RSS Feed

Charles Guidry has enjoyed an incredible career as a sugarcane farmer.
Along with his wife of 41 years, Wanda, he credits that to two things: receiving an education and eventually having the ability to be his own boss.
Guidry, who operates Charles Guidry Farm, recently spoke to members of the Rotary Club of Abbeville. Guidry, one of nine children in his family, told club members about the advice his father gave him that set him on his path.
“My dad told me that once you get an education,” Guidry said, “you can do just about anything that you want to do. I did that.”
Guidry, a Vermilion Parish native, attended Herod Elementary School and Herod High School in Abbeville before transferring to Paul Breaux High School in Lafayette. After graduating from high school in 1964, Guidry enrolled at Grambling State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1968. Guidry eventually earned his master’s degree in education from Texas Southern University in Houston in ‘73. He received an honorary doctorate degree in business from Grambling in 2015.
Guidry entered the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam after being drafted in ‘69. During his service, Guidry received the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in aerial flight. He also earned the Army Commendation medal for meritorious achievement.
After an honorable discharge from the Army, Guidry entered the classroom as a teacher. His stops included Herod Elementary and Edgar Martin Middle School in Lafayette. Guidry wanted something more, something he always wanted, and eventually stepped away from the classroom.
“I left the education field to pursue my lifelong ambition of operating a large farm enterprise,” Guidry told Rotarians. “My main goal was to own a business. I invested my money, not in stocks and bonds, but in farm land and equipment.”
What started with 50 to 60 acres has grown to more than 4,000 acres in Vermilion and Lafayette Parishes. His operation includes numerous tractors and employees.
“When you own your own business,” Guidry said, “it does something to you. It changes your life. You control your destiny, and you change your income. Once your income changes, you can do more.
“That’s just what I did.”

If you drive past the Amazon Building on North Airport Road, you’ll notice a new facility going up. Right now, the cement is poured and the steel beams are in place.
Chad Vallo, the newly elected Police Jury president, recently educated Vermilion Parish Chamber members at its annual “state of the parish” breakfast about what was being built.
Vallo explained that a new “Emergency Operations 911 Communication Center” is being built. The total square footage is 11,000 at an $8 million price tag.
The communication center is expected to be finished by the end of 2026. Federal grants will cover $6 million of the cost.
The remaining $2 million will come from the parish’s 1976 and 1978 sales tax fund and the 911 fund.
It will house the 911 Department, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and the parish’s Fire Protection Association. The building will also include a room where meetings with parish officials, as well as with fire and police departments, could take place before and after a hurricane.
Vallo said the facility will have 36 to 42 beds for first responders and others. It is designed to withstand winds up to 160 miles per hour.
“I hope that we never have to use it,” Vallo said, “but we are building an OEP/911 safe room for hurricane preparedness. As a sheriff’s deputy for 35 years, anytime we had a storm come through, we had to make a makeshift where we were going to set up for response. It was always trouble finding where we were going to put everybody for the response we would need.”
In the past for hurricanes, emergency personnel and parish officials held meetings in the court house and slept in court rooms when needed.
Once construction is complete, everyone will be able to meet in the new building.
After 911 and OEP move out of the courthouse, those spaces may be used by the district attorney’s office, judges, or the clerk of court.

MAURICE — James Trevor Voorhies of Youngsville showed he was not the most careful criminal in South Louisiana.
Last week, Voorhies was seen on video allegedly taking a purse from the back of a chair at City Bar in Maurice.
A camera behind the bar shows a man who looks like Voorhies sitting at the bar, with the purse hanging from the same chair. He orders a drink, finishes it, and pays with a credit card under the name James Trevor Voorhies.
The video shows what seems to be Voorhies taking the purse and hiding it under his shirt, near his stomach.
After paying his bill, the man gets up and leaves, holding the purse close to his stomach, the straps hanging down by his legs.
The lady who had the purse went back to her seat only to discover it was gone. She had been standing and chatting about 15 feet away from her purse the whole time.
She told City Bar owner Elliot Guidry about the theft, and they checked the surveillance footage. Maurice City Police were then called to the bar. The stolen purse was found outside City Bar the next morning.
Maurice City Police got a warrant for the person whose name was on the credit card used to buy alcohol.
After the arrest warrant was issued, Voorhies’ name was added to the state’s database.
On Friday, Voorhies was stopped by DeRidder Police for a traffic violation. They found he had warrants for his arrest.
The DeRidder Police Department charged Voorhies with these crimes.

• Possession of CDC Schedule II
• Possession of drug paraphernalia;
• Resisting an officer;
• No insurance
• No registration
• Turning movements and required signals

The DeRidder Police Department informed Maurice City Police about Voorhies’ arrest in Allen Parish. DeRidder Police placed a hold on him, and Maurice Police will later bring him back to face theft charges, among others.
Before Voorhies’ arrest, City Bar posted a video on Facebook of Voorhies allegedly taking the purse and walking out with it.
City Bar updated its Facebook page two days later, saying Voorihies has been arrested in DeRidder. They also thanked the community for its support.
“We are beyond thankful for our community … the tips, shares, and messages truly helped lead law enforcement in the right direction. This is exactly why City Bar will always feel like home.
“Thank you to local law enforcement for handling this quickly and professionally, and thank you to our community for showing up like always.”

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU AgCenter researchers have confirmed the presence of a new invasive insect in Louisiana sugarcane fields. The pasture mealybug was detected in Vermilion and Iberia parishes late last year, raising concerns among growers, ranchers and researchers.
Blake Wilson, AgCenter entomologist, said the insect was observed by crop consultants Nick Daigle and Ryan Viator, who noticed a yellowing canopy in commercial sugarcane fields. AgCenter researchers collected specimens from the Vermilion Parish fields.
“Specimens were sent to U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, where scientists with the National Identification Services were able to confirm the species identification based on morphological characteristics and genetic comparison with specimens collected from Texas,” Wilson said.
Fields in Louisiana where the pasture mealybug was detected showed severe yellow canopy syndrome and suffered severe yield loss, Wilson said.
“The pest status of H. summervillei in sugarcane is not well understood. Evidence from Australia has noted that both nymphs and adults are found on the leaves and roots of sugarcane,” Wilson said. “Only the nymphs are thought to feed. This feeding may be associated with yellow canopy syndrome, but the mealybug has not been identified as the direct cause of the symptoms.”
Sugarcane fields in St. Landry Parish also expressed yellow canopy symptoms, but Wilson said it is not known if the pasture mealybug was present there.
The insect was detected in Texas, where pasture dieback was reported in 22 counties, last year as well. As the name suggests, the pasture mealybug is known to kill various species of pasture grass used in livestock production.
“Early symptoms of infestations in pasture grasses cause discoloration ranging from yellowing to reddening,” Wilson said.
AgCenter researchers will conduct surveys to determine where the pasture mealybug may be in Louisiana sugarcane fields and pastures.
Potential host plants include all species of pasture and turfgrasses in addition to sugarcane. Suspected infestations of pasture mealybug should be reported to Wilson (bwilson@agcenter.lsu.edu) for sugarcane and Ed Twidwell (etwidwell@agcenter.lsu.edu) for pasture.