INDReporter

Medium Rare

by Patrick Flanagan

Choice cuts from Acadiana's news media for Monday, Jan. 27, 2014:

Choice cuts from Acadiana's news media for Monday, Jan. 27, 2014:

A photo by Vermilion Today of a bleacher clearing fight between fans of Abbeville and Vermilion high schools, which spilled onto the court during the second quarter of Saturday night's game, prompting its cancelation.

A riot on the court
Fans cleared the stands ready for a fight Saturday night during a basketball game between Abbeville and North Vermilion high schools following a sucker-punch thrown by one of the players over a loose ball. According to this report by Vermilion Today, it was near the end of the second quarter when Saturday's game erupted in pandemonium after a North Vermilion player took a swing at a member of the opposing team. That swing landed both players in the bleachers, prompting teammates to clear the benches and fans to clear the stands, causing a near-riot before school officials brought in law enforcement and called the game. Filling in the details of the altercation were a slew of comments - 89 as of this blog posting - left on Vermilion Today's website, with some, like commenter Yolanda Farrell, crying "racism" as the impetus behind the bench clearing brawl, though the altercation, it should be noted, involved two black students; and between both teams, there was only one white player on the court that night. Farrell's assessment of the incident: "Racism and hatred still lives in South Louisiana." She may be right, but as far as racism fueling what went down on the court Saturday night, that may be a stretch. According to a post from Jeff Lemelle - a black man - racism isn't what fueled Saturday night's incident; what fueled Saturday night's incident, in his words, was "foolishness."

Here we go again
According to this report from the weather team at KATC TV3, it appears there's more winter weather in store for Acadiana this week. With the temperature already dropping, KATC reports freezing temperatures will hit tonight, accompanied by sleet and possibly snow for the next two days. If Friday's experience was any indication, motorists will want to take caution as State Police are said to have responded to 200 accidents throughout South Louisiana in that one day alone.

Fanchon Chamberlain at 21 (photo submitted to Daily World/Daily Advertiser)

Remembering Frances
Here's a touching remembrance from the Daily World/Daily Advertiser about "Frances Cunha," a homeless woman who froze to death behind the Opelousas Fire Department on Jan. 6. Frances, whose real name was Fanchon Bernice Chamberlain, was a 51-year-old achondroplastic dwarf born in California and living on the streets of Opelousas for over a decade before her death. Though Frances was well known throughout Opelousas as the "homeless alcoholic dwarf," Daily World City Editor Evan Moore's investigation into her life reveals the somber story of a woman who was no stranger to struggle: Suffering through discrimination from an early age, the death of an infant son followed by a failed marriage and a longtime battle with alcoholism that followed her more than 2,500 miles from Seattle to Opelousas, where she became a common fixture on the city's streets in 2000 and where she would ultimately die 14 years later.