Several from parish appointed to French Council

Five people from Vermilion Parish are part of the 50 gubernatorial appointments to the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.
Re-appointments include Warren Perrin of Lafayette who is instrumental in creating the Acadian Museum in Erath. Perrin will serve as chair for CODOFIL.
New members include J.C. Aube of Abbeville. Aube is the Grand Knight with the Knights of Columbus Hall and can trace his French heritage through multiple generations.
J.B. Pere of Kaplan is the owner of J.B. Pere Insurance Company and is also a Cajun Musician. Pere is a board member of the Kaplan French Museum.
Mayor Mark Piazza has also been named and is an advocate for the promotion of Cajun-French culture in Louisiana and Vermilion Parish.
Arville Touchet of Abbeville has deep ancestral roots tied to French heritage and is the owner of Bayou Cajun Environmental, Soils and Wetland Services.
Don Trahan of Lafayette serves the north portion of Vermilion Parish in the legislature and has supported legislation to increase awareness of the Acadian history in Louisiana.
According to the council’s website at www.codofil.org; in the 1990 census, approximately 250,000 Louisianians responded that French was the language they spoke at home. The 2000 census showed 198,784 Louisiana francophones over the age of 5, including 4,470 who speak Creole French. The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) was created in 1968 by the state legislature, because of the existence of this corps of native French speakers. According to Legislative Act No. 409, CODOFIL is empowered to ‘do any and all things necessary to accomplish the development, utilization, and preservation of the French language as found in Louisiana for the cultural, economic and touristic benefit of the state’.”