Summerfield icon found dead
Community in shock over apparent
homicide
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
SUMMERFIELD
– A Summerfield icon was found dead at his country store on Thursday morning,
much to the shock of many community members and friends.
Brian “Butch” Griffin Bays, 72,
was found dead at Bays Country Store, located on Hwy. 2 Alternate, by a
customer around 7:30 a.m.
According
to Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey, his office received a 911 call where the
caller advised that Bays was unconscious on the floor, and Pafford Ambulance
Service was dispatched to the scene. After the initial investigation, deputies
concluded that Bays had been murdered.
In a
separate interview later with Bailey, he said a “strong” person of interest had
been taken into custody on unrelated charges. Donte Fielding, 19, of
Haynesville, was arrested by Louisiana State Police late Friday evening on a
charge of failing to register a shotgun with the Department of Public Safety.
Late Monday, information received from other interviews prompted the sheriff’s
office to obtain a warrant for Fielding’s arrest on charges of first degree
murder. That warrant, signed by Second Judicial District Judge Jenifer Clason,
was served on Fielding at the Claiborne Parish Detention Center where he was
formally charged.
As of
press time, Fielding was still incarcerated.
Investigators
discovered that Bays had been shot multiple times, and authorities have
recovered a weapon that was believed to have been used in the commission of the
crime. However, no shell casings were found at the scene.
Police
believe the motive may have been robbery because money had gone missing;
however, there were some bags of money still under the counter. The money that
was taken has not yet been recovered.
“Nothing
else was disturbed and nothing else was missing,” Bailey said the day of the
tragic shooting.
Bailey was emphatic about
catching the people who did this to someone many knew and loved. Although one
is in custody, another is still being sought.
“We’re
going to find the people that did this and bring them to justice, I can promise
you that,” he said. “He was everything to this community. Everybody knew Butch.
This has been devastating to this community. He was Summerfield.”
Bays’ brother, William, says he
was dubbed the unofficial “mayor” of Summerfield because many people came to
him for various things, and he was the type of person to help them.
“He was
a good-hearted person who would do anything to help you,” William Bays said. “He loved people, he loved the outdoors – he loved life. He was just an all around
nice person and well-liked in this community.”
Bays
used to own a local store before he retired. After retiring, he realized that
he missed people, so he opened Butch’s Country Store and Bait Shop where he
sold various items, including fishing gear, camping gear, hunting gear and
other outdoor equipment.
His
brother also said Bays had a garden of about seven or eight acres in which he
grew all types of greens, including turnip, collard and mustard greens.
“He
tried to stay out of the store business for a while, but he missed people,” William Bays said. “That’s the kind of person he was. He was the kind of person who would
let people go into his garden and pick what they needed.”
Butch
Bays served on the Claiborne Parish Police Jury, serving as District 1’s
representative. For at least the last 16 years, he spent much of his life as a
public servant, and according to Police Jury President Scott Davidson, Bays’
service to the parish will be greatly missed.
“Butch
personified Claiborne Parish and he was well-liked,” he said. “He was one heck
of a public servant. He worked for a long time on the jury, and he was the kind
of people we need in Claiborne Parish. I’m going to miss him because he had a
good, level head. It’s a tragedy anytime something like this happens, but it
really has been a shock.”
William Bays expressed his
grief over the death of his brother.
“It’s
just something that happened that you don’t want to happen to your family, but
it happened and there’s nothing we can do about it,” he said. “You have to go
on living – that’s what Butch would say – just take it and go on.”
Bays
also played a leading role in the construction of the new Fire District #6 Fire
Station, where he and his brothers donated the property for the new station.
The station now boasts six bays for their trucks and equipment as well as a
work out area, kitchen area and multipurpose room where firefighters gather
from all over the parish for trainings.
“Everybody
looked up to Butch,” William said. “He wasn’t the oldest brother, but we looked
up to him as our big brother.”
Bays
was laid to rest at Summerfield Cemetery after a very emotional service at Summerfield High School Tuesday morning.
He is survived
by brothers Richard Milton Bays and wife Billie of Decatur, Ala., William
“Willie” Bays of Minden and Jack Preston Bays and wife Saundra of Summerfield;
nieces, Jessica Bartlett, Jennifer Knox, Holly Vinson and Sally Bays; and a
host of other relatives and friends.
For
memorials, the family suggests Summerfield High School, c/o the Athletic Fund.
A
special meeting was also called by the police jury for Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. to appoint someone to fill the District 1 seat until a special election can be
called in April 2011.
Police face budget issues, mayor gets
raise
Council faced heated discussions on 2011
budget
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
Homer
Chief of Police Russell Mills stormed out of a special called meeting last
Thursday when discussions of the proposed 2011 budget included what some called
a “pay raise” for Homer Mayor Alecia Smith.
Mills
was upset with the proposal as he had been told to cut the budget for his
department.
When
discussions of the proposed budget came to the police department, it was
revealed that he was approximately $155,000 over his allotted funds, which
included the projected generated income from the new dedicated quarter cent
sales tax passed in November.
The
police department’s budget is actually set at approximately $644,000, which
left him about $155,000 in the red.
After
cutting all raises for his officers, Mills offered to take a pay cut on his own
salary to keep from laying off any officers. However, Town Attorney Jim Colvin
said the chief couldn’t cut his own pay.
“I am
of the opinion that he cannot,” Colvin said in an email Tuesday morning. “Once
a salary is voted upon and approved, it cannot be reduced during the term of
office for that particular office, even if the recipient is the one that wants
it reduced.”
District
3 Councilman Toney Johnson said the budget needed to be balanced, and as the
department head, Mills needed to balance his budget.
Earlier
in the meeting, the council set a monthly rate for arrest fees that are to be
paid to the police chief every year — $400 per month, or $4,800 per year, Mills
removed that allotment from his income to help get the numbers closer to
balancing. By doing so, he cut his income by $6,800 per year.
The
mayor told Mills that the town had given him most of the contingency fund as
well as the $325,000 allotment and what the sales tax would generate.
“This
year we’ve allocated more funds than in previous years,” the mayor said. “We’ve
given him (Mills) additional funds. It’s important for people to understand
that this wasn’t the mayor’s decision, this was the council’s decision.”
According
to the proposed budget, additional monies were given to the police department’s
budget to help offset expenses. Included was $30,000 from the contingency fund,
$325,000 from the general fund, $66,000 for supplemental pay (of which comes
from the State of Louisiana – no expense to the town), $91,000 from ticket
fines, and a projected $142,000 from the new sales tax. Mills contradicted
that, saying that the existing sales tax generated about $35,000, and the new
tax would generate about $109,000 above that.
The
mayor also said several things were taken out of his budget to help the police
department keep more money. Of those numbers, physicals, city council pay,
mayor’s salary, accounting, coroner’s costs, police assistance and
subscriptions were all moved to the general fund.
Also
cut was escort fees, which are projected to be a lot lower since the opening of
the Homer Bypass. It went from a projected total of $17,000 in 2010 to a mere $1,000
for 2011.
Mills
said he’s shaved his proposed budget down to within approximately $32,000, and
he has done that by proposing to cut three part time officers and zeroing out
everything on his budget, including supplies, equipment, uniforms and training.
“There
would be no money for equipment or training,” he said.
Part of
the issue is that in the past, the council has typically moved money from the
general fund to cover any overages of the police department’s budget to keep it
balanced. This time, they chose not to do that.
A big
part of the issue is that when the sales tax came up for a vote in November,
proponents pushed for its passage in order to allow raises for officers and
help offset costs of training, education and equipment. However, despite its
passing, the department still remains short-funded.
“In
order to cut the budget to meet what they are giving me, I chose to cut these
funds instead of cutting full-time police officers,” Mills said. “The only way
that I could cut the budget any more, but add back all the things that I took
away — training, the purchase of vehicles and raises for remaining officers —
would be to terminate three full-time officers. In doing that, I would be
short-handed.
“Had we
not passed this tax, the police department would be out by $200,000,” he
continued. “It frustrates me that the community passed the tax and the town
can’t give me the money they gave me last year. The police department will not
receive raises this year, and I’m still short $32,000. I’ve done everything I
can do.”
Fuel,
car expenses, attorney’s fees and salary are the only parts of his budget that
he hasn’t cut to zero, he said.
The
police department is now down to two patrol units due to mechanical issues or
accidents. Much of his funds, other than salaries and benefits, go towards fuel
and vehicle repairs. The police department’s budget is basically pouring money
into vehicles that are more than 10 years old.
Smith
said that instead of trying to buy vehicles out of his allotted yearly budget,
Mills needs to be seeking grants or a bond issue to purchase new vehicles. She
added that she had put Mills in contact with the town’s grant writer, Shelly
King, in order to work towards the purchase of new or newer vehicles.
“We’re
making efforts to improve the police department through grants and or bonds in
order to get police cars,” Smith said. “There’s money out there, it’s just that
nobody has pursued that.”
She
also emphasized that all departments received cuts in their budgets, except for
the police department.
Another
drain on the town’s finances is the increases in health insurance premiums and
retirement. The biggest drain is the town’s legal fees in representation in
several on-going lawsuits against the town.
“These
are not budget cuts to the police department; this is balancing the budget,”
she said. “We even moved the payments to the Monroe family out of [the police
department] budget and moved it into the general fund to help his budget. But
we don’t have the sales tax revenue that we’ve had in the past.”
However,
after the council voted 4-1 to pass a resolution that changed the mayor’s hours
from part-time to full-time, Mills raised issue, due to what he considers cuts
to his budget.
Before
the resolution was adopted, the mayor’s position was paid $25 per hour at four
hours per day, which gave the mayor approximately $2,000 per month. Now that
it’s been raised to eight hours at the same rate, the mayor’s salary has
doubled, plus the costs of insurance and benefits.
The
2011 proposed budget has raised Smith’s salary to $36,000 per year. The
additional $12,000 is coming out of the enterprise fund.
Mills
said he feels the raise was unjustified because not only was he being forced to
cut his budget, but if the town’s broke, how can the town find an additional
$24,000 for one salary?
Smith
said the idea to change the mayor’s position from part-time to full-time was
the decision of the council, not hers. However, she told the council that even
though she couldn’t ask for a raise, she asked for a motion on the resolution
that was introduced in December’s regular meeting regarding the mayor’s
position.
“That
was a thought that was presented to me and the council made that decision based
upon the productivity they were expecting from the mayor,” she said.
In a
recent interview with KTBS Channel 3 News, District 4 Councilwoman Carlette
Sanford said she voted against the resolution because the town has always had a
part-time mayor.
“I
think it should always be a part time position,” she said.
The
council is expected to meet Wednesday evening, December 22 at 6 p.m. in hopes of adopting a balanced budget for 2011.
Barrilleaux sees positive future for
hospital
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
Just a
little more than a month in, Homer Memorial Hospital Administrator Scott Barrilleaux
has spent his time getting to know the staff and its daily operations.
Beginning
on November 4, much of his time has been spent in meetings in order to get a
good feel of what’s going on. Not only is he still getting to know the ropes,
but he’s also spent much time assessing the hospital’s budget where he feels
there could be room for better efficiency. He said one asset he brings to the
hospital is his experience working with previous hospital boards, and that
could help better streamline the budge even more.
“Budgets
are important,” he said, “and you have to continue to improve, maintain and
make sure you can sustain the organization and move it forward.”
The
demands for working for a county or parish owned hospital are very different
from privately owned hospitals in that rural hospitals like Homer’s focus more
on patient care rather than the demands of shareholders – but it still has its
challenges.
“The
large majority of hospitals are not for profit,” he said. “But the biggest
challenge is training employees to handle more job descriptions versus
privately owned hospitals.”
Barrilleaux
also touched on the Claiborne Healthcare Foundation, saying that he feels
things have settled down after the upheaval when former administrator Doug
Efferson was let go. He was cautiously optimistic regarding the fundraising
effort to revamp the Intensive Care Unit as well as the cafeteria area.
“I’ve
been to the board meeting with the foundation and things are settled down now,”
he said, “and they’re ready to do what we can to improve the facilities. At the
end of the day, it’s about making sure we can take care of our parish.”
While
he is still settling in to his new role, he praised the community as well as
the staff at Homer Hospital for their hospitality. He expressed his sincere
thanks for the warm welcome the people of Homer have given him and his family.
“That
has been most impressive,” he said. “The day we were moving in, people showed
up with gifts of food and cards welcoming us. That was really nice to see.
We’ve experienced nothing but a real hospitable group of folks here.”
Regarding
his hospital staff, he said, “You don’t often find a group as big as the one we
have here in such a small community. These folks have a number of years
experience under their belts and have done a wonderful job of taking care of
their patient base.”
Barrilleaux
is the father of five children, three who live in South Louisiana and two with
his current wife, Brandy. His children 17, 16 and 9 live in South Louisiana,
and his two little ones – Sophie, 19 months old and little Scott, two months
old – are with he and his wife.
He has
been married to Brandy for about two and one half years. Originally from
Thibadeaux, he said he and his wife wanted to be closer to his family.
He came
to Homer from his last position working for the national company Quorum in Oklahoma. He has held the top job at four different hospitals, but he remembers his first
job as the head of the Allen Parish Hospital, where he says he “cut his teeth.”
“I
remember my first time viewing the facility, and there were vines on the
building, aluminum foil in the windows for shade, one to two patients per day,
no emergency room and no surgery,” he said. “We reopened the surgical services
and improved the revenue for that facility to the tune of 400 to 500 percent.”
Not to
worry, though, Barrilleaux works for Homer Memorial Hospital and not a national
company that places CEOs in positions at various hospitals. And he’s ready to
keep Homer Memorial Hospital as a vital part of the Claiborne Parish
communities.
“This
is an opportunity to do worthwhile and productive work,” he said. “I think this
was a good fit both professionally and personally.”
HPD K-9 catchin’ the bad guys
The Guardian-Journal
Homer
Police K-9 Officer “Tig” has been very busy the last few weeks, since his
handler Officer Shane Huffstetler graduated from the academy and has hit the
streets.
In
fact, police say, had it not been for having “Tig” there, these arrests might
not have been made.
Because
of the training “Tig” has received, the following individuals were arrested on
drug charges:
•
Jacorey Broshan James, 18, of Shreveport. He was arrested on Saturday, December
11, and charged with simple possession of marijuana. According to police, on
that date, Officer Mike Rimsky initiated a traffic stop on Hwy. 79 at Hill Street after observing a vehicle speeding. He made contact with James, and while
interviewing him, he detected an odor of what he believed to be alcoholic
beverages emitting from the vehicle.
After
running background checks on James and two passengers, he called for
Huffstetler’s assistance with “Tig.” “Tig” was then dispatched around the
vehicle, at which time he “alerted” on the driver’s door where James was
seated. When questioned about the presence of any narcotics or weapons, reports
say James was hesitant to answer. A search of the vehicle was conducted where
suspected marijuana leaves were revealed as well as a suspected “nickel” bag of
marijuana. Also, alcoholic beverages and a 22 caliber pistol were discovered.
James
was then placed under arrested and charged on the above charges.
•
Britton Cordell Key, 17, of Shreveport. He was arrested on Saturday, December
11, and charged with simple possession of marijuana. See James above.
•
Ametrica Helen Sneed, 25, of Gibsland. She was arrested on November 23, and
charged with possession of Schedule I CDS. She was arrested on November 23, and
charged with possession of Schedule I CDS. On that date, Rimsky initiated a
traffic stop on Hwy. 79 for a nonworking license plate lamp. Upon contact with
the driver, identified as Sneed, reports say Rimsky detected an odor of
suspected marijuana emitting from the vehicle.
After
running a background check, “Tig” and his handler, Officer Huffstetler, arrived
on scene at which time “Tig” was run around the vehicle. He alerted on both
front doors of the vehicle, and at that time, Sneed and a passenger in the
vehicle were questioned in regards to any presence of narcotics. Reports say
Sneed denied the presence of narcotics, but a search of the vehicle revealed a
container with suspected marijuana seeds and stems from the passenger side of
the vehicle.
Also,
Officer Rimsky continued to question the passenger, identified as Brown, and
she admitted to having a “nickel” bag in her right pocket. A search by
Huffstetler also revealed a bag containing a green leafy substance from the
driver’s side of the vehicle. Both were charged with possession of Schedule I
CDS, and Sneed was also given a citation for license plate lamps.
•
Alisha Mikele Brown, 20, of Haynesville. See Sneed above.
• Pal
James Pilger, 23, of Minden. He was arrested Wednesday, December 1, and charged
with possession of Schedule II CDS (Percocet). According to reports, Pilger was
stopped by Rimsky at South 5th Street and West Main. “Tig” again was called in
to assist, and when he was led around the vehicle, he alerted on the driver’s
door. Huffstetler then searched the vehicle, at which point, he discovered a
yellow prescription bottle containing four small pills.
After
Pilger was informed of what was found in his vehicle, he allegedly told police
the pills were from his grandfather. The bottle was labeled to contain
Oxycodone, however, when police contacted Poison Control, the pills were
identified as Percocet.
Pilger
was arrested and booked into the Claiborne Parish Detention Center.
•
Donald G. Tungate Jr., 44 of Corinth, Texas. He was arrested on Saturday,
December 11, and charged with possession of marijuana, second offense and cited
for driving the wrong way on a one way road. According to reports, Officer Van
McDaniel initiated a traffic stop for driving the wrong way on a one way road.
McDaniel then requested backup at which time Huffstetler and “Tig” arrived on
scene. “Tig” was lead around the vehicle and he “alerted.” After informing
Tungate that “Tig” “alerted” on the vehicle, the suspect “freely admitted” to
having marijuana. A search of the vehicle revealed suspected marijuana in a
plastic sandwich bag. The substance inside the bag field-tested positive for
marijuana. Tungate was placed under arrest and charged on the above charges.
Homer
Police Chief Russell Mills said that what “Tig” does for the police department
far outweighs the expenses of having him.
“Tig”
has proven himself as an asset through his handler Shane Huffstetler,” Mills
said. “The K-9 has assisted the Homer Police Department, Shane and other
officers as well on numerous traffic stops. He’s been well worth the costs.”
Huffstetler
was certified with “Tig” earlier this year, and graduated from the North Louisiana Criminal Justice Academy in November.
