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The Krewe of Amani Parade made its way along packed streets Monday.

The Krewe of Hera Parade is next at 7 p.m. Monday in Morgan City.

The Siracusaville Parade will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday. The Krewe of Hephaestus Parade will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Both parades will be in Morgan City.

The Review/Bill Decker

Brocato Photography
Timothy Irwin Matte and Julianna Grace Hernandez, daughter of Cecil and Kimberly Hernandez, reigned Saturday as King and Queen Hephaestus LXVI over the Royal Court of Morgan City’s oldest kewe. The 2026 captain of the Krewe, Lee Romaire, depicted Bacchus.

Louisiana law requires restaurants to clearly indicate when they serve imported seafood, but hundreds have failed to do so, according to a review of state enforcement data from 2025. 
In response to a public records request, the Louisiana Department of Health compiled spreadsheets listing every restaurant cited and which ones were fined. 
State law requires all food establishments using imported shrimp or crawfish to indicate it clearly on their menus or on a sign at the entrance if they don’t use menus. Another law applies to any statements, written or verbal, restaurants and their employees make about their offerings. 
A first-time violation can carry a fine of up to $500, though the health department typically gives offenders an opportunity to remedy the violation before levying a fine. The penalty can double for each subsequent offense, maxing out at $2,000 per violation.
State officials cited 919 restaurants and fined 319 for seafood labeling violations last year, according to the spreadsheets. The collective amount invoiced, including fines from January, totaled about $113,000, health department spokeswoman Emma Herrock said.
Both lists contain some recognizable names and popular restaurants from across the state, including some fine-dining establishments. Others, either through their names or website descriptions, promote their food as “Cajun,” “Creole” or locally-sourced when, in fact, their shrimp or crawfish comes from India, Ecuador, China and other waters outside of the U.S. 
Seafood transparency
Health inspectors fined three Popeyes locations last year for failing to label imported shrimp. The cited restaurants were in Opelousas, Grand Coteau and Breaux Bridge.
The national fast-food chain, founded in Arabi, has long used Louisiana culture in its marketing.
Though best known for its chicken, Popeyes often features fried shrimp on its menu and has occasionally experimented with fried crawfish meals and a “Cajun Flounder Sandwich” with Pacific flounder rather than the southern flounder native to Louisiana. 
Last year, Popeyes renamed its offering the “Flounder Fish Sandwich,” dropping the “Cajun” moniker.
Popeyes’ parent company, Restaurant Brands International, did not respond to requests for comment or questions sent via email. The vast majority of its 3,700 worldwide restaurants are independently owned and operated. The corporation sets strict food quality standards with specifically-approved wholesale vendors that all franchisees must use, according to its website.
Restaurants reached for this report largely chalked up their violations to a simple oversight or not being aware of their supplier’s seafood source. 
The Louisiana Department of Health has a searchable database of sanitation records that contains detailed inspection records for every restaurant in the state.
Monjuni’s Italian restaurant in Bossier City was cited Feb. 10, 2025, for using imported crawfish without labeling it as such on the menu, records show. In a phone interview, owner Lisa Susano said she wasn’t aware her supplier had sent her foreign crawfish tails when local ones weren’t available. She said she has since instructed her vendor to never send her imported tails.
“I really wasn’t paying attention,” Susano said. “It’s hard to make it in the restaurant industry. Restaurants close every day.” 
As for shrimp, Susano said she has always used Louisiana catch. She said she didn’t realize the state’s menu labeling law also applied to crawfish, which she said can be more difficult to source locally because its season can be short. 
Health inspectors often show up unannounced at restaurants to check for health code violations, including the labeling laws. Officials check the restaurant’s wholesale receipts and seafood packaging to determine the country of origin for the shrimp or crawfish being served. If the restaurant’s menu doesn’t match the receipts, it’s a violation but not always a fine.
Inspectors typically give the restaurant about a week to correct a menu violation before conducting a follow-up visit. If the violation goes uncorrected, the state can levy a first fine of $500.  
State health department records show inspectors cited Mandina’s Restaurant in Mandeville four times last year for violating the menu law from June 30 through Aug. 7. The business is not affiliated with the iconic New Orleans eatery on Canal Street that bears the same name. 
In a phone interview, owner Frank Marcello said he paid a $150 fine for the violations at the Mandeville restaurant, which he blamed on his own absent-mindedness.  
“It was my fault,” he said. “We just didn’t have that [disclosure] on the menu, so we changed the menu.” 
Marcello said he uses Gulf shrimp most of the time except when it’s too expensive.
“When you’re a little family restaurant like us, when something goes up $5 or $6 per pound, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Marcello said. “I can’t charge $30 for a shrimp po’ boy.”
Fried shrimp. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Mandina’s in New Orleans, a favorite of locals and tourists, was not on the health department’s list. General manager Martial Voitier said his restaurant has always used local seafood regardless of the price or availability. 
The Mandina family sold the Mandeville location years ago, according to Voitier.
He was pleased to hear about the state’s enforcement of the labeling laws and said he thinks they should be as strict as possible.
“It doesn’t offend me or bother me at all because we don’t deal with any foreign products — period,” Voitier said.
Health inspectors also included members-only dining establishments in their enforcement.
The Southern Yacht Club, an exclusive sailing organization in New Orleans with a large waterfront building on Lake Pontchartrain, has a full-service restaurant inside and a summer bar and grill outside. Visitors are welcome if they have an invitation or are accompanied by a member
During a Nov. 18 visit, inspectors cited Southern Yacht Club for 10 “critical” violations, including having unlabeled imported shrimp. State sanitation codes define critical violations as those “more likely to directly contribute to food contamination or illness,” and they must be addressed immediately.
The club’s other critical violations included failure to retain shellfish tags for 90 days after sale and using oyster shells “more than once as serving containers” for other meats not original to the shell, according to sanitation records. 
Ed Gaskell, Southern Yacht Club’s manager, said via email the imported shrimp was a “substitution error” made by a vendor. 
“The shrimp in question from the cooler was thrown out in front of the inspector and never served,” Gaskell said, adding that Southern Yacht Club now uses only domestic shrimp.
State clamps down after years of non-enforcement
The enforcement data from 2025 mark the agency’s efforts to step up enforcement after years of light-handed treatment while Louisiana’s seafood industry complained of a massive influx of foreign seafood. 
Two years earlier, the health department  documented more than 2,600 violations but did not issue a single fine over that period because the Louisiana Legislature failed to clarify penalties in a 2019 revision to the law.
Since 2024, the legislature has passed sweeping changes to state seafood laws affecting wholesalers, restaurants, food trucks, grocery stores and other establishments across the state. These included heavier fines for violators and strict prohibitions against misleading branding. They also gave authority to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board to assist in enforcement efforts.
Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who oversees the state Office of Tourism and the Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, said he is considering building a website that lists every restaurant in Louisiana that serves local seafood products. He is also lobbying for the passage of a new imported seafood law at the federal level. 
“My ultimate goal is to get Congress to pass a bill to add a 10-cents-per-pound inspection fee on imported seafood,” Nungesser said. 
He said this would help “level the playing field” for local fishermen trying to compete with the significantly cheaper foreign fare that continues to enter the United States.
Dave Williams, a fisheries scientist, has made headlines across the Gulf Coast exposing grocers, restaurants and festival vendors selling imported shrimp in violation of Louisiana seafood labeling laws. His company, SeaD Consulting, developed a rapid test kit that can analyze the genetic makeup of raw or cooked seafood.
Williams said any place that serves imported seafood and has customers that expect to get imported seafood should have no problem labeling that seafood as “imported.”
His company has conducted undercover shrimp testing at restaurants across the Gulf Coast. Williams said his goal has been to educate restaurant owners and draw public attention to the issue so that people start asking where the seafood comes from when they go out to eat. SeaD Consulting publicly commends restaurants found to be serving domestic catch.
“The mislabeling law applies to all restaurants serving these products, ensuring a consistent standard and a level playing field for seafood transparency. … The point of the law in Louisiana is to inform consumers of what they are being served,” Williams said.

(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.)

A Morgan City High soccer player has been accused of battery in a fight that broke out after a close game Feb. 11 in Bossier Parish.
In all, St. Mary, Morgan City and Franklin authorities reported 11 battery arrests late last week, including seven after a Feb. 11 incident at the parish jail.

St. Mary

Sheriff Gary Driskell reported that over the last 48-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 86 complaints and made these arrests:

•Micah S. Wilkerson, 17, Siracusa, was arrested at 3:54 p.m. Thursday on a Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office warrant alleging second-degree battery. Wilkerson is being held for another agency.

According to media accounts, the arrest results from a punch thrown at the end of the Morgan City-Bossier soccer playoff.

St. Mary Parish schools issued a statement in response to what it called misinformation.

“The school district respects and protects the rights and confidentiality of all students in disciplinary matters and will not comment on any details from the incident,” the statement.

“Students’ names that have been released by news media outlets regarding this incident were not released by MCHS or St. Mary Parish Schools.”

In Louisiana, second-degree battery is “a battery when the offender intentionally inflicts serious bodily injury. …” It’s punishable by up to eight years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000.

•Jonathan Wayne Scully, 33, Morgan City, was arrested at 6:31 p.m. Thursday on a warrant alleging theft and criminal damage to property. Scully was released on a $6,000 bond.

•Cory Robert Frank Jones, 41, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:33 p.m. Thursday on two warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of driving under suspension and theft. Bail has not been set at this time.

•Liberty Grow Falgout, 49, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 11 on a warrant alleging forgery and theft. Falgout was released on a $66,000 bond.

•Cole Zephrien Fruge, 34, Bayou Vista, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of simple battery. Fruge continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Brandon Tremell Robinson, 44, Patterson, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of second-degree battery. Robinson continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Dustin Michael Lovell, 29, Franklin, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of simple battery. Lovell continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Jace Paul Lodrigue, 27, Franklin, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of simple battery. Lodrigue continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Anthony Wayne Bernard, 37, New Iberia, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of second-degree battery. Bernard continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Edward King Jr., 24, New Iberia, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of second-degree battery. King continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Jordan Dionysos McDaniel, 32, Franklin, was arrested at 8:12 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of second-degree battery. McDaniel continues to be incarcerated at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center.

•Megan Renee Parker, 39, Franklin, was arrested at 11:25 a.m. Fe b. 11 on a charge of probation violation.  Bail has not been set at this time. 

•Jovonta Dejon Henry, 33, Franklin, was arrested at 11:52 a.m. Feb. 11 on a warrant alleging failure to register as a sex offender.  Bail has not been set at this time. 

•Cheryl Lynn Hilliard, 42, Patterson, was arrested at 3:56 p.m. Feb. 11 on two warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of expired motor vehicle inspection; operating a vehicle while license is suspended, revoked, or canceled; and failure to appear as a witness.  Hilliard was released on a $1,000 bond.

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 95 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

•Corey Delatte, 34. Mark Drive, Morgan City, was arrested at 1:24 p.m. Thursday on a charge of failure to appear for arraignment.

•Jasmine Guidry, 35, Tupelo Street, Morgan City, was arrested 4:33 p.m. Thursday on a charge of failure to appear to pay fine.

•Sydnie Wainwright, 29, Oakdale Street, Franklin, was arrested at 5:52 p.m. Thursday on charges of simple battery and failure to return lease merchandise.

•Mary Schahn, 36, Fourth Street, Berwick, was arrested at 5:52 p.m. Thursday on a charge of simple battery.

•Danny Fulks, 40, Franklin, was arrested at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on charges of possession of buprenorphine, possession of a legend drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer, improper lane usage, suspended driver’s license and
two counts of failure to appear for arraignment (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

•Terrance Johnson, 42, Terrebonne Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 8:07 p.m. Thursday on charges of theft (under $1,000) and failure to appear to pay fine.

•Anthony Bourgeois, 50, Iowa Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 8:25 p.m. Feb. 11 on charges of driving while intoxicated (first offense), possession of marijuana, driving under suspension, headlamps required and failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

•Cody Thibodeaux, 35, Bush Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 8:44 a.m. Feb. 11 on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and as a fugitive from the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office.

•Peter Spinella Jr., 72, Onstead Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 1:11 a.m. Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana and improper lane usage.

•Tina Williams, 22, La. 662, Morgan City, was arrested at 4:57 a.m. Thursday on a charge of failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

Franklin

Chief Cedric Handy reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to 11 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

•Tyron Charles, 25, Branch Street, Baldwin, while incarcerated at the Franklin Police Department, was arrested at 9:48 a.m. Thursday on a warrant alleging parole violation. Charles was booked, processed and held with no bond set at the time of press release.

•Larry Lewis Jr., 44, Second Street, Franklin, was arrested at 8:26 p.m. Thursday on a warrant dated Feb. 9 alleging simple battery, sexual battery and stalking. Lewis was booked, processed and held with no bond set at the time of press release.