It could have been worse

A potentially deadly tornado with winds well over 100 mph tore through St. Martin Parish near Breaux Bridge in the early morning of Feb. 13. Nobody was seriously hurt but some were left homeless and the scene of destruction, for the many who witnessed it over the following days, was an all-too-chilling reminder of the devastation the parish narrowly escaped in 2005.

For the first six months of 2007, it was like folks were holding their breath, experiencing that creepy, back-of-the-neck feeling that comes when things are maybe going a little too well.

We needn’t have worried — things didn’t go that well. The Breaux Bridge High Tiger baseball team, for example, with their first-ever perfect record in district playoffs, but lost to Shreveport in the semi-finals.

And rain soured what could have been a really sweet sugarcane harvest.

But the Crawfish Festival did not get rained out this year. In fact, it was honored again as top festival of its size by the Louisiana Association of Festivals and Fairs.

Over in Cade, a new civic center was rising. There was talk in official circles of lower electric rates for St. Martinville. And voters there increased the sales tax to help improve infrastructure.

After the February tornado, the rest of the first part of 2007 sort of leveled out. No big high points. And, thankfully, that big sucker punch that might’ve felt like it was coming any time didn’t.

JANUARY

Jan. 3 – There are big changes on the horizon for St. Martin Parish as 2007 dawns. Rising on the skyline are a civic center at Cade, a state-of-the-art 911 center at Ruth, a seniors’ activity center and satellite courthouse in Breaux Bridge, and a huge discount supermarket off I-10 in Breaux Bridge.

•Potential gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal, congressman for Louisiana’s District 1, made two stops in St. Martin Parish last week talking about the state’s future and the role state government must play. Jindal, who lost to Gov. Kathleen Blanco in 2003, is expected to announce his candidacy this month.

Jan. 10 – St. Martinville – What started off as one of the best sugarcane harvests in recent years quickly turned mediocre after uncooperative weather during the final weeks of the grinding “soured” the season. Growers ended the 2006 harvest in the rain on Sunday, Jan. 7.

•St. Martinville – The Parish Council last week banned horseback riding on public roads at night except for permitted parades and law enforcement posses. Horse owners, who feared wider-ranging restrictions, left the meeting satisfied.

Jan. 17 – Breaux Bridge – The St. Martin School Board is expected to approve a 3 percent raise for all employees along with a bump in the sales tax salary supplements during a special meeting scheduled for this evening (Wednesday).

•Lafayette – St. Martinville’s hopes of getting through the first round of the District 5-4A campaign without a loss were dashed last Friday by a three-point buzzer beater in the St. Thomas More gym. The Tigers (14-8, 3-1) suffered a heartbreaking 53-51 loss to the Cougars (17-9, 2-2) when STM’s Matt Cortez drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Jan. 24 – Breaux Bridge – School board members said no — at least temporarily — to a salary increase for the school system’s approximately 875 employees during a special meeting last week. The board did approve an increase in the supplemental pay doled out almost every month from the parish’s two one-cent sales taxes dedicated to teacher pay.

•St. Martinville — For the first time in St. Martinville Sr. High’s history, a jersey number was retired from use as Darrel Mitchell Jr.’s old No. 22 will be hung in the Tiger gym. Mitchell, who was also a standout at LSU, is now playing professional basketball in Turkey.

Jan. 31 – Breaux Bridge – The St. Martin School Board has chosen a north Louisiana educator with strong ties to Acadiana to serve as the parish’s next superintendent of schools. Richard Lavergne will succeed Valerie Haaga as head of the 9,000-student district.

•St. Martin Parish teams finished last week 5-1 in district basketball action. St. Martinville and Cecilia each notched two victories while Breaux Bridge edged Abbeville on Tuesday only to fall hard to Opelousas on Friday.

FEBRUARY

Feb. 7 – Detectives with the St. Martin Sheriff’s Office last week broke a check-counterfeiting case described as a “very big deal” by the prosecutor. Among those arrested was a former Breaux Bridge policeman accused of hindering the investigation and then threatening the detective who made the case.

•Breaux Bridge – The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival has once again been named Festival of the Year by the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals. And its queen, Mallory Spinner, was crowed 2007 Queen of Queens at the association’s 76th annual Convention and Queens Pageant, held Feb. 2-4 in Baton Rouge.

Feb. 14 – Breaux Bridge – Guardian angels were working overtime in rural St. Martin Parish early Tuesday as a tornado — or several of them — skipped across the area, severely damaging homes but causing only slight injuries.

•Breaux Bridge – School board members last week gave unanimous approval to a 27-month contract and a salary of $115,000 a year for newly appointed superintendent Richard Lavergne, who will replace Valerie Haaga on April 1.

Feb. 21 – Breaux Bridge – It will be another week or more before state and federal officials determine how much damage that F2 tornado did in the parish, but the local numbers are in: 80 homes impacted, including 24 destroyed and five with major damage, one business destroyed and two damaged, and three persons with minor injuries. Remarkably, no deaths.

•City fathers in both St. Martinville and Breaux Bridge are gearing up to put a one-cent sales tax to a vote of the public. St. Martinville Mayor Thomas Nelson says the city desperately needs an overhaul of its streets. Breaux Bridge Mayor Jack Dale Delhomme says the city needs more revenue to serve its expanding population.

Feb. 28 – St. Martinville – The city is asking voters to approve an additional one-cent sales tax to improve infrastructure and services. The City Council Monday night set the election for Saturday, May 5.

•Lafayette – U.S. District Judge Richard Haik this month declined to hear the case of a quiet St. Martinville neighborhood versus a billion-dollar federal contractor that wants to open a subsidized boarding home for people with mental disabilities there.The suit against Louisville, Ky.-based ResCare returns to 16th Judicial District Court in St. Martinville.

MARCH

March 7 – The City of St. Martinville has been awarded a $46,849 grant to help it gear up to enforce the new State Uniform Construction Code. The money will be used to train and equip city employees to serve as building inspectors.

•St. Thomas More’s Cougars Friday eliminated St. Martinville from the state playoffs one game short of the Top 28 Tournament. The 47-45 loss left the Tigers with a 25-12 season record.

March 14 – St. Martinville – The city has apparently not shut the door on legal action against a Kentucky-based company housing people with mental disabilities in an area zoned for single-family dwellings. Councilman Craig Prosper says there comes a time when a community has to take a stand for its protective zoning ordinances.

•St. Martinville – Coteau Holmes is getting $200,000 from the state for a community center, Parish President Guy Cormier announced last week. The request for the funding was first made eight years ago.

March 21 – St. Martinville – Martin Mills is about to be busy again as modular homebuilder Louisiana System Built Homes begins production. Project manager Miguel Nicolazzo says the company — principal tenant of the now International Trade Center at St. Martinville — expects to employ 200 by the end of the year.

•Breaux Bridge – Mayor Jack Dale Delhomme and the City Council stated at the council’s March 13 meeting that Teche News was wrong in reporting that the administration and council are contemplating a one-cent sales tax to boost city revenues. “This council has never talked about a one-cent sales tax,” Delhomme said.

March 28 – St. Martinville – The St. Martinville City Council Monday unanimously agreed to fire a reserve police officer, an action that has apparently widened the rift between the police department and the city administration. The officer, Anthony Gibson, is not under Civil

Service protection.

•Catahoula – The unincorporated community of Catahoula will be getting a civic center, thanks to a $350,000 grant from the Atchafalaya Basin Program. It will be on parish land adjacent to the Clayton

Boudreaux Memorial Park.

APRIL

April 4 – St. Martinville – Louisiana System Built Homes is buying Martin Mills from Carencro businessman Larry Leger. LASBH CEO Aubrey Shoemake said he hopes to have 1,000 jobs at the former underwear factory by this time next year.

•Breaux Bridge – The Breaux Bridge High baseball Tigers are on a roll in District 5-4A, surging to a perfect 6-0 record with just one game remaining in the first round of the league campaign. The Bridge stands at 18-5 overall after knocking off St. Martinville, Abbeville and St.

Thomas More over the past week.

April 11 – Breaux Bridge – School Board members voted last week to table until May a request to the Sheriff’s Office for school resource officers (SROs) in the junior high schools. Currently only the three senior high schools have SROs on campus.

Cecilia – The Lady Bulldogs wrapped up regular season play last week with wins over Church Point and Rayne to claim a share of the district softball championship. Cecilia’s record of 17-15-1 and 8-2 resulted in a three-way tie with Rayne and Notre Dame for the league title.

April 18 – St. Martinville – Louisiana System Built Homes, prime tenant at Martin Mills, will be showcasing its factory-built homes at a new subdivision, Ponderosa Estates, in the northern part of the parish. Company president Aubrey Shoemake says he has plenty of orders for the energy-efficient homes but he needs a “vent” for any overflow once the assembly lines get into full production.

•St. Martinville – An anonymous tip to the Teche News Monday led to the discovery of human remains next to an overturned casket in a wooded area at the end of West Church Street in St. Martinville. The St. Martin Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

April 25 – St. Martinville – Mayor Thomas Nelson’s $2 million wish list for voters to approve May 5 is deliberately “a little vague,” Nelson told a group of citizens last week. If they had specified what portion of the bond money would be spend in each area of need, future administrations would lack the flexibility to deal with problems unforeseen today, the mayor said.

•The Breaux Bridge High baseball team made school history last week, wrapping up their 2007 District 5-4A schedule with wins over Abbeville, St. Thomas More and Northside to finish the season with a perfect 14-0 league record for the first time in the school’s 20 years of baseball competition.

MAY

May 2 – Breaux Bridge – The eyes of the world are on this city as the 47th annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival begins Friday.

•Lafayette – The Cecilia Bulldogs track team beat out Notre Dame for top team at the Region II-3A track meet here. This is the team’s third regional championship.

May 9 – St. Martinville’s city fathers pulled off a victory Saturday, passing a new sales tax by a wide margin, 592 to 233. Also settled Saturday was a runoff election for Ward 2 justice of the peace. Joseph E. Mason beat Henry Paul Lee 453 to 303.

•Breaux Bridge – After shutting out their first three playoff opponents, the Breaux Bridge High School Tiger baseball team is preparing to move on to the LHSAA state tournament that begins Thursday on the UL-Monroe campus. Coach Kyle Cormier’s Tigers finished the regular season with a 26-5 record, the most season wins the school’s history, and were a perfect 14-0 in claiming the District 5-4A championship.

May 16 – Breaux Bridge – Bids on much-anticipated street work came in higher than expected but the work will go on anyway, with city government dipping deeper into its coffers. The low bid for rebuilding one street and resurfacing 30 others was $416,522.40. The state grant for the project is $311,400.

•Monroe – After rolling over three playoff opponents to reach the semifinal round of the state Class 4A playoffs, the Breaux Bridge Tigers saw their title hopes dashed here last Thursday by the defending state champion Captain Shreve Gators. The Gators won 6-3.

May 23 – St. Martinville – City Councilman Arthur Champ is drumming up support for a Boys & Girls Club in town. The nationwide franchise of clubs provides after-school activities for underprivileged children, but at a fairly hefty cost to the community. With professional staffing, a club can cost over $100,000 a year to operate.

•Breaux Bridge – This city is the number one travel hotspot in the United States and number two in the world, according to TripAdvisor.com. The Web site designation is leading to publicity, like a spot on CNN, that money can’t buy, according to parish tourism director Dona Richard.

May 30 – St. Martinville – A highway bypass to preserve St. Martinville’s historic downtown while attracting visitors, industry and new businesses and residents could be under construction in three or four years. An environmental study has been given the go-ahead by DOTD, a consultant told the City Council.

•Breaux Bridge – Breaux Bridge High School’s Kyle Cormier has been named Louisiana Class 4A baseball coach of the year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

JUNE

June 6 – St. Martinville – Electric engineer Jim Poché told the City Council Monday that the city might be signing a contract with a new power provider on Oct. 15. And Slemco, famous for its low rural rates, could be one of the bidders, Poché said.

•St. Martinville – The Louisiana Spirits Paranormal Investigations Team came to town Saturday to search for ghosts at the 180-year-old Bienvenue House on Main Street. The results are pending a thorough examination of audio and video documentation.

June 13 – The Town of Henderson could increase its sales tax revenues by a whopping 227 percent if a planned annexation goes through. Both sides of a legal battle over the propose incorporation of businesses at the I-10 interchange had their day in court in St. Martinville last week. The judge is expected to rule within 30 days.

•St. Martinville – Mayor Thomas Nelson’s administration will hold a special meeting Thursday, June 19, to introduce the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. A significant change from previous years is the additional revenue from a one-cent sales tax authorized by voters in May.

June 20 – Henderson – Cockfighting may soon be illegal in Louisiana but some say there is too much money involved for it to go away. A bill to ban cockfighting is currently at a standstill in Baton Rouge, reportedly because legislators are trying to decide whether to begin the ban this August or next.

•Breaux Bridge – The City Council last week approved a zoning change for a 40-acre River Ranch-style subdivision between Bayou Teche and Rees Street south of I-10. Architect Glenn Angelle briefed councilmen on what he called a pedestrian-friendly mix of townhouses, starter homes and luxury homes.

June 27 – St. Martinville – Head football coach Greg Hudson is leaving St. Martinville Sr. High to fill the same position at District 7-5A Fonainebleau High in Mandeville.

•St. Martinville – A dormant intergovernmental agreement to own and operate the historic Keystone Lock has been taken up again by Parish President Guy Cormier and Sheriff Ronny Theriot. Cormier told the Parish Council last week that the Army Corps of Engineers plans to decommission the gate in the dam and without local intervention, the upper Bayou Teche will no longer be open to navigation from outside waters.