Police jury takes up cultural preservation at French meeting

Some people struggled to communicate at the Police Jury’s annual French meeting this week, but most sailed fluently through their business or had practiced and were prepared.
KVPIs Jim Soileau led the full auditorium in the Pledge of Allegiance and Randy Deshotel, clerk of court, led the opening prayer.
One of the strong themes of the meeting was restoring lost ground on the area’s signature cultural heritage, primarily the French language, but also its musical traditions.
Winky Aucoin, who had lined up sponsors for the Folk Roots Festival at Chicot State Park for years, said he is enlisting help to set up a cultural organiation based at Chicot State Park, where they plan to start having an annual cultural festival in the spring.
He said among the activities the cultural organization would be pursuing are French language immersion instruction, aimed mostly at young children, and teaching young people to play music that originated in this area.
Aucoin introduced the next speaker at the meeting, Charles Larroque, CODOFIL executive director. He said there is a growing movement in Evangeline Parish to preserve its French heritage.
He thanked the police jury for recognizing and preserving the parish’s French heritage. “These values are what we need to keep our young people here,” he said, adding, “don’t give up.”
State Senator Eric LaFleur presented the jurors with a resolution proposing a French immersion program as part of the parish’s educational programs. He said studies have found that students in immersion studies involving a second language do better in English classes and generally perform better academically.
Half of the political advertisements he runs are bilingual because of the high number of French or bilingual speaking residents in this area, LaFleur said, before the jurors voted to pass the resolution.
Although there is a high percentage of French speaking parish residents, Evangeline Parish lags behind other south Louisiana parishes in offering French immersion programs, which require French be used in all classes except for English classes.
As an addition to the meeting agenda, State Senator Eric LaFleur presented the jurors a resolution proposing that the parish apply for a state community development grant of $100,000 to place a security system, including surveillanc cameras, in the parish courthouse and police jury offices on LaSalle Street. The jurors voted to approve the resolution.
In other business, the police jury appointed Glen Holden to replace Johnny Deshotel on the Industrial Development Board and appointed Gerald Duplechin to replace Wade Riley on the Evangeline Parish Library Board and
Closing out the meeting, Gervis LaFleur was invited to the podium to lead the full meeting room in a lively French rendition of a song praising women.