News

MAURICE — Last year proved to be a year of changes for Maurice.
In the spring, Maurice moved from a village to officially become a town. That expanded the Board of Aldermen from three to five members. Then, elections took place in November, bringing a new mayor and members to the board.
Those new faces kicked off this year during the first Maurice Board of Aldermen meeting on Jan. 18.
“I thank everybody for coming for our first meeting of the year,” Mayor Neil Arsement said. “We appreciate your support through this whole process.”

The Vermilion Parish Police Jury re-elected Jason Picard as its president and Brent Landry as its vice president at Wednesday’s first regular meeting of 2023.
Both were the only nominees for the positions.
Picard said the standing committee assignments would largely stay the same as they were in 2022 with a couple of changes.
On the Coastal Protection and Restoration Committee, Picard appointed Chad Lege as the chair and Sandrus Stelly as the vice-chair.
He also appointed Dr. Paul Whittington to the rabies control board.

Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy is taking random gunfire seriously. He is so serious that he tracks each time random gunfire is called into the police department.
Chief Hardy plots with a red pin where the gunfire was reported. If anyone was hit with a bullet, he marks the location with a yellow pin.
Since January 2022, Hardy has placed 185 red pins on the map. The red pins represent one shot to as many as 60 shots fired at one location.
Just under 20 yellow pins mark where someone was hit with a bullet.