The Zachary Advocate & Plainsman 02-05-2015

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YMCA OFFERS SUPPORT DURING AMERICAN HEART HEALTH MONTH

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ADVOCATE&

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2015 H

P R O U D LY O W N E D I N L O U I S I A N A THEADVOCATE.COM

Stacy Gill AROUND ZACHARY

SGILL@ THEADVOCATE.COM

Lane to promote heart health In celebration of February’s National Heart Health Month, Lane Regional Medical Center is bringing awareness to heart health issues such as heart attacks, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke and obesity. These concerns are not limited to adults but affect children as well, according to a news release. Lane has set up an informational campaign on its Facebook page that will make eating healthier and exercising not only easier but a lot more fun, Julie McLin, Lane marketing director, said. “Each day in February, heart-healthy recipes, exercise ideas and other informative and fun resources will be posted to help keep the whole family on track toward achieving a healthier lifestyle,” McLin said. To check out the daily updates or to contribute recipes and exercise ideas, “like” the LaneRMC page at facebook.com/LaneRMC.

Council makes several appointments

BY STACY GILL

sgill@theadvocate.com The Zachary City Council appointed residents to several boards during its Jan. 27 meeting. Councilman Brandon Noel served as mayor pro tempore in the absence of Mayor David Amrhein. An agenda item tabled at the council’s Jan. 13 meeting calling for members to name their appointments to various boards, committees and commissions was revisited. Appointed to the Alcohol and

Beverage Control Board were Harold Bezet, Helen Dessell, Laura Freeman, Norvell Hamilton, Landon Petty, Scott Sonnier and Carl Spears. Members — two appointed by Amrhein and one by each council member — serve four-year terms. The Municipal Civil Service board includes two members appointed by the council, two selected by employees of the city and one appointed by the Civil Service Board from a list provided by LSU. Appointed were Janice Bergeron, Michael Brown, Frank Landry, Jack Miller and Dana Poole.

The Fire and Police Civil Service Board includes one member appointed by the Fire Department and one by the Police Department; both are confirmed by the council. Three are appointed by the mayor from a Southern University list. Terms are three years. Appointed were Charles Duplechin, Brian Henderson, Donald Hunt III, Alan Kleinpeter and Bob Whitaker. Though the seven appointments to the Planning and Zoning Commission were named at the last meeting, members were reconfirmed.

Amrhein’s two reappointments were Billy Kline as chairman and Robert Snowden. Councilman Ben Cavin appointed Mike Freeman; Councilman Francis Nezianya reappointed Donald Hunt III; Councilman Noel reappointed Earl Thornton; Councilwoman Laura O’Brien reappointed Scott Buzhardt; and Councilman Tommy Womack reappointed Mark Martin. City Attorney John Hopewell reminded the council that the appointees must serve staggered terms mandated by state law.

Advocate staff report

Photo provided by GRACE BOOTH

The mothers of Zachary High’s senior baseball players had the opportunity to take on baseball coach Jesse Cassard in an inter-squad scrimmage Saturday at Zachary Youth Park. The moms of the senior players, whose team name was ‘Mama’s Boy Baseball,’ met Cassard and assistant coaches Thursday to draft the teams. As it turned out, most of the moms got to ‘coach’ their own sons. D’Nean Pace, mother of senior Evan Pace, was the highest bidder, winning the ‘coach for a day’ prize at an auction in January. ‘I’ve been waiting nine years for this chance,’ said Pace, who invited all the other senior moms to participate. The Bronco moms defeated Cassard’s team 10-2. This is the first year Cassard’s inter-scrimmage team lost. Bronco mamas, bottom of dogpile, from left, are Brandy Hannum, Mello Myers, Pace and Keli Dufour; and top, from left, are Rachel Rider, Cindy Booth, Sheryl Moore and Kelli Musselman. Not pictured is Staci McHugh.

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Zachary ranks 16th in best cities for families

Bronco moms mash-up

Zachary goes red

A door-decorating contest will be held Feb. 13 for businesses in the Zachary community. Deadline to enter is Friday and cost is $50. The contest is in support of the American Heart Association and in recognition of heart health throughout February. Judges will select the winning door and award a plaque to the winner. Doors are to remain decorated through Feb. 28. To enter, send company name, contact name, address, phone number and email address, along with $50, to the American Heart Association, Jody Dake,

“It takes the politics out of it, and length of terms can be randomly selected for each member,” Hopewell said. Because no vote was required at the Tuesday meeting, the council opted to select terms for Planning and Zoning Commission members to be named at its February meeting. The director of the Zachary Historic Village, Jean Byers, was tasked to suggest a list of board members — four at-large and one from each of the five council districts — to serve on

Zachary has been top-ranked once again in Nerdwallet’s “Best Louisiana Cities for Young Families in 2014” list. San Francisco-based Nerdwallet, founded in 2009 by Tim Chen, is a personal finance website that helps consumers make money decisions regarding credit cards, banking, health insurance, investing, loans, mortgages, small business and more by crunching numbers, according to Nerdwallet.com. For the “Best Louisiana Cities” list, data was crunched for 104 cities, towns and unincorporated communities, which the website calls census-designated places, in Louisiana, and only places with populations of 5,000 or more were analyzed, according to Nerdwallet. The list ranks Zachary as 16th, down from its 2013 ranking of fifth. Nerdwallet’s methodology considered home affordability, quality of education, prosperity and growth and family äSee BEST, page 5G

Thefts, assaults increase in Zachary in 2014 BY STACY GILL

the last homicide committed in the city occurred in 2011, Police Chief David McDavid said. The largest increase recordThe number of reported assaults climbed in Zachary in ed from 2013 to 2014 was in as2014, as did thefts, while the saults, which include domestic number of drug arrests took a abuse battery and fights, acdip from the previous year and cording to 2014 crime statis-

sgill@theadvocate.com

tics. In 2014, there were 176 assaults reported, compared to 140 in 2013. Of the 176 assaults, 137 resulted in arrests. Also, there were 406 thefts reported in Zachary last year, as opposed to 390 in 2013,

and motor vehicle thefts rose slightly from 18 to 24. “It’s one of the most commonly committed crimes, McDavid said of reported thefts. Burglaries and drug-related crimes were on the decline. There were 56 burglaries com-

mitted in 2014 and 63 in 2013, while the number of drug arrests dropped to 121 in 2014 to 129 in 2013. “Often, it’s items that are locked up or secured that are äSee CRIME, page 5G

Oil Changes, Brakes, Alignments, Check Engine Lights, A/C Repairs, Shocks, Struts, Tires


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