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A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday to celebrate the opening of Save Our Children Mentoring Center (former Bunche Branch Library) at the corner of Fifth and Willow Street, in Franklin.
St. Mary Councilman J Ina addressed attendees, giving a brief history of the center’s coming to fruition, and thanking the community for their assistance in the process.
According to Ina, the mentoring center owes its existence to years of work from community leaders, both living and passed.
The center will operate to provide a place for local youth to spend productive time aligning their leisure hours with the possibilities of endeavoring toward their futures.
The center’s Fall Program is currently underway. Entitled, “Dream What YOU See,” the program is open to adolescents and young adults, age 14-24, who are residents of St. Mary Parish. The program is slated to continue through May 2018, and its hours of operation are: Monday and Thursday, 3-6 p.m.
Sponsors for the program include Lighthouse Missionary Baptist Church Agape Program, St. John Missionary Baptist Church of St. Joseph and Teche Action Clinic.
The program will provide training in life skills, decision making, financial management and career choices and contains three component: The Speakers Bureau, Youth Leadership St. Mary Program and Experience and Exposure Program.
To register contact: Ms. Belinda Roberson 337-967-1061, Mrs. Jennifer C. Lanceslin 337-346-1006 and/or Dr. Gail Hamilton (337) 578-7885.

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana's competition for state treasurer was headed to a runoff, with voters Saturday split on the candidates in the six-person race, as the statewide special election drew little interest.

Democrat Derrick Edwards and Republican John Schroder led the tight contest to fill a largely ministerial seat open for the first time in nearly two decades, with more than 90 percent of the vote tallied, according to uncertified returns from the Secretary of State's Office.

The runoff will be Nov. 18.

Also on the ballot were proposals to add new provisions to the Louisiana Constitution, selection of the next member of Louisiana's utility regulatory agency and municipal races around the state.
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TREASURER'S RACE
Republican John Kennedy held the seat as Louisiana's chief money manager and investment officer for 17 years, leaving after his U.S. Senate election.

Though Kennedy raised the job profile by sparring with governors over finances, the race to replace him drew little interest and far less fundraising than Kennedy managed to attract during his tenure.

Edwards, a New Orleans area lawyer, did little fundraising but was expected to reach the runoff because he's the only Democrat in the race.

The top three Republican contenders vying for the second runoff spot were: Schroder, a former state House member, businessman and ex-law enforcement official from St. Tammany Parish; Angele Davis, a Baton
Rouge business consultant who was a state budget administrator for Govs. Mike Foster and Bobby Jindal and a tourism official for Mitch Landrieu when he was lieutenant governor; and Sen. Neil Riser, a funeral home owner and bank board member from Caldwell Parish.

The candidates strayed far from the treasurer's duties in their advertising.

GOP candidates touted conservative credentials. Davis described an allegiance to President Donald Trump and her rural upbringing. Riser reminded people of his anti-tax votes and his sponsorship of constitutional protections for gun owners. Schroder talked of wanting to cut the budget and rein in high-spending politicians. Edwards said he'll push for more transparency in government.

Kennedy's top aide, Ron Henson, is working as interim treasurer until someone is elected.
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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Voters statewide added three new provisions to the state constitution.

They agreed to an amendment creating a property tax break for all property delivered to a construction site for use in building industrial plants, companies and houses.

They supported the expansion of a property tax exemption given to the surviving spouses of police officers and certain others who die in the line of duty to cover spouses of more first responders, such as paramedics.

And they backed an amendment directing money from any new gasoline tax into a protected fund for direct transportation costs, not state employee salaries.
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OTHER RACES
Also on the ballot were judgeships, two vacant state House seats and local races. The most high-profile municipal competition is in New Orleans, where 18 candidates are competing to be the city's next mayor.
Democrat Mitch Landrieu is term-limited.

In 13 parishes across south Louisiana, voters chose among three Republicans to fill an open seat on the five-member state utility regulatory board, the Public Service Commission. Orthopedic surgeon Craig Greene defeated former state Reps. Damon Baldone and Lenar Whitney to represent the Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Houma areas.
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Follow Melinda Deslatte on Twitter at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte

LAFAYETTE — Economist Loren Scott says Louisiana's economic picture may be getting brighter.

Scott made his 14th annual Louisiana Economic Output report to One Acadiana on Thursday in Lafayette.

“Louisiana is finally emerging from a 20-month recession due to a dramatic downturn in the state’s oil patch,” the report states.

Specifically addressing the parishes near Lafayette, which like St. Mary are dependent on energy industry jobs, Scott said higher oil prices are going to drive economic growth in Lafayette, Acadia, Iberia, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes, the report states.

“The good news is the recovery will be bolstered by a slightly faster growing national economy, low inflation, and only a slight increase in interest rates,” the report states.

“I really, unfortunately, don’t see you getting back to where your were when the price was a $100. When the price is a $100 you are like a gold mining town ...” he said.

“While the bloodletting has slowed in the oil patch, oil prices in the $52-$58 a barrel range means exploration in the Gulf of Mexico will only recover modestly at best. That means the oil patch will remain sluggish over 2018-19,” the report states.

The Lafayette area derives 6.8 percent of its jobs directly from the exploration industry, which compares to the state average of 1.6 percent, the report states.

The Lafayette area will lose about 800 jobs in 2018, but should experience a recovery in 2019 with the addition of 1,600 jobs.

“Solid performance in Lafayette’s Big Four — Stuller Settings, Acadian Ambulance, the Schumacher Group, and LHC — will help lessen the bite from a still recessionary oil and gas extraction sector. Over a $60 million boost to the state road lettings budget in this region will help as well,” the report states.

Efficiencies and price pressure on suppliers is helping the oil and gas industry to lower its break even point, he said.

The Gulf Coast economy offers a range of contrast.

Lake Charles has $126 billion in industrial announcements bolstering its ranking as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation.

“As you start to work your way across, you start getting into sectors of the economy that are heavily tied to offshore. If your are heavily tied to offshore Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico is not doing the same thing as the shale play,” he said.

Scott noted that boat-builder Metal Shark shifted its production to contracts for Navy vessels.

The Trump Administration is bringing a relaxation of what Scott calls a “tsunami” of regulations under President Obama. There is also a forecast of tax cuts under Trump. Both, he said, would be mean a cost reductions to the industry, which should mean more jobs.

“We should quit thinking that two and two and half percent is normal. That is not normal. That is the result of bad policies. Normal is 3 percent and 3.5 percent,” he said of the nation’s economic growth.

As for the Lafayette area, “The decline from $105.71 a barrel in August 2014 to a low of $27.76 in January, 2016 has had its usual effect on the very oil-dependent Lafayette MSA. Even with oil prices recovering into the $50 a barrel range, employment losses in the Lafayette MSA continue to mount.

“Among the recent causalities was the closure of Chevron’s Shelf Office (though the firm is maintaining an Emergency Response Center in Lafayette). Baker Hughes closed a cement and pumping division in Crowley that employed 200 people at one time. Blue Sky Innovations — a firm providing support to helicopters servicing offshore work — shed 58 jobs. At the Port of Iberia, Dynamic Industries completed the module for Shell’s Appomattox Platform and dropped its workforce from 500 to 350.”

Scott estimates the region will have lose 23,500 jobs from 2015 to 2017 — a 10.6 percent decline.

In rural Louisiana, which includes St. Landry and Evangeline parishes, Scott forecasts stability. The are among the 29 parishes having an agricultural base.

Rural parishes should add 2,300 jobs for a 1 percent job growth in 2018 and another 2,200 jobs in 2019, also a 1 percent job growth, the report states.

Bright spots in the rural economic outlook include:
— Metal Shark Boats, a company that manufactures vessels out of aluminum. Starting with only 40 employees and one facility in 2014, Metal Sharks now has about 160 employees and three facilities. The firm is adding a finishing plant for painting and blasting, a new administration building, and a large vessel fabrication facility. Metal Sharks was selected by the Navy to build Near Coastal Patrol Vessels for U.S. partner nations. In June, the company landed a $54 million contract for 13 welded aluminum cutters, and recently the company completed six 88-foot high-speed passenger vessels for the New York Ferry Service. It delivered the first six of 18 45-foot patrol boats to the Vietnam Coast Guard.

— Large sums of money are being spent to build pipelines mainly in rural areas. Kinder Morgan is spending $170 million to build a pipeline called the “Southwest Louisiana Supply Project”. Tennessee Gas Pipeline will employ 300 people to build a natural gas compressor station in Franklin Parish and extend its compressors and pipelines in Madison Parish. Total project cost is $170 million.

— The Hazelwood Energy Hub project near Port Barre is at the permitting stage. A $400 million project to store and blend 10 types of oil held in storage tanks and salt domes, this facility will employ 123 people at $63,500 annually.

The Rev. Murphy Glover Sr., 83, a native of Napoleonville and resident of Siracusa, died Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, at Patterson Healthcare Center.

Visitation will be Tuesday at One Faith Fellowship Christian Center in Patterson from 9 a.m. until services at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Morgan City Cemetery.

He is survived by two sons, Matthew Glover of Morgan City and Murphy Glover Jr. of Las Vegas; two daughters, Shelia Turner and Faye Hartman, both of Morgan City; one sister, Theresa Cochran of Baton Rouge; 13 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews and other relatives.

He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, four brothers and four sisters.