Top stories of 2016

Some east St. Mary developments this year seemed downright ragged with age. We battled a flood, tried to hang on to old jobs or find new ones as an energy industry slump dragged into its third year, and watched a multimillion-dollar theft case go on and on in civil and criminal courts.

But there new developments, too. We got a new congressman and a new city councilman. A levee improvement project offered the hope that Morgan City will soon have more land for residential and commercial development. New J-turns have been designed to make U.S. 90 safer.

For this last edition of The Daily Review for 2016, we offer our choices for the top stories of the year. You can suggest top stories of your own at StMaryNow.com or facebook.com/dailyreview.

January flooding
The Atchafalaya River crested in Morgan City Jan. 23 at 8.2 feet, the highest mark since the 10.35-foot crest in May 2011.
The St. Mary Levee District installed a barge in January surrounded by steel sheet pilings and rock in Bayou Chene near Amelia to prevent backwater flooding of areas in St. Mary, lower St. Martin, Terrebonne, Assumption, Lafourche and Iberville parishes.
The Louisiana National Guard also placed Hesco baskets on Avoca Island to keep flood waters from bypassing Bayou Chene.
The levee district spent nearly $8 million on flood fight efforts and expects to be reimbursed by the federal government for 75 percent of those costs.
After waters receded, workers removed the Bayou Chene structure in September and are close to finishing repairs to the road on Avoca Island.
Plans are in the works to eventually build a permanent floodgate on Bayou Chene that will allow officials to close the gate when the Atchafalaya River reaches 7 feet and is forecast to continue rising.
Shannon closes
By a pair of 7-4 votes during a special session meeting in March, the St. Mary Parish School Board carried through on plans to close M.D. Shannon Elementary in Morgan City and J.A. Hernandez Elementary in Franklin to save money as district revenues slump.
As a result of official school closures in May, Hernandez students were rezoned to W.P. Foster and LaGrange elementary schools. And Shannon’s students were sent to M.E. Norman and Wyandotte elementary schools.
The board members who voted yes to close Hernandez were Kenneth Alfred, Marilyn LaSalle, Wayne Deslatte, Michael Taylor, Mary Lockley, Roland Verret and Ginger Griffin.
Board members who voted not to close Shannon: Joseph Foulcard, Pearl Rack, Bill McCarty and Anthony Streva.
Oil slump grinds on
By a pair of 7-4 votes during a special session meeting in March, the St. Mary Parish School Board carried through on plans to close M.D. Shannon Elementary in Morgan City and J.A. Hernandez Elementary in Franklin to save money as district revenues slump.
As a result of official school closures in May, Hernandez students were rezoned to W.P. Foster and LaGrange elementary schools. And Shannon’s students were sent to M.E. Norman and Wyandotte elementary schools.
The board members who voted yes to close Hernandez were Kenneth Alfred, Marilyn LaSalle, Wayne Deslatte, Michael Taylor, Mary Lockley, Roland Verret and Ginger Griffin.
Board members who voted not to close Shannon: Joseph Foulcard, Pearl Rack, Bill McCarty and Anthony Streva.

Politics, familiar and new
Nearly two-thirds of St. Mary voters cast ballots for President-elect Donald Trump, and by roughly equal margins went for winning GOP candidates John Kennedy for David Vitter’s Senate seat and Clay Higgins to succeed 3rd District U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany.
Lawman Higgins, who gained notoriety with his firebrand Crimestoppers videos for the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, goes to Washington with a cowboy hat, a wristband that says “redemption” and no political experience.
In Morgan City, voters were more content to stand pat. Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi and councilmen Tim Hymel and Louis Tamporello were returned to office without opposition. Incumbent Councilmen Ron Bias and James Fontenot won re-election bids.
In the race to succeed outgoing Councilman Barry Dufrene, Mark Stephens won a friendly competition with Dean Adams — so friendly that Adams didn’t challenge Stephens’ 403-400 winning margin in District 2.

Eagles take title
The Central Catholic High School baseball team captured its first Class 1A state baseball championship since the 2005 season this spring in Sulphur.
The squad’s title in May came after four unsuccessful tries in four consecutive trips to the state tournament during the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons.
The Eagles clinched this year’s title as senior Samuel Guarisco’s base hit in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the squad to an 8-7 win against Oak Grove.
Guarisco, who was named Class 1A’s Outstanding Player following the game, also earned the win on the mound in relief of starter Gregory Leger.
Central Catholic’s postseason journey to the Class 1A title included a 10-0 victory against Logansport in the bi-district round, a 5-3 win against Grand Lake in regional round action, an 8-4 triumph against Cedar Creek in the quarterfinals and a 1-0 victory against district foe Hanson in the semifinals.
Schools improve ranking
The St. Mary Parish School District now ranks 17th in the state with a B grade and a state accountability score of 99.2, according to information released in November by the Louisiana Department of Education. St. Mary missed the A mark by .8 points.
St. Mary was ranked 22nd in the state last year. Seven schools also scored an A for performance, which is a record high for the school district. Schools with school performance scores of 100 to 150 earned the A grade:
Berwick High, 118.2; Bayou Vista Elementary, 115.9; Patterson High School, 109.6; Wyandotte Elementary, 108.1; Aucoin Elementary, 106.; Berwick Elementary, 103; Norman Elementary, 101.5.
The honor of “Top Gains School” is given to a school that achieves its growth target and meets annual yearly progress within tested subgroups. Eight schools received this honor.
The schools are Patterson High (growth of 24.1 points), Hattie Watts Elementary (17.7 points), Norman Elementary (14.8 points), LaGrange Elementary (13.6 points), Berwick Elementary (12.8 points), Berwick High (11.5 points), Bayou Vista Elementary (9 points), and Aucoin Elementary (5.4 points).

Levee work begins
Work began in May to raise and improve a three-mile stretch of levee in Siracusaville as part of the Morgan City Levee Improvements Project. The $18 million project is aimed at certifying Morgan City’s levees for 100-year storm surge protection.
Officials expect work could start as early as late January 2017 on the portion of the project to raise levees from Lake End Park to Justa Street in Morgan City. Other work yet to be done includes raising about a quarter-mile stretch of La. 70 by Lake End Park to tie the highway into the levee system and also moving a pumping station to near the park.
Leaders are still trying to determine how to provide flood protection for Lakeside Subdivision. Once the entire levee project is finished, Morgan City will be able to adopt its new FEMA flood maps, which the city has been appealing since 2008 due to the city’s levees being labeled inadequate for flood insurance purposes.

J-turns are coming
Tri-City area residents and business owners turned out for a public meeting in April at Patterson Civic Center to learn more about J-turn construction plans along U.S. 90, which will serve as safety treatments for current intersection crossovers.
Construction is expected to begin after Jan. 1. The estimated cost is $16.5 million.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development plans to construct 41 J-turns along U.S. 90, spanning approximately 11.2 miles.
The J-turns will be placed between the La. 182 intersection in Ricohoc to Thorguson Drive in Berwick, which is at the base of the Berwick overpass.
It will eliminate left turns at crossover intersections, and also eliminate some signalized intersections.
The J-turns are temporary traffic safety measures that will stay in place until permanent overpasses are built to turn U.S. 90 into Interstate 49 South from Lafayette to New Orleans.
Overpasses to be built in east St. Mary include ones by Red Cypress Road near Patterson, Southeast Boulevard in Bayou Vista and Thorguson Road in Berwick.

Capital Management
New developments in the alleged multimillion-dollar theft from a Morgan City company included the addition of over 300 new theft counts, the death of a defendant and the dismissal of fraud claims against an attorney in the civil case.
Officials with the Morgan City-based investment holdings firm, Capital Management Consultants, alleged that former employees stole up to $30 million possibly dating back three decades. The company filed a lawsuit in December 2014. Capital Management’s former CPA James Scott Tucker, who died in 2014, was alleged to have been the mastermind behind the theft scheme.
Donnasue Peveto, a former assistant bookkeeper, died in March, just over three months after pleading guilty to 123 theft counts and a racketeering charge in the case.
In October, the district attorney added 320 more theft counts against defendants Karen Duhon, a former bookkeeper; her husband, Armond Duhon; the Duhon’s company, ABC Siding Co. of Morgan City; and Tucker’s company, Nelson-Tucker.
The original June 2015 bill collectively charged the defendants with one count of racketeering, 354 counts of theft of $1,500 or more and 100 counts of money laundering.
In September, a judge dismissed all fraud claims against attorney Michael Aloise Jr. in regard to Capital Management’s lawsuit. Company officials had accused Aloise of assisting in an alleged theft scheme to steal property and property rights from the company.

Murder trials
Two murder trials relating to 2013 killings in the Tri-City area were held in 2016.
Marcus Jay Hamilton was found guilty of second-degree murder in May for the January 2013 shooting death of Keyiona Chenevert in Bayou Vista. Hamilton received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for his conviction.
The second-degree murder trial for Justin Edward Patterson ended in December with a district judge declaring a mistrial due to a hung jury. Patterson was on trial for the May 2013 shooting death of Mikki Jay Dauntain in Morgan City. Patterson’s case is scheduled to be re-tried for March 20, 2017.
Hamilton and Chenevert had allegedly been in a romantic relationship, and when she tried to end the relationship, the prosecution said Hamilton decided to get a gun and shoot Chenevert to death in her Bayou Vista apartment.
Patterson is alleged to have inadvertently shot Dauntain in the area of Federal Avenue in Morgan City while intending to shoot Brandon Scott, whom Patterson believed was involved in robbing Patterson and his girlfriend a few weeks earlier in the city of Patterson.