Tanker overturns spilling thousands of
gallons of asphalt
The Guardian-Journal photos/Michelle
Bates
State Trooper Jay Hardy of the Louisiana
State Police HAZMAT unit, above, assesses the scene as the Claiborne Parish
Fire Department waits to see what they need to do. This tanker spilled
approximately half the load of asphalt it was carrying. Above left, this
picture shows the hot bubbling asphalt as it leaked into the ditch in front of
a residence on Hwy. 79 south, approximately 2-4 miles south of Homer.
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
An 18-wheeler carrying
approximately 5,000 gallons of fresh hot asphalt overturned on Louisiana
Highway 79 Tuesday morning bringing in Hazmat crews to clean up what could have
been a dangerous situation.
According to State Police reports,
the driver of the 18-wheeler was headed southbound on Hwy. 79. Witnesses at the
scene said he dozed off, and when he woke up, he overcorrected, causing his
load to shift, turning the truck on its side. When the truck overturned, it
damaged the container holding the asphalt, and the hot liquid began leaking
onto the ground.
The Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality was also called to assess the spill and supervise the
clean up. State Trooper Jay Hardy, of Hazmat, said they would bring in a load
of dirt where the spill ended to keep it from going any further or seeping into
any water that might be in the proximity of the spill.
Hardy said the asphalt is not
flammable, but it was still considered a hazard.
“The only thing that makes it a
hazard is that it’s hot,” he said, “about 300 degrees plus. It’s leaking from
the dome lid (on top of the truck).”
Louisiana State Trooper Kevin
Knight said the driver sustained minor injuries and was transported to Homer Memorial Hospital to be sure he was okay.
“The driver was fine,” Knight said,
“but we sent him to the hospital just to be sure he was okay.”
The Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s
Department, Pafford EMS, and the Claiborne Parish Fire Department all responded
to the scene.
The tanker was turned upright and
escorted by wrecker to a wrecker service location for further investigation.
This is the second wreck on Hwy. 79
in two weeks caused by a driver dozing off while behind the wheel.
Noted Organist to Present Program in
Homer
Dr. Ann
Labounsky of Pittsburgh, 
PA will present an organ recital at the First United
Methodist Church in Homer on September 2, 2007, at four in the afternoon. Dr.
Labounsky is chair of the Organ and Sacred Music Department at Duquesne
University and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. She has an
international reputation as a virtuoso performer and is especially noted for
her recordings of the works of French organist and composer, Jean Langlais,
whose centennial she is marking this summer with a performance at Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris. She studied with M. Langlais at the Schola Cantorum while a
Fulbright Scholar and is the author of a biography, Jean Langlais: The Man and
His Music published in 2000 by Amadeus Press.
Her
performance in Homer is being given in honor of Margaret Ford Gladney in
anticipation of Mrs. Gladney’s 90th birthday early next year. The recital is to
be held in the sanctuary where her father, Darden Ford, served as Choir
Director for many years.
The
program is open to the public and a reception will follow in the church parlor.
For more information on Dr. Labounsky and to hear
selections of her performances, visit her website at www.AnnLabounsky.com.
Open casting call set for Monday
Alabama-based filmmaker Tonya S. Holly of independent feature film production company Cypress Moon Productions
traveled to Homer last week to further scout the South for key locations to
shoot her new feature film The Story of Bonnie and Clyde. The film is
also slated to shoot in Mississippi and Alabama.
With the assistance of Cindy Allen,
Executive Director of Louisiana Films North, Inc., the non-profit film
organization that represents the rural parishes of Claiborne, Webster and
Bienville, Holly and her team spent many hours traveling through Homer and its
surrounding areas scouting various locations including The Historic Homer
Courthouse and the Claiborne Hotel among many others. Allen also introduced
Holly to numerous city officials including the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce
President J.T. Taylor.
“With pre-production about to begin
on The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, this was an excellent opportunity to scout
for some of the remaining locations needed for the film,” said Holly who wrote
the original screenplay that she will direct and produce. “We were
thrilled to have come across Homer and its surrounding areas in our search to
find beautiful and authentic cities that have been restored but not
renovated. Cindy Allen has provided us with a consistent flow of location
photos, including many from the cities of Arcadia and Gibsland. Ms. Allen has
been very helpful in our efforts. We also appreciate the support from the
community.”
Holly is holding an open casting
call for extras to appear in the film. The film, which is scheduled
to begin shooting this fall and/or early next year, may be shot
partly in Homer and surrounding cities.
Men, women and children seven years of age and up are invited to stop by Homer City Hall located at 400 East Main Street on Monday August 20, 2007 from 3-7 p.m. for their chance to be chosen for an extra role in the film. All interested parties must bring their
photo, contact information and/or resume.
“We look forward
for production to begin on The Story of Bonnie and Clyde and we are
excited to look for extras from Homer and its surrounding areas to appear in
the film,” said Holly. “We will be accepting photos and contact
information from residents interested in participating in the film.”
Cindy Allen, Executive Director of Louisiana Films North, Inc., the non-profit film organization that represents
the rural parishes of Claiborne, Webster and Bienville, has taken Holly and her
team through Homer and its surrounding areas to scout for various locations
including The Historic Homer Courthouse and the Claiborne Hotel among many
others.
The Story of Bonnie and Clyde is a new adaptation (not a remake) of the classic love story which tells the
thrilling story of the notorious fugitives. Taking place during the 1930’s
Depression, the film follows the adventures of Bonnie and Clyde, uncovering
many times in their lives that have never before been seen on the big
screen. Holly is in talks with name talent to star in the film
For further information or to
schedule a time to speak with Tonya S. Holly please contact Lauren Lewis at
(818) 970-0052.
Summer heat wave expected to continue
The Guardian-Journal
The heat is on in Claiborne Parish and it is not expected
to let up any time soon.
Ken Falk, a meteorologist at the Shreveport office of the
National Weather Service, said the heat advisory would last until Wednesday
evening, but it would still be hot.
In the last week or so, temperatures have been in the low
100s, and the heat index is what makes it feel so hot, he said. The heat index
is a combination of the actual temperature and the humidity level.
“We are looking for this heat advisory to break some time
this coming weekend,” he said. “It’s still going to be hot, but it won’t be in
the hundreds. It will be in the low to mid-90s.”
He said a large high pressure area in the upper
atmosphere drifted west over the south central U.S. essentially stopping all
the rain and bringing on the heat. All the weather surrounding it (all the
rain) is up north on up into Canada.
A high pressure area indicates that air is coming down
and as it comes down it heats up.
Falk gave a few tips to help people beat the heat. They
are as follows.
• Stay in air-conditioning, but if you have to be outside
in the afternoon or late evening, wear light-colored, light-weight clothing.
• Drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluids
• Take frequent breaks in the shade if you have to work
outside.
• Keep an eye on the elderly and children as they are
most susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
He also said that if someone starts sweating a lot,
he/she need to get into air-conditioning.
“If you stop sweating, get medical help,” he said. “If
your body stops sweating and your body temperature goes up, that is an
indication of a heat stroke and you need to seek medical help.”
Here’s a look at what the weather will be through the
next few days, according to the National Weather Service’s website.
Wednesday: Increasing clouds with highs around 101,
southeast winds approximately 5 to 10 miles per hour, lows in the mid 70s.
Thursday: Partly cloudy with highs in the upper 90s,
southeast winds approximately 5 to 10 miles per hour, lows in the lower 70s.
Friday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers
and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 90s, lows in the lower 70s.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of
showers and thunderstorms, highs in the mid 90s, lows in the lower 70s.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers
and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s, lows around 70.
Monday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers
and thunderstorms, highs in the lower 90s.
Candidate Bobby Jindal visits
Haynesville on his campaign trail
The Guardian-Journal photo/Michelle Bates, Editor
Governor candidate Bobby Jindal
came to Haynesville last week on the campaign trail, and spoke to residents
about what he wanted to do to change Louisiana.
His motto, “We can change, we must
change, we will change,” reverberated throughout his speech. He spoke of
changing the way things are run in Louisiana, and making sure the state
government is working for the people.
“There’s something wrong when our
congressmen get out of bed every day and think of themselves as Democrats and
Republicans first, not as Americans first,” he said. “That’s not the way it’s
supposed to be, and that’s not the way it’s going to be here in Louisiana.”
He said there is a problem with our
government, that it’s broken – broken at every level. The example he spoke of
was the lack of help New Orleans received after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“There were volunteers that wanted
to go down there with their boats and help rescue people, and you know what
they were told?” he asked. “They were told, ‘You can’t go in the water unless
you have proof of registration and insurance with you.’ People were drowning
and they were worried about paperwork. I was so proud of our churches. Unlike
the bureaucracy and the red tape, the churches did the right thing. You saw
pastors that took in thousands of people and had no idea how they were going to
feed them and take care of them, but they said, ‘We gotta do this.’”
He spoke of the federal government
taking God out of many areas of life. He said there were military bases that
were not allowing the Boy Scouts to visit because they have an oath to God.
People can’t pray before a school board meeting because a student might be
“accidentally” exposed to prayer.
“I’m more worried about my kids
being exposed to Paris Hilton, not prayers,” he said. “We just need common
sense in our government. We need common sense at every level of government.”
He talked about how Louisiana is viewed by the rest of the nation and gave statistics to back it up. According
to Jindal, he said that a study by Harvard University states that Louisiana ranks second worst in the country when it comes to the per capita conviction rate
of our elected officials. BGA also conducted a study that stated Louisiana is in the bottom four when it comes to the level of integrity of the state’s
elected officials. He said they did another study and Louisiana ranked worst in
the state’s disclosure laws on lobbyists and legislators.
“We’ve corruption at every level of
government,” Jindal said. “We have members of congress in jail for stealing our
money, members of congress run out of office for preying on their interns.
Every time you pick up a newspaper, you read a story about what’s going on in Baton Rouge. The corruption is hurting us.”
He also said that Forbes ranked Louisiana as the second worst state to do business in. In a study conducted by LSU, he
said, the study said the best way to bring business into Louisiana is to stop
the corruption.
“We’re used to being made fun of,”
he said. “We’re used to people making jokes about Louisiana, but it’s not funny
anymore. It’s costing us jobs.”
In a short interview with Jindal
after his campaign speech, he said the most important thing about Claiborne
Parish is the people.
“What I love about this parish is
the people,” he said. “They’re friendly, they’re optimistic, and they know Louisiana can be better. There’s so many great things about this parish from the
agricultural wealth to the location, but it’s the people that make this a
special parish and make it a special state. What I love about the energy from
the people in this room is that the people know we can do better and they
demand that we do better.”
Jindal is a native of Baton Rouge, and has spent much of his life in south Louisiana. If he becomes governor at
the next election, people wanted to know how he was going to help the smaller
parishes in the north Louisiana region.
“I discussed our roads and
infrastructure, and I talked about how if we just spent our taxes on what we
already have, we could double what we spend on roads to connect this parish to
other parts of the country, including finishing I-49,” he said. “It’s not just
the interstate, it’s all these other projects. They collect the money, they
just don’t spend it properly. That hurts our timber companies; it hurts our
agricultural companies. We could be the center for lot of valuable industries.
“They look at our crops, they look
at our timber, but they don’t want to come here because our taxes are so high”
he continued. “It’s providing that skilled trade. We’ve got the workers for
industries that want to expand here, given the natural resources. I think if we
do these three things, put up the money for infrastructure, get rid of some of
those taxes that are hurting us and provide the skilled workers, then we’re in
a comparable position. We’ve got those ingredients, but those three things are
holding us back.”
In his campaign speech, he spoke of
farming as one of the most important jobs in Louisiana, especially in this
area. In Louisiana, one out of 10 jobs are related farming.
“It’s not just about jobs and the
economy, it’s about national security,” he said. “If you’ve watched the news
lately, they tell you don’t eat the shrimp from China, it’s got antibiotics in
it; don’t use the toothpaste from China, it’s got anti-freeze in it; don’t play
with those toys from China, they’ve got lead paint.
“We can’t be a superpower if we
can’t feed ourselves,” he continued. “We’re dependant on other countries for
energy. We don’t need to be dependant on other countries for food. I voted for
our farmers, not just because it was good for our farmers, but because it was
good for national security.”
Jindal has spent much of his
campaign in north Louisiana, seemingly more time in this area than in south Louisiana. He said that although spending a lot of time in every parish is important, he
has spent much of his campaign in north Louisiana because he wants to show
through his actions that he takes north Louisiana seriously.
“Too often, it feels like the
people in Baton Rouge forget about the people in the north end of the state,”
he said. “You hear a lot of promises from candidates, but I’m showing through
my actions how important people are to me. It’s easy to talk the talk, but I’m
walking the walk by being here so much.”
Possible stolen gun at center of Homer
arrest
The Guardian-Journal
A 23-year-old man was arrested Thursday for illegal
carrying of a weapon after the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office (CPSO)
received a call, and the caller stated he had observed a person leaving Pak A
Bag with a handgun.
A joint effort between the Sheriff’s Office and the Homer
Police Department led to the arrest of Randy Rabb of Homer.
The witness saw Rabb walking across the parking lot of
Claiborne Electrical Contractors as Officer Nora Banks responded to the call.
He also observed the suspect squatting down to pick up a black .22 caliber
handgun, fully loaded. The pistol was discovered against a cinderblock wall
beside Linda’s Hair Style.
Rabb was quickly apprehended after the witness gave
police a description and pointed him out to Homer Police Chief Russell Mills.
Mills caught the suspect in the parking lot of Homer Seafood, not far from the
Pak A Bag Convenience store.
After investigation, police found that Rabb posed no
threat to the store.
“Police believed the gun was placed in a location to
deliver to someone else,” said Mills. “With the help of a concerned citizen, it
might have stopped a crime. This is just a prime example of how public
involvement works. Your eyes are better than ours sometimes. Public awareness
and response to these types of calls is a great impact on preventing crime.”
Mills asks that the public continue to be their eyes and
ears as his department continues to keep the peace in Homer.
“Due to the prompt response of a witness, this probably
prevented a serious crime from taking place,” he said. “If anybody calls us
about anything that looks wrong, please don’t hesitate to call. If you think
you see something that even remotely looks wrong, please call the Homer Police
Department or the CPSO and we will investigate. Without public input, the
majority of crimes don’t get solved.”
Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s deputies and investigators
also responded to the scene, which was very helpful to the Homer Police
Department, Mills said.
“Sheriff Bailey and his deputies are a great help to us
and we’d like to thank them for their help with the investigation,” he said.
“We feel the gun was possibly taken in the commission of another crime, but
there is no record to indicate that theory.”
Active in the arrest of Rabb was Officer J.D. Faulkner,
Mills and Nora Banks.
Rabb was transferred to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center, where he is still incarcerated. Bond was set at $500.
Man turns self in confessing to theft
The
Guardian-Journal
A Junction City man turned himself
in to the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office, admitting to stealing some items
from a residence in Claiborne Parish.
Willie Thompson, 57, stated he had
taken some items from a residence on Fellowship Road. Detective Duffy Gandy
interviewed Thompson and took down the details of the theft. Gandy then
contacted the owner of the residence and made arrangements to have the stolen
property returned.
Thompson was booked into the Claiborne Parish Detention Center and charged with one count of theft less than $300. Bond
was set at $500.
In another incident, Chief
Detective Chuck Talley arrested Claudel Bell of Haynesville Friday, August 10,
for felony theft more than $500.
Haynesville Police Officer Adrian
Malone worked the case against Bell involving theft of money from Bethel Nu-Generation Baptist Church in Haynesville. A warrant was obtained for his arrest,
and Bell was booked into the Claiborne Parish Detention Center. Bond was set at
$20,000.
Wreck seriously injures one teen Monday
night
The Guardian-Journal
Just after midnight on Monday, a one vehicle accident
sent one person to the hospital. The Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office reported
the accident to the Louisiana State Police when one vehicle rolled over,
seriously injuring one.
Two passengers, a 16-year-old male and 15-year-old
female, were going east on Louisiana Highway 518 near Athens, when the driver
of the 1997 Ford pickup veered to the right, overcorrected and traveled back
across the roadway, according to State Police reports. The truck continued off
the roadway, rolling once before it came to a rest on its roof in the ditch.
Once police arrived, the 15-year-old passenger, who
sustained life-threatening injuries, was airlifted to Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. The driver only received minor injuries.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the accident,
but the 16-year-old driver, who did not have a driver’s license, was cited for
no driver’s license, no seatbelt and careless operation. Neither the driver nor
the passenger was wearing their seatbelts.
40-year-old lawsuit still plagues school
board
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
The Claiborne Parish School Board
met in executive session Thursday night at their regular monthly meeting to
discuss a pending case that has been in litigation for more than 40 years.
The federal case, Yvornia DeCarol
Banks and the United States versus the Claiborne Parish School Board, is a
desegregation case that goes back to August 1965. The school board met with
Assistant District Attorney Jim Hatch to discuss the strategy they will use to
handle the case.
The suit was filed for
desegregation of schools, in which the school board was issued a permanent
injunction restraining the school board from operating its school system under
the dual school system (white system and black system). The school board was
also ordered to submit a desegregation plan, which was amended and adopted as
the “freedom of choice” plan in October 1965.
This plan deleted the school
board’s power to deny the transfer of a student known to be a “problem” or if
his school work is unsatisfactory. The school board was then ordered to abolish
the dual school system, and in the fall of 1967, all schools in Claiborne
Parish were desegregated. The school board was also to come up with seven
“non-racial” criteria for considering transfer application.
Bob Hammonds, a Baton Rouge
attorney who specializes in the representation of school systems, said that even
though this was ordered, the Claiborne Parish School System is still not in
compliance with the judge’s ruling.
“The Claiborne Parish School Board
has never been declared unitary, which means the court has to make a finding
that the school system has met all its constitutional remedies or violations
and remnants of the former dual school system, (white system and black
system),” Hammonds said. “The judge issued an order and the Claiborne Parish
School Board has not implemented the order. This is the kind of case that will
go on for many years and nothing be done.”
Claiborne Parish School
Superintendent Wayne King was contacted by The Guardian-Journal
for comment, but because the case was still in litigation and under the
advisement of his attorney, he could not comment on the case.
|
Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey would like to remind motorists that school is
beginning for the year 2007 - 2008. Please note speed limits posted in our
school districts and drive accordingly. The safety of our children is everyone’s
responsibility. Have a good school year!
|
|
This Film by Michael Haynes Productions was created in conjunction with 
