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Arthur Thomas Yonge of Houston and formerly of Morgan City died Aug. 6, 2019, in Houston.

A memorial service in Morgan City is planned for a later date.

NEW ORLEANS — A Tennessee team’s flounder with seafood dressing placed first at the ninth annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off: 4-H Edition in New Orleans on Aug. 4.
The cooking team from Marion County, Tennessee, included Evan England, Griffin Atkins, Payne Bumpus and Bryson Kilgore with Carson Keeler as the alternate.
Members of the southeastern Tennessee team said they are not usually known for their seafood, but they worked hard to perfect their dish.
Vicky Lofty, the Marion County 4-H agent, said they competed last year but didn’t win. So they came back this year to show what they learned.
“We knew what it took to win after being here last year,” Lofty said. “First, we had the determination, but then you throw in the taste — that dish is delicious.”
The seven teams competing this year at the Morial Convention Center included 4-H’ers from Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, which had two teams.
The second-place team in the annual 4-H competition was Tom Green County 4-H, one of the two Texas teams.
The Louisiana team from Pointe Coupee Parish rounded out the top three of this year’s competition with their dish of crawfish cakes over Louisiana toasted pecan salad.
Brandi Frey, the 4-H agent in Pointe Coupee Parish, said preparing for the competition is a group effort that requires all hands on deck.
“We got help from the nutrition agent to keep the calories within range, and we used our county agent to make sure we stayed with local products,” she said.
States are allowed to register one or two teams, with up to 10 teams allowed in the competition each year.

Believing that fraud can’t happen to us — because we’re too smart, logical or informed — may make us more vulnerable. Successful scam artists skillfully overcome our defenses and get us into emotional states that override logical thinking, said Kathy Stokes, AARP’s director of fraud prevention programs.
“Scammers call it getting the victim under the ether,” she said.
Various studies have tried to identify characteristics that make people more susceptible to fraud. But that can create a “blame the victim” mentality and give the rest of us a false sense of security, she said.
“I’d say the majority of people are unwittingly deceived through no other reason than the criminals are good at what they do,” Stokes said.
SCAM ARTISTS GO WHERE THE MONEY IS
Research is mixed on whether older people are more likely to be defrauded than younger ones. One thing is certain, though: Older people are more likely to have money. People 50 and older control 83% of the wealth in the U.S.
One way to protect that money is to cut down on our exposure to sales pitches, fraud experts say. AARP studies have found investment fraud victims were more likely than other investors to respond to sales pitches delivered by phone, email or television. They also were more likely to send away for free promotional materials, enter drawings, attend free lunch seminars and read all their mail, including advertisements.
To reduce your exposure to potential scams , consider the following steps:
—Put yourself on the federal Do Not Call list.
—Sign up for a telephone call blocking system, such as NoMoRobo, and let unknown callers go to voicemail.
—If you give out personal information, be sure you know who you are giving it to, and why they need it.
—Don’t make investment decisions based solely on a phone or email pitch or an ad.
OVERCONFIDENCE INCREASES OUR RISK
Overconfidence can lead people to trade too aggressively (convinced that they can beat the market), put off saving for retirement (convinced they can catch up later) and ignore warning signs of fraud (convinced that they can’t be victimized).
The risk may increase with age. Studies have found that our financial decision-making abilities peak by our early 50s and decline, sometimes precipitously, after that. But our confidence in our abilities doesn’t drop — in fact, many of us become more self-assured.
“So as we age, this gap grows between actual and perceived ability to make good decisions,” said Chris Heye, co-founder of Whealthcare Planning, a site that helps older adults and financial advisors plan for age-related changes.
Seniors who got answers wrong on a financial literacy quiz, but who were the most confident they answered correctly, were more likely to be victims of fraud, according to a study by researchers at DePaul University and the Rush University Medical Center.
People of any age can combat overconfidence by getting a second opinion on financial decisions from a trusted advisor or money-smart friend. As we get older, it can also make sense to consolidate our accounts so there are fewer to monitor and switch to investments that require less hands-on management, such as target date mutual funds.
LONELINESS CAN BE EXPENSIVE
The Federal Trade Commission said romance scams cost people more money than any other type of consumer fraud in 2018. Reports of these scams more than doubled between 2015 and 2018, while reported losses more than quadrupled to $143 million.
The scams often start via dating apps, social media or email. The con artists pretend to have a lot in common with their victims, then build trust over many weeks or even months before asking their targets to reveal personal data or send money for an “emergency.”
Once again, the young and old alike can be defrauded. One 90-year-old victim met a man via email who, many months later, told her he needed help with a business deal. She sent him eight infusions of cash, draining her $500,000 life savings.
“She sent all that money, and the only reason she knew that it was a scam was that he didn’t show up on Christmas day like he said he would,” Stokes said.
A reverse-image search using TinEye or Google Images may show if an imposter is using someone else’s photo, while sites such as Romancescams.org keep track of known scammers’ email addresses.
But perhaps the best inoculation against being defrauded is to talk to someone you trust about the situation before you send any money. That could be enough to bring you out from under the romantic ether.
—This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet.
RELATED LINK:
Don’t be duped by these phone and email scams http://bit.ly/popular-email-phone-scams

The paddle race from St. Martinville to Franklin will be Oct. 5 with the first contestants paddling into Franklin that evening and throughout the night at Parc Sur La Teche on Teche Drive. The paddlers will depart Oct. 6 at 7 a.m. for the final leg of the race to the Atchafalaya River in Berwick.
Volunteers are needed to assist the paddlers with their vessels and to record the paddlers’ times when they reach the finish line in Franklin. The last day to sign up to become a volunteer is Thursday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. The shifts are two hours each and begin at 4 p.m. Paddlers begin to arrive around 5 p.m. Saturday night. All paddlers have to reach Franklin by midnight. If you or your organization would like to volunteer, contact Arlana Shields, Community Development Director at 337-828-6345.
Tour du Teche 135 is an annual race for canoes, kayaks, pirogues (the traditional Cajun canoe) and SUP’s along the entire length of Bayou Teche in southwestern Louisiana, a total of 135 miles including small sections of Bayou Courtableau and the Atchafalaya River. It’s a three-day staged race beginning the first Friday in October.
There are two classes of Tour du Teche 135: Pro Race, in which some of the fastest boats and paddlers from around the world vie for cash prizes; and Voyageur Race, or recreational, where the participants challenge themselves as well as each other for trophies, bragging rights and adventure. Voyageurs may opt for shorter races held in conjunction with Tour du Teche 135.
Tour du Teche 135 began in 2010 with the dual purpose of introducing the beautiful Teche Country to paddlers and other eco-tourists from beyond and to illustrate for its residents the recreational, aesthetic, cultural and economic value of Bayou Teche. Since the race’s inception, these two groups, visitors and local folk, have met and mingled in happy expositions of music and cuisine that give Tour du Teche 135 its reputation as moveable party as well as a tough series of paddle marathons.