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Here's your guide to Mardi Gras parades

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:34am
DIANE MILLER FEARS dfears@daily-review.com

Even though some area Mardi Gras krewes did not hold formal balls this year, each adult krewe that normally hosts a Carnival parade will do so.
Added to this year’s lineup is the women’s Krewe of Hera. The newest krewe will hold the Tri-City area’s second nighttime and Lundi Gras parade.
Parades in chronological order are:
Krewe of Adonis
The men’s Krewe of Adonis will hold its nighttime parade at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in Morgan City.
Participants will start the procession at the corner of Brashear Avenue and Second Street and proceed down Second to Onstead Street, Sixth Street, Marguerite Street, Ninth Street, Brashear Avenue, Victor II Boulevard and end at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium on Myrtle Street.
Krewe of Dionysus
The Krewe of Dionysus hosts its Mardi Gras parade at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 in Berwick.
The procession will line up on Gilmore Drive and turn on John Street, Robichaux Street, Mount Street, Gilmore Drive, right on La. 182, Tournament Boulevard, Fairview Drive then to Pattie Drive, where it will disband at Berwick Junior High School.
Members of the Krewe of Hannibal plan to parade at the end of Dionysus.
Dionysus will hold its After Parade Dance at the Berwick Civic Complex. Tickets are $15 and available from any krewe board member.
Krewe of Galatea
The mystick women’s Krewe of Galatea will hold its parade at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 in Morgan City.
Members will organize on Second Street under the U.S. 90 Grizzaffi Bridge then proceed down Second Street to Onstead Street, Sixth Street, Marguerite Street, Ninth Street, Clothilde Street, Victor II Boulevard and end at the auditorium.
Members of the children’s Krewe of Nike will follow behind Galatea.
Krewe of Amani
The Krewe of Amani will hold its Lundi Gras parade at 1 p.m. Feb. 28 in Patterson.
Participants will line up at Patterson High School and proceed down La. 182 (Main Street) towards Patterson where the procession will end at Place Norman Shopping Center.
An after-parade Block Party will be held along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Patterson.
Krewe of Hera
The Krewe of Hera will parade at 7 p.m. on Lundi Gras, Feb. 28, in Morgan City.
The procession will line up on Second Street at Brashear Avenue, continue down Second to Onstead Street, Sixth Street, Marguerite Street, Ninth Street (La. 70), Clothilde Street, Victor II Boulevard and end at the auditorium.
Krewe of Hephaestus
The area’s oldest-chartered krewe, the Krewe of Hephaestus will hold its parade at 2 p.m. on Fat Tuesday, March 1, in Morgan City.
The procession will organize on Sixth and Sycamore streets and proceed down Sixth Street to Marguerite Street, Ninth Street, Clothilde Street, Victor II Boulevard and end at the auditorium.
Siracusa/Greenwood
The Siracusa/Greenwood Community Mardi Gras Parade has been canceled.
Parade Summaries
—Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Krewe of Adonis, Morgan City.
—Feb. 26, 2 p.m., Krewe of Dionysus, Berwick.
—Feb. 27, 2 p.m., Krewe of Galatea, Morgan City.
—Feb. 28, 1 p.m., Krewe of Amani, Patterson.
—Feb. 28, 7 p.m., Krewe of Hera, Morgan City.
—March 1, 2 p.m., Krewe of Hephaestus, Morgan City.

Around Town for Feb. 23

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:29am

Happy birthday Barbara Oubre … Happy birthday Jenora Minor, Carol Parsons and Wayne Thomas from family, friends and Ira.

Wheel House for Feb. 23

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:27am

GOOD HOPE
Baptist Church, 908 Washington St., Patterson, celebration the Rev. Patrick T. Jones Sr., pastoral anniversary at 11 a.m. Feb. 27. Guest speaker Patterson Mayor Rodney Grogan. Public invited.

Getting up to date at Ochsner St. Mary

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:19am

Submitted/Ochsner St. Mary
Ochsner St. Mary CEO Fernis LeBlanc hosted St. Mary Parish Hospital Service District No. 2 board members for an information luncheon and tour at the hospital recently. Board members learned about all of the progress that has been made since the hospital became an Ochsner facility. Pictured from left are Gary Stansbury, Nick Morris, Tyra Newcomb, Bill Bourgeois, Dr. Bill Cefalu, Chris Tamporello, LeBlanc, Angelena Brocato, A.J. Campo, Kendra Thomas, Donald Stephens and Heath Hoffpauir.

St. Mary schools will stay with current COVID protocols

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:16am
Staff Report

St. Mary Parish public schools will continue with their current protocols for students and staff members who have been exposed to COVID-19, Superintendent Dr. Teresa Bagwell said in an email this week.
The Louisiana Department of Health last week issued new guidelines for schools with additional options designed to keep more students in class through testing and mask requirements.
Bagwell said Friday that she talked with Lydia Duval, the district’s nurse facilitator, about the new options.
“At this time, the school system will continue to employ the protocols we have in place as we have experienced success in conservatively quarantining only those who meet the stipulations of close contact in consideration of their vaccination status,” Bagwell wrote.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have cautiously monitored and responded to any person exhibiting symptoms or who reports having close contact with an individual known to be Covid-19 positive and as a result, have been able to keep our schools operational for in-person learning.
“As cases are diminishing, we are looking forward to gradually returning schools to near normal and reinstituting social activities that are long-held traditions especially at the high school level.”
Last year, the state gave schools an alternative to a total mask requirement: quarantining students and faculty members for five days after exposure to COVID, in agreement with Centers for Disease Control guidelines. Vaccinated students and staff members are exempt from the quarantine but are required to wear masks for 10 days after an exposure.
Last week, the Louisiana Department of Health offered further alternatives for K-12 schools. The new guidelines allow unvaccinated students and staff members to return to school without quarantine after being exposed, but require two tests within five days and masks for 10 days.
As the pandemic enters its third year, public health and education officials have become increasingly concerned about the impact of lost classroom time on academic development, socialization and the delivery of services such as nutrition, health care and counseling.
The new Health Department guidance comes as the fifth surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the rapidly transmissible omicron variant, continues to wane.
On Monday, the Louisiana Office of Public Health reported 2,029 new COVID cases statewide, about a seventh of the number of daily new cases during the winter’s omicron peak. The OPH reported that 731 COVID-positive people were in Louisiana hospitals, about a third of the highest number during the omicron surge.
In St. Mary, the pandemic case count was at 12,385 Monday. The OPH said the pandemic death toll for the parish is at 253, including 23 since Jan. 1.

Jim Bradshaw: Ship captains knew about Gulf oil long before drilling began

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 9:15am
JIM BRADSHAW

We knew there was oil under the Gulf of Mexico long before we drilled for it. So much of it bubbled to the surface about 10 miles south of Sabine Pass that schooner captains called the area the “Oil Ponds.”
That was in the 1880s, more than 150 years before Kerr-McGee’s first bit turned beneath the water. But, even then, there was speculation about whether a well could be drilled in the Gulf.
“There is no land within 15 miles, and yet such is the effect of the oil thus cast upon the waters by the lavish hand of nature that even in the severest storms the sea in the Oil Ponds is comparatively smooth,” the Lake Charles Commercial recorded in September 1881.
“So well is this known that when the small vessels that trade between Calcasieu, Orange, Sabine, Beaumont and Galveston fail to make a harbor at Galveston or Sabine they run … for the oil, … let go their anchors, and ride out the gale in safety.”
The Gulf was only about 20 feet deep at that point, causing the newspaper’s editor to wonder if oilmen, who were just beginning to understand about how and where to drill on land, might one day try to tap the Ponds, or at least to scoop up the oil nature provided.
“No one, we believe, has ever attempted to strike oil in the Gulf of Mexico,” the newspaper reported, “but it is not extravagant to expect that some day capital and enterprise will succeed in securing the oil which is now wasting in these wonderful ponds. … There is here a chance for scientific investigation, at least, and it may be that the Calcasieu Oil Company, formed several years ago, may find in the Gulf the oil they have not succeeded in discovering, to any great extent, on land.”
The company appears never to have found “any great extent” of oil on land or water, and the hunt in Louisiana was pretty haphazard until the Spindletop field near Beaumont caused an explosion of drilling in southern Texas and Louisiana in 1901.
The Lake Charles Echo referred to “the Calcasieu Oil Well” in 1896, but it seemed not to be a big producer. The Echo was more interested in the bicycle craze of the time, reporting that a man attempting to ride across the country had stopped in Lake Charles to “grease the bicycle with Calcasieu oil.”
That edition also had a report that “on Thursday last, some forty or more barrels were thrown off the train at sulphur mine, for the purpose of being filled and returned to parties in various towns … who had ordered it. … The stream of oil, free from water, by actual measurement, amounted to thirty gallons per hour. This is certainly an astonishing yield.”
Note that the “astonishing” yield was 30 gallons, not 30 barrels.
That year, 1896, oilmen did drill the first well in ocean waters, but that was off a pier in California. The first over-water well in Louisiana was in Caddo Lake near Shreveport, about as far from the Gulf as you can get and still be in the state. That was in 1911.
Nobody seriously considered drilling in the Gulf until after World War II, when new technology and surplus equipment made it appear to be both possible and profitable. Even then, the first well was in only 15 feet of water, shallower than the 20 feet estimated way back when at the Oil Ponds.
The Ponds presumably continued to bring — to use the Beverly Hillbillies phrase — “bubbling crude” to the surface and to provide a storm haven for small boats for many uninterrupted years.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

Hephaestus tableau is Saturday

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 8:46am

By DIANE MILLER FEARS
dfears@daily-review.com
Last on the list of official Mardi Gras balls this year is the Krewe of Hephaestus, the area’s oldest krewe.
Ball patrons are reminded that tableaus begin promptly and everyone should be seated 10 minutes prior to the krewe’s stated start time.
Krewe of Hephaestus
The Krewe of Hephaestus will hold its tableau at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. Floor seating is by invitation only.
Making a farewell appearance will be King and Queen Hephaestus LX Allie “Al” Adams and Madeleine Margaret Hover.
Krewe of Amani
The Krewe of Amani will not hold a traditional ball this year and no royalty will be crowned. Krewe members do plan to have a Sneakers Ball from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday at the Patterson Area Civic Center. This is an invitation-only event.
Krewe of Dionysus
The Krewe of Dionysus has opted not to hold a tableau and ball this year.
Krewe of Hannibal
The Krewe of Hannibal has also elected not to hold a tableau and ball.
Members of the krewe plan to parade at the end of Dionysus at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 in Berwick.
Parade Summaries
—Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Krewe of Adonis, Morgan City.
—Feb. 26, 2 p.m., Krewe of Dionysus, Berwick.
—Feb. 27, 2 p.m., Krewe of Galatea, Morgan City.
—Feb. 28, 1 p.m., Krewe of Amani, Patterson.
—Feb. 28, 7 p.m., Krewe of Hera, Morgan City.
—March 1, 2 p.m., Krewe of Hephaestus, Morgan City.

Woman refuses to embrace ex-husband’s reappearance

Wed, 02/23/2022 - 8:40am
By Jeanne Phillips, ©United Features Syndicate

DEAR ABBY: I was married for 10 years before I found out my ex was living a double life — other women, children, etc. We divorced, and afterward, I provided the best possible life for our three children.
My ex was the typical deadbeat dad — never there for his children. Twelve years later, my children are adults, and he has decided to show up and start a relationship with them. Anytime they have milestones with church, college, jobs, weddings, etc., he is there.
I have stepped back and let them decide what kind of relationship they want with him. Even worse, my ex has also rekindled his relationship with my parents and siblings. He’s turning my family against me, although we have both remarried.
When I try to talk to them about it, they say, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” “He’s changed,” “Why can’t you forgive him?”
Abby, my ex stole his business partner’s money to live his double life. If he has “changed,” why is he once again trying to turn my family against me? What do I do? Must I divorce myself from my parents and siblings?
NEVER RID OF HIM

DEAR NEVER RID: A man who lives a double life, neglects his responsibilities as a parent and steals from his business partner without trying to make amends to ALL of them doesn’t appear to have “changed.” Your children, parents and siblings have “chosen” to forgive and welcome him back into the fold regardless of how it affects you. (He must be one heck of a salesman.)
It’s time to look into your heart and decide how much of this togetherness (!) you can tolerate. Some discussions with a licensed mental health professional could be helpful in this regard. If, after that, you conclude that less contact with your parents and siblings under these circumstances would be healthier for you, then do what is best for yourself.

DEAR ABBY: My stepson is being released from prison after assaulting his 9-year-old stepdaughter in my home. He plans on living here with us, with his dad’s blessing. A few years ago, I was sexually assaulted, and I still suffer from PTSD because of it. It’s getting worse as the release date approaches.
My stepson has problems with drugs and alcohol as well as anger issues. He expects us to pay for whatever he wants. We have spent a third of our retirement money on his legal expenses, and there are no plans for him to pay us back. He has mistreated my dog several times, and I do not trust him.
Am I wrong for not wanting him in my home? My husband has turned a deaf ear to my concerns. I guess blood is thicker than water.
DREADING IT IN THE WEST

DEAR DREADING IT: Trust your instincts. Because your husband has chosen to ignore your concerns about his son living with you, the time has come for you to take care of yourself. Consult an attorney about protecting whatever assets you still have before they are completely depleted, take your dog and get out of there NOW. Believe me, you have my sympathy.
***
For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order “How to Be Popular.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

St. Mary schools will stay with current COVID protocols

Tue, 02/22/2022 - 1:11pm
Staff Report

St. Mary Parish public schools will continue with their current protocols for students and staff members who have been exposed to COVID-19, Superintendent Dr. Teresa Bagwell said in an email this week.
The Louisiana Department of Health last week issued new guidelines for schools with additional options designed to keep more students in class through testing and mask requirements.
Bagwell said Friday that she talked with Lydia Duval, the district’s nurse facilitator, about the new options.
“At this time, the school system will continue to employ the protocols we have in place as we have experienced success in conservatively quarantining only those who meet the stipulations of close contact in consideration of their vaccination status,” Bagwell wrote.
“Throughout this pandemic, we have cautiously monitored and responded to any person exhibiting symptoms or who reports having close contact with an individual known to be Covid-19 positive and as a result, have been able to keep our schools operational for in-person learning.
“As cases are diminishing, we are looking forward to gradually returning schools to near normal and reinstituting social activities that are long-held traditions especially at the high school level.”
Last year, the state gave schools an alternative to a total mask requirement: quarantining students and faculty members for five days after exposure to COVID, in agreement with Centers for Disease Control guidelines. Vaccinated students and staff members are exempt from the quarantine but are required to wear masks for 10 days after an exposure.
Last week, the Louisiana Department of Health offered further alternatives for K-12 schools. The new guidelines allow unvaccinated students and staff members to return to school without quarantine after being exposed, but require two tests within five days and masks for 10 days.
As the pandemic enters its third year, public health and education officials have become increasingly concerned about the impact of lost classroom time on academic development, socialization and the delivery of services such as nutrition, health care and counseling.
The new Health Department guidance comes as the fifth surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the rapidly transmissible omicron variant, continues to wane.
On Monday, the Louisiana Office of Public Health reported 2,029 new COVID cases statewide, about a seventh of the number of daily new cases during the winter’s omicron peak. The OPH reported that 731 COVID-positive people were in Louisiana hospitals, about a third of the highest number during the omicron surge.
In St. Mary, the pandemic case count was at 12,385 Monday. The OPH said the pandemic death toll for the parish is at 253, including 23 since Jan. 1.

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