Mock arrests raise $3,600 in fight against breast cancer

PLAQUEMINE - Iberville Parish ministers, Sheriff Brett Stassi and Assessor Randy Sexton were put in a paddy wagon by deputies and hauled in for arrest on Oct. 18 in support of the fight against breast cancer.

In the process, they raised $3,610 for breast cancer awareness in Iberville Parish.

The Iberville Parish Ministers Conference planed the "arrests" as a fund-raiser for the local breast cancer survivor organization, Sisters Supporting Sisters.

The organization assists those with breast cancer and provides screenings for low income and uninsured women.

The bail was set at $250 for each of the ministers and officials, which was donated by the ministers' congregations.

Some raised more than necessary to "bond out of jail."

"In south Louisiana, if you look deep enough in every family, you will find they have been touched by two things - drug abuse and cancer," Stassi said. "The Ministers Conference came to me with this idea to help promote awareness and raise money for a great cause.

"If we can make just one women think -'have I had my mammogram this year?' - then we have done a service. Every little bit of money we raise to help fight cancer is worth it."

Pastors who participated includes Rev. John Jordan, Rev. Van Smith Jr., Rev. Clyde E. McNell Sr., Rev. Anthony Royal, Rev. Joseph Jones, Rev. Marques Braggs, Rev. Shannon Warner, Rev. Johnnie Williams, Rev. Geoffrey Sykes, Rev. Andrew Richardson, Rev. Joseph Riley and Rev. Lee Wesley. The event was organized by Rev. John Jordan, and Rev. Lee Wesley is the president of the Iberville Ministers Conference.

"It was just such a joy to see them go to such lengths to really bring a message home that's very needed," Sister Supporting Sisters president Wanda Washington said.