Arthur Lee Dugar, 75, a resident of Patterson, died Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, at Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are pending at this time.
Alfred Harris, 76, a native of Franklin and resident of Morgan City, died Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, at Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are pending at this time.
MISSION MINISTRY
Program at New Salem Baptist Church, 1412 Cherry St., Patterson, at 10 a.m. Oct. 19. Speaker Sandra Carr.
CANCER
Awareness Program at New Salem Baptist Church, 1412 Cherry St., Patterson, at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 20. Anyone with a testimony welcome to share. Public invited.
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
St. Mary Parish School Board together with Special Olympics will host the annual Donna Adams Memorial Track Meet at 10 a.m. Oct. 25 at Morgan City High School Tiger Stadium next to Morgan City Junior High School. St. Mary Parish Schools’ competitors will participate in various track events. The public is invited to meet and support the local Special Olympics competitors.
BREAST CANCER
Awareness Month Pink Program by Pastor’s Aide Ministry of St. Luke Baptist Church, 1709 Harry D St., Patterson, at 8 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27. Theme: “Pink Pearls to Save the Men and Girls.” Survivors invited to participate. Contact Julia May Sterling, 985-519-7824 or Gay Favors, 337-339-2097. Public invited to show support for cancer survivors.
Timing isn’t the only factor worth considering in politics, but if you get it wrong, you’ll discover the misstep sooner rather than later — usually in a very public way, with the missed opportunity and unmissable regret on display for all to see, hear and feel. The difference between victory and defeat for a politician at the polls, for example, could be the span of a mere week, the chasm separating a policy’s passage versus its rejection sometimes just a day.
As voters, we sometimes forget, towards the back end of a four-year election cycle, that a new term of governance is just around the corner — and that the new term equates to new opportunities. This go around is a bit different, though. There’s a sizable turnover coming to the Legislature, more candidates are interested in running for seats and the overall age of legislators has decreased each cycle, so far without exception. In other words, the time has never been as ripe to reset fundamental political thought in Baton Rouge.
But time is running out. The new governor and Legislature will be seated in roughly 100 days, during the first full week of January. In just 100 days decisions about legislative chairmanships and policy agendas will begin cementing. The seeds for those upcoming endeavors, however, are still being planted.
That means, in regard to our slate of legislative elections and the governor’s race, the time for something of substance is now. Short of that, we could end up with a substantial nothing by the time this Legislature is seated and has navigated its first few sessions.
The problem this election cycle is as clear to me as the water in Abita Springs. There are no unifying policy themes, no campaigns planks being widely shared and no dominating voices steering the caravan that’s headed straight for the Capitol in Baton Rouge.
After a term of broken promises about fiscal reforms, where are the ideas to which candidates should be gravitating? Where are the policy papers that legislative wannabes are endorsing? Where’s the eye of the storm?
In some respects, the state is flying blind into the next term. This cycle has simply been too quiet on too many important policy fronts.
Consumers of political news, like myself, and those who produce it, like myself, are partly to blame. Look, if you don’t find tax proposals and poverty statistics all that interesting on the surface, then you’re unlikely to get that kind of coverage on a regular basis from the mainstream media.
So what in the heck are we going to do?
Legislative candidates, in particular, in concert with those already elected without opposition, need to hit RESET. That’s the name of a policy campaign underwritten by three well-known, long-standing special interest groups that focus their energies on good government issues and economic development:
—Council for a Better Louisiana, or CABL, was created in 1962, and remains a research hubs for all levels of education.
—Founded in 1950, the Public Affairs Research Council, or PAR, is an independent voice on a wide variety of issues, from public records to constitutional law.
—C100 has focused on job creation and corporate innovation since 1992, with more than 100 business and university leaders serving as members.
The RESET plan calls for four focus areas that would allow the next Legislature to pick up on a few incremental steps that were made by the outgoing House and Senate this term.
1.) FINANCES: RESET wants to see fiscal flexibility added to the Constitution, unfunded accrued liability (retirement debt) lessened and a “fair, simple and competitive tax environment for individuals and businesses.”
2.) EDUCATION: There’s a war cry from RESET for access to high-quality early care and education programs for “all at-risk children in Louisiana from birth through age four.” Expanding access to the Community and Technical College System is a priority as well, as is maintaining “rigorous K-12 academic standards” and a “dynamic array of education choices for students and parents.”
3.) TRANSPORTATION: According to RESET, “Louisiana’s transportation infrastructure should be an asset, not a liability. The state should significantly invest in its transportation infrastructure, including ports and waterways, enhance public safety, relieve congestion in major urban areas and support commerce and economic development.”
4.) CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY: “Louisiana should create an efficient criminal justice system that utilizes prison space for those who pose a public safety threat and implements evidence-based practices to reduce recidivism.”
The RESET folks have put together that bare bones for a plan that tackles problems on four, broad-based issues. If you’re into pragmatic, results-based efforts, what’s not to like? PAR, CABL and C100 can each bring resources (like credibility and research) to the table. If you’re into splashy fundraising and arm-twisting, then you might want to look elsewhere.
There’s wiggle room in the RESET plan so that both Democrats and Republicans can sit down and hash out the details. (For more, go to www.resetlouisiana.com.) A plan that’s solely from one party will surely keep their counterparts at bay, which leads to uncertainty and gridlock.
We’ve already seen what that looks like for a full term.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter@LaPoliticsNow.
With absentee voting open and a Louisiana statewide election only days away, voters are making their final choices. In the race for governor, the undecided vote has dropped to around 10 percent, about normal prior to a gubernatorial contest just before election day.
But there is one other statewide race on the ballot.
Louisiana commissioner of insurance.
Have voters made their choice in this important office? Not by a long shot.
In the most recent statewide poll, conducted by JMC Analytics for the Louisiana Hospital Association, some 60 percent of voters remain undecided, a stunning low number at this stage of the election.
And even more surprising, the incumbent Commissioner Jim Donelon and challenger Tim Temple are in a dead heat, both polling around 20 percent.
Donelon has been around in public office for almost 50 years, is in his late 70s, and most political pundits predicted that he would not run again in this election cycle.
But he apparently can’t let go, so he’s giving it one more shot.
Temple is the new kid on the block, having never served in public office before. But he is knowledgeable on key insurance issues, and well funded.
And with 80 percent of voters uncertain about Donelon’s effectiveness, Temple is making a charge to finish first.
It’s surprising that the electorate is not more focused on the insurance commissioner’s race.
It’s the only other contest on the ballot where an incumbent is facing a major challenge.
And insurance is a sore subject to just about everyone in Louisiana, who for years have faced he highest insurance costs in the nation.
If the Bayou State were paying what the average southern state pays for insurance, policyholders would have some three billion dollars more in their pockets.
Yes, that right. Three billion dollars more. And that ain’t chump change.
Donelon puts the blame for high automobile rates on the legal system, and particularly trial lawyers.
But a recent study by the U.S Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Legal Reform showed Louisiana within the national average when it comes to per capita cost of lawsuits involving auto accidents.
So why are auto insurance costs so high in Louisiana? Here are some of the reasons.
High automobile rates are a combination of the following:
First of all, we as a state are not very responsible drivers. Louisiana has a disproportionate number of uninsured drivers, drunk drivers, untrained young drivers, speeding, running red lights, texting while driving, inattentiveness while driving, and a combination of all these factors that puts the Bayou State way below the norm when it comes to safe driving and enforcement of highway laws.
It’s going to take an insurance commissioner and a governor to work together to develop a crackdown on irresponsible driving habits to see any significant drop in the cost of insurance.
Secondly, the insurance department, under Donelon’s watch, has become tolerant of insurance companies that discriminate against certain driving categories.
As an example, did you know that there is a “widow penalty” allowed by the Department of Insurance?
That’s right. If you have lost your spouse, you are charged as much as 15 percent more for your car insurance by many companies operating in Louisiana.
If you are a blue-collar worker or if you do not have a college degree, a number of insurance companies operating in Louisiana charge you significantly more, by as much as 15 percent.
I’m puzzled as to that relates in being a safer driver. Wealthy drivers with a DWI pay less than drivers with a spotless record but a low credit score.
And in numerous cases, African Americans pay significantly more, as much as 70 percent, for their car insurance than whites according to the Consumer Federation of America.
Donelon is on the defensive for many of the reasons listed, but incumbency still carries sway in the Bayou State. There is no democratic candidate running, so democratic voters will be decisive as to who the winner will be.
With Tim Temple on the attack and a huge undecided electorate, this race will be one of the most interesting to watch on election night.
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 of his columns at www.jimbrownusa.com.
Several traffic violations led to a traffic stop and the arrest of a Morgan City man for driving while intoxicated, Morgan City Police Chief James F. Blair said in a news release.
—Ricardo Zermeno, 21, of Aycock Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 10:18 p.m. Monday on charges of improper lane usage, expired license plate, and first offense driving while intoxicated.
An officer observed a vehicle commit several traffic violations in the area of La. 182 and Seventh Street. A traffic stop was conducted and the driver was identified as Zermeno. During the traffic stop, the officer suspected driver impairment. A standardized field sobriety was conducted and Zermeno did poorly on the test. He was placed under arrest and transported to a medical facility where a blood sample was obtained. The blood sample is pending testing at Louisiana State Police Crime Lab. Zermeno was jailed.
Blair also reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 55 calls for service.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith advised that the Sheriff’s Office responded to 35 complaints and the following arrests were made:
—Kevin Glen Davis, 52, of Picket Lane in Franklin, was arrested at 8:36 a.m. Monday on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of speeding. A deputy was sitting stationary on U.S. 90 west near Berwick when he observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
The deputy conducted a traffic stop and made contact with the driver, Davis, and was advised by dispatch that Davis held an active warrant for his arrest. Davis was jailed with bail set at $298.50.
—Okello Patrick Wheeler, 28, of Beechwood Drive in Baton Rouge, was arrested at 11:40 a.m. Monday on a warrant for failure to appear on charges of principal to attempted possession with intent to distribute oxycodone, principal to altering a prescription of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
A transportation deputy made contact with Wheeler while transported him from another agency to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center to be booked on the outstanding warrant for his arrest. Wheeler was jailed with bail set at $2,500.
—Dannyell Moore, 44, of South Lake Arthur Avenue in Jennings, was arrested at 11:56 a.m. Monday on charges of speeding and driving under suspension.
—Mary Welch, 34, of West Sixth Street in Roanoke, Virginia, was arrested at 11:56 a.m. Monday on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
A deputy was on U.S. 90 west near Berwick when he observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. The deputy conducted a traffic stop and made contact with the driver, Moore, and a passenger, Welch. Dispatch advised that Moore was driving with a suspended driver’s license. Through the investigation, drug paraphernalia was found in Welch’s possession. Moore and Welch were arrested and released on a summons to appear Dec. 2.
—Michael Wayne Martin Jr., 36, of Second Street in Berwick, was arrested at 5:02 p.m. Monday on a warrant for failure to appear on the charge of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling. A deputy was dispatched to a location in Bayou Vista in reference to a suspicious person. The deputy made contact with Martin and through the investigation learned that Martin held an active warrant for his arrest. Martin was jailed with no bail set.
Berwick Police Chief David Leonard Sr. reported the following arrests.
—A female juvenile, 17, of Patterson, was arrested at 5:52 p.m. Monday on a charge of allowing unlicensed driver to drive. The juvenile was issued a citation.
—A female juvenile, 17, of Patterson, was arrested at 5:52 p.m. Monday on charges of careless operation with a crash and driving without a license. The juvenile was issued a citation.
Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan reported no arrests.
NAPOLEONVILLE — Numerous suspects throughout Assumption Parish were arrested following an in-depth, undercover probe called Operation Fall Fest that investigated mid-level drug violators, Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon reported in a news release.
Deputies from the uniformed patrol section, Immigration Control Enforcement unit, and narcotics agents hit the streets in force and the following arrests were made:
—Dewayne Worley, 36, of La. 308 in Paincourtville, was arrested on a charge of distribution of cocaine. He was jailed with bond set at $50,000.
—Ricky Washington, 29, of Violet Street in Labadieville, was arrested on a charge of distribution of marijuana. He was jailed and released on a $25,000 bond.
—Kalyne Marie Francis, 31, of La. 1 in Napoleonville, was arrested on a charge of distribution of methamphetamine. She was jailed with bond set at $55,000.
—Nicole Marie Blanchard, 31, of Pierre Part, was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was jailed with bond set at $60,000.
—Lawrence Bertrand Dorsey, 35, of Alvin Street in Labadieville, was arrested on a charge of distribution of marijuana. He was jailed with bond set at $25,000.
—Bruce Jackson, 60, of Palm Lane in Labadieville, was arrested on a charge of distribution of cocaine. He was jailed with bond set at $55,000.
—Christopher Joseph Skidmore, 25, of Skidmore Street in Napoleonville, was arrested on charges of possession of Tylenol with codeine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed with bond set at $30,000.
The Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office is also seeking to arrest the following individuals relative to “Operation Fall Fest:”
—Jamor Jones, 35, of Jones Street in Napoleonville, is wanted on an indictment charging him with distribution of marijuana.
—Rubin Andrew, 43, of Bertrand Street in Napoleonville, is wanted on an indictment charging him with distribution of marijuana and distribution of methamphetamine.
—Jamal Starks, 22, of Violet Street in Labadieville, is wanted on an indictment charging him with distribution of marijuana.
Anyone knowing the whereabouts of these suspects are urged to contact the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office at 985-369-2912.
The Operation Fall Fest investigation is continuing.
The Hanson Memorial Tigers will travel to face Thrive Academy on Thursday while Franklin and Centerville will celebrate Homecoming with West St. Mary renewing its longtime rivalry on the road at Jeanerette at the midway point of the 2019 high school grid season.
Hanson Memorial (1-2) will make the journey to Baton Rouge to do battle with Thrive Academy in non-district action Thursday in the first of three successive Thursday night scheduled contests in a row for the Tigers.
Franklin (1-3, 1-0) will honor its senior players with Homecoming on Friday with the 0-4 Delcambre Panthers invading J. C. Dry for the District 7-2A battle.
The undefeated Centerville Bulldogs will celebrate Homecoming on Friday with St. Martins of New Orleans visiting Bulldog Stadium for the 7 p.m. kickoff.
West St. Mary (1-3, 1-0) will take on its second District 7-2A opponent in a row by making the short trip to battle the Jeanerette Tigers (2-4, 0-1) Friday at the JHS Stadium.
HANSON MEMORIAL AT THRIVE ACADEMY
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Hanson Memorial Tigers are set to travel to Baton Rouge for the second time this season to take on Thrive Academy in non-district action Thursday.
The Hanson Tigers toppled intra-parish opponent Morgan City 12-3 on Friday at McCloskey Field behind a terrific defensive effort.
Hanson will travel to Baton Rouge for the first of three consecutive Thursday night games tomorrow at Thrive Academy in non-conference action with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
DELCAMBRE AT FRANKLIN HIGH
After posting their first win of the season, the Franklin Hornets will honor its senior players Friday for Homecoming in a District 7-2A contest at J. C. Dry Stadium.
During last week’s action, the Franklin Hornets rallied for a thrilling 34-20 comeback home victory over the Loreauville Tigers for their first win of the season in District 7-2A lid-lifter.
While the Hornets were knocking off the LHS Tigers last week, the Delcambre Panthers bowed to the highly-touted Catholic High of New Iberia Panthers by an eye-popping 63-0 score at Delcambre.
Franklin celebrates Homecoming on Friday with a District 7-2A battle against Delcambre at 7 p.m.
ST. MARTINS AT CENTERVILLE
The 4-0 Centerville Bulldogs will polish off Homecoming festivities Friday when St. Martins of New Orleans come to town for a non-district contest at 7 p.m.
Centerville has posted a perfect 4-0 record on the season with successive victories over Ascension Catholic, Haynes Academy, Delcambre and Ridgewood.
The unbeaten Bulldogs controlled both sides of the line in last week’s 35-0 road victory over Ridgewood in non-district action. Centerville has notched home victories over Ascension Catholic and Delcambre at home while also earning road wins over Haynes Academy and Ridgewood in Metairie.
Centerville will celebrate Homecoming Friday in a non-district tilt against St. Martins of New Orleans at Bulldog Stadium.
The undefeated Centerville Bulldogs will set their sights on St. Martins of New Orleans for Homecoming Friday at Bulldog Stadium in non-district action.
WEST ST. MARY AT JEANERETTE
The West St. Mary Wolfpack and the Jeanerette Tigers will once again renew their annual friendly rivalry on Friday at 7 p.m. in District 7-2A action at the JHS Stadium.
West St. Mary opened District 7-2A action last week with a 42-6 shellacking of the Houma Christian Lions for Homecoming at Wolfpack Stadium.
While West St. Mary was whipping up on the Lions, the Jeanerette Tigers came up on the short end of a 48-7 loss at the hands of the Ascension Episcopal Blue Gators at the JHS Stadium.
West St. Mary will take to the road Friday to battle longtime rival Jeanerette in the second game of the District 7-2A contest at 7 p.m.
Kerry B. Beslin, LUTCF, of the Louisiana General Office, has received the honorable designation of Senior Nylic of New York Life.
Beslin joined New York Life on Oct. 4, 1999 when she began her career and continues with the Louisiana General Office and also at her office in Jeanerette.
Beslin’s experience as an agent for New York Life enables her to work diligently to provide her clients with the highest level of service to explore insurance and financial products to help meet clients’ needs and goals for retirement.
She is a resident of Jeanerette and a member of St. John Evangelist and NAIFA. She has been married to her husband, Mark, for 42 years and they have two sons, Stuart and Seth, that are married. Beslin and her husband have six grandchildren.
Franklin’s Bayou to Main Market Place is kicking-off with a fall market filled with vendors and all new items just in time for the holidays.
The public is invited for bargain prices and great food beginning this Saturday, Oct. 5, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. This event is sponsored by the Franklin Merchants Association and the City of Franklin.
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