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JOSEPH ALCINA

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:53am

Joseph Alcina, 88, a resident of Franklin, died Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

He is survived by children, Mary Alcina, Joseph Alcina Sr., Joseph Alcina, Alisa Alcina and Allen Alcina; numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; one brother, John Alcina; and two sisters, Ann Gerarve and Frances Chauvin.

He was preceded in death by his parents, wife, son, daughter and two brothers.

Visitation will be Monday from 10 a.m. until services at 2 p.m. at Victory Tabernacle in Jeanerette. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.

Twin City Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

MINNIE LEGE JAET

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:50am

February 13, 1944 — April 4, 2023

Minnie Lege Jaet, age 79, of Berwick, LA passed away on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. She was born on February 13, 1944 to the late Milton Joseph Lege and Mary Vastine Brown Lege in Abbeville, LA.

She enjoyed traveling and watching television in her spare time.

Family and friends of Minnie are invited to attend the Visitation on Monday, April 10, 2023 at Hargrave Funeral Home from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Visitation will resume on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 2:00 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church. She will be laid to rest in Ibert’s Memorial Park.

She is preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Milton “Brother” Charles Lege and William Joseph Lege; sister, Naomi Cynthia Lege.

She is survived by her loving husband George H. Jaet; daughter, Sandra Gail Clostio McQueen; son, Braden Kent Clostio; granddaughter, Ashley Gail McQueen; sisters, Ouida Pierson Roy and Anna Ruth Stelly. She is also survived by her beloved dog, L’Boone, whom she loved very much and a host of other relatives and friends.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hargravefuneralhome.com for the Jaet family.

BERTHA BOUDREAUX GLYNN

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:48am

June 1, 1934 — April 4, 2023

Bertha Boudreaux Glynn, age 88, of Morgan City, LA passed away on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 surrounded by her loving daughters. She was born on June 1, 1934 to the late Adam and Edith Knoblock Boudreaux in Houma, LA.

Family and friends of Bertha are invited to attend the Visitation on Thursday, April 13, 2023 at Holy Cross Catholic Church from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with a Mass of Christian Burial immediately following at 11 a.m.

Bertha had a big, beautiful heart. She was a thoughtful and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her mastery of the culinary arts was a gift she shared with family and friends. Friends and family were blessed with her cookies around the holiday times. Bertha was a blessing to thousands of children at M.E. Norman Elementary School during her career there nurturing children with food. She always said she was in heaven while she tended her garden filled with pass-along plants. She volunteered at Holy Cross Catholic Church and tended their garden as well. She was a faithful member of the Bereaved Meals Ministry and helped in the church office.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Hilbert David Glynn, and her parents.

She is survived by her daughters, Peggy Coates and her husband Charles Hunter Coates, Jr. and Tammy Cline and her husband Bobby Paul Cline. She also leaves to cherish her memory to her three grandchildren, Margaret Claire Santiago, Mary Davis Camp and Ethan William Cline and one great-grandchild, Davis Oley Camp.

The family would love to extend their heartfelt gratitude to the Doctors, Nurses and Staff at Ochsner St. Mary for their extraordinary care.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hargravefuneralhome.com for the Glynn family.

JAMES LOUIS SPIRROS

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:45am

December 1, 1939 — March 30, 2023

James Louis Spirros died on March 30, 2023 from a long illness at his residence in Morgan City, Louisiana surrounded by his family. James was born on December 1, 1939 in Athens, Greece to his parents Leonidas and Sofia Spirros who predeceased him.

James is survived by his loving wife Monya of 54 years and his children Catherine and Louis; his siblings, Magdalene Maag and her husband Richard and Constantina Vatranis and her husband Dimitrios and their families of Metairie, Louisiana. He is also survived by his great aunt, Barbara Christakos Wagner of Fort Pierce, Florida as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews in Chicago, Boston, New York and Greece.

James attended New Iberia High School where he was an athlete. He earned a track scholarship to the University of Southwestern Louisiana-USL, where he received a Business Degree.

He began his long professional career in the insurance industry in New Orleans, Louisiana but in 1971 moved to Morgan City, Louisiana and a few years later opened Atchafalaya Insurance Agency. In later years Atchafalaya would become affiliated with Stiel Insurance Services.

A family gathering will be held at a later date in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Around Town for April 7

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:43am

Happy birthday to Carmen Williams Robinson from family, friends and Ira.

Wheel House for April 7

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:41am

AUDITIONS
Children’s Theatre of Morgan City holding auditions 3-6 p.m. Friday, May 5, at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium for children 7 years old (by audition date) to children 18 years old (or the summer before their senior year, whichever comes first). Cost: $50 per child (payment due at auditions) along with a separate check for $90 that will be returned once chaperone duties are complete. All new students must bring a copy of their birth certificate.

Yokely drainage work becoming reality after nearly four decades

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:39am

CHRIS LANDRY, Banner-Tribune

It’s a project that’s been discussed as needed for 40 years, but after groundbreaking was a held March 23 for the Yokely Bayou Basin Drainage Project, a big part of the city of Franklin’s drainage issues will be addressed with the completion of the project later this year.

Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard said the project has been in the works since 1984, when Foulcard’s father Carl was on the city council with Oray Rogers and Sam Jones, who was the mayor at the time.

“We’re very, very excited about moving forward on this,” Foulcard said.

“The original plans and scope of the project started in 1984, nearly 40 years ago. I was a senior in high school.

"A number of individuals that were on the council started moving forward with the Yokely drainage project, and here we are in 2023, we’ve finally broken ground on it.”

Joining the mayor in the groundbreaking were Mayor Pro Tem Lester Levine, Franklin City Councilmen Jaime Robison and Joe Garrison, St. Mary Parish Councilman Rodney Olander, St. Mary Parish Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange, former mayor and State Rep. Sam Jones, Reed Miller of Miller Engineering, Dale Rogers of Frisco Industrial Contractors and George Tyler of Tyler Dirt Works. Baldwin Mayor Clarence Vappie also was at the groundbreaking as parts of Irish Bend near Baldwin also drain back into the Yokely Canal.

The project will be a gravity-fed drainage system that will get water to the Yokely Canal, which then moves to drainage pumps in the canal and the Franklin drainage pumps to get that water out of the city.

“It’s very critical to what we’re doing here in Franklin as relates to drainage issues in the western end of Franklin,” the mayor said.

The area of the city to the north side of Iberia Street in the city is affected by the canal, he said.

That includes the area where the Teche Action Clinic sits, as well as West Third Street, Cayce Street, Barrow Street, the subdivision along Lee Charles and Mary Lee streets, parts of Eagle Street, James Street, and even the edges of Pecan Acres subdivision, the mayor said.

“That is covering about 50% of the drainage issues in Franklin,” Foulcard said.

“When we get heavy, heavy rainfall, and that rainfall doesn’t drain off quick enough, that water backs up.

With the Yokely being dredged and re-sloped and cleared out, it’s going to make a world of difference, so we’re very excited that this project has come to fruition.”
Frisco Industrial Contractors was the low bidder on the million dollar project.

The work is projected to be done by November.

“They said it would take about nine months,” Foulcard said.

Ribbon-cutting for Uncommon Grounds

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:32am

A ribbon-cutting March 31 marked the opening of Uncommon Grounds Coffee House and Cafe, 861 U.S. 90, Bayou Vista, a nonprofit 501c3 and an extension of The Purple Lemon, Inc. The faith-based program provides transitional housing, employment, financial and life skills training, as well as one-on-one counseling to ladies who complete a one-year, in-house treatment program with Adult and Teen Challenge. Ladies are employed by Uncommon Grounds and receive above-market wages. Once they complete one year of the program and save $1,000, they will receive $3,000 in scholarship funds to purchase a vehicle or build funds for transitioning

St. Mary Chamber Photo

Ribbon-cutting for K&L Crawfish

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:28am

Owners Kenneth and Majken Perry cut a ceremonial ribbon March 31 at K&L Crawfish, 698 Iberia St., Franklin. K&L Crawfish specializes in boiled crawfish and other seafood when in season. In addition to offering corporate crawfish boils, and large and small event catering, they added to their business with Jax Frost Snowballs. Joining the owners were family and friends, Franklin Councilman Chuck Autin, Chamber President Beth Chiasson and Chamber staff members Trinisha Hayes and Iris Sharpe.

St. Mary Chamber Photo

State spending cap may be lifted, but for what?

Fri, 04/07/2023 - 8:25am

MOLLY RYAN, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Legislature convenes Monday for the start of the 2023 session, and lawmakers, blessed with a large budget surplus, are at odds about whether they should raise the state’s spending limit.

Thanks to an influx of federal dollars from hurricane and pandemic relief and an increase in revenue from a temporary 45-cent sales tax hike, the state is expected to have a $1.6 billion surplus, and the fight over the expenditure limit will greatly influence how much of that money is spent.

The Louisiana Constitution requires a portion of the surplus to go into a rainy day fund and other savings, leaving the Legislature with about $500 million in additional spending power without exceeding the cap.

In a recent Public Affairs Research Council webinar, Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said he favors increasing the spending cap if the money goes toward one-time expenses. That could include transportation infrastructure projects and the revamping of water and sewer systems, he said.

Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, generally agreed with Cortez, noting that some parameters should be in place for lawmakers to raise the expenditure limit.

Boudreaux also said lawmakers need to hear from constituents on how to spend the excess revenue. But he also said he supports the teacher pay raises of at least $2,000 under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ proposed budget.

Cortez called it a “disservice” to let the majority of the surplus go into the rainy day fund and other savings instead of budgeting more money for projects and services, like early childhood education, that will immediately benefit Louisianans. He favored using some of the money to offset rising costs on infrastructure projects caused by inflation.

Still, other lawmakers are hesitant about raising the expenditure limit.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield, chairman of the Louisiana Conservative Caucus, said he is not in favor of increasing the spending cap and thinks other things, like paying off hurricane debt, can be accomplished without raising it. He also pointed to the anticipated loss of up to $900 million when the temporary sales tax increase ends in 2025.

"We still haven’t officially addressed that shortfall,” McFarland said. “Some of the things that will inform our financial well-being going forward we don’t know yet.”

McFarland is not alone in his thinking. Rep. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, also has pushed back against Gov. Edwards’ proposed budget, questioning if the expenditures could leave the next governor facing another deficit when the sales tax increase expires in their second year in office.

Other Republican lawmakers will undoubtedly join McFarland and Miguez in their hesitation. They think that Edwards’ successor is likely to be a Republican, and they do not want to see their party face a hole in state revenue two years from now.

In proposing his budget for fiscal 2024, Edwards acknowledged the potential ramifications of the sales tax expiration. But he said the state’s economy seems to be on solid ground, and the next governor would have ample time to handle any changes that may come.

McFarland said conservative lawmakers support some kind of teacher pay raise. But said he would like to see more local participation in those raises and worries about the recurring cost of them.

Under Edwards’ proposal, school support workers would receive a $1,000 pay raise, and teachers could receive an additional $1,000 raise, bringing their total to $3,000 a year, if the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference increases its revenue projections in May. State Commissioner Jay Dardenne said this would cost the state about $74 million annually.

Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, has pushed a proposal to eliminate the state income tax, citing the growth of states like Texas and Florida that do not collect income tax. Nelson, who is running for governor, has already prefiled bills to eliminate the corporate and personal income taxes, which account for nearly $5 billion in revenue.

McFarland said it would be unrealistic to get rid of this tax, though, and Cortez said he does not think its elimination is likely.

In the webinar, lawmakers also discussed proposals to clarify medical exceptions to abortion bans and legalize recreational marijuana. But Cortez said these are also
unlikely to gain much traction this year.

Boudreaux expressed support for a legislative pay raise. Rep. Joe Marino, I-Gretna, has filed a bill to increase legislators’ annual pay from $16,800 to $60,000, which would be the first raise for Louisiana lawmakers in more than 40 years.

“I think we get what we pay for,” Boudreaux said.

More than 800 bills have already been prefiled ahead of the session that must end no later than June 8.

This session is limited mostly to tax and budget issues, and each lawmaker cannot introduce more than five non-fiscal bills once the session starts.