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LAFAYETTE — Following complaints of students and a staff member of the Louisiana Athletics department, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has terminated head softball coach Michael Lotief, effective immediately.
Lotief violated University and UL System policies by subjecting student-athletes and coworkers to violent, vulgar language and verbal and physical assault, creating a hostile learning and working environment.
“Behavior of this nature will not be tolerated,” University President Dr. Joseph Savoie said. “I want to commend the students for coming forward. They exemplified great courage in sharing their stories.”
A national search for a new head softball coach will begin immediately, according to director of Louisiana Athletics Dr. Bryan Maggard.

After Roy R. Theriot died in April 1973, he was remembered as “a dedicated public servant, a one-man state chamber of commerce, and perhaps the foremost messiah of heritage preservation.”
He was also one of the best storytellers these parts have ever seen.
According to A. Otis Hebert Jr., historian and fellow Vermilion Parish native, “One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the Acadian people, (Theriot) repeatedly said, ‘is their ability to laugh at themselves.’ No one better typified that trait than did Roy. He had an endless supply of stories that made him the most sought-after speaker in Louisiana.” (Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring, 1973),
His storytelling helped make him a successful politician who was elected and re-elected during the decades when it was necessary for a candidate to be able to gather a crowd at the courthouse steps and keep them there with a stump speech that was both entertaining and politically pleasing.
He was mayor of Abbeville from 1954 to 1960, resigning when he was elected state comptroller during in the second Jimmie Davis administration. He held that office until his death, serving through the eight-year tenure of John McKeithen and the early part of Edwin Edwards’ first term.
Roy Raoul Theriot Sr. came from humble beginnings, and not only remembered them, but was proud of them. He was born June 26, 1914, in Erath to sharecropper Lastie Theriot and the former Emerite Barras. He graduated from Erath High School in 1932, did undergraduate work at UL‑Lafayette (at the time Southwestern Louisiana Institute) and earned his law degree from Tulane in 1939,
The law practice he began that year was interrupted by service during World War II. He came home from the war in 1946, and married Helen Roberts on June 7, 1947. They had three children: Barbara Ellen, Roy Jr., and Sam, who followed his dad into politics and was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1979 to 1996.
Roy organized the Abbeville Dairy Festival, first held in September 1949, and used it as a forum to put his town in the spotlight and to bring an impressive list of national figures to south Louisiana.
Harold Stassen, the perennial Republican presidential candidate, was so impressed with the festival that he arranged an invitation for the Abbeville High School band to perform at the inauguration of President Eisenhower in January 1957.
When Harry Truman came to the festival to campaign for JFK, someone in the crowd shouted, “Give ‘em hell. Harry.” Truman shot back: “I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” Other special guests included. ambassadors, congressmen, senators, and movie stars, as over the years the festival became a “must attend” event for any Louisiana politician who wanted the south Louisiana vote.
But the event that many people consider Roy’s grandest legacy was the Dejeuner de Bochier Acadien, which he began in 1960 as a treat for his office staff and, as Hebert writes, “grew to an enormous breakfast feast attended by hundreds and hundreds of persons from around the world.”
The event grew because of Theriot’s unbounded devotion to the Louisiana French culture, which Hebert suggests is “Roy’s primary claim to immortality.”
“No one was more devoted to the preservation of Acadian culture — its language, its cuisine. its folklore, its music,” according to Hebert.
That devotion and the many things he did to support it brought Theriot the Legion d’Honeur, the highest award presented to a civilian by the French government. But honors weren’t the reason he did what he did.
He did it because he loved the heritage and culture that had formed him and thought it was essential that they were kept alive. Some people who knew him also suspected that a little bit of it came about just because it was fun to do. He genuinely enjoyed putting on his soirees, and, of course, they gave him the opportunity to stand up and tell a good story.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

GUEYDAN - Long-time Gueydan resident will seek one of eight seats up for grabs in next November’s election.
Gueydan resident, Scott Vallo, community volunteer, former city council member, announced Monday his intention to land one of the eight Vermilion Parish School Board seats up in next November’s general election.
“I would like to take this time to announce my candidacy for District A School Board Member. The election will be held in late 2018 but I am announcing early so that I can begin reaching out to the people of District A.
In the last couple of months I have talked with concerned teachers and parents about the situation with the present school board. During these talks I have remained steadfast in several things. I have always put the teachers and students first. They are the first priority ALWAYS. Secondly, I will not be bullied and talked down to in order to further another person’s agenda. I will fight for each and every teacher and student in the Parish, not just in District A.
My background consists of being a combat Army Veteran and I served on the Gueydan Town Council from 2009-2017. I have the experience and fortitude to back up my promises.
In the next year, I am looking forward to talking to the people of my district as well as the teachers, principals and support staff that impact the children in our school system.
It is time for a change and I believer I am the person for that job.”

February 12, 1946 ~ October 27, 2017

KAPLAN — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, October 30, 2017 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church honoring the life of Sheryl Latiolais Myers, 71, who died Friday, October 27, 2017 at Lafayette General Medical Center. She will be laid to rest at Kaplan Cemetery with Reverend Mark Miley officiating the services.
She is survived by her son, Trent Hampton Myers of Kaplan; three daughters, Julee Rose Myers of Kaplan, Jeanise Trahan Meyers and her husband, Troy of Yukon, OK; and Jolene Trahan Harson and her husband, Mark of Lafayette; mother, Wanda Latiolais of Kaplan; significant other, Doyle Cook of Kaplan; four grandchildren, Kristi Lane Harson of Lafayette, Bailey Rene Harson Of Lafayette, Tyler Joseph Meyers of Yukon, OK, and Tyson Lee Meyers of Yukon, OK; one sister, Jan Latiolais Hargrave and her husband, Cecil Currie of Houston, TX; one brother, Glenn Earl Latiolais and his wife, Jessica of Meaux; and two godchildren, Jason Latiolais of Abbeville and Neil Meaux of Meaux.
She was preceded in death by her father, Earl Joseph Latiolais.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Sunday, October 29, 2017 from 2:00 PM until 10:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Monday, October 30, 2017 from 8:00 AM until the procession departs for the church.
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 Myers family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.