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After becoming the first full-time Executive Director of the Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission nearly 20 years ago, Alison Miller plans to retire later this summer.
Prior to becoming the Executive Director in Vermilion Parish, Miller spent 10 years as an award-winning graphic designer for the Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission.
In July of 2006, Miller was hired to lead the parish’s tourism efforts.
From 506 visitors in 2007 to over 2,700 visitors in 2025, Miller helped grow tourism in the parish by creating parish brochures and other marketing materials, securing over $2 million in grant funds to market the parish, redesigning the tourism website to attract tourists to the parish, and hosting numerous tour groups and journalists.
Under Miller’s leadership, the Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission has been named “Top Tourism Bureau” in the small budget category in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
In 2018, the Tourist Center was moved to downtown Abbeville to be more accessible and for Miller to take on the additional role of Abbeville Cultural Alliance Director. As the Cultural Alliance Director, Miller promotes the Cultural Center at the local and national levels. She provides tours and information on the exhibits housed inside the building.
Miller’s last day in the office is expected to be at the end of June.
The Tourist Commission Board will open the position next month, begin the interview process at the beginning of March and hopes to have a replacement in place by mid-March to work with Alison Miller on a part-time basis.
Miller said, “This job is so much more than handing out brochures and suggesting places to visit. I would like a few months to work with my replacement so they can learn the day-to-day operations, help people who stop in for information, then figure out their own system for promoting the parish to visitors.”
When asked about retirement plans and what will be missed, Miller responded: “As a life-long Vermilion Parish resident, I truly love telling everyone about our parish. Even though I am stepping down to focus on my creative side and my family, I will always promote the things we enjoy here. I feel we have so much to offer through our culture, food, festivals and people. I will miss working with other parish and state organizations and helping tourists navigate our parish, but I look forward to spending time creating art and offering more at my dance studio. I want to be creative and sell my art. I already have projects waiting!”

The national website World Population Review reports that Maurice is the fastest-growing town or city in Louisiana.
The website says Maurice’s population reached 3,514 in 2026. Since the 2020 census, the town has grown by 6.74 percent, adding 1,329 people in six years.
Mayor Neil Arsement welcomed the recognition, calling it a positive reflection of Maurice’s appeal and quality of life.
“This is wonderful news for our community,” Arsement said. “It shows that people are choosing Maurice as a place to live, particularly those relocating from nearby areas in neighboring parishes.”
Still, Maurice is facing some growing pains that Arsement is working to address. The rapid increase in new neighborhoods over the past six years has put a strain on the town’s infrastructure, especially the roads, which are struggling with heavy traffic and developing potholes and other damage.
Arsement reached out to the Vermilion Parish Police Jury for help with road repairs in the city, but his request was denied. He also asked for assistance to fix a bridge within the city limits, but again, the answer was no.
“We respect the role of the Police Jury and understand that resources are limited,” Arsement said. “However, it is difficult to reconcile our growth and the increasing strain on parish-maintained infrastructure within our town when assistance is not available.
“We are the fastest-growing city in the state. We are also the only town in Vermilion Parish that has grown, but when you ask the Police Jury for help, we get no help,” Arsement said. “ The residents of the Town Of Maurice pay property and sales taxes that go directly to Parish government and they deserve to see a return on their investment, but unfortunately the Police Jury refuses to partner with us to reinvest within Maurice”
He said Maurice growing is a plus for the entire parish.
“When Maurice grows, Vermilion Parish benefits,” he said. “Continued investment in growing communities helps ensure the long-term health and vitality of the entire parish. If Maurice does not continue to grow, the parish will slowly die.”
As the town keeps growing, officials are applying for grants to expand the sewer plant, which can support growth for another five or six years.
If Arsement could have one wish for Maurice as it grows, it would be to find land within the city limits for businesses to build on. He said several businesses want to move to Maurice but are having trouble buying land because owners either do not want to sell or are asking double the appraised value.
“We need landowners to understand that responsible business development is essential to our future,” Arsement said. “Local businesses generate sales tax revenue that supports critical services, including public safety. When land prices are set far above appraised value, it becomes difficult for businesses to invest here, and that ultimately impacts the entire community.”
Carencro is the second-fastest-growing town/city in Louisiana, with its population increasing by about 5,000 over the past six years. In 2020, Carencro’s census count was 9,372, and now it is 14,638.
Youngsville is ranked fifth, Scott is sixth, and Broussard is eighth.
Maurice is the only city in Vermilion Parish to have grown in the past six years. The other five cities in the parish lost population during that time.
• The town of Kaplan lost 254 residents for a new population of 4,079.
• The city of Abbeville saw its population drop by 396 people and now has a population of 10,770.
• The town of Erath lost 96 residents and now has a population of 924 .
• In Gueydan, the population is down by 55 for a total of 1,105 residents.
• Delcambre is down 50 residents and now has a population of 1,752.

City of St. Martinville Mayor Jason Willis has been named the Chairman of the Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) Board of Directors for 2026. Willis has been on the Board for four years, and previously served as Vice Chairman in 2025 and Secretary/Treasurer in 2024.
“Jason is a proven Mayor working tirelessly to create positive change for the citizens of St. Martinville, and I know he will bring that same energy to the Chairman role at LEPA”, said General Manager Bihm.
Mayor Robichaux was recognized by the Board for his role as Chairman in 2025 during the Board’s January meeting. “2025 saw the LEPA organization kick off its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), and LEPA also began serving wholesale electricity to the cities of Minden and Natchitoches in June of 2025 – both under Mayor Robichaux’s tenure as Chairman,” said LEPA General Manager Kevin Bihm.
Other officers include Mayor Roslyn White of Abbeville, Vice Chairman; Mayor Buz Craft of Vidalia, Secretary/Treasurer. The remaining LEPA Operating Committee members for 2026 include Mayor Mike Kloesel of Kaplan and Mayor Chuck Robichaux of Rayne.
LEPA is a joint-action agency based in Lafayette and is made up of 20 member municipalities, each owning their own municipal electrical systems. LEPA members include Abbeville, Alexandria, Erath, Gueydan, Houma, Jonesville, Kaplan, Lafayette, Minden, Morgan City, Natchitoches, New Roads, Plaquemine, Rayne, Ruston, St. Martinville, Vidalia, Vinton, Welsh and Winnfield.

Dear Editor,

In Louisiana, Cajun culture is often celebrated for its food, music, and resilience. Far less remembered is that Cajuns were once treated as outsiders in their own home, discriminated against for their language, culture, and identity.
That history is not symbolic. In 1980, Roach v. Dresser Industrial Valve established a critical legal fact: Cajuns were recognized as a protected ethnic group under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court ruled that Cajuns were not simply “white Americans,” but a distinct people with a documented history of discrimination, often treated as foreigners in Louisiana itself.
For generations, Cajun children were punished for speaking French in school. Cultural expression was discouraged. Economic opportunity was limited for those who did not conform. Over time, many Cajuns were encouraged to forget this past in the name of assimilation.
Forgetting came at a cost.
When a community forgets its own marginalization, it becomes easier to believe that discrimination only happens to others. Legal protections begin to feel abstract or unnecessary, something meant for someone else, somewhere else.
History shows a familiar pattern. When social or economic pressure rises, societies look for scapegoats. Immigrants, religious minorities, LGBTQ people, political dissidents, when one group is exhausted as a target, another is found. What matters is not who is targeted, but how easily the targeting is accepted.
Cajuns have already filled that role once before.
They were portrayed as backward, un-American, or culturally incompatible. Their language was treated as a problem to be corrected. Their traditions were framed as obstacles to progress. These narratives justified exclusion while appearing reasonable to those in power.
Civil rights protections did not exist because Cajuns were powerful. They existed because vulnerability was acknowledged. That recognition is not a historical curiosity, it is a warning.
Civil rights laws are not guarantees. They are safeguards that only function when societies remember why they were created. Once a culture becomes comfortable dismissing the rights of its least powerful members, the definition of who qualifies as “least powerful” expands quickly.
Protecting the most vulnerable among us is not charity. It is self-preservation. A society that accepts the exclusion of one group will eventually find another.
Cajun history reminds us that belonging can be fragile, protections can erode, and memory can fade faster than we expect. Remembering this past is not about victimhood. It is about recognizing how easily a community can move from accepted to expendable.
The question is not whether this could happen again. History suggests it can. The real question is who we choose to protect, and what that choice says about who we are.

Sources
64 Parishes Article: https://64parishes.org/entry/calvin-j-roach-v-dresser-industrial-valve-a...

Official Case Document: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/494/215/2150337/

Supreme Court Insights: https://www.justice.gov/osg/media/225756/dl?inline