Baja St. Martin
By Linda Cooke
We continue to be weather lucky over here. The south wind has been blowing too much but we’ve missed the worst rains. Belle River is going down very, very slowly. The water is black and doesn’t smell all that great.
Work on the Belle River bridge seems to be at a standstill. Once in a while you can see one or two men working on a piling or some structure beside the bridge, but nothing of any consequence. No signs have been put up as yet announcing a closure date. Rumors are that the date has been pushed farther back in June. One of the bridge tenders told me if I could find out what’s happening to please let him know ’cause no one tells him anything!
Highway 70 from about halfway to the Pierre Part Bay bridge to the bridge is absolutely terrible. Part of the way crews are making shoulders for the new pavement. Then it gets worse where the third (turning) lane will be made. Big white, plastic pipes are being put down along the side of the road and there are excavators, bulldozers, Bobcats, workers in yellow vests, piles of dirt, huge holes, plus all the regular traffic. It is a MESS! I think it’s a miracle there hasn’t been a really bad accident yet. Everything is marked with orange cones and flagging, but one of these weekend nights, someone is liable to wind up in a pretty big hole!
I actually have felt that boat traffic has been very minimal and very considerate about going slow and not causing waves, but I overheard a man complaining bitterly to an Assumption juror about the damage the boats are doing to his bulkhead. Turns out he has a camp farther upriver. Perhaps boats don’t slow down as much up there because they figure there are only unoccupied camps along the banks. The man was pretty irate and wanted the juror to do something about the situation.
Since the water went up, I have not seen one single official boat on the river, either from Assumption Parish, Wildlife and Fisheries or St. Martin Parish. Maybe I just haven’t seen them, but they can’t be around very much — at least not around Belle River.
Lots of school news: May 8 was a Dignity Memorial Escape School program. May 9 ushered in Teacher Appreciation Week. May 15 the Title I program holds a Spring Into Summer Workshop at Lake End Park for parents and the kids who submitted Safety Posters. The topic is, appropriately enough, Water Safety. The annual Awards Day program will be held on May 20 at 1 p.m. On May 21, there will be closing ceremonies for kindergarten at 8:30 a.m., Pre-K at 9 a.m. and 8th grade at 1 p.m. This will also be the last day of school for the students.
This year Stephensville Elementary will be mailing report cards out on May 23 rather than making the kids come back to school for just a few minutes to get them. Teacher record day will be May 22 and then it’s all over but the cheering and weeping. LEAP scores are out now and those who didn’t pass will be getting the bad news as I write.