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GAYLE HARRIS
Gayle Harris, 64, a native of Morgan City, died Monday, May 14, 2018 at Baptist Beaumont Hospital in Beaumont, Texas.
Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.
Wheel House for May 15
SACRED HEART
Thrift Store, corner of South Railroad and Second Street, Morgan City, hosting a 50 cent sale on all baby and children’s clothing and shoes from 8:30-11 a.m. May 16-17 and 23-24. All proceeds benefit Sacred Heart Catholic Church charities.
Corps: Bar Channel should be open by early 2019
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Hospitals announce area births
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U.N. health agency aims to wipe out trans fats worldwide
NEW YORK (AP) — The World Health Organization has released a plan to help countries wipe out trans fats from the global food supply in the next five years.
The United Nations agency has in the past pushed to exterminate infectious diseases, but now it’s aiming to erase a hazard linked to chronic illness.
In a statement Monday, the U.N. health agency said eliminating trans fats is critical to preventing deaths worldwide. WHO estimates that eating trans fats — commonly found in baked and processed foods — leads to the deaths of more than 500,000 people from heart disease every year.
“It’s a crisis level, and it’s major front in our fight now,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva on Monday.
Officials think it can be done in five years because the work is well underway in many countries. Denmark did it 15 years ago, and since then the United States and more than 40 other higher-income countries have been working on getting the heart-clogging additives out of their food supplies.
The WHO is now pushing middle- and lower-income countries to pick up the fight, said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development.
Artificial trans fats are unhealthy substances that are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it solid, like in the creation of margarine or shortening. Health experts say they can be replaced with canola oil or other products. There are also naturally occurring trans fats in some meats and dairy products.
The WHO recommends that no more than 1 percent of a person’s calories come from trans fats.
“Trans fats are a harmful compound that can be removed easily without major cost and without any impact on the quality of the foods,” Branca said.
Countries will likely have to use regulation or legislation to get food makers to make the switch, experts said.
At the WHO news conference Monday, a representative from a leading food industry trade group said companies are working to reduce trans fats in their products.
“We call on food producers in our sector to take prompt action and we stand ready to support effective measures to work toward the elimination of industrially produced trans fats and ensure a level playing field in this area,” said Rocco Rinaldi, secretary-general of the International Food and Beverage Alliance.
Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who worked with WHO officials on the call to action, called its move unprecedented.
“The world is now setting its sights on today’s leading killers — particularly heart disease, which kills more people than any other cause in almost every country,” said Frieden, president of Resolve to Save Lives, a New-York-based project of an organization called Vital Strategies.
In the U.S., the first trans fatty food to hit the market was Crisco shortening, which went on sale in 1911. Trans fatty foods became increasingly popular beginning in the 1950s, partly because experts at the time thought they were healthier than cooking with butter or lard.
Food makers liked artificial trans fats because they prolonged product shelf life. They used them in doughnuts, cookies and deep-fried foods.
But studies gradually revealed that trans fats wreck cholesterol levels in the blood and drive up the risk of heart disease. Health advocates say trans fats are the most harmful fat in the food supply.
In the U.S., New York City in 2006 banned restaurants from serving food with trans fats. The same year the FDA required manufacturers to list trans-fat content information on food labels.
Many manufacturers cut back, and studies showed trans-fat levels in the blood of middle-aged U.S. adults fell by nearly 60 percent by the end of the decade.
In 2015, the FDA took steps to finish the job of eliminating trans fats, calling for manufacturers to stop selling trans fatty foods by June 18, 2018 — a deadline that arrives next month. FDA officials have not said how much progress has been made or how they will enforce their rule against food makers that don’t comply.
“The removal of trans fats from the food supply as an additive counts as one of the major public health victories of the last decade,” said Laura MacCleery, policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Radio logs for May 15
The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the police department at 985-380-4605.
Monday, May 14
6:03 a.m. La. 182 and Eleventh Street; Complaint.
6:19 a.m. 200 block of Brashear Avenue; Complaint.
6:42 a.m. 500 block of Leona Street; Stand by.
7:54 a.m. 200 block of Patton Street; Complaint.
8:05 a.m. 100 block of Poncio Street; Telephone harassment.
8:33 a.m. 1000 block of Spruce Street; Suspicious subject.
8:34 a.m. 900 block of Cherry Street; Animal complaint.
8:58 a.m. 2000 block of Federal Avenue; Theft.
9:14 a.m. 600 block of First Street; Removal of subject.
9:46 a.m. 500 block of Aucoin Street; Animal complaint.
10:11 a.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Arrest.
10:19 a.m. 700 block of General MacArthur Street; 911 hang up call.
11:20 a.m. 700 block of General Hodges Street; Animal complaint.
11:23 a.m. 500 block of Roderick Street; Suspicious vehicle.
1:03 p.m. 900 block of Seventh Street; Complaint.
1:39 p.m. 700 block of Maine Street; Stand by.
1:50 p.m. 900 block of Garden Street; Complaint.
2:04 p.m. 200 block of Brashear Avenue; Burglary.
2:15 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Arrest.
2:41 p.m. 1000 block of Seventh Street; Crash.
2:50 p.m. 800 block of Ditch Avenue; Complaint.
3:06 p.m. Clothilde Street and Victor II Boulevard; Traffic incident.
3:15 p.m. 7500 block of La. 182; Theft.
3:19 p.m. 200 block of Louisa Street; Complaint.
3:19 p.m. 300 block of Third Street; Medical.
3:27 p.m. La. 182 East; Crash.
3:39 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Arrest.
3:50 p.m. 1100 block of Marguerite Street; Disturbance.
4:05 p.m. 700 block of Terrebonne Street; Juvenile problem.
4:07 p.m. Railroad Avenue and Myrtle Street; Suspicious subject.
4:33 p.m. Cottonwood Street; Complaint.
4:58 p.m. 800 block of Roderick Street; Stand by.
4:58 p.m. Front Street; Removal of subject.
5:04 p.m. 700 block of Franklin Street; Removal of subject.
6:08 p.m. 800 block of Fourth Street; Removal of subject.
7:02 p.m. 7700 block of La. 182 East; Suspicious person.
7:04 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Complaint.
8:33 p.m. 300 block of Garber Street; Assistance.
8:36 p.m. 800 block of Ditch Avenue; Phone harassment.
8:48 p.m. 200 block of Brashear Avenue; Theft.
10:19 p.m. 200 block of Brashear Avenue; Complaint.
10:38 p.m. 800 block of Ditch Avenue; Complaint.
10:43 p.m. Brashear Avenue; Suspicious person.
10:54 p.m. Egle Street near Federal Avenue; Suspicious person.
Tuesday, May 15
12:26 a.m. 6300 block of La. 182 East; Complaint.
12:42 a.m. Mallard Street; Disturbance.
3:22 a.m. Brashear Avenue; Suspicious person.
Mom is desperate to stop teen’s violent outbursts
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'All it would have taken was a spark'; St. Mary was lucky during pipeline leak
Monday’s pipeline break near Baldwin spewed a large but unspecified amount of flammable gas into the air, closed two schools, forced residents from about 50 homes, shut down several businesses, brought out every fire department in the parish, blacked out Franklin and stopped traffic on one of rural Louisiana’s busiest highways.
St. Mary Parish’s homeland security director believes the area was lucky.
“All it would have taken was a spark,” Director Duval Arthur said Monday afternoon.
No one was hurt and no immediate reports of property damage were received after a farmer accidentally hit a hurricane fence and a piece of above-ground pipeline apparatus sometime before 7:30 a.m. near Baldwin’s Yokely Road.
The 8-inch pipeline is owned by Enterprise Products Partners. Spokesman Rick Rainey said the pipeline is part of Enterprise’s Promix Gathering System and transports ethane and butane.
Large plumes of white gas billowed from the leak.
“It blew for two hours before they got it shut off,” Arthur said.
The potential for disaster surrounded the broken pipeline:
--Gulf Craft LLC, a shipyard, is across a farm field from the site of the pipeline break. One bit of luck was that no one was welding at Gulf Coast, a shipyard, Arthur said. Gulf Craft and Metal Shark, just across U.S.90 from Gulf Craft were evacuated.
U.S. 90 was closed in both directions.
--A Cleco electrical transfer station is about 200 yards from the leak site, Arthur said. The utility closed down the station, shutting off power in Franklin. That forced the closure of Franklin High and LaGrange Elementary.
“Thank goodness the (Franklin Foundation) hospital had generator power and the courthouse had generator power and a few lucky businesses that had generators were able to stay open,” Arthur said.
The 50 homes nearest the pipeline leak were evacuated, affecting something like 100 people, Arthur said. An evacuation shelter was set up at the Franklin Recreation Center on Hospital Boulevard.
The emergency drew representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana State Police and the LSP hazardous materials unit, the St. Mary Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard, the Franklin Police Department and fire departments “all the way from Amelia to Jeanerette,” Arthur said.
“We had enough firetrucks there that if it had exploded, we could have fought the fire,” he said.
By 12:30 p.m. Monday, the highways were open again and the power was back on, Arthur said.
The only remaining activity related to the leak was by Enterprise, which was cleaning out the affected portion of pipeline in preparation for repairs. An investigation will be conducted, and that will be the way the public learns how much flammable gas was released into the air.
For Arthur, the pipeline leak may have been a last roll-out as homeland security director for the parish. He’s set to retire in nine days.
“We train for this every year,” Arthur said. “You know what? This is the first (pipeline leak) we’ve ever had.
“It’ll jar your insides.”
Zachary Fitzgerald contributed to the reporting for this story.
(An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the name of Gulf Craft.)
Police: Teen charged with armed robbery, battery
A Berwick teen has been charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery in Patterson after he allegedly armed himself with a paintball gun and attacked and robbed a juvenile victim.
—Tyler Sylvester, 18, of Versen Street in Berwick, was arrested at 4:08 p.m. Saturday on charges of aggravated battery and armed robbery.
The charges stem from an April 29 incident that occurred in the area of Church Street in Patterson. Sylvester allegedly jumped a 14-year-old boy and stole some items from him, Patterson police said. Sylvester was armed with a paintball gun. The victim did sustain injuries, but the extent of the injuries weren’t known as of Monday morning, police said. No bail was set for Sylvester.
Patterson Police Chief Janis Merritt reported the following arrests:
—Gerlisa Calais, 40, of Wedell Street in Patterson, was arrested at 9:41 a.m. Friday on a charge of domestic abuse battery. Calais was released on bail.
—Jerry Favors, 53, of Gabriel Street in Patterson, was arrested at 4:59 p.m. Saturday on charges of remaining or entering on forbidden place. No bail was set.
—Charlotte T. Bracamontes, 30, of Main Street in Patterson, was arrested at 6:42 p.m. Sunday on a charge of disturbing the peace-language. Bail was set at $227.
Morgan City Police Chief James Blair reported that officers responded to 106 calls and reported the following arrests:
—Donnell Williams, 21, of Trevino Street in Berwick, was arrested at 10:49 a.m. Friday on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, transactions involving proceeds from controlled dangerous substance activity an on a warrant charging him with probation violation.
—Charleston J. Grogan, 23, of Wren Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 10:58 a.m. Friday on a warrant charging him with five counts of failure to appear to pay a fine and on charges of resisting an officer by giving false information and entry or remaining in places after being forbidden.
Narcotics division investigators encountered Grogan in the area of Wren Street Grogan provided investigators with a false name upon initial contact, Blair said. Grogan had several arrest warrants through city court and was barred from entering Morgan City Housing Authority properties, Blair said.
While conducting their investigation, investigators observed another person, who was identified as Williams in the area holding a cellophane bag of suspected marijuana, Blair said. Williams was also in possession of cash believed to be derived from the sales of illegal narcotics, Blair said. Police found evidence that some of the suspected marijuana was destined to be sold in illicit sales, Blair said.
Williams had an arrest warrant through city court. Grogan and Williams were both jailed.
—Joseph Martinez, 45, of John Street in Berwick, was arrested at 3:16 p.m. Friday on a warrant charging him with three counts of failure to appear to pay a fine and another warrant charging him with failure to appear to pay a fine, and possession of synthetic marijuana.
Narcotics division investigators observed a vehicle being operated in the area of Federal Avenue following another vehicle too closely. A stop was initiated when Martinez was identified as an occupant.
Martinez had several arrest warrants through city court. Martinez was also in possession of suspected synthetic marijuana, Blair said. Martinez was jailed.
—Glenn M. Mitchell Jr., 30, of Bayou Black Drive in Gibson, was arrested at 7:56 p.m. Friday on charges of careless operation of a motor vehicle, license plate required, failure to secure registration, no insurance and possession of an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle.
Patrol officers observed a vehicle being operated in the area of La. 182 in an erratic manner. A stop was initiated when Mitchell was identified as the driver. The vehicle that Mitchell was operating did not have a license plate, registration or proper insurance, Blair said.
Mitchell was also in possession of an open alcoholic beverage in the motor vehicle, Blair said. Mitchell was jailed.
—Travis J. Vaughn, 47, of Woodview Court in Morgan City, was arrested at 2:30 a.m. Saturday on charges of DWI first offense and headlights required.
Patrol officers observed a vehicle being operated in the area of La. 182 without any head lights illuminated. A stop was initiated when Vaughn was identified as the driver.
Vaughn was in an intoxicated stated and performed poorly on a field sobriety test, Blair said. Vaughn refused to submit to chemical testing, Blair said. A search warrant was obtained for blood to be drawn for analysis which is pending at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab. Vaughn was jailed.
—Jeremie A. Hanks, 40, of Brownell Street in Morgan City, was arrested at 10:42 p.m. Sunday on charges of simple assault and disturbing the peace intoxicated.
Patrol officers responded to the area of Brownell Street in regard to a disturbance. Officers arrived when Hanks was identified as one of the parties involved. Hanks was in an intoxicated state and allegedly threatened to commit a battery on the victim, Blair said. Hanks was jailed.
—Michael J. Welch, 50, of Levee Highway in Pierre Part, was arrested at 12:02 p.m. Sunday on warrants charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Welch was located and arrested in the area of La. 70 on active arrest warrants for Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office. Welch was jailed.
Assumption Parish Sheriff Leland Falcon reported the following arrest relating to the area:
—Jaron Flynn Foret, 24, of Darolina Street in Thibodaux, was arrested Friday on charges of illegal window tint, no driver’s license on person, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of alprazolam with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.
On Friday, a uniformed patrol deputy observed a vehicle commit a traffic violation near La. 662 and La. 398 near Bayou L’Ourse. The deputy executed a traffic stop and identified the driver as Foret. The deputy noticed that Foret appeared nervous and evasive, Falcon said.
After interviewing Foret, the deputy requested the assistance of a K-9 unit. The K-9 conducted an open-air sniff of the vehicle and alerted positive to the presence of illegal substances, Falcon said.
Deputies searched the vehicle and seized assorted drug paraphernalia, significant quantities of heroin and Xanax alprazolam, Falcon said. Foret was transported to Assumption Detention Center and held on $125,000 bail.
Berwick Police Chief James Richard reported no arrests.