YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER LAROSE, LA thelafourchegazette.com
Sunday, July 7, 2019
SERVING: MATHEWS • GHEENS • LOCKPORT • VALENTINE • LAROSE CUT OFF • GALLIANO • GOLDEN MEADOW • LEEVILLE • GRAND ISLE
Louisiana treasurer withholding $25M planned for budget
Uber begins statewide service earlier than expected By Julia Arenstam Daily Comet Staff Writer
Uber announced Tuesday that it will expand its ride-sharing services throughout the state effective Wednesday. The move comes W after the state Legislature approved House Bill 575, sponsored by Houma’s Rep. Tanner Magee, regulating all ride-sharing services across the state and placing them under the oversight of the Department of Transportation and Development. The bill, signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards at a ceremony at Nicholls State last month, went into effect Monday. State leaders previously said they didn’t exSee Uber Page 3-A
MEETINGS MONDAY, JULY 8 AMERICAN LEGION POST 259 5:30 p.m. 2406 So. Bayou Drive Golden Meadow
SO. LAF. LEVEE DIST. 3:00 p.m. 17904 Hwy. 3235 Galliano SO. LAF. QUILTERS 6:00 p.m. Larose Civic Center
PORT COMMISSION Committee Meetings 6:00 p.m. 16829 E. Main - Galliano TUESDAY, JULY 9
LAF. PARISH COUNCIL 5:00 p.m. Mathews Govt. Complex 4876 Hwy. 1 LAFOURCHE LODGE 7:30 p.m. 6542 W. Main - Cut Off WED., JULY 10
ANIMAL SHELTER ADVISORY BOARD 6:00 p.m. Mathews Govt. Complex
AMERICAN LEGION POST #315 7:00 p.m. 210 Legion Ave.- Galliano PORT COMMISSION Board Meetings 10:30 a.m. 16829 E. Main - Galliano
INSIDE
Arrests........................5-A Calendar of Events....2-A
Classifieds.................4-A Horoscopes................5-A Lottery........................2-A
News In Brief..............5-A Obituaries...................5-A
Worship Directory.......6-A
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VOLUME 30 NUMBER 45
By MELINDA DESLATTE Associated Press
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V MATHEWS • GHEENS • LOCKPORT • VALENTINE • ROUGE, LAROSE BATON La. (AP) — Treasurer • GALLIANO • GOLDEN MEADOW • LEEVILLE • John GRAND ISLE Schroder said he won’t let
Photo by Babs
Members of the Lafourche Shrine Club participated in a can shake recently in the Larose area. Proceeds were donated to the Shriners Hospital. Pictured is Shriner Johnny Adams accepting a donation from a passing motorist.
State’s video highlights South Lafourche High School By Halle Parker, Daily Comet Staff Writer
South Lafourche High School stole the show during the opening ceremony of this year’s Teacher Leader Summit. The Louisiana Department of Education awarded the school a plaque for being the chosen as the Premier School in the state last week after presenting a nearly nine-minute video on South Lafourche’s approach to education. It highlighted students, teachers and administrators from both the school and the central office. Individuals like Principal Gaye Cheramie, history teacher Erin Friedlander and Lafourche Director of Human Resources Bernita Deville were among the people who are featured in the video. The video shows the collaboration between the administrators and the teachers to ensure students are on the same track and that the teachers are staying in line with the curriculum. It also highlights the school district’s efforts to recruit and retain quality teachers despite financial struggles by offering a teacher mentor program for new hires as well as using a curriculum specialist to prepare them. The high school was honored as a Top Gains and Equity honoree, meaning stu-
dents consistently met their learning goals and that the school is properly serving student subgroups like the economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities and students who speak English as a second language. The school also received an A from the state this year despite the changes made in the scoring system, making achieving the top grade more difficult. Lafourche Parish Superintendent Louis Voiron was in attendance during the summit last week and said he was proud of the high school’s recognition. “Principal Gaye Cheramie, along with her team, represented our district well and are to be commended for their work,” he said in an email. “It was a very proud time for the South Lafourche community.”
Louisiana spend $25 million from the state’s unclaimed property account for general operating expenses this year, calling the regularly used financing mechanism illegal. The decision threatens to create a hole in the state budget only a month after lawmakers finished crafting it. Louisiana collects unclaimed dollars from old savings accounts, payroll checks, stocks and dividends, insurance proceeds, oil royalty payments and utility deposits on behalf of residents who are owed the cash. The treasurer’s office, designated as the custodian of the unclaimed property, tries to locate people and return the money. Though governors and lawmakers for decades have spent money from the unclaimed property escrow account on programs and services, Schroder said he and his office’s lawyers don’t believe Louisiana law permits the transfers. He intends to stop them this year, even as Gov. John Bel Edwards and lawmakers anticipated spending the dollars in the $30 billion state operating budget. “I’m not giving it to them. If they want it, they’re going to have to drag me into court,” Schroder, a Republican in office since December 2017, said in an interview. “The state never should have spent the money.” The treasurer’s decision is raising objections from Edwards, a Democrat who disagrees with Schroder’s legal position. See Treasurer Page 3-A
— Daily Comet Staff Writer Halle Parker can be reached at hparker@houmatoday.com or 857-2204. Follow her on Twitter, @_thehalparker.
Bayou Community Foundation gives $200,000 to local nonprofits By Julia Arenstam Daily Comet Staff Writer
Nearly 30 nonprofits in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes received more than $200,000 in grant money last week as part of the Bayou Community Foundation’s annual awards. The foundation supports nonprofits in the two parishes and Grand Isle. Since the program began in 2013, the foundation has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants, Foundation President Stephen Peltier said. “That’s a remarkable accomplishment for our local area,” he said. This year, the foundation received over 60 applications for more than $595,000. Of those, the foundation board selected 28 groups to share just over $200,000.
One of this year’s grant recipients is We Can All Ring Inc., which received $3,000 to purchase specially designed pads for its performance bells. We Can All Ring supports the Bayou Bells, a bell choir made up of adults with special needs and handicaps. The group is celebrating its 25th anniversary this December, said Aaron Champagne, the group’s music director. “We use the music as a therapeutic model as a catalyst to help our individuals to grow and achieve,” he said. “They use the successes they have with our group in their whole lives.” Some of the other grant recipients include the Louis Children’s Crisis Center, which received $10,000 to spend on neuropsychological testing for children in their care. See Foundation Page 3-A
~~NEW LISTING~~
Staff Photo
Happy 4th of July holiday! Larose resident Mr. Ecland Pitre has been busy lately constructing this red, white and blue plane that sits atop the flagpole. Nice piece of work! The plane’s propeller actually turns in a stiff breeze, too.
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