Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Two propositions will be on the ballot for Sabine residents in Saturday’s election. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Voters in Police Jury Dist. 5 will cast their ballots on whether to recall Juror Jeff “Gilligan” Davidson. The Citizens for Better Roads in Sabine Parish, led by Pat Scarborough, have conducted a very successful campaign to get rid of Davidson. They got enough names on a petition to have an election to recall him, which in itself is quite a feat.
Voters in Zwolle will cast their ballots of whether to adopt the Lawrason Act of government.
Registrar of Voters Zach Faircloth informs us that as of the close of business Saturday, 46 persons had cast absentee ballots and 92 were early voters, making a total of 138 ballots cast up to that point.
In the Police Jury Dist. 5 recall of Jeff “Gilligan” Davis, there were 78 early voters and 23 cast absentee ballots for a total of 101. There are 1,790 qualified voters in that district.
In the Zwolle election, 23 cast absentee ballots and there were 14 early voters, for a total of 37 votes cast. There are 1,030 qualified electors in Zwolle.
A large, beautiful cross has been erected in Zwolle, and it was dedicated at the end of last month. It is located in the Zwolle City Park by the gazebo about a block from Zwolle City Hall east of downtown between North and South Main Streets.
The cross was first donated to The Rock Church of Zwolle by Christian Cross Ministries. Pastor Darnell Dimmitt of The Rock Church donated it the Zwolle Ministerial Association, and that group gifted it to the Town of Zwolle, who provided a spot for its permanent home in the City Park.
Several area pastors, along with other interested persons, were on hand for the dedication of the cross on Thursday, March 30.
(Special thanks to Martha Henderson for the above information and photos.)
WE GET LETTERS. Here’s the latest from our longtime friend and Observations reader Ronald Byrd of South Boston, VA:
“Robert, that Waco story brought some bad memories back, but Ruby Ridge comes to mind as something similar and the Jan 6th persecutions fit the pattern. The common denominator in all is selective governmental overreach in persecuting conservatives. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago invasion by the Justice Dept and FBI was something unprecedented and then an outlaw DA in NY convinced a grand jury to indict Trump for actions beyond the statutes of limitations. That last is so ridiculous that it will almost certainly be thrown out, but the mainstream media will convince ignorant Democrat voters that it is legitimate and that he should not be elected because he is simply evil. Meanwhile the Bidens’ slimy deals with Ukrainians and Chinese get no coverage, super-liberal Alex Baldwin walks after killing an actress and the Antifa/BLM thugs who rioted every night FOR A YEAR got free passes. Sorry to be so negative, but I’m sick of this. Ronny”
The Stewart Family of Hornbeck and Florien were honored Saturday at the 23rd Annual Scottish Tartan Festival held in Minden. Thomas “Bo” Stewart of Florien carried the Stewart flag to lead the parade, and the Stewart Family was recognized during the day’s activities which were attended by several hundred persons.
In addition, the Willie Stewart Family and Friends band performed two times on the Highland Stage during the day’s program.
Local clan leader Willie Stewart of Hornbeck and his grandson Kelly of Florien participated in the Haggis eating contest. They didn’t win. In fact, I believe Willie was still looking at his after the winner, who ate it in about 30 seconds, was announced.
Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and is a type of pudding comprised of liver, heart and lungs of a sheep (or other animal), minced and mixed with beef or mutton suet and oatmeal and seasoned with onion, cayenne pepper and other spices. The mixture is packed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled.
There were a lot of men walking around in their kilts. We were very disappointed that Willie decided not to wear his. Members of his clan did all sport nice t-shirts designed for the event.
My wife Laurie and I attended services at Pleasant Hill Methodist Church on Sunday. We were impressed with the sermon brought by their pastor, the Rev. Scott Adams, who we understand has served there since January. We also very much enjoyed the piano playing of long-time friend Carol Pattison. In addition, we saw some Pleasant Hill friends, including former Sheriff Guffey Lynn Pattison, whom we had not seen in a long time. Also at the service from Many were former Mayor Ken Freeman and his wife Mary Ellen and Betsy Godfrey.
The matter of churches disaffiliating was brought on by a cultural shift in the United Methodist Church (UMC) decades in the making. Some 25 years ago, a few in church leadership began to disregard portions of the United Methodist Church Book of Doctrine and in the years since, a lack of adherence to certain tenets has grown. Finally, fundamental questions between liberal and conservative viewpoints have trickled down to local congregations, who are having to make the choice of whether to remain affiliated with the UMC, or to disaffiliate and become independent or join another Methodist organization. Some churches are choosing to disaffiliate in anticipation of probable changes to the UMC Book of Doctrine, which are expected to align the church firmly with a more liberal viewpoint.
The First United Methodist Church of Many on Sunday, April 16, voted not to disaffiliate. On the same date, the United Methodist Church in Zwolle voted to disaffiliate.
As of the first of this month, it was estimated by the United Methodist Church that more than 2,000 of about 30,000 congregations around the world have disaffiliated from their organization.
Coach Mike McConathy, candidate for State Senate from Dist. 31, was guest speaker at the Tuesday, April 18, meeting of the Vultures Club in Many.
He told the group that he is for protecting our Christian values and is pro-life. He and wife Connie are members of the First Baptist Church in Natchitoches and for many years he has taught Sunday School there, as well as teaching other faith classes throughout North Louisiana.
The speaker said he is for schools teaching the basics, not being used as social experiments that undermine our values. He said he is for parental control, not political control over classrooms. He also advocated better pay for teachers.
Mike said he is a strong supporter of local law enforcement and police officers. He is pro-second amendment, giving citizens the right to own firearms.
On Tuesday morning, April 25, Mike did his last radio show with Tedd Dumas related to sports. The retired Northwestern State University basketball coach has been doing the popular radio show for about 15 years.
The Senate District is large, covering parts of 10 parishes, including Sabine.
COMING UP: We hear the re-election campaign of Sabine Sheriff Aaron Mitchell is set to officially kick off at a Campaign Rally to be held on Saturday, May 13, at 6 p.m. at the Zwolle Festival Grounds.
“It’s going to be a great night, and I’m looking forward to seeing you there! Thanks so much for your continued support,” the Sheriff shared on his re-election campaign Facebook page shortly after noon on Tuesday.
The event will include door prizes, entertainment and a meal as well as plenty of campaign swag, such as shirts, yard signs and other items for supporters to show their support. Some area campaign veterans say the best show of support people could make are campaign donations. Campaigns aren’t cheap, especially when you have a couple or three opponents.
The Sheriff has worked hard during his time in office to rid the parish of drugs and drug dealers, solve cold cases, institute and require rigorous officer training, keep in constant contact with the public, maintain transparency and make much-needed repairs and upgrades to the Detention Center, which was failing in many aspects when he took office.
The re-election campaign notes that all of the above and more constitutes Sheriff Mitchell’s “proven leadership, proven performance and proven results.”
Congratulations to Jim Hawthorne, Anacoco native, on being recognized with a Distinguished Honor by the Louisiana State University Athletics Hall of Fame. Jim was the voice of the LSU Tigers for more than 36 years, from 1979 to 2016, earning him the nickname, “Voice of the Tigers.” Before LSU, he called radio play-by-play for Northwestern State and Centenary College, as well as for Texas League Baseball and in the short-lived World Football League.
Overall, he was LSU’s radio announcer for two BSC National Championship titles in football, all six of its College World Series championships in baseball and three Final Four appearances in basketball.
His final season at LSU was the 2015 football season and the 2015-16 men’s basketball season. His final baseball season was the 2015 season.
He is married to the former Juanita Carol Thomason of Anacoco and they have two sons.
I first met Jim when we were students at Northwestern in the early 1960s. We studied journalism together and he was a great friend.
-30-
