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September 13, 1930 ~ March 15, 2021

KAPLAN – A Mass of Catholic Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, March 18, 2021 at St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church honoring the life of Paul “P.D.” Marceaux, 90, who died Monday, March 15. 2021, at his residence. He will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery with Reverend Matt Hebert officiating the services.
He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Helen T. Marceaux of Kaplan; his daughter Geralyn “Gerri” Marceaux of Little Elm, TX; his three sons, Keith Marceaux of Kaplan, Sandy Marceaux and wife, Donna of Ohio and Brent Marceaux and his wife, Kim of Bay City, TX; his 12 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul Marceaux and the former Olivia Romero; his sister, Yolande “Sis” Hanks and her husband, Mason Hanks.
Paul was a member of the Kaplan High School State Football Champion team of 1947 and the Parish Tournament Basketball Championship team. Sir Knight Paul D. Marceaux was a longtime 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus. He was an Army veteran during the Korean War, certified as a paratrooper and med-corpsman. He is a past Commander of the American Legion Post 271 and championed veterans through several organizations. He enjoyed helping many charity events doing one thing he loved, cooking for large events.
Paul was a member of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association since his retirement at the age of 56 from Valero Corporation. He was a farmer, caterer, hunter, fisherman, horse breeder and owner. He worked in the oil and gas industry from 1965 until his retirement, acting as Valero Property Manager for all Valero properties from the Rocky Mountains to New York. Prior to that he was a superintendent for on and offshore properties in Texas and Louisiana. After retiring he was a land bank auditor for many years.
He was generous to his family and his community. He was a true American patriot. His family will miss him, his large personality and his joie de vivre.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM with a rosary being led by the Knights of Columbus prayed at 7:00 PM, Thursday, March 18, 2021 from 8:00 AM until the procession departs for the church at 10:45 AM.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276 {Service Information 225-5276}. Condolences may be sent to the Marceaux family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.

January 22, 1947 ~ March 13, 2021

ABBEVILLE — Graveside services will be held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at St. Paul Cemetery honoring the life of Ellen Gail Broussard, 74, who died Saturday, March 13, 2021 at Eastridge Nursing Center.
She is survived by her son, Greg Gaspard and his wife, Wendy of Austin, TX; step-children, Ann Nerren of Erath, Darlene Menard "Sissy" and husband, Terran "Peto" of Erath, and Dave Broussard and his wife, Kellie of Broussard; grandson, Donovan Gaspard; and five step-grandchildren, Erica Racca, Trent Menard, Lexi Harrington, Jayden Broussard and Lauren Broussard.
She was preceded in death by her husband, David Broussard; and parents, Willis Bodin and the former Velta Ponville and son Robert "John" Gaspard, Jr.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society in Ellen’s name. If you smoke, stop now. Take care of one another the way she cared for others. 
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

The winning streak continues for the Kaplan Lady Pirates.
The Lady Pirates improved to 15-0 after winning two on Saturday.
The Lady Pirates got the two wins with solid hitting and great pitching.
They whipped Kinder 13-0 and Anacoco, 9-4.
Thus far, heading into this week’s busy schedule with three games, the Lady Pirates have scored 181 runs and hit 30 home runs.
Kennedy Marceaux, a freshman, leads the team in home runs with 10 and Molly Sistrunk has seven. Lauryn Packard is third on the team with five.

Kaplan....13
Kinder......0

Carina Chargois threw a gem on Saturday for the Kaplan Lady Pirates, allowing zero runs and besting Kinder by a score of 13-0.
Chargois earned the victory in the pitcher’s circle for KHS. Chargois lasted five innings, allowing two hits and zero runs while striking out eight and walking zero.
The two weekend wins improve Kaplan to 15-0 and keeps them at No. 1 in the Class 3A power ranking.
Briley LeBeouf led KHS to victory by driving in five runs. LeBeouf went 3-for-3 at the plate. LeBeouf drove in runs on a single in the first inning, a double in the third, and a double in the fourth.
Kaplan got things moving in the first inning. Kennedy Marceaux hit a solo homer.
Kaplan notched five runs in the third inning. Kaplan’s offensive firepower was led by Noble Hebert, LeBeouf, Marceaux, and Chargois, all sending runners across the plate with RBIs in the inning.
Kaplan socked three home runs on the day. Marceaux went for the long ball in the first inning. Molly Sistrunk went deep in the first inning. Lauryn Packard went yard in the first inning.
Hebert, Sistrunk, and LeBeouf each managed three hits to lead Kaplan.

Kaplan.........9
Anacoco......4

The Kaplan Lady Pirates jumped out to an early lead over Anacoco and took home a 9-4 victory on Saturday.
Kaplan notched four runs in the fourth inning. The offensive onslaught came from doubles by Kennedy Marceaux and Molly Sistrunk and a sacrifice fly by Carina Chargois.
Briley LeBeouf took the win for Kaplan. The pitcher lasted five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs while walking one. Reagan Smith threw two innings in relief out of the bullpen. Smith recorded the last six outs to earn the save for Kaplan.
Kaplan smacked one home run on the day. Marceaux had a homer in the first inning.
Marceaux went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead Kaplan. Janyia Small was 2-for-3 on the day.

A U.S. General Accounting Office report cites leadership improvements at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement during Scott Angelle’s tenure.
Angelle, of Breaux Bridge, served from May 2017 to this January as the agency’s fourth director.
The Bureau was created in October 2011 in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Eleven people died and 17 were injured in the incident. About 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.
Prior to Angelle, the Bureau was cited as high risk by the GAO.
After Angelle departed, a March GAO biennial
High-Risk Series Report; a Report to Congressional Committees removed BSEE from a high risk list.
“The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) made progress to address problems in the bureau’s investigative, environmental compliance, and enforcement capabilities, and implemented strategic initiatives to improve offshore oversight and internal management. Specifically, BSEE led a change management initiative, encompassing more than 180 actions, to reform offshore oil and gas oversight,” the report stated.
Angelle, 59, who has served as Louisiana lieutenant governor and on the Public Service Commission, issued a statement about the GAO report.
“Nearly four years after publication of the damning inherited 2017 GAO report, I am pleased GAO’s most recent robust review, recounted in its 2021 High Risk Report, concluded it was appropriate to remove the Restructuring of Offshore Oil and Gas Oversight segment because of BSEE’s progress addressing long-standing deficiencies.
“I salute the men and women of BSEE and the leadership of the United States Department of Interior who demonstrated a commitment to usher in positive change while embracing all three components of its mission; safety, environmental sustainability and conservation of resources. Without their contributions and dedication, achieving this ‘new era of offshore oil and gas oversight excellence’ would not have been possible.
“I further salute the men and women of the offshore oil and gas industry, who daily kiss their families goodbye, put on their hardhats and steel-toe boots, and set out to do the hard work of energizing America.
“With 1 in 6 barrels of America’s oil production coming from Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) operations, historic high OCS oil production in 2018 and 2019 generating billions in annual royalty income for the American people; it is critical that the nonpartisan GAO monitor and report to the American people as they have done today. U.S. offshore production is among the most environmentally-advantaged production anywhere in the world and today’s GAO’s report confirms its regulatory oversight has exponentially improved...”
Angelle spoke about the Bureau he headed and the energy industry.
“The most important thing from me and the reason I wanted to have this call is because I think it is important for America to have confidence in its regulators,” he said.
Angelle said he inherited a GAO report in 2017 that “made very clear they had tremendous concerns for the agency that I just took over.”
Angelle said, “I believe in the Abraham Lincoln philosophy that every organization takes on the personality of its leader.”
BSEE was given the Louisiana work ethic, he said. “We got people to buy in that we could do it all. That it wasn’t a choice, that we had three areas of our mission. We were going to be excellent in all three, not one of three and not two out of three, we were excellent in all three and one of them is safety and the other one was environmental sustainability and the other one was in robust production,” he said.
BSEE was born as part of a restructuring of oversight after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
“I know in my heart that America needed to have confidence in the operations of this government in order to continue to allow this,” Angelle said. “I knew the workers needed to have confidence. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t occasionally a bad day because humans are humans.”
COVID-19 presented another challenge to offshore energy production and BSEE’s mission to inspect facilities.
Inspections were done in 2020 on about 1,300 facilities usually by ferrying inspectors by helicopter, he said.
“America owes a great deal of, I think, thanks to those public employees, those inspectors, who followed the protocols while they were doing their job and followed some really solid CDC guidelines when they were off duty,” he said.
The inspectors worked from Alaska to California to the Gulf of Mexico and not one inspector contracted the virus as result of offshore travel, he said.
Angelle also cited the Gulf of Mexico operations as producing the second-most environmentally advantaged oil production in the world. (Denmark is first because its near-shore operations, he said.)
Gulf of Mexico production has a low rate of gas venting and flaring, which improves air quality.
No marine mammals or sea turtle deaths have been attributed to exploration and production since at least 2017, he said.
“The offshore oil and gas takes marine mammal fatalities and sea turtle fatalities very, very seriously,” he said.
Angelle stressed the need for a balanced approach in meeting the nation’s energy needs.
“I have a very big concern that soaring gas prices are coming to a zip code near you,” he said.
The nation needs to consider three Es — Energy, Environment and Economy.
As the U.S. expands to renewable sources it must do so in a way that doesn’t devastate the economy, he said. There is going to be transition in energy “but we need to be smart getting there.”
Angelle said there is a link from affordable energy to economic prosperity.