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Chez Hope facility gets a makeover

Historic former Commercial Hotel on Main Street

Story and Photos By CASEY COLLIER
Those familiar with Franklin’s Historic District may have noticed some changes at Chez Hope’s home office building on Main Street.
The historic building has been undergoing some cosmetic renovations over the last couple of months, as well as the addition of a privacy wall around the back lot.
Cherrise Picard, executive director of Chez Hope, explained, “The work and improvements we are doing are based on safety. The wall you see in the back is something that was very important to us, because when we expanded our services St. Martin and Iberia parishes, we renovated the back to add more units.
“So, it was very important to add that safety feature, that wall.”
The dark gray wall skirts the perimeter of the parking lot of the motel behind the main building, where five apartments of the center’s eight, are located.
The wall’s continuity is only broken up by a heavy metal gate and door.
The gate is only awaiting a motor and key panel to begin operating as the only point of ingress and exit from Jackson Street.
Picard said she will put a bin in an alcove near the gate, for future donations to My Sister’s Closet, the on-site facility available for the material assistance of those at Chez Hope.
The wall is a product of funds provided by the Department of Children and Family Services, who gave Chez Hope special consideration considering the safety factor involved.
Further renovations occurring at the Main Street location include window glazing, a street-side awning erected, new exterior lamps and retouching around the windows, and doors refurbished.
The wall was erected by the “Grass Doctor,” Darrell Washington. The painting was done by Andre Dugas of Andre Dugas Painting, and was facilitated by Rick Lorenzo.
Lorenzo is also responsible for renovations to the on-site playground and the redoing the front doors.
Contributors to the Chez Hope’s renovations also include: United Way for South Louisiana, St. Mary Parish government, City of Franklin, St. Mary Parish Foundation and Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
Chez Hope is also in need of three donated washer/dryer machines for their laundry room.
Picard said monetary donations are also accepted, no matter the size or type.
For more information, go to chezhope.org.

Rep. Jones comments on run of special sessions

By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
Louisiana has a budget in place for the upcoming fiscal year, but it’s one that some legislators say will force uncomfortable cuts if the Legislature doesn’t approve new taxes before the end of June.
So far in 2018 the Legislature has convened for three sessions, two special sessions and a regular session, and appears headed for another special session beginning June 17. Without any action, about $500 million in proposed state spending won’t be funded, the Associated Press reported.
Legislators passed a budget to close out the most recent special session Monday for the state’s fiscal year beginning July 1. However, that budget includes significant cuts due to the Legislature’s failure to replace temporary taxes passed in 2016 that are set to expire at the end of the month.
“It does fully fund health care,” state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, said Wednesday of the budget during a Louisiana Municipal Association district meeting at Patterson Area Civic Center.
Concerns that some nursing home residents may face eviction have been quelled as the budget keeps nursing home funds intact. Hospitals and public schools were funded in the budget as well, Jones said.
But other areas face deep cuts.
“We have a number of agencies that still are 25 percent diminished,” Jones said.
Among those agencies that face cuts in the budget are sheriff’s prisoner funds, district attorneys’ offices and higher education. The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, commonly known as TOPS, faces a 30 percent cut, he said.
Karen White, executive counsel for the Louisiana Municipal Association, said during the meeting that part of the group’s mission is to lobby the Legislature on behalf of municipal governments in the state.
“Our main concern is protecting the interests of municipal government. And the biggest fight at the Capitol now has to do with the state operating budget,” White said.
“We try to make sure that the state doesn’t fund its needs on the back of local government, that it doesn’t take money, vital funding away from municipal governments to plug the holes in the state operating budget,” she said.
During the most recent special session, legislators considered a bill, which Jones supported, to extend half of the additional 1 percent state sales tax passed in 2016. But that bill didn’t pass.
The extension would have lowered the sales tax rate from 5 percent to 4.5 percent for five or six years. That temporary 1 percent sales tax will expire June 30 if the Legislature takes no action.
Another bill would’ve given the state a 4.3 percent sales tax rate, but that didn’t pass either.
“The one with the half-cent really was the one that fixed the problems for the next several years, which would also help us to have a steady funding stream,” Jones said. “We would get rid of the fiscal cliff conversation for a long time.”
In the next 10-day special session, Jones said the main way to avoid severe cuts for the new fiscal year will be to pass that 0.5 percent sales tax extension.
The session will “come to a conclusion one way or another,” he said.
“Either they’ve got to fund these items that I’m talking about or not,” Jones said. “Either higher ed matters or it doesn’t. Either district attorneys and keeping the prisons funded are important or they’re not. I think they are.”

(Updated) Sheriff: Suspect in chase booked for principal to attempted murder

A Patterson man has been arrested on Jeanerette police charges of principal to attempted murder and principal to armed robbery allegedly in connection with a Thursday incident.

Clarence Woods, 24, of Patterson, was booked Saturday into St. Mary Parish jail on Jeanerette police warrants charging him with principal to aggravated armed robbery with a weapon, principal to attempted first-degree murder, principal to aggravated assault with a firearm and principal to attempted armed robbery with a weapon.

Woods is believed to have been an occupant of a vehicle Thursday that led authorities on a high-speed chase from Jeanerette to Burns Point, said Detective Whytley Jones, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman. Woods’ charges are connected to the chase that began in Jeanerette, Jones said.

On Saturday afternoon, the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office sent a news release saying that Woods had been reported missing by his family. He was located later that day in the Burns Point area.

Three suspects, who were allegedly in the same vehicle, were caught Thursday at Burns Point after they fled from the vehicle that crashed at Burns Point.

Courtland Fullwood, 30, of Morgan City, Darian Bridget, 23, of Patterson, and Kurwin Webb Jr., 24, of Siracusaville, were the three men arrested.

St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies patrolling the Franklin area assisted with a vehicle pursuit that began in city limits of Franklin. Deputies pursued a vehicle, occupied by multiple individuals that fit the description of a vehicle being sought by the Jeanerette Police Department, Sheriff Scott Anslum said in a news release.

Deputies pursued the vehicle at a dangerously high rate of speed from Franklin to the Burns Point area, where the vehicle crashed and suspects fled on foot, Anslum said. Through the investigation, deputies located Fullwood, Bridget and Webb.

Deputies found evidence they were occupying the vehicle being pursued.

Iberia Parish clerk of court indicted on theft, racketeering, malfeasance, other counts

A state grand jury on Friday indicted Iberia Parish Clerk of Court Michael Thibodeaux on 14 corruption-related counts, including racketeering, theft, malfeasance, falsifying public records and perjury.

The indictment aligns with a 2016 Louisiana Legislative Auditor investigative report finding similar abuse within Thibodeaux's office.

The allegations date from 1998, with the most recent being on Thursday, when Thibodeaux is accused of providing false testimony in a judicial proceeding.

Allegations include misuse of a clerk of court salary fund, failure to refund deposits for advance costs and failure to remit unclaimed property to the state treasury. Two of the three theft counts involve amounts of more than $25,000.

One count cites 12,137 instances of filing or maintaining false public records over nearly 12 years ending in October 2016. Another count cites 334 such instances in a single month, April 2012.

The April 2012 allegation matches a legislative auditor's finding that Thibodeaux's office reissued 334 outstanding checks totaling $47,611 from the advance deposit fund that initially did not clear the bank.

Those checks were issued from the advance deposit fund to the clerk's salary fund. Litigants pay advance court costs in the deposit fund, and are to receive refunds on unused deposits.

Thibodeaux's office improperly transferred $218,021 in advance deposits to the salary fund over three years ending in May 2016, according to the legislative auditor. Another $96,924 in advance deposits had been improperly retained and should have been refunded.

Sheri Morris, a private lawyer representing the clerk's office, said in a response to the legislative auditor's findings that "there was absolutely no intent on the part of anyone acting on behalf of the Clerk of Court's Office to remove, destroy or conceal any record."

Thibodeaux received $236,011 in salary and benefits last year, according the most recent annual audit report for his office.

Thibodeaux was not in his office Friday afternoon and did not return a call. Attempts to reach him on a personal line were unsuccessful.

A call to the District Attorney’s Office of the 16th Judicial District was not returned.

Look for redfish in deep waters this summer

Summer arrived a little sooner than expected this year with some scorching hot days during the latter part of May.
We even had the first tropical storm of the hurricane season come six days early, which is a little disconcerting, quite honestly.
What’s not disconcerting is how the saltwater fishing action heats up the further into summer it gets around these parts.
Several years ago, on a hot Friday morning in August, me and seven other outdoor writers spent a few hours with Captain Bill Lake, owner/operator of Bayou Guide Service, on Blue Hammock Bayou fishing for redfish.
It was almost too easy.
Lake and one of his boat captains had their preprogrammed troll motors holding us on specific GPS coordinates along a shallow bend in the bayou with a deep drop off towards the middle. Our two bay boats, positioned side by side, were so close together that we could talk to one another without shouting.
We simply took a piece of cracked crab fixed to a 4/0 hook and lowered it off the side of the boat.
Within seconds, “BAM!” You had a fish on.
In approximately two hours, both boats had limits totaling 50 redfish.
Absolutely dumbfounded, I asked Captain Lake what I thought was a stupid sounding question.
“Bill,” I said, “what if we hadn’t caught reds in that location? What would have been our tactic?”
“I knew we were going to catch,” Lake said.
“Yeah – I know, Bill. But, what if we didn’t,” I said, trying to rephrase my question, thinking he didn’t understand me the first time.
Lake said, “I knew the fish were there. We caught there every day this past week.”
Finally, I said more assertively, “But, what if we didn’t? What was Plan B going to be?”
That’s when I got the answer I was looking for. Lake went on to tell me that he had 18 to 20 GPS locations just like the one we fished, and if we didn’t catch immediately, we’d have gone on to one of his other holes. What’s more, the fish are in those same locations every year during the summer.
Essentially, a lot of redfish are caught by going deep during the summer. From Four League Bay to Vermilion Bay, there’s no shortage of deep bayous.
Besides the Blue Hammock, other deep-water locations worth trying around Four League Bay are Rice Bayou, Little Blue Hammock, Old Oyster Bayou and Big Oyster Bayou. Mosquito Bayou and Pellegrin Cut are also good locations.
In East Cote Blanche Bay, the deep water on the outside of the Humble Canal can be good at times, and so can the Ivanhoe Canal and outlet in West Cote Blanche Bay. I’ve caught deep-water redfish on Marsh Island in Worm Bayou just outside Lake Tom.
Bird Island Bayou on Marsh Island receives a lot of boat traffic, but plenty of redfish have been taken there.
I’ve fished Shark Island Bayou and Avery Canal and Channel with mixed results. But, when the redfish are running these deeper locations, it can be a whole lot of fun.
Cracked crab seems to be the best bait for deep-water fishing. But, dead shrimp work just as well.
However, be prepared to catch more trash fish like croakers, hardheads and gaff tops when you do.
Although jumbo croakers are worth keeping when the bite is slow, my old friend, the late Elvis Jeanminette from Jeanerette, once filleted a couple dozen croakers for him and me, leaving the scales on one side. Elvis seasoned and tossed them on his barbeque grill, and I gotta tell ya – croakers cooked like that are lip-smackin good.
When fishing deep, particularly with hard-falling tides, you’ll want to use heavier weights. Local fishing guide and tackle shop owner Ivy St. Romain taught me to use a four-ounce diamond weight on a drop rig, with a 4/0 circle hook tied with a snell knot. We caught some pretty big fish in Big Oyster Bayou rigged accordingly.
If you haven’t fished Lake Calcasieu (aka: Big Lake) in southwest Louisiana, you’re missing out on a real treat. Egret Baits President and managing partner, Ken Chaumont, mainly fishes this region. Chaumont says summer is his favorite time to target reds.
What’s more, though he does fish deep holes and drop offs, he also fishes early in the morning along the lake’s edges.
“Weather patterns have become predictable and so have the redfish,” Chaumont said. “Shorelines at high tides usually harbor lots of bait, and that’s where the reds will be. I love the calm mornings. It allows you such an easy visual on reds chasing shrimp and finger mullet along the grass.
“And, that’s when I like to use a bait that has lots of vibration like our Egret Baits Mambo Mullet,” Chaumont added. “It runs very shallow, and you can chunk it along the weed line with ease. The vibration will draw them out of the edges.”
Whatever you do, don’t let the heat keep you in the air conditioning. Get up early and go deep for some great redfish action this summer. You won’t regret it.
EDITOR’S NOTE: John K. Flores is The Daily Review’s Outdoor Writer. If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story to share, contact Flores at (985) 395-5586 or at gowiththeflo@cox.net.

Morgan City U.S. Bowling Congress Bowling Association holds banquet

The Morgan City U.S. Bowling Congress Bowling Association held its annual meeting and awards banquet May 12th at the St. Mary Parish Senior Citizens Center in Morgan City. All three associations (Men’s, Women’s and Juniors) merged into one. Below is a list of the awards: —The John “Push” Rogers Memorial Championships award winners: Allen Price Memorial Award Team Champions, Thrown Together (Steve Buckner, Dustin Fuselier, Tamara Aucoin, Rick Sartwell and Seth Hebert); Leo Morvant Memorial Award, Doubles Champion (Patrick Lemoine and Taylor Brocato); Mike Duke Memorial Award, Singles Champion (Anthony Falgout Jr.); Bobby Froreich Memorial Award, All Events Handicap Champion (Kenny ...

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From the editor: In Patterson, Knock Knock is no joke

PATTERSON — People seem more reluctant to give up personal information these days. After the IRS hack, the Sony hack, the Democratic National Committee hack and more, who can blame them?
But if you live in Patterson, you’ll want to make an exception for the Knock Knock Disaster Preparedness Campaign.
The campaign came up at Tuesday’s Patterson City Council meeting. Police officers, including Police Chief Janis Merritt, have been going door to door to get current information such as cellphone and landline numbers, current addresses, whether family members have physical or mental disabilities, and whether family members need electricity for oxygen delivery, CPAP machines and the like.
People who come to City Hall to pay bills are also being asked for the information.
Mayor Rodney Grogan said Tuesday that younger people are more reluctant to provide information than their elders.
But the information can help the city government deal with evacuations necessitated by disasters such as hurricanes and gas pipeline breaks like the one last month near Franklin, and water system shutdowns, which seem minor until your town has one.
Updated data can tell emergency service providers who might need help getting out of their homes in an evacuation. And automated calls can tell you evacuation routes to avoid or use should you have to leave your home.
The latter point can save you some grief.
My first hurricane was Andrew in August 1992. After the evacuation orders but before the hurricane struck, the southern end of Interstate 49 — which has to be counted among the most important northward evacuation routes in Louisiana — became a long, skinny parking lot. With a hurricane bearing down, you don’t want to be caught in that.
Also Tuesday, the Patterson council approved the millage rates property owners will pay come November and December. Or, if you’re like me, come January or February.
The council decided to keep the rates at 8.20 mills for general city government purposes and 14 mills for the capital outlays that includes the new water plant.
But does that tell you anything? “Millage” refers to a coin that doesn’t exist anymore, so the concept can seem vague. Here’s what it’s about:
A mill is 1/10th of a cent of tax applied to each $1 of assessed valuation.
Assessed valuation is the portion of your property that is subject to tax. In Louisiana, that’s 10 percent of the market value, as determined by the parish assessor, of your residential property. Other classes of property have their own rates.
If you want to figure your tax liability on the back of an envelope, start with 10 percent of your home’s market value.
Then multiply .001 times the millage rate — in this case, 22.2 mills. The result is .0222.
Now multiply that by your home’s assessed valuation. If your home is worth $100,000, for example, you’ll pay $222 ($10,000 in assessed valuation times .0222). That’s your annual city property tax bill.
That’s for city taxes. For most other kinds of property taxes, Louisiana has a homestead exemption. That means you don’t pay taxes on the first $75,000 of a primary home’s market value, or the first $7,500 of assessed valuation.
——
We passed a milestone last week. The Daily Review’s Facebook page got its 10,000th “like.” That’s roughly equal to half the people in the cities in our circulation area. And that’s not bad.
Just as important as the number of people who use our website, StMaryNow.com, and our Facebook page is the way those people behave.
Being an online editor at another job made me feel like a combination referee, language cop and kindergarten teacher. The folks who make comments on our sites have turned them into a very gentle place to share the joys of engagements, school achievements and business promotions, and a place to mourn together when someone passes away.
Thank you.
Bill Decker is managing editor of The Daily Review. Reach him at 985-384-8370.

MARK LANDRY

October 12, 1959 - June 3, 2018
Mark Landry, 58, a resident of Morgan City, passed away Sunday, June 3, 2018 at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa.
Mark was born on October 12, 1959 in Franklin, the son of Louis J. “Mann” Landry Sr. and Edmae Adams Landry.
Mark loved being in the outdoors fishing or going to the camp. He loved his grandchildren and the special bond that he had with them.
He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by two children, Chad Landry and wife Michele of Prairieville, and Kalyn Palmature and husband Daniel of Morgan City; spouse, Cheryl Ann Rulf Landry; five grandchildren, Bradley Landry, Andrew Landry, Anna Landry, Ayden Palmature and Bailee Palmature; one brother, Louis Johnny Landry Jr. of Church Point; two sisters, Paulette Kennerson and husband Roger of Lafayette, and Monica “Sue” LeBlanc and husband Oza of Church Point; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mark was preceded in death by his parents, Louis J. “Mann” Landry Sr. and Edmae Adams Landry; and one sister, Kathryn Barras.
A memorial service will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 11, 2018 at Twin City Funeral Home with a memorial visitation being held from 5:00 p.m. until the time of the service.

DONALD 'PEANUT' HOLLAND

January 4, 1943-June 4, 2018
Donald Holland, 76, of Bayou Vista, passed away June 4, 2018 after a lengthy illness at his home surrounded by his family.
He was born in Bastrop, Louisiana, on January 4, 1943 to L.E. and Ellon Boyd Holland. Donald served in the US Navy as a diver and worked the bulk of his life in the oilfields in the Gulf in that capacity. He was a member of the Masons, Doric Lodge #87, Shriners and was an avid sportsman; enjoying fishing and hunting, but most of all he loved being at his camp in Toledo Bend with family and friends.
He married Janet Page on February 8, 1965 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with whom he leaves behind after 53 years of marriage.
Also surviving are: Daughter, Diana Briehn and granddaughter Kaylee and her husband Joel Robinson, their children, Jeremy, Caiden and Holland. Daughter and Son-in-law, Debra and Charles Rhoades and granddaughter Page Sandifer and her children Riley and Korbin and Granddaughter Morgan and her husband Matt Jones.
Donald also leaves behind his siblings, Jimmy Holland and Diane Peterson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
At the request of Donald, no funeral or memorial will be held.

KENNETH EVANS JR.

Kenneth Evans Jr., 64, a native and resident of Patterson, died Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma.
Visitation will be today, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church in Houma., and Saturday from 9 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. at Morning Glory Ministries in Morgan City. Burial will follow in Louisiana National Cemetery in Zachary with Military Honors.
He is survived by four children, Kendra Hawkins and Kenneth Evans III, both of Lake Charles, Wade Blackburn of Dallas, and Ashley Pittman of St. Martinville; six sisters, Sandra Williams, Ursula Evans, Adrianne Belton, Claudia Schexneyder, Evelyn Cross and Yolanda Butler; six brothers, Tommy Evans, Barry Evans Sr., Cornelius Evans Sr., Sammie Cross, Mark Cross and Murphy Butler; 14 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a host of other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his parents and four brothers.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

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