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There is a is a new face overseeing the Boys & Girls Club in Abbeville, albeit a familiar one.
Kimberly Bessard is the new director of the local club, which is located at A.A. Comeaux Park. She has been with the club for several years.
Bessard recently attended an Abbeville City Council meeting to introduce herself to local officials. Councilwoman Terry Broussard invited Bessard to the meeting.
“I was born and raised here,” Bessard said proudly.
Bessard said the club’s after-school program and summer program are a main focus. The after school program is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. The summer program is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. These programs are a focus because it allows the club to focus on what is really important.
“We service the kids who need us most,” Bessard said. “Whoever needs us at that time, that’s who we serve in the community.”
The Abbeville club is one of seven under the Boys & Girls Club of Acadiana. Bessard said some of the board members recently visited Abbeville to see where upgrades and improvements could be made at the facility.
“They are some things that have been in there since the 1990s,” Bessard said.
Among the older items are photos that show large numbers of kids who have taken part in the club. Bessard said those photos can serve as an inspiration.
“We want to grow the club,” Bessard said. “I see those photos and say that is what we want to get back to. We want to bring that back to the community.”
A few years ago, then Abbeville Director Brian Ford asked Bessard where she wanted to be in five years.
“I told him I wanted to have his position,” Bessard said.
Ford, who is now the director of development at the main office in Lafayette, said he is pleased that Bessard does now have his position.
“I am excited to pass the reins to Kimberly,” Ford said. “Her past experience in working with youth along with her enthusiasm makes her an asset to the Boys & Girls Club and this community. I look forward to supporting Kimberly as the new Director and will still be involved from a resource development standpoint ensuring the club continues to garner the necessary resources to operate and grow to serve more youth.”
Broussard said she is excited to see what Bessard can do.
“I just want you to know that we are here for you,” Broussard said.
Bessard is ready to work with anyone and everyone for the sake of the kids who attend the Boys & Girls Club in Abbeville.
“If you want to come by and visit,” Bessard said, “please, come by and visit. I am listening. I am talking to a lot of the parents in the community to see what we need to grow the Boys & Girls Club.”

NEW IBERIA — In his 33 years of farming sugarcane, Ricky Gonsoulin had never had as good of a crop as the one he saw growing in his fields in 2022. And in 33 years, he had never lost so much as a stalk of sugarcane to a freeze.
But that unlikely scenario came to pass in late December when an arctic blast sent temperatures below freezing for three days across Louisiana. At his farm near New Iberia, Gonsoulin spent Christmas waiting for his cane to thaw so he could survey the damage and get back to work harvesting whatever remained.
In his fields, he discovered browned cane that had begun to ferment — jeopardizing what should have been a record amount of sugar to be extracted at the mill.
“Before Christmas, this farm was averaging around 231 CRS per acre,” Gonsoulin said, referring to commercial recoverable sucrose, a measure of sugar produced per ton of cane. “Right now? 170 to 175.”
The weather was unkind to nearly every crop grown in Louisiana in 2022; excessive rainfall bookended by droughty periods cut into yields and profits. Despite the recent hard freeze, sugarcane has been a bright spot in the state’s agriculture sector. The cane belt grew to an all-time high of nearly 500,000 acres, and as of Jan. 7, the Louisiana sugar industry surpassed a record for total sugar production that was set in 2021.
“It was a year of dreams,” Gonsoulin said.
But for farmers like Gonsoulin who still had cane in the field when the freeze hit, the full potential of the 2022 season may not be realized. Gonsoulin is now worried about warmer temperatures souring his damaged cane as he hurries to finish up what has already been a lengthy harvest season.
Farmers like to complete harvest within about 100 days. Gonsoulin, who started harvesting in mid-September, had reached the 120-day mark and still had 20% of his acreage left to cut at the end of the first week of January.
“We knew we had a big crop coming in,” said Blair Hebert, an area sugarcane agent with the LSU AgCenter. “We had a lot of acres. We had a good crop. So we knew it wasn’t going to be a 100-day harvest.”
Recent rainfall has compounded farmers’ headaches. Muddy conditions are making it harder to get the last of the crop out of the field — and the clock is ticking for producers to cut cane and haul it to one of the handful of Louisiana’s 11 sugar mills that haven’t closed for the season yet.
“That last bit of cane is being ground by fewer mills,” said AgCenter sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois. “What’s remaining out there is probably 10% to 15% of people’s estimated crop. With cold weather, there’s deterioration. And so with more impurities in the mill, it slows the grinding rate down.”
Mills — which already had a busy grinding season as they processed a larger-than-ever crop — are having to do extra work due to the quality of sugarcane they’re receiving. The freeze-damaged crop has two to three times the usual amount of molasses, which makes it harder to make sugar, Gravois said. The juice of deteriorating cane also tends to have a lower pH — an indicator of a polysaccharide that makes processing more difficult and for which farmers are penalized.
“It’s very emotional out there,” Gravois said. “It’s people’s livelihoods.”
In Iberia Parish, where Hebert is based, “just about everybody is associated one way or another with the sugarcane crop.”
“If we’re speaking honestly,” Hebert said, “there’s some high emotions, some high stress levels. But I think everybody is aware that we’ve got to work together, and we’re going to do everything we can to support everyone.”
He noted the resiliency of the industry, which has endured hurricanes and many other challenges over the years.
While the situation is evolving day by day, Gravois remains optimistic.
“When you look at sugarcane yields per acre, they’re still going to be good for the season,” he said. “They’re not going to be as high as they could have been, but prices are still decent. So it’s going to be a crop that’s not as good as it could have been, but it’s still a good crop.”
Gonsoulin too is trying to stay hopeful.
“It’s going to be a test for the industry,” he said. “Everybody is looking at what’s going on and learning from what’s happening. If we’re successful in grinding this crop, it’s going to be a learning lesson, and we’ll be able to improve our varieties moving forward, improve our milling processes.”

There will not be two ambulance services in Vermilion Parish.
The police jury voted 7-4 to deny Global Medical Response from locating in the parish.
Jurors voting not to let Global Medical Response (Med Express) into Vermilion were Ronald Darby, Liz Touchet, Mark Poché, Chad Lege, Chad Vallo, Scott Broussard and Dexter Callahan.
Dane Hebert, Brent Landry, Errol Domingues and Ronald Menard voted to allow Global Medical Response into the parish.
Police Jury President Jason Picard abstained from voting. Jurors Sandrus Stelly and Paul Bourgeois were not at the meeting.
Global Medical Response and Acadian Ambulance had representatives speak to the jurors before they voted. On rep tried to convince the jurors that another ambulance service was needed, while the other said one is not needed in the parish.
Cory Miller, a spokesman for Global Medical Response, told the jurors that Acadian Ambulance has one ambulance in the parish for every 15,000 people. On weekends and nights, it’s one ambulance for every 30,000 people.
Miller said that allowing another ambulance company into the parish would mean there would be one ambulance for every 8,400 people in the parish. At night, it would be reduced to one ambulance for every 1,100 people.
After Miller spoke, Vermilion Parish residents voiced their opinion on why another ambulance service is needed in the parish.
Chris Abshire, a parish resident, told the jurors more than one ambulance service is needed.
Members of the Abbeville Fire Department tried to convince the jurors to allow another ambulance service into the parish. Assistant Fire Chief Kelly Mire and Captain April Bodin complained to jurors about the response time of Acadian Ambulance.
“It is past time to help the citizens in Vermilion Parish and do what is right,” said Mire.
Bodin told the jurors that Acadian Ambulance’s times are “unacceptable.” She said there are times when the fire department has to wait 30 minutes before an ambulance arrives at a scene.
The Police Jury created an ordinance that an ambulance service company has to respond to all calls in a certain amount of time, 80 percent of the time.
So, in Abbeville, Acadian Ambulance has eight minutes to get to a scene after getting the call from 911. The further out of Abbevile the 911 call is, the more minutes are added to the arrival time.
Marc Creswell, an Abbeville native, was the spokesman for Acadian Ambulance.
Creswell told the jurors that over a five-year period, Acadian Ambulance had handled 35,280 calls in the parish and his company has yet to get a complaint about the response time in the parish.
Over the last five years, Acadian Ambulance has met or exceeded their arrival times by 80 percent or more, Creswell told the jurors.
“We can say everything we want that competition is good,” said Creswell. “The one thing we can say is that Acadian has been here for you guys through thick and thin.”
After the meeting, some jurors were surprised by the complaint from the Abbeville firefighters.
Before Wednesday night, the jurors said no firemen had ever complained to the police jury about the response time of Acadian Ambulance.
Domingues, a juror from Erath, said it might be time the jury looks into shortening the response times of Acadian Ambulance throughout the parish.

Funeral Services will be held Saturday, January 14, 2023, at a 12:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, honoring the life of Clifton Alfred Broussard, Sr., 85, who died Saturday, January 7, 2023, at home, surrounded by his children.
He will be laid to rest at St. Paul Cemetery, with the Reverend Chester Arceneaux and con celebrant, Fr. François Sainte-Marie, officiating the services. 
He accepted Christ at an early age, and dedicated his life, to serving God. He was a 3rd Degree and 4th Degree Knight, with both the Knights of Columbus and the Knights of Peter Claver. He served as the Grand Knight for the Knights of Columbus, where he received the Knight of the Year Award. He also served as their State Treasurer. He received the Dr. Martin Luther King Award twice, for St. Theresa/Abbeville, for Outstanding Service To Church and Community. Until his illness, he faithfully remained the Treasurer of the Knights of Peter Claver. He received numerous awards from St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, for his years of dedication and service.
He leaves to morn, but to cherish his fond memories, five sons, Darrell Paul Broussard of Lafayette, Louisiana; Kevin Broussard of Kaplan, Louisiana; Clifton Broussard, Jr. (Marilyn) of Kinston, North Carolina; Dexter Broussard of Lafayette, Louisiana; and Marcus Broussard of Dallas, Texas; five daughters, Tonia Francis (John) of Lafayette, Louisiana; Pamela Derouen (Nathan) of Delcambre, Louisiana; Phyllis Vallian (Gil) of New Iberia, Louisiana; Anita Broussard Levy of Abbeville, Louisiana; and Erica James of New Orleans, Louisiana; two sisters, Rose Broussard of Rayne, Louisiana; and Agnes (Eugene) Benjamin of Lafayette, Louisiana; four sisters-in-law, and six brothers-in-law; twenty-seven grandchildren; numerous great-children; and a hosts of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his loving wife of over 56 years, Carroll Ann O’Brien Broussard; his parents Charlie and Ann Joseph Broussard; his brothers, Clopha Broussard and Sidney Broussard; his sisters, Nettie B. Ozone and Mary Louise Stevens; his father and mother-in-law, Rayward and Berneda Hardy O’Brien; his sisters-in-law, Brenda O. Shelvin and Lydia Bernard; his brothers-in-law, Neil O’Brien and Danny O’Brien; his son-in-law, Donald Ray Levy, Sr.; his daughter-in-law, Juanita Broussard; his grandson, Darrell Broussard, Jr. (Pee-Wee); his nieces, Kimberly O’Brien and Barbara Ozone; and his nephews, Patrick and Johnny Sinegal.
The family request that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home, 209 S. Charles Street, Abbeville, Louisiana, from 8:30 a.m. until 12 p.m., when the procession will depart for the church. A rosary will be prayed at 10 a.m.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.