EVANGELINE PARISH POLICE JURY MEETING

DECEMBER 9, 2014

    The Evangeline Parish Police Jury today (Tuesday) held their December meeting at the courthouse and it was conducted in the French language. There was a standing room only crowd of VIP’s, Public Officials and special guests watched as Police Juror Eric Soileau conducted the meeting. KVPI’s Jim Soileau led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance while Clerk of Court Randy Deshotel offered the opening prayer. The entire meeting was broadcast live over KVPI 1050 AM.

   Former Secretary Treasurer Wilbert Ardoin recognized guests include: former Secretary Treasurer Doug Deville, Turkey Creek Mayor Heather Cloud, Assessor Dirk Deville, City Marshal Rondl Doucet, Library Director Mary Foster Galosso, Chamber Director Camille Fontenot, City Judge Elect Greg Vidrine, Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine, former school board member J.D. Soileau, Ville Platte Police Chief Neil lartigue, State Rep. Bernard LeBas, State Senator Eric Lafleur and District Court Judge Elect Chuck West.

   Gilbert “Winky” Aucoin , who spearheaded the Folk Roots Festival at Chicot Park for the past several years, announced that he and a group of young musicians are forming a new cultural organization. The aim of the group is to have a yearly festival at Chicot Park in April something similar to what Folk Roots was doing. If the group is successful, they plan to help fund a French Immersion program and to support Cajun and Creole music in Evangeline Parish.

   Charles Larocque, Director of Codofil commended the police jury in their efforts to have an annual all French meeting. “You appreciate the value of our heritage. We must recover our language. We want to encourage our young people to stay here in Evangeline Parish and South Louisiana and not move to Houston, Atlanta and other major cities out of state,” he said. He announced that Codofil will have an office in Ville Platte at City Hall.

   The police jury approved a resolution offered by State Senator Eric Lafleur requesting the Evangeline Parish School Board to consider implementing a French immersion school. Lafleur said Evangeline Parish, despite having the largest bi-lingual population in the state , is the only parish in Acadiana without a French immersion school.

    The police jury:

--approved applying for a $100,000 grant in Community Development Block funds to provide additional security measures at the courthouse and the police jury offices.

--appointed Gerald Duplechain to replace Wade Riley on the Parish Library board and appointed Glen Holden to replace Johnny Deshotel on the Industrial Development Board;

--received a report from Secretary Treasurer Donald Bergeron that sales Tax collections increased 9.4 percent to $313,000 for November.