Fr. Taj Gladd

"You're new parochial vicar has finally arrived," boisterously acclaimed Reverand Taj Van Courtlan Gladd as he introduced himself during his first mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church on a Monday in late June. A day later in his first homily, he proclaimed, "Today's Gospel passage serves as an example to learn from. For the Christian life and as well as the Church can certainly be compared to that boat that we read about this morning because just like that boat the Church and the Christian faithful who make up the Church have to go through many storms that will threaten to capsize and sink it." He continued, "But 2000 years later, we are still standing for the Lord Jesus promised Peter that the gates of Hell will never prevail against His Church, and we can certainly take Him at His word."
The thirty-two old Crowley native earned a Bachelor in Philosophy from St. Joseph's Seminary College in 2009 and earned a Master's Degree in Divinity from Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corner, WI. The 2002 graduate of Crowley High School has come full circle from his first assignment as a priest at St. Pius X in Lafayette to serve the parishes of Sacred Heart and St. Joseph along with the mission chapel in Belair Cove. He feels very much at home here coming  from Crowley and is looking forward to learning French.
Fr. Gladd described how to weather these current storms such as police shootings and civil protests and how to transform our society.  He said the foundation for the Christian life especially during these storms is prayer. "Prayer is of the utmost importance," he said. "That one-on-one relationship with the Lord is not only important in the Christian life, but prayer is our answer against Satan and the world and all of their attacks because we've become indifferent to the reality that Satan is at work."
Related to this is the importance of praying as a family "because we see in our day and time the family is under a blatant violent attack never before seen in the history of our nation." He went on to say, "Marriage and family is the basis of every single society, and it continues to be so. It's no surprise that Satan is going after the family because that's at the very core of society. If he can take down the family that is the foundation of everything, then everything else goes with it."
He then stressed the importance of not only the family Rosary but the family devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "One of the devotions that has been around for some time is enthroning the family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary for that the family will always be guided by His teaching and His guidance," he said. "When we stop praying, we're leaving our families and those that we love unprotected, and Satan can go right at them without any problems. So it's important to keep these devotions that the power of Satan will not overcome even with his attacks."
The next step in building the foundation of the Christian life as Fr. Gladd noted is the importance of bringing our children to mass and building that foundation in them at the earliest age possible. "It's important to plant that seed at the earliest age possible and to nurture it that it may grow in them," he said. "And once they stand in front of the bishop when they're sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit at their Confirmation they can say with great fervor and devotion and love for God that great Amen with such faith and devotion."
Once that foundation is instilled in our lives and the lives of our family, then can we go out into the world and transform it. As Fr. Gladd often stresses, "The Second Vatican Council has been clear on this that transforming the society is not the job of priests and the monks, but that responsibilty belongs to the faithful." In doing this responsibilty we need to continually pray for the virtue of courage "for our Lord sends us out as sheep in the midst of wolves." Fr. Gladd describes this courage as "not a mere absence of fear as the world tells us but true courage is doing what is right in the eyes of God in the face of that fear in spite of that fear."
As the new parochial vicar puts it, "One of the latest dismissals we have in the latest Roman Missal is 'Go in peace glorifying the Lord by your life.' If we do not live the faith, how do we expect to give it? As our Lord says, 'Nemo dat quod non habet.'" This means nobody can give what he does not have.

Chataignier Council Meeting

The Chataignier Village Council met in its regulary scheduled meeting Monday night and discussed a half-shell business coming to the village that is turtle powered.
Village Clerk Rhonda Miller reported to the council, "a new resident in town (Leo Bayard, IV) is wanting to open a turtle farm." She commented, "that is quite a business."
Miller reported the business is very regulated.  "They have specific things that they have to pay attention to," she said. "They have to filter the water through a system so it's constantly clean."
The clerk went on to report Bayard is fully licensed, and the business is regulated by the State. The purpose of the farm according to Miller is to harvest turtles with a clean bill of health to ship overseas for cancer research.
Mayor Jackie Thomas commented the council will "bring it back to next month's meeting or whichever time that (Bayard) will actually think that he will be available to present all of his information to us and then therefore we can move on and vote."
Thomas then reported the village came out third place in a hen cookoff this past weekend in Ville Platte. She said the cookoff could spark a similar contest in Chataignier. "The person sponsoring the hen cookoff said why don't you come and represent your village and then in turn we'll come and maybe do something and help you guys out to start some kind of cookoff or some type of entertainment here in the Village of Chataignier as to where we don't have anything to offer, so I figure that could be an opportune time to go out there and in turn they may just come here," said the mayor.
Gale McDavid, the village administrator, quipped, "If we get the turtle farm, we could have a turtle cookoff."
In other business
The council approved hiring Justin Darbonne as a seasonal worker for grass cutting.
The council approved to continue using The Gazette as the official municipal journal.

Allen's Barber Shop

                Years ago small town America was dotted with mom-and-pop businesses all along the main streets. The Andy Griffith Show regularly captured this piece of americana in a fictional town of Mayberry with such places as Floyd's Barber Shop.

                Through the years these businesses have been replaced by "big box stores" that left main streets looking more like ghost towns. However; on Main Street in downtown Ville Platte there is one business that reminds people of a time long ago in Mayberry. This business is Ville Platte's version of Frank Lawson's shop and is called Allen's Barber Shop.

                Allen Monier on a Thursday afternoon sat down on an old bench in the corner of his shop and shared his thoughts on why his business has remained open all these years. With pride in his shop he brags, "I think we have one of the best shops in town plus we have some people that are very dedicated to it."

                He also attributed it to the fact that he has a "very clean shop." Monier pointed out a sign above the barber chairs that reads "Family Barber Shop Watch Your Language Please." He added, "Mommas can come in with their young child and not be afraid of hearing bad language."

                One can argue the main reason it has stayed open is that it has adjusted to the times and has employed a new kind of worker that was once foreign to the barber shop. This new kind of worker is female barbers. "Beauty shops were beauty shops, and barber shops were all barber shops," explained Monier. He loves the fact that people's attitudes are changing "big time" about having women cutting their hair. It was once considered taboo for a woman to go into a barber shop.

                Working at the shop now are Brittany LaFleur, Emily Knowles, Rebecca Rozas, and Samantha Fontenot. They went to beauty school, and Monier pushes them to go before the barber board to get their licenses. As he put it, it is "for their own good because when I'm gonna be gone they'll be able to make a living."

                This new workforce creates a new line of services provided in the barber shop such as provide highlights, coloring, and perms along with the traditional cuts. Knowles joined the conversation and described the process of highlighting hair. "We section it how we need it," she began. "Then we take out the pieces, apply the bleach, let that process, then wash it out and style it." She went on to describe the difference between a highlight and a lowlight. "Highlight is like when  you apply bleach so you're making it lighter," she pointed out. "Lowlight is when you're making certain pieces darker."

                Monier provided a another reason of his business's success, which is "keep things the same as they are now." He added, "I don't see any changes. We do everything so why change when something is good going."

                His son David, who now owns the barber shop, came in and sat on an old school desk adding his thoughts on his dad's place of business. He credits it to "friendliness of the staff and customer satisfaction." He also credited it to his dad's "hard work in building this business up for many many years and keeping it going."

                Allen Monier, the son of Marcellus Monier and Izola Soileau, was married to Genevieve Monier who died in 2009. He also has a brother Ellis who lives in Lafayette. He joined the National Guard after high school, and then the Korean War began. Being one of the few in his unit able to type, he became company clerk for his company operating out of battalion headquarters taking care of all the paperwork.

                Returning to Ville Platte after his time in the service, he worked five years at Cabot and got laid off twice before going to barber school in Beaumont in 1958. "I got married, and had a child, and built a house, so I thought it was time to do something else," he explained. "So I went to barber school."

                He began cutting hair at Deluxe Barber Shop between the old Cleco and the Rexall Drug Store. "Mrs. G. Ardoin owned that property, and it was passed down to her only adopted daughter," recalled Monier. "She was a New York train orphan. That's Burke Eastin's momma."

                Monier recalled one instance cutting hair back then that is called "The Miracle on Christmas Eve." Shoppers at G. Ardoin's and West Brothers lined the street in the area of the shop. The shop was full then as Monier was cutting a flat top for the old fire chief Rynell Smith. The old police chief Robert Landreneau was still in high school at the time. Monier recalled "he was sitting in down in the first chair, and he was a tall lankey fellow." Lloyd Joubert and his son were also waiting.

                A truck pulled up and "parked right in front of the shop." A guy from Turkey Creek got down with his wife to go shopping G. Ardoin's and left their two children in the truck with a shot gun in the gun rack. "These kids were playing, and one of them hit the trigger," recalled Monier. "That shot went underneath the chairs all the way and lodged in the end of the shine stand."

                David Monier says it is called a miracle because "nobody got killed, and nobody got hurt." His dad added, "I promise you it seemed like 30 seconds before there were two couples that met and stopped, and they talked right in the line of fire. They just moved away and bam it went off. Lloyd Joubert said, 'I believe we'll come back another time.'"

                While his dad said this, the junior Monier laughed saying, "I think so."

                The elder Monier said how he worked 10 years at the Deluxe Barber Shop before he bought the property and opened up his current shop. He reflected on what he wants his legacy to be. "I want this shop to stay a barber shop for a long long time after I'm gone," he said. "I gave it to my son David, and I would like for him to keep operating it as a barber shop. I would like for this to stay the way it is for a long time."

                Charles Kuralt hosted a segments on CBS Sunday Morning called "On the Road." For these segments he travelled the back roads of the country in search of real American people and their way of life. He never came to Ville Platte, but he would say of Allen's Barber Shop, "...it is as it was meant to be..."

Sacred Heart falls to OC in the district finale

The 15th ranked Lady Trojans of Sacred Heart with an overall record of 12-8 looked to improve on their 0-3 record in district play as they hosted the 14th ranked Opelousas Catholic Lady Vikings. There was no joy in Mudville on this warm Tuesday afternoon because the home team succumbed to untimely hitting and costly fielding mistakes to go down  10-1.
"I think we got three hits the whole game," said Glen Lafleur after his team's loss. "We gave them a few (runs) in the first inning with a bunch of errors and mistakes, mental mistakes. But, they just beat us. We just didn't hit the ball like we did this weekend, and that will kill you. You can't protect your pitcher that way."
Baylee Veillon allowed four runs in the top of the first inning as the first four hitters crossed the plate. The carnage ended when Kara Aguillard  turned a gritty unassisted double play at third base with runners on second and third. The Lady Trojans got the lead off batter on base in the bottom of the inning as Caroline Fontenot worked a walk. She came around to score on a looping base hit from Aguillard that fell in between the third baseman and left fielder. After one complete inning of play, Opelousas Catholic led 4-1.
Veillon collected herself on the mound for a shut down inning in the top of the second giving up only a lead off walk, but the Lady Trojans went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Vikings loaded the bases in the top of the third with nobody out. Aguillard snagged a ball that was hit at her direction and promptly threw home to record the force out. Gabbie Andrepont then threw down to first base to complete the double play but was unsuccessful as the base runner reached safely. The inning was extended, and the visitors went on to tack on two runs to go up 6-1. The Lady Trojans again went up-and-down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Veillon showed her tough nerve on the mound again in the top of the fourth for another shut down inning. In the inning there were no runs, one hit, no errors, and one left on base. The visitors would tack on two runs in the next inning to go up 8-1.
The top of the sixth was another shut down inning for Veillon. Caroline Fontenot took one for the team to begin the bottom of the inning. The next batter up Logan Shipp bunted for a base hit that put runners on the corners with no outs. After a strikeout of Sydney Fontenot, Aguillard took one for her team as well to load the bases. Laura Beth flied out to the pitcher, and the side was retired as Andrepont went down 6 to 3 for those scoring at home. The Lady Vikings then added two runs in the top of the seventh for the ninth and tenth runs of the afternoon.
Due to a quirk in the schedule, this was the final district game for Sacred Heart who have three games remaining on the schedule including Iota from Class 3-A and a Bolton team that previously defeated the Lady Trojans' final opponent Pine Prairie.

Mamou at Dunham

With his Mamou team entering the playoffs, John Jack tried to keep everything as normal. "We look at it as just another game, but on the same token it's a little different- it's a playoff game," he said. "So we know the implicatons, and we just gonna try to play with what we been doing at this point."
He admitted that his team was "gonna try to mix it up a little bit" against Dunham, but he stressed "it's just another road game."
On the other end of the court, Jonathan Pixley's plan "was to try to force tempo and play in transition as much as we could."
Jack's game plan translated well onto the court on the defensive end, but offensivley his team struggled to make its shots. In the end fatigue set in as Mamou could not keep up with the pace of the game. It was Dunham that advanced onto the second round scoring 66 points to Mamou's 48.
"I thought they shot the ball extremely well, and I knew they were a permiter team, and they certainly proved it tonight," said Jack about the Dunham team. "We had our chances. We missed a lot of easy opportunities in the first half."
"In the first half they matched our intensity very well and did exactly what I expected them to do coming in here for a playoff game," said Pixley. "They wanted to continue their season, and so did we. We just happened to luck up and get a win."
Luke Thomas tied it up for Mamou after Dunham made a pair of free throws. Russell Edwards later in the first quarter tied it up again at 10 as he converted on the three point play. However Dunham at that point started taking control of the game. At the end of the opening quarter Mamou trailed 21-13.
Mamou was trying to keep it close on defense and at the charity stripe, but Dunham again made it a 10-point game three minutes before halftime. The first half closed out with Mamou trailing 33-21.
Edwards scored a layup in the early goings of the second half and swatted the ball away from the Dunham shooter, but again his team could not capitalize on the turnover. The hardest challenge in the second half Mamou faced on offense was looking into the rowdy student section.
Mamou provided some fireworks in the second half as Trey Wilson scored a big three ball to make the score 49-28. Mamou drilled another trey to make it a 20-point deficit in the waning moments of the third. Mack Thomas and Luke Thomas each added three pointers from long range.
The loss did not take anything away from the season. "I thought we had a really great season," said Jack. "We hadn't been in the playoffs in five or six years, so it's a good feeling to have an opportunity to play in the playoffs. So all we can do is hope for next year."

Mamou wins against Dunham

Jim Mora may not have wanted to talk about the playoffs when back in 2001 he ranted "What’s that? Ah — Playoffs? Don’t talk about — playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game! Another game."
But Mark Temple did want to talk about it Thursday night. "Being in the dance is big," said the coach of the Mamou Lady Demons. "It's big to be in it, and it's even bigger to make it to that next round because we (go) from 32 to 16. So we just steadily pushing to try to get to the ultimate goal and get to Hammond."

His team's opponent in the opening round was The Dunham School of Baton Rouge. It was a game of how the pendulum turns as Mamou took a 30-23 lead into the locker room at the half, but Mamou got that proverbial shut down inning in the third quarter. Mamou in the end advanced to the next round as it won over Dunham 61-36 and will host Episcopal Monday night.
Temple said his team wanted to speed up the game against Dunham. "They are a team that likes to play slow, so what we did we made the game faster to get them out of character and control the tempo of the game. And that was the key to the victory."
Gabby Zia scored a three pointer for Dunham off of the opening tip. With her team down 4-1, Darelzray Bellard drilled a three pointer of her own from way downtown to tie the game. Kiajah Wilson stole the ball away and scored to take the lead and the momentum.
Dunham tied it at the free throw line, but Mamou regained the lead on the next possession. Michiko Jackson with her hair in her eyes made a layup, but Mamou responded on the other end to go up 12-8. Bellard picked up the defensive rebound and the score, and at the end of the first quarter Mamou led 14-8.
Each team began the second quarter in the bonus with Dunham having eight fouls to Mamou's seven. Ka'zhara Richard doubled up the Mamou lead then sank a big three ball to go up 19-8. After Bellard made both free throws, Unjel Lazard made a basket putting her team up 23-10.
Aishia Brady stole the ball and scored to bring the game back within single digits halfway through the second quarter. Zia with her toes on the arc scored to make it a four point game, and Hannah Barrow with her heels on the arc scored to make it a five point game with under a minute left on the first half clock.
Mamou opened the scoring in the second half with successive free throws to take a 10-point lead. Arkie Thomas and Bellard extended the lead on back-to-back scores. Dunham called a full timeout at the 4:24 mark with Mamou leading 37-23. Thomas would then give her team a 21-point advantage on the scoreboard with a under a minute on the clock in the third. At the end of three, Mamou led 48-30.
Mamou began the fourth quarter in the bonus as Dunham had eight fouls to Mamou's four. Bellard scored white with a long range three to go up 52-30. Caitlin Thomas scored off the assist from Thomas, and Kamaneisha Wilson added a score to go up 57-32 on the northside of halfway through the final quarter to seal the win for the Lady Demons.

Ville Platte wins district against Eunice

The dust had settled after another Mardi Gras had come and gone, and the dust from burnt palm branches marked the heads of the faithful marking the start of the Lenten season. But there was still dust to settle on the road to the district championship in District 5-3A as the Lady Bulldogs of Ville Platte forced a playoff game against Eunice for the title. Nineteen points separated the two teams at the end of the game Thursday night on a neutral court in Prairie Ronde, but Eunice drew the short end of the stick. Ville Platte took home another district championship by the score of 41-22.
Dot Doulet described winning the championship as awesome. "Every year since we started coaching here we've been district champs, and tonight to come in and compete for it with an extra game meant a whole lot to us," said Doulet. "The girls did what we asked them to do. They were very patient in the game. They made good shot selection, and they worked the paint like we asked them."
Shay Vigors knocked down a three ball to put Eunice on the board first, and Miya McKinney gave the Bulldogs the lead with back-to-back baskets. Kealogah Calvin stole the ball away and scored to go up 9-3. Great ball movement for the Bulldogs translated to another layup giving them a healthy lead half way through the first quarter.
Eunice's coach Wayne Fontenot yelled at his team to settle, and they responded and stemmed the tide at least for the moment. Vigors puts an end to the Ville Platte scoring run with back-to-back scores. Stacie White knocked down a trey making it a 1 point game in the waning seconds of the opening quarter. Makayla Ardoin extended the lead on the other side of the court, and Ville Platte led 13-10 after one quarter.
White scored a layup for Eunice and was fouled. She converted on the 3 point play putting her team within 2 at 15-13. She tied the game at 15 with 3:16 as a timeout was called on the court. Calvin puts the Bulldogs back up by 2, and the first half clock expired with Ville Platte leading 17-15.
Lajaia Leday extended the lead to 19-15 early in the 3rd quarter. Calvin thenscored on the assist from Ardoin to go up 23-15. Vigors picked up the offensive rebound and scored making it a 23-17 game with under two minutes to play in the third quarter. Zaria Fontenot sunk a three ball and added an easy layup giving the Bulldogs a double-digit lead. At the end of three quaters of play in Prairie Ronde, Ville Platte led 30-19.
McKinney made an apparent shot from behind the back for a basket to go up 32-19 as a timeout was called on the court with all fives remaining on the clock, and Calvins with second chance points scored to extend the lead to 15 and closed the door on the Bobcat hopes of a district title.
Doulet after the game talked about the road foward going into the playoffs. "We have to wait until the brackets come out on Monday, and we have to get back in the gym and start preparing quickly just to brush up on some things that we know that we are decent at, and we gonna try to push our way through with what we know."