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BREAUX BRIDGE — Lieutenant Gov. Billy Nungesser, along with the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, granted an official pardon to Firmin (FUR-men) the Crawfish during the 7th Annual Pardoning of the Crawfish event.
Parc Des Ponts Breaux along Bayou Teche in Breaux Bridge was the site of this year’s event, which is uniquely Louisiana. Started in 2017 by Nungesser and held on the first Tuesday following Mardi Gras, the annual pardoning celebrates crawfish season in Louisiana and across the Gulf South.
“Louisiana is the largest domestic producer of crawfish, producing about 150 million pounds every year. It only seems fitting that we would pardon a crawfish in Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capital of the World. At least this little guy will be saved from ending up on someone’s plate during the Crawfish Festival in May or on restaurant tray or in a backyard boil. In true Louisiana fashion though, we had to have a party complete with music, food, family, friends while we bestowed his pardon,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “No matter where you go in Louisiana, you can find something that will Feed Your Soul, from our culture and arts to our cuisine and history.””
The lucky crustacean is named “Firmin” in honor of Firmin Breaux, who built the first footbridge across Bayou Teche to help make crossing the bayou easier for family and neighbors. This bridge became known as “Breaux’s Bridge” and would eventually be the name of the city officially founded by his daughter-in-law, Scholastique Breaux, nearly 30 years later.
Firmin Breaux and his family, along with many other Acadians, were deported from Nova Scotia to Boston during the expulsion of 1755. Breaux arrived in the area in early 1765, becoming one of the largest property owners by 1786. He built the first footbridge across Bayou Teche in 1799, a suspension bridge stabilized by huge pilings on either side and tied to large live oak trees. Directions for getting around would often tell people to “go to Breaux’s bridge.” This would become the name of the present day city.
“As the center of the crawfish universe, we are very much aware of the importance of this small crustacean to Breaux Bridge and Louisiana, as well as to all who have the pleasure of feasting on them,” said Breaux Bridge Mayor Ricky Calais. “The community of Breaux Bridge – the Crawfish Capital of the World – is excited to host this year’s Pardoning of the Crawfish to give Firmin his much deserved freedom. Live long, Firmin!”
Laci Laperouse, St. Martin Parish Tourism Commission Executive director added, “There is no better place in Louisiana to pardon this year’s very lucky crawfish, Firmin, than Breaux Bridge, Crawfish Capital of the World, St. Martin Parish!”
In keeping with tradition, Barry Toups, owner of Crawfish Haven and Mrs. Rose’s Bed & Breakfast in Kaplan, caught and selected the guest of honor for his reprieve. Firmin the Crawfish was then transported to Parc Des Ponts Breaux along the Bayou Teche where he was the king of his own procession to his regal habitat. Lt. Governor Nungesser bestowed the official pardon upon Firmin, delivering an official proclamation to the St. Martin Parish Tourism Commission and the City of Breaux Bridge to mark the event.
To make this event more special for the guest of honor, festival queens from around the state made their way to Breaux Bridge to witness Firmin get his freedom. Additionally, the students of St. Bernard School made crawfish decorations and marched to the ceremony with Firmin while waving crawfish flags and wearing crawfish beads.
Following his pardoning, the Louisiana Office of State Parks transported Firmin to Lake Fausse Point State Park in St. Martinville, Louisiana, where he will live out the rest of his days burrowing in the mud, swimming in the bayou, and making the state park his new home.

In 1840, New Orleans was the third largest city in the country. As a booming port city, New Orleans enjoyed incredible growth for decades due to increasing levels of commerce on the Mississippi River and its designation as the “Gateway to the Americas.”
The population of New Orleans continued to grow until 1960, when it peaked at 627,525 residents. At that time, it was the 15th largest city in the country.
Since then, New Orleans has been on a steady decline, both in economic activity and population. The destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 contributed to the outflow of population from New Orleans. Prior to the devastating storm, 483,663 people lived in New Orleans. By 2021, the population had dropped to only 376,971.
Over the years, tax paying citizens left New Orleans for a variety of reasons, such as horrible infrastructure, inferior public schools, political corruption, and a lack of affordable housing. However, the biggest reason was the unacceptable amount of violent crime.
A significant factor in the crime increase is the revolving door criminal justice system with soft on crime liberal judges. Making matters worse is a progressive Orleans Parish District Attorney with a history of letting violent criminals back on the streets of the city.
Such decisions by Orleans Parish prosecutors are surely infuriating the remaining police officers who are working long hours trying to compensate for a department that is smaller than ever. In a city that should have 1600 officers on the streets, the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) can barely claim a staff of 900 officers today.
The individual who should be blamed for the staffing problems with the NOPD is the same one who appoints the Police Chief, the Mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell.
The embattled Mayor was first elected in 2017 despite a controversy over the inappropriate use of city government credit cards while serving as a council member. During her first term, she faced criticism for her delayed response to the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown New Orleans. She was also blasted for locking down the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and requiring masking and vaccine shots for residents and tourists.
Her second term has been marked by one controversy after another. She had to reimburse citizens for lavish travel expenses of first class airfare and five-star hotel accommodations. When she was not attending an international climate change conference or an Aspen Institute event out of town, Mayor Cantrell was spending plenty of “alone time” in a city owned apartment with one of the police officers assigned to guard her.
The police officer’s wife filed for divorce and in an amended petition mentioned Cantrell’s relationship with her husband as a reason for the break-up of their marriage.
With a focus on personal matters and luxurious travel, Mayor Cantrell has obviously been distracted from her many responsibilities as the political leader of New Orleans. This motivated a group of concerned citizens to launch a recall campaign against Mayor Cantrell in August of 2022.
To be successful, Louisiana state law requires recall leaders to collect signed petitions from 20% of the registered voters in New Orleans in a six-month period. Despite the challenges of multiple holidays and Cantrell’s retribution, recall organizers delivered boxes filled with signed petitions to the office of the Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters last Wednesday.
The recall leaders are confident they have enough signed petitions to force a recall election. Unfortunately, the boxes of signed petitions were left “unguarded” on the floor of the registrar’s office for two days. Recall leaders are worried that there may have been tampering with the petitions.
There is also confusion over the actual number of registered voters in New Orleans. At the start of the recall, the initial number of registered voters provided by the Louisiana Secretary of State was over 266,000. Since that time, recall leaders have identified over 30,000 voters on the rolls that should be removed due to death, change of address, etc.
A lawsuit has been filed by the recall campaign to try to determine the true number of registered voters in New Orleans. This could have a major impact on whether they have enough signed petitions to force a recall election.
Even if the recall campaign is not successful, it has been the most positive political development in New Orleans in decades. Poor leadership has been a hallmark of New Orleans politics for generations. Finally, a political leader is paying a price for incompetence and neglect of the citizens of New Orleans.
The recall campaign could not have come at a more crucial time for New Orleans, which is facing its greatest challenges in its turbulent 305-year history. If Cantrell is recalled, all New Orleans politicians will be put on notice. If they don’t serve the public, there will finally be consequences.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com

The Hispanic vote is in flux, with the 2022 midterms delivering mixed results for both parties. On the one hand, Republicans fell short of lofty goals in Arizona and South Texas, where immigration dominated the political narrative last fall.
On the other hand, Hispanics voted in Historic margins for Republicans in Florida, and moved to the right by ten percentage points nationwide compared to 2018.
In the Florida Governor’s race, Hispanics shifted to the right by fourteen percentage points between 2018 and 2022. In the 2018 midterms, Democratic nominee for Governor Andrew Gillum won Hispanics 54% to Ron DeSantis’ 44%, but last year DeSantis earned a whopping 58% of the Hispanic vote to Charlie Crist’s 40%.
While Democrats have trumpeted the GOP’s perceived failures with the Latino vote in Arizona and Texas, the reality is Republicans did move the needle in these states, just not by as much as they could have.
In Arizona, GOP newcomer gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake increased her share of the Latino vote by three percentage points more than Gov. Doug Ducey in 2018.
So, what happened in Texas? Republicans set an aggressive goal, targeting three congressional seats in South Texas with a heavy law-enforcement message, and losing all but one. Still, Democrats saw their margins shrink compared to past elections. In the 34th Congressional District, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez beat Rep. Mayra Flores, a Republican, by just eight points. In the largest county in the district, Cameron County, Gonzalez won by only 3.6 points, while four years ago Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela won the region by 30 points.
However, with lofty goals and millions of dollars in funding poured into the region, it’s worth asking what Republicans could have done better. One implication is a mismatch in priorities, with illegal immigration dominating campaign messages but remaining less important to Latinos than economic issues.
The three Republican Latina candidates in South Texas made illegal immigration the focal point of their campaigns. All three candidates — Irene Armendariz-Jackson, Cassy Garcia and Rep. Mayra Flores — are women who are married to Border Patrol agents All three spoke frequently about illegal immigration and law enforcement issues, and gave less lip service to other concerns, namely economic issues.
While this law enforcement message was especially salient in border states, polling shows economic issues were the top concerns for Latinos leading up to the 2022 election and remain primary concerns today. Education, health care, and election integrity all trump immigration concerns for Latino Republicans, and it is Latino Democrats who are more concerned with immigration according to polls.
Pew Research conducted polling ahead of the midterms last year and showed the economy was the number one issue for Latin citizens by far. A full ninety percent of Latino Republicans cited the economy as very important to their midterm vote, followed by education (66%), voting policies (58%) and healthcare (54%). For Latino Democrats, 80% said healthcare was very important to their midterm vote, followed by the economy (75%), and education (72%). Notably, immigration was a more motivating issue to Latino Democrats than it was to Republicans. Two-thirds of Latino Democrats said immigration was very important to their vote, compared to just half of Republicans.
Two-thirds of Latino Democrats said immigration was very important to their vote, compared to just half of Republicans.
By making illegal immigration a central issue, Republican candidates neglected to address the primary concern among right-leaning Hispanics: their pocketbooks. Latinos largely trust the GOP over Democrats to handle economic issues, which means the economy is a natural area to focus to continue making inroads.
Education also outranks immigration when it comes to Latino Republican priorities, and this is another opportunity for Republicans to earn Latino votes. YouGov polling shows Latinos hold moderate to conservative views on education and are wary of the state’s role in education, saying 48% to 35% state boards of education should have a little influence over curriculum. Even fewer say the state legislature should have much control over curriculum, with Latinos saying 24% to 44% the legislature should have little control.
The same poll shows Hispanics think teachers and parents should retain the most control over curriculum, with 42% saying parents should have a lot of control over curriculum, and 44% saying teachers should.
Education is not frequently seen as a ‘Latino issue’, but it is an important issue when choosing which candidate to support to over two-thirds of Latino voters. The GOP cannot afford to ignore this issue.
Education is not frequently seen as a ‘Latino issue’, but it is an important issue when choosing which candidate to support to over two-thirds of Latino voters.
Voting policies are another issue that trumps immigration for Latinos, with 58% of Latino republicans citing voting policies as important to their midterm vote.
This is also an issue where Latinos largely align with the Republican Party. Polling shows Democrats’ attempt to weaken voter ID laws could be a wedge issue for Hispanics. YouGov found 64% of Hispanics support a voter ID requirement, compared to 23% who oppose such a requirement. What is more, less than a third of Hispanics would support ‘universal voting’.
Hispanics are also extremely critical of the outcome of the 2020 election. One poll early after Biden’s inauguration found 23% of Hispanics do not believe Biden won the presidency, and less than half (43%) were excited about Biden taking office.
Another poll found by a margin of 43% to 41% Hispanics believe either a lot or a little voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election. The same poll found 32% of Hispanics supported the protestors who entered the capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the Electoral College on January 6th.
Richard Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government stated, “The reality is illegal immigration is a pressing issue, especially near the border, but it was dwarfed by concerns about skyrocketing inflation, runaway school boards and voter fraud. If these issues had made more of a priority, it’s possible the scales would have tipped even further for conservatives.”
Latinos are increasingly concerned about economic issues, and largely blame President Biden for their financial struggles. Biden’s polling numbers have sunk nearly twenty percentage points with Latinos since he took office. Meanwhile Trump’s favorability with Latinos has steadily risen and now sits sixteen percentage points higher than when he left office.
Trump’s favorability with Latinos has steadily risen and now sits sixteen percentage points higher than when he left office.
YouGov polls show Latinos say 51% to 35% the country is off on the wrong track, and over half say the economy is in a recession and that inflation has personally impacted them a lot. Hispanics also say by a three to one margin that inflation is a bigger issue than unemployment, something President Biden downplayed at his State of The Union Speech when trumpeting low unemployment numbers.
To solve these economic woes, many Latinos are looking back on the Trump presidency with fond memories. The share of Latinos who say Trump should run again is up 14 points since he left office going from 22% in January 2021 to 36% today. Hispanics are also largely sour on Biden running again, with just 28% saying he should run and a full 50% saying he should not.
Trump is easily the first choice with Latinos for the GOP nominee, with 21% saying he is the best choice followed by DeSantis (16%) and Nikki Haley (10%).
President Trump instigated a Latino shift back toward the right in 2016 and escalated that shift in 2020, but it was largely Trump’s focus on economic issues that motivated Latinos, not necessarily his immigration rhetoric. This isn’t to downplay the significance of the border crisis – but to place it in context. Like many other center-right voters, economic issues are the primary motivators for Latino voters, especially those who lean right. As is becoming evident among other segments of the voting population, the economic polices of America First – a more populist agenda than the traditional GOP “free market” dogma – has the greatest pull. As Biden himself showed with his State of the Union address, economic populism will determine the outcome of upcoming elections. And, if implemented, the future prosperity of the United States.

Bill Wilson is the former president of Americans for Limited Government Research Foundation.

ABBEVILLE — A mass of Christian Burial for Mr. Hamilton Peters, 81, will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Church. Interment will follow at St. Paul Cemetery.
Visitation will be held at David Funeral Home , 2600 Charity Street, Abbeville, LA on Saturday, March 4, 2023 from 8:30am until time of services.
A native and resident of Abbeville, Mr. Hamp transitioned on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 at AMG Specialty Hospital in Lafayette, LA. He enjoyed cooking, and being surrounded by his family and friends.
He is survived by his wife , Foster Lea Peters of Abbeville; four daughters, Marian Cottye Peters, Bernadette Peters, Sharla Peters (Jerran), and Ashlee Peters all of Abbeville; 7 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; 3 godchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, family and friends.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Norris and Emelda Davenport Peters.
Serving as pallbearers will be Jerron Peters, Ethan Campbell, Jared Green, Timothy Green, Kelvin Davenport, Jerran Diggs, Dreyon Levine and Martin Mitchell.
You may sign the guest register book and express condolences online at www.davidfuneralhome.org
David’s Funeral Home of Abbeville, 2600 Charity Street, (337) 893-3777 is in charge of arrangements.