Homer Council To
Investigate Water Shortage
Aldermen Want DA To
Prosecute Person Who Disarmed Alarm System
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Homer Town
Council voted to ask the District Attorney's office to initiate an
investigation to find out who disarmed the alarm system at the Town's water wells which caused
the depletion of the water supply and left most of the town without water all
day Sunday. The person responsible should be prosecuted. Mayor Huey Dean and
councilmen Toney Johnson, Ronnie Anderson and J.C. Moore spend much of the day
getting the town's water wells back online and working to repair a busted fire
hydrant found in the South Industrial Park and reported by Buddy Minchew.
Town employee
Lee Wells discovered the water situation early Sunday morning, but not before
most of the storage tanks had been emptied. Johnson said someone apparently
disconnected the alarm system to the wells and unplugged the phone lines used
to call out Town employees when levels in the water storage tanks drop below a
certain level. As a result, no one was
notified of the problem and the water storage tanks were almost completely
drained. Johnson said this was not the first time this has happened.
Billy Kirk
Jenkins wanted to know if it was criminal to disarm the system. Anderson said
yes. He said depleting the water supply
put the Town in a serious situation. The hospital and nursing home were without
water. If there had been a fire, the Town had no water to put it out. Johnson
said there could
also be a violation of federal laws. Donald Malray
said it could even be classified as a terrorist act.
Mayor Dean said
normally one well is enough to keep the Town supplied, but due to the busted
fire plug, the water was leaking out faster than the well could pump it back in. The transfer pump on the
Caver well located north of town used in emergencies, was not working
Dean said the
public health officer John Warrington called Monday morning, suggesting the
Town issue a voluntary boil order and notify all citizens to boil their
water before drinking until the water could be tested
Bill Garrett
from Shreveport was called to repair the reset on the water well. All the locks
have been replaced
and security codes to the system have been changed. It is very limited as to
who can go into the system now. Besides the men from Shreveport, the only three
authorized to access the system are Lee Wells, Walter Young, and Derrick Burns
Anderson said
this is one of best computer systems on the market. It is being reset to call Wells first. If he does not answer after a certain
number of rings, it will automatically call the next person.
Anderson said
the Town could also consider putting some surveillance cameras and alarm the
entire system, but that would be costly. Jenkins suggested checking to see if
there were some grants through Homeland Security.
Jenkins said
town employees have been restricted from checking the wells and lift stations
twice a day on weekends as they did in the past because of the cost for
overtime pay. He made a motion to have the system checked twice a day on
weekends for a minimum 6 hours pay and to have employees
document information. Anderson agreed to set up the form to record the readings
showing the percentage stored in water tanks and the output on the two water
wells.
Johnson said
they had some other problems that needed addressing, such as storing the
caustic soda and chlorine in a separate building, which they have already been
written up for.
Homer Man Hurt In
Boating Accident
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Don
"Chic" Ceccarelli, Sr., 67, of Homer was
seriously injured in a boating accident early Saturday morning during a bass tournament on Red River.
Chic, who served as Claiborne Parish Sheriff following Sheriff J. R.
"Snap" Oakes retirement and as Homer Town Councilman in the mid
1990s, was a passenger in a 22' Triton bass boat with 225 hp Mercury motor
driven by Matthew Morris, 27, of Shreveport.
Boats were
launching in groups of five from Clark's Marina in Bossier Parish off Hwy. 71.
At approximately 6:30 AM, Morris' boat hit a wake from one of two boats in
front of them causing Morris to lose control of the vessel. The boat hit the embankment along the water's
edge. The slight incline approximately four foot acted like a ramp, propelling
the boat into the air where it rotated upside down, dumping Morris from the
boat, bouncing once before coming to rest some 40 plus feet from the water, in
a cow pasture, pinning Chic's lower body beneath the boat.
Another boat
witnessed the accident and stopped to assist. They pulled Ceccarelli
from hunder the boat and made a phone call for help.
Chic was airlifted to LSU Medical Center with broken bones in his neck and rib
injuries. On Tuesday, it was discovered he also had a broken leg.
Morris was
transported by ambulance to LSU Medical Center with a cut on his head,
dislocated wrist, bruised ribs and liver, but no broken bones. He was released
late Sunday night.
Sgt. Mike
Kelley with the Wildlife and Fisheries office in Minden is heading up the
investigation, assisted on the scene Saturday by Lt. Richie
McCarthy, Sr.
Agent Jared McIver, and Sgt. Kenny Balkom. According
to Balkom, Morris was issued a citation for reckless
operation, apparently operating at excessive speed and unable to maintain
control of the vessel which resulted in the accident.
HOMER POLICE CAPTAIN Donald Malray watches as one of the clerks at
the Pak-A-Bag convenience store uses a pen to determine if a $20 bill is real
or counterfeit. A number of counterfeit bills have turned up at banks and
convenience stores in the past two weeks.
Counterfeit Bills Turn Up In Parish
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Homer Police
arrested two juveniles in connection with a number of counterfeit bills that
have shown up over the past two weeks at local convenience stores and banks.
The juveniles were charged for possession of counterfeit bills and attempt of
theft by fraud.
Several
counterfeit bills have turned up at a number of local convenience stores and
banks over the past two weeks, mostly 10s and 20s. At least one store accepted
the bills before realizing they were not the real thing.
Store clerks at
Pak-A-Bag however did spot the fake money when the two juveniles attempted to
make a purchase on Saturday, July 2. They refused to accept the money. The
juveniles were arrested. Last Thursday, clerks detained a woman with a
counterfeit $20 bill until authorities arrived to question her. She said she
had no idea the money was not real and claimed she got the money from a local
loan company.
Roads, Grants Top Police Jury Agenda
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Claiborne
Parish Police Jury met July 7. Among the items on the agenda were the road
maintenance program, several grant applications, update on upgrading the
accounting system and software conversion, status of appliances on Kidd Road,
the David Raines Community Health Center in Haynesville, tax millages for 2006, and budget increase for housing
juveniles at the Ware Youth Detention Center in Coushatta.
Jurors approved
the three year capital outlay plan for roads as presented by Road
Superintendent Dean Busby. Willie Young opposed the plan. He questioned who
determined what roads were placed in the plan and the status on grant
applications for Lewis Way, Stateline and Spigener
roads. Steele said the capital outlay grant applied for those roads was still
pending.
Busby said the
plan was for the
reconstruction of the roads the Jury had already applied for grants to
blacktop: Plum Tree Road in 2005, Industrial Road in 2005 and 2006, and Spigener Road and Stateline Road in 2007. Reconstruction of those roads is not
included in the grant application.
State
Representative Rick Gallot informed the Jury he was
able to get a turn lane project approved for the Industrial Park on Hwy. 79 north through the capital outlay
budget during the session. If $50,000 is not enough, he could take it before
the interim emergency board. Gallot encouraged the
Jury to apply for funding to overlay the Industrial Road through the Governor's
Office of Rural Development. He asked jurors to start making a list of
priorities for the capital outlay projects and get with him by September. The
deadline for applications for capital outlay is November.
Secretary
Cynthia Steele said the application for the $50,000 applied for by Rep. Gallot was done without approval by the Jury. Davidson
asked if work on the turn lane was to be done by the Jury road crew. Busby said
he understood it would be.
Jurors approved
a resolution to authorize administering grant funds totaling $594,000 received
through the LDCBG program for the South Claiborne Water System to be used on
the pumping station on Hwy. 79 servicing the Mulnix
Switch area. Steele said this application was made two years ago. She said the
application for the water system serving the Detention Center was a Rural
Development Grant.
Mardis wanted to know why disposal of appliances on Kidd
Road had not been placed on the agenda and why the letter had not been mailed.
Steele said she had communicated with the Fergusons
and had the letter ready to mail. Jurors voted to sign the letter to Willie
Ferguson regarding the appliances accumulating on Kidd Road, to call Tom Adams
to make sure he is coming in July to clean up the appliances, and to place it
on next month's agenda.
Body Of
Drowning Victim Recovered
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The body of the
35-year-old man who drowned last week on Lake Claiborne was recovered at
approximately 9:35 AM on Thursday, July 7 in the area near where he had gone
under the water in the 1,000 foot channel. Christian Lloyd Smith of Princeton,
Louisiana was on a barge on Monday, July 4 with three other adults and four
children, when one young boy began to have a problem with his life preserver
and began to panic. His mother went in the water to help him, then called for help. Smith and the other two adults dove in
to help them, and for unknown reasons, Smith drowned.
The Claiborne
Parish Sheriff's Office's Office Rescue Team, the Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries, and Fire District 6 divers attempted to locate Smith
until dark Monday, then continued the search Tuesday, July 5 with additional
aid of divers from the Webster and Bienville Parish Sheriff's Offices, Lake
Claiborne State Park, and other individuals from Claiborne and Webster parishes
who volunteered to help. The Shreveport Fire Department Canine Unit also
assisted Tuesday morning by providing their cadaver dog,
however attempts to find Smith's body were unsuccessful.
On Wednesday,
July 6, the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office and volunteers from Claiborne,
Bossier, and Caddo continued to search the surface of the water until Smith's body was recovered
Thursday.
According to
Gail Speer, spokesperson for Coroner D. K. Haynes, preliminary autopsy results
revealed no other causes for death other than drowning, however, the complete
autopsy report is not expected for another couple of weeks.
Homer Police Chief Sues For Back Pay
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Shreveport
attorney Nyle A. Politz, on
behalf of Homer Police Chief Rodney Hollenshead,
submitted a certified letter to Homer Mayor Huey Dean on June 14 claiming the
Town owes the Chief $93,594.99 in accumulated compensatory time, designated as
K-time on his check stubs. With payments of comp time to previous salaried
individuals, Politz' letter stated "the Town of
Homer has clearly established precedent for this claim."
The letter
noted that former Police Chief Randy Pugh may have received payment for
accumulated K-Time at the end of his term in 1993, however, Pugh says he never
received one penny beyond his annual salary of $27,000 which included $3,000
state supplemental pay during the entire eight years he served as chief, nor the
six years prior as a patrol officer. Former street superintendent Jesse Ford
admits receiving accumulated comp time, vacation pay and sick leave between November 21, 2001 and
June 8, 2002, the date of his official retirement. Hollenshead's comp
time dates back more than ten years, prior to when he took office as chief of
police on January 1, 1995.
Although Politz' letter was received in the Mayor's office on June
16, Dean said town attorney David Newell requested the issue not be placed on
the agenda for the July council meeting to allow him time to further research
the issue
Methamphetamine Labs Menacing Claiborne
Parish
One Former Meth
User Recounts Effects Of His Meth
Addiction
BY JIMMY DEAN, Feature Writer, The Guardian-Journal
Methamphetamine
is coming to—may already be in—your neighborhood. A local attorney says, "This menace is
growing and will get far worse. The wave of misery it will bring is just
beginning." Many of us in Claiborne
Parish may not know much about meth, not yet. A
random check of local arrests for 2003-2005 showed no meth-related
arrests in those reviewed for 2003, only 1 for 2004, and 9 already for 2005.
Methamphetamine
is invading rural areas that have not in the past been as vulnerable to hard
drugs. According to www.about.com, "Methamphetamine is now competing
with marijuana as the drug of choice. Meth is readily
available throughout Louisiana..The
number of clandestine laboratory seizures state-wide has increased
significantly. Meth labs are found principally in
isolated, rural communities."
A study by the
Drug Enforcement Administration shows that the number of police seizures
nationwide of meth labs almost tripled, from 3,811 in
1998 to over 10,000 in 2003. The Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children
reports that 35% of meth lab raids involved families
with children. A recent issue of The Law Enforcement Times reports that 80% of
children rescued from meth environments test positive
for meth and for chemicals used in making meth. Unfortunately, children being raised in families
where an adult is manufacturing meth often experience
damage to the brain and other vital organs.
Meth can take several forms from a fine coarse powder to
chunks or crystals. Its color ranges from off-white to yellow. Often furnished
in plastic wrap, aluminum foil, capsules or tablets, it may be swallowed,
injected, or inhaled.
Meth users agree the drive to stay high is to avoid the
crash when the drug wears off. The following first-person account gives a
glimpse of life after meth....My method of ingestion
was smoking. Whether it was with a custom-made pipe, a gutted lightbulb or a scrap of foil, I LOVED smoking crank. For
three years I smoked and smoked and smoked.
Soon one night turned into two or three nights, and that rapidly
progressed to [using meth] being a part of my
everyday life. What was once just a party, a cheap thrill, became a way of
living. When I finally had to stop... I realized what [meth]
had done to my body. First, we'll start with my lungs....
SHERIFF KEN BAILEY presented electronic equipment, car seats, educatonal
videos, and child care packages to child welfare supervisors Vicky Haynes and
Ellen Hammons to assist in fighting methamphetamine production and distribution
in the Kisatchie Forests.
Methamphetamine Task Force Teams Up With
OCS
Claiborne
Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey, who also serves as a member of the Louisiana
Methamphetamine Task Force, on Monday presented equipment to Vicky Haynes and
Ellen Hammons, child welfare supervisors for the Office of Community Services.
According to Bailey, the Louisiana Methamphetamine Task Force has joined forces
with the Office of Community Services in seven parishes: Claiborne, Grant,
Natchitoches, Rapides, Webster, Winn and Vernon, to combat child endangerment
due to the increasing number of methamphetamine labs.
The Louisiana Meth Task Force was formed last year in these seven
parishes to help fight meth production and
distribution within the Kisatchie National Forest.
Each parish has part of a national forest located inside their borders.
Claiborne Parish has more than 19,000 acres of forest land located in the
parish.
Sheriff Bailey
said, "It takes a lot of manhours to work meth-related cases in the vast acreage of a natural
forest."
DHH Says Homer Water Okay
The Department
of Health and Hospitals announced Tuesday that water tests taken from the Town
of Homer's water system after the shut down of the town water well on Sunday
which depleted the Town's water supply showed there was no contamination in the
water. Public health officer John Warrington advised Homer Mayor Huey Dean on
Monday to issue a voluntary boil order as a precautionary measure. According to Kristen Meyer, public
information officer for the DHH, said all water tests
came back clean, showing no contaminates. Boiling the water is no longer needed
and the water is okay to drink. Citizens are urged to continue to conserve
water by limiting outside water use.
