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Johnson's last-second bucket lifts CCHS to dramatic 54-53 victory

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 6:22pm

GEOFF STOUTE

In a game in which No. 9 Highland Baptist devoted so much attention to limiting Central Catholic’s Yani Johnson, it was only fitting that Monday’s Division IV regional round girls basketball game literally would come down to a play involving the Central Catholic standout.
With the No. 8 seed Lady Eagles trailing Highland Baptist 53-52 with seconds remaining, Central Catholic seventh grader Laurielle Bias threw a pass three-quarters of the length down the court that Johnson hauled in while covered by Highland Baptist (12-9). She went up for a bucket and made it while being fouled with 3 seconds left.
Johnson missed the following free throw, and Highland Baptist took the ball down the court but was unable to score as the final buzzer sounded, capping a wild finish and clinching a quarterfinal berth for the Lady Eagles (11-17).
Johnson said her thoughts on the last play were she didn’t want the ball because she was being double-teamed the whole game.
“She threw the ball to me, and I was just like ‘oh, shoot!’ I just caught it, just followed my first instinct and went up,” Johnson said.
While it was a tough moment to handle, as the Lady Eagles’ leader, Johnson embraced it.
“In order to be a leader and to actually have girls look up to you, it’s a priority you have to take,” she said.
Central Catholic Assistant Coach Joe Jones said, “The one thing you tell Bias about making a pass to Yani is you throw it long and she has a chance. You through it short and she has no chance. She threw the ball high and long, which gives Yani a chance to go up and get the ball.”
The ending capped a close ballgame and a wild sequence to end the contest.
With the Lady Eagles ahead 52-51 late, Caitlyn Picou’s inbound pass near the scorer’s table was stolen by Highland Baptist, and Dusti Abshire was fouled with 8.6 seconds remaining. Abshire nailed two free throws for a 53-52 Highland Baptist lead before Bias’ and Johnson’s heroics.
Central Catholic now will continue postseason play Thursday when it travels to face another District 7-1A foe. This time, the Lady Eagles will meet two-time defending Division IV state champion and top seed Lafayette Christian at 6:30 p.m. in Lafayette. Lafayette Christian advanced after routing No. 16 St. Edmund 85-28.
While the game ended as a close one, Highland Baptist took control early on and looked as if it may run away with the contest, bolting out to a 12-2 lead in the first quarter en route to a 14-5 lead.
The visitors from New Iberia made every effort to limit Johnson’s performance, double teaming her or denying her passes in the post.
While the plan worked early on, the Central Catholic standout still finished the game with 29 points.
Jones said it’s difficult to stop Johnson when she is in motion because of her length and her wingspan, which he said is about 6-feet, 6-inches.
“You can contain her awhile, but you’re not going to completely stop her,” he said.
In the second period, Highland Baptist led by as much as nine points on three different occasions, the last for a 24-15 lead following a runner by Abshire with less than four minutes remaining.
However, Central Catholic outscored its District 7-1A foes 11-4 the remainder of the half, with Jalaysia Bertrand hitting about five seconds left to cut the Lady Eagles’ deficit to 28-26 at halftime.
“They outplayed us in the first half,” Jones said of Highland Baptist. “They really did, because they outhustled us.”
He said the Lady Eagles were fortunate to stay in the game early on before they gained confidence and got in a rhythm because Highland Baptist came out with momentum in addition to hustling.
“When those things happen, all you have to do is calm down, be patient, let it come to you and work the game. … You got to get the 50-50 balls, one thing, and you got to play better defense,” Jones said. “Second half, we did those things right there, so we got back into the game. Actually, late in the first, half, the second quarter, when we cut it to two points, we started playing much better.”
In the third period, Central Catholic took its first lead when Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and had a put back with 4:44 remaining for a 33-32 Central Catholic advantage.
From there, the game never reached more than five points in either team’s favor the rest of the way.
In the fourth period, free-throw shooting helped Highland Baptist stay in the game as the squad connected on 9 of 14 attempts. However, as good as free-throw shooting was in the quarter, Highland Baptist finished 17-of-28 from the line for the game.
Bri Sensley led three Highland Baptist players in double figures with 15 points. Others in double figures were Abshire with 13 points and Marin Barras, 11.
Other Central Catholic scorers were Bertrand, nine; Bias, six; Picou, Sydney Williams and Lexi Landry, three each; and Rylie Theriot, one.
Williams and Caroline Green were honored for Senior Night prior to the contest.

Three Tri-City Area high school boys basketball teams qualify for postseason play

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 6:03pm

Three Tri-City area boys basketball teams qualified for the postseason play when high school basketball brackets were released Monday. Central Catholic, Patterson and Morgan City each made the postseason. The Eagles, ranked No. 2 in Division IV, received a first-round bye. Patterson, Class 3A's No. 15 seed, will host No. 18 seed South Beauregard Friday at 6:30 p.m., while Morgan City, Class 4A's No. 16 seed, will host No. 17 Warren Easton Friday at 7 p.m.

(Updated) Police: Morgan City spill was nonhazardous

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 4:38pm

Officials closed Brashear Avenue between Federal Avenue and Second Street in Morgan City late Tuesday afternoon after an oil sheen was spotted in that area.

Authorities later determined the substance was an oil-water mixture and nonhazardous, Morgan City Police Capt. Teddy Liner said.

The area had been closed to traffic shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday. Motorists were urged to avoid Brashear Avenue from La. 70-U.S. 90 junction to Second Street. Police eventually located the driver of the vehicle that leaked the substance. The roadway was reopened later in the evening.

Police: Man caught with marijuana, drug proceeds

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 1:23pm

Staff Report

A 43-year-old man was caught in Morgan City with marijuana and money believed to be from the sale of illegal drugs, Police Chief James Blair said in a news release.

—Anthony Francois, 43, of Bowman Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 9:11 p.m. Monday on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and transactions involving proceeds from a drug offense.

Detectives conducting an investigation came into contact with Francois at a hotel. While conducting their investigation, detectives learned that Francois was in possession of marijuana with the intent to sell along with money from the proceeds of the sales of illegal narcotics, Blair said. Francois was jailed.

Blair reported that officers responded to 40 calls during the 24-hour period and reported the following arrests:

—Jessica Bourgeois, 36, of Andras Street in Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested at midnight Monday on a charge of possession of synthetic marijuana.

Officers were called to a business on Marguerite Street in reference to a woman being in possession of synthetic marijuana. Upon officers’ arrival, they came into contact with Bourgeois who was in possession of suspected synthetic marijuana, Blair said. She was jailed.

—Myron Hatch, 45, of Terrebonne Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 5:04 a.m. Monday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and illegal use of a controlled dangerous substance in the presence of a person under 17 years old along with a 16th Judicial District Court warrant charging him with failure to appear.

Officers executed a search warrant at a motel room on La. 182. Officers came into contact with Hatch and located methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the room, Blair said. There was also a child under 17 years old present in the room. Hatch also had a warrant for his arrest. He was jailed.

—Edward James Williams, 38, of Freret Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 2:09 a.m. Tuesday on charges of remaining after being forbidden and disturbing the peace intoxicated.

Officers were dispatched to a home on General McArthur Street in reference to an intoxicated person causing a disturbance and refusing to leave. Upon officers’ arrival, they were advised by the complainant that Williams had been advised to leave the home but refused and was intoxicated, Blair said. He was jailed.

—Gerren Jermaine Hayes, 33, of Leona Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 4:02 a.m. Tuesday on charges of improper lane usage, driving under suspension, possession of MDMA and possession of marijuana.

A patrol officer observed a vehicle using the improper lane of travel in the area of Sixth Street. Upon stopping the vehicle, the driver was identified as Hayes, who had a suspended driver’s license, Blair said. During the stop, Hayes was also found in possession of marijuana and MDMA. He was jailed.

St. Mary Parish Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that deputies responded to 128 complaints during the 96-hour period and reported the following arrests in east St. Mary Parish:

—Anderson Eugene Singleton, 53, of Tiffany Street in Patterson, was arrested at 12:43 a.m. Sunday on a warrant charging him with failure to appear in court.

A deputy located Singleton at the Patterson Police Department. He was arrested on a warrant and transported to St. Mary Parish jail with no bail set.

—Shane Joseph Granger, 31, of Chetta Lane in Siracusa, was arrested at 9:40 a.m. Sunday on charges of no license plate, driving under suspension, no insurance and a warrant charging him with five counts of failure to appear in court.

A deputy patrolling the area of James Street in Siracusa observed a vehicle traveling without a license plate. A traffic stop was performed, and Granger was identified as the driver.

Granger had a suspended driver’s license and was unable to provide vehicle registration and proof of insurance, Smith said. Granger also had a warrant for his arrest. Granger was jailed with no bail set.

—Natasha Rae Lynn Domangue, 31, of Hemlock Drive in Patterson, was arrested at 12:28 p.m. Monday on a charge of no insurance.

A deputy was dispatched to the area of La. 182 and Venus Road in Bayou Vista to investigate a traffic crash. Domangue was identified as the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the crash. The vehicle Domangue was driving did not have insurance on it, the sheriff said. Domangue was released on a summons to appear in court May 2.

—Walmer A. Skidmore, 65, of La. 311 in Schriever, was arrested at 1:12 p.m. Monday on charges of driving under suspension and improper lane usage.

A deputy patrolling the area of U.S. 90 in Bayou Vista conducted a traffic stop due to a traffic violation. Skidmore, the driver, had a suspended driver’s license, Smith said. Skidmore was released on a summons to appear in court May 2.

—Steven James Morris, 32, of Degravelle Road in Amelia, was arrested at 12:20 a.m. Tuesday on charges of driving under suspension and turning movement and required signals.

A deputy patrolling the area of La. 182 in the Amelia area observed a vehicle turn without signaling. A traffic stop was made, and Morris was identified as the driver. Through the stop, Morris was unable to produce a driver’s license, Smith said. Morris was released on a summons to appear in court May 2.

Franklin Police Chief Morris Beverly reported the following arrest relating to east St. Mary Parish:

—Cassi Rankin, 29, of Allison Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 12:20 p.m. Saturday on the charge of theft second offense. Rankin was additionally arrested on a warrant for 23rd Judicial District Court for failure to appear on a charge of theft. Rankin was jailed with no bail set yet.

Berwick Police Chief David Leonard Sr. reported no arrests.

Patterson Police Chief Garrett Grogan reported no arrests.

AgCenter: Cane acreage likely to increase

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:45am

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sugar cane is on the rise in Louisiana, with a good crop and decent prices encouraging more farmers to plant the tall tropical grass.
Stable sugar prices and a resilient crop are big reasons, LSU AgCenter sugar cane expert Kenneth Gravois said Wednesday.
In spite of a soggy harvest season, he said, the 2018 crop set records for tons of cane sent to mills and tons of sugar produced. And prices have been about 26 cents a pound (0.45 kilogram) for raw sugar, he said.
Joe Denais, whose farm is in the Vermilion Parish community of Andrew, said he used to plant mostly rice, but prices of $16 per 162-pound (73.5-kilogram) barrel prompted him to cut back on rice and expand his sugar cane fields.
“It was hard to make money at $16 unless I started crawfish farming,” he said — many farmers double-crop rice and crawfish. “I decided to go to cane instead of crawfish because everybody’s getting into crawfish now,” Denais said.
Denais, who started farming at age 18 with 100 acres (40 hectares) in 1994, said he has increased his sugar cane fields from 1,900 to 4,700 acres (770 to 1,900 hectares) over the past few years. Now 43, he hopes to plant up to 1,800 new acres of sugar cane this year, if he can buy 500 acres to go with 1,300 he already owns.
Gravois said farmers harvested 459,000 acres (185,750 hectares) of cane between late September and mid-January, both for harvest and for seed cane. That’s 19,000 acres (nearly 7,700 hectares) more than the previous season.
“Will we have that much of an increase this year? We don’t know. But we are increasing,” Gravois said.
Louisiana generally has a bit more land planted in sugar cane than Florida. However, because Florida’s growing area is farther south and its growing season longer, it generally produces more sugar. Texas is far behind; Hawaii’s last sugar cane harvest was in 2016.
Sugar beets, grown in the North and West, produce about 55 percent of the nation’s sugar, according to The Sugar Association, a lobbying group.
The state produced a record 1.84 million tons (1.67 metric tons) of sugar from the 2018 crop, beating the previous record, set just a year earlier, by 20,000 tons (18,000 metric tons). The previous record for tons of cane was just under 16 million (14.5 metric tons) in 1999.
Last year’s acreage included 424,000 acres (about 171,600 hectares) harvested for milling; the rest either was kept as seed cane or couldn’t be harvested because the fields were too muddy for the heavy equipment required.
Gravois said acreage is expanding mostly to the north and west, in Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, Avoyelles, Vermilion and Rapides parishes. He noted that sugar yields have more than doubled over the past 50 years, largely because of new varieties developed at LSU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture research unit in Houma, and elsewhere.
The 1970s yield was about 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) of sugar per acre. In the past two years, the yield was about 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of sugar per acre, Gravois said.
And while one planting generally used to provide three crops, that’s now up to four and sometimes five, letting farmers plant less seed cane each year, Gravois said.

Rotary Club happenings

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:43am

Submitted Photo
Morgan City Rotary Club members heard from Kayla Falgout with Morgan City Healthcare Center’s Music and Memory program at a recent luncheon. From left are Falgout and Casey Shannon, Morgan City Rotary Club president .

Wheel House for Feb. 19

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:41am

MORGAN CITY
Housing Authority board meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Martin Luther King Center, 336 Wren St.

RUMMAGE SALE
From 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 23, at Patterson United Methodist Church, 1204 Main St. Items include: clothes, shoes, linens, household items, books, toys, and Mardi Gras and Easter decorations.

CAMP MEETINGS
Hosted by Women of Light of Living in the Light Ministries, 2106 La. 182, Bayou Vista, on first Friday of each month. March 1 meeting at 7 p.m. Speaker Evangelist Casey Sears. Casual attire. Public invited.

Film shows how fisherman tries to save a piece of La.'s coast

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:40am

BATON ROUGE (AP) — It was a made-to-order two days for fishing along Louisiana’s coast. The cerulean skies and deeper blue water against bottle green vegetation amplified these anglers’ main motivation for being out there — an effort to save this exquisite-yet-endangered coastline.
“We’re losing this land at such an alarming rate that I don’t know that we will be able to sustain this fishery for more than another 50 years,” says Lucas Bissett, of Low Tide Charters, as a drone flies overhead capturing sweeping footage of the encroaching Gulf of Mexico waters.
That footage would become part of an award-winning film, “Disparaitre-Disappearing,” documenting Bissett’s efforts.
Most have heard the frightening figures — a football field an hour, 1,300 acres of land a year are being lost to coastal erosion — related by Bissett, a fly-fishing guide based in Slidell, at the opening of the short film.
“We really are in a desperate situation,” Bissett later says. “And I’m telling myself I can’t just sit by and watch this place disappear.”
And he isn’t.
Bissett got the idea of planting a few black mangroves, with their dense root systems, to help stabilize the shoreline. Initially planting the shrubs on his own, his effort blossomed into a multiyear project supported by public and private entities. During the annual planting, the teams also collect the mangrove seeds, which area high school students grow for the next year’s plants.
“The reason that I’m so focused on making this a better place — it’s not something that I want to do, it’s something that I have to do,” Bissett says. “And that sort of drive is what’s kept me hyper-focused on making sure that the coast of Louisiana and the fishery I call home, the place that I make a living, stays the way it is now, or even better for the future, because my kids and grandkids deserve the opportunity to have the same fishery that I have now.”
“Disparaitre-Disappearing” (disparaitre is French for disappearing) was shot in fall 2017 for entry in the fly-fishing film circuit, and was chosen for the Orvis-Down the Hatch Fly-fishing Film Festival in April. But that was only the beginning, according to Bill Rodman, whose Baton Rouge video production company, The Bill Rodman Production Shoppe, filmed the six-minute-plus project in and around Hopedale and Delacroix.
The film aired on Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s “Louisiana: The State We’re In” before being screened at the State of the Coast conference in New Orleans in May. Rodman’s work (he runs the Production Shoppe with his wife, Flo Ulmer-Rodman) earned him his eighth Suncoast Regional Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the environmental program category. Anglers Bettering Louisiana’s Estuaries, The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, LPB and Rodman’s company partnered on the project.
The Suncoast Chapter of The NATAS recognizes excellence in the television broadcasting industry on a regional level.
Rodman, a veteran videographer also known for his years of work for WAFB, said he had never filmed in the Hopedale-Delacroix areas before.
“I usually fish and photograph in the marsh on the west side of the Mississippi,” he said. “I was amazed at the drastic changes that Lucas (Bissett) related in his own experience .
“I have had a lot of positive responses from fishermen on the stewardship displayed by Lucas Bissett in the film. Lucas is representative of a new wave of conservation-minded fly fishermen here in Louisiana and around the globe who put a priority on maintaining their respective fisheries for future generations.”
Also featured in the film is Patrick Banks, assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, and Bailey Short, of Baton Rouge, owner of Southern Flats Louisiana Fly Fishing.
“He (Short) is equally passionate about saving the coast,” Rodman says.
In some of the film’s more fun moments, Short reels in redfish as he and Bissett talk about how effortless it can often be to catch multiple big fish in these waters.
Rodman said making the film was a tight shoot.
“One boat was used. I was in with the fisherman, crunched down in the middle (gritting teeth emoji),” he said in an email. “I was the sole camera operator.”
_

Coast Guard rescues 2 people, dog from Vermilion Bay

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:38am

NEW IBERIA (AP) — The Coast Guard has rescued two people and a dog from a fishing trip in a Louisiana bay.

The Coast Guard said in a news release the people ran into problems Monday in Vermilion Bay. The vessel had left on the fishing trip Sunday and had not returned around 8:45 a.m. Monday.

An aircrew searched the area between Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass and found them just west of Marsh Island around 4:20 p.m.

They were lifted from the marsh and taken to Acadiana Regional Airport where they were reported to be in good health. Their names have not been released.

It was not immediately clear how they got stuck in the march.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fishers and sheriff's departments from Iberia and Vermilion Bay helped search.

Songwriters fest expands with Bayou Music City Summit

Tue, 02/19/2019 - 9:37am

By ZACHARY FITZGERALD

zfitzgerald@daily-review.com

The third annual songwriters festival in the Morgan City area will once again feature lots of songwriters in different genres performing their songs. The event will also showcase an expanded conference on music business and therapy.

Bayou Music City Summit and Road to 3rd Street Songs On The Bayou Songwriters Festival will be March 25-31 at multiple venues in the area.

The summit features a conference with musicians, music industry personnel and participating companies who will be on hand to perform and answer questions. The conference will cover topics from mechanical to business logistics to the latest in resources for every level of the musician’s need in the evolving music business, a news release said.

Festival Director Brigitte London and Scott Green, owner of D.a.T. SaUcE , started the festival in 2017 with the goal of building a music business community in the Tri-City area. They originally named the festival after 3rd Street Songwriters Festival in Baton Rouge.

Organizers added the music conference last year, but they have greatly expanded the conference for this year’s event, London said. A three-day pass to the conference March 27-29 at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium is $35 and also gets attendees into all ticketed events at the festival for no additional charge. The conference hours will be 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 27-28 and 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 29.

One part of the conference is focused on building new music business infrastructure, including industry information for artists. The other segment is titled “Light Up the World with Music,” where organizers discuss how music can be used in healing for Alzheimer’s patients, veterans and people with autism, London said.

Over 100 songwriters are scheduled to perform at multiple venues in the area during the festival. The summit and festival are presented by Last Honky Tonk Music Series, D.a.T. SaUcE and Green Community Foundation.

London runs the Last Honky Tonk Music Series, which takes place throughout the country. Green founded Green Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a primary purpose of helping to heal, empower and educate youth, senior citizens and veterans using music, outdoor resources and community ambassadors, the organization’s website says. All proceeds from the festival will be donated to the foundation.

A songwriters festival differs from typical music festivals that have one or two music stages and instead showcases two to three songwriters per 45-minute round at multiple locations throughout the area, London said.

D.a.T. SaUcE is also hosting its second annual National Songwriters Competition, which is open to all genres. Winners receive cash prizes and the opportunity to appear onstage during the festival. The contest entry deadline is March 1. Entries are free and should be submitted in an mp3 form along with a lyric sheet PDF with the songwriter’s name, address and phone number to datsaucela@gmail.com.

The festival begins March 25-26 with a Bayou Songwriters Retreat that brings songwriters to places on Green Community Foundation property and allows them to spend time writing. Four veterans and four children from the Morgan City Youth Center will tell their stories to songwriters who craft songs from those stories. Additionally, organizers are implementing the Songs of Our Life program where songwriters meet with senior citizens to tell their life stories.

A Fais Do Do/ Swampin’ Kick Off Party will start at 5 p.m. March 27 at Lake End Park. Cliff Hillebran and his band will perform at 8 p.m. Admission is free. Organizers will also sell food and drinks.

A Veterans Night performance will be held March 28 at NicoBella . Admission is a $10 donation.

Songs On The Bayou Extravaganza is March 29, and Songs On The Bayou Finale is March 30. Both start at 7:30 p.m. at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium, and admission is $10 each.

Numerous venues in the area will host free songwriters shows from 4:30-6:30 p.m. March 28-29 and noon-6 p.m. March 30. Participating are AJ’s 2nd Street Pub, Anchor Lounge, Atchafalaya Cafe, Bay City Bistro, Bayou Lagniappe, Bourbon’s, Daiquiris & Company, East Gate BBQ, El Toro Mexican Grill, Holiday Inn Express, The Galley, Tampico’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, Mama G’s, Pool Do’s Sports Bar and Legend’s Lounge.

An After All Star Jam will conclude the songwriters festival at noon March 31 at Gros Marina in Stephensville. The jam is free to attend.

The songwriters festival and Cypress Sawmill Festival at Kemper Williams Park near Patterson are partnering on their music lineups. Some of the Last Honky Tonk Music Series artists will also perform at the sawmill festival April 5-7. Songs on the Bayou Songwriters Festival will have a featured stage for other festivals in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Florida.

To learn more or how to volunteer or sponsor the event, visit Songs On The Bayou - Road To 3rd St. Songwriters Festival on Facebook or email onthebayouproductions@gmail.com.