Baja St. Martin

Last time I went to Morgan City I stopped at the new Feed & Seed store on Highway 70, the one which used to be called Floyd’s Fowl Farm. It is now much, much larger, with a new metal building, selling all sorts of stuff — including, as it turns out, Frontline for my cat. Had a nice chat with “Crazy” Casey (that’s what the fireworks signs call him) and left my name and number because I’m looking to buy a registered lab puppy and thought he might run across one. I was so pleased when he actually called me several days later with news of a puppy, which turned out to not be what I wanted, but thought it was really nice of him to call. Crazy Casey and his wife are now in business with B & D Feed in Paincourtville.

According to the NOAA Web site the river levels are falling all the way down from Cairo, so it looks like any hope for an early crawfish season in the spillway might be gone. Probably good for the ponds.

I was just reading one of the latest entries in the blog of a young friend who has been teaching in France this year. He was on a train heading to Paris where he would catch a flight out of DeGaulle airport to come home for the Christmas holidays. He helped a man pick up some dropped coins and not long after passing through a tunnel discovered that the guy had stolen his messenger bag containing, among other things, his camera, iPod and passport. He was not allowed to board his plane without a passport and ended up spending an extra night in Paris until he could get an “emergency” passport at the American Embassy. He did make it to Pierre Part OK and is now back in France, but warns others to not be too helpful to strange Frenchmen. Tourists are targets everywhere.

The first Food for Seniors since Thanksgiving went well despite some nasty weather. Grover came with a big truck in order to keep the boxes dry. The trusties are always so helpful. Distribution went swiftly. It’s so nice to chat with these people, even if just for a few minutes.

The Lower St. Martin Recreation Board met Thursday, Jan. 24. Members of Boy Scout Troop 49 out of Morgan City came to observe a public meeting for credit towards a merit badge. After summarizing the park projects for them, Charlotte Ratcliff reported that all the paperwork on the Stephensville site was done and should go out for bids in a month — groundbreaking possibly by mid-March. The plans for the Belle River site are ready to go to facility planning. Approval of a $75,000 trail grant for the Belle River site is pending approval for Shaw on environmental issues. A Land and Water Conservation Grant is 75 percent complete and it, too, is pending environmental issues. It seems things are finally beginning to move. I’ll let out a huge sigh of relief when I see the first dirt moved at one site or the other. Next meeting is Feb. 28.

Linda Cooke

The Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be contacted via e-mail at mamasan39@peoplepc.com.