Revered coach passes away

MICHELLE BATES, Editor

A Haynesville native who made his family and his town proud has passed away.

Bossier High School Offensive Coordinator Ricky Brown died Monday, January 7, presumably from a heart attack, said Sonja Bailes, public relations liaison for Bossier Parish Schools.

“His wife said he’d been watching the BCS game and turned it off because he was feeling sick,” she said.

He was taken to the emergency room later that evening, but he never came home.

Not only was he revered by his fellow faculty at Bossier High School, but he was well loved by his family and his community.

Retired Haynesville High School Head Football Coach Alton “Red” Franklin, who coached Brown, said people wouldn’t find a better man.

“He was a fine young man, and everybody looked up to him,” Franklin said. “I don’t think you’ll find anybody in the country that didn’t like him. And if you were around him for just a little while, you’d learn to respect him, too.”

Bossier High School Principal David Thrash said the most important thing he liked about Brown is that he was a family man who went above and beyond where his wife and three children were concerned.

“I visited with his wife and he was very proud of his children,” Thrash said. “Last semester, when his daughter was sick, he took off that day to take his daughter to the doctor, and he would stay home with her until his wife got home. Then he’d go to practice.”

He never missed school, Thrash said, and worked with the kids during the summer. Thrash said many of the Bossier High School students wrote letters to give to the family, and it made him realize the impact he had on the kids.

“I read one of the letters that was turned in,” he said, “and it was amazing how these kids talked about how much of a father figure he was. I read these, and it was like ‘wow, he was making a bigger impact than I even knew.'’”

Brown was also the high school track coach for the boys and girls at Bossier High School. Thrash said he helped out in any area that was needed, from assisting the other coaches to working the concession stands.

Brown taught earth science and physical science at Bossier High School and was also a science teacher at Haynesville High School for about five or six years.

Not only did Brown make an impact at Haynesville High School as a teacher and coach (offensive and defensive coordinator under Head Coach David Franklin), he made an impact as a student there as well. He was a quarterback for the Haynesville Golden Tornado, where Franklin said he was a “big factor” in the state championships the team brought home in 1993 and 1994.

“He was a big factor in those wins because of his leadership and integrity,” Franklin said.

“He was a senior, and I was a sophomore,” said Josh Beavers, a former classmate. “He was our leader, the captain of the team, its emotional and steadying and calming core. But Ricky’s gifts went beyond the athletic and inspirational.”

Beavers said Brown maintained a 4.0 grade point average and was valedictorian of his graduating class.

“He was a whiz at Quiz Bowl and hardly ever let any of us others on the team have a chance to answer a question,” he said.

Brown earned a chemistry degree from ULM, and entered coaching later.

Thrash said he’d watched him play at Haynesville and also had the opportunity to see him play in high school. When the opportunity came to hire Brown, the Bossier High principal said they "jumped on it."

“We hired him the same day we interviewed him,” he said. “As I reflected in my office yesterday (Wednesday, January 9) and opened his personnel folder, I read about him giving his own money to kids to get their (school) fines paid so they could play. He gave them gas money during the summers so they could make practices.

“You see people doing these things, but when they’re gone, you appreciate it. He was a good man. He’s humble and never complained. Regardless of what we had to do or what was going on, he just did his job.”

Current Haynesville Head Coach David Franklin reiterated what others have said about Brown, saying he was just a great guy all around.

“He was a very good person ... well respected,” the younger Franklin said. “The whole family was respected. He did a super job as a teacher and coach.”

Services for Brown were conducted at Victory Praise and Worship Center in Minden on Saturday, January 12. Repast was held at the Haynesville Community Center that afternoon.

He is survived by his wife Mia, three children, Aaron, daughters Kimora and Trinity, parents Jimmy and Ezella Brown, sister Kimberly and a host of other relatives and friends.

A memorial fund has been set up Bossier Federal Credit Union under the name The Ricky L. Brown Family Benefit Account. The member number is #115974. Donations will also be accepted at Bossier High School.  Checks will be accepted. You may contact Christy Roge’ at 318-549-6684 with any questions regarding donations.

Beavers, who is now the publisher of the Minden Press-Herald, penned an editorial remembering his former classmate and summed up Ricky’s life quite simply.

“I’m reminded of a quote from Pope John XXIII who said, ‘I believe that, when I stand before God, God will simply ask me, How did you use the gift of life I gave you?'’’, Beavers said. “I can say one thing with certainty: Ricky Brown used his life well. And I can say another: old #12 will be missed.”

Claiborne Library to close January 31

Renovations to begin no later than March

The Guardian-Journal

The Claiborne Parish Library, Homer Branch, will close on Thursday, January 31 in preparation for renovation construction to begin.

According to the Claiborne Parish Police Jury, construction should begin no later than March 1. A groundbreaking ceremony will be at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, February 10 at the library on 909 Edgewood Drive. The public is invited to attend.

According to a press release from the library, operations will continue as usual, but will be conducted out of the Joe W. Webb Memorial Library in Haynesville. Technical services, processing and inter-library loan staff will also be moved to Haynesville. The library’s director’s office will be moved to the Police Jury Complex.

“New materials will still be arriving and available for checkout in Haynesville and on the Bookmobile,” the press release states. “Joe W. Webb Memorial Library has wireless access, copying and faxing services, laptop checkout as well as all the other library services of the main branch.”

The Homer branch is expected to be closed for 12 months, and closing it was unavoidable because of several factors including construction cost effectiveness, roof reconstruction, heating and cooling installation, ceiling installments, electrical and plumbing installments, parking issues and patron safety.

Some of the collection is being packed and stored while some items are being moved to the Haynesville Library at 1919 Main Street.

For those interested in bookmobile services during this closing, please contact Leilani Sullivan at 318-927-3845.

The police jury officially awarded the project’s contract to Garcia Construction for its lowest bid at $2,529,000.

The Claiborne Parish Library system has been serving the parish since 1951. The main library moved to its present location in 1987, and this is the first new building the library has ever occupied, according to the press release.

Now, 26 years later, the present building is showing signs of wear and use, but upon completion of our present project, the building will be beautiful and the services of the library will be greatly enhanced.

The children’s area, spacious multi-purpose room, young adult area, reading areas, local history room, board meeting room and study areas will make the library a place that the parish will want to use and enjoy for the coming years. The new library will be one of the best assets for Claiborne Parish.

Crime interdiction program showing results

Claiborne Parish Sheriff Ken Bailey announced the launch of a new enforcement initiative by his office that’s already showing results.

According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, this program will utilize personnel from Criminal Investigations and Narcotics to supplement the general patrol division by working special operations throughout the parish. These operations may target any and all types of crime including speeding, DWI, drug trafficking or theft.

In an effort to provide our citizens with as safe and secure of a community as possible, we are taking a proactive approach to crime instead of a reactive one. Bailey stated that Criminal Investigations and Narcotics personnel are already specially trained and experienced in drug enforcement and criminal investigations, but more importantly, they are familiar with the problem areas within the parish.

These deputies are already working cases in these areas and will have knowledge and sources of information that will provide an advantage for law enforcement when dealing with the criminal element face to face.

On the night of January 11, Detectives Darren Keel and Adrian Malone were working in areas along the State Line when they observed a 2011 Chevy Malibu commit a traffic violation by failing to stop at a stop sign. A traffic stop was conducted and the driver was identified as Timothy Rupert.

A driver’s license check revealed that Rupert’s driver’s license was suspended. Upon further investigation, these detectives were given consent to search the vehicle. During the search of the vehicle, detectives located a quantity of marijuana as well as open containers of alcohol.

Rupert and the passenger, Billy W. Gilbert II, were arrested on the charges of possession of Schedule I CDS marijuana and open container. Rupert was also charged with failure to stop at a stop sign and driving under suspension.

Both subjects were transported to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center and booked. Bond was set at $2,000 for Rupert and $1,000 for Gilbert.

To report suspicious or illegal activity, concerned citizens may call the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-927-2011, CNET at 318-927-9800, DEA/La. State Police at 318-676-4080, the Homer Police Department at 318-927-4000 or the Haynesville Police Department at 318-624-1355.

Any and all information is considered confidential and is greatly appreciated.

Sportsman’s Paradise: The State We’re In

LDWF secretary guest speaker for Chamber Banquet

The Guardian-Journal

“Sportsman’s Paradise: The State We’re In.” That’s the theme of the 48th annual Claiborne Chamber of Commerce Banquet slated for 6:30 p.m., Monday, January 28.

The banquet will be at Homer City Hall with the meal provided by Upper Crust Catering. Reservations are available for $35 per person, and all reservations must be paid in advance to confirm seating.

Reservations will NOT be available at the door the night of the event. Business dress is appropriate for the evening.

This year’s speaker will be Robert Barham, secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Barham, originally of Oak Ridge, is the former senator for District 33, which encompasses Morehouse, Union, East Carroll, West Carroll and parts of Claiborne and Ouachita Parishes. In the Senate, he has served as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and was a member of the Senate Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development Committee, the Senate Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Retirement Committee and served as a member of the Legislative Rural Task Force.

With many other accolades under his belt, Barham’s education afforded him a bachelor’s of science degree from LSU, a master’s degree from Northeast Louisiana University and is a graduate of LSU’s Ag Leadership School.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available and are as follows:

• Diamond Sponsor: $1,000 receives special recognition, 12 tickets and reserved tables.

• Platinum Sponsor: $700 receives eight tickets and a reserved table.

• Gold Sponsor: $400 receives four tickets and a reserved table.

• Silver Sponsor: $200 receives four tickets and reserved seating.

• Bronze Sponsor: $100 receives two tickets and reserved seating.

To get a reservation card, please contact the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce at 318-927-3271 and check the appropriate box if interested in being a banquet sponsor and list the individuals who will be attending. All sponsors will be recognized at the banquet and will be listed in the event program.

Vigil honoring MLK set for January 21

A march and vigil, hosted by the Claiborne Parish NAACP, will take place on Monday, January 21, at 6:30 p.m., in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at Lane Chapel CME Church.

The march will begin at the front of U.S. 79 to Lane Chapel CME Church, where a service will be conducted.

NAACP members are asking the community to come together and join them in honoring the civil rights icon.

La. Lions Eye Foundation raffle underway

The Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation just kicked off a once-in-a-lifetime super raffle. This is a “Super Bowl/Mardi Gras” package.

The Super Bowl will kick off in New Orleans the same week as Mardi Gras.

The lucky winner will have won:

• Two tickets to the Super Bowl,

• One week at the Chateau Orleans in the French Quarter from February 1-8,

• Two tickets to a major Mardi Gras Krewe “Private Float Viewing Party,

• Two tickets to the Intercontinental Hotel Private Mardi Gras Grandstand,

• Two tickets on Southwest Airlines (subject to availability).

Please note: The tickets will say a “weekend stay,” but it is for a “full week.” The drawing will be held Tuesday, January 22.

To get a ticket, please get in touch with the Homer Lions Club President Pat Gladney or contact the Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation at 1-800-441-LION (5466) for additional tickets. Also, tickets can be purchased at www.LionsRaffle.org.

Gospel benefit to aid pastor in need

The Guardian-Journal

A gospel benefit musical will be conducted to help out a pastor in need.

The benefit will be for Pastor DaVince Taylor who needs a costly medical procedure due to kidney failure. To be at 6 p.m., Saturday, January 19, at New Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, 2697 Elm Street in Arcadia, all proceeds from the benefit will go towards paying for this procedure.

Taylor reached out recently to students and alumni at Grambling State University to help raise money for this procedure. He was informed that he was experiencing kidney failure in May 2011. He has since undergone dialysis, which he was able to administer at home. But he recently discovered his need for a transplant and has asked for help.

The procedure itself costs $170,000, and with other added expenses, such as medications, transportation and life-long checkups, he, his family and his friends have organized a few fundraisers to help defray the costs. Though insurance is covering the greater cost of the procedure, Taylor still has to pay about 10 percent of the cost.

The GSU alumnus, who is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and a Mason, hopes to not only raise money for his personal procedure, but to raise awareness about kidney diseases and encourage others in the community to become organ donors.

Taylor is the father of a 16-year-old and is married to Shanairy Taylor. He has been fortunate enough to find a donor in his wife. Under normal circumstances, many compatible donors happen to be biological children and not a spouse. Since his wife will be his donor, they will both have to undergo specific preparations and will both be in surgery at approximately the same time.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to find a match in my spouse,” Taylor said, “so I guess I married the right woman.”

The DaVince Taylor Donation Fund has been set up at Capital One Bank. For more information, please contact Will Avery II at 318-514-9905.

Police Jury elects officers, sets committees

The Guardian-Journal

The Claiborne Parish Police Jury took care of some yearly agenda items that come up at the beginning of every year, including electing officers, choosing committee members and so on.

The first item on the regular agenda was to choose committee members, and they were approved as follows:

Buildings and Grounds Committee: Robert “Bob” McDaniel, chair, Joe Sturges, W. Lavelle Penix, Roy Mardis and D’Arcy Stevens

Claims Committee: Sturges, chair, McDaniel, Penix and Stevens

Finance Committee: Mark Furlow, chair, Jerry Adkins, Roy Lewis and the Rev. Willie Young

Garage Committee: Penix, chair, Stevens, Furlow, McDaniel and Mardis

Grants Committee: Mardis, chair, Young, Lewis and Adkins

Housing Committee: This committee is comprised of the police jury as a whole

Personnel Committee: Young, chair, Sturges, Stevens, Furlow and Lewis

Road Committee: This committee is comprised of the police jury as a whole

In other news, the jury also set meeting dates for the year, which will be the first Wednesday of each month following the first Sunday.

The jury also adopted its operating budget for the year 2013. The budget is available for public view at the police jury office. Also adopted was the North LA Criminalistics Laboratory operating budget as required by state law. No funds come from the police jury; all funds are collected from the fines and fees from the sheriff’s office. The police jury must approve it each year, because it is required by state law.

Also approved was $1,107.69 to go along with grant monies used by the Claiborne Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for the purchase of narrow banding radios for the parish. OHSEP is using grant monies ($8,767.31) to replace the repeater at the Corney Tower location and the purchase of 13 mobile radios. According to a letter from OHSEP Director Dennis Butcher, this will bring the parish into compliance with the federally mandated Narrow-Banding project.

The total cost is $9,875.

Also adopted was Resolution 2013-001, “A Resolution of Support for the FY 2012-2013 Community Enrichment Fund Grant” due on January 25.

The police jury also approved a recommendation from its engineering firm to accept the lowest bid from Garcia Construction for exterior repairs to the Claiborne Parish Courthouse in the amount of $22,000.

In its recommendation from the buildings and grounds committee, a discussion to move Alma Malone’s office took place, in which a request was made to move her office to the police jury complex. However, jury discussion revealed that her office could not be moved to the police jury building, and the only option available is the old police jury building upstairs from the Clerk of Court’s office. Also, District Attorney Jonathan Stewart requested office space for its investigators and will be offered the same option.

In the garage committee recommendations, several items were on the agenda were approved, including:

• to purchase a three-quarter ton crew cap Dodge pick up under state contract for $23,434

• to let for bid the purchase of a Komatsu Loader, estimated cost approximately $135,000 to $150,000,

• to purchase, on a piggy-back contract through the City of Alexandria an F-750 dump truck with a six to eight yard dump bed at an estimated cost of $69,930,

• to purchase under state contract, a John Deere 5055E 4x4 tractor with loader at an estimated cost of $26,295,

• to purchase a John Deere x300 commercial riding mower (to come from buildings and grounds fund) at an estimated cost of $2,500.

All these items were approved for 2013.

Two trucks will be turned in for the Dodge truck. Those trucks, declared surplus, are: a 2003 F-150 extended cab pickup with 153,000 miles and an F-150 regular cab pickup with 160,000 miles.

The jury also discussed using Mt. Olive’s auctions as a third party agent for the surplus of these vehicles, pending the approval of the jury’s auditor. This item was approved by the jury.

The next police jury meeting will be at 9 a.m., Wednesday, February 6, at the police jury complex in the meeting room. For more information, or for questions, please call their office at 318-927-2222.

Claiborne Parish tourism initiative is underway

JIMMY DEAN, Feature Writer

The Claiborne Chamber of Commerce has put together an assortment of materials to highlight where to go and what to do and see in Claiborne Parish. “Whether you’re a visitor or a local resident, Claiborne Parish has a driving tour CD set that you will find interesting,” says John Watson, Executive Director of the Chamber.

“The CD is one part of a major initiative aimed at helping others see and appreciate what is wonderful about Claiborne Parish,” Watson notes.

Asked what else is a part of the initiative, Watson explains that a colorful tourism brochure has been prepared. In addition,  there is a new website www.claiborneparishtourism.org.

Also, a cemetery brochure includes a map of the parish with the locations of 156 cemeteries in the parish or within a few miles of the parish line.

Finally, television ads have appeared describing Claiborne Parish as a desirable tourist destination.

Describing the tourism brochure, Watson says it highlights points of interest in Homer, Haynesville, Athens, Lisbon, Summerfield, and other areas of Claiborne Parish. It points out that 10 buildings in the parish are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The brochure includes pictures of the Claiborne Parish Courthouse, Herbert S. Ford Museum, Lisbon’s Killgore House, the mural on the west wall of Haynesville’s Killgore Pharmacy,  Homer’s Old Town Cemetery, the Hill Farm, Summerfield’s Alberry Wasson House, and Lake Claiborne.

The cover of the “Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, Cemetery Guide” notes that it is intended to be “A guide to finding the resting places of your ancestors.” A brief description gives directions for each of the 156 cemeteries There is also a map in the brochure marking the approximate location of each.

The new tourism website, www.claiborneparishtourism.org, describes Lake Claiborne State Park and lists local lodging such as Panther Creek Bed and Breakfast at Summerfield and Lake Claiborne Vacation Cottage on Harmon Loop.

The website describes “eateries” such as the Rebel Stop and Moon’s toward Summerfield, Port-au-Prince on Lake Claiborne, Sunrise Bakery and Restaurant and Homer Seafood and Pizza as well as Yesterday’s Grill in Haynesville.

Highlights related to Homer, Haynesville, Lisbon, Athens, Summerfield, and the parish’s historic cemeteries are all mentioned on the website.

Some parish events are plugged including the Butterfly Festival, the Claiborne Jubilee, the 4th of July Fireworks and Boat Parade, Lake Claiborne Antique Auto and Bike Show, and the Christmas Festival.

The set consists of two CDs with 41 tracks of information highlighting areas of interest around the parish. For only $3 visitors or local residents can learn things about Claiborne Parish that’s not in the history books, stories passed down from grandparents to grandchildren that has become the stuff of local legend and lore.

Of course, the internet website is free as is the tourism brochure. With the cemetery guide available for $1 and the driving CD sets for $3, the whole tourism package is available for $4, a token cost to cover expenses of production.

Many local citizens donated many hours to the brochures, the cemetery guide, the driving CDs, and the website.

Brochures and CD sets are available at the following locations:

* The Grapevine

* Port-au-Prince Restaurant

* Killgore's Pharmacy & Gift Shop

* The Rebel Stop

* Claiborne Parish Library

* Delta Interiors

* The Chamber Office at Ford Museum

Brochures only are available at the following:

* Courtyard Florist

* Lake Claiborne State Park

* Haynesville City Hall

* The Guardian-Journal

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