A new direction

There will be a new man in charge in the Village of Pine Prairie.
Quint West defeated Wade Deshotels in the race for the Pine Prairie Mayor’s Office on Tuesday night. The longtime Alderman and former Pine Prairie High School baseball coach claimed 94 percent of the vote as residents cast 399 votes compared to only 25 for his opponent.
West emphasized that he will work with his constituents.
“I want to thank them,” West said. “I want them to know that their ideas are very important. The only way we can grow is by working together. I can’t do it on my own and they can’t do it on their own.
“As of last night, I became a public property to them. I am reminded of a Thomas Jefferson quote. He said, ‘When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.’ That is as true as it gets. A lot of the time politicians today don’t do that and we need to do that.”
West will replace longtime Mayor Terry Savant, who opted to not seek re-election.
L.C. Deshotel was easily re-elected as Pine Prairie Chief of Police as he won 87 percent of the vote defeating former patrolman Joshua Estes, who publicly pulled out of the race more than a month ago but not before the deadline to be removed from the ballot. Estes still received 54 votes.
Tammy Hammond meanwhile led the way as the top vote getter of the four candidates on the ballot in the Pine Prairie Alderman’s race.
Hammond took 33 percent of the vote while Debbie Oge received 30 percent and Gilbert Bordelon picked up 29 percent of the vote, as those top three vote getters will serve as the village’s alderman. Gregory Savant, son of current Pine Prairie Mayor Terry Savant, finished a distant fourth place with nine percent of the vote.
The only other local race in Evangeline Parish was the Justice of Peace Ward 3 race between Charles Perdices and Michael “Gorilla” Fruge.
Perdices, who had been serving as interim Justice of the Peace since April, won the race by receiving 51 percent of the vote.
“Truly it is an honor to be elected,” Perdices said. “For them to recognize me is humbling. I have had the opportunity the past few months to work with the people for special events and during the floods. I am proud to be part of Evangeline Parish and be there to support the people.”
Perdices had also ran for Mamou Police Chief back in March but finished third in that race with 22.47 percent and fell two votes short of the runoff.
The Fire Protection District No. 2 Millage Renewal easily passed as parish residents voted 71 percent yes for the measure.