best along the river since 1913 ronny michel...
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Best Along the River Since 1913
KEEPING WATCH ON THE RIVER
By Lori LyonsL’OBSERVATEUR
LAPLACE — If Lester Millet III were to try to list all of his accomplishments on a resume, it would take more than four pages.
Heck, it might take a whole book.
Fortunately for Millet and for those who live in the area known as the River Region, he’s not looking to go any-where.
For the past decade, Millet has served as the Safety Risk Agency Manager for the Port of South Louisiana, the largest tonnage port in the Western Hemisphere.
In a nutshell, his job is to keep the Mississippi River and the areas surrounding it safe.
He does that by cre-ating and writing a myriad of policies for various agencies, from plants to schools to maritime industries.
He has written policies on hurricane preparedness, marine operations, crisis responses, emergency operations, violence free workplaces and even the flu.
He is responsible for the workers identifica-tion credentialing all along the river and for many of the security
and safety procedures put in place.
He has worked with numerous agen-cies, including state and local police, Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and he has served on multiple committees to do that.
He serves on so many boards and committees that, sometimes, he has a hard time keeping track.
“It’s a lot,” he says with a heavy sigh. “My Outlook calendar is crazy.”
It’s all worth it, he says, especially when someone takes the time to acknowledge all his efforts.
In November, Millet received what he says may be his highest honor when he was presented with the United States Coast Guard Meritorious Public Service Award by Captain Wayne R. Arguin, USCG Sector New Orleans Captain of the Port.
Millet said it was a complete surprise and ranks high among his
proudest moments.“It meant a lot to me,
coming from the Coast Guard,” Millet said.
Arguin said Millet was most deserving of the award.
“He is the go-to guy within the port com-munity,” Arguin said. “He’s a very well-con-nected person within that community and he is very helpful for us to be able to maintain those relationships in the port community, which is pretty large.”
Millet was practically born on the Mississippi
River toward the end of a long line of St. John the Baptist Parish’s first families.
Dad Lester Millet Jr. and mom Judy own the local Millet Motel and adjacent shop-ping center. He also has served as St. John Councilman, tax asses-sor and Sheriff.
Millet III’s one bid at office — he ran for assessor — didn’t work out, though.
After graduating from Southeastern Louisiana University with a degree in busi-ness administration, he tried selling cars. Then he sold insurance and worked at the family hotel. Then, like the river he watches over, he changed course. And like so many in the area, it was because of a hurricane.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area, many agencies began to rethink their responses to emergencies.
Joel T. Chaisson, then the executive director of the Port of South Louisiana, knew of Millet’s ways with words and tapped him to help write up a new policy.
From 2005 to 2014, Millet served as the policy and planning director of the Port. In 2015 he became the
safety risk agency man-ager.
Among his many accomplishments over those years, Millet helped spur the growth of the Facility Security Officer (FSO) Group from about 20 guys who used to meet in the meeting room at Shoney’s to an orga-nization that includes more than 800 mem-bers throughout the region.
“It’s become the model for all FSO work-groups,” Millet said. “It is one of the main reasons I received the award.”
Millet also serves as president of the local chapter of Infraguard, a partnership between the FBI and the private sector that works to help protect American interests. It has 84 chapters and 54,000 members throughout the U.S.
“It’s the only part-nership that the FBI acknowledges between it and the private sec-tor,” Millet explained. “We are recognized as one of the top chapters in the country.”
When he’s not writ-ing policy and reports on suspicious activity around the Mississippi River, Millet is hus-band to wife Vicki and dad to sons, Lester IV and Christopher.
Lester Millet III receives Coast Guard award for safety efforts
LaPlace native Lester Millet iii, standing in front of the Port of south Louisiana’s Marina in reserve, has spent more than a decade helping write emergency and safety policies for those who work on the Mississippi river and beyond. The U.s. Coast Guard recently honored him. (Lori Lyons/L’oBsErVATEUr)
Lester Millet iii, safety risk Agency Manager for the Port of south Louisiana, holds the award he recently received from the U.s. Coast Guard.
What’s in a name? Define yourself in best imageMy mom’s changing her name.Now she is the least likely person
of anyone I know — living or dead — to ever want to do such a thing but it’s the best option at this point.
When she tried to renew her driv-er’s license, the new requirement to provide a birth certificate threw her into uncharted waters.
Every religious, school and civil document she has records her name as Jeanne Ann Boé — every docu-ment except her birth certificate, on which she is Anne Jeanne, which came as a surprise to us all.
So she has completed the process of changing her name and hav-ing a new cer-tificate issued.
In the midst of this pro-cess, I also discovered that her surname Boé, was once spelled Bouy.
Story goes
that her Aunt Alice didn’t want to be teased about having a name spelled so closely to buoy, so she changed it.
In her French prayer book, now in a cousin’s possession, Alice wrote her name, then later drew a line through Bouy and wrote Bo.
My mom’s name-changing proce-dure was much more complicated.
What’s your name?Not the one on your birth certifi-
cate or the one others use, but how do you refer to yourself?
Sometimes as soon as I wake up, my first thought is of my failures,
the things I’ve left undone or the tasks ahead, which I feel unqualified for and unworthy of.
Rather than go another day refer-ring to myself in those negative ways, I want to change the names I call myself.
I want to begin each day focus-ing on 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
Ronny Michel may be reached at
roNNy MicHel
HearTS In TOuCH
AGENDAPUBLIC NOTICE
The public is hereby notified that the St. John the Baptist Parish Council will have a Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 10th, 2017 at 6:00 PM, in the Rudolph Sorapuru Chambers, Edgard, LA, to address any and all financial concerns of the Parish.
AGENDAST. JOHN THE
BAPTIST PARISH COUNCILREGULAR
MEETING, TUESDAY, JANUARY 10th, 2017
6:30 P.M.RUDOLPH
SORAPURU CHAMBERS
EDGARD, LOUISIANA
MARVIN PERRILLOUX -
CHAIRMANMICHAEL WRIGHT -
VICE-CHAIR
I. CALL TO ORDERII. ROLL CALL
III. OPENING PRAYER IV. PLEDGE OF AL-LEGIANCE V. PUBLIC COM-MENT – AGENDA ITEMS ONLY (2 min-utes per citizen)VI. INTRODUCTION OF BUSINESSES
COUNCIL – Selection of Officers
VII. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS 1) Approval of Minutes – December 27th, 2016, Regular Meeting2) Parade Permit Ap-proval – 44th Annual Krewe of DuMonde Pa-rade Sunday – 2/26/17 beginning at 11:00 AM 3) Councilman Sny-der - Appointment of Leatrice Arlie to the Library Board of Con-trol VIII. PUBLIC HEARING ON ORDINANCE(S)
16-58 An ordinance authorizing the Parish President to execute
an Act of Lease with the St. John Theatre, Inc., a non-profit, for a period of 10 years, for an annual payment of $1.00 per year with St. John Theatre paying the liability insurance for the building.This lease will hold the Parish Council harm-less from any and allclaims by or liability to third persons. Such lease agreement will be executed and approved by legal coun-sel. (N. Robottom)
16-59 An ordinance to rescind Ordinance 16-52. (L. Sorapuru)
IX. COMMITTEE REPORTS
X. OLD BUSINESS
XI. NEW BUSINESS
Natalie Robottom – Resolution – R17-01 – A Resolution authorizing and approving a grant agreement between St. John the Baptist Par-ish and the Louisiana
Housing Corporation for administration of the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Pro-gram (LIHEAP)
Natalie Robottom – Authorization for the District Attorney’s Office to represent the Parish in a claim against Manjit Wad-hwa, Wadhwa Realty, L.L.C. and Wadhwa Resort, L.L.C. for ponds cleaning
XII. DEPARTMENT/ENGINEER RE-PORTS
Larry Sorapuru– (Car-ry Over 11-7-16) Update from Bond attorney on financing for water projects
Larry Snyder – (Carry Over 12-13-16) Update on the administrative directive to consult an attorney concerning Fire Station #51 construction
Lennix Madere – Update on drainage District III
Lennix Madere – Update on Belle Pointe levee
Lennix Madere – Up-date on Chad B. Baker - findings from survey
Lennix Madere – Sewerage/Wastewater issues on Central Ave in Reserve
Lennix Madere – Par-ish Parks upkeep and maintenance
XIII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Parish Buildings – Security
Lennix Madere - St. John the Baptist Parish vs. Myrtle F. Victor, Roba Inc. and Adair Asset Management, LLC, 40th JDC, #63827
John Barrett vs. St. John the Baptist Par-ish, Docket# 68043 (Graffiti issue)
Sky Nicole Jones, et al v. Troy Miles, et al, 40th JDC
Any and all pending legal matters XIV. INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES
XV. PRESIDENT REPORT
XVI. CORRESPON-DENCE/COUNCIL BRIEFS XVII. ADJOURN-MENT St. John the Baptist Parish, will upon re-quest and three (3) days advance notice, provide reasonable accommo-dation to any disabled individual wishing to attend the meeting. Anyone requiring reasonable accommoda-tion is requested to con-tact Mrs. Stacey Cador at (985) 652-9569 (voice) or the Louisiana Relay Service 1-800-846-5277 and ask for St. John the Baptist Parish at(985) 652-9569.
L-3196 1T 1-7
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH
COUNCILFINANCE
COMMITTEE MEETING, TUESDAY, JANUARY 10th, 2017
6:00 PMJACLYN HOTARD –
CHAIRLENNIX MADERE – VICE CHAIRMAN
I. CALL TO ORDERII. ROLL CALL
III. PUBLIC COM-MENT – AGENDA ITEMS ONLY (2 min-utes per citizen)
IV. BID OPENING REPORT/AWARDS
V. Cain Dufrene/Tommy Brown – (Carry Over 12-13-16) Authorization to execute Change Order No. 2 with Aegis Construction, Inc. for Hemlock
Fire Station #51
VI. LaVerne Toombs – Bid Award – (Carry Over 12-27-16) Authorization to enter into an agreement with Principal Engineering, Inc. for the design of the West Bank WWTP Tank Rehabilitation Project
VII. Jean Stew-
art/Blake Fogle-man – Authorization to solicit bids for the Wastewater Retention Pond Conversion to Wastewater Treatment Pond
VIII. Jean Stewart – Authorization to enter into an agreement with A&E Enter-prise Management, L.L.C. for the ADA Coordinator services
IX. LaVerne Toombs – Authori-zation to amend the contract with Hunt, Guillot, & Associates, L.L.C. for CDBG Grants Management and Administrative Consulting for Gustav/Ike funds
X. LaVerne Toombs – Authori-zation to renew the Fire Department’s
Package Policy with VFIS
XI. LaVerne Toombs – Autho-rization to renew the Civil Defense Commercial Property Policy with Great Lakes Reinsurance
XII. Adjournment
L-3197 1T 1-7
sPECiAL ToL’OBSERVATEUR
PARADIS — Rebecca Lee said there are many amaz-ing moments in teaching, so picking one out is extremely difficult.
However, the J. B. Martin Middle School teacher said it only takes a few moments to reach a student and a detention duty last school year drove the point home.
Lee was reminded of the story recently while talk-ing about her latest honor as her school’s Teacher of Year for the 2016-17 academ-ic term.
Lee said a sixth grade stu-dent came into detention with an attitude, announc-ing she had no homework or anything to be completed for school that day.
“Well, I said, choose a book from my shelf and you will read for an hour,” Lee said. “You would’ve thought I stepped on that child’s foot for all the groan-ing that came from her. Finally, I chose for her. She had never heard of Sept. 11; the I Survived Series, The Attacks of September 11, 2001 short novel was per-fect. Oh no, I didn’t say easy … I said perfect. She fought me for a while, procrastinat-ing, bathroom break, “can I do anything else,” and other avoidance behaviors. In response, I took the novel and set it aside. I showed
her a video from that his-tory changing day, and another, and a tribute, and another.”
Lee said the student asked why her teacher was making her cry before she explained there are events in life that everyone needs to do more than just read about.
“We talked about where I was that day and how I visited New York that Thanksgiving while the towers still burned,” Lee said. “The bell rang and I had never seen anyone more disappointed to leave detention. She came back, running into my classroom a minute later, announcing that she had forgotten the book. She grabbed it from the table and ran out the room.”
The next morning, Lee said, “that sweet little non-reading sixth grader made her way back to my room, said she finished the book that night and pulled anoth-er book from my shelf. I cried.”
Lee is a 16-year educator, spending ten of those years in St. Charles Parish Public Schools. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Education for the University of New Orleans and is a member of the school’s “Student Events Committee,” where she serves as chair.
Lee is married and has two sons.
Detention lesson highlights teaching time
Pictured above, steven Guitterrez, rebecca Lee, rhonda Voiselle and Tobi Flair celebrate Lee’s recognition as the J. B. Martin Middle school Teacher of year.
At left, rebecca Lee is surrounded by her fifth period class.