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The St. Tammany Farmer 04-23-2025

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ABITA SPRINGS • BARKER’S CORNER • BUSH • COVINGTON • FOLSOM • LACOMBE MADISONVILLE • MANDEVILLE • PEARL RIVER • SLIDELL

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S T TA M M A N Y FA R M E R.N E T

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W e d n e s d ay, A p r i l 23, 2025

All the crawfish you can eat supports Hospice House

151ST YEAR, NO. 28

50¢N

ABITA SPRINGS

Council passes ’25 budget

BY DARREN COOPER Contributing writer

BY KIM CHATELAIN

At Slidell’s annual All-You-Can-Eat Crawfish Cook-off, it’s not crawfish by the pound, it’s crawfish by the ton. “Literally, we’ve got tons of crawfish,” said Hospice Foundation of the South and Hospice House Executive Director Miranda Lindsay. The biggest crawfish festival in St. Tammany Parish is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at Fritchie Park, with the tail-peeling and entertainment starting at 11 a.m. Advance tickets are $40 at www.CrawfishTickets.com and admission is $45 at the gate. Children under 12 are free. Tables will be arranged, but you can ALL YOU CAN EAT always bring your own platter, chair, CRAWFISH sun-blocking festing COOK-OFF hat and enjoy the afternoon until 5 p.m. WHAT: All You Can Eat or the last tail is Crawfish Cook-off benefitting peeled. Some 45,000 pounds of crawfish Hospice House. WHEN: April 26 from 11 a.m. have been acquired (that’s 2.25 tons), to 5 p.m. making it one of the WHERE: Fritchie Park, 905 W. biggest crawfish Howze Beach Road, Slidell events in America. “We’ve always had WHO: Music by Tyler Kinchen good weather, and & The Right Pieces and we hope our luck Karma will continue,” said HOW MUCH: Admission $45 Lindsay. “We want at the gate; advance tickets, people to come out, eat some crawfish, $40; free for children 12 enjoy being around and under. Get them at www. their fellow commuCrawfishTickets.com. nity members and PARKING: Free shuttle at do something great Salmen High School, Calvary for a good cause.” Now in it’s 20th Baptist Church, First Baptist year, the crawfish Church, and the old outlet cook-off benefits mall (park in the area farthest Hospice Foundafrom Interstate 10). Paid lot tion of the South and ($10) on W. Howze Beach its Hospice House, which provides comRoad past Spartan Drive. MORE: There’s also a cook-off fort to people at the end of their lives, contest for interested teams. as well as assisting their loved ones. “We are completely need-based,” said Lindsay. “And we want people to understand that it’s not just financial need, because the need looks different for every family.” Over the years, the organization has begun to work more on easing transitions for the family

More than three months into 2025, a divided Abita Springs Town Council approved on April 16 a $12.6 million spending plan for the current year. The council’s 3-2 vote on the 2025 budget reflects the division in Abita Springs, which is still reeling from a series of troublesome events over the past few years. Council members Regan Contois, Pat Patterson and Eric Templet voted in favor of the budget. E.J. Boudreaux and Stephen Saussy voted in opposition. An ordinance to approve the budget first appeared on the council’s agenda in December, but a consensus could not be reached, and the matter was deferred. Meanwhile, the council sought input from the state Legislative Auditor’s Office to better navigate the budgeting process. The town took advantage of a state law that allows municipal governments to operate temporarily under the previous year’s budget until one can be approved for the new year. But despite the extra time and effort, town leaders remained at odds over city finances and priorities. “I’m a little disappointed with this budget,” Boudreaux said. “I don’t see anything in here that really talks about advancements in the infrastructure. The priorities in this budget just don’t line up with what the town really needs, as far as I’m concerned.” Contois stressed the importance of approving a budget for the current year to avoid “dire consequences,” noting the spending plan can be amended as needed in the coming months. “It’s not perfect,” Contois said of the budget. “We’ve gone through a lot to get to this point. I don’t think we have the luxury of waiting longer to pass a budget because basically the town is going to grind to a halt if we don’t have a way to continue financially.” Major expenditures outlined in the budget include $7.5 million in grants and capital projects; $1.7 million for salaries and benefits;

ä See CRAWFISH, page 3A

Contributing writer

STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD

Silas Hadden, 18, flips his board as he checks out the park hardscape.

SKATE AWAY Staff report

ä More photos. PAGE 2A

It may have been tax day for Americans, but that didn’t stop the fun of experiencing the long-awaited skate park that finally opened in John Slidell Park. The day began with a symbolic ribbon cutting and a round of speeches, but the real fun began after the ceremonial to-dos were over as excited

residents of all ages put wheels down in the new park. Former Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer, who spearheaded park development for several years, was on hand to declare the new attraction second only to the skate venue at Venice Beach in California.

ä See ABITA SPRINGS, page 3A

Gathering at the Tammany Trace to mark 30th birthday BY SARA PAGONES

Contributing writer

The very first bicycle rolled onto the Tammany Trace three decades ago, a ceremonial ride that was more a promise of things to come since it took place on a yet-unpaved section of a former Illinois Central rail corridor. Today, it’s hard to imagine the 31-mile recreational path without cyclists, runners and walkers — 300,000 of them every year, according to parish officials. Once a lifeline for commerce, the trail touches most of St. Tammany’s towns, from

Covington east to Abita Springs, south to Mandeville and then east once more through Lacombe and on to Camp Salmen near Slidell. The parish will observe the trail’s latest milestone on April 26 with a Saturday event that marks not only the Tammany Trace’s 30th anniversary but also observes the nationwide Celebrate Trails Day. A variety of activities are planned, from bike rides to gardening lessons, a much needed adoption of pets from the overcrowded St. Tammany Department of Animal Services. As popular as the Trace is today, it might

easily have never happened. Kevin Davis, a police juror at the time, found out that the Illinois Central was abandoning the corridor. “The railroad is what created St. Tammany. We were a timber industry, with the shipyard in Madisonville. … We needed to save this history,” Davis said. His initial thought of preserving it as a potential roadway gave way to a more creative idea, like running a small train as a tourist attraction — a notion that had some supporters. The obstacle was money — the parish didn’t have it, and the land had already been purchased from the railroad, by business-

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ä See TRACE, page 3A

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man Richard “Dick” Blossman. But Davis was persistent, and he eventually persuaded Blossman to it sell to the parish for $1.2 million, and with the help of federal transportation money and the Regional Planning Commission, the parish made the purchase in 1992. National legislation that enabled local governments to preserve abandoned lines as recreational trails was also key, and after parish leaders visited a successful conversion in Florida, the idea gained momentum. “I think we had a grand vision for what

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