Wednesday, March 20, 2019
The Town of Zwolle is having an election for the renewal of a 1 per cent sales tax. The election will be held Saturday, March 30. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Early voting is now going on at the Registrar of Voters Office in Many. It will end this coming Saturday.
Zwolle Mayor Pie Martinez said the sales tax makes it possible for the Town of Zwolle to keep water and sewer rates lower, to make street improvements, to provide a school Resource Officer and to help broadcast radio coverage of the Zwolle Hawks and Lady Hawks ball games.
Linda Curtis-Sparks will be inducted as the 22nd member of the Sabine Hall of Fame in ceremonies Tuesday night, March 26, at Siloam Baptist Church. She is Director of the Sabine Parish Tourism Commission and has been active in Sabine Parish civic affairs for many years. She will join brother John Curtis in the Hall – the first brother-sister to be inducted.
Dr. Ted Mims of Springfield, IL will be presented the Achievement Award. A native of Many, he has achieved greatness in the world of computers.
Tickets for the event are currently on sale. They may be purchased at Pete Abington’s Office in downtown Many, Nichols and from William Ruffin. Tickets are $40 each and the number of tickets available are limited.
Others being honored on the program are William Maxie, Sister Martinette Rivers, Connor Arthur, and posthumous honorees John Godfrey, Ruby Medlock and Malcom Williams.
Tickets sale profits will benefit the two museum projects of the Town of Many and the Town of Zwolle.
Our former Sabine Tax Assessor Conrad Cathey is a man who keeps up with what is going on in Sabine Parish.
He told Observations last week that the gas compression plant located just off Hwy. 171 north of Many should be a two-year project. There’s a lot of work going on up there.
In addition, in spite of all the rain, pipeline construction is going on in the area. Rural roads are horrible and sometimes impassable where some of the pipeline is being laid. Conrad said pipeline right-of-way generally is 100 ft. wide and leases for something like $300 per rod, which is 16 ft.
And lastly, he says a construction yard will be located off Hwy. 6 West of Many at the old Bud Gandy Place.
Tomorrow is Open House at the Central Louisiana Technical Community College Natchitoches Campus for their Advanced Manufacturing Technician Program. The program gives students an opportunity to learn and get paid to work at the same time. All upcoming 2019 high school graduates and interested persons are invited to attend. The Open House will be from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. For more information visit https://nca-la.com/workforce-ready/amt/ . The CLTCC Natchitoches Campus is located at 6587 Hwy. 1 Bypass in Natchitoches.
Caleb Elliott is a musician who grew up in Robeline. My daughter Angela Collins and husband Jim, formerly of Sabine Parish, were at a music program in South Carolina where they now live and caught this guy performing. What a surprise!
Elliott mentioned he was raised in Robeline, Jim mentioned he was from Marthaville and some lady piped up behind them and said, “I’m from Shreveport.”
After the show they talked to Caleb, and he said he was college roommates with Paul Ammons, son of Donna and Kenneth Ammons of Many.
Caleb has a song on YouTube now called “Don’t Go Losing Your Head.” He recorded it at Foxtrot Studio in Shreveport on Aug. 14.
Picture From The Past
Joe Lowrey, who had Lowrey Chevrolet, walked into my office at the Sabine Index one Saturday morning and announced, “You need to buy a pickup truck and I have just the one you need.” And I think my recall is correct on that incident. I agreed with him and went to the dealership to look at the trucks. There were two that I liked, but I let my young daughter Angela pick out the one I was going to buy. She really enjoyed doing this. Later Joe delivered the truck to me at the office. It was Oct. 22, 1981 and I paid $8,786.00 for the truck. I was the first person in Sabine Parish to purchase the new Chevrolet S-10 pick-up truck that General Motors manufactured in its Shreveport plant. Joe Lowrey was quite a salesman. Today he lives in Jacksonville, FL and richly enjoys life with wife Vicki.
Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) Sabine Valley Campus will host an open house to showcase their programs on Wednesday, March 27 from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Guided campus tours, admissions and financial aid assistance will be available to prospective and current students.
CLTCC is an “open admissions” institution and operates an unselective and non-competitive college admissions process. New applicants generally need to take the Next Generation Accuplacer Placement Test to determine their level of college readiness. Federal Financial Aid is available to those students who qualify. The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Aid (LOSFA) will be available to assist students and parents at the Open House with the financial aid application. Those wishing to apply are asked to bring a copy of their 2016 and 2017 IRS Tax Return.
The Sabine Valley Campus of Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) was established in 1952. Located in the town of Many, CLTCC Sabine Valley offers Career and Technical Education programs in Business Office Administration, Electrical Technology, Nurse Assistant, Patient Care Technician and Welding. They also offer High School Dual Enrollment, WorkReady U Adult Basic Education (high school equivalency preparation and testing) and FastTrack Workforce Development Training.
For more information on the Open House contact Sabine Valley Student Success Coordinator Allison Hext at allisonhext@cltcc.edu or call (318) 256-4102 Ext. 8113.
Sunshine Kids Early Learning Center at First United Methodist Church of Many is now registering children for their Preschool Program and parents are invited to enroll their children, aged 2 to 5, for the upcoming school year.
The Learning Center is in session Tuesdays through Thursdays from 7:45 a.m. until noon on all days Sabine Parish Schools are in session, and they also offer an “Extended Day” program, which keeps children until 3:30 p.m. on the same days of operation.
There is a $50 pre-registration fee at sign-up, which secures your child’s spot. For more information call Sunshine Kids Director Mary Ellen Freeman at (318) 273-2205 or call the church office at (318) 256-3632.
Please download the form below for more details, or visit the FUMC-Many web site at www.fumc-many.com and click on Preschool.
Hope your St. Patrick’s Day was lucky and you are enjoying the start of a beautiful spring. Please call or write with your thoughts and ideas for future columns. Phone (318) 332-8653 or email robertrgentry@gmail.com. Older Observations are archived on our Facebook page, where they are listed under Photos and arranged by date under Albums. Newer archived columns are listed below, and we hope to have all the ones published on the BDC web site to be made available in an online Observations archive very soon. To print, email or save this week’s column as a pdf file, please click on the appropriate icon below.
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