Ascension Magazine

M. PAUL LEBLANC; The One and Only “BIG DADDY” of the Ascension Jambalaya Festival

Paul LeBlanc always told his children, “Work hard in life everyday and you will move up.” These were not empty words to him. They weren’t spoken merely out of fatherly duty. These words he spoke from his soul. He lived his life by these words and he proved the wisdom in them.

Paul was born on May 12,1928 in a small, unincorporated community near Donaldsonville called Smokebend. He was named after his grandfather M.P. LeBlanc and, as the saying goes “the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree”. M.P. started in the grocery business in the late 1800’s opening M.P. LeBlanc’s Groceries, Notions, Feed & Shoes in Smokebend. Paul’s fateful road in the grocery business would not be clear for many years though. He and his family moved fairly often when he was young. He attended elementary school in Thibodaux, moved, and attended junior high school in Lake Charles. Following those years the family moved to Baton Rouge where Paul attended, and graduated from, Baton Rouge High School. While he wasn’t a great athlete, Paul really loved sports. He was a cheerleader in high school because he loved being in the middle of the action. He was, from the beginning of his recollection, a true purple and gold Tiger fan and with great pride and sense of accomplishment he entered his beloved LSU as a student in 1945. More

MINDWORX Marketing Named Ascension Small Business of the Year

A relative newcomer to Ascension Parish, MINDWORX Marketing is being welcomed to the neighborhood by a host of businesses and clients in need of marketing expertise.

It didn’t take long for MINDWORX to work its magic in the community the agency was named the 2005 Small Business of the Year at the Ascension Parish Chamber of Commerce annual awards banquet. The Chamber gives the award annually to a local small business for its outstanding work in the community and for its participation with the Chamber.

Since MINDWORX opened its doors in Prairieville in January of 2005, the agency and its owner Ranee Roderick have been involved in the community and active in the Chamber. More

Thoughts From Bully: I Let Everybody Use My Hoe!

Recently, I have noticed country music creating lots of songs using a play on words and sending mixed messages with the lyrics in their songs.

George Strait sang, “She let herself go” and Tim McGraw sang lyrics, “back when a hoe was a hoe.” I’ll tell you a story about my hoe.

Last year I stopped being cheap, for one day, and spent the extra money to get the best hoe in town. I dropped $25 on this hoe and haven’t regretted it not one minute, however it has been the subject of some pretty entertaining conversation.

My cell phone rang just after I had purchased the hoe and my buddy on the phone asked. “What are you doing?” Proud of my purchase, I simply told him I had gone to town and picked up a $25 hoe. He said, “A Ho, Where?” I responded, “At a local western store.” I then told him, “They have the best hoes in town and once I had my hands on this hoe I wasn’t letting it go so don’t try to borrow my hoe and go get your own hoe.” More