Top 10 Newsmakers

1. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hitting the Tri-parish area was the top news story of 2008. Obeying a mandatory evacuation order, tens of thousands of residents left the area before Gustav landed on Sept. 1. Many evacuees using parish-provided buses complained that they did not know where they were being evacuated.

Forecasters predicted a monster storm, but, fortunately for the Tri-parishes, Gustav weakened before coming ashore, sparing most of the area significant flooding away from the coast. Still, the area experienced heavy wind damage as power lines were downed, signs were blown out and shingles were removed from roofs.

Controversy arose when Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet transferred power to Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois to oversee the parish while Gustav struck. Partly because of that action, Claudet has been the subject of a recall petition.

Probably the greatest inconvenience for residents was the electrical power outages following Gustav. Power companies worked hard to restore electricity as quickly as possible, but for most residences and businesses, electricity did not come back on until a week after the storm or later.

The Tri-parishes had to deal with Hurricane Ike a week-and-a-half following Gustav. Early projections showed Ike possibly hitting Louisiana, but the storm ended up striking Galveston. Still, Ike’s powerful outer bands pushed floodwater over levees in southern Terrebonne Parish, causing flood damage that still has not been entirely cleaned up. For the first time in memory, hurricane floodwaters reached the outskirts of Houma, resulting in even louder cries for hurricane protection levees to be constructed in Terrebonne.

2. Terrebonne Parish officials were informed in June that the cost to build the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane protection levees was increasing astronomically, from an original projection of around $1 billion to a new estimate of around $11 billion.

The main reason for the higher cost given by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the builder of Morganza, was that the levees would have to be built 8- to 11-feet higher than earlier projections, requiring wider bases and more earth and clay to compensate for greater subsidence.

Terrebonne Parish is constructing some Morganza levees as part of the 35 percent local match the federal government is requiring. The Terrebonne Levee District takes in around $6 million a year from a parishwide sales tax passed in 2001 to build the levees, but board president Tony Alford said the parish cannot afford even a $5 or $6 billion price tag for Morganza.

The Morganza project was authorized by Congress in 2007, but no definite funding was established.

Paying for the project was aided tremendously in September when it was announced that Terrebonne Parish was receiving $40 million from the state budget surplus to help fund Morganza. Surplus money was also directed to diverting fresh water into Bayou Lafourche ($20 million) and funding the federal Larose to Golden Meadow Hurricane Protection System ($15 million).

At a couple of appearances in Houma in 2008, U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) harshly criticized the corps for delays in starting to build Morganza, but he sounded more positive during the formal signing in December for the corps to build seven-and-a-half miles of levees near Dulac. In 2006, Vitter secured federal funding for those levees, which will provide a second line of protection behind the Morganza levees.

3. Bayou Blue native Ronald Dominique pled guilty in September to killing eight men in Terrebonne Parish between 1997 and 2005 and was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms by state District Court Judge Randall Bethancourt. The Terrebonne Parish District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

Dominque was not apprehended until 2006. He bound and raped his victims before strangling them and dumping the bodies.

In December in Lafourche Parish, Dominique also received a life sentence for the murder of Thibodaux resident Christopher Sutterfield in 2006.

At the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse, Dominique listened to relatives of his victims describe the pain of their losses during the Victim Impact Statement process.

Dominique will serve his sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

4. The death of longtime community leader and newly-elected Terrebonne Parish District 6 Councilman Leland Robichaux in early June resulted in an election being called to fill his seat on Oct. 4. However, damage from hurricanes Gustav and Ike postponed the primary election to Nov. 4.

Steve Robichaux, who works as a sales representative, and Kevin Voisin, a marketing representative for Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, were the top two vote-getters in a three man race, with Robichaux receiving 41 percent of the vote to Voisin’s 32 percent.

But Voisin, running on a platform to build more parks and green spaces, was able to turn the tables and eke out a 16-vote victory in the Dec. 6 runoff. Both men ran mainly positive campaigns.

Also at the Nov. 4 election, voters in Terrebonne Parish elected a new Houma city marshal and passed eight charter amendments, all of them technical changes.

Though elected in 2007, Michel Claudet was inaugurated as Terrebonne Parish president in January, succeeding Don Schwab, and Vernon Bourgeois was sworn in as Terrebonne Parish sheriff in June, replacing Jerry Larpenter.

In action taken as a result of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Claudet fired parish Office of Emergency Preparedness Director Jerrold Richard and saw David Battard resign his position as director of the parish’s Human Resources and Risk Management Department.

The Terrebonne Parish Council approved their replacements, Earl Eues and J. Dana Ortego respectively, in November. Eues is working as an outside contractor.

Newly-appointed Parish Manager Natalie Robottom left the position in February and was replaced by parish Planning Director Pat Gordon.

5. Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Martha Woods Shareef, a 15-year veteran with the force, was run over by a pickup truck and killed after responding to an early-morning burglary call in August at a convenience store in Chackbay.

Billy Daigle of Houma is accused of running over Shareef with a stolen pickup, then fleeing in the truck. Daigle was apprehended after state police and law enforcement from several parishes tracked him down.

In December, Daigle pled not guilty to a first-degree murder charge at the Lafourche Parish Courthouse. The District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty against him. A pretrial court date has been set for Jan. 29 in Thibodaux.

Shareef had been a special education teacher in the Lafourche Parish School System before joining the sheriff’s office in 1992 as a patrol deputy. A few years after becoming a deputy, she volunteered to go back into the school system as a DARE officer.

Shareef was well-known for her singing voice. A memorial sing-out was held in her honor at Moses Baptist Church and, later, her body was laid out at the Thibodaux Civic Center. She is buried in Morning Star Baptist Cemetery No. 1 in Thibodaux.

6. In February, the Lafourche Parish Council terminated the jobs of several Lafourche Parish department heads and accepted the resignations of others. Departments left without heads included Public Works, Community Services, Human Resources, and Finance. Parish administrator Cullen Curole also saw his position terminated by the council.

The mass vacancies forced Parish President Charlotte Randolph to scramble to fill the positions.

By early May, eight of the nine replacement appointments made by Randolph had been approved by the parish council, including a new parish administrator, Crystal Chiasson.

7. A new law requiring fuller financial disclosure for members of state boards and commissions, which went into effect July 1, caused at least 130 board members across the state to resign their positions. The law was passed at the first special state legislative session earlier in 2008, devoted to ethics reform.

Several of those resigning were statewide board members from Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, or sat on boards within Lafourche Parish.

Among the resignations were Juana Woodard of Houma and Angela Hammerli of Thibodaux, from the State Arts Council; Carol Leblanc with the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District; Sharleen Hotard with the Lafourche Parish Library Board of Control; Richard Guidry with the South Lafourche Levee District board, and all nine members of the Lafourche Tourist Commission.

“(The resignations are) an unintended consequence of good legislation,” said state Sen. Reggie Dupre. “They feel it’s not worth the invasion of privacy to disclose their finances at that level of government.”

8. Ed Richard’s four-and-a-half year tenure as Terrebonne Parish schools superintendent ended today after turning in his letter of resignation on Oct. 23. Assistant Superintendent Philip Martin is succeeding him as interim head until a permanent replacement is named.

Richard had a tumultuous relationship with the Terrebonne Parish School Board during the latter part of his tenure as superintendent, but for the first three years the relationship was smooth, he said.

Richard, who had worked in Terrebonne Parish schools for 37 years, said he did not know why relations between him and the school board deteriorated, but a rift opened in March 2007 when the school board voted 5-4 to renew his contract.

The career of Richard, a Houma native, included stints as principal at Upper Little Caillou Elementary and Houma Junior High before being named to replace Elizabeth Scurto as superintendent in 2004.

He cited as a highlight of his administration the way the school system handled the closings and damage caused by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.

Richard insisted he “loved every minute” of his career in the Terrebonne Parish School System, but said, “I’m not ready to retire. I just didn’t think I had any choice.”

9. A vehicle ferry carrying passengers to and from Avoca Island, a 16,000-acre private island lying across the Intracoastal Waterway from Morgan City, was targeted for possible elimination by St. Mary Parish Councilman Kevin Voisin in early December.

The parish pays $270,000 yearly to operate the ferry, which is pulled along underwater cables and is available every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The island only has one permanent resident, a caretaker, but the land is used by private hunting clubs, oil and gas companies and for cattle operations.

Voisin tried to suspend ferry service to the island by today, claiming the money the parish spends on the ferry could be better used on roads and infrastructure. The island is owned by Avoca Land Inc. of New Orleans.

Oil and gas companies with operations on the island have opposed Voisin, saying they pay severance taxes and royalties. One landowner on the island said he believes a bridge could be built to replace the ferry, operated by the same person who operates nearby locks.

“Why build a bridge to a hunting club?” Voisin said.

Avoca Land President Robert Baird has sent the St. Mary Parish Council a letter stating the group is interested in “reopening discussion regarding development on Avoca Island.”

10. A U.S. Marine from Lockport, Staff Sergeant Daniel Dupre, was killed by a sniper in July while leading his platoon on a classified mission in Ramadi, Iraq. Dupre, who left behind a wife and young son, was on his fourth tour of duty, having completed two in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.

The 28 year old knew he wanted to be a Marine early on, joining the Junior ROTC at Central Lafourche High School and enlisting immediately after graduation in 1998.

Dupre was known for his sense of humor and his dedication. A fellow Marine said he “died doing what he loved to do.”

A memorial was held at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. He is buried at Holy Savior Catholic Church.

Dupre’s death came more than three years after four members of the Louisiana National Guard 2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Brigade (the Black Sheep unit) from Terrebonne and Lafourche were killed when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by a roadside bomb on Jan. 6, 2005.