On Wednesday, May 2, the St. Martin School Board will once again consider the matter of the controversial contract signed with a lumber company to cut down trees on Section 16 wetlands not far from Butte LaRose.    I’ll be speaking in opposition to carrying out the contract, as will  Harold Schoeffler.     The meeting begins at 5PM sharp.  Please consider showing your concern for the permanent destruction of cypress trees in the Basin by attending this meeting on Courville Street in Breaux Bridge.  The more public support we have, the better our chances to save the trees.   Thanks.

Water levels are still dropping in the Basin, and the 2012 crawfish season there has been a disaster.     The current issue of Louisiana Life magazine has a feature article on crawfishing, referring to one of the most delicious foods on earth as “mudbugs.”  This is unfortunate, insensitive and downright stupid.  Crawfishermen and -women are having a hard enough time already trying to make a living without their gourmet food product being called “mudbugs.”   People who have not eaten crawfish before will certainly not be encouraged to do so by reading this kind of pseudo-cleverness.   Print, radio and TV media in South Louisiana make this unfortunate mistake all the time, apparently trying to use cute language rather than to be accurate and articulate.  Shame on them all.  In my 70+ years living on the edge of the Atchafalaya Basin, I’ve never once heard a crawfisherman refer to crawfish as mudbugs.   They know better, and unlike media people, they are aware of the meaning of words and expressions.