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Family Newsletter

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January 2000

Dear Cousins:

I apologize for the long delay in getting the newsletter out.  It took a while to get all the new names and addresses gathered and posted into my mailing list (it has tripled as a result of the Ville Platte reunion).

As you no doubt know by now, the reunion in Ville Platte last October was a resounding success with upwards of 3000 attendees!  The program went very smoothly and professionally, thanks to the splendid preparations performed by the committee, spear-headed by Hottell Fontenot and Ruby Holmes with considerable help from the committee members.  The event received tremendous support from the community, most notably the Honorable Bennett Baquet, the Ville Platte Chief of Police, the Ville Platte Fire Marshal and the Bonnes Nouvelle newspaper.  The Mayor even proclaimed that Ville Platte be renamed "Fontenotville" for the occasion; complete with banners.  We also want to acknowledge and thank Vincent Fontenot for making it possible for those wonderful musicians to give of their time and talents to keep all of us entertained.  I would have defied anyone to listen to those bands without tapping their feet!  I want to extend special thanks to Mr. Hadley Castille and his family, our special guests, for treating us to some of the finest Cajun fiddling in the world.  Finally, I want to express appreciation for the Cajun humorist, Mr. A. J. Smith, who kept us in stitches with his marvelous Cajun stories.

During the reunion, I solicited a poll from the attendees to determine their preferences for future venues and reunion schedules.  Unfortunately, the polling results were inconclusive due to the small number of votes that were cast.  That notwithstanding, I sensed that the popular opinions favored alternating venues between Fort Toulouse and Louisiana.  Further, it appears that bi-annual reunions (every other year) are preferred in order to prevent the events from becoming stale.  Therefore, future schedules will be as follows:  the next event will be held at Fort Toulouse on the third weekend of October of 2001;  then, the next will be held in Louisiana during 2003 (specific date and place to be determined later); then back to Fort Toulouse in 2005, etc.  Please record these dates on your calendar and be thinking about the next Louisiana location.  Specific details will follow subsequent newsletters.

I wish all of you a very happy new year and very much look forward to seeing all of you again next year.

 Vos cher cousin,
 Sonny Fontenot
 (aka Sgt. Jean Louis Fonteneau)