Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Dale Skinner who represents District 9 – made up of Wards 7 and 9 on the Sabine Parish School Board, said the Board passed a resolution at its Dec. 13 meeting meant to stop him from coaching the Pleasant Hill basketball team. Skinner has been at odds with Supt. Sara Ebarb and most of the Board members for years. He was not present for the Dec. 13 meeting, nor the previous meeting.
The motion was entitled “School Volunteers” and the part concerning Skinner read, “…no School Board member shall volunteer in any role, capacity or position which shall place the School Board member in a supervisory role over employees or students in extracurricular or cocurricular activities, such as clubs, spirit groups or athletic teams. School Board members may not serve as volunteer coaches, assistant coaches or sponsors for such activities.”
Skinner, who is a longtime coach and former Natchitoches Parish Superintendent, said Pleasant Hill Principal Jared Rivers and Coach Tyler Johnson asked him to help out. He said he started coaching when basketball season started, and two years ago he coached throughout the season with no problems. “If there was a problem, why didn’t they say something when the season started?” he asked.
“The team needed discipline when I started,” Skinner stated. “I told them they were going to have to come to practice, work hard and do right.”
Skinner said he sent Supt. Ebarb and Board President Terrell Snelling of Converse a requested for information. “I wanted to know who put it on the agenda, but they wouldn’t tell me,” Skinner added. “They passed this motion strictly to go after me.” He said Spencer Faust, District 3, and Kowonno Greene, District 4, were not present for the meeting. Skinner said he understood that Pleasant Hill Chief of Police Ray Williams and some other parents had complained to the Board about him coaching.
Skinner pointed out he has been coaching over 50 years, including at Northwestern and McNeese. He boasted that a team he coached won the state championship and that most of his seasons were winning seasons. He said he coached Johnny Jones at DeRidder, who went on to be head basketball coach at LSU, Mike Sanders of DeRidder who went into the pros and Dave Simmons, who coached at Northwestern.
Skinner pointed out he is 82 years old, is volunteering his time at no cost to the school system, and said he was putting in as much time as if he was head coach. “I don’t know of any complaints against me,” he remarked. “The kids were great after I worked out the discipline problems.” And he said before he got stopped, he had a winning season going.
Skinner said he talked with Supt. Ebarb about the matter, and she told him the only thing he could do was sit in the stands like any other spectator.
Observations contacted Supt. Ebarb, and she said the Board had received complaints about Skinner “taking over the coaching job” from parents at Pleasant Hill. She said she did not have the matter put on the agenda; that it came from some board members. She did not name them.
We wish everyone a very Happy New Year! We thank our faithful readers for sticking with us. It is hard to believe next year will be the 65th year that Observations has been published in some form. That’s a whole lot of news, views, facts and opinions.
May your upcoming year be blessed and bright and filled with God’s blessings. We wish you good health, happiness, plenty enough to share and fond memories yet to be made.
A former resident of Zwolle was arrested after confronting a man accused of killing her teen daughter. Darci Bass, the mother of the late Livye Lewis, 19, confronted her daughter’s alleged killer, Matthew Hoy Edgar, 24, inside a Hemphill convenience store on Monday, Dec. 20.
The events surrounding Lewis’ death unfolded when Deputies were called for assistance near Hemphill on Oct. 31, 2020. They initially thought they were responding to a two-vehicle accident but found Lewis had been shot to death.
Authorities then arrested Edgar on a felony murder charge. He was initially ordered to be held without bond, but that was changed when State District Judge Craig Mixson set bond at $50,000 in April of this year and Edgar was released.
After the confrontation with Edgar last week, Ms. Bass admitted on social media to assaulting Edgar and damaging his vehicle as he was leaving the store. Edgar filed charges against her, and Ms. Bass was arrested Dec. 20 on charges of Assault and Criminal Mischief.
About a dozen people protested outside the Sabine County Jail as Darci turned herself in, accompanied by her sister, Tonia Bass. However, a scuffle broke out as that was happening. Tonia Bass ended up on the floor writhing in pain, and she was taken away by ambulance.
According to Sheriff Tom Maddox, Darci Bass arrived at the jail thinking she could see a judge and immediately bond out. He said when she was told a judge would not be in for arraignments until the next morning, she said, “I’ll come back later” and tried to leave. Maddox said, “It doesn’t work that way. When you have warrants for your arrest, we can’t just let you leave and come back when you want to.” He said it is his understanding that a jailer or deputy took Darci by the arm and pulled her into the jail. As that was happening, Tonia Bass ended up on the floor complaining of an injured leg.
Come the end of this month, Sabine Schools Supt. Dr. Sara Ebarb will retire after serving 10 years. “It has been the greatest honor of my career to serve as superintendent in my home (and beloved) Sabine Parish,” she told Observations. “It has been a privilege to live and work in Sabine Parish.”
She continued, “The Lord has allowed me to serve children and youth through my career and this has been a great blessing to me. I love the people with whom I have worked in both Caddo and Sabine and have made lasting friendships. The parish agencies have all been very supportive of our schools and I am thankful for their assistance. I thank the Sabine Parish School Board Members who have supported me, our staff and students and for the opportunity lead this district. I thank the Lord for the career opportunities I’ve had, and I pray His continued blessings on Sabine Parish Schools. I want to thank my family and friends for their prayers, encouragement and support and I look forward to retiring with my husband of 37 years, Ronnie, and doing some traveling.”
The latest District and School Performance Scores in 2018-19 under Supt. Ebarb shows the District performance at Many High, Negreet and Zwolle High rated A; Converse, Ebarb, Florien and Pleasant Hill rated B and Many Elementary, Many Junior High and Zwolle Elementary rated a C. Sabine ranked fourth out of the 10 districts in the Central Region. Sabine ranked 18th in the top 20 highest performing districts in the state. In addition, Sabine was named Outstanding School System ranking in the Top 10 for student growth and ranked second in the Central Region.
Also for 2019, Sabine ranked second in the Central Region for student growth. The parish ranked among the top 25 districts and ranked third in the Central Region with the highest percentage of graduates earning early college credit and/or statewide credentials in 2019. Sabine ranked first in the Central Region in the percentage of students earning Top Growth in math, ranked first in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students earning Top Growth in ELA and Math combined and ranked second in the percentage of both students with disabilities and African American students earning Top Growth in ELA and math combined.
“I have enjoyed the staff and students in every position I have held in Caddo and Sabine,” Dr. Ebarb stated. “The ACLU lawsuit was certainly a low point in my career, but the assault case of MHS was the worst point. I am thankful to our Lord for getting me through it all and continuing to bless our schools and endeavors. I have spent a lot of time praying during my tenure as Superintendent and as an educator.”
J. J. Blake and the folks at Community Bank are eagerly waiting for the completion of their new building on San Antonio Ave. in Many. And it’s been a long wait, but hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel. At any rate, J. J. (pictured at right), and all the gang wish everyone a Happy New Year. Members of the flock, counter-clockwise from top, are Destiny Sepulvado, Shelli Dockens, Alexis Ross (Toledo Bend office), Tracy Garcie (Toledo Bend Branch Manager), Pam Meshell and Jasmine Graves.
I had a surprise phone call recently from Bluegrass music legend and long-time friend James Monroe, son of Bill Monroe, known world-wide as “The Father of Bluegrass Music.” James had one of the top groups in bluegrass, “The Bluegrass Ramblers,” until he retired about 10 years ago. He was in the business for 33 years.
On March 10, 1968, Don Lyons of KWLA Radio and I booked Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys at the Many High School Auditorium. We had an overflow crowd, and this was the first time I met James. He was then playing bass for his daddy.
We received so many good comments that I booked them back again on June 8, 1968 at Many High School and the following day at the Memorial Day program at Rebel Park.
From Nov. 24-28, 1968, Bill and his group came down and spent a week with us. I had booked them shows at Ft. Polk, Alexandria Coliseum, Fairview Alpha, Blue’s in Bossier City, Lake Club near Campti and at the Mt. Carmel School Auditorium. And on that Tuesday, they played for their lunch at a meeting of the Many Lions Club.
On April 5, 1974, Bill brought the “Bluegrass Spectacular” to Many High. In the meantime, James had moved from bass to guitar and vocalist and by then, had his own band. They were part of the group as were Bobby Smith and the Boys from Shiloh and Clyde Moody.
Bill and James appeared at Dickie Dickerson’s Red River Bluegrass Festival near Coushatta on June 22-24, 1978. On March 3, 1979, they brough their Bluegrass Special show to Marthaville School Auditorium along with the Sullivan Family. They performed again there on March 1, 1980.
On Sept. 9, 1996, Bill Monroe died at the age of 84 and was buried in his hometown of Rosine, KY. Dr. Joe McFerrin and I attended a Bluegrass Festival at the old Monroe Homeplace near Rosine on Aug. 28-Sept. 2. There I renewed friendship with James, and he donated a suit owned by his father to go in the Robert Gentry Museum, which was here in Many at the time. When Laurie and I attended the annual Bluegrass festival at Rosine a few years back, I introduced Laurie to James and he remarked, “Boy, you sure married above yourself.”
Steve and Phyllis Birdwell, Laurie and I visited Rosine back in early September. We went by the old, restored Monroe homeplace on Jerusalem Ridge and to the Bill Monroe Museum in Rosine. It was fun to see that they have displayed the large certificate I secured in 1968 from then-Gov. John McKeithen naming Bill a Louisiana Colonel.
Bill’s uncle was Pendleton Vandiver, who was an old-time fiddle player. Bill wrote a hit song about him called “Uncle Pen,” which Ricky Skaggs also took later during his Country music career and made another hit out of it in 1984.
While there, we visited a recreation of Uncle Pen’s cabin on the spot it once stood. They nice lady on staff at the cabin told us that James owned the land and cabin and had the new cabin built. I asked her if James ever came up to visit and she said he did. I told her I was an old friend and to ask him to call sometime.
A few weeks later James called, and I was so happy to visit with him. He said he recreated the Uncle Pen cabin as a memorial to both his father and Uncle Pen. It was so good to talk to James, and we plan to visit with him in person the next time we are up Nashville way.
WE GET LETTERS: a note from our good friend Ronald Byrd of South Boston, VA follows.
“Ted nailed it, but the lack of common sense in the lefties is obvious. When the world listens to the teenage St. Greta [dramatic Swedish patron saint of the Church of Climate Change] like she actually knows something about the environment, we are in trouble. A good trend is the continuing loss of confidence in the media. Used to be, we trusted their writings as facts. Today, everyone knows they’re out of control liars and worse. Fortunately, Fauci and Biden will solve lots of problems for us. They will drive former Democrats and independents en masse to give Republicans strong control of the House and Senate next year. Two years after that, the presidency will be up for grabs and Biden’s failures will hurt his party badly. There’s hope, but a terrible lot of damage will be done the next three years even without the House and Senate being controlled by the Dems. Be patient.”
WATCH FOR IT: Sabine Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sara Ebarb is retiring the end of this month, ending a 10-year tenure. Next week’s Observations will feature Dr. Ebarb, her background, her work history and her accomplishments as Sabine Superintendent. Be sure to read next week’s column for her story.
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