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ALFRED BROWN

Alfred Brown, 56, a native of Terrebonne Parish and a resident of Schriever, died Sunday, June 3, 2018.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at New Magnolia Baptist Church in Schriever.
He is survived by three brothers, Calvin Brown of Morgan City, and Gregory Brown and Isaac Brown Jr., both of Schriever; a sister, Isalee Johnson of Schriever; and a host of other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his parents, four sisters, and paternal and maternal grandparents.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

JIMMIE LEE TURNER

Jimmie Lee Turner, 92, a native and resident of Patterson, died Saturday, June 2, 2018, at Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City.
Visitation will be Saturday from 9 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. at Jones Funeral Home in Morgan City. Burial will follow in Shields Cemetery in Patterson.
She is survived by three daughters, Shantyl Yoland, Dianca Joy and Myia Taylor, all of Los Angeles; two grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a host of other relatives.
She was preceded in death by her mother and a brother.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

GERALDINE DAVIS

Geraldine Davis, 76, a native of Terrebonne Parish and resident of Houma, died Saturday, May 26, 2018.
Services will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at House of the Lord Church in Houma.
She is survived by two children, Edith Carson of Houma and Troy Davis of Morgan City; six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; four brothers, Elmer Davis Jr., Herman Davis, Northern McKinley and Arthur McKinley Jr., all of Houma; two sisters, Lucinda Broussard and Betty Dottery, both of Houma; and a host of other relatives.
She was preceded in death by her parents, paternal and maternal grandparents, and two siblings.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Bayou Horseshoe Pitchers Association Week 10 report

Bayou Horseshoe Pitchers Association Spring League Week 10 W L Tails Up 55.5 34.5 Heads Up 46 44 W.H.A.G. 45.5 44.5 Kemper Ringers 44.5 45.5 Dud’s Club 40.5 49.5 Dilly Dilly 37 53 High scratch point average: (30’) Tim Gilmore 83.9, Al Dodson 75.0 and Gerald Prados 69.5; and (40’) Jimmy Percle 51.4, Clyde Landry 48.9 and Dwain Arceneaux 45.6. High individual ringer percentage: (30’) Gilmore 63.8, Dodson 53.2 ...

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WILLIAM LONDO JR.

William Londo Jr., 56, a native of Jeanerette and resident of St. Martinville, died Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Visitation will be Monday from 11 a.m. until services at 1 p.m. at Jones Funeral Home in Jeanerette.
He is survived by his companion; his father, William Londo Sr.; four brothers, Albert Thompson Jr. of Morgan City, and Lawrence Thompson Sr., Joseph Thompson and Paul Thompson, all of Jeanerette; two sisters, Mary Thompson and Denise Londo, both of Jeanerette; 13 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and a host of other relatives.
He was preceded in death by his mother, one brother and two sisters.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements

100 Black Men scholarships

Submitted Photo
The 100 Black Men recently awarded its 2018 scholarships. Pictured, front left, are Devan Gellegos of Berwick High and Mayanisha Randle of Franklin High. Pictured in the back row are Gary Eves, Scholarship Committee, Clarence Robinson Jr., president, Sean Augman of Morgan City High and J. Ina, Mentoring Committee. Not pictured is scholarship winner Kamyria Benton of Patterson High School. Each scholarship awarded was for $1,000.

Jim Bradshaw: The highway that was killed by Interstate 10

The elevated span of Swamp Expressway that carries I-10 across the Atchafalaya Basin is a remarkable thing, but there were plans afoot to build an even more remarkable roadway across the huge wetland well before I-10 was even on the drawing boards.
In fact, the Sunshine Bridge across the Mississippi River near Donaldsonville was originally conceived as part of a toll road that would run from Lafayette through St. Martin, Iberville, Ascension, and St. James parishes to Lutcher, where it would cross the river and link to the Airline Highway and New Orleans.
A coalition of leaders from the parishes authorized engineers to start planning the million-dollar-a-mile highway across the Basin in early January 1953.
Ernest M. Loeb, who represented the company that would handle the bonds to finance the highway, said the project would cost so much because the road would pass through “considerable bayou country” and require a major new bridge over the Mississippi and lesser crossings over 17 other bayous and rivers.
Nonetheless, he said, it would be worth the expense because it would cut two or three hours off the driving time from most south Louisiana communities to New Orleans.
Part of the savings in travel time would come about because the toll road was to be built to interstate standards.
“The highway will have no grade crossings or direct traffic intersections and will bypass all towns,” the planners told the press. “Cars should be able to maintain constant speeds of 65 to 70 miles per hour.”
The late Judge Kaliste Saloom Jr. was the legal advisor for the toll road, which was to be called the Acadian Throughway. He said in an interview some years ago that the main reasons it didn’t happen were those old Louisiana bugaboos, politics and money.
“We had $110 million in revenue bonds lined up to build the road,” he recalled, “but the bond people wanted assurance that the state would not come along and build a free road close to our toll road and jeopardize its revenue. There was some history for that. In the 1930s, Huey Long built a free road next to a toll road from New Orleans to Slidell because he got into a political fight with the mayor of New Orleans. The bond people wanted assurances that there would be none of that.
“We went to visit Earl Long, who had just replaced Gov. Bob Kennon, and Earl gave us assurances that he would not build a free road. He said he didn’t have the money to do it even if he wanted to.”
But Uncle Earl wouldn’t put that down on paper. He said signing something might give the impression that he endorsed a toll road and that could cause him political trouble.
Without a firm commitment from the state, lenders were reluctant to put up the big money needed for the Acadian Throughway.
Judge Saloom thought the financial troubles could have been overcome eventually, but that the back-and-forth with the state delayed the project too long.
While the squabbling in Louisiana was going on, President Eisenhower unveiled his plan to build an Interstate highway system.
That still might not have been fatal to the toll road, except for more politics and maneuvering.
Ike’s original plan was to link every community in the United States with a population of 50,000 people or more to its state capital. At that time, Lafayette had not taken off on its oil-fueled building spree and didn’t have that population. That meant it wouldn’t automatically be linked to the federal road system. The original design for I-10 followed the already existing U.S. 190 through St. Landry Parish.
That was far enough north of its proposed route that the toll road might still have been feasible.
But then congressmen T.A. Thompson and Ed Willis got the interstate moved to the south, to its present route through Lafayette, and there was no way that a toll road that close to a major, free highway could have generated the traffic and income needed to satisfy the lenders.
Before the decision was finally made to abandon the toll road plan, however, engineers had already designed a bridge across the Mississippi at Lutcher. That was the design used when Gov. Jimmy Davis built the bridge named for his famous song, “You are My Sunshine.”
When it was built in the 1960s, that bridge was roundly criticized because it connected nothing but sprawling cane fields on either side of the river. Folks called it “a bridge to nowhere.”
But those critics forgot that the Sunshine Bridge was once a part of the first ambitious plan to span the Atchafalaya Basin with a major roadway — a plan, incidentally, very much like one that is regularly bandied about every hurricane season when evacuation planners yearn for another major road to help move traffic out of harm’s way.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

Escaped inmates transported back to St. Mary

Two of the four inmates who escaped from St. Mary Parish jail have been transported back to the jail from Mississippi, St. Mary Parish Sheriff Scott Anslum said in a news release. The other two inmates were already booked back in to parish jail and then transferred to other facilities.

—Jamie Scarbrough Jr., 28, of La. 663 in Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested at 10:42 a.m. Thursday on a warrant charging him with simple escape.

—Tanner Scarbrough, 18, of Lambert Lane in Bayou Vista, was arrested at 10:42 a.m. Thursday on a warrant charging him with simple escape.

On June 3, deputies with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office began investigating an escape from the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center. Through the investigation, an arrest warrant was secured for both Jamie and Tanner Scarbrough. Tanner and Jamie Scarbrough were apprehended in Picayune, Mississippi, and ultimately transported to the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center for booking and incarceration. No bail was set.

Anslum reported that deputies responded to 39 complaints in the parish and reported the following arrests relating to east St. Mary Parish

—Shenice Wood, 25, of Arlington Road in Bayou Vista, was arrested at 6:56 p.m. Thursday on Morgan City Police Department warrants for failure to appear on a charge of possession of marijuana, failure to appear on the charge of probation violation and failure to appear on the charge of contempt of court.

A deputy patrolling Bayou Vista responded to a home for an unrelated call for service. The deputy located Wood and learned that she held active warrants through the Morgan City Police Department. Wood was jailed with no bail set.

Morgan City Police Chief James Blair reported that officers responded to 55 calls and reported the following arrests:

—Keindra N. McDaniel, 31, of Fox Hunt Lane in East Point, Georgia, was arrested at 8:43 a.m. Thursday on a warrant charging her with theft less than $1,000.

McDaniel was located and arrested at the police department on a warrant. The warrant stems from an Aug. 9, 2015, investigation when officers responded to the area of La. 182 in regard to a theft. During the investigation, McDaniel was identified and allegedly took $73.62 from the victim, Blair said.

The investigation continued when a warrant was prepared for McDaniel’s arrest. McDaniel was jailed.

—Heidi R. Sams, 39, of Fourth Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 10:09 a.m. Thursday on charges of driving under suspension, improper equipment and no seat belt.

Patrol officers observed a vehicle being operated in the area of Brashear Avenue and the operator of the vehicle was not properly restrained. A stop was initiated when Sams was identified as the driver. The vehicle was equipped with a windshield that was in the condition that would obstruct the driver’s view, Blair said.

Sams also had a suspended driver’s license, Blair said. Sams was jailed.

—Sonya E. McLemore, 28, of Joey Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 1:51 p.m. Thursday on a warrant charging her with two counts of failure to appear to pay a fine. McLemore was located and arrested at the police department on a city court warrant. McLemore was jailed.

—Matthew T. Rollins, 24, of Diane Lane in Patterson, was arrested at 4 p.m. Thursday on warrants charging him with theft less than $1,000, two counts of failure to appear to pay a fine and probation violation.

Rollins was located and arrested at the police department on warrants for police and city court The police warrant stems from a March 6 investigation when Rollins allegedly took items from the victim valued at $199.99 in the area of Victor II Boulevard, Blair said. The investigation continued when warrants were prepared for Rollins’ arrest. Rollins was jailed.

—Terrell E. Poole, 27, of Ramos Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 4 p.m. Thursday on a warrant charging him with two counts of failure to appear to a pay fine. Poole was located and arrested at the police department on a city court warrant. Poole was jailed.

—Lloyd L. Singleton Jr., 20, of Egle Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 9:26 p.m. Thursday on a warrant charging him with failure to appear to pay a fine. Singleton was located and arrested in the area of Redwood Street on a city court warrant. Singleton was jailed.

Berwick Police Chief James Richard reported no arrests.

Patterson Police Chief Janis Merritt reported no arrests.

Walmarts unveil new online grocery order service

The St. Mary Chamber of Commerce held ribbon cuttings Thursday introducing the new online grocery ordering and pick-up service at Walmart Neighborhood Market in Morgan City and Walmart Supercenter in Bayou Vista. Customers may order their groceries online, arrive at designated pick-up places in the parking lot, and an employee will bring the groceries to their vehicles. (The Daily Review/Zachary Fitzgerald)

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