Top 10 in News for 2018

TGMC names Duet Vice President of Clinical Ancillary Services
December 27, 2018
Dove eying change for some permitting approvals
January 2, 2019
TGMC names Duet Vice President of Clinical Ancillary Services
December 27, 2018
Dove eying change for some permitting approvals
January 2, 2019

The past 12 months have been loaded with news for folks in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

From school accomplishments to powerful election results – all the way to sweeping changes in recreation throughout Terrebonne Parish, the past year has come with change and momentum for a brighter 2019 ahead.

So let’s look back at some of the top newsmakers from 2018 ranked in order of significance as voted upon by our newsroom.


10. Parish president race begins early

Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove made clear at the start of 2018 that he plans to seek re-election to the post, which he has held since 2016. The parish president said he is “committed to the people of Terrebonne to completely finish these projects we have started over the past two years.”

The election will be held Oct. 12, 2019.


Dove will likely face opposition from former Parish President Michel Claudet, who has not announced officially but made a disclosure of his intention during a speech at a Republican Women’s Club meeting. Prior to that he already had a website up and running, www.michelclaudet.com which is paid for by “Friends of Michel Claudet.”

“When I walked out of the Government Tower for the last time as Parish President in January 2016, I was very content with the progress that we made during my eight years in office,” Claudet said. “Those eight years involved many big challenges, but together with the dedicated and hardworking employees of Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government and the resilient citizens of our parish, we always responded to every challenge with an even better solution.”

9. New jail opens in Lafourche


Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre proudly announced in December the pending opening of a new jail, replacing a structure whose design and operation have been described as draconian by inmate advocates, and which the sheriff has acknowledged over the years demanded replacement.

The new lockup, across from the old jail on La. 3185, has a stated goal of providing and ensuring “a safe, secure, efficient and constitutional, new-generation facility (which) shall serve and protect the community, the staff, and the inmates while seeking to return a productive citizen to our community through the use of technology, innovation, and comprehensive rehabilitative and re-entry initiatives.”

The $40 million, 125,000 square foot jail is set to open early in 2019.


8. Radioactive waste permit approved

The Terrebonne Parish Council approved a permit that will allow a recycling site in Gibson to handle NORM – an acronym for Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material. According to the U.S. Geological Service, NORM includes materials such as uranium, radium, and radon, dissolved in very low concentrations during normal reactions between water and rock or soil. Ground water found with oil deposits can have unusually high concentrations of dissolved materials built up over time.A zoning variance allowing the permit for Modern American Recycling Services, or MARS, squeaked through the Council by a 5 to 4 vote. The approval — marking a second bite of the apple by MARS executives, following a defeat last year — drew strong objections from Parish President Gordon Dove, who stated at the meeting that he would veto the measure. A veto was not possible, however, because the approval was made by motion and vote, and not the issuing of an ordinance.

7. Initial results announced from massacre site


Archeologists began work in May seeking to determine whether victims from a racial atrocity committed in 1887 lie beneath the earth of a Thibodaux lot that local oral history maintains is where they were unceremoniously dumped by their killer. Historians generally agree that between 30 and 60 black men and women were killed during the Nov. 23, 1887 rioting by whites sparked by an unending strike of sugar cane workers. Using ground-penetrating radar and manual coring, scientists from Tulane University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette searched for indications of a mass burial site on land adjoining the American Legion’s Raymond Stafford Post 513 on Narrow Street.

6. Lafourche schools rate an A and get a new chief

The Lafourche Parish School District earned an “A” rating in 2018 from the Louisiana Department of Education’s district performance score program. The overall grade of Terrebonne schools was a “B,” state records showed. The Lafourche district is now ranked third in the state for what is called “mastery growth”, with an increase of 6.43 percent based on old ratings from 2017 to 2018.


The school system’s chief, under whom the strides were made, will not be shepherding further progress, however. JoAnn Matthews has retired from her superintendent’s post, which she held for nearly 14 years.

A new superintendent, Louis Voiron, now holds the reins.

5. Lafourche squabbles continue


Bad blood between Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle and members of the Lafourche Parish Council – along with sideshows involving conflict between individual councilmen – continued unabated in 2018, with little hope for resolution in the new year.

Power struggles between the executive and legislative branches of the parish government resulted in stalemates on funding.

Cantrelle faced strong resistance concerning key personnel decisions. His firing of Community Action Director Freddia Ruffin-Roberson in July widened the gulf. Among issues in play was the question of whether the agency is controlled by the council or the parish president.


4. Former local priests among those on list of the disgraced

Ten priests who served at one time or another during their careers in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux are among those listed by the Archdiocese of New Orleans as having had credible accusations concerning sexual abuse of minors made against them. The archdiocese is among a growing number throughout the U.S. releasing such lists, which are seen as a step toward reconciliation after decades of alleged cover-ups.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is preparing its own list, expected to be released as soon as this month. Before the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was created in 1977, the geoergraphic area it now covers fell under the auspices of the Archdiocese.


Bishop Shelton Fabre addressed the issue of clergy who have abused minors – and shortcomings in the response of the church – during a general public statement.

3. Flood protection improvements continue

Drainage and storm protection have been a priority under the administration of Parish President Gordon Dove, and shall continue to be, he says, throughout the new year. Contracts were awarded and construction begun on a


190-foot-by-50-foot-by-28-foot floodgate barge for the Falgout Canal to be named for former Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Dagate.

A 30-inch hydraulic pump station with a debris screen and metal sump installed near Menard Road in Dularge is among improvements made throughout the parish, including upgrades of pumps and backup systems. Other strides made included completion of the Suzy Canal levee and pump station in Dulac, which includes telemetry. That site is part of a system that stretches north to the Ashland jail on La. 57. Such improvements have been expedited, but their benefits are not yet measured in practice, as we have been mostly storm free for more than a decade.

2. Sheriff tax request trashed at polls


Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, facing continued financial shortfalls in his department, sought to patch things up by requesting a ½ cent sales tax from voters. The shortfalls, he maintained, were due to plunging revenues that were part of a region-wide economic downturn. The tax, if passed, would have eased the Sheriff’s budget woes and also allowed, he said, for placement of a resource officer in every parish school, public or private. Social media posts expressing opposition snowballed during Larpenter’s high-pressure campaign for the tax, and it failed miserably on a November ballot. Without additional revenue and determined not to borrow money, as he had for two prior years, Larpenter and his staff engineered budget cuts that included a shutdown of a portion of the parish jail, with prisoners being shipped to jails hundreds of miles away. A total of 39 deputies were given dismissal letters, the bulk of them assigned to the jail.

The cost of having inmates tended to elsewhere– an estimated $2.5 million per year — would have been borne by the parish government. Parish President Gordon Dove and Larpenter fashioned an agreement that would allow for $1.5 million to be sent to the sheriff’s accounts. Most of the deputies who were to be dismissed were told they could keep their jobs. Some service cuts are expected this year, to offset the loss.

1. Recreation woes, overhaul continue in 2018


A bright spotlight – sometimes quite unwelcome – continued shining on some of Terrebonne Parish ‘s independent recreation districts in 2018, but also the department within the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. Leadership shakeups occurred in two Houma-area districts, which built and manage parks, playing fields and gyms. The entire board of District 2-3 was replaced, following the prior year’s difficulties which included a still-unresolved problem concerning accounting of money from concessions and potential conflicts between former board members who also worked for the parish recreation department.

That department was rocked by an allegation that former girls’ basketball coach Derrian Ajhani Williams, facing a criminal charge of human trafficking, was present at events involving young girls on a TPR team, despite being told by officials he was no longer allowed at games.

No allegations of misconduct other than the presence of Williams was alleged. But the plot thickened when photos surfaced of then-TPR Director Sterling Washington at those same events in the presence of Williams. Washington resigned his post and was replaced by former oilfield transportation executive Roddy Lerille.


Meanwhile, during an audit of TPR begun at Dove’s request, gate fees from a Babe Ruth League softball tournament were found to be missing, under Washington’s watch. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office commenced a criminal investigation which is on-going. A similar audit raised questions about equipment belonging to District 2-3 possibly going missing. But a later accounting determined that no theft had occurred. •

Recreation issuesKARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES