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ST. MARTIN PARISH – Shortly after 6 p.m. on Sept. 16, Troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop I began investigating a single vehicle fatal crash on US 90 westbound near the St. Martin / Iberia parish line.
The crash claimed the life of 45-year-old Ruiella Carriere of Youngsville.
The initial investigation by State Police revealed that the crash occurred as 46-year-old Larry Bourque of Youngsville was operating a 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle westbound on US 90. Carriere was a passenger on the motorcycle. For unknown reasons, Bourque failed to negotiate a right curve and the motorcycle ran off the left side of the roadway. The motorcycle traveled into the median and struck a sign causing Bourque and Carriere to be ejected off of the motorcycle.
Initially, Bourque and Carriere sustained moderate injuries and were transported to Lafayette General Medical Center for treatment. At approximately 11 p.m., Troopers were notified by medical personnel and informed that Carriere succumbed to her injuries. It is unknown if impairment is a factor in the crash. A toxicology sample was taken from Bourque and submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis.
Bourque and Carriere were wearing helmets, but the helmets were removed before Troopers arrived. Troopers are trying to determine if the helmets were DOT approved. This crash remains under investigation.
Troopers encourage all riders to take an approved motorcycle safety course. These courses teach safe riding practices and help you apply safe riding strategies that can help reduce your chance of injury should a crash occur. Making good choices while riding a motorcycle, such as never driving while impaired and obeying all traffic laws, can often mean the difference between life and death.
For more information on the Louisiana Motorcycle Safety, Awareness, and Operator Training Program, visit http://www.lsp.org/motorcycle.html.

YOUNGSVILLE – A season marked by early promise has taken a sobering turn for the North Vermilion Patriots.
Coach Richard Prejean's squad brought a 2-0 record into Thursday's road test at Ascension Episcopal, the first such start in 8 seasons.
But, NVHS was looking for a new direction from freshman Dale Martin after starting quarterback Garrett Becker injured his shoulder the previous week against Franklin.
Breaking in a new quarterback can be a bumpy road. Doing so against a team that found out earlier in the day that it had been awarded the 2016 Class 1A state crown via Southern Lab forfeiture heightened the degree of difficulty.
So it was no shock to see the Blue Gators jump to an early 19-0 lead, then march to a solid 47-7 victory at home.
Martin had some positive moments while sharing snaps with Darius Gilliam, but saw his second pass of the night intercepted for a 32-yard touchdown.
Then later, to add misery to the defeat, junior offensive lineman Zack Hebert suffered a serious knee injury in the final 3 minutes of action and left the field on a stretcher.
“We've been bitten by the injury bug,” Prejean said. “We've had no luck at all. I never like to use injuries as an excuse, but we've been hit hard.
“It's hard to ask a young man (Martin) to step in against a good team like Ascension. They've got a fine team. Their coaches do a great job. I thought Dale did a good job in some areas. He missed a couple of passes I thought we should hit.
“It was a growing experience for him.”
One miss was the Patriots' last gasp to stay relevant. AES had made it 26-7 on Seth Kerstetter's second touchdown catch of the game, a 33-yarder, and on second down from his 30, Martin found Ben Bares deep over the middle. But Bares couldn't bring it in and it remained a 19-point deficit at halftime.
The Gators lost starting quarterback Jake Vascocu to a twisted knee late in the first half, but freshman Cole Simon had a big lead and was able to finish out the impressive victory.
“We didn't have a real good week of practice,” Prejean said. “We weren't in step. We had a short work week coming off a win, and I think some of our players looked like they were looking at headlights.
“We were a little bit overconfident. I think maybe we were thinking we were better than we were.”
One Patriot who comes as advertised is running back Malik Criner, who entered the game with 293 yards and four touchdowns on 34 carries in the first two wins of the season.
Although keyed on by the Gators' defense, Criner responded with 96 yards on 23 carries including NVHS's lone TD of the night from 4 yards out that got the visitors within 19-7 with 10:16 left in the first half.
Criner, who added 45 yards on three kickoff returns, was always fighting for extra yardage.
“With our quarterback situation, we asked Malik to shoulder more of the load on offense,” Prejean said.
That burden may ease as Martin gains experience, or if Becker gets healthy, but for now the Patriots have taken some punches to the gut as they return home next week to host Varnado.
“I haven't had a chance to look at them much yet,” Prejean said, “but I know they'll have great athletes.”

GUEYDAN - The Gueydan Bears won their homecoming game in impressive fashion, beating South Cameron, 45-23, on Friday.
Homecoming King Spencer Broussard had a great night rushing the football. Broussard rushed for 194 yards on only 13 carries. He averaged 15 yards a carry. He had also had a 25-yard TD run late in the third quarter to make it 30-8.
As a team, Gueydan (2-1) rushed for 376 yards and passed for another 91 yards. The Bears ripped off 467 yards of offense. They also did not punt one time.
It was 8-0 after the first period when QB Blaire Broussard hit Mark Clark for a 12-yard pass. Blaire Broussard ran it in for the two-point conversion.
Ahead 14-0, Broussard found Griffin Guidry for a 48-yard touchdown reception. Spencer converted the two point play making it 22-0 heading into halftime.
South Cameron finally got on the board at the 4:52 mark in the third period but the game was out of reach.
Guidry added a 10-yard touchdown run and Lane Breaux had a 5-yard TD run in the fourth period for Gueydan.
Other rushers for GHS were Clark (11-84), Blaire (8-45), Lane Breaux (3-8), Julian Breaux (3-14) and Guidry (2-31).
Blaire had a good night throwing the football. He completed 50 percent of his passes (6-12) for 91 yards and two scores.
Gueydan is at home against Central Catholic on Friday to open district.

The Conservation Fund has been awarded $500,000 through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Gulf Coast Conservation program to complete the first U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Land Easement project in Louisiana. This grant will be matched with funds from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program to acquire an easement that will permanently protect a portion of the 5,800-acre, family owned and operated Live Oak Farm, which has provided valuable agricultural and ecological resources for the community and native wildlife for the past century.
“We are pleased to see this project in Vermilion Parish get started as Louisiana’s first working agricultural protection easement under the USDA,” said Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M. “Many states have participated in the USDA’s working lands protection programs for decades. It is beneficial that Louisiana is now utilizing this funding mechanism to directly support local farmers who are some of the greatest stewards of our natural assets.”
Located along the Vermilion River just north of the Intracoastal Waterway, Live Oak Farm is recognized as one of the southernmost remaining rice farms in Louisiana. In addition to rice, the farm produces cattle, crawfish and alligator. The farm is also a significant resource for migratory birds, with up to 70,000 waterfowl wintering on this acreage annually.
“The Conservation Fund expects to not only build on this leading commitment from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to deliver a successful outcome in Vermilion Parish, but also seeks a longer term mechanism to complete subsequent working lands protection projects across Louisiana,” said Ray Herndon, Director of the Central Gulf & Lower Mississippi River Region for The Conservation Fund. “We have assembled an exceptional group of partners to support both this initial effort and the bigger picture of identifying and securing dedicated funding for working lands protection across the state.”
“The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is pleased to join NRCS and The Conservation Fund in protecting working lands in Louisiana,” said Jeff Trandahl, Executive Director and CEO, NFWF. “Creative partnerships that leverage resources are critical to advancing conservation on the Gulf Coast.”
These USDA-NRCS Agricultural Land Easement funds—never previously utilized in Louisiana—will help deliver the permanent protection of priority working lands and high quality wildlife habitats, while keeping them in private ownership. This approach to conservation aligns water quality benefits, habitat protection outcomes, and economic resiliency for Louisiana’s farmers. The Regional Conservation Partnership and Agricultural Land Easement programs were created by the U.S. Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill. The project is supported by Louisiana’s U.S. Congressional delegation representing Vermilion Parish—U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, U.S. Senator John Neely Kennedy and U.S. Representative Clay Higgins.
“This project in Vermilion Parish is the first of its kind in our state, and stands to become a model for agricultural land preservation efforts across Louisiana,” said U.S. Representative Clay Higgins. “Being able to maintain active and economically viable farms while also promoting conservation efforts that benefit wildlife habitats is a win-win for our state. I’m looking forward to a successful implementation at the Live Oak Farm so that we can model and expand our conservation efforts.”
The management at Live Oak Farm is also directly contributing to improved water quality for the Vermilion River, currently classified as an impaired waterway. The producers have invested in a tail water recovery system on their rice fields, which captures suspended nutrients and sediments on site, ensuring less pollution downstream. Through this project, the producers will be able to continue implementing infrastructure that benefits water quality in the Gulf Coast region.
“Louisiana NRCS is very pleased that the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, through this award, has recognized the importance of permanently protecting private agricultural lands in coastal Louisiana,” said Kevin Norton, Louisiana State Conservationist for NRCS. “NRCS, along with our partners, has sought to deliver the Agricultural Land Easement program here in Louisiana for many years, and, with this NFWF funding commitment and the partnership with The Conservation Fund and private landowners, we now have an opportunity to protect and preserve this important agricultural landscape.”
Vermilion Parish has seen a significant decrease in acreage designated as rice fields over the last 20 years. This trend represents a substantial threat to the migratory birds that rely heavily on flooded rice fields for wintering habitat. These flooded rice fields compensate for the loss of wetlands resulting from coastal erosion by providing critical resting and feeding habitat for Louisiana’s migratory birds. The working land easement at Live Oak Farm will protect and preserve the agricultural use of the site as well as its function as high quality coastal habitat.
“Private lands are critical to adequately provide high quality habitat to the wildlife of Louisiana,” states Jack Montoucet, Secretary of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). “The permanent protection, combined with exceptional management practices, on these private lands, complements LDWF’s efforts to provide adequate habitat to Louisiana’s wildlife populations. This partnership is to be commended, because LDWF cannot achieve its habitat conservation objectives without the complimentary stewardship of private landowners.”
With early support from the Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, and additional commitments from the Land Trust for Louisiana, the Gustaf W. McIlhenny Foundation, and Ducks Unlimited, the existing partnership intends to deliver on a longstanding objective to support agricultural producers while providing the highest quality habitat for wildlife.

About The Conservation Fund
At The Conservation Fund, we make conservation work for America. By creating solutions that make environmental and economic sense, we are redefining conservation to demonstrate its essential role in our future prosperity. Top-ranked for efficiency and effectiveness, we have worked in all 50 states since 1985 to protect nearly 8 million acres of land. www.conservationfund.org.