Santa comes rolling in!
The Guardian-Journal photos/Michelle
Bates
Santa Claus came rolling into town on a
train provided by L&NW Railroad Saturday morning, kicking off an
event-filled day. A firefighter from the Homer Fire Department escorted Santa
to Delta Interiors as many children awaited their turn to sit in Santa’s lap
and give him their Christmas wish list. The day’s activities included a rib
cook-off sponsored by Piggly Wiggly in Homer, the Christmas Festival, where
vendors could sell their wares, and ending the day with the annual Christmas
Parade.
Keisha Robinson, age 3, was the lucky
winner of the toy train set given away by Santa Claus from L&NW. One lucky
boy or girl was the lucky winner of an L&NW train set at each stop Santa
made on his route.
Janajahe Boyd, age 4, left, was the lucky
winner of the girls bike. She poses with her mom Erin Cornelius. Right, Alayna
Tabor, 3, was the lucky winner of the boys bike. She poses with her mom, Maria
Wynne and her little brother, Elijah Swift, age 7 months. The bike giveaway was
made possible by Gibsland Bank and Trust, which donated the bikes for
Saturday’s activities.
School board audit in the clear
The Guardian-Journal
Claiborne
Parish School Board members got more than just a gift during the last meeting
of the year. That gift was “no findings” in the school’s fiscal year ending
June 30 financial audit.
Superintendent
of Schools Dr. Janice Williams said that it was all owed to their business
manager Fred Evans, who has many years of experience.
“It’s
all due to Mr. Evans,” she said. “We couldn’t
have done it without him.”
However,
Evans credits the teamwork among department heads and the schools themselves.
For the last several years, several of the schools were “earmarked” with
findings in the board’s annual budget audit. Reasons included some schools
didn’t have receipts to match purchases, or a deposit couldn’t be traced back
to its original paperwork. In Central Office, though, there were departments
that had findings because the former business manager was having difficulty
making sure all paperwork was done and turned in on time among a list of other
things.
Margie
Williamson, with Allen, Green and Williamson, LLP, said the lunch fund had
increased approximately $10,000 in that the nutrition department did not have
the purchase of new computers and software for the lunch programs.
Also,
all the special revenue funds had no balances. This is because a federal law
says that these funds should “zero out” at the end of each fiscal year. With
all cash in the accounts, the remaining balances were virtually unchanged from
last year.
A
little sad news, but not much in that all maintenance funds increased accept
for the Pineview district. In a special election in April, voters chose not to
renew a property mills tax that funded the maintenance of the Pineview School.
The
audit was approved unanimously.
In
other school board news, policy revisions continue to go on as the school
board’s policy manual is updated and upgraded. Six policy revisions were
approved by board members.
Also,
all board members met their required number of hours for training, and
according to Dr. Williams, some have received as many as 26 hours. All board
members are required to obtain six hours of continuing education training
hours.
In
personnel actions, Betty Michelle Hogan, a science teacher at Homer High
School, has resigned for other employment as of December 20. Also on the same
date, Kimberly Baker, a teacher at Homer Elementary, has resigned for other
employment as well.
Clara
Evans, a teacher at Summerfield High School has taken a second semester for
sabbatical leave, beginning January 4, 2012. She will be returning to school in
the 2012-13 year.
In the
superintendent’s report, Dr. Williams reminded everyone that the Christmas
break will begin Tuesday, December 20, and students will return to school
Wednesday, January 4.
Also,
four bid packets have been sent out so far on the sale of the Pineview High
School building.
In the
span of about 20 minutes, the school board wished everyone a Merry Christmas
and quickly adjourned the meeting! The next meeting of the school board will
take place at 6 p.m. January 5, 2012 in the meeting room at Central Office. For
more information, please call their office at 318-927-3502.
Remembering ‘Butch’
Investigation continues a year later
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
It’s
been a year since 
the tragic death of one of Summerfield’s most loved citizens
and the case against his accused killers is still ongoing.
Brian
G. “Butch” Bays was tragically shot and killed on December 16, 2010, and even
after a year, memories are still close to the hearts of his family and loved
ones.
Holly
Vinson, Bays’ niece, remembers many of the good things about her uncle, like
the fact that she “grew up on burgers and glass bottle cokes with peanuts in
them from Uncle Butch’s store.
“Since
December 16 of last year, I have not had a glass bottle coke with peanuts,” she
said.
And
Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey fondly remembers growing up with Butch.
When he was young, Bailey, his father Bill and Butch, along with several
others, went hunting and fishing often.
“When I
was nine or 10 years old, we’d go deer hunting,” Bailey said. “Once, when I was
on a deer stand, I had an ear ache. Nobody would come pick me up, but Butch
did.”
Although
he didn’t kill a deer that day, he still remembers that day vividly.
“Butch
was like a big brother to me,” he said. “Whatever Butch did, I thought I could
do too.”
During
the summers, he would go with Butch, his dad and several others and “pond hop.”
There were three ponds within walking distance, he said, and they would fish
those ponds.
When
Bailey was young, they’d deer hunt with dogs, and Vinson fondly remembers
Butch’s dogs.
“He
always had dogs we played with,” she remembers. “Some of them walked on their
two front legs, some of them barely walked, and some of them carried pine cones
in their mouths and seemed to growl with complaint that the pine cone hurt.
“Uncle
Butch loved taking care of his animals, even if it meant bailing hay,” she
continued.
Bailey
said throughout his life he spent much time at Butch’s store, now the Rebel
Stop. It was a gathering place for many in the Summerfield community. It’s
where hunters gathered in the mornings before hunting, and it was also the
unofficial meeting place “to solve the world’s problems.”
When he
sold the store, he decided to open up a bait and tackle shop, but eventually it
turned into so much more. Pretty soon, Bailey said, it just kept growing. He
started to sell a few groceries and then other merchandise.
“He was
a good cook, and by the time it was all said and done, he had just as much
stuff as he did at the store in town,” Bailey said.
One of
the things he misses most is going to visit Butch at his store. Even up until
the day he died, Bailey would visit him often.
“There
wasn’t a week that didn’t go by that I didn’t go out to his store,” he said,
“whether it was inside talking or outside on the porch. That’s one of the
things that I miss. That was just the place to go.”
Vinson
fondly remembers her many trips to his store.
“As a
grown up, I would always go visit Uncle Butch at his store,” she said. “I would walk in and hear, ‘Well, there’s Holly
Mae.’ Still not sure where the ‘Mae’ came from, but that was my name when he
was around.”
And
Christmastime was also memorable to her she said, because of family traditions.
On Christmas Eve, the family would gather together -- except for Butch. Even
though everyone knew where he was, it was still tradition to ask, she said, and
they would call the store and ask him when he was coming home.
And the
answer would always be, “I gotta go feed and water my cows, so I’ll be over
there about dark thirty.”
And he
would pull in the driveway about dusk.
According
to Vinson, they each got the same gift every year -- a brown paper sack with a
wrapped orange inside with $25 taped to it.
“No
fancy paper, no card, just a paper sack with fruit and money from Uncle Butch,”
Vinson said. “That paper sack present meant more to all of his nieces than all
the presents in the world.”
Butch
was quiet in his own way. He never married and he would do anything to help
someone. He was a well respected member of his community. He served as
Summerfield’s unofficial “mayor” for as long as anyone can remember, though he
actually served as District 1’s police juror for nearly 17 years until that
day.
It was
on that fateful day that the news spread that he’d been shot and killed early
that morning in his store.
Arrested
were Donte Fielding and Hardy Taylor. Fielding is currently being housed at
Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center in Webster Parish and Taylor is currently at
home with an ankle monitor.
Because
Taylor has a disease in which the medications cost upwards of $90,000 per
month, the difficult decision to send him home was made. Bailey said Taylor is
under constant monitoring, where a deputy goes by his house several times a day
and he is not allowed to leave his home except to go to the clinic to receive
his treatments, for doctors’ visits and of course any court appearances he must
make.
Bailey
said the investigation is still ongoing at this point, even though they feel
they have a strong case against the two.
“It’s
moving right along,” Bailey said, “slowly, but moving. We feel confident that
justice will be served. We just want to make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every
‘t’ is crossed.”
Detectives
are still awaiting results from the state crime lab in Baton Rouge, and they’ve
also sent some evidence to Quantico, Va., to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) Academy for DNA testing.
Bailey
gave no timeline as to when those results would be returned or when the case
would be turned over to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.
And
even while the case is still open, Butch’s family patiently waits. Until that
time, they are choosing to remember the good things and the good times with
Butch.
And
Vinson said it perfectly when she said he missed her uncle dearly.
“Guess
it’s probably time to pop the lid open, pour in some peanuts and make a toast
to Uncle Butch,” she said. “You are missed more than words can say, but you
live on through your family and friends. I think he would tell us life is not
easy, and you don’t know the cards you will be dealt, but make the most of this
life, because you never know when your time will come.”
Holloway fundraiser set for New Year’s
Eve
Donation
tickets for a chance to win one of 13 items are being sold to help with medical
costs for Emilee Holloway.
Emilee
is the one-year-old daughter of Brad and Jennifer Holloway of Athens. She is
the granddaughter of Jerry and Pam Hightower of Homer and Larry and Debby
Wallace of Athens.
The 13
items include a Browning A Bolt 243, Michael’s Men’s Store gift card valued at
$300, 1 Ton of Deer Corn, PTX 2700 Pole Saw, Oldman Climbing Tree Stand, DeWalt
Tool Set, Winchester Super X Shotgun, Bass Pro Shop Gift Card valued at $500,
18 ft. Double Ladder 2-man Deer Stand, Husqvarna Chain Saw 445-18 in. bar, SB2
Rock - 8 yards, McKinney Honda gift card valued at $300, Browning A-Bolt 7mm.
The items will be drawn in the order listed above.
The
drawing will be held December 31 at noon. Fish plates with a drink will also be
for sale for $6, starting at 11:30 a.m. For every $100 donation given, you will
receive 2 free plates.
The
Drawing and Cooking will be held at Gordon’s Service Center, 401 West Main,
Homer. You do not have to be present to win.
Sponsors
are Sam Dowies, Childress Fishing & Rentals, White Construction, Homer
Motor Supply, Michael’s Men’s Store, Pixley Logging, Red Rock Rentals, Brennan Dodge/Shine Time.
For
more information you may contact April Hightower at 318-245-0080 or Jason Smith
at 318-245-4258.
Oral Workshop still has openings
The
Ford Museum is hosting a workshop on the techniques used in conducting oral
history interviews. The workshop is funded through a Louisiana Decentralized
Arts Grant administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council. Conducting
the workshop will be Dr. Susan Roach, folklorist for the Louisiana Tech
Folklife Program. The workshop will be held Thursday, January 12 and Thursday,
January 26 from 5 pm – 8 pm at the Ford Museum. There will be a $20
registration fee that will cover both sessions.
The
agenda will include the basics of ethical interviewing, making audio
recordings, transcribing tapes, archiving and adapting the research for
presentation. These skills will be used to create a mini graphic novel that
tells the story about what brought your family to Claiborne Parish. Did your
family locate here during the Oil Boom of the 1920s? Was your family
interested in farming the rich soil of Claiborne Parish? Or perhaps your
family came to beautiful Lake Claiborne to retire. Whatever the reason,
everyone has a story to tell. These workshops will aide you in collecting the
information needed to tell your own story.
Registration
is now open. Call Linda Volentine at 318-927-9190 or email .
Woman graduates from Section 8 program
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
A
little known program in Claiborne Parish has helped one young woman become
self-sufficient.
Tekisha
Shine is now providing for herself and her family since getting off assistance,
and she’s done it through the Claiborne Parish Section 8 Escrow Program.
She’s
the first person in seven years in Claiborne Parish to graduate from the
program.
According
to Claiborne Parish Police Jury Secretary Treasurer Dwayne Woodard, the Family
Self Sufficiency (FSS) Program is a program in which those on welfare
assistance work their way off of it with assistance from the program.
FSS
provides “participating families both with financial incentives to work their
way off welfare and housing subsidies and with services to help them do so,”
states the website www.workworld.org.
It
works through establishing an escrow account for the head of household listed
as receiving any housing or welfare benefits. The program deposits into an
escrow account each month of the amount of any rent increase caused by an
increase in earnings once the participant begins in the program.
While
under this program, if necessary, the participant will be provided with child
care, transportation, education, employment counseling, household skills and
management among others. The idea is to get those who are receiving assistance
back on their feet so they can provide for themselves and their families.
Ms.
Shine was in the program approximately four years.
Budgets
Tis the
season for budgets! Not only does the police jury have to amend 2011’s budget,
but they’ve had to prepare the 2012 proposed budget for the next fiscal year,
which is January 1 until December 31 of each year.
In
Wednesday’s meeting, however, the police jury approved a request to enter into
a letter of engagement for the 2011 budget audit with Bosch & Statham, LLC
of Jonesboro. The police jury had been using Hulsey, Wood and Sheridan, where
CPPJ’s auditor was Melissa Eubanks Bosch. Because the company no longer does
governmental audits, the police jury had to seek out another company. They
chose Bosch & Statham LLC because Mrs. Bosch has been their auditor for the
last several years. Because of the outstanding services she provides to them,
they chose to continue to use her services.
Now on
to the budgets. In the finance committee meeting held Monday, December 5,
committee members discussed the amendments that would need to be made to the
current year’s budget. As of Wednesday, December 7, 2011’s budget was adjusted
by a total of $153,701. Each adjustment is as follows: The general fund’s net
adjustment was $(333,650), the road fund was $58,600, the building and
maintenance fund was $(33,200), the equipment fund was $36,400, the sales tax
fund was $(62,700), the library fund was $179,549, the witness fee fund was
$(1,550), the criminal court fund was $(5,050) and the juvenile maintenance
fund was $7,900.
The
numbers with parentheses indicate net adjustments by funds to bring the
expenditures to estimated actual dollar values on December 31 within the
allowed five percent variance.
In the
proposed budget for 2012, the estimated fund balances for December 31, 2012 are
as follows: $3,103,283 for the general fund, $985,007 for the road fund,
$363,492 for the building and maintenance fund, $413,970 for the equipment
fund, $1,081,183 for the sales tax fund, $2,056,908 for the library fund,
$4,381 for the witness fee fund, $968 for the criminal court fund and $117,960
for the juvenile maintenance fund. The totals for each fund amount to an
estimated $8,127,152.
The
proposed budget is available for public review at the police jury office, 507
West Main Street, during normal operating hours (Monday through Friday) from 8
a.m. until 4:30 p.m. each day.
A
public hearing has been set for 2 p.m., Tuesday, January 3, 2012, in the police
jury conference room. The budget will be acted upon at the police jury’s
regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.
Other
budgets approved included:
• The
Northwest Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory: Every year, each parish
governing body in the service area has to approve the laboratory’s amended
budget and its proposed budget in accordance with Louisiana law. The request
was passed by unanimous vote.
• The
Claiborne Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness: Each year, the police jury
pays a share to the Office of Emergency Preparedness, which amounted to
$24,651.50 in 2011, and is projected to be the same for 2012 for Claiborne
Parish.
DA’s Office
The
jury also approved the costs and installation of high speed internet for the
district attorney’s office at a cost of $399 per month with the one-time cost
of $499 for installation. According to Woodard, the other offices in the Second
Judicial District are also using Nexus Systems for their internet services.
According
to a quote from Nexus Systems, the
office in Bienville Parish pays $799 per month, while the office located in
Jackson Parish pays $399 per month. The installation fees were the same for all
three offices.
It
passed with one vote against.
Along
those same lines, the police jury approved the lowest bid from Garcia
Construction in regards to the refurbishment of the old Claiborne Drug
building, which will be the new office space for the DA’s office. Garcia bid
$69,731 for the entire project. The second lowest bidder was Vanderberg
Construction in Shreveport, which bid $76,000.
Veterans Affairs
In
other news, Bruce Parker, Veterans Counselor for Claiborne Parish, spoke to the
police jury regarding an increase in homestead exemption for veterans. In 2010,
he said, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 1049, which gives all 64 parishes
the authority to vote on whether to give homestead exemptions up to $150,000
for veterans who are 100 percent disabled.
According
to an email sent to all veterans counselors, Michael Richardson, northwest
regional manager, the measure has already been passed in 42 parishes. It has
not been put on the ballots for these northwest Louisiana parishes: Claiborne,
Jackson, Red River, Sabine, Vernon and Winn.
Several
parishes have already passed the issue, and now the Claiborne police jury has
agreed to put the item on the ballot at a future election date.
Parker
said there are 1,385 veterans in Claiborne Parish, and if the veteran passes
away, then the homestead exemption increase applies to his or her surviving
spouse.
Other items
The
police jury also approved:
•
Waterline improvements for the Leton Water System for the Community Water
Enrichment Fund (CWEF) grant for the 2010-11 grant cycle. The bid was awarded
to Diamond A. Construction, Inc., of Bernice, at the recommendation of the
police jury’s engineers, Cothren, Graff, Smoak Engineering, Inc. The bid was
$18,657.
• The
2012 Worker’s Compensation renewal rates. Woodard praised Road Superintendent
Tommy Durrett and his crew, saying it was because of the diligent efforts to
practice safety on the job.
• The
police jury also approved the lowest bids for road materials for the 2012
fiscal year. They are as follows:
1)
CRS-2 at $2.11 per gallon, AEP at $2.29 per gallon and SS1at $2.50 per gallon
were awarded to Davison. They received no bid on MC-30 Prime Oil or AC-10
asphalt. Very little of these products are used, so if it must be purchased,
then the police jury would solicit three quotes and award it to the lowest
bidder.
2)
Crushed Stone: C-1 was awarded to J & K Transport at 34.15 per ton, C-2 and
C-3 was awarded to Skipper Construction at $37.25 per ton and $37.25 per ton
respectively, SB-2 (crushed stone) was awarded to Skipper Construction at
$28.75 per ton.
All
these prices were based on the materials being delivered to the parish.
3)
Pit run was awarded to Standard Gravel at $4 per ton (pick up price) and J
& K were awarded for delivered prices at $15.05 per ton for pit run sand
clay gravel and $20.55 per ton for maintenance rock.
4)
Hot mix was awarded to Amethyst with a price of $72 per ton. There was no bid
on cold mix, and if purchased, it would go out for quotes, and the company with
the lowest quote would be awarded.
• The
lowest quote to purchase a new lowboy tractor which was awarded to Shreveport
Mack Sales Louisiana Kenworth in Bossier City for a price of $93,898.
•
Ordinance No. 764, which declares certain adjudicated properties surplus. These
properties are available for review at the police jury office or the Claiborne
Parish Tax Assessors Office.
•
Adoption of the three-year capital improvement program for the Claiborne Parish
Road System as required by the Parish Transportation Act.
The
next meeting of the Claiborne Parish Police Jury will be held at 9 a.m.,
Wednesday, January 11, 2012.
The
office will be closed from Monday, December 26, and will reopen Monday, January
2, 2012.
For
more information, please call their office at 318-927-2222.
