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School Board Looks to Boost Campus Safety, Save through Refinancing BondsBy Jen Bayhi- Gennaro
Superintendent Scott Devillier and the School Board met for their regularly scheduled workshop and meeting on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, beginning at 6 p.m.
A primary topic of discussion during the workshop was the safety and security audit. Patrick Jenkins outlined the findings of the recent report, which proposes safety im-provements specific to each school in the district. The committee plans to request a one-time fee of $250,000 to come out of the gener-al fund surplus into safety and se-curity, and an annual maintenance
fee of $100,000. The safety and se-curity budget is currently $50,000, which goes quickly, Jenkins ex-plained. For example, the schools have many security cameras at each campus that film nonstop, each of them requiring a DVR. The DVRs cost between $2500-$4000 apiece, and five to seven of them have gone out this year and need replacing.
Councilwoman Gwen Fuseli-er requested more time to review the information. “I’m not trying to question safety at all, because I think safety is important. We are having questions about budget and
money. Is there a step-wise way to do this? Is it bare minimum or is the Cadillac?” Fuselier asked.
Jenkins said the district started implementing this two years ago, bit by bit, but the grand scheme has changed significantly over the last two years. “We want to speed up that process,” Jenkins said.
“What are we liable for?” Dev-illier asked. “Nothing, if nothing happens. We want to make our campuses as safe as possible.” With Fuselier’s request to review the audit, the board agreed to table the vote until the next meeting.
Gordon Robertson announced
the District has some bonds eligi-ble for refinancing in March. Do-ing so will save the district $2.25 million in interest over the life of the bonds. A resolution was pro-posed to provide for a financial team to provide necessary docu-ments and make contacts in the financial community to sell the bonds at an extremely favorable rate to ensure the savings. All of those professional fees are condi-tioned upon the sale and issuance of the bonds; if no bond refund, then no bills. The Board approved the request.
Comite Diversion Project Gets BoostThis past week the new Re-
publican-led U.S. Senate, under guidance from Louisiana Senators Vitter and Cassidy, freed up much- needed revenue to try to get the much delayed Comite River Di-version Canal project back up and running.
Local area state legislators praised congressional Senators for working to get additional funding for the Comite River Diversion Canal project, a long-standing project to reduce flooding along the Amite River, that has been de-layed for years.
Representative Valarie Hodges received word that The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2015 spend-ing plan has been increased by $10 million designated for the Comite diversion project.
“The ten million dedicated to this project is a huge win for the people living in the Central, Zach-ary and the Amite river Basin ar-eas,” Hodges said. “The new funds were sorely needed to get the proj-ect out of a long overdue deficit of mitigation credits. Now the proj-ect can get back on track.”
Hodges said the money will go toward buying necessary mitiga-
tion land, to finalize project de-sign and allot construction funds for LA Highway 61.
“As the public knows, our tax-payers have been contributing since 2001, and we have yet to get what we paid for,” said Hodges, who is chairing a special task force to determine what is delaying the project and how to get it back on
track. “After years of no movement
on this project, I am excited to see some progress for our community. I have been working closely with Sen. Vitter, Sen Cassidy and Con-gressman Graves and am thank-ful for their support in prioritizing this project on the federal level,”
See COMITE BOOST on page 12
Concerts at the Pointe Series
Begins February 24The Regional Arts Council of
Zachary will host the first of a three-part (concert) series, Concerts at the Pointe at Americana, on February 24 at 7 p.m. The first concert will feature nine classical musicians, including pianist Dr. Henry Jones, of the South-eastern Louisiana University College of Music. Dr. Jones will serve as ac-companist and also perform as a so-loist on the program. The three-part series will showcase The Pointe of Americana, the new events venue in-side of the Americana Development.
The performers include Unusdian Errandonea, cello; Rafael Galvan Her-rera, violin; Ruth Roland, violin; Ad-die Foto, viola; Gaylyn Foto, cello; Katelyn Foto, violin; Dr. Henry Jones, piano; Claire Mashburn, flute; and Da-vid Perkins, trumpet.
The Regional Arts Council of Zachary is a community partner sup-porting visual and performing arts and art education in Zachary and its sur-rounding area. The Council is partner-ing with the Pointe, the newly-opened venue of the Americana traditional neighborhood development.
For more information and ad-vanced tickets, visit the RACZ at www.raczonline.org.
2 Zachary POST Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Letters to the Editor are unedited submissions to the Zachary Post. Letters to the Editor may be submitted for publica-tion at [email protected]. Submissions will be printed in the next issue of the Post, space allowing. Deadline for submission is by 5:00 p.m. the Thursday before Tuesday publication.
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Publisher & EditorDaniel Duggan
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DRY’S
Letter to the Editor
Zachary Community Principals Tout School SystemThe citizens of the Zachary
Community Schools area should be proud of what has been accom-plished in the time the school sys-tem has existed. Never was a group of people more determined to over-come whatever obstacles were in the way of taking over the very good East Baton Rouge Parish schools in their town and doing even better for the children in their community. We hope that the pride we all feel in our success since we began has engen-dered a continuing commitment to that original goal. We hope the suc-cess we have had has engendered the community’s confidence and trust.
From the time the Zachary area took control of the future for 3200 students attending four area schools to now, a great deal has been ac-complished.
All of our students, now num-bering in excess of 5200, attend school in beautiful, safe, comfort-able buildings that efficiently pro-vide the space and facilities needed. Our students have room for all the programs they need, all the enrich-ment they should have, and all the other elements of school that make
it an important part of their lives. The environment in which our chil-dren spend the majority of their weekdays provides places to learn to read, play music, grow gardens, enjoy sports, participate in arts and earn college credit. Their school experiences expand their ability to learn, to interact with others, and to see the possibilities for their future and their community.
We are very proud of our school facilities. We played a significant role in creating them. Our opinions about what the buildings needed to have were included in their design. They were designed to preserve the best of what previously existed, to take into account the real-time ideas of the teachers who work in the fa-cilities, to provide the finest oppor-tunities to our students, and to en-sure everyone’s comfort and safety. They were also built to last and
to meet our needs for many years to come. Every effort was made to maximize the usability of every fa-cility to expand programming for all students with careful thought about the needs of each of them. These fa-cilities polish our image certainly, but much more importantly, they form the structure within which our students spend their educational lives.
Providing each child in our schools with the very best opportu-nity to learn and succeed as students and to grow and achieve as people is the goal of each and every person in every school. Each one of us, each teacher, custodian, lunchroom work-er, school nurse, counselor, secretary, administrator, and clerk views what he or she does as a critical element in the educational success of our students. We have used every tool at our disposal, from our great facili-
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ties, to our #1 rating, to our connec-tions with university programs, to competitive salary and benefits to recruit, hire, retain and develop the finest, most expert, most committed faculty and staff available. We are as proud of our employees as we are of our students. They are the key to the success our children have every day. We hope that the citizens who inter-act with our schools have the same high opinion.
We are constantly working hard to make sure that we use every re-source available to us in ways that address the needs of our students, respect the contribution made by citizens of the community, and en-large the opportunities our schools provide. From buying packs of cray-ons in bulk because one of our sec-retaries negotiated a 9 cents a pack
price, to engaging our teachers in the most advanced and relevant profes-sional development we can find, to offering advanced technical training to high school students, we are al-ways engaged in ways to enlarge the possibilities for our students, recog-nizing that what our children need to succeed in the world they will be in as adults exceeds what was deemed needed a generation ago by leaps and bounds. Zachary may be a small town in a poor state, but we are absolutely determined that each and every one of our children will have every opportunity they need to maximize their individual gifts and to be prepared to compete anywhere with anyone.
Talented and determined citizens in our school area have stepped up to serve our schools as school board
members and we are grateful for their leadership. Without excep-tion, they have provided us with excellent system level administra-tors who lead with vision. Board members and system-level adminis-trators have been open to our ideas in developing opportunities for our students. They have included school building-level employees in the de-cisions and in the planning. We are bound together as a team, and we have all benefitted enormously from the knowledge, experience and ideas of one another.
The school board members and their staff have found ways to pro-vide us with the tools and the re-sources we need. They have part-nered with other community leaders to ensure the broadest possible base of support and the most open level of engagement with all citizens in our community. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that nothing was wasted, that every effort was made to make the best possible use of the money provided by the community,
and to ensure that every dollar was properly accounted for from the very first day. They are excellent ex-amples of officials concerned with being worthy of the public’s trust by being excellent stewards of every resource.
Our school system was founded by a community-inspired determina-tion to include every citizen, to pro-vide the best for every child, and to make the best possible use of every dollar. We believe the bottom line is that every effort has been made to support the best our schools can provide to our students to ensure a bright future for our families and our community. We know that we can continue to honor the original goal to improve our schools and our chil-dren’s and community’s prospects. To do so we believe that Zachary must be, as it has always been, self reliant. If we are not always striving for better, we are failing our future.
Sincerely,
4 Zachary POST Tuesday, February 10, 2015
SCHOOL BOARD continued from page 1
The
Lane’s Keep the Beat CPR Class to be Held February 21
If you needed to perform CPR, would you be prepared for the task? What about the people closest to you, would they know what to do?
If the answer is “no” then make plans to attend the “Keep the Beat” By-stander CPR Training to learn life-sav-ing CPR skills to maintain vital blood flow to the brain and heart until the am-bulance arrives and how to recognize and provide basic care for breathing and cardiac emergencies.
“Keep the Beat” will be held Sat-urday, February 21 at First Baptist Church of St. Francisville, 12404 LA Hwy 10. There will be two sessions to choose from 8 a.m. OR 10 a.m.
Special guest, Superintendent of West Feliciana Parish Schools Hollis Milton, will share the story of his re-cent heart attack.
Anyone from the age of 8 to 88 may attend this life-saving class provided free of charge by Lane Regional Medi-cal Center and Cardiovascular Institute of the South.
CPR facts:• Only 1 in 20 people know
CPR, yet cardiovascular disease is the top killer in the country claiming 2,400 lives each day.
Brittany Weaver, RN teaches CPR skills to Macy Walker at a recent Keep the Beat community-wide CPR training class. The next Keep the Beat is set for Saturday, Feb. 21st at First Baptist Church of St. Francisville.
• About 95% of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before they reach the hospital.
• Brain death starts to occur within four to six minutes.
• CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the brain until defibrilla-tion can be administered.
Registration is required: simply go to: LaneRMC.org, or call 225-658-4587.
Zachary High senior Joseph Florida was in attendance at the meeting to be recognized for his acceptance into the pretigious United States Naval Academy. Florida is in his fourth year in the JROTC and holds a leadership po-sition with the rank of Cadet Ma-jor. He also holds a 4.0 grade point average. “His character is beyond reproach,” Devillier said. “He is a man of his word that values integ-rity and can be relied on. He is a fierce competitor but considerate of others,” Devillier said. Florida received a standing ovation.
The seniors of the ZHS foot-ball team were also in attendance to receive recognition as the State semifinalists. “This group of se-niors represents the rest of our team. To have one of the best sea-sons in the history of our school says a lot about the leadership,” said Coach Brewerton. “They have set a new standard for our program.”
Junior Lindsey Scott was rec-ognized as the Class 5A All-State Football MVP. It’s a huge win and an honor for our district to have the most valuable player for the state of Louisiana, Devillier said. “But the most important thing is you’re just a junior so we have one more year left!” Devillier said, and ev-eryone laughed.
Devillier praised the cast of the musical Hairspray, announcing that just prior to that night’s meet-ing, the students had been invited to do the play at the Shaw Center. “That’s a great honor!” Devillier exclaimed. “It was a fabulous per-formance. It was unbelievable,” he said. “I’m in awe of how talented these kids are.”
As a final announcement, the Board invites members of the community to sign up for commit-tees. There will be a link posted on the District’s website to view and sign up for committees.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Zachary POST 5
4470 Main St. Suite A Zachary, La 70791
225-658-8565Gift Certificates Available!
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 | 8 a.m. or 10 a.m.
First Baptist Church of St. Francisville12404 LA Hwy 10 | St. Francisville, LA
(Open to participants8 and older. Please arrive 15
minutes before session begins.)
Join us for HANDS-ONTRAINING to learn aLIFE-SAVING SKILL
letterscan save your life
CPRRegister Online@ LaneRMC.org
Deadline to register is Thursday, February 19, 2015.
Questions? Call 225-658-4587.
*Please note that this event does not qualify as a certified CPR training.
Sponsored by
3
FREE BYSTANDER*
CPR TRAINING
Americana YMCA Wants You to Fall in Love with Heart HealthFebruary is American Heart
Month and as a leading voice on improving the nation’s health, the Americana YMCA urges ev-eryone in our community to take steps to make sure they are heart healthy so they can lead longer, healthier lives.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the na-tion’s number one killer, respon-sible for 1 in 4 deaths each year in the United States. The Y offers community-based healthy living and chronic disease prevention initiatives that support people in changing their lifestyles, en-courage organizations and com-munities to adopt behaviors that promote healthy living and pro-mote the public’s health through advocacy.
To address the prevalence of heart disease, the Y has made a national commitment to the Mil-lion Hearts campaign, an initia-tive spearheaded by the U.S. De-partment of Health and Human Services, CDC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes. As part of this commitment, the Y is de-veloping a new national program that will help people with hyper-tension lower their blood pres-sure through coaching support and a proven self-monitoring practice. Research shows that the simple process of checking and recording your blood pres-sure at least twice a month over a four month period, along with regular physical activity, proper nutrition and reducing sodium
intake, may lower blood pres-sure in people with high blood pressure.
“Heart disease is a critical is-sue for everyone in our commu-nity and it’s never too late to get heart healthy,” said Kristen Ho-gan, Marketing Director, YMCA of the Capital Area. “Organiza-tions like the Y have numerous options that can get you on the right path to avoid this prevent-able condition.”
Also part of the Y’s commit-ment to Million Hearts is in-creasing the availability of the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program – which is part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Pre-vention Program. The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program helps adults at high risk for de-veloping type 2 diabetes adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles to help reduce their chances of developing the disease. Type 2 diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and people with diabetes are twice as likely to have heart disease or suffer a stroke as those who do not have it.
Americana YMCA is now offering the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program to the Zach-ary community. The program provides a supportive environ-ment where participants work together in a small group to learn about eating healthier, increas-ing their physical activity and making other behavior changes with the goal of reducing body weight by seven percent in order to reduce their risk for develop-ing diabetes. A trained lifestyle
coach leads the program over a 12-month period beginning with 16 weekly sessions followed by monthly maintenance sessions. Increased physical activity and moderate weight loss not only reduce diabetes risk, but also have an impact on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
In addition to programs and services, the Y offers the fol-lowing tips on how to live heart healthy.
1. Get Physical: Being physically active every day is fun and can improve the func-tion of your heart. Plan and schedule opportunities for ac-tive play; for example, include a brisk 10-minute trip around the block after meals or a 10-min-ute walking break during the day. If your family enjoys active video games, select versions that require moving the body’s large muscle groups while play-ing.
2. Take a Snooze: Lack of sleep has been associated with elevated cholesterol and blood pressure. Adults need at least seven, but no more than nine hours of sleep at night to aid with the prevention of heart disease. Children need 10-12 hours of sleep per night. De-velop bedtime routines for the whole family to assist with fall-ing asleep faster and staying asleep.
3. Shape Up Those Reci-pes: Makeover your family’s
favorite recipes by reducing the amount of salt and saturated fat and substituting a lower fat food without sacrificing tastes. For example, use low-fat yogurt instead of sour cream and skip the seasoning packet and use pepper and olive oil instead. Read food labels to learn more about what is in the package, select foods that have less than 1,000 mg of sodium per serving.
4. Feeling the Pressure: Ac-cording to the American Heart Association, lowering or main-taining normal blood pressure can greatly reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke. Nearly 1 in 3 adults (about 78 million people) has high blood pressure and more than half of them don’t have it under con-trol. Start self-monitoring your blood pressure and know the numbers. Discuss the results with you doctor.
5. Play Together: Spend-ing time together as a family is a great way to reduce stress, which is important to heart health. Make homemade valen-tines for your children’s class-mates or build a snow fort to-gether in the yard or the park.
The Americana YMCA offers a community of diverse individ-uals who can support all people in meeting their health and well-being goals. Learn more by visiting ymcabr.org or stopping into your local Y.
6 Zachary POST Tuesday, February 10, 2015
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Lane Regional Celebrates February as National Heart Health MonthIn celebration of February being
National Heart Health Month, Lane Regional Medical Center is bringing awareness to heart health issues such as heart attacks, heart disease, hyper-tension, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke and obesity. These concerns are not limited to adults, but affect children as well.
FacebookAn informational campaign on
Lane’s Facebook page will make eating healthier and exercising not only easier but a lot more fun!
Each day in February heart-
healthy recipes, exercise ideas, and other informative and fun resources will be posted to help keep the whole family on track toward achieving a healthier lifestyle.
To join the fun, see the daily up-dates, or contribute your own recipes and exercise ideas, simply “Like” the LaneRMC page at Facebook.com/LaneRMC
Keep the BeatOn Saturday, February 21st, Lane
RMC and Cardiovascular Institute of the South are hosting “Keep the Beat,” a FREE, Bystander CPR train-
ing event at First Baptist Church of St. Francisville, 12404 LA Hwy 10. There will be two sessions to choose from 8 a.m. OR 10 a.m.
Participants ages 8-88 will learn how to maintain vital blood flow to the brain and heart until the ambu-lance arrives, as well as how to rec-ognize and provide basic care for breathing and cardiac emergencies.
Special guest, Superintendent of West Feliciana Parish Schools Hol-lis Milton, will share the story of his recent heart attack.
Register online at LaneRMC.org
or call 225-658-4587 by Thursday, Feb. 19th to reserve your space.
Paint the Town RedAnd, remember to support the
American Heart Association by wearing RED on Friday, February 13th for Paint the Town Red!
For free educational materials, “Wear Red Day” stickers, and pa-per hearts that can be sold in your business, please contact Jody Dake, Event Specialist with the American Heart Association, at 225-328-4551 or via email at [email protected]
New Radiation Oncology Center Extends Hours, Welcomes New Physician
Lane Regional Medical Center and Baton Rouge General Medical Center’s $4.5 million state-of-the-art Radiation Oncology Center in Zachary is provid-ing more options for its patients. The Center, which provides high-quality ra-diation treatment services, has doubled its hours of operation, and is now open from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Center is also pleased to welcome new radiation oncologist, Dr. Cynthia Boyer, to its team of caregivers.
Dr. Boyer is board certified in radia-tion oncology and is a graduate of the University Of Miami School Of Medi-cine. She completed her radiation oncol-ogy residency at the University of Miami - Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Cen-ter in Miami, Florida, where she served as chief resident. Dr. Boyer is a member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the American College of Ra-diology and American Brachytherapy Society. Her clinical interests include the
accelerated treatment of breast cancer, gynecologic oncology and multimodal treatment of head and neck cancer.
The office is conveniently located on Lane’s campus at 6180 Main Street, Suite B, in Zachary. The phone number is (225) 570-1212. For more informa-tion, visit ROCZachary.com.
Dr. Cynthia Boyer
Liz Jarreau Named Office Manager at FASTLane After Hours Walk-In Clinic
Liz Jarreau was recently named Of-fice Manager of FASTLane After Hours Walk-in Clinic, located at 19900 Old Scenic Highway in Zachary.
Jarreau will be responsible for the overall operations at the clinic, including patient satisfaction, physician relations and business development.
A graduate of False River Academy in New Roads, Jarreau has more than 32 years of medical office experience. She is certified in Medical Office Manage-ment and is a Certified Medical Coder. Prior to this position she was the Billing Supervisor at Baton Rouge Radiology Group.
A native of Morganza, Louisiana, Jarreau and her husband, Larry, live in Jarreau, and have two children and two grandchildren, Kaylie, age 8, and Ryder, age 4. In her free time she enjoys shop-ping, camping, fishing and spending time with her family.
“I am very excited to join the FAST-Lane team and the LaneRMC family,” says Jarreau. “Zachary is a wonderful community, and I am so blessed to be here.”
For more information, call FASTLane After Hours Clinic at (225)570-2618 or visit their website at FastLaneClinic.org
Liz Jarreau
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Zachary POST 7
CALL 654-0122 TO ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESSIN 33,000 PAPERS A WEEK IN ZACHARY & THE FELICIANAS
It’s Time to Register for Girls on the RunZachary Spring 2015 ~ for 3rd, 4th & 5th grade girls - Registration closes February 12
We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.
Me + Relationships + Commu-nity
Meeting twice a week in small teams of 8-20 girls, we teach life skills through dynamic, conver-sation-based lessons and running games. The 10-week, 20-lesson cur-riculum is taught by certified Girls on the Run® coaches and in-cludes three parts: u n d e r s t a n d i n g ourselves, valuing teamwork and un-derstanding how we connect with and shape the world at large.
More than a Running Pro-gram
Our core cur-riculum addresses many aspects of girls’ development – their physical, emotional, men-tal and social well-being. Lessons provide girls with the tools to make positive decisions and to avoid risky adolescent behaviors.
Up and Running At Girls on the Run, running is
not just a metaphor. We use this ac-tivity to inspire and motivate girls,
encourage lifelong health and fit-ness, and build confidence through accomplishment. At each season’s conclusion, the girls and their run-ning buddies, complete a 5k running event -- an inspiring gathering of friends and family -- not only a cel-ebration of physical health, but also the girls’ journey toward a life of positive emotional, social and men-tal well being.
The result? Healthy, confi-dent girls who CAN!
Details
Group size (minimum 8 – max 20) – Girls meet twice per week after school for an hour and a half.
Girls on the Run is for EVERYONE – even those who
aren’t sure if they like to run. The program is non-competitive and fo-cuses on developing healthy, posi-tive self-images in the participants. Girls are encouraged to walk or run the laps during the workouts, and all girls progress at their own speed. The core of the program is the cur-riculum and the special life lessons that the girls learn along the way.
The fee for the 10-week pro-gram (including 5K entry) is $165. There is a sliding fee scale based on income or need, and financial assis-tance is available to anyone unable to pay the full fee.
The program begins the week of February 9th and ends the first week of May. All girls will participate in
the Girls on the Run 5k on May 2nd (Acadiana area participants) or May 9 (Baton Rouge).
Online registration: through Feb-ruary 12th at 11:55 p.m.
Find program details, days and times for your school & online registration here: www.girlson-therunsola.org
8 Zachary POST Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Zachary, Feliciana Business Leaders Meet in Slaughter to By Patricia Stallman
The Feliciana Regional Busi-ness and Industrial Council met Monday evening, February 2, at the Slaughter Town Hall, to in-troduce the community and sur-rounding areas to its mission and to welcome others to join in its work. Board President Tom Mo-riarty, now retired from The Shaw Group, Inc., of Baton Rouge, em-phasized that the Feliciana Board is “a forum to give ordinary citi-zens and businesses a voice” in de-veloping business and industry for Slaughter and its environs, while maintaining the area’s “small town feel.”
While the Board welcomes the input of elected officials, those serving the community in elected positions may not also serve the Board as voting members. Resi-dents of the region, those “or-dinary citizens and businesses,” will determine how the area will evolve.
The region the Board envisions includes, for starters, East Felici-ana, West Feliciana, Pointe Cou-pee, and East Baton Rouge. The vision is one of working together to fuel economic development for all.
Highway 61: The Coming In-dustrial Corridor
The Board recognizes that Highway 61, from the Baton Rouge line north through Zachary, East and West Feliciana Parish, is emerging as the area’s industrial corridor. Eight projects are already
in the works, though at this early stage of development those plans enjoy non-disclosure agreements.
“If we create jobs out there” on 61, Jackson says, “that won’t put tax dollars in Slaughter’s pocket, but it will position us and the rest of the Parish for the rooftops. I want to see housing come not just to Slaughter, but to all of East Feliciana.” All growth, he notes, will in fact benefit the entire re-gion.
Gas Pipeline and Railway in the Works
Sheldon Day, Mayor of Thom-asville, Alabama, congratulated Slaughter on its work to provide two important requirements of in-dustry: a gas line and a railway. Following a settlement between Slaughter and MidLa in the past few months, Mayor Jackson ex-plains, his town now has “access to 22 miles of pipeline” along which “we can put two taps.” MidLa is footing the $450,000 bill for each. “It’s also putting a new pipeline under Thompson Creek as part of the settlement.”
Moriarty adds that the “to-tal cost of the two taps and the Thompson Creek project is ap-proximately $1.2 million.”
The 22 miles of pipeline runs “from Slaughter almost to Hemingbough” on Highway 61, Jackson said.
MidLa still owns the gas line; therefore, it will maintain and op-erate it. “What Slaughter has,” Jackson notes, “is the potential
to tap the gas line for business. Slaughter-supplied gas is provid-ed through the Louisiana Munici-pal Gas Association. Pre-paid gas allows rates cheaper than market rates. If we can sell the gas for one to three cents cheaper than mar-ket, we can attract businesses with high gas usage and make a profit.”
As for the railway, Amzak Capital Management of Boca Ra-ton, Florida, of which KAPAC is a subsidiary, owns the rail line from KAPAC across Highway 61 and then across Highway 68 to Slaugh-ter, where a spur runs through Zachary toward Baker. Amzak, Jackson says, in replacing over 100,000 railway ties, 22 bridges, and 38 crossings, “is bringing the railway back to life.”
Amzak’s Joe Vidmar spoke from the audience during the ques-tion and comment session follow-ing the Board’s presentation, not-ing that “Amzak will invest capital to partner with the community.”
Short lines, like Slaughter’s, he said, work well with communities and industries. Amzak presently envisions a railway use of three or four days a week, with the inten-tion of moving paper “outbound.” Vidmar promised to “find the saf-est window” of time so that the railway will not impact workers’ and schoolchildren’s commutes.
The rail line, Mayor Jackson says, “gives us transportation and ports within an hour of High-way 61.” The gas line, he points out, runs parallel to the rail line. Where the two lines reach 61 is “a key spot for development on ei-ther side.”
Mayor-to-Mayor MentoringSlaughter Mayor Jackson ex-
plains that the formation of the Feliciana Regional Board is the latest result of an ongoing mentor-ing process that Thomasville May-or Day has provided in answer to Jackson’s request for direction. Thomasville, as a result of Day’s
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Zachary POST 9
Discuss Economic Development Using U.S. 61 Corridor
Gathering Monday evening, February 2, in Slaughter were, from left: Kenny Havard, Louisiana State Representative for East Feliciana, West Feliciana, and Zachary; Audrey Faciane, Director, East Feliciana Chamber of Commerce; Ben Cavin, Coun-cilman, City of Zachary; Charmaine Efferson, real estate agent, Keller Williams of Zachary; Jon Craft, President, Anvil Attachments of Slaughter; Carla Sibille, Slaughter Attorney; Tom Moriarty, retired IT Director of Business Operations/Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge; Robby Jackson, Mayor of Slaughter; Johnny Arceneaux, Director, Workforce Development, Baton Rouge Commu-nity College; Sheldon Day, Mayor of Thomasville, Alabama; Joseph Vidmar, Director of Operations and Projects, Amzak Capital Management of Boca Raton, Florida; C. J. Arnold, President, Blackbelt Energy of Jackson, Alabama; Al Bean, Clarke-Mobile Gas Authority; and J. C. Brantley, American Public Gas Association of Washington, D. C. Photograph by Patricia Stallman
long-term planning and oversight, has seen the creation of five indus-trial parks in a landlocked town that had no nearby ports or other means of materials transport.
“The only way to get back on your feet,” Day told the audience, “is to get off your fanny! Get up and do what needs to be done.”
To give the Board an example of how to “start over,” Jackson says, he brought the members to Thom-asville. There they found that the industrial parks did not intrude into the lives of the residents; planners had surrounded those parks with green areas and set them out of sight and earshot of the carefully planned subdivisions. Remarking that planners must consider “the esthetics of 61,” Jackson noted, “When you drive through Thom-asville, you don’t see an industrial park anywhere…the footprint of industry is not showing.”
In fact, Day said, the coexis-tence of industry with communi-ty is so seamless that recently he engineered tours of the parks for Thomasville residents, many of whom were not aware of the extent of the town’s development, though many drive only a mile to arrive at their work in the plants.
Day advised Jackson to form a board consisting of a project man-ager to oversee data, a real estate professional, an attorney, and a person engaged in business and manufacturing. Jackson’s next action was to resume his role as Mayor of Slaughter, to step back and turn over the work of planning and development to the Board.
Joining Moriarty are real es-tate agent Charmaine Efferson, Attorney Carla Sibille, and Anvil Attachments President Jon Craft. The idea is to work with area lead-ers in education and government, as well as groups such as the East Feliciana Parish Economic De-velopment District, which created East Feliciana’s Master Plan.
While the work of EFPEDD was visionary and detailed, audi-ence members agreed, the Master Plan “has holes” and needs “to be tightened.” Though planners wor-ried about Zachary’s possible “en-gulfment” of Slaughter as a bed-room community, they praised its Master Plan, though noting that Zachary planners are finding that they must now and then go back and retool parts of the plan be-cause of unanticipated challenges.
The Board members, three of whom share Leadership North training through the Zachary Chamber of Commerce, all want-ed to improve their communities, to help develop a workforce, and to bring in businesses and new homes. The Feliciana Regional Business and Industrial Council provides the structure through which they may now serve and lead.
Workforce DevelopmentBoard Member Sibille de-
scribed the visit to Thomasville as “absolutely mindblowing. It still felt like home, like a small town; they’d done so many things right.” Sibille was particularly impressed that the town’s “com-munity college had partnered with the schools” to develop a work-force that could attract industry.
Board Member Jon Craft, who is the president of Anvil Attach-ments in Slaughter, also cited the necessity of training workers. “The biggest problem I’ve got is skilled labor,” he said. “I need draftsmen; I need fitters to read the drawings and build the stuff. I
want to be number one in my in-dustry, and I can’t be number one with number three and four peo-ple. We need everything from en-gineers to people who sweep the floors.”
Craft displayed a small mod-el of a grip, which he had made with a three-dimensional printer. He shared his dreams for the pur-chase of a higher-end welding ro-bot, “not to take jobs away, but to create more jobs by making our prices more competitive.” In Alabama, Craft said, “if you buy a welding robot, the state comes in and helps you train your peo-ple for free. Louisiana doesn’t do that.”
Emphasizing the importance of “partnering with the high schools and the technical and commu-nity colleges,” Craft discussed his contributions—monetary, in-structional, and advisory—to the technical college in Jackson, now a Baton Rouge Community Col-lege campus. One outcome was his hiring three graduates of the machinist class he helped get off the ground.
Slaughter and other nearby communities will grow, the group said. Whether Slaughter becomes a bedroom community for Zach-ary—whether it is “engulfed,” “swallowed up,” or “steamroll-ered”—or whether Slaughter de-cides to determine its own future depends on the people who live in the area.
Stellar AdvisorsThe speakers and audience
members came across as people already united in their mission. The group included: Johnny Arce-neaux, Director, Workforce Devel-opment, Baton Rouge Community College; C. J. Arnold, President, Blackbelt Energy of Jackson, Al-abama; Al Bean, Clarke-Mobile Gas Authority; J. C. Brantley, American Public Gas Association of Washington, D. C.; Ben Cavin, Councilman, City of Zachary; Jon Craft, President, Anvil Attach-ments of Slaughter; Sheldon Day, Mayor of Thomasville, Alabama; Charmaine Efferson, real estate agent, Keller Williams of Zachary; Audrey Faciane, Director, East Feliciana Chamber of Commerce; Kenny Havard, Louisiana State Representative for East Feliciana, West Feliciana, and Zachary; Rob-by Jackson, Mayor of Slaughter; Tom Moriarty, retired IT Director of Business Operations/Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge; Carla Sibille, Slaughter Attorney; Joseph Vidmar, Director of Opera-tions and Projects, Amzak Capital Management of Boca Raton, Flori-da. Also present, representing local government and education leaders, were Phil and Former Slaughter Mayor Bobbie Bourgeois, Slaugh-ter Aldermen Nick St. Germain, Amy Bellue, Liz Aaron, and Ash-ley Schwartz, and East Feliciana Parish School Board Member Tim Corcoran.
A very good beginning, Mayor Jackson remarked.
To join the Feliciana Regional Business and Industrial Council as a member, contact Tom Mori-arty at [email protected]. Mori-arty describes the membership as a council of citizens and business and industry representatives work-ing together to present ideas and advice to the Board, which will oversee the council and vote on is-sues.
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10 Zachary POST Tuesday, February 10, 2015
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Derek and Kristen McKey proudly announce the birth of their first child, Avery Rose. She was born on January 16, 2015 at Woman’s Hospital at 12:19 a.m. Avery weighed seven pounds eleven ounces and was 19.5 inches long. Proud grandparents are Jim and Kathy Tate of Central and Todd and Karen McKey of Zachary. Great grandparents are Jim & Pauline Tate of Baker, the late Howard & Rose Broussard, Larry & Joyce Bellard of Zach-ary, and Jack & Faye McKey of Gloster, MS.
Avery Rose McKey Slone, Theora Margaret HaageTheora Margaret Haage Slone,
76, passed away peacefully on Tues-day January 27, 2015 surrounded by her two devoted children, son Steven Donald Slone and daughter Sherri Dawn Slone, both of St. Francisville, La. She was a retired, sharp-minded Librarian, Debate/Speech Teacher, and English Educator, dedicating her life’s work to the written and spoken word. Many lives were touched by her com-mitment to educating and mentoring others. She is survived by her Three sisters Judy Rentschler, husband Riley of Lake Ozark, Mo., Eleanor Haage, partner Cheryl of Nevada, Mo., and Carol Deveney of St. Louis, Mo.; two brothers, George Haage, wife Hanako Koyama of Everett, Washington, and Phillip Haage, wife Sue of Paris, Tex-as; grandchildren Gabriella Coco and Sawyer Coco; Nieces Grace Blehm, Terri Griffith, Melanie Grafton, Dana llgenfritz, Shelagh Deveney, Laura De-veney and Debbie Rogers and Neph-ews Greg Kays, George David Haage, Doug Haage, Darren Slone, Damon Slone, Mark Hiesberger, Tim Deveney, Phillip Deveney and Daryl Haage. She was preceded in death by her parents, George and Dorothy Haage; sister, Bar-bara Ruggels; brother Charles Haage; brother-in-law Jack Deveney and niece Tamra Ruggels. She earned her Mas-ters of Library Science at the Univer-sity of Missouri in Columbia, MO, her Bachelor of Science in Education at Kansas State College of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, KS. She was a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in
Education. She was a United Method-ist Youth Group Leader, a Speech and Debate Coach, and School Sponsor “”Extraordinaire””. Those who were lucky enough to call Margaret “”friend or family”” remember her love of gar-dening, decorating, antiquing, read-ing, shopping and traveling. But above all, she loved her family and friends, spending time with them, laughing, sharing a meal, or being on the lake. Margaret was the mother we wanted, the sister we never had, and the friend we could always depend upon. Because Margaret believed in free and complete library access to all, the family re-quests in lieu of flowers, you make a charitable donation to your local Public Library. This will enable her legacy to continue to live on through the future. The family especially appreciates the care and compassion of the staff at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Dr. Lindsey, Dr. Griffith, Dr. Brandt, Minister Mc-Guire, and ALL of the health care pro-viders who have provided care through the years. Visiting will be from 9am until 11am memorial service on Satur-day, February 7, 2015 at the Tuscumbia Christian Church, 275 Highway Hh, Tuscumbia, MO. Following the me-morial service, family and friend are invited to lunch at the church. Follow-ing lunch, Inurnment will be in Boltz Cemetery. Share sympathies, condo-lences and memories at www.Char-letFuneralHome.com. Funeral Home conducting services in Missouri: Reid Millard Funeral Chapel 902 E. North Street Eldon, Mo. 573-392-3351.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Zachary POST 11
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Hodges said.“There is another important
benefit, however,” Hodges said, “The project will reduce and elim-inate some flood zones and thus drive down federal flood insur-ance premiums for homes in those areas. This would create a signifi-cant savings to property owners in the area, allowing many citizens to remain in their homes and contin-ue to live in this area.”
In 1967, 47 years ago, Con-gress authorized the Amite River & Tributaries (AR&T) Study. The idea of developing a Comite River Basin drainage canal was based on an event that occurred some 31 years ago. The event was shock-
ing and costly. When the Comite and Amite Rivers rose to record heights in the spring of 1983, the waters flooded hundreds of homes and businesses within the two riv-ers flood plains.
Local and area political leaders promised that these areas would never flood again because a Comi-te River Diversion canal would be built to adequately handle any ris-ing flood waters in the Amite and Comite Basins. By the “grace of God,” no more floodwaters have covered the areas flooded in 1983, because no prolonged rain systems have dumped water in the basins.
“The 1983 flood caused $344 million in damages. The same type of flood today would cause more than $800 million in damages. Ac-tually, the number would be much higher because that estimated cost
is based on only the structures present in 1983. The Comite River Basin has seen tremendous growth since 1983 and much more structural damage would occur. The projected cost of the Comite Diversion Canal is $199 million which is about a fifth of the cost of damages that could be suffered by another 1983 level flood.”
“The other thing about this project that is so frustrating is that having the Diversion Canal in place would save people in this area hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by taking a lot of property out of flood zones and lowering flood insurance rates on other property,” Rep. Hodges ex-plained. “The delays that we have seen in the past decades, and are still seeing today, absolutely do not make sense to me.”
For those of you who may have forgotten, the scope of the authorized project provided for construction of a 12 mile long di-version channel from the Comite River to the Mississippi River, a diversion structure at the Com-ite River, guide levees, the Lilly Bayou control structure, four drop structures at the intersec-tions of the diversion channel with McHugh Road, Bayou Ba-ton Rouge, Cypress Bayou, and White Bayou, and Highway and Railroad Bridges. Low-flow aug-mentation pumps at the intercept-ed streams, an earthen closure at Brooks Lake and clearing and snagging of Bayou Baton Rouge, White Bayou and Cypress Bayou north of the diversion channel to reduce flooding in those areas will complete the project.
An updated Progress Report
has been issued as of September 17, 2014 on the Comite River Di-version Canal project. However, all those offering testimony before Rep. Hodges Task force seemed ill prepared to answer any specific questions without bringing in the words “mitigation” and “mitiga-tion credits.”
The authorities for the Comite River Diversion Channel Project are the Water Resources Develop-ment Act (WRDA) of 1986 Public Law (PL) 99-662, which estab-lished the cost sharing principles for the project, section 101(11) WRDA of 1992, PL 102-580, dated October 31, 1992 (WRDA 1992), as amended and reautho-rized by Section 301(b)(5) of the WRDA 1996, PL 104-303 dated October 12, 1996, and as amended by Section 371 of WRDA 1999, PL 106-53 dated August 1999, with technical corrections to Sec-tion 371 of WRDA 1999 in Section 6 of PL 106-109 dated November 24, 1999, which is the main proj-ect authorization. The WRDA of 1986, established the cost sharing for the project. The non-Federal cost shall include a mandatory 5% cost contribution and the purchase of all lands, easements, rights-of-way, relocations and disposal ar-eas. The law also established that the non-Federal cost at a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 50% of the total cost. Section 37 of WRDA 1999 further modified cost sharing for the Comite Project to include the cost of highway relocations as a cost-shared feature.
