RSS Feed

In sweet loving memory of Darlene Chaisson Frazier A.K.A Momma Dee. Heaven received the most beautiful angel on February 14, 2023 at 6:47 p.m. May her angel wings spread wide and fly high.

Momma Dee was the best mother/grandmother anyone could have asked for. She always had a smile on her face and made others laugh. She was one of the most selfless women we knew. She will be deeply missed but her memory will forever live on.

Darlene leaves to cherish her memory her five daughters, Jada, Jamie, Ruthie, Darlene and Constance; sister, Amanda; brothers, Tony and Wayne; grandchildren, Tyler, Jalynn, Victoria, Brea, Brayden, Kira, Owen, Elias, Oliver, London, Emerald, Jax, Liam, Christian, Laken and Aeristin; great-grandchildren, Tai, Maryella, Eliana, Mary, Cohen and Silas; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her beloved husband Gary “Pops” Frazier; parents, Anthony and Claire Chaisson; daughter, Natasha and her grandson, Kai Lamar.

Family and friends of Darlene are invited to attend the Visitation on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at Hargrave Funeral Home from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. with Funeral Service immediately following.

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

“LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK”

BATON ROUGE – Personal items and documents belonging to active-duty military and veterans, such as handwritten letters, emails, photos and social media posts, help humanize the American war experience and can become part of our shared history—but not if they’re lost, hidden, forgotten or destroyed.

An LSU researcher is now offering resources to help make sure the latter doesn’t happen.

For the vast majority of Americans, mementos that tell stories of war are found in archives and museums. But for those who serve in the military, these objects are also found in attics and garages, in closets and under beds—and, increasingly, on digital devices, such as cell phones and computers. Some of these keepsakes eventually make their way into archives and museums, as they’re donated by veterans and their families, but when they don’t, some aspect of the story of the American war experience inevitably goes untold.

“I kept coming back to this question; how do you pass down a bunch of emails?” said Edward Benoit III, associate professor in the LSU School of Library & Information Science and director of the Virtual Footlocker Project. “You probably don’t.”

Benoit is a military veteran, and so was his father. When his father, a retired Air Force officer, died in 2011, Benoit inherited his physical footlocker, a box filled with handwritten letters, photographs, journals
and other memorabilia.

“What surprised me the most were the letters and how similar they were to ones I received while in the Air Force,” Benoit said. “Even though my father’s were written in the early 1950s and mine were from 50 years later, our friends wrote about the same things—providing updates on the ‘real world,’ discussing training and logistics and generally keeping in touch with family and friends while away.”

“As a trained archivist, I also couldn’t help wondering how the people I served with, especially with the advent of social media around the time of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, would pass on their memories,” Benoit added.

Over the past five years, Benoit has conducted research with active-duty military and veterans and gathered resources to make it easier for those who serve to preserve their memorabilia for themselves and others. First, he did hundreds of surveys. Then, with $391,000 in support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through an early-career grant, Benoit organized dozens of focus groups to delve deeper into what soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have on hand and what they need and care about. He involved every branch of the military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps,
Navy, as well as reserve and National Guard members—and met separately with enlisted and officers.

“Having been enlisted myself, while my dad was an officer, I had a very strong suspicion the enlisted would not talk about certain things if officers were present,” Benoit said. “It’s instinct. ‘My boss is here,’ so I’m not going to talk about that, right. Even if they didn’t know these people. It’s just, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to talk about the things we snuck aboard the ships when a former admiral is here.’”

Surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic had a very positive effect on the project. By not traveling around the country to meet with soldiers and instead holding all meetings on Zoom, Benoit was able to double the number of focus groups, as well as add ones specifically for service women.

“The biggest surprise to me, and what we found, is that the modern soldier has just as much analog material as born-digital material,” Benoit said. “And, quite frankly, they’re really more concerned about that—how to preserve physical objects. There is still a good letter-writing culture in the military because you don’t always have Internet when you’re deployed and actually sitting down and writing can be therapeutic.”

But as expected, Benoit also collected many stories about lost passwords, hacked accounts, legacy phones that cannot be accessed anymore and broken computers. One respondent said, “I decided to back up a lot of stuff on Photo Bucket, which was a great idea per se, except that if I didn’t go to Photo Bucket for about five years, then I cannot find the password. I’ve tried contacting them. They said…If you haven’t updated, then it’s gone.”

Benoit ended up developing two sets of curricula that are now freely available on the Virtual Footlocker Project website. One curriculum is for active-duty military and veterans, and the other trains archivists and cultural heritage workers on how to work with service members and veterans.

Tips for vets

Identify what items you would like to keep and preserve for the long term. Be sure to include both physical and digital items.

Store your physical items in dedicated spaces in cool and dry locations.

Avoid garages, basements and attics. For digital items, maintain multiple copies in different locations, and name your files, using tools like Bulk File Rename.

Decide how you want to share your records, and with whom. Do you want to pass them on to family members? Do you want to donate them to archives or museums?

Access the full Virtual Footlocker Project curriculum for active-duty military and veterans.

Top Tips for Archivists

Consider why personal military records are important to you and your institution.

Learn about the contemporary military experience to better understand and build trust with veterans.

Partner with veteran groups and service providers for outreach programming.

Access the full Virtual Footlocker Project curriculum for archivists and cultural heritage workers.
 

For the first time in 10 years, the Louisiana Legislative Women’s Caucus met for a retreat this past weekend.

It was a notable gathering for both Democrats and Republicans alike as female legislators discussed getting behind a few policy issues ahead of the upcoming regular session.

While there are slightly more women than men in the state of Louisiana, that’s certainly not the case in the Legislature.

There are 23 women serving in the 105-member House right now and there are five women in the Senate out of 39 sitting senators.

Those numbers fall short when it comes to holding any semblance of a majority, but there are enough women in the Louisiana Legislature to influence the policymaking process. When representatives and senators convene on April 10 for their regular session, this voting bloc may be on full display.

“We want to send a signal,” said Senate President Pro Term Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, the caucus chairwoman.

“It’s a cliche to say it, but we mean business and we want to show the power that exists in working together.”

Mizell said she and others were encouraged by the attendance from this past weekend’s retreat, which focused largely on policy.

She said caucus members shared their thoughts on several different topics and sought “common ground between Republican and Democrat and rural and urban and white and black.”

Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, said it was an “absolutely wonderful” experience that allowed the members of the Women’s Caucus to reflect on the issues that brought them together this term.

The caucus fought hard on a number of topics that may resurface during the regular session, such as Title IX and the growing concerns over the core mission of the Department of Children and Family Services.

“I think we’re going to see at least two major issues that we care about addressed during the regular session,” said Barrow.

“One involves the safety of women and children and the other is the fentanyl issue. Right now we don’t have enough beds for pregnant women with addiction issues. In fact, there’s only one place in the Baton Rouge area. The safety and welfare of our children are at risk over cybersecurity issues, too. We found a good starting place on a lot of these issues.”
Mizell added, “The women heard from a wide variety of presenters, including Father

Mark Beard, women from the GRACE program at Woman’s Hospital, a director of a pregnancy resource center and an expert on child exploitation from the Attorney General’s Office. Needless to say, these issues brought strong responses from the Women’s Caucus on what we can do to make Louisiana a better state for all those involved.”  

Caucus members likewise heard a presentation on the judicial system from state Supreme Court Justice Piper Griffin.

“There were a lot of conversations and we’re going to consider a lot of strong bills,” said Mizell, who wouldn’t tip her hat yet on what exactly might be in the caucus’ policy package. “The most thrilling thing for me is we’re unified. I’ve never seen us like this.”

The other big issue the Women’s Caucus has not yet touched on, but may in the future, is candidate recruitment — because the only way to get more women in the House and Senate is to recruit them and help them get elected. 

To some extent that’s already happening. The Republican Party, for example, has become more aggressive about recruiting women to run for office.

Plus there are groups that cater to all corners of the political spectrum, like EMERGE Louisiana and the conservative-leaning Louisiana Women Lead.

For now, however, the focus for the Women’s Caucus will be on policy, which will be a welcome addition to the Capitol this year.

“It has been a very long time since we have been able to come together with a package of bills,” said Barrow.

For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow

(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.)

Morgan City police reported two arrests on hit-and-run charges this week.

Morgan City

Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 60 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Kenneth John Scott III, 24, Southeast Boulevard, Morgan City, was arrested at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday on charges of unauthorized use of a movable, hit-and-run driving and theft (under $1,000).

--Fredy Manrique Vargas-Romero, 64, Glenlea Street, Houston, was arrested at 3:44 p.m. Monday on a charge of hit-and-run driving.

--Nolan J. Vedros Jr., 56, La. 182, Morgan City, was arrested at 8:48 a.m. Wednesday as a fugitive from the Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office.

--Carlon James Gonsoulin, 33, Chennault Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday on charges of battery of a dating partner and false imprisonment.

--Alex W. Horton, 34, Julia Street, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:43 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of violation of protective orders.

--Edmond Jerome Plaisance Jr., 42, La. 182, Morgan City, was arrested at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of direct contempt of court (6th Ward Morgan City Court).

St. Mary

Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 34 complaints and made this arrest:

--Angelina Randle Dapremont, 49, Franklin, was arrested at 5:11 p.m. Wednesday on three warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of operating a vehicle while license is suspended, revoked or canceled; careless operation of a motor vehicle; operating a vehicle not covered by insurance; aggravated battery; operating a vehicle without required equipment or in unusable condition; switched license plates; and failure to honor a written promise to appear.

Bail has not been set at this time.

Franklin

Interim Chief Tina Thibodeaux reported these arrests:

In reference to the following, a third suspect was additionally arrested:

--Courtlon Ina, 18, Canal Drive, Franklin, was arrested at 5:11 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant dated Feb. 1 alleging attempt second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property, and illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities.

Ina was arrested in a Jan. 31 shooting. The Franklin Police Department responded to calls of shots fired in the area of Canal Drive. Officers arrived in the area and began investigation efforts. It was learned that projectiles entered a vehicle. No one was injured in the incident.

--Quincy Jacoby Jones, 36, Franklin, was arrested at 8:47 p.m. Wednesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charge of resisting an officer. Bail has not been set at this time.