‘Light the Highway for Ramsie’ has gotten Vermilion Parish Police Jury’s attention

The Vermilion Parish Police Jury began making plans for its next meeting on Feb. 16 (5:30 p.m.) because it is expecting more than 100 people.
During a committee meeting on Wednesday, Police Juror Brent Landry alerted fellow jurors of talk on Facebook that people who are pushing for lights on U.S. Hwy. 167 will be at the next police jury meeting asking the jurors to look into getting lights.
“Light the Highway for Ramsie” is a Facebook post that Sherie Dubois started. Dubois is inviting people to attend the Feb. 16 Police Jury meeting. Ramsie Baumgardner was a North Vermilion senior who was traveling on U.S. Hwy. 167 and was hit head-on by a drunk driver traveling in the wrong lane. Baumgardner’s vehicle collided head-on with the vehicle traveling in the wrong lane. Both drivers were killed.
The push for street lights on Hwy. 167 is to light up the lanes and make it easier for drivers to see traffic.
“It is without question that Hwy. 167 is way too dark at night,” wrote Dubois. “The recent tragic loss of our Ramsie has sparked something in me. I thought to myself over and over, ‘She had to see him coming.’ I needed to see for myself. Once we left the funeral home Tuesday night, my husband and I drove the stretch of highway Ramsie traveled several times. Over and over again, I asked myself, ‘Can you see which lane those lights are coming from?’ and each time, after squinting my eyes and trying to focus on the lights, the answer every time was, “I can’t be sure.”
“But what I do know for sure is I saw the lights coming in the opposite direction, would never expect them to be in my lane and would continue on as I would any other time.... until it’s too late.”
Dubois wrote by having more lights on Hwy. 167, “would increase visibility and provide better recognition of upcoming obstacles, allowing more time for drivers to react.”
She asked everyone to attend the Feb. 16 Police Jury meeting to get things rolling toward the installation of lights on Hwy. 167.
Landry saw the post on Facebook and alerted the police jurors.
Landry also requested that the Department of Transportation and state representative members attend the meeting.
Police Juror Ed Domingues suggested the meeting be moved to the large courtroom down the hall in the courthouse.
“Maybe we should move the meeting because we can only put 32 people in here,” Domingues of the police jury meeting room. “If we know there are that many people are coming, we need to accommodate them. Let us see if the courtroom is available.”