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Joseph Mount of Infinity Water addressed the St. Mary Parish council Wednesday to announce plans to build a new plant in Morgan City.
Mount said, “What we hope to manufacture here are, chopes—air to water harvesters; and what they do is they capture moisture from the air and make potable drinking water.”
He explained that chopes could capture to manufacture anywhere from 15 to 10,000 gallons of drinking water per day. But, Mount did not stop there. He said his company possesses water cleaning technology as well, which “can clean just about any water there is.”
“We are going to be an international company and we are going to bring some new technology here, and jobs,” he said.
“Our first year we predict about 34 to 36 jobs and about 15 indirect jobs with most of our starting salaries at $15 per hour and above, with healthcare.”
Mount closed by saying he hopes to have the new facility completed by October.
Ahead of Mount’s address, Frank Fink, director of the St. Mary Parish Office of Economic Development, provided councilmembers with a brief update on the parish’s economic outlook.
Fink expressed that the parish is showing signs of recovery from the 2014-2015 oil crash, but also said that recovery is happening slowly.
According to Fink, the prevailing mood among oil company executives seems to be one of optimism amidst rising oil prices.
He went on to say the parish has new parcels of land coming up for sale, rental percentages have gone up in comparison to this time last year, and sales tax collections are up one percent, quarter to quarter, from last year.
“Look, it’s no secret we lost over 5,000 jobs since the oil field collapse, and today, believe it or not, there is a shortage of workers and fitters in the shipyards,” Fink said.
He went on to point to parish-wide gains in industry, as well.
“We’ve had requests for expansions from Lapco in Morgan City,” Fink said, “Bollinger put in for an industrial tax exemption and they added 29 employees last year, and they are coming in for another expansion this year for $1.5 million with an additional 25 employees.”
And, Fink said, add to those the culmination of the Cleco/Cabot project, the West St. Mary Port expansion project and a new truck stop planned for Centerville, showing that the parish’s industrial economy is growing.
In other news, Parish Councilman Craig Mathews requested and was approved an allocation of $13,000 to go toward Recreation District 5 for the 2019 Raintree Preperatory Academy Summer Camp.
Mathews also requested and received an allocation of $5,000 to go toward the town of Baldwin to purchase communication equipment for Baldwin Fire Rescue.
Parish Councilman J Ina requested and received an allocation of $3,250 to go toward the city of Franklin for the Fun Foundation Unlimited Necessities Summer Program.
All three allocations came from Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 10s 3/10 percent sales tax fund.
In execution of old business, Mathews appointed Deborah Aymond to the vacancy on the board of commissioners of Recreation District 5.
Lastly, classmates from the Franklin Senior High School Class of 1992 presented fundraising checks to St. Mary Council on Aging and FSHS. The donations were accepted by Beverly Domengeaux, executive director of SMCOA and Ty Burdett, principal at FSHS.

The fourth annual Lawrence Park Porchfest will be Saturday at Lawrence Park in downtown Morgan City. All proceeds from the event go toward refurbishing the park’s playground.

Porchfest consists of live music being played on porches of homes surrounding the park. Music will begin at 11 a.m.

The Jacques O’Neal 3.17 Mile Run/Walk & Kids Fun Run will be held in conjunction with porchfest. The fun run starts at 8 a.m. and 3.17-mile run begins at 8:30 a.m.

Lawrence Park Porchfest is organized by Kiwanis Club of East St. Mary. Dr. Scott Sicard, a Morgan City dentist, started the fest in 2016 in memory of his son, Jacques O’Neal Sicard, who died in 2015 at just 5 months old. The 3.17-mile race distance represents Jacques’ birthday of March 17.

Sicard got the idea to hold a Porchfest in Morgan City after attending one in Cleveland while he was doing his oral surgery residency there.

X-Treme Athletics’ fair burgers, pastalaya, The Big Chill Sno -Balls, soft drinks, beer and shirts will be sold during the fundraiser. Fun jumps, face painting, train rides and animals from the Morgan City Petting Zoo will also be there.

Hal Bruni will play from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on the porch of Anthony Governale followed by Cliff Hillebran from 12:15-1:30 p.m. on the porch of Ferris and Bonnie Gilmore, Rick Lorenzo from 1:30-2:45 p.m. on the porch of Barry Dufrene, Deric Anslum from 2:45-4 p.m. on the porch of Ed and Bonnie Leonard, The FamBand from 4-5:15 p.m. on the porch of Greenwood Marine Management and Barry Dufrene.

Driftwood will conclude the music from 5:15-7:45 p.m. in the Lawrence Park gazebo. For more information, go to the Lawrence Park Porchfest page on Facebook.

LONDON (AP) — The time is drawing near for the impending birth of the first child for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. The couple is keeping many details about Meghan’s pregnancy and birth plan private and say they don’t know the baby’s gender yet. Here are some key points about what will be the latest addition to the world’s most famous royal family.
HOW WILL WE HEAR ABOUT THE BABY?
Kensington Palace says the press and the public will be informed when Meghan goes into labor.
Harry has resented the often-intrusive coverage of the royals by the British press and he has toned down expectations for what information will be released about the new baby. That means the public won’t be told where Meghan plans to give birth.
Some observers think she will opt for a home birth away from prying eyes at a hospital. Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother, had all her children at home but Harry’s brother Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, opted to give birth in a central London hospital.
Harry and Meghan have also indicated they won’t be posing on the hospital steps with their newborn hours after the baby has arrived, breaking with the pattern set by William and Kate. They have indicated it will be several days before they show the baby to the world.
Kate was both praised and trolled for how glamorous she looked greeting the world’s press just hours after each of her three babies’ births.
WILL THE BABY GROW UP TO BE A KING OR QUEEN?
The baby will be seventh in line for the throne, making it very unlikely that he or she will grow up to be the British monarch.
The current heir is Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year-old son. He is followed by William and William’s three young children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Next comes the new baby’s father, Prince Harry, and then the newborn.
WILL THE BABY AT LEAST BE A PRINCE OR A PRINCESS?
This won’t happen automatically. It’s really up to the queen to decide, although Harry and Meghan may also have a say.
A decree issued by King George V in 1917 limits the number of grand royal titles in a way that would make Harry and Meghan’s baby known as a “Lord” or a “Lady” rather than as a prince or princess. They would not become “his royal highness” or “her royal highness” under the current rules.
The queen has the authority, however, to intervene as she did when future king William and his wife Kate started having children. The queen decreed that all of William and Kate’s children, not just the eldest, would be princes and princesses.
She could do the same for Harry and Meghan’s offspring, but the queen’s feelings on that subject have not been made public.
It is also possible that Harry and Meghan could decide they don’t want the special designation for the baby, in order to give their child a more normal upbringing.
WHAT WILL THEY NAME THE BABY?
London’s savvy legal bookmakers believe the baby is likely to be a girl. They had to close betting on the name due to the heavy volume of bets favoring a baby girl.
Many believe that a baby girl would be named Diana, after Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997. Royal babies often get several names so it’s possible that Diana could end up as a middle name.
Other names seen as quite possible include Victoria, Alice, Grace and Elizabeth.
If it’s a boy, speculation abounds that he would be named Albert, Arthur or James.
Meghan is feminist and some believe she could name a girl Eleanor after both Eleanor Roosevelt, the former U.S. first lady who was a champion of women’s rights and civil rights, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of England in the 12th century.
WILL THE BABY BE AMERICAN?
Meghan is an unusual addition to the royal family because she is an American citizen born to a white father and an African-American mother. Palace officials said at the time of her engagement to Harry that she planned to eventually become British, a process that can take several years.
She and Harry could decide to pursue American citizenship for their baby, so the child could end up having dual British and American nationality. That would give the baby the right to live and work in the United States without needing a visa in the future — and spare him or her the lengthy entry procedures that often face foreign visitors arriving at U.S. airports.
Meghan has not indicated whether she plans to give up her American status once she has British nationality — a decision that could have an impact on her tax liabilities but something she is not forced to do by British law.
What would the founding fathers think? Almost 250 years after the United States launched a revolution to rid itself of the British royal family, the next royal baby could be an American.
The idea that a scion of the former colonies would be seventh in line to succeed Queen Elizabeth II to the throne could change the royal family from within — and help extend a surge in popularity for the monarchy.
"It's quite possible the child will have a lot of American influence," royal commentator Hugo Vickers said. "The royal family is not totally unused to that kind of thing. Children have been born with Greek mothers or German mothers in the past, obviously, but Meghan is the first American mother so close in the royal family."
WILL THE BABY HAVE RED HAIR?
Harry is one of the most famous redheads in the world — “a ginger” in British lingo.
The baby’s hair color comes down to genetics. Harry is 100% redhead but it is not known if Meghan has a recessive redhead gene. Gene-ticists say there is a 50 percent chance the baby will have red hair if Meghan carries a recessive red-haired gene and no chance at all if she does not carry that gene.
—Sylvia Hui contributed.

After hitting a hot streak towards the end of the season, Central Catholic lost two straight to end the regular season, falling to St. Thomas More and Chalmette last week.
While Central Catholic Coach Tyler Jensen was disappointed in the way his team swung the bat in the two losses, his team did face high-caliber pitching as Jensen said St. Thomas
More used an Ole Miss commit and another solid pitcher, while one of Chalmette’s pitchers used against Central Catholic was a University of New Orleans commit who threw 90-plus miles per hour.
“It was disappointing to see, for sure,” Jensen said. “With that being said, we’re just trying to move on from it and take positives from this season, a district championship and things like
that and kind of build off some of those positives and how we were playing the two weeks prior to that.”
Central Catholic (18-9), the No. 5 seed in the Division IV playoffs, will hit the field again this weekend when it meets No. 12 seed Catholic High-Pointe Coupee (16-12-1) in a best-of-three series in Amelia. Friday’s game is set for a 5:30 p.m. m a t c h u p , w h i l e Saturday’s first game is set for 1 p.m. If a third game is necessary, it will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Central Catholic won the District 7-1A championship with a 6-0 mark and finished 9-1 against Class 1A competition. Its lone loss against 1A teams was a 9-5 setback to Catholic High-
Pointe Coupee in Ascension Catholic’s tournament last month.
Catholic High finished 4-1 in District 5-1A. The Hornets are 7-3 against Class 1A competition.
“They’re very good. At that point in the season, (they) were one of the better teams we had played,” Jensen said. “They swung the bat really well. We saw one of their guys on the mound, a left-hander who was really good. They were just a solid, all-around baseball team.
“I know they went through a little stretch later in the year where they dropped some games, and I’m pretty sure they had some injuries during that time, but they’re a really good baseball team,” Jensen added.
Regardless of whether it was Catholic High or someone else, though, Jensen said the Division IV bracket is balanced.
“I think one of the things about our division is the balance within the division,” Jensen said. “People ask me how I feel about our matchup, and I tell them ‘they’re good.’ Whenever you only have 16 teams make it, 1 through 16 is going to be pretty solid.
“Our other option (if the brackets fell that way) was to play Vermilion Catholic, who we beat twice in one-run games, so no, I don’t like our matchup, but I wouldn’t have liked our matchup against whoever we played,” Jensen added. “I do like our matchup against anyone, though, if we play the way we’re capable of playing, the way we were playing for a couple of weeks there towards the end of the year. I feel like whenever we bring our best to the ballpark, we’re as good as anybody.”
Catholic High comes into Friday’s contest after having tied St. John 2-all in its season finale. Prior to that last week, the squad fell to Berwick.
In addition to facing one another, the teams have numerous common opponents this season. Catholic High lost to St. John twice and tied the squad once, beat Lafayette Christian Academy, lost to University Lab, lost to Episcopal twice and lost to Opelousas Catholic and Berwick.
Central Catholic defeated St. John, fell to Berwick and Episcopal and beat University Lab, Lafayette Christian Academy and Opelousas Catholic.