Delcambre’s new mayor

DELCAMBRE - Thanks to a filthy ditch in Delcambre, Pam Blakely, a life long resident of Delcambre, is the new mayor of Delcambre.
She upset long-time mayor Carol Broussard with 466 votes to 326 votes. Broussard had been the mayor for 24 years.
Her win also makes her the first female mayor of Delcambre.
Other females who have been mayors in Vermilion Parish were Linda Hardee in Kaplan and Barbara Picard in Maurice.
Blakely, like Donald Trump, had no political experience before she ran.
The owner of “Pam’s Hair Hut” Saloon in Delcambre, decided to run during qualifying after battling a ditch problem in Delcambre for eight years.
She lives near the Delcambre canal but the ditch problem is no where near where she lives.
Eight years ago she saw the ditch behind the Texaco Station on La. 14 was filthy with over grown trees and trash. She wanted it cleaned and began contacting government officials to get it cleaned.
She contacted the Police Jury and also the town of Delcambre. Both told her it was not their ditch to clean. So, for the last eight years, she has been trying to convince a friend to run for mayor of Delcambre so someone could get the ditch cleaned.
No one wanted to run.
In August she was reminded again about the mayor’s race. Instead of begging someone to run, she went to qualify.
“People thought I was crazy when I told them,” she said Wednesday. “They wanted to know why I wanted to get involved.”
Blakely took it serious and purchased pink political signs and placed them throughout Delcambre.
She wants the best for her small town because, like she said, she was born in Delcambre, lives in Delcambre, will die in Delcambre and will be buried in Delcambre.
“It was time for a change,” she said.
She will be sworn in as the new mayor in January. One of the first things on her agenda to accomplish in Delcambre? “Now, I am going to clean that ditch.”
She has been married to Michael Blakely for 33 years. She is the mother of Reece Blakely (20 years old) and Shalli Trahan (29 years old).