Rotary Club Meeting – 9-26-23 The program at the Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday was presented by Rotarian Eric Gil. Mr. Gil introduced his son, Sam Gil. Sam is a student at McNeese University. He experienced both COVID and the hurricanes that devastated the Lake Charles area as a student. Sam jumped right in, and served as a Freshman Senator in the Student Government Association. He went on to be a Representative and then the Speaker of the House. Sam introduced a Student of the Year Program, helped with mental health legislation, increased parking, and took advantage of the University being open to suggestions. During that time, McNeese lost 1000 students, which represented a 15% decrease to the annual budget. Sam became President his Junior year. He had a really good year and expanded the SGA's reach. As a second term President, Sam ran for President of the Louisiana Council of Student Body Presidents. While he was unsuccessful in that attempt, he successfully ran for the Louisiana Board of Regents. He defeated the candidates from LSU and the Southern System. He was responsible for a $3.45 billion dollar budget and 32 institutions. He is working on digital payment methods for the school. He represents over 214,000 students. Sam has worked for the Louisiana Governor, and he has served as a national officer for his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. Sam attributes much of his success to what he learned as a young man growing up in Ville Platte. He is very grateful to the people and for the experience, and he learned the value of building and fostering strong relationships and working hard for your goals. Sam remains committed to Sacred Heart High School, and his future plans are to attend law school and then potentially earn a PhD in either Public Policy or Higher Ed. Other Rotary News: • The program for the next meeting on October 3rd will be presented by Rotarian Annette Johnson • The District Governor will be visiting the Ville Platte Rotary on October 24th.

Ville Platte City Council - Meeting, Tuesday, September 12th The Ville Platte City Council met last night (Tuesday), and they were updated on the Animal Shelter. Planned improvements have been completed, but the shelter still failed the inspection. Problems include draining in the wrong direction, so trenches aren't draining. There are no doors on the back of some kennels for cleaning, and the shelter requested roofs on at least two of the kennels so that the jumping and climbing dogs can't escape. Back gates need to be repaired. The Mayor and City Council will work with the contractors to fix these problems. The Council was presented with the new City website. Megan Norris, showed the new functions and pages on the website. Parts of it are still under construction, but it will be very user friendly, contain valuable links to pay bills, keep informed of events and activities in Ville Platte and link to important related websites. The site is cityofvilleplatte.com Bill Fontenot provided the update for the City Engineer. The sludge removal project is under way, and the city is working hard to take care of the sewer problem. An Architect has been hired to prepare drawings for the park project. The Ville Platte Fire Department received a Class 2 Rating out of 10 (with one being the best) from the Public Fire Protection inspection. The department improved 2% to 86% since the last inspection. This is great news for both protection and insurance purposes. The Fire Department received a FEMA grant to replace breathing apparatus and communications equipment in the amount of $134,000. Fire Prevention week starts October 8th with a theme of Cooking Safety Begins at Home. They have officially closed on the new site for the station and work will start immediately. There is an Open House tentative scheduled for October 21st. There were 45 incidents in the month of August. John Deville provided the Police Department update. They responded to 657 calls in the last month that included 8 felony arrests out of 12, and 25 accidents. The Mayor announced that the Ville Platte Fire Chief Chris Soileau received his Fire Officer IV Firefighter and Emergency Responder Certification from the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshall Public Safety Services.

Tournoi Eliminations September 11, 2023 Eliminations runs took place Sunday at the Tournoi track Sunday at the Industrial Park to select ten additional competitors for this year's Tournoi run. Here they are: #11- Brandi Snoke #12- Garrett Manuel, #13- Nick Miller, #14- William Fontenot, #15- Drew Vidrine, #16- Shane Lee, #17-Keith Saucier, #18- Cody Manuel, #19- Jody Trahan and #20 Shane Deville. There were no accidents with the horses. The new competitors join last year's Top Ten that include: Last Year's Champion- John Ross Guillory.. #2- Eric Guillory, #3 Marcus Guillory, #4 Cody Guillory, #5 Alex Haller, #6-Lisa Crane, #7 Paul Fontenot, #8-Bryan Fontenot, #9- Chuck Manuel and #10- Kent Saucier. The 2023 Tournoi Court include: Miss Tournoi- Shelbi Guidry, Ms. Tournoi- Gabrielle Alleman, Teen Miss Tournoi-Jilian Frederick and Jr. Tournoi Queen- Addyson Boutte. The Tournoi will be dedicated to the memory of Gary Brignac of Mamou and Jarrod Matte of Belaire Cove. The running of the historic running of the Tournoi will be held Sunday October 15 at 2:00pm at the Industrial Park after the Cotton Festival Parade. KVPI will be there to broadcast the entire event for those who cannot attend I n person.