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My family and I are currently on an extended vacation to Paris and Provence in central France.

Relations with our country never have seemed better. Our welcome was quite warm everywhere we traveled. President Joe Biden has developed a close and warm relationship with current French President Emmanuel Macron.

And that’s good news for Louisiana.

It wasn’t too long ago when relations between the two countries were a bit frosty.

I recollect back at the congressional cafeteria in the nation’s capital when they changed the menu from French fries to freedom fries. 

That really showed them! And for the record, I don’t remember reading of any politician advocating the abolishment of French kissing!

I also remember a 1995 episode of "The Simpsons" in which Willie the groundkeeper is directed to become a French teacher at the local elementary school. 

“The French?” he hollers, “They’re nothin’ but a bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.”

But that was then. 

Although we’ve had conflicts and disagreements with the French, if you take a history lesson in Franco-American relations, you will see that when it’s crunch time, we can generally count on them.  France has come out strongly in support of
America’s tenuous situation in the Middle East, and the U.S. seems eager to let bygones be bygones.

Without the support of the French, America could well have lost the Revolutionary War. 

Founding Father Thomas Jefferson contemplated joint democratic values while serving as US Ambassador to France living in Paris.  Many regard Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” as the best book written on the unique and exceptional American new form of government, that was later adopted by the French.

Many of us were close to speaking French as our native language. Napoleon’s agreement with Thomas Jefferson and Robert Livingston allowed for the creation of 15 new states, doubling the size of the United States. 

To give thanks to the French dictator, my home state of Louisiana agreed to hide him at what is now called The Napoleon House in the center of the New Orleans French Quarter. 

Unfortunately, before he could get to the Crescent City, he was captured, sentenced to exile, and ultimately died on the Isle of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

There is a little Yankee bad taste from Napoleon’s involvement in the Civil War.  France was avowed to be neutral, but it was common knowledge that Napoleon III was pulling for the South.  Oh well!

And don’t come down here in south Louisiana and make any derogatory comments about France.  Thanks to die-hard Frenchmen, who immigrated first to Canada, and then migrated down the Mississippi as Acadians, the French tradition, language, culture and joie de vie is alive and well, and growing throughout Cajun country. 

In Abbeville, a small community just south of Lafayette, many of the signs outside retail stores are written in French.  Several radio stations play only Cajun music with a daily rendition of the Cajun national anthem Jolie Blond, often played by my old friend, fiddler Doug Kershaw.

In choosing a destination for this summer, we picked Paris along with Provence and a ramble through southern France for the food, the ambience, the architecture, the Shakespeare Bookstore, and a walk along the Seine.  And the pretty girls!

Ah, to be 22 again, back in 1963, when I spent months in Paris experiencing the special ambiance that is rarely found elsewhere. If you want to relive that Franco jolie vie, take a friend or loved one to see Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”

Certainly the French have their own national interests at heart. But they have also made it clear that what America says matters. 

Over time, there are historic allies and there are strong allies. Right now, France and the U.S. can claim to have both in one another — a solid past, and a present relationship that would seem to be in the best interest of both countries.

We in Louisiana are certainly glad of it. 

So pass the French bread.  And for breakfast tomorrow, let’s have French toast and French roast coffee with French chicory, Louisiana style.  And please, don’t shy away from an occasional French kiss.

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. You can also listen to his regular podcast at www.datelinelouisiana.com.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has accepted Gov. John Bel Edwards’ nomination of the Atchafalaya River System as the preferred site of a National Estuarine Research Reserve (in Louisiana.

“This is an important step in protecting and preserving the Atchafalaya River System and Louisiana’s dynamic waterways," said Edwards in a press release. "With this designation, Louisiana will no longer be the only coastal state without a National Estuarine Research Reserve site, and the additional resources and support for research, education, and conservation efforts will ensure that this critical ecosystem is managed sustainably for future generations."

Edwards designated the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the state’s leading authority on coastal and estuarine issues, to collaborate with NOAA, with ongoing assistance from LSU and Louisiana Sea Grant, in completing the remaining steps necessary to designate the Atchafalaya River System as the preferred location of Louisiana’s NERR. The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium has been selected as the managing entity of the State’s NERR.

“The addition of the Atchafalaya River System presents a unique research opportunity, and it also stands to connect Louisianans with science, so they can learn more about the place they call home,” said CPRA Chairman Chip Kline. “We are thrilled to have the expertise that LUMCON will bring to our NERR and look forward to watching its transformation into a living laboratory.”

Commissioner of Higher Education Dr. Kim Hunter Reed said, “The NERR is an important component in Louisiana’s understanding of and response to present and future environmental challenges facing our state. We are proud of higher education’s major contribution to the NERR’s establishment and that LUMCON, a collaboration that includes all higher education institutions across Louisiana, was selected to bring their collective expertise to daily management of the NERR’s important work.”

The Atchafalaya Basin is considered the nation’s largest river swamp and is a continuously growing wetlands system. As a designated NERR site, this area will receive funding and assistance from NOAA to support research, monitoring, education, and community outreach initiatives.

“The Atchafalaya Basin, highlighting all of the habitats found within the state and serving as a model for how the state and other deltaic systems are formed, is a truly unique addition to the NERR system” said Dr. Brian Roberts, executive director and chief scientist of LUMCON. “LUMCON is thrilled that the preferred site has been approved and the Consortium and member institutions are excited to work with partners at the local, state, and federal levels to develop and manage what will be a highlight of the national NERR system.”

Edwards began the process of establishing a NERR in coastal Louisiana with a letter to NOAA in July 2019. Over 24 months, LSU and Louisiana Sea Grant assisted the state in evaluating potential sites in the Atchafalaya, Barataria, and Pontchartrain basins, engaging over 70 volunteers across state and federal agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations on four committees. In addition, nine public town hall meetings were held to engage stakeholders and letters of support were collected from a cross-section of public and private interests.

The next steps involve Louisiana aiding NOAA in producing a draft environmental impact statement to assess the nominated location and its alternatives, as well as examining potential impacts of designating the location as a research reserve. Furthermore, the state will initiate preparations for a draft management plan. NOAA has issued pre-designation funds, matched by the state, to facilitate both tasks. This upcoming stage will ensure compliance with all relevant Federal and state environmental regulations. While NOAA accepts the state’s nomination, federal designation is still contingent on successful completion of the EIS and management plan, as well as adequate appropriations to support a new reserve site in Louisiana.

(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.)

St. Mary deputies on Tuesday arrested a Morgan City man wanted on a felony charge in Assumption Parish and added a heroin possession charge.

Morgan City police reported arrests on burglary and unauthorized entry charges.

St. Mary

Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 24 complaints and made these arrests:

--Drake Joseph Geisler, 29, Morgan City, was arrested at 9:39 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of possession of heroin and on two Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office warrants alleging failure to appear on the charges of criminal damage to property and resisting an officer. Bail has not been set at this time.

The Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office reported that Lacey Jane Marie Fabre, 31, Elaine Street, Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested Monday on a charge of accessory after the fact.

--Matthew Taylor Rollins, 29, Patterson, was arrested at 1:41 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on a charge of possession of heroin. Bail has not been set at this time.

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 55 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Tyson T. Jones, 22, Tupelo Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 2:17 p.m. Tuesday on charges of simple burglary and theft of a motor vehicle (over $25,000).

--Kelvin Keith Johnson, 55, Cardinal Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 9:51 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling.

--Tommy James Vidos, 47, Neptune Street, Morgan City, was arrested 10:11 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of failure to appear for arraignment (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

--Shelby Rae Lee, 39, Landry Lane, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:11 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

--Lectoria Grogan, 34, Oregon Street, Berwick, was arrested at 3:01 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of failure to appear to pay fine (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

Someone once called the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway a “thousand-mile miracle,” but there was nothing miraculous about getting it built. The miracle was that the idea for the canal came from west Texas, not south Louisiana.

The idea of using inland waterways had been around well before Louisiana became a state. U.S. Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin formally urged Congress to consider it in 1808. The War of 1812 crimped funding for his scheme, but it also reinforced his idea that waterways were needed for military transport as well as everyday commerce.

Army engineers were finally given a little money for planning in 1824, but focused on the Atlantic coast, where most Americans lived in those days. They did think about a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Gulf across the Florida peninsula, but Louisiana never entered their thoughts.

It didn’t matter. Those plans got no further than a few lines on a map. Waterways languished for the next 50 years while money poured into the more exciting prospects offered by railroads.

It wasn’t until March 1873 that Congress approved spending “not to exceed twenty thousand dollars” for a survey “connecting the inland waters along the margin of the Gulf of Mexico” from Donaldsonville to the Rio Grande.

Two survey teams did the Louisiana work. One began at the Mississippi River, the other at Sabine Lake. They met on June 6, 1873, between Vermilion Bay and White Lake, went to New Orleans to write a report, then forgot about the whole thing.

The engineer in charge did say a waterway across western Louisiana and into east Texas would replace long, often-obstructed routes using the Atchafalaya or Bayou Lafourche, and would connect the Mermentau, Calcasieu, Sabine, and Neches rivers with seaports at New Orleans and Galveston.

Both were good ideas, he said.

But, as one history put it, “the prospect of dredging an inglorious ditch through an often desolate … swampland did not fire the imagination or loosen the purse strings of Congress.”

Congress did not look seriously at waterways planning again until 1909, and then largely because of relentless lobbying by a group of business owners in Victoria, Texas.

They’d organized The Inland Waterway League in 1905 to push for a route from the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, then along the Louisiana and Texas coastlines.

That summer they put ads in Louisiana and Texas newspapers calling for a convention to discuss “the feasibility, plans, and final construction of an intracoastal canal from Brownsville, Texas, to Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and for the purpose of organizing an intracoastal league.”

Several south Louisiana organizations supported the idea, but nobody went to the convention. Everybody was quarantined by a yellow fever epidemic.

Once again, there was mostly talk and little action from Congress, but the group was persistent.

It may have been just to shut it up that, finally, the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1925 appropriated $9 million to begin a waterway 9 feet deep and 100 feet wide from New Orleans to Galveston.

It looked like the canal could become a reality.

That spurred a great deal of excitement, and towns across south Louisiana (as they had when the railroad came through in 1880) wanted a piece of the action.

The canal association president reported in June 1926, “Vinton has its waterway to connect with the Intracoastal canal now under construction.

"Jennings is giving serious consideration to the digging of channels to connect with the Mermentau. … Welsh is planning a survey for a waterway. …. Lake Arthur is already connected with the canal and is waiting for completion. Other towns and cities [wanting to connect] are Gueydan, Kaplan, Abbeville, Lafayette, Sulphur and New Iberia.”

When dredging began in 1929 on the link between the Mermentau River and Vermilion Bay, the Abbeville Progress reported. “Advocates … are hopeful that the canal between the Mississippi River and Galveston will be completed within a few years.”

So much for hope.

The Louisiana-Texas portion was not completed until 1942, and probably would have taken longer except for World War II. An inland canal became a lot more important when German submarines began to sink oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The canal was rushed to completion and tugs and barges rushed to use it.

By 1943 they were moving every day more than a million barrels of gasoline, aviation fuel and vital chemicals from western Louisiana and east Texas refineries to Atlantic ports to be shipped overseas.

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.