Voters Approve School Renewal Taxes
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Voters in
Claiborne Parish went to the polls Saturday and overwhelmingly approved two 10
year parishwide school renewal taxes and one 10-year school renewal tax in
District 11 in Haynesville.
Proposition No.
1 for continuation of the 5.90 mills property tax for Claiborne Parish schools
was approved by a vote of 1,205 (85%) in favor and 208 (15%) opposed.
Proposition No. 2 for continuation of the 5.90 mills property
tax for constructing, improving and maintaining all school buildings parishwide
was approved by a vote of 1,164 (85%) for and 203 (15%) against.
Voters in
Haynesville approved the renewal of a 10-year, 4.14 mills property tax for
maintaining and operating school facilities in School District #11 by a vote of
294 (88%) in favor of the proposition and 40 (12%) opposed.
In the Town of
Homer, voters in District 4 elected Carlette Sanford as their representative on
the Homer Town Council by a vote of 104, or 79%, for Sanford. Her opponent Ivy
McGee Reed received 28 votes, or 21%. Sanford will replace Ronnie Anderson who
was appointed as interim selectman by the Homer Town Council following the
resignation of Thomas McDonald last February. Toney Johnson was the only person
to qualify for selectman in District 3. He replaced Johnette Faulkner who
resigned the same time as McDonald. Sanford and Johnson will serve the
remainder of the term which will expire December 31, 2006.
C. F.
"Chuck" Clawson received 355 votes, or 70%, to win the election for
Justice of the Peach in First Justice Court. His opponent, Roberta Paschal,
received 149 votes, or 30%. Clawson replaces Curtis Cole who had resigned
earlier this year, then died unexpectedly last week.
SKEETER THE CLOWN traveled around Claiborne Parish Tuesday to meet children and tell them,
"The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus is coming to town." She spent
time with Claire Acklin's second grade class at Claiborne Academy (top), with
students at Homer Elementary (bottom), the Boys & Girls Club, and ABC
HeadStart. "Skeeter" considers herself an educated fool with 20 years
experience as a circus clown, a BA in Broadcasting and MBA (Master of Buffoney
of Arts) from Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Clown College. She invited
children to go to http://www.cmcircus.com/
and click on coloring contest & bring colored sheets to circus. Prizes will
be awarded to winners at two performances on Wednesday, October 26 at 5:00
& 7:30 PM. The Homer Lions Club is sponsoring the circus as one of their
annual fundraisers.
More Arrests—Charges Include Drugs, DWI,
Theft
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Haynesville
Police officers were called to the scene of an apparent hit and run about 9:30
PM Sunday, October 8 at
Fairgrounds and Spring Drive. Kevin Willis, 28, of Homer
apparently rear-ended another vehicle, then offered insurance information, but
refused to wait until police arrived to write a report. Haynesville officers
John Barnette and Aaron Christian investigated the incident and were informed
the driver of a 1989 light gray Honda Accord hit their vehicle from behind as
they were stopped to make a turn.
As officers
were taking down the information, Willis drove by and was identified. Christian
followed Willis' vehicle, trying to pull him over. Willis finally stopped at
Thomas Street, only to get out of his vehicle and take off running. Detective
James Bolton arrived on the scene, along with Sheriff deputies Jimmy Brown and
Paul Brazzel, to assist in the search. The Chase Team from David Wade
Correctional Center was also called to help, but before they arrived, a
resident in the area alerted officers that Willis was under his house. Bolton
crawled under the house and dragged him out.
Willis was
arrested and charged with DWI (fourth offense), no proof of insurance, leaving
the scene of an accident with injuries, open container, resisting by flight,
resisting by fight, resisting during booking, criminal trespass and attempted
unauthorized entry of uninhabited dwelling. He is currently being held with no
bond at the Claiborne Detention Center on a hold by Probation and Parole.
Information on
other arrests included in this article were 1) Jake Daniel McClanahan, 22, of
Haynesville for simple burglary and disturbing the peace on October 4; 2) Kip
K. Thornton, 30, of Minden on October 1 for loud noise which led to a number of
other charges which included giving false information, resisting an officer,
criminal neglect of family, and possession of cocaine; 3) Tiffany Daniele
Jackson, 18, of Haynesville for theft—making unauthorized charges on customer's
credit cards at Sonic Drive-In on September 26; and 4) arrest warrants issued
for Gregory Dockery, Tony Barker, John D. Colquitt, and Cynthia Robinson after
information received back from the crime lab tested positive for crack cocaine.
HAYNESVILLE CRIMESTOPPERS
Haynesville
Crimestoppers will pay up to $500 for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of persons responsible for the burglary of New Life Baptist Church.
Crimestoppers will pay up to $800 for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the person who stole an 18-wheel log truck and tires owned by
Hamaker Timber and $400 for information on the theft of a Stihl pole saw and
weedeater belonging to Dewatha Malone. Call Haynesville Crimestoppers at
318-624-1355.
Homer Woman Arrested For Theft
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Following the
investigation into the burglary at a residence on North Main in Homer sometime
between September 20 and October 2, Police Captain Donald Malray arrested
Talanda Sherene Sampson, 41, of Homer. Sampson had been hired by Hudson and Claire Mann,
owners of the house, to help them clean up. Several items were taken including
a cluster ring purchased in 1972 in Scotland for a wedding anniversary gift.
The ring, valued at $3,500, has since been recovered. Other items stolen include
a necklace and earrings, and a postal money order.
Sampson was
charged with theft over $500 and illegal possession of stolen things. She was
booked into the women's facility of the Claiborne Parish jail, with bond set at
$15,0000.
CPSO Traffic Stop Leads To Arrest
A routine
traffic stop on Monday, October 17 by Claiborne Parish Sheriff Deputy Randy
Pugh led to the arrest of Henry Russell Robin, Jr. and Jason Lopez Edwards.
According to Sheriff Ken Bailey, Edwards, 25, of Minden was the passenger in a
vehicle driven by Robin, 41, of Athens. Robin was pulled over on La. 9 inside
the city limits of Junction City, Louisiana where he was cited for speeding and no
driver's license.
During a
routine background check Pugh discovered Robin had an outstanding warrant for
failure to appear in court in Claiborne Parish. He was then arrested and
transported to the Claiborne Detention Center, where he was booked and later
released on $2,000 bond.
Rolling papers
and a bag containing a green vegetable substance was found on Edwards. He was
arrested by Deputy Paul Brazzel and charged with possession of marijuana and
possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into the Claiborne Detention
Center on $1,000 bond, and later released. Deputy Randy Smith was called to the
scene with the drug detection canine and aided in the search of the vehicle
Police Jury Gets Update On Lake Development Project
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Dr. James
Robert Michael gave the Claiborne Parish Police Jury an update on the lake
development project at their October meeting. He gave an overview of the public
meeting held recently to explain to landowners in Claiborne Parish in the area
being considered for Flat Lick Lake the opportunities available to them if they
choose to join the quasi public corporation.
Michael said
most landowners were in agreement, however, there were one or two families that
voiced their concerns at the meeting. One option would be to reduce the size of
the lake, to exclude those properties, however, that could increase the cost by
$4-5 million.
Bob McDaniel
asked if it they could instead purchase these properties to avoid increasing
the cost. Michael said that was an option.
The main reason
for building these lakes is to recharge the Sparta Aquifer as recommended by
the U.S. Geological Survey and Ben McGee, and at the same time, promote
economic development. McDaniel asked why Claiborne and Webster were the only
parishes attempting to address the steady depletion of the aquifer when there
were 13 or 14 other parishes that used the Sparta as their source of drinking
water. He said Claiborne was probably the least populated of all the parishes.
Michael said he
served for years on the Sparta Aquifer Commission and he was flabbergasted they
absolutely refused to participate. Parishes on the southeast end should be
doing something, since many of those parishes already have problems with salt water
intrusion.
The next steps
will include drafting a charter for the corporation, recruiting landowners and
organizing capital investors, selecting an engineer to develop a specific plan
for the first lake and to supervise construction, and initiate discussions with
the two parish watershed commissions to determine the role of the commissions
once the lakes are completed and to develop budgets for specific activities.
Reconciliation Worship Service Set For
November 3
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Why can't we
all just figure out a way to work together for the betterment of Claiborne
Parish and our own spiritual well being?
Asking this
question prompted a group of community leaders to look for an avenue which
would allow local residents to learn to respect and love one another. They
concluded this could only be done through the healing power of Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit.
A meeting was
held in August to look for ways to bring peace and harmony to our community. It
was decided first to organize a parishwide worship service which will be held
on Thursday, November 3 at 7 PM at the First United Methodist Church in Homer.
Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Dean has been invited to bring the message.
The theme of
the worship service is Reconciliation, based on the words found in 2
Corinthians 5:18, "God...reconciled us to himself through Christ, and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation."
The service
will provide an opportunity for all people in Claiborne Parish to come together
to experience the love of God and to begin a healing process—black and white;
men and women; youth and adults; citizens of Homer and Haynesville; citizens of
Athens, Summerfield and Lisbon; and anyone else who may feel the need for
reconciliation is urged to attend.
Holy Communion
will be shared by all who wish to participate, presented by Reverends Jimmy
Simeon (First Baptist-Homer), George Hall (Love Chapel Baptist Church), Ray
Jiles (La. Baptist Association), and Larry Maxwell (First Methodist-Homer).
Other ministers
scheduled to participate in the service are Jeff Willis (Haynesville Assembly of
God), David Heard (Ebenezer Baptist Church), Henry Stone (First
Methodist-Haynesville), Pat Bates (First Methodist-Homer), Bettie Archie , John
Markley (Grace Bible Church), Brent Shoalmire (Calvary Baptist Church), Willie
Young Sr. (New Hope Baptist Church), and John McClelland (First Presbyterian
Church-Homer and Athens).
The youth of
the Power House Bible Study Group are making banners for the event.
THE EAGLES OF MT. OLIVE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL are pleased to announce the 2005 Homecoming Court (l.-r.) Freshman Maid
Laney Ellis, Football Sweetheart Natali Easterling, Senior Maid Haley Stroud,
Homecoming Queen Kristen Moak, Senior Maid Laura Moro, Junior Maid Leah
Barnard, and Sophomore Maid Jessica Forrester. The Homecoming game against the
Abiding Faith Bulldogs of Crossett, Arkansas will be Friday, October 21
following the JV game at 6 PM. The Court will be presented following the JV
game, prior to the varsity game.
White Lightning Feud: W. W. Ramsey
Killed
White Lightning Series: Part 2 of 6
NOTE: This is another in a series of articles reprinting prior
published information on the White Lightning Feud.
* * * * *
THE KILLING OF PROFESSOR J. H. WILLIAMS
....continued from last week
It will be
remembered that J. H. Ramsey shot and wounded J. D. Tuggle a few weeks [ago] in
this place with a shotgun. Ramsey was almost on the identical spot Saturday
when Tuggle fired upon him where he stood when he fired upon Tuggle. Ramsey fired three
shots at Tuggle at that time, and it is almost a miracle that he did not kill
or wound other parties who happened to be on the streets at the time. After the shooting Saturday Tuggle passed between the stores of
McCorkle & Bro. and made his escape, the sheriff, so far as we know, making
no effort whatever to arrest him. A warrant was sworn out but [and as of
October 29, 1890] no arrest has been made. We learn that Mr. Tuggle says he
will come in and surrender.
We know nothing
of the deadly feud that seems to exist between these parties, but we have
decided convictions that the public streets of Homer is
not the proper place to settle it with shotguns. The lives of innocent parties
should not be endangered as they have been by the use of shotguns on the
streets of the town.
[Mr. Tuggle
came in...yesterday and surrendered to the sheriff.]
—
Guardian-Journal, page 5
October 29, 1890
* * * * *
The non-jury
term of the District Court met at this place last Monday morning with Judge
Allen Barksdale presiding.
The following
pled guilty:
State vs. Tom Gaines, assault and battery. Fined $10 and costs.
State vs. J. T. Waller, selling liquor without license. Fined $130 and costs.
State vs. A. P. M. Wagner, disturbing the peace. Fined $5 and costs.
The preliminary
trials of J. D. Tuggle and Dr. J. F. Pace and J. C. Bennett were fixed for
yesterday.
All cases
before this term were set for today.
—
Guardian-Journal, page 5
November 5, 1890
* * * * *
We learn that
Mr. John H. Ramsey was shot at last Friday evening while working on a chimney
at his father's residence about three miles from town. He was not hit. The
party who did the shooting was concealed in a thicket some distance from the
house. A Winchester rifle was used. We have not learned who did the shooting.
—
Guardian-Journal, page 3
December 10, 1890
* * * * *
W. W. RAMSEY KILLED
A fatal difficulty occurred in town Monday evening [February 23,
1891] between W. W. Ramsey and Hamp Tuggle in which the former gentleman was
killed and Hamp Tuggle shot in the hand and his brother, Henry Tuggle, received
a painful wound in the shoulder. The shooting occurred almost in front of the
jail, and Ramsey fell a corpse on the sidewalk between
the jail and Knighten's saloon. The shooting occurred so quick and unexpectedly
that it is difficult to gather the particulars, and, of course, as is always
the case, the reports are somewhat conflicting. It seems that Henry and Hamp
Tuggle were together at the jail when they were approached by Ramsey, who
commenced talking to them, and the shooting followed. It is said that Ramsey
fired the first shot. Henry Tuggle, we learn, was unarmed. Hamp was at once
arrested by Constable O. P. Bailey and Deputy Sheriff Brown and is now in jail
awaiting the action of the Grand Jury, which is now in session.
—
Guardian-Journal, page 5
February 25, 1891
* * * * *
At Homer, La.,
on the afternoon of [October] 23rd, a desperate street duel took place between
Hamp Tuggle and William Ramsey, the outgrowth of an old family feud. Ramsey was
killed, Hamp Tuggle was shot in the hand, and his
brother Henry was shot in the shoulder. Last summer John Ramsey emptied a load
of buckshot into Joe Tuggle as he was getting on his horse to leave for home.
The two families have constantly been under arms for each other ever since.
William Ramsey was killed within twenty feet of where Joe Tuggle was shot. Both
parties are prominent planters in that parish.
—
Lafayette (Louisiana) Advertiser
February 28, 1891
* * * * *
RAMSEY-TUGGLE Feud Renewed
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Homer, La.,
Feb. 26._Excite-ment here is intense over a renewal of the Ramsey-Tuggle feud.
This afternoon William Ramsey, Jr., was instantly killed and Hamp and Henry
Tuggle wounded.
—
Idaho Weekly Statesman
Boise, Ada County, Idaho
February 28, 1891
* * * * *
On Sunday
morning last when the negro woman who cooks for the
family of Mr. William Ramsey, the father of John H. Ramsey, got up and went
into the yard, she discovered a man armed with a gun in a field some distance
from the house. The woman gave the alarm, and John. H. Ramsey came out with his
Winchester rifle and fired twice at the party who was making his way off. The
party turned and fired once at Ramsey. Ramsey shot at the man at a distance of
two hundred and fifty or three hundred yards, but notwithstanding the distance,
he thinks he hit [with] the last shot. Sunday the sheriff was sent for and went
out to the Ramsey place with his deputies, Brown and Bailey. We understand that
these officers found the tracks of parties who were around the house the night
previous. The tracks showed that two parties were about the place. The tracks
of the man Ramsey shot at were plainly visible in the plowed ground and even
showed where he turned and shot at Ramsey. The tracks could not be traced
further than the woods where they disappeared, and no further trace could be
found indicating the direction the party had gone. Ramsey says his would-be
assassin wore an old black slouch hat and was a white man.
We learn that
John Ramsey has...........to be continued
NOTE:
Bill Hightower and Jimmy Dean researched this article.
Eddie Lee Wilson... "I've had a
good life"
BY JIMMY DEAN, Feature Writer, The Guardian-Journal
The
Guardian-Journal's recent article about the White Lightning Road led to a visit
with Eddie Lee Wilson who says with a chuckle that his father had brewed white lightning
in Georgia. "As a matter of fact, that's what led to our family moving
from Georgia to Claiborne Parish, his making moonshine. Things got too hot out
there, so we moved to Louisiana."
Wilson
describes how "I carried the wood and fired the still for making the white
lightning." Made from corn, "it was 190 proof,"
Wilson says. When asked if the moonshine was made from anything other than
corn, he replies, "Corn was easy to grow around here, so that's what we
used. Didn't use other stuff, just corn."
Wilson was only 4 or 5 years of
age at the time. His father was already in his 70s when he was sent to jail as
a bootlegger. Of his father's incarceration at Ruston, Wilson says, "They
were good to him. They let him come home on week-ends." During the week,
however, Wilson's father labored on the White Lightning Road. Wilson describes
how the workers had to "use mules and skips and skids" to clear the
path for the road.
Wilson says his
parents died when he was a small child, his mother in 1926 of cancer and his
father six months later. Wilson had an older half-sister who couldn't care for
Wilson and his four younger brothers, so all the boys went to the Methodist
Children's Home in Ruston where Wilson grew up.
Wilson later
finished Louisiana Tech with a degree in agriculture and went on to work 30
years as a state inspector, "mostly inspecting dairies." He retired
in 1976. He adds, "I never drank the white lightning. Maybe that's why
I've had such a good life."
HOMER MAYOR HUEY DEAN told members of the Homer Lions Club the financial condition of the town
had improved since he took office in January 2003. The total in all funds,
including restricted funds, increased from $447,510.57 in January 2003 to $1,694,277.47
at the end of September. Funds available for operations increased from a
deficit of ($43,606.53) to $430,226.00 as of September 31, 2005. He said,
"We are not here to make money, but to use our funds wisely." Dean
said renovations on the wastewater treatment plant should be completed by March 2006
through an LCDBG grant totaling $860,000. Regarding the proposal to build a new
hospital, Dean said
he wants what Homer residents want. If approved, he would like to see the
hospital located close to Homer, possibly Johnson Road or the Homer Bypass, and
the debt paid in full. Above, Lion President Bob Robinson presents Dean with a
certificate of appreciation.
