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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information regarding a whooping crane found dead along Besi Lane in Mamou, Louisiana.
The reward is for information leading to the arrest or criminal conviction of those involved.
On the morning of January 9, 2024, a juvenile whooping crane was found dead in an agricultural pond on the south side of Besi Lane. The crane was sent to the Service’s National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon. A necropsy determined that the crane was shot which resulted in a fracture of the spine and internal hemorrhaging. Whooping cranes are currently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and it is illegal to harm the species in any way.
Whooping cranes are North America’s tallest bird. When they reach full maturity, the birds can be approximately 5 feet tall and can have a wingspan of more than 7 feet. The species breeds, migrates, winters, and forages in a variety of habitats, including coastal marshes and estuaries, inland marshes, lakes, open ponds, shallow bays, salt marsh , sand and tidal flats, upland swales, wet meadows, rivers, pastures, and agricultural fields.
In addition to the Endangered Species Act, whooping cranes are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Louisiana state law. The Service continues to work with partners at Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to protect these birds and solve wildlife crime.
Anyone with information about this case should call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 985-882-3756 or the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Lake Charles Office at 1-337-491-2588.
Callers may remain anonymous.

January 5, 1927 ~ March 2, 2024

KAPLAN — Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, March 7, 2024 at Vincent Funeral Home in Kaplan honoring the life of Mary Hilda Guidry Perrin (Hilda), 97, who died Friday, March 2, 2024 at Pelican Pointe Healthcare and Rehabilitation. She will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery with Deacon Bryan Istre officiating the services. Pallbearers will be Shane Perrin, John Perrin, Donald Perrin, Jr., Jeremy Morvant, Lucas Abshire, and Derrick Overley.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home in Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Thursday, March 7, 2024 from 9:00 AM until the services begin at 2:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 10:30 AM.
While many of us knew her in her Golden Years, Hilda was once a young girl. Born on January 5, 1927, her father was a farmhand, and she helped him pick cotton and potatoes. Her favorite actress was Doris Day and her favorite movie was Mrs. Miniver. While she enjoyed music, she wasn’t a fan of that Bugle Boy from Company B. and much preferred the slower “Begin the Beguine.” She enjoyed reading Huckleberry Finn and listening to the radio. She preferred Perry Como over Frank Sinatra, and Katherine over Audrey Hepburn.
As a young girl during WWII, she did her part on the home front rolling bandages with the local Red Cross. She was pen pals with a few local soldiers fighting in the war, one of which would become her husband, Carl. Set up by Carl’s mother, they got to know each other through their letters. They were married on December 30, 1945 and were together for 32 years, until Carl’s death in 1977 and together they had seven children. She spent 50 years working at hardware stores and enjoyed interacting with her customers.
As a woman, she loved Sandra Bullock, Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, and The Golden Girls. She liked Betty Boop, cooking for others, making her special peanut butter candy, and spending time with her numerous grands and great-grands. Some of her favorite memories are from camping with her family, and she especially loved it when the family got together and played volleyball in her son, Wayne’s, backyard.
Ever the fireball, she was outspoken and stood her ground until the very end. Stubbornly independent, she lived at home until her 97th birthday. Her long life was filled with triumph and tragedy, and she bared more loss than a human should be capable of surviving. A devout Catholic, Hilda loved the Lord with all her heart. A rosary was never far from her, and she prayed daily. We find comfort in knowing that she is with her heavenly father and is now reunited with the many loved ones she lost here on Earth.
This matriarch leaves behind a beautiful legacy in her family and she will be deeply missed.
She is survived by her son, Allen Wayne Perrin of Kaplan; her daughters, Kathy Perrin Morvant of Maurice, and Mary Perrin Abshire and her husband, Dennis of Kaplan; 19 grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren; 12 great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Althee Guidry and Azelie Richard Guidry; her five brothers and two sisters; her husband, Carl R. Perrin; her three sons, Carl James (Jimmy) Perrin, Donald Lee Perrin, Sr., and Jude Perrin; her daughter, Carleen Perrin Overley; her grandson, Joshua Breaux; her great-grandson, John David Perrin; and her daughter-in-law, Joyce Marceaux Perrin.
In lieu of flowers, Hilda's family asks that donations be made in her honor to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by visiting www.stjude.org/donate.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.

Last week, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the last of the Republican Party “Mc-Failures,” announced his retirement from his leadership position. As GOP Senate leader for 17 years, McConnell can boast of the longest tenure in congressional history.
He will vacate his party position this year, allowing for a new leader to take office in January of 2025, following an election among Senate Republicans. McConnell said he intends to continue serving in the U.S. Senate through the end of his term in January of 2027.
McConnell’s decision follows the removal of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) last year and the upcoming departure of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel this week.
The three “Mc-Failures,” a term coined by Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), needed to be replaced because of their mediocre performance and their lack of responsiveness to the dominant Make America Great Again (MAGA) base of the Republican Party.
Last October, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) replaced McCarthy. While his tenure has been rocky, filled with multiple missteps, there is little doubt he is more conservative than his predecessor. He is also keenly aware of the dominance of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.
Fortunately, Speaker Johnson has been holding the line against immediately passing an aid package for Ukraine. In a meeting at the White House with the President, Vice President and congressional leaders, Johnson was the only one insisting that a border security bill should be the top priority.
Following McDaniel’s resignation, a new RNC Chair will be elected on Thursday in Houston. The new RNC leader should be North Carolina RNC Chair Michael Whatley, who received the endorsement of President Donald Trump.
Trump was impressed by Whatley’s focus on “election integrity” issues in North Carolina. It was the only “swing state” that delivered their electoral votes to Trump in 2020. According to Trump, Whatley is “a man who’s going to watch the cheating.”
Whatley says he will “work around the clock to file aggressive litigation where needed” and “recruit and train tens of thousands of poll watchers and poll workers.” This is exactly what the MAGA base of the GOP wants to hear in anticipation of the all-important presidential election in November.
What makes the upcoming presidential election so important? For working-class Americans, the stakes have never been higher. Our country faces an open border, a poor economy, a declining military force, multiple wars overseas and renewed worries of nuclear conflict and annihilation.
Americans are economically suffering at home and our country’s reputation is being damaged abroad. The administration of President Joe Biden is both dangerously left-wing and incompetent, a noxious combination.
Fortunately, the American people have soured on the radical and misguided policies of President Biden. If the presidential election were held today, multiple polls show that Trump would be victorious over Biden.
In the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, Trump leads Biden 48-43% overall. Amazingly, the poll also indicates Trump holds a 46-40% lead over Biden among Hispanic voters, traditionally a key Democratic Party voting bloc.
Why are Hispanics turning against Biden and the Democrats? In an interview with Fox News, Campus Reform correspondent Pedro Rodriguez said “Under Biden's leadership, leftist policies have hurt young Americans. Financial insecurity is among the highest it's ever been with young Hispanics.”
Rodriguez believes that “Young Hispanics are going to flock behind the candidate they can support and champion working-class families, reduce inflation and pave the way for better economic and entrepreneurial opportunities here in the United States and not desecrate the American way of life.”
Unlike Democrats and establishment Republicans, President Trump speaks directly to the economic concerns of working-class Americans. His message is resonating with voters of all races and economic classes, but especially among those who are struggling under Biden’s economic policies.
Beginning with his 2015 presidential campaign announcement, Trump started the slow transformation of the Republican Party. His MAGA message sharply contrasted with the focus of many establishment Republicans on globalism, nation building, international wars, “free trade,” open borders and putting America “last.”
Trump’s “America First” message prevailed, and he won the GOP nomination in 2016 and 2020 and he will win it again this summer. Today, Trump’s philosophy is dominant among the activists and volunteers in the Republican Party, who are the base of the GOP.
It is time that Republican Senators chose a leader who agrees with these activists and the MAGA agenda.
Unfortunately, McConnell has been at odds with the MAGA movement and Trump from the day the President announced his campaign in 2015. In the beginning of McConnell’s tenure as Senate Republican leader, in 2007, his views were closely aligned with the GOP President George W. Bush. While the Republican Party has changed since then, McConnell has not, so his departure is necessary.
When President Trump is hopefully elected in November, he will need a Senate Republican leader, who will support his agenda. As U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures, his Republican Senate colleagues must “use this leadership election to turn the page on Republican Senate leadership. You cannot have a Senate Republican leader who is far more obsessed with securing Ukraine’s border than he is focused on the American border. You can’t have a Senate Republican leader who seems to ooze hatred and dismay for the very people who vote most of the Republican elected leaders.”
Vance believes that the “base” of the GOP is filled with “good people” and the party “should be listening to them more than we do. But you can’t have another establishment politician who seems to dislike the people who actually vote for the Republican Party.”
He said the “focus” must be on “getting a Republican leader who I think is trusted by the broad majority of Republicans. That’s the most important thing. And that’s what’s actually going to help us win elections and govern.”