33-6, Homer: ‘Nuf said

Pels blast Tors in 100th anniversary game Friday night

Photo courtesy of www.rusty1.com

The Homer Fighting Pelicans added another victory to the record books Friday night as the beat the Haynesville Golden Tornado, 33-6.

The Guardian-Journal

Homer’s Fighting Pelicans hosted the Haynesville Golden Tornado Friday night to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their first game played way back in December 1907. An overflow crowd saw pregame activities that included the presentation of a plaque from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) noting the historic occasion, and Representative Rick Gallot reading a proclamation from the Louisiana State Legislature honoring the centennial year game.

Those fans expecting a close game were soon disappointed when Homer scored three times in the first quarter to take a 21-0 lead. Quarterback Richie Casey raced 56 yards for a touchdown, then after a Tornado pass was intercepted, Kelvin Young ran for 40 yards, followed by a D.J. Morgan 8-yard run for a second touchdown. Pelican kicker Tyler Goodwin booted both extra points. After a Tornado fumble recovered by the Pels’ Cardarren Webb, Richie Casey scored on a quarterback sneak, and Goodwin’s extra point pushed the lead to 21-0. Dextrell French finally got the Tors on the scoreboard with a 41-yard run. A missed extra point kick left the score at 21-6 in favor of the Pelicans as the first quarter ended.

Both teams were unable to move the ball consistently in the second quarter as defenses made some good plays and the score was unchanged at the end of the first half of play.

In the third quarter, the Tors mounted a good drive to the Pels 6-yard line only to fumble the ball away, with the recovery made by Delario Jones for the Pelicans.

Homer made several first downs as the fourth quarter began, then lost the ball on downs to the Tornado. Tony Casey hauled in another interception for the Pelicans, and following his 25-yard run, fullback Bryan Grant rumbled 26 yards for another Pelican touchdown. A missed kick left the score 27-6, Pelicans. After another stalled Tornado drive and punt, Tony Casey’s 56-yard run keyed a drive that ended with Grant’s short touchdown run and another failed kick for a 33-6 final score.

    This Friday night, Homer travels to Shreveport to meet Loyola in their first district game of the season, while Haynesville hosts Farmerville in a non-district contest.

For full coverage of the 100th anniversary Homer-Haynesville game, turn to page 5 to read the game reports by Homer’s Afton Owens and Haynesville’s Hunter Bower.

Town clerk allegations voiced at hearing

MICHELLE BATES, Editor

Former town clerk Rita Mitchell’s termination took effect on Monday, September 17, following a pre-termination hearing she requested to hear the allegations against her regarding her separation from the Town of Homer.

In the hearing, Homer Mayor David Newell expressed the option of having the meeting open to the public or holding it in executive session, and her attorney, Chris Bowman, chose to have the meeting open to the public. Newell opened the floor for any questions Mitchell or her attorney had, and he was asked to explain the allegations against her.

“I haven’t heard any evidence yet to support the termination or the suspension,” said Bowman.

Newell gave a brief synopsis of what happened to warrant Mitchell’s suspension and subsequent termination. It is as follows.

“Sometime in the month of July, I received two checks from a customer for payment of the same month’s water bill,” Newell said. “It showed that they paid that bill twice. I went to City Hall to investigate how somebody could possibly pay their bill twice.

“I found that one of those checks – the first check – was not credited to the people’s account, yet it was cashed by the town,” he continued. “Upon reviewing the cash receipts, the cash drawer showed that that check was listed as a check not attributed to the account, placed with the checks that came in on that day and cash receipts were altered (to reflect the amount of the check involved).

“Numerous cash receipts were altered that totaled up to the exact amount of that check, clearly indicating that amount of cash was stolen from the cash drawer,” he continued. “Based on that, I called the town auditors and asked them come in. They reviewed the matter and are supposed to be getting us the final report. They interviewed all the other employees and called me Thursday two weeks ago (September 6) with Rita in the room. Rita admitted that she’d done it. She asked me to call her and they were escorting her off the premises. Anything else that we would have to say, or that I would have to say personally, would be dependant on the auditor’s report.”

When Newell finished his synopsis, Bowman asked about the meeting in which Mitchell was confronted with the discrepancies. He asked Newell what her exact words were, what she specifically admitted to. Her attorney also asked who she was talking to.

“She was talking to me. She was on speakerphone with the auditors,” Newell said.

When Bowman asked him what she specifically said, Newell said he could not recall the exact conversation, but he did say the conversation that took place among Newell, the auditors and Mitchell was not recorded.

“Is it a fact that she admitted responsibility because it was her office, she did not admit to taking any money?” Bowman asked the mayor.

“She did not say that,” Newell replied.

Bowman said she did not admit to taking any money, but Newell rebutted that she took responsibility for it.

When Bowman asked him if she accepted responsibility for the theft as the town clerk, Newell replied, “No, (she took responsibility) as Rita Mitchell taking money from the town.”

“She admitted that she took money from the town?” Bowman asked him.

Newell stopped the line of questioning from the attorney and said that he, himself, did not terminate Mitchell, that it was the town (council) that made the decision to fire her.

“I don’t think I’m the one taking the action,” Newell said. “I gave you some information. The town terminated her.”

Bowman continued to ask Newell if she specifically verbalized that she took money from the town.

“She did not admit to you that she took any money, did she?” he asked the mayor again.

“She did admit to me that she took the money,” Newell said.

Bowman continued his line of questioning, moving away from the phone conversation to who had access to the town’s cash drawer and accounting. Newell said that he did not know who had access to the cash drawers.

“I’m not in there running the cash drawers,” Newell said, “Rita is.”

Bowman asked him what the auditors told him, and he replied, “Rita did it.”

The mayor was asked the names of the auditors conducting the review, but the mayor replied that he would have to get that specific information from the office.

Bowman moved his line of questioning to the amount of money missing, and he asked the mayor specifically how much money Rita allegedly took. Newell said the auditors told him that the exact amount of money missing was $1,500.

Bowman asked about Betty Jo Lowe, an employee of the Town of Homer. Newell said that she is a secretary that works for the Town of Homer and clarified that she is not an employee of the clerk’s office.

Bowman referred back to the phone conversation over the speakerphone and asked if Newell knew if anyone was with Rita when this conversation took place, and he said he did not know.

After Bowman finished his questioning, Newell had a few comments to make concerning the hearing.

“I think this thing should be directed more towards what’s in the town’s best interest and what’s in Rita’s best interest,” Newell said. “We should be talking about restitution back to the town.”

“She hasn’t been accused of anything, and it hasn’t been proven that she took anything,” Bowman replied. “There’s a significant question in my mind whether or not she admitted responsibility because she was a clerk and it was her office or whether or not she admitted to a theft. I don’t think she admitted to any theft or the taking of any money.”

Mitchell’s attorney intends to file a complaint with the District Attorney’s office for a violation of the open meetings law.

“We believe the town is in direct violation of the open meetings law,” Bowman said, “and the first action we’re going to take is to file a complaint.”

On Friday, September 14, a special meeting was held in regards to Mitchell’s suspension, in which Bowman requested that the meeting be held open to the public.

Bowman questioned the notice Mitchell received. Although the notice said it required her to be at the meeting, Bowman said, it did not say why or what was to be discussed. It just says “personnel issues,” he said.

“She has no notice of any personnel issues being discussed,” he said. “I am going to object to anything being discussed and she is not going to request an executive session. Anything discussed about her, we’re going to request be done in open session.

“I don’t think the notice is proper,” he continued, “She’s not been provided notice about what’s going to be discussed. She’s not been provided any notice of any allegations made against her and the specifics of those allegations. Frankly, other than to deny the allegations, I don’t know how she can respond.”

The council met in executive session, as is their privilege under Louisiana Revised Statute 42:6.1, because issues of litigation, strategies of any litigation and allegations of misconduct were going to be discussed.

After the council came out of executive session, Toney Johnson made a motion to terminate Mitchell, which was seconded and carried.

Once the council came out of executive session, Mitchell and her attorney were given the option of holding the open meeting, but Bowman declined and requested the pre-termination hearing.

Once the state auditor’s report is complete, the auditors will turn over their findings to the District Attorney’s office. The decision will be made then as to whether or not to file charges against Mitchell.

Traffic stop leads to drug arrest

The Guardian-Journal

On September 7, Deputy Roger Ellerbe of the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office was patrolling Highway Alternate 2 and observed a vehicle that did not have any functioning tail lamps.

A traffic stop revealed the driver to be Stacy G. Claunch, 34, of Haynesville. A search of Claunch revealed no illegal weapons or drugs. Haynesville Police Department K-9 Officer Tim Cox and Officer Aaron Christian assisted in the search of the vehicle and discovered a white rock-like substance that appeared to be crack cocaine under the seat on the driver’s side.

Claunch was transported to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center and booked on tail lamps required, expired motor vehicle inspection sticker, driving under suspension and possession of CDS Schedule II-Cocaine. His bond was set at $500 each on the vehicle charges, $1,000 on the driving under suspension and $25,000 on the cocaine charge.

In an unrelated incident, Haynesville Police arrested Darius Demond Goree, 29, on September 5, on several charges including possession with intent to distribute Schedule II CDS-cocaine, resisting an officer, obstruction of justice and a parole violation. Bond on the possession charge was set at $15,000 with bond set at $1,000 each for resisting an officer and obstruction of justice. No bond was set for the parole violation.

Also, Haynesville Police arrested Reecy M. Hicks Jr., 47, on the same day for possession of Schedule I CDS-marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond was set at $500 on each charge. He was arrested again Sunday, September 16, for possession with intent to distribute Schedule I marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond is to be set on both of those charges.

Homer Hospital asks for public’s patience

The Guardian-Journal photo/Michelle Bates

The steel beams of the new ER are rising. The total project is expected to be complete in April 2008.

MICHELLE BATES, Editor

Construction of the new emergency room (ER) at Homer Memorial Hospital is well underway, but that construction is causing a little confusion, according Doug Efferson, hospital administrator.

A few things have been moved around and parking has been changed just a bit. ER admissions and the ER waiting area have been moved to the front lobby. To ease the limited seating in the lobby, 27 extra chairs have been added.

Temporary sheetrock walls have been put up, blocking off approximately one third of the emergency room, so construction crews are able to work without disrupting hospital services.

“The biggest confusion is when people come in who are family members and relatives, there’s no room for them to sit in the ER room or immediately outside the room,” he said. “We need people to understand that space is extremely limited right now.”

He said this phase of construction is expected to last approximately four months until the ER connections to the main hospital can be completed.

Another issue the hospital is dealing with right now is parking. Because construction crews have basically taken over the lower concrete parking lot, parking has been moved to the large lower parking area across the street next to the hospital home health and warehouse.

A shuttle service, through the use of a golf cart, is in effect for those who need help getting to the main hospital once parked. That service runs from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“Since construction began, the lower concrete parking lot has become a staging area for the construction crew,” Efferson said. “The parking area has now become the large lower parking lot across the street. We have a golf cart to transport them so they don’t have to walk up the stairs.

“Before construction began,” he continued, “that parking area was rarely used, and when we closed the concrete parking lot for construction, it filled up. The reality is that we haven’t had a lot of extra congestion, it’s just that parking has been relocated to across the street.”

The problem, he said, is that people want to park in the parking lot that’s the same level as the hospital.

“I don’t think it’s any harder to find a parking spot, it’s just a different location,” he said. “There’s only one parking lot with a set of stairs, and for elderly, that’s tough. We couldn’t ask them to park down there without providing some type of shuttle.”

Efferson also commented on the tremendous patience the doctors and nurses at the hospital have shown.

“The emergency room nurses and the doctors have been fantastic, and have had a wonderful attitude, a positive attitude, through this construction phase,” he said. “They know how much better it will be when we get this new ER built. Our staff and doctors are maintaining a positive attitude and are working through it.”

Efferson emphasized that while construction is ongoing, services will not waiver. All the services the hospital now offers will continue as the hospital goes through this construction.

“If you or a family member has to come to the emergency room, while it may seem a little congested, please be understanding and work with the staff,” he said. “We’re here for everybody and we are going to take care of them.”

New alert towers to be tested this week

The new alert towers that went up in Homer and Haynesville will be tested on Thursday and Friday, September 20 and 21. Each alert will have a distinctive sound. They will be testing each sound for fire and severe weather. Dennis Butcher, director of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Preparedness, said the sound for fire will be an air horn sound, and the one for severe weather will be a siren. The “all clear” alert will have a distinct sound all its own. These tones will be the same for both Homer and Haynesville.

After this week, the alert system will be tested every Wednesday at noon for a while so that Claiborne Parish citizens will become accustomed to the different tones and what each one means. Butcher also said that criteria used by the National Weather Service will be followed for severe weather.

School board votes against proposed pay schedule change

MICHELLE BATES, Editor

The Claiborne Parish School Board visited the issue of pay dates for teachers and employees that has seemingly been a problem for many the last year or so.

Tim Crittendon, a teacher at Haynesville High School, said that changing the dates that teachers and employees get paid would be beneficial for everyone concerned in that it would help them financially.

He said that more than 250 of approximately 400 teachers and employees of the Claiborne Parish School system have signed a letter of concern about the pay periods.

“The majority of the people stated that the pay periods are putting them in a bind financially,” Crittendon said.

One teacher who has been with Claiborne Parish for 18 years said that the way the pay schedule is set up now really does hurt because sometimes they have to wait an entire week longer to get their paychecks.

Their concern was that because pay day seems to jump around from month to month, some are not able to pay their bills on time.

Others have spouses that are on fixed incomes and they way the pay schedule is currently set up, employees and teachers are having to pay late charges and are having creditors calling them wanting to know where their payments are.

With the new proposed pay schedule, these people would have a better chance at paying their bills on time.

He said he’d spoken with District 4 School Board member Sherman Brown at length about the situation and Brown agreed that a compromise could be made.

The compromise that was brought before the board said that teachers and employees would get paid on the 27th of every month if the funds are available. If the 27th falls on a weekend, then paychecks would be distributed on the Friday before.

Crittendon gave results from research done on other parishes and how their school boards pay their employees.

The surrounding parishes are also paying their teachers and employees from what is called a contingency fund, and that money is replaced with the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funds that come from the state.

In Claiborne Parish, all teachers and employees are paid through the MFP fund, which is the money specifically used to pay teachers and employees. Last year, teachers and employees were paid on the fourth Friday of every month, and it changed to the last Friday of every month because of the date the MFP funds became available.

Ginger Woodall, business manager, said that in truth, this is a matter that is out of their control.

The trouble actually began after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit, because the funds were being made available later than normal. According to Woodall, this has not changed.

“This is not about pay raises,” Crittendon said. “This is about pay periods. The other parishes that I called out, to me, they’re serving steak and you’re serving bologna. In the 19 years that I’ve been a teacher here, we’ve never asked the board for anything like this, but we need your help now, because there are too many people that are struggling. It shouldn’t be that way.”

Lions Club donates to Ford Museum

The Guardian-Journal photo/Michelle Bates

The Homer Lions Club made a donation to the Ford Museum, which will apply to programming, operations, building exhibits and other activities at the museum. This annual donation comes from the Lions Clubs fundraisers held throughout the year. Pictured are Terry Willis, Lions Club president; Linda Volentine, Ford Museum project director; Bob Robinson, Lions Club treasurer and Pat Gladney, Lions Club secretary. The four are pictured in front of the Native American exhibit at the Ford Museum. This exhibit is an example of what these donations are used for. It was opened last year.

Homer Hospital to pay off bond debt sooner

Bond refinance to save thousands of dollars

MICHELLE BATES, Editor

The Homer Town Council voted to pass a resolution to refinance the bond issues for Homer Memorial Hospital that is expected to save the hospital approximately $280,000 over the course of what’s left of the life of the loan.

The hospital has had bond debt that paid for renovations that took place several years ago, and right now, the hospital is still paying on that loan.

“Due to favorable interest rates now, compared to what they were, there’s an opportunity for the hospital to experience some savings in the balance of the debt that would allow them to pay the debt off a little bit sooner and save a substantial amount of money over the course of that loan,” said Jim Colvin, Homer’s town attorney.

Wes Shafto, a bond attorney out of Monroe, came to the meeting to explain to the council the benefits of refinancing the bond debt.

The current balance left on the loan is approximately $2.1 million, and refinancing would knock a full percentage point off the interest of the loan and the bank that has purchased the loan has agreed to waiver the “reserve fund” that was established when the hospital  accrued the loan. The current percentage point is 6.5 and it will go down to 5.3 percent.

“What that means is that there is approximately $280,000 sitting in a reserve fund to back up the original bonds,” Shafto said. “That would allow the hospital to take that amount that’s currently on account and apply it to the outstanding debt service and then refund it at a percentage point less. It is a substantial amount of savings for the hospital.”

The term of the loan will not be extended and nothing else will change. The hospital will still continue to pay the monthly note as it always has, but it will just be paid off sooner and money will be saved.

What’s happening is that another bond issue is being floated to pay off the original bond debt. All expenses, including the bond attorney’s fees, are included in the new set of bond issues.

Homer Town Councilman J.C. Moore brought up a good point in asking if the new bond issues would cover the current renovations taking place now at the hospital. The answer was no, because the money used to build the new emergency room and the renovations taking place inside the hospital are coming from reserve funds that the hospital saved over the course of several years.

“It’s merely coincidental that these two issues are coming up at the same time,” Colvin said.

KCB to hold cleanup at Lake Claiborne next Saturday, September 29

Calling all Claiborne volunteer litter fighters! Keep Claiborne Beautiful is partnering with the Watershed District and Lake Claiborne State Park. The objective: Another Clean Up!

We will focus on one of the parish's greatest assets: Lake Claiborne. The litter-fighting begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, September 29. Afterwards, we’ll enjoy a delicious barbeque at noon.

Volunteers will meet at Pleasure Point Marina, then move out to various locations from there. We encourage neighborhoods around the lake to organize their own events.

Trash bags are available at Lauren Tichenor's office in the Police Jury Complex. September 29 is also National Public Lands Day, a nationwide effort seeking  to preserve and protect America's national treasures. Special activites will be hosted at the park throughout the day in honor of National Public Lands Day.

Take pride in your community and get involved! If you have any questions, call 927-7129. (submitted by Lauren Tichenor)

Sparta Commission discusses several issues

The Sparta Commission addressed the problem of declining water levels in the Sparta aquifer, the major source of water for drinking and industrial use in nine parishes, including Claiborne. On September 13, a public meeting was held in Jackson Parish.

A 2007-2008 Save Our Sparta (SOS) Initiative was discussed. The initiative, which will be funded by two grants, will add to Trailblazer’s ongoing SOS program. Among projects considered are Sparta Aquifer models for each parish to use in schools and community events; a program for reporting remarkable wasteful water use; recognition of exceptional efforts to conserve Sparta water; educational programs; and a Sparta Awareness Day next spring.

The Ruston Daily Leader contributed ‘Be Smart Sparta’ ads for the region’s newspapers and radio stations.

Announcement was made of recognition bestowed upon two water systems, Dubach and Cotton Valley. The water systems have repaired leaks and improved fee collection such that fees are now collected on most of the Sparta water that is produced. Such strides are considered an important approach to conserving Sparta water and being accountable for its use.

The one ongoing project to move a current user off the Sparta is the Graphics Packaging-West Monroe Wastewater Re-Use Project, considered the most cost effective of Sparta conservation approaches studied. It will have its greatest impact in the Monroe area, which is the area of heaviest Sparta use and where salt water is intruding. However, improvements anywhere in the Sparta area will help the Sparta Aquifer as a whole. This Wastewater Re-Use Project has the potential to save the Sparta 10 million gallons of water per day, more than half of the daily Sparta overdraft. Preliminary results of a test process that produces 1 million gallons per day are promising. The quality from the re-use water differs little from the quality of water that uses an advanced reversed osmosis purification process. The Wastewater Re-Use Project is a first such in the United States. In addition to conserving Sparta water, advantages include expanding the capacity for wastewater treatment and reducing discharge into surface waters. Efforts are now underway to develop funding for the full project.

The next meeting of the Sparta Commission will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, November 8 in the Police Jury Building in Homer. The Sparta Commission is a public body composed of government and industry representatives of nine major Sparta use parishes and several minor users. The Sparta meeting place rotates, and Claiborne Parish is the next host.

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