Hurricane Rita Brings Wind, Rain, More
Evacuees
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
In less than one
month, the Louisiana coast has been devastated again. Once again a powerful
hurricane, this time Hurricane Rita, forced thousands of South Louisiana
residents to head north looking for shelter. Not only did Claiborne Parish get
a new influx of evacuees, but the wind from Rita downed trees and power lines
all the way to Arkansas. Winds and rain
from Hurricane Rita caused the recently repaired levee at New Orleans to break
and reflooded the ninth district. Once again, thousands of Southwest Louisiana
and Southeast Texas residents headed north looking for shelter.
In Homer, large
trees fell on two houses Saturday, causing substantial damage. A large oak tree
fell on the home of Joe and Nichole Levingston on North Main Street. Two large
pine trees fell, damaging the home of Steve and Sabrina Boyette on West 4th
Street.
OEP Director
Dennis Butcher said, "More donations are definitely needed." Besides
money, other items needed at shelters are over-the-counter cold medicine and
pain medication, such as Tylenol, Motrin, or Advil. They also need cotton
socks, for both men and women and the supply of canned drinks is running
low. Butcher said checks should be made
payable to The Claiborne Parish OEP. Checks and other items can be dropped off
at the Police Jury Complex. For more information, call 927-9118.
HURRICANE RITA, ON THE HEELS OF HURRICANE
KATRINA, brought more evacuees, wind and rain to Claiborne
Parish over the past weekend. High wind caused a number of trees to fall,
closing parish roads and temporarily interrupting power to homes. This large
oak tree fell during the storm Saturday afternoon, damaging the home of Joe and
Nichole Levingston on North Main in Homer.
HURRICANE RITA EVACUEES FROM MOSS BLUFF north of Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish met Tuesday at the Claiborne
Parish Library, where twin sisters, Sandy Thigpen and Debbie Campbell, were
using the internet for their joint business, DeColores Adoptions International,
as their children spent time reading books. Friends (l.-r.)
Kelli Bellon with children Lucy and Emma, her sister Sara and husband Trey
Jolie with children Abigail and Jacob showed up. They discussed how it may be
weeks before they
can return home. Sandy and daughter
Claire (center back); Debbie with daughters, Sophie and Sadie, (to right),
brother Joey Poussan's daughter Laura, and other family members are staying at
Parden's Paradise. If they can find a rent house and a place to set up shop
with internet access for their adoption business, they may decide to stay in
Homer. Debbie has a local cell phone
number 318-224-0153, but the voice mail does not work. The Bellons and Jolies
are staying at Lake Claiborne State Park.
TWO PINE TREES FELL on the home of Steve and Sabrina Boyette on West 4th Street, causing substantial damage to the house, blocking the street and
knocking down electric lines. After the first tree fell, the Boyettes left
home. Steve returned to check out the damage and saw the second tree as it
fell. The north end of the street including Homer Memorial Hospital had no power until
sometime Sunday.
Claiborne Electric Restores Power
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Claiborne
Electric Cooperative crews are working to rebuild power lines damaged by
Hurricane Rita's onslaught through north Louisiana, but spokesmen for the co-op
estimate full restoration of power will take several more days. High winds
caused many trees to fall, knocking out power to more than 12,000 Claiborne
Electric customers by midnight Saturday. Claiborne Electric spokesman Joey
White said co-op crews battled the storm throughout the day Saturday, getting
power restored to many lines, but continuously losing other lines to falling
trees. The effects of the storm were felt across Claiborne Electric's system,
with damage done in Webster, Claiborne, Bienville, Lincoln and Union parishes.
The LSU weather
reporting station, located at the Hill Farm Research Station near Homer, recorded
winds Saturday up to 49.8 miles per hour. The high winds not only caused
damaged to the lines, they hindered the linemen's ability to restore power.
"With the winds reduced today, we are expecting to make a lot of
progress," said White on Sunday, "but we have quite a few broken
poles, and lots of trees on lines. With so many lines down, spread over such a
wide area, it will take a few days to get everyone's power back on."
Claiborne
Electric expects to receive help from approximately 75 co-op linemen from other
states by Monday. "With the two major hurricanes back-to-back, it has been
difficult to obtain help through our normal sources," said White. "We had to bring them in from farther
away."
As of 7:35
PM Tuesday,
every customer of Claiborne Electric who was able to receive power had been
restored, with the exception of those who have meter loop problems which
require an electrician.
Claiborne
Electric reminds everyone to stay away from downed power lines.
Pay Raises Top Agenda At
Haynesville Council Agenda
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Haynesville
Town Council considered pay raises for the police chief, council members and
other town employees. Town Clerk Penny Fields presented the first reading of
two ordinances. Ordinance 573 would increase the annual salary of the elected
chief of police from $27,900 to $40,000 effective July 1, 2005 to June 30,
2009. Six months before the end of the term, the Council would have the option to review the
salary and either increase or decrease the pay. Ordinance 574 will increase the
monthly rate of pay for council members to $350 effective October 1, 2005 and
would repeal any conflicting ordinances. Following the reading of ordinances,
Mayor H. U. "Mutt" Slaid explained the Council must hold a public
hearing before approving the ordinances at the next meeting.
Slaid then
suggested the Council also consider giving a five percent pay increase to all
other town employees including the office staff, the superintendent of public works,
three police officers, and five public works employees. To offset the raises
which would cost $14,539.20, Slaid and Fields studied the budget and felt the
increase in fines, oil royalties, rental income and sales tax would overcome
the increase. If not, he said the Council could revamp the budget and take some
from the reserve funds.
Last year the
Town budgeted $25,000 in fines for the police department. In the past two
months the total fines collected was $15,875.50. Slaid said he realized fines would
not continue to be that much in the future.
Joyce Majors
said, "I have a problem with it and I want to go into executive session to
discuss it." The Council voted to add the executive session to the agenda.
After reconvening in open session, Majors clarified that her motion was to go
into executive session to discuss a specific employee, Mike Dunaway, who was
present.
Renee
Lincoln-Buggs then stated, "I agree to the raises. I do not agree the
superintendent should have a five percent raise."
She said it was nothing personal, but the superintendent's salary had peaked
with town of similar size. She suggested the Council divide the five percent
raise for Dunaway among other employees, giving 7 percent to town clerk Penny
Fields, ½ percent to
office employees Susan Leonard and Sue Lonadier, then divide the remaining 2
percent between the five public works employees.
Alvin Moss said
in the past twenty years, the Town has provided no incentive for employees to
get certified. The State would soon require all towns to have certified
employees. He said, "We have a certified employee and if we don't take
care of him, we're going to lose him."
Majors asked
why the Town did not have an evaluation policy for all employees. She said they should not rely
solely on a State certification test.
Slaid suggested tabling the issue. He said, "Right now
we're talking in percentages and you're favoring one person over another,
taking away from one and giving it to three."
Lincoln-Buggs had no problem tabling the issue, but did have a
problem with the statement that it was because they were favoring one person
over another. She said, "I don't like that wording."
Slaid said,
"If I said that in such a way you are taking issue with it, how would you
say it?" The fact remains, if your action is followed through, this person
does not get a raise. You suggested taking money away from Mike Dunaway and
giving it to other employees. Lincoln-Buggs responded that you cannot take away
a raise that has not been given.
Tabling the pay
raises until they could get a list of accurate figures was approved by a vote
of 4-0, with Alvin Kendrick abstaining. Kendrick said he felt all employees
should get the same amount. Fields suggested any Council member who wanted to,
should submit their own pay raise plan.
Homer Man Arrested For Inciting Felony,
Bribery
Homicide/Arson Investigation Continues
The Louisiana
State Police arrested Gerald Ray Skyles, 58, of Homer on Tuesday, September 20
on warrants from the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office. Skyles was charged with
inciting a felony and public bribery. The Criminal Investigation Division of
the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office received the initial complaint and
assisted in the investigation that led to Skyles' arrest in Homer. He was
subsequently booked into the Bayou Dorcheat Detention Center with bond to be
set in Webster Parish. No other details were released.
Investigators
with the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office are continuing their investigation
into the arson and
apparent homicide of a male individual whose skeletal remains
were discovered in the trunk of a burned car Saturday, September 10 by two men
checking on their hunting lease. The car was found in the woods just off the
Old Arcadia Road about one mile north of the Bienville Parish line.
Chief
Investigator Chuck Talley expects to receive results on the autopsy being
conducted by a forensic pathologist in Little Rock, Arkansas later this week,
which he hopes will reveal the man's identity.
The owner of
the burned vehicle has been contacted, however, the owner's name is not being
released at this time; neither is the make and model of the vehicle. The
Webster Parish Sheriff's Office and Minden Police Department are assisting with
the investigation.
Margie Boyd And
Bettye Palmer work as volunteers at Clothes, Etc.
on Hwy. 79 next to First Baptist Church. As Hurricane Katrina evacuees arrived in Claiborne Parish, Clothes Etc.
became the designated place to accept clothes for evacuees and was closed to local
residents. Since September 1, over 100 groups of evacuees have been given
clothes...allowed to take whatever they needed. Evacuees of Hurricane Rita are
now showing up. Presently, they have ample donations, but anyone wishing to
join the volunteers who take turns each week sorting and tagging clothes, can
call 927-4455 on Tuesday or Saturday mornings from 8-11 AM, when Clothes Etc.
is open.
St. Jude Car & Bike Show Set For
Saturday
The 4th Annual
St. Jude Lake Claiborne Car & Bike Show set for Saturday, October 1 at the
Lake Claiborne State Park will feature 13 classes for bikes and 14 for cars. As
in the past, the event is being held in memory of Christian and Joseph
Manzanares, grandchildren of organizer Rickey Bearden, who were tragically
killed in a trailer fire on August 19, 2001.
In past years,
the Show raised as much as $32,000. This year's goal is $70,000 which is the
amount required to designate a room in memory of the Manzanares children at St.
Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
According to
Bearden, they have already collected a check for $1,594 from Haynesville
Jr.-Sr. High in addition to more than $600 from juniors and seniors at
Haynesville High and $50.67 from Mrs. Prestidge's fifth grade class.
Haynesville Elementary turned in a five gallon water jug full of pennies,
nickels, dimes and quarters. Summerfield High contributed five 5-gallon buckets
of pennies collected for "Pennies for St. Jude". Mrs. Cathy Seals
presented a $200 check in honor of Homer Jr. High Principal Keith Beard and
Assistant. Principal Twyla Pugh. Three classes at Pineview High School raised
money. One class raised almost $100 and two others raised more than $60.
Students at Claiborne Academy and Mt. Olive also raised money, but no totals
were available. Bearden said he wanted to thanks the ladies at Gibsland Bank
& Trust in Minden who offered to count the coins.
For more
information, contact Rickey Bearden at 318-927-9740, Tom Brewton at
318-927-6619, or Dale Tully at 318-927-9009.
CPSB Adopts Budget, Applies For QZAB
Funds
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Claiborne
Parish School Board met Thursday, September 15 in special session to adopt the
2005-2006 budget showing total revenues from general funds, sales tax and contingency
at $19,245,942 and from non-federal and special revenue at $2,393,346. Total
expenditures budgeted in general funds, sales tax and contingency was
$19,517,553.50, leaving an expected deficit of ($271,611.50). Total
expenditures budgeted for non-federal and special revenue sources were
$2,287,081, leaving a balance of $106,264.00. Superintendent James Scriber will
work on a plan to address the expected shortfall in funds and will bring a
proposal to the board at the meeting in March, 2006.
Board members
also approved a resolution giving preliminary approval to the issuance of Qualified
Zone Academy Bonds (QZAB) Series 2005 with the amount not to exceed
$2 million to be used for the renovation of Homer High School.
Museum To
Observe Archaeology Week October 2
Louisiana
Archaeology Week is being celebrated throughout the state October 2-8 this
year. A variety of interesting presentations are scheduled to be held during
this week at different locations across the state. Mr. Jeff Girard, Northwest
Regional Archaeologist School of Social Sciences at Northwestern State
University of Louisiana, will present a slide presentation at the H.S. Ford Memorial Museum.
His topic for this year's program is, "Caddo-Cahokia Connections:
Prehistoric Effigies from Illinois in Louisiana." Mr. Girard's
presentation will center around two stone effigy pipes, one in the shape of a
human and the other in the shape of a frog. These two pipes are on display at
the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport. These two pipes were recovered
in the 1930s within a mound built by the Caddo Indians near the town of Gahagan
in Red River Parish. Cahokia was what amounts to a prehistoric city containing
over 100 mounds, and it likely had several thousand inhabitants. It was at its
peak about A.D. 1100. Mr. Girard will discuss how the artifacts were analyzed
and the trading relationships between the Cahokia people and the Caddos of
northwest Louisiana.
New Historic Series To Begin Next Week
From time to
time The Guardian-Journal staff researches the who,
what, when, where, why, and how of Claiborne Parish history. Although we don't
always find answers, we do what we can.
For example, we
have printed information about the first settler in the parish, John Murrell.
We have also written about Roy Mayfield's contribution to local education and
the history of Homer High School. To mention others, we've written about the
Old Homer Cemetery, Tulip Methodist Church, Homer Tobacco, Barkett Candy
Company, and Claiborne Butane's imprints on local history.
We spent much
of the past summer in the Claiborne Parish Library, the Ford Museum, and the
Claiborne Parish Clerk's Office searching for information about the old schools
in Claiborne Parish and their history, the White Lightning Road and its
history, and more. We hunted through archives of the Shreveport Times as well
as spent many hours reviewing issues of The Guardian-Journal from the 1800s and
1900s. We drove miles to interview people about what they recall from their
youth and what their parents and grandparents told them as they were growing up
in Claiborne Parish.
Surprisingly,
our research is not welcomed by all. While most folks are
happy to share memories, one or two expressed concern about the effect of
informing our readers about our own colorful parish history. Be assured
the staff of The Guardian-Journal wishes only to share portions of our history
as factually as possible.
Children are
taught history for a reason: to help them honor our successes as well as not
repeat errors of the past. Though much
of our country's history is inspiring, some is not. No nation's history is
without flaws, nor is Claiborne Parish's.
With the
objective of enlightening our readers and stimulating constructive discussion,
beginning October 6, 2005, The Guardian-Journal will begin a series of six
articles we feel our readers will be as intrigued with as we were. For anyone
interested in local history, these articles will make for fascinating reading.
