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Centerville’s Dravyn Guilbeau makes adjustments after reaching first base Wednesday. No. 15 seed Centerville will travel to take on No. 2 seed Oak Grove Monday at 4 p.m. in the State Class 1-A Baseball regional round.

Robert “Bob” William Easter, 72, passed away Saturday, April 20, 2019.
He leaves his wife of 41 years, Suzanne Broussard Easter; his daughter Nicole Easter Cozadd along with her husband Bill and grandsons William, James and Joseph; as well as his sister Kathy Becker. He is preceded in death by his father John Easter, mother Wilma Easter, father-in-law, Robert James Broussard and sister Lonna Easter Riffle.
Bob was born in Keokuk, Iowa on November 17, 1946. After he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the Navy and served in the Navy five years and 11 months as a nuclear power plant operator aboard the USS Truxtun (CGN-35) during the Vietnam War. He left the Navy and served in the Louisiana National Guard for two years and three months. Bob then attended Northeast Louisiana University (ULM), where he met Suzanne Broussard in Army ROTC. He earned his bachelor’s degree and was commissioned as a U.S. Army engineer officer shortly before their May 14, 1977 wedding. Their first assignment was in Stuttgart, Germany. After returning to the U.S., Bob and Suzanne’s only child, Nicole, was born in 1983. In 1991, Bob graduated from Old Dominion University with a master’s degree in engineering management before returning to Germany. In 1992, after 15 years of active service, Bob retired from the U.S. Army as a major and began his second career as a DOD civilian management analyst in Hanau, Germany. He was transferred from Germany to Ft. Hood, Texas in 1998. In 2018, after 26 years of federal civil service, he retired for a second time and three days later began working for Simply NUC, a local computer company. Bob loved working at Simply NUC and worked there up until the day before passed away.
Saturday, April 20, Bob passed away unexpectedly. We don’t have any answers, but we know he is safe and in heaven right now with Jesus. He dedicated himself to following God, loving his family and serving those around him. He was a loving and committed husband and friend for Suzanne and poured his energy into doing everything for and with his daughter, son-in-law and treasured grandsons. The boys were his pride and joy, the twinkle in his eye and his favorite people to be with. He was so full of energy and life; he relished trying new things and going on adventures. He would take the whole family on miles-long bike rides; swim and rough house with them in the pool; ride the zip line with them. Bob learned to water ski at 70; frequently took us all camping and did all the setup because “that’s what I’m here for.” His absence has been acutely felt, because Bob was such an integral part of our lives. We miss him dearly.

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.