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Morgan City radio logs for Dec. 6-7

Wed, 12/07/2022 - 12:09pm

Tuesday, Dec. 6
6:03 a.m. 6300 block of La. 182; Alarm.
7:20 a.m. 1000 block of North Third Street; Trespass.
8:37 a.m. 1000 block of Pine Street; Medical.
8:41 a.m. 1100 block of Marguerite Street; 911 hang up.
8:44 a.m. 600 block of Brashear Avenue; Complaint.
9:31 a.m. 900 block of Second Street; Animal Complaint.
10:09 a.m. 1000 block of Brashear Avenue; Alarm.
10:20 a.m. 1500 block of Cedar Street; Complaint.
10:49 a.m. 300 block of Pershing Street; Medical.
12:22 p.m. 500 block of Freret Street; Complaint.
12:32 p.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Complaint.
1:03 p.m. 2000 block of Tiger Drive; Disturbance.
1:07 p.m. Area of Lawrence Park; Suspicious person.
2:14 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Complaint.
2:26 p.m. 2000 block of Cedar Street; Medical.
2:36 p.m. 100 block of St. Claire Street; Disturbance.
3:46 p.m. 300 block of Eighth Street; Medical.
3:50 p.m. 6200 block of La. 182; Theft.
4:22 p.m. 3000 block of Vine Drive; Damage to property.
5:30 p.m. 300 block of Chennault Street; Complaint.
7:45 p.m. 2300 block of La 70; Arrest.
7:46 p.m. 1400 block of Sixth Street; Trespass.
9:01 p.m. 100 block of Roderick Street; Assistance.
9:09 p.m. 500 block of Terrebonne Street; Civil.
9:28 p.m. 300 block of Brashear Avenue; Criminal damage to property.
10:34 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Alarm.
10:56 p.m. 1000 block of La. 70; Criminal damage to property.
Wednesday, Dec. 7
12:39 a.m. 7200 block of La. 182; Arrest.
3:51 a.m. 700 block of Belanger Street; Medical.

Morgan City, Franklin police make domestic abuse arrests

Wed, 12/07/2022 - 12:06pm

(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 and Franklin police made arrests Tuesday on domestic abuse charges, while Assumption deputies found a man wanted in New Orleans during a Bayou L’Ourse-area traffic stop.

Morgan City

Police Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 44 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Jina Lee Nelton, 36, La. 182, Morgan City, was arrested at 10:40 a.m. Tuesday on warrants alleging theft ($1,000-$5,000) and domestic abuse battery.

--Dwayne Halford, 27, East 123rd Street, Galliano, was arrested at 10:40 a.m. Tuesday on a warrant alleging failure to appear for trial (6th Ward Court of Morgan City).

--Katelyn I Moore, 23, La. 1, Labadieville, was arrested at 8:10 p.m. Tuesday on charges of established speed zones, possession of marijuana (first offense, under 14 grams) and prohibited acts (drug paraphernalia).

St. Mary

Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff’s Office responded to 41 complaints and made these arrests:

--Frank Nicholas Baronne, 62, Henderson, was arrested at 8:22 p.m. Tuesday on a Lafourche Parish warrant alleging violation of protective orders. Baronne is being held for another agency.

--Anthony Williams Sr., 64, Franklin, was arrested at 6:37 p.m. Tuesday on a Franklin Police Department warrant alleging failure to appear. Bail has not been set.

--Cedric Gant, 25, Morgan City, was arrested at 9:12 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant alleging violation of protective orders. Bail has not been set.

Assumption

Sheriff Leland Falcon reported this arrest:

--Dwayne N. Gould, 36, Masefield Street, New Orleans, was arrested on a fugitive warrant from the New Orleans Police Department relating to an assault in that jurisdiction.

A uniformed patrol deputy, assigned to the I.C.E. detail, observed a vehicle with an equipment violation on U.S. 90 in the Bayou L’Ourse area.

The deputy initiated a stop of that vehicle and made contact with the driver and a lone passenger identified as Gould. The deputy conducted criminal record checks on both occupants and determined that Gould was a fugitive wanted by the New Orleans Police Department.

Gould was arrested and booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending transfer to the New Orleans City Police jurisdiction.

Franklin

Police Chief Morris Beverly reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to seven complaints over the last 24-hour reporting period and made this arrest:

--Earl Carlos, 40, Nora Street, Franklin, was arrested at 10:01 p.m. Tuesday charges of battery of a dating partner and simple battery. Carlos was booked, processed and held on a $4,000 bond.

Jim Bradshaw: When the organ grinder brought civilization to La.

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 10:50am
JIM BRADSHAW

The Lake Charles Commercial carried a little item in 1882, noting that, “the first organ grinder who ever came to Lake Charles .., made his appearance. … We are approaching civilization.”

They were not there yet, in the editor’s estimate, but the grinder was a sign the town was getting more civilized.

This seemed to be part of a happy trend for the town. Only the year before the newspaper had been pleased to report, “The Fourth of July passed off very quietly. Not a cannon fired, not an arm or leg blown off, and not a man shot.”

In Franklin in 1853, a new barber pole was the mark of an unrivaled aesthetic. The Banner reported: “Our enterprising fellow-citizen, Mr. James May, has erected in front of his shop … the most magnificent barber’s pole now standing in the great valley of the Mississippi. [It had been] evident … that his teeming brain was busy in elaborating some great design, but the most sanguine were not prepared for the stupendous miracle which greeted their gaze on Monday last, when that pole, resplendent with various dyes, first bathed in the glories of the morning sun. … May’s pole [is] without … a parallel in the annals of any people, barber or savage.”

The state of the churches was also cause for some optimism in Franklin, because “a number of ladies … resolved that the Methodist Church … should be in future kept in good order, [and were] … having the tobacco stains removed from the floor.” They asked that “tobacco chewers … will in future spare the floor, and save them a great deal of trouble in keeping the house clean.”

But there was still some work to be done. The newspaper also complained, “St. Mary appears to be making fine advances in a moral point of view, but in some respects, she is vastly behind the times. How do the people of the parish spend the Sabbath day? … We have five churches in the parish, while we have seven grog-shops and gambling houses, every shop being to all intents a gambling house. Are our churches or our grogshops more resorted to on the Sabbath day? … Our ministers starve while the proprietors of grog shops get rich.”

There were other problems in the churches a few decades later, when the priest in St. Martinville decreed that weddings had become so rowdy that only invited guests could attend them. According to its newspaper:

“The Messenger has more than once remonstrated with the ladies who in their wild curiosity block and impede the entrance of the church. … If the guests would remain in the pews they would have a better view of the bridal party, than to gather mob-like crowds at the entrance of the church.”

This abuse, according to the story, was “coupled with the wild going and coming from … the church, … laughter, etc.,” so that the priest had no other choice.

“This decision, we believe is just and proper,” the newspaper said “The contracting parties have a right to invite only the persons they desire, and not have the church full of [the] curious.”

And there was a definite challenge to civility on Christmas Day 1910, when, according to the Crowley Signal, “The country tough whose badness finds express in carrying a bottle of ‘squirrel’ whiskey in his hip pocket was in evidence everywhere. Pinetop whiskey imported from
Lafayette in jugs flowed like water. … All day Friday Agent Airy of the Wells Fargo worked to distribute the packages of Christmas booze that started coming in on Thursday. He and his forces worked nearly all night and were hard at it by daylight Friday morning. … Early on Friday the express company stopped accepting any more packages at Lafayette.”

Cutting off packages at Christmas seems like going to an extreme, but what are civilized people to do?

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

Jim Brown: Gambling and the college student

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 10:48am
JIM BROWN

Gambling is everywhere in Louisiana.

The currently state has 15 so-called “floating” casinos, a huge land-based casino in downtown New Orleans, four racetrack casinos, 200 truck stop casinos and over 1,000 restaurants and bars that have video poker machines.

Wow!

So is there anywhere else where the gambling industry can go in the Bayou State to suck out more dollars from gullible locals?

Sure there is. Go after the college students. Even though it’s against the law for someone in Louisiana to gamble who is under 21, the state’s flagship LSU is openly soliciting students to sign up for an online account and gamble on any number of sporting events. As the New York Times reported: “LSU in January sent a mass email to, among others, students who were not yet 21, the legal betting age in the state. The email told students of all ages that they could bet “on all the sports you love right from the palm of your hand, and every bet earns more with
Caesars Rewards — win or lose.” The company’s website said the rewards include a “monthly free bet” and “an extra free bet” during your birthday month, along with discounted hotel and dining options at Caesars properties.”

Is this now the mission for universities in Louisiana? Promoting gambling on campus to impressionable young students even though it is illegal? “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.

“You cannot get away from it. You take a daily shower in sports betting when you walk around.”

Casino supporters point out that the state is broke and about to fall off this so-called “fiscal cliff.” But isn’t it interesting that the more progressive states throughout the south, from Virginia and the Carolinas all the way across to Texas, have developed new economic development prospects that offer their citizens better job opportunities without relying heavily on income from gambling?

It was oil and gas in the Bayou State beginning back in the 1950s, with no concern for the environmental damage or setting aside tax dollars for a rainy-day fund. Gov. Buddy Roemer raised the issue that “the oil and gas for Louisiana’s future was in the minds of our fifth- and sixth-graders.” What he meant was that the mineral revenue is fleeting. We have to teach and develop entrepreneurs and people who want to build small businesses. The state should have been focusing on educational reform, with specific emphasis on developing a large tech talent pool.

Even the most basic clerical and mechanical jobs require computer skills. Instead, Louisiana opted to keep its citizens amused with domed stadiums, moviemaker tax credits, and more and more gambling. Since state lawmakers have legalized sports betting, there aren't really any other forms of gambling to decriminalize. Hey, let’s bring back cock fighting. “Keep em’ fat, dumb and happy, and we will all get re-elected.”

There are those who will argue that if someone wants to throw away their money, so be it. But study after study has concluded that there are dramatic increases in the social and economic costs, along with the upsurge in crime that can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars in Louisiana.

There are many ways in the Bayou State to “Laissez les bons temps rouler.” Expanding the present high level of betting, particularly to vulnerable college students, should not be one of them. There are just too many other ways to have a good time, without gambling away our already fragile quality of life.

Peace and Justice
Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the South and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com. You can also look over a list of books he has published at www.thelisburnpress.com.

Five arrests reported by local agencies

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 10:34am

(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 Parish and Morgan City authorities reported five arrests Monday and early Tuesday, including one of a man accused of failing to appear on drug and weapon charges.

St. Mary

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

--Christopher Jonathan Viscardi, 41, Broussard, was arrested on at 11:28 a.m. Monday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on charges of possession with intent to distribute MDMA; illegal use, possession or control of a weapon (crime of violence or controlled dangerous substance); aggravated obstruction of a highway; and aggravated flight from an officer where human life is endangered.

Bail has not been set.

--Jeremy Joseph Olivier, 43, Patterson, was at 6:56 p.m. Monday on a warrant alleging failure to appear on the charges of expired motor vehicle inspection and unlawful use of a driver’s license. Bail was set at $500.

--David Wayne Mire, 46, Morgan City, was arrested at 12:37 a.m. Tuesday on an Assumption Parish warrant alleging failure to appear. Mire is being held for another agency.

Morgan City

Police Chief Chad M. Adams reported that the Morgan City Police Department responded to 37 calls for service over the last 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Aryel Antoinette Roger, 25, Carrington Circle, Houma, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday on charges of possession of marijuana (first offense) and prohibited acts (drug paraphernalia).

--Michael Adrian Oneal Jr., 32, Saint Marie Drive, Houma, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday on a charge of prohibited acts (drug paraphernalia).

Morgan City police radio logs for Dec. 5-6

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 10:30am

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.

Monday, Dec. 5
7:57 p.m. 500 block of Belanger Street; Medical.
8:03 p.m. 700 block of Myrtle Street; Alarm.
8:57 p.m. 300 block of Laurel Street; Animal complaint.
9:10 p.m. Freret and Everett streets; Juvenile complaint.
9:46 p.m. 1500 block of North First Street; Disturbance.
9:49 p.m. 1500 block of Walnut Drive; Disturbance.
10:10 p.m. 1200 block of Fig Street; Complaint.
11:33 p.m. 700 block of Hilda Street; Medical.

Tuesday, Dec. 6
12:34 a.m. 2300 block of La. 70; Two arrests.
2:49 a.m. 500 block of Garber Street; Burglary.

Area births announced

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 9:20am

Born to Macy Wiggins of Morgan City, a girl, Haizley Grace Wiggins, on Sept. 26 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 9 pounds, 4.5 ounces and measured 20 inches.
——
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Jessie Wesley Jr. (nee: Brianisha Drew) of Morgan City, a girl, Germani Sarai Wesley, on Sept. 29 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 6 pounds, 4.1 ounces and measured 19 inches.
——
Born to Riley Teeple and Blaz Mayon of Berwick, a boy, Carson Michael Mayon, on Oct. 5 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. He weighed 8 pounds and measured 19 inches.
——
Born to Victoria Cavalier of Morgan City, a boy, Silas James Cavalier, on Oct. 7 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. He weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 18.75 inches.
——
Born to Donica Mansfield of Morgan City, a boy, Knowledge DonCarlos Mansfield, on Oct. 10 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. He weighed 7 pounds, 7.9 ounces and measured 18.5 inches.
——
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Beecher (nee: Janee Cheramie) of Morgan City, a boy, Hayes Paul Beecher, on Oct. 12 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. He weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 19.5 inches.
——
Born to Ashley Holmes of Patterson, a girl, Olivia Louise Holmes, on Oct. 14 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 18.75 inches.
——
Born to Misty Kliebert of Berwick and Travaun Sewire of Thibodaux, a girl, Tra’Mae Ophelia Kliebert, on Oct. 18 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 6 pounds, 9.8 ounces and measured 18.75 inches.
——
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Blayten Istre (nee: Jamie Jernigan) of Berwick, a girl, Addilynn Claire Istre, on Oct. 20 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 5 pounds, 6.5 ounces and measured 18¾ inches.
——
Born to Alero Hartman of Patterson and Tylon Holland of Shreveport, a girl, Thyrie Jhena Holland, on Oct. 31 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. She weighed 7 pounds, 0.8 ounces and measured 19.5 inches.
——
Born to Ashley Jones and Jeremie Paul Jr. of Patterson, a boy, Kyson Deon Jones, on Nov. 2 at Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 20¼ inches.

Facts about the winter solstice

Tue, 12/06/2022 - 9:18am

The winter solstice occurs each year during the month of December in the northern hemisphere. In 2022, the winter solstice will take place on Dec. 21 at 3:48 p.m.
Solstices are significant events that occur twice per year. One occurs in the winter and one in the summer.
The winter solstice also is known as the first day of winter and occurs when the Earth’s pole reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun. During the winter solstice, people will experience the shortest period of daylight and the longest period of nighttime of the year.
Here are some fascinating facts about the winter solstice.
1. Depending on the hemisphere, the north or south pole will experience continuous darkness or twilight around its winter solstice.
2. The winter solstice sometimes is referred to by the term midwinter.
3. Even though the solstice is marked by a whole day on the calendar, it actually is just the brief moment of time when the sun is exactly over the Tropic of Capricorn.
4. The word “solstice” can be translated from Latin and means “sun stand still.”
5. The Tropic of Capricorn is located at 23.5 degrees south of the equator.
6. Tourists flock to Stonehenge to track the movement of the sun. The stones will frame the sunset on the winter solstice and the sunrise on the summer solstice.
7. Ancient cultures viewed the winter solstice as a time of death and rebirth.
8. Important events in history have taken place on winter solstices. The Apollo 8 spacecraft launched on the solstice in 1968. Pilgrims also arrived at Plymouth on the winter solstice in 1620.
9. Each planet in the Earth’s solar system has its own solstices and equinoxes.
10. The southern hemisphere experiences the winter solstice in June each year.
11. A full moon on a solstice is even rarer than a blue moon. The last full moon to occur on the winter solstice was in 2010 and the next one won’t happen until 2094.
12. Earth is closer to the sun around the winter solstice in December. However, the northern hemisphere receives less sunlight and has cooler temperatures because it is tilted away from the sun during winter.
13. Even though the winter solstice features the shortest amount of daylight of any day during the year, it does not have the earliest sunset. That takes place roughly two weeks prior. In 2021 in New York, the winter solstice took place on Dec. 21, but the earliest sunset occurred on Dec. 7 at 4:28 p.m. EST.
14. Meteorological winter begins on Dec. 1 rather than Dec. 21.

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Phone: 337-828-3706
Fax: 337-828-2874

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Phone: 985-384-8370
Fax: 985-384-4255

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