Former Resident Killed In Tragic
Accident
George Ronald
"Ronnie" Stratton, 58, of Bossier City was tragically killed New
Years Eve at his farm off King Point Road in Claiborne Parish. Stratton, a
long-time resident of Claiborne Parish, was loading some portable cattle panels
on a trailer sometime in the evening of December 31, 2005, when the panels fell
and pinned him against the inside wall of the trailer, causing his death.
Stratton had called his wife, Mary, around 4 PM to tell her he
would be home soon. When he did not show up within a reasonable length of time,
she called George Walker, an employee of Stratton. Walker found Stratton pinned
by the cattle panels inside the trailer and contacted the Claiborne Parish
Sheriff's Office for assistance. Ronnie and Mary Stratton owned and operated
Livestock Producer's Cattle Auction on Sligo Road in Bossier City.
Man Arrested For Attempted Murder
A 34-year-old
Lisbon man was arrested on Monday, December 26 on several charges including the
attempted murder of a peace officer according to Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken
Bailey. Deputies Paul Brazzel and David Morgan were dispatched to 210 Lookout
Point in Lisbon after the Sheriff's Office received a 911 call Christmas Day.
After arriving at the residence, they met Thomas Fairbanks. When officers rang
the doorbell, James M. Williams ran from the house, telling the officers that
George Walter Mason was inside the house, armed and threatening suicide.
Deputies called
for backup. Several deputies and detectives arrived to assist. Mason fired
numerous shots from inside the house and several shots were aimed at the
deputies. After approximately two hours. Detective Duffy Gandy and Deputies
Brazzel and Morgan, managed to talk Mason into coming out of the house where he
was then apprehended and transported to Homer Memorial Hospital for evaluation.
He was later booked into the Claiborne Parish Detention Center and charged with
illegal use of weapons, two counts of possession of firearm by convicted felon,
disturbing the peace, aggravated assault, simple battery (domestic violence),
simple criminal damage to property, and the attempted murder of peace officer.
Bond was set at $556,000.
STATE TROOPER MICHAEL ALLEN of Homer (right) and New York Troopers Roger Fortnne and Dennis Cavanagh
stand next to a New York police car. In the background is a huge barge that
washed over the top of the broken levee that flooded the 9th ward of New
Orleans. It now sits across one city street. Allen
said, "Once the water was pumped out, the area looked like a nuclear bomb
had exploded.
Local State Troopers Continue Patrol In New Orleans
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Louisiana State
Troopers from across the state were mobilized over four months ago, the day before
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana. They arrived
in Baton Rouge August 28. During times of disasters such as these, troopers are
divided into special response teams. They pack their gear, clothes, food and
water in their vehicles and report for duty.
Michael Allen
of Homer reported to State Police Headquarters in Baton Rouge at 9 PM that
Sunday night. The next afternoon around 3 PM after Hurricane Katrina came
through, his team headed to Slidell on Interstate 12 where they were assigned
to set up roadblocks in order to prevent people from re-entering the dangerous
disaster areas following the storm. The first night they worked around the
clock. The next day they were sent to Interstate 10 west of New Orleans in the
area of LaPlace and Kenner. They were assigned to patrol Jefferson Parish,
Kenner and around New Orleans.
State Trooper
Brannon Peters also arrived in Baton Rouge on August 28. He was sent to New
Orleans where he paired with Wildlife & Fisheries to do search and rescue
missions from boats. He also provided protection to construction crews working
to repair the broken levee after reports of gunfire. Peters said,
"Everyone was overwhelmed when the levees broke." There was typical
wind damage after Hurricane Katrina, but not half of the devastation created
when those levees gave way.
"This is
something you never expected to see in your entire life," said Peters.
"But it is something you take on when you accept this job." Today, he
said they were basically trying to protect people in and around New Orleans, to
provide security for those coming back to the area to restore their homes, and
to stop looting.
In St. Bernard
Parish, water was approximately seven feet deep. "It was unreal,"
said State Trooper Doug Pike. He spent the first few days rescuing people
trapped in houses in St. Bernard and making sure everyone had evacuated. He
said, "Pictures do not do justice to the destruction." It will take
years to get back to normal.
In the first
few days after Katrina hit, police officers from New York arrived in South
Louisiana to assist. This was the first time the New York Police Department had
ever patrolled outside the boundaries of their jurisdiction, or participated in
such an operation, but they had received so much help following the attack on
9/11, they felt compelled to return the favor. One New York officer told
Trooper Allen he felt the devastation in New Orleans was much worse. It was
much broader and more widespread. The damage to the World Trade Center in New
York was confined to the city blocks surrounding that one particular area.
Following
Hurricane Rita on September 24, La. State Troopers divided their duties. Some
were sent to the Lake Charles area to assist with the emergency response.
Trooper Allen said he drove through the night and arrived at Troop D in Lake
Charles about 5:30 AM on Sunday, September 25. He said, "The area was a
complete disaster zone—"black out", no power. Trees, power lines,
utility poles, and debris were scattered everywhere."
Besides
Troopers Allen, Peters, and Pike, other State Troopers from Claiborne Parish
who have worked with the special response teams in South Louisiana include Lane
Tuggle, Mark Keough, Henry Ford, Chris Bastow, Rusty Taylor, and Ronald Rhone,
in addition to Probation and Parole officer Terry McGaha. They will continue to
rotate in and out of the New Orleans area indefinitely, or until they are
advised they are no longer needed
HURRICANE KATRINA devastation left piles of rubble where homes once stood, washed boats
ashore and even placed one huge barge in the middle of the street in the ninth
ward of New Orleans (lower left).
HURRICANE RITA destroyed the southwest coast of Louisiana and flattened Holly Beach in
Cameron Parish (top right). Houses were washed onto roadways as shown in the
top right and lower left photos in the town of Creole, along Hwy. 27, which was
the only access road to Cameron Parish. Roadways such as the Creole Nature
Trail (lower left) in Holly Beach were totally submerged in water.
DO YOUR PART TO PROTECT YOUR HOME FROM
WILDFIRE. Create "defensible space" around your
house and other structures so firefighters will be able to insert equipment and
personnel between the advancing fire and your property.
Burn Ban Issued In All Claiborne Parish
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Homer Fire
Chief Dennis Butcher announced Tuesday that a burn ban had been issued for all
Claiborne Parish including the municipalities of Homer, Haynesville, Athens,
and Lisbon. All outside burning is prohibited until further notice. "It is
time for action, not reaction," said Butcher. "Our ability to live
more safely in this environment depends on pre-fire action. Research shows
being proactive before wildfire occurs gives you a better chance of saving
lives and property."
Residents are
urged to use extreme caution. There are ways you can help.
1) Protect your
home. Create a defensible space around your home where firefighters can place
equipment.
2) Protect the
firefighters. If you live near forestland, allow the owner to prescribe burn to
reduce underbrush and fuels.
3) Protect your
property. If you own forested property, prescribed burn and thin regularly.
Maintain your forested property the same as you would your residence. If you
need professional assistance, contact a forester or the Louisiana Department of
Agriculture and Forestry.
Here are some tips to
protect your residence, especially if you live in a rural area:
∙ A critical factor in determining whether or not a home will
survive a wildfire is the type, amount, and maintenance of vegetation
surrounding the house.
∙ Defensible
space is an area between the forest and a house where the vegetation has been
modified to reduce the wildfire threat in order to provide firefighters an area
in which to fight an oncoming fire.
∙ It is not necessary to have bare ground for defensible
space; green lawns and well-spaced, properly maintained vegetation can also
provide an area where a wildfire can be slowed.
∙ Routine
landscape maintenance such as pruning, mowing, weeding, appropriate plant
selection, and removal of dead plants and debris is all that is necessary to
provide a defensible space around a home.
∙ Some poor selections for landscaping plants are yaupon
holly, wax myrtle, conifers, pampas grass, and some ornamental grasses.
∙ Investigations
of homes threatened by wildfire indicate that houses with an effective
defensible space and a nonflammable roof are many times more likely to survive
a wildfire.
As in the past
two years, Butcher said they plan to hold a Wildfire Education Program in the
near future, conducted in conjunction with Trailblazer and the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Watch for dates in the newspaper.
RETIRING HOMER POLICE CHIEF RODNEY HOLLENSHEAD was honored last week at a retirement reception held in his honor at
Homer City Hall. The event was well attended by law enforcement and elected officials
from Claiborne Parish and neighboring parishes.
Homer Police Chief Honored On Retirement
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Dick Dorrell
and Pat Gladney opened the retirement celebration held last Wednesday, December
28 at Homer City Hall by performing a couple of songs, written especially for
retiring Homer Police Chief Rodney Hollenshead. Gurvis Vines and Michael Allen
introduced guests and speakers who paid tribute to Hollenshead. They included
Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey, Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton,
Haynesville Police Chief Anthony Smith, Minden Police Lt. Julie Harmon, retired
Haynesville Chief David Mills, District Judge Glen Fallin, Police Jury
President Roy Lewis, retired Marshal J. R. "Snap" Oakes, and Homer
Mayor Huey Dean.
Christmas Memory Tree
In Memory Of—Given By
Hulon & Jewell Pixley—Kenneth &
Beverly Volentine
Bernice Volentine—Kenneth & Beverly
Volentine
Novis Odom—Lewis & Carol Ann Odom,
Natalie & George Sargent
John S. Odom—Lewis & Carol Ann Odom,
Natalie & George Sargent
John Wayne Odom—Lewis & Carol Ann
Odom, Natalie & George Sargent
Joe Tuggle—James & Beth Hamilton
Union & Pearlena Hay—Bell_Their
Children
Thomas Fidel Bell—His Brothers
& Sisters
Plummer Bell & Shinet—Collina
Holyfield
*****
Year In Review
- 2005
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Top stories
over the past year began with the deaths of Perry Allen Hammontree, his
daughter Melissa Robertson, and Melissa's husband, Michael Robertson during an
early morning house fire in Homer on Christmas Day 2004. Other major events
during the year included the January 12, 2005 tornado, the hiring of a new
administrator at Homer Memorial Hospital, the possibility of constructing a new
hospital, the resignation of the Homer town clerk and two councilmen, reports
on the choice for I-69, construction of new schools, and the resentencing of
former town clerk Marilyn Bush.
Over the next
few weeks, the Guardian-Journal will provide a month by month recap of events
that made headlines in Claiborne Parish last year, beginning this week with
January, 2005.
JANUARY
The top story
of January 6, 2005 was the tragic death of three persons on Christmas Day
2004—Perry Allen Hammontree, his daughter Melissa and her
husband Michael Robertson. Perry's wife Patricia Hammontree, Marlene Sanders,
and Melissa and Michael's three children escaped injury.
Tires were
slashed on several vehicles located at the Homer Post Office, the
Guardian-Journal, and Claiborne Community Services between January 1 and 2. The
U.S. flag in front of the post office was also cut down.
Homer Memorial
Hospital Administrator James McClung resigned his position as administrator of
Homer Memorial Hospital to accept a position as Administrator of the Green
Clinic Surgical Hospital in Ruston.....
