Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The State Attorney General’s office filed indictments against two persons after a Sabine Grand Jury issued two True Bills.

John Anthony “Jay” Booker of Many was indicted on two counts of Indecent behavior with a juvenile. He was a teacher at Many Junior High School and was later transferred to the SPARKS School.

Norman Ural Booker III, principal at Many High School, was indicted on five counts. They were Sexual battery, Oral sexual battery, two counts of Indecent behavior with juveniles, and one count of Misdemeanor sexual battery.

Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett recused himself from these two cases, thus the reason they were handled by the Attorney General.

We recently enjoyed a visit with Carl Derrick of Bossier City, who is a native of Converse. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Coleman Derrick. He was graduated from High School there and attended Northwestern. He served in the Air Force for four years, including service at Viet Nam.

Moving to Shreveport in order to find employment, he was a Senior Title Administrator for United Title where he worked for 14 years. In addition, he held a Real Estate Broker’s license for 25 years.

He recently donated to Observations several important historical documents that he inherited when Ms. Sara Derrick Crump passed on. Carl was the sole heir when Ms. Crump died, and he received a lot of very interesting items that she had kept through the years. Her father was Sam Holliday Derrick.

We told Mr. Derrick after we finish looking at the items, we will pass them on to Many Mayor Ken Freeman for inclusion in the museum currently underway for Many.

The most interesting item is a legal document dated Oct. 8, 1872 concerning the voting rights in Sabine Parish for John B. Martin. He was born in Texas in 1840 and later moved to Sabine Parish. The document listed his occupation as a farmer. The certificate was signed by J. J. Carter, Supervisor of Registration for Sabine Parish.

Included was a 20-page booklet, with many photos, entitled “The Death and Autopsy of Bonnie and Clyde,” published in 1990 by Carroll Y. Rich. The collection included World War II Ration Books with stamps issued to Sallie E. Martin of Zwolle. There are two Bank of Zwolle notes in the collection. One is dated Dec. 20, 1915 for $101.50 to Sallie Martin; the other is dated Dec. 20, 1918 and is for $100 to B. A. Meshell.

Another item of interest is a 1939 Application for Homestead Exemption filed by G. T. and Mary Derrick of Converse. There is a tax receipt dated April 20, 1914 for the J. R. Martin Estate signed by Sheriff T. J. Cranford. There is an invoice from Carroll and Stephens General Merchandise in Zwolle dated April 6, 1915. There is a promissory note from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Sallie Martin McFillen for $75 dated April 21, 1931. In addition, there is correspondence to Sallie Martin from Great Southern Life Insurance Co. of Houston dated March 5, 1925.

Our long-time, good friend Pete Abington recently celebrated writing his column for The Sabine Index for the past 25 years. Time really flies when you’re having fun and Pete has had fun and done a good job of keeping the public informed on many important matters. The title of his column is “Speaking Out For Louisiana Citizens.”

I called Pete recently to congratulate him on this milestone and he recalled how the column started. Twenty-five years ago, I owned the Index. He recalled that he and I had gone to Baton Rouge to see Mike Smith of Winnfield sworn in as State Senator. Pete said he had wanted to run for Senator that term, but before doing so had found out he lived just outside the boundaries of the district. Pete wanted to run for several offices during his lifetime, but he felt the timing was just never right.

Anyway, on our journey back home that day, we were talking about his interest in politics, and I suggested he write a weekly column for the Index just to keep his finger in the political pie. 

He agreed and that’s how it all started. And 25 years later, it is still going. Congratulations and best wishes again, Pete.

UPDATE: Observations received this response to our earlier article regarding the leak at the corner of Trace and Buvens Streets.

“We are well aware of the water leak on Trace Street. We have had to order parts to fix the old shut off valves, and they should be here early next week. As soon as the parts arrive, rest assured our water crew will be out to remedy the situation. This will correct the problem and isolate the area so that repairs can be done to fix the leak. Our goal is to make the necessary repairs without having to drain the entire town of water, which [would] come at a tremendous loss and cost. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to correct this issue.” – Ken Freeman, Mayor

LT. GOV. BILLY NUNGESSER DINES AT BAYOU CRAWFISH

Jennifer Anderson was pleased to have Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser as a guest for lunch on Tuesday, Feb. 2, at Bayou Crawfish in Many. The Lieutenant Governor came to Sabine Parish to make several presentations.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nunguesser said he looked forward to enjoying a specialty of the house, Crawfish Cornbread, as he dined at Bayou Crawfish. He told owner Jennifer Anderson that he had heard Tedd Dumas talk about it so much on the radio, that he had to try it for himself. The guy who writes Observations and Tedd were happy to break bread with the Lieutenant Governor at the restaurant.

Nungesser made it clear during his visit to Many that the resources of his office are available to help small Louisiana towns survive and thrive, especially during the ongoing pandemic. He offered to locals the opportunity to meet with staff and learn the best ways to promote this area, and how to best make use of today’s social media advantages.

Anderson and others look forward to following up with the Lieutenant Governor to be sure our local area garners all the attention possible to promote tourism and stimulate business.

Local community leader Mary Perry is in the race for Town of Many Alderman, Dist. A, and she recently stopped in to visit with Observations about her campaign. Though we have been friends with Mrs. Perry for years, we got the opportunity to know her better during our visit and learn why she has decided to run for elected office.

Mary is a Sabine native, born in Converse to the Rev. Lee and Mrs. Rachel Collier on Jan. 3, 1956.

After graduating from Florien High School, she moved to Shreveport, and was graduated from Ayres School of Business in 1975. During her time there, she also studied at Southern University to earn a Teaching Certificate. Perry worked with Preschool and then with handicapped students at Linwood Middle School for 13 years while living in Shreveport.

“I moved back home after that,” she shared. “I had become single, and I wanted to come back home and raise my four girls here, where I was born and raised. I wanted them to grow up in a country town because a big city is kind of fast, and I wanted my girls to be around family here as they grew up.”

After returning to the area, in 1995 Mary went to work at KFC, which had a location in Many at the time, eventually managing the restaurant for three years.

“I’ve worked with the public the majority of the years I have been back home,” Perry explained. “Ms. Katherine Smith gave me a chance at KFC, so I always tried to hire a lot of people who needed help, and give them a chance, just like I was given a chance. I love to help people and make people happy.”

After the closure of KFC, Mary went to work for Gene Smith at Many Ford.

“When I walked through the door and asked Mr. Smith for a job, he said, ‘If you can sell chicken, you can sell cars!’” Mary laughed. “He gave me a chance and I started there,” she said. She later moved to Natchitoches Ford, working there until about 2011. Perry came back to Many to join the Foy Motors team in 2012.

After learning how active she was in the community and at her church, Foy General Manager Robert Hable encouraged Mary to get involved with Rotary. She recalled he asked, “Why don’t you join Rotary? You would be an inspiration.”

“I joined the Rotary Club, and I was so active with them in the community that they asked if I would serve as president. So, in 2019 and 2020, I became the first Black president of Rotary in Many’s history, and in fact, was the first Black to join the Rotary Club here. I love the Rotary and will continue to serve as a Rotarian.”

After 25 years in the car business, Mary Perry retired last week on Feb. 5. On Thursday of last week, Foy gave her a big sendoff, celebrating her many talents and devotion to the company’s success.

Though she has now officially entered retirement, Perry has no plans to quit serving the public.

“I still love helping people and working with the public,” she said. “I want to continue that work.”

She continues to serve as Secretary and Sunday School teacher at Redland Baptist Church in Negreet, and has served on several Town of Many committees including chairing and organizing the Black Heritage Festival for Juneteenth.

“Every time something was going on, they would call me and ask if I wanted to help, and I would always say ‘yes.’ I never turned anyone down,” Perry said.

Mary is on the board of Project Celebration, which runs the local Taylor House shelter for abused women, and on the board of Sabine Council on Aging, as well as serving on the Advisory Committee for Sabine Medical Center.

She is a member of the Town Zoning Commission. In addition, Perry has been a part of the Many Cultural District Advisory Committee since its beginning, working with that group to help bring music, culture, movies and family-friendly entertainment and activities to Sabine. During various years, she has participated on the Town of Many Christmas Committee to plan the annual Christmas parade and promote local holiday events.

“If I am elected, Number One on my agenda will be something for our youth to do. I’m really interested in helping the next mayor make that a priority. I want to help find some kind of recreation for our young people to engage in to lessen the chances of them turning to the wrong things,” Perry said.

For two years, she sponsored a feeding program for Thanksgiving, and she remains concerned about those who do not have enough to eat. “I would love to see some kind of food shelter set up for families who may be underprivileged,” Perry explained. “I would like to get more involved with the type program Rep. Schamerhorn sometimes does, where families can get food. Unfortunately with his effort, sometimes families don’t know about it until after it’s too late to participate.”

Another primary concern is Many’s water supply. “I’d like to help work to find a solution for our water to appear cleaner. Even though we are assured it is safe, it would be nice to bathe in nice, clean-looking water,” Perry said.

Perry has a great family and many friends who are enthusiastically supporting her in this endeavor. They include husband of 18 years, Bobby Perry, her brother Robert Collier, her adult daughters, 8 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Perry may be reached at (318) 508-2911. She encourages everyone to be sure they are registered to vote and she asks all residents of District A to vote Mary Perry for Town of Many Alderman on March 20, 2021.

Last, but not least, we want to wish all of our readers a very Happy Valentine’s Day! On this special day, which is upcoming on Sunday, we wish you everything that makes you happiest. We love what we do because of people like you. Thank you for faithfully reading!

That will do it for this tenth day of February. We will see you next week!

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