Wednesday, December 4, 2019

It was a wonderful “Christmas in the Country” at Pleasant Hill Saturday night as the entire town turned out to welcome the Christmas season with a nice parade starting a little after 5 p.m. followed by an impressive fireworks display shortly after.

Observations enjoyed visiting with Pleasant Hill Alderwoman Carol Pattison and former Sabine Sheriff Guffey Lynn Pattison while there. They introduced us to a new downtown venue in Pleasant Hill inside the former location of Peoples State (Midsouth) Bank. The old building has been tastefully renovated with exposed brick, a nice antique wood bar, ample tables and chairs, a small bandstand, dance area and lovely adjacent courtyard.

Despite about a half-hour of rain, several participated in the parade with cars, trucks and floats, including the elected officials of Pleasant Hill, the Eagle cheerleaders, District Attorney Don Burkett and Sabine Sheriff-elect Aaron Mitchell.

Hats doffed to the Village of Pleasant Hill for the fine fireworks presented. It was a stellar display that lasted 25-30 minutes and was just as spectacular as the Many display and those at other, larger locations.

It’s not too early to mark your calendar for the big Stewart Family Down Home Christmas concert at Many Community Center (Sabine Theater.) It will be Saturday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. and, as always, is free admission for all.

The group is comprised of Willie Stewart and his wife Debbie, Willie’s son, Bo, Willie’s grandson, Kelly and Kelly’s wife, Clancey. All of the Stewarts hail from the Florien area. Rounding out the sound is father and son Steve and Mark Birdwell of Marthaville and Laurie Gentry of Many.

Together they play guitars, fiddle, mandolins, upright bass, cajon drum box, autoharp and spoons. Their concerts always feature lots of lively toe-tappers as well as several beautiful ballads.

This year’s Christmas concert will feature a few audience favorites from years past, such as “Mary, Did You Know,” “Away in a Manger,” “Christmas in Dixie,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and more, but the 2019 show will also feature about two dozen great Christmas songs not presented at the 2017 or ’18 concerts. So, there’ll be lots of new holiday music to enjoy this year.

We expect Bo will be full of jokes and fingers are crossed Clancey will dance a lick or two.

That’s a Down Home Christmas with the Stewarts on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Many Community Center in downtown Many – Y’all come! This special holiday concert is sponsored by the Town of Many and Many Cultural District Committee.

A special Thank You to Mary Brocato for the two articles that follow.

2019 YOUNG ACHIEVERS AWARD

The 2019 Young Achievers Award goes to Savanah and Siarah Hall, two sisters who have already accomplished much in their lives. Their story is an inspiring and unique one.

Savanah and Siarah Hall moved to Sabine Parish in 2009. They were born to biological parents who were both addicted to drugs and who both chose drugs over being parents. The sisters endured neglect, abuse and repeated abandonment, but came out of their experiences strong and with hopes not altogether dashed by their sad situations. 

Savanah once wrote, “We were born in 1998 and 1999. Our parents (to be more accurate, the people who biologically created us) were both in their early 20s when they had us.” 

Siarah wrote, “To us, our ‘parents’ were both good parents. We didn’t know any better, at least not for a while. They loved us, I can only guess. They took care of many of our basic needs. I mean we didn’t die or suffer any permanent physical damage from their parenting.

“We loved them both. I think we did anyway. Drugs though, often and probably usually stood in our way when we were kids. We grew to hate drugs and to hate what they did. We didn’t use drugs, of course, but that didn’t matter to the drugs. They found a way to affect our lives…to butt into our lives. And later on, drugs affected the lives of our younger siblings as well.”

Siarah added, “You could say we grew up with drugs. They were almost always around us in one way or another. We either saw them or smelled them at any given time, or saw the effects of them on people around us. And, looking back with 20/20 hindsight, we saw the effects of them on us.”

Savanah wrote, “People sometimes ask me if I knew things were ‘different,’ or if I knew things weren’t ‘normal’ when we were little kids being around drugs and all the mess that came with them. When you are a kid, though, you only know what you know and what you know is, well, I guess you could say ‘normal.’”

Siarah then wrote, “For us, normal was drug use.” 

Savanah explained, “Our normal was our mom sleeping most of every day, our dad disappearing for many hours or many days at a time. Normal was moving to different houses with regularity but not enough regularity to really be regular. Normal was eating at irregular hours… even eating sometimes just whenever we could find something.

“Our normal was filled with sudden personality changes in either or both of our parents. These changes, which could be quite extreme, we often witnessed daily and many times throughout a single day.

“Our normal was seeing a lot of fighting between our parents and later, between our mom and her boyfriends and her family members. Our normal involved a lot of strangers coming and going to our ‘home,’ or us coming and going to plenty of strangers’ homes, even having them live with us sometimes and us living with them sometimes.

“Our normal was seeing drugs in our house and in our vehicles, and seeing things that are used to take drugs.

“To us, those were the sort of things which were normal.

“Until they start seeing more of the world, kids really don’t know what is normal or what is different.”

From Siarah came these words:  “Our normal was a bit ‘crazy.’ We know that now. We did not, however, know that then.

“I suppose when people say it’s important for parents to set a good example for their kids, it just may be so their kids will have an acceptable and stable picture of normalcy or at least, not a crazy, way-out-there, anything-goes picture of what normal is… or isn’t.

“To us, as little kids, drug use was normal. Drugs were normal. Seeing and smelling drugs were normal. Jack Daniels whiskey was a normal drink for our parents. So as far as we knew, it was a normal drink for all adults.

“A mother and father whose personalities rapidly cycled from one end of the pole to the other – that was normal also.

“There were no normal eating times for us. Normal was to eat when there was food and, if we were lucky, eat when we were hungry. There were no normal bed times, or normal get-out-of-bed times, no normal nap times. Normal was go to bed whenever, get up whenever, nap or don’t nap… just whatever. There were no normal bath times, or even so much as regular baths, in general. Bathe… whenever.

“Our normal was pretty much anything goes,” concluded Siarah in her writings about the lives of her and her sister.

Savanah and Siarah’s lives finally changed for the better when the two sisters were fostered and then adopted by Marion and Shannon Clements-Hall, owners of SatCom Computers in Many. 

But the girls, in their hearts, never left their brothers and sisters behind.  They had five biological siblings, three whom they were particularly close to. Last February, Savanah and Siarah learned one of their biological siblings had died under tragic circumstances.     

Their younger biological brother, Solan Peterson, had just turned 13 when he took his own life in a juvenile detention center in nearby Coushatta. He had been incarcerated at the Ware Youth Center for setting fire to a roll of toilet paper at the middle school he attended. Solan was a good student and a good kid with no prior incidents of trouble. Once the toilet paper roll ignited, he quickly informed adults at the school and the fire was extinguished with no injuries resulting.

When Savanah and Siarah learned of these details, and that Solan had been put in solitary confinement for days at the detention center, they determined something needed to change. Solan was scheduled to have a psychiatric evaluation one month after he was first incarcerated. But for that one long month, he was slated to sit in a prison cell, alone with only his thoughts of years of abuse and abandonment prior to his adoption into a loving family. Solan killed himself by hanging himself with a bed sheet, three days after another youth there killed himself the same way.

Savanah and Siarah were determined that their little brother’s death would not be forgotten and that things must change for the better, that Solan’s life must count for something.

Savanah and Siarah teamed with representatives at Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights and eventually with members of Solan’s adoptive family. 

Legislation was created to give judges guidelines when considering cases involving juveniles who are not accused of violent crimes. The girls met with members of the Louisiana House and Senate as well, and spoke before panels in last spring’s legislative session to get the legislation passed.

They also agreed to interviews with area media to help inform the public about the goals of the legislation. Once “Solan’s Law” passed and was signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards, the girls immediately began looking to the future, seeking to make further changes in state laws regarding juvenile justice. Specifically, they are continuing to seek to see the practice of placing juveniles in solitary confinement prohibited and to require that psychiatric evaluations be conducted immediately on children entering a juvenile detention facility, rather than being scheduled for days, weeks or even longer into the future. 

KTBS-TV News asked Siarah, “You guys aren’t done fighting for your brother?” Her response: “Absolutely not. No. We won’t stop until there’s major change that is understood and enforced.”

But for now the sisters say “Solan’s Law” is a big step in the right direction.

“This is a win for Solan. Hopefully, the first of many,” Savanah Hall said.

Both Savanah and Siarah are graduates of Many High School.

Savanah is 20 years old. She is a student majoring in history at Northwestern State University. She is often asked “Why history?” She always replies “Why not?” She is undetermined on the precise path she wants to take for her future, but has plenty of ideas.

Savanah began learning to fly a plane before she knew how to drive a car, and today she continues to have a deep passion for aviation. She is also a certified personal fitness trainer and is the manager of All Hours Fitness in Many. 

Siarah, 19, is an honors student at Louisiana Tech University, majoring in environmental science. She is a certified diver and has a deep love for the oceans and marine life. Siarah spearheaded the launch of a sustainability organization at Louisiana Tech and volunteers on various projects at school. She is a fitness enthusiast and has a quest for adventure.

Both girls love traveling and spending time with good friends and their family.  Their lives now are far different than their younger years were.

Although the sisters had an extremely difficult start in life, they have already made their lives count for something. We predict that these two achievers will truly make a difference in our community, the state and perhaps even our country and the world.

For all these reasons and for what they have already accomplished, the Many Christmas Festival Committee is proud to name Savanah and Siarah Hall as the Young Achievers of 2019.

Many Mayor Ken Freeman and the city street and cleanup crews are pleased with the new Kubota excavator recently purchased and now being used throughout town.

The equipment cost $55,000 and was paid for entirely through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Not one cent of city money was directed toward the purchase because all funding was through the USDA grant.

The excavator was purchased locally from Patrick-Miller Tractor, who gave the lowest bid for the large, versatile equipment.

The excavator will be used for excavating buried water lines, digging for water leaks, and cleaning out ditches as well as for other uses. It also has a jackhammer attachment.

Mayor Freeman is extremely pleased with its purchase because the excavator was purchased locally and did not cost the city anything.

“We regularly seek out grants that will help us improve and purchase new equipment to use in our town, and this excavator is a good example of how we strive to do our best in securing grants for these purposes,” said Freeman.

That is all for this first Wednesday in December. Thanks for reading. We always love to hear your thoughts and ideas for future articles. Send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call us at (318) 332-8653. To read Observations of the past year, follow the pages below. To see older ones, visit our Facebook page where they are listed under Photo Albums by date. To print, save or send this week’s column, click on the appropriate icon below.

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