BATON ROUGE — Part of a $900,000 sculpture for a downtown Baton Rouge stage is being rebuilt because workers couldn’t make it fit.
Called “The Crest,” the stainless steel sculpture is supposed to top a stage in the city’s Galvez Plaza, holding rigging for concerts.
Workers began building the 65,000 pound, 35-foot-tall curved oval in mid-December, and it was originally expected to be complete in February. Now, it will be at least March, and the city is eyeing alternate sites for events scheduled for April.
Baton Rouge’s city-parish council approved the project in 2011 after concerns from some members over the project’s cost and structural soundness.
Another downtown park, Repentance Park, is nearing completion after weather delays. The $3.5 million project will include a hill and a 750-jet fountain.
Houma parade looking for riders
HOUMA — Houma’s Irish-Italian parade is set to roll on St. Patrick’s Day — March 17 — but organizers say its needs more riders.
S.P. LaRussa, who helped found the parade, said the parade will start at 1 p.m. and disband later at the Town Hall on Barrow Street.
A post-parade celebration at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center will feature Irish cabbage and Italian sausage dishes.
The fee to ride is $200 per person, but children accompanied by a guardian can ride for $100. Riders must buy their own throws.
LaRussa said people interested in riding can contact him at 985-872-0444.
Program to focus on commercial fishing
HOUMA — A program on seafood promotion and marketing for commercial fishermen will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Houma.
The program, titled, Louisiana Fisheries 2013, will take place at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, 346 Civic Center Blvd.
A dock day, including equipment demonstrations, is planned at the downtown marina in Houma.
Topics include a legislative update and tips on seafood promotion and marketing.
Sponsors include the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant.
More information is available by contacting Alan Matherne at amatherne@agcenter.lsu.edu or by phone at 985-873-6495.
Catholic school enrollment drops
BATON ROUGE, — New figures show enrollment in Catholic schools has fallen 18 percent statewide during the past 13 years.
Enrollment has dropped 9 percent in the Diocese of Baton Rouge since 2000 and has fallen 25 percent in schools that make up the Archdiocese of New Orleans, in part because of population losses after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
The numbers were compiled by the National Catholic Educational Association.
Enrollment totals 15,201 students in the Diocese of Baton Rouge compared to 16,784 at the turn of the century.
Melanie Verges, superintendent of schools for the diocese, said a wide range of factors have contributed to the drop.
Verges said economic concerns, the growth of public magnet and charter schools, and geographic shifts account for some of the losses.
Conveyer belt accident kills man
BURNSIDE — The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office says a 52-year-old man has died after getting caught in a conveyor belt at a terminal in Burnside.
He’s identified as Nolan Cormier, a man from Plaucheville who was living in Geismar.
Cormier died at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Gonzales after the accident Sunday morning at the Impala Burnside Terminal. The sheriff’s office says it is still investigating the accident.
The terminal moves bauxite and alumina and is being refurbished for general improvements and to add coal to the mix.
The company says operations were suspended after the accident.
Impala is a global warehousing and logistics company owned by Trafigura Beheer BV, a commodities trading and logistics company incorporated in the Netherlands.
South Louisiana, Mississippi get hail
NEW ORLEANS — The National Weather Service says a thunderstorm dumped golf-ball sized hail in Terrebonne Parish, 2 ½-inch hail in suburban New Orleans and pea-sized hail in Gulfport, Miss.
Forecaster Tim Destri says more bad weather is likely Monday across the Louisiana and Mississippi coast.
The weather service says hail about 2 ½ inches across was reported near Marrero, about 17 miles southwest of New Orleans.
Hail the size of golf balls was reported at a fire station in Marrero, about 17 miles southwest of New Orleans.
Destri says the weather service did not get any reports of damage from hail earlier Sunday in Terrebonne Parish, where quarter-sized hail was reported in Gray and golf-ball sized hail west of Gray, toward Gibson.
3-vehicle wreck kills driver
BASILE — Louisiana State Police say a driver who left his seat belt off has died after a three-vehicle wreck on U.S. 190 west of Basile.
Trooper Stephen Hammons says 26-year-old Dwayne Griffin of Kinder died shortly after arrival at a hospital.
Hammons says Griffin was heading west when his truck crossed the center line Saturday night and hit an east-bound truck and an SUV.
He says the other drivers and a passenger in the second truck all used their seat belts and suffered minor injuries.
The crash is still being investigated.
Airbase Fest set March 9 in Houma
HOUMA — The Houma Airbase Fest of music, crafts and food will take place March 9 at the Terrebonne Livestock Pavilion in Houma.
The first band takes the stage at 10 a.m. A listing of performers and stage times is online at www.airbasefest.com.
Tickets will be available at the gate. Tickets are $5 for adults ages 13 and over and $3 for children under 13. Children 4 and under will be admitted free.
Sentencing for former Jefferson Parish president
NEW ORLEANS — Former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, his ex-wife, Karen Parker, and former parish attorney Tom Wilkinson are scheduled for sentencing on federal corruption charges in a payroll fraud scheme.
Broussard also admitted taking kickbacks from a parish contractor.
Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Hayden Head, scheduled to sentence the three Monday, to reduce Broussard’s prison time for letting them avoid trial preparation by telling them early that he would plead guilty.
They’ve also said he should have to forfeit $280,200 in cash. That includes $160,400 paid in salary and benefits to Parker, $53,800 in salary and benefits for Wilkinson, and $66,000 from Kenner businessman William Mack.
From The Associated Press.
They and Broussard’s chief administrative officer, Tim Whitmer, pleaded guilty.
The government hasn’t sought to seize assets from the other four defendants.
Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon is scheduled to sentence Whitmer May 30 for misprision of a felony — knowing about the payroll scheme but failing to report it.
Mack pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. His sentencing is scheduled July 11 before Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown.
Six months after Broussard resigned as parish president, his Kenner home was seized for failing to pay his mortgage. When he pleaded guilty last year, he told Head he was living with his mother at her house in Kenner.
Catholic school enrollment drops in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, — New figures show enrollment in Catholic schools has fallen 18 percent statewide during the past 13 years.
Enrollment has dropped 9 percent in the Diocese of Baton Rouge since 2000 and has fallen 25 percent in schools that make up the Archdiocese of New Orleans, in part because of population losses after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
The numbers were compiled by the National Catholic Educational Association.
Enrollment totals 15,201 students in the Diocese of Baton Rouge compared to 16,784 at the turn of the century.
Melanie Verges, superintendent of schools for the diocese, said a wide range of factors have contributed to the drop.
Verges said economic concerns, the growth of public magnet and charter schools, and geographic shifts account for some of the losses.
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