By Kevin Chiri

Congratulations to Natalie Robottom for not one, but two big jobs she secured in the last month.

Natalie was ready to move on after missing out in her attempt to win the parish president’s race here in St. John, and she didn’t lack for suitors.

She decided to accept the position as parish manager for Terrebonne Parish, but had only worked there a couple of weeks when the office of Governor Bobby Jindal came calling.

Natalie said she had talked with someone from the governor’s office late last year, but there was no specific position that was discussed. However when they called her right after the Jan. 14 inauguration of St. John’s new officials, they wanted her to come on board as director of the Office of Community Services.

Even though she ended up beginning work in Terrebonne Parish for a couple of weeks, she couldn’t pass up the great opportunity to join Jindal’s team, and took the new job a little over a week ago.

Anyone who knew Natalie here in St. John knew that she would land on her feet pretty easily after the parish president’s election didn’t go her way. But it’s still pretty impressive to see the way a handful of impressive positions were offered to her.

Congratulations Natalie, and keep us folks here in St. John Parish in mind as you coordinate all the services from the state. We’ll take all the help we can get!

Tickets are now on sale for the next production by St. John Theater, which will be “Steel Magnolia’s,” to be produced for locals the weekend of Feb. 21-24.

Directed by Reserve native Darryl P. Clement, “Steel Magnolias” will be showing on Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 21-23, at 7:30 p.m. Then there will be a Sunday, Feb. 24 showing at 2:30 p.m.

General admission tickets are $10 each and available at Allied Express, or at the theatre Box Office before each performance. You can get a special deal with a reduced price of $8 per ticket for groups of 10 or more.

Playing the key roles in Steel Magnolias will be Louise Lilledahl as Truvy Jones, Maria Hotard Stelly as Anelle Dupuy-DeSoto, Ann LeBlanc as Clairee Belcher, Alison Hotard-Treas as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, Beverly Beard as M’Lynn Eatenton, and Deborah Corrao as Ouiser Boudreaux.

The theater is located at 115 W. 4th Street in Reserve. For more information, call Beverly Beard at 764-7688.

The River Region Chamber of Commerce is putting on a “Lunch and Learn” noon-time seminar again this month, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the chamber office from 11:30 to 12:30.

The topic this month is “Marketing Your Business,” with guest speaker Lakeisha Hammett. You can bring a brown bag lunch, then sit back and get some great tips for helping your business grow.

To register for the event, contact Dottie at the Chamber office at 359-9777.

And speaking of important meetings, there will be one in St. Charles Parish on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m., when a task force will conduct a public hearing about the much maligned Airline Highway stretch through that parish.

The meeting will be held in the St. Charles Parish Council chambers, located on the second floor of the St. Charles Parish Courthouse.

The Task Force will provide information and listen to public input on the traffic and safety issues for Airline Highway in St. Charles Parish.

Kevin Chiri is Publisher of L’Observateur and can be reached at (985) 652-9545 or at kchiri@bellsouth.net