1-19-16
A 39-YEAR-OLD LAFAYETTE MAN WAS KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT IN TERREBONNE PARISH YESTERDAY AFTERNOON. THE MAN, WHO’S NAME HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED, WAS A PASSENGER IN A VEHICLE DRIVEN BY 44-YEAR-OLD MARIO VILLAFUERTE OF OPELOUSAS, WHO WAS TRAVELING ON HIGHWAY 90, WHEN HE APPROACHED A SLOWER MOVING VEHICLE. VILLAFUERTE SWERVED TO AVOID HITTING THE VEHICLE, CAUSING THE SUBURBAN HE WAS DRIVING TO OVERTURN. THE LAFAYETTE MAN, WHO WAS A PASSENGER IN THE SUBURBAN, WAS NOT WEARING HIS SEATBELT AND WAS EJECTED. HE LATER DIED FROM HIS INJURIES AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN NEW ORLEANS.
Louisiana State Police say a Texas man died when his eastbound pickup truck ran into the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 near Westlake and was hit by a motor home and a tractor-trailer. Sgt. James Anderson says investigators believe 54-year-old Byron Keith Bob of Houston was driving too fast for the rain-slick road.
He says in a news release that both Bob’s 1999 GMC pickup truck and the Allegro motor home were severely damaged, but the motor home’s driver was not hurt.
Anderson says the big rig’s driver also was not hurt.
A POSSIBLE BOMB THREAT FOR ST. MARY PARISH SCHOOLS WAS POSTED ON FACEBOOK. THE SCHOOLS THAT WERE THREATENED INCLUDED B-E BOUDREAUX MIDDLE SCHOOL, WEST ST. MARY HIGH SCHOOL, RAINTREE ELEMENTARY, AND THE SCHOOL BOARD OFFICE. ST. MARY PARISH SHERIFF’S DETECTIVES ARE WORKING WITH SCHOOL OFFICIALS TO IMPLEMENT SAFETY MEASURES AS A PRECAUTION. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ON THE BOMB THREATS IS URGED TO CALL THE ST. MARY PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE.
The Louisiana flu season has been quiet so far, but that could change as cases of the illness increase across the country. Despite the lull in the season, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is encouraging everyone to get a flu shot.
Dr. Frank Welch, immunization medical director at DHH, tells The Advocate it’s just a matter of time before it gets here. Welch says the flu usually gets going in the large cities and spreads from there, which is what is being seen now.
ABOUT FORTY VOLUNTEERS FROM U-L LAFAYETTE’S AMERICORPS PROGRAM WERE INVOLVED IN HELPING REPAIR SIX HOMES IN LAFAYETTE’S MONROE NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY WORKED WITH THE ORGANIZATIONS REBUILDING ACADIANA AND HABITAT FOR HUMANITY. THE DIRECTOR OF AMERICORP AT U-L LAFAYETTE, VANESSA ADAMSON, SAYS THE STUDENTS WILL BE VOLUNTEERING ALL WEEK LONG. THEY GOT A VISIT FROM LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR BILLY NUNGESSER, WHO SAYS THE STATE LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF AMERICORPS BY PROVIDING THE ORGANIZATION WITH STATE FUNDS.
LAKE CHARLES POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING THE ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A WOMAN WHO WAS WALKING TO WORK EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING. LIEUTENANT KEVIN KIRKUM SAYS THE WOMAN WAS WALKING ON THE BAYOU BRIDGE FROM LAKE STREET AT AROUND 6:30 A-M, AND, WHEN SHE GOT TO THE BASE OF THE BRIDGE, A BLACK MALE CAME UP FROM BEHIND WITH A WEAPON. HE FORCED HER INTO A GRASSY AREA AND ASSAULTED HER UNDER THE THREAT OF DEADLY FORCE. THE SUSPECT HAD A THIN TO MEDIUM BUILD AND WORE DARK CLOTHING. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION IS ASKED TO CALL LAKE CHARLES POLICE.
THE PRICE OF GAS HAS GONE BELOW A DOLLAR-50 PER GALLON IN BREAUX BRIDGE. HERE’S JULIE DARCE WITH THE DETAILS.
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A death row inmate suspected of killing seven women has been taken from the Louisiana State Penitentiary to receive medical care outside the Angola prison.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Pam Laborde declined to tell The Advocate where Derrick Todd Lee was taken or specify the nature of the medical treatment that the 47-year-old inmate was receiving. Lee was sentenced to death for killing and mutilating 22-year-old LSU graduate student Charlotte Murray Pace in her Baton Rouge home in 2002. Lee received a separate life sentence after a jury convicted him of second-degree murder in the 2002 killing of 21-year-old Geralyn Barr DeSoto, of Addis.
