I’m glad for the win but we didn’t play well tonight.”
Franklin hurt its chance for big win with numerous untimely penalties which allowed West St. Mary to stay within striking range with hope of staging a comeback win.
West St. Mary Coach Clifton Armelin felt his squad was two plays away from pulling off the win over Franklin.
“We took two big plays off and it cost us,” Armelin stated. “Franklin is a big-play team and we took two big plays off and that really hurt us.”
Franklin turned a short touchdown run by Zylan Perry and a safety by Gharin Stansbury into an 8-0 lead at halftime.
The Hornets then benefited from a big run by Perry to post a 14-0 advantage.
On the score, Perry sprinted untouched up the middle for a 65-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, West St. Mary quarterback Taylun Druilhet scored on a short 6-yard run TD run as the Wolfpack closed the game at 14-6.
Franklin defense denied West St. Mary’s next opportunity to knot the game when Jorday McCoy pilfered a pass out of the air, giving the Hornets the football at the WSM 30 before a pair of untimely penalties moved the football back 30 yards.
In the fourth quarter, Taylun Druilhet and Kobe Phillips combined to help the Wolfpack draw closer to Franklin at 14-12 with 4:07 showing on the clock.
In a long drive aided by a huge face-masked infraction against the Hornets, the Wolfpack moved methodically down the field which culminated in Druilhet firing an aerial TD to Phillips.
While holding a slim 14-12 advantage, Franklin rode the arm of Perry and the legs of King to pad their lead at 20-12.
Perry went to the air to connect with Travis Zeno on a 13-yard gain before dropping a perfectly timed pass in to the waiting arms of J’Micheal Gray, giving Franklin a first-down in Wolfpack territory.
A short time later, Perry fired a dart to Kentrelle Louis on a third-and-14 play to sustain the Hornets’ drive.
Following three straight completions from Perry, King raced 20 yards for touchdown, giving the Hornets a 20-12 lead at the 1:24 mark of the final quarter.
West St. Mary’s Druilhet went on a hert-clutching 80-yard TD scamper only to have a holding penalty negate the score and march the Wolfpack closer to its on endzone.
With the 20-12 win safely tucked away, Franklin notched its second win over West St. Mary in a row.
Franklin moved to 3-3 overall and 3-0 in District 7-2A action with the win.
The Hornets will travel to face long-time nemesis the Jeanerette Tigers next Friday in District 7-2A action.
West St. Mary (2-4, 2-1) will take to the road to battle the Catholic High of New Iberia Panther next Friday in league play.
St Mary Community Action Agency’s CEO Almetra J. Franklin has announced the dates for October’s St. Mary Parish Senior Feedings.
The dinner for residents in the Morgan City area will be held Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the AARP building on Chenault Street. The dinner for residents of the Franklin and Baldwin area will be held on Thursday, Oct. 17 at the Franklin City Park Recreation Center located at 505 Haifleigh St. in Franklin.
Sponsored by the St. Mary Parish Government and St. Mary CAA, attendees will have dinner, bingo and door prizes. Bingo begins at 10 a.m. followed by dinner, tons of fun and door prizes.
Contact the St. Mary CAA Central office at 337-828-5703.
St. Mary CAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Service Provider, and Lender.
Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Mike Strain gave his annual address at the St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday at The Forest Restaurant in Franklin.
He began with, “Here in St. Mary Parish, when you look at the value of agriculture, it’s over $80 million-a-year directed directly to the farms.
“Look at the value of sugar; it’s over $60 million-a-year. Sugar this year has earned $1.1 billion dollars here in Louisiana.
“The value of Louisiana agriculture is at $13 billion dollars (per year). Ten years ago it was at $5.7 (billion dollars-a-year). And it’s going to continue to grow.”
Strain went on to compare Louisiana’s success with sugar, against the global food supply, through the lens of the role the world must play in doubling its own food supply by 2050.
He called back to an address he gave “four or five years back,” in which he noted that by 2050 the world would see its food supply necessarily doubled, and that in order to do that, the collective economies of the world would need to increase our agricultural output by 2.7 to 2.8% per year, “when in our best year we get 2.5 (percent growth per year).”
In terms of progress toward that necessary global goal, Strain pointed to consumption versus accumulative production.
“The last two years, the world has consumed more rice than it has produced,” he said. “Last year it consumed more wheat and more rice than it produced.”
He added perspective to the problem by stating that China has just opened their strategic reserves of pork and cotton.
He reproached the media for not covering such an important story, and said that if one were want to keep track of such data, there is only to look to World Agriculture Supply and Demand reports, which he said, is also a good indicator of what global financial markets are going to do.
According to Strain, the world’s leading food supply necessities are rice, wheat and proteins (pork, beef, shrimp, etc.).
He said that there are two culprits for the world falling behind in reaching its necessary food supply increase goals: population outpacing supply, or failed increase in production.
As the world’s leading producer of exported food supplies, the US finds itself in a compulsory role in global food production, according to Strain.
This led Strain to speak of recent continental and intercontinental trade deals and negotiations around the world.
“All we are asking for is a level playing field,” Strain told attendees.
He said he had lead the trade delegations between the US, Canada and Mexico two weeks ago, working on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The agreement is based on ensuring fair and equitable trade conditions between its namesake’s countries, doing away with disproportionate irritants.
Strain called the protection of intellectual property “the big key” in negotiations with Mexico; and outside of the USCMA, in negotiations with China.
“Right now, sitting in Washington, ready to be signed is the USMCA agreement. That needs to come off the floor, out of the House (of Representatives) and be voted on,” Strain said.
“Mexico has signed it, and we have put additional restrictions on Mexico. They signed it. Ours is sitting.
“Once that is signed, it will add another $70 billion and 173,000 jobs to America’s economy.
“It is critical. We cannot let it sit there. We need to sign it.”
According to Strain, this week, America signed a unilateral trade deal with Japan which will increase our trade of agricultural products with Japan by 50%.
He also stated that in his estimation, China has finally come to the negotiating table with the US based on the trade deals the US is making with Japan and Britain; and because of the effects of tariffs placed on China by the Trump administration.
“As we sign these deals,” Strain said, “we trade with countries we have these deals with. So, that told China, ‘You either come to the negotiating table, or you are not going to be at the dinner table.’”
Strain pivoted at this point, from global agriculture, to local agriculture.
“What’s really important is that we must invest in infrastructure,” he said.
Through “infrastructure,” Strain identified port infrastructure across the state.
“That helps us to move product,” he said. “By moving product more efficiently, we put money where? (We put it) back in the hands of the farmers. And what do farmers do when they get money? They put it back into the farms, right?
“It grows the economy.
“Agriculture is the largest industry in Louisiana and the largest industry in our parish. So, we are in a positive place where there are a lot of positive things going on. But, we must control our destiny moving forward.”
Strain closed with, “We must drive the train.”
December 29, 1943 – October 4, 2019
NEW IBERIA – Ted Wayne Dugas, 75 years old, died at home surrounded by his family in accordance with his wishes, on Friday, October 4, 2019.
Born in Orange, TX and living his early life in Franklin, LA, Ted moved his family to New Iberia and resided here for 43 years. His death was the result of a traumatic brain injury he suffered in a fall that occurred two weeks earlier. Ted fought hard to stay with us. In life he earned our love and respect for his indomitable sense of fairness and his strong work ethic.
Ted was a navy veteran who served with the Naval Air Development Squadron Five in China Lake, CA. He retired from AT&T after 30 years of service. Ted was a wonderful husband, father, and best friend. He was a gentle man who rescued animals. For relaxation, he enjoyed fishing with his best friends.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Sharon Kristicevich Dugas of New Iberia, niece, Karen C. Gorman of Franklin; nephews, Paul Collette and wife Wendy of Franklin and Jamie Collette and wife Kristy of Houston; brothers-in-law, Steve Kristicevich and wife Cindy of Charenton, Chris Kristicevich and wife Carolyn of Charenton, and Craig Kristicevich of Charenton; and sister-in-law, Tina Clemons and husband Curtis of New Iberia.
He was proceeded in death by his son, Brian Paul Dugas of New Iberia; parents, Gustave “Gus” Dugas and Emmaleen Guidry; and sister, Marie Dugas Collette.
The family wishes to thank the emergency staff of IMC in New Iberia and the numerous doctors and nurses in the Cardio Vascular ICU in Lafayette General for their efforts and care in our time of need.
Ted is deeply loved and missed. A private service will be held at a later date.
To view the on-line obituary, video tribute and sign the guest register, please visit www.evangelinefuneralhome.com.
Evangeline Funeral Home of New Iberia is in charge of arrangements.
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