Court to decide disbursement of Cheatham fund balance

There is $16,837 remaining in a fund for burial expenses at Jones Funeral Home for members of a family killed in a Feb. 15 accident on U.S. 90. Court proceedings have been set up to determine what to do with the rest of the money.
Friends and strangers from Lafayette to Houma raised $55,061.66 to cover the cost of burying LaDonna Cheatham, 36, of Patterson, along with her children, Destiny Cheatham, 6, and Marcus Cheatham, 16, and her nephew, Dewayne Escort, 14. Another son, Mark Cheatham, 17, who wore his seatbelt, was taken by helicopter to a hospital with moderate injuries.
Oscar West of Patterson and a Houma church minister, encouraged family and friends to be strong and rely on their faith in a candlelight vigil two days after the tragic accident. Hundreds attended the service near Patterson Junior High School.
West announced that a fund was in place for people to donate money for the funeral.
“It took off like fire,” West said of the donations. He said more than 200 people contributed to the fund. “I want to give my heartfelt congratulations to the community for what they did. Thank you.”
He promised that night that the family would not have to be faced with the burden of paying to bury their loved ones.
“After the vigil was over, I wondered about saying that,” West said. “I did not know we would raise this much money.”
West said it was a lesson in faith for him.
“I can’t speak for the nonbelievers,” West said. “But tell believers that they should always put their faith on display and not doubt what God can accomplish.”
Escort’s mother, Angela Daniel, said the family is “very appreciative and grateful … the community came together without us ever asking them to do anything.”
Daniel said she has two surviving children and one of Cheatham’s four surviving children now lives with her. She said “through the grace of God” she manages to cope day-by-day with the loss of her son.
“Everything I see and hear, like the sound of a basketball bouncing, reminds me of Dewayne,” Daniel said.
Her son, sister, niece and nephew were buried four months ago. “The community still hasn’t forgotten about us. People still drop by and check on us to see if they can do anything,” Daniel said.
State police said the four were killed when a tire failure caused the vehicle LaDonna Cheatham was driving to cross the median and strike head-on a Lafayette Parish school bus carrying 30 students and five adults with the Lafayette High School baseball team.
Students and others associated with Lafayette High School contributed more than $21,000 to the fund, West said.
Lafayette High Principal Patrick J. Leonard said many of the students on the bus were injured and some are still getting treatment for their injuries.
One of the adults had a broken back, several students had concussions and one of the students has had facial surgeries, Leonard said. Some students did not return to school until three or four weeks before the semester ended and some continue to receive mental counseling, he said.
West spearheaded the fundraiser, a court document states. But he did not have authority to draft withdrawals from the account at Whitney Bank.
An unexpected and unplanned quandary presented itself after all burial expenses were paid — what should be done with the left over money?
A petition for concursus was filed June 9 in 16th Judicial District Court in Franklin to appoint succession representatives for each of the decedents. Concursus proceedings are for when two or more persons have competing claims to money and must state their claims.
The balance of funds has been “placed into the registry of the court for proper disbursement in accordance with orders of this court,” states the petition.
Alan McElroy, attorney for the funeral home, said placing the left over funds in the court registry and the petition for concursus is necessary to relieve his client of the responsibility of disbursing the money.
“This is the proper, legal way to handle this issue and it gives my client protection” from possible future claims others may bring regarding the money, McElroy said.
Attorneys were assigned, from a list of attorneys who handle concursus proceedings, to represent the succession interests of the decedents as well as absentee, unknown defendants who contributed to the fund, McElroy said.
West said he originally thought a trust fund could be set up for Mark Cheatham. He said a donation to Tri-City Helping Hearts Foundation which helps local needy families with burial expenses, might also be an appropriate way to disburse the money.
Daniel thought some sort of trust fund, perhaps for scholarships, could be set up for Cheatham and the other five siblings of the children that died.
West touched on how the disparate group of contributors from Lafayette to Houma complicates the issue.
“The accident affected so many people. We all pulled together in a time of need,” West said. “The people of Lafayette contributed over $21,000 and the schools and people in Terrebonne Parish contributed also.”
Leonard said he thought the families in the Lafayette area, who contributed nearly 40 percent of the money to the fund, would appreciate having the Lafayette victims considered in any disbursement of the money. Many of the Lafayette victims have not had all of their expenses covered by insurance, Leonard said.