DENHAM SPRINGS • LIVINGSTON • WALKER • WATSON • AMITE • HAMMOND
ADVOCATE THE LIVINGSTON -TANGIPAHOA
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 19, 2025
1GN
Rural Livingston Parish bogged down by drainage woes
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
Cecil Coates enjoyed sitting on his front porch in Holden. Now, doing so is only a painful reminder of the swampy eyesore in front of his house. Ongoing problems with stormwater drainage have caused the ditches along Coates’ street to be filled to the brim and coated with a bright green residue or algae. They’ve taken on a life their own. Coates said the ditches and their culverts’ inability to properly drain water started after Hurricane Ida in 2021. It has only gotten worse, and every time it rains water overflows into his front yard, he said. Across the street is Coates’ son’s house, which is nearly hidden behind unruly shrubbery that’s a byproduct of the drain situation. “If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we get water out of a ditch,” the elder Coates said. Coates called his Parish Councilman Joe Erdey about a year ago about the issue. Erdey, who covers part of the eastern side of the parish that is predominately rural, said he could name about 30 roads and ditches with drainage problems — but he thinks the area where Coates lives is the worst of them. ”It keeps growing because it never goes away,” he said about Coates’ problem. Erdey said roughly 75% of the things he handles are drainage problems that can take a while to solve. “It’s a tough situation over here that I deal with,” the councilman said.
PHOTOS BY DAVID NORMAND
Candies, cookies and breads made by parishioners make up the main altar Friday at the 30th annual St. Joseph’s Altar held at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs.
St. Joseph’s Altar attracts visitors to Denham Springs Church Community news report The Friends of St. Joseph at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Denham Springs honored St. Joseph with a Mass, dedication and blessing of the elaborate St. Joseph’s Altar on Friday and a communal meal at Saturday in the main church hall. Members of the society prepared for weeks for the multitiered creation featuring a wide variety of food items including cakes, cookies, vegetable dishes, seafood and other treats, statues, candles, and special breads created to represent significant aspects of the life of St. Joseph the carpenter and his son Jesus. The volunteer cooks prepared, among other items, thousands and thousands of cookies of various types all with connections to the Sicilian experience in the United States. Among those assisting in preparations for the altar are members of
ä See DRAINAGE, page 4G
Momentum builds to extend pause on solar farm development
ä See ALTAR, page 2G
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD
Staff writer
Livingston Parish loves its farms — as long as they aren’t the solar kind. While solar energy development has surged in Louisiana over the past few years, Livingston Parish halted developing solar panel farms and plants in May 2024. Now, parish council members want to extend it further. Councilwoman Erin Sandefur is asking the council to extend the existing 12-month moratorium on large-scale solar panel farms and commercial solar power plants. The moratorium does not include residential solar panels on homes. The moratorium could have ended before its expiration date depending on pending studies or new ordinances, the council said last year when it put the pause in place. No new ordinances have since come to fruition. Compared to neighboring parishes, Livingston Parish is behind on enacting any regulations to
ä See SOLAR, page 2G
Brianna Fennell, left, Eli Hood and Ray Alabarado, portray Mary, Jesus and Joseph.
Jackets fall short in semifinal game after successful season It was a season to remember for the Denham Springs boys basketball even before they took the floor last Thursday at Lake Charles’ Burton Complex for its Division I nonselect semifinal game against Central. The Yellow Jackets were back at the state championship tournament for the first time since 2003 and, not coincidentally, came in with their best record since the glory years of Tasmin Mitchell in the early 2000s.
Central put together The semifinal paired a 10-3 run to give itself up teams that had met enough of a cushion in the regular season to hold on in the final on Jan. 25, a game that minute. Central won 78-64. Afterward, Denham On this night, secCharles Springs coach Kevin ond-seeded Central Salzer Caballero talked about used a late run to seSPORTS what playing in the cure a 62-56 win over ROUNDUP state tournament the third-seeded Yelmeant for his players low Jackets. Denham and the program. Springs trailed 45-38 “I wanted my players to after three quarters, and then experience this,” he said. “It’s rallied to tie the game with a been a long time since Den7-0 surge to start the fourth. It wasn’t to be. ham Springs has experienced
it and the future is bright. The sad part, the flip side, is I’ve got five seniors that will be in the stands if we’re here next year.” Including 14 points from Da’Sean Golmond and 13 from Jeremy Williams, four Jackets’ players scored in double figures. Denham Springs had chances at the foul line, but made only 4 of 14 free throws. “I thought in the second half we gave it everything we’ve got,” Caballero said. “In the
Master Gardeners holding spring plant sale Saturday Darlene Denstorff AROUND LIVINGSTON
The Livingston Parish Master Gardeners Plant Sale featuring nursery plants, gardening-related items, gardening information and presentations from 8:30 a.m. — 2 p.m. Saturday at the Southeastern Livingston Center, 8261 Florida Blvd., Walker. Visitors can shop and bring home cut flowers, bedding plants, vegetable
plants, shrubs, house plants, herbs, native plants, as well as host plants for butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinators. Also offered are goat milk soap and lotions, books, jellies, scented candles, birdhouses, garden signs, raised planters, garden worms, leaf filters for gutters, and more. Lemonade on the Bayou and Fleur De
Lis Tea Company will be on hand. Have questions about gardening? Ask a Master Gardener at the group’s booth. Free presentations: 9 a.m.: Bee demonstration by Bill Pianki 10 a.m.: “Growing Camellias” by Paige Mizell of Mizell’s Camellia Hill
Nursery 11 a.m.: “Medicinal Herbs for Your Garden” by Jennifer Blanchard, botanist and instructor of horticulture in the LSU College of Agriculture Noon: “How to Attract Hummingbirds” by Jane Patterson, president of
ä See AROUND, page 3G