Terrebonne candidates vie for three council seats

Three Terrebonne Parish Council incumbents are in runoff races in the Nov. 17 election this Saturday.

Two of the incumbents received fewer votes than their challengers in the Oct. 20 primary.

District 9 Councilman Pete Lambert, a Democrat, is confronting stiff opposition from Danny Henry, who previously held the District 9 seat for two terms. Henry led Lambert 46 percent to 38 percent in the primary.

Lambert, 56, works as a telephone line repairman and is a Vietnam veteran. He will push for hurricane protection and infrastructure improvements in the southern part of Lafourche Parish.

Henry, 52, a Republican, is a restaurant and hardware store owner. He is promising to focus on flood protection, drainage and building a St. Anne Bridge.

District 4 Councilmember Teri Cavalier, no party given, trailed Clayton Voisin Jr. in the primary 48 percent to 45 percent.

Cavalier, 45, works as a school counselor. She said she will secure funding to build needed sidewalks in her district, among other public works projects. She is also an advocate for improved mental health treatment facilities.

Republican Voisin, 41, is an operations manager for Warrior Energy Services and is making his first run for political office. In addition to dealing with drainage and flood protection, Voisin will work to improve recreational opportunities in the parish.

District 8 incumbent Councilman Peter Rhodes outpaced a crowded field of challengers in the primary, but still faces a runoff against Terrebonne Port Commission Vice President Joey Cehan.

Rhodes, 55, no party given, polled 30 percent of the district’s votes to Cehan’s 26 percent.

Rhodes owns Pete’s Appliance Service and is a former Terrebonne Parish School Board member. He said he is focusing on improving drainage, recreation, roads and bridges. He also said he has missed only one Terrebonne Parish Council meeting in eight years.

Democrat Cehan, 43, owns Kwik Kopy Business Center and is in his second run for political office. He said he will work on coastal erosion and drainage issues, as well as improving education and fighting crime.

Four other candidates are in the runoff to take over seats being vacated by incumbents.

In District 3, Democrat Billy Hebert, 61, who pulled in 39 percent of the district’s primary vote, is running against Floyd Bergeron (no party given), who tallied 24 percent of the vote in another crowded field of candidates.

Hebert, vice chairman of the board of the Terrebonne Parish Waterworks District, is in his first try for political office. He wants to regionalize garbage collection services and secure state funding to build public boat launches.

Bergeron, a retired oilfield products salesman, will deal with traffic and drainage problems, and is promising to watch government spending, restraining the money spent on hiring engineering firms.

In the District 5 runoff, former Terrebonne Parish School Board President John Pizzolatto, 71, is facing Otis Logue, former parish chief administrator.

Pizzolatto received 47 percent of the vote to Logue’s 34 percent.

Pizzolatto, a Republican, is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Louisiana National Guard and a former electrical and plumbing contractor.

Logue, also a Republican, is employed as a corrosion engineer and vice president of administration for Energy Services International. He was a founding member of the South Central Industrial Association.

Both Pizzolatto and Logue are not natives of Terrebonne Parish. Pizzolatto is from Baltimore, Md.; Logue is a native of Vicksburg, Miss.