Looking Back at January 1966

By: HEATHER
BOGARD
Lifestyles Editor

This week, we take a look back 50 years ago to January 1966
•Erin Ann Redlich, born to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Redlich of Mamou on January 3, 1966, in Savoy Memorial Hospital, as Mamou’s first baby of the new year.
•Emile Coreil was “stunned” at the hostility shown by Ellen Bryan Moore, registrar of state lands and ex officio member of the Louisiana Parks Commission, when the issue of legislation which would provide the commission with $5 million dollars toward capital improvements.
•The annual rice school was set for January 26, at the American Legion Home in Mamou. Extension Agent W.R. Vallot said the success of Evangeline Parish rice farmers is attributed to this annual school. Free lunch and several guest speakers knowledgeable in the field of rice production were planned for the annual event.
•A dozen students were injured and taken to Ville Platte Medical Center after a two-bus crash on Highway 106 (St. Landry Highway) about half a mile from the intersection with Highway 167 in Bayou Chicot. The first bus, driven by T.C. Sadler, had stopped to retrieve a book that was thrown out of the window and the second driver, Sam Griffin, did not stop in time and hit Sadler’s bus from behind, causing extensive damage to both vehicles. All of the students were from the St. Landry area.
•Work began on the Turkey Creek/Glenmora Highway. A five and a half mile stretch of asphault began at Highway 167 to Turkey Creek, extending northwest.
•Ronald Royce was promoted to training and safety coordinator through the production department at Cleco.
•In the society section, one item read, “ Attending the solemn engagement of Iris Mary LaTour to John Wayne Chauffe at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge were Mr. and Mrs. Raymond LaTour and Catherine, Ray and Edmund LaTour. A reception for the immediate families and Father Robert Courville, who officiated at the ceremony, was held at the home of the Earl Chauffes.
•James Winston Guillory of Vidrine was assigned to the post of unit conservationist with the Soil Conservation Work Unit in Crowley, where he would work with the Acadia Soil Conservation District Board of Directors. He announced he would move to Crowley with his wife, Janice, and two young children in February.
•LSU-Eunice Dean Anthony Mumphrey addressed the Mamou Rotary Club with plans and showed campus plans for the LSU branch in Eunice, scheduled to open in 1967. He discussed the need for junior colleges to help ease the expected enrollment of 34,000 students at LSU by 1970.
•Fulton J. Bacon of Basile was named the new president of the Louisiana School Board Association.
•Ville Platte hosted the Louisiana Municipal Association (LMA) Seventh Congressional District meeting on January 26 to draw up recommendations to present at the upcoming annual LMA convention in Baton Rouge beginning March 31.
•Senator Jack Fruge of Ville Platte was found guilty of theft of $190 in Senate payroll manipulation.
•Leus Quinilty and Mrs. Louis Courville were named Chatagnier’s Citizens of 1965.
•G. Ardoin’s featured a sale on RCA Victor televisions, including a 19 inch Sportabout for $139.95 and a 21-inch color console for $379.95
•Sale items at A&P included 10 ounce jar of coffee for 99 cents, six apples for 39 cents, two-pound box of fryer breasts for 69 cents, any cut of ham for 63 cents per pound and pint size jar or can of Cap’n Jean’s oysters for $1.15.
•Sale items at Brown’s Thrift City included Head and Shoulders shampoo for $1.17, Dippity Do for $1.13, Chloraseptic spray for $1.07, five-pound box of Epsom salt for 39 cents and Hankscraft vaporizer for $4.17.
•Veillon Motor Company held a sale on used vehicles, including a 1959, four-door Ford in white and green for $375 and a 1962 AMC Rambler station wagon reduced from $700 to $495.
•Movies showing included “Old Yeller” starring Fess Parker and Dorothy McGuire at the Jan Theatre and “The Man With the Golden Arm” starring Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak at the Platte Theatre.
•Popular songs of January 1966 included “As Tears Go By” by The Rolling Stones, “Barbara Ann” by The Beach Boys, “We Can Work It Out” by The Beatles, “Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel and “Flowers on the Wall” by The Statler Brothers.