Lafourche parish council candidates sprint to finish

District 1

Jerry Jones, Democrat, Thibodaux

Jones, 53, remarried just this year and has six children. He has been employed at Acadian Gas Pipeline for the last 34 years and attends Allen Chapel Church.

If elected, he will focus on hurricane protection and drainage. He plans to seek grants to help with erosion seen by property owners caused by water flows. He also promises to donate his first-year net salary to the Myron Wright rehabilitation fund. Wright was paralyzed almost five years ago while playing football for Thibodaux High School.

(I) Tyrone Brown Williams, Democrat, Thibodaux

Multiple attempts to contact this candidate for information went unanswered.

District 2

(I) Michael F. Delatte, Democrat, Thibodaux – Unopposed

Delatte turned 51 this last September. He is married to Susan. He defines himself as being “kind of” retired. He has hands in multiple businesses from Mike’s Grocery Store to MCS Land Companies LLC.

Unopposed, he intends to see to ongoing road projects and drainage problems in the parish.

District 3

Westley Annis, No Party, Thibodaux

Annis, 39, is a computer and telephone consultant. He has been married for ten years and has three children. Originally from St. Bernard Parish, he moved to Thibodaux following Katrina. He was attending Loyola University for computer science.

He said he sees the parish as being divisive and parochial, made up of independent districts only seeing to their own needs. He wants to propose charter amendments to create three larger districts and then get the larger sections to work together for the good of the parish.

Louis Richard, Republican, Thibodaux

Richard has been married 46 years to his wife, Jennie, and has four children and 10 grandchildren. He is a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church and enjoys all outdoors sports, especially football. He was an NFL official for 11 years and scouted officials for the NFL, but is currently retired.

Richard owned a contract spraying business for 42 years by the name of Southern Weed Control. He served as a councilman on the very first Lafourche Parish Council back in 1973. He said he is very familiar with how the council operates and has the time to do the job. He also said he knows what a good working council can do-it gets things done.

“Stan” Silverii, Democrat, Thibodaux

Silverii has two daughters and has been married for 24 years. He also has served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Genevieve Church for five years. He currently works as a project manager at Nicholls State University. He has been employed at the university for the last 27 years.

He believes the business experience he gained owning and running the Creative Learning Pre-School for 17 years makes him a viable candidate. He wants to see a master plan for economic and core infrastructure in the parish come to fruition. He believes there needs to be better communication and a healthier relationship between the parish council and the parish president. And he said drainage is a priority.

District 4

Carla Dion, Republican, Houma

Dion, 45, is unmarried, has two children and is a licensed cosmetologist. She has owned and run Artistic Care Design for 18 years. She has been line dancing for 12 years and recently started learning ballroom dancing.

She has no background in politics, but knows how to manage a business and a budget. If elected, she hopes to become a voice for everyone in the parish. And she wants to address the tractor shortage to keep public medians mowed.

Jospeh “Joe” Fertitta, Republican, Thibodaux

Fertitta, 58, has been married to his wife Marian for 37 years and has two children. He and his wife have been Eucharistic ministers at Christ the Redeemer for the last 10 years. And he has worked in sales as a zone manager for Zapp’s Potato Chips for the last 18 years.

This will be his fourth run for office. He served on the parish council for one term spanning 2000 to 2004. And he has been on the Civil Service Commission and the Home Rule Charter Commission. If elected, he wants to focus on drainage, streets and economic development in the parish. He thinks digging holding and retention ponds could be used to successfully to reduce flooding, while providing dirt for levees.

Michael “Mike” Tardo, Democrat, Thibodaux

Tardo has been a barber for 40 years and has six children. At the age of 61, he still lives in the same house in which he was born.

If elected, he wants to work on cleaning up the bayou and drainage problems. He also wants to examine the possibility of inducing a flow in the bayou to prevent stagnation through the use of weirs.

District 5

(I) Mark Atzenhoffer, Republican, Houma

Atzenhoffer, 43, has sold industrial chemicals for JMN Specialties for 10 years. He has been married for 19 years and has one child. He briefly attended Nicholls State University for marine biology and then business. He served eight years in the U.S. Army on active duty as a combat engineer. As far as hobbies, he said he “fishes and golfs too much.”

If re-elected, he wants to finish work on a drainage plan and focus on ongoing problems like millage rates and the consolidation of boards.

Peggy Guidroz, Democrat, Houma

She has been married for 38 years to Nolan and has two children and a grandchild. At the age of 55, she has lived in Bayou Blue for 31 years. And she has an associate’s degree as a medical assistant.

She has not held public office before, but if elected she wants to be the fresh person with new ideas she believes the people in her district want. She stands for honesty, morals and integrity and claims she has paid for her entire campaign and owes no one any kind of political favor.

Albert L. Martin Sr., Democrat, Houma

Martin has been married for 15 years. He’s never held public office before. And he started the Bayou Blue Fire Department in December of 1963.

If elected, he wants to focus on the drainage and road problems in his district.

“Matt” Matherne, Other, Bourg

Matherne, 70, has six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His wife passed away four years ago. He holds a master’s license in marine navigation and a captain’s license in aircraft. He considers himself to be semi-retired and owns both a mobile home park and a seafood business.

He has previously served on the Lafourche Parish Council for eight years. If elected, he wants to answer constituents’ phone calls, make visits to their homes to evaluate their problem, and try to tend to those issues. In his district he wants to add a pumping station at the end of Hollywood Canal and either remove the damn at St. Louis Canal or install the proper flood control structures.

District 6

(I) Lindel Toups, Democrat, Gheens – Unopposed

Toups comes from a family of 19 children, including himself. He was the seventh son. He is married with two children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He has served on the parish council for 12 years.

Running unopposed, Toups will continue to focus on drainage, roads and pumps. He will also look at trimming down some of the board in the parish.

District 7

Horace “Pete” Adams, No Party, Larose

Adams is 66 and describes himself as being semi-retired. He is running for office for the first time.

If elected, Adams wants to address the specifics of drainage – mainly the ditch digging itself. He knows of three ditches dug by the parish that seemed to lack any kind of engineering oversight or surveying. He says the sides are falling into these ditches, which were dug like boxes.

Ernest P. Boudreaux Sr., Democrat, Lockport

Boudreaux, 56, has been married to Annie for eight years. He has two children and five grandchildren. He served as the Chief of Police in Lockport for 16 years, being elected four times. He has also worked as a crane operator for three years. He has also been a deer hunter for the last 15 years.

He believes his experience as a police chief and a construction worker will help him address the drainage issue. He thinks some of the levees need to be worked on and the priorities in the parish need to be adjusted to focus on drainage.

(I) L. Phillip Gouaux, Democrat, Lockport

Multiple attempts to contact this candidate for information went unanswered.

District 8

Alces P. Adams, No Party, Cut Off

Adams, 49, has been a freelance reporter for the Lafourche Gazette since November of 2004. He received a bachelor’s degree in general studies from Nicholls State University with a minor in history. He has never held public office before and this is his fifth attempt at running.

He believes the parish council has been making laws without paying attention to details, making the laws ineffective. And he wants propose a charter amendment to remove the parish president from the parish council. He said the purpose of the charter is to separate the legislative and executive branches and making this amendment would make the whole document more consistent.

James Dantin, No Party, Cut Off

Dantin has been married since 1962 and is 64 years old. He is disabled. He has not held public office before and has taken some classes at Nicholls State University.

If elected, he wants to focus on the drainage, health and safety issues and water pollution in the parish. He also believes there is too much red tape involved in getting building permits in the parish and not enough inspectors are available.

Rodney Doucet, Democrat, Cut Off

Doucet will turn 51 this Nov. 2. He has been married to Jan for 32 years, has three sons and has two grandsons. He has worked as an electrician refrigeration technician for 30 years and currently works as the branch manager at Teche Electrical Supplies in Golden Meadow.

He has been the youth minister at Sacred Heart church in Cut Off for the last 21 years and believes the experience he has gained from the position makes him a very good leader, capable of resolving differences to move forward.

“Kris” Gaudet, Republican, Cut Off

Gaudet, 34, is married and has one daughter. His nickname is an abbreviation of “Kristian,” which was his Scandinavian mother’s doing, he explained. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwestern State University.

This election marks Gaudet’s first run for public office. If elected, he wants to bring the parish council back to business by making good funding and business decisions.

John “Beaver” Griffin Sr., Democrat, Democrat

Griffin turned 50 last September. He is single and has five children. He takes his nickname from the classic TV show “Leave it to Beaver.” He has been a carpenter for 25 years and owns “Beaver’s Carpentry,” which has the slogan, “Built damn tough.”

Griffin is running for office for his first time. If elected, he wishes to focus on drainage problems he believes should have been addressed four years ago. And as a homebuilder, he wants to address building codes to reduce construction costs.

District 9

Billy “on the bayou” Cheramie, Democrat, Galliano

Cheramie, 43, is disabled and was a barber. He also served in the U.S. Army for eight years. He received training at the special operations school and at the infantry airborne school. He went on cover missions and has been married to Michell for 20 years. He has one son. Cheramie is a Shriner Clown and a 4-H counselor and leader. He became disabled after being struck by an uninsured, drug-using driver.

If elected, Cheramie wants to bring “unity” back to “community.” To do this, he wants to fulfill the role of being the communicator for the parish council.

(I) Daniel Lorraine, Democrat, Golden Meadow

Lorraine is 54 and has been married to his wife Loretta for 35 years. He has two daughters, ages 24 and 29. He’s served on the parish council since 1984.

As the incumbent, he believes he has kept his district in tip-top shape, the best in the parish, and he wants to continue to focus on drainage, bridges, a cleaner environment and roads.

“(I)” denotes incumbency.