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Berwick, Patterson to meet in District 9-3A opener

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 4:41pm

GEOFF STOUTE

Berwick and Patterson High schools will begin District 9-3A play Thursday when they meet at Berwick High School.
The teams, which will be playing for the Brag Rag, both come into the game with 2-3 records and coming off wins a week ago to snap three-game losing streaks.
Patterson defeated Morgan City, 56-23, while Berwick topped Cohen College Prep, 41-14.
“Anytime you win, you get a little momentum, and it helps the moral of the team. … We got to go play good football, and be good on offense, defense and special teams,” Patterson Coach Don Jones said.
As for Berwick, Jones said, “They still got a lot of talent and they can move the football.”
Jones coached the current sophomores through seniors on the Berwick High squad when they were at Berwick Junior High before taking over at Patterson prior to last season.
“They have a great offensive scheme,” Jones said. “(Keyon) Singleton’s one of the best running backs in the district, and Reed Gonzales, the quarterback, does a good job distributing the football.”
On the other side of the ball, Jones said the Panthers play well.
“So it should be a heck of a ball game,” he said.
Berwick Coach Mike Walker said Patterson is a “pretty athletic” team.
“They’re closer to the old Patterson teams,” he said. “They have a big offensive line, and they’re fairly athletic on the skill positions. They’re well-coached, and they’re doing a better job of playing sound football.”
Heading into the matchup, Patterson’s run game is led by Allen Langston, who has rushed 70 times for 381 yards with five touchdowns, while Kyler Paul has 27 carries for 123 yards and one touchdown.
Patterson quarterback Tylon Walton has completed 16 of 39 passes for 218 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions.
Elijah Williams is his leading receiver with four catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns, while Kai Schexnayder has 13 catches for 104 yards and a score.
For Berwick, Singleton leads the ground game with 90 carries for 606 yards and eight touchdowns, while Gonzales has 46 carries for 359 yards and seven touchdowns.
Gonzales has completed 30 of 59 passes for 279 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Seth Canty is his leading receiver with 19 catches for 171 yards.

CCHS to open district against undefeated Centerville

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 4:37pm

Central Catholic will open District 8-1A play against undefeated Centerville Thursday on the road. While Central Catholic shut out Centerville 13-0 in the jamboree, the Bulldogs have had no problem scoring in their first five games of the season as they are off to their best start in their football program’s history with a 5-0 mark. All five of the Bulldogs victories have been blowouts. “They’re coming in with a lot of confidence,” Central Catholic Coach Tommy Minton said. “They’ve played well the last few weeks. The offense they run, it’s a matter of execution, and they’re executing a whole lot ...

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MCHS to host Ellender in District 8-4A opener

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 4:32pm

Morgan City High School will open District 8-4A play Thursday when it hosts A.J. Ellender at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers enter the contest with an 0-5 record, while Ellender is 1-4, having lost four straight after a season-opening victory. A week ago, the Patriots fell to Central Lafourche, 55-27. In the loss, Ellender led twice in the first half, but Central Lafourche eventually pulled away and led 41-14 at halftime. Ellender quarterback Patrick Perna threw a touchdown pass to O’Ryan James, Tyshaun Hester had an 85-yard kickoff return for a score and a 1-yard touchdown run and Anthony Foret added a 34-yard touchdown run ...

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Bridge lanes will be closed Monday

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 1:15pm

The left lane of US 90 eastbound and westbound on the Atchafalaya River Bridge from Berwick to Morgan City will be closed 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, weather permitting.

This closure is necessary for a striping operation, the Department of Transportation and Development said.

Emergency vehicles will have full access through the area.

EDWARD 'SMOKEY' EARL FLOYD

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 1:06pm

July 7, 1933 — October 4, 2019
Edward “Smokey” Earl Floyd, 86, a resident of Bayou Vista, passed away peacefully Friday, October 4, 2019, at his home, surrounded by his loving family, and is now red fishing with Jesus.
Smokey was born July 7, 1933, in Mayport, Florida, the son of James Floyd and Ida Gonzales Davis.
Smokey got his first shrimp boat at the young age of 16; shrimping became his life as a means to support his wife and children. As well as being a shrimper, Smokey was a commercial fisherman; his life was spent on the bayou, trapping and fishing. He was a member of the Central Baptist Church in Patterson for over 33 years; other members of the church quickly became family to Smokey, and most even knew him as “Grandpa.” Smokey was an excellent storyteller and could sit and talk to someone for hours telling them about his life. He was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, and always chose family first.
He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his wife of 63 years, Margaret Gray Floyd of Bayou Vista; children, William J. “Billy” Floyd and wife Ayako of Utah, Becky L. Fangue and husband David of Bayou L’Ourse, Jami M. Bonadonna and husband Randal of Florida, Carla A. Martin and husband Steven of Pennsylvania, and Joel Floyd of Bayou L’Ourse; daughter-in-law, Elaine Story of Georgia; 19 grandchildren; and 34 great-grandchildren.
Smokey was preceded in death by his parents, James Floyd and Ida Davis; son, Edward “Eddie” Story; daughter-in-law, Juanice Floyd; one grandson, and one great-grandson.
A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 10, 2019, at Central Baptist Church, 402 Bessie St., in Patterson with Brother Caleb Silvertooth officiating.

Wheel House for Oct. 9

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 1:04pm

DAY OF PRAYER
Good Hope Baptist Church, Patterson, celebrating the annual World Day of Prayer at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, with a skit titled, “Love One Another.” Public invited.

LeCompte promoted at TGMC

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 1:01pm

Terrebonne General Medical Center has named Nicole LeCompte, CRNA as director of anesthesia services.
LeCompte has been a member of the TGMC family since she first graduated as a nurse where she worked in the Intensive Care Unit.
She most recently served as the clinical coordinator of the Anesthesia Department, a position that she held for the past five years.
LeCompte graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
She then graduated from Louisiana State University Health Science Center as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA).
LeCompte also worked in the TGMC Cardiac Catheterization Lab as well as the Surgery Department.
“Nicole is a highly motivated employee who possesses the self-direction that is needed in such a critical role,” said Phyllis Peoples, President and CEO. “Her previous experience at our hospital will provide her with the knowledge and expertise needed to be a huge success in her new role.” Terrebonne General Medical Center has named Nicole LeCompte, CRNA as Director of Anesthesia Services. LeCompte has been a member of the TGMC family since she first graduated as a nurse where she worked in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She most recently served as the Clinical Coordinator of the Anesthesia Department, a position that she held for the past five years.
LeCompte graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and then from Louisiana State University Health Science Center as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). LeCompte also worked in the TGMC Cardiac Catheterization Lab as well as the Surgery Department.
“Nicole is a highly motivated employee who possesses the self-direction that is needed in such a critical role,” said Phyllis Peoples, President and CEO. “Her previous experience at our hospital will provide her with the knowledge and expertise needed to be a huge success in her new role.”

Tiny Texas county benefits from oil boom

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 1:00pm

MENTONE, Texas (AP) — By late afternoon on most weekdays, the orange brick Loving County Courthouse becomes an island in a rising tide of snorting, lurching oil field trucks.
The San Antonio Express-News reports at peak congestion, the wait to make a left turn on Texas 302 toward Kermit can be a half-hour or more.
“Sometimes the traffic on State Highway 302 is backed up two miles. It’s gotten so bad that sometimes I have to get on a traffic vest and go to the intersection to direct traffic,” said Sheriff Chris Busse, 51, who took office in 2015.
“When I was a deputy here in 2008, I was lucky if I saw 20 cars on Texas 302. Now you see 1,000 in half an hour,” he added.
Long the answer to a trivia question about the least-populated county in Texas, Loving County in the 2010 census counted just 82 people. Only Kalawao County in Hawaii had fewer.
It’s now up to about 140 residents spread over 671 square miles of harsh desert terrain. Even at that density of one person per 5 square miles, it still makes Mongolia — the world’s least densely populated country — seem like Houston.
But these days, no one here is complaining of being lonely, as a tsunami of thousands of oil field workers swarms daily to this remote corner of the Permian Basin that borders New Mexico. About 1,000 to 1,500 additional workers are temporary residents who live in man-camps and RV parks.
Positioned over the Delaware Basin, a massive shale oil formation, Loving County is part of the hottest oil play on the planet.
“Right now, we’re producing somewhere near 4.5 million barrels of oil a day, and a tremendous amount of gas and gas liquids. To put that in perspective, less than 10 years ago, we were producing about a million barrels of oil a day,” said Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.
“Loving County is an integral part of the phenomenal growth. I believe they have about 33 rigs running currently,” he added.
An estimated 100,000 workers have come to West Texas for the boom, which Shepperd said is expected to last for decades.
The basin play, which extends into New Mexico, has about 250,000 producing wells. It also has more than 500 working rigs, about half the national total.
And perhaps no West Texas community has been more dramatically affected than Mentone, which just a few years ago barely had a pulse.
Loving County’s only settlement is now rolling in traffic and new tax revenue, but also has parents worried about the kids and taking a simple drive.
A decade ago, before the oil boom hit, then-Sheriff Billy Hopper and Busse, who was a deputy, spent much of their time on traffic enforcement.
Now the department deals with drugs, thefts and other crimes, as well as numerous wrecks.
“Loving County has been between a boom and a bust for as long as I’ve been here. We’ve always had booms, but none in my lifetime like this. It’s unbelievable to see,” he said. “The other day it took me 47 minutes to get through a four-way stop sign on U.S. 285, going north,”
Hopper’s large concrete block house on Harris Street is a block off Texas 302 and right behind the new 24-hour convenience store and gas station.
He is lulled to sleep nightly by a droning lullaby of idling diesels and passing trucks.
“Ever since this new Valero station opened, it’s trucks running 24 hours a day, with guys sleeping in them. It’s people coming and going all the time,” he said.
One thing that everyone agrees has changed for the better is the once bitter local politics. For decades, factions and families fought to control the county government and jobs that came with it.
“When I was a kid out here, we seldom had an election where the Texas Rangers didn’t show up,” recalled Hopper.
Until 2007, when a municipal water system was installed, folks here had to truck in their drinking water.
Until recently, the county had no retail businesses, and locals drove to 33 miles to Kermit or 77 miles to Odessa to do their shopping.
Now there are about five businesses in town, including three food trucks, a Mexican restaurant and the Horseshoe Convenience store, which sells gas, groceries and beer. Lots of beer.
“It’s a madhouse. We sell about 1,200 cases a week. Bud Light is the favorite. Modelo second. And also we sell about 2,400 bags of ice a week,” said Downey Burns, 54, who manages the store for his son.
“Our biggest problem is trash. If the dumpster is full, they don’t have any problem with throwing it right on the ground. I guess that’s the polite way to put it,” he added.
Oddly, none of the beer in the coolers has a price tag. The simple reason, according to a clerk, is “They don’t care.”
An energy boom always attracts workers and fortune-seekers from near and far.
In Loving County, a while back, some Libyan truckers were briefly around. Now, a water trucking company owned by Cubans from Florida is part of the mix.
For county officials, the lean times are only a fading memory. The boom and related investments have raised the tax base from $809 million in 2010 to $8.2 billion this year, a nine-fold increase.
“We’ve had tremendous development; Numerous oil and gas wells, gas plants, pipelines, man camps, and RV parks. It’s been huge for the county,” said Jones, 68, now in his fourth term.
The county’s annual spending is also climbing rapidly, even as the tax rate goes down. The proposed 2020 budget is just under $20 million, double that of last year, and three times the 2017 budget.
Alan Sparks, 61, who came to Mentone in 1991 and works for a land trust, said locals are used to the dramatic changes that come with a boom.
“We’re complaining about the traffic, but not about the boom. Everyone has a little money in their pockets now. It’s good for West Texas,” said.
“Everyone is going to ride it out. It takes a special person to live out here. You can’t run us off.”

Quilt of Many Colors opens in Bayou Vista

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 12:59pm

A new retail store in Bayou Vista, Quilt of Many Colors, 2730 La. 182 East in Bayou Vista had its ribbon-cutting Friday. Quilt of Many Colors specializes in fabrics, quilting, and sewing needs. Pictured from left: Wedna Smith, Trish Fontenot, Susan Price, Dolores Fears, Meta Tellman, Fannie Leonard, Kevin Voisin, parish councilman, Leslie Broussard, Tracey Matthews, Jarrod Longman, parish assessor, Jason Watson, St. Mary Chamber of Commerce vice chairman, Donna Meyer, St. Mary Chamber of Commerce president, and Kathy Primeaux-Carlin.

The Daily Review/Jaclyn Breaux

Jim Brown: Who will come out on top in Louisiana elections?

Wed, 10/09/2019 - 12:55pm

By JIM BROWN

With the Louisiana statewide election only a few days away, and with many voters already making their way to the polls, it would seem to be a good time for me to gaze into my crystal ball and make a prediction of just who will be successful after all the vote are tallied. As many of you regular reader well know, I generally am right on the money. (yeah, right!)
First of all, turnout. Don’t be confused by the large number of voters showing up early to absentee vote.
High early numbers are relatively new in Louisiana. You used to need a reason to vote early. Not any more. Election Day voting Oct. 12 will be fairly light, as many voters don’t want to wait until then. There is too much competition. After all, LSU plays 10th ranked Florida, there are numerous fairs and festivals, and it’s squirrel season. Whose got time to vote?
So let’s begin at the top of the ticket. Can Gov. John Bel Edwards carry off a first primary victory? His two Republican challengers are running neck and neck, even attacking each other, in hopes of forcing a runoff.
The governor has spent some $11 million and corralled a host of Republican public officials and business men and women to endorse him in an effort to get just over 50% of the vote.
He’s been consistently running right at 48% in recent polls, with 10 to 12% of voters still undecided. With a barrage of last-minute television, radio and mailing saturation, I predict that he will just top the needed 50% to win outright in the first primary.
There is little interest in most of the other statewide races on the ballot. Surprisingly to many political observers, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry are heavily spending campaign dollars on their way to rather easy reelection victories.
But they are not throwing away their campaign cash. Four years pass by quickly and look for both of these guys to be doing some early posturing for the governor’s race in 2023.
The one other statewide race that is garnering major attention is the battle for insurance commissioner.
It’s normally tough to beat a current statewide official. But 12-year incumbent Jim Donelon is in the fight of his political life. Donelon has been in public office for some 50 years, and told supporters he was ready to retire, then changed his mind. Challenger Tim Temple, a Baton Rouge insurance executive, is making his first run for public office, and has both outworked and outspent the incumbent.
With Louisiana facing some of the highest insurance rates in the nation, Temple has aggressively made his compelling case for a change. Look for Temple to be the only major candidate who will knockoff an incumbent statewide official.
There are four constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters to consider. They all are hard for many voters to understand and are unnecessary. All the issues involved should and could have been handled by the Louisiana Legislature.
Amendment 1: A ridiculous amendment that would prohibit Louisiana from being able to tax goods, such as offshore drilling equipment, stored in the state but intended to be used off the coast. But the U.S. Constitution already prevents states from taxing property destined for other states or countries. So there is no reason for such a change.
Amendment 2: Allows for appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund for the Louisiana Educational Television Authority, Thrive Academy, and laboratory schools operated by public post-secondary education institutions.” This funding could have easily been handled by the legislature.
Amendment 3: The board of tax appeals would be able to rule whether tax matters are constitutional under state or federal law. They board is not made up of lawyers and it’s not their job to determine what’s constitutional.
Amendment 4: New Orleans would be allowed to create a residential property tax exemption. Why on earth are voters in Monroe or Lake Charles voting on what New Orleans can or cannot do? One more reason for the need of a constitutional convention.
But guess what? All four amendments will pass. Voters just don’t seem to care anymore so we will continue to have a unwheeled and cluttered constitution.
It will take a courageous governor to step up and start the process for such a change. We will see next week if my predictions are correct.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9:00 am till 11:00 am Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.