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Mozelle Hampton Johnson, 83, a resident of Berwick, La. and native of Winnsboro, La., passed away peacefully on Wednesday October 2, 2019 at 7:05 p.m. at the Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner.
Visitation will be observed on Saturday October 12, 2019 at the Mount Zion Baptist Church from 9 a.m. until funeral services at 11 a.m. Reverend Larry Frank will officiate the services. Burial will follow funeral services in the Morgan City Cemetery.
Memories of Mozelle will forever remain in the hearts of her devoted husband, Warner Johnson of Berwick, La.; two sisters, Sarah Johnson of Morgan City, La. and Elaine Fisher of Metairie, La. and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Mozelle was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, and an infant child.
Visit www.jones-funeral-home.com to send condolences to family.

December 24, 1925 – October 8, 2019
Norma Ruth Darnall Luke, a longtime resident of Centerville, passed away at the age of 93 on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, at the Franklin Health Care Center. Norma Ruth was born in Patterson on Christmas Eve of 1925, the second of four children born to the late Louis Darnall Sr. and the late Mamie Landry Darnall.
She graduated in 1944 from the old Franklin High School. Later that year on August 27th she married the love of her life Gilbert W. Luke and was blessed with six children, Glenn, Judy, Lydia, Beth, Ruth, and Karen. Gilbert, affectionately known as “Goat”, preceded her in death in September of 1999, shortly after celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary.
Norma Ruth enjoyed playing in several Pokeno Clubs and loved watching baseball, but her passion in life was definitely hosting Sunday Dinner for many years for her family of four generations. In her later years, she enjoyed Bingo as well as many social activities at the Franklin Health Care Center where she was a resident for the past year and a half.
Those she leaves to cherish her beautiful memory include her children, Glenn James Luke and his wife Jo, Judy Luke, Lydia L. Curry and her husband Ronnie, Beth L. Bevills and her husband Danny, Ruth L. Ortego and her husband Randy, and Karen L. Terry and her husband Mark; ten grandchildren, Wayne Businelle Jr. (Kimberly Boudreaux), Joey Businelle, Jason LeBlanc (Alex), Tanya Businelle Carter (Jordan Fontenot), Dana Bevills Judice (Wilson), Luke Ortego, Kelli Bevills Deranger (John), Grant Ortego (Lauren), Clay Terry (Bridget), and Clint Terry (Paula); 25 great grandchildren; four great great grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Along with her parents Louis and Mamie, and her husband Gilbert, she was preceded in death by three siblings, Louis Darnall Jr., Kenneth Darnall, and Mary Alice Revere; one grandson, David W. LeBlanc; and one great granddaughter, Leah Ortego.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed Friday, October 11th, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Centerville from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., with the Holy Rosary being prayed at 11 a.m. led by the Franklin Men’s Ultreya Group. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 1 p.m. followed by burial in the St. Joseph Cemetery where she will be laid to rest with her beloved husband, grandson, and great granddaughter. Father Joel Faulk will be the Celebrant for the Mass and conduct the services. Serving as pallbearers will be Wayne Businelle Jr., Joey Businelle, Jason LeBlanc, Luke Ortego, Grant Ortego, Clay Terry, and Clint Terry. Readers for the Mass will be Dana Judice and Kelli Deranger and gift bearer will be Tanya Carter. Musical selections will be provided by the St. Joseph Choir and will include Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Here I Am Lord, and Just A Closer Walk With Thee.
The Luke family extends their deepest gratitude to the staffs of Franklin Health Care Center, Franklin Foundation Hospital, Heart of Hospice, and to Dr. Roland Degeyter and his staff, for their dedication and loving compassion shown to Norma Ruth. Your kindness will forever be appreciated.
Family and friends may view the obituary and express their condolences online by visiting www.iberts.com.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Ibert’s Mortuary, Inc., 1007 Main Street, Franklin, La. 70538, (337) 828-5426.

St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith reported an arrest Tuesday in the rape of a 13 year-old juvenile female in St. Mary Parish.
Martin Humberto Montes Dimas, 36, of 1817 Barrow St., Amelia, was arrested Tuesday at 4:05 a.m. on a warrant for the charge of first degree rape.
Detectives with the Investigations Division with the assistance of the U.S. Border Patrol made contact with Montes Dimas during an active investigation of the rape of a juvenile female who was under 13 at the time of the incident.
Montes Dimas was developed as the suspect, and a warrant was obtained for his arrest.
He was arrested and transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking. Bail has not been set.
Chief Gregory K. Bovino of the U.S. Border Patrol in New Orleans commented on the arrest and the work that led up to the arrest.
“The St. Mary’s Parish Sheriff’s Office, through diligent, focused law enforcement action, took an illegal alien child predator off the street,” Bovino said. “Great job by that office. I cannot stress enough that what happens on the border will ultimately affect communities across the entire country. The alleged rape of a child is heartbreaking, but it’s all the worse when committed by an illegal alien, with a significant criminal history, who should never have been here in the first place.”
Sheriff Blaise Smith was also complimentary of his Investigations and Patrol Divisions in their involvement in the case and the arrest, saying, “I am very proud of the persistent and careful work of our detectives and deputies in bringing this case to a close, and making the arrest.”

Franklin Rotary Club heard Tuesday from members of Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard’s administration’s team that is implementing the city’s Blighted Structure Mitigation Project.
Foulcard opened the program with a quick look into how he views community blight, saying, “Blight erodes and eats away at a community like a cancer. So, I’ve been pretty aggressive with moving forward and taking care of that with some good, good people on board with me.”
Foulcard then introduced those who he called a “One-two knock-out team” addressing Franklin’s blight woes, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Hildreth and Franklin Planning and Zoning Director, Permits and Inspections, ICC and City Codes Official and La. Floodplain Administrator Glenn Todd.
First up was Hildreth.
He explained the effects of blight, and why it is a concern for the city.
“My job at the fire department is delivering fire protection services for the community,” Hildreth said. “We have (in blighted properties) a target-rich environment for people to come out and to light these houses on fire. It is also a crime problem,” he continued, pointing to comments Foulcard made earlier.
Foulcard had said, “There are a lot of illicit things that go on in some of those dilapidated houses. Some people stash drugs in those houses. They break into other people’s houses and then hide what they’ve stolen in those houses (blighted houses). There are many illegal sexual acts that could occur in some of those houses. So, we are trying to eradicate that.”
Hildreth said that not addressing the problem of structural decay in the city would lead to neighborhoods where these structures are located, experiencing a “deterioration of social values, a curtailment of investment in tax revenue, an increase in criminal activity, and an impairment in investment values which adversely affects the quality of life of those neighborhoods.”
He said that those words were not his own, but those of the city ordinance addressing blight mitigation.
According to Hildreth, the reason the previous administration had such difficulty in blight mitigation was that they were paying for it with city tax dollars, with the costliest part of mitigating the city’s blight being the cost of doing away with trash and debris, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in some cases.
To change that, the Foulcard team, through St. Mary Parish President David Hanagriff, saw a move passed through parish government which waived tipping fees for the duration of the project’s life. Which Hildreth said is set up to be a self-sustaining system until the list of all 209 properties is exhausted.
Hildreth explained that there are two criteria: The prospective property must be vacant and must have been vacant for six months or longer, and it must not have met the standards for condemnation (more than 50 percent of the structure is damaged).
Hildreth said the team went about securing the structures that met the criteria for demolition, and sent out letters to the property owners.
Of those who were sent letters, Hildreth reported 50 percent compliance, with 30 property owners who have come into compliance on their own.
Hildreth said he went to all the houses in Franklin which were condemnable, and tagged them with red tags. He further reported that once the red tags had been stapled to the properties, the team saw a drastic reduction in the problem they had experienced theretofore, that of property owners remaining elusive.
He also said there is a list of 10 properties which had been condemned by the previous administration, but went undemolished due to the cost. These, he said would be prioritized to be demolished first.
Since the Foulcard administration has seen the costs of demolition so drastically reduced due to the parish waiver of tipping fees, Hildreth said those ten properties will be razed within 45 to 60 days.
He further stated that some properties remain without evident owners. Those, he said, will be assigned a lawyer who will go through the proper steps in “due diligence,” to advertise for and attempt to locate the owners. If that process reaches completion without success, the properties will be auctioned off.
Following Hildreth, was Todd, who closed the presentation by adding that he and Hildreth work in conjunction to try to achieve for the city the project’s goal, to bring life and progress back to where there was before only blight.
Todd said, “There are people who are saving some of these homes, and that is the ultimate goal, not to have a lot of empty spots, but to have people investing back into their neighborhood, not just leaving it to blight.”
Hildreth and Todd were among those present at the Special Meeting convened by Foulcard with Franklin’s City Council Tuesday evening.
The meeting consisted of two parts, condemnation hearings and the attorney appointment order.
The condemnation hearings were composed of a dialogue between Hildreth, Foulcard and council members by which Hildreth explained, case by case, the property’s state, the status of contact with the property owner, and recommended specific grace periods before demolition.
Of the two listed property owners at the hearing, one chose to address the mayor and council, and that was Kevin Perro.
Perro explained the reason for not being able to respond to previous modes of outreach from the administration, and expressed that he would do his part to bring his property into compliance with city codes.
Foulcard and the council commended Perro for addressing the matter, and agreed to work with him to bring the property into compliance.
Hildreth and the council then went down the list of the remaining 18 properties, and council members voted on each property’s grace period allotment and condemnation status.
The grace periods for property owners to bring the property into compliance ranged from 150 days to 30 days, but the standard time was by and large, 90 days.
Here is a list of the condemned property’s addresses, and their corresponding grace period allotments:
—617 Third St.: 90 days
—614 Fifth St.: 90 days
—506 Sixth St.: 90 days
—104 Bud St.: 90 days
—1804 Canal Drive: 90 days
—607 Hamm St.: 90 days
—816 Iberia St.: 90 days
—606 JA Hernandez St.: 90 days
—611 JA Hernandez St.: 90 days
—604 Morris St.: 90 days
—411 Nora St.: 150 days
—1012 Oakdale St.: 60 days
—1025 Oakdale St.: 60 days
—1026 Oakdale St.: 60 days
—496 Oneal Chube St.: 90 days
—518 Park Avenue: 90 days
—511 Robert St.: 90 days
—502½ Sith St.: 30 days.
The attorney appointed to take the cases of property owners who failed to answer any attempt to be contacted, is Joseph Tabb with Baudry & Tabb, LLC.
The list was voted on individually by councilmembers, all in the affirmative, and is as follows:
—613 Pecot St.
—107 Bud St.
—1039 Cayce St.
—1803 ½ Cole St.
—313 Morris St.
—515 Oneal Chube St.
—312 Talbot
—411 Third St.
—1611 Tupelo St.
—613 Twelfth St.
—620 Twelfth St.