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FRANKLIN, La. — Christmas under the Lampposts is Saturday, December 2, beginning at 6 p.m. The parade starts on Jackson Street, turns right onto Main Street, turns left onto Wilson Street and ends at the Courthouse Square for the lamp-lighting ceremony. Once the parade ends and everyone is in place, the honoree will be revealed.
Two parking areas closest to the Willow Street side will be reserved at the Courthouse for the ceremony and for parking the golf carts for the decorating contest judging. Yellow tape will mark the areas.
Teche Drive will be closed to vehicular traffic at the following intersections: Adams Street, Jackson Street, Commercial Street and Willow Street. Closing these intersections will permit everyone to walk and view the Christmas lights along the Bayou Teche.
For more information about Christmas under the Lampposts, contact the Community Development Department at (337) 828-6345 or ashields@franklin-la.com.

Bill Oliver with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development provided rotarians a window of examination Tuesday into the DOTD expansion of Interstate 49, from Lafayette to New Orleans.
Oliver explained that the I-49 project has been sorted into four sections, each section pertaining to a specific aspect of the expansion.
“We’ve got a lot of work done,” said Oliver of the I-49 expansion, “We’ve done all our work in Iberia Parish, and we’ve completed our interchanges in that section.”
The first of the four sections is considered by the DOTD to be “the connector,” and it consists of a stretch from the I-10 to the airport in Lafayette and is estimated to cost $750 million to construct.
The second section runs from the Lafayette airport, down La. 88, into Iberia Parish.
“We have some work left to do there,” said Oliver. “We’ve done most of the work there, but we have another section left to do around Ricohoc and into St. Mary Parish;” which, is considered the third section.
The fourth and final section is in Jefferson and St. Charles Parishes, from Raceland to the expressway.
“We have quite a few projects going on with that,” said Oliver.
According to Oliver, the DOTD has supplemental environmental impact statements that consist of the terms by which the contracts are drawn up, for the work to be done through local and state governments.
“We are currently redoing those statements, and we’ve gotten a lot of pushback from the original proposals from the early 2000s, and they have some changes of what they wanted, what the city wanted. So, a lot of stuff has changed.”
The Section One reevaluation includes structure types and routes of interchange, which is no small feat when one considers the already regularly snarled traffic situation in Lafayette.
However, Oliver assured that the project in Section One should be finished in 18 months, or so, with agreements having already been made on interchange arrangements and overhead structures to be erected in the downtown area.
Instead of interchanges, Oliver said the city decided to use the Eveangeline Thruway as a “connector” between ramp pairs, doubling its utility as a boulevard to increase foot traffic and commerce, as well. For this reason, the speed limit in that area will be lowered accordingly.
Oliver said that there is a $70 million part of the I-49 project, in the Broussard area, which is expected to be completed next summer, though it has been ongoing since 2014. Oliver said the reason for the project’s lengthy timespan has been the addition of the design of new bridges and a frontage road.
In reference to seemingly protracted portions of the 1-49 expansion’s timespan to completion, Oliver pointed to the lack of funding and hang-ups in the funding process, saying, “It’s a matter of funding. We are waiting on funding.”
Headed toward St. Mary Parish from New Iberia, the project’s engineers worked with land and business owners to afford the route its arrangement.
“Our next project coming up is the railroad overpass at the Patout Sugarmill, that railroad crossing just south of La. 85,” said Oliver. “We were approached by your own Representative Sam Jones, and we are partnering with the mill, instead of building overpasses, to provide them access through a pipeline, for their molasses, and a rail spur, to move the rail spur to the north side.”
Oliver says this kind of transaction is called “right-of-way mitigation,” by which the DOTD transacts with local and business landowners, in order to come to mutually beneficial terms for the construction of a route or structure through private property. Either the property is purchased outright, or circumstances are agreed on which mitigate any negative affect the construction may have on the property’s inhabitants or business.
The Patout Mill project is in the final stages of legalizing its funding, according to Oliver, and should begin construction soon.
Oliver went on to say of the project toward St. Mary Parish, “The La. 318, we’re working on the final stages now. We’re going to finish that project in early spring. The bridges are there. We have some final right-of-way utility issues, so that’s why that project’s seemed to go a little slower.
“Our next project is the section all the way from here to Bayou Beouf.”
Oliver says that safety concerns and engineering difficulties have made that section of the project particularly difficult, but says that the DOTD has begun traffic data collection at the area of concern, and assured that is a sign of progress.
With construction measures being taken to reduce the overall project costs, Oliver says that the projects underway and those planned for the future, benefit their timespans by costing less, so beginning faster.

St. Mary AARP Chapter 4435 sponsored a seven-day bus trip to Branson, Missouri, from Nov. 12-18. While in Branson, trip-goers attended six shows, many of them with Christmas themes. They also toured the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas. The bus leaders for this trip were AARP members Myrt and Mac McNemar.

LONDON — Prince Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, will marry American actress Meghan Markle in the spring, palace officials announced Monday, confirming months of speculation.
Markle, a humanitarian campaigner and lifestyle blogger who succeeded in show business before falling for Harry, will become a senior member of the royal family as the wife of one of the monarchy’s most popular figures.
Harry, a bad-boy-made-good by his tireless devotion to wounded veterans and his embrace of a variety of charitable causes, has said for several years that he wants to start a family, and the rumors of his engagement to Markle have been flying for some time.
The marriage represents a first-ever blending of Hollywood glamor with the once-stuffy royal family, which has of late seemed less fixed in its ways, and brings a mixed-race American divorcee into a highly visible role.
The couple made a brief appearance before photographers on the grounds of Kensington Palace hours after their engagement was announced.
Harry, wearing a blue suit and tie, said he was “thrilled” and that details about his proposal would come out later. He was then asked if the proposal was romantic, and he replied: “Of course!”
Markle, who said she was “so happy,” was wearing an engagement ring for the first time in public. She held Harry’s hand and rubbed his arm.
They left with their arms around each other. The couple plan to give their first interview later in the day.
Harry’s brother, Prince William, and his pregnant wife Kate welcomed Markle to the royal family.
“We are very excited for Harry and Meghan,” they said in a statement. “It has been wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together.”
Harry’s father, Prince Charles, told reporters he was “thrilled” with the engagement.
“They’ll be very happy indeed,” he said.
The engagement announcement says the couple became engaged in London earlier this month and that Harry has informed his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. It says he sought and received the permission of Markle’s parents.
The couple plan to live in Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace. Markle, who lived in Toronto while filming TV series “Suits” since 2011, is also reported to have started the sometimes time-consuming process of moving her dogs from Canada to Britain. She reportedly recently left the television show, a development that helped fueled engagement speculation.
Congratulations also came in from the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, and from Prime Minister Theresa May. Markle’s parents also welcomed the news.
Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland said their daughter Meghan “has always been a kind and loving person. To see her union with Harry, who shares the same qualities, is a source of great joy for us as parents.”
Markle was raised in the Los Angeles area. Her father is a Hollywood lighting director, her mother a yoga instructor and psychotherapist.
In some ways, Markle — a mixed-race American raised in California, an outspoken full-time actress, and a divorcee — makes a surprising addition to Britain’s monarchy.
But the institution has moved on with the times, and the romance between Markle and Harry — who has repeatedly stressed his wish to lead as “normal” a life as he could — has a decidedly unstuffy, modern feel to it.
The announcement means another grand royal wedding may be in the offing — the first since William and Kate married in 2011 — though it is possible the couple may choose to have a private ceremony, perhaps in a remote location far from the paparazzi who bedeviled Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
Markle, best known for her role as an ambitious paralegal in the hit U.S. legal drama “Suits,” surprised many when she shared her feelings for Harry in a September cover story for Vanity Fair.
Asked about the media frenzy surrounding their courtship, the 36-year-old said: “At the end of the day I think it’s really simple ... we’re two people who are really happy and in love.”
Harry, once known for his dicey antics, including being photographed playing strip billiards in Las Vegas, has largely charmed the British public with his winning smile, his military career and his devotion to charities aimed at helping disabled veterans and other causes.
The 33-year-old prince recently won praise with his work campaigning for more openness about mental health issues. Speaking candidly about his personal struggle to cope with the loss of his mother when he was only 12, he encouraged others to talk about their own problems rather than keeping them bottled up inside.
Markle’s Vanity Fair interview broke new ground. It is unusual for a royal love interest to speak so publicly, and candidly, before becoming engaged.
Harry’s past reported girlfriends all shied away from the media limelight, and his sister-in-law, formerly known as Kate Middleton, stayed silent until she and Prince William gave a formal televised interview at Buckingham Palace after their engagement became public.
It won’t be the first time that a British royal has married an American, or a divorcee. In 1936, Edward VIII famously abdicated after he was forced to choose between the monarchy and his relationship with twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
—Sylvia Hui and Jill Lawless contributed to this report.