THE ZACHA Y
ADVOCATE& T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, J u ly 9, 2025
11TH YEAR, NO. 39
$1.00N
ZACHARY CELEBRATES FREEDOM WITH FAMILY FUN IN THE PARK PHOTO BY PATRICK DENNIS
Veteran Advocate high school sports writer Robin Fambrough, left, interviews former LSU and NFL football great Eddie Kennison, right, at the Baton Rouge Advocate’s Star of Stars Sports Awards program in May. Fambrough is retiring this summer.
Thanks and goodbye to a legend and friend to me and Zachary
The first time I saw the article letting us know that Robin Fambrough was retiring from The Advocate was when my wife sent me the online link on June 30 at 9:30 p.m. The second notice came at 5 a.m. the next day when my mother took a picture of the hard-copy article in the paper and sent it to me via text. Some people do still get the paper the old-fashioned way. Regardless of how you get your news, Robin Fambrough’s retirement should be celebrated by those coaches, players and fans of prep sports who have had the pleasure to read her Advocate column for 34 years. My mother sending me the article is no surprise. She may pick through sections of the paper and even casually skim through the sports, but she always reads Robin’s column. Conversations with mom frequently turn to “so what did you think of Robin’s article today?” Robin has a special place and esteem in the Brady family. She has covered three generations of Bradys. Our family moved from California to Thibodaux in the
STAFF PHOTOS BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
Families gather wearing red, white and blue at the annual July Fourth celebration at Fennwood Hills Country Club in Zachary on Friday.
Zachary residents gathered at Fennwood Country Club on Friday for the annual Fourth of July celebration. Families gathered for picnics and games before the fireworks.
Warren Brady ZACHARY SPORTS
late 1970s when my father took a job as the offensive coordinator at Nicholls State. Robin was writing sports for the Daily Comet, where she covered Nicholls and my twin brothers Pat and Mike, who were senior football players at Thibodaux High. At Thibodaux High they played for Pat Szuch (a Robin favorite) before eventually (long story) playing football at Cal. She probably does not remember it, but she may have covered my oldest brother, Shawn, who transferred to Nicholls and played running back for one spring before he developed irreconcilable differences with the offensive coordinator (from above — offensive coordinator
ä See BRADY, page 4G
Richard Whittle takes charred hot dogs off the grill as Chad Oliphant prepares them to be served.
Bronco Explorers travel to Japan
Zachary High students, on left, Dillan Thai and Isaac Johannsen, and right Connor Conachen and Sebastian Naquin, participate in a tea ceremony.
Community news report In early June, Zachary High Advanced Placement/gifted English teacher and world traveler Kaitlyn Ducote led the ZHS Bronco Explorers on a journey across Japan on an EF Tour called “The Land of the Rising Sun.” They visited Tokyo, Hakone, Kamakura, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. Some of the trip highlights were visiting DisneySea and Joypolis in Tokyo, seeing the country’s two largest bronze
PROVIDED PHOTO
ä More photos. PAGE 3G
BREC holding town halls Leila Pitchford AROUND ZACHARY
ä More photos. PAGE 2G
BREC Interim Superintendent Janet Simmons is hosting a series of community town hall meetings across the cities in East Baton Rouge Parish throughout July and early August to share her vision, goals, and key initiatives during her six-month tenure. The first is at 6 p.m. July 10 at Church Street Park in Zachary. Another meeting will be at T.D. Bickham Park, Baker, at 6 p.m. July 31. These interactive events will give the community an opportunity to meet Superintendent Simmons, hear her plans firsthand, and
ä See AROUND, page 4G
Buddha statues in Kamakura and Nara, interacting with the bowing deer at Todai-ji Temple, visiting the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, eating a traditional kaiseki dinner wearing a yukata, and visiting important cultural sites like the Senso-ji Temple, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Odawara Castle and Nijo Castle. The Bronco Explorers have trips planned for the next two summers and spring break of 2027. Zachary High students interested in joining them should contact Ducote at kaitlin.ducote@zacharyschools.org.
BREC creates task force to help guide park system’s initatives BY ELLYN COUVILLION
Hope Ministries, started her new role with BREC in June following the deAn advisory task force parture of former superof local leaders has been intendent Corey Wilson. named to work with BREC The creation of the task interim Superintendent force comes a week after Janet Simmons, as the rec- Simmons Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill that reshaped the reation and parks agency “embarks on a new chapter of parks agency’s leadership by givengagement and community im- ing East Baton Rouge Parish’s other incorporated cities — Baker, pact,” BREC said this week. Simmons, the recent president Central, St. George and Zachary of the Baton Rouge nonprofit — seats on the BREC’s board.
Staff writer
The bill also established a requirement for the commission to submit an annual report on BREC’s finances, which the bill’s author, Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Lauren Ventrella, said stemmed from taxpayer concerns over “wasteful spending.” BREC has faced accusations of mismanagement, with critics citing several years of missed or late state audits and weak financial
ä See PARK, page 4G