Wednesday, June 26, 2019

The recent rash of break-ins to cars and homes in Many came up for discussion at a special meeting of the Town Council Tuesday, June 18.

Betsy Godfrey was the first to speak, saying she was there to cooperate with the Police Department and Council in trying to find a solution. She thanked Police Chief Roger Freeman for returning her call about the matter.

Ms. Godfrey said their vehicles had been ransacked three times, with the cost involved in a break-in to her husband’s vehicle at $1,200.

“In the last six months I haven’t seen any patrols in my neighborhood,” she commented and asked for a plan of action.

Ms. Godfrey said the chief told her to keep the lights on at home, to keep vehicles locked and to get alarm systems, if possible. “I think we need more patrolmen,” she said, adding the Chief told her he is currently three short.

“I speak for the community in saying I’ve been here a long time and now I’m not feeling safe,” she commented.

Mayor Ken Freeman responded, “The Council has no control over the Police Department. We can make recommendations.” Ms. Godfrey stated, “We need a Police Department to keep us safer.”

Speaking next, Cherry Williams said, “As a widow, my concern in a lot higher. I don’t see patrols coming through my neighborhood. I did see one at 11:30 yesterday morning.” Chief Freeman said he has two patrolmen on duty at night.

Continuing, she said, “Two years ago my daughter’s car was broken into and she was out $800. The ones responsible were children in the third grade. They were out of jail the next day. I have spent $5,000 on a security system. Two weeks ago, right next door to the Chief of Police, my step-dad’s truck was broken into. This is not fair to the homeowners. We need patrolling and sentencing.”

There was discussion that most of the break-ins were done by juveniles. There was some who said that the parents should be held responsible.

Councilman James Kennedy said he caught some in his yard.  “I told them, ‘I am gonna shoot your legs out from under you if I catch you again.’”

Mayor Freeman suggested asking the Sheriff’s Office and State Police for help. Chief Freeman said the break-ins are happening between midnight and 5 a.m.

Chief Freeman reported that on the previous day a woman walked out of her house at 12:30 p.m. and a man made her give him the car keys. The car was later found on Hwy. 21 in Texas burned.

“They are not scared,” Williams said. “There are police officers who live in the area and they are not afraid of them.”

Ms. Godfrey closed out the discussion by saying, “If you want a plan of action, we will help you.”

The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band from Nashville, TN gave Sabine Parish a night to remember when they performed Saturday at Sabine Theater. They gave two concerts – one at 6 o’clock and one at 8. The first show was filled to capacity. A few paid-but-unused seats could be found, but other folks sat on folding chairs in open spaces and near the stage. The second show filled the theater well over three-quarters, and both crowds welcomed the Jug Band with much enthusiasm.

It only took a song or two to warm up each crowd, who came ready to have a good time. Candidates for local offices briefly spoke before each show, and Rep. Frankie Howard presented each band member with official commendations from the Louisiana House of Representatives.

“The folks here have been so nice and welcoming and accommodating,” band member Mike Webb posted on social media afterward. “We all certainly appreciate the nice proclamation from the House of Representatives given to us as well,” he noted.

The special event was part of the No Man’s Land Bicentennial celebration ongoing until the year 2021, and the evening also benefitted the Many Cultural District, which provides free “Movies in Many” and hosts several musical concerts and holiday parties each year at the refurbished theater.

Much support for the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band’s visit was given by local businesses, elected officials and individuals, and all were very enthusiastic about the band’s performances on Saturday.

Dr. Greg Lord of Leesville, who is running for State Representative, Dist. 24, was in attendance along with wife Angelle. They were among the excited sponsors of Saturday’s event.

“Another fabulous show at the historic Sabine Theater!” Angelle Lord commented afterward. “We are really loving the cool art and music scene in Many. The couple sitting next to us at the last show were from Lake Charles and had heard about the show from the radio,” Lord shared.

Tax Assessor Cindy Manasco reported that data entry from all field work done on re-assessment should be completed by the end of June. 

“The mass appraisal project for the entire parish is near completion,” she stated. “We are in the process of clean up now. Hopefully value letters will be mailed out by mid-July.”

According to the Assessor’s web page, tax rolls will be open for public inspection for 15 days during the period of Aug. 15-29. The actual dates will be posted later.

Happy Birthday wishes to I. D. “Wayne” Bostian on his 92nd birthday. Well-known in the community, he is a former Many Council Member and a long-time employee of CLECO. He and beloved wife Betty are remembered for their love of dancing. They are long-time, dedicated members of the Many First United Methodist Church.

Tax Assessor Cindy Manasco informed us June 19 that she planned to announce last Friday that she will not seek re-election. Don’t know if she did or how.

But former Tax Assessor Carrol Ellzey was out at the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band concert Saturday night. When asked if he had made up his mind about running, he said he was still mulling it over. He is shown here with Leroy Troy, a member of the Jug Band.

In an added note, former Tax Assessor Conrad Cathey attended the program and was seen shaking hands with Carl Chance, a current Deputy Assessor, who has been rumored to be a candidate.

The Natchitoches Parish Council was slated to meet Tuesday night to vote on an ordinance to allow the citizens of the parish to vote whether or not they wish to return to the Police Jury form of government. The Parish Council has not worked out too well as a form of government there.

Rumor has it that Council Members Russell Rachal and Doug de Graffenried, who once said “never,” were planning to vote for the proposal.

Well, there are more problems for Many Chief of Police Roger Freeman. During the Tuesday, June 18, meeting of the Many Town Council Mayor Ken Freeman told the Chief, “We don’t interfere with your business unless it spills over on us.”

He asked Chief Roger Freeman if he authorized the sending of a body cam video of the recent police event and confrontation with the Mayor concerning the arrest of Greg Bell and asking for an investigation. The Bell matter was covered in detail in a previous Observations. Chief Freeman responded “No” and later said, “I had nothing to do with it.”

The Mayor responded, “I spoke to Dewayne Brumley and he said you asked him to do it.” The Mayor said it “sounds like reprisal.” The Mayor also asked if he knew about it being sent to KTBS-TV, and the Chief said, “I have been down because I had surgery.”

“We need to know if it’s true and why?” Councilwoman Gay Corley remarked and Alderwoman at Large Mary Key Brocato asked the Chief, “Do you have any knowledge?” He responded, “No, I have no idea.”

Mayor Freeman asked him, “If it was sent, what do you plan to do about it – if the officers bypassed me and you?” The Chief replied, “He’ll be wrote up.”

The Mayor continued, “If it was done, it was way outside his realm of responsibility. You said you had no knowledge, is that correct?” to which the Chief responded, “Yes.”

But the next day, Observations was shown a video recorded on June 6 at 2:21 p.m.  The video, which was from Stanley Cook’s body cam, shows Officer Cook dialing Chief Freeman on the phone and Dewayne Brumley eating a donut. After dialing a second number, Cook reaches the Chief and tells him he has talked to someone, apparently at the Attorney General’s office, and they said they would review the video. “We’ve got to defend ourselves,” Cook tells the Chief. 

During the phone conversation, Chief Freeman asks about the “news release,” referring to the Observations column which had been published that week. The two tell the Chief how to find it and Stanley says, “It’s on social media. Everybody will see it.” A copy of the column can be seen on Brumley’s desk.

During the recorded conversation, the Chief okays sending the tape to the Attorney General.

Mayor Freeman said Cook had taken the video to District Attorney Don Burkett and wanted to have him arrested. Observations contacted Burkett, who said he has no investigation underway on the matter and was very tight-lipped about giving further information.

In the whole matter, Mayor Freeman termed Cook “…a willing participant.”

In other matters at the Council meeting, Brocato asked the Chief if he had a recommendation concerning the rash of break-ins, and he said he was working on it. She asked about more officers on patrol and asked if Brumley had been working outside the office. The Chief said he had talked to him, adding, “He’s wrote four tickets.”

Concerning the break-ins, the Chief stated, “We have six suspects. They’re juveniles. We arrest them and they’re out the next day. They’re 14, 15, 16. We talk to the parents and they tell us they didn’t know they were out there.”

The Mayor said the parents ought to be responsible for their children and should be ticketed if they are not. Chief Freeman said he will write a letter concerning the rash of break-ins and the precautions people should take and deliver it to each house in town.

At a previous meeting, Ms. Corley said she saw a Many Police car in Converse early one morning and asked the chief about it. He responded he didn’t know anything about it and when asked if he had an officer living in Converse, said he did not. At the meeting last week, the Mayor asked the Chief, “Do you have an officer named Santos working for you?” The Chief responded, “Yes.” The Mayor said, “Where does he live? Converse.”

The Chief said Santos lives at Cross Roads and the Mayor said he had a Converse address. Chief Freeman said he let Speedy Santos use the town police car to travel back and forth, but added, “He is buying the gas.” No one asked about maintenance and upkeep of the vehicle, nor about the vehicle being needed in Many when it was in Converse.

Ms. Brocato asked Chief Freeman if he was training younger officers and he said he was. “Have you briefed police officers that a person cannot be arrested for refusing to sign a ticket?” Mayor Freeman asked. “A ticket is a summons to Court whether or not it’s signed,” he added

 “I’m doing the best I can,” Chief Freeman commented and the Mayor said again, “It’s spilling over on us.” And he added, “Stanley Cook is a patrolman and has no authority to do anything else.” The Chief had recommended to the Council the promotion of Cook from Patrol Officer to Sergeant and the motion died for lack of a second.

In closing the discussion, Mayor Freeman said the Council has two options if the Department does not start operating properly:  1. Dissolve the Police Department and 2.  Ask the public to vote on an appointed instead of elected chief. The mayor said Council members had met with police officers individually. From those meetings, he learned officers are very leery of Chief Freeman and have even started recording their conversations with him on their body cams.

In related business, the Council approved Chief Freeman’s recommendations to hire Nathan Timmons as a patrol officer and the promotion of Phillip Cutrer from Patrol Officer to Detective. The Council turned thumbs down on the recommendation to hire Amber Combs as a Patrol Officer.

In another related matter, Mayor Freeman said the Police Complaint Committee had received a complaint from Mr. and Mrs. Greg Bell concerning his recent arrest. On the committee with the Mayor is the Chief and Council Members Bobbie Jackson and Anita Darwin.

Said the Mayor, “Roger told us that Greg threw a fit, stomped and cussed when he was stopped. I ask to see the body cam video. You could tell he was not happy, but he got out of the car, turned around, was handcuffed and was walked to the patrol car. The officer then walked to Mrs. Bell and asked her for Greg’s driver’s license. She told them they didn’t need it because they already had the information on the ticket. The patrolman got in her car and took the license.”

He continued, “The Committee voted not to recommend discipline, but that the young officers need to be trained. It was false arrest and an illegal search of the car. The officer was wrong. Chief Freeman voted for it and then refused to sign the letter.” After a special meeting, it was reported the Chief signed the letter.

Voice from the cistern:  Is a resignation in store?

The first poll on the Sabine Parish Police Jury just concluded on Baldridge-Dumas Communications’ Facebook page and received a total of 2,642 votes on four different questions. The poll ran for a week. Each computer or device was allowed one vote one time.

It got a lot of interest as there were 221 comments and 69 folks who shared it.

The first question got the most attention:  Are you satisfied with the condition of rural roads in Sabine Parish? A total of 1,500 persons voted, with 98 per cent voting no and only 2 per cent voting yes.

Some of the comments made:

Gerri Cutrer:  “Pump Station Road is a joke. No avoiding the holes. Miss one, hit another.”

Colton Pilcher Mary:  “Patton Road suuuuucks! You can barely creep down it.”

Tracey Nelson Bald:  “Little Flock Baptist Church Road is atrocious.”

Maggie Witt:  “It is disgraceful for us tax payers to have to travel these horrible roads and if you are on a fixed income, as I am, it is very costly on frequent and needed auto repairs caused by our rough roads.”

Bruce Taylor:  “Do you think the new chairs in the Police Jury room and the new Jury shirts made any improvement to our roads that they don’t have $ to fix? And with the salary and benefits they make very good. Why are they so important?”

Mike McCormick [Dist. 2 Juror]:  “Nobody is satisfied with the roads, especially the Police Jurors. I would be happy to meet with any interested group to discuss (the reason the roads are in bad condition.) Reporting all road problems is always appreciated.”

Bennett King:  “If you report them, it’s just like handing them toilet paper and we all know where that goes.”

Derreck Perry, in response to McCormick:  “All of those are excuses of why you can’t fix the roads. I think everyone is tired of those by now. We want to hear how you can fix them. And I swear to goodness, if you say ‘raise taxes’…”

Bruce Taylor:  “Taxes are much more now than 20 years ago. I am sorry but I don’t think anyone in their right mind will ever vote for another tax for the Police Jury.”

Tina McCormic:  “Anyone have an address where I can send my invoices for tires and other auto repairs because of these roads?”

Melissa Dawn Mitchell:  “My car is low enough to the ground and these potholes are so deep it scraped under my car every time, and some roads have so many holes you can’t avoid hitting them. Or you look like you’re driving drunk trying to avoid the potholes.”

The second question was:  Do you think the Sabine Police Jury is spending your tax money wisely?  A whopping 95 per cent said no, with 5 per cent voting yes. There were 384 votes cast, with three shares and 18 comments, among them:

Jason Richard:  “I keep up the road (in front of my house) with my tractor because last time they graded they cut too deep and started washing away the whole road. And I know they are not going to bring any more rock to fix it because we’re not a fancy neighborhood.”

Mike McCormic:  “It is time that people got more involved with our budget and how our money is spent. I gave town hall meetings in my area, and the people that had enough interest and attended left with a much better understanding.”

Bob Geoghagan:  “Giving yourself a raise when the roads are terrible isn’t a good way to get praises or re-elected.”

Dianne McCormic:  “Mike, you are doing an awesome job. Some folks are just being jerks. I have seen first hand the hard work you do.”

Mike McCormic:  “Bob Geoghagan, you have no idea what I contribute to the Police Jury. The parish would not be able to afford what I am worth. If you don’t want me in there, vote me out. I don’t need this BS. I ran to try to help the parish, but when I see that people are not interested enough to get the facts before they vote for BS like this, then I don’t care.”

The third question was:  Are you satisfied with the job your Police Jury is doing?  Voting no were 94 per cent and only 6 per cent voted yes. A total of 356 persons voted, with 25 comments and three shares.

A sampling of the comments:

Jeremy Tobey:  “I think people just want the roads fixed. The budget is the Jurors’ job. We pay taxes and would like decent roads.”

Joey Beason:  “Jeremy Tobey, you should run for some kind of office.”

Jeremy Tobey:  “I may.”

Mike McCormic:  “Jeremy, you’re in Ronnie Bison’s district and he is not running for re-election. You should run for his seat and I will help you.”

Mike McCormic:  “I hate to see people vote in a poll like this without a better understanding about the issues the Jury faces. Voting when not informed only does harm.”

Chuck Withers:  “Like voting themselves a raise, but yet don’t have funds to repair the roads.”

John David Scaife Sr.:  “What issues are they facing that are keeping them from maintaining our roads?”

Jay Booker:  “My road that was worked on was a total waste of taxpayers’ money.  Seems to me that whoever was in charge didn’t know what they were doing at all.”

Brandi Ketchem Taylor:  “It’s all so embarrassing. It doesn’t seem like they’re embarrassed at all though, so nothing will change. My Pappaw would call all of this ‘pissing in the wind.’”

Chuck Withers:  “We have no money, yet we vote ourselves a raise and purchase new equipment.”

Question four:  Would you be in favor of abolishing the Sabine Police Jury and let private contractors maintain our roads?  A total of 402 persons voted, with 74 per cent voting in favor and 26 per cent against. There were 13 comments on this question and one share.

Among the comments were:

Anna Lee Jessup:  “Ugh! I’ve spent a fortune on new tires because of Pump Station Road, Speed Road and Warren Church Road. Horrible roads.”

Shannon Johnson:  “Contractors pay their employees more than the parish does. And the contractors expect to make a profit. No way the parish could not go bankrupt.”

Derek Campbell:  “If they don’t have money to fix the roads, where are they going to get the money to pay the contractor?”

Mari Ensigner Knippers:  “It take me 12 minutes to drive two miles down Bridges Road in Peason, just so I won’t bend a rim or bust a tire again… not to mention all the front-end alignments and shocks/structs that we’ve had to replace over the years… it’s pitiful.”

Bruce Taylor:  “Without a doubt, they could go on vacation a year and nobody would know they were gone.”

Brandi Ketcham Taylor:  “At this time, they’re not maintaining ten per cent of the roads. As a home heath nurse, I travel all over the parish. The roads are unacceptable. The people are sick of excuses and it is a slap in the face to hear promise after promise with no action to back it up. And the raise was the icing on the cake. It is humiliating that it’s 2019 and our roads are in this condition.”

In comments made when BDC announced the upcoming poll, Charlie Brown, District 3 Juror, wrote: “This is about the dumbest poll anyone could come up with.  The way I see it probably eight out of the nine Jurors are not satisfied with the roads.  I certainly am not. It is embarrassing to me to ride the roads. But then there are some that love drama and will start anything to get attention. So, if anyone is interested, my vote on this BDC radio poll is NO.”

And to close it all out, Missy G. Sepulvado said:  “BDC radio is entertainment… more drama they can stir better the ratings… more money for Teddy… my opinion.”

That is all for this last week in June. Can you believe the year is already half-gone? Please share your ideas and suggestions for future articles. Call me at (318) 332-8653 or email robertrgentry@gmail.com. To save, print or send this week’s column, click on the appropriate icon below. Recently archived Observations can be found on the pages that follow; older ones are archived on our Facebook page where they are listed under Photos and Albums by date.

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