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Karen and Fred Hoyt

Karen & Fred Hoyt honored as Vermilion Parish Leaders in Philanthropy Award recipients

Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA) and Hancock Whitney Bank are pleased to announce the 2022 Leaders in Philanthropy Award honorees for Vermilion Parish, Karen & Fred Hoyt.
The Hoyts' passion for philanthropy was infused into the culture of their local business, through which Karen and Fred contribute a portion of sales proceeds to support designated community organizations. These include the Abbeville Police and Fire Departments, St. Theresa and St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Churches, Vermilion Foundation, an affiliate of Community Foundation of Acadiana, the Boys & Girls Club, children’s sports leagues, American Legion and Veterans programs, Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and the Louisiana Military Museum in Abbeville.
John T. Landry, friend of the Hoyts said, “Fred and Karen Hoyt have been ardent supporters of Abbeville, and Vermilion Parish organizations, for over 40 years. Their generosity has helped improve the lives of the citizens of Vermilion Parish. They are always ' Giving Back ' when asked to step up and assist worthy causes.”
“The Hoyt’s have big hearts and are known to help many less fortunate citizens who are “down on their luck.”, said friend Charles Sonnier.
Leaders In Philanthropy Awards are presented annually to outstanding individuals, couples, and corporations who have supported nonprofit organizations, churches, and schools through charitable giving and/or philanthropic work.
Individuals and couples are selected from each of the eight parishes of Community Foundation of Acadiana’s (CFA) primary service area which includes Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion Parishes.
CFA welcomes nominations from the general public at www.cfacadiana.org/lip. Nominees need not be donors or have a Fund at CFA. CFA’s Past Board Members consider nominations and submit their recommendations to the CFA Board of Directors for final approval, including those proposed by any Parish Affiliate Advisory Board.
Community Foundation of Acadiana’s core purpose is to build legacies and improve communities by connecting generous people to the causes they care about. CFA has realized more than $348 million in philanthropic activities since inception in 2000.. CFA’s donor-directed grant distributions now exceed $185 million. While donors are not limited geographically, CFA’s primary service area includes the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion. CFA is the third largest community foundation in the state and expects to soon be included in the Top 100 U.S. community foundations by assets. These important milestones ensure CFA’s position as one of Louisiana’s premier philanthropic organizations.

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2022 North Vermilion High Homecoming Court

The 2022 North Vermilion Homecoming Court -- Front: Emily Richard, Kennedy Kelly, Whitney Freeman, LaKendra Baudoin, Ashlyn Duhon and Kaylee Touchet; Back: Rose Gautreaux, Morgan Bagwell, Sydney Thomas, Ava Cawyer, Le'Asia Brown, Jah'Nisha Campbell and Olivia Mouton. The following students were selected by the student body to represent North Vermilion High School as members of the homecoming courts. The Patriots will take on the LaGrange Gators on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

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Abbeville defenders Na'Tavian Comeaux (top) and Broderic Fletcher (5) team up to tackle a West St. Mary runner in the first quarter. West St. Mary had zero yards of offense in the first quarter and 15 at halftime.

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Abbeville receiver Chad Westley (1) catches a pass and out-runs a West St. Mary defender for a 40-yard touchdown.

Abbeville blows out West St. Mary

Game was over at halftime

Abbeville head coach Roderick Moy knew what the Wildcats’ first eight plays of the game would be before the game began.
However, by the time he completed calling seven out of the eight plays, Abbeville had a convincing 28-0 lead.
The Wildcats cruised to a 51-6 win over West St. Mary in a non-district game.
Abbeville improves to 4-1 on the year.
“The first eight plays were going to be the first eight plays,” said Moy. “Those were the plays we practiced all week long. We were only able to run seven plays. We did not get through the eight plays.”
Moy said he got the idea of running scripted plays from former San Franciso 49er head coach Bill Walsh. Walsh, however, had 15 straight plays he would call. So Moy tweaked it and did eight consecutive plays.
On Abbeville’s fourth play of the game, the Wildcats were in the end zone.
Trasean Greene had back-to-back carries for 10 yards, including a four-yard TD run. The Wildcats needed only two minutes to lead 7-0.
On their second possession, the Wildcats only took two plays to score seven more points.
Jaysen Shelvin, playing quarterback, connected with Chad Westley for a 40-yard touchdown reception.
Shelvin scored on the two-point conversion for a 15-0 lead.
While the AHS offense was scoring, the AHS defense was shutting down West St. Mary.
After three possessions, West St. Mary had 10 yards of offense.
Abbeville scored two more touchdowns in the final four minutes of the first quarter.
AHS quarterback Tahj Judge completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ronale Walker at the 3:52 mark.
Then, the Wildcats scored their fourth touchdowns thanks to a 40-yard punt return by Tazavian Andrews, who was tackled at the 6. On the first play from scrimmage, Chad Westley scored on a jet sweep to the right side.
Abbeville scored on its first six possessions of the game. At halftime, it was 44-0. AHS kicker Edwin Ramirez made a 23-yard field to end the first half.
“I was proud of how went out and took care of business early,” Moy added.
The Wildcats dominated on offense and defense.
Abbeville had 346 yards of offense in the first half. They threw for a season-high 160 yards and ran for 186 yards.
Five different Wildcats caught the football.
Walker and Edmar Simon had each a catch for 43 yards. Westley had a catch for 40 yards.
As far as running the football, Braylon Moore had the most carries with nine for 58 yards. Andrew had four carries for 64 yards.
West St. Mary had 15 total yards in the first half and only one first down. They finished the game with 69 total yards of offense.

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Man arrested after jumping fence by North Vermilion gymnasium

Mitchell charged with felony

On Thursday, at 8:30 a.m. Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s School Resource Officer Deputy Brooks David responded to a male subject seen jumping a fence at the North Vermilion High School near the gym. An immediate lockdown of the school was initiated.
Several units with the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Maurice Police Department were dispatched. A perimeter was set up, and a search of the school grounds located a male subject identified as Colby Clayous Mitchell (D.O.B. 01/01/1985). Mitchell was located on the school campus parking lot. He was apprehended without incident.
Deputies on the scene determined that Mitchell had gone to the school to visit his wife to bring her some personal items. The wife was identified to be a contract worker doing cement work at the school for a private contractor. She is not an employee of the School Board.
An extended search of the school determined that no further threat was present. Therefore, the school and campus were determined to be safe and were taken off lockdown status, allowing students and faculty to resume regular activities.
Colby Clayous Mitchell, white male, (date of birth 01-01-1985) of 113 Pennington Drive, Duson, Louisiana 70529 was arrested on a felony charge of La. RS 14:40.6 and transported to the Vermilion Parish Jail, booked for unlawful disruption of the operation of a school.
Mitchell did not check into the front office at Nort Vermilion High or the middle school.

“Past and recent school shootings in the United States and other violent threats in local schools have caused new laws to be passed in the Louisiana Legislature and school districts continue to implement strict security measures. These measures are in place for good reason; TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, TEACHERS AND SCHOOL FACULTY. With this in mind, people wishing to enter the grounds of school campuses must do so in an orderly and expected fashion; through the school’s main and controlled entrance.
“Attempts to enter by other means will surely cause suspicion and fear, resulting in the school implementing their security protocols and law enforcement responding in a heightened alert mode to a potential harmful threat at the school. In review of this event, it appears that the system worked where the school faculty and law enforcement response were successful in working together. I commend the school and law enforcement’s response to this event. Training for this threat is nothing new at the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office. Your Sheriff’s Office has been actively training within our schools for these types of threats for well over a decade, and we will continue this valuable partnership,” said Langlinais.

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Out of the blue you’re getting $950,000; Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s office is letting you know it’s a scam

The Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office is warning people not to be fooled by the latest scam.

According to the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Eddie Langlinais, potential victims across the Acadiana area are receiving notifications via mail that they are the “lucky” winners of a sweepstakes prize money, and unfortunately Vermilion Parish residents are not immune to these scams.
Langlinais says that the latest scam that has surfaced in the parish most recently is in the form of a NORTH AMERICAN EAGLE SWEEPSTAKES SCAM indicating that you, the “potential victim” have been selected with a group of 10 lucky winners to receive the sum of $950,000.
Langlinais further stated that the enclosed a check, which is “fraudulent,” covers only the administrative payment and clearance fees of your winnings, and for authorizing and processing of your prize you must contact your agent at a specific phone number.
Langlinais also states that you must keep this information confidential until your funds are secured.
“This is a scam and residents are urged to be cautious when dealing with lottery or sweepstakes solicitations and should ignore all mail and phone solicitations for such promotions and should never give out their credit card or bank account information,” he said.

Here are a few simple scam prevention tips:

If you get an alleged award notification letter, several things become evident. The text is a very generic-sounding name.
You will then be congratulated on being the winner of a large amount of money, given a reference number, and asked not to make your winnings public until everything is finalized.
If at any time you should receive solicitations indicating that you must pay something for you to claim your prize, a red flag should come up.
Regardless of where the claim may originate, many of the contact representatives are of foreign descent.
Included with the letter will almost always be a legitimate-looking check, with an amount that can range from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.
Many times, these checks may appear to come from well-known and/or Fortune 500 companies with wide name recognition, which may put you in a fake comfort zone.
Good common sense is the key to preventing you from becoming a potential victim, and if you feel that you may be the target of a potential scam, you are urged to contact your local law enforcement authority or the Better Business Bureau at 981-3497.
Finally, Langlinais says that “Nothing is free. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

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Deanna “Dee” Monteaux Charpentier

A graveside service will be held on Friday, September 30, 2022, at Noon at Fountain Memorial Cemetery, 1010 Pandora St. in Lafayette for Deanna Charpentier, 74, who passed away Sunday, September 18, 2022, at Oschner University Hospital in Lafayette. Inurnment will follow the service. Deacon Joseph Hebert will officiate.
Dee was born on January 9, 1949, in Abbeville LA and was a long time resident of Acadiana. She graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Abbeville, LA, and began working for Riviana Foods shortly after. After Riviana, she became a sales representative for Tupperware. Dee was one of the top sales people in the area, and remained so for many years. Dee met the love of her life, Shelton Charpentier, at a car wash in the mid 70s. They were both Oldsmobile enthusiasts, and hit it off right away. They were married in 1976 and were married for 43 years when Shelton passed in 2019. Dee loved music, particularly Merle Haggard, going to the movies, was a Saints fan, enjoyed singing in the choir, and sending and receiving cards with friends and loved ones — she loved the Hallmark store, and visiting with friends. She will be dearly missed by all who knew her. Dee is survived by many cousins; she has a large family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Shelton Charpentier, her son, Chad Joseph Charpentier, and her parents, Edias Monteaux and Lula Menard Monteaux.
The family wishes to thank the doctors and team members of Ochsner University Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes and Lady of The Oaks rehabilitation facility for the compassionate care given to Dee in her final days.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the American Heart Association at https://www.heart.org. Online obituary and guestbook may be viewed at www.fountainmemorialfuneralhome.com. Fountain Memorial Funeral Home, 1010 Pandora St., Lafayette, LA, 70506, 337-981-7098.

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Tessa Marie Hebert

February 14, 1948- August 18, 2022

Tessa Marie Hebert : a Resident of Webster, Texas. (located about 26 miles north of Galveston) passed away Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 10 a.m. she was under the care of cardiac professionals in the I.C.U at U.T.M.B Hospital.
Tessa Marie Hebert, former Louisiana Native, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 14, 1948. She was one of five loving children born to Dr. Ardly & Elaine Hebert of Abbeville, Louisiana her home town. As a child she loved art, sewing & piano. As a young adult she loved outdoors, duck hunting & fishing. Tessa won a Tarpon Rodeo with 132 lb. catch at only 15 years old. She Held the title as the Louisiana State champion in Typing & because of her experience working for her fathers Medical practice, Tessa secured a stable career at U.T.M.B of Galveston in medical records. Pushing her education further and as a single mom she attended night school where she received her Para Legal Certifications and later became a Certified Title Clerk. Tessa ultimately retired but only after authoring several manuscripts and operating her business, an internet book website page. Driven by her huge Love for books she fulfilled her hobby & passion for buying , appraising and selling books. She loved fishing, crabbing & reading. Loved seafood, cheesecake and ribeyes. Elton John was her favorite and something about the beach seemed to sooth her internal peace. She was especially unapologetic about her addictions which included books, chocolate, coffee, cokes and yes, her cigarettes. Tessa’s last request was that there be no funeral festivities & that she be cremated and buried beside her son at the time of his passing along with William “Bill” Fulkerson , her long time friend and companion.
Tessa M. Hebert is survived her only son Jason Blake Williamson. Kimberly Williamson her daughter-in-law. Gary B. Williamson/ First husband. David P. Hebert/ brother. Mary Hebert/ sister in law. Loving nephew & God child Samuel Hebert & Stephanie Hebert / his wife. Jackie Hebert Hall & Jason Hebert their daughter & son and also their families. Tom Liebsch / brother-in-law. Amber Liebsch Young, Cheryl Armstrong Smith, and Charlene Smith and their families. Jesse & Lindsay Winship and Family. Other very important nieces & nephews : John Hebert, Tom Hebert, Jill Hebert, Leah Hebert Dupre. Wesley Hebert, Chawn Hebert, Rachel Hebert Richard and their families. As well as Loving Step Mother & Friend, Beatrice “ BeBe” Hebert. Serena Hebert Bailey / Half Sister. Molly Gooch / step sister. & Lauren Gooch / her daughter.
Proceeded in death by: Dr. Ardly Hebert / father. Elaine Duclos Hebert /mother. Jan Hebert Liebch / sister. Robert Hebert / brother. Chris Hebert / brother. Gregory Hebert / nephew. Robert T. Williamson / brother-in-Law. Charles Humphrey shadle III “chip” /second husband & soul mate. David N. Duncan / third husband. William “Wild Bill “ Fulkerson / best friend & long time companion.
God grant me the serenity to except the things I can not change. The courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down. Tessa & Lindsay 3/2/2013

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2022 Kaplan High Homecoming Court

The 2022 Kaplan High Homecoming Court: Seated: Marlee Hebert, Camryn LeMoine and Emily Terro; Standing: Jahra Francis, Caroline LeMaire, Kaidence Broussard, Noble Hebert, Keisha White, Claire Broussard and Lainie Hebert. The annual Homecoming Game is this Friday against Beau Chene. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The Queen will be crowned at halftime.

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Jim Brown

Hello, goodbye to Louisiana Senator Ellender

This week marks the birthday of former Louisiana U.S. Senator Allen J. Ellender. He was born in 1890, and in his heyday, Ellender was the most prominent Senator in Washington and a powerful voice for the Bayou State.
In 1972, I had given an evening speech up in Caldwell Parish and began the drive home to Ferriday as the sun was setting. The two-hour drive took me across the duty ferry and back through Harrisonburg, the parish seat in Catahoula Parish.
Harrisonburg is not all that lively during the day. At nine o'clock in the evening, there was virtually no sign of life. I decided to stop off at the sheriff's office in the courthouse and use the phone to let my wife know that I was on my way home. Generally, there is no one in the courthouse that late at night except the dispatcher in the sheriff's office. Since not much happened in Catahoula Parish, Sheriff J. Y. McGuffee saw fit to hire for the night job a decent but mildly handicapped fellow who was competent enough to handle the sheriff's radio and willing to sit there all night long.
I told him I was going into the back room to use the phone, and I shut the door to check in at home. When I finished my call and headed back into the outer office, I could hear a loud voice carrying on in some detail about world affairs. Phrases like "too much foreign aid," "not enough for national defense," and "support payments for our rice crop" were part of the conversation. A short, elderly gentleman was doing the talking. He had on glasses and was even reading from notes.
So here was this older fellow who was unknown to me at the time, giving a lecture on international issues to the mentally handicapped dispatcher at the sheriff's office. I introduced myself. "Glad to meet you, son," he said. ''I'm Senator Allan Ellender." The Senator went on to explain that he made an annual tour every year and stopped at each parish in the state. He ended up at the Catahoula Parish Courthouse for his last stop of the day. The Senator was going to be good to his word, but the only person available to talk to was the dispatcher. Now he had me.
Now as I said, Ellender was not just an ordinary U.S. Senator. He was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and was president pro tempore of the Senate, which made him third in line to being president. No senator in the nation had more power. And here he was, with a captive audience of two, late at night in a deserted community telling us about the woes of the nation. Many a politician and lobbyist would have given quite a price to have been in that empty courthouse with us.
Ellender talked for about an hour. After quite an earful on national and international affairs, I led the Senator down the road to Jonesville for the night. Billy Edwards was the town mayor, and also owned the local motel. He gladly comped a room for the Senator as I left them and headed home to Ferriday.
I never laid eyes on Senator Ellender again until I attended his funeral five years later. It certainly was not as quiet as our first meeting. An hour before the funeral, over a thousand people were packed into the street in front of the entrance of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in the south Louisiana town of Houma. Metal barriers had been set up to keep the crowd at bay, and the church was surrounded by state troopers, local police officers, and numerous Secret Service agents.
It became obvious why there was so much security. The President and Mrs. Nixon were to join a long list of dignitaries to remember the Senator. It was a real celebratory ending for Senator Ellender.

Peace and Justice
Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

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Jeff Crouere

Pelosi deserves to be booed, fired

If there is one politician who deserves to be booed it is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). On Saturday night at Central Park in New York City among fellow leftists Pelosi received her just deserts.
As she was making a surprise speech to the crowd at the Global Citizen’s music festival, Pelosi was greeted with heckling and boos. This was a very unpleasant surprise for an audience that was hoping to hear music from Metallica, Mariah Carey, and the Jonas Brothers.
In her comments, Pelosi praised the action of Congress in passing funding for climate change. She said, “As speaker of the House, I am here to thank you for your dazzling advocacy, entrepreneurial thinking, and determination as global citizens…It’s thanks to your help that the United States recently enacted historic climate legislation, which will be a game changer…It will slash carbon pollution by 40% by 2030, it will give a historic, an historic $370 billion to fight the climate crisis.”
The catcalls continued as Pelosi told the crowd the legislation will create “better water and air for our children…. better paying jobs and lower energy bills for their parents.”
Eventually, she finished her speech after claiming that she promised her grandchildren, who were in attendance, that she would keep her remarks short. More likely, she left after realizing the depths of her unpopularity and a desire to limit the embarrassment.
Amazingly, even progressive attendees of a music festival that promotes globalism did not want to listen to a proponent of their ideology. They wanted to hear music, not a political speech from a political fossil.
Speaker Pelosi is 82 years old and has been in Congress for 35 years. She is in her 18th term as a United States Representative. She was Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011 and resumed the role after Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.
She should have retired years ago, but her high profile and powerful position is too lucrative for her family. Her wealth has skyrocketed, almost tripling to nearly $115 million, during her “public service” between 2004-2019.
Pelosi is the worst type of politician, who puts her needs before those of her constituents. During the height of the pandemic in September of 2020, while her district was suffering under draconian “health” mandates that Pelosi supported and implemented in the U.S. House of Representatives, she visited a San Francisco hair salon and was captured on camera without a mask. It was the height of hypocrisy, but typical of Nancy Pelosi.
Sadly, Pelosi has performed a horrible disservice to her constituents in her San Francisco, CA congressional district. During her 35 years in Congress, San Francisco has degenerated into an urban hellhole. As businesses have left the city, San Francisco has seen a major increase in crime, filth, homelessness, and blight.
While her constituents have been suffering, Pelosi has been busy traveling the world as Speaker of the House. She is more concerned about her “global” duties and couldn't care less about the needs of her district.
Her recent junket to a variety of countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, complicated U.S. foreign policy objectives. In fact, her trip to Taiwan might have been more to do with her family business interests than showing support for a country under constant threat from the communist mainland.
As leader of the Democrats in Congress, Pelosi has been viciously partisan. She never expressed one iota of interest in collaborating with President Donald Trump. As evidence, let us not forget her unprecedented and unhinged action of tearing up the written copy of his State of the Union address while standing behind him.
As proof of her extreme partisanship and hatred of President Trump, Pelosi formed the “Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.” All nine members of this committee, seven Democrats and two establishment Republicans, are suffering from a severe case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The committee is not interested in uncovering the “truth” of January 6, 2021, only in politically damaging President Trump so he cannot run for the White House again in 2024.
Since Joe Biden became President, Pelosi has supported his socialist agenda 100% of the time. With Pelosi’s staunch support, Biden has passed the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and, most recently, the Inflation Reduction Act.
None of these bills will help the economy. Instead, all of them have added trillions of dollars to our national debt. Thus, Americans can thank Nancy Pelosi for the unnecessary spending, the high inflation rate, and the funding of 87,000 more Internal Revenue Service agents.
Pelosi not only deserves to be booed, but she also deserves to be fired. Americans can accomplish that task in the midterm elections by removing Democrats from control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com

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Abbeville Meridional

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