4-30-18
A PEDESTRIAN WAS INJURED SUNDAY EVENING BEHIND THE LAFAYETTE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM. JEFF HORCHAK HAS MORE.
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A LAKE CHARLES MAN WAS ARRESTED YESTERDAY ON A FOURTH OFFENSE
D-W-I. SERGEANT JAMES ANDERSON WITH STATE POLICE SAYS A STATE TROOPER PULLED OVER 27-YEAR-OLD MARK SHELBIN MILLER BECAUSE HE WAS DRIVING ERRATICALLY ON L-A 30-92 SOUTH OF LAKE CHARLES AT AROUND FOUR SUNDAY MORNING. ANDERSON SAYS MILLER SHOWED OBVIOUS SIGNS OF IMPAIRMENT AND WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE HE COMPLAINED OF BEING SICK. WHILE THERE, BLOOD AND URINE SAMPLES WERE TAKEN THROUGH A NO REFUSAL SEARCH WARRANT ISSUED BY A JUDGE ON CALL.
- MARTINVILLE HAS A NEW MAYOR. POLITICAL NEWCOMER MEL NARCISSE MITCHELL DEFEATED INCUMBENT MAYOR THOMAS NELSON IN A SURPRISING UPSET. NELSON HAS BEEN IN OFFICE FOR 12 YEARS. HE TOOK MOST OF THE VOTES, 46 PERCENT, IN THE PRIMARY, BUT, HEAD TO HEAD WITH MITCHELL IN THE RUNOFF, LOST 54 TO 46 PERCENT.
A LIBRARY PROPERTY TAX RENEWAL FOR LAFAYETTE PARISH WAS REJECTED BY VOTERS SATURDAY, WITH 53 PERCENT AGAINST RENEWAL. A CITIZEN’S GROUP CAME OUT WITH ADVERTISING AGAINST THE TAX, WHICH RAISES 3-POINT-6 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY FOR MAINTENANCE, OPERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LIBRARY. IT’S ONE OF THREE PROPERTY TAXES FOR THE LIBRARY SYSTEM. THREE OTHER PROPERTY TAXES UP FOR RENEWAL IN THE PARISH WERE APPROVED.
The Louisiana Public Defender Board has reached a compromise on a new plan intended to more fairly distribute state funds used to pay lawyers who represent indigent defendants. The Advocate quotes State Public Defender James T. Dixon Jr. in a Saturday report as saying the plan should prevent the state’s 42 district public defenders offices from failing. But, he says any plan would have “winners and losers” because there is not enough money.Dixon says the plan approved for fiscal year 2019 is based on data.
A DERIDDER MAN WAS KILLED IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH IN BEAUREGARD PARISH SATURDAY NIGHT. SERGEANT JAMES ANDERSON WITH STATE POLICE SAYS BRANDY WILLIAMS OF DERIDDER TURNED IN FRONT OF ANOTHER VEHICLE ON HIGHWAY 171. HER VEHICLE WAS KNOCKED OFF THE ROAD AND INTO A TREE. 43-YEAR-OLD EMMERY LAWRENCE DREW, WHO WAS IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT AND NOT WEARING A SEATBELT, DIED AS A RESULT OF HIS INJURIES.
THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL’S OFFICE HAS ARRESTED A 13-YEAR-OLD ACADIA PARISH BOY FOR SETTING A SHED ON FIRE IN MORSE. ON FRIDAY, THE 13-YEAR-OLD AND A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY WERE SPOTTED NEAR THE FIRE IN THE 600 BLOCK OF HUTCHINSON STREET AND TAKEN INTO CUSTODY. THE TWO CONFESSED TO USING A LIGHTER THEY FOUND TO SET VARIOUS OBJECTS IN THE SHED ON FIRE. THE 13-YEAR-OLD FACES CHARGES OF SIMPLE ARSON, UNATHORIZED ENTRY INTO AN INHABITED DWELLING AND CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY, WHILE THE NINE-YEAR-OLD WAS NOT CHARGED DUE TO STATE LAWS REGARDING AGE.
Louisiana’s spring shrimp season opens today in a portion of state inshore waters. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission convened a special meeting Thursday to set the date for the opening in waters from the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River westward to the western shore of Freshwater Bayou Canal. The season opened at 6 a.m. The commission will consider the opening dates for the remaining state inshore waters for the 2018 spring shrimp season at its May 3 meeting.
