YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER LAROSE, LA thelafourchegazette.com
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014
SERVING: MATHEWS • GHEENS • LOCKPORT • VALENTINE • LAROSE CUT OFF • GALLIANO • GOLDEN MEADOW • LEEVILLE • GRAND ISLE
Motor Vehicle Office: We’re working to cut waiting times
Festival fun this weekend!
See OMV Page 4-B
Garage sale time!
Hey garage sale shoppers: Bayou Lafourche Folklife and Heritage Museum is preparing for Lockport’s Sixth-Annual Townwide Garage Sale. Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 4, beginning at 7 a.m. The museum, located at 110 Main St. in Lockport, will be just one of the many vendors participating in the sale.
INSIDE
Arrests............................8-B Bid Notice........................4-B
Calendar of Events.........2-A Classifieds................6-B/8-B
Engagements................3-A Legal Advertisement.....4-B
Lottery.............................2-A Memorials.......................7-B
News In Brief..................5-A
Obituaries.......................8-B
Sports............................1-B
Surfin’ the Net................8-B
Weddings.......................3-A
Who wins Senate control? Nov. 4 might not decide CHARLES BABINGTON Associated Press
MELINDA DESLATTE Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Leaders of the Office of Motor Vehicles assured state lawmakers Friday they are working to shrink wait times for people renewing their driver’s licenses and registering their vehicles, amid complaints that some customers have been stuck in line for hours. Lawmakers said they’ve received complaints that waits have spiked for people seeking to handle routine tasks. “The general public feels like that with the fees they pay for licenses that there are enough dollars there that the office should have less wait times, better service,” said Rep. Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro, chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. Col. Mike Edmonson, who oversees the Office of Motor Vehicles as head of the Department of Public Safety, told lawmakers that he was enacting changes to speed up visits to locations around Louisiana.
VOLUME 49 NUMBER 2
Volunteers Charlene Griffin, Sandra Cheramie, Anna Jane Danos and Meagan Danos prepare for this weekend’s Hurricane Festival to be held at the Cut Off Youth Center. The Festival will feature delicious food items such as shrimp fettuccini, shrimp and crawfish pistolettes, white beans, grillades, seafood gumbo, just to name a few, along with carnival rides, music, auctions and more. Another highlight of the Hurricane Fest will be the annual parade where special doubloons will be thrown that can be used for discounts for various items at the festival. One certain doubloon will also Staff photos by Babs be worth $500 in cash!
Agents seize car, drugs and cash in arrest of two fugitives
Lafourche Parish Drug Task Force agents seized a car, drugs and cash in the arrest of two fugitives now facing additional charges. Calvin Robertson Jr., 30, and Jenna Toups, 26, both of Raceland, were arrested Thursday at a Raceland residence. Task Force agents learned through investigation Thursday that Robertson and Toups were located at a residence on Danos Street in Raceland. Toups had two active warrants for distribution of methamphetamine, and Robertson had an active warrant for second degree battery following an incident earlier this year wherein he allegedly struck a relative on the head with a handgun. Robertson and Toups were arrested and taken into custody per the active warrants. When asked whether any illegal items were in the room, Toups
told agents she had a pipe in her purse, which agents then recovered. Agents discovered the pipe contained a small amount of suspected methamphetamine. As he was being taken into custody, Robertson attempted to reach for a pair of pants. Inside the pockets of those pants, agents discovered several small plastic bags, two containing suspected cocaine, one containing suspected crack cocaine, one containing suspected heroin, and another con-
Sunflower seed field sends ripples of joy Marc C. Kimball Contributing Writer
And God said, “Let the Earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the Earth. And it was so.” Shelia Danos knows this verse from the book of Genesis. She has taken it to heart and her reflections go there often as she walks across her garden. Growing up amidst 240 acres of land including pastures for cattle, canals for crawfish and perch fishing and sugar-cane fields, just two miles south of Lockport, Shelia has seen God’s miraculous power, specifically when it comes to cultivating crops and bringing in a harvest. Her father grew a vegetable garden. She’s seen it her entire life and it flows through her soul. Her gardening efforts began small in clay pots on a patio. But, in 1975 when she moved to her present home, she expanded her plantings into the flower beds that surrounded her home. Gardening was always a part of her life. Since her early 20’s, her life was dedicated to being a wife, mother and homemaker. Her gardening had to
See Arrest Page 5-B
wait. As her children grew and took on lives of their own, her house became less full and somewhat quieter. Shelia moved towards her basic nature and went outside to put her hands in the dirt more often. After all, gardening and planting is inherent to her French ancestry – she’s descended from a long line of French farmers. In 2000, she enlisted the help of her father-in-law, 84-year old Jim Danos, affectionately referred to as “Paw”. He was there to help with a large tractor, attachments and the laborious process of tilling the land when she designed and planted her first garden which she calls her “healing garden”. It was her first planting attempt outside of her earlier locals of clay pots and her home’s flower beds. “We have a quiet understanding, a mutual relationship over the land. Paw loves to be out on his tractor and truly enjoys working the soil,” she said. Later that same year, the concept of a garden on the property expanded to include a citrus orchard, a tree lined path and a grove of trees. Paw would dig up and till the plots of land then hand them over to Shelia. See Sunflowers Page 7-A
WASHINGTON (AP) — A suspenseful election night is one thing, but what if it stretches out for a month? Or into next year? A handful of tight races in states with quirky election laws make for the headache-inducing possibility that Election Day will come and go without deciding which party controls the Senate. If that happens, brace for a fierce runoff election and possible recounts that could make for an ugly holiday season in politics and government. The main reason for uncertainty: Louisiana’s election laws. Strategists in both parties say a Dec. 6 runoff is likely because Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and top Republican challenger Bill Cassidy will struggle to exceed 50 percent on the crowded Nov. 4 ballot. In Louisiana’s “jungle primary,” all candidates — regardless of party — run in November. If none exceeds 50 percent, the top two finishers head into a Dec. 6 runoff. It’s not implausible that control of the Senate could hang on a Louisiana runoff. Republicans need six more seats to claim a 51-49 Senate majority. A 50-50 split would let Vice President Joe Biden break tie votes and keep Democrats in charge. Republicans are strongly favored to win three races where Democratic senators are retiring: West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana. Their best hopes to pick up three more seats are in the four contests where Democrats seek re-election in states President Barack Obama lost: Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina. Republicans are also making strong bids in Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire, which Obama carried. If Republicans win two of those races, plus the three where they are heavily favored, then all eyes and lots of campaign money would turn to See Senate Page 7-A