Baja St. Martin

We’ve been having some strange weather here lately. Must have been Wednesday or maybe Tuesday when the dog and I parked at the landing for our daily walk. The sun was shining, air still. We set out on our route but as I looked ahead I could see deep purple skies and sheets of rain coming down way ahead.

We headed back to the car, reaching it just as the wind began really roaring out of the north and the rain pounded down. When we got home, we sat in the car to wait for the rain to abate and then the hail began pelting the car. A few minutes later, the rain and hail stopped, the sun came out. About two hours later the wind began gusting from the north again, blowing over deck chairs and then more hail came down. Not much later and everything was clear and beautiful again. Crazy!

I have two ruby-throated hummingbirds visiting my feeder. I can hear the buzzing of their wings even though the window is closed. One day there were two, and obviously not friends since they flew madly around one another, like little kamikaze fighters. Since then it appears to be only one hummer or at least one at a time.

The price of crawfish is now down to $1.50. Four dollars a pound to buy already cooked. My husband bought 10 pounds last weekend and they were delicious but boy, that’s an expensive meal. We’ve heard that the ponds are now producing crawfish which is kind of late for them. Usually the pond crawfish come first and then the wild ones but the late cold weather has kept the pond water too cold until just recently.

By this time you’ve read the article in the Teche News telling you that the St. Martin Planning and Zoning Commission voted “NO” to the to the request of F.A.S. Environmental to have a section of our levee rezoned from woodland/residential to heavy industrial. We are so happy about this decision but know it isn’t the end. The commission gives its “no” recommendation to the Parish Council on June 3 and that vote will be the final and most critical one.

When we (the residents of Hwy. 997 where the rezoning site is located) learned about the F.A.S. plan, we moved into high gear, circulating a petition, contacting official people, putting signs of objection in yards and on April 3 some of us each gave our little appeal speech to the commission. F.A.S. was there also and we were so delighted when the commission unanimously voted to not recommend the rezoning request.

We wouldn’t even have known about this issue if Coach Delahoussaye hadn’t called a town meeting where F.A.S. speakers told us all about their plans, which they said they’d been working on for two years! That’s when we learned that as many as 40-50 tanker trucks per day, seven days a week, would be using out little section of Hwy. 997 to reach their desired new site. This is a narrow two lane road with no shoulders. You cannot safely ride a bike or walk on it now. If you try to move over for a car, you’re either in the levee ditch or the trees! Two school buses use the road twice a day. I hate to even think what would happen to property values with such traffic. It’s really scary to contemplate having our little piece of paradise here pretty much destroyed.

Anyway, we’ll be back on June 3 with more objections. We had 104 signatures on our first petition and every single person said they did not want this rezoning to happen. Belle River is a beautiful place and we don’t want it spoiled.