Wednesday, March 27, 2019

There is some talk around Sabine Parish about a four-day school week. Avoyelles Parish School Board approved it to start next fall in their district. The Natchitoches Parish School Board is studying the matter. Caldwell Parish has had it for 11 years now and they claim there has been rising performance scores because of it. But, the biggest draw to the four-day week is the claim that it makes teacher recruitment easier and attracts better teachers.

Observations contacted Sabine Parish Superintendent Sara Ebarb about it. She stated, “We haven’t discussed it. I am not convinced it is in the best interest of the students.”

Rep. Frankie Howard is busy campaigning for Sheriff. Last week he announced that he will not put signs along the roadways. 

“I want to join those who are working to keep our highways litter-free,” he stated.  “I urge the other candidates for sheriff and other offices to join me in this endeavor.”

Parker Founds of Many is shown with a huge Alligator (loggerhead) Snapping Turtle he caught in Toledo Bend. Don’t know how much this one weighed, but the record is 219 lbs. The Loggerhead is the largest turtle in North America.

DON’T FORGET! Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) Sabine Valley Campus is hosting an open house to showcase their programs today, Wednesday, March 27 from 9 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 CLTCC was established in 1952. Located at 1255 Fisher Rd. in 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.

Two Sabine Parish veterans of World War II were honored last week with greetings from President Donald J. Trump on their recent birthdays. They are Charles Davis and Doug Curtis. The President sent them each an autographed color photo, plus a nice engraved birthday wishes card signed by both he and First Lady Melania. Both of these veterans were honored back in mid-December at a birthday reception that Tedd Dumas and I put together.

Pete Abington, left, chief of the Vultures luncheon group in Many is shown with Mike McConathy, head men’s basketball coach at Northwestern State University. He is “the winningest college basketball coach in Louisiana history.” In Southland Conference and Louisiana basketball history, he has a remarkable place as a player and head coach. 

Coach McConathy is regarded as one of the greatest players in state and Southland Conference history, having scored 2,033 points while playing for Louisiana Tech. In addition, he ranks as one of the greatest coaches, with 636 victories in 35 seasons, including 284 wins at Northwestern.

Rep. Frankie Howard reports that his bill in the State Legislature to have the Town of Robeline place billboards along Hwy. 6 at both entrances to the town is on target.  The billboards will announce that Robeline is a “Speed Trap Town.” It was suggested that Rep. Howard also include in the bill that the billboards be lighted so that folks going through at night will get the message, too.

Well, it seems the Sabine Parish Police Jury voted to give itself a raise, not once, but twice.

Here’s how it all came about. At its Dec. 19, 2018 meeting, the Jury voted itself a 50 per cent raise, from $800 per month to $1,200 per month and raised the pay of President Ronny Bison to $1,300 per month. All nine Jurors voted in favor.

At its Feb. 20 meeting the Jury rescinded the pay resolution because it had not followed the law in making the resolution. The state statute requires that proposed changes in compensation must be made by ordinance approved by a majority of the jurors in open meeting, after a public hearing. Well, the Jury did not hold a public hearing, so they had to lick the calf over again.

So, the Jury set a public hearing for March 20 to consider the matter. Few people knew about it. Only two showed up.

Johnny Corley of Florien was one of those who attended. Johnny said he has been attending Jury meetings for years, longer than some of the Jurors.

“Mike McCormic had a sheet of paper and he read off justification as to why Jurors should have the raise,” Corley stated. “He talked about how much time Jurors spend out riding around looking at roads. He said many times at social functions, Jurors have to listen to complaints from the public. He concluded that overall, Jurors might make $5 an hour.” And someone said something about getting a call at 3 a.m. about roads.

Corley said that he was asked if he had a comment and he told them he did not. He reported, “A couple of the Jurors, I think McCormic and Bison, said, ‘Surely you have something to say.’”

Corley continued, “Since they insisted I say something, I asked if they had the amount for hospitalization insurance they receive entered into the picture.”

Corley said Bison told him that none of the information about hospitalization insurance was supposed to be public information. “He said it was grounds to sue,” Corley related.

Surely Mr. Bison knows that the hospitalization for Jurors is paid for from the public coffers. And the pubic, who is paying the bills, has a right to know where their money is going. 

Anyway, at the regular Jury meeting later that morning, the members again voted to give themselves a 50 per cent raise. All members voted in favor.

We went to Winnfield last Saturday to see the Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials for the first time ever. The event has been going on for 24 years now.

My wife Laurie was delighted to run into Carolyn Phillips, Director of the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield, while we were there. The Museum issues the official event t-shirt each year for the Hog Dog Trials, which draws thousands of people and about as many dog participants.

Laurie has worked closely with Phillips and her staff in Winnfield to design materials for the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame induction banquet held each year. Last year, the event was held at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and most recently, it was held at the Cajundome in Lafayette.

A couple of years ago, Laurie designed their event web site, which she now maintains. She also designs their printed event program booklets as well as providing other items for the annual Louisiana Political Hall of Fame banquet.  

Bruce Taylor, owner of Taylor Dozer and Backhoe is mad. He’s mad about the condition of parish roads, especially the Geoghagan Rd. where one of his dump trucks ran off the road when the surface caved in last Thursday evening.

“The road caved in,” he said. “My truck was on the edge of the road. I talked to my Police Juror Charlie Brown and he said it was driver error. He said the truck was on the edge of the road. I told him I didn’t know that vehicles were not supposed to drive on the edge of the road.”

Bruce said the wrecker bill cost him $1,050 and the repair bill to his truck was another $3,800. 

“I’m sending the bill to the Police Jury” Bruce said. “The accident was caused because of the condition of their road.”

Mark your calendars: Tuesday, April 12, 2019 is the big Relay for Life of Sabine put on by the American Cancer Society. It will be held at the Many High School Football Field and starts at 5 p.m. when Survivor and Caregiver Registration opens. At 6 p.m. will be the Opening Ceremony and Survivor Celebration, and at 9 p.m. they will have the Luminaria Ceremony.

The festival-style event will feature food, fun and entertainment for all ages. Admission is free. All funds raised will go to the American Cancer Society.

A complimentary t-shirt and dinner will be available for all cancer survivors and caregivers who register before or during the event. The dinner is hosted by the Rotary Club of Many. To RSVP for the dinner, call or text Sarah Jones at (318) 871-6337 before April 5.

To pre-register as a survivor, caregiver or fundraising team, or to dedicate a luminaria bag, visit RelayForLife.org/SabineParishLA or call (800) 227-2345.

On a related note, I am proud to report my wife Laurie is involved in a new local effort to help connect newly-diagnosed local breast cancer patients with local breast cancer survivors. The group is called Pink Sisters (of Sabine.) In addition to a social media presence on Facebook, they will soon provide Help Bags to local breast cancer patients who are undergoing lumpectomy, mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and/or breast reconstruction. These bags will be filled with helpful items to aid breast cancer patients during treatment.

Other goals include offering information and encouragement to patients, providing a volunteer network of physical help after surgery, and eventually the possibility of financial assistance when patients and their families need help with hotel stays or similar during the breast cancer treatment process.

The group’s mission is to “offer resources of total support, including physical, emotional and spiritual wellness, to women diagnosed with all forms of breast cancer.”

Pink Sisters is in the process now of building their local patient and survivor database, and welcomes all interested persons to contact Betsy Godfrey at (318) 471-5475 or Laurie Gentry at (318) 332-7873.

That is all for this last week in March. Spring has sprung and it’s great to see all the blooms and flowering trees and bushes along the way. Call or write with your ideas for future articles. Phone me at (318) 332-8653 or send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com. To print, save or send this week’s column, click on the icon below. Older columns may be viewed on the following pages, and archived columns are catalogued on our Facebook page, where they are listed under Photos and dated in Albums.

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