Slidell Magazine, November 2020

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF SLIDELL

Vol. 121 November 2020

WE KEEP IT FRESH

SAY KEEP IT POSITIVE

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Holiday Big SantaLights • Holiday • Festive Lights Decorations • Festive Decorations • Big Santa • Santa’s Magical Mailbox Life-size Christmas Cottages • Frozen Ice Castle • Slidell’s Nativity * Because 2020, Santa and Mrs. Claus at thetoNorth and are this unable takewill pictures at this year’s event ** it’sit’s 2020, Santa and Mrs. Claus areare unable travel Pole to this event yeartoand be staying at the North Pole * Because

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Christmas Under the Stars is brought to you by the City of Slidell’s Dept. of

Cultural & Public Affairs, the Commission on the Arts and the 2020 Cultural Sponsors:

Renaissance • $5,000 Sponsors: Sophisticated Woman Magazine

Baroque • $2,500 Sponsors: Acadian Ambulance • C. Ray Murry, Attorney At Law Jazz on the Bayou/Ronnie Kole Foundation • Silver Slipper Casino Neoclassical • $1,000 Sponsors: Councilman Bill & Laura Borchert • Lori Gomez Art Lowry-Dunham, Case & Vivien Insurance Agency • Purple Armadillo Again

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Editor’s Letter

Kendra Maness Editor / Publisher The annual Press Club of New Orleans Awards were a virtual affair this year, broadcast via YouTube. Slidell Magazine was nominated for a stunning FIVE AWARDS. Our “Storyteller,” John Case, couldn’t resist a celebration and hosted a small watch party at his house, inviting all of the Slidell nominees. Slidell Cultural Arts Director, Alex Carollo, and Mayor Greg Cromer, along with their spouses, were there also to cheer on the Slidell home team. We won BIG! DONNA BUSH, Slidell Magazine: 1st Place: Environmental-Science Reporting 2nd Place: Environmental-Science Reporting 3rd Place: Multi-Feature Photo

The Slidell nominees for the Press Club of New Orleans Awards celebrate their winnings! l-r: John Case, Kim Bergeron, PCNO board member David Baker, Donna Bush, Mayor Greg Cromer, Sara Pagones, and Kendra Maness.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!

JOHN CASE, Slidell Magazine: 3rd Place: Best Column RICHARD FUENTES, Slidell Magazine: 2nd Place: Best Cover KIM BERGERON, Kim Bergeron Productions: 1st Place: PR Special Events SARA PAGONES, The Advocate/nola.com 3rd Place: Continuing Coverage 3rd Place: Investigative Reporting

Cover: “on the Misty Bayou”

MAGAZINE STAFF Kendra Maness Editor / Publisher Editor@slidellmag.com

Michael Bell Graphic Designer Graphics@slidellmag.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS John Case “The Storyteller”

Donna Bush Stories Through My Lens

Charlotte Collins Extraordinary Slidell Neighbors

Ted Lewis Slidell History

Leslie Gates Crimmi-Mommly Insane

Jeff Perret, DVM Pet Points

Mike Rich Making Cents of Your Money

Ronda M. Gabb Legal-Ease

subscriptions only $39 / year! www.Slidellmag.com Visit our website to subscribe, view current & past editions, view advertising rates & more!

PO Box 4147 Slidell, LA 70459 www.slidellmag.com 985-789-0687

Matt Litchliter Back-to-back covers for Matt Litchliter!!

Matt is a great friend and trusted consultant for Slidell Magazine. Whenever we have big artistic visions or stop-the-presses situations, Matt’s our go-to guy. Such was the case with the passing of Slidell resident and jazz legend, Ronnie Kole.

Other than being friends of ours, Ronnie and Gardner Kole were great supporters of Slidell arts, including Matt’s works and Slidell Magazine. After Ronnie’s death, I called Matt to ask if he could create a painting in honor of Ronnie for the cover.

The answer was an emphatic yes - with a stipulation. Matt envisioned a dual portrait featuring both Ronnie and Gardner, together in tribute, the way they had been in life.

He was right, of course. The spotlight always shined brightly on Ronnie - he was a performer after all! But, Gardner was the embodiment of Slidell art and history. Together, they were Slidell royalty, who selflessly gave their time, money and talents for the betterment of our community.

Upon completion, Matt struggled to find the perfect name for his beautiful memorial. After some thought, we chose a name that was special for all of us who were close to the couple.

During his shows, Ronnie would ask for requests. Gardner’s answer was always the same, “Play Misty for me.”

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Carmel “Mel” Cafiero-Gordon

A biography by Charlotte Collins

“Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if your voice shakes.”

-- Maggie Kuhn -The world’s recent turmoils have caused most of us to wax a bit more philosophical. I met an Extraordinary Slidell Neighbor that reconfirmed some wisdom from the past. We discussed what creates a sense of community.

What is it that draws people to Slidell?

What keeps them rooted here? The answers are as varied as our residents.

I make it a point to inquire about this from each Slidell Neighbor I interview.

I have found the answer depends on where you live, work, and play. Often the response is the serenity of the bayous, or the beauty of the live oaks and moss, smell of sweet magnolias and camellias. Or it may just as often be the pride for Olde Towne, family, our schools, our medical community, our artistic culture, and our sense of security. One thing in common is always the desire for a sense of community, which Carmel “Mel” Cafiero-Gordon shares. She pointed out how fortunate we are that, with all of the changes Slidell has seen, we are now more able to embrace our diversity gracefully, and maintain that sense of community.

Born in Algiers, Mel has learned to fit in anywhere, and everywhere. She learned to fit in on the Westbank, 6

Uptown, off St. Charles Avenue, even out in “da Parish” of Jefferson or St. Tammany, or on a little farm in Folsom. Through it all, it seemed Mel was always Mel. Her mother and aunt always infused in her that she could do anything, and succeed at whatever she set her mind to.

She enthusiastically set off for LSU at 18. “I loved LSU, loved it, loved it.

Go Tigers, baby! I was not necessarily academically successful, shall we say!” And she laughed easily at her own depiction of herself at that stage of life. With just as much energy, she announced, “But I did find a beau, and got married!” Matter-of-factly, she explained that she had to make the decision to “drop out after a few years to raise the joy of my life, my daughter, Courtney. When the marriage failed, I came back home to New Orleans.” It was apparent that she did not believe in regrets.

A practical girl, she related, “It became very clear to me that I needed to get an education. Fortunately, I chose Loyola this time. And I loved Loyola. I learned so much there. The teachers were wonderful, as were the opportunities.

Because I needed to bring up my

GPA, I inquired about an easy class, and I was told to take the Broadcast News course.”

That surprised me, having started as a Journalism major myself. Her laughter brought me back as she continued, “But I learned it was an easy class due to the hands-on teaching style, not the content.” It seems the course was led by a teacher who was also an anchor man at WWL. Mel was able to go down to the station and watch him put together an evening newscast.

She relived her first night. “As fortune would have it, that night there was a fire reported in the French Quarter! I begged the photographer to let me go with him and I had to swear I wouldn’t sue them if anything happened!” It turned out it was a small fire, just a couple of druggies who set a mattress on fire.

Mel laughed, “The camera man took no pictures because it wasn’t even a story. But, being in the middle of all the action, it hit me... I have got to do this! From that point on, I was hooked.

I started volunteering at Channel 8.”

Eventually, Mel’s scholarship at Loyola ran out, and it was time for a job. Alec Gifford was at Channel 8, and Mel felt comfortable asking him if she could

dealership. Now it is named WSLA, for Slidell LA. It is one of the last independent stations in the New Orleans region. They still broadcast all the local school football games.

One of Mel’s stage names was Mother Earth. Not knowing what her role was, she asked, “‘What Mel’s first broadcast job out of college was as a DJ and talk am I supposed to show host on Slidell’s own WBGS Radio. do?’ Their answer shadow him. She started hanging out was to just talk ‘breathy.’ But all of every evening, observing him. Slowly, those things that I learned at Loyola he let her write a little copy for him enabled me to get that first job.” (that is TV talk for scripts). She laid Mel did the news and a talk show. “It out the scene. “He was so kind to me, was summertime when I started, so and really mentored me. He would sit all the kids were out of school, and down with his red pen and explain, would call in to the talk show. This ‘No, no, this is an extra word,’ or ‘We was before the three second delay don’t need this part.’ But he was so was available! The students heard nice to me as he taught me, and I that this young woman was on the will never forget him. The first time air. The game among the boys was to he read one of my scripts on the air see who could get the F-word out. But without changing it, I was in heaven!

I developed quite a quick finger and You would have thought I had won was able to cut them off!” She laughed the lottery or something.” heartily at the next phase of her life.

Loyola had taught Mel a wide range “I guess it was 1971, and my daughter of skills, that included how to work a Courtney and I moved over to Slidell. radio control board and turntable. It I was probably about 22, and I really was a good thing, because her first job enjoyed working there. I used to go to was a talk show and spinning records the Slidell Police Station all the time on a little radio station, right here in and check out the police reports, then I Slidell, named WBGS. Do any of you would do stories on who was arrested remember what the letters stood for? for being drunk the night before.” As Bill Garrett Station! He owned it then, you can imagine, we shared a laugh and it was located next to his Chevrolet over that. Slidell obviously didn’t have much going on that was newsworthy back then.

Mel holds a snake while doing a story about an “invasion” of boa constrictors in the Everglades.

What Mel really wanted was to be in television, so she understood that this radio gig was only her first step.

She had no complaints, she loved Slidell. Her father, John Cafiero, taught her to love fishing, and they would go down to Grand Isle. It was a high point for Mel. Lucky for

us, it is part of why Mel was adamant that she retire to her beloved Slidell.

She wakes up each morning with a cup of coffee, and surveys the marsh to see who happens to be visible from her porch.

Just six months into her radio career, she got a job at KEEL radio in Shreveport.

She interjected with a chuckle, “You know, North Louisiana is not the same as South Louisiana. I just didn’t feel like I really fit in. But I overheard two of the guys talking in the newsroom about turning down a reporter’s position in Baton Rouge at a television station.

When they left for the day, I called Baton Rouge and asked if they had ever considered a woman for the position.

The news director I spoke with said slowly and thoughtfully, ‘Well..., no..., but I might.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, it should be me.’”

Mel was interviewed by the station manager. “I had on a proper little suit, and the manager asked me if they could expect me to come to work looking that way, no hot pants!” Needless to say, Mel got the job, and started off as a reporter for WAFB TV station. Before long, they assigned her to cover the state capitol. For this feisty, inquisitive woman, it was right up her alley!

Her first story in Baton Rouge was covering Attorney General Jack Gremillion as he was forced to leave his position and sentenced to prison.

“My footage was of him taking down all of his awards and pictures, and boxing up everything from his office

Mel interviewing Governor Edwin Edwards, while working at WAFB in Baton Rouge.

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as he was leaving. I covered Edwin Edwards when he was first running for office, and again when he was Governor-Elect. I loved covering all of that. He’s a rascal with a capital R. But he was so much fun. He was just so clever.”

Mel was the first female anchor on an evening newscast in Louisiana! She did the weekend news at WAFB and things were going well. Word must have spread about this dynamo female newscaster, because about a year into that job, she got another offer out of state, at a Miami station. They were looking specifically for a woman.

She was interviewed by phone, and that news director wanted to know if she planned on getting pregnant anytime soon. Her immediate response was, “What? I’m not even married!” She explains, “Back then, it wasn’t illegal to ask those kinds of questions.” [Nor was it illegal to use the answer as a qualifier for a job.] But as you know, she already had a daughter. Courtney wasn’t in school yet, so she spent some time that year with her great-grandmother, Pearl Carpenter, on her little farm in Folsom.

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Mel and Courtney finally got settled into Miami and made it their permanent home. Mel would go on to spend more than 40 years there! And, all of it at that same station, WSVN-TV, where she became a respected, award-winning investigative journalist. I watched the video compilation the station put together for her retirement with the key moments in her career. She rammed head first into scams, Chinese sheetrock, filthy used mattresses covered and sold as new, nightclubs where underage females were overdosing, and even gave the public the first view of a 9/11 terrorist’s apartment. But the investigations she shared most with me were the ones that saved lives and communities.

I saw this little firecracker running after an infamous crooked politician, yelling into the microphone as she ran, “Sir, sir, why do you feel the need to run from my viewers?” and then a scene where an angry, powerful politician walked aggressively toward the cameraman, and she got between them and yelled, “Sir, don’t touch the camera, did you hear me?” with the authority of a 200-pound beat cop. The bigger the injustice, the more energized Mel became. She was driven to bring the wrongs to light, and to find justice and its counterpart wherever it may lie. I told her I had seen that video and she put in into a totally different light for me.

Instead of the spunky lady I saw, Mel described that the one running after a man was her first day on the job in Miami. “I was just overwhelmed. I walked into that station and walked past all these bazillions of awards.

All I could think was that all of these people went to very high-brow colleges and were way smarter than me. I thought to myself, what have I gotten myself into? But

I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and try to learn as much as I could. My very first story in Miami was to cover George Meanie, head of the AFL-CIO. The station that I worked for wasn’t in a union, so two big guys stopped me and said we couldn’t go in. We waited until George Meanie came out, and I chased him trying to get an interview, and ask why he wasn’t letting us in.

He tried to run, and that was my first TV story.”

In the late 70s, Mel got the break she wanted. She finally had a chance to move back and work at WDSU in New Orleans. As Mel lamented, “I had been so homesick. I missed Louisiana, the people, the food, the zest for life, and the music that you just don’t find anyplace else. So I came home and co-anchored the mid-day newscast and did investigative reporting. But it just got to the point that it really wasn’t enough time for me to do the kind of reporting that I was used to doing. So, as hard as it was, I went back to Miami.”

The Miami news director had been calling her almost every month asking her to come back and dive deep into investigative reporting again. She went on to have a very fulfilling career, working for wonderful people who had high standards.

Mel lamented the changes in news reporting. “In those days, the news was the news. You presented both sides of an issue, and you went out of your way to leave out your personal thoughts. I still see that same kind of quality in local reporters, particularly here in New Orleans and on the Northshore. But, on the national level, when it comes to the quality, or lack of quality, of some of the cable stations, their bias is so clear. I find it very disturbing. I want my news to be told in a fair, forthright and professional manner.”

But now let me share more of why I say Mel is a fire cracker! In Miami, there had been several instances where women had been the victims of crime; people would pass by, unwilling to intervene. So Mel and her crew had hidden cameras and a police officer with them, and she pretended to be the victim of a crime, tied up in a car.

She described, “I was in a car at one point, honking the horn and looking for help. People just passed by. Then we had another crew, a little distance away. That crew would stop the passer by and ask, ‘We’re doing a story on whether or not people will help a stranger in distress.

Would you stop if you saw somebody in distress?’ The answer was always, ‘Oh, yes, I certainly would.’ And then they would ask, ‘Then how come you didn’t stop for the lady back there?’ Luckily, I don’t see that indifference in Slidell. And that really makes a community.”

Mel detailed to me how long an investigative piece takes to develop and put together. “It takes a lot of people. Not just the photographer and the reporter, but the producer, the executive producer, their bosses and on and on. And

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(Left) Mel interviewing New Orleans music legend, Al Hirt. (Right) Mel & her daughter moved to Miami when she got the offer from WSVN.

you have to make sure you’re accurate.

If you make a mistake, it would be very costly, both for the station and for your career. I had trouble sleeping at night sometimes when I had a big story that was gonna hit. What if I didn’t make that one call that might prove my source wrong? Because sometimes, you’re almost to the end, and then you make one phone call to somebody who tells you something that turns the story completely around. And you have to be willing to walk away from all that effort. Because, if a story’s not there, it’s not there. I always worked to make that one more phone call that might prove me wrong before it was too late.”

Shortly after the Roe vs. Wade decision, multiple women’s clinics began performing abortions. Mel got calls from several women who had pregnancy tests performed at the clinics, and were told that they were pregnant, but they actually were not. Mel recalled, “So I went in to get tested in these places. I

took in my male photographer’s urine and posed undercover. And then, even though we knew that the urine was negative, they found me pregnant.

We exposed several clinics. It was terrible! But we were very successful in exposing them.”

She was in Miami in the height of the cocaine importation epidemic, when drug busts were rampant. She wondered what it took for law enforcement to put these cases together. For three months, she and her team worked undercover with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, doing only drug cases. Her voice grew animated as she said, “My team and I watched the officers build drug cases from the beginning, through the middle, to the end. We watched as they met with the drug dealers on ‘go-fast boats.’ It was all very exciting, but so time consuming. We did a whole big story on it and it inspired a TV series about police chases. Nobody had done that before we did.”

Her team was also the first to expose “pill mills.” Mel didn’t go undercover there, because the law in South Florida had changed, requiring that all people involved have to be made aware of the fact that they’re being recorded.

Instead, she explained, “We used an unmarked van with tinted windows to record what was going on in the parking lots. We documented people driving from Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee to get addictive pain pills in South Florida. There were people that would bring their children with them in the car, and then get their drug and shoot up right there in front of their children.

I mean, it was awful! As a result of our stories, the state was able to pass the Drug Monitoring Law in the 1990’s. It requires pill mills reveal who they are selling pain pills to and how many. It was a way of keeping track of who was selling huge amounts. And we exposed the kingpins. Now both of those guys are in jail today! And I like to think that we helped expose them to the federal authorities, who did the lion’s share of the work for the cases.

That story is the one that helped me and my partner, Anthony Pineda, win the Columbia DuPont award. It is a major National Award for Broadcast Journalism. But I’m more proud of the effect we had on the community.

I really think that it helped save some lives, and some families.”

After being diagnosed with a breathing disorder, Mel finally retired four years ago, in July of 2016. “I would never have retired if I hadn’t been sick. They didn’t want me to go either.”

(Left) Mel interviewing a D.E.A. agent for a story about “pill mills” in Florida, which earned her team the Columbia DuPont Broadcast Journalism award. (Right) Mel retired from WSVN after 43 years, and returned to Slidell.

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(Left) Mel & partner Anthony Pineda, win the Columbia DuPont award in the 90’s. (Middle & Right) Life-long anglers, Mel and her husband, Bob, got married by their guide while on a fishing trip to Alaska!

It was in Florida that she met Robert, “Bob” Gordon. He came to Miami to help his sick uncle who had a furniture refinishing business. As luck would have it, Mel’s dining room table needed refinishing, and Bob was the one who came to give an estimate. In her usual, straight-forward manner, she announced, “I thought he was cute! And he thought I was cute, so he asked me to go out to the flea market with him. I had never been to a flea market, nor did I own a pair of jeans.

I had to do a little investigation and shopping for the right outfit. It was fun.

And he likes to fish, so he’s definitely a keeper!”

After eight plus years of dating, Bob and Mel were married in 2001. Mel laughed and joked, “We like to say that fishing is the only thing that we agree on. Our politics and diet are

completely opposite. Oh my gosh, completely! But it keeps things interesting anyway. When we decided that we were going to get married, we decided to exchange vows in Alaska, on a fishing trip! I researched and found that you can become a Matrimonial Commissioner for a day in Alaska, so we had our fishing guide marry us. We went fishing with a father and son, and they were our photographers. There’s this great picture of us in our waders as Bob kissed the bride! It was great.

Then we went back to fishing.”

She moved quickly to the present. “I had always said to myself that when I retired, I wanted to come home to Slidell. Florida was kind to me, and I raised my daughter there. Courtney and her two daughters are still in South Florida. But I just really like the people here. And I wanted to be

looking out from my porch over the Big Branch Marsh. I just love it. We have all kinds of beautiful birds that come and go in this flyway. I’m waiting for the white pelicans because they should be showing up as soon as the weather starts to cool off! And we have an alligator or two that kind of cruise by. Plus, I can’t wait to fish when the weather cools off a little!” Mel has even won a few fishing tournaments!

Mel admitted, “I miss journalism very much. But I’m happy, very happy, here. This is where I intend to live out my days!”

Our visit was just what I needed with a fellow human being right now. Mel inspired me to want to do my part to make Slidell even better. Let’s find our own mouthpiece, as we are not all journalists. Make your voice count.

Sometimes, as Mel has proven, one voice can change many things.

(Left) Mel on-air with WSVN. (Middle) Mel with her daughter & granddaughters, at her home in Slidell. (Right) Mel’s mother & aunt were major influences on her life.

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NOVEMBER

27 - 28

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2020

CHRISTMAS

November

The Who

TOMMY

A COVID

FRIDAY - SATURDAY 8PM

NOVEMBER 13 - 21

ROY ORBISON

A TRIBUTE TO

ONLY THE LONELY

The Music from

12

4 - 12

decemBER

SAINTS @ BEARS, 3:25pm

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SAINTS @ BRONCOS, 3:05pm

Olde Towne Slidell Christmas Market • 10am - 5pm

SAINTS vs. FALCONS, NOON

BAYOU SHOWDOWN Truck, Hotrod & Bike Show

SAINTS vs. 49ERS, 3:25pm

SAINTS @ BUCCANEERS, 7:20pm

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9

Member Orientation Slidell Chamber 8:30AM

BLOOD DRIVE FOR NICHOLAS EIRICH Gardner Realtors / 11AM

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Food for Seniors Distribution Day Good Samaritan Ministry / 1PM

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4

WED

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12

5

Business Appreciation Luncheon @ Benedict’s Mandeville > 11:30AM

Ribbon Cutting Legends Barber Shop Slidell > 11:30AM

B2B Networking Covington Chamber > 8:30AM

Sporting Clay Tournament Covey Rise Lodge Husser, LA > 8AM - 12:30PM

THU

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1

DECEMBER 2

25

3

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Business After Hours Silver Slipper X-Mas Party Harbor Center > 5-7pm

B2B Networking Covington Chamber > 8:30AM

FREE GREENWOOD CEMETERY TOURS by “The Storyteller” JOHN CASE TUESDAYS - THURDAYS • NOON - 1PM • By Appointment • 985-707-8727

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S.T.E.M. CAMP • Infinity Science Center Pre-registration Required

Art Show: Mary Jane Schiro Butera Slidell City Hall Gallery • Runs thru Nov 6th

ALL SAINTS DAY

ELECTION DAY

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ALL SOULS DAY

NOVEMBER

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TUE

MON

SUN

LA Renaissance Festival Hammond, LA Weekends, November 7-28

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1

13

Walk with a Doc Heritage Park • 9AM

Slidell Art League Artist of the Year Reception City of Slidell Gallery Show runs thru Dec 18th

Crossfit Competition 7am - 6pm Olde Towne Slidell Art Market Green Oaks Apothecary 5 - 9PM

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TOMMY, Music from the Who • Cutting Edge Theater • 8 PM

Camellia City Farmer's Market Every Saturday 8am-Noon

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SAT

BLACK FRIDAY

BAYOU SHOWDOWN Truck, Hotrod & Bike Show

Camellia City Farmer’s Market Every Saturday 8am-Noon

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Southern Fried Funeral • Cutting Edge Theater • 8 PM

CHRISTMAS UNDER THE STARS • Slidell’s Griffith Park

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A Covid Christmas • Cutting Edge Theater • 8 PM

Olde Towne Slidell Christmas Market • 10am - 5pm

Camellia City Farmer’s Market Every Saturday 8am-Noon

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Only the Lonely, Music from Roy Orbison • Cutting Edge Theater • 8 PM

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Only the Lonely, Music from Roy Orbison • Cutting Edge Theater • 8 PM

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FRI

N O V2 E0 M2 B0 E R

The

Storyteller

THE VETERAN This is a story about an unnamed veteran. It could be any veteran or a symbolic veteran, but it is not. It is specifically about one person’s experience. I chose him because I perceive him to be typical. He was not awarded any special medals for bravery, he did not fall on a grenade, he did not swim for 48 hours dragging his burned buddy’s body, he just did what was asked of him.

Countless articles, books and movies have been made about Sgt. York, Audie Murphy, the hero of Midway etc. These men have become symbolic of the American hero. I do not wish to diminish the respect that is bestowed upon them, only to bring your attention to the fact that war, any war, is not basically won by their efforts.

It is won by the private, the corporal, the PFC, the sergeants. It is won by the millions whose name will never appear in a history book. Collectively, on this Veteran’s Day occasion, let us symbolically remember them and their contributions.

America was emerging from the deepest depression in its history in 1940. Its citizens were regaining their freedom. They had lost their freedom not because of any governmental restriction or coup, but because of the lack of financial resources. By 1941, things were looking up. Not to the point that had existed in the Roaring 20’s, but much more than they were in the mid-30’s. Soup kitchens were disappearing, chili houses were closing. Government programs still existed, such as the WPA and CCC, but more people were gravitating toward employment in private industry. Finally, a young man or woman could take a deep breath and live the American dream.

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The American dream for most was to graduate high school, get a job, get married, and raise a family. It also may have been to leave the farm and see the world, or at least part of it. Real dreamers saw themselves as the next Roy Rogers, Lash Larue, Gene Autry, Betty Davis or some other star. For most, it was the first time in their life they had such options.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in what was felt to be a cowardly attack. For the next four and a half years, all the plans of a carefree life would change. Most would return home when the war ended; some did not; and some came back less, both physically and mentally, than they were before they left.

The veteran of this story was highly intelligent. He had skipped a grade in school and graduated when he was barely seventeen. In 1943, if the war continued, and there were rumors that it may not, he would have to join the military. He had a year before his eighteenth birthday.

Jobs were plentiful. If you were not active duty, you were needed for defense work, shipbuilding, refineries, even farming. Soon, he was making more money in a shipyard than he had ever dreamed. With money in his pocket, what does a young man turn to? The ladies, and he found one. In his mind, he had never seen a prettier one.

He was a shy sort, but somehow found a way to meet her and fall in love. Looking back, how she felt could be in question, but what the heck? He was good looking, had money in his pocket, and would be leaving in a few months. No promises were made, but he felt there was something there, and it would be there when he returned.

Finally, his orders came. First, basic training; and then, due to his intelligence, the school of his choice. He realized, when the war was over, there would be a limitless demand for electricians. The Rural Electric Authority was providing electricity to remote rural locations. Eventually, every house in the rural countryside would be needing the service of an electrician. The Navy sent him to electrician’s school.

By this time, it was early 1944. He was assigned to a ship, but he saw no electrical work. He was assigned to the mess and his title was “Jack in the Dust.” His responsibility was to keep records of the food supply and peel potatoes.

His ship would carry him to the Philippines, China, and many other spots in the Pacific. However, it would be years before he revealed this to anyone.

You see, he did not talk about the war. At least, he didn’t for years. If he were questioned, he would just say something like, “I did what I was asked to do. I was no hero.”

Other than that, he did not discuss his war experience. Not then, anyway.

He retuned home to find his lady friend had married someone else; so he had plenty of time, a little money, and the GI bill.

He was only 20 years old.

From all indications, at that time, the war had little lasting effect on him. The GI bill provided him with an education, and he mentioned that was more than he deserved. He kept a trunk at his mother’s house. It was still there in the late 50’s.

In it were a knife from the Philippines and a bamboo fly rod he got in Japan after the surrender. These were the only physical mementos he had of the war.

His contemporaries are known as the Greatest Generation.

I have wondered what came first. Did the experience of the war make them a great generation; or the fact that they were a generation of drive and accomplishment make them good soldiers?

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After his retirement, as many older people do, he began to reflect on the past. For the first time, he talked about the war, always finishing the conversation by emphasizing he was no hero, he just did his job.

He had a desire to contact some of his old shipmates. I found a few on the internet and he was able to contact some of them.

For years, things he did with them had remained in his mind.

Most of them, however, did not remember him.

His ship, The U.S.S. Capricornus, was to have a reunion in Nashville. We made reservations; but, as I recall, there was a flu epidemic at the time, and we canceled the trip. I bought a world map and put it on his wall. We traced his voyages.

Many times, he returned to San Francisco. He always went to the top of the Mark Hopkins while in port. It was famous for its USO shows.

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One day, not long before he passed, we were routing one of his voyages on the wall map. He walked to the window as if looking in the far distance. In the next few lines, he told me more about what the war had meant to him than he had in his entire life.

He said, “John, it was Easter morning, 1945. We had arrived off the shore of Okinawa during the night. As the sun rose, all I could see were our ships. They had also arrived during the night. I believe there were miles of them. It was the most beautiful site I have ever seen. In a few hours, the kamikazes came. That was not so beautiful; but still, Easter is my favorite day of the year.”

When he turned around, there were tears in his eyes. I later found a map showing the name and location of each ship as they waited off the shore of Okinawa for the invasion. He smiled when he saw his ship and circled it with a pen.

After he passed, I inherited the few possessions he owned.

There was a cardboard tube. In it was a ceremonial certificate commemorating his crossing the equator. On February 22, 1944, he officially became a Turtleback, a term for those who have crossed the equator.

Coincidentally, he died on the same date, February 22, 2015.

In his eulogy, it was mentioned that once again he had traveled to a different latitude. Today, that ceremonial document hangs on the wall of the retirement home where he last lived. At that facility, they have a wall of military honor with other such memorabilia. No, there is not one Congressional Medal of Honor on the wall; and, to my knowledge, none of those brave men were generals. They were just average soldiers doing what they had to do.

Let us honor them on this occasion.

This is the story of one WWII veteran. There are thousands that sacrificed in all our wars, police actions, etc. It matters not how into the cause you were; these men did what had to be done. I am sure many of them did not totally agree with the cause, but they answered the call. We should remember them not only on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, but every day we enjoy our freedom. Remember, they did what they were asked to do and did it well. This would be repeated in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, Afghanistan and anywhere American interjection has been needed.

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by: Mike Rich, CFP® | Pontchartrain Investment Management

How Much of Your 401k Belongs To You? The Answer May Surprise You!

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If you’ve been following my articles about my new clients Bob and Lisa, you’ll know that we’ve been focusing our initial work on the four financial domains that encompass every factor of their financial life – Protection, Assets, Liabilities, and Cash Flow. Each domain has a specific philosophy of care, or set of guidelines, that drives my work with Bob and Lisa. At our most recent meeting, we spent time talking about their Liabilities Domain, where we want to:

Taxes

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Mortgages

2) Minimize or Avoid Taxes

Business Debt

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Gross Income | Protection Assets | Liabilities | Net Income

3) Exploit the Time Value of Money In this article, I’ll focus on taxes.

When I asked Bob and Lisa how much of their 401(k) balances belonged to them, they looked at me as if

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I had two heads and said, “Well, all of it. It’s ours.”

“What about the tax you’ll owe when you start taking that money out of your accounts?”, I replied. “Oh, yeah, taxes,” said Bob, “I forgot about that. Bummer.”

Bummer is right.

One of the biggest liabilities Bob and Lisa could face is the potential tax burden on their investments. When I work with folks who are saving and investing money for long-term goals, such as funding retirement income, I try to minimize taxes now and in the future. The conventional wisdom is often to “defer, defer, defer” the tax burden as far as one can into the future. There is nothing wrong with that strategy, and a pre-tax IRA or a 401(k) plan is, for many of us, the cornerstone of a sound retirement plan. However, as I explained to Bob and Lisa, money that is distributed from a pre-tax investment is taxed the same as ordinary income. Who wants to pay a bunch of taxes in retirement after 30 years of saving? Plus, many of us think we’ll be in a lower bracket during retirement, and that our tax burden will be less. How can we know that? What if we aren’t?

What if tax rates need to go up so the national debt can be paid off? So, when Bob and Lisa finally retire and start spending their money for income, I want some

of it to be as tax-free as possible. A simple strategy is to pay the tax now, while marginal rates are some of the lowest in U.S. history, rather than defer them to the future, when they could revert to the heights seen in the decades between the 60s and 80s. This can be done by putting money into an after-tax investment account. Or, they might consider funding Roth IRAs, using after-tax money now and then taking the funds tax free during their retirement years. Or, they might choose a cash value life insurance policy, which can serve as a source of tax-free cash during retirement, and provide a death benefit.

Any way they do it, tax minimization, to me, is a big part of financial success. If you would like to learn more about how taxes and other liabilities might affect your financial future, call me for a complementary meeting.

Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC This is a hypothetical example and is not representative of any specific investment. Your results might vary. The hypothetical rate of return used does not reflect the deduction of fees and charges inherent to investing. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.

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In Loving Memory of our Friends

Ronnie and Gardner Kole

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Slidell lost two legendary residents this year, Ronnie and Gardner Kole. Gardner passed away in January 2020, and her beloved husband Ronnie followed her just seven months later, in August. It’s been said by many that Ronnie died of a broken heart. After sharing a decade of friendship with this loving couple, I believe that to be true.

I first met the Koles in 2010, just a few months after I had published my first edition of Slidell Magazine. I was star-struck by Ronnie’s tremendous talent and fame and thought that landing an interview with the Jazz great would be just what I needed to make my magazine a hit.

That first interview started a beautiful friendship, and I was soon recruited to serve on the committee for their charity, Jazz on the Bayou. Right away, I learned that a friendship with the Koles required two things: lots of youthful energy to keep up with this active couple; and the ability to effectively handle your liquor. They ran circles around me in both!

That first interview appeared in the 5th Edition of Slidell Magazine. Although the cover featured Ronnie alone, in the now-famous painting by artist Adam Sambola (which became the official image for Jazz on the Bayou), the story was about the Koles as a couple - the relationship they shared with each other, with music, and with the Slidell community. More than 30 glorious years together had made the Koles an inseparable and dynamic duo of talent, philanthropy and charisma. It was a love story.

In the 1970’s, Ronnie Kole was already a reknown jazz pianist. Branching into other avenues within the music industry, Ronnie began opening music stores throughout Louisiana, including one in Slidell. “That’s when I really started getting involved in Slidell and that’s when Gardner and I met,” Ronnie told me in that first interview. Since moving to Slidell in 1951, Gardner had been a well known and respected community leader and volunteer. Gardner laughed and said, “I hired him! I was in charge of the Slidell Performing Arts Guild at the time and we needed a celebrity that we could afford!”

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Gardner remembered, “From the moment we met, the very beginning, it was just a meeting of…everything.

Electric. Just meant to be.”

“I call her my American Express card because I never leave home without her. We even go shopping together.

Everything we do together, like Siamese twins. We’ve been like that since we started dating,” Ronnie said. “She’s my best fan, biggest fan and my best friend.”

While hundreds of friends and admirers miss them dearly, we are comforted in knowing they are reunited at last. We’ll remember Gardner’s southern grace and quick wit; and Ronnie’s talent that was second only to his corny jokes and gentleman’s charm. Together, they were Slidell legends.

Rest in peace my beautiful friends, Kendra

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November 13 - December 18, 2020 Slidell Cultural Center at City Hall Wednesdays - Fridays, 12 - 4 pm Gallery hours are by appointment only. Call (985) 646-4375 to make a reservation. Same day viewings as available.

21

"Environment ns a e rl O w e N f o Donna Bush, Winner of 2020 Press Club

Story & Photos by Donna Bush

They don’t look like a duck. They don’t act like a duck. But, yet, their name is black-bellied whistling duck. You may have seen these interesting birds around our area. Once rare in Louisiana, now they are here by the thousands! In fact, there are roughly 40,000 - 60,000 in our state. However, few people know what they are. As native residents of Central and South America, something happened to persuade them to move north of their usual range. No one really knows for sure what caused this.

The black-bellied whistling duck is a mid-sized waterfowl with longish legs, a long red bill, long pale gray head and mostly gray-brown plumage. The belly and tail are black, with the body plumage, back of the neck, and cap a rich chestnut brown. The face and upper neck are gray with a distinctive, thin white eye-ring. There is extensive white in the wings that is only obvious in flight.

Males and females are monomorphic, meaning they look alike. Juveniles are similar in size with a gray bill and less contrasting belly.

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al Science Reporting"

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks I spoke at length with Paul Link, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries North American Waterfowl Management Plan Coordinator. Back in the 70’s, an occasional black-bellied whistling duck would show up in Louisiana. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) attempted an introduction program of these ducks at Rockefeller National Wildlife Refuge. A group were raised and released, but mostly it was a failed endeavor. There were no known records of one being spotted fifteen years after the last release. Randomly, in the mid-80’s, one would be seen.

Then, after Hurricane Rita in 2005, their Louisiana population exploded.

Paul spoke with wildlife biologists in Mexico and South America, but they couldn’t shed any light about their northernly move. Sadly, Central and South America metrics on waterfowl are lacking. Although they are still residents of both areas, their numbers have greatly diminished. Much of their habitat has been lost, as marsh has been

converted to shrimp aquaculture farms and rice water facilities disappeared due to the water wars.

Per Paul, “Compared to other migratory birds, we know next to nothing about these ducks. The best data we have for them is the Christmas bird count and breeding bird survey.”

Whether in Louisiana, Mexico or Brazil, the ducks choose similar habitats.

Preference is water-front property; but that doesn’t have to be a marshy bayou, although they can be found there. Golf courses, parks and industrial areas are frequent habitats. Locally, City Park is an awesome place to see huge flocks.

Grain facilities and Entergy’s Ninemile plant are other favorites.

On one of my trips to The Pantanal in Brazil, I observed black-bellied whistling ducks alongside white-faced whistling ducks, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa and South America. Like the black-bellied, they are nocturnal feeders.

Although there are eight species of whistling ducks in the world, only

the black-bellied and the fulvous whistling ducks are found in the US. Fulvous are not year-round Louisiana residents, but they do breed in the southwest portion of the state.

Habitat choice is a brilliant idea on the black-bellied’s part. During hunting season, they are nowhere near hunters.

Instead, they reside in places where it is illegal to hunt. Smart! There’s always safety in numbers, too. During the winter, you can observe thousands, even tens of thousands, congregating together.

Often called black-bellied tree ducks due to their perching in trees, they are more closely related to swans! They mate for multiple years, if not life; both parents take part in the nesting and raising of the young; the young stay with their parents for 10-11 months, as their parents share information and education about life. In other duck species, the male is never seen after mating. The female does everything with the nest and raising of the young.

Once juveniles can fly, Mom takes off.

whistling-ducks, a behavior known as egg-dumping. Whistling ducks don’t have down underneath their feathers like most other waterfowl. They only have an outer layer of feathers like a chicken. Therefore, they don’t line their nest with down as other waterfowl do.

Females lay eggs directly on the wood shavings in a nest box or right on the vegetation, if using a ground nest. Since they are nesting in summer months, they are frequently observed standing on top of the eggs, fluffing their wings to try to circulate air to keep the eggs cool. Nest predators are raccoons, rat snakes and bull snakes; fire ants, bass, catfish, gar, and alligators kill ducklings.

Great horned owls sometimes kill adults.

Paul has been tagging black-bellied whistling ducks for about 8 - 9 years.

Each bird is sexed, banded and released.

Although banding often sheds a lot of light on the movements of a species, very few of the whistling ducks have been recovered. With banded wood ducks, one in five is recovered by a hunter or found deceased by a homeowner. Of

the 28,000 banded whistling ducks, only 2-4% are recovered, depending on the age and sex of the bird. In order to have valuable statistics, they would need to band many more. The value of the data comes from the number of recoveries. The only way to increase the number of encounters is to increase the number banded.

Paul used the term “transient residents” to describe their migration habits. Of the banded ducks, roughly 94% of those are seen either in Louisiana or a county adjacent to the state.

Four years ago, Paul performed a telemetry project where he radio-tagged twenty whistling ducks. Ten were in southwest Louisiana and ten were in southeast Louisiana. Data showed them making localized movements, mostly within the state. Sixteen of the twenty nested in Louisiana, two in Texas, one in Florida and one in Alabama.

By October, they all returned to our state. The belief is that, though they may nest somewhere else, they return

Whistling ducks will often breed in their first year of life. Pairs form over the winter; courtship involves birds stretching their necks out horizontally, dipping their bill and flicking water off their back. Males spar by chasing or nipping other males; or with a threat display, stretching their neck forward and opening their bill. Their antics are quite hilarious. Often times, it appeared that one was going to land on the head of another. Coming in for a landing was downright comical. Females often lay eggs in the nests of other 23

Interesting Facts About

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

to Louisiana for winter, hanging out in urban/suburban/industrial locations throughout the state.

Out of all the banded whistling ducks, only one has been recovered in Mexico.

Paul researched the recovery and learned that a dock worker at a grain loading facility on the central coast of Mexico found the deceased bird inside a shipping container. Upon tracing the itinerary of the ship, Paul discovered that the ship had departed a cargo grain terminal in Westwego and traveled across the Gulf of Mexico to the grain dock.

Past the mid-coast of Texas, essentially there are no encounters with banded whistling ducks. Initially, biologists thought they were disbursing to Central and South America to winter; thereby explaining why hunters never harvested them during duck season. Since then, they have learned that their nocturnal feeding and habitat take them away from where hunters would encounter them.

Unlike most waterfowl, whistling ducks are rarely observed in the water. When seen in the water, they are typically wading or feeding, never swimming like most ducks. They are frequently found hanging out with other waterfowl, such as mallards or Canadian geese.

They’re often spotted perching in trees or strolling along the bank, snipping seed heads off grasses. Their main diet is any type of grain – cracked corn, Bermuda grass seeds, and subversive aquatic plants. Their walk is more like a wading bird, like an egret or heron.

They don’t have the characteristic duck waddle.

Our large influx of black-bellied whistling ducks has not adversely affected other resident waterfowl, despite the fact they nest in the same locations.

There’s at least a one-two month lag time between the latest wood duck and earliest whistling duck nesting. Typically, wood ducks nest from January - April or early May; while whistling ducks nest from June thru October. However, in Florida, they are now known to nest year-round.

Black-bellied whistling duck metrics support the theory that a steady population decline is occurring in Louisiana. Paul explained that birders use the term “bird irruption” to illustrate the mass movement of thousands of ducks into the niche habitat, exploding the population. Just as quickly, the niche gets full and stops expanding.

There seems to be a downward trend in numbers. The next few years will tell if the population stabilizes.

The black-bellied whistling duck is striking in appearance and highly tolerant of human observation. I encourage you to seek out and observe our new residents.

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 The black-bellied whistling duck is an unusual species of North American waterfowl. With its long legs, peculiar appearance and odd habits, it was described by one early American ornithologist as “most un-duck-like.”  They were formerly known as the black-bellied tree duck.

As the name suggests, they are quite fond of perching in trees.

Additionally, tree cavities provide nesting sites. They are also locally known as squealers.  This species expanded its range in the latter half of the 20th century and has benefited in recent years from the placement of nest boxes across key portions of its range.  A group of ducks has many collective nouns, including a “brace,” “flush,” “paddling,” “raft,” and “team” of ducks.  There are 9-18 eggs in each brood, with 1 - 2 broods per year.  Per LDWF Waterfowl Program Manager, Larry Reynolds, “The duck’s meat is very light tasting, not stringy, with a texture like beef.

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Slidell: Our History WWII : The Homefront

Story by Ted Lewis

Throughout World War II, Patricia Auenson Broussard did her part.

She salvaged aluminum cans, old tires, plus anything else made of rubber or metal. She even saved bacon grease because the glycerin it contained could be converted into explosives.

She conserved her money to buy savings stamps and bonds. She did volunteer work.

And she and her family in the Terrebonne Parish community of Montegut dealt with the rationing of gas, meat, butter, sugar, coffee, canned vegetables, shoes and other staples.

All of it was to help the War effort, just like the rest of America was doing.

Supporting the troops meant more than paying lip service.

26

But, more than three quarters of a century later, there’s still one thing which really bothers her.

When David Broussard, her childhood sweetheart (and next-door neighbor), got enough leave from the Navy to come home so they could be married in October 1944, there was no film available to take wedding pictures.

Film, apparently, was yet another commodity in scarce supply.

“It was very frustrating,” Pat Broussard recalled. “The Army was using film by the carloads, but we couldn’t get any. I finally had a picture of me in my wedding suit made a few months later, but it wasn’t the same thing because David wasn’t in it. I was only 17 and I really didn’t understand.”

The lack of photos may have put a damper on the Auenson-Broussard nuptials, but not their marriage. Residents of Slidell since 1984, Patricia, now 93, and David, 95, celebrated their 76th anniversary last month.

But that little, or maybe not so little, annoyance, was typical of life on the homefront during WWII. “We’re All in This Together” was the prevailing motto, and those who might forget were sharply reminded, “Don’tcha Know There’s A War On?”

It was a time of national unity unseen before or since.

might be out there, old-fashioned letter writing was done on epic levels.

That was the spirit of the era, or at least the way it’s popularly remembered – a nationwide rush of patriotism against a great enemy. For some, it was a chance to take part in a great adventure as well.

David and Patricia wrote to each other nearly every day after he enlisted in June 1943. David would enclose a stick of chewing gum with his letters until he went overseas aboard the aircraft carrier Shangri-La, where he was a radioman on a torpedo bomber.

“I’d always wanted to be in aviation,” David Broussard said. “So I enlisted in the Navy before the Army could draft me.”

During the course of the war, there were 16 million Americans in uniform. Nearly all the rest of the country’s population of 135 million was invested in securing victory and bringing everyone home as quickly as possible.

To this day, Patricia has kept many of the V-Mails – letters photographically transferred to microfilm, reducing their original weight and volume by 97 percent – and printed on a 4x5-inch photo for the recipient which came into use later in the war.

Those doing the actual fighting were the tip of the spear for a great war machine whose tremendous resources supplied not only the U.S. war effort, but those of allies like Great Britain and the USSR as well.

Yet another Navy veteran, Truett Carter of Slidell, knew his parents had plenty to be apprehensive about.

Two older brothers, Cortez and William, died in the war - Cortez, when his B-24 bomber was shot down in Germany; and William, a fighter pilot, in a Japanese POW camp.

“I was doing my part and everybody back home was doing theirs,” said David Broussard. “You felt like you were part of a great big family and everybody was connected. You never felt forgotten.”

Long before e-mailing, texting, Instagram, Tic-Toc and whatever new innovation

“I always tried to just mention things on the brighter side of life,” David said. “I didn’t want to worry anybody any more than I knew they already were.”

That was a common practice.

Most servicemen talked about how good things were – even when they weren’t.

News from home was usually equally upbeat, even though loved ones were obviously worried.

Even now, Navy veteran and Lacombe resident Sherman Elfert gets emotional thinking about the concern his parents in New Orleans had for him. Ask him about his mother hanging a blue-star flag in the window for him and his brother, Roger, who was also in the Navy, and the 95-year-old veteran of both WWII and Korea tears up.

Pat Broussard in her wedding suit, posing for a picture to send to David

anything bad. I just said I was fine and everything was fine. They usually told me the same thing.”

“I’d talked them into signing for me to go into the Navy when I was 17,” said Elfert, who served on the destroyer escort USS Holton in both the European and Pacific theaters. “So I never told them

It wasn’t until after the war that the policy of bringing siblings home when more than one other had been killed (highlighted in the blockbuster movie, Saving Private Ryan) was implemented.

So Carter remained in the Navy, serving on a minesweeper in the South Pacific.

Another Carter brother, R.D., was also in the Navy and a sister, Vashti, was a nurse at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, not far from the Carter family home near Downsville in Union Parish.

“I joined the Navy because I was mad at Japan,” said Carter, who has lived in Slidell since 1962. “My parents understood but they still didn’t want me to go. I didn’t hear a lot from them because it was hard for mail to catch up to you in the Navy. They just wanted to know I was OK.” There were other forms of support.

The USO provided a “home-away-fromhome” for stateside servicemen with live entertainment and, more importantly, local females who, between serving 27

Left: Sept 2, 1945 - surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri. The USS Holton delivered Korean & Chinese diplomats and can be seen in the upper right of the picture. Middle & Right: Lacombe resident Sherman Elfert served aboard the USS Holton during WWII, and served in the Korean War. coffee and donuts, served as dance partners or just someone for a lonely GI to talk to.

The first USO was located in DeRidder, La., serving Fort Polk.

“The girls weren’t supposed to leave with you or they couldn’t come back,” Elfert said. “It didn’t stop me from trying, though.”

Elfert added he wasn’t much of a dancer back in New Orleans, but he developed his skills at various USOs, his favorite being in Milwaukee near the Great Lakes Training Center.

After the war, Elfert and some friends formed a social club where dances were held two or three nights a week.

It was there that he met his future wife, Claire. Claire Elfert died in 2015, 10 years after the couple relocated to Lacombe when their Lakeview home was destroyed by Katrina.

“I think I attracted her because I was such a good dancer,” Sherman Elfert said. “And she was better looking than all of those girls I met at the USO.” Elfert was also fortunate enough to spend some of his pre-deployment time in New Orleans.

When the Holton was being outfitted at the Algiers Naval Facility after being delivered by barge from a Michigan shipyard, Elfert, then stationed in Norfolk, 28

Va., was sent to his hometown to assist with the effort.

“I don’t think the captain knew where I was from,” Elfert said. “He must have just thought I was good man.”

Elfert spent six weeks in New Orleans, working aboard ship during the daytime.

But most evenings he took the ferry across the Mississippi River, visiting with family and friends.

That included his older brother, Whitney, who was employed at Higgins Industries after earlier receiving a medical discharge from the Army.

The more than 25,000 workers at Higgins’ various New Orleans facilities were reminded, “The guy who relaxes is helping the Axis!”

The war was a tremendous agent of change for many.

Carter’s parents moved from Downsville to West Monroe where his father worked in a defense plant.

Patricia Broussard’s father was a supervisor at the Thibodaux Boiler Works, which manufactured 105mm shell casings. Her mother, her aunt and her sister worked there as well, as World War II opened doors for women.

During the war, unemployment dropped from a late-Depression 25 percent to just 1 percent. And more than 15 million

people, nearly as many as were in the military, moved - eight million of them to other states, primarily on the West Coast and in the Sun Belt.

By the war’s end, the U.S. had produced some 5,600 merchant ships, 80,000 landing craft, 100,000 tanks and armored cars, 300,000 airplanes, 370,000 large artillery pieces, 2.4 million military trucks, 2.6 million machine guns, 20 million small arms, 434 million tons of steel, 41 billion rounds of ammunition, and six million tons of bombs.

In Slidell, almost 2,000 workers were employed at Southern Shipyard, turning out tug boats and net tenders. This, in a city which had less than 3,000 inhabitants in 1940!

Women entered the workforce in previously unthinkable numbers. But while that presented economic opportunity and set America on yet another changing social trend, a survey during the war showed 75 percent of women who were working preferred to return to being stay-at-home wives and mothers once the war was over.

Patricia Broussard never worked outside the home, finishing up high school after her marriage, then helping her mother and mother-in-law around the home, including planting a Victory Garden.

She also closely followed the progress

The music tended towards the sentimental, such as Bing Crosby’s 1944 hit “I’ll Be Seeing You.” To support the salvaging effort, Crosby also crooned, “Junk ain’t junk no more, ‘cause junk can win the war.”

WWII has even been called “The Good War,” as if there can be such a thing. New Orleans’ own National WWII Museum remains as popular now as it was when it opened 20 years ago, although commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the war’s end earlier this year were curtailed by the pandemic.

Most of the men and women who took part in World War II were the vanguard of producing a postwar nation which, to this day, celebrates the prosperity, personal gains, national power and possibilities their efforts enabled.

Slidell resident and WWII veteran, Truett Carter

of the war through newspapers, the radio and newsreels.

“I was so proud to say my husband was aboard a ship and he was going to win the war for us,” she said. “I had an 8x10 of him in his uniform and I showed everyone because he was so handsome. I took all of his letters to school to show them around. But I prayed for him every day, too.”

Broussard, Carter and Elfert escaped the war physically unscathed, although all were in combat. Broussard carries the memory of a mission he was not on in which the plane he normally flew in was shot down. His pilot was killed and his gunner was severely burned. David and Pat named their son Fred Charles Broussard, in remembrance of both airmen.

Carter still mourns his bothers who didn’t make it home like he did.

Carter and Broussard were part of the growth of the Slidell area.

Carter and his late wife, Maureen, came in 1962 to take advantage of the construction opportunities. He would own Carter Supply and Floor Coverings before turning it over to his sons when he retired.

Broussard, who served in the Naval Air Reserve for 20 years, moved to Slidell when he began working for Martin-Marietta.

It was because of men and women like them, Tom Brokaw dubbed Americans of the era, “The Greatest Generation.”

Those remaining veterans – 350,000 veterans, the youngest of which are in their mid-90s, appreciate the accolades, which only seem to increase as their numbers dwindle at the rate of 250 a day.

But the survivors hardly regard themselves as heroes. As Carter simply says, “We did what we had to do.”

Including doing without wedding photos.

Elfert’s ship dodged submarines on convoy duty and was converted to minesweeping in advance of an invasion of Japan that was avoided by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Broussard, Carter and Elfert were all in high school when the war began and all in the Pacific when the war ended.

In fact, Elfert’s ship, the Holton, picked up diplomats from China and Korea and delivered them to the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay where the surrender ceremony took place. The Holton remained nearby during the ceremony but can be seen in the background.

“I don’t want to say it was always a good time,” said Elfert, who was three days shy of his 20th birthday when the war ended. “But I got to see the world and grow up a lot. Everyone was ready for it to be over though.”

The movies of the time emphasized the heroism of American servicemen (and the evil of the enemy). It shouldn’t be surprising that the most-shown movie on TMC is Casablanca, with more than 150 airings.

Pat and David Broussard celebrated their 76th anniversary in October 2020 29

“Your Estate Matters”

By Ronda M. Gabb, NP, JD, RFC

Legal-ease

Character

TRAITS...

One of the most important things an estate planning attorney must do is determine the character of a client’s property. This is true whether it is an initial consultation to establish an estate plan, or a succession consultation for a deceased person’s estate. We must know which assets are classified as community property and which are separate property.

This is of utmost importance when handling successions for decedents who died without a will, called an “Intestate Succession,” because community property assets and separate property assets are distributed quite differently.

Under the community property matrimonial regime, legally called the Community of Acquets and Gains, all assets acquired during the marriage (with the exception of inherited property) are presumed to be community property. This means that each spouse owns an undivided one-half interest in the community property. If it was acquired during the marriage with community funds, it is community property and belongs to both spouses equally. This is true even if only one spouse’s name appears on the title, business, deed, or account.

You may choose to “opt out” of the community property regime. You can do this without Court approval only if it is done prior to the marriage, or within one year of moving into Louisiana as a married couple. While other states call these “prenuptial” agreements, in Louisiana we call them “Marriage Contracts” or “Matrimonial Agreements”. If you wish to

terminate the community regime after marriage it must go through the Court and be approved by a Judge.

Understand that terminating the entire “community property regime” is what needs Court approval, not the spouses agreeing to choose assets on an “asset-by-asset” basis and converting them to the separate property of the other. For example, spouses own properties A and B as community property, but they each agree to convert Property A to the Separate Property of Husband and Property B to the Separate Property of Wife. That is perfectly fine to do without needing the Court, or even an attorney, as it is generally accomplished through an Act of Donation which can be done through a non-attorney Notary Public.

If you are married, your separate property would include assets you owned prior to marriage, or assets you received by gift or inheritance during the marriage, assuming the separate funds were not “commingled” and were kept separate from community accounts.

Under the community property regime, ALL income, including income from either spouse’s separate property (which includes inherited property), is presumed to be community property.

Many people are very surprised to learn this.

The good news (if you thought this was bad news) is there is a pretty easy solution to rectify this. It is called an “Article 2339 Declaration” and it is ideally signed by both parties (but that is not a necessary requirement, only that

the other spouse is “provided a copy”) and recorded in the conveyance records of the Parish of domicile and in every other Parish where real estate is owned. The recordation is “notice to all” that from the filing date forward, all income from the separate property is now separate property and no longer belongs to the community.

The “Article 2339 Declaration” does not terminate the community regime, it only affects income from separate property. As I mentioned, terminating the community regime post-marriage is quite a bit more difficult and costly, but in some cases may be a wise choice (perhaps large medical debts of one spouse are expected in the future or one spouse has a greater propensity for being sued).

It is not always easy to determine the character of property as sometimes it may be both separate and community! We have had several clients over the years who have inherited part of their property from their parents (separate property) and then have purchased the remaining interest in the property from their siblings with community funds (community property). While a well-written Last Will and Testament can certainly address this, if that person died intestate (without a will) the end result may be tragic for their surviving spouse, especially if they have different children! It is imperative that your attorney dig deep into the property character while doing the estate planning during life so that property disposition is handled as you wish upon your death.

See other articles and issues of interest!

Ronda M. Gabb is a Board Certified Estate Planning and Administration Specialist certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization. She is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Governor’s Elder Law Task Force. Ronda grew up in New Orleans East and first moved to Slidell in 1988, and now resides in Clipper Estates.

30

40 Louis Prima Drive (off Hwy 190, behind Copeland’s) • Covington, Louisiana • (985) 892-0942 • RondaMGabb.com

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ie Gates

Lesl Story by

Everyone has strong beliefs and opinions right now. I just wonder how much of those beliefs and opinions are creating positive change, and which are just creating more division. It’s not an easy question to answer since the outcome won’t be seen immediately, but it’s definitely something to explore, at least within ourselves. What morals and values do we live by? Then, how much of those do we abandon in order to have control of a certain situation in our lives? There are so many situations in this world right now that we wish we had control of. It’s been tough.

We took a professional family photo about 11 years ago at a local photography studio. The surroundings were simple, the colors, neutral, and the pose, well, typical. It worked well because there were no props or shiny objects for the kids to fool with. That’s how I wanted it, simple and quick, leaving little time for any tears, sibling fights, or boredom. Back then, it was a very short window we were working with.

The day before, I picked outfits for everyone that weren’t obviously matchy, but blended well together.

The boys got haircuts, including my husband, Brian. I colored my hair, 32

“PICTURE PERFECT” then spent time in the back yard to darken up my tan. The kids got a heads up about the day and time this would happen, what to expect, and how to behave. I’m certain at least 2 out of 3 of them said, “But I don’t waaaaant toooo!” Brian being one of them.

The next day, a few hours before appointment time, I told everyone to get their picture-taking clothes on. Fifteen minutes later, I told them again. Thirty more minutes…. again. It’s why I started two hours out. I don’t know why I didn’t just skip the frustration of that step since I knew I would be holding them down and dressing them all anyway. Brian being one of them.

I combed heads, tied shoes, grabbed snacks, yelled a lot, buckled in car seats, fought on the way, considered jumping out and starting a new life, thought of everything that could go wrong, got mad at the photographer for taking extra photos that would be so amazing that I couldn’t help but buy them… the money adding up in my head, even before we stepped foot in the door. The truth is, I had wanted a professional family photo since our last child was born, and it was very important to me… BUT I knew myself… how I thought too

much… controlled too much. Wanted perfection where perfection would never exist. Because it doesn’t exist.

Now, the time had come. Our family of 5 seated on a cold floor as I gave up all control, handing it over to a stranger who didn’t know who we were or what we were about. I had done my part and hoped she would do the same. I told her I wanted only ONE good family photo.

Everyone smiling. THAT WAS IT. She snapped the first shot. Then the second, third, and tenth. I said, “OK, I think were good!” She took me to the side to show me what she had produced, which made me realize what was going on. In EVERY SINGLE photo (and there were A LOT), our oldest child made a different silly face. There was no stopping it and I was about to lose my shit.

I was done, telling her to pick the best one, and that I would just live with it. That he would never smile as long as we were in there with him.

She thought a second, then told me there was one more thing she could try but that everyone would have to leave the room, except him.

I happily agreed, although not at all confident at what she was attempting.

Literally, 2 minutes later, she came out and said, “I got him to smile.”

I was kinda confused, needing an explanation quick, since the other 2 were getting extremely impatient. Brian being one of them.

She said, “I will crop his smiling head off and paste it onto his body in the family picture.” I paused, amazed and awestruck. My eyes met hers with relief… a sheepish grin formed on my face, erasing any prior worries.

2009 I gave her a respectful nod and tough gripped handshake, as a proud expression of accomplishment lit her face. She faced a nearly impossible situation using her gift, and she did it with patience and grace. It was big to me because I needed someone to see my situation and add hope, while taking away worry and control.

Fast forward to 2020. It seems there has either been a total loss of control, or an unhealthy, scary kind of control. This is the year that has given us one miserable surprise after another, with literally NO BREAK in-between. We are all tired of figuring out how our masks keep disappearing, and how storm tracks always begin with NOLA smack dab in the middle of the cone. We are tired of the media making us believe the whole world hates each other when we know that isn’t true. Yes, there is a lot of hate going on, and I’m not

downplaying it. But most people just want to go to the grocery store, pay bills, love their family, and be done with the nonsense. We are TIRED, and we let it take away our hope, our patriotism, and our one-on-one interactions with the people around us. We have either completely given up control, leaving us vulnerable to whatever happens, or have desperately gone overboard on control, causing more chaos around us and within us.

I know I can’t stop forests from burning or angry rioters from doing evil, or anything else that has been completely overwhelming lately…

Just fill in the 2020 blank___. It’s not that I don’t care, I just know I am only one person, and my most important priority right now is calming my kids fears, while somehow keeping a balance of reality in a world where you can’t quite figure out the real truth. When everything around me seems important enough to make it a priority in my mind, it only leads to anxiety because my head gets scattered, leaving me to contribute a little bit to a whole lot of things, never making a big difference

anywhere. I start to forget what REALLY matters and that the only thing I can control is my own response.

We can debate over politics, or protest for a cause we feel strongly about… that’s our right as Americans! And if someone’s heart is led to a different place than yours and you can’t have a decent conversation about it, then agree to disagree, and move on. None of us can quickly cut and paste our way out of 2020, but man, it sure would look much nicer if we could.

So, what better time to take another professional family photo than 2020, right? To show normalcy once again during a time of chaos and unrest, so when my family looks back, no one would ever be the wiser. They will remember that it was very hard, but they will also remember that they were able to smile, and that we made it through as a family.

We do the best we can. We smile through it, and know that somehow, we will still be OK… Especially if we don’t focus too much on what is going on in the background.

2020 33

Sponsored By:

by: Jeff Perret, DVM | Veterinary Medical Center

SHOULD YOU FEED YOUR PET A

VEGETARIAN diet?

Pet owners frequently project their beliefs about human health onto their companion animals. Anxieties about supposed harms from vaccines in children, for example, have spurred an anti-vaccination movement (a misguided movement, in my judgement) among some veterinarians and pet owners. Beliefs in alternative human medical therapies, such as herbal medicine and acupuncture, may motivate pet owners to seek such treatments for their animals.

But perhaps the most common example of this phenomenon is the translation of dietary beliefs and fads from human nutrition to animal feeding practices.

The projection of human dietary practices onto pets takes many forms. On the heels of a wave of hysteria about gluten and the health effects of grains in humans, we saw a rise in popularity of grain-free pet foods, which now make up close to half of commercial diets for dogs and cats. There’s now some evidence that grain-free pet diets aren’t just an expensive and unnecessary fad, but may be dangerous for certain dogs. Organic ingredients are often marketed to pet owners as having health benefits based on the belief that this is true for people, despite the lack of real evidence for this

in humans or in other animals. And among those who minimize or avoid animal products in their own diet, there is significant interest in feeding such vegetarian or vegan diets to their pets.

People may avoid meat or other animal products in their diets for a variety of reasons, including concerns about animal welfare, beliefs about the health effects of plant-based and animal-based foods, and religious dietary restrictions. Surveys of pet owners indicate that those who follow a vegan diet (eating no animal-based foods) or other vegetarian diets (limited consumption of some types of animal-based foods) sometimes feel discomfort at violating their own dietary rules in the feeding of their dogs and cats, especially if their own food choices are driven by religious or ethical concerns. They have a clear interest and motivation to feed vegetarian or vegan diets to their pets, but many won’t because of concerns about the health effects of such diets on their pets.

Assumptions about the nutritional requirements of dogs and cats are often based on the notion that whatever their wild relatives eat must be “natural,” and thus healthy for them.

Dr. Jeff recommends:

34

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However, wild carnivores often suffer from malnutrition, parasitism, and other ills associated with their diets, so it’s a mistake to imagine that the diet available in the wild is perfectly suited to house pets.

The anatomy and physiology of dogs have been dramatically impacted by their long association with humans. Some of these changes are obvious, and their relationship to the concept of the “natural” diet of wolves and wild dogs is clear. However, even breeds with a more typically canine anatomy have undergone internal changes that reflect their adaptation to human foods. From their teeth to their ability to digest starches and taste sweetness, dogs have been shaped by domestication, and they are well-suited to an omnivorous diet.

A vegan diet must be properly and carefully formulated to meet the nutritional needs of dogs, and there is less room for error than with diets containing animal ingredients. Even diets which appear adequate on paper or in laboratory testing, however, may not support normal health under real-world conditions. Recent reports of cardiomyopathy in dogs eating grain-free pet diets, for example, suggest a serious health risk for some individuals. At present, there are only short-term studies and uncontrolled, low-quality case series evaluating the health of dogs fed vegan or vegetarian diets. Such limited evidence leaves significant uncertainty about the risks and benefits of such diets for domestic dogs.

Cats have been more lightly touched by domestication and artificial selection than dogs, and they are clearly still very much carnivores. with nutritional requirements that are unlikely to be effectively met by vegan diets. This does not mean, however, that they are healthiest when fed live birds and small mammals; in fact, the evidence indicates otherwise. Domestication has had limited effects on the physiology of cats, and their dietary requirements are unlikely to be effectively met by plant-only diets.

The need for preformed vitamin A, taurine and other specific amino acids not found in plants, along with other specific dietary requirements of cats, makes it unlikely that long-term feeding of vegan diets will support good health in this species.

Bottom line: there is no evidence that vegetarian diets have health benefits for dogs and cats, and no real reason to believe they should based on physiology and nutritional requirements. Pet owners may choose to feed such diets due to philosophical or religious beliefs, but veterinarians should make it clear that any potential health benefits of vegetarianism for humans likely do not apply to dogs and cats.

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In theory, then, it’s not unreasonable to suggest domestic dogs could thrive on vegetarian or vegan diets. However, there have been few studies that demonstrate this; numerous studies of vegan and vegetarian pet foods have found formulation errors and inadequacies in essential nutrients; and some studies have also found animal DNA in such diets, suggesting that pet owners who buy them may not be getting what they’re paying for.

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