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ERATH — After suffering a tough triple-overtime loss to North Vermilion this past Friday, the Erath High football team is looking to be more disciplined when they travel to New Iberia on Friday to play Catholic High.
The Bobcats cut back on their turnovers, with only one interception and no fumbles lost, and had only four penalties for 27 yards against North Vermilion, improvements from the previous week’s six turnovers and eight penalties.
But on a wet field that got progressively muddier after an afternoon of rain and another shower at halftime, Erath also fumbled the ball once, muffed a punt reception and had trouble with a snap on what could have been the game-winning field goal at the end of regulation.
“It was a shame somebody had to lose the other night because that was a great game,” head coach Eric LeBlanc said. “Two of the overtime drives we didn’t score.
“We had a holding penalty that brought us back. It’s the little discipline things that come back to bite you at the end that you don’t realize until it’s too late. I think without those, we had a great chance to get it done. We had an opportunity for a field goal as time expired that didn’t come through. That’s the good thing about a team sport. It’s all about us. I think yesterday was a good day for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of the same improvements when we get out there today.
“I think all the corrections are more physical than mental.”
LeBlanc said he thought Mason Hebert had a great game on both sides of the ball. The senior is a running back and linebacker.
“He was as big a leader as anybody else out there on Friday,” LeBlanc said.
Catholic High is 1-1 after beating Parkview Baptist 14-10 last week.
“They’ve got some great athletes,” LeBlanc said. “They’re well-coached. You can see that on film.
“They beat a pretty good Parkview Baptist team on Friday. I’m sure they’re going to be out for revenge because we beat them last year. I expect them to give us a great game.”
The coach said his players are still giving a great effort.
“That hasn’t been an issue,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of guys playing both ways. We’re just looking to clean up some of those mistakes, because I think everybody’s going to give us their best game each week.

The Abbeville Wildcats played the kind of game they wanted to play against a talented Central Catholic football squad this past Thursday, and it all started up front for the Wildcats.
“I thought we were much more aggressive on the offensive line this week than we were in week 1,” AHS head coach Roderick Moy said. “This week I thought was more indicative of who we want to be, and I thought the guys up front really went out and did a good job.
“That’s the brand of ball that we want to play, and until somebody makes us do something different, that’s what it’s going to be.”
Abbeville played well defensively, he said, in a game that was cut short because of lightning. The Wildcats earned the 20-14 win in three quarters.
“To hold a team with those kind of weapons to under 100 yards, albeit it in three quarters, the game wasn’t changing. If anything, we were starting to wear them down a little bit, I thought, with our having a few more numbers (of players) than them. I thought the fourth quarter was going to be good to us if that weather hadn’t hit.”
Abbeville plays host to North Vermilion on Friday.
Moy was impressed with North Vermilion holding a strong Erath offense to one touchdown in regulation.
“That’s a scary football team,” Moy said. “Very aggressive on defense. Hopefully we can do some things and put some things together to use that aggression against them.
“But I think we’re going to have to be more multiple and not allow them to stack the box.”
Because the North Vermilion coaches are familiar with what the Wildcats like to do on offense, Moy said Abbeville will have to open things up on offense.
“We’ve got to be able to make them cover the entire field, both north and south, east and west,” Moy said. “We only had two pass attempts last week, and I think to keep them from just teeing off on us, we’re going to have to throw the ball a little better and threaten them down the field, and make them cover more area.”
Moy said Abbeville is confident in its receivers and in quarterbacks Tahj Judge and Da’Zavian Maze.
“We just haven’t been faced with having to do that yet,” Moy said. “We thought we had an advantage in the box the first two weeks playing those guys that we had a size advantage over. We expect a packed box this week and we want to be able to go out and showcase what we were able to work on over the summertime.”
On defense, he’d like to see the defense make the same strides from last week to this week that it made from week 1 to week 2. Freshman Zaylun Hopkins earned a share of Gulf Coast Bank Defensive Player of the Week honors this past week after he had eight tackles, including four tackles for loss, with two sacks and forced a fumble this past week.
“We’ve got some young guys playing out there,” Moy said. “Any time you’ve got young guys out there, they have to get better each week, and not just say, ‘oh, we played well in week.’ We’ve got to continue to make strides, continue to learn, and continue to get better week to week if we’re going to be the football team we want to be.
“With the number of freshmen and sophomores we have on the fied, we have to continue to keep getting better if we’re going to improve to 2-1.”

TOWN OF GUEYDAN

Minutes of the proceedings of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the Town of Gueydan, Louisiana, taken at regular meeting held Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 6:00 o’clock P.M.

The Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the Town of Gueydan, Louisiana met in regular session with Mayor Jude Reese presiding and the following Aldermen present:

Present: EFREM LIVINGSTON, JOHN LASETER,
LAUREL PORTIE’, & ANITA DUPUIS
Absent : JASON SUIRE

Public Comment any item on agenda (3 minutes per person)

Motion was made by JOHN LASETER, seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’, and carried, that in as much as each member of the Board of Aldermen received a copy of minutes taken at Regular Meeting of July 11, 2023, and Special Meeting of July 21, 2023, that the reading of said minutes be dispensed with and same be adopted as written.

Motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by ANITA DUPUIS, and carried, that the reports of the Bookkeeper and Tax Collector be approved as filed. Audit finding discuss monthly budget to actual comparison, and the discussion is as follows:

Period Actual YTD Actual Budget Variance
General Fund
Revenue 115,110.53 790,148.90 1,207,984.00 417,835.10
Expenditures:
General & Administrative
15,041.27 170,950.98 243,975.00 73,024.04
Police Department 29,587.34 284,319.22 333,436.00 49,116.78
Fire Department 17,484.04 177,422.53 228,590.00 51,167.47
Streets & Bridges 11,002.01 146,148.25 213,200.00 67,051.75
Drainage 3,042.92 9,368.70 10,550.00 1,191.30
Sanitation 0.00 0.00 109.00 109.00
Community Center (3,239.39) 24,143.87 37,750.00 13,606.13
Meeting Hall 178.30 1,258.19 1,700.00 441.81
Dept 81 – Capital Outlay
1,297.04 38,458.74 .00 (38,458.74)

Total Expenditures 74,393.53 852,060.46 1,069,310.00 217,249.54
Profit (Loss) 40,717.00 (61,911.56) 138,674.00 200,585.56

Sales Tax Revenue 18,631.45 134,567.10 301,500.00 166,932.90
Expenditures:
Expenses & Transfers Out 124,302.96 .00 (124,302.96)
Total Expenditures 124,302.96 .00 (124,302.96)
Profit (Loss) 18,631.45 ( 10,264.14) 301,500.00 291,235.86

Utility Fund Revenue
Misc. Rev & Transfers 1,827.39 67,785.11 75,700.00 7,914.89
Electrical 167,543.83 921,557.08 1,750,000.00 828,442.92
Gas 6,888.86 101,683.69 250,000.00 148,316.31
Sewer 14,100.20 99,230.00 161,900.00 62,670.00
Water 17,111.20 116,279.80 198,500.00 82,220.20

Total Revenues 207,471.48 1,306,535.68 2,436,100.00 1,129,564.32
Expenditures:
Transfers Out 108,000.00 600,000.00 750,000.00 150,000.00
Electrical 1,396.40 472,876.42 1,084,650.00 611,773.58
Gas 13,532.64 157,690.83 223,900.00 87,878.68
Sewer 10,994.32 98,850.98 200,960.00 102,109.02
Water 8,277.16 130,342.85 248,475.00 118,132.15
Dept 84 ARPA Sewer 0.00 32,240.76 0.00 (32,240.78)
Dept 85 ARPA Water 0.00 11,612.00 0.00 (11,612.00)

Total Expenditure 162,954.56 1,379,362.41 2,507,985.00 1,128,622.59

Profit (Loss) 39,881.76 (278,076.72) (71,885.00) 206,191.72

Motion by ANITA DUPUIS, seconded by JOHN LASETER and carried that the following transfers, on the date and amount from fund is hereby ratified and approved:

To General Fund
July 12, 2023 Utility System Fund $27,000.00
July 17, 2023 Utility System Fund $30,000.00
July 25, 2023 Utility System Fund $35,000.00
July 26, 2023 Utility System Fund $16,000.00

Motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by Laurel Portie’ and carried to accept the billing adjustments in the amount of $155.56 for the month of July 2023.

Mr. Larry Cramer representing Sellers & Associates informed the governing authority on the update of the Louisiana Community Block Grant-Clearance Program and told those present that the grant has been submitted and just awaiting the result. On the Hazard Mitigation pump station project, the deadline has been extended from the Gustave monies.

Mr. Theodore Sanders, representing Louisiana Asset Management Pool (LAMP) explained their program concerning investing money. No decision was made at this meeting.

Rob Carter, representing the firm of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co., gave the annual audit report for the year ending December 31, 2022. After a brief discussion motion by JASON SUIRE, seconded by SCOTT VALLO to accept the Audit Report for the year ending December 31, 2022.

The following resolution was offered by JOHN LASETER seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’ and carried:

RESOLUTION 6-2023

BE IT RESOLVED, by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the Town of Gueydan, Gueydan, Louisiana, that the Governing Authority does hereby accept the year 2022 audit report from auditors, Kolder, Slaven & Co., LLC as presented at this regular meeting August 2, 2023.

This resolution having been submitted to a vote; the vote thereon resulted as follows:

YEAS: EFREM LIVINGSTON, JOHN LASETER,
LAUREL PORTIE’ & ANITA DUPUIS

NAYS: NONE
ABSTAIN: NONE
ABSENT: JASON SUIRE
And the resolution was declared adopted on this 1ST day of August 2023.

S/Roxanna Richard S/Jude Reese Clerk Mayor
Time Certificate of Deposit (#4628519) for the Sales Tax Fund was discussed at the May 2, 2023 concerning the due date of August 3, 2023, due to Bank of Gueydan no longer investing for a one year term. After a discussion was held, motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’ and carried to table the reinvestment of the above-mentioned Time Certificate of Deposit.

Motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’ and carried to advertise for surplus equipment declared at the July 11, 2023, meeting. The following surplus equipment will be sold to the highest bidder with the minimum bid as follows: two (2) Computer Monitors, minimum bid of $25.00 each, two (2) Dell Towers (no hard drive) minimum bid $100.00 each and one (1) Dell Server (no hard drive) minimum bid $500.00. Sealed bids will be opened and read aloud at the meeting of September 5, 2023, which meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’ and carried to declare as surplus the following vehicles: 2008 Ford Crown Victoria (2950) with a minimum bid of $500.00, and a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria (7299) with a minimum bid of $500.00. Sealed bids will be opened and read aloud at the meeting of September 5, 2023, which meeting begins at 6:00 p.m.

Audit finding – Credit Card Statement included interest fees, has been resolved. No longer need to be on agenda for discussion at meetings.

There being no further business to come before the meeting thereupon motion by JOHN LASETER, seconded by LAUREL PORTIE’, and carried the meeting thereupon adjourned at 6:55 o’clock P.M. on this 1ST day of 2023.
S/Roxanna Richard S/Jude Reese
Clerk Mayor

Published in The Gueydan Journal Newspaper:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023

December 8, 1958 ~ September 10, 2023

Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so!

ABBEVILLE — Funeral services will be held at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville honoring the life of Paula Claire Durke, 64, who passed away on Sunday, September 10, 2023, surrounded by family.   
Paula was a 1976 graduate of Meaux High School.  An Abbeville native who was a longtime server having worked at Dupuy's Seafood and Steak and also Shuck’s Restaurant for over 40 years. She took pride in serving her customers and was good at what she did.     Throughout her life she was many things, an excellent baker, sister, mom, and grandmother.  She enjoyed spending time with family; particularly making memories on family vacations.  In her spare time, you could often find her shopping or working in her yard.
She is survived by her three children, Leah LeBlanc and her husband, Paul of Abbeville, Heather Gavin of Abbeville, and Joshua Baldock and his wife, Michelle of Maurice; grandchildren, Lindsay Frederick and her husband, Austin, Emily Lormand, Jared Derouen, Donald Gavin, Jr., Lily-Ann Claire Gavin, Cole LeBlanc, Ahnagrace Claire Baldock, and Hunter Baldock; great grandsons, Hudson Lormand and Luke Frederick; siblings, David Durke and his wife, April of Abbeville, Francis Durke and his girlfriend, Gina of Abbeville, Frankie Durke and his girlfriend, Yvette of Abbeville, and baby sister, Carla Richard and her husband Ricky of Abbeville; Godchildren, Ross Durke and Cagney Goulette; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Carl James Durke and the former Lillian LeBlanc; paternal grandparents, Rodalph "Shine" Durke and the former Paula Neugebaur; maternal grandparents, Uranie Trahan and Zenon LeBlanc; brother, Michael James Durke; grandson, Eli Baldock; and nephew, Damian Michael Durke.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, from 10:00 AM until 10:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday, September 13, 2023, from 8:30 a.m. until time of services.
The Durke family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the staff at Hospice of Acadiana; especially nurse, Coleen for the care and compassion they offered to our mother during her time of need.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.