The top headline on the day 2019’s top story was published read: “Police: Man killed in gang drive-by shooting.”
The shooting was a tragic event happening at nearly noon on Nov. 4 at South Martin Luther King Drive and East Maple Avenue.
Two days later the top story of the year for Eunice was announced at Eunice High School.
The school had earned an A in the state’s school performance score ratings. The previous year Eunice High School missed the A by three-tenths of a point.
The high school’s achievement may not be that shocking crime story, election result or disaster that ranks at the top of the top stories for a year, but it is a story rich with past successes and signals the future of Eunice.
Eunice High School Principal Mitch Fontenot called a school assembly on Nov. 6 to announce the A score. The students greeted the news with cheers.
“We’ve been headed in the right direction and we are just thrilled that we finally got that A. I always knew were an A school. We just didn’t have anything on paper to prove it. Well, now we do,” he said.
Eunice High School became the first traditional high school in St. Landry Parish to earn an A in the state performance scores. The Eunice school increased its score in nine of the past 10 years.
The Magnet Academy for Cultural Arts also earned an A this year, but its focus is non-traditional.
The years of effort at Eunice High and the steady improvement is a bright star for the future of Eunice.
Public safety pay
The second top story also signals a community embrace for the future of Eunice.
In May, Eunice voters passed a 0.25% sales tax to raise police and fire department pay. The turnout was light — 11.9% of the 6,308 registered voters — but the issue was approved by 78% of those voters.
The passage of a new tax is a top story all of its own. Passing taxes is not easy. A St. Landry Parish tax renewal to keep the parish jail operating, failed in November with 53% of the voters turning it down. The property tax raises about $640,000 a year.
The Eunice tax for public safety pay is expected to raise the starting police pay $3 from the current $9.75 and starting firefighter $2 from the present $8.50.
The tax also will fund increases for police and fire employees at all levels.
The ballot item stated the tax is expected to raise about $640,000 a year, begin July 1 and run in perpetuity.
The public started paying the sales tax in October. Mayor Scott Fontenot expects the raises to go into effect for the first full pay period in January.
The idea behind the raise, particularly for the police department, is keep police officers in Eunice. The city, for years, if not decades, has had a revolving door where new hires get training and experience, then move onto departments that pay more than Eunice.
In making his case for the police raise, Police Chief Randy Fontenot said, “Experience in police work ... is very important. The longer you are here, the longer you see things, the more you know how to handle it, the better equipped you are to handle it because of your past experiences. Experience is number one here. We want to retain that experience and we’ve not been doing a good job at that at all.”
He added, “We are looking at a penny for every $4 that you spend — a penny.”
Pay for Eunice firefighters also has been lagging behind area departments, Fire Chief Mike Arnold said.
Library breakup
In July, the Eunice Board of Aldermen approved severing the Eunice Library’s ties to the Opelousas Library. The Opelousas-Eunice Public Library was created in 1967, but the relationship had grown rocky in recent years.
Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot attended library system board meetings and eventually set his sights on freeing the Eunice Library from its Opelousas connection.
The mayor’s bottom line on the issue was he didn’t think the city got its money’s worth from the more than $160,000 it paid to the Opelousas-Eunice Public Library.
The morning after the Eunice aldermen voted to separate, the Eunice Library was closed. There was also equipment missing. The negotiations started.
The July 10 closing continued until August when there was a soft opening. By September the library was running again with some minor issues.
Maple Avenue
Sometimes a top story is one that isn’t completed and that’s the case with the overlay of Maple Avenue escaping Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto pen in July.
The $1.8 million project will take at least another couple of years to become reality, but it is on the Department of Transportation’s books.
The paving project has been in the wish books of many people and politicians in Eunice for years. Jack Burson, former alderman at-large, continually raised the issue over his two decades of service.
The project looked as if it would not happen under Edwards’ tenure. Edwards, a Democrat, is on the opposite of many issues from State Rep. Phillip DeVillier, a Republican.
DeVillier, Eunice Mayor Scott Fontneot and other local officials lobbied to get the project past the veto pen.
The funding for paving job from La. 13 to Bobcat Drive is part of a $1.5 billion capital outlay bill.
DeVillier said the funding came from a $300 million surplus. The money was divided into six areas with the governor getting $40 million and legislators getting $40 million for infrastructure projects, he said. DeVillier used that as the funding source for the Maple Avenue project.
The project could have been vetoed, DeVillier said.
Arrest in Daville homicide
Nearly a year passed between the shooting death of Scott Daville, 56, on Dec. 27, 2018, and the arrest of a suspect.
The suspect, Hi Keam Wilson, 17, of Lake Charles, was booked into the St. Landry Parish Jail on Dec. 11. Wilson will be tried as an adult and is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary.
Eunice Police said Daville was shot after he interrupted the burglary of his pickup truck outside his residence at about 5:30 a.m. in the 500 block of Juanita Street.
Daville died at a Lafayette hospital from a single bullet wound to his torso, Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said.
“The victim was outside when he noticed a vehicle pulled up in front of house,” police detective Robert Brickley said at the time. “As he starts looking, he notices somebody was inside of his vehicle. He went to approach. As he approached the vehicle gunshots rang out striking the victim.“
He added, “This murder hit our community hard and touched the lives of many people. It took nearly an entire year, but now the family may begin to have some closure.”
The shooting death heightened a sense of unease about crime in Eunice. The incident ignited a renewed call for neighborhood watch groups to form.
City’s 125th birthday was a hot event
However it might be described, Eunice’s 125th birthday celebration turned into a hot event. Despite scorching 90-degree plus temperatures the party continued to a highlight of unveiling a statue of Clovis Crawfish in front of the Eunice Depot Museum.
Held on Sept. 14, the celebration included a parade, food, music, time capsule and the crawfish statue. The families of author Mary Alice Fontenot and artist Reginald Keller showed up.
Even in mid-September, the heat was a factor as the celebration shut down early.
Alderwoman Connie Thibodeaux, who led much of the celebration’s preparation and execution, has said the assembly of content for the next time capsule is underway and may be completed in January.
Parish voters endorse the status quo
There was little sentiment to throw the incumbents out in the fall parish elections.
In the October vote, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz won a fourth term as he overwhelmed three opponents in Saturday’s primary election with 60% of the votes cast.
Also in the October election, Republican Heather Cloud won 63% of the vote to win the 28th District Senate election by defeating two Democratic opponents. There was no incumbent for the seat.
Several St. Landry Parish Council seats were unopposed including Eunice area representatives Coby Clavier and Jimmie Edwards.
The elections for parish president and assessor in St. Landry Parish were thrown into a runoff in November.
Incumbent Parish President Bill Fontenot defeated challenger Ken Marks with 53% of the vote.
In the assessor race, incumbent Ryhn Duplechain had announced his retirement. Sherri McGovern and Blair Briggs won spots in the runoff with McGovern winning with 60% of the vote.
Post Office closes
The sign on the door of the Eunice Post Office announced it was closing on Monday, Sept. 23, due to safety concerns.
A temporary office has since opened in a portable building, but there has been little information offered from postal officials about the future of the building. When the closing first occurred, customers were directed to pickup mail from boxes at the Lawtell Post Office.
A postal official contacted recently could not provide any details about renovations. Mold was cited as a reason for closing the building.
During a town hall meeting, U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson said he would look into issues such as redoing the front steps. Eunice City Marshal Terry Darbonne said the steps present a safety hazard because they are steep.
Famed musician dies
Guitarist Gerry McGee grew up in Eunice, but he was probably more famous in places like Japan than was at home.
McGee was 81 years old when he died during a solo tour in Japan on Oct. 12.
McGee was the son of famed Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee.
McGee made his breaks playing with Jerry Reed and Ricky Nelson. He went on to do recordings with Bobby Darin, Nancy Sinatra, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, and Glen Campbell.
He performed with Eric Clapton, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Monkees and The Ventures.
According to information on The Ventures’ website after Gerry McGee’s death, “Gerry’s career was very wide-ranging and his skill and musicianship was appreciated by many world-famous musicians. He was on the early Monkees’ recordings (before the group members became musicians themselves), he worked with Elvis, Delaney and Bonnie, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Kris Kristofferson, John Fogerty and many others. He received accolades from members of The Beatles to Liberace. He appeared in movies too – including “A Star in Born” with Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand.”
A Eunice News sports legend retires
This one is close to The Eunice News. This was the year that longtime sports writer John Burson retired.
Of course, he had already retired as a teacher at Eunice High School, but he maintained his sports writing at The Eunice News. Burson also continued coaching baseball.
As a teacher, Burson’s students include many Eunice News employees including Darrell J. Guillory, publisher and chief executive officer of Louisiana State Newspapers.
Burson covered area sports for more than three decades. He served as sports editor at The Eunice News in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tony Beaugh, who was a student at Eunice High and worked with Burson at the newspaper, said for a retirement story, “As good as a coach and teacher John was, he is an even better person.” Beaugh added, “I don’t know any person who knows John that doesn’t like him.”
Burson retired in September.