Wednesday, June 16, 2021

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church will kick off the celebration of its 150th anniversary on Sunday, June 27, with a Mass of Thanksgiving at 11:00 a.m. followed by an anniversary luncheon.

Honored guests for the occasion include Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States and Bishop Francis Malone of the Diocese of Shreveport.

Archbishop Pierre is the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States, and his visit to such a small, rural town is considered a great honor.

St. John’s Historical Roots

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was established by Father Francois LeVezouet of Brittany, France as a permanent mission in 1871. Father LeVezouet oversaw the construction of a frame church building and church cemetery, the acquisition of land for the residence of a priest, and the installation of the church’s first resident pastor, Father J. A. Aubree. 

When Shreveport became the center of one of the worst Yellow Fever outbreaks in United States history in 1873, Father LeVezouet was summoned from his outpost in Natchitoches to Shreveport to administer the Sacraments to the sick and dying in that community. Father LeVezouet eventually fell ill himself and died on October 8, 1873. Canonization efforts are currently underway for Father LeVezouet and four other priests who died during the Yellow Fever epidemic. More information about the Yellow Fever Priests may be found at www.shreveportmartyrs.org.

150th Anniversary Celebration

The celebration on June 27 will begin at 10:30 a.m. with recitation of the Holy Rosary. Mass will follow at 11 a.m. In anticipation of an overflow crowd, Mass will be simulcast to an overflow tent in the parking lot on the north side of St. John’s Catholic School.

A luncheon on the church grounds will follow in the afternoon, with an opportunity for parishioners and community members to enjoy a meal, explore a church history exhibit, and share their memories of St. John’s Church and School.

The church has celebratory events planned throughout 2021, including a summer speaker series in July, a fishing tournament in September, and a St. John’s School reunion in October. The calendar of events can be found at the church’s website, www.stjohnmany.org/anniversary.

The current pastor, Father Francis Kamau, invites the community to participate in the anniversary festivities. “We are very excited to celebrate 150 years at our church and want everyone to join us for our big day,” he said.

Shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday as this week’s Observations was going online, a man was shot on Beaver Pond Rd. off Pump Station Rd. south of Many. Sabine Sheriff Aaron Mitchell, Detectives and Deputies responded to the scene to investigate.

Initial reports indicate that Stan Self shot his brother, Jimmy Don Self, with a .357 revolver after an argument over a tractor. Jimmy was flown to Rapides Regional Medical Center by Air EVAC with non-life-threatening injuries.
Stan was booked into the Sabine Parish Detention Center for Attempted 2nd Degree Murder.

No bond has been set at this time.

Congratulations to Alyssa Simmons Elledge, who has been named principal of the Summerfield Elementary School in Shreveport. She is a native of Many and the daughter of Attorney and Mrs. Ken Simmons. We will have a detailed story about her next week.

Ladonta Deshannon Carter, 23, who was considered armed and dangerous, was captured last week by the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Department. He was wanted on two counts of Attempted Second Degree Murder, two counts of Aggravated Battery, Aggravated Assault with a Firearm, Probation Violation and Failure to Appear for a hearing for Child Support. In addition, he was also a suspect in several other serious felony crimes recently.

Carter was apprehended after a traffic stop in DeSoto Parish. He will be transferred to Sabine after he is bonded out on the DeSoto charges.

According to Jeff “Gilligan” Davidson, Police Juror from Dist. 5, the Sabine Police Jury in its meeting Wednesday will vote on purchasing equipment which he says can be used to rebuild all parish roads and rights-of-way for the “first time in years.” The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the Courthouse and interested persons are invited to attend.

On the agenda for consideration is the purchase of an Asphalt Zipper Machine, Ditching Machine, tractor, operation agreement for a front-end loader and hiring a three-man crew to operate the equipment.

“Drainage is the main reason the roads are in the condition they are in, and we will never be able to have good roads without proper drainage,” he commented. “The Zipper will be the tool needed to properly start a sound base on all roads and [for] getting rid of the potholes that return after every rain.”

It was a great time at Siloam Baptist Church Sunday, June 13, as the congregation recognized area law enforcement. Pastor Tony Anthony emphasized the importance of supporting law enforcement and how vital they are to keeping our community safe. The youth at Siloam presented goodie bags and a note of thanks to the deputies in attendance.

Sheriff Mitchell told the congregation what the Sabine Sheriff’s Department has accomplished during his first year in office. He pledged he will continue to investigate and arrest the drug dealers in Sabine, as well as persons who commit other crimes.

Sheriff Mitchell said his office wanted to humbly thank Brother Anthony and members of the church for their kindness and support. “We do not expect praise or recognition in this profession, but it is rewarding to receive a ‘thank you’ for the job we all love to do,” he commented.

Northwestern State University President Dr. Chris Maggio will be honored with a reception from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23, in the Orville Hanchey Gallery. He will retire effective June 30 after more than 30 years of service to Northwestern. Dr. Maggio served under four different presidents.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from NSU in 1985, his master’s from NSU in 1991 and his doctorate from Grambling State University in 2002.

Dr. Maggio is a lifelong resident of Natchitoches. He taught and coached two years at St. Mary’s Catholic School before becoming an assistant track and field and cross-country coach at Northwestern in 1988. In addition, he has served NSU as Head Women’s Track and Field and Cross-Country Coach, Assistant Athletic Director, Director of Admissions, Director of Enrollment Services, Director of Alumni and Development, Dean of Students and Assistant Provost, Assistant Vice-President of External Affairs and Vice-President for the Student Experience.

WE GET LETTERS. This one is from Derek Cambell of Belmont:  “Finding out about Norman Booker not having bond raised nor revoked is a slap in the face to the women that made the claims. Just proves that Sabine Parish is a freaking joke! Best advice I can give young people just graduating high school is to GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS CROOKED PLACE!  NOTHING GOOD COMES OUT OF HERE.”

It is strange.  I have a smart phone that is a “smart aleck.” Several times, seemingly on its own, it has dialed Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett. As soon as I see what is going on, I try to stop the call, but am not always successful. I know how busy Don is and don’t want to bother him. Sometimes he calls me back asking, “Did you just try to call me?”

Then Saturday, it went absolutely crazy. It sent a message to Brad Ford, who works here at the radio station. The message was an unintelligible jumble of letters and numbers. Though I do often text, I have never sent Brad a message before, so don’t know how that happened.

On Saturday, the phone also started taking photos – all by itself. Anyway, I told my 14-year-old grandson, Carson Sepulvado, about the problem and he fixed it.

Sabine’s Chief Deputy Brad Walker just keeps on keeping on. This week 42 law enforcement officers from several different states are in interview and interrogation classes all week at Cypress Bend. Dr. Stephen Rhodes, who is highly regarded in this field, is teaching the classes.

The classes are sponsored by the U. S. Attorney’s Office in Shreveport. The Sabine Sheriff’s Office has found that Cypress Bend is a wonderful place to hold seminars. He talked to the folks in the Attorney’s Office, they came down and looked, were pleased, and that’s where it’s going on this week, with maybe more such meetings to come.

Nothing new about the theft of a trailer loaded with pipe stolen from a well location on Woods Road off Houston Spur Road near Converse. It was stolen within the last three weeks or so. The 35-foot gooseneck trailer was loaded with about 53 joints of 2 3/8-inch pipe, 65 joints of 5/8-inch rods and a 40-ft. pole with a meter base and a breaker box.

If anyone has any information, please contact Detective Coby Lang at (318) 590-9475. If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at (318) 256-4511 or submit a tip through the Sabine Sheriff’s App.

Our longtime friend and local historian Rickey Robertson filmed a TV segment on Monday, June 14, with veteran TV journalist Dave McNamara for the “Heart of Louisiana” television show. The episode, “The Last Buffalo/Last Buffalo Hunter in Louisiana,” has Robertson taking McNamara to the grave of L. C. Curbey, who killed the last buffalo in Louisiana, and who wanted to be buried where he killed the beast. McNamara has explored Louisiana for over 30 years, visiting interesting people and locations that are unique to the Bayou State.

It was Curbey’s wish to be buried at the spot where he killed the last buffalo in the state, near his Kisatchie Forest farm, and that’s where Robertson guided McNamara for the “Last Buffalo Hunter” feature. Curbey died in 1897 of “rheumatism.” He was buried in the spot he requested.

Rickey has promised to let Observations know when this episode is to air, so be sure to check our weekly articles to see an update on it. “The Heart of Louisiana” is broadcast on KSLA, Shreveport; KALB, Alexandria; KNOE, Monroe; KPLC, Lake Charles; WAFB, Baton Rouge; and WVUE, New Orleans.

We much appreciate Rickey Robertson’s preservation of local history through his writing, cultural tours and other endeavors. He knows the heritage of this area forward and backward, and we are all much richer for his work in the field.

Ronny’s Remarks:  Some weeks back Observations carried a letter from Joey Harris of Vernon Parish who wrote about the educational system in Texas which teaches the college bound students one way and those who don’t wish to attend college in a different way. 

Concerning that, Ronny Byrd, an Observations reader in New Boston, VA, wrote:  “Love that Texas solution to education.  They’re way ahead, not just of Louisiana, but the rest of the USA as well. That thinking that everybody should prepare for college was, from the very first, simply stupid. We need plumbers worse than Gender Studies college degrees, don’t we?”

Folks in Marthaville continue to be up in arms about the Natchitoches Parish School Board’s plan to build a new school to serve the western part of the parish. Board plans call for the school to be constructed just west of Natchitoches.

Randall “Fuzzy” Hennigan of Marthaville was granted a temporary 10-day restraining order by Judge Lala Sylvester preventing the Board from taking action on the matter. On Wednesday a hearing will be held on the matter. Hennigan told Observations that he will present an alternate plan to the School Board’s current published plan and a possible challenge to the law the Board is using. That was all he could comment on at the time.

Donna Dyson-Horn, a columnist for the Natchitoches Times, said the Board is after the funds generated in the Marthaville School District and that folks have threatened to vote against a tax renewal should the school be built near Natchitoches.

She commented:  “We told them that. We did everything. Lee Waskom is the leader of this pack. He discovered how much money we have, and Supt. Grant Eloi is nothing but a follower. It is always about Natchitoches and our School Board Member is no better. Never has this ever happened. So uncalled for and, of course, we will pay in the end. We are just praying the Judge will rule for us. The Marthaville school district brings in more money than the Many School District does. We just want to be left alone.”

We have been customers of Suddenlink for internet, cable TV and landline phone service for several years. During the recent bad weather, we lost service of both internet and TV for some days. Our phone service stayed out for well over three months after Hurricane Laura. We called. We wrote. We flagged down their service technicians who sometimes passed through the neighborhood in their service trucks. Never helped a lick. And we continued to write – every month along with our bill payment, but no one ever came to restore service. No one ever called to try to help us get the matter straightened out and maintain us as customers. After it was crystal clear no one was reading our monthly letter, I started deducting the no-service-provided amount from my monthly bills. Sometimes it was the landline, sometimes lack of internet and occasionally, lack of cable TV, and each deduction was sent with a note of explanation, of course.

Well, last week we awakened to no TV. We finally got a recorded message (never could raise a live person) at Suddenlink which relayed that we owed $46.99 “past due” out of a $250-plus monthly bill, and that was the reason our service was cut off. Remember, that amount equaled the exact total of our monthly deductions for various no-service-provided complaints. Anyway, cut off it was. No advance warning. We paid the bill and got TV service back on. But guess what? We will be with a different provider of these services come the end of this month. Good riddance to, as some of our neighbors call it, “Neverlink.”

They were as busy as a hive of bees Tuesday morning at the old Sabine Theater building, now referred to as the Many Community Center. Patrick Paint Co. of Many was giving it a face lift. James Patrick, who was running the show, said they have been in Sabine Parish for about 16 years now. His father, who was not present, is the head man.

A lot of folks thought it would fall in first, but over the past several weeks, the awning at OTASCO in Many has been repaired and is looking good. Larry Campbell runs the business, which he took over from his father, the late O. B. Campbell.

Just in as Observations was getting ready to post, Sabine School Supt. Sara Peace Ebarb announced that she will retire effective Dec. 31. Her complete statement follows:

“After much prayer, deliberation, discussion with my husband and family, I have decided to retire December 31, 2021. My husband is retiring, again, June 30, and he wants me to retire with him. The Lord has blessed me with a long and successful career. There have been some very difficult and challenging times, but most of the time, it has been my joy to be an educator in every capacity in which I have served.

“I thank the Caddo Parish School Board for the 28 years I served there. I learned so much that served me well as a superintendent. Caddo gave me opportunities to grow and develop professionally and afforded me the opportunity to learn from the very best mentors, Albert Hardison, Ollie Tyler and so many others. I made so many friends in Caddo and am forever grateful for my time there.

“It is my strong desire to express to the Sabine Parish School Board, Central Staff, Administration and School Staff that it has been the greatest honor of my career to serve as your superintendent. I am so grateful to have been granted this blessed opportunity for 10 years. I have worked with the best board presidents, Buddy Veuleman, Randy Martin, and Terrell Snelling, and each one has been supportive and always on the side of what is good and right for our students. The board has a heart for our students and staff, and they want Sabine to achieve academically as well as athletically, and in all other extracurricular opportunities. Our board is so proud of their schools and communities, and this is paramount for our parish. I am very grateful! Thank you!

“I have every confidence that Sabine will continue to be a great district, in spite of obstacles that will come. Sabine has great employees, a fine central staff, excellent administrators, great teachers, and wonderful students! Our parish will continue to do well because the people will do well. I will pray for the next leader and their success, and I thank all staff for their fine work.

“I want to thank Sabine Parish for every kindness and support shown to me and to our district, and I want to especially thank Dave Davis at Homeland Security, the Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney, Don Burkett, and his staff, the office of Judge Stephen Beasley, the Police Jury, MPD and Town Council, ZPD and Town Council, local Mayors and local PDs, Sabine Medical Center, local churches, local businesses and other community organizations who work closely with and support our schools. Our schools are dependent on their communities and schools are supported in Sabine Parish.

“I have always had the best secretaries, and I want to thank Mrs. Barbara Allen (retired), Mrs. Janet Elam (retired) and Mrs. Tammy Luster. They are the most wonderful ladies, and I am blessed to have had them in my life.

“Finally, I thank my family for supporting me and putting up with me over the last 10 years. Their love and prayers have sustained me. I am so blessed to have been able to watch my nieces and nephews grow up in our schools. I thank the Lord for his guidance, care and blessings beyond measure! I pray the Lord’s continued blessings on the Sabine Parish School District.

“It is my desire, and in the best interest of the district, that the board take steps to hire a superintendent in the fall, so we have some time to work together and have a seamless transition.

 “May the Lord bless you all! Thank you!” Dr. Ebarb concluded.

Sabine Parish School Board President Terrell Snelling commented, “On behalf of our school board, I sincerely wish Dr. Ebarb a happy and well-deserved retirement. She has served Sabine Parish well and we will all hate to see her go. We thank her for her dedication to children, staff, and our community!”

Movies in Many will observe Juneteenth 2021 with a special showing of the movie “Harriet.” The free movie will begin at the Many Community Center [Sabine Theater] in downtown Many at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 19. 

In honor of Juneteenth, there will also be a guest speaker and some awesome door prizes. Several prizes relate directly to Harriet Tubman’s history.   

Juneteenth commemorates the date – June 19, 1865, two and one-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the end of the Civil War – when hundreds of thousands of enslaved men and women in Texas finally learned they had been freed. Juneteenth is an important milestone in American culture because it celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.      

“Harriet” is a 2019 American biographical film about Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist hero who conducted the Underground Railroad leading hundreds of  slaves to freedom.

The film portrays Tubman’s life story, from her daring escape out of slavery to her role as conductor of the Underground Railroad.

The movie starts with Tubman retrieving a will that states her family should have been freed years ago. But when her husband shows the documentation to her slave owner, Edward Brodess, rather than emancipate the family, Brodess rips up the paper. Soon after, Edward’s son Gideon makes a plan to separate Tubman from her family. The thought of losing her loved ones fuels Tubman’s desire to fight for freedom.

Throughout the film, audiences follow Tubman’s journey toward Philadelphia, where the runaway soon transforms into an iconic hero.  

Born into slavery around 1820, Tubman, also known as “Minty,” had eight siblings and lived in Dorchester County, MD. After getting hit on the head with a two-pound stone, just one of the many violent incidents that happened during her life as a slave, the activist suffered from seizures and intense headaches for years to come. But she was also intensely spiritual and believed that God was speaking to her through these episodes and vivid dreams, as depicted in the film.

In 1849, Tubman made the decision to escape slavery after her master’s death, fearing the possibility of getting separated from her family. Though her two brothers initially set out with her, they got cold feet after Tubman’s owner posted a letter of their escape and put out a reward for them. This left Tubman alone on her journey to freedom. But the activist had heard about the mysterious Underground Railroad, and with the help of individuals involved in the abolitionist movement, she made the 90-mile journey to freedom.

The former slave eventually arrived in Philadelphia, but after working and saving up some money, she planned to return for her family. Eventually, Tubman went on to save not only her loved ones, but scores of others. When the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, making it easier to re-capture recently freed slaves, Tubman even reconfigured the route of the Underground Railroad. Along with liberating former slaves, Tubman contributed to the Civil War and was a cook and nurse for the Union army. More than that, however, she was a spy and continued to help free slaves during the war.

“The Cultural District Advisory Committee is proud to offer this important movie about Harriet Tubman, in observance of Juneteenth, and we hope people will come out and see this very special movie because they will be both entertained and also educated about the significance of Juneteenth and the life of Harriet Tubman,” said Mary Brocato, alderman at large and chairperson of the Cultural District.

The Many Community Center will open its doors at 6:15 p.m. this Saturday. Concessions, theater popcorn and soft drinks, are always available for only $1 each.  Movies are always free and different films are shown twice each month. 

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