7-7-23
OPELOUSAS POLICE HAVE MADE AN ARREST IN CONNECTION WITH A DRIVE BY SHOOTING TUESDAY MORNING ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DRIVE. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD ZKERIA FRANCIS OF OPELOUSAS WAS BOOKED INTO THE SAINT LANDRY PARISH JAIL ON TWO COUNTS OF PRINICIPAL TO ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER. OPELOUSAS POLICE BELIEVE FRANCIS AND JOHNATHAN RED JOSEPH OF OPELOUSAS CONSPIRED TO GET THE VICTIM TO ARRIVE AT A SPECIFIC LOCATION WHERE JOSEPH THEN SHOT AT THE VEHICLE THAT THE VICTIM AND A PASSENGER WERE RIDING IN. THE POLICE ARE STILL LOOKING FOR JOSEPH.
THE ACADIANA REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY COALITION HAS BEGUN A CAMPAIGN TO GET PEOPLE TO STOP SPEEDING. DIRECTOR RON CZAJKOWSKI SAYS THOSE NOT WEARING A SEATBELT HAVE A FIFTY PERCENT GREATER CHANCE OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH IN A CRASH. HE SAYS WHEN YOU ADD SPEEDING TO NOT WEARING A SEATBELT, YOU ARE GREATLY INCREASING YOUR CHANCES OF DEATH. HE SAYS TEENS AND YOUNG DRIVERS ARE ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE ON THE ROADWAYS BECAUSE THEY DON’T YET HAVE THE EXPERIENCE.
FORECASTERS ARE INCREASING THEIR PROJECTIONS OF HURRICANES THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF UNUSUALLY WARM WATERS IN THE ATLANTIC. IN APRIL, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY’S TROPICAL WEATHER AND CLIMATE RESEARCH GROUP PREDICTED THIRTEEN NAMED STORMS, WHICH IS SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE. FIVE WEEKS INTO THE HURRICANE SEASON, THEY’VE INCREASED THE PROJECTION TO EIGHTEEN, NINE OF THEM BEING HURRICANES INCLUDING FOUR MAJOR HURRICANES. SO FAR THIS SEASON, THERE HAVE BEEN THREE NAMED STORMS, THOUGH NONE HAVE REACHED HURRICANE STRENGTH.
JENNINGS POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A SUSPECT IN CONNECTION TO A SHOOTING YESTERDAY AFTERNOON THAT LEFT ONE PERSON INJURED. THE POLICE RESPONDED JUST BEFORE FOUR P-M TO THE SCENE OF THE SHOOTING IN THE EIGHT HUNDRED BLOCK OF SOUTH MAIN. THE VICTIM HAD BEEN TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL AND IS LISTED IN STABLE CONDITION. IT’S NOT KNOWN YET IF THE SHOOTING IS CONNECTED IN ANYWAY TO ANOTHER SHOOTING WEDNESDAY IN WHICH ONE PERSON WAS KILLED.
TRACY TRAHAN FROM VERMILLION PARISH WAS ABLE TO CONNECT WITH AND THANK THE MAN WHO SAVED HER MOTHER DURING A RAINSTORM YESTERDAY. SHE SAYS HER MOTHER WAS TRAVELING BETWEEN MAURICE AND ABBEVILLE WHEN SHE HYRDROPLANED AND THE VEHICLE ENDED UP IN A DITCH THAT WAS FILLING UP WITH WATER. TRACY’S MOTHER WAS UNABLE TO GET OUT OF HER VEHICLE AND HER FAMILY MEMBERS DIDN’T KNOW WHERE SHE WAS BUT A MAN, PHILLIP NORRIS, STOPPED AND HELPED HER GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE AND CARRIED HER ON HIS BACK OUT OF THE DITCH. THE CAR WAS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED IN WATER WITHIN THIRTY MINUTES.
A LAFAYETTE MAN WAS SENTENCED TO OVER SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO POSSESSION WITH THE INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE HEROIN. THIRTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD LENSLY JOHNNIE WAS A PASSENGER IN A VEHICLE THAT WAS STOPPED BY LAFAYETTE POLICE NEARLY FOUR YEARS AGO AND HE AND THE DRIVER, ERNEST TAYLOR, FLED ON FOOT. POLICE SEARCHED THE VEHICLE AND FOUND THE DRUGS. TAYLOR WAS SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON LAST APRIL.
THE STATE’S WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES COMMISSION VOTED FOUR-TO-TWO FOR A PLAN THAT WILL REDUCE THE CATCH LIMIT ON REDFISH FROM FIVE TO THREE PER DAY AND THE MINIMUM SIZE WOULD INCREASE FROM SIXTEEN TO EIGHTEEN INCHES. THAT’S STRICTER THAN WHAT STATE BIOLOGISTS RECOMMENDED. THE PLAN WILL NOT GO INTO EFFECT UNTIL A PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD IS COMPLETED AND AN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE CAN REJECT IT. STATE BIOLOGISTS REPORT THAT THE NUMBER OF ONE-YEAR-OLD REDFISH INSHORE HAS DROPPED TO THE LOWEST LEVEL THEY’VE EVER SEEN.
DANIELLE DUNCAN HAS AN UPDATE ON LANDRY’S FEED STORE IN RAYNE, WHICH WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE ONE WEEK AGO AFTER SEVENTY YEARS OF BUSINESS.
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