RSS Feed

DELCAMBRE — The Delcambre Board of Aldermen passed a resolution Monday night in support of a $20 million capital outlay project for construction of a new Acadiana Crime Lab, which covers an eight-parish region and four federal judicial districts.
Bo Duhe, District Attorney for the 16th Judicial District that covers Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes, played a three-minute video showing the need for a new crime lab at Monday’s regular monthly board meeting and asked the Delcambre board to support the capital outlay project currently working its way through the state legislature, which would need 25 percent matching funds from the communities that use the crime lab.
The crime lab handled seven cases from Delcambre in 2019, the last full year before the COVID pandemic, Duhe said. Delcambre’s share of matching funds, based on tax records and the number of cases the lab handled, would be $5,639, Duhe said.
“What I’m here to ask you for is a resolution in support of that capital outlay project … and that y’all would use your best efforts to contribute up to $5,629 to this match, which is what the legislature is looking for right now,” Duhe said.
The crime lab provides evidence analysis and expert trial testimony for Vermilion, Iberia, St. Mary, St. Martin, Lafayette, Acadia, Evangeline and St. Landry parishes. But the lab, which opened in 1972 before moving in the 1980s to its current location in a former oilfield business building at the Acadiana Regional Airport in New Iberia, a central location for the eight parishes, is outdated and crowded. The facility covers 10,000 square feet, but needs much more space to fit the standard 1,000 square feet per employee used in crime labs around the country. ACL has 23 employees, according to the video Duhe played.
The facility has a roof that continues to leak despite numerous repairs and has flooded in heavy rains, and the lab could lose expensive equipment and much or all of the evidence it must store to maintain proper chain of custody for criminal cases if a hurricane such as Laura or Ida made a direct hit on the area.
The proposed new lab would be able to withstand such a storm, according to the video. The state would put up $15 million of the cost of the outlay project, with matching funds from the communities the lab serves supplying the rest, based on the figures from 2019.
State Rep. Beau Beaullieu (R.-New Iberia) and state Sen. Bret Allain (R.-Franklin) are supporting the funding of the project in their respective legislative branches, Duhe said, but are asking that Acadiana communities, parishes and law enforcement organizations show support as well.
“They’re looking for some kind of letter or resolution that shows the approval and the commitment to the project, and I feel very confident that if we get that we can go ahead and get this capital outlay project, which is extremely, extremely important,” Duhe said. “Particularly it’s a dire situation, because like you saw in the video, if we get hurricane up the gut, we could lose a lot of valuable evidence which is stored in the lab.”
Duhe said the town could spread the cost of the matching funds over a two-year period. The board approved the resolution unanimously.
In other business, the board:
• approved the Louisiana compliance questionnaire for audit;
• discussed abandoned houses and other properties that need to be cleaned up, putting off a discussion of the town ordinance for enforcing property cleanup until June’s meeting;
• discussed submitting a drawing of plans for work at the park property on the corner of Main and Pelloat streets;
• heard from Larry Cramer of Sellers & Associates engineering firm about what needs to be done to submit a second round of applications to receive funds for a grant to improve the town’s sewer works;
• heard about plans for a fundraiser for the Delcambre Volunteer Fire Department on June 25 from Fire Chief Brock Benoit.

The Vermilion Soil and Water Conservation District (VSWCD) in cooperation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, LDAF Office of Soil and Water Conservation, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries held its annual re-vegetation project on May 4.
This year the planting took place just south of Intracoastal City in the marshes of Lake Fearman. The main objective of this project was to vegetate an existing open marsh area that had lost vegetation, lessen shoreline erosion, create habitat for wildlife and provide a seed source for natural regeneration.
The district could not do these projects without the help of volunteers, such as Erath FFA, Kaplan FFA, Eunice FFA and long term volunteers William Husband and Alana Burroughs. The group was able to successfully plant 5,771 plugs of Bullwhip for a project total of 17,313 linear feet.
With successful re-vegetation projects since 1994, the Vermilion Soil and Water Conservation District is already in the planning stages for next year’s project with Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries.
Anyone interested in participating in these revegetation projects can contact Mitzi Dohrman at the VSWCD office at 337-893-5664 ext 3.
VSWCD is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

March 7, 1956 ~ May 11, 2022

Buddy Hebert, 66, passed away at 12:18 a.m. on May 11 at his home in Lafayette, Louisiana.
A memorial gathering was held on Sunday, May 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and a short funeral service immediately followed at Vincent Funeral Home in Abbeville, Louisiana. Interment in the family mausoleum will be at a later date.
A native of Abbeville, Mr. Hebert learned to fly and achieved his pilot's license at a very young age. He flew for Chris Crusta at the Abbeville municipal airport, and remained an avid flyer for most of his life. After graduating from Abbeville High, Buddy attended Commonwealth Mortuary College in Houston, Texas where he earned a degree in mortuary sciences. Shortly thereafter he enlisted in the United States Air Force and served a tour of duty in Alaska.
After completion of his military service, Buddy returned to Louisiana and began his lifelong career in funeral services. Over his lifetime he worked at multiple funeral homes around the state, opened his own funeral home and a marble and granite business in Abbeville, and owned and operated four funeral homes in northeast Arkansas. Buddy served in multiple Civic organizations such as the Rotary Club and the Housing Authority in Louisiana and Arkansas.
Mr. Hebert is survived by his loving wife, Latricia Daigle Hebert; daughter, Emilie Hebert Lamkin (Ricky); son, Jacob P. Hebert; sisters, Linda Hebert Cook (Craig) and Patsy Hebert diBenedetto (Rob); three granddaughters, Haley, Jamey and Kelsey Lamkin; and four nephews, Dr. Aaron Cook, Jarrod Cook, Dr. Robert diBenedetto and Andrew diBenedetto. 
Buddy was preceded in death by his parents, Lovelis Lucien Hebert Sr. and Patsy Harrington Hebert; and three half- brothers, Vernon, Howard and Robert Hebert.
Special thanks to the ICU staff of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center and Hospice of Acadiana.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association of Louisiana, 7732 Goodwood Blvd., Suite 110, Baton Rouge, LA 70806.
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.

ERATH - The town of Erath has a speeding problem, and it may have found a solution that does not involve giving speeding tickets.
At Monday night’s monthly meeting, the aldermen approved buying $13,000 worth of “speed cushions” and signs to help slow down traffic on certain streets in Erath.
Speed cushions are larger than speed bumps, explained Erath Mayor Taylor Mencacci. They are around seven feet long and approximately three feet wide. The height is three inches high.
Speed cushions are prefabricated rubber constructed across the width of the roadway. Speed cushions are traffic calming devices intended to slow traffic speeds on low volume, low-speed roads. In addition, this device allows larger vehicles, especially fire trucks, to straddle them without significantly slowing down.
The town will order them and have them installed on three roads where speeding is a problem, Mencacci added. They will be placed every 600 feet on these roads.
The roads are North Broadway, North Severin Street, and South Hill Street (behind Erath High and Erath Middle School).
“These are our hot spots,” the Mayor added.
There will be six-speed cushions on North Broadway, four on South Hill Street, and six on North Severin Street. The town also has to buy signs to go with the speed cushions. The signs will be placed before each speed cushion.
The 14-speed cushions cost around $850 each, and the signs will be another $1,000 bringing the total to $13,000
“This will be a good start. We will see how it goes,” the Mayor added.
Erath Police Chief Anna LaPointe helped locate the correct speed cushions. She is hoping that the speed cushions reduce traffic speed to around 20 to 25 miles per hour, which is the speed limit on the three roads.
“They have to slow down to get on it and slow down when they travel off of it,” said LaPointe.
For years, the Chief has put patrol cars on these three streets to catch speeders. It works while the patrol car is there, but speeding continues when the police vehicle leaves.
Mencacci got his first taste of speeders when he was involved with the construction of LaHasky Park, located on North Broadway. He said it was not uncommon to see vehicles traveling 45 miles per hour in a 25-mile per hour zone.
The Chief said another problem is speeders behind Erath High and Erath Middle schools. Vehicles, leaving or arriving at the schools, speed at the same time students are walking to and from school. The speed zone is 15 miles per hour on Hill Street.
“It has been a long time coming,” she said. “I think it will help a lot.”