A Pine Prairie man was sentenced today in 13^th District Court to 70 years on a number  of charges including the armed robbery of Citizens Bank in Pine Prairie in August 2011. Evangeline Parish District Attorney Trent Brignac reported to KVPI News that Brian Keith Soileau age 42 of Pine Prairie was sentenced by Judge  Thomas Fuselier to 70 years in prison, 66 years of which must be served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. Brignac announced that the charges involved armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and illegal use of a weapon. He was also charged with simple burglary and theft of a firearm in another case.  He was found guilty August 3 of this year , Soileau was arrested after the bank holdup and incarcerated in the Pine Prairie Detention Center. He escaped from that facility a short time later, robbed a Guaranty bank branch and finally arrested in Oklahoma. Charges are still pending for the prison escape on Oct. 13 of last year as well as the armed robbery of Gauranty Bank on Oct. 25 while he was a fugitive at large.

Fire Claims Life in St. Landry Parish

    The Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce met today (Monday) for their monthly meeting of the month at the new Rendezvous Dinner Club.

    Chamber President Dr. Kirk Soileau reminded chamber members about the annual Chamber Open House at the Cock’s Tail Restaurant beginning at 5:30pm.

    It was also announced that the Chamber sponsored Christmas Parade is scheduled for Sunday December 9 at 5:30pm. The parade lineup will be held at 5:30 at the Citizens Bank parking lot with the parade beginning at 6:00pm and ending at Sacred Heart. Everyone is invited to meet at the Allen Ortego Park for the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree and Christmas caroling after the parade. There will be no four wheelers, no motorcycles and no horses. All vehicles and floats must be decorated with Christmas decorations and lights.

    In other business, it was reported there are 158 members enrolled in the Chamber of Commerce. The chamber approved a quote to re roof the south side of the Chamber building at a cost of $1050.

    There will be no chamber meeting in December.

   The Evangeline Parish Police Jury, Tuesday approved setting new rates for water and  sewer customers at the Industrial Park. Jury President Bryan Vidrine reported that the rates have doubled since the old rates  were not enough to maintain the water and sewer systems. The new rates will give the police jury a financial cushion.

    After approval from the sheriff and district attorney, the police jury approved a request from Ward Three Constable Joe Deshotel to begin a pilot program to run radar and patrol in the Ward Three area. Part of the traffic fines  collected from this new operation will be used to help fund the constable’s office.

     In other business, the police jury awarded the low bid for a new pier project at the Crooked Creek Park to Fruge Lumber Company of Eunice for $146,000. Also , the replacement of the Trojan Lane Bridge in Ville Platte will be done at cost of $250,000. Both projects are being paid for by federal Ike/Gustav funds.

    The police jury approved entering into cooperative endeavor agreements with every municipality in the parish to purchase generators using Ike/Gustav funds.

      In other action the police jury:

--approved the appointment of Jackie Guillory to serve on the Parish Tourism Commission representing Pine Prairie;

--appointed Dale Deselle and Thurling Andrus to serve on the Lone Pine Fire District Board;

--heard concerns from Mike Daire  asking about drainage work done by parish workers on private property along Lithcote road. Parish Public Works Director Donald Bergeron explained that it was a public safety issue .

    The Ville Platte City Council, Tuesday, voted to decline an offer by the Evangeline Parish Police Jury to have the city take over the parish animal control program. The police jury offered to pay the city $20,000 a year to help the city operate a parish wide animal control program. Mayor Jennifer Vidrine said after consulting with the city animal control officer, it was determined that the project   was too big an undertaking and the current city animal shelter is too small for the parish.

     In other business, the city heard from Tiffany Howard with Southern University’s Ag Center discuss the city’s proposed Community Garden project. The proposed garden will be located next to the Swamp Pop museum. A planning meeting is set for November 29 at City Hall where all interested citizens will be invited to attend. They are asking master gardeners and interested citizens to attend. The plans call for the planting of the garden for April 1. The produce will be sold at farmers markets and local stores.

    City Engineer Ronnie Landreneau reported in 45 days to begin work on the Trojan Lane Bridge. He also announced that the city will be receiving three generators: for the sewer plant, water well #11 and the Martin Luther King Center.

    Landreneau also announced that the contract for Phase Two of the city wide water project was awarded to the same contractor in Phase One: Trek Incorporated in Bunkie at a low bid of $1.6 million dollars

    In other action:

--met with Demographer Mike Heffner to begin a redistricting plan for the city in time for the next city elections;

--received news from Mayor Jennifer Vidrine that the city spent $9500 less in October than it did in September;

--was notified that the city will be receiving 8 more red trash containers to be erected in various parts of the city.

    Despite cloudy and windy conditions, the annual Veterans Day observance took place in Mamou Sunday sponsored annually by Mamou American Legion Post 123. Oldies 92-5 KVPI FM continued our tradition by covering all events in Mamou live on remote.

    At the request of local churches, the event took place one hour earlier than usual. The parade rolled down Sixth Street at 9:00am. The winner in the parade units were as follows: Mamou VFW won first place with the American Legion winning second place. In the Classic Car category, Kermit Lavergne won first place honrs with his entry of a 1957 Chevrolet. Second place went to Elby Fontenot with his Mercury Montego car.

    The Veterans Day program took place at 10:00m at the Legion Post Home. Mamou Magistrate Chuck West along with Hearing Officer Gary Ortego addressed the group. The Legion Auxilliary had their auction of home made cakes. One of the major highlights was the patriotic music provided by the combined Mamou High and Ville Platte High Bands.

   The student winners  in the shoe box contest are as follows: First and Second Grade: 1^st Place- Jullian Valliere; Second Place- Devon Sconce; Third Place- Landon Aguillard and Honorable mention- Ciara Lott;

Third and Fourth Grade students- 1^st Place- Brandon Trahan and second Place- Hannah Blood; Fifth and Sixth Grade- 1^st Place- Charles Bieber 3^rd; 2^nd place- Tanner Atchison; Third place- Camryn Pommier and Honorable Mention- Ashton Kidder.

7^th and 8^th Grade Students- First Place- Parker Cormier; Second Place- Jacob Shillow; 3^rd Place- Braxton Williams; Honorable Mention- Regan Douget.

ELECTION RETURNS

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

    Complete but unofficial election returns from Tuesday’s election shows that Incumbent Buck Dupuis won his election by one vote. District 7 school board member Buck Dupuis received 539 votes while his challenger Sheila Jason Joseph received 538 votes.

     L.C. Deshotel was elected Chief of Police in Pine Prairie with 72 percent of the vote. Deshotel received 322 votes while Rick Ordner received 125 votes or 27.9 percent of the votes.

     Evangeline Parish voters overwhelmingly voted for Republican candidate for President Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama. Romney received 10,176 votes while Obama got 5330 votes.

      Fourth District Congressman John Fleming easily won over challenger Randall Lord in Evangeline Parish. Fleming received 8639 votes while Lord received 2094 votes.

      Evangeline Parish voters approved setting term limits on local school board members. The total was 9718 people voted for the term limits while 3217 voted no.

      Parish voters approved renewing the 1.02 parish wide millage tax proposition for the Evangeline Parish Communications 9-1-1 District. The vote was 7737 votes for the renewal while 4952 voted no.

     Voters in Police Jury Ward One approved renewing a .84 mill tax for maintaining cemetaries in Ward One. The vote totals were 3519 voting yes while 2375 voted no.

      The Evangeline Parish Police Jury 2 cent sales tax renewal was approved by the voters for road and drainage. The totals were 4347 voting yes and 3399 voting no.

      The Pine Prairie Waterworks District Number One millage tax proposal was renewed by voters. A total of 502 voted yes while195 voted no.

      The Prairie Mamou Gravity Drainage District Number 8 millage tax for ten years was approved, 168 voted yes and 92 voted no.

      Eight of the 9 constitutional amendments were approved by parish voters. The only amendment that failed to get a majority of the voters votes was Amendment #6 dealing with the City of New Iberia. Voters turned down that amendment, 7437 voted no while 4759 voted yes.

      Amendment #1 dealing with the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly was approved: 10,361 votingyes and 3395 voted no;

      Amendment #2 dealt with the right to bear arms for each citizen passed by 11,166 votes to 2528 voting no.

    Amendment #3 dealt with retirement for public employees was approved 7789 voting yes and 5006 voting no.

    Amendment #4 dealt with the surviving spouse of a deceased veteran was approved by 9331 voting yes and 3528 voting no.

    Amendment #5 dealt with the forfeiture of the retirement benefit of convicted felon. That was approved by 8544 voting yes and 4460 voting no.

    Amendment #7 dealt with filling vacancies on boards and commissions which was approved 7345 voting yes and 4890 voting no.

    Amendment #8 deals with the tax exemption for the state board of commerce was approved by 6400 people while 5578 voted no.

    Amendment #9 dealt with security district and parcel fees was approved, 6424 voting yes and 5448 voting no.