RSS Feed

Area coaches who worked with the Berwick High School program and youth baseball remembered longtime Berwick High coach John Menard for his hard work, humility and way to use baseball to teach life lessons.
Menard, 44, passed away Friday after a battle with cancer.
He spent years of his career serving the Berwick community as a teacher and coach in various sports during at Berwick High School.
Menard spent time as an assistant football coach, served one year as a girls basketball coach, and he was a longtime Berwick baseball assistant coach.
The year prior to taking an assistant coaching position at New Iberia Senior High, Menard served one year as Berwick’s baseball coach, leading the squad to the Class 3A state semifinals. It was the Panthers’ first semifinal appearance in 10 years.
“He’s the most humble person I’ve ever met,” said Berwick Baseball Coach Brandon Bravata, who succeeded Menard and this past season coach Menard’s son Clay. “He never wanted credit for anything. He had tons of baseball knowledge, but more importantly, he was a good man and a family man and a caring person.”
Bravata said his best memory with Menard came the year prior to taking over the Berwick baseball program when he served as an assistant coach on Berwick’s first of three straight semifinal teams.
He said Menard and he shared a “big hug” after the team recorded a walk-off win in the Class 3A Quarterfinals to advance to the state tournament.
“It’s just something I’ll treasure forever,” said Bravata.
Lud Henry, a current Berwick High assistant baseball coach, served as Berwick head baseball coach for much of Menard’s high school career.
Henry described Menard as “just one of the hardest-working kids. Not the most talented, but just one of the hardest working kids that came through the Berwick baseball program.”
Later when Menard returned to Berwick, Henry hired him as a teacher and coach, and in later years, the duo worked together as assistant baseball coaches at Berwick, too.
“He was not the fiery type of guy, but he veered kids in the right direction,” Henry said. “He motivated them. He told them the truth.”
Henry said the athletes appreciated Menard’s honesty.
“They all had his respect, and it was somebody that the kids liked playing for,” Henry said. “Somebody that we’re surely going to miss him at Berwick.”
Berwick High School teacher Kenny Williams knew Menard since they were youngsters as Williams rode the school bus driven by Menard’s mother. A then-3-year-old John rode along on those trips to drop off students.
“I was 5 (years old) going to kindergarten, and when I’d walk on the bus the first few days, he was like literally sitting on the top of the steps,” Williams said.
Williams said because he was young, he would sit in the front row of the bus, and he got to know John.
While they went their separate ways as John attended Berwick High and Kenny, Central Catholic, they were reunited as teachers at Berwick High School where they also coached baseball and football together.
They also shared a hallway and talked between classes. Williams taught history and Menard, algebra.
A recent memory he has with Menard is when he, Menard and Berwick High track and field coach Paul Gilder went separately to the Class 3A state championship baseball game and they all sat together. Williams said a Berwick fan took a picture and recently gave it to them.
“That was a pretty cool moment that we got to do together,” Williams said.
Brian Thorguson, who grew up in Golden Farms subdivision in Berwick with Menard and played all sports together, also worked with Menard in travel baseball and Dixie Youth when their children played.
“Obviously he was just an all-round genuine fellow,” Thorguson said.
Thorguson said that Menard always was available to volunteer as a youth baseball coach for his son’s team on top of his duties as a baseball coach in high school.
Thorguson said that Menard used baseball to teach life lessons for his players.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Flush with new cash in an election year, Louisiana lawmakers got generous, passing pay raises and boosted spending plans, but the full bill won’t come due until later years.
Despite improved revenue collections, the Legislature didn’t have enough money to cover all the items on its wish list. Rather than say no to officials and constituencies back home, lawmakers who ended their regular session Thursday backloaded some spending plans to hit after the new term begins in 2020.
“This is the first year we had a surplus in our budget, and it’s an election year. The combination of those factors, everybody realized it’s a great strategy to ask for more funding,” said Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee.
The House and Senate boosted spending in next year’s budget on colleges, public school teachers, health services, foster care, senior citizen centers, public safety programs and the TOPS free college tuition program.
In addition to expectations they’ll continue that new funding annually, lawmakers also agreed to higher spending on sheriffs, parish district attorneys, health programs and more in the following years, when some legislators who locked the state into the plans won’t be in office to grapple with paying for them.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said the items that lawmakers passed are “very, very small in comparison” to the overall $30 billion state operating budget — and to the hundreds of millions in tax breaks that House Republicans sought to enact, but that were killed by senators.
The spending plans that passed “are not bills that I have concern with. I will tell you that we saw an awful lot of discipline in the Legislature because the ones with the big fiscal notes did not make it all the way through,” the governor said.
Under a bill by Monroe Rep. Katrina Jackson, lawmakers boosted the dollars paid to local sheriffs per day for housing state inmates in parish jails. The change will cost $6.5 million in the upcoming budget year that begins July 1 and nearly doubles to $12.5 million a year later in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
“We’re demanding more from them in terms of education and training, more in terms of mental health and substance abuse treatment, and so you can’t really do that and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to pay the same per diem we’ve been paying for the last 11 years,’” Edwards said.
That later budget year starting in 2020 is also when Louisiana will owe more to local district attorneys and assistant district attorneys, about $1.6 million for a boost to their state-financed salary supplements. That will grow to $3.3 million a year later.
Hewitt said she worries about future obligations. But she said lawmakers took a balanced approach in choosing which groups to assist.
“The sheriffs originally asked for twice as much as we gave them, and the district attorneys asked for twice as much as we gave them, so we did try to rein it in,” she said.
Legislators also agreed to expand Louisiana’s Medicaid program to include more children with developmental disabilities whose parents make too much money to qualify under current eligibility rules.
The legislation from Republican Rep. Dodie Horton, of Haughton, would start the program in the 2020-21 budget year, carrying an estimated $28 million price tag — about $9.3 million from the state — to cover about 1,600 more children.
In addition, a plan for five years of judges’ pay raises could eventually have the state footing the bill.
The measure by Republican Sen. Danny Martiny, of Kenner, starts 2.5% raises for 372 judges with the new budget year. Louisiana’s Supreme Court justices agreed to cover the first year from an existing judicial surplus.
But additional 2.5% raises could happen each new budget year through 2023 if the judiciary determines it has money to pay for them — and lawmakers expect judges to come asking for that money in their annual budget. The cost of the raises, if funded each year, would grow to $3.7 million by 2020-21 and to $9.5 million by the 2023-24 budget year.
_

District Attorney M. Bofill Duhe’ will host the annual St Mary Chamber of Commerce Charlie Roe Scholarship Fund Annual Auction, Steak Dinner and Awards Banquet 6-9 p.m. June 27 at the Patterson Area Civic Center.
Money will be raised through two adjacent auctions at the dinner, as well as distribution of awards.
Attendees can purchase individual tickets for $50 as well as reserve a table of eight for their business or party. Tickets include a full steak dinner, drinks, and the opportunity to bid on exclusive auction items.
The Charlie Roe Scholarship Program began many years ago, when St Mary Parish resident Charlie Roe bequeathed money to the St Mary Chamber of Commerce to be used specifically for scholarships. This program has continued throughout the years, with proceeds from the annual banquet generating scholarship funds for each following year. At this year’s event, eight students of St Mary Parish, (one selected from each St Mary Parish high school) will be awarded $1,000 for their continuing education.
One of these students will receive an additional $250 and The Student of the Year Award. The Charlie Roe Fund will also award $1,000 to South Louisiana Community College for distribution as scholarships. The amount of money generated from the auction determines next year’s scholarships amounts.
Another highlight of the event is the Teacher of the Year Award. This award is selected by the schools and given to three outstanding teachers in elementary, junior and high school. In further support of local continuing education, Scott Berry, President of St Mary Arts and Humanities Council, will also distribute a $500 scholarship to a local St Mary Parish Student, on behalf of the Council.
Tickets may be purchased directly from the Chamber at 985-384-3830. Private donations to the scholarship fund may be made directly from the St. Mary Parish Chamber website at www.stmarychamber.com.

Stanley Paul Daigle Sr., a native of Four Mile Bayou, Louisiana, and a resident of Belle River, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family at the age of 86 on Friday, June 7th, 2019.
Visitation will be held at Twin City Funeral Home in Morgan City, Louisiana, on Monday, June 10, 2019, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and resume at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Morgan City at 8 a.m. on June 11, 2019. Religious services will begin at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at the Church of God of Prophecy in Belle River, Louisiana.
Stanley’s life was driven by his commitment and dedication to his family, commercial fishing, community and country.
He served in the Korean Conflict in the United States Army soon after his marriage to Betty Richard Daigle. After the completion of his tour of duty in the Army, Stanley and Betty settled in Belle River to raise a family of four children.
Like his father, Joseph, he became a commercial fisherman to support his family. Even though he excelled as a shrimper and crawfisherman, his true passion was fishing catfish with hoop nets. He is known by his peers as a leader in the catfish industry. He served as president of the Louisiana Natural Catfish association. He knew of no physical boundaries to catch catfish in South Louisiana.
In his quest to better serve his community, he was elected to serve as a Police Juror for the lower 6th ward (Belle River, Stephensville) of St. Martin Parish. A few of his achievements as a Juror was the creation of the Belle River and Stephensville Fire Departments, construction of the Four Mile Bayou road, bringing water and sewer to the lower 6th ward. He served as Fire Chief for Belle River for 35 years of his 51 years as a member of the fire department. He served many years on the St. Martin Water and Sewer Board.
As a business owner, Stanley was successful in his Service Station (Richard & Daigle Exxon) and family owned S&D Bait Co. His commitment for excellence and hard work served as a great role model for his partners (three sons) in S&D Bait Co.
Stanley served many terms as commander for Herman P. Sanchez VFW Post 10701 in Belle River and Pierre Part, Louisiana. Stanley was a lifetime member of Landry & Domingue American Legion Post 328.
Stanley is survived by son, Stanley Daigle Jr. and his wife Anna, their children, Dawn Daigle, her children, Santana, Aliyah, Tamiyah; Stanley “Trey” Daigle III and wife, Amanda, their children, Aaron and Shy’enne; Derrick Daigle and wife Kayla, their children, Desarae and Letty; Rachel Dominguez and husband Armando, their child, Brianna; son, Darryl Daigle Sr. and wife Pamela, their children, Sharon Daigle, her children, Hunter and Summerlyn; Darryl Daigle Jr. and wife Crystal, their children, Reagan, Ashley and Alexander; (Sheila’s children) Larry Garner and wife Casey, their children Heather and Cole; Bertha Garner, her children, Sadie, Logan, Skyler and Taylor; Brigitte Bergeron, her children, Bethanie, her husband Jashon and their child, Paisley; Blair; Nikki Bergeron, her children, Michelle, Deontray and Destiny; son, Milton Daigle Sr. and wife Fannie; their children, Saulden Daigle and Milton Daigle Jr. and wife Lana, their children Willow and Zephyr.
Sister, Shirley Arceneaux, and husband Kenneth; sister-in-law, Mary Daigle.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Betty Richard Daigle; daughter, Sheila Daigle; father, Joseph Daigle; mother, Louisiana Daigle; and brother, Jules Daigle Sr.
Please share memories online at www.wilbertservices.com.