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SIX APPLICANTS TESTED FOR THE POSITION OF LAFAYETTE POLICE CHIEF LAST MONTH. THE LAFAYETTE MUNICIPAL FIRE AND POLICE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD WILL APPROVE THE TESTS AT THEIR NEXT MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 14TH, AND THEY WILL BE FORWARDED TO LAFAYETTE MAYOR PRESIDENT JOEL ROBIDEAUX, WHO WILL APPOINT THE NEW CHIEF. TWO MEMBERS WITHIN THE LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT WERE AMONG THE SIX, ASSISTANT CHIEF CAPTAIN VAUGHN BURESS AND SERGEANT FORREST BLANTON JUNIOR, WHO HEADS THE PLANNING AND RESEARCH DEPARTMENT. TWO OTHER CANDIDATES WHO LIVE IN THE AREA ARE JOEY STURM, WHO OVERSEES POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY AT U-L, AND STATE TROOPER JAMES BENOIT.
The Lake Charles mayor and three police officials have been sued by a deputy chief who was indicted and fired but then was reinstated by court order. The American Press reports that Deputy Chief T.J. Bell accuses the police officials of influencing testimony to the grand jury that indicted him. Officials accused Bell of improperly paying a secretary for work while she attended school. But the judge who reinstated Bell noted that the arrangement began six years before the secretary was transferred to Bell’s division in 2013.
NEARLY 110 THOUSAND LOUISIANA HOUSEHOLDS HAVE RECEIVED DISASTER FOOD STAMPS AFTER HISTORIC FLOODING THREE WEEKS AGO. JULIE DARCE HAS MORE.
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Experts studying demographics and data following south Louisiana’s great flood of 2016 tell a newspaper they don’t expect a mass exodus of people from the area, such as the one that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The August floods damaged more than 150,000 homes. Allison Plyer, executive director of The Data Center in New Orleans, told The Advocate that the flooding was patchy enough that it enabled victims to stay with unaffected neighbors nearby while they worked on homes. Experts said the restoration of electricity and school reopenings were other factors that could prevent a mass exodus.
A LAFAYETTE LEGEND AND OFFSHORE SAFETY PIONEER IS BEING REMEMBERED AFTER PASSING AWAY LAST WEDNESDAY AT THE AGE OF 96. MARGARET MCMILLIAN WAS A SWIM TEACHER FOR 75 YEARS, OPENING THE MCMILLAN SWIM SCHOOL IN 1962, AND SHE WAS THE HEAD OF THE WOMEN’S PHYSICAL FITNESS DEPARTMENT AT U-L. AFTER RETIRING FROM THE SCHOOL IN 1976, SHE WENT ON TO A CAREER IN OFFSHORE SAFETY, FOUNDING MCMILLAN OFFSHORE SURVIVAL TECHNOLOGY, AND RECEIVING NUMEROUS AWARDS. THE FUNERAL SERVICE FOR MCILLIAN IS SCHEDULED FOR TEN A-M TOMORROW AT LA CHAPELLE DE MARTIN AND CASTILLE IN LAFAYETTE.
A VEHICLE FIRE IN LAKE CHARLES ENDED UP SPREADING TO AN APARTMENT COMPLEX ON ORANGE STREET. RESIDENT KEITH LOTT TOLD KPLC TV THAT HE RECEIVED A CALL ABOUT THE APARTMENT COMPLEX CATCHING ON FIRE AND WHEN HE ARRIVED, HE FOUND THE BACK OF THE BUILDING ENGULFED IN FLAMES AND SMOKE. HE THANKED THE LAKE CHARLES FIRE DEPARTMENT FOR GOING INTO THE BUILDING AND SAVING HIS CAT. DISTRICT FIRE CHIEF KEVIN HANKS SAYS THEY RECEIVED A CALL ABOUT THE VEHICLE FIRE AT 4:30 YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AND SENT ONE TRUCK, BUT, AS IT LOOKED LIKE THE FIRE WOULD SPREAD, THEY SENT THE REMAINING TRUCKS.
Louisiana State Police say a 34-year-old Mississippi man was hit by an SUV and killed as he walked across U.S. 90 near New Iberia. Master Trooper Brooks David (DAH-veed) says Jason Newburn of Hattiesburg was hit about 8:30 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of U.S. 90 and Louisiana Highway 329, about 2½ miles from New Iberia. He says the investigation is continuing. David says the driver of the 2006 Volvo SUV took a breath test and was not impaired.
The American Sugar Cane League says Louisiana sugarcane farmers have until the end of September to make crop insurance decisions for the 2017 crop under a new insurance program. In a news release, the league says the new program provides for improved disaster and crop loss coverage for sugarcane. The release says the new program follows more than two years of talks involving the league, the Louisiana Farm Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency. Jim Simon, manager of the American Sugar Cane League, said key points include a new provision to more accurately calculate potential yield losses.
