ROUGH WEATHER . . .

This area has really gotten a good soaking over the past week or so, and several pretty nasty storm cells moved through the parish early Sunday evening. Some of the beautiful cane got flattened, but I don’t think it’s anything that the new harvesters can’t handle.

But our bad weather was nothing compared to the misery that Tropical Storm Fay inflicted upon wide swathes of Florida as it crisscrossed that state. By Monday the remains of Fay had turned north and were bringing much needed rainfall to areas of Georgia and Alabama.

I’ve got all my fingers crossed as we move through the final days of August and into September. Let’s pray that we dodge the bullet again this year and don’t have to contend with any major hurricanes.



HAPPY RETIREMENT . . .

Juliette Dressel is stepping down as director of the parish’s health units in Breaux Bridge and Cecilia after a long career as a health care provider for St. Martin residents.

She was instrumental in keeping the two facilities open after the state withdrew its support of the branch units, mandating that there be only one state health unit per parish.

She has done a wonderful job and always had a positive and cheerful attitude in going about her duties. The parish, and especially the Breaux Bridge and Cecilia communities, have been very fortunate to have her on the job.

I understand that she will still work part-time while being able to relax and travel a bit more. I hope we will continue to see her from time to time.



THIS & THAT . . .

No. 11 – Spent a good part of last week in Houston (Clear Lake/League City) helping welcome grandchild No. 11. Sophia Grace Domino was born to daughter Monique and son-in-law Leroy on Saturday morning. That’s their third daughter and now Maria and I have nine granddaughters and only two grandsons.

We returned home Sunday afternoon and Maria flew off to Chicago on Monday morning to spend a few weeks in the Windy City with daughter Suzanne and son-in-law Brent Hebert. They’re expecting their third child any day now and we’re anxious to see if it will be a boy or a girl.

We tanked up in Clear Lake Sunday before starting back and found a station selling gas at $3.36 per gallon, about 30¢ cheaper than most places around St. Martinville.

Of course, the price of oil has dipped quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, with some “experts” predicting that it might even go below $100 per barrel. I’m not counting on that, though.

Olympics/Conventions – The Beijing Olympics wrapped up over the weekend and I enjoyed most of the two weeks of the Games. Now TV land will be filled with news from the Democrat and Republican conventions for a while. I sure won’t be glued to the TV for any of that!

There’ll be plenty football to watch, however, as the college season cranks up this weekend and the NFL regular season games open the following weekend.

Labor Day – The Teche News office will be closed on Monday for Labor Day, but next week’s paper will still be published on Wednesday. Watch for our pre-season football preview in next week’s issue.

With Maria off to Chicago it looks like I’ll be having a pretty quiet Labor Day holiday, sticking close to home. If the weather’s nice, maybe I’ll get to spend a little time on the bayou in the party barge.