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Michael Wayne Manfre, 71, a resident of Morgan City, passed away on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at Legacy Nursing and Rehabilitation.

Michael was born on August 22, 1950 in Morgan City, the son of Paul Lee Manfre Sr. and Mary Jean Breaux Manfre.

He will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by four siblings, Paula Jean Manfre of Denham Springs, Sara Manfre Kidd of Morgan City, Luke Peter Manfre and wife Judith of Morgan City, Christopher Mario Manfre of Chackbay; step father, Robert G. Waguespack of Plaquemine; numerous nieces and nephews.

Michael was preceded in death by his father, Paul Lee Manfre Sr.; his mother, Mary Jean Breaux Manfre Waguespack; one brother, Paul Lee Manfre Jr.; maternal grandparents, Russell and Ethel Chiasson Breaux; paternal grandparents, Liborió “Lee” and Geneva Guarisco Manfre.

The family would like to thank the staff of Heart of Hospice, especially Elaine Templet, the staff of Lafourche Arc and Legacy Nursing and Rehab for the loving care that they gave to Michael.

Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, May 30, 2022 in the Morgan City Cemetery with Father Henry Sebastian officiating.

St. Mary Parish Schools have announced new administrative appointments, including the naming of principals at three high schools and two middle schools.

The appointments announced Friday by Superintendent Dr. Teresa Bagwell:

--Dawn Chaisson has been named supervisor of child nutrition. Chaisson, currently principal at Foster Elementary, will succeed Claire Guarisco.

Chaisson brings years of experience as an administrator to her new role, including nine years as principal of Foster and six years as assistant principal of Patterson Junior High.

--Kristin Percle, currently principal of Berwick Junior High, has been named instructional supervisor assigned to high schools. She succeeds Dr. Rachael Sanders, recently named to be assistant superintendent

Percle previously held the position of assistant principal of Berwick High School.

--Jared Ross has been named principal at Centerville High School. He succeeds Kristina Estay, recently appointed to be the district's human resources director.

Ross has spent the last seven years serving as the school’s assistant principal "and will easily transition into the role given his experience working with students and faculty at Centerville High School," Bagwell said.

--Courtney Andrews will be the new Patterson High School principal. Andrews previously served as the school’s assistant principal and curriculum leader.

Andrews also held the job of assistant principal at Patterson Junior High School for two years before returning to Patterson High School, where
she began her career as a social studies teacher.

--At West St. Mary High School, Ashley Clark will be the principal. Clark has held the assistant principal position for the last four years and most recently served in an acting principal capacity following the departure of Donald Sanders.

She is also a former teacher and coach at the school, "which will support the transition into a principal role given her knowledge of the school’s overall operations," Bagwell said.

--Berwick Junior High's new principal will be Ryan Taylor. He succeeds Percle, who was selected as an instructional supervisor.

Currently, Taylor is the school’s assistant principal and "has gained experience and expertise of the school throughout the last few years," Bagwell said.

He formerly served as a teacher and coach at Patterson and Morgan City high schools before moving into administration at Berwick Junior High.

--Crystal Daigle will be Morgan City Junior High's new principal, moving up from her role as assistant principal.

"Ms. Daigle has vast experiences in the education arena having worked with post-secondary education students at Young Memorial and more recently as an elementary and middle school teacher with St. Mary Parish Schools," Bagwell said.

Daigle was also part of the district’s instructional division, holding the position of instructional specialist just prior to accepting the assistant principalship at Morgan City Junior High this school year.

Applications for the various leadership positions were accepted, and recently interviews were conducted "in an effort to thoroughly weigh the
qualifications of each candidate given the position’s job requirements," Bagwell said.

"As the summer progresses, additional administrative changes will be announced including the appointment of assistant principals to fill the void left by this most recent round of principal selections. Due to the intense training and coordination of leadership adjustments, the school system intends to have all necessary appointments made in the coming weeks."

(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.)

Assumption Parish deputies on Thursday arrested a Bayou L’Ourse man accused of kicking his way into three Felicia Street homes, at least one of which was occupied.

In an unrelated case, five people were arrested on gun and drug charges after a traffic stop by an Assumption deputy near Amelia.

Assumption
Sheriff Leland Falcon reported these arrests:

—Cyrus Ratcliff Jr., 48, Pond Drive, Bayou L’Ourse, was arrested Thursday on two counts of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, three counts of simple criminal damage to property, three counts of criminal trespass and a single count of home invasion.

Deputies were dispatched Thursday to a Felicia Street address in Bayou L’Ourse about a disturbance. Deputies made contact with the complainant, who advised Ratcliff had kicked in a door to the residence.

Deputies learned that Ratcliff had kicked in doors to a total of three homes on Felicia Street, and at least one of those houses was occupied at the time of the offense.

While deputies investigated, Ratcliff drove up to the location.

Ratcliff was arrested and booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending a bond hearing

—Lantrell J. Ayers, 31, Fifth Street, Morgan City, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to distribute Xanax, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, no driver’s license, and tail lamps and headlights required, and two fugitive counts.

—Jasmine J. Ayers, 32, Bailey’s Lane, Morgan City, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance, obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, possession with intent to distribute Xanax and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

—Dylan Michael Hebert, 21, La. 75. Morgan City, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance, obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, possession with intent to distribute Xanax and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

— Kelsie Alynn Landry, 18. Aucoin Street, Morgan City, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance, obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, possession with intent to distribute Xanax and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

—Shayna Renee Tatum, 27, Aucoin Street, Morgan City, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled dangerous substance, obstruction of justice, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a legend drug without a prescription, possession with intent to distribute Xanax and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

A uniformed patrol officer observed a vehicle traveling on U.S. 90 near Amelia commit a traffic violation and initiated a stop of that vehicle. The deputy made contact with the driver, now identified as Lantrell Ayers.

The deputy engaged in an interview. During that interview, the deputy noted activities of the driver and passengers to be consistent with illegal activity.

While interviewing the driver, the deputy was notified by communications of outstanding warrants for the arrest of Ayers in Assumption Parish and Elayne Hunt Correctional Ayers was immediately arrested.

The deputy noted an odor of suspected marijuana from the vehicle and observed a passenger attempting to shove an item into the seat. At this time, all
suspects were removed from the vehicle.

The deputy requested and was granted consent to search the vehicle. As a result of that process, deputies located firearm ammunition, marijuana, Promethazine D.M. and assorted drug paraphernalia.

Deputies conducted a walk-around of the vehicle and located other dangerous substances, which had been discarded by the suspects.

Deputies also located a large-caliber handgun in the vehicle.

At the conclusion of the investigation, deputies arrested all five suspects. They remain at the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending bond proceedings.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission is drafting an order to require Entergy and other investor-owned utilities to pay 20% of storm repairs, instead of putting the entire bill on ratepayers.

PSC Commissioner Foster Campbell asked the commission’s staff to draft the order after confronting Entergy CEO Leo Denault about increasing profits, $1.2 billion in dividends paid to the company’s shareholders last year, Denault’s recent $1 million pay raise and his family vacation to Vail, Colorado during Hurricane Ida as customers struggled without power.

Commissioners asked Denault during his first appearance before the PSC since becoming CEO in 2013 whether Entergy would voluntarily help cover some of roughly $5 billion in storm damages, instead of passing the entire cost on to the company’s 1.1 million customers.

Those customers are expected to pay roughly $16 more per month for 15 years to recover the costs, as required by state law, but commissioners highlighted the company's questionable spending in a bid to lower that burden. Entergy has received more than $3 billion through bond sales to recover repair costs, and the company is in line to receive another $2 billion, but Campbell suggested it should be less.

"It really troubles me that y’all don’t have any skin in the game, but I have a solution," Campbell said. "I want 20% to go to the ratepayers. That’s a small portion" of the $2 billion.

"I think ya’ll ought to put back in $400 million back toward the ratepayers," he said, noting the high rate of poverty in Louisiana. "Would you agree to that?"

"No, I would not," Denault said. "I think we need to go through the process and see where we come out. … We need to make sure that the company continues to have the financial flexibility to have the confidence of the capital markets to be able to respond during those events."

Denault highlighted the company’s investments in improving efficiency, a shift toward more renewable energy, Entergy’s charitable contributions and advocacy in Congress to help secure relief for customers.

He also discussed Entergy’s efforts to brace against future storm damage as ways the company is working to keep costs lower for customers.

Commissioner Craig Greene told Denault "we want to see you value your customer as much as we represent them" and suggested "we need to do better."

"Our objective is to create an environment where the customers are getting the outcomes they desire and we want to make sure we manage our business to match," Denault said. "It will improve the service levels … and in addition to that we think that it is really going to help drive the economic development of the state."

New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno also weighed in on the revelations to The Advocate about Denault’s $17 million annual compensation, raise, trip to Vail and the company’s growing profits at a time when ratepayers are struggling.

"The fact that the head of the main corporation during one of the biggest storms to ever hit his territory went off to Vail a couple days before and stayed there through the storm and its aftermath and wasn’t there with his team, I thought was very surprising and concerning, as well," she said. "I think the customers would be concerned about this."

Moreno, who oversees utilities in the city, one of the few places outside the PSC’s authority, also signaled support for Campbell’s proposal to claw back 20% of Entergy’s next storm repayment for ratepayers, according to the news site.

"It may not be able to stand up to legal muster," Moreno said, "but maybe it brings Entergy to the table to at least be able to come up with additional options rather than just say to the ratepayers, you pay for it all."