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Morgan City officials make case for tax to fund public safety pay, training

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:47am

BILL DECKER

Morgan City Mayor Lee Dragna is beginning the job of persuading city voters to approve a new sales tax dedicated police and firefighter pay and training.

The proposition, which would enact a 0.5% sales tax in the city, will appear on the April 29 ballot. The tax would raise about $1.3 million a year, according to the ballot language, and would take effect in July.

The tax proposition was developed not just to provide a $3-an-hour raise in base pay and to fund training for police and firefighters, but also to put public safety personnel funding on a sound financial footing for years into the future, Dragna said.

"It’s about doing the right thing,” he said.

The tax election, which the Morgan City Council voted to call with a Jan. 24 resolution, hasn’t generated much debate or criticism. What appears beyond debate is that
Morgan City pays firefighters and police officers much less than many surrounding departments, a cost saving that is proving to be expensive.

At the April 2022 City Council meeting, when Police Chief James F. Blair was nearing retirement, he raised a red flag: The city’s starting pay for police officers was $12.09 per hour, or $4 less than the average for departments from Franklin to Houma.

The low pay contributed to a turnover rate of 40 officers in three years, a rate Blair called “not sustainable.”

Firefighter pay lagged more. The starting pay in the Morgan City Fire Department was $8.36.

State supplemental pay kicks in another $2.90 per hour, but only after the officer or firefighter has been with the department for a year. And personnel in surrounding departments get supplemental pay, too.

The City Council voted last year to raise the starting pay for officers and firefighters by $1 an hour, but there was general agreement that the raise wasn’t enough. Dragna and council members began looking for a funding source.

It wasn’t just the gap in salary that contributed to Morgan City’s public safety problems.

While working on the 2021 budget, Dragna and other administration officials had to dig into city finances to figure out why the public safety budget had a potential hole in it.
What officials discovered was the cost of training officers was eating up city funds, Dragna said.

New police officers must be paid while they’re undergoing training. Insurance, retirement and other human resources add more costs.

Then tack on thousands more for academy training, equipment and the cost of assigning a supervisor to ride with the trainee for two months.
Dragna said the city could face a bill of $60,000 to put a new officer on the street, only to watch many of them move on to higher-paying departments.

“That’s why the budget was so whacked out,” Dragna said.

Personnel shortages may also increase costs because overtime must be paid to officers who fill in scheduling gaps.

The same problems apply to the Fire Department, with an extra obstacle. State rules require two firefighters, a captain and an operator, for each truck. With the department down to 26 line firefighters and four people at the main fire station, illness or vacations can leave the MCFD to short on personnel to staff all the stations.

“I just don’t have the people,” Fire Chief Alvin Cockerham said Monday. “I have a minimum number of people, and when there’s a vacation or illness, I have to shut one [station] down. I don’t have the money to pay overtime. …

“We try to get good people, and we’ve got good people. How they stay here I don’t know.”

For the last year, a station has been closed for a shift 59% percent of the time.

The plans call for a 30% pay increase that, according to Assistant Chief John MacDougall, “would make a big difference in our starting pay and retention.”

“We’re pleading our case,” Cockerham said. “We’re asking people to help us help you.”

When Dragna, council members and city staffers were looking for a funding source, a property tax was among the methods under consideration.

Dragna thinks the sales tax is the best way to go. Property taxes would be paid only by Morgan City property owners, he said. A sales tax spreads the burden to those who
come here from outside the city to shop or eat and benefit indirectly from the public safety protection afforded to city businesses.

The half-cent tax would raise the total sales tax — state, parish and city — charged in Morgan City to 9.7%. Two years ago, a 0.45% sales tax proposed by the St. Mary School Board for teacher and staff pay passed, but not before local political leaders objected loudly about the effect on businesses and the economy. Dragna is counting on the public perception about the importance of public safety.

“I don’t believe we’ll have any opposition,” Dragna said.

Nor does he have any patience for the argument that higher taxes will lead people to leave Morgan City.

“What will drive people away is when the businesses close and leave because of the police protection,” Dragna said.

WADE JOSEPH LANDRY, SR.

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:40am

September 21, 1942 — March 1, 2023

Wade Joseph Landry, Sr., age 80, of Bayou Vista, LA passed away on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. He was born on September 21, 1942 in Morgan City, LA to the late Charles and Mary Angeron Landry.

Family and friends of Wade were invited to attend the Visitation on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at St. Bernadette Catholic Church in Bayou Vista, LA from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with the Reciting of the Rosary at 11:30 a.m. A Mass of Christian Burial took place at 12:10 p.m.

Wade enjoyed simple task outdoors like cutting grass and tending to his yard. He also loved hunting and fishing. He shared this love of outdoors with his children and grandchildren. He loved visiting and having a good cup of coffee with his siblings and friends.

He was known in the community for coaching. He coached Sheriff League Softball with his oldest daughter, Biddy Basketball, Tee-Ball, Dixie Youth Baseball, Pony League and American Legion Baseball. He served for a number of years as President of the Berwick Dixie Youth Baseball. He continued to keep in touch with those that he had the pleasure of coaching. They would always stop and visit him at home. His greatest joy as a coach was coaching his son and following his grandchildren as they played sports
and supporting them in sports. He was an avid LSU fan. He enjoyed all sports LSU.

He is preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Betty Buras and Judith Rhodes; brothers, Charles, Jr., Louis, Dudley, Douglas, Dickie and Sherald Landry.

He is survived by his children, Monique McCue and her husband Scott, Tiffany Stansbury and her husband James, Bliss Landry, Duke Landry and his wife Chelsea; eight grandchildren, Dean D.J. Leblanc, Hanna and Keith McCue, Grant and Kyle Stansbury, Connor and Ethan Toups, Nolan and Barrett Landry; sisters, Alice Faye Person and Mary Grace Verret; brothers, Perry, Jerry, Merval and Michael Landry. He is also survived by a host of nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.

Serving as Pallbearers were Dean D.J. Leblanc, Grant Stansbury, Keith McCue, Conner Toups, Kyle Stansbury, Ethan Toups, Nolan Landry, James Stansbury, III and Scott McCue. Honorary Pallbearers were Richard Fabre and Benny Buras.

In lieu of flowers please make all donations in memory of Wade to the Panther Athletic Club, 208 Hogan St., Berwick, LA 70342.

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

CHESTER 'TUT' GUIDRY, JR.

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:35am

April 15, 1950 — March 2, 2023

Chester “Tut” Guidry, Jr., age 72, of Patterson, LA passed away on Thursday, March 2, 2023. He was born on April 15, 1950 to the late Chester Sr. and Gertrude Pinel Guidry in Houma, LA.

Chester was a truck driver for 34 years before retiring. He enjoyed fishing and going to the casino.

He is survived by his loving wife of 51 years, Dale Gillen Guidry; son, Tucker Guidry and his wife Nicole; daughter, Julie Stafford and her husband Tom; brothers, Chris Guidry and Kim Guidry and his wife Cindy; five grandsons and one granddaughter; special friends, Connie Hebert Shepherd and Paulette Chellette Crain.

Tut is preceded in death by his infant daughter, Jolie Guidry; parents; in-laws, George and Evangeline Gillen and his sister-in-law, Denise Guidry.

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

DEBRA BUCK LANGE

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:32am

Born December 7, 1960
Married to her loving husband Bud Lange for 34 years. Daughter of Dottie Pearce, mother of Tieann, Buddy and Tana Lange and her bonus son Gary and his wife Courtney Driskell, her 12 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by Uston Buck, Gerald Ray Jr., and baby J. Riley.
“See you on the other side.”
Funeral services were held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, March 6, 2023, at Twin City Funeral Home. Visitation was held Monday, March 6, 2023, at Twin City Funeral Home from 10:00 a.m., until the time of services. After services, Debra was laid to rest at Patterson Cemetery at St. Joseph Church.

Wheel House for March 8: Community fish fry, women's ministry

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:30am

FREE FISH FRY
For the community 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Good Friday, April 7, at Lawrence Park in Morgan City. Stations of the Cross at 10:30 a.m. Hosted by Pharr Chapel UMC and Trinity Episcopal Church.

WOMEN’S MINISTRY
Conference at Mt. Era Baptist Church, 406 Lawrence St., Morgan City, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 18. Youth speaker Alaysia Grady and women’s speaker Meloney August.

Jim Bradshaw: When people in the Basin made money from moss

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:24am

JIM BRADSHAW

For years, cypress timber was the big money maker in the Atchafalaya Basin for those who could invest in crews to cut the trees and the mills to saw them into lumber.

But lesser folk made money from the Spanish moss that hung from those trees, some years a good bit of money.

1923 was one of those years, according to the headline in the Teche News on March 10.

“Moss Picking Paying Very Well,” it proclaimed.

The story said, “A large amount of moss is brought to town every week, most of it coming from the Catahoula section, and selling at prices that make the moss business a profitable one. Many people are engaged in picking moss which is readily sold for cash … [at prices] better than any crop.”

The moss was cured and used for all sorts of things from mattress stuffing to car seats to braided ropes, and a substantial industry lasted into relatively modern times.

As late as 1943, an article in the journal “Economic Geography” reported, that moss gathering was “the basis of a rather distinctive Louisiana industry, one that provides periodic or regular employment for many people.”

The jobs and profits were aided by the fact that south Louisiana was about the only place where commercial quantities could be found, and had been for some time.

An 1867 report on the Louisiana economy noted that “Spanish moss, the long moss of our commerce, is almost wholly a product of Louisiana; no where else found in sufficient quantities to make it an object of commerce.”

Emmeline Broussard reminisced for the newspaper in 1986 about picking moss and pecans in the Atchafalaya area.

Her father, Delma Broussard, moved his family to Coteau Holmes in 1920 and was probably one of those contributing to the good 1923 harvest.

“It was rough,” she recalled, “because there were more people in the woods picking than there was moss to pick. But you could go to the general store and sell it to Mr.

Olivier, and later to J. Z. Berard, or trade it for goods in their store.”

Alfred BuPord, recollected in that same article, “I don’t think there was much farming until after the levee was built because everything would flood and it was densely wooded.

"We’d have to get around in pirogues in the springtime, the water got so high. l do remember a lot of moss picking. We’d bring it to the moss gin in St. Martinville and sell it for the manufacturers to make powder or upholstery stuffing. The Randazzo brothers handled most of the moss that was picked around here.”

Commercial shipments of Spanish moss apparently began just after the Civil War, when upholsterers started using a lot of it.

In 1927, near the peak of the trade, about 1,200 carloads, valued at about $2.5 million, were shipped out of Louisiana.

That would be more than $40 million in today’s dollars, and that may have been as good as things got.

Synthetic materials developed after World War II eventually killed the Louisiana moss market.

There were only a few gins left by the middle 1960s, and they were struggling.

Curing was a long, labor-intensive process.

The moss was first piled into mounds about 5 feet high and 10 feet around.

These mounds were kept damp until the outer layer of each fiber rotted away, leaving only the tough center strand.

The moss was then hung on fences to dry so that it could be ginned.

The remains of the outer coating were gathered and used for mulch.

The inner fibers were sent to the moss gin, where, by hand, workers removed any twigs, dirt, or other trash from the moss. It was then placed on a belt that carried it to a toothed cylinder that was partly enclosed in a drum.

This cylinder loosened and straightened the moss fibers, which were formed into 150-pound bales ready for shipping.

According to old accounts, a big tree in dense woods would yield up to a ton of green moss, but, since only the inner fibers were used, about 80% of that weight turned into compost and only 20% went to the gin.

It was hard, slow, tedious work and, as one old report tells us, “As in every other kind of business, some of the moss gatherers do well, even make good sums of money; others merely eke out an existence.”

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

Jim Brown: Louisiana's gambling obsession

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:06am

JIM BROWN

Welcome to Louisiana. Where you will find the largest assortment of gambling options anywhere. It might be the gambling mecca of the world. So go ahead and pick your poison.

You can go to one of four federally approved Indian casinos and 43 state-licensed casinos where you can pick a large selection of betting options. Craps, slot machines, bourré, blackjack, baccarat, roulette, poker (Texas hold’em, fove-card draw, Omaha hold’em), and big six-wheel. Then you can also choose pool, the lottery, online gambling of sports, horse racing tracks, off-track wagering, the list goes on and on. There are 200 truck stop casinos and over 1,000 restaurants and bars that have video poker machines. Cockfighting was outlawed just a few years ago, but still takes place in Cajun country.

Sports betting is the new mantra for bettors with full page ads running daily in many of the state’s newspapers. And can you believe the state’s major university is openly soliciting its students to gamble online? Even though it’s against the law for someone in Louisiana to gamble who is under 21, the state’s flagship LSU is illegally urging students to sign up for an online account and gamble on any number of sporting events. “It just feels gross and tacky for a university to be encouraging people to engage in behavior that is addictive and very harmful,” said Robert Mann, an LSU journalism professor.

Lia Nower, a professor and director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, writes: “Gambling is a very different addiction from drugs or alcohol. If I’m drunk or high, at some point my family is going to figure it out. With gambling, I can be sitting with my kids, watching cartoons, and gambling away my house, my car, everything I own, on my mobile phone. How would you know?”

It would be one thing if the state’s gambling obsession was being absorbed into the economy that was ticking with new businesses, a growing population, and an improving quality of life. But when you compare such qualities in surrounding states, Louisiana continues to be at the bottom of the barrel. Now it seems like we have become obsessed with a gambling addiction.

Shouldn’t our public officials offer options to bring the Bayou State in line with our neighbors? Yes, we have a growing number of chemical plants along the Mississippi river.

But these operations require fewer employees as their functions become more mechanized.. Texas Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee all have thriving and growing economic bases., companies that require a large number of employees.

I recently returned from a trip in North Carolina, and my route took me through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.

I passed any number of automobile plants and distribution centers that individually seem to take up thousands of acres. Nissen and Toyota have massive plants in Mississippi, and the Mercedes plant in Alabama looks like a major city.

Louisiana does not have the trained workforce that is required to operate such plants.

Writer Walker Percy, who is buried in Covington, gave this view of his home state: “Its marshes have been plundered and polluted, one of the highest cancer rates in the county and the loss of 50 square miles of wetlands yearly.” He went on to lament that Louisiana should be much more than what he decried as “a slightly sleazy playground for tourists and conventioneers.”

And sadly, how about this from our state’s current most prolific writer, James Lee Burke, who has written some 40 novels mostly about Louisiana. “I also believe my home
state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate.

"And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one’s rapist.”

Tough comments from two respected authors who have observed the Bayou State for many years. Will the state ever change? It’s election year with balloting to begin in a matter of months. Political office wannabes will be trying to convince the electorate to vote for them. Are voters ready to ask tough questions? We will find out in November.

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.

Franklin will play for state boys basketball championship

Wed, 03/08/2023 - 6:00am

Franklin Senior High's boys basketball team will play for a state title Friday after beating White Castle 42-38 in Tuesday's Non-Selection Division IV semifinal.

Franklin, seeded third, will take on No. 4 North Central at 4 p.m. Friday at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.

North Central advanced to the final by beating East Feliciana 73-66 Tuesday.

Franklin opened the playoffs with a bye in the bi-regional, then edged No. 10 Jonesboro-Hodge 45-43. The Hornets beat Lakeview 59-46 in the quarterfinal.

Patterson, No. 4, will play top-seeded Port Allen in the Non-Select Division III semifinal at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, also at Burton Coliseum. A semifinal win would put Patterson in a 4 p.m. Saturday title game against either French Settlement or Winnfield. Those teams play at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

UPDATED WITH STORY: Pro-life RV tour comes to Bayou Vista church

Tue, 03/07/2023 - 11:57am

BILL DECKER

bdecker@daily-review.com

BAYOU VISTA — Louisiana Right to Life is sending an RV, emblazoned with an anti-abortion message, across the state as a pre-session elbow to the ribs of legislators, a reminder that last year’s Dobbs decision didn’t end the struggle.

The RV stopped at Bayou Vista’s St. Bernadette Catholic Church on Tuesday morning, drawing a crowd of about 35 people for a short program. The program focused not just on opposition to abortion but on area centers designed to give women help with carrying their babies to term and caring for them afterward.

The RV tour’s mission, said Alex Seghers of Louisiana Right to Life, is “to make sure we send ripples across the state and keep Louisiana pro-life. ...

“If we want our culture to change along with our laws, we have to continue educating the citizens and make sure every community in Louisiana knows how to help.”

Louisiana, where the Legislature and governors have been overwhelmingly anti-abortion for at least 30 years, is among the states that had laws in place to ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

But new battlegrounds have emerged, including access to pharmaceuticals that can induce abortion. A study by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization, found that 54% of U.S. abortions in 2020 were done with pills.

Choice advocates say the pills provide abortion access to women coping with laws that reversed a 50-year-old right. On the pro-life side, internet access to such pills make women vulnerable to unregulated, possibly dangerous or ineffective drugs.

One of the “trigger” laws awaiting Supreme Court action was signed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who describes himself as pro-life. But in a statement after Roe was overturned in June, Edwards noted that he had asked for an exception for victims of rape or incest.

“As I have said many times before, I believe women who are survivors of rape or incest should be able to determine whether to continue with a pregnancy that is the result of a criminal act,” Edwards said.

The driver of the Right to Life RV has a different view.

Dustin Bertrand of Abbeville told the Bayou Vista audience that, when he was filling out college-related health forms, his mother told him that he had been conceived as the result of rape.

Bertrand rejects the argument that he is a reminder of a traumatic event. His mother says she’d have no choice but to remember the crime anyway. And he said he has a strong bond with his mother.

“I’m sharing my testimony,” Bertrand said before the program. “I’m here to do both — support the mothers and protect the babies.”

The program featured information from centers that provide services such as pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, material assistance, counseling and parental training, all to provide alternatives to abortions.

Representatives made presentations of behalf of Crossroads in Thibodaux, Hope Restored in Houma and the Unplanned Pregnancy Center in New Iberia, which plans to open a location in Franklin soon.

Jennifer Boutte of the Unplanned Pregnancy Center said the organization runs the Mom and Babes Boutique with “everything a mom needs for her baby!” according to a boutique brochure.

Proceeds from the boutique at 117 E. Pershing St., New Iberia, go to the clients, Boutte said. Clients can earn “baby bucks” for use at the boutique by attending sessions at the center.

Morgan City police radio logs for March 5-7

Tue, 03/07/2023 - 11:44am

The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the Police Department at 985-380-4605.
Sunday, March 5
5:31 a.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Complaint.
5:31 a.m. 1400 block of Railroad Avenue; Telephone harassment.
7:27 a.m. 700 block of General Hodges Street; Medical.
8:38 a.m. Area of Veterans Boulevard; Suspicious persons.
12:25 p.m. Area of Poncio Street/Railroad Avenue; Criminal damage to property.
12:49 p.m. 900 block of Short Street; Criminal trespass.
1:01 p.m. 500 block of Brashear Avenue; Complaint.
2:19 p.m. 7400 block of La. 182; Disturbance.
2:49 p.m. 200 block of Wren Street; Complaint.
3:02 p.m. Area of U.S. 90; Stalled vehicle.
3:18 p.m. 800 block of Brashear Avenue; Vehicle accident.
3:41 p.m. Area of Patton Street; Complaint.
3:42 p.m. 3000 block of Diane Drive; Complaint.
4:33 p.m. 1000 block of Hilda Street; Juvenile problems.
4:36 p.m. 900 block of First Street; Animal complaint.
5:38 p.m. Area of U.S. 90; Assistance.
6:12 p.m. 100 block of Wren Street; Medical.
6:20 p.m. 200 block of Wren Street; Juvenile complaint.
6:28 p.m. 3000 block of Catherine Street; Medical.
6:29 p.m. Karen Drive; Juvenile complaint.
6:43 p.m. 300 block of Mallard Street; Stand by.
7:01 p.m. 6300 block of La. 182; Complaint.
7:44 p.m. 1000 block of Greenwood Street; Hit and run.
8:23 p.m. 1000 block of Hilda Street; Telephone harassment.
10:48 p.m. 600 block of Florida Street; Open door.
Monday, March 6
8:07 a.m. 1700 block of Maple Street; Criminal damage to property.
8:07 a.m. 2400 block of Tiger Drive; Complaint.
9:25 a.m. 1100 block of Victor II Boulevard; Removal of subject.
10:57 a.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Complaint.
11:07 a.m. 1800 block of McDermott Drive; Alarm.
11:10 a.m. 300 block of Egle Street; Complaint.
12:07 p.m. 100 block of Eleventh Street; Complaint.
12:17 p.m. 6900 block of La. 182; Theft.
1:03 p.m. 500 block of Franklin Street; Complaint.
1:57 p.m. 2400 block of Tiger Drive; Vehicle accident.
2:13 p.m. Area of Allison/Roderick streets; Animal complaint.
2:36 p.m. 500 block of Roderick Street; Complaint.
2:47 p.m. 300 block of Franklin Street; Animal complaint.
3:01 p.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Medical.
4:02 p.m. Area of U.S. 90; Reckless driver.
5:36 p.m. 800 block of Brashear Avenue; Medical.
6:19 p.m. U.S. 90 West near crest; Stalled vehicle.
6:44 p.m. 400 block of Adams Street; Stand by.
7:22 p.m. Federal Avenue/Louisa, Bush streets; Traffic complaint.
7:31 p.m. 1000 block of Hilda Street; Juvenile problem.
8:07 p.m. 1100 block of Marguerite Street; Assistance.
8:15 p.m. 1000 block of Hilda Street; Juvenile problem.
9:09 p.m. Greenwood Street/Victor II Boulevard; Suspicious person.
9:48 p.m. 700 block of Belanger Street; Medical.
9:53 p.m. 600 block of Brashear Avenue; Juvenile problem.
Tuesday, March 7
12:24 a.m. 100 block of Wren Street; Medical.
2:39 a.m. 7200 block of La. 182; Loud music/noise.