[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish bought Amigo Ice House in Yscloskey to assist local fishermen

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish bought Amigo Ice House in Yscloskey to assist local
fishermen

Family to honor father who lived and died in business critical to fishing

 

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro announced that St. Bernard Parish
in conjunction with the Parish Council now owns the Amigo Ice House in
Yscloskey, and the parish will rehabilitate it for public use as a much
needed resource for the commercial and recreational fishing industry.

 

The parish is using $1.1 million in Community Development Block Grant funds
to purchase and rehabilitate the facility at 2523 Hopedale Highway in
Yscloskey that has been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina because the owners
couldn't afford to fix the ice house machinery. The commercial and
recreational fishing industry has been hindered by lack of such a facility
since Katrina. Taffaro said the parish will renovate it and have it stretch
over the highway so boats can have the ice pumped right into their boats as
was done before the storm. 

 

"Having a facility that will be able to make ice and pump it right onto
boats will be a much needed boost to our fishermen," Taffaro said. "We are
very pleased to be able to work with our partners in the Disaster Recovery
Unit of the Governor's Division of Administration's Office of Community
Development and Kendall Magee with Frye-Magee, who assisted with the grant
process." 

 

Councilman Fred Everhardt said he is glad to see the acquisition completed.

 

"I want to thank the Nunez family for partnering with St. Bernard Parish
Government and for giving us the opportunity to purchase the land and the
facility," Everhardt said. "Since 2005, the commercial shrimpers never had
access to ice other than little, local ice machines. Now, they can be back
like they were pre-Katrina and pull up to the dock and ice up like old
times. Now it will make it more convenient for them to get in the water
quickly and focus on getting their catch. This is just another stepping
stone for the recovery of our parish. I want to thank Craig for working with
us on making this a priority for the eastern end of the parish and for our
commercial fishermen."

 

Everhardt said he also wanted to thank George Barasich with the United
Commercial Fishermen's Association for his help with the project.

 

Councilman Wayne J. Landry agreed that the project is a much-needed one. 

 

"I want to thank Councilman Everhardt for continuing to work on this project
until it became a reality," Landry said. "This is another good move for the
fishing industry."

 

Dawn Nunez, who is owner of Amigo Ice House, said she had mixed feelings
about selling the business her father Peter Deogracias and William "Bill"
Guarino built in 1978. Guarino later sold his ownership to Deogracias.

 

"It was the first ice house for the fishermen" that made the ice on site at
the docks for Yscloskey and Delacroix, Nunez said. 

 

"My father would do anything for the fishermen," Nunez said. Nunez said her
father spent all his time at the business and reached out to all the
fishermen in the community. If fishermen needed to get the ice on credit, he
would let them pay him when they returned and sold their catch. If boats
broke down, he would pay to have them towed back for fishermen who would be
in a financial bind. Her father and Guarino regularly donated ice to local
community events, including the Violet Oyster Festival at the church and
Isleno Museum. 

 

Nunez worked with her father at the ice house, where he died "with a wrench
in his hand" from a massive heart attack a few years before Katrina. 

 

"To me, that ice house was where my father lived and died," Nunez said. "I
struggled with the question of selling it for a while, but I do think he
would want it to go on." 

 

Taffaro said the name will remain Amigo Ice House, in honor of its founders
Peter Deogracias and William Guarino. Nunez said she supported the name
remaining with the building, and she said the children of the original two
owners all were told to suggest possible names for the business, and she is
proud to say that her suggestion was chosen.

 

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