Three From
Claiborne Indicted
In Youth Ranch Death
BY
SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The death of a 12-year-old boy
at the 
Hope Youth Ranch near Minden last September led to the
Grand Jury indictment and arrest this week of seven current employees and one former
employee. Alexandria “Alex” Harris was admitted to Hope Youth Ranch on March 9, 2005 for being “ungovernable.” He was in the custody of the
Louisiana Office of
Youth Development at the time, who has a contract with Hope Youth
Ranch. Prior to this, Alex had resided with his grandparents in Haughton.
Hope Youth Ranch (HYR) is a
non-profit, residential treatment center licensed by the Louisiana Department
of Social Services. Situated on a 345 acre ranch, 12 miles north of Minden, it was opened in February
1995 for the “purpose of providing therapeutic car and substitute parenting for
youths whose special needs cannot be met in their current environment.” The HYR
website at www.hopeyouthranch.com touts itself as “providing care for boys who
need a positive family environment.” Sadly, some of the employees at HYR failed
to meet those expectations on September 13, 2005 when they failed to respond to
pleas by the young Harris.
Harris collapsed while running
with other boys as a form of punishment. He complained of feeling bad, being
hot and thirsty, but was denied water and rest by several employees. Autopsy
results indicate Harris suffered from dehydration and died of blunt force
trauma to the head, probably caused when one of the older boys who was carrying him dropped him after he began to vomit. The
Ranch has since changed its policy and no longer use physical activity as a
form of punishment.
District Attorney Schuyler
Marvin called the Louisiana State Police on September 15 and asked them to
investigate the boy’s death since a number of Webster Parish deputies worked at
the Ranch on weekends and nights. No deputies were involved in the boy’s death.
TFC Doug Pierrelee, LSP Public
Information Officer (PIO) said, “The intention, I’m sure, was not to kill this person., but there actions did just that.”
"Any reasonable person
would have been able to see there was something wrong on that day," says
Louisiana State Police Detective Michael Allen.
A memorial service was held at
the Ranch on September 21 to remember a young man. The Ranch’s online
Newsletter described Alex as “a person who fought for what he believed and yet
a person who deeply loved everyone. He was forgiving and understanding of
others and believed in the goodness of the human being. More important is that
he believed in God and His son Jesus.”
Those from Claiborne Parish who
were indicted were Tasha Jackson, 29, of Haynesville; Anthony Combs, 38, of
Homer; and Troy Hamilton, 31, of Homer. Others were Jeremy Blanks, 22, of Minden; Kelton Greenard, 26, of Minden; Arthur Henderson II, 24, of Cotton Valley; Willis Doyle, 48, of Castor;
and Marcus Jones, 24, of Castor. All turned themselves in to the Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center and were released on $2,500
bond.
Allen said Ranch Administrator
Chris Haynes and the administration staff have given their full cooperation to
the investigation. Roy Martinex, ministry administrator for the ranch, said
their entire staff remains heartbroken and full of grief over the boy’s death, however, their mission is unchanged. He said, “There
are still suffering children throughout this state that need our help.”.
Sheriff’s Deputy Makes
Drug Arrest
Man Cleared Issuing Worthless Check Charge
After observing a red truck
driving left of the center lane on Tuesday, May 16, Claiborne Parish Sheriff
Ken Bailey said Deputy Jeff Pugh pulled the driver over and conducted a field
investigation which revealed the driver, James Brown Heflin, 44, of Shreveport was under the influence of
suspected drug substance.
Heflin gave Deputy Pugh
permission to search the vehicle. A small plastic bag containing a white
substance was found, along with two white pills.
Pugh placed Heflin under arrest
for possession of Schedule IV, in addition to citing him for improper lane
usage. Heflin was booked into the Claiborne Parish Detention Center with bond set at $5,000.
Steve Marshall Day, one of the
ten pictured for issuing worthless checks two weeks ago, was cleared by the
Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office following an investigation that revealed checks
had been stolen from a house he owned in Webster Parish in February 2004. No one was living in the house at the time,
but an old checkbook on Farmer’s Bank was taken. day
was unaware the checks had been stolen until he was notified by merchants that
insufficient checks had been written.
An arrest was made in Webster
parish on the burglary and forgeries in Webster, however, three checks had been
written at Wal-Mart in Homer.
The Claiborne Parish District
Attorney’s Office was not aware of the burglary or forgeries, since it was
outside their jurisdiction. Wal-Mart in Homer presented the checks to the DAs
office in January 2006. A warrant was issued for Day’s arrest and his picture
was published in the local newspapers for writing hot checks. Day contacted the
Sheriff’s Office and Chief Detective Chuck Talley conducted an investigation.
As a result, it was discovered the checks had indeed been stolen and forged
against Mr. Day.
The investigation is still pending into the charge of
stolen/forged checks, however, the Claiborne Parish
Sheriff’s Office wishes to make sure the public is aware that Day did not write
the checks relating to warrants published in the paper.
Movie Gallery
Robbed—Suspect Caught
BY
SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Homer Police officers Sgt.
Jimmy Hamilton and Thomas Davis were dispatched to the Movie Gallery
Tuesday evening at 10:14 PM after the store was robbed.
Store clerks described the suspect as a slim black male, about 5’11” tall,
wearing black shorts, white tank top, and holding a blue bandanna over his
face. At first they thought the man was ill. He came around the counter and
grabbed the bag containing $619.56, then left the store headed south.
Hamilton, Davis, Homer Police
Chief Russell Mills and Sheriff Deputies Randy Pugh and Matt Harris began
canvassing the area around North 4th and East 4th.
After receiving several tips,
the subject was located in a house on North 4th Street. Gerald Anderson, 44, of Homer
was arrested, then taken to the Homer Police
Department where he was booked and charged with simple robbery. Anderson was identified from a 6-photo
spread lineup by an eyewitness. Swabs were taken to compare with DNA lifted by Hamilton at the scene. Fingerprints
were also lifted,
Anderson was transported to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center. Bond to be
set.
Haynesville Council
Addresses Numerous Complaints
Topics not on the regular agenda took precedent at last
Thursday’s meeting of the Haynesville Town Council. Public comments included complaints about a
local nightclub, problems getting police report, and a request use town
property at the airport to construct a peewee football field. Other agenda
items included raising garbage rates, raising fines on criminal and traffic
violations, tearing down dilapidated houses, and advertising for bids on
surplus vehicles.
Slaid said several public comment forms had been filled
out. Among them were persons supporting and opposed to T-Tops. He asked the
Council to vote to give T-Tops the opportunity to speak and asked for a motion.
Attorney Newell informed Slaid, “We don’t have to have a motion to let them
talk. We can’t deny them. You can limit the amount of time they talk.”
Slaid, “I stand corrected. We don’t have to have a
motion.”
James Tucker, previous owner of T Tops, was first to
speak. He said he felt some responsibility since he had sold the club to
Turner. Before he built the Club, he was given permission by the previous
council. Now the new owner is being harassed by Majors, who is determined to
close the club, but if they keep getting harassed, they will take legal action.
Mary Turner, the owner’s mother, said she believed the
problem was the neighbors wanted to purchase the property, but they felt her
asking price was too high. She wanted to know why people were so opposed to a
young black man trying to provide an honest living for his family. Slaid,
pounding the gavel, told her if she was going to bring race into the issue, she
could “hit the door.” She attempted to explain, but was told to “get out” by
Slaid. Councilman Alvin Kendrick asked it was legal not to allow her to express
her opinion. Attorney Danny Newell it was up to the mayor.
Slaid said the club had met all the requirements, with
the health department, state fire marshal, and occupational license. It was up
to the police to address the noise and other problems.
Rudolph Presley said he could hear music at his house. He
complained that his son was beat up and no one called the police. He called
Chief Anthony Smith the next day, which Smith confirmed.
Ruthell Hawthorne, who lives next to the club, said she
had been dealing with the noise for 13 years and was tired of her China cabinet shaking. She said
there had been two shootings. Her husband told her to get on the floor. One man
was urinating outside last week, which she said was disrespectful to her girls.
If the club is up to standards and there is nothing you can do, she would leave
it in the hands of the Lord.
Roderick Hampton said he agreed with his grandmother,
Ruthell Hawthorne, and did not want her to be scared.
Renea Lincoln-Buggs asked the owner could keep people
inside or just ask them to leave. If they don’t, call the police. Turner agreed
to work harder to do that.
Slaid said if it sounded like he was trying to be rude,
he wasn’t. This was just not a place for this kind of conversation.
Rex Williams, who made a request at the April meeting to
be allowed to construct a pee wee football field at the airport, asked the
Council if they had received enough information to make a decision. He, along
with other volunteer help, would build the field, with no cost to the town. Majors
did not understand why he wanted to play at the airport when they already have
Woodson field and other ballfields. Williams explained they were not large
enough.
Ronnie Fields, who serves as recreation director for the
Town, said the peewee football league had been playing there for the past 3
years and he didn’t know why they could not continue. He noted that Williams
had a personal problem with him. Williams said the league rules have changed.
They now are required to play on a standard sized field. Attorney Danny Newell
said they would only have to add it to the blanket insurance policy. Slaid said the town voted a
recreation tax, they have a recreation board and a recreation director. He
said, “We are not going to go around our rec director. Otherwise, the town
needs to get out of the recreation business.” The Council took no action.
Arriel Johnson and Wayne Cheatham complained about the
treatment they had received from the Haynesville Police when they tried to get
the report after their brother was run over by a truck. Slaid told them to take
it to Police Chief Anthony Smith. They had, but were told by him to go to the
Council because he could not hire or fire officers. Newell said the Council can
only hire or fire at the recommendation of the Chief, who must first present it
to the Council.
Cheatham said, “I’m a taxpaying citizen, not a drug
dealer any more. I’m a taxpaying citizen.” He was wrong to do us the way he
did; wrong to not give us a police report. He said if that had been him that
ran over someone with a truck, they would have hunted him down.
Johnson asked, “When are the problems we are having going
to be addressed?”
Cheatham said, “Never, cause it’s Haynesville. Never, never, never.”
Alvin Moss said, ”Three years
from now, there will be an election and you can elect a new police chief, but
until then, this council can’t do one thing about the police department. All we
can do is control the money. That’s all. We can’t hire or fire, just fund
them.”
Homer Memorial Hospital performed its
first nuclear medicine test Wednesday, May 17. Jennifer Tuggle, Nuclear
Medicine Technologist, is pictured with her first patient, Brooksy Swint. The nuclear medicine
equipment allows the hospital to provide several new tests ordered by your
physician and scheduled through the Radiology Department on Mondays and
Wednesdays. Nuclear Medicine procedures are safe and helpful in the management
of many diseases by identifying abnormalities in the early stages of a disease,
earlier than many other diagnostic tests. Homer Memorial continues its focus to
provide state-of-the-art Hometown Modern Healthcare for residents of Claiborne
Parish and the surrounding area.
Kisatchie Proposal To Limit ATV Use
BY
SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Do you own a 4-wheeler or ATV?
Do you sometimes use it when you hunt? Do you ever hunt on public land, such as
in the Kisatchie National Forest? Then, you may be interested
in knowing the U. S. Forest Service is proposing to restrict use of off-highway
or OHV vehicles (four-wheelers, dirt bikes, etc.) to only designated roads and
trails in the Kisatchie National Forest. Riding off these designated
roads and trails would be prohibited on the entire national forest.
Brian Cockrell, District
Archeologist for the Caney Ranger District, spoke to the Homer Lions Club last
month. Currently, he said 4-wheeler use is fairly unrestricted in the forest
with the exception of named roads and recreation trails, however, there has
been a national move by the Forest Service and Park Service to limit the use of
4-wheelers and other off road vehicles to named, authorized ATV trails. The
reason is due to the concern with the way 4-wheelers impact the forest, cause
erosion and lead to other problems.
Larger districts have several
ATV trails, however there are none in the Caney
District. He said, “If the proposal goes into effect, it will pretty much
eliminate use of ATVs on forest service property, either for basic recreation
use or game retrieval.”
There are 69 miles of roads in
the Kisatchie National Forest proposed for decommissioning
and an additional 343 miles of logging roads proposed for closure to motorized
use. The existing 198 miles of OHV trails would remain the same and an
additional 72-mile motorcycle trail is in the process of being analyzed for
designation. Designated routes and areas will be identified on a motor vehicle
use map. A total of 1,901 miles of roads would remain open yearlong or
seasonally.
Wednesday, May 31 is the last day to submit comments on
the proposed changes for off-road vehicle use. A final decision won’t be made
until August.
Cockrell said the Caney Ranger
District is one of five districts of Kisatchie National Forest. Kisatchie has 604,000 acres
spread throughout the districts of Caney, Winn, Catahoula, Calcasieu, and Kisatchie in Natchitoches, with Caney being the smallest
with about 32,000 acres. There are 3 separate units, two in Claiborne at Corney
and Middlefork, and one in Webster at Caney. The Caney District doesn’t focus
as much on timber production as other districts, but it draws in more
recreation dollars than other districts.
Cockrell’s job is to enforce
environmental legislation passed in the 1960s which requires government
agencies or anyone applying for any type federal permit to inspect the area for
archeological resources. The Forest Service doesn’t limit projects just because
there is an archeological site in an area. It must have a lot of significance
such as being important enough to place it on the National Register of Historic
Places.
If a site is important, they
may have to rearrange the site, do a thorough excavation and retrieve all the
artifacts. If the site
is considered eligible for the NRHP, that area is basically avoided. He
noted, however, if they rearranged work for every archeological site found, no
project would ever be completed.
Kisatchie Proposes To
Change
Off-Road Vehicle Rules
The USDA Forest Service
released a proposal February 9, 2006 to change the way off-road
vehicles are managed within the Kisatchie National Forest. Under the new proposal,
cross-country riding, that is riding off of designated roads
and trails, will no longer be allowed. “In keeping with national
direction, to be more in step with regulations in other states and to reduce
rutting and erosion, we are proposing new rules,” said Jackie Duncan, travel
management coordinator for Kisatchie National Forest. All motor vehicles including
cars, trucks, four wheelers and motorcycles must stay on routes designated for
that purpose. In addition, traffic cannot be mixed. Louisiana state law does not allow
non-licensed vehicles, such as four wheelers to ride on public travel ways with
street legal vehicles, such as pick-up trucks. Under the new proposal
retrieving game with motorized vehicles off of designated routes will not be
allowed. Over 2000 mail-outs with comment forms have been sent to those on the
Kisatchie mailing list. To find out more information and to make comments
please drop by Kisatchie National Forest office or call Jackie Duncan
at 318-473-7128.
U.
S. Veterans’ Information
Stolen
Personal data on more than 26
million U.S. veterans was stolen May 3 when a
laptop and external drive were stolen from from the Maryland home of a computer analyst for
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) who had taken the electronic data home
without authorization, violating VA policy.
This data contained identifying
information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up
to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings.
Importantly, the affected data did not include any of VA's electronic health
records nor any financial information. The employee's
home was burglarized and this data was stolen. The employee has been placed on
administrative leave pending the outcome of a full-scale investigation by
appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the VA Inspector
General's office.
The VA mailed letters to
veterans to inform them of the theft and set up a website at www.firstgov.gov with a link to
“Latest Information on Veterans Affairs Data Security”. There is also a
toll-free telephone number for veterans that features
up-to-date news and information at 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636). The call
center will operate from 7 AM-8 PM (CST), Monday-Saturday as long
as needed.
The VA is strongly recommending
that veterans closely monitor their financial statements and review the
guidelines provided on this webpage, however, they do not believe it is
necessary to contact financial institutions or cancel credit cards and bank
accounts, unless you detect suspicious activity.
The Federal Trade Commission
recommends the following steps if you detect suspicious activity:
• Contact the fraud department
of one of the major credit bureaus: Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; Experian:
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); or TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289.
• Close any accounts that have
been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
• File a police report with
your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took
place.
• File a complaint with the
Federal Trade Commission by using the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline by
telephone: 1-877-438-4338, online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or by
mail at Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC
Alzheimer’s, Dementia
Discussed At Local Forum
BY
JIMMY DEAN, Feature
Writer, The Guardian-Journal
Dr. B.R. Kaza, a Springhill
psychiatrist specializing in Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, spoke to
representatives of area healthcare providers Thursday, May 18 at Homer Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Kaza explained that the study
of dementia has been growing since the 1830s. He described several
manifestations of dementia, e.g., frontal temporal dementia, dementia due to
normal pressure hydrocephalus, dementia due to hypothyroidism or B12
deficiency, dementia due to neurosyphylis, and dementia resulting from
Alzheimer’s disease.
Kaza explained that many with
dementia are incapable of explaining what they are experiencing. They often
cannot answer questions or describe their symptoms. He illustrated this by
likening it to a veterinarian, i.e., the patients cannot explain or describe
their medical problems. Similarly, the physician faced with a patient
manifesting some form of dementia must observe the patient closely. These
observations along with various tests help the doctor arrive at the proper
diagnosis and treatment.
By means of a slide
presentation, Dr. Kaza listed many symptoms associated with different forms of
dementia. Many symptoms are common to several types of dementia. For example,
when a patient asks the same questions over and over as well as tells the same
story over and over—even using identical words and phrases—this is common to
more than one type of illness. Also neglecting to bathe and wearing the same
clothes can be associated with more than one type of disorder.
He went on to relate how to
differente one diagnosis from another. Factors to be considered include age at
onset, physical symptoms that are present and to what extent, and whether there
have been changes in appetite or weight. In addition to medical tests, other
elements to consider may include how the patient walks, how the patient
interacts with others, the patient’s sleep patterns, to mention only a few.
Dr. Kaza addressed a number of
questions from the audience. Someone asked whether people of greater
intelligence are prone to Alzheimer’s, and Dr. Kaza said that is not true.
Someone asked how to help families of Alzheimer’s patients. Dr. Kaza responded
that area support groups meet regularly and can be a resource.
Dr. Kaza, who has been
practicing medicine for 15 years, said that in the United State caring for dementia-related
illnesses costs $100 billion a year. He also noted that the incidence of
dementia-related disease doubles every 5 years after age 65.
He recommended seeing a doctor
as soon as symptoms appear because early diagnosis helps determine the proper
course of treatment. That in turn ensures the best possible treatment outcome.
Dr. Kaza stated that there is not a cure for Alzheimer’s and most other
dementias. Even so, proper treatment can delay progress of the disease..
Contributions Needed For
Fourth of July Fireworks
The 2006 Claiborne Parish Boat
Show and Fourth of July Fireworks will be held Tuesday evening, July 4. The
Boat Show will commence from Pleasure Point Marina beginning at 7:30
PM,
followed by the Fireworks display from the Lake Claiborne dam at 9 PM. Last year was great, but this
year should be as good or better. We do need your contributions, large or
small. Please make your checks payable to: Claiborne Fireworks, Inc., 180 Post Oak Road, Homer, LA
71040. If you have questions about Fireworks, call Fred Lewis at 927-9180. Boat
Show questions should be directed to Dick Dorrell at Homer Loans at 927-0039.
