South Louisiana is famous for many things such as our food, our music, and our history. Did you ever think about the nicknames that have surrounded us?

It seems in the junk yard everyone either arrived with a nickname or was designated a nickname. When I started working for Ricky aka Tricky Ricky, a new family had moved into town. Dudley got a job in the junk yard. This young man arrived here from Florida with little ability to read and write. There was a show on television with a character Lucan, the wolf boy. Dudley got named. Most of the people had no idea what Lucan’s real name was.

From Lucan we move on the Wounded Knee. Norbert Dees was a painter in the body shop. He had a long pony tail and rode a Harley Davidson along with his friends, Weasel and Turd. Actually his friends were more of a motorcycle gang. Turd did ask me out but I managed to refuse without making him mad.

Two brothers have been working for Ricky for years. One is nicknamed Goat and the other is Easy. The names fit their personality. Rat also works part-time and next door at the mechanic shop is Levi.

Over twenty years ago a teenage boy showed up at the junk yard with a five gallon bucket wanting to wash cars. Ricky started using him. From washing cars he moved up to changing and swapping tires. He arrived with the name Car Baby. It seems every time a car pulled up at his home he would jump in it. Therefore he was nicknamed Car Baby.

My mother has a long list of nicknames. Long ago she was Tiny, due to her petite size. From there she was called Aunt Noonie. My mother-in-law had the nickname Prissy so we started calling Inez, Nezzy. That got shortened to Nez. She is also referred to as Dr. Ruth. I think that comes from her advice she gives on those casino bus trips.

When I worked for Ricky I would go to False River every weekend always in a different car. One weekend I arrived in a Cadillac Seville. The Flint brothers, who are dentists, named me Seville D’ville. The car was sold during the week so I had to travel in something else to New Roads. The Seville D’ville was shortened to D’ville. I am still referred to as D’ville in that part of the country.

We get so accustomed to using a nickname we sometimes forget the person’s real name. This can be a problem when you are looking up a telephone number. At a recent Rotary meeting a prize was offered if you knew Chilly Russo’s first name. Do you know it?

Should You Speed up Mortgage Payments or Increase Investments?

Many people speed up their house payments to pay off their mortgage early. Is that a good idea, from a financial standpoint? Not necessarily.

Why? For one thing, paying off your mortgage early won’t make your home worth more. Instead of using extra cash to pay down your mortgage, you might potentially come out ahead by investing the money.

Furthermore, once you make extra payments to your mortgage, you can’t get at that money, except indirectly, through a second mortgage or home equity loan. But if you invested the money, you’d have access to it, which could be important if you face a cash crunch.

Keep in mind, though, that any money you invest is subject to market loss, while money spent on a mortgage payment isn’t.

So, weigh all the factors carefully when deciding whether to pay down the mortgage or invest.

One of my favorite things to talk about is sports, whether it be at the pro level, college level or prep level. This article will be dedicated to our prep teams in the sports of football, cross-country and volleyball.

Our two local football teams have been sweating in the summer heat with conditioning and lifting weights in anticipation of the upcoming season. The DHS Tigers are coming off of its most successful season in 10 years under Coach Gary Adkins. The Tigers won eight games last season and lost to the eventual state champion John Curtis Patriots in the 2nd round of the playoffs. The Tigers return a talented group of runners led by Seniors Champlain Babin and Roy Sam. Babin returns for his senior year with high expectations on leading the Tigers to a district title and deep into the playoffs. Babin has received lots of interest from the college ranks and he is a player that all football fans should go out and watch. Sam returns to play QB for the Tigers and is a dual threat with his arm and legs. Senior Cory Odom will be taking over for Sam in the backfield to give the Tigers a triple threat. The Tiger line will be led by four year starter Maurice Brown who has played all three positions for Coach Adkins. Senior John Kocke is back to lead the way with Brown on the O-line. On the defensive side of the ball, the Tigers have an experienced secondary with Babin, Troy Harris, Torinnio Joshua and Brent Harris. Sophmore Akee Turner is back at linebacker with Claude Rainey providing pressure up front for the Tigers. A newcomer to watch for is Terrance Jackson, who may be the fastest of all the Tigers. The Tigers will compete in a brand new district composed of Loreauville, Jeanerette, Livonia and St John. Circle week ten at Floyd Boutte as the Tigers and the St. John Eagles will play for for what I think will be the district title.

The ACHS Bulldogs are coming off of a 3-7 season under first year coach Dwayne Thommasie. Coach Thommasie has recently left for an assistant’s job at St. Amant. Coach Thommasie will be missed as he set the foundation for what expects to be an exciting season for this young Bulldog Squad. Enter Ricky Bolotte fresh off of 33 years in the public school system, most recently as an assistant at DHS. Coach Bolotte will lead his team into 2007 with high expectations of competing for the district title and making the playoffs. On offense, the Bulldogs return Senior running back Kendall Knight, Senior wideouts Thomas Jarrell and James Rousseau and Senior lineman Cody Schexnayder. The rest of the Bulldog offense will be filled by underclassmen led by Sophmore Fullback James LeBoeuf, eighth grade running back AJ Miles and freshmen Jailin LeBlanc. The QB position will be in the hands of Junior Scott Charleville with depth from Sophmore Charles Caballero. The O-line will be young but experienced with Sophmores Frankie Sotile(strongest player on the squad), Nathan Allen, and Greg Carter. Juniors Matt McClelland and Jace Schexnayder along with Freshmen Ben Schexnayder return to provide experience. Wideouts Rousseau, Jarrell, Matt Pearce, Senior Jonathan Slaughter, and Blake Gregoire return in the passing game. The Bulldog defense has a proven leader in Senior linebacker Will Carter, who came on late last season to provide a spark. LeBoeuf and newcomer Ross Noel will join Carter as linebackers. The Defensive line will be led by Cody Schexnayder, Allen, Rousseau, Greg Carter, and Sotile. In the secondary, Knight, Jarrell, LeBlanc, Miles, Caballero and newcomer Myron Dominique will provide Coach Bolotte with steady play. This Bulldog squad will compete with West St. John, White Castle, North and East Iberville for the district title. Come out to support the Bulldogs and you will certainly be entertained with their inspired play.

The ACHS cross country team will be coached by longtime educator and coach Ronnie Bagala. Bagala will have a familiar face to look for advice from in assistant coach Blair Bagala, his son, as well as assistant Joe Cavalier. The boys will be lead by freshmen Taylor Cavalier, the leading runner the last 2 years. Rounding out the squad will be Blake Gregoire, Jesse Pizzolato, Justin Rivers, Joe Canatella, Shane Hernandez, Colby LeBlanc, Ethan Lessing, Dustin Zeringue, Jordan Zeringue, Taylor Tripode, Patrick Brou, Travis Hebert, Charles Riley, Austin Melancon, Kade Steib, Ryan Gregoire, Trey Capello, Ben Ramagos, Kyle Mistretta and CJ Caballero. The girls’ squad will be led by Sophomore Jamie Boudreaux, the most experience runner on the girls side. Other contributors for the girls include: Melinda Chiquet, Beth Bellina, Lauren Oubre, Aimee Prejeant, Crystal Green, Rebecca Cavalier and Amy Gregoire. The Bulldog Cross country team will be exciting to watch as they prepare for their first meet at Highland Park in Baton Rouge on September 1st.

The ACHS Volleyball team is coming off a state runner-up finish in Divison V under the helm of Coach Chandra Ewen. Top returning players for the Lady Bulldogs will be Senior Cassie Blanchard. Blanchard is a powerfull middle hitter who may have an opportunity to play college volleyball. Senior Joy Joseph will return to set for the Lady Dogs. Junior defensive specialists Allison Falcon and Ali Bouchereau return to anchor the Lady Bulldog defense.Coach Ewen stated that big things are expected from Junior Katherine Capone, as well as Juniors Chelsea Zeringue and Ashlyn Grisaffe. Senior Amy Waguespack will round out the rotation on the defensive side and Coach Ewen really loves her work ethic over the last three plus years. Outlook for the Lady Bulldogs is very positive with the returning players in a district comprised of White Castle, North and East Iberville plus West St. John. Coach Ewen has put together a tough schedule to prepare the Lady Bulldogs for a playoff run. Traditional volleyball powers Episcopal of Acadiana (last years state champ), Country Day, White Castle, and St. Martin’s stand in the way of the ultimate goal for the Lady Bulldogs…a state Championship.

I bet you never thought you would get to the end of this article. Talking about high school sports and the young men and women that lay it on the line certainly makes me excited for this upcoming prep season. Please tune into KKAY 1590 AM for high school football this season. Those folks out of signal reach can listen live on the net at www.KKAY1590.com

Earn Google' s Trust

Trust – what a powerful and important word. It is what we, as humans, build our entire relationships, personal and business, around. So when it comes to trust, how do you get one of the world’s most powerful search engines to trust you?

DEFINE A PRIVACY POLICY

A privacy policy is a page that explains to your users what information is collected, how it is being used, and what options they have to access or change that collected information.

This may seem like a very small step when we look at the big picture, but keep in mind that Google is looking for responsible and reliable websites to send their users to.

OFFER DETAILED CONTACT INFORMATION

For many small website owners, this is a step that can be quite tricky. Offering detailed contact information on your site shows that responsibility and reliability that Google is looking for, but at the same time many small website owners are not running their websites as a full-time business. You should always offer some sort of contact information on your site. At a minimum, you should offer an email address. If possible, you should include your address and a telephone number where people can contact you.

SHOW CONSISTENCY OVER TIME

This may be the single most important tip in this article. Google has shown an affinity towards sites that remain consistent in structure, growth, content, and popularity. Think about your relationship with Google as you would any other relationship. Relationships take time, they take commitment over time, and trust in a relationship needs to be cultivated. If you happen to screw up, it takes time to regain any trust that was lost.

These days Google wants to know that they can trust you. If you have been around long enough, they may already trust you, but if you are starting fresh, or if you have made mistakes in the past, you may have a long road ahead of you to prove to Google that they should care about your website, and that it is suitable for their rankings. Keep in mind that high trusted, one way in bound links will always be the fastest route to rankings, add a privacy policy and good contact information, follow the typical guidelines that make a site reliable (see Google’s webmaster guidelines), and be consistent with your site.

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