RSS Feed

Staff and Wire Reports
The West Nile virus has turned up once more in St. Mary Parish. So it’s time to be careful.
Jesse Boudreaux Jr. of Cajun Mosquito Control LLC, the mosquito contractor for several local governments, said the LSU Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab has confirmed that mosquitos trapped in the Four Corners-Glencoe area have been confirmed to be carrying West Nile.
“We are now following the CDC Expanded Transmission Protocol measures for West Nile virus …,” Boudreaux said in a press release Monday.
The CDC refers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
At least six cases of human infection have been confirmed in St. Tammany, DeSoto, Tangipahoa and East Baton Rouge parishes, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. One of the six confirmed cases, in East Baton Rouge, was West Nile fever, which causes nothing more than flu-like symptoms.
Most West Nile infections will go undetected by the patient.
But three of the cases, the ones in DeSoto, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa, were of the neuro-invasive variety, which can be debilitating and is potentially fatal.
Louisiana has monitored West Nile since 2000. Public health officials and mosquito control authorities monitor West Nile by trapping mosquitoes, testing samples from dead birds and other animals, and testing blood from “sentinel chickens.” Mosquitoes can transmit the virus from birds to humans.
West Nile’s return has been delayed by a dry June, Boudreaux said. The monthly precipitation report by the Berwick Volunteer Fire Department, presented at the town council meeting July 10, showed only about 3 inches of rain for June. The average is about 6.8 inches.
But July has been wetter.
“Basically, we let everyone know it’s the time of year that we should take precautions,” Boudreaux said.
Here are steps you can take, offered by Cajun Mosquito Control:
—Residents are encouraged to wear insect repellent, preferably one containing DEET. Always read repellent labels carefully, especially for younger children. Also, try to wear light colored, long sleeve clothing and socks.
—Repair or replace broken screens on windows and doors, and avoid using perfumes or colognes.
—Residents should remove any standing water around their homes or businesses. Clogged rain gutters and pet water bowls can produce thousands of mosquitoes per week and something as small as a Coke can or bottle cap can produce a breeding site for mosquitoes.
—Avoid mosquitoes and their peak activity times of dusk and dawn, if possible, but if you must be outside, wear a repellant.
—Again in 2018, West Nile virus has been confirmed in St. Mary Parish. Residents in these areas are being informed that there is a heightened potential for encephalitis infection within any of these locations.
—Personal protection and yard sanitation is recommended and encouraged.
—During the evening hours, truck-mounted sprayers will be assigned to spray St. Mary in an effort to reduce the vector population below critical levels as noted in the CDC Expanded Protocol measures. Spraying will be conducted for three consecutive evenings in the affected areas, weather permitting.
—The effectiveness of these truck spraying operations will be determined through the use of Gravid Traps that are scheduled for operation immediately following the completion of the mosquito control activities. The number of mosquitoes collected will serve to quantify the adult population and provide specimens to be submitted for retesting at Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab.
You can find links to information about West Nile from cajunmosquitocontrol.com.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana could find ways to carry out long-stalled death sentences if its governor wanted to follow the law, Attorney General Jeff Landry said Tuesday, adding new fuel to a clash with Gov. John Bel Edwards over capital punishment.
The Edwards’ administration fired back that Landry’s suggestions for “policy changes” are unworkable.
Landry sent a letter to Edwards recommending that the Department of Corrections could switch the drug used for lethal injection or get the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s pharmacy to make the drug, a process known as compounding.
“If you truly respect the criminal justice system, the rule of law and the rights of victims, there are a number of initial steps that can be taken,” the Republican attorney general wrote to the Democratic governor.
Natalie LaBorde, the corrections department’s deputy assistant secretary, said Tuesday that the department looked into compounding lethal injection drugs at one of Louisiana’s prison pharmacies during former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration. She said the facilities don’t meet state standards for compounding pharmacies, but she said the larger problem involves buying the ingredients.
She said pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell their products for executions. She said private pharmacists don’t want to sell ingredients to make into a lethal injection drug through a compounding pharmacy because their identities could be publicly disclosed.
“The bottom line is you have to be able to get the ingredients, which you cannot do. We can’t get anyone to sell it to us,” LaBorde said.
Lawyer Elizabeth Murrill, with Landry’s office, said she’s spoken with compounding pharmacists who say the state could order the chemicals to make a lethal injection drug “from the people who make the basic chemicals,” not a pharmacist or a drug company.
Landry, who is considered a possible challenger to the governor in the 2019 election, describes the issue as a broader concern. He said Edwards doesn’t appear interested in carrying out the death sentences.
The governor hasn’t directly answered questions about whether he supports capital punishment, saying instead that he pledged to uphold Louisiana’s laws and constitution when he took his oath of office and would follow that oath.
Louisiana’s last execution was in 2010. Both the Jindal and Edwards administrations have described difficulties obtaining the drugs for lethal injection.
Other states have had similar problems and faced lawsuits when changing the combination of drugs in response. Some states have expanded their execution methods to allow the use of gas chambers and firing squads, while states like Texas, Georgia and Virginia changed laws to shield information about the drugs they use or how they obtain them.
Louisiana would have to change its laws to use another form of execution besides lethal injection or to keep information about compounding pharmacies hidden. Landry said he supports such changes. In his letter Tuesday, he proposed draft language that lawmakers could use to allow Louisiana to execute people by hanging, firing squads or electrocution.
But the next legislative session to consider any law changes isn’t scheduled until April 2019.
The spark for this latest feud between Edwards and Landry was a federal court order earlier this month prohibiting Louisiana from carrying out any death sentences until mid-2019.
The Edwards administration asked for the extension, citing trouble getting lethal injection drugs. In response, Landry’s office said it was withdrawing from defending the corrections department against the lawsuit challenging its lethal injection protocols.
Louisiana has more than 70 inmates on death row.

Charles Smith, 44, a native of Morgan City and resident of Lafayette, died Thursday, July 19, 2018, at Camelot Place in Rayne.
Visitation is today, 5-8 p.m., at Jones Funeral Home in Morgan City. Services will be at 11 a.m. Aug. 4 at Siracusaville Recreation Center.
He is survived by his wife, Kimberly R. Smith of Lafayette; children, DeAnn Rowan, Ashley Rowan, James Wade-Smith and McKeem Wade, all of Lafayette; a grandson; brothers, Charles Williams of Seattle, Micheal Johnson of Jacksonville, Florida, Otis Williams of Bayou Vista, Allen Hayden of New Orleans, Steven Hayden of Baton Rouge and Antoine Williams of Kansas City; sisters, Sharon Jones of Morgan City and Denise Nolan of Bayou Vista; and a host of other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, stepmother, and maternal and paternal grandparents.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.