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Spring is high water season for those of us living on Berwick Bay and for the Atchafalaya River. Although Louisiana is susceptible to flooding year-round, it is during this season that we are particularly vulnerable.
Many residents of our area remember the floods of 1957, 1973, 1975 and 2011. Visit the floodwall monument next to the floodwall gate at Freret Street and Front Street in Morgan City to see the water level markers from these major flood events.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in The Acadiana Advocate newspaper in 2019, “The Mississippi River Valley drains about 41 percent of the country, and this has been the wettest period in the eastern U.S. in the past 124 years.” The website riskfactor.com claims that the risk of flooding in the future will impact day-to-day life in our communities.
However, the inhabitants of the past have disproven the speculation of these experts who express their concerns for our future. The occupants of Morgan City have always taken the inconvenience of high water in stride, adjusting their lives, as necessary.
The Atchafalaya River’s flooding has challenged our citizens living on its banks in 1865, 1867, 1882, 1912, 1927, 1937, 1945 and 1950.
These pictures of flooding in 1912 depict Morgan City residents coping  with elevated wooden planks for sidewalks and using skiffs and pirogues for travel – everyone with a smile on his face.
Gentlemen are seen sitting or standing in the water wearing suits, shirts, and ties.
Ladies have donned their finest bonnets and grabbed their handbags to walk along the planks and shop at the stores on fashionable Railroad Avenue and Front Street. Gathright and Soumellian, Kahn’s, Bojarsky’s, Belanger’s Drug Store, and Shannon’s would have been a few of their destinations.
Photos from 1927 indicate the same “make it work” response from the public. The pirogues may have become speedboats in the streets, and the wagons changed to automobiles, but the citizens of Morgan City accept their fate and keep plugging along.
In a letter written on July 27, 1927, my great-great aunt, 65-year-old Marie Pauline Gray, uses humor to depict the resilient attitude of Morgan City’s residents. She writes that her family thought it best that she not remain in her home alone during the anticipated high water.
Upon her return home, she comically describes the upheaval in her house:
“I could not tell you all the diplomatic and apologetic talk I had to do to my old furniture when I came home! They were all indignant and did not understand why they should have been moved in such an undignified position two feet off the floor, on blocks like stilts!
“And the books, too, were raising a din upstairs about being separated from their kind – histories disliked being in company with religious books; Shakespeare said that Napoleon on one side of him was continuously trying to fight him while on the other side, there was Tom Sawyer almost making him lose his dignity.”
Humor, endurance, acceptance, and resilience – all traits of our local population who will endure their future watery fate with a little assistance from the 449 miles of levees and flood walls that protect the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway.​​

(Editor’s note: The charges listed here and the narratives that go with them are provided by the police agencies that made the arrests. Guilt or innocence has not been determined in court.)

Trespassing complaints led Berwick police to recent arrests on assault and marijuana charges.

Berwick

Chief David S. Leonard reported these arrests:

—Lennis Paray, 39, Berwick, was arrested at 10:37 a.m. April 18 on charges of resisting an officer, possession of marijuana (under 14 grams) and four counts of criminal trespassing.

About 10:24 a.m. April 18, the Berwick Police Department received a call of a person sleeping in an abandoned residence.

Officers located Paray and knew for him to have active warrants through the Berwick Police Department. Paray fled on foot and was taken into custody a short time later. He was found to be in possession of marijuana.

Paray was transported to the Berwick Police Department where he was booked

—Chance Bourgeois, 17, Morgan City was arrested at 9:22 a.m. Tuesday on Berwick warrants alleging two counts of criminal trespassing, simple criminal damage to property and simple assault.

On April 19, the Berwick Police Department responded to a vandalism complaint. Officers met with the complainant, who advised that Bourgeois and several others had damaged his vehicle and made threats to him and his family earlier in the evening.

Through investigation, evidence was gathered linking Bourgeois to the crimes. Warrants were issued and on Tuesday Bourgeois came to the Berwick Police Department and turned himself in on the active warrants. He was placed under arrest and booked without incident.

—Michael Thompson, 38, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:35 p.m. Friday on charges of driving while intoxicated (first offense), possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and no insurance.

—Jeremy Blackburn, 45, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:49 p.m. Saturday on warrants alleging theft (less than $1,000) and failure to appear on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

About 12:10 p.m. Saturday, the Berwick Police Department received numerous calls regarding a stalled vehicle on the U.S. 90 bridge. Officers met with the driver, who was identified as Thompson, and his passenger, Blackburn.

While speaking with Thompson, impairment from narcotics was detected. Sobriety tests were conducted, and he performed poorly. A search of the vehicle was conducted, and methamphetamine and paraphernalia determined to belong to Thompson were located.

It was also learned that Blackburn had active warrants through the 16th Judicial District Court. Both were placed under arrest and transported to the Berwick Police Department for booking.

—Lawrence Vito, 38, Patterson, was arrested at 4:48 a.m. Tuesday on a Berwick warrant alleging hit and run.
In December, officers with the Berwick Police Department responded to a two-vehicle crash at a local business. One of the drivers left the scene.

Through video and other investigative means, officers were able to determine that Vito was the driver
in the vehicle that fled.

In April, warrants were issued for his arrest and on Tuesday, Vito came to the Berwick Police Department and turned himself him on the active warrant. He was placed under arrest without incident.

(The dates on the Berwick arrests have been corrected).

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 30 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Gregory Clements, 55, Fourth Street, Berwick, was arrested at 9:43 a.m. Saturday on a charge of hit-and-run driving. He was released on a summons.

--Emmanuel Jamal Charles, 36, Sixth Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 9:26 p.m. Saturday on a charge of disturbing the peace.

Franklin

Chief Cedric Handy reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to eight complaints over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Destiny Bowie, 30, Breaux Alley Street, New Iberia, was arrested at 12:59 p.m. Saturday on charges of speeding and reckless operation. Bowie was booked, processed and released on a $643.50 bond.

--August Gloskey, 65, Lucky's Trailer Park, Baldwin, was arrested at 4:15 p.m. Saturday a charge of criminal trespassing. Gloskey was booked, processed and released to appear in 3rd Ward City Court.

In the top photo, Joseph Folse, a native of Houma and resident of Franklin, plays trombone outside the Lamp Lighter Coffeehouse & Bistro during the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival held April 13 in Franklin. In the bottom photo, people listen to Low Down play on Teche Drive during the festival.

Banner-Tribune photos

The U.S. House members who represent St. Mary Parish joined other members of the Louisiana delegation in supporting some of Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid legislation that passed Saturday in dramatic fashion.
But both, U.S. Reps. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, and Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, voted against the centerpiece, a $61 billion package of military and economic aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Both supported another key foreign bill, a $26.4 billion package of military aid to Israel and humanitarian aid for Gaza.
The passage of those bills and two other pieces of foreign aid legislation Saturday are being hailed as a victory for Johnson, R-Shreveport. But the speaker now faces a challenge from hard-right members of his own caucus that could oust him from the House leadership.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, has announced her intention to call for a vote on Johnson’s speakership and has even called for him to resign.
The House-passed bills will now be considered by the Senate, which had passed differing versions of foreign aid bills.
Here’s how the Louisiana delegation voted on the foreign aid bills:
—Aid to Ukraine. The measure calls for $61 billion in aid, including $9 billion framed as a forgivable loan if Congress chooses.
Voting for: Johnson, Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, Steve Scalise, R-Metairie.
Voting against: Higgins, Graves, Julia Letlow, R-Monroe.
The bill passed 311-112.
—Military aid to Israel, humanitarian aid to Gaza. The humanitarian share of the $26.4 billion package is $9.4 billion. The bill passed 366-68.
Voting for: Higgins, Graves, Johnson, Scalise, Letlow, Carter.
—Aid for Indo-Pacific allies. The House bill would appropriate $8.1 billion in aid for Taiwan, the Philippines and other allies in the region. The bill passed 385-34.
Voting for: Graves, Johnson, Scalise, Letlow, Carter.
Voting against: Higgins.
— The TikTok-sanctions bill. This legislation would require China-based ByteDance to divest itself of the social media app TikTok. If it doesn’t, the app will be banned in the United States. The bill would also stiffen sanctions against Iran, Russia and China. It would liquidate $5 billion in Russian assets to provide more aid to Ukraine. The bill passed 360-58.
Voting for: Higgins, Graves, Johnson, Scalise, Letlow, Carter.