By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor

On June 15, 2017, officers with the Mamou Police Department arrested Dustin Hamous after he ran from police during a routine traffic stop.
The Mamou man, who was driving a motorcycle, was caught by officers near South Street in Mamou.
He was found to be in possession of 43 grams of a white rock like substance and $1,600.00 in cash.
Hamous was arrested and charged with resisting an officer, possession of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance with the intent to distribute, and flight from an officer.
He was released from the parish jail on June 17 on a $25,000 bond.
Following the incident, Mamou Police Chief Brent Zackery said, “You can’t escape the long arm of the law. If you bring dope to the city you will get caught.”
Officers with the MPD assisting in this matter were: Chief Zackery, Assistant Chief Phyllis Soileau, Sergeant Johnny Freeman, and Patrolmen Travis Rideau, David Charlie, and AJ Benoit.

By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor

The Village of Turkey Creek recently discovered that its police department is not broke.
At the Village’s council meeting in June, council members approved moving $35,000.00 from the utility fund after the police department fell short on money to pay its monthly expenses.
However, it was recently brought to the attention of Mayor Heather Cloud by police chief Robbert Legget that last October the council approved moving $80,000.00 from the police fund into a saving account.
This money will go back to the police department fund.
Since this discovery, the villages’s mayor also plans to request that the council move $35,000 from the police department fund back to the utility fund.
Look for an update on this following the village’s council meeting this month.

By: ELIZABETH WEST
Managing Editor

The Ville Platte Gazette was recently recognized for its news coverage in the areas of agriculture and sports.
At the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation‘s Organizational Awards Program on Friday, Ville Platte Gazette Managing Editor Elizabeth West accepted the Farm Bureau Weekly Newspaper of the Year Award for 2017 on behalf of The Gazette.
“I am so proud of our editorial staff and their accomplishments,” said Gazette Publisher David Ortego. “It’s not a job for them. They have the community and the quality of the product they produce as their top priority.”
West was presented the award by Evangeline Parish Farm Bureau President Scotty Fontenot at the awards program that was held during Farm Bureau’s 2017 Annual Convention in New Orleans.
Following the awards ceremony West said, “I consider it a blessing to have been able to accept Farm Bureau’s Weekly Newspaper of the Year award on behalf of the The Gazette. Agriculture is so important to our parish, state and country, and to earn this awards proves that we have done our part when it comes to keeping our readers informed about this way of life. It makes me very proud of our product and staff.
“Now I am ready to get out there and do more agriculture stories so we can try to win Newspaper of the Year again next year.”
The Gazette was selected for this award after being nominated by the Evangeline Parish Farm Bureau, and then chosen by Farm Bureau’s public relations department for being the weekly newspaper with the best coverage of agricultural news and activities.
In the area of sports, former Ville Platte Gazette Managing Editor Raymond Partsch III took home multiple awards at the Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association awards luncheon last weekend.
Partsch’s awards included the prestigious LSWA Sports Writer of the Year award, first place honors in Pro Column, Class II Prep Writer of the Year for the second year in a row, first place honors in College Events, second place honors in Pro Feature and Outdoors, and third place honors in Spot News (Open Category).
With his Sports Writer of Year award, Partsch has become the first person in the 15-year history of the award to earn that honor from a weekly or twice weekly newspaper.
“I am extremely humbled by receiving this award,” Partsch said. “I am even more proud that I earned this while working for The Ville Platte Gazette. To be the first person from a weekly or twice-weekly newspaper to be honored with this award is something that I will never forget.”
In the Newspaper Sweepstakes awards The Gazette placed first out of nine newspapers in Class II, three points ahead the Monroe News-Star who came in second place.
Ortego said, “While working for The Gazette, Raymond always took his job seriously and made an effort to provide the best content for our readers. I am very proud of the honors he has helped us earn with his sports stories.”

By: TONY MARKS
Associate Editor

For the last 34 years, Liz LaFleur has been doing more than just teaching children how to swim. She has been providing them a skill in these swimming lessons that can one day save their life.
“It’s a life skill that everybody should know,” she said. “It’s something that can save your life, and you can save someone else’s life. We’re very serious at the lessons. I also do water safety in and around the pool as well as boat safety. We put on a life jacket, and they jump in with a life jacket to get that feel of what it is. You have to still control yourself to be upright and not fall forward.”
She continued, “It’s not just learning to swim. It’s learning to swim to save yourself but also learning water safety for a lifetime.”
LaFleur also sees her time spent teaching swimming lessons as a community service in which she finds much pleasure. “I enjoy serving the community in this capacity because I know that I’m helping to make children’s lives and adult lives safer,” she said.
Not only does she serve her home community of Ville Platte, but she also teaches children from other parishes. “I have people that come in from all over the parish including outside the parish like Opelousas and Eunice,” she explained. “I had some kids from Lake Charles this year and some kids from Lafayette. They come stay with their grandparents for two weeks and come to swimming lessons.”
LaFleur started swimming lessons in 1983 while she was a student at LSU working towards a degree in education. “I was working at a pre-school, and they offered swimming lessons,” she said. “I helped and learned from them the first aid and the CPR training. I just continued when I came back to Ville Platte. I worked with other people that were teaching, and then I just went out on my own after that.”
She got interested in teaching these lessons based on some of her own experiences as a child. “I never took swimming lessons when I was a child,” she stated. “My dad just told me to jump in and told me to go to him. It was a very scary experience. I knew the importance when I became a mom, and I wanted my kids to know how to swim. I wanted to be assured that I knew they were able to swim to safety if there was an accident.”
She teaches children from three to 12-years-old and has beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. “I’ve had some kids that only came a couple of years,” she said. “I have some that have come for eight years straight. I have a lot that start at three-years-old and stay with me through my advanced class.”
The age group of her students mirrors that of her students in the classroom. During her time spent as a teacher in the school system, she taught Kindergarten through ninth grade for 31 years before retiring in 2016. LaFleur taught two years in St. Landry Parish and 29 years here in Evangeline Parish. She was also the parish’s reading coordinator for six years.
She explained how the skills in the classroom translate into the pool. “First of all it is maintaining their attention and keeping them structured,” she explained. “It’s like a lesson plan. You start very simple, and you move up and get more complex as the kids get that skill. You move on to the next level to just get stronger at the skill and to perfect the strokes.”
Her time spent as a swimming lessons teacher has been rewarding for her especially when she gets phone calls from parents telling her how well their children are swimming. “It’s very rewarding first of all when you see what the kids learn and to see the parents’ look on their faces when they see what their child has learned,” she said. “The gratitude that the parents show is very rewarding.”
“I have a lot of parents that come to me and say that they don’t know how to swim, and they’re worried that if their child falls in they can’t jump into save them. They feel they will both drown. That’s why I’ve done some adult lessons, and now that I’m retired I might even try to do some in the Fall.”
Aside from these adult lessons, LaFleur also plans to have some mommie-and-me classes once she gets the proper training. These classes, according to her, are “classes where the mom or the dad comes in with the infant, and they learn to swim together.”
“I’m teaching now some of the children of some children that I taught when I first started teaching,” she said. “That’s how long I’ve been doing it.”
She does not know what all the future holds, but she said that she will keep teaching these swimming lessons as long as she can.

By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor

Two Mamou High School graduates received scholarships in the amount of $1,000.00 from the Mamou Rotary Club.
Those two students were Lexi Fontenot, who is the daughter of Melissa and Shane Fontenot, and Kade Chatelain, who is the son of MHS principal Liz Chatelain, and Todd Chatelain.
Fontenot will be enrolling at Louisiana State University at Alexandria in the fall and will be majoring in Elementary Education.
Chatelain will attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he will be majoring in Physical Therapy.
According to a press release from the Mamou Rotary Club, students are not selected by Rotarians for this scholarship. Instead, “a committee of high school teachers vote on the selection based on need, and the desire to attend college and complete their majors.”
The scholarships were presented to the graduating seniors at MHS’s 2017 graduation ceremony in May by Rotary President Wendy Perkins, and are intended to “help the recipients for their first year of college.
This scholarship has been sponsored by the Mamou Rotary Club for the past 44 years and the club expressed gratitude to those who make this scholarship possible.
In the rotary club’s release it states, “We are very grateful to all donors that make this scholarship possible.”

Press release

GUEYDAN - Organizers of the Gueydan Duck Festival have recently announced several of the fun events folks can participate and compete in during the annual festival.
This year’s festival will be held on August 24-27. As always Thursday night will be a free at the gate ‘Family Night’.
Friday and Saturday August 25 and 26, Folks
can compete in the Annual Skeet Shoot Competition. Qualifying for this event is 4 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday. For more information about this event you may call Bryce Smith at 652-4254.
On Saturday August 26, there is fun for everyone, pageants, skeet shooting and don’t forget about the famous Annual Dog Trials Competition. Bring your favorite hunting dog and prove he is the best in the area. For more information on this fun event, call Kip Overley at 523-5559.
We know every Cajun can cook, but can you cook up a duck dish? Put your favorite duck dish to the taste test and compete in the Gueydan Duck Festival Outdoor Cook-Off on Sunday, August 27. Registration for this event begins at 8 a.m. For more information call Jennifer David 849-7907.
Also on Sunday is the famous Louisiana State Duck and Goose Calling Contest. For more information please contact Robbie Lounsberry at 223-0707.

By: ELIZABETH
WEST
Managing Editor

The Ville Platte Police Department made several arrests on June 30, 2017.
The first involved a report of an employee stealing company checks from a local business on Main Street in Ville Platte.
According to a release from the VPPD, Joshua Lavigne, of Mamou, was arrested for the crime upon “completion of the investigation.”
Lavigne was charged with four counts of forgery and four counts of monetary instrument abuse.
The 30-year-old was booked into the Ville Platte City Jail on a $30,000.00 bond.
Another incident that occurred on the same day involved a reckless driver in the 800 block of Northeast Railroad Street in Ville Platte.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers located the suspect, Marvin Joseph Green, of Melville, “who had hit a road sign and a fence before coming to a stop when he hit a residential carport.”
According to a release from the VPPD, “while gathering information the suspect began dancing and removing his clothing.”
When the 39-year-old was being transported to the jail, “he spit on and shoved an officer.”
Green was arrested and charged with careless operation of a vehicle, obscenity and battery on an officer. He was booked into the city jail on a $20,000.00 bond.
The third major arrest VPPD officers made on June 30, 2017 involved multiple burglaries.
According to a release from the police department, “a warrant for possession of stolen items was issued for a suspect who was incarcerated in St. Landry Parish on other charges.”
The release stated that “upon completion of his time there, he was extradited on a warrant issued by the VPPD.”
The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Diontra Collins, of Opelousas.
Upon completion of their investigation, detectives uncovered that Collins was involved in burglaries that occurred last year.
Collins is charged with burglaries that happened on Ernest Street in October of 2016, North Coreil Street in September of 2016 and Owen Street in October 2016.
His charges are three counts simple burglary, three counts simple criminal damage to property, two counts misdemeanor theft, and one count of felony theft. Collins was booked in the city jail on a $52,500.00 bond.
Collins was also booked in the city jail on a $26,500.00 bond for possession of stolen goods.

Staff report

The Evangeline Community Action Agency, Inc. has announced the availability of funds dedicated to assist eligible elderly (Ages 60 and over) low income households with medication payments. All applications are taken on a first come, first served basis. ECAA will take calls on Wednesday, July 5th, and Thursday, July 6th from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
An eligible household is one whose total income is at or below $1,256 for a household size of one, $1,692 of two, $2,127 of three, $2,562 of four, $2,998 of five, $3,433 of six, $3,869 of seven, and $4,304 of eight.
Applicants must provide, at a minimum, the following documentation at the time the application is taken: (1) copies of each household member’s actual social security number, (2) current proof(s) of income of all household members, (3) a driver’s license or picture I.D. of the applicant.
If it is determined additional documentation is required, the applicant will be notified at the time of application.
Households reporting “Zero Income” may be required to provide additional documentation.
All information provided is subject to verification. Intentional misrepresentation of information may result in criminal prosecution of the applicant and anyone assisting in the misrepresentation.
Applications will be taken by appointment only, which must be made by calling (337) 363-1306 or (337) 363-6800.

By: TONY MARKS
Associate Editor

The Creole heritage of the area will again be celebrated during the 2017 Creole Families’ Bastille Day Heritage Festival and Commemorative Mass. The event is scheduled for Saturday, July 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Northside Civic Center Pavilion in Ville Platte.
According to organizer John LaFleur, the schedule of events is as follows: 9:00 a.m.- Opening Ceremony with National Anthem, Invocation with Fr. Jason Vidrine and Native American Chief John Mayeux, President Gene Buller and special representation by French Consul General’s Office at New Orleans; 9:10 a.m.- Public Address with John LaFleur, Chairman’s Address: Louisiana’s French Creole Culinary Traditions Reflect Our Ethnic Diversity and Cultural History! Without American Democratic Republican Values,There Would Be No France!; 9:25 a.m.- Ms. Donna Demourelle Johnson, Genealogist EPGH Society Address; 9:35 a.m.- Holy Mass in French with Fr. Jason Vidrine including Native American Benediction with Chief John Mayeux; 10:00 a.m.- Bastille Day Champagne Toast to Honorary Guests with Dr. Charles Fontenot and Mr. Eugene Fontenot.
There will also be music by Todd Knighten and the Knight Train Express with a dance contest along with hors d’oeuvres by Creole-Cajun Gourmet John LaFleur.
According to organizer John LaFleur, “Free Vendor spaces are still available. Contact John LaFleur at 337-363-1506. You must be present by 8:00 a.m. for set up. Come and celebrate our American, French and Louisiana Creole-Cajun Cultural Heritage!”

By: ELIZABETH WEST
Managing Editor

The Ville Platte City council held a special meeting on Thursday, June 29, 2017 to amend its 2016-2017 budget, as well as approve the city’s budget for the year beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2018.
For the 2016-17 fiscal year, the city originally anticipated revenues in the amount of $15,977,000.00. However, the city actually brought in $11,675,260.00.
Due to the fact that revenues were down for the year, the council was forced to amended the 2016-17 budget. Originally, the city anticipated spending $15,917,000.00, but instead it only spent $12,993,000.00.
After a public hearing was held, the council unanimously approved the changes to the budget for the year ending June 30, 2017.
In the budget that was adopted at the meeting for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, the city anticipates receiving $16,008,000.00 in revenues, while their expenses are expected to be $15,792,000.00. This budget was unanimously approved by the council at the special meeting.
During the council’s regular June meeting, it received more insight on the budget from Dana Quebedeaux with J.S. Dowling, Inc.
She shared that the biggest hurdle for the city to overcome when it comes to finances deal with the police department.
Quebedeaux said, “ “The original budget was $1,957,000.00, but the police department actually spent $2,437,000.00.”
The city can also expect the budget for the police department to continue to rise due to medical expense for prisoners going up 205 percent, insurance claim expenses going up 400 pct., and insurance going up 182 pct.
At their regular meeting earlier in June, the Mayor said, ““This is because of the accidents that we’ve been having in conjunction with the lawsuits and the high risk of the department.”
The only way to alleviate the burden of these budget woes is to make the necessary cuts.
Vidrine said, “We’re doing everything that we can, going forward, to make the cuts where we have to cut. We’re negotiating with a lot of vendors that we presently have to see if they can go down on their prices, especially with the medical.”
The mayor then continued, “We’re not going to limit the services. It’s just a lot of the supplies we have to cut back to the bare bones.”
While the city looks into making cuts at the police department, the mayor said that people can still expect to see updates around the city.
Vidrine said, “Our new budget will still include park improvements, and street and drainage repairs.”

By: TONY MARKS
Associate Editor

The landscape of southern Evangeline Parish was once dominated by Acadian and Creole cultures. This was seen particularly in the type of houses that dotted the landscape. Over the years; though, most of this culture has died off. The language is not spoken as often as it was, and the houses have been torn down and replaced. But there is one house on top of the Platin where the traditions and stories of the past are kept alive.
Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court Randy Deshotel has been living in the home of his grandparents Adraste and Edmae Deshotel since 1982. He has done one major renovation over the years while still wanting to keep the same feel to the now 130-year-old structure.
“At that time the house had basically no insulation, and the wiring and the plumbing were very old,” he said. “We decided to remodel, and when we remodeled it we took great care to try to keep it as period as we could to keep it looking like the old Cajun home.”
“The entire exterior is original to the house,” he added. “It had wooden shingles on it, but I could not insure the house with the wooden shingles. I had to remove them, and I put the tin back on. We had it completely insulated and rewired. It has the modern amenities to it, but it’s still the old house.”
The front sidewalk leads into the kitchen on the right side of the house. Deshotel has a pair of rocking chairs in his kitchen that belonged to his grandmother. “Those chairs were given to my grandmother as a gift for her wedding day,” he said. “She was married in 1921 at the age of 15. That’s the original chairs with the original hides on the seats. They’re probably some of the most comfortable chairs you could ever sit in.”
The counter tops are lined with heirlooms that each hold a piece of family history to them. Deshotel took down an old can containing white stones that belonged to his grandfather Clarence Fusilier. According to Deshotel, “he took those stones out of the heads of the gaspergou, and he used them as poker chips.” The can also has Fusilier’s badge from when he was a deputy for Sheriff Elin Pitre.
Another can on the counter top holds old family receipts and checks from the Evangeline Bank. Deshotel said, “One of them is a copy of the check from Evangeline Bank where my dad bought my mother’s engagement ring, and they’ve been married over 50 years now.”
Hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen are various herbs and peppers to be used once they dry, and hanging on the wall in a frame is his grandmother’s bonnet.
The kitchen leads into the living room where Deshotel still has the original fireplace, mantle, and clock. “We originally wanted to put a fireplace with a blower,” he said. Because the fireplace is so small there was none that would fit, so we ended up putting a fireplace with a stove in it. When you use that stove, it heats up the whole house.”
A smaller rocking chair is located in the living room. “It was my dad’s (Dr. Bobby Deshotel’s) rocking chair, and now my grandsons use it,” he said. “It’s all original. The seat is kind of torn and all that, but we don’t want to change it because it’s my dad’s chair.”
The living room like the rest of the house is made up of cypress walls and pine floors. “All of the pine floors and all of the beams came from the Rock Island Railroad Station in Alexandria,” Deshotel said. “The big beam took eight men to put up, and it supports the entire upstairs. All of these little beams are notched into the walls so as the whole house breathes and shifts it moves so it doesn’t pull the nails out.”
Adjacent to the living room is the master bedroom that still has windows that are “original to the house.” According to Deshotel, “When you look through the windows, it’s the old poured glass. It’s kind of blurry looking in some areas.”
The master bedroom leads to the front porch that still has the original stairs that lead to the attic on the second floor. “The attic is now two bedrooms and a bath, but at one time it was a complete open attic,” Deshotel explained. “My grandmother would use that to hang her clothes in the winter and to store her canning goods. The attic was a very functional part of the house at that time.”
Located outside in the back of the house is a 60-year-old barn where Deshotel used to keep his cattle. He now uses it to house his chickens, guineas, and peacocks that roam the yard. Deshotel said that the yard also has old fig trees and muscadine vines “that were always part of the house.”
Deshotel then explained the irony between his old house and being elected clerk of court. “I’ve been blessed with being elected clerk because there’s irony in everything, and I guess God does things for a reason,” he said. “Now that I’m clerk, I’m the keeper of the history of the parish. Everything that goes on in the parish goes through the clerk’s office. Keeping the history of my family and the old house is as important to me as keeping the history of the parish.”
“The house is always going to stay inside the family,” Deshotel continued. “We have an agreement in the family that should something ever happen to me, then the house would go to my children. If it doesn’t, then it would go back to my family. One of the family members would then pick it up because it’s a treasure.”

On July 6, 2017, at approximately 4:10 a.m., Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigation/Lafayette Field Office (LSP LFO) responded to a shooting involving an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy in the Mamou area.
According to a press release from state police, “the preliminary investigation revealed that an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy responded to an attempted burglary in Mamou, in the area of Chad Lane.”
State police went on to say that “upon the deputy’s arrival, he made contact with Dejuan Guillory.”
After contact was made, “an altercation between Guillory and the deputy occurred.”
According to state police, “during the altercation, Guillory was shot.”
The 27-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The deputy involved in the incident also sustained injuries during the altercation and was transported to a local hospital, where he remains in stable condition.
Dequince E. Brown has been arrested in connection with this crime.
The 21-year-old from Mamou has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, and Jacob Fusilier was appointed as her public defender.
During a hearing Thursday afternoon, Judge Gary Ortego ordered that Brown be held without bond until her bond hearing, which was set for July 17, 2017.
At this time, this investigation is still active and ongoing.
This was not the first time that Guillory was involved in an altercation with police.
In August of 2015, Guillory was arrested for an ATM theft at Citizens Bank in Mamou, and for shooting at a Mamou policeman who was in search of the suspect.
The Mamou man was initially charged in this incident with attempted murder, theft, three counts of simple criminal damage to property and aggravated criminal damage to property.
Those charges were amended by the state to one count of criminal damage to property valued at $50,000 or more. The remaining charges were dropped.
In December of 2016, Guillory entered a best interest plea, which is a plea where the defendant maintains his innocence but concedes because they feel they would likely be convicted if the case goes to trial.
For his plea in the ATM theft incident, Guillory received 10 years at hard labor with five years suspended, five years of active supervised probation, and given credit for time served.

The Summer Reading Program held at the main branch of the Evangeline Parish Library will close out this session with a bang as 16-year-old astronaut Alyssa Carson from Baton Rouge will be the special guest.
Suzy LeMoine, the Evangeline Parish outreach director, described Carson as “a remarkable young Louisianian.” LeMoine met Carson as part of her NASA outreach program. “She had to come up with a way to get the word out about the science program that science is alive and well as far as space travel, so she chose the library system,” LeMoine said.
“She visited us,” continued LeMoine. “I didn’t call her. She came on her own in her space suit and left some information. We called her after that to come back for our Book Fest last October. She and her dad Bert Carson came and spent the day with us at the library.”
According to LeMoine, Carson started in the space program by being invited to a space camp when she was four or five-years old. “At this point in her life now, she is part of the Mars Generation,” said LeMoine. “Netflix just put out a movie called The Mars Generation, and she is in that movie. She’s expected to be the first woman to arrive on Mars in 2033.”
Carson is returning to the main branch of the Evangeline Parish Library on Saturday, July 29 at 10:00 a.m. LeMoine said that there will be a meet-and-greet as well as a question-and-answer session. “She recently spoke to 700 kids in East Baton Rouge Parish, so I just want to give our kids the same opportunity,” she said. “I’d like people to connect with her in terms of I want them to follow her for the next 17 years. That’s why I want the kids to do this, and I want them to be inspired. She’s part of something very real that’s going to affect our future.”
“My target audience is teens, added LeMoine. “If our room can only hold 120 people, I hope it’s all teens and tweens. It’s just to get the word out so kids can say they met her in Ville Platte.”

Evangeline Community Action Agency’s very own Carleen Bellard was named KLFY’ and Giles Automotive’s Acadiana Local Hero.
Bellard, who is the director of the ECAA, was chosen as a finalist in the competition after being nominated by an individual from the community.
According to a statement from KLFY, finalists for the competition were “selected based on what that person or organization has done for others in our community to make Acadiana a better place to live and work.”
People from the community then voted on who should win the $3,000 prize.
Bellard was the top vote getter and was presented her cash prize by Bob Giles, with Giles Automotive, on July 5, 2017 during KLFY’s Pass Patout morning show.
The money Bellard won is to be put back into the community, which Bellard says she will use for children outreach.
Bellard said, “Being blessed with this honor, it enables us to continue to reach, teach and provide a safe haven for the children in our community.

At the Evangeline Parish School Board meeting on Wednesday, Superintendent Darwan Lazard shared that a new principal for Ville Platte High had been selected.
Lazard said, “The person I am presenting you tonight as the new principal at Ville Platt High is Ms. Melanie Miller. She is a former assistant principal at Beau Chene High School. She also volunteered to go to Washington Elementary, which is historically a low performance school.
“What I admire and respect about that is she was not afraid of a challenge, and based on preliminary scores that were just released that school has shown growth.”
Lazard went on to thank Toby Doucet for stepping in and filling the role of principal at VPHS, which became vacant when Kellie LaFleur moved to a new position at the media center.
Miller than thanked the board and all EPSB staff for welcoming her to Evangeline Parish.
During the meeting, Savoy Medical Center was presented with an award by Supervisor Ted Soileau for offering its AHEC of a Summer program to Evangeline Parish students.
The program allows students to experience working in a hospital, by allowing the students to work in several different areas of the hospital.
At the meeting, Soileau said, “When you ask the students what their favorite department to work in was, they all say the psych ward.”
After explaining a little about the program, Soileau then presented Savoy Medical Center CEO Gene Burges with a plaque to say thank you for the 20 years they have provided this program to Evangeline Parish students.
Pine Prairie High School teacher Jennifer Scoot was then recognized at the meeting as KVPI’s Teacher of the Year.
The contest allowed students to nominate their teacher by writing a letter to the radio station.
Scott was nominated for the award by her student Wade Marshall Brooks.
To end the meeting Lazard gave the board a Bi-Annual Report of what they have been able to accomplish since he became superintendent in January of this year.
Some of those accomplishments included maintaining an open door policy with all EPSB staff as well as bringing French Immersion to two schools in the district.
In his closing, Lazard stated, “Evangeline Parish will move onward, upward, and we will continue to move forward.”

Steve Scalise (R), who serves at the Hose Majortiy Whip of the United States Congress, re-enered the intensive care unit of the MedStar Washington Hospital Center Wednesday night.
According to his office, Scalise went back into ICU because of “new concerns of infection.”
“Congressman Steve Scalise underwent surgery for the management of infection,” the hospital said in a statement. “He tolerated the procedure well. He remains in serious condition.”
Scalise’s condition was upgraded from serious to fair on June 23 and was transferred out of ICU the same day. His injuries stem from an incident on June 14 when he was shot while practicing for the congressional baseball game.
According to WWL-TV in New Orleans, “Scalise and four other people were injured last month when a gunman opened fire on a Republican baseball practice in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. U.S. Capitol Police and other officers returned fire and killed the gunman.”

On Wednesday, July 5, 2017, troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop I responded to a single vehicle crash on LA 29 at Woodstone Road in Evangeline Parish. The fatal crash claimed the life of 37-year-old David Duplechin, of Eunice.
According to a press release from state police, “The preliminary investigation revealed, Duplechin was operating a 2014 Harley-Davidson motorcycle north on LA 29 and was approaching a left curve.”
The release went on to say that “for reason still under investigation, the motorcycle failed to negotiate the curve and traveled off the right side of the roadway, ejecting Duplechin.”
Duplechin was wearing a United States Department of Transportation approved helmet, but “sustained fatal injuries.”
According to state police, Duplechin was “pronounced dead at the scene by the Evangeline Parish Coroner’s Office.”
Routine toxicology samples were obtained and will be submitted for to the crime lab for analysis.
This crash remains under investigation at this time.

On July 6, 2017, at approximately 4:10 a.m., Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigation/Lafayette Field Office (LSP LFO) responded to a shooting involving an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy in the Mamou area.
According to a press release from state police, “the preliminary investigation revealed that an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy responded to an attempted burglary in Mamou, in the area of Chad Lane.”
State police went on to say that “upon the deputy’s arrival, he made contact with Dejuan Guillory.”
After contact was made, “an altercation between Guillory and the deputy occurred.”
According to state police, “during the altercation, Guillory was shot.”
The 27-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
The deputy involved in the incident also sustained injuries during the altercation and was transported to a local hospital, where he remains in stable condition.
Dequince E. Brown has been arrested in connection with this crime.
The 21-year-old from Mamou has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, and Jacob Fusilier was appointed as her public defender.
During a hearing Thursday afternoon, Judge Gary Ortego ordered that Brown be held without bond until her bond hearing, which was set for July 17, 2017.
At this time, this investigation is still active and ongoing.
This was not the first time that Guillory was involved in an altercation with police.
In August of 2015, Guillory was arrested for an ATM theft at Citizens Bank in Mamou, and for shooting at a Mamou policeman who was in search of the suspect.
The Mamou man was initially charged in this incident with attempted murder, theft, three counts of simple criminal damage to property and aggravated criminal damage to property.
Those charges were amended by the state to one count of criminal damage to property valued at $50,000 or more. The remaining charges were dropped.
In December of 2016, Guillory entered a best interest plea, which is a plea where the defendant maintains his innocence but concedes because they feel they would likely be convicted if the case goes to trial.
For his plea in the ATM theft incident, Guillory received 10 years at hard labor with five years suspended, five years of active supervised probation, and given credit for time served.

It is said that it is the heart of an athlete that makes him a champion. This is certainly true for George Willard Soileau, who had the heart of a champion throughout his career. He was a championship boxer in high school at Sacred Heart as well as a championship boxer during his time at LSU. He then parlayed that championship spirit as an athlete to that of a coach as he led Sacred Heart to a state title in football.
He got the name “Bobby” when he was three weeks old. “My grandmother came see me and said ‘look at that pretty babie,’” he said. “My brother started calling me that, and it stuck for 81 years.”
Soileau, who is better known as “Coach,” began boxing for Sacred Heart in his eighth grade year and boxed throughout high school. He won four state boxing championships and won all his fights but one. “I lost my first fight in 1953 against a guy I had beaten the year before,” he said. “That year I finished second in the state.”
He then joined the boxing team at LSU, and his winning ways followed him from Ville Platte to Baton Rouge. “I won all of my fights that I fought at LSU,” he said. “The only one that I lost was in the Olympic trials when I hurt my shoulder.”
“We had a good boxing team,” he added. “We couldn’t box against people around Louisiana. We had to go thousands of miles away to find people who were still boxing in college. We won most of our boxing matches that we went to out of state.”
One person in the stands at LSU who witnessed Soileau’s raw talent and skill in the boxing ring was a young student named Billy Cannon. “Bobby was a fantastic boxer,” Cannon said as the two reconnected Thursday at the home of John and Susan Saunders in Ville Platte. “People around here, unless they went to the fights, didn’t know how good he was.”
“I followed Bobby’s whole career,” Cannon added. “Being from Baton Rouge, I went out every time LSU had a sporting event. I loved boxing. I was on the fourth grade boxing team at Istrouma High School. By being on the team you could go to practice, and they let you in all of the sporting events. Well I went to see him and all of his boxing matches.”
“I got to know Billy when I was a freshman in college,” Soileau said. “He was a senior in high school, and I went to a track meet that they had. When I saw Billy Cannon run the 100-yard dash, run the 220-yard dash, be the fourth man on the relays, and go and throw the shot put, and finish first on all of these things, I said if I don’t know him I want to know him. Sure enough the next day or so I got to talk to Billy, and it’s been like that ever since.”
Soileau was in the stands in Tiger Stadium for Cannon’s football games as well. One game on Halloween night in 1959 particularly stands out for both friends.
“As you well know we were given our hat in our hand that night,” Cannon recollected. “Ole Miss was a great football team and was well coached. They knew us as well as we knew them. It was just a tremendous game, and it was the first time Tiger Stadium had been sold out with the new addition.”
With his team up 3-0 in the middle of the third quarter, All-American quarterback from Ole Miss Jake Gibbs punted the football. “It wasn’t a great punt,” Cannon continued. “Low and behold it came right to me on the 11-yard line. Of course I’m going to try to get to the wide side of the field. The first person I saw was Larry Grantham. He cut me off from the wide side of the field, and he slipped.”
“I turned up field,” he continued. “They had me at about our 40-yard line, and I was just about to go down. Emil Fournet came and took three right off my hip, and I went to one hand. I came back up running and broke to the outside. At about the hashmark, I’m going up field again. That’s where Terry (Fusilier) got into the act. He didn’t run the first 50, he ran the last 50.”
“I finally broke out, and I was looking Jake Gibbs straight in the eye. He thought I was going to cut back to the wide side of the field. I gave him a little fake to the inside, and he took it. I went to the outside, and he missed the tackle. That’s the only tackle Jake missed in his entire career at Ole Miss, but by the same token that’s the only tackle he ever attempted.”
Soileau also recollected about what happened on that fateful night. “I didn’t realize that was little Terry until all of a sudden I saw him at the goal line,” he said. “He beat Billy to the goal line. Billy also made the final tackle in the ball game to stop their quarterback from going over the end zone. And Billy broke nine tackles while he was running back with the ball. How can you forget that?”
“I remember it in color, but the film is in black and white,” Cannon replied.
After that night, Soileau continued to box at LSU until the university dropped the boxing program after his sophomore year. “When LSU dropped boxing, that’s when I left LSU and went into coaching,” he said. “I was offered a job to go coach girls basketball in Jackson, La. I coached there for one year, and Sacred Heart heard that I was coaching. They asked me if I wanted to come back to Sacred Heart, and I did. I coached over here for 30 years, and the football field is now named after me.”
Over his time coaching the Trojans, he accumulated 159 total victories while only having close to 100 losses and nine ties. “We had some good years,” he said. “We had a couple of bad ones too. One year we didn’t win a game, but the next year we won nine. When you lose some seniors, you got to build up. Sometimes it takes longer than one year to build up, but we did.”
Soileau also coached the Trojans to nine district championships and two state championship game appearances. “We played in the state finals one year against the quarterback that played for LSU,” he said. “They beat us in the finals, so we finished second in the state. That’s not as good as first, but it’s not near as bad as last.”
The other championship game appearance for his Trojans was the infamous “Fog Bowl” of 1967 against Sicily Island. In that game the Trojans made history as they became the only team from Ville Platte to win a state championship in 11-man football.
“The fog was really bad,” Soileau described. “It was like playing in the rain actually, but it wasn’t raining. It was just fog. You couldn’t see more that 10 or 15 yards ahead of you. The field was in bad shape also. It was like somebody had a potato field or something where there wasn’t too much grass.”
“They scored first against us, and we came back and started playing good defense,” he added. Our offense started working a bit, and we were able to score three touchdowns. We held them to their six points that they got in the first quarter. It was a good game, but it would have been such a nicer game if we would have been in a good place instead of having the fog and stuff like that.”
Soileau, before leaving the Saunders’ home, looked back on his lifetime and thought of all the enjoyments it had brought him. “I enjoyed my boxing years in high school, I enjoyed my boxing years at LSU, I enjoyed having a friend like Billy Cannon that was behind me the whole time, and I really enjoyed my coaching career at Sacred Heart for 30 years. If I could do it all over again, I would.”

On July 6, 2017, at approximately 4:10 a.m., Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigation/Lafayette Field Office (LSP LFO) responded to a shooting involving an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s deputy in the Mamou area.
This incident resulted in the death of Dejuan Guillory after suffering a gun shot wound at the hands of Deputy Holden LaFleur. Also involved in the incident was Guillory’s girlfriend - Dequince Brown.
In the state police’s warrant for the arrest of Brown, it states that upon their arrival at the scene, state police “learned Deputy Holden LaFleur conducted a traffic stop of a 4-wheeler on Reed Cemetery Road.” It went on to state that the 4-wheeler was “driven by Dejuan Guillory and Dequince Brown was a passenger.”
In the warrant, LaFleur’s statements about what happened during the altercation between he, Guillory and Brown are re-told by state police.
According to the warrant, while conducting the traffic stop LaFleur “asked the occupants for legal identification, which neither had.”
It then stated that “during their verbal communication, Guillory struck LaFleur in the head.”
According to the warrant, LaFleur became dazed and he “saw stars.”
The deputy “then drew his firearm and gave verbal commands to Guillory to get on the ground.”
Guillory complied, and laid down on his stomach.
While LaFleur attempted to handcuff Guillory, the warrant says “Guillory began to struggle with LaFleur.”
According to the warrant, during the struggle, “Brown approached LaFleur from behind.” Brown then “jumped on his back and placed her arm around his neck, punching him, pulling his hair, and attempting to grab his gun.”
The warrant also states that during the struggle between Brown and LaFleur, Brown stated, “We are going to kill him.”
According to the warrant, LaFleur then “shot Guillory and ordered Brown off of his back, which she complied.”
Brown was also interviewed by state police.
The only differences in their stories are that Brown does not mention saying “We are going to kill him,” and she does not say that she reached for his gun.
She did, however, admit to attacking LaFleur.
Brown was arrested after the incident, and is being held without bond until her bond hearing is held on July 17, 2017.
According to state police this incident is still under investigation.
In a release from state police, it states, "Investigative elements remaining in this case include ballistics, trajectory, toxicology, DNA analysis, autopsy report, and additional interviews.
It should be noted that the patrol vehicle was equipped with an in-car camera system which State Police has in its possession and will be conducting analysis of the device.
It should also be noted that evidence from the crime scene indicates that a handcuff was only applied to Guillory’s right arm.
The handcuff was significantly damaged and had to be cut off post autopsy.
We ask the community for patience as this investigation continues."