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Special guest in attendance for the November meeting of Arceneaux Post 77, American Legion, was Jordon McCrory.
McCrory was the 2017 Boys State delegate who represented Post 77 during the summer program held in Natchitoches on the campus of Northwestern State University. He gave a short presentation on the program, which included approximately 500 young men from across the state.
Introducing McCrory was Boys State Chairman Ray Olinger. McCrory and his mother Misty McCrory were welcomed by Post Commander David Simon.
Also in attendance for Tuesday’s meeting was A.J. Jones, 7th District Commander. He spoke of the ongoing enrollment of new members and stressed to all legionnaires to pay dues in a timely manner while encouraging new veterans to join the American Legion.
Jones also extended a special invitation to all veterans to attend at least one of the many Veterans Day ceremonies and programs being held in observance of Veterans Day.
Welcomed as a new legionnaire of Post 77 was Richard Dupuis, formerly of Colorado.
Simon announced that Post 77 would be making its annual cash donation for the War Veterans Home bingo, in addition to a cash and fruit donation for the annual Christmas party held at the War Veterans Home.
Robert Comeaux announced plans are being made for an official opening ceremony of the new Veterans Park in Rayne as completion work is continuing. Lorraine Shelton stated she made another order of veteran bricks to continue the sidewalk project of the park.
Shelton gave the membership report including 135 member dues paid up of the 186 goal set for the year.
Applications will be distributed to local fire and police departments for the annual Young Firefighter and Young Police Officer Awards. Deadline for application to be delivered to the district chairman is Feb. 1, 2018.
It was noted by Simon of a cash donation recently made by the Acadiana Sportsmen’s League to Post 77 with proceeds derived from a raffle booth the ASL manned during the recently held KBON concert at the Frog Festival Pavilion. The donation will be used for needed Legion supplies and work towards the Legion Home.
Plans are in the works for a sausage poboy sale as the spring dinner fundraiser by Post 77. Once a date has been set, tickets will be available for purchase for $6 each.

“The Ellington” — a name as elegant as the facility and its residents’ rooms.
Effective Jan. 1, 2018, Rayne Guest Home will be known as The Ellington.
“The name really captures the ambience of the new facility,” said Ricky Bonin, administrator. “Everyone here is really excited about the new construction and we can’t wait to show it off to the area.”
The $8.5 million expansion project, which will more than double the size of the current facility, will add 46,430 square feet of “new construction” to the facility with 19,277 of the existing building to under go extensive renovation.
The front entrance — to Robert Street — will be demolished. That area represents the earliest years of the facility.
The Guest Home, when completed, will offer 80 beds in semi-private rooms and 40 private rooms, a huge increase in the number of private rooms available.
There also will be 1,512 square feet of additional dining area and more than 3,000 square feet of new living room space, a movie theater, additional space for activities and a new physical therapy area.
“The overall theme is to make the Guest Home more modern and less like a hospital facility,” Bonin said, explaining that, when the facility was first constructed in 1956, “it was modeled after a hospital.
“Who wants to spend extended amounts of time in a hospital setting?”
One of the areas to be expanded will be the physical therapy unit, an area that is more-utilized than most people realize.
“This industry — and us along with it — it moving more toward a rehabilitation-type industry,” Bonin continued. “The majority of people we take in end up going home. Not many people know that.”
When completed, The Ellington will include more “community areas,” a much larger dining area, a larger — and expandable — chapel, and a theater.
“There have been times when there’s been a family sitting across from my desk and they ask, ‘Do you mean we would pay the same here as we would at that new facility right down the road?’ — because, remember, we don’t set our prices, the state does — and they take off,” he said. “Not any more.”
The new name is the result of a community-wide contest sponsored by the nursing home.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of entries we received — or some of the suggestions we got,” said Bonin. “That’s why it took so long for our board of directors to select just the right name.”
Bonin explained that the winning entry was submitted by “a person that wishes to remain anonymous.” The administrator explained that this anonymous person also asked that the $500 in prize money be donated to a local “good cause.”
“We’re looking at a few projects right now and will make a decision soon,” he said.
Rayne Guest Home / The Ellington, the largest non-government employer in the city, is licensed for 120 beds and, “for the first time in a long time, we have a waiting list,” Bonin said.
Residents are expected to begin moving into the new section of the facility around the beginning of December, at which time demolition / renovation of the existing building will begin.
“We’re looking at completion somewhere around March or April,” Bonin said.

During an otherwise routine meeting Monday night, the Rayne City Council proposed an ordinance which would establish an intricate fee schedule for public records requests.
“All this is based on the fee schedules used by the state,” explained Mayor Charles “Chuck” Robichaux.
According to state law, a public records request must be responded to within 72 hours, which often requires employees to abandon their routine daily duties to fulfill the requests.
“In order to accommodate such requests for this time, there needs to be a schedule including minimum administrative charges,” the ordinance points out.
The city does not currently have a uniform administrative policy addressing the cost of handling public records requests and providing the requested documents.
If ultimately adopted, the schedule will address everything from single black-and-white copies to CD/DVD/USB reproductions and document transcriptions for both city hall and for the Rayne Police Department.
The ordinance was introduced Monday night by Councilman-at-Large Lendell “Pete” Babineaux. A public hearing on the proposal will be held during the Dec. 11 regular city council meeting.
In presenting the fiscal year-end financials, City Clerk Annette Cutrera noted that some budget amendments will be necessary to bring “actuals” to within the state-mandated 5 percent of estimates.
“There were some underestimates of both revenue and expenses and some unexpected items like the Youth World Series Championship this year,” Cutrera told council members. “We will be doing an amendment revision due to exceeding the 5 percent threshold in some of the funds.”
In the Maintenance and Operations Fund, Cutrera noted the wholesale cost to purchase electrical power was $869,000 more than expected. However, the revenue increased by $647,000.
The General Fund, the city’s primary source of day-to-day funding, “ended ... a little shy of break-even,” Cutrera said, “but still within the 5 percent threshold” with a $413,994 surplus
The city ends fiscal 2016-2017 with “a very healthy ending fund balance of $12.7 million,” Cutrera said.
Before closing, Robichaux announced that a major “pothole repair” program is expected to begin around the beginning of the new year.
Robichaux also announced that the city, in cooperation with the social media group Rayne Remembered, will be hosting a “Breakfast with Santa” event on Dec. 16 at the Rayne Fire Station on South Adams Avenue.
“This event is free and open to the public, but we will only have 250 tickets available,” Robichaux said. “We’re hoping to make this an annual event and move it to the civic Center where we can grow and involve more kids.”
Tickets for the event will be available at city hall in the near future. All children ages 2 through 12 will be invited.
Robichaux also noted that the annual Rayne Christmas Parade will roll on Tuesday, Dec. 5, beginning at 6 p.m.
Lineup begins at 5:15 at the Rayne Civic Center.