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DEAR ABBY: A month ago, my 7-year-old son was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike in a crosswalk. He’s fine now. His injuries were minor, although it was frightening. Police and paramedics responded quickly, and I took my son to the hospital to have him fully checked.
Later that day, a police officer came by our house with a new bike for our son, purchased by the driver of the vehicle. He gave us a paper with the driver’s insurance information and said something to the effect of, “Her address is on there too, if you want to thank her for the new bike. That was really nice of them.” I was shocked that he would say that.
I guess it was a nice gesture, but she hit my son with a car! The driver admitted to having been distracted. At the scene, she said she thought she had hit a dog. I could go on, but suffice it to say the driver was 100% at fault.
I put the new bike away in the garage. My son saw it there and wanted to ride it. I held out until our insurance claim was accepted, and we went for a ride today. The new bike is not as good as his old one, but he was excited about it because it is a different color. I’m so grateful that he is doing well and isn’t afraid of biking again. My question is, do I have to write that thank-you note? If so, can you please give me the words?
BICYCLE MOMMY IN WASHINGTON

DEAR MOMMY: I can think of a few choice words, but no rule of etiquette demands you thank the woman for the bicycle that was destroyed because of her inattentiveness.

DEAR ABBY: I have a group of friends I’ve known for 40 years. As time has passed, we have grown apart politically. This wasn’t a problem until recently. Whenever we get together now, they shout at me about my political choices. At first, I tried to defend my position, but I was shouted down. Then I explained that I didn’t want to talk politics, that I respect their right to have a different opinion and to please respect mine. That works only temporarily. The next time we meet, it’s the same. It’s like they think if they all talk at once, they can convince me. They can’t, and I have no desire to convince them.
It has reached the point that I’m no longer comfortable in their company, and, evidently, they’re not in mine, since they are now meeting without me. I can make new friends, but 40 years is a long time, and I miss them. Is there nothing more I can do short of pretending I agree with them, which I won’t do?
ISSUES APART IN NEW YORK
DEAR ISSUES APART: Just as there is nothing more that your old friends can do to convince you, the reverse is also true. You have now reached a stalemate.
Politics aside, these friends are shouting at you and disrespecting your wishes.
For your own sake, it may be time to step back and cultivate friends who are more tolerant than these folks appear to be.
***
To receive a collection of Abby’s most memorable — and most frequently requested — poems and essays, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby — Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Two attorneys will try to work out a way to reduce loud music and other complaints centering on a Fifth Street bar, the Table 5 Lounge in Morgan City.
That decision was reached after lengthy City Council discussion on Tuesday, the night when the council considered liquor licenses for city businesses.
Also Tuesday, the council passed a city government budget that accounts for $20 million in water, sewer and natural gas system upgrades funded through state and federal grants. And council members heard a presentation in favor of the Hospital Service District No. 2 tax proposition that will appear on the Dec. 7 ballot in eastern St. Mary.
Police Chief Chad M. Adams came to the council with printouts of 46 complaints involving Table 5, located in the 700 block of Fifth Street. The complaints include people drinking outside the bar in the early morning hours, loud music and vehicles parked in nearby yards.
Two more incidents involve a bullet hole in a truck from a round believed to have come from the area of Table 5 and three shell casings found nearby. Table 5’s connection to those incidents is a matter of dispute.
Adams said that as a new chief in 2023, he tried to find a solution that would not close the bar. That included telling the bar’s management that the bar owner — Cherie LeBoeuf has the liquor license — that she’s responsible for preventing customers from drinking outside the bar.
And, told that the bar couldn’t afford to hire more security, Adams said he made plans to assign reserve officers on nights when crowds are anticipated if he received notice that a big event was scheduled. But no one called, he said.
One nearby resident, Hettie Carries of nearby Greenwood, is among the people who have complained.
“It sounds like the music box is at my front door, knocking to come in,” Carries said.
Lt. Richard Briscoe responded to one of the complaints about people partying outside the bar just before closing time on May 26, 2023, when he was still a sergeant. He told the council that he has since viewed body cam footage of the incident.
At the time, with no officers available for backup and with no desire to hurt the business, Briscoe tried to resolve the situation without a confrontation.
“I was slightly disappointed in myself because someone should have gone to jail,” Briscoe said.
But, from the point of view of David Ardoin, an attorney representing the bar’s management, Table 5 was being singled out.
Ardoin asked whether other lounges in Morgan City are treated the same way.
“How many other bar owners did you call and say you have to call before you open?” Ardoin said.
He said the city’s loud music ordinance isn’t specific about the sound level and is unenforceable, he said.
“If you act in a manner that deprives them of the ability to conduct business, you will be sued,” Ardoin told council members
LeBoeuf also produced what she said were letters from neighbors who said the bar is not a problem.
At one point, Councilman the Rev. Ron Bias got into a brief but loud shouting match with some of the bar’s supporters, prompting Mayor Lee Dragna to move behind Bias’ chair and move the councilman’s public address microphone away.
Bias later apologized for his outburst.
But popping the cork seemed to release some of the pressure. And by the end of a discussion of more than two hours, Ardoin had agreed to work on a solution with City Attorney Paul Landry, possibly by measuring sound levels and setting a limit.
Budget
At first glance, the 2025 budget passed unanimously by the council Wednesday shows $61.7 million in revenue and $70.1 million in expenditures.
But among the expenditures are capital budget items including $3 million from a state Water Sector grant for an upgrade of the water system; a $7 million water program revolving loan, a portion of which is forgivable; $5 million from a federal grant for the city’s gas system; and a $5 million request for capital outlay funding for sewage system improvements.
Without intergovernmental revenue and capital expenditures, the consolidated budget shows anticipated revenue of about $45.8 million and expenditures of $44.6 million.
The city expects to receive $10.8 million in tax revenue, about $900,000 less than this year.
The budget calls for public safety spending of about $8.2 million, up about $110,000 from this year, and $4.5 million in general government spending, up about $60,000. Public works spending is budgeted for $2 million, down about $104,000 from this year.
Utility operations and interest are expected to bring in $27.9 million, while utility system operations will cost $19.5 million.
Hospital tax
Hospital Service District No. 2 is seeking a 9-mill property tax to be paid by district residents. The $3.4 million expected to be raised each year will go to repairs and improvements at Ochsner St. Mary, owned by the district and operated under lease by Ochsner health.
Among the needs identified by The Grace Hebert Curtis Architects firm are sealing the building against moisture and installing energy-efficient and hurricane resistant windows.
The hospital also needs a new heating and air conditioning system.
District counsel Bill Bourgeois told the council that the building is 45 years old and showing signs of age.
The tax will also be used to raise money for scholarships for local young people going into health-care related fields.
If passed, the tax would amount to $45 a year for the owner of a primary home worth $125,000, and $157.50 per year for a home valued at $250,000. Under Louisiana’s homestead exemption, the first $75,000 of a primary home’s value is not subject to parish-level property taxes.
Early voting for the Dec. 7 election was to begin Friday and run through Nov. 30 except for Nov. 24, 28 and 29.
Housing
authority
Morgan City Housing Authority Director Clarence Robinson presented Finance Director Deborah Garber with a check for about $63,000 as a payment in lieu of taxes. That’s up from the $59,000 payment in 2023.
Ninety-seven percent of the authority’s units are leased, Robinson said, even with 10 units vacant for modernization.
In 2024, the authority performed $1 million in roof repairs, and exteriors of two-story units in Brownell Homes are being cleaned and repainted.
Robinson thanked Dragna for new sidewalks that students can use to walk on Veterans Boulevard.
Among goals for 2025, the authority hopes to raise its lease-up rate to 98%, continue modernization of housing units and partner with the technical college system to provide education for residents.

St. Mary Parish government offices and city halls in Morgan City, Patterson and Berwick will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Nov. 29.
The Harold J “Babe” Landry Landfill in Berwick and the West End Solid Waste Pick Up Station in Franklin will be closed Thursday.
Pelican Waste will be operating earlier than normal Thanksgiving Day, and asks residents to set out trash cans Wednesday night.
The Review offices will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Friday, Nov. 29. The deadline for legal ads for the Friday, Nov. 29, edition will be 10 a.m. Monday.
The obituary deadline for the Wednesday, Nov. 27, edition will be 8 a.m. Tuesday. The deadline for the Friday, Nov. 29, edition will be 8 a.m. Wednesday.

As you drive down Grand Caillou Road and into the town of DuLac, you’ll find rows of abandoned shrimp processing plants and boats run aground.
DuLac was a shrimping mecca not so long ago and its ruin has been aided by foreign countries and forgotten by the federal government. More than 90% of shrimp consumed in the United States is now foreign and farm-raised.
That wasn’t always the case. In 1989, the US imported 502 million pounds of shrimp. By 2019, imports had grown to 1.2 billion pounds.
From 2002 to 2022, domestic production declined by approximately 48%, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It turned into a market that, slowly, all they wanted to do is import,” Kermit Duck, a shrimper from Morgan City, told The Center Square. “The thing you got to remember is that shrimp all used to be seasonal.”
This change matters because it’s not just a loss of local jobs — it’s a shift in the entire market and industry. As imports flood in year round, they undercut the price and demand for domestic shrimp, leaving communities that once thrived on seasonal harvests with fewer opportunities.
“When you start over-importing, you start shutting down America,” Duck said.
“We can’t compete with the market, so were stuck having to sell our shrimp here to make ends meet because we can’t afford to sell them at the dock.”
Normally, shrimpers sell their catch to docks, which serve as intermediary points where shrimp are stored, chilled and made ready for transport to processing plants.
These docks provide essential services like ice and fuel, and they buy shrimp directly from shrimpers, who rely on the docks to handle and distribute their catch to the next step in the process.
“Remember one thing,” Duck said. “The processor is the one that makes the price.”
Accordingly, over-importation allows processors to charge lower prices and shrimpers find themselves in a position where they can’t stay competitive when cheaper foreign shrimp dominates the market.
So, what led to such an astounding increase in imported shrimp?
“Our lawyers have found that shrimp farming companies overseas are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies from their governments,” David Chauvin, founder of David Chauvin’s Seafood Co., told The Center Square.
Unlike foreign producers, U.S. shrimpers don’t receive similar support from their government.
“We don’t get any of that,” Chauvin said.
Chauvin said that he’s currently awaiting a ruling from the International Trade Commission on a lawsuit he filed against India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Ecuador, which make up 85% of all farm raised, imported shrimp in the United States.
As The Center Square recently reported, a group of U.S. lawmakers has raised concerns that the U.S. Treasury Department may not be upholding its duty to protect American industries from unfair international competition.
The lawmakers pointed out that the Treasury Department is required by law to oppose any international monetary projects that could harm U.S. industries, particularly when foreign competitors, like shrimp farms, receive economic assistance from their governments.
According to the press release, U.S. directors have backed projects involving industries that directly compete with American shrimpers at least 17 times since 2006.
The cherry on top? A shrimper’s most costly expenditure — diesel fuel — has skyrocketed. From January of 2021 to June of 2022, prices increased by 116%.
Currently, prices remain elevated 30% from when President Joe Biden took office.