Baja St. Martin

Mr. Paulma Johnson will be coming to the Stephensville Fire station on April 16 to offer electric bill assistance to those who qualify. Bring proof of income, highest electric bill of the year, (2013), picture ID and Social Security card. He will be there about 9 a.m.

On April 24, the same day we distribute commodities, he will join us in Belle River in the new community meeting room around 9 a.m. for the same purpose.

Also on distribution days, representatives from the parish Council on Aging will join us in Stephensville and Belle River to explain what services they might offer. If you think/feel you might need something they can provide, call this number first so they can be better prepared: (337) 332-3063.

A situation recently arose when a person in Stephensville needed some COA help and it has become an ongoing issue making this outreach happen. I believe the current COA officials are trying to improve the delivery of their services, so that’s why they’re coming to our Food for Senior day. I certainly hope they are successful in their improvement because honestly, things right now are not acceptable.

Meanwhile, the latest in Belle River is the request of F.A.S. Environmental to have a portion of the levee here rezoned from woodlands/residential to heavy industrial for the purpose of relocating a transfer station onto this site. We, as you might guess, are appalled at this possibility since it would result in 40-plus tanker trucks using our narrow, two-lane highway every day, seven days a week, almost certainly destroying our road, creating a traffic hazard and air pollution, endangering our residents who would be trying to access their driveways, not to mention two school buses which pass every school day.

Some of us Belle River residents will attend the Planning & Zoning commission meeting to present our objections (and the petition we’ve circulated) and F.A.S. will present their request. Guy Cormier tells us the commission will hear both sides and then give their recommendation to the parish council which will vote yes or no on June 3. We’re hoping and praying for a no vote to the zoning change, of course.

If you’ve never been here, Belle River is a very small community, spaced along one road (Hwy. 997), on a narrow strip of land between the river, the road and the spillway levee. We have no street lights, no sidewalks, no subdivisions, and only one stop sign at the corner of Hwy. 70 and Hwy. 997 where you turn to cross the bridge and head to Pierre Part. We do have a wonderful public boat landing which is just past the place where F.A.S. wants rezoning. This is used by all the crawfishermen and all the sport fishermen. Right now, the public boat landing is packed. Crawfish are biting and so are the bass.

It’s quiet here – peaceful, scenic, relatively crime-free and the air is clean. We don’t want that to change. And we want to thank Coach (Parish Councilman Carroll) Delahoussaye for organizing a town hall meeting about this issue for us. We wouldn’t even have known of F.A.S’s plan if not for Coach. And thanks to President Cormier who moderated the town hall meet and did a fine job of keeping everything well behaved. I’ll be sure to let you know what happens.

Last but not least, don’t forget that D.A. Phil Haney is hosting a lunch on April 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for all Lower St. Martin veterans. Shirley Akers is masterminding this chance for our local vets to get together for a meet-and-greet and to hear from a Veterans Affairs officer. Call me if you’re a vet and want to come: (985) 513-8622. So we will know how much food to prepare.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be e-mailed at lcooke9417@bellsouth.net.