DONALDSONVILLE • DUTCHTOWN • GEISMAR • GONZALES • PRAIRIEVILLE • ST. AMANT
Darlene Denstorff AROUND ASCENSION
Early holiday deadlines set Submissions for the Christmas Eve editions of The Advocate Ascension Section are due by Thursday, Dec. 18. Submissions for the New Year’s Eve editions are due Dec. 26. Share your holiday lights, party and celebration photos with us at ascension@ theadvocate.com.
Parading in Donaldsonville The Donaldsonville Christmas Parade will take place at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. The parade starts at the Donaldsonville Fairgrounds, turns right onto Marchand and ends at the historic district.
Decorate library trees Ascension Parish libraries’ trees need ornaments and the system is asking for help. Stop by any Ascension Parish Library branch in December, choose a paper ornament, decorate it and find the perfect spot to hang it. When you’re done, grab a thank-you treat. While you’re at a library, make sure to register for a library card. It’s the perfect gift for you or anyone in your family. Sign up and get instant access to the library’s Adventure Passes to visit a museum or nature center.
Need pecans cracked? The Arc of East Ascension is offering to crack pecans for 50 cents a pound. Drop off pecans from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1122 S. East Ascension Complex Blvd. in Gonzales. For information, call (225) 621-2000.
THE ASCENSION
ADVOCATE 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, D e c e m b e r 17, 2025
Krewe of Dville announces Christmas parade royalty
Community news report
The Krewe of Dville’s Christmas parade organizers have named Sheriff Bobby Webre as its grand marshal for Saturday’s parade. The parade, set to roll at 5:30 p.m., starts on Marchand Drive and then rolls down Railroad Avenue. Webre was sworn in as sheriff in 2019. He joined the U.S. Army while still in high school and volunteered as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He participated in Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, landing reinforcements on the shores of Grenada and rescuing captured American medical students. Webre began his career with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office in 1985 as a patrolman. For 16 years, he served as warden of the Ascension Parish Jail. For six years, he served as chief of criminal
operations and then chief deputy, managing a $40 million budget and nearly 350 deputies. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Mark Catholic Church and a member of the East Ascension Rotary Club, American Legion Post 81, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3693, and the FBI National Academy Association. He served on the board of the Ascension Council on Aging. He is a past board member of the Ascension Chamber of Commerce. Webre and his wife, Karen, have been married for 40 years. They live in Gonzales. Maj. Darryl L. Smith Jr. will serve as Santa Claus. Smith, born in 1979 to the late Darryl L. Smith Sr. and Cassandra Delaney Smith, was raised in Donaldsonville and later Gonzales. Smith has served with the Ascension
Santa arrives in Sorrento
BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer
Holiday Jazz concert George Bell and Friends will perform a jazz show Saturday, Dec. 20, at the Price Leblanc PACE Center. Admission is $45. For tickets, visit https://tinyurl. com/3k99m425.
Food distributions set
Country Kitchen, 615 E. Ascension St., is opening up its Gonzales buffet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 25. Visit countrykitchengonzales.com/ascension-community-christmas.
At the library... Mindful Chair Yoga with Jada Kerek is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Ascension Parish Library in Gonzales. Adults can join in on mindful chair yoga sessions. Registration required and can be made at https://www.myapl. org/events?r=thisweek Makerspaces training classes for the Cricut Maker 3 and Heat Press at from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Donaldsonville branch. For teens and adults. Kickstart your creativity in the library’s makerspaces when you learn to use all the new tools. Contact Darlene Denstorff by phone, (225) 388-0215 or (225) 603-1998; or email, ascension@theadvocate.com or ddenstorff@theadvocate. com. Deadline: 5 p.m. Friday.
‘The city should be ashamed’ Lawsuit claims Donaldsonville ordinance violates First Amendment
Dance and eat some gumbo starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21, at the VFW Post 3693, 42430 Churchpoint Road, in Gonzales. The Mojoes will perform from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10.
Christmas lunch
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
The float carrying the Miss Donaldsonville royalty rolls along Railroad Ave during the 2024 Donaldsonville Christmas ä See PARADE, page 4G parade. This year’s parade rolls Saturday.
Swamp Pop at the Post Gumbo Christmas Party
Ascension Parish’s commodity distribution is set for the second Tuesday of each month in Donaldsonville and the second Wednesday of the month in Gonzales. Distributions are from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Frank Sotile Jr. Pavilion in Donaldsonville and the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales. All recipients must be prequalified by visiting the Ascension Parish Health Unit, 1024 E. Ascension Complex Blvd., in Gonzales, or the Donaldsonville courthouse, 300 Houmas St. Contact Layne Melancon at (225) 450-1006 or layne.melancon@fmolhs.org.
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PHOTO BY WENDY LOUP
Camden Davis, 12, left, and Brenna Millien, 5, take pictures with Santa Claus Dec. 9 during the Sorrento Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. The event was held at the Sorrento Community Center. ä More photos. PAGE 2G
Santa helps St. Amant baseball team raise money Families played reindeer games and other fun activities during Saturday’s Cookies with Santa and the St. Amant High Gator baseball team event at St. Amant High School’s cafeteria. Attendees were able to celebrate the Christmas season by taking pictures with Santa Claus while enjoying cookies and other snacks. First-year St. Amant head baseball coach Caleb Ricca said the event was successful thanks to more than 60 baseball players, student volunteers and parents. The school’s baseball season opens Feb. 9 against E.D. White.
A Donaldsonville resident has filed a federal lawsuit after the City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance that restricts the recording of public meetings, which the plaintiff says violates the First Amendment. The ordinance, which passed June 24, requires recorders to provide notice to the council, allows the city to designate certain recording areas and states that recordings shall not “interfere with, distract, disrupt, or otherwise degrade decorum” nor “be intended to harass or intimidate” meeting officials or the public. It threatens violators with criminal penalties of a $500 fine and 30-day jail imprisonment. Shentelle Daigle, a former city council candidate and board of adjustments member, filed the lawsuit earlier this month in the U.S. Middle District Court. The suit claims the ordinance is overly broad, vague and restricts speech containing certain content. It also argues the ordinance was part of retaliation against Daigle for her filming part of an alleged fight involving Councilman Clem Brown in May. Daigle is represented by Bruce Hamilton, director of Tulane Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, and Annie Cleveland, a legal fellow with the program. On Tuesday, Hamilton said Donaldsonville is “deliberately violating the First Amendment rights of its residents by criminalizing the act of recording public meetings.” “The recording ordinance conceals the business of government by discouraging residents from recording and reporting on official acts,” he said. “The ordinance is egregiously unconstitutional, and the city should be ashamed of passing it in the first place.” Council Chairman Charles Brown Sr., the brother of Clem Brown, declined to comment on the lawsuit but said the ordinance was passed because Daigle’s phone had been ringing during meetings. “As a consequence, we designated a place in the back. It wasn’t political or anything else,” he said. “We can’t have people coming in and trying to take videos while we’re trying to do a meeting.” Council Vice-Chair Michael Sullivan Sr. said he could not comment on the lawsuit, and Mayor Leroy Sullivan did not respond to a request for comment.
Alleges retaliation for video recording PHOTO BY WENDY LOUP
The St. Amant High School baseball team hosted a Cookies with Santa event Saturday in the school cafeteria. Attendees took pictures with Santa Claus, as well as played holiday games and activities with the baseball team. ä More photos. PAGE 4G
The lawsuit alleges that the council passed the ordinance as retaliation for Daigle filming part of an incident in May when Clem Brown allegedly threatened former mayoral candidate Glenn Price. “As the two men left the meeting room, Councilman Brown shouted, ‘Let’s go behind
ä See CITY, page 4G