THE NEWSPAPER OF AMERICA'S ANTIQUE CITY
i acebook.com/theponchatoulatimes www.ponchatoula.com/ptimes THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 34th YEAR
I
Saintsation Brooke Perrin visits Rotary
The guest speaker, Saintsation Brooke Perrin, was in-
vited to speak by Ponchatoula Rotarian Tommy Cooper.
The 2010 Ponchatoula High School graduate and 2011
Strawberry Festival queen learned at the Strawberry Fes-
tival that she had been chosen as a Saintsation, the elite
dance and cheer squad associated with our local NFL team.
(Times Photo)
ntsation
Bn
srrin
visits •
Thatch, Re
What does' a Strawberry Fes-
tival queen do after her festival
reign is through?
In the case of Ponchatoula
native and 2011 Strawberry
Queen Brooke Perrin, 22, she
becomes a member of the elite
dance and cheer squad, the New
Orleans Saintsations.
Fellow members of the PHS
Class of 2010 can see her on
the sidelines of all New Orleans
Saints home games with her
fellow Saintsations, the profes-
sional cheer squad formed
1967.
Ms. Perrin has to attend a
competitive audition for her po-
sition every year and can remain
Qn the squad for a maximum of
five years. This year's roster
contains the largest group in
Saintsation history, 34.
"We can't talk with the play-
ers, or associate with them," an-
swered Brooke in response to a
Rotary member's question.
In fact, she describes an or-
ganization with strict rules of
conduct. The Saintsations are
officially associated with the
Saints team, but the organiza-
tion is privately owned by Les-
lie Fitzmorris who runs a tight
ship indeed.
i :i¸ :~ i,:
Saintsation Brooke
Perrin of Ponchatoula
(Times File Photo)
Our local Saintsation some-
times uses a family name, Mix-
on, to throw off over-eager fans
and fantisizers.
You must be at least 18,
though there is no upper age
limit. "There are two marrmd
women on the squad. I don't
know how they do it," Brooke
Perrin told the Rotarians, add-
ing:
"There are two 3-hour prac-
tices a week. On game days we
arrive at the Superdome six
hours before every home game
for practice and we don't sit
down again until the game is
over," she said, quickly adding:
"We have a wonderful team,
PLEASE SEE PAGE 3
o Who will be
: Queen of Erin?
:_ The Krewe of Erin again this
_ year will name a queen based
on the Celtic values of scholar-
ship, research and fine writing
in an open, blind essay judging
contest for young ladies High
t.0 School sophomores to age 22.
ta The Maids of Erin in the
senior court will compete on
u. ,,, the same basis as the queen,
2: ¢ with the same qualifications.
The Court of Celtic Junior
Maids will be open to girls
_j from grades 6, 7, 8, & 9, who
-J may submit an 8 ½ X 11 draw-
~.~ ~::
t.0 ing of a Celtic Symbol and
a paragraph on the symbol.
The Court of Celtic Princesses
will be open to girls from kin-
PLEASE SEE PAGE 2
concert
• By BRYAN T. McMAHON
Echoing the enthusiasm of an earlier era in American music,
the latest great Ponchatoula concert New Years Eve brought to-
gether professional musicians from Ponchatoula to Norco and
back again to Millville, with fans alerted by text messages on their
smart phones.
It was a blast! Alleman, while James Bass the
The cleaned out storage great guitarist and fiddle player
building behind a block of an- let his music do his talking for
tique shops, reached through a him, and it said plenty.
courtyard dappled with moon- Members of Ponchatoula's
light, had great acoustics and The Porch Rockers were on hand
even better musicians, to belt out some of their signa-
Singer PHS scholar Jessica ture "Coongrassrockaswinga-
Gabriel was there. She has been billy tunes, even though front
taming microphones, 'gently man'Charles Austin was sport-
mastering them, then making ing crutches, which must have
them perform to her will under challenged him as he picked out
the guidance of James Bass and original and cover tunes on his
other professional musicians, electric mandolin.
Band leader Reed Alleman His brother Glen "Spyder"
was up from Norco with his son Austin unleashed his big stand-
Austin playing one of those per- up bass, while fellow Millvillian
cussion boxes that substitute David "Byrd" Boyd lent his elec-
for drums, jamming with gui- tric guitar licks to the band's
tarists Chris Roussel and Reed unique tunes.
Austin Alleman
on percussion
(Times Photo)
Jessica Gabriel
(Times Photo)
Chris Roussel at center
of resurgent live music Porch Rocker
Charles Austin
(Times Photo)
W,nter s Feast
tickets on sale
Times Report
Den's Seafood, 1915 S Morri-
son Blvd. Hammond, will be the
setting for the annual Krewe of
Erin Winter's Feast scheduled
for 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Saturday,
January 25, 2014 featuring the
Eddie Veatch Ensemble.
Diners are offered a choice of
Siblings w th talent entree, side, salad, and dessert.
Porch Rockers front man There will be a cash bar.
Charles Austin is pictured The naming of the Ancient
with his artist sister Connie Order of Hibernians Florida
Kittok at the recent Flash- Parishes Division as the 2014
Crowd Concert downtown. St. Patrick's Parade Grand
PLEASE SEE PAGE 2
NUMBER 15 50 ¢
Times Report
Strawberry freezing cold with temperatures in the teens ar-
rived like a freight train early in the week, causing some schools
in Hammond and Loranger to close their doors.
Hoped-for early season strawberry sales were dashed for this
year, according to area farmers.
"We had already sustained major damage. When I looked un-
der the plastic Monday morning, it was obvious that the previous
freeze hit us hard," strawberry farmer William Fletcher, whose
crop is located off North Thibadeaux Road, told The Times.
"Monday Night's freeze finished the crop we were growing for
Valentine's Day sales." he added, but then went on to express opti-
mism for the strawberry crop at Strawberry Festival time.
"This freeze will actually make the plants hardier, which speaks
well for the Strawberry Festival (April 11-13, 2014) strawberries,"
said Fletcher.
Skrmetta orders utilities not to
disconnect services
Louisiana Public Service Commission Chairman Eric Skrmetta
(R-Dist. 1) has instructed utility providers in the state that discon-
nection of services is prohibited during the extreme cold weather
in the next few days.
Under LPSC regulations, when temperatures will not exceed 32
degrees Fahrenheit, the Commission is empowered to order utili-
ties not to disconnect services, even if consumers have unpaid or
past-due balances on their accounts.
:: ~ ~it has co~e ~e ~-~" at~nti~ thaf temperatures m~n~xceed,
32 degrees in some areas and therefore I am directing all electric
and gas utilities to abide by the rules set forth in Louisiana Public
Service Docket R-29706, and to maintain this order in effect until
temperatures rise above freezing." Skrmetta said.
By OLE HARDHIDE
The Alligator
My grandma always says that she never get any phone
calls. So for her birthday I put one of those "How's my
driving?" bumper stickers on her car. Her phone's pretty
much ringing off the hook now. (RD) Here's one for you...
During the 3-1/2 years of World War II that started
with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in Decem-
ber 1941 and ended with the surrender of Germany and
Japan in 1945, the U.S. produced 22 aircraft carriers, 8
battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 420 destroyer es-
corts, 203 submarines, 34 million tons of merchant ships,
100,000 fighter aircraft, 98,000 bombers, 24,000 transport
aircraft, 58,000 training aircraft, 93,000 tanks, 257,000
artillery pieces, 105,000 mortars, 3,000,000 machine
guns, and 2,500,000 military trucks.
We put 16.1 million men in uniform in the various armed
services, invaded Africa, invaded Sicily and Italy, won
the battle for the Atlantic, planned and executed D-Day,
marched across the Pacific and Europe, developed the
atomic bomb and ultimately conquered Japan and Ger-
many.
Pretty red-haired Shanna Bauman is ever so close to
making her movie debut, I am certain. After all, the movie
guys keep coming back to her Acquisitions of the Bygone,
152 West Pine in America's Antique City, to buy the per-
fect period pieces to make the movies realistic. Six film
crews representing six movies have shopped with Shanna
in recent weeks. You go, Shanna, Ponchatoula's thorough-
ly modern antique lady, permanently borrowed from her
home town of Independence.
The Ponchatoula Times - Call 985-386-2877 - P.O. Box 743 - Ponchatoula, LA 70454-0743 - editor@ponchatoula.com
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