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Happy birthday Thursday to Natasha Webb from family, friends and Ira.

(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 Sheriff's Office deputies reported four arrests Monday, including warrants for failure to appear to answer drug charges.

Assumption Parish deputies also reported the arrest of a man on a fourth drunk driving charge.

St. Mary

Sheriff Blaise Smith reported that over the last 24-hour reporting period, the Sheriff's Office responded to 26 complaints and made these arrests:

--Quintin Dewayne Douglas, 30, Franklin, was arrested at 12:42 p.m. Monday on three warrants alleging failure to appear on charges of possession of marijuana, texting while driving, failure to honor a written promise to appear, failure to stop or yield at a stop sign, and operating a vehicle with a suspended, revoked or canceled license.

--Rodney Nixon Bowie Jr., 44, Franklin, was arrested at 1:47 p.m. Monday on three warrants alleging failure to appear on the charges of criminal neglect of family, possession of heroin, possession of methamphetamine, resisting an officer by providing false information and speeding. Bail was set at $3,902.17.

--David Bennet Luke, 54, Franklin, was arrested at 11:17 p.m. Monday on a charge of domestic abuse battery. Bail has not been set.

--Juvenile male, 16, Bayou Vista, was arrested at 11:55 p.m. Monday as an ungovernable juvenile. The juvenile male was released into the custody of a guardian pending juvenile court proceedings.

Bail was set at $900

Assumption

Sheriff Leland Falcon reported this arrest:

--Michael Peter Butler, 41, Gold Street, Napoleonville, was arrested Thursday on charges of driving while intoxicated (fourth offense), tail lamps required, expired or canceled license plate, evidence of compulsory motor vehicle liability security contained in vehicle, operating vehicle with suspended license, no license issued.

The charges result from an investigative stop in Napoleonville late Thursday night.

A uniformed patrol deputy observed a vehicle with an equipment violation and initiated a stop of that vehicle. The deputy made contact with the driver, Butler.

The deputy noted a strong odor of alcoholic beverages emitting from the suspect as well as his vehicle.

The deputy established probable cause to believe that Butler was operating a vehicle while impaired.

The deputy conducted numerous testing maneuvers and at some point, arrested Butler, who registered Butler registered a .238 g%.

Butler was booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center pending a bond hearing.

Franklin

Police Chief Morris Beverly reported that the Franklin Police Department responded to 14 completes over the past 24-hour reporting period and made these arrests:

--Braylon Hamilton, 39, Augustine Maze Street, Franklin, was arrested at 6:12 p.m. Thursday on a charge of simple battery. Hamilton was additionally arrested on a warrant for 16th Judicial District Court for failure to appear on the charge of criminal neglect of family. Hamilton was booked, processed and held on a $4,843.23 bond.

--Denise Reaves, 48, Hamilton Street, Franklin, was arrested at 10:14 p.m. Monday on a charge of disturbing the peace (language). Reaves was booked, processed and held on a $1,000 bond.

A federal judge on Monday struck down the Biden administration's controversial mask mandate for planes, airports and trains.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, Florida, called the U.S. Centers for Disease Control mandate “unlawful” for overstepping its authority and not following normal rulemaking procedures.

"But the mandate exceeded the CDC's statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions," she wrote in the ruling.

Critics of the mandate praised the judge’s ruling. They had argued it was not necessary and conflicted with the Biden administration’s decision to lift Title 42, a Trump-era immigration rule that allowed border agents to immediately expel illegal immigrants to slow the spread of COVID into the U.S.

“The federal district judge correctly held that that CDC transportation mask mandate was unlawful and violated the Administrative Procedure Act," Texas Public Policy Foundation Executive Director and General Counsel Rob Henneke said. "The Court’s order vacates the CDC Mask Mandate, which will be effective for all persons nationwide as soon as final judgment is entered by the Clerk of the Court. While the Court’s order stops the mask mandate for now, TPPF’s lawsuit representing Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne continues to litigate the underlying constitutional issues.”

The first major hurricane forecast of the year is out, and it looks familiar.
Meteorologists at Colorado State are predicting a more active than usual hurricane season in 2022, according to the long-range forecast released April 7. That would make this year the sixth straight when the Atlantic Basin, including the Gulf Coast, experiences more than the usual number of named storms.
The forecast is for:
—19 named storms, compared to a 1991-2021 average of 14.4.
—90 days with a named storm, compared to the average of 69.4.
—9 hurricanes, compared to the average of 7.2.
—35 days with a hurricane, compared to 27.
—4 major hurricanes, compared to 3.2.
—9 days with a major hurricane, compared to 7.4.
A major hurricane is defined as one with winds of at least Category 3 strength, or at least 111 mph.
Colorado State’s Tropical Weather and Climate Research program, which began to be closely watched under the leadership of the late Dr. Bill Gray, claims “modest success” in its long-term forecast. Updated forecasts will be issued closer to the beginning of the June 1-Nov. 30 hurricane season.
During the last few years of sometimes frantic tropical weather, St. Mary hasn’t experienced a direct hit. But it has felt many effects just the same.
Last year’s Hurricane Ida threatened the St. Mary-Iberia coast with Category 4 winds of at least 130 mph before a last-minute eastward jog in its track led to a landfall near Port Fourchon. Ida, tied with 2020’s Laura as the second-most damaging hurricane to hit Louisiana, caused only minor damage in St. Mary.
But St. Mary lived with traffic tie-ups, gas station lines and some grocery shortages as people came here from hard-hit areas to the east for supplies.
The 2020 hurricanes that hit Louisiana, including the monstrously strong Hurricane Laura’s devastation in the Lake Charles area, caused some power outages here.
St. Mary Parish Levee District officials hustled to install sheet pilings in the still-incomplete Bayou Teche Flood Control Structure to block storm surge flooding from coming into the Teche through the Charenton Canal.
In July 2019, Hurricane Barry made landfall near Pecan Island as a Category 1 hurricane. St. Mary people endured a long, hot weekend without power. The storm surge pushed the Atchafalaya River at Morgan City briefly to 10.06 feet, the third-highest stage on record.
Barry was also unusual in that it began as a storm system near the Missouri-Kansas border that drifted into the Gulf of Mexico and intensified.
The key factor in this year’s active hurricane season forecast is the El Niño-La Niña cycle.
El Niño is a pattern of higher-than-usual water temperatures in the southern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is associated with wind patterns that tend to inhibit hurricane development.
The flip side is La Niña, a time of cooler water temperatures that result in more active hurricane conditions in the Atlantic.
“Current weak La Niña conditions look fairly likely to transition to neutral [pattern] by this summer/fall, but the odds of a significant El Niño seem unlikely,” according to the Colorado State forecast.
“As is the case with all hurricane seasons, coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them. They should prepare the same for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted.”