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Clifton Lewis, 84, a resident of Verdunville, Louisiana, died Saturday, April 1, 2023, at his residence.

Visitation was Saturday, April 8, at New Salem Baptist Church, Patterson, from 11 a.m. until the funeral service at 1 p.m. Burial was held in the church cemetery.

He is survived by his wife, Stella S. Lewis of Verdunville; Dwight Scott of Houston and Gregory Solete of Patterson; a daughter, Vidella Walton of Patterson, 18 grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; and a host of relatives and friends.

Arrangements were entrusted to Jones Funeral Home.

The St. Mary Parish Council on Wednesday approved a change in its agreement with Acadian Ambulance to give the private emergency service provider more flexibility in how it responds, despite concerns about maintaining the appropriate level of care.

Also Wednesday, Henry C. “Bo” LaGrange announced his retirement after 33 years in parish government, the last 27 of them as chief administrative officer. The council had also heard that Homeland Security Director David Naquin is retiring. And Scott Ramsey of Bayou Vista announced that he won’t seek re-election to the council.

Acadian
agreement

Acadian cited continuing staffing shortages as it sought an amendment to its agreement with St. Mary Parish to allow wider use of basic life support ambulances for transporting patients.

BLS ambulances are staffed by emergency medical technicians, who receive training in noninvasive procedures. Advanced life support ambulances are staffed by paramedics, who receive hundreds of hours of additional training and are empowered to perform more advanced procedures, including administering medication and starting IVs.

Acadian’s request raised concerns on the council about the continuing availability of ALS ambulance service in the parish. Teddy Crochet, of Acadian’s Bayou Region, told
the council March 22 that the contract amendment wouldn’t affect ALS availability.

Centerville firefighter Brandon Lejeune, who raised the question of ALS availability March 22, came back Wednesday to say that after he reviewed the amendment, he believes the amendment adds service rather than reducing it.

But an email from Dr. Steve Domingue, medical director at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City, objected to the amendment and argued that even transporting patients from one facility to another can require advanced lifesaving.

Dr. Kristi Prejeant Rink, a physician as well as a Parish Council member, also objected, saying it’s important that ambulance transport provide the appropriate level of care.

“All of these patients have the potential for decompensation, whether it’s an inter-hospital transfer or a transfer from the scene,” Rink said.

“Decompensation” is the deterioration of a bodily system that had been functioning adequately.

The council passed the amendment by a 6-1 vote with Councilman Mark Duhon of Amelia abstaining. Council members J Ina and Rodney Olander of Franklin, Patrick
Hebert of Berwick, Gwendolyn Hidalgo of Bayou Vista, and Dean Adams and James Bennett of Morgan City voted for the amendment. Rink voted against it.

Departures

LaGrange’s retirement will be effective at the end of April. He has announced plans to run for the state Senate District 21 seat being vacated by Franklin Republican Bret Allain, who is term-limited. The state Senate primary will be Oct. 14.

LaGrange praised parish employees, state and federal officials, council members and the five parish presidents he has served as CAO for their dedication.

“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of St. Mary Parish,” LaGrange said.

Parish President David Hanagriff praised LaGrange for his service.

“I keep hearing the same joke he tells, and it’s not a joke by the way, that he’s trained five parish presidents,” Hanagriff said. “I am honored to be the last parish president he’s trained.”

Ramsey is nearing the end of his second stint on the Parish Council. Health problems have led to frequent absences from council meetings in recent months.

“I’ve enjoyed working with everyone,” Ramsey said, “but at some point you have to say enough is enough.”

Ramsey said he hopes to spend more time with his family and to travel.

The next council elections will be Oct. 14.

Naquin, a former St. Mary Parish sheriff, was praised by Hanagriff for “a tremendous job” during recent hurricane scares.

A replacement would be named by chief administrative officer. Hanagriff said Naquin has agreed to stay on until his successor is appointed.

Hanagriff made a pitch for the promotion of assistant Jimmy Broussard to the director’s post.

Wade Joseph Blackburn Sr., 46, a native and resident of Patterson, died Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at his residence.

Visitation will be Saturday from 11 a.m. until services at 1 p.m. at New Salem Baptist Church in Patterson. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

He is survived by four brothers, Kenneth Evans III of Port Arthur, Texas, Bennie Blackburn of Oklahoma, and Dwayne Blackburn and Greg Hunt, both of Patterson; six sisters, Ashley Jacquet, Sharthine Gant, Tina Robinson and Orielle Butler, all of Patterson, Kendra Hawkins of Lake Charles and Tonya Hunt of Lafayette; and a grandchild.

He is preceded in death by his parents, a son and a sister.

Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

BATON ROUGE –Conservative lawmakers’ concerns about spending some of the state’s surplus on teacher pay raises are already stirring up controversy.

Education Superintendent Cade Brumley told the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday that the department’s budget proposal would give an initial $2,000 pay raise to teachers and $1,000 to support workers as outlined in Gov. John Bel Edwards’ budget.

Edwards wants all K-12 teachers to receive an additional $1,000, bringing the total to $3,000, if state revenue projections increase in May.

If that additional revenue becomes available, the Education Department’s proposal, however, calls for putting it into a pool that could be divided differently among teachers. Brumley suggested that teachers in hard-to-fill positions like special education, math and science might receive anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 on top of the basic $2,000 raise.

He said this proposal would still bump teacher salaries in the state by an average of $3,000, pushing Louisiana to the Southern regional average, which includes Virginia and West Virginia, and above the average for states with universities in the Southeastern Conference, or SEC.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has unanimously approved the department’s proposal.

Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, was encouraged by the department’s proposal for giving bigger raises to teachers in high-priority areas and called it “game-changing.”

Some lawmakers expressed concerns about the nature and sustainability of the raises.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield and chairman of the Louisiana Conservative Caucus, said the state would take on $525 million in recurring expenses if an average pay raise of $3,000 is implemented. He worried that the raises are consuming the revenue generated from the temporary 0.45 percent sales tax increase that ends in 2025.

McFarland and Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Ascension, suggested the Legislature would have to cut funds elsewhere to sustain the pay raises.

“Everybody can talk about it, but we have to fund it,” McFarland said.

The state has a $1.6 billion surplus but cannot spend more than $500 million of it without a two-thirds vote from lawmakers, and McFarland has raised concerns about increasing the cap.

Additionally, Bacala expressed hesitation about giving additional funding to low-grade schools.

“It’s time for us to use this budget to press bad systems to get better for the benefit of the kids,” Bacala said.

He pointed out that Louisiana spends more per student than other states with SEC schools yet falls behind them in teacher salaries. He questioned whether resources are being distributed efficiently. Bacala said he wants to use money to incentivize better performance from schools to benefit children.

Rep. Rodney Lyons, D-Jefferson, said a school’s annual “D” or “F” grade is not necessarily an indication that teachers and other staff are not working to improve performance or that they are undeserving of a raise.