The constant feeling of being threatened is not a good one. You can avoid a bully only so long, but eventually you have to deal with the situation.

We’ve had several bullies around here lately. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and, recently, Nate have been a frequent threat to St. John Parish, and the season is not officially over yet.

The constant buzz at this time of year is about the fact that St. John Parish does not have a hurricane protection levee system. Last week the media came to St. John Parish to hear our plans on dealing with this fast moving, rapidly intensifying, unpredictable tropical depression off the Mexican coast and heading to the Louisiana coastline.

Our plan was simple. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

We are fully experienced in what needs to be done.

But Nate was different from Isaac. The difference was that wind had been constantly pushing Lake Pontchartrain waters into St. John Parish three days before any anticipated landfall.

All of the swamp areas were already filled with water. So we had to monitor potential rain amounts, wind speeds and storm surge associated with this approaching storm.

Officials had to sleep with one eye closed and the other one open in order to watch the cameras monitoring lake levels. It is not comfortable feeling.

Is this how it is going to be in St. John Parish every hurricane season from now on?

We may not agree on everything in St. John Parish, but we must unite on getting our hurricane protection levee. The voters of St. John Parish did their part by passing a property tax to get this project started.

Now we have to get the State and Federal government to do theirs.

What Hurricane Nate did to the Gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama could have easily been us. I think we dogged a bullet. But in my opinion, that is because we have some praying people in St. John Parish, and like I to always say, “prayers work.”

Well, on a more positive note, Tuesday/Oct. 17 is National Night Out Against Crime.

We historically average about 50 parties on that night. The members of SJSO are prepared and looking forward to having a good time mixing and mingling with our residents. This year we are bringing a new twist to the night. There will be multiple officers dressed as superheroes. So be on the lookout for McGruff, Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Please make sure your party is registered with our office so we will know you are out there. So, we are looking for that first gathering with the most participants, hopefully more kids, so we can get the superheroes to show up there first!

Mike Tregre is sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish. Reach him at sheriff@stjohnsheriff.org.