By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

VACHERIE – With a slim agenda on the table, discussion during the St. James Parish Council’s regular meeting briefly turned to last week’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public meeting in Lutcher.
Council President James Brazan commented on the amount of support the parish received during the meeting.
“(I’m) very impressed with the other parishes and the other organizations that came out and supported St. James Parish. It just seemed like everyone was speaking up for St. James Parish and Alignment D,” he said.
Parish President Timmy Roussel added that he was attempting to find out who was not in favor of choosing Alignment D but said he only knew of four people so far that were against it: Col. Richard Hansen, the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Project Manager Jeff Varisco, and two other unnamed project engineers.
“That’s only four people. Even some of the Corps of Engineers representatives that were at the public hearing that night were whispering to us (that they were for Alignment D),” said Roussel.
He went on to remark that Col. Hansen is “brand new to all of this,” and that he probably depended heavily on the advice of his engineers. Hansen allegedly offered St. James Parish leaders an amicable challenge to “turn the numbers around” and show the corps a more favorable cost-benefit ratio for the favored option.
The council also passed a resolution authorizing its Head Start program to use $5,100 from the sale of the South Vacherie Head Start Building to purchase a children’s computer and educational software for classrooms.