2006 REVISITED * YEAR IN REVIEW

For many, 2006 marked a return to the basics. Homeowners leveled by the previous year’s hurricane season continued to rebuild, hopeful that the “Road Home” would be the one most traveled. The Tri-parishes’ flourished economically and invested much energy in ensuring citizens were protected from future storms. Despite the defeat of a one-cent tax measure in Terrebonne Parish to build levees and a lock on the Intracoastal Canal Waterway, lawmakers remained positive that monies will be found for the added storm protection.

Repairing our damaged coastline may have had most of us preoccupied in 2006, but the biggest news story of the year came Dec. 1 when authorities arrested serial killer Ronald Dominique. The Bayou Blue resident later admitted to police he killed 23 men in six parishes over the last 10 years.

January

The South Houma Memorial Fire Station opened at the corner of St. Charles and Valhi streets. The station serves over 35,000 residents, and was built at the recommendation of the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana n the organization that grades state fire departments.

Law enforcement quickly zeroed in on armed robbers following a spade of incidents at several local hotels last January. In all, the two gunmen robbed four hotels, causing Houma Police and the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office to issue a warning to workers and guests. In March, deputies arrested three men n Thomas Cenac, 19, of Houma; Garett Domingue, 19, of Morgan City; and Daniel Faye, 20, of Houma n for a string of robberies between November 2005 and March 2006.

And in January 2006, Terrebonne Parish leaders took the lead in banning smoking parishwide in all public and government buildings, sports arenas and restaurants without liquor licenses. By year’s end, state lawmakers enacted a similar law.

Four months after Hurricane Katrina abruptly closed Grand Isle State Park, the 7-mile island reopened in late January. “The people are suffering over here,” the park’s director Scooter Resweber said at the reopening. “We need to get the tourists back to the island.”

February

The month got under way with some tough news: Bids for the La. 1 improvement project were postponed to summer. The decision was made after officials determined the costs in the highway construction market were still excessive in the post-Katrina shakeout.

Levees also remained a concern. Local and state lawmakers began bouncing about an idea to post a .25-cent sales tax and three to five mills to help provide hurricane protection across the parish’s low-lying areas until Congress could appropriate money for the Morganza to the Gulf project.

Former Terrebonne Parish District 2 Councilman Wayne Thibodaux was named the Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority director. He manages Senator Circle and Bayou Towers n 517 units of public housing in Houma.

Talk first surfaced that the Belle of Orleans’ owners were interested in relocating the riverboat casino to St. Mary Parish. The owners, Fort Mitchell, Ky.-based Columbia Sussex Corp., would later ask voters to approve a referendum to move the boat to Amelia, just east of Morgan City.

Back in Terrebonne Parish, the first contracts were awarded to begin work on three miles of the 72-mile Morganza to the Gulf hurricane protection system. The initial work began in the Pointe-Aux-Chenes area, north of Island Road.

And with Do-It-Yourself (DIY) cameras rolling, work continued on 12 Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity homes on Bayou Blue Bi-Pass Road.

March

As more hurricane victims settled in the Tri-parish area, local schools began to feel the effects of overcrowding. Terrebonne Parish found itself with about 616 more students than it began the school year with, according to officials.

Looking for ways to generate much-needed revenues, Terrebonne Parish government officials continued to toy with the idea of raising the sales tax by a quarter-cent or liquidating assets, including the civic center and Terrebonne General Medical Center. The major concern: The parish’s ailing drainage levees.

It didn’t take police long to track down and arrest Romalis Gordon Jr., 34, of Houma, after he allegedly fatally shot two women at Lucky’s Casino in Bayou Blue. Assistant manager Schaeffer Francis, 29, and security guard Brenda Roberson, 63, were killed.

The Terrebonne Parish Council and the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District inked a deal assigning maintenance of the parish’s drainage levees to the levee district. The parish allocated $5.7 million for upkeep of Ward 7 tidal levees in the intergovernmental agreement.

Lafourche Parish opened a new animal shelter in Thibodaux on Hwy. 3185. The parish-run facility consists of a kennel and an administrative building. The facility is open six days a week, and provides spaying and neutering of animals in the shelter and a Web site for adoptions.

And after years of discussion and planning, officials finally broke ground on the Morganza to the Gulf project. “This is a great day for the future of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes,” said Jerome Zeringue, executive director of the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District.

April

Residence Plantation, located on Park Avenue, was added to Houma Local Historic District’s preservation list, thanks in large part to an expansion in the city’s district boundary. The site has been in W.J. Gaidry’s family for generations.

Terrebonne Parish teachers benefited from the post-storm economic boom. They were given a 2 percent pay hike and a one-time $1,000 bonus for certified teachers and $500 bonus for non-instructional employees. “…the concern that we have is for losing good teachers,” Board member Roosevelt Thomas said. “I am hoping this will entice them to want to stay within the system.”

The best guesstimates came in April: The Tri-parish’s population increased 6- to 7 percent following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Housing demands, overcrowding in schools and an influx in traffic were almost immediately felt across the region.

After months of debate, the Terrebonne Parish adopted stricter building codes. With the hope of avoiding damage similar to that experienced in the wake of the 2005 hurricane season, local lawmakers adopted the mandates issued by the State Legislature despite criticism from local builders. Lafourche Parish would soon follow suit, adopting the state’s building codes the following month.

May

With another hurricane season closing in on Louisiana, Mike Deroche, Terrebonne Parish’s director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, and local officials began updating the region’s hurricane plan. In addition to rethinking the evacuation process, the plan addresses changes in communication advances, fuel supplies and shelter issues.

Daniel Scott was named fire chief of the Houma Fire Department. He replaced Brian Hebert, who retired in early-October. The Grand Caillou native had over 24 years with the HPD before retiring in 2004. Returning as chief fulfilled his life-long dream, he said.

Thibodaux’s Civic Center reopened its Plantation Room. Hurricane Katrina forced the center staff to pull the bottom four feet of walls, replace doors and add a fresh coat of paint. The arena is scheduled to reopen in March 2007.

Just as Terrebonne Parish had to fork over $1.2 million more for dirt to complete Ward 7 levee improvements, the parish’s levee district was given the green light to seek a one-cent sales tax. The monies were to have been dedicated to levee upgrades across the parish.

Opposition to FEMA’s Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps continued to mount in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. A series of public hearings were held through late-August to allow for public input. At the Louisiana Recovery Authority’s threat of being disallowed future Road Home dollars, Terrebonne Parish adopted the maps. Lafourche Parish, however, stood firm in refusing adoption of the ABFE maps.

June

Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre added a new weapon to his arsenal: Radar boxes. Presented to the department by the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, the boxes were put into play just in time for the “100 Days of Summer Heat” campaign to catch speeders.

Terrebonne Parish got a $30 million boost in the arm courtesy of Congress last June. U.S. lawmakers approved the money for repairs to the interim levees while the region still sought funding for the Morganza to the Gulf project. To help plead its case, the parish council approved $30,000 yearly to join the Morganza Action Coalition, a group lobbying Washington for additional funds.

As June came to a close, local lawmen were fighting a seemingly never-ending battle against the local illicit prescription drug trade. Calling it one of the region’s “Top Five” problems, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter and other lawmen teamed with local pharmacists to catch those passing forged prescriptions and “doctor shopping.”

July

In a battle that would pit the Lafourche Parish Council against Parish President Charlotte Randolph, news broke in July that the parish owed $5 million for a sandbag replacement system used during Hurricane Katrina. After months of haggling, FEMA finally agreed to repay the parish for the bill. Legal questions still surround the bill, since the tubes that kept water from topping Lafourche levees weren’t used the full time U.S. Flood Control is charging. It’s an issue that will leak over into the coming year.

When Morgan City bar owner George “Tim” Thimmesch III was reported missing, police were hopeful the 57-year-old businessman had simply gone fishing. But when blood was found on a pool stick inside his bar and his truck was gone, police feared the worst. It would be days before a Morgan City couple n Greg Daigle, 28, and Angelica Sauce, 27 n would be arrested in relation to the murder. The 1999 Chevrolet would later be recovered along with Thimmesch’s body.

August

West Nile found its way to Lafourche Parish in August. A Lafourche man contracted the asymptomatic case of the illness. In response, Lafourche and Terrebonne parish officials stepped up spraying, a process that continued through the end of the year.

As students headed back to class, school officials braced for the unknown: How many displaced hurricane victims would be enrolling in local schools. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita left many displaced the previous school year, they sought refuge n and an education for their children n in the Tri-parishes. With many schools already facing overcrowding because of growth in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, having enough room was a big concern.

By mid-August, however, officials determined that most evacuees that fled to the Tri-parishes had returned home.

As the Aug. 29 anniversary of Katrina approached, locals found unique ways to mark the occasion, including heading to the movies. Local blues guitarist Tab Benoit was among those to star in “Hurricane on the Bayou,” an IMAX documentary on the state’s disappearing coast.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and state officials toured the area in late August to open a local Road Home office and promise more relief. The tour also included a stop at the Leonard Chabert Medical Center, which was inundated with patients after New Orleans’ charity system was closed.

September

Urging passage of a one-cent sales tax for Terrebonne levees, parish officials held a series of community meetings touting the issue. Despite the extra push, the measure failed by about 200 votes. By year’s end, with Ward 7 levee issues plaguing Terrebonne Parish, council members were rethinking the tax, planning a possible second attempt at passage in 2007.

The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office expanded its operations to the old parish library on Russell Street in Houma. Renovating the library created much-needed space.

September marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Rita’s landfall, too. As rebuilding continued along the lower end of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, commemorations of the event were low-key.

October

For the last 10 years, Jane Campeaux Jabert of Cut Off has religiously played the same Powerball numbers. In October, the gamble payed off when her single ticket matched the $15 million numbers. The winning ticket was purchased at Debra’s Movie World.

Just as Jabert’s life changed, so too did the lives of children entering foster care after Hurricane Katrina. Abuse cases in Terrebonne Parish rose 16 percent, according to officials.

The Plantation Inn of Houma was also feeling the after-effects of Katrina in September when eight New Orleans residents filed a class action lawsuit against the hotel amidst allegations of racism. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The suit names the company, its owner Maya Mallick and manager Virginia Maxwell.

And schools in the Tri-parishes received word that overall the “No Child Left Behind” standards are being met. Although not all schools elected to complete all aspects of the state’s Testing and Accountability Program after the previous year’s devastating hurricane season, the figures still showed overall improvement among the local school systems.

November

The big news locally was the Nov. 7 election. Congressman Charlie Melancon was re-elected after a long race against state Sen. Craig Melancon. South Lafourche votes approved a one-cent sales tax to elevate the 44-mile ring levee that surrounds the area. And area parish council, school board and port commission races were decided.

The nursing shortage at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center continued to be a chief concern for hospital administrators. L.E. Fletcher Technical Community College’s Allied Health Program sought to help fill the gap, teaming with the hospital to train nurses and health professionals.

Fletcher also scored locally with its “Pathways to Reconstruction” program. The free classes teach students carpentry work and helps fast-track them into the local workforce to help with the rebuilding process.

The Houma-Thibodaux Diocese was warded $20 million from the State Bond Commission for improvements at its schools and office building. Officials announced plans to upgrade E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux, Maria Immacolata Church in Houma, Holy Savoir Elementary School in Lockport, St. Mary’s Nativity Church in Raceland and the Diocese’s headquarter off of La. 311 in Schriever.

December

The Tri-parish area was stunned to learn that a serial killer, Ronald Dominique, had been living among us. The 42-year-old Bayou Blue man was arrested Dec. 1. He has since confessed to killing 23 men in six parishes over nearly a decade. A gag order has been issued in the case, which authorities have said could be one of the most significant serial killer cases in the nation. Investigators continue reviewing past unsolved murders to see if there is a link to Dominique.

Days later, the area would be shocked to learn two Lafourche Parish deputies had been shot in the line of duty. Fortunately, Deputy Roland Guillot and Deputy Bridget Rupe survived the shooting and the two gunmen, cousins from Georgia headed to California to make a movie, were arrested.

Some said Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s call for a special legislative session was dead before it ever began. The 10-day session produced little substance for the Tri-parishes, and did even less for improving the region’s coast in preparation for the next hurricane season. Lawmakers will reconvene in 2007 to determine how best to spend the state’s tax surplus.

Dead too for 2006 is the Morganza to the Gulf project. The WRDA bill was tabled shortly before Congress closed shop for the year. Local lawmakers have promised to revisit the issue when the new Congress convenes.

2006 REVISITED * YEAR IN REVIEW