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A 43-year-old Patterson man was charged Wednesday with cruelty to animals after authorities located him at his home, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith said in a news release.

—Wynn Candler Whitehurst, 43, of Joey Street in Patterson, was arrested at 8:02 p.m. Wednesday on a warrant charging him with cruelty to animals.

Whitehurst was located in the 500 block of Joey Street in Patterson on the warrant. He was jailed with no bail set.

Smith reported that deputies responded to 29 complaints in the parish and reported the following arrests in east St. Mary Parish:

—Desmond Jerrod Richard, 37, of Mike Drive in Patterson, was arrested at 7:03 p.m. Wednesday on a warrant charging him with failure to appear for criminal neglect of family.

Richard was located at parish jail and booked on the warrant. Bail was set at $8,023.39.

—Cody Nicholas Parker, 35, of Southeast Boulevard in Bayou Vista, was arrested at 12:14 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of an expired inspection sticker and a warrant charging him with driving under suspension.

A deputy was patrolling the area of Main Street near Lipari Street in Patterson when he observed a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker.

A traffic stop was conducted and the deputy made contact with the driver, identified as Parker. A background check on Parker revealed he had a warrant for driving under suspension. Parker was issued a summons to appear in court June 19.

Morgan City Police Chief James Blair reported officers responded to 38 calls and reported the following arrests:

—Davida Reshelle Bias, 35, of Grace Street in Siracusa, was arrested at 6:04 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of theft less than $1,000.

Officers responded to a call of a shoplifter at a business located on La. 182. Upon officers arriving, they learned from witnesses Bias had concealed several items of merchandise valued at $37 on her while in the store, Blair said. Bias was jailed.

—Bradley J. Griffin, 39, of Terrebonne Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 11:23 p.m. Wednesday on charges of disturbing the peace intoxicated and resisting an officer.

Officers were dispatched to a Terrebonne Street home in reference to a disturbance. Upon officers arriving, Griffin fled on foot from officers, Blair said. He eventually surrendered to pursuing officers on Ash Street where he was taken into custody.

Police noted Griffin’s speech was slurred and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was on his breath, Blair said. He was jailed.

—Ashlyn Monique Reaux, 26, of Willow Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 5:30 a.m. Thursday on a charge of probation violation.

Reaux turned herself in at the police department on a warrant for city court. She was jailed.

Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan reported no arrests.

Berwick Police Chief David Leonard Sr. reported no arrests.

NEW YORK — Put a handle on it.
If you don’t know what that means, you might not call elders by “Mr.,” “Miss” or “Mrs.,” insist that your children do the same or demand it for yourself. If you’ve heard the term, you’re likely familiar with the history of the politics of respectability and what that means to some African Americans, pro and con.
Are you from the North or the South? A small town or big city native? From a religious, school or immigrant community that uses elder honorifics? Perhaps you’re Professor, Doctor or Judge.
All of the above were widely debated on social media last week, focused on an old talk-show clip of the late Maya Angelou sharply chiding a teen girl for addressing her as Maya rather than Miss Angelou before asking the poet and memoirist for her views on interracial marriage.
“I’m not ‘Maya.’ I’m 62 years old. I have lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, you have no license to come up to me and call me by my first name. That’s first,” she said to claps from the audience. “Also, because at the same time, I am your mother, I am your auntie, I’m your teacher, I’m your professor. You see?”
Angelou, who was black, apologized later in the show to the girl, Kim, also black.
Pierre Phipps, who tweeted the snippet dating to around 1990, has heard from all sides since then, and said opinions were varied and plentiful.
The 29-year-old Phipps, whose Twitter handle is @PrinceCharmingP, can’t remember where he found the vintage exchange when he tweeted it out March 14 with: “I can’t wait to turn 30 so I can read one of y’all for calling me by my first name like this:”
He told The Associated Press by phone Monday that he was surprised at the attention the tweet has received, especially among young people who disagreed with Angelou. She died in 2014 at age 86, and also favored the title Dr. in light of her numerous honorary doctorates.
“They think Miss Angelou’s response was very elitist. They were really, really pissed about it,” said Phipps, who lives in Los Angeles and writes for television. “We’re living in progressive times and a lot of people said once they turn 18, they feel like they have an even platform no matter how old you are. History is no longer playing a part in how we go about our everyday lives. History is becoming history.”
Phipps grew up in Chicago, but he has plenty of older female relatives from the South, including Mississippi and Alabama.
“It’s an unwritten rule on respect for elders in which a lot of us were born and raised to ‘put a handle on it,’” he said. “Me personally, coming from a strong black Southern family, I didn’t see anything wrong with her response. Everyone is raised differently.”
Carrie Salow is a 55-year-old mother of two girls in Phoenix, where she moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she was 15.
“I absolutely expect my teen daughters to call their friends’ parents Mr. and Mrs., and I expect the same,” said Salow, who is white. “The kids who live across the street from us are now young adults, in and out of college. They still call me Mrs. Salow and I feel it is appropriate.”
Valencia Bey, 49, was born and raised in Chicago and now lives in nearby Oak Park, Illinois. She spent most of her summers in Shelby, Mississippi, with her maternal grandparents and extended family.
“You just did NOT call elders by their first name,” said Bey, who is black. “I was taught by folks who felt the way Ms. Angelou did. Addressing someone as Mr. or Miss was a sign of respect, especially those who came from the Jim Crow South, where calling a grown black person by their first name was a sign of disrespect. White people would purposely not call them Mr. or Mrs. or Miss to reinforce that they were considered inferior.”
Against the backdrop of African American history, such honorifics are heavy indeed.
“Like Angelou, our elders have lived lives some of us can only imagine, especially if they grew up in a society that was founded on white supremacy,” wrote Britni Danielle, in a piece about the tweet at Essence online.
“Often times, they weren’t given the respect they were due by the outside world, which regularly sought to humiliate and dehumanize them at every turn. Those who did dare speak up and demand their propers did so knowing the price could be steep,” she wrote.
The 55-year-old Lucy O’Donnell, with a nearly 18-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son in Los Angeles, was raised in Arlington, Virginia.
“Two of my daughter’s friends initially addressed me as Mrs., and I have to say I hadn’t even given it a thought until then. I told them that they were welcome to call me by my first name but that if it was important in their households to address adults more formally that was fine, too,” said O’Donnell, who is white. “Both switched to Lucy pretty quickly. The only tradition I can’t abide is Mrs. and a husband’s first and last name.”
Danielle acknowledged young blacks responding to Phipps’ tweet who thought Angelou was out of line, writing:
“We live in a time where some people don’t really value the things and people who came before them. That’s how we get shirts declaring, ‘I’m not my ancestors,’ or people looking to cancel dead Black writers like Angelou because they do not like an answer they’d given decades ago without understanding the context of the times.”

A 27-year-old Franklin man turned himself in to authorities in Morgan City on charges of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and computer-aided solicitation of a minor, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith said in a news release.

—Todd Holly, 27, of Third Street in Franklin, was arrested at 9:14 p.m. Tuesday on warrants charging him with carnal knowledge of a juvenile and computer-aided solicitation of a minor.

Holly turned himself in at the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office in Morgan City on the warrants. He was transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center with no bail set.

Smith reported that deputies responded to 36 complaints and reported the following arrests:

—A juvenile male, 17, of Patterson, was arrested at 9:41 p.m. Tuesday on charges of possession of a Schedule I drug with intent to distribute, illegal carrying of a weapon and possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance.

Deputies were patrolling the area of La. 182 and Universe Street in Bayou Vista when they observed a vehicle being driven recklessly. The deputies conducted a traffic stop and upon approaching the vehicle, they observed a passenger in the car digging under the seat and shoving a plastic bag into the pouch of the rear side passenger seat while holding a handgun, Smith said.

K9 Vickie was deployed to conduct an open-air sniff. K9 Vickie alerted to the presence of drugs and drugs were located, the sheriff said. The juvenile male was brought to the Morgan City branch office for processing and was released to a guardian pending juvenile court proceedings.

—Jose F. Rodriguez-Acevedo, 30, of Shady Oak Court in Houma, was arrested at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of driving on divided highways and a warrant charging him with driving under suspension.

While driving south on Degravelle Road in Amelia, a deputy observed a vehicle swerve across the center line. The deputy conducted a traffic stop and made contact with the driver, identified as Rodriguez-Acevedo.

A background check revealed Rodriguez-Acevedo had a warrant for driving under suspension, Smith said. Rodriguez-Acevedo was issued a summons to appear in court June 19.

—Thomas Remedies, 26, of Second Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 1:32 p.m. Tuesday on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Deputies were dispatched to a business in Bayou Vista in reference to a subject being previously barred from the property. Upon arrival, the deputy made contact with workers who advised the deputy Remedies was barred from the business.

Deputies made contact with Remedies, who consented to a search of his back pack. Deputies found marijuana and drug paraphernalia inside the back pack, the sheriff said. Remedies was issued a summons on the above-mentioned charges to appear in court on June 19, 2019.

—Salvadore Francois Jr., 21, of Francis Street in Berwick, was arrested at 5:34 p.m. Tuesday on warrants for failure to appear on charges of speeding, no driver’s license on person, failure to appear for battery of a dating partner first offense, theft and failure to appear on a charge of illegal possession of stolen things.

Francois turned himself in on the warrants at parish jail. Bail was set at $11,500.

—Tayler James Davis, 20, of Natalie Lane in Patterson, was arrested at 7:39 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of simple assault.

Deputies were dispatched to Clarke Road in Bayou Vista in reference to a disturbance. Upon arrival, deputies spoke with the complainant who advised that her ex-boyfriend was causing a disturbance.

Witnesses told deputies that Davis was making threats toward the complainant. Davis was jailed with bail set at $1,000.

Morgan City Police Chief James Blair reported that officers responded to 30 calls and reported the following arrests:

—Patrick Courville, 60, of Reno Street in Pierre Part, was arrested at 11:37 a.m. Tuesday on charges of disturbing the peace by using offensive language and simple assault.

On Tuesday, officers were called to a business due to an ex-employee causing a disturbance. Officers arrived and spoke with witnesses who told them the Courville had come back to the business to retrieve some of his belongings, Blair said.

Once back at the business Courville started to use obscene language and threaten a worker at the business, Blair said. Courville was jailed.

—Keyanne Verdin, 30, of Kathleen Street in Patterson, was arrested at 12:22 p.m. Tuesday on charges of domestic abuse child-endangerment and criminal damage to property less than $1,000.

Officers were called to a Franklin Street home due to a disturbance. Officers spoke with the victim who stated that Verdin came to his home and they started to argue after he asked her to leave. During the argument, Verdin attacked the victim, Blair said.

Police noticed that the victim had scratches and marks around the neck and face area, Blair said. The victim also stated that Verdin damaged his cell phone. Officers learned that a juvenile was present at the home. Verdin was jailed.

—Wilber Richard Jr., 35, of Murial Street in Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested at 1:08 p.m. Tuesday on warrants charging him with domestic abuse battery-strangulation, contempt of court and driving under suspension.

Richard was transported from the Eunice Police Department and booked into the Morgan City Police Department jail on warrants.

The domestic abuse battery warrant stems from a July 2018 complaint in which Richard was alleged to have attacked the victim during which time placed his hands around her neck and choked her. Officers were unable to locate Richard at that time and filed warrants for his arrest.

—Matthew Mote, 21, of Fifth Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 7:28 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of aggravated assault.

Officers were called to a Willard Street address due to a disturbance. Police learned that one of the subjects involved had left the scene. Officers located that person and brought him back to the scene where they learned that he was involved in a disturbance.

During the disturbance, Mote allegedly threatened the subject with a knife. Police locate a knife on Mr. Mote and placed him under arrest for aggravated assault. Mote was transported to the Morgan City Police Department for booking.

Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan reported the following arrest:

—Brandon M. Scott, 31, of Verdun Lane in Verdunville, was arrested at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday on charges of second-degree battery involving domestic violence and remaining after being forbidden.

The battery charge stems from an incident where he punched a woman in the face, and she required medical attention, Grogan said. No bail was set yet.

Berwick Police Chief David Leonard Sr. reported the following arrest:

—Landon Harris, 18, of Jacobs Street in Berwick, was arrested at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of disturbing the peace. Harris posted $176 bail.