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The many good things about the city of Morgan City invalidate the critical and harmful comments we frequently see posted on social media. It would be refreshing for people to look with new eyes at the beauty and many advantages we benefit from by residing here in our hometown.
Having family members who live in large cities around the country, I am frequently reminded how quickly and easily we can get from point A to point B in our area.
In a recent first visit to Morgan City, the grandmother of one of our newer citizens kept repeating to anyone who would listen that Morgan City is a “Hallmark community!”
Our quaint downtown area, the safety we feel on the streets, the delicious food, the enormity of the Atchafalaya River, and the beauty and size of Lake Palourde were astonishing to her.
Lake End Park hosts campers from throughout the United States and Canada who return year after year to spend the winter months enjoying the weather and the beauty of Lake Palourde.
Now, the Mr. Charlie Rig Museum has begun hosting RVers through the Harvest Hosts organization. These campers pay an annual fee to receive unique, safe, and convenient RV camping at over 5,000 farms, wineries, breweries, and attractions.
Now, campers can spend the night on the swift flowing Atchafalaya River at the foot of a vintage oil rig. This has to be an experience that is both unique and educational.
In 2021, the following comments were posted by a couple who boarded their 41-foot sailboat to navigate The Great Loop.
The two spent 511 days; sailed 7,772 nautical miles; traveled through 25 states and two countries; and anchored in 134 locations.
During this extended journey, they documented their experiences in a blog, https://svaurora.net/?p=2861:
“We did not ever imagine … the generosity and kindness of strangers … until (we moored in) Morgan City.”
“There, we met the town dock master who checked in with us several times just to make sure we were okay.”
“There, we met the kind clerk in the gift store who offered to drive me to another store to buy a postcard because she did not have any.’
“There, a tow captain alerted us that our next lock was closed and told us to contact Berwick Traffic Control.”
“There, the owner of Shannon Hardware had one of his employees drive us (in HIS car) to a competitor because he only sold 7/8-inch anchor line in 300-foot rolls, but his competitor would cut us the 100’ we needed.”
“There, the supervisor at E.J. Fields Machine Works let us use their degreasing bath and cleaned off a work bench for us to re-assemble our sail-drive clutch assembly.”
"Finally, “Virgil (Allen) gave us the most thorough, fascinating tour of the Mr. Charlie ... the only remaining oil rig of its vintage. Virgil’s tour took us up and down the rig: into the crew quarters, onto the drilling platform, down in the mudroom. Along the way, he provided the color for each of these areas, explained how an oil well was drilled, spoke to us about the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and explained the effort he was engaged in trying to obtain a National Historic site designation.”
 “Do not miss this tour if your travels bring you this way; it was right up there with the factory tour at BMW!”
Their final comment about the nature of the people of Morgan City was: “I think there must be something in the water there that makes everyone sooo gracious!”
So, drink the water! Become one of these remarkable citizens who are remembered by visitors to our Hallmark community.
Adjust your attitude and become the change that will elevate Morgan City and contribute to the success of our future.
 

The Review/Bill Decker
The American flags were unfurled Monday in the median of U.S. 90 just west of the bridge. The Berwick town government makes the median a patriotic place in the days before national holidays.

 After former President Donald Trump lost his reelection in 2024, there have been continuous allegations that election fraud has taken place all across the country.
So here is the question. Can voting machine computers be hacked?
Can the election process be manipulated?
Is there widespread election fraud as many and others allege?
I may be a pretty good source to give you an opinion. I did serve for eight years as secretary of state, Louisiana’s chief elections officer. 
According to every legitimate watchdog group across the country, as well as judges who reviewed allegations in numerous lawsuits, the answer is no. And I would agree.
With minor exceptions, I just have seen no evidence that anything improper has taken place in the nation’s election process. But half of the U.S. population mistrusts election results. If so many people feel that way, then elections officials need to find out how to rebuild confidence in the elections process.
I was having lunch in the back room of Phil’s Oyster Bar in Baton Rouge a few months ago, where a recognizable face was sitting at the next table. Robert F Kennedy Jr. started to leave, then proceeded to sit down and visited with our group having lunch.
He’s running for president now, and usually garners some 15% of the vote in national polls. Kennedy cannot be elected president, but his voters certainly will have an effect on who wins the presidency in November.
We talked about the election process and why there is such a lack of confidence in the current system.
“U.S. citizens need to know that all of their votes were counted, and that their election cannot be hacked,” he told me. “And a large number of voters do not believe that such is the case. We need to return to paper ballots to avoid electronic interference with elections.”
He’s right. Paper ballots were the way we conducted elections for years in Louisiana. In today’s modern age, machines connected to the iInternet and even simple electronic machines can be hacked or tampered with.
And if there is no paper trail, you can see why voters can be suspicious. If we want to have the gold standard for voter security, then paper ballots are the key.
The overwhelming majority of democratic countries require paper ballots in their elections. According to the Pew Research Center, paper ballots are used in 209 of the 227 countries that are democratic. For example, the Associated Press reports that voters in France “use the same system that’s been used for generations: paper ballots that are cast in person and counted by hand.” 
Under my watch, Louisiana used large and bulky voting machines that had no electronic connections and gave a full paper display of the vote.
he machines were opened after being removed back to a warehouse where any citizen could watch a review and final account. No one questioned the process.
And what happened to election day? It’s gone by the wayside. It used to be that everyone voted on one day with military exceptions, and those who signed a notarized affidavit that they would not be present on election day. Now we have voting spread out over a month and absentee voting mailed to anyone who asks. It’s become “too inconvenient” to drive a few blocks to a polling location. The US is almost alone in not combining the voting process to one day. So we now have election month.
Right now, there are lots of suspicions about the election process, both in Louisiana and throughout the rest of the country. If voters are to have assurances that elections are legitimate, changes in the process have to be made. These changes are simply the procedures found in most civilized countries to assure voters there will be less fraud and more trust to the system.
One of the ways to rebuild this trust is to use voting machines that provide a counting procedure that use paper ballots. A method that Louisiana used for many years. A simple system that takes us back to the future.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

Two successors to longtime figures in St. Mary Parish public life were sworn in Monday in ceremonies at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse in Franklin.

Former state prosecutor and District Judge Gregory P. Aucoin took the oath as St. Mary’s clerk of court, succeeding Cliff Dressel.

Dressel had served in the office for 59 years, 40 of them as clerk, and was believed to be the longest serving clerk of court in the state. He announced last year that he wouldn’t seek another term.

Also Monday, Gary Driskell was sworn in as St. Mary Parish sheriff, succeeding Blaise Smith.

Smith, who served more than 40 years in law enforcement, died Feb. 23 after a long illness. Driskell, the chief deputy for Smith, had assumed many of Smith’s duties during that final year.

At Monday’s ceremony, Driskell thanked two men: Smith, who made Driskell his chief deputy after Smith won a special election to be sheriff in 2018, and Sheriff Huey Bourgeois, who hired Driskell, newly discharged from the Army, as a corrections deputy. Bourgeois, who served three terms as sheriff beginning in 1984, died Saturday at age 95 in New Iberia.

Driskell pledged to pursue his goals in community policing.

“I will continue every day to work harder and harder to find ways to make the office better,” Driskell said.

Driskell used the occasion to tell Sheriff’s Office employees that they’ll get a 5% raise beginning in their next checks.

“I’ve never worked with another sheriff who cared more about his people,” said John Kahl, who will serve as Driskell’s chief deputy.

Driskell won 77% of the vote in a four-way primary race to win the right to succeed Smith.

Aucoin, a former assistant district attorney and district court judge, qualified for his first term as clerk of court without opposition. His office has election day duties as well as responsibility for maintaining court real estate records.

Aucoin said in a press release that he is committed to carrying on the traditions of excellence and professionalism long established by Dressel and his chief deputy clerk, Jane C. Pilant.

Aucoin named Michelle A. Bourque of Franklin to serve as his chief deputy clerk. Bourque brings 31 years of experience to her new role.

The department heads will be Stephanie Derouen, Recording Department; Becky Haydel, Civil Department; and Stacey M. Colbert, Minute Department.