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February 20, 1959 ~ May 6, 2021

KAPLAN — Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday, May 10, 2021 at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan honoring the life of Mark L. Guidry, 62, who died Thursday, May 6, 2021. He will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery.
He is survived by his wife, Debra E. Guidry of Sulphur; his sons, Lane Guidry of Sulphur, Christopher Kennedy of TN and Garrett D. Roché and his wife, Maria of Sulphur; his two daughters, Jessica Guidry of DeRidder and Kayla L. Gary of Sulphur; his eight grandchildren, Destiny, Dalton, Mason, Abigail, Heidi, Jessie, Christopher and Jadee; his four sisters, Ruby Duhon of Kaplan, Sharon Morvant of New Iberia, Diana Menard and her husband, Ronald of Kaplan and Tammy Floyd and her husband, Mike of Sulphur; and his two brothers, Wayne Guidry of Kaplan and Jerry Guidry and his wife, Debbie of Buchanan Dam, TX.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Dalton R. Guidry and the former Enix Duhon; and his brother, Marcus Guidry.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Saturday, May 8, 2021 from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM; Sunday, May 9, 2021 from 9AM until 10:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; and Monday May 10, 2021 from 8AM until the time of the services at 11:00 AM.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276 [Service Information 225-5276]. Condolences may be sent to the Guidry family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.

Throughout its development, Abbeville city officials imagined Lafitte Drive-in Park as a place for families to enjoy, with fishing being a big part of that.
On Saturday, imagination will become reality.
The City of Abbeville and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) are coming together to play host to a Family Fish Fest on Saturday, May 8. The event will be held from 7 a.m. to noon at Lafitte Drive-In Park, located at 105 S. John Hardy Dr. in Abbeville.
This will be the first fishing event at the park, which opened in 2019 after being developed for several years prior. The park features a large pond.
“It’s going to be a really nice event,” said Councilman Francis Plaisance, who spearheaded the development of the park and helped organize the fishing event. “We’re expecting a large crowd.
The first 100 youth registrants receive fishing goodie bags, and every registered participant is automatically entered to win raffle prizes. Pre-registration and event information are available online at www.wlf.la.gov/page/family-fish-fest.
Participants 16 and older must possess a valid Louisiana fishing license. If you would like to purchase a fishing license you can do so online at https://la-web.s3licensing.com/.
“We have over 200 pre-registered folks as of now,” Plaisance said on Tuesday.
Wildlife and Fisheries has stocked the pond with thousands of fish, ready to be caught.
“This is a put-and-take event,” LDWF’s Brac Salyers said. “We put them and you take them. We want the people to keep the fish. If you catch five catfish, take them home and have a good meal.”
There will be food and refreshments at the event, with Lance Broussard providing hamburgers.
“Donations have been generous,” Plaisance said.
Someone could walk away from the event with prizes. Broussard is putting up cash prizes for anyone who catches one of the four fish that will be tagged prior to the event.
“The first 100 kids (registered) will get a gift pack,” Plaisance said. “There will be different prizes.
“This is shaping up to be a great event.”

The No. 3 North Vermilion Patriots are hoping that playing at home in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs will be a significant advantage in a three-game series against the No. 6 Franklinton Demons (22-5).
NV is 3-1 playing at home in the post season and 12-2 overall at home.
The first game of the series is today at 4 p.m. at North Vermilion High School. The second game will be Saturday at noon, and if a third game is needed, it will follow the second game.
The Demons advanced to the third round of the Class 4A playoffs by beating Rayne in two games to win two out of three games. In the third game, the Demons won 16-6.
The Demons played that series in Franklinton, which is located 60 miles north of New Orleans.
Franklinton head coach Jeff Tageant has spent this week making hotel and eating arrangements for his player because they will be in Cajun Country for the next two days.
“There is a big advantage to playing at home,” said Tageant, who has won 450 games at Franklinton. “I spent the last two days making arrangements.”
While the two teams may be more than 200 miles apart, the two head coaches know each other. NV head coach Jeremy Trahan and Tageant are friends, which helped find eating and sleeping facilities.
“I know Jeremy has a good program at North Vermilion,” said Tageant. “He is doing a great job there. I have a lot of respect for him and the North Vermilion program.”
Trahan praised Tageant as well.
“Their coach (Jeff Tageant) has been there a long time and does a great job. They’re just a solid club. They don’t hang their hat on anything in particular,” said Trahan.
Both teams are somewhat similar on paper.
Both teams have a solid pitching staff, which will be needed in the three-game series.
Tageant said he has five pitchers he could use.
North Vermilion is also blessed with four solid arms and used everyone against Carencro last week.
Tageant was not 100 percent sure what pitcher will start today. He will either go with 6-foot 180-pound right-hander Jordy McKenzie. McKenzie is a University of New Orleans signee. McKenzie was beaten by Rayne 4-1 on Saturday in the second game.
His other choice is Will Turner, who got the first win against Rayne on Friday. Turner gave up nine hits, and three earned runs in the 6-4 win.
LeBlanc has three arms he can use: left-hander John Touchet, who is 9-0 on the year and right handers are Tyson LeBlanc and Allen Johnson.
The Patriots’ bats came alive against Carencro.
In three games, NV had 36 hits. Most of those hits came on Saturday in the doubleheader. NV had 32 hits in two games.
In post-season, the Patriots have four players who are hitting above .400 in all four games.
Dylan Naquin has a good post-season. He is 5-for-9 with a .555 batting average in four games.
Camden Breaux is not far behind with a .500 average (8-for-16).
Tyson LeBlanc is hitting .466 (7-for-15), and Dale Martin has a .416 average (5-for-12). Lane Patin has a .384 batting average (5-for-13) in four games.
This past Saturday, two players hit for .500 and above. Cooper David came off the bench and went 3-for-4 (.750 batting average) in two games, while Breaux was 7-for-13 (.538 batting average).
Brandt Fontenot hit for a .444 average (4-for-9), and Lane Patin was 4-for-12 for a .333 batting average.
Tyson has hit three doubles in four games, while Breaux has hit a home run and a double.
Fontenot, Martin and Naquin have hit each two doubles in the post-season.
The winner of the series advances to Sulphur for the state tournament.

For 60 minutes, both sides tried to convince the Vermilion Parish Police Jury what to do about lawsuits on having oil companies repair the damage they did to parish coastlines years ago.
The lawyers handling the lawsuits argued that the lawsuits would continue if the police jury votes to take their name off the lawsuits. If a settlement is reached, Vermilion Parish is expected to receive about 9.3 percent of the settlement. The guesstimate amount will be around $9 million to be used to repair the parish’s eroding coastline.
Then there were those from the parish who worked in the oil field arguing why not to sue oil companies for something they did 40, 50 and 60 years ago.
It stems from oil companies drilling in the parish marshes back in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The oil companies received the proper permits from the state to drill the wells. The fine print of the permits stated that oil companies must restore the land to its original shape after they are finished drilling on the property.
Oil companies dug hundreds of canals through the marshes and never closed them back up after completing the drilling. The oil field canals are a major reason why Louisiana’s marshlands are eroding at a fast rate.
The state, in 2016, filed lawsuits against about 200 oil companies for not correctly restoring Louisiana’s marshland 50 and 60 years after drilling on the land.
Police Juror Mark Poché argued that this lawsuit filed in 2016 is “not a legitimate lawsuit.”
“I do not think you should be able to go back to the 1940s, 50s, and 1960s and sue someone for what they did, and the state gave another thousand permits to do the same thing,” said Poché. “That is my first issue. My second issue is that you are suing on behalf of the landowners that do not get the money back. I have a problem with the police jury suing on behalf of the landowners, and the landowners do not get 100 percent of the money. It does not make sense. It looks like it is a lawsuit for trial attorneys. “
After hearing both sides, the Police Jury voted 14-0 to take their name off the lawsuits. A few years back, the Police Jury voted 14-0 not to attach the Police Jury’s name to the lawsuit, but then-District Attorney Keith Stutes attached the Police Jury’s name to the lawsuit, despite the Police Jury’s wishes.
Newly elected district attorney Don Landry attended the police jury meeting and said he would do whatever the police jury wanted him to do. He reminded the Police Jury that he has only been in office for three months and is just getting around to looking into the Police Jury’s request.
“If the citizens of Vermilion Parish want me to get out of this lawsuit, then I will do so. Police jurors represent the citizens of Vermilion Parish.”
Landry did warn the police jurors that in the contract with the lawyers signed by Stutes if the lawsuit ends, there is a chance the district attorney’s office could be stuck paying lawyer fees. Landry told the police jurors his office does not have the money to pay attorney fees and costs for the last five years. If his office has to pay attorney fees, he will be approaching the police jury for money.
Landry was not 100 percent sure if the attorneys would charge the district attorney’s office, but he will let the jurors know if and when it does occur.
The following is a statement from Grow Louisiana Coalition Executive Director Marc Ehrhardt in response to the Vermilion Parish Police Jury’s vote on coastal lawsuits:
“With its unanimous vote to support dismissing coastal lawsuits, the Vermilion Parish Police Jury has taken another step toward standing up for Louisiana’s working coast and the community that relies on it.
“Coastal lawsuits do nothing more than impede our oil and gas industry’s coastal restoration efforts and economic progress while also directly harming the hardworking people in Vermilion Parish who rely on the energy industry to support themselves and their families.
“The success of Louisiana’s oil and gas industry directly impacts funding and resources available for local communities, especially those throughout Vermilion Parish. The Vermilion Parish Police Jury’s support is a strong indicator to other parishes that citizens should not stand for these senseless lawsuits that only line trial lawyers’ pockets and divert necessary funding from coastal investments.”