John Lombardo gave the Club an update on the work of Restore or Retreat at its April 14 Club meeting.

By Justin Terrebonne

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015, the members of the Rotary Club of Thibodaux had the privilege of meeting Dwayne Bourgeois, who presented information on the North Lafourche Levee District (NLLD).
Mr. Bourgeois is a lifelong resident of the Parish of Lafourche. He is the Executive Director of the NLLD, which is a title he has held since March 1, 2010, and he has taken a lead role in the FEMA Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
The NLLD was created in 1992 to provide flood protection for North Lafourche, and includes all areas of the parish north of the Intracoastal Canal. It is divided into eight project areas and its purpose is to protect nearly two-thirds of the population of Lafourche Parish, which is approximately 65,000. This includes 250 miles of levees and drainage canals and 40 pump stations.
The NLLD is currently working on several projects throughout Lafourche Parish. The Rienzi area, as well as the Peltier Park/EDW White area, are undergoing maintenance dredging, and there is a clean and sweep project currently underway on the 80 Arpent Canal.
Unfortunately, the Federal government has made it difficult for NLLD to continue its efforts to save our coastal wetlands. For example, the 1973 Clean Water Act defines both waterway and wetland. These definitions have a significant impact on each and every project. Another example is the recent Executive Order—the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard. The intent of the Order is to ensure that Federal money is spent wisely. It is ordered that all Federal agencies use certain standards for any actions by that agency in order to be considered. This will place a burden on NLLD for each and every one of its projects to protect our parish.
It appears as though the movement with the government is to shift away from flood protection and move towards risk management. It is imperative that, as residents of Lafourche Parish, we talk to our legislators and encourage them to slow down this new movement and continue with structured flood protection.

The Cajun Roller Girls
By Janice Tregre

Corey Callegan is a career architect for Duplantis Design Group. Being a passionate fan of the Cajun Rollergirls landed him the position of assistant coach and trainer of the local based team of competitors in the women’s flat-track roller derby. Joining him to present the interesting sport of Roller Derby was Hester Serrano. Hester is a Probation and Parole Officer for the State of Louisiana. She has been a member of the Cajun Roller Girls since 2010 and goes by the stage name of “Psycho Beast”.

In 2008, “The Cajun Rollergirls (CRG)” began as a not-for-profit organization based in the Tri-Parish area. CRG aim to have a positive impact on both the lives of its skaters and the communities of Louisiana’s Cajun Country. They are a proud member league of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), the international governing body for the sport of women’s flat track roller derby and a membership organization for leagues to collaborate and network.

The Cajun Rollergirls foster the empowerment of women by promoting athleticism, sportsmanship, teamwork and volunteerism. In addition to increasing recognition of the women’s flat track roller derby, they seek to support the community with volunteer work and fundraising for area organizations.

For more information check out the Cajun Rollergirls at www.cajunrollergirls.com. Support the Cajun Rollergirls as they take on Acadiana Rollergirls at their next event held at the Warren J. Harang Jr Municipal Auditorium on March 21, 2015 at 7pm.

voice visual rotary guidelines

January 27, 2015 Meeting
By: John Doucet
Joanne Ryan of Coastal Environments, Inc. (Baton Rouge), discussed her project, “The Spatial Evolution of Sugar Plantations in Louisiana.” An archaeologist, Ryan sought to describe the commonalities of land usage and sugarhouse structures on historical plantation properties, as well as changes in usage and structures over time. Her excavations demonstrated that brick foundations of many abandoned and demolished sugarhouses remained underground. She explained that before the advent of heavy machinery, buildings like mills were demolished by hand as low as possible to the ground line, and the remainder was covered with earth or new construction. By comparing shapes of excavated foundations, as well as using historical maps and photographs, Ryan showed changes in sugarhouse design during the technological change from animal-powered to steam-powered cane grinders.
Ryan described a clear difference in property utilization between older and more recent plantations. Older plantations began as cotton enterprises, and riverside location was important for transportation. During the transition to sugar cultivation, cotton buildings became sugarhouses. As more land was cleared, however, these structures were typically located far from the banks and near the back swamps to maximize plantable land, to avoid riverbank erosion, and to easily access the swamp forest for firewood to generate steam power. At plantations along inland waterways like bayous, however, sugarhouses were typically always found on the narrow highland near the bayou banks where there was little threat of waterside erosion.
Ryan received the Bachelor of Arts in classical archeology from UNC at Chapel Hill and the Master of Arts in archaeological studies from Yale University

Meeting January 20
By: Justin Terrebonne
Colonel John Pugh spoke to the rotary club on Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 about his role as Chair for Louisiana of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Colonel Pugh is a former Thibodaux resident and past president of the Thibodaux Rotary and Paul Harris Fellow. He served in the U.S. Army and received many awards including a Bronze Star. He is also a past president of the Louisiana National Guard Association and the Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce.
Colonel Pugh received his Juris Doctorate from LSU Law School after receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University. He spoke to the club about the unique organization of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The organization is made up entirely of volunteers and is supported by the Department of Defense. The mission of the ESGR is “to develop and promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees.”
Guardsmen, reserve, and retired military personnel make great employees for a number of reasons including they are physically fit, team oriented leaders, and educated. Employers usually find them to be high caliber employees said Colonel Pugh. The ESGR is looking for volunteers and Pugh encouraged anyone who is interested in helping their cause to email him at col.john.pugh@gmail.com.

Dr. Ernest Hansen, Jr and his niece Ashley were the guest speakers at Rotary last week who provided a brief history of Dr. Hansen Jr’s parents business, Hansen’s Sno-Bliz located on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans.

The store was started in 1939 by Mary and Ernest Hansen. Ernest, being a master machinist, designed and built the ice shaving machine which is still in use in the store today. Mary was responsible for mixing their very own syrups which provided flavor to the fluffy ice with the motto, “there are no shortcuts to quality.” They build their Sno-Bliz with multiple layers of ice and syrup, making sure the flavor is saturated in every taste of the cool treat.

The store is now operated by their granddaughter Ashley, who strives to maintain the quality and practices of the store as established by her grandparents many years ago. The store is open from the spring through the fall and offers many flavors of Sno-Bliz, including some mixed with ice cream and real fruit.

Hanzen’s Sno-Bliz has become such a part of uptown New Orleans life that it is not uncommon to find a long line of patrons waiting to get a Sno-Bliz during the summer months. The popularity of the cool treat has earned the Sno-Bliz an award as an American Classic by the James Beard Foundation.

Marc Ehrhardt has served as executive director since the Grow Louisiana Coalition’s inception in January 2014. In this position, he represents the Coalition as its spokesperson and works with its board of directors to develop and execute a plan to fulfill its mission of enhancing the value of Louisiana’s oil and gas industry and affiliated industries. The Grow Louisiana Coalition is partnered with LMOGA (Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.

In previous positions, he managed public affairs, corporate image, national media relations, issues management and crisis management programs in the economic development, retail, financial and manufacturing industries.

Marc presented facts about how the energy sector is a giant economic engine for our state. Louisiana is the nation’s number 2 producer of both oil and natural gas and the number 2 among the states in refining capacity. He said, “It’s time for the industry voices to be heard. The oil and gas industry in Louisiana should not be taken for granted and we have to fight to preserve it.”

The Grow Louisiana Coalition is among the fastest-growing organizations in Louisiana because people around our industry are recognizing the power our voices have when we’re united. With over 30,000 likes on Facebook, Grow Louisiana Coalition uses social media outlets and presentations to help unify our voice and demonstrate to our leaders that the oil and gas industry has profound effects on the entire state and each parish. To learn more about how the oil and gas industry is the most significant funding source for our state, please visit their website at www.growlouisianacoalition.com. You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Lafourche Parish Assessor’s Office Digital Mapping Software was developed over a seven year period by Wendy Thibodeaux and former Lafourche Parish Assessor, Mike Martin. The total cost to develop was $750,000. The funds came from annual millage roll backs which enabled the software to be developed without additional cost to the taxpayers of Lafourche Parish. As you enter the software, the first button on which to click is the disclaimer. The disclaimer signfies the office is looking for user feedback regarding questions, errors and/or changes to ensure accuracy. The digital mapping software accuracy is based on legal descriptions and not maps. When a question arises, the office always refers to the legal description of the properties to get the inquiry answered. There are multiple ways to search for properties which include owner’s name, subdivision, physical address and even by well. Properties can be measured as well as structures directly from the software. Property history can be viewed which includes oil and gas well ownership as well as pipelines. The software company can build on what is there to address newly identified land and/or properties. The tax roll in the software is updated every 24 hours while the property lines are updated once per month. Property title changes are completed within one month from the submittal date. Oil and gas entities are taxed once per year on January 1st. Taxes on watercraft occur on January 1st or the first port of entry. Lafourche boat owners strive to have their boat in Lafourche to ensure the tax monies remain local. Furthermore, out of service watercraft get a tax break until the boat goes into service again. Plaquemine is the lowest watercraft tax rate; however, the fuel consumed to travel to Plaquemine is higher than the tax savings. Wendy Thibodeaux is in the process of traveling to each district within Lafourche parish to show how the assessor’s office rolls back the tax millage. Lafourche is the 12th highest in millage tax within the state of Louisiana. The digital mapping system illustrates the tax roll of Lafourche Parish and is not intended for legal purposes. The Digital Mapping Software developed by the Lafourche parish assessor’s office is a tool available to everyone especially the parish citizens to visualize and understand how their physical property is related to their millage tax.