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Mary Harris’s life has been turned upside down after trying to better herself.
In April, 52-year-old Harris applied for a job online in hopes of making extra money. In the application process, she gave the company her personal information because she thought the company was real.
After learning she got the job, the company sent her a check for $2,950 to purchase the items she needed to start her new job, plus an advance for her salary. However, the first red flag went up when she tried to cash the check, and her bank did not cash the check because it was a fake company.
No problem, because she was not out of anything, at least she thought.
Harris is on disability and receives a check each month. The check is put on a debit card and mailed to her. Section 8 also helps pay her rent because she is on a set income after having a stroke a few years back.
At the beginning of June, she received her disability card and tried to cash it at an ATM in Abbeville. She put it in, and it showed a zero balance. She thought there was something wrong with the ATM, so she went to another store and the result was the same. No money on the card.
“I freaked out,” said Harris, who volunteers at the Christian Service Center. “I called the credit card company to find out why. I learned a bunch of transactions were made on the card. I hurried and blocked the card, but it was too late.
The news gets worse.
She also had a prepaid debit card called a “Green Dot Card” with around $3,500. She put her Green Dot Card in an ATM and got the same result, zero balance.
In a week, Harris learned someone withdrew $4,000 from her Green Dot Card and disability card.
Her bad news does not stop there.
Not long after learning about being broke, she received word from Section 8, which helps pay her rent, that they were going to stop helping her pay rent because she was able to receive $20,800 loan through the Paycheck Protection Program. The money was to be used to help pay for her catering business.
First of all, Harris never applied for the loan because she does not own a catering business.
Since the beginning of June, she has been on the phone trying to correct the false information out there and explain to Section 8 that her name and personal information were stolen.
With the help of friends, family and the Christian Service Center, she has been able to keep her head above the water.
“I have not been able to sleep,” she said. “Last night was the first night I slept well. It has been a financial strain this month. I am now trying to piece everything together.”
After sitting down and backtracking, Harris figured out that someone could have stolen her identity when she applied for turned out to be a fake job online.
“They say if it sounds too good to be true, pay attention to that because it is,” said Harris. “I trusted this company and thought they were real. Now, I have to start over. I want to warn people and tell them to be careful when applying for a job online and giving out your personal information. I am really upset because I have to deal with this.”
Harris, who lives in Abbeville, said this is the second to worst feeling she has experience in her lifetime. The worst was in 2009 when her son Ernest Guidry was shot and killed north of Abbeville.
“All this has almost put me into depression,” she said. “I am very angry and hurt. Someone violated my private information, and I am trying to get it back. Everyone, be careful with who your give information to because it could turn your life upside down as it has done to me.”

ERATH — Residents who live in the Erath Housing Authority were looking for answers about the hold-up in elevating their houses.
It is known that the streets of North Lahasky and Dronet Street, north of the bypass, flood when there is a five to six-inch rain or a storm surge. A lot of rain means the streets flood, and the residents are trapped because there is only one way in and one way out of the Housing Authority.
There are around 100 people (26 families) who live in the housing authority.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that Erath would receive $2.2 million to elevate the 13 homes in the housing authority. Elevating the homes at least five to eight feet high would solve the houses from flooding; however, it would not solve the streets from flooding, stated Erath Mayor Taylor Mencacci.
Mencacci explained to the residents that elevating the houses would not solve the flooding problem. He said the residents would still get trapped inside their homes when a six-inch rain occurs. He also added that the town does not have the money to elevate the roads.
And, FEMA’s money would not pay to elevate the roads. Mencacci also said each lifted home would have to be made handicap accessible, and the $2.2 million would not be enough to pay to raise the homes and make each home handicap accessible.
Mencacci’s solution to the flooding issue would be to move the housing authority to higher grounds in Erath, away from the bowl it now sits in.
Lynette Hebert, a resident in the housing authority, explained to the Mayor and aldermen that the people living in the housing authority do not have the funds to evacuate to a hotel each time there is a threat of rain or a tropical storm.
“Everyone feels like they are sitting ducks and no way to get out,” said Hebert. “For heavy rains, we can not get out.”
One by one, the residents said they are fed up with the street flooding and were looking for answers. There was even talk about building a new road north of the housing authority that would give the residents another way in and out.
“We have nowhere to go,” said a resident. “There are disabled people who live here and have nowhere to go. We want to know what we can do. Everyone is fed up with this for years and years.”

March 22, 1929 - June 20, 2021

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Lafayette for Beverly Mayard Sellers, 92, a native of Abbeville and a 66-year resident of Bayou Vista, who passed away Sunday, June 20, 2021 at Camelot of Broussard.
She will be laid to rest in the St. Paul Cemetery in Abbeville. The Rev. Joel Faulk, pastor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, will be the Celebrant for the Mass and conduct the services.
A gathering of family and friends will be held Monday, June 21 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. with the Rosary being prayed at 6:30 p.m. at Martin and Castille Funeral Home, 600 Farrel Road, Lafayette, Louisiana, and funeral Mass Tuesday, June 22, at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church on 415 Robley Drive, Lafayette, Louisiana. Visitation on Tuesday will be from 9:00 a.m. until time of the funeral.
Mrs. Beverly was a Catholic Daughter and member of a Rosary Group in Bayou Vista. She and her husband, Emmet had been married for 65 years before his passing in 2015. They enjoyed camping and RVing with their family and friends. Bev was known for her kindness, caring, and faith. She was famous for her recipes for tamales, jams, rice dressing, pickles, and margaritas. She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.
Survivors include her four children, Steven Sellers and his wife Lois, Clyde Sellers and his wife Debbie, Neil Sellers and his wife Gwen, and Douglas Sellers; seven grandchildren, Alaina Cummins and her husband Lee, Jillian Sellers, Gavin Sellers and his wife Taylor, Austin Sellers, Kyle Sellers, Dresden Sellers, and Carson Sellers; and two great grandchildren, Remington Clare Cummins and Hagen Gabriel Cummins.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Emmet Gerard Sellers, daughter, Phyllis Clare Sellers, as well as brothers, Fred Mayard, Gilbert Mayard, Minos Mayard, Sterling Mayard, Lenes "Stu" Mayard, J.O. Mayard, and sister, Mae Mayard Guidry.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in Mrs. Beverly’s name to Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston St., Suite 200, Lafayette, LA 70503, (337) 232-1234, hospiceacadiana.com or to St. Bernadette Catholic Church, 1112 Saturn Road, Morgan City, LA 70380, (985) 395-2410.
The family expresses special thanks and gratitude to the staff of Camelot of Broussard, the devoted sitters of A Care Partner, and Hospice of Acadiana.
View the obituary and guestbook online at www.mourning.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to Martin & Castille Funeral Home, 600 E. Farrel Road, Lafayette, LA 70508, (337) 984-2811.

The Vermilion Parish School Board voted against a charter school entering Vermilion Parish for the second time in two years.
By a vote of 5-3, the school board said they were not in favor of a new charter school in the Maurice area.
Voting against the charter school were school board members Laura LeBeouf, Kibbie Pillette, Dale Stelly, and Charlotte Detraz.
Voting for the charter school were Christy Hebert, Chris Gautreaux and Jason Roy.
With “No” vote from the local board, the charter school now has to take it the state level. The board has to make a presentation to the BESE Board in hopes it approves their application.
The school wants to be a kindergarten through sixth grade school and then expand to the eighth grade in the future. The charter school would house 615 students.
The “no” vote also means that the Vermilion Charter Academy will become a Type 2 charter school instead of a Type 1 charter school, if BESE approves it on the state level.
A Type 2 charter school will be run by its charter board members and it will accept students throughout the Acadiana area.
Students from Lafayette Parish and Acadia Parish and other parishes can enroll in the school.
Had the school board accepted the charter school, the charter school would have only been able to accept Vermilion Parish students, and the public school board also would have had a say as to what areas of the parish the charter school could draw students from.
Before voting, LeBeouf explained her reason as to why she was voting no. She said the parish would lose close to $6 million in MFP funding from the state, along with having to lay off school employees because of the loss of state funding.
LeBeouf pleaded with the school board to first fill the empty school buildings by rezoning. “We have all these empty buildings and space,” said LeBeouf. “I am responsible for the students and teachers.”
Dupuis explained why he voted no. He said he keeps hearing that 600 students will be enrolling in the Maurice area in the next four years. He said he has a hard time believing there will be that many new students in four years.
School board member Jason Roy said the school board “keeps kicking the can” when it comes to fixing the overcrowding problem in the North Vermilion area. He added that former school boards failed to resolve the overcrowding problem in the northern part of the parish.
The charter school will help with the overcrowding at Maurice Elementary, Roy added. He said a charter school being built in the Maurice area would not cost the parish taxpayers any money, because it will be built and paid for by the Charter USA School.