The Times 12-30-15

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015

VOL XIX, NO. 28

25 CENTS

2 SECTIONS, 26 PAGES

Gun violence top 2015 story Claudet reflects on 8 years at the helm of Terrebonne government

BY KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com

FILE | THE TIMES

Crowds gather prior to a memorial for the victim of a fatal shooting on Morgan Street in Houma. 18-year-old Cory Butler was killed and three others wounded in a dispute characterized as drug-related on Oct. 28.

Leadership changes, deputy cleared other big stories

STAFF REPORT Civic leaders, clergy and local officials urged creation and support of programs and policies to reduce street violence, following a spate of killings – mostly drug-related – in Houma and other Terrebonne Parish communities. Concerns reached a crescendo when 18-year-old Cory Butler was killed Oct. 28 on Morgan Street in an incident that left three other young men wounded.

NEW LEADERSHIP IN BAYOU PARISHES The year in politics saw some notable upsets, with the election of perennial candidate Jimmy Cantrelle as Lafourche Parish President, ousting long-time parish chief executive Charlotte Randolph.

Two incumbent state legislators, Lenar Whitney and Joe Harrison, were bested by challengers Tanner Magee and Beryl Amedee, respectively.

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, barred from a third try at office because of parish term limit laws, was replaced by former State Rep. Gordon Dove.

SEE NEWS, PAGE A2

Terrebonne hikes maximum salary for executives

BY KARL GOMMEL jkarl@rushing-media.com

The Terrebonne Parish Council has agreed to raise the maximum salaries for executive positions within the consolidated government by $10,000.

The ordinance will affect 13 Terrebonne Parish employees, with their new maximum salaries from about $107,000 to about $143,000.

While these employees did not earn

any raise, the midpoints for their salary ranges also increased.

Parish President Michel Claudet put the ordinance on last Wednesday’s council agenda. He stressed that nobody has received a raise, but that the ordinance gives Parish President-elect Gordon Dove more flexibility in making hires.

“It was important to get it done before so the new parish president SEE SALARIES, PAGE A3

Michel Claudet will make way Monday for Gordon Dove as Terrebonne Parish President. The outgoing president took some time to reflect on his eight years in office.

The CPA, lawyer and businessman from Lockport had been in Terrebonne since 1981, and had never sought public office before his bid for the parish president’s desk. What pushed him to seek the highest position in local government?

“It just didn’t seem like we were moving forward. Consequently I just thought maybe I could get some projects done,” he said.

Claudet assumed office on Jan. 14, 2008 after defeating Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter in a runoff election. He was not given time to ease into his new role, as hurricanes Gustav and Ike slammed Terrebonne during his first year in office. Claudet, still a green parish president, ceded emergency powers to then-sheriff Vernon Bourgeois in response to Gustav.

“That was quite challenging.

I came in and I was brand new, I didn’t know the people, their abilities or what could be done for the parish. I asked for the assistance of the sheriff at the time, he was gracious to come in and assist. And we were very pleased,” Claudet said.

However, admitting his need for help in such a time earned Terrebonne’s president the ire of his predecessors. Two previous parish presidents called for his resig-

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Terrebonne Parish President Michel Caudet speaks at a Terrebonne Parish Council committee meeting. nation shortly thereafter, and a petition began to circulate calling for a recall election that could have ousted him from office. While the petition never gained steam, it still was not welcome news to the firstyear administrator.

“It was obviously like a kick in the gut where you thought you were working hard and trying to do a good thing, then they filed a recall petition. Thankfully, it was later dismissed and it’s been clear sailing since then,” he said.

Claudet said the time of passing the baton during emergencies is no more. He talked about the plan his administration has developed for storms as well as a facility under construction for the Terrebonne Office of Homeland Security and SEE CLAUDET, PAGE A2

Hurricane help group marks a victory

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com

JAMES LOISELLE | THE TIMES

Michelle Liner of TRAC looks on with Mike and Lora Songe as the Rev. Mike Tran blesses the Songe’s east Houma residence on Dec. 22.

In a modest east Houma ranch-style home last week, the Rev. Mike Tran of Annunziata Catholic Church read aloud from a prayer book, and dispersed holy water in the kitchen, during a celebration of prayers that were answered for a family that has had more than their share of illness and setbacks.

It was a group that helped them to help others in prior times of need that coordinated the help that made a difference for Mike and Lora Songe, and during the small gathering that the priest attended there were smiles and even a few tears.

YOU NEED TO KNOW...

SEE HOUSE, PAGE A3

WHAT HE SAID...

Rushing Media to close for holidays

Tax Amnesty ends Thursday

Chamber banquet tickets on sale

The Rushing Media office at 6160 W. Park Ave. in Houma, will be closed at noon on Thursday and Friday in observance of the New Year’s holiday.

Business will resume on Monday, Jan. 4.

Those wishing to place classified advertisements in either The Times or our sister publication, The Weekly, may visit our website, www.houmatimes. com.

Those who owe delinquent taxes have until New Year’s Eve to clear their tax bills during the state’s amnesty period.

Those who agree to settle their accounts must pay 100 percent of delinquent taxes, 83 percent of the remaining interest and 67 percent of the penalties due, with the Secretary of Revenue waiving the remaining interest and penalties.

For more information, call 1-866-7829241.

Those interested will have until Jan. 8 to make reservations for the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce’s 87th Annual Banquet.

The banquet will take place at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center on Jan. 20 from 6 to 9 p.m. Retired Shreveport fire chief Sandy Davis is the guest speaker for the event. Tickets are $75.

Contact the chamber at 876-5600 by next Friday to make ticket reservations.

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‘I’m going to travel.

And I’m going to do things that don’t have anything to do with government.’

Outgoing Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet

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NEWS: Local headlines included change of command at Houma, Thibodaux police departments S FROM PAGE A1

to new digs at a different prison.

SAME SEX MARRIAGES

NEW TOP COPS

For the first time in history parish clerks of court in Terrebonne and Lafourche issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which found that state laws barring such couples from matrimony violates the U.S. Constitution. Rebecca Graham and Kada Howard were issued their license in Terrebonne on June 29 by Clerk of Court Theresa Robichaux; in Lafourche Parish Katelyn Hebert and Jamie Malgum Hebert of Cut Off were issued licenses at the court clerk’s satellite office in Cut Off.

PARISH BUILDINGS A new emergency operations center, animal shelter and juvenile detention center are among projects now under construction on the La. 311 corridor in Terrebonne Parish, all cornerstones of the legacy outgoing Parish President Michel Claudet hopes he will leave.

DEPUTY CLEARED IN SHOOTING OF TEEN Tension was palpable for months as authorities investigated the shooting death of a Houma teen, Cameron Tillman, by Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Preston

FILE | THE TIMES

A firefighter looks on after a fire continues to smoke after an explosion at the Williams Pipeline facility on Bayou Black Drive in Gibson. Three workers were killed in the Oct. 8 explosion and another died days later.

Norman. Relatives question the necessity of the shooting, branding it murder, while authorities maintained that Norman acted by the book, and had no choice but to fire because he believed his life was in danger. Norman and other deputies were investigating a report of “juveniles” in an abandoned house on Kirkglen Loop in Houma.

After knocking on the door and announcing himself, Norman was confronted by what appeared to be a pistol-wielding Tillman. The

object he held, authorities determined, was a replica of a .45 caliber pistol.

A Terrebonne grand jury cleared Norman of wrong-doing but a civil lawsuit against him and Sheriff Jerry Larpenter is pending in federal court.

LOUVIERE’S LIFE SPARED Former Terrebonne deputy Chad Louviere was spared the ultimate penalty for the murder of bank teller Pamela Duplantis and related crimes after more than a

year of post-conviction relief hearings before District Judge Johnny Walker, 19 years after a 25-hour standoff with local officers.

Prosecutors and Louviere’s attorneys reached an agreement halting any and all requests for a new trial in return for a one-way trip to the lethal injection table being permanently removed from the judicial table. Louviere made headlines again at year’s end when he was moved from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola

Both Houma and Thibodaux got new police chiefs this year, but under contrasting circumstances.

In Thibodaux Bryan Zeringue, a former state trooper, took the reins of the city police department, following the retirement of Scott Silveri.

In Houma, Lt. Dana Coleman was selected to lead after the abrupt departure of former chief Todd Duplantis. Duplantis’ retirement, reporting by The Times indicated, was little more than a sugar-coated dismissal related to litigation brought by a department sergeant, Kyle Faulk. HPD officers appear to have rallied behind Coleman, who is also the city’s first black police chief.

NEW JAIL FOR LAFOURCHE After years of debate and hard lobbying by Sheriff Craig Webre, Lafourche Parish officially approved construction of a new jail to replace its outmoded and unsafe lockup. Webre purchased 42 acres of land for the new facility once voters approved a tax initiative, and completion is expected in about two years.

HTV

A Jefferson Parish judge h rejected claims by HTV president Martin Folse that v a lawsuitsegment aired last C year on his television station was an exercise in silencing m his crusade to expose deal- a ers of synthetic marijuana v A and insistence that locals avoid stores and gas stations A not owned by “Americans.” m B The decision paved the way for a lawsuit against the b television mogul to proceed. t It arose from a segment on the station reporting a 2014 c dispute between a clerk at p i the Roadrunner store on St. Charles Street near La. r Highway 311 and a neurop surgeon over a purchase o of chewing tobacco that escalated into an argument e i about veterans. p h WILLIAMS BLAST Three workers were killed t Oct. 8 and another died days after, in connection with an s explosion at the Williams Pipeline company on Bayou Black Drive in Gibson.

A federal investigation of the blast continues, during which the Gibson facility, which dries and purifies raw natural gas pumped from the Gulf of Mexico to a 10,000 mile national pipeline network, remains shut down. o Lawsuits brought by fam- a ilies of the dead are pending t d in court. t f 2

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M c T A Claudet said that he has offered Dove ad- n vice for the job when prompted, but he is not o imposing on his successor’s own plans.

C “Gordy’s a really smart individual, and he r also has been around Terrebonne Parish, its w government and the workings of government for quite some time. He’s pretty knowledgeable, and I’ve tried not to really tell him what to do,” Claudet said.

The current president said that he had to put his private life on the backburner when he took the top job in the parish, including selling off most of his business interests and spending long hours at the office. He said he hopes he can recover that part of his life once Dove takes over.

As for what Claudet’s other plans are for when he leaves office?

“I’m going to travel,” he said. “And I’m going to do things that don’t have anything to do with government.”

CLAUDET: Outgoing parish president says Biggert-Waters, construction projects big wins FROM PAGE A1 Emergency Preparedness that will be able to handle the strongest of storms.

“Since that time, we’ve developed an Office of Emergency Preparedness that’s second to none in the state. We have a unified command and we’re building a Cat 5 facility out on the northern part of the area right on Government Street,” he said.

Speaking about construction and ongoing projects with Claudet leads to a quick recitation of underway or completed infrastructure improvements. The Westside Boulevard Bridge, Valhi Boulevard extension, Thompson Road extension, St. Ann Bridge and the Bayouside Bridge among them, as well as the Westside Boulevard extension.

According to Claudet, improving these roads helped the productivity of the residents by making it easier for them to get

around, but it also helps catch the eyes of businesses looking to invest in the area.

“It helps attract businesses that get in and out. Businesses want to be in our area because we have a gateway to the Gulf. Consequently, if we can provide the roads, the sewer, then it’s a really good thing, that they can come in and they can locate down here,” he said.

All of these projects do not come without issues. The parish needs to acquire the land to do the construction. Some residents do not wish to sell their property, which leads the parish to go through the expropriation process, where a judge may order a sale in return for a payment of appraised value. And what of the residents incensed by the parish taking their land to build a new road?

“Not everybody’s amicable to deal with,” he said.

Among goals Claudet said he could not re-

solve – but wishes he had – is a long-standing boundary dispute between Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

“I would have really liked to have accomplished the boundary dispute between Terrebonne and Lafourche. And I started a little bit late, and unfortunately we had some problems going forward,” Claudet said.

The outgoing president listed his largest achievement as the building of a coalition of parish presidents in the state to fight against the Biggert-Waters Act and the insurance premium price hikes it was set to bring.

After continued appeals and trips to Washington, D.C. by Louisiana leaders, Congress voted in 2014 to avert the large hikes.

“We started Biggert-Waters in this conference room, where I had a conference call with all the southern parish presidents, and we all recognized the problem. We said we needed to go forward,” he said.

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SALARIES: Increase will benefit new hires FROM PAGE A1 has some latitude to fill vacating parish positions,” Claudet said.

However, some council members did not agree with approving the raise now. The vote was 5-2 in favor, with Arlanda Williams and Beryl Amedee absent from the meeting. Councilmen Danny Babin and Russell Hornsby both voted against raising the maximum pay.

Hornsby said that with the current weak economy, the parish should not be proposing such ordinances.

“It’s the timing that is not right on this. I would have probably voted for this if oil was at $100 a barrel, the economy was booming like it had been the three years previous to this year. I would have had no problem with that,” Hornsby said.

Babin echoed Hornsby’s statements that he would

have probably voted in favor of it had the economy been in better shape. He stressed that the parish must spend taxpayer dollars wisely, particularly in these lean times.

“It’s taxpayer dollars; your dollars and my dollars.

Sometimes does that make it easier to spend? Well, yeah, but we have a fiduciary responsibility to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar. I just think that this is a poor time,” Babin said.

Both councilmen expressed skepticism that passing this ordinance would not result in a raise for an incoming executive for the parish.

“Why are they asking for an increase in salary ranges if in the back of their mind they’re not intending on bumping the salary? That doesn’t make any sense,” Hornsby said.

Babin tried to delay the vote and put it to a public

hearing for the first meeting of the new parish government in January. However, the council voted down his efforts.

“I think something as important as this should be voted on by the new council, not this outgoing council,” Babin said.

At the council meeting, Claudet noted that a lot of executive positions in Terrebonne have salaries that were not competitive with industry standards.

“When I came in for my initial term, they had so many of the directors that were so far below what the private industry was at that particular time. We needed to do certain things,” he said.

“Right now in private business, in the private sector, people are cutting jobs by the thousands. Businesses are having to close their doors, and my thinking is

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Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government Proposed Pay Structure Executives Job Title

Pay Frequency

Min

Mid

Max

Annual Monthly Hourly

$64,650 $5,387 $31.08

$86,219 $7,185 $41.45

$107,768 $8,982 $51.82

Annual Monthly Hourly

$69,822 $5,818 $33.57

$92,717 $7,726 $44.58

$115,612 $9,634 $55.82

Grade III Housing and Human Services Director, Planning and Zoning Director, Public Works Director, Risk Management & Human Resources Director

Annual Monthly Hourly

$75,407 $6,284 $36.25

$99,734 $8,311 $47.95

$124,060 $10,338 $59.64

Grade IV Chief Financial Officer, Utilities Director, Public Safety Director

Annual Monthly Hourly

$107,313 $8,943 $51.59

$133,185 $11,099 $64.03

Grade V Parish Manager

Annual Monthly Hourly

$115,498 $9,625 $55.53

$143,040 $11,920 $68.77

Grade I Juvenile Detention Center Director, Convention Center Director, Coastal Restoration Director Grade II O.H.S.E.P. Director, Parks & Recreation Director

that you should be able to find somebody that could work for the present salary

ranges,” Hornsby said.

Claudet said helping attract the best candidates to

$81,440 $6,787 $39.15 $87,955 $7,330 $42.29

replace key staff was vital.

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“There will be a number

HOUSE: Repairs were a blessing but Terrebonne group that helped now needs help, too FROM PAGE A1 The Songes, who helped others rebuild after devastating hurricanes, were themselves victimized by a domino-like series of events that began with damage from Hurricane Isaac in 2012.

For years before that Mike, a licensed electrician, coordinated with the Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition, a local non-profit that works with other groups like Catholic Charities to identify and render assistance to those whose needs are not met by

FEMA, other federal agencies or insurance payouts.

Rob Gorman, a TRAC board member and director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, said that Mike took on jobs at highly reduced rates or in many cases for no compensation at all, when informed by the organization of needful families.

“He believes in helping our community build back better after a storm,” Gorman said, recalling the gratis work Mike did after storms like Katrina, Rita and Gustav.

But after Hurricane

Isaac struck Houma and surrounding communities in 2012, it was Mike who needed help.

The Songe’s roof was severely damaged by Isaac, and he repaired it using money from an insurance claim. But the fix didn’t hold, and soon the Songes were routinely using buckets to catch water in their bedroom, a scenario that turned even minor rain events into severe challenges. Damage to ceilings developed into more damage in the walls, and mold spread throughout the modest east Houma dwelling.

In remission from bladder cancer when the storm hit, Mike learned in the midst of the turmoil that it had returned. Sidelined with the effects of radiation and chemotherapy, he was resigned to what became an unmanageable state of affairs. But he never approached the people who had helped him help others for help.

“I wanted to see what other avenues I could go through,” Mike later explained, sensitive to the potential that others were in worse straits than himself.

It was when a TRAC representative called to ask for

help with another family’s problems that Mike let his situation be known. The organization immediately helped him with paperwork for a federal loan, which was denied. Then TRAC coordinated a visit from a roofer and other contractors who got to work, knowing that Mike was in a dire situation.

“They did a wonderful job,” said Mike, whose illness is now being managed with medication, and who is doing electrical work.

Last week, in a home now fully repaired, Mike and Lora offered prayers of thanks during the blessing.

“It was very important,” he said of the help TRAC put together. “It was priceless.”

But Gorman, who attended the blessing, said the ability of TRAC to do future good work is in severe jeopardy.

“Without the TRAC and Catholic Charities partnership this recovery story could not have happened,” Gorman said. “We have, fortunately, gone so many years without a major hurricane that we tend to forget about preparedness and those families still trying to recover from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and Isaac and the BP Oil Spill.”

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First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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OUR VIEW

TALK ON THE STREET

New focus in a new year

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s we enter 2016 the need for local elected representatives to courageously and proactively address the needs of communities in the Bayou Region is more important than ever.

We have seen too often in the past missed opportunities for local government to take charge of seeking solutions. Parish councils in Terrebonne and Lafourche have the ability and the authority to start discussing a need for change as to how public concerns are prioritized and handled.

Robust and respectful debate geared toward problem solving is ever more needed. We have great minds in both these parishes and they should be tapped for what they can lend to discussions.

In Lafourche, serious discussion has already been suggested regarding the levee system that protects residences and businesses from flooding. It took little more than a strong south wind last week to cause flooding in the streets of Leeville, or what is left of Leeville.

Lafourche Parish has long been a leader in protecting its people from the ravages of storms and other natural conditions which, when coupled with problems related to global temperature change, just become more acute.

In Terrebonne Parish, the work of protecting and restoring the coast is well under way, and while the problem certainly needs tending, there is more work that needs to be done in other areas.

One of the most important goals the Terrebonne Parish Council can have this year is for its members and the executive branch to have a thorough knowledge of how and why violent crime – in particular crime committed by people with guns – remains a problem.

That much of the violence is intertwined with illicit drug traffic is undeniable.

But for too long we have regarded these issues as strictly being for law enforcement to solve.

Among the ideas that have been brought up over this past year is creation of a blue-ribbon panel to determine how the connection between young people and such street violence can be severed. No easy task, to be sure. But a committee should be assembled whose sole purpose is to identify the problem and recommend solutions within the reach of local government, including the securing of grant money to coordinate and directly fund violence prevention efforts.

Also of importance, particularly in Terrebonne, is the need to address how the parish can more directly have a voice in matters pertaining to mental health services.

Lafourche Parish has long done a good job at integrating the need for mental health care with the various programs offered by the state, although things in that department are far from perfect.

In Terrebonne, council members need to direct efforts to see what ways local government can more clearly chart a course for availability of services. The state’s management of mental health care has been slipshod and in many ways not nearly as effective as it should be.

One big boost will be incoming Gov. John Bel Edwards’ support for expansion of Medicaid in Louisiana. Taking advantage of the federal government’s offer will mean more Louisianans can access not just care for what ails the body, but also the mind. And the connections between an effective mental health service infrastructure and a better quality of life for all cannot at this point be ignored or denied.

Council members are not doctors and not sociologists. But they do have the ability to gather the best information possible to determine how they can be part of the solution.

They need to invite health care providers, law enforcement, prosecutors and anyone else who has potentially valuable insight to put their heads together and come up with solutions.

How, one may ask, can a small local government begin to determine such things?

The answer lies in the heads of the experts who can be tapped for providing just such information. And the imprimatur of an elected body, through encouragement of a discussion, can go a long way toward making things better in the future.

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Brian Rushing Shell Armstrong Deanne Ratliff Gavin Stevens

Newsroom John DeSantis Mary Downer Ditch Melissa Duet Casey Gisclair Karl Gommel

Publisher Editor-in-Chief Sales Director Creative Director

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What residents are saying about today’s issues

What do you want to see political leaders do in 2016?

DJ COLLINS

FRED HAMNER

MADDIE LEVRON

SARAH FOLEY

KAYLA WILLIAMS

ASHLEY JACOBS

Houma

Houma

Thibodaux

Houma

Gray

Houma

I want to see our education system make a comeback.

They’ve been cut for too long. I want John Bel Edwards and the others to give them some life.

I think it’s time we fix our erosion problem. How many times can we get lucky and avoid a busy storm season?

I’d like our roads to be paved and projects to be fixed.

We have a lot of construction going on. Let’s get that all finished up.

I hope it’s education. Or something to make the oilfield get back to where it was before. It’s a troubling time for those guys.

Anything to keep the economy pushing. I have a job today, but I may not tomorrow. Things are getting tough around the country.

Education. Education. Education. We can’t keep cutting our schools. We have to give them back what’s been lost.

A a w e

Cherish open government BAYOUSIDE

JOHN DeSANTIS

Senior Staff Writer

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ithin a few days of these words being written, there will be some big changes in government, both at the executive level in Baton Rouge and right here, in Terrebonne and Lafourche.

A new governor has been elected, and a new chief executive for each of these parishes. New members for each parish council will be taking their seats.

Promises have been made, honeymoon periods are likely in all cases, at least for a little while.

Gordon Dove did not run with any agenda in his race to the Parish President’s office other than promoting Gordon Dove, ostensibly for the sake of the parish as a whole. Danny Babin, who lost the election, likewise ran from a position of what he could do for the parish, and what he had to offer. Ultimately the voters made their choice.

In Lafourche Parish Jimmy Cantrelle bested Charlotte Randolph. She ran on her record. Cantrelle ran on his interpretation of her record.

But again, the choices voters made had little to do with the national partisan circus.

It would be nice to say that was the case in the governor’s race. But the election of John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, in a state where sympathies largely lie with the more conservative, and therefore more Republican principles, says a lot for the voters.

It was David Vitter, the Republican, who chose to make President Barack Obama, who is wildly unpopular here, an issue.

So where does all this leave us?

With a reminder for the new governor and the new parish presidents to bear in mind as their terms progress the principles upon which they were elected, and to pledge – to themselves if no one else – that they will stay true to them.

For Gordon Dove, this means a commitment to more transparency in local governmental affairs is necessary.

Dove’s predecessor, Michel Claudet, did many good things for Terrebonne Parish. It is likely that if not for term

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Gov. John Bel Edwards and Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove will have opportunities to build public trust.

limits – and indications that Claudet clearly had enough with public life – he would have been re-elected had he chosen to retain the position.

But Claudet’s time in office began and ended with a less than sterling record on transparency.

When problems with administration during Hurricane Gustav became an embarrassment, getting a clear accounting of what actually occurred was like pulling teeth. That was near the start of the Claudet years.

Toward the end of his time in office Claudet – after obfuscating the circumstances surrounding the Houma police chief’s retirement – chose to dodge accountability. As his term came closer to an end, Claudet became less accessible.

It is one of the problems when CEOs become elected officials. They find it difficult to function openly, because CEO’s don’t really have to.

To Claudet’s credit, he delegated fulfillment of public records requests to Al Levron, who became really good at this, and handled that position conscientiously.

The parish attorney, Courtney Alcock, doesn’t earn the same praise. Her position on public records matters was in almost all cases that of an adversary, rather than someone who must delicately balance ethical duty to a client – in this case the parish government

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– with an understanding of that need to be transparent whenever possible. She does not timely return phone calls from reporters. There is little room for negotiation on matters of records release, and she has not evinced an understanding of the state constitution’s presumption that all is public unless specifically stated otherwise in statute.

In Baton Rouge the arrogance of Bobby Jindal saw the governor’s power being used to bully legislation through that concealed the workings of government more than allow it to be revealed, laws passed by a legislature that wouldn’t say no.

Change has already occurred in that regard, and it is hoped that the new governor will stay a course of working to shine more sunlight on government’s workings.

As a state legislator, Gordon Dove has always been approachable and available, and there is little reason to think that will change, as he adopts his new role in the Government Tower.

At all levels, we are hopefully entering into an era when Louisiana will again stay true to the principles behind its oft-skirted sunshine laws, and make room for a new openness in government, as a way of properly meeting its mandate of serving the people, rather than those who are in seats of power.

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New Year opportunity for new spiritual growth

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WHAT A LIFE!

THE REV. WILMER L. TODD Guest Columnist

W JAMES LOISELLE THE TIMES

Foggy View

A double-crested cormorant eyes fishing potential on Bayou Terrebonne in Bourg last week, as a thick morning fog begins to lift. Do you have a photo you’d like to share? Send it – along with details on who, what, when and where the shot was taken and a contact number – to editor@rushing-media.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

BESE official seeks locals input Dear Residents of BESE District 3, Thank you for electing me to serve as your next BESE District 3 member. It is nothing short of an honor and privilege and I am grateful to have this opportunity. As a new member of the BESE Board, I am eager to partner with you as a community and with my colleagues on the board to create an environment that propels our children to achieve their greatest educational potential.

While we know our state, students, parents and educators face many challenges, I am certain they can be overcome through our working together to make things right for students. Our children deserve a quality education and they are absolutely worth fighting for. I will do my best to maintain your trust and respect as I consistently vote to put kids first during my service on the BESE Board.

Your input is very valuable to me as I make sure that Louisiana continues to be a state where people choose to live, work, and raise their families. That is why we – BESE Board Members and concerned citizens – must continue on the path of preparing our most valuable resources-our children- to be college, career and life ready.

Again, thank you for electing me and allowing me to represent you on the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). I will work hard to make our state’s education system serve students, parents, and teachers and be the pathway to success that it was created to be.

Sandy Holloway BESE District 3

Louisiana slips further in ‘Judicial Hellholes’ ranking Dear Editor, The Pelican State has once again been named one of the worst places in the nation to be sued. This year, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) singled out Louisiana as the No. 6 worst “judicial hellhole” in the country because of imbalanced courts and excessive litigation.

ATRA’s report defines “judicial hellholes” as jurisdictions in which “judges in civil cases systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner.” The goal is to “shine a light on imbalances in the courts and thereby encourage positive changes by the judges themselves and, when needed, through legislative action or the ballot box.” Louisiana has been featured in the annual report since it was first published in 2002.

These sentiments have been echoed by numerous other organizations as well. Recently, the Center for Public Integrity gave Louisiana an “F” for judicial accountability on its Corruption Risk Report Card, while the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform ranked Louisiana’s lawsuit climate 49th in the nation, a rating that is far below every one of our bordering states including: Arkansas (41), Mississippi (43) and Texas (40).

Clearly, there’s a pattern here.

Louisiana’s latest ranking in the Judicial Hellholes report is a timely reminder to the incoming administration and new lawmakers that we have some serious work to SEE LETTERS, PAGE A7

Food stamp change for La. makes sense GUEST COLUMN

JOHN KENNEDY Louisiana Treasurer Governor-Elect John Bel Edwards is thinking about waiving the requirement that able-bodied adults without dependents get a job, receive job training or perform public service as a condition of receiving food stamps. To waive this requirement would be a mistake. Here’s why.

In 1961, Alderson Muncy was in dire circumstances. A drop in the nation’s demand for coal had cost Muncy his job at a West Virginia mine. He lived in the poorest part of a poor state and had a wife and 13 children to feed.

The poverty in West Virginia touched the hearts of people across America. Muncy and his wife, Chloe, became the first recipients in the U.S. of food stamps. Handed $95 in food stamps, they used just $20 worth. Months later, they started chipping in for the cost of the food stamps after Alderson Muncy got a

temporary job. Within six years they were off food stamps altogether after Alderson Muncy found work with the state highway department.

The Muncy family exemplified the founding goal of the food stamp program. The program was never meant to produce a population that is dependent on government assistance. Food stamps are supposed to be temporary, short-term assistance: a bridge, not a parking lot.

Consider this. The food stamp program cost us as a nation $68 billion in 2010. This year, the cost was $73.8 billion even though the national unemployment rate has steadily dropped in five years. It isn’t sustainable, especially when you consider that the federal government has more than 70 anti-poverty programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care and social services to the low income. We’re not doing enough to help people thrive on their own.

A Democratic president and a Republican-led Congress enacted a much needed reform in 1996 by requiring able-bodied adults without dependents to work at least 20 hours a week or participate in job training in order to receive food stamps. If you can’t find SEE KENNEDY, PAGE A7

e are beginning a new year.

With every new year we have a chance to look at ourselves and see where we want to go and who we want to become. I want to pass on some advice of authors, poets and spiritual writers that might be helpful in your spiritual life.

Peggy Toney Horton tells us, “As the old year retires and a new one is born, we commit into the hands of our Creator the happenings of the past year and ask for direction and guidance in the new one.

May he grant us his grace, his tranquility and his wisdom!” Good advice.

Jonathan Edwards spells out a New Year’s Resolution quite simply, “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”

Basically, this is the first Commandment of the 10 – to put God first. Anyone or anything we put before God becomes our idol. God must be first.

Goran Persson reminds us of the second part of our loving: “Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” We need each other. What we do for the least of brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus.

We all want to be happy. No one else can make us happy. Happiness comes from within a person not for outside.

Others can share our happiness but we are responsible for our own happiness.

Helen Keller reminds us, “Your success and happiness lie in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you will form an invincible host against difficulties.”

To become fully alive in the Lord, we must learn to act instead of reacting.

Tucker Carlson put it well when he says, “I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn’t ‘Goals give us be nicer. Every direction. They once in a while someone barks put a powerful at me. My New force into play Year’s resolution is not to bark on a universal, back.” Try it! conscious and Our resolutions can be subconscious very profound but very simple. level.’

Cyril Cusack states his task for the year: “If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.” Most of the time we define ourselves by our roles in life – I am a mother, father, student, or by something we do – work in the oil fields, a secretary, etc. That is not who we are. We have to spend time reflecting on our lives and the qualities and characteristics that define our personalities.

Neil Gaiman reminds us that we learn by mistakes: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, SEE TODD, PAGE A7

BY JOE HELLER

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REMEMBERING RAYMOND ‘YAK’ YAKUPZACK

WWII Houma vet loved learning, fixing things, helping others

BY KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com Raymond Joseph Yakupzack was always doing something with knowledge. He was getting more of it, passing it along to whoever would listen or using it to rectify a problem.

He was born on Feb. 27, 1926, in New Iberia, the son of Noelie Breaux Yakupzack of New Iberia and Paul Yakupzack, a Polish immigrant. Raymond, or “Yak” as he was known, entered the working world young, delivering papers for a printer as a boy. According to Yak’s wife, Edwina Milsted Yakupzack, he carried lessons from that first job with him for the rest of his life.

“He was always very careful when he wrote letters; the printing had to be exactly right. He was always interested in the type of paper it was, and all that kind of thing,” Edwina said.

After graduating from St. Peters Catholic High School in 1942, Yak enlisted in the Navy to help the World War II effort. He served as a radio technician in the Pacific Theater, attached to the Army. He was part of one of the first landing parties following the two nuclear bombings. While he never second-guessed his country’s actions, Edwina said her husband was quite aware of the horror that was visited on the Japanese.

“He had seen it, how desolate it was. Of course, it was blocked off, they couldn’t get close to it. He said it was really, really terrible looking,” Edwina said.

Following the war, Yak continued pursuing his passion for electronics by studying electrical engineering at the Southwest Louisiana Institute, now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It was here that he and Edwina met each other.

According to Edwina, she and

COURTESY

A Houma resident for the last 66 years, Raymond Joseph “Yak” Yakupzack would read anything he could get his hands on and fix any technological issue someone had. Raymond Yakupzack died at the age of 89 on Dec. 4. her friends would hitchhike the 20 miles back to New Iberia after classes ended. One day, her classes ended at noon. Edwina’s sister didn’t want her getting a ride by herself, and she knew Yak headed home around the same time. She arranged for them to hitchhike together, although the two weren’t the best at getting home.

“When I had him there as a companion, we’d never get a ride. When I went by myself, we’d have a ride in 10 minutes. With him, the bus passed us up!” Edwina said.

As both time and cars passed the

OBITUARIES The abbreviated Terrebonne and Lafourche obituaries listed below can be viewed in full online at houmatimes.com.

two, a mutual affinity for cold ones warmed up each one to the other.

“So, he said, ‘You drink beer?’

I said, ‘Yeah, I drink beer,’ and that’s how we met. We did get a ride, eventually, about 7 o’clock,” Edwina said.

After 66 years of marriage, children Paul and Laura, four grandchildren and five-great grandchildren, that common ground seemed to have paid off. After graduation and marriage in 1949, the couple set up in Houma, where the husband worked for Schlumberger as an engineer. He worked with them

until 1955, and in 1957 he set up Yak’s Electronic Services, letting him tinker with gadgets full-time.

However, his business did not reap massive rewards, but not for any lack of technical skill. Instead, it was Yak’s love for the theoretical that held back his bottom line, according to Edwina.

“You say, I’ll put in a new picture tube and fix it in 10 minutes and you’re back in business. No, Yak wanted to find out why the picture tube didn’t work,” Edwina said.

“So, he would work for days and nights and everything, until he found the fine, little thing that was causing the problem, and he’d replace that.”

Raymond Saadi has known Edwina and her husband for the last 60 years through La Petit Theatre De Terrebonne. Raymond said that Yak’s love for fixing electronics and helping people extended to his friends, no questions asked.

“I don’t care what the situation was, what time of day, night, weekend, holidays. If you had a problem and you needed some help, you could call Yak and he’d be there for you. If I had stuff I couldn’t fix at my house, I could call Yak. He could fix almost anything,” Saadi said.

However, sometimes that helpfulness would pop up at the wrong times, such as when at a friend’s house. While the rest of the party was watching a television program, Yak would be oblivious to it, instead fretting about the technical aspects of the television itself. If the TV’s picture wasn’t quite right, Yak was not letting tact get in between him and the solution.

“Right in the middle of when you’re finding out who did it, Yak would jump up and screw around with it so you’d never find out who did it,” Edwina said.

Yak also worked with the City of Houma, managing the power and water plants and Waterworks Dis-

the Terrebonne Council on Aging.

Chauvin Funeral Home.

Bonnie Bouvier Adelaide Fonseca Adelaide Fonseca, 84, a native of Houma, La., died Dec. 25, 2015.

Mrs. Fonseca was a graduate of Terrebonne High School in 1948. She had a career as a beautician for more than 40 years. Mrs. Fonseca was a devout Catholic and lived a happy and fulfilled life. She was a parishioner of St. Bernadette Soubirous Catholic Church.

Mrs. Fonseca is survived by her son, Norman Paul Fonseca; two grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and brother, Charles Joseph Darcey.

Visitation is today, from 9 a.m. to service time, at St. Bernadette Soubirous Catholic Church. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:30 a.m. at the church, with burial at St. Francis de Sales Cemetery No. 2.

Chauvin Funeral Home.

Aubrey LeCompte Aubrey James LeCompte, 90, a native and resident of Chauvin, La., died at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

Mr. LeCompte was a member and parishioner of St. Joseph Catholic Church. He worked at Higgins during World War II. He was the owner of a hardware business and dry dock for 69 years. He was the secretary and treasurer for the Lacache School. He was an usher for many years at St. Joseph Church in Chauvin, LA. Mr. LeCompte is survived by his sons, Daniel, Timothy (Lorita) and John LeCompte; daughters, Linda (Larry) Chauvin, Dorian (Richard) Breaux and Corine (John) Ellis; brothers, Chester (Carolyn) and Charles (Leona) LeCompte; sisters, Helen Soudelier, Barbara (J.B.) Breaux; sister-in-law, Louella LeCompte; 15 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

Burial is at St. Joseph Catholic Church cemetery.

Chauvin Funeral Home.

Billie Pellegrin Billie Fae Stevens Pellegrin, 81, a native of Lafourche Crossing in Thibodaux and a resident of Houma, La., died at 7:44 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

Mrs. Pellegrin was a parishioner of Annunziata Catholic Church and a member of the Lady’s Altar Society for many years.

She is survived by her husband, L.P. Pellegrin; sons, Glynn (Susan), Lynn (Monica) and Barry (Monica) Pellegrin; daughter, Pamela Pellegrin; brothers, Michael and Gillis (Cecile) Guidry Jr.; sister, Norma Jane (Mickey) Duplantis; six grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; two godchildren; and godmother, Lily May Stevens.

Visitation is today, from 9 a.m. to service time, at Annunziata Catholic Church. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. at the church with burial at St. Francis de Sales Cemetery No. 2.

In lieu of flowers the family ask that donations be made to

Bonnie Bourgeois Bouvier, 66, a native and resident of Raceland, La., died Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

Mrs. Bouvier loved the outdoors, especially visiting her horses and rabbits, and going hunting and fishing. She worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

She is survived by her sons, Taylor and Henry Bouvier; daughter, Victoria (companion: Kirklin “Nookie” Matherne) Bouvier; sisters, Annette Bourgeois and Julie Sapia; brotherin-law, Val Babin; and seven grandchildren.

Falgout Funeral Home.

Joseph Jarreau Jr. Joseph C. “Joe” Jarreau Jr., a native of Lockport and a resident of Thibodaux, La., died Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015.

Mr. Jarreau is survived by his mother, Sonja F. Jarreau; daughter, Tiffany (Gerald) Sicard; brothers, Harris (Nikki) and Ron (Michelle) Jarreau; sisters, Lisa Jarreau Lachney and Monah Jarreau Folse; and five grandchildren.

A private burial will take place at a later date.

Samart-Mothe Funeral Home.

Clarence Breaux Clarence “Quock” Joseph Breaux Sr., 99, a native and resident of Larose, La., died Dec. 22, 2015.

Mr. Breaux was an avid gardener who loved the outdoors, being in the marsh, and going to the camp to trap, and did so up until his 90s. He loved telling stories and visiting with his family and friends, especially those at the truck stop, and enjoyed watching baseball.

Mr. Breaux is survived by his daughters Carolyn (Russell) Smith, Kathleen (Randall) Plaisance, and Pat (Norman) Guidry; 10 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; six great-great-grandchildren; brother, Numa Breaux; and sisters, Laura Rousse, Daisy Taylor and Victoria Yarborough.

Burial is at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church cemetery.

Samart-Mothe Funeral Home.

Celeste Eagle Celeste Lirette Eagle, 32, a native of Raceland and a resident of Houma, La., died Monday, Dec. 21, 2015.

Mrs. Eagle was a member of Lafourche Fire District No. 1 Volunteer. As in life, she continues to give to others by becoming an organ and tissue donor.

She is survived by her husband, Jared Eagle; stepson, Jude Eagle; daughters, Chloe and Ava Eagle; parents, John and Linda Foret Lirette; sisters, Allison Lirette and Stephanie Lirette Thibodaux; grandfather, Windom Foret; mother-inlaw, Susan Blakeman.

In lieu of flowers, donations to help with funeral expenses are greatly appreciated. Burial is at Holy Rosary Cemetery.

trict No. 1 for years. He took a brief break from local water to chase bigger engineering fish in the summer of 1961, trying to join Wernher von Braun’s rocket program with NASA. While Yak got the job in Cape Canaveral, Florida, his heritage got in the way. As a first-generation American, he wasn’t granted security clearance, and was sent to work in the other location in Huntsville, Alabama. By the time he earned clearance, he decided he’d rather be back in Houma, so he and Edwina returned.

Yak eventually earned a Master of Business Administration in 1980 from Nicholls, where he also taught as a professor in the engineering technology department.

His students would refer to their “firm, but fair” teacher’s tests as “Yak attacks,” and he reveled in the chance to impart knowledge to others. Between his love for technology and his limitless reading list, primarily books on World War II, Yak was always spouting off to someone about something.

“He was a character in a way, but he was very smart. He was erudite.

He read a lot of books and remembered what he read. He could talk to you about almost any subject,” Saadi said.

At Yak and Edwina’s home, there are multiple floor-to-ceiling bookcases, carrying volumes from a wide range of topics. While Edwina, an English teacher, always had eyes for fiction, her spouse would make her an expert in whatever technical or historical topic he was focused on. Raymond Joseph Yakupzack died on Dec. 4, 2015.

Edwina remembers her husband’s driven curiosity and desire to share fondly.

“Yak was a witty man,” his wife said. “He was strange in many ways. He was always fun. And he was always very knowledgeable.”

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Samart Funeral Home.

Lester Thomas Lester Dwayne Thomas, 41, a resident of Raceland and native of Morgan City, La., died at 2:46 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015.

Mr. Thomas is survived by his daughter, Lessix Thomas; son, Rashaud Thomas; mother, Joyce Skinner-Thomas; brothers, Jason (Earlisha) Thomas and Sheldon Skinner; sister, Leslie Skinner; grandfather, Emanuel Skinner Jr. Burial is at Morgan City Cemetery.

Jones Funeral Home.

William Desselle William Patrick Desselle, 55, a native of Houma and resident of Bourg, La., died at 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 21, 2015.

Mr. Desselle enjoyed fishing, hunting and the outdoors.

He is survived by his son, Ross (Heidi) Desselle; daughter, Brittany (Layne) Dupre; and sister, Susan (Myron) Neil.

Burial is at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary cemetery.

Chauvin Funeral Home.

Taylor Galjour Taylor J. Galjour, 58, a native and resident of Larose, La., died Monday, Dec. 21, 2015.

Mr. Galjour is survived by his wife, Patricia “Trish” Galjour; sons, Al Galjour and Josh Galjour; daughters, Dana Jo Lefort and Lacey Galjour; brothers, T-John Jr., Drake, Chris and Wade Galjour; sisters, Tina Reed and Dolic Galjour; and 10 grandchildren.

A private burial will take place at a later date.

Samart-Mothe Funeral Home.

Marion Danos Marion Savoie Danos, 83, a native and resident of Larose, La., died Monday, Dec. 21, 2015.

Mrs. Danos is survived by her husband, Tilman Danos; daughters, Paula Danos and Myra (Mark Anthony) Valentine; three grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and sisters, Ethlel Danos and Lois Cantrelle.

Burial is at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church Cemetery.

Samart-Mothe Funeral Home

Nelly Samanie Nelly Lorin Samanie, 94, a native of Dieppe, France and a resident of Houma, La., died Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.

Mrs. Samaine was a Stanley and Avon representative. She was an avid storyteller and loved to go fishing. She was the first Mardi Gras Queen for Shady Lane Apt. She also loved going to bingo on Wednesdays.

SEE OBITUARIES, PAGE A7

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OBITUARIES: FROM PAGE A1 She is survived by her daughters, Pierrette Todaro and Francoise “Pèpè” (Patrick) McKeever; stepdaughters, Marilyn Fitch and Gail (Jim) Russick; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; brother, Marcel Lorin; and sisters, Henriette, Lucy and Odette Lorin.

Samart Funeral Home

Doris Nuttall Doris Allene Nuttall, 92, a native of Steele, Mo., and a resident of Thibodaux, La., died at 10:48 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.

Mrs. Nuttall retired from the St. Mary Parish School Board where she worked as a clerk.

Mrs. Nuttall is survived by her daughters, Nita N. (Carlo) Streva and Becky N. (Carl) Richardson; brothers, Buck and Jerry Ballentine; sisters, June B. Moran and Shirley B. Manning; son-in-law, Lester Justilian; eight grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.

Ibert’s Funeral Home.

Lelia Meche Lelia Mier Meche, 84, a native of Rayne, La., and resident of Houma, La., died at 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.

Mrs. Meche was a parishioner of Maria Immacolata Catholic Church.

She never met a stranger and was quick with a smile.

Mrs. Meche is survived by her sons, Kirk (Ann) Meche and Kevin (Sandra) Meche; daughter, Kate Meche Franklin; brother, Harvey Mier; sister, Wilma Mier Meche; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Burial is at St. Francis de Sales Cemetery No. 2.

Chauvin Funeral Home.

Glenn Bruce Glenn A. Bruce, 54, a native and resident of Galliano, La., died Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015.

Mr. Bruce is survived by his wife, Lorie G. Bruce; and sisters, Cindy Adams, Tammy Dutzy, and Tina Griffin.

Burial is at Cheramie Cemetery.

Samart-Mothe Funeral Home.

Hypolite Nazio Hypolite B. Nazio Sr., 81, a native of Larose and a resident of Bayou Gauche, La., died Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015.

Mr. Nazio is survived by his wife, Judy Billiot Nazio; children, Francis (William) Boudreaux, Anna Dunn, Laura (Simon) Ferguson, Jo Ann (Tony Sr.) LeBeouf, and Hypolite (Brandy) Nazio Jr; stepsons, Jason (Jennifer) Ledet Sr. and Jeremy (Alicia) Figaro; sisters, Marceline (Dudley) Plaisance, Noel (Jerry) Nazio) and Lucretia Braveman; pet, Sadie, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Samart Funeral Home

Barbara McBride Barbara McBride, 65, a native of Labadieville and resident of Thibodaux, La., died Dec. 19, 2015.

Mrs. McBride is survived by her father, Wilbert Williams; sons, Wilfred Jr., Milton, Vernell, and Donald McBride; daughter, Wendy McBride; brothers, Ronnie, Gilbert, Roger, Donald and Sam McBride; sisters, Lilly Bailey, Mary Ann Edmond, and Janet Covington; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Burial is at New Morning Star Baptist Church cemetery.

Williams & Southall Funeral Home

Joseph Matthews Jr. Joseph Lee Matthews Jr., 62, a native of New Orleans and a resident of Thibodaux, La., died Friday, Dec. 18, 2015.

Mr. Matthews is survived by his brothers, Henry and Egerald Matthews; and sister, Annie Celestine.

A private burial will take place.

Kennedy Funeral Home.

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LETTERS: Louisiana’s economy threatened by litigation FROM PAGE A5 do to improve our state’s hostile legal climate if we want to truly compete in the global marketplace.

As low oil and gas prices threaten Louisiana’s economy, improving the state’s litigation environment is more important now than ever before. In contrast to tax credits and exemptions, legal reform is one of the few ways we can attract more jobs and businesses, and it doesn’t cost the state anything.

All we need is the political will to make significant changes to ensure that every citizen has access to fair and impartial courts.

One area that’s particularly ripe for reform is the excessively high threshold for jury trials in Louisiana.

Currently, the state’s $50,000 barrier for obtaining a jury trial allows elected judges to decide the outcome of the majority of small civil lawsuits. This process puts a lot of power in the hands of judges, who receive substantial campaign donations from personal injury lawyers, and it takes our citizens out of the process.

Other major reforms lawmakers should consider include: amendments to state venue laws to preclude lawyers from unreasonable forum shopping

in Louisiana courts; improvements to the regulatory process for handling environmental lawsuits to discourage the filing of frivolous claims; and transparency bills to ensure that members of the state judiciary are more accountable to taxpayers.

By making lawsuit reform a top priority in 2016, Louisiana can clean up its courts and shed its troubled legal reputation once and for all.

Melissa Landry Executive Director, Lawsuit Abuse Watch

TODD: New Year is an opportunity for new beginnings FROM PAGE A5 and more importantly, you’re doing something.”

We all need purpose and direction in our lives. Melody Beattie tells us, “Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This

helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come.

“Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level.

Goals give our life direction. What would you like to have happen in your life this year? What would you like to

do, to accomplish? What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you? What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?”

Brad Paisley reminds us, “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” Happy New Year!

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KENNEDY: Recipients should get a boost, then let go FROM PAGE A5 a paying job or a training program that works for you, then you can do volunteer work or take an unpaid job. This reform was designed to help people help themselves.

Again, we’re only talking about able-bodied adults without dependents.

We’re not talking about anyone younger than 18. We’re not talking about anyone older than 50. We’re not talking about the mentally ill or those physically unfit to work.

We’re not talking about a mother

with a hungry child in her arms.

The Brookings Institute puts it bluntly: The only way out of poverty is to work. Yet work rates for men in the U.S. are spiraling downward.

Louisiana received a waiver to the work requirement for food stamps during the 2008 recession. Earlier this year, we wisely decided to let the waiver expire, following the lead of more than a dozen other states.

I hope we continue to keep that waiver tossed out the window. We don’t need it.

Kansas dropped the waiver and saw

unemployment rates decrease. Maine did the same thing, and volunteerism skyrocketed.

I’m not telling people to starve. I’m telling them to grasp the hand extended to them, get a boost up the ladder and then let that hand go so the next person can be helped.

I’m telling them that we don’t want them to remain mired in poverty. I’m telling them to embrace the American dream and help devote limited resources to the old and the sick and the very young. Thrive so others less fortunate can survive.

Stoppers Bayou Region at 1-800-7437433.

missing baskets and slings used in oil production. The truck’s driver was caught on camera and appears to be a male with a tattoo on his left arm.

Crime Stoppers Bayou Region is also offering up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in this case.

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CRIME REPORTS

One arrested, one sought in Christmas Eve robbery Authorities have arrested one man and are searching for the other in relation to a Christmas Eve armed robbery in Cut Off. According to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff ’s Dantin Office, deputies responded just after 1 a.m. on Dec. 24 to assist Golden Meadow Police with an alleged armed robbery.

Authorities say two male subjects, one armed with a knife and another Billiot with a firearm, robbed two men outside of a Golden Meadow bar. Investigation led detectives to identify Storm Dantin, 27, of Cut Off and Ryan Billiot, 26, of Golden Meadow as the suspects.

Police obtained warrants for the two and arrested Billiot later that morning on a charge of armed robbery. Dantin is still at large.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Crime

Cell phone leads to contraband charge

Offshore company offers reward for equipment Tiger Offshore Rentals is offering a $25,000 reward for information regarding the theft of rental equipment earlier this year.

On September 19, a red or maroon International truck entered the business’s property and left with a trailer that had several “cuttings boxes,” used primarily for transporting drilling waste. Tiger personnel also discovered

A Houma woman was arrested Monday morning for allegedly bringing contraband into the Terrebonne Parish jail, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said.

Monday morning detectives contacted Jennifer Scott, 24, of 208 Southwood Drive, after it was revealed that she entered the jail recently with a cellular phone hidden in her sock.

Upon entering she met with an inmate during visitation and took pictures of the inmate, with the inmate’s knowledge, and posted the photographs on Facebook. Scott was transported to the jail where she was booked and jailed for one count of entering contraband into a penal facility where she awaits a bond hearing.

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OIL & GAS WOES State of industry tops local business stories in 2015

STAFF REPORT Layoffs and downsizing: The global free-fall in oil prices, while reducing pain at the pump for consumers, is taking its toll on the local economy. Local layoffs at Edison Chouest Offshore and at many small businesses dependent on a robust oilfield, along with global layoffs by companies such as Halliburton, Baker-Hughes and Chevron, are making for a dire 2016 in the Bayou Region. The silver lining in this ever-darkening cloud is that deep-water development continues. How much the decision by Congress to end the export ban on U.S. oil will affect the local picture remains to be seen, although local business voices say it could well be a year before any detectable change related to the welcome lifting of the ban might be locally felt. Other factors – at least in the case of Chouest – include the decision by Shell oil to abandon its Alaska program. That resulted in the canceling of vessels being built at ECO’s LAShip operation

in Houma. Chouest’s service fleet is also experiencing problems, the company’s manager, Roger White, confirmed. Baton Rouge economist Loren Scott is among industry observers who say there is little to fear in the long run, and that oil – and the region – will bounce back. “Today, we’re headed toward 60 rigs actively drilling in deep water,” Scott said. “People are coming back to the gulf. And the good news is we’ve had some ‘elephant’ finds.”

2. The ice cream scoop: Recalls of Blue Bell ice cream had a dire effect on a Houma family spot.

Scarlet Scoop, the iconic ice cream parlor on Barrow Street, shut its doors in June. Owner Bryan Nelson said he would not substitute his favorite brand, and will re-open when it is fully available for his clientele. If he can’t sell Blue Bell he will sell nothing at all. “We will not sell a cheaper brand of ice cream just to stay open,” said Nelson, who has been greeted during stops at his closed shop by numerous

post-its on the door from customers pledging their loyalty and their sorrow at the temporary closure of the business. The ice cream company, meanwhile, has begun to re-distribute a limited product line in Louisiana and a re-opening of Scarlet Scoop is imminent.

3. Lavis sold: Another Barrow Street business, Lavis Conoco, was sold to new owners late in 2015, who say they intend to keep the fully self-service filling station and repair shop operating in the manner it has for the past 67 years.

Lavis Bourg, Sr. originally started in the gas station business in 1957 when he opened the ’63 Texaco that was located on Barrow Street next to where New York Bagel Café & Deli is now. Then, in the early ‘60s, Lavis Bourg, Sr. moved from that location to a gas station on Main Street across from where Terrebonne General Medical Center is now. The Lavis Conoco still washes windshields, checks oil and performs other services routinely during fill-ups, and has a liberal

policy regarding accommodation of customers in emergency repair situations.

4. Shrimpers in a stew: A combination of devastatingly low dockside prices followed by shrinking catches kept local shrimpers on edge during the 2015 brown and white shrimp harvests.

The fishermen and processors said at year’s end that they are doing what they have always done in hard times, pray and hope for better hauls and prices next year.

The harvesters and dock owners did get something to cheer about toward year’s end. Rep. Charles Boustany’s PROTECT Act passed Congress fairly unscathed and is awaiting presidential signature.

Among the provisions of the act are creation of a dedicated unit within U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to prevent and investigate trade evasion, a requirement that the U.S. Department of Commerce establish procedures to ensure maximum cooperation and communication in order to quickly, effi-

ciently, and accurately investigate allegations of trade evasion, and a requirement that Customs report annually to Congress on its effort to combat evasion.

5. Five years after disaster, BP settlements continue: A $6.8 billion settlement with Gulf states including Louisiana was the big news this year in regard to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. But even as local entities like school boards and fire districts make plans for spending their windfalls, some local businesses have still not been compensated for their spill-related claims. A company spokesman, Jason Ryan, has maintained that the company is doing all it can to meet its responsibilities due to the spill.

“In the days immediately after the accident, BP alone among those involved stepped up, acknowledged our role, and committed to help restore the Gulf’s environment and economy,” Ryan said. “We have been working hard ever since to fulfill that commitment.

•

Don’t squander your time trying to change others DAVE SAYS

DAVE RAMSEY Financial Guru

Dear Dave, I haven’t spoken to my mom and sister in more than six months. Over time, I realized we have a real clash of moral values that has led to arguments and hard feelings. Lately, with it being a new year, I’ve found myself wanting to navigate things a little better and stop avoiding them. It’s been mostly just between myself and them, so my wife and kids are pretty insulated from the ugliness. Do you have any advice for handling situations such as these?

– Dave Dear Dave,

Well, the good news is it doesn’t sound like you’ve had to spend a lot of time with them. So their influence over you and your household has been minimal. Still, things like this are painful. These are people you love, even if they are hard to get along with or understand.

I’m not a family counselor, but my initial advice would be don’t try to change them.

And don’t take discussions too deep. If you get together, just keep things simple and on the surface. To the extent they try to invade your family, that’s where you have to put up a good solid boundary. You have to protect your family and try your best to keep bad influences at a distance. But I don’t think you’re going to fix them. Probably the best thing you can do is model sanity and reason in front of them.

A friend of mine who has some crazy inlaws says he adopts the bobblehead deal. He just sits there like a bobblehead and smiles and nods, no matter what craziness is swirling around. And that’s not a bad idea when

you think about it. You don’t want things getting ugly if you can help it, plus the chances of you changing a lifetime of toxic behaviors in one brief interaction are very small.

Pray for them, too, Dave. Then, if they ask for help, maybe you could insert some gentle wisdom. Don’t tell them what they’re doing is wrong or that they’re bad people. Just describe things you and your family have done and how you’ve handled similar situations. But until they bring it up, I wouldn’t go there.

– Dave

Structure things intelligently Dear Dave, I work as a software developer, and recently a co-worker approached me about starting a side business together. We would create apps for the legal community with advice from my wife, who is a lawyer. The only problem is that we’re in the middle of Baby Step 2 of your plan, and we still have

some debt to pay off. Do you think starting a business would be too risky at this point?

– Jeremy Dear Jeremy, It sounds to me like this is the kind of idea that would require more in the way of brain sweat and time than money. I would just think of it as a part-time side job and go for it. However, make sure you have a clear understanding of exactly how much – if any – financial support would be required. Set these financial boundaries, and also be clear on when you expect the business to make money.

One thing I would warn against is ending up in a partnership if this thing becomes a success. Partnerships are bad news in the business world, so I’d advise you to figure out a way to structure things where you each own different parts – something more along the lines of a joint venture.

But in terms of doing some side deals, SEE DAVE, PAGE A10

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DAVE: FROM PAGE A9 creating some cool new apps, and making money in the process? Absolutely, I would do that. Just figure out an intelligent way to structure the business and finances so you don’t get pinched!

– Dave

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored five New York Times best-selling books. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 8.5 million listeners each week on more than 550 radio stations.

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PERMITS • 42084144K, Nov. 25, Eclat Spa LLC, 1751 Martin Luther King Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; agent, Ut Em Pham 214 Lafayette Woods Blvd., Houma, La., 70363; member/manager, Phuc Luong, 214 Lafayette Woods Blvd., Houma, La. • 42084585K, 11/25/2015, Vapor Solutions Mathews LLC, 405 Westside Blvd. Ste. 34A, Houma, La., 70364; agent and member/manager, James Cantrelle II, 405 Westside Blvd. Houma, La., 70364; member/manager, Joseph Cantrelle, 405 Westside Blvd., Houma, La., 70364.

• 42086669K, 11/25/2015, AP Tools LLC, c/o Mark Anthony Hebert, 220 Cindy St., Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent

and member/manager; Mark Anthony Hebert.

• 42084024K, 11/25/2015, TBH Properties LLC, 515 Blake Ct. Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent and member/ manager, Thomas Harang, 515 Blake Ct. Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42084034K, 11/25/2015, Creole Consulting LLC, 1712 Joshua Drive, Houma, La., 70360; agents and members/ managers, Jude and Shelley Smith, 1712 Joshua Drive, Houma, La., 70360.

• 42087130K, 11/25/2015, Ocean Marine Recycling LLC, c/o Ryan T. Cheramie, 9084 Highway 182 E., Morgan City, La., 70380; agent and member/manager, Ryan T. Cheramie.

• 42082745K, 11/24/2015, Torres Heating & Cooling LLC, P.O. Box 127, Napoleonville, La., 70390; agent and member/manager, Beau Blanchard, 406 Highway 1012, Napoleonville, La., 70390.

• 42083127K, 11/24/2015, Gaubert Enterprises LLC, 309 Dunboyne Pl., Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent and member/manager, Vaughn Gaubert, 309 Dunboyne Pl., Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42083881K, 11/24/2015, Theriot’s Heating & Air Conditioning LLC, 110 Brothers Court, Pierre Part, La., 70339; agent and member/manager, Kyle Theriot, 110 Brothers Court, Pierre Part, La., 70339; member/manager, Jodi Ther-

iot, 110 Brothers Court, Pierre Part, La., 70339.

• 42081013D, 11/23/2015, Hosted PBX Inc., 103 Betty Ruby Drive Bldg. Gray, La., agent and of cer Dustin Henry, 103 Betty Ruby Drive, Gray, La., 70359.

• 42081531K, 11/23/2015, Golden Piggy LLC, 228 Progressive Blvd., Ste. 201, Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/manager, Alexi Plaisance, 228 Progressive Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; member/ manager, Kelly Mize, 175 N. Barrios Street, Lockport, La., 70374; member/manager, Danny Foret, 22 HMS Drive, Houma, La., 70364.

• 42091100K, Dec. 2, Carter Farms LLC, c/o Brent M. Douglas, 3372 Highway 1,

Raceland, La., 70394; agent and member/manager, Brent M. Douglas.

• 42086993K, Dec. 2, C3 Companies Of Houma LLC, 261 Klondyke Road, Bourg, La., 70343; agent and member/manager, Heather Comeaux, 261 Klondyke Road, Bourg, La., 70343; member/ manager, Spencer Comeaux, 261 Klondyke Road, Bourg, La., 70343.

• 42090151K, Dec. 1, GCE Properties LLC, 203 Westside Blvd. Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent, United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 1100 Poydras St., Ste. 2900, New Orleans, La., 70163; members/managers, Elizabeth and Nicholas Harvel Lawton, 203 Westside Blvd., Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42067774K, Nov. 30, Luckys Mart 1 LLC, 3121 W. Park Ave., Gray, La., 70359; agent and member/manager, Mustafa Saleh, 1110 N. Columbia St., Covington, La., 70433.

• 42085220K, Nov. 30, Test The Waters LLC, 4077 Highway 1 Bldg., Raceland, La., 70394; agent and member/ manager, Megan Morris, 230 Fir Street, Raceland, La., 70394.

• 42085405K, Nov. 30, London Reese Boutique LLC, 517 Wilson Ave., Houma, La., 703643164; agent and member/manager; Brooke Ory, 517 Wilson Ave., Houma, La., 703643164.

• 42088868K, Nov. 30, The Beatmaster LLC, c/o Trydail Marie Pharr, 5726 North Bayou Black Dr., Gibson, La., 70356; agent and member/ manager, Trydail Marie Pharr.

• 42082108K, Nov. 25, JD Stucco Services LLC, 301 Ann Carol Street, Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/ manager, Jason Dupre, 301 Ann Carol Street, Houma, La., 70360.

• 42083751K, Nov. 25, April Pierce, LPC LLC, 3408 La. Highway 1, Raceland, La., 70394; agent and member/ manager, April Pierce.

• 42084077K, Nov. 25, MTL Trucking LLC, 3812 Highway 70 South Ofc., Pierre Part, La., 70339; agent and member/manager, Matt Leonard, 3812 Highway 70 South, Pierre Part, La., 70339.

• 42090131K, Dec. 2, Rent A Racebike LLC, 189 East 7th Place, Cut Off, La., 70345; agent, United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 1100 Poydras St., Ste. 2900, New Orleans, La., 70163; member/ manager, Clint Austin, 189 East 7th Place, Cut Off, La., 70345.

• 42090432K, Dec. 2, Ladco LLC, 1905 Laredo Drive, Houma, La., 70360; agent, Ray L. Rhymes, 518 School Street, Houma, La., 70360; member/manager, Loretta Demmer, 4028 Heidelberg Drive, Baton Rouge, La., 70816.

• 42090940K, Dec. 2, Hunterreaux Holdings LLC, 115 Myrick Drive, Houma, La., 70360; agent, United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 1100 Poydras St., Ste. 2900, New Orleans, La., 70163; member/manager, Timothy Badeaux, 115 Myrick Drive, Houma, La., 70360.

• 42078650K, Dec. 4, Art

By Hans Geist LLC, c/o Hans Geist, 137 Ponderosa Lane, Gray, La., 70359; agent, Hans Geist; member/manager, Sonni Geist, 137 Ponderosa Lane, Gray, La., 70359.

• 42090417K, Dec. 3, Rentals Very Good LLC, 133 Nicole St., Houma, La., 70364; agent, Raul Badillo-Cardenas, 133 Nicole St., Houma, La., 70364; member/manager, Ivan Badillo-Ramirez, 133 Nicole St., Houma, La., 70364.

• 42091244K, Dec. 3, nof cial lan LLC Brentwood Dr., Houma, La., 703607180; agent and member/manager, Craig Nicholas, 324 Brentwood Dr., Houma, La., 70360; member/manager, Chelsey Nicholas.

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TOP 10 PICKS

South Lafourche freshman’s miraculous recovery biggest newsmaker in sports in 2015

FILE | THE TIMES

South Lafourche High school freshman Trevor Toups with his family. Following a life-threatening brain injury suffered at football practice, Toups was expected to be hospitalized for weeks. He left the hospital a few days after his emergency surgery.

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com Wow, 2015 was an action-packed year in the world of local sports – one of the busier 12-month stretches that we’ve had in recent memory.

Over the past year, we’ve seen miraculous stories of triumph and healing, coaching changes and state championships.

We saw professional dreams come true for some, and reality TV show hopes come to light for others.

It wasn’t easy to narrow down, but below are the Top 10 sports stories in the Houma-Thibodaux area for the 2015 calendar year.

Reminisce with us what’s been an amazing sports year.

We will surely miss all of the major players in the past year.

No. 1: Local freshman severely injured in practice, is comatose, then makes miraculous recovery South Lafourche High School freshman Trevor Toups’ life changed forever on Sept.

29. While practicing with the Tarpons freshman football team, Toups was hit and immediately fell to the ground.

He had suffered a life-threatening brain injury.

Thanks to immediate response from coaches and trainers, Toups was taken promptly to Lady of the Sea General Hospital in Galliano, where tests showed that his brain was swollen and bleeding.

He was airlifted to University Hospital in New Orleans and taken into immediate surgery, which left him in an induced coma upon its completion.

Doctors estimated that Toups could be in the hospital for weeks – if not months – while recovering.

He recovered miraculously and rode the power of prayer throughout the South Lafourche community to recovery. He left the hospital just a couple of days after his operation. Since the injury, Toups is recovering nicely, but still faces a daily battle. The initial operation removed a piece of his skull, which required another operation to put back into place. That operation gave Toups a staph infection, which caused doctors to re-remove the skull bone, clean it, then put it back into place.

Today, Trevor is about as close to 100 percent as anyone could ever imagine. He’s expected to return to school in the spring semester, and the only signs of his injury are a long, question mark-shaped scar that will forever be a reminder of that day – one that folks in that area will never forget.

No. 2: Rebowe turns around Nicholls football team

Top 5 stories for 2016 Before I get going, I’d like to personally wish a happy and prosperous New Year to every, single student athlete, coach and fan in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

Top to bottom, every guy and gal that I cover deserves a pat on the back for a job well done in 2015. The people who take the time out of their schedules to watch the games are worthy of a shoutout, too, because without their love of sports, my job would be a lot less interesting.

This issue marks my official sixth anniversary with this newspaper, and throughout the ride, I’ve build friendships and connections that will last forever – something I’m highly grateful for.

I’ve also seen some of the most exciting, entertaining games that I’d ever witnessed in my 28 years of living. To be able to witness those events are why I’d take my job over almost any other in the world, and for that, I feel extremely blessed and thankful.

Now, let’s get to business and delve into the meat of this final Casey’s Corner column of the year.

The 2015 calendar year was awesome for local sports, and I’ve had about as much fun this year than I have in any other year working at this paper.

We had good teams and good storylines across almost every sport, and the 11 high schools that I cover truly kept me on my toes at every turn.

We’ve done the best that we can to keep up with the grind and tell all of those stories, and several folks got a ton of ink in the process – stars like Harvey Allen, Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe CASEY’S and Tim Rebowe, among CORNER others.

But with a new year on the calendar, it’s time for other stars to rise up and shine in CASEY GISCLAIR 2016 and make their marks The Times Sports Editor on local sports.

Just a tip – keep an eye on these folks, because I promise you that each will be big-time newsmakers in the next year.

Pay no mind to the order. We’ve listed ‘em in alphabetical order to avoid confusion or competiton.

CASEY’S TOP 5 FOR ‘16 1. Terrebonne swimmer Alec Adams – Alec was on this list last year, and he proved us right, emerging as the area’s best swimmer and one of the top names in the state of Louisiana. With another year to train and prepare, we expect Adams to be even better in the new year. Adams is already a top dog, but he still has eyes on winning the state championship next fall. We’re not betting against him. He’s already shown in 2015 that he can do SEE GISCLAIR, PAGE B4

The 2015 football season was the most anticipated year in decades for Nicholls State University.

With a new coach who has promised mountains of change, the Colonels faithful united and rallied behind this year’s team, which returned just about every major piece from the year before.

Initially the Colonels struggled. Nicholls lost five-straight games to open the year, including shellackings at the hands of UL-Monroe, Colorado and McNeese State.

But around the midpoint of the season, something changed, and the Colonels became highly competitive. Nicholls won its first game of the Rebowe Era on Oct. 17, a 38-17 victory over Houston Baptist.

The Colonels fed off that win and got two others, road victories at Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana. The victory over the Lions came via a last-second field goal to cap

SEE TOP 10, PAGE B3

La.-based indoor league seeks teams A Louisiana-based pro football team needs players for the 2016 season.

The team’s administration is calling all locals in an effort to expand its talent pool to the Houma-Thibodaux area.

The Louisiana Cottonmouths will hold open tryouts on Jan. 17 at the Coquille Sports Park in Covington. The first ball will be put in play at 10 a.m.

Chris Conway with the Cottonmouths circulated a Facebook post this weekend calling on locals to try and earn a spot on the team.

Same-day registration is $60 and pre-registration is $50. To inquire about registration, interested players should email lacottonmouths@ gmail.com.

“There is talent in that area, and we want them to be a part of our football team,” Conway said. “We want people to come out and show us what they can do. We have an open mind. We’re going to keep the best players.”

The Cottonmouths play in a league rich with competition. The upstart franchise is part of the American Indoor Football League, which has divisions across the country.

The Cottonmouths play in the Western Division and will compete with Steel City, Corpus Christi, Abilene, Northshore and New Mexico.

Conway said the division is among the best in the entire league.

“Those are all some of the best teams in the league,” he said. “The South loves their football.”

The Cottonmouths don’t play in the Houma-Thibodaux area, but they aren’t too far away, either.

The team plays in Gonzales at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, which is about 45 minutes away from the area.

Conway said he has seen a lot of local football and knows the area is rich in talent – players he wants as part of the franchise.

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P L AY E R O F T H E W E E K

Grace Champagne

P R E P S O C C E R• S T R I K E R •J U N I O R

Name:

Grace Champagne

School:

Vandebilt Catholic High School

Grade:

I am a junior.

Position:

I am primarily a striker. I play all over the field, but that is the position I spend the most time playing throughout the game and season.

Best Achievement:

I won District MVP last season. That was something that I definitely cherish and hope to do again this season for our team.

Best Known For:

Starting as an eighth grader for the Vandebilt soccer team – something that few people are gifted enough to do. Champagne was among the team’s leaders in goals as an eighth grader.

Goal For 2016:

We want to win the State Championship. We’ve come up short the past few years, but we want to push through this year and get to our goal. We think we have the talent in place to make it happen.

What Does Her Coach Say?

“Grace is an excellent player and a fantastic teammate.

She works hard and leads by example. She’s played a lot of soccer for us, and she’s someone that we know what to expect out of every time we take the field. She’s a terrific kid and a great player.”

– Philip Amedee

Credentials:

Grace Champagne is a heck of a soccer player.

A starter since the eighth grade, Champagne is quickly climbing up the charts in Vandebilt soccer history, emerging as one of the top goal scoring threats of recent years. Champagne still has a season and a half left of eligibility for Vandebilt. She said that her No. 1 goal is to help lead the Lady Terriers to the Division II State Championship - a prize that has eluded the team in recent years..

To submit your nomination for our weekly Player of the Week series, email casey@rushing-media.com.

CASEY GISCLAIR | THE TIMES

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TOP 10: Loupe yields WWE deal, despite second place finish on ‘Tough Enough’ reality TV show FROM PAGE B1

destiny, scoring a thrilling 2-1 home win over No. 1 Beau Chene to earn a spot in the finals.

In the final match, the Terriers topped No. 7 Ben Franklin – the same team that had beaten Vandebilt 4-1 during the regular season.

Terriers goalie Charles Doskey was a mammoth in the title-winning match, making several Herculean saves to keep Ben Franklin out of the net.

the team’s 3-8 season.

But more important than the win/loss record in Thibodaux is what’s going on behind the scenes. The Colonels are becoming a recruiting leader – a program that is getting its pick of local talent. Local stars Anfernee Poindexter, Jacob Jackson and Harvey Allen are committed to the team’s 2016 Signing Class, which features more than a dozen verbal commitments already.

Combine the young blood with a defense that returns all 11 starters for 2016, and Rebowe thinks that his team is pretty close to competing for a Southland Title. Time will tell, but the Colonels are surely closer today than they were at this time last year.

No. 7: Nicholls bass nearly wins National Championship Prior to 2015, most people weren’t aware that Nicholls State University had an active bass fishing team.

But by the fall, that

No. 3: Local nearly wins WWE reality TV show In 2015, the wrestling world fell in love with Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe. The Bayou Boeuf native outlasted thousands of entrants and earned a spot on the cast of WWE reality TV show Tough Enough.

While on the show, Loupe lagged behind the other performers in skill, but made up for it in personality, showcasing Cajun humor, quick-witted one-liners and an all-around goofy personality, which endeared him to fans.

Despite being in the “bottom three” on several occasions, fans opted repeatedly to keep ZZ on the show.

That lasted all the way to the Tough Enough finale, where ZZ and Josh were the final two men standing. Through fan voting, Loupe wasn’t able to hang out, falling to his counterpart, known as “The Yeti.”

But all was not lost for Loupe. Because of his popularity, WWE offered the local a developmental contract, which he accepted.

Today, ZZ is in Florida training to be a full-time WWE star. He is currently featured on another reality program, which gives an in-depth look at WWE superstars and how they train on a day-to-day basis. Loupe has said multiple times that his dream is to be a WWE star.

No. 4: Star QB misses 2015 season with car crash injuries The 2015 season was supposed to be the Year of Harvey Allen down on the bayous of South Lafourche.

He ended up missing the entire season, watching in agony from the sidelines.

Just weeks before the start of the 2015 football season, Allen and teammate Larry Mack were severely injured as passengers in a one-car crash on the Bourg-Larose Highway. The vehicle carrying the football players lost control at a curve, swerved off the road and crashed into trees.

Allen suffered the worst of the injuries, sustaining a fractured pelvis, bruised lung and punctured bladder in the crash. Mack suffered a fractured pelvis and injured hamstring.

Instead of playing the 2015 football season with his team, Allen was on the shelf for every game, routinely seen cheering on his guys in his No. 11 uniform top. Mack was able to return at the midway point of the season, but never found firm footing and didn’t enjoy a huge impact.

But this story does have a happy ending.

Both Allen and Mack are 100 percent now, and each will continue their careers at the college level.

Allen signed with Nich-

COURTESY

Bayou Bouef native Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe attracted fans across the country through the WWE reality TV show “Tough Enough.” Below, South Lafourche senior quarterback Harvey Allen missed his final high school season after an August car crash left him with multiple fractures and a torn bladder.

But the fruits of Nicholls labors were still evident at the 2015 MLB Draft, as a record-high three Colonels were picked and given the opportunity to chase their professional dreams. Pitcher Grant Borne was picked by the Washington Nationals in the seventh round of the draft. He signed and is a member of the team’s farm system. Also selected were Stuart Holmes (35th round) by the Toronto Blue Jays and Ryan Deemes (36th round) by the Houston Astros. The Colonels will begin the 2016 season in a few weeks, and the team again has high hopes for the future.

No. 6: VCHS soccer wins state championship

olls State University, where he will be a slot receiver and kick returner for the Colonels. Mack opted for the JUCO route, pledging to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

No. 5: Nicholls baseball enjoys big year, sees 3 players get drafted The 2015 season was a memorable one for the Nich-

olls baseball team.

For the second-straight season, the Colonels competed favorably in the Southland Conference, earning 34 wins, while posting an 18-11-1 mark in league play.

For the second-straight season, the Colonels were not able to parlay that success into paydirt at the Southland Conference Tournament, falling in two-straight games in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Vandebilt Catholic soccer team got the revenge it was looking for in March, beating an old-time foe to win the Division II State Championship.

Long a state power, Vandebilt rolled through the regular season with growing pains, sometimes struggling to pick up the style of firstyear coach Paul Shenton.

But by the final weeks of the season, Vandebilt was a polished gem – one fully capable of pushing past anyone in the Division II playoff bracket.

The Terriers earned the No. 5 seed, rolling through North DeSoto, Benton and East Jefferson to get into the State Semifinals.

While there, the Terriers looked a bit like a team of

changed, because the Colonels were officially among the best in the nation.

Spearheaded by one-two punch Tyler Rivet and Allyson Marcel, the Nicholls Bass Federation earned a spot at the Bassmasters Collegiate National Championships in Wisconsin.

While there, Nicholls impressed, holding the overall lead after Day 2 of the threeday event, before finishing third.

More than 80 teams competed in the event, which was won by Texas A&M duo Josh Bensema and Matthew McArdle.

Throughout the event, social media exploded in support of Rivet and MarSEE TOP 10, PAGE B4

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The Vandebilt Catholic boys’ soccer team rushes goalie Charles Doskey after his save in the penalty shootout against Ben Franklin earned the team the 2015 state championship. Doskey, then a sophomore, held Ben Franklin scoreless for 110 minutes and was named MVP of the match.

TOP 10:

Washington said his dismissal comes because of a feud with principal Blaise Pellegrin, a guy he claims had never supported him throughout his tenure with the team.

FROM PAGE B3 cel – a pair of kids who are both from the area. Rivet is a Raceland native, while Marcel is from Houma.

The duo said they were warmed by the support they received throughout their big week, touting that it was an experience that they’ll both remember forever.

An interesting note: Rivet and Marcel are in a relationship – something they said posed several challenges when going through the competition.

No. 10: Nicholls halfback arrested, quits the team, then killed in wreck

No. 8: Referee strike avoided The headlines spooked coaches around Louisiana.

During a coaching convention, long-time Louisiana football coach J.T. Curtis said that the contract dispute with officials had gotten so bad that he didn’t think there would be a prep football season in the upcoming fall.

Thankfully, it never got to that point, and the two sides were able to resolve their

COURTESY

Nicholls State University head coach Tim Rebowe and his football team celebrate a 38-17 victory over Houston Baptist. The win snapped a two year, 23-game losing streak for the Colonels, who finished the 2015 season 3-8. issues.

In mid-July, first-year LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine announced that his organization had agreed to a four-year deal with the Louisiana High School Officials Association, which would give the referees a

slightly higher pay grade for certain sports.

But officials say that more important than the added money was fair treatment and being given a voice at the table on committees that discuss rule changes and other things in sports. The LHSAA gave the LHSOA that voice, providing them seats on several boards, which Bonine said will allow future problems to be avoided.

No. 9: Ellender fires Terry Washington Just two years ago, Terry Washington was a hero at Ellender Memorial High School. He was the man labeled to be one of the saviors of the Patriots football team – the guy who took the team out of the doldrums and into the Class 4A State Playoffs.

But just two seasons later, Washington’s comeback story ended abruptly when

he was fired as the Patriots head coach after a tough season on the Eastside of Houma.

Washington’s career record with the Patriots doesn’t look impressive on paper, but he inherited a team embarked on a more than 30-game losing streak, the longest such streak in the history of the area.

During his tenure, Ellender’s roster numbers grew, and the team had on-field success.

When Nicholls signed Altee Tenpenny, folks around the community lit up with excitement, and with good reason. Tenpenny is a former 4-star, blue-chip halfback who was a two-year player at the University of Alabama under Nick Saban.

But it never panned out and actually ended in tragedy.

Tenpenny transferred to Nicholls in the fall after being dismissed from the team at UNLV – his landing spot after leaving Alabama because of a lack of playing time.

While waiting to be cleared by the NCAA, Tenpenny was arrested this past fall on weapons charges after allegedly walking through Thibodaux with an unregistered firearm.

After the arrest, the halfback resigned from the university and quit the team.

Just a few days after that, he was killed in a car crash on Mississippi Highway 1 – the only person involved in the one-car crash.

GISCLAIR: Bailleaux has the tools to make his mark on sports FROM PAGE B1 amazing things when in the pool.

2. South Lafourche DB/QB Brock Bailleaux - Brock is an unknown around the area, because he hasn’t been blessed with

much varsity time at any sport just yet. He’s still just a freshman walking around the halls of South Lafourche.

But the kid has the tools and could be a beast, and he could make his mark on multiple sports before it’s over. In football, Brock is a dynamic quarterback, who

will have to wait his turn to start on varsity, but will make an immediate impact at defensive back. On the basketball hardwood, the up and comer is a heck of a post player, who can probably get a little burn for the Tarpons’ varsity in the 2016-17 season.

We may be a year too soon for Brock’s ascent, but I’m going to roll the dice and say it’s going to happen.

3. South Terrebonne defensive lineman Louis Blanchard – When you stand 6-feet, 3-inches and weigh 270 pounds, it’s hard to hide from the crowd. But that’s exactly what Gators defensive lineman Louis Blanchard was able to do in 2015 – he was the quietest, dominant player in Louisiana. Blanchard is a freak up front for South Terrebonne – one of the most powerful defensive players in the area. Opponents ran away from Blanchard, because running at him was an epic failure. With another year left to play, Blanchard is a shoe-in to be First-Team AllState and a big-time college signee.

4. Vandebilt Catholic guard Andrew Robison – The Terriers have a freshman combo guard averaging 20 points per game. No, not at the freshman level. This kid is doing it on varsity, and is making himself known around Louisiana for his ability to score the ball. Andrew Robison is a young star – a young man averaging 19.9 points, 2.4 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Terriers in his first season with the team. Robison is new to the area – the son of first-year head coach Drew Robison.

5. Vandebilt halfback Brennan Rogers – There’s a workhorse being formed at Vandebilt Catholic. That would be Brennan Rogers – the tough, physical back who established himself as one of the area’s best. The Terriers aren’t afraid to feed Rogers, and routinely give him the ball 20, 30 or even 40 times a game if needed. He is a special player. He will have a huge, huge year for Vandebilt next year. The Terriers hopes will go as Rogers takes them.

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SHEEPISH CATCH Powerful nibblers lurk under docks and bridges

JOHN FELSHER | THE TIMES

Captain Roger Long shows off his massive sheepshead he caught in Louisiana marshes. The fish are easy to catch in winter throughout the state.

‘When we’re fishing for sheepshead, we rerig a lot because they are notorious for hanging around the roughest structure.’

Sonny Schindler Shore Thing Fishing Charters

BY JOHN FELSHER sportsman@rushing-media.com Driven by stiff winds, high tides pushed water over the marsh grasses near Golden Meadow for several days, but a reversal of wind direction changed the flow. Now, rapidly falling tides pulled baitfish, shrimp and other creatures from their protective cover into open water.

Unable to fight against the current, small crabs drifted along with the tides toward the Gulf of Mexico. Up to this point, we vertically dropped shrimp-laden hooks or live cocahoe minnows next to barnacle-encrusted dock pilings in about eight to 10 feet of water.

Notorious nibblers lurking beneath the dock deftly stole our shrimp and bit minnows in half just behind the gills without ever touching our hooks. I put a crab chunk on a 1/8-ounce long-shanked jighead and handed the rod to an angler who had never fished in saltwater before that day.

“Don’t cast it, but flip it a few feet upstream and let it drop next to the dock piling,” I instructed. “The tide will push it back under the dock.

When you feel the bottom, pull it up about a foot or two. Keep the crab slightly off the bottom and as close to the pilings as possible. When a fish hits, you won’t feel much of a bite, only a subtle nibble. Let the fish take it a moment and then set

Memorable duck hunt in La.

BY MEGAN MAYEUX Ducks Unlimited Rolling down the rough, rocky road, the radio wailed as it was tuned to the Oldies. Two kids sat in the back on the mud-stained leather seats, in the old black pickup, rainbow-patterned bags begging at their feet.

A grandfather with white hair, well in his 60s shifted in the front.

As he drove, a 20-gauge shotgun rattled in the truck bed. The two kids, both young girls, wore camouflage, as did their grandfather.

One girl, named Abby, was a sugar-filled girly girl, the other, Megan, a quiet old soul, more of a tomboy than a girly girl, but at the same time not really either.

The girls colored as they rode, missing lines all too easily. They knew where they were headed.

Just a few hours away, tucked safely behind overgrown weeds and seeds and a steel gate, sat a small house. A house that had seen its

better days, that soaked up the dull forest green, with its yellowy white trim, a beauty in its day. There they would meet new friends, where they would play hide and go seek in the dark, and huddle on the rickety, creaky porch listening to the howling coyotes in the night.

All they had to do was get there, ugh.

The trio strolled to a halt at the shack that stood before them.

Yawning, they climbed out of the pickup, gathering their supplies as they went.

Climbing the rickety, creaky porch, they noticed the beautiful lake that held small boats and geese. They made their way to the door, a piece of wood stapled to the door frame, no sturdier than a piece of cardboard, offering no protection from the outside.

After pushing past the refrigerator, they made it to their room.

The dingy and dusty room held no more than two bunk beds, some neon fishing rods, and a small,

FILE | THE TIMES

Young Mylie Thomas stands in muddy water during her first-ever hunt.

empty closet. Once they had all settled in, the girls ran outside to meet their new friends, as the huddle of grandfathers and dads got acquainted.

As the sky got darker, the friends became closer. They all played hide and go seek about a thousand times, splitting up into different groups, and playing again. At the camp, there were 10 kids--four girls and six boys. During the times when the groups weren’t playing together, the girls and boys would split up and do their own things.

The girls talked mainly about guys, while the boys wrestled.

Once the sun was completely missing, the kids huddled on the porch, chatting about their day, and their day to come. Tomorrow would be SEE HUNTING, PAGE B6

the hook.”

“I’ve got a nibble, but it feels like a bream or something,” the angler said. “It must be a tiny one. He’s not really biting, but I can feel the weight on the line. Maybe I’m just hung up on something.”

“Set the hook – hard,” I urged.

“He might be bigger than you think.”

The angler set the hook. Immediately, the rod doubled over as the powerful fish headed straight for the barnacles on the pilings to pop the line. No finesse, just raw power, it dared the angler to pull it to the surface. The angler eventually pulled in what looked like a 6-pound bream on steroids.

Many sportsmen distain sheeps-

head because thick spines and tough scales make them difficult to clean. However, they taste delicious. Although many anglers rank sheepshead low for food value, nobody disputes their fighting abilities. Built for power, not speed, they don’t run like rampaging redfish. They don’t slash and flash like speckled trout. Instead, they rely upon brute strength, hunkering down by a piling or reef and refusing to budge.

“When we’re fishing for sheepshead, we rerig a lot because they are notorious for hanging around the roughest structure,” said Sonny Schindler of Shore Thing SEE SHEEPSHEAD, PAGE B6

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SHEEPSHEAD: Nibblers are abundant throughout coastal Louisiana and in the Gulf of Mexico FROM PAGE B5 Fishing Charters (228-3422206,www.shorethingcharters.com) who often fishes the marshes around Lake Borgne. “When we fish for sheepshead, we bring extra everything. Anyone fishing in a good sheepshead spot will lose some tackle. I use 20-pound braid tipped with a Mustad number 2 live bait hook.”

Sheepshead occur abundantly throughout coastal Louisiana and in the Gulf of Mexico, but anglers can often catch them without stepping into a boat. Sheepshead thrive under bridges or docks where they crunch barnacles or snatch shrimp and crabs off the pilings.

They also hang around seawalls, marinas and other places with abundant barnacles. In fact, Wayne J. Desselle landed the world record sheepshead while fishing the old concrete seawall on Lake Pontchartrain in the city limits of New Orleans. His fish weighed 21.25 pounds.

When fishing docks or bridge pilings, anglers can often just vertically dangle baits next to barnacle-encrusted structures. Drop baits to the bottom and slowly bring them toward the surface to find the right depth. At each depth, jig baits up and down very slowly. Sheepshead might lurk on bottom, near the top or suspend in the water column.

To really put sheepshead into a frenzy, scrape barnacles off crusty pilings with a shovel or hoe. This produces a cloud of barnacle juice and tiny meat pieces. Free line a live shrimp, fiddler crab or other morsel into the debris cloud.

“Scraping barnacles off the pilings really works,” recommended Kenny Kreeger with Lake Pontchartrain Charters (985-643-2944, www.lakepontchartraincharters.com) in Slidell.

“Sheepshead love to eat barnacles. With all that

barnacle meat and juices floating in the water, any sheepshead in that area will come running to look for something to eat.”

For the best sheepshead action, find docks where anglers clean fish. While cleaning their fish, anglers toss heads, entrails, backbones and other scraps into the water. Sheepshead gather in huge numbers to feed upon the shrimp and crabs attracted to the scraps. In addition, many camp owners toss food scraps or old bait into the water, attracting more crabs, shrimp and baitfish.

Sheepshead occasionally bite spoons, spinners, soft plastic grubs or even flies, especially ones that resemble small crabs, but they prefer natural food. Although they prefer crustaceans to finfish, sheepshead hit a variety of live or natural baits including shrimp, minnows, clams, squid, fiddlers, cut bait and other morsels.

Above all, they relish crabs.

Frequently, they nibble away at crabs, tearing them apart piece by piece. However, they might slurp small whole crabs.

“Every now and then, we’ll catch a sheepshead on an artificial bait, but mostly they like live bait,” Kreeger advised. “When I’m fishing for sheepshead, I use a Carolina rig with a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce weight and an 18-inch 30-pound leader. I tip it with a live shrimp and fish around hard structure, like bridges, dock pilings, jetties, rock piles, sunken boats or oyster reefs. I put the bait as close to the structure as I can.”

Despite their powerful jaws and impressive dental equipment, sheepshead gingerly nibble baits and don’t rush to attack food. More curious than aggressive and accustomed to plucking sedentary barnacles off pilings, they don’t chase down prey. Almost timidly, they

JOHN FELSHER | THE TIMES

Young angler Tom Reeves is pleased with his sheepshead, which was snagged this past summer. Golden Meadow is a haven for sheepshead each winter. may examine morsels before tasting them. A sheepshead can quickly strip bait from a hook. However, they generally don’t spook easily and may remain in the same place as long as they can find food.

Often, anglers don’t even detect subtle strikes, perhaps just a slight tug. Sometimes, the line simply feels heavy or mushy. Anglers

may think they snagged an old crab trap or perhaps even the pilings. However, when these powerful, pugnacious porgies begin to move, all doubt vanishes.

In late winter, anglers often catch the biggest sheepshead of the year. Before spawning, sheepshead reach their maximum weight.

Spawning typically occurs from February through

April. As water warms, sheepshead return to inshore waters from deeper waters offshore where they congregate in huge numbers around wrecks, shell reefs, oilfield platforms and other hard structures.

“Winter is a good time to catch big sheepshead,” Schindler said. “The colder the weather, the better the sheepshead fishing.”

When redfish and trout don’t cooperate, anglers can often find outstanding line-pulling action from some of the most powerful fish, pound for pound, on the Gulf Coast. Since so few people intentionally target sheepshead, these abundant fish offer excellent sport on light tackle with little competition.

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HUNTING: Hunt with grandfather proves a memory-filled outing for two young hunters FROM PAGE B5 the real reason they came to this remote place, to get some exercise and some food.

The coyotes howled in the distance, while the mosquitoes circled around the few porch lights. As the men got ready for their early morning, the lights dimmed, and everything fell silent.

The alarm sighed as the adults rolled off their mattresses and sauntered to the kitchen, the kids following right behind them. Once the men had finished their

coffee, and stacked the cups in the overflowing sink, they all gathered their shotguns and headed out to their trucks.

As the children snored in the back, the men drove, turning on their windshield wipers to wipe away the ink from the sky.

When they arrived at their destination, they all dove into the undergrowth, where they would wait till noon. As the sky lit up with all kinds of colors, everybody waited as ducks flew here and there.

Abby aimed to shoot, but was already too late--the

duck had flown away.

The rest of the day went on like this, and eventually all three of them left, dragging nothing behind but their heads. By the time they made it back to that small house, lunch was already cooked, ducks with rice.

Even though the food was delicious, it reminded the trio that they had missed every duck that had flown their way.

As the rest of the plates were given a scrub and put back on their shelves, they all headed out to the field, guns in hand. The group

decided to shoot clays as practice. As one orange clay soared in the sky, it was suddenly shattered to bits by the roaring sound. One after another they all did the same, every now and then missing. And after they had run out of clays, they all went back inside, where they had dinner, and fell asleep.

Before the girls and boys headed to their hiding places, they gathered their supplies and headed out the door. Abby and Megan had already figured that they wouldn’t collect any ducks today either. As they huddled in the soggy grass, Abby spotted a duck.

Doubting if she should even try and shoot, she aimed the gun, and before she knew it, she had shot the duck dead.

Abby, excited and pleased, ran to the lake to fetch her

prize. The trio marveled at the new member of the family, a mud, brown duck, with turquoise splashes creeping up his neck. His lifeless head hung down towards the ground. It was no heavier than a baby doll.

Once they got packed up and back to the camp, Abby happily handed Megan the duck to clean, as she ran inside to share the news with her family. Cleaning the duck was a bloody and feathery mess, but once the job was completed, they would have a fine meal for their last dinner together.

After dinner was finished, the grandfathers and dads chatted at the table, while the kids went outside one last time. They played as long as they could, until the men called for them. They said their goodnights, got in

their beds, and drifted into a warm sleep.

Their vacation had ended and everyone gathered their things. They passed the dingy and dusty room that held no more than two bunk beds, some neon fishing rods, and a small, empty closet. After pushing past the refrigerator, they made their way to the door. The door, a piece of wood stapled to the doorframe, no sturdier than a piece of cardboard, offered no protection from the outside. Climbing down the rickety, creaky porch, they noticed the beautiful lake that held small boats and geese. And finally the trio strolled to a halt as they looked back at the shack that stood behind them.

They all said their goodbyes and sat in the back on the mud stained leather seats, in the old black pickup, rainbow patterned bags begging at their feet. A grandfather, well in his sixties, with white hair shifted in the front.

As he drove, a 20-gauge shotgun rattled in the tailgate. The two kids, both young girls, wore camouflage, as did their grandfather. One girl (Abby) was a sugar filled girly girl, the other (Megan) a quiet old soul, more of a tomboy than a girly girl, but at the same time not really either. The girls colored as they rode, missing lines all too easily.

They knew where they were headed, just a few hours away, sat a beautiful white house, where their grandmother was waiting for them.

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PARAKEETS FOR SALE,

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Call Jimmy Schwing at 225-313-8926 for more information.

MOTORCYCLE SHOP CLOSING 25-50 percent off Tuesday and Thursday, 10am-4pm, Saturday, 10am-2pm at 101 St. Peter Street, Thibodaux. Helmets, offroad riding gear, saddlebags, mirrors, gas caps, leather jackets, shirts and much more. 985232-0227 PICKER’S PARADISE 7016 Alma Street, Houma, Louisiana. We will be closed the December 25th and December 26th. We will reopen with new hours on January 2nd. Watch for our new ad in next week’s paper. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 985-8565504

$1,000 REWARD FOR RETURN of lost dog! Had pink collar with the name of Stella. Contact 985209-9493 or 985-2097397.

$1,000 REWARD FOR RETURN of lost dog!

Had pink collar with the name of Stella. Contact 985-209-9493 or 985209-7397.

MACHINERY/ TOOLS FULL-SIZE CRAFTSMAN TABLE SAW, $350. 985-860-3033 SNAP-ON SHOP PRESS, 50 TON capacity, $1500, 985-209-8045 NEW GENERAC ONE WASH power washer with adjustable power dial. Regularly $399, now $359.99. 985-851-7860

FULL-SIZE RIGID DRILL PRESS, $350.

985-860-3033

MISCELLANEOUS SELL YOUR STRUCTURED settlement or annuity payments for CASH NOW. You don’t have to wait for your future payments any longer! Call 1-800-402-5744 (LA-SCAN)

BUY ONE, GET ONE 1/2 OFF!

Get more bang for your buck. Call for details.

985-868-7515

YOUR AD HERE! Place your classified ad in over 100 Louisiana newspapers, with a total circulation of more than 1 million for only $265.

We also offer out of state placement. For information call Mike at The Louisiana Press Association 225-344-9309. (LASCAN) GET THE WORD OUT! Use the Louisiana Press Association’s Press Release Service to get your news out. We can send your release to 346 media outlets, both print and broadcast (or choose 115 newspapers or 231 broadcasters) in the State of Louisiana for one low price. Call Mike at LPA for info. 225-3449309. (LA-SCAN) SOUTH LAFOURCHE DRIVING SCHOOL 14 Hour Info and Schedule You must be 18 years or older to take this class.

The class consists of one day in the classroom and 8 hours of behind the wheel driving. Class Schedule to be announced on our website.

NEXT 38 HOUR driver ed class at Larose Civic Center is January 16,17,18,19! Lafourche Parish students do not have school on Monday, January 18th and Tuesday, January 19th!

Be productive with your school break and take the driver education class available! Go to www.southlafourchedrivingschool.com to register.

WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR RESUME appeal? Make sure to sign up for the COSS program that will be held in Houma. Absolute Safety Consulting is a nationally-known certified occupational safety specialist.

Call Jimmy Schwing at 225-313-8926 for more information.

HIDEAWAY PONDS MEMBERSHIP! Membership includes coast to coast package! Only $4,000!

Motivated to sell! 985851-3485 or 207-6081636.

WANT TO INCREASE YOUR SKILL level and demand? Absolute Safety Consulting will be holding a COSS program in Houma. The course will start January 15th.

Call Jimmy Schwing at 225-313-8926 for more information.

BLANKET LOUISIANA REACH 2 million readers. With the Louisiana Statewide miniClassified Advertising Network you can place your 15 word (maximum) classified ad over 100 Louisiana newspapers all across Louisiana for only $125.

For more info call 225344-9309 ext.109. (LASCAN) SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS. Unable to work? Denied benefits? We Can Help!

WIN or Pay Nothing!

Contact Bill Gordon & Associates at 1-800-7156804 to start your application today! (LA-SCAN) THE 2015 LPA Directory is Available Now. Order yours Today - THE source for info on Louisiana’s newspapers as well as broadcast media in the state. Names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, demographics - it’s all here. Call the LPA at 225-344-9309 to order. (LA-SCAN) EMERGENCIES CAN STRIKE at any time.

Wise Food Storage makes it easy to prepare with tasty, easy-tocook meals that have a 25-year shelf life. FREE sample. Call: 800-8994206 (LA-SCAN) 1 LARGE TOTE yard sale stuff, good for resale, $12. (New Orleans) 504-392-6046.

OUTDOOR ACCESSORIES OAK FIREWOOD FOR SALE Cut and split, 1 Cord $90, half $45, 12 inches to 16 inches in length. Call T. J. at 985709-3478.

USED DUKE NUTRIA TRAPS for sale, $7 or best offer. 985-879-2474, 985-870-3620.

REAL ESTATE ATTENTION INVESTORS HOME FOR SALE AT 232 LINCOLN ST. 3BDS.1.5 BATHS, CORNER LOT HAS TENENATS AT THIS TIME, ASKING 130K A MUST SEE CALL FOR APPOINTMENT 985870-1899 RENT TO OWN: Extra, extra large double-wide mobile home with the property. Owner finance, NO CREDIT CHECK. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths with large game room, large cement driveway, large backyard, fireplace, tinted windows, 2x6 walls, new wood style floors and more. No inside pets, no smoking inside.

Located on the East Side of Houma in the front section of Ashland North where the newer mobile homes are located. 2647 Express Boulevard, $15,000 down and only $1,200 a month with insurance already included. Quick payoff, no 2030 year deal. Owner will even finance part of the down payment and you can move in now if you have a minimum $4,000 cash in hand. We will work with you. This deal will go quick! After you drive by and see how nice call 985-879-4601, leave message.

LOT FOR SALE: 5904 Grand Caillou Road, boat access and dock, pilings for mooring and electrical, $35,000. 985873-7889, leave message.

2008 BEAUTIFUL HOUSE FOR SALE by owner, 1,300 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, all appliances included! Patriot Point Subdivision, great neighborhood! 308 Galvez Lane, $169,500.

Text 985-232-7673.

IMMACULATE HOME FOR SALE! 3 bedroom 2 bath house in Coteau Bayou Blue school District. Fenced yard, 12 x 20 shed, all appliances to stay. 106 Sharlene Street, 985-856-8352 or 985-856-3927 16X80 2 BEDROOM, 2 BATH mobile home with property, Gibson area, $65,000. 985-397-1339, 985-399-5245.

16X80 MOBILE HOME on large lot, 194 Kimino Drive, Gray. 2004 Clayton, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, fenced-in backyard with a 24 foot above ground pool, $97,000.

985-594-4924 2 LARGE BEDROOM, 1 BATH house, completely remodeled, new electric, plumbing, floors, cabinet with granite counter tops, matching appliances, covered patio with workshop, privacy fence, priced in line with appraisal. 309 Morrison Avenue. Call 985-6881260, 601-442-5828.

A PLACE FOR MOM. The nation’s largest senior living referral service. Contact our trusted, local experts today! Our service is FREE/no obligation. CALL 1-800-6911297 (LA-SCAN)

RENTAL RENT TO OWN: Extra, extra large double-wide mobile home with the property. Owner finance, NO CREDIT CHECK. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths with large game room, large cement driveway, large backyard, fireplace, tinted windows, 2x6 walls, new wood style floors and more. No inside pets, no smoking inside.

Located on the East Side of Houma in the front section of Ashland North where the newer mobile homes are located. 2647 Express Boulevard, $15,000 down and only $1,200 a month with insurance already included. Quick payoff, no 2030 year deal. Owner will even finance part of the down payment and you can move in now if you have a minimum $4,000 cash in hand. We will work with you. This deal will go quick! After you drive by and see how nice call 985-879-4601, leave message.

Call to Place Your Ad Today! 985-868-7515

B8

THE

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2015

HOUSE FOR RENT In Houma, 111 Wayne Avenue, 3 large bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms. No smoking! No pets! Double carport, fenced-in backyard, 16 by 24 workshop, nice quiet street, $1,250 monthly and $1,250 deposit. Call Debbie, 985876-4381.

FOR RENT: 3 BEDROOM, 1 BATH house, air/ heating, kitchen, den, laundry room, garage, carport, fenced-in backyard, very good condition, no pets, $1,000 monthly, $500 damage deposit. 985-872-3084 2 BEDROOM, 1 BATH HOUSE 625 Hall Street, Houma, kitchen, large back room, double garage, storage room, fenced-in backyard, central air/ heat, no pets, $800 monthly, damage deposit $500. Available soon.

985-870-4121, 985-876-2557.

1 BEDROOM 1 BATH HOUSE for rent, East Houma. 985-873-8880 or 985-665-0676 STUDIO APARTMENT with appliances. Single person, no smoking, no pets, East Houma, $550 monthly, $300 deposit.

Background checks.

985-2099828.

FOR RENT: East Side Houma, corner lot, fenced-in yard, 2 bedroom, 1 bath house, central air/ heat, partially furnished, $800 monthly/ deposit. Available January 1st. 985-665-4803, 985-232-4548.

(3) RV SPOTS, Houma, Louisiana, $350 a month, electric and water included; (3) trailer lots, $150 a month. 985-991-3227

TRAILER FOR RENT: 1 bedroom, 1 bath, Gibson/ Bayou Black area.

Utilities included. $600 monthly, $600 deposit.

985-688-4526 or 985446-3968.

GREAT LOCATION! Large remodeled 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in West Houma. Pets okay, washer/ dryer, pool included. $700 monthly, $700 deposit. 985-2099858 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT East Side; 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses, West Side; 985-6889150, 985-226-4416 or 985-868-6738.

SEASONAL ITEMS MARDI GRAS BEADS and throws for sale! Excellent prices! 985-860-2525 or 985-594-5869 985594-5869 985-5945869

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TRUCKS/ SUVS 2015 CHEVY SILVERADO LS, $33,000, red, 3 months old, 2,100 miles, double cab, 6 cylinder, running boards, bed liner, extended warranty and SmartCare plan with Trapp are both able to be transferred to new owner. 985-790-3326

1968 FORD F-100 300ci straight 6 with 4 speed manual, beautiful interior, runs and drives. Asking $7,000 or best offer. Text for pictures. Located in Raceland. 985-855-1705

WATERCRAFT

ALUMINUM BOAT, V-BOTTOM, homemade, 20x7 130 Yamaha, $13,000, 985-209-9828.

2014 FORD EXPLORER LIMITED, 29k miles, premium audio, MyFord Sync, 3rd row seats, silver, excellent condition. $27,500 or best offer.

985-870-7461 2012 F-250 KING RANCH 4X4, $43,000, 85K miles. 985-665-8033

2001 SEAHUNT 17 foot fiberglass bay boat with 115 Evinrude motor, $5,000. Call 985-2911607.

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