In Terrebonne Parish Council District 1 race, three remain after one early departure

Three people are running for the Terrebonne Parish Council District 1 seat.

Early voting for primaries begins Sept. 30 and ends Oct. 14. The deadline to register to vote in person is Sept. 13, with the last day to register online being Sept. 23. Here's a list of important dates: https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/PublishedDocuments/ElectionsCalendar2023.pdf.

District 1 includes the Mechanicville community, Village East, Patriot Point, Ashland North, the northern part of Bayou Dularge and Deweyville.

Here's a look at who has qualified for the position; one dropped out:

P.J. Allridge

Houma native Allridge qualified, but on Aug. 16 told the Houma Courier / Thibodaux Daily Comet he was dropping out of the race.

Allridge is a forensic investigator with the Lafourche Parish Coroner's Office and has political experience working as an intern for Louisiana's 6th Congressional District and as chairperson for the Young Democrats of Louisiana.

Lionel Lewis Jr.

Lewis, 47, hails from Mechanicville, and has been a truck driver for 24 years.

Lewis said, if elected, he would focus on improving levee and flood protection, developing relations with community and law enforcement and encouraging new businesses to move to Terrebonne and create jobs.

"Working with our law enforcement, bringing our communities together, to get them to understand how tough it is to be an officer and at the same time get our officers to start communicating in the communities where they'll be patrolling," he said. "We don't have too much of that anymore. I really think that would tend to curb some of the crime."

Brien Pledger

Houma native and incumbent Councilman Pledger, 50, spent much of his life traveling, with 14 years in the Navy and 15 years as the director of operations for Magellan Pipeline. He retired and settled in Mechanicville, where he began working as a car salesman four years ago.

Pledger said if he retains the seat his focus will be the insurance rates. He also will address the housing shortages, with a focus on underserved areas in District 1, and will encourage business development to combat population loss.

"That's what we need to focus on, capturing our younger folks that are going off to college, when they go off to college we need to have some sort of business to be able to bring them back," he said.

Ralph Singleton Jr.

A native of Village East, Singleton is the youngest candidate at 29. He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2019, and began a career in safety for four years. He works for Crosby Tugs LLC.

Singleton said if elected, his focus will be on encouraging people to stay in Terrebonne through creating opportunities for further education, skill development and recreation. He wanted to focus these efforts on youth, but said he also wanted the opportunities to be open to adults.

"I feel like there's a stigma on, 'You can't make it in the tri-parish,' and I just think that's untrue," he said. "Houma is not a bad place to be. You don't have to leave Louisiana to make it."

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Three candidates remain in race for Terrebonne Parish Council District 1