Greg Plaisance Realtor
985-696-0094 YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER LAROSE, LA thelafourchegazette.com
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Lafourche jail expected to open next September
SERVING: MATHEWS • GHEENS • LOCKPORT • VALENTINE • LAROSE CUT OFF • GALLIANO • GOLDEN MEADOW • LEEVILLE • GRAND ISLE
Area loses another 900 jobs
By Bridget Mire Daily Comet Staff Writer
Despite a rain delay, the new Lafourche Parish jail is still on track for completion next year. The Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex will be located across from the current jail at LA 3185 and Veterans Boulevard in Thibodaux. It’s set to be completed Sept. 4, 2018. Project manager Bill Lacher said the job had been expected to be completed by next August, but it got delayed 22 days because of rain this year. The new jail will be about 127,000 square feet and include five connected buildings. Initial occupancy will be just over 500, but it will have space for 600 inmates. It will include four general housing units – one 34,000 square feet; one 17,000 square feet; and two 12,000 square feet each. There will be a corridor for inmates being transported for court and other reasons. There will also be a pharmacy, medical exam rooms, classrooms, a library and an indoor basketball halfcourt. “We’re providing more than just warehousing,” Lacher said. “It’s a means of lifting them up.” The new jail will cost about $42 million. A 0.2 percent sales tax that passed May 3, 2014, is paying for it. See Jail Page 3-A
Photo by Babs
Visitors to the Larose Civic Center’s annual French Food Festival enjoyed good food, fun and weather this past weekend. Kayla Schexnayder is pictured playing the triangle on stage next to Waylon Thibodeaux at the Festival Saturday.
Louisiana ‘dirt farmer’ asks for Supreme Court’s help By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some residents in bayou country deep in southeastern Louisiana raise alligators or crawfish. Some grow turnips. Until a local government stepped in, Chad Jarreau farmed dirt. To be more precise, he dug up dirt on his property in Cut Off, Louisiana, graded it again and again and sold it for use in construction projects. Jarreau is not a wealthy man, but he had a batch of dirt on the edge of his 17-
MEETINGS
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 LAF. FIRE DISTRICT. #9 6:30 p.m. Gheens Community Ctr. 1428 Hwy. 654 - Gheens
LAFOURCHE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m. 805 E. 7th St. - Thibodaux
THURSDAY, NOV. 2 HUMANE SOCIETY OF LAFOURCHE 5:30 p.m. Lockport Library Hwy. 1 (Crescent Ave.) Lockport
BAYOU FELLOWSHIP 7:00 p.m. E. 93rd St. - Galliano
INSIDE
Arrests........................8-A
Bid Notices.................8-A
Calendar of Events.....2-A Classifieds..................7-A Lottery........................2-A Obituaries...................7-A
Sports.........................5-A
VOLUME 52 NUMBER 8
South Lafourche Levee District doing work SLLD on Tenth Ward levees.
acre property that was worth more than $150,000. Or it would have been, if the local flood control district hadn’t taken it to shore up protection against hurricanes in the lowlying area that brushes up against the Gulf of Mexico. Jarreau, 44, knows all too well about flooding, having lost a home on another property to Hurricane Katrina. But he also wants to be paid what he considers a fair price. So he’s asked the Supreme Court to step in. “I’ve been digging on this land since I bought it,” Jarreau said in a telephone interview. “I didn’t think they could just take your land like that. I thought if they damaged your property, I thought they’d take care of it.” The case raises a legal issue that the court hasn’t dealt with in nearly 70 years. The issue is whether the “just compensation” the Constitution says a government must pay when it takes someone’s property includes the value of the business that is lost because of the government’s action.
Houma-Thibodaux lost 900 jobs last month and 2,300 since last September as a three-year offshore oil bust continues to take a toll, new figures show. The Louisiana Workforce Commission recently released a report reflecting the greatest monthly job losses since the 1,800 recorded in January. The metro area, comprised of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, posted a 5.5 percent unemployment rate in September, down from 5.7 percent in August and 7 percent a year ago. The report indicates the unemployment rate has declined because people are leaving the workforce altogether and are no longer counted as jobless. That includes people who have returned to school, left the area or given up on a job search. The civilian labor force, the number of people working or looking for work, dropped from 107,577 in August 2014 to 82,199 last month. That means 24 percent, or nearly one in four people, have left the local workforce over the past three years. The latest figures bring to 16,300 the estimated number of jobs Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes have lost since the oil bust began in mid-2014. By year’s end, the area will have lost 16,700 jobs, one of every six, since the oil bust began, Louisiana economist Loren Scott forecasts in a separate forecast released earlier this month. He expects the area to lose another 1,800 jobs next year before gaining about 700 in 2019. The monthly loss is 100 higher than preliminary figures the state agency released a week ago. The yearly job loss figure is 500 greater than the earlier estimate. Jobs directly involved in oil and gas exploration and production are down by 100 compared to September 2016, the 32nd straight month of over-the-year losses. Specifics: See Jobs Page 3-A
200 Hwy. 3161 Suite 1, Cut Off 985-325-7107
Income Producing Property
MLS: 125318: $650,000
This Income Producing Property is located at 20962 Hwy 1., Golden Meadow. This property has 12 (+/-) arcres; 21-25 camper sports; 10 mobile home spots; house, trailer and cabin on lot.
MLS: 125347: $750,000
This is already a great income producing property. This 10-50 acres is located at 30062 Hwy. 1, Golden Meadow and is permitted for offshore cement dumping.
See Jarreau Page 3-A
Cancer isn’t always the color pink By: Wanda Griffin Bolgiano Contributing Writer
Most people realize that a pink ribbon dangling from a fixture in October is placed there as a sign of support for breast cancer awareness. But did you know that November is Pancreatic Cancer awareness month? Purple colored bows are displayed in recognition for awareness for this type of cancer. I didn’t realize this, until I was diagnosed having the disease in October 2016. I was admitted into Lady of the Sea Hospital with unknown high fever and low potassium. Certain blood tests and an abdominal scan were ordered with a possible diverticulitis diagnosis. Instead I was diagnosed having a pancreatic tumor. I was directed, by my primary care physician, to Ochsner Medical Center, where a biopsy determined that it was Stage 1 Neuroendocrine Pancreatic Cancer.
The specialists I saw explained to me how very blessed I was to have been diagnosed early on. The type I had is rare to find, because of its location. The pancreas is about 6 inches long and sits across the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach and in front of the spine. Most people who are diagnosed having this type of cancer are usually in their final stages with no treatment options to be offered. I was fortunate to not even need chemotherapy. Since then, I have had surgery to remove the cancer, along with the tail end of my pancreas and spleen. We never found out why I had the high fever, which brought me to the ER to begin with. I took that as a sign from God that He needed me to do something special. So I decided to bring forth awareness and insight about this rare type of cancer. It may help save someone else’s life. See Cancer Page 3-A
The local way to bank big. LAROSE: 13386 West Main Street GOLDEN MEADOW: 605 North Alex Plaisance Blvd
Photo by Babs
Pam Guedry, of The PACT PLACE, is shown giving the closing remarks at the 5th Annual Vigil Remembering Victims and Honoring Survivors of Domestic Violence held at the Lafourche Central Market in Raceland last week. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence contact the Lafourche Parish Sheriff Social Services at 985-4494476 or The Haven at 985-872-0757.
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Greg Plaisance Realtor
985-696-0094