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According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, every 90 seconds someone is injured in a drunk driving crash.
Vermilion Catholic High School students participated in a mock crash to educate their fellow students about the dangers of driving drunk.
Staging such a crime could be difficult, but with the help of Acadian Ambulance, Abbeville Fire Department, Abbeville Police, and several other departments, made it much easier to spread the grisly visual of the effects of driving drunk. University Medical Center of New Orleans and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission were instrumental in bringing the program to VC.
A mock crash is when educators around the country are intent on making these statistics real for teens. And in this day in age, it’s becoming more and more frequent. Friends are losing friends, dads are losing sons, moms are losing daughters, and the list goes on.
According to MADD, just over half of the children killed in drunk driving crashes were in the car with the drunk driver, but the other 46 percent of victims were in the car who got hit. During the mock crash, police officers will give chilling accounts of what it is like to tell a family that one of their loved ones has died as a result of a drunk driving crash.
“I think it is necessary because I feel like the kids always feel as if they’re invincible,” VC teacher Katie Landry said. “It gives them a reason to look and realize it could very well be any of them. Its very difficult to watch, but I feel like it needs to be seen.
“If this could save just one single life, then it was all worth it.”
The nurses used fake blood to show how gruesome it could be. JR Bazar, a student, painted red while laying on the hood of the SUV from being partially ejected from not wearing a seatbelt, was the student whose life was ‘taken’ in this mock crash. The driver, Monique Domingue, frantically searching for her phone, and shaking the previously mentioned victim to get him to open his eyes, played the drunk driver.
In another vehicle, a set of friends were hit by this impaired driver, who crossed the center line. Jean Paul LeMaire, the sober driver had minor scrapes and bruises, but his passenger, Camille Harrington, was injured. Both of her legs pinned under the dashboard with no way to get out.
The students in the audience were in shock, some with tears in their eyes. One student saying, “I didn’t think it would look and seem so real.”
Bazar, the only fatality in this crash, explained why he wanted to be a part of the mock crash.
“Thinking about doing it made me realize I needed to do it,” Bazar said. “This could be real, this could be me and my friends, people that I know. It tore my mom up to watch my lifeless body on the hood of that car, and I guess reality set in that it could happen, that why she broke down when the officer told her I had died. It wasn’t her acting, it was real.
“My dad died a couple of years ago and I think it hurt her because it could be me she loses, too.”

Eldes Antoine Bourque

July 20, 1924 ~ March 24, 2018

Abbeville—Funeral services will be held at 9:00 AM on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville honoring the life of Eldes Antoine Bourque, 93, who died Saturday, March 24, 2018 at Abbeville General Hospital.
He will be laid to rest at St. Mary Magdalen Cemetery with Fr. Michael Richard officiating the services.
Eldes is survived by his sister, Velma Williams of Jeanerette; nieces, Diana Risher of Covington and Brenda Graham of Ripon, WI; great niece, Amy McCance; and godchild, Elmae Knighton.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Eula Vice Bourque; parents, Etienne Bourque and the former Marie Broussard; infant son, Larry Bourque; and a brother Jean D. Bourque.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Monday, March 26, 2018 from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Tuesday, March 27, 2018 from 8:00 AM until time of services.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

Miss Kansas Therese Istre of Abbeville and Mr. Ryan O’Neill Poche’ of Erath are announcing their engagement and plans to marry.
The wedding will take place on Friday, August 17, 2018 during a 6:30 p.m. ceremony at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbville.
Kansas is the daughter of Bert and Kristi Istre of Abbeville. Her grandparents are Dudley and Glenda Sellers of Abbeville and Claude J. Istre of Abbeville and the late Florence Therese Istre.
The future bride is a 2012 graduate of North Vermilion High School and a 2016 graduate of UL Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She is employed in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Ryan is the son of Mark and Schuyler Poche’ of Erath. His grandparents are the late Lynn and Leona Poche’ of Erath and Brent and Connie Delcambre of Abbeville.
He is a 2012 graduate of Erath High School, a 2016 graduate of Tulane University with a degree in Economics and International Relations and is attending the University of Virginia School of Law. He is a summer associate with Simpson Thacher and Bartlett LLP in New York and Houston.

Mr. and Mrs. Adrien Baudoin of Abbeville are pleased to announce the engagment and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Kaylyn Michelle Baudoin, to Jacob Tyler Fleming.
He is the son of Donna Touchet Fleming of Abbeville and the late Floyd “Bubba” G. Fleming II of Abbeville.
The wedding will be held on Saturday, June 30, 2018, at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Abbeville.
Kaylyn is a 2010 graduate of Abeville High School and a 2014 graduate of UL Lafayette with a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education. She is employe with the Vermilion Parish School Board.
Jacob is a 2008 graduate of Abbeville High School and a 2016 graduate of UL Lafayette with a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Technology. He is employed with Pellerin Milnor Corporation in Kenner, La.