Wednesday, February 26, 2020

I had the pleasure last week to meet Jackson Kleven, 24, who is running for Florien Chief of Police. The election is April 4. He is a very articulate young man with a lot of good ideas to improve the Police Department. A single man, his parents are Genia Nixon Kleven and Keith Kleven.

Jackson graduated from Florien High in 2014 and received a degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in History from LSUA in 2019. He worked for the Sabine Sheriff’s Office for a year as a Corrections Officers and at Market Basket in Leesville as a butcher.

He said he was running because he sees a need for change in the Florien Police Department. “I don’t like the way it is being run,” he said. “I have a degree and could go off and make more money somewhere else, but I want to see change in Florien.”

Some of the things Jackson says he will address are:

– Waste and mismanagement. “I will use a common sense approach and save taxpayers’ money wherever possible,” Kleven said.

– He will not let Florien continue to be a speed trap town for the sake of bringing in more revenue.

– The police cars have tinted windows, which is a violation of state law. “I will not have tinted windows, which is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he says.

– A lack of respect toward the law by officers. “They speed to go get coffee and other things. Think about the hypocrisy of it all. You cannot enforce the law if you do not follow it,” Kleven noted.

– Will put a stop to ghost letters on patrol cars. [Ghost letters are the practice of lettering law enforcement cars with text colors that are hard to see against the car body color.] “In five states it is illegal. We need well-marked police cars,” he said.

– The cornerstone of the law is deterrence. “No criminal is going to do any crime if he sees patrol cars doing their job. I will practice proactive policing.”

– He said the current Chief works 40 hours per month, which is the minimum allowed. Jackson vows to work at least 40 hours per week. “I will have a part-time job, but I will manage the Police Department. You can’t manage from afar,” Kleven explained.

– “I will see that all officers are well trained,” he said.

– “I will see that police cars are well-maintained. The cost now is extremely high. I will have patrol cars monitored by GPS so they cannot be used for personal reasons,” he stated.

For more information, go to his Facebook page:  Jackson Kleven for Florien Police Chief.

In closing, Jackson said, “I have been asked by multiple people why I am running and stirring up stuff. It is because this is necessary in a free society. For too long the public has settled for mediocrity from our public officials. Some have been in office for many years and have not accomplished what they were elected to do. These same people keep getting re-elected and it is a never-ending cycle. We must put a stop to this. It is time to stand up for change. I promise if you elect me Police Chief you will not recognize the Florien Police Department. It will be a department that works for you in preventing crimes and following the law.”

The Sabine Hall of Fame will give noted educator Dale Skinner a Special Recognition Award at its annual banquet on Tuesday, March 31, at 6:30 p.m. at Siloam Baptist Church. Mr. Skinner was born at Belmont and was graduated from Northwestern State University. He is widely known as a coach, teacher, principal, school board member and parish superintendent. If you know Dale Skinner, you know that you will always know where he stands on an issue. The recognition the Hall voted to give him is well-deserved.

Presently he serves as Superintendent of Natchitoches Parish Schools, a position from which he will retire when his contract runs out in June. He has served on the Sabine Parish School Board. He has also served as coach, teacher and principal at several schools in the area.

I talked to Dale a few weeks ago, and he thought at the time that he only had prostate cancer. His daughter Leah posted on Facebook last week that it has been learned he has cancer in his bones, lymph nodes and growths in his chest. She wrote, “Before today they gave him four to five years to live. They are now giving him six months. Please pray.” We wish Dale peace and a miracle.

Sen. John Kennedy announced on Feb. 19 grants totaling $10 million for airport improvements in Louisiana. Sen. Kennedy said the funds come from the Senate Appropriations Committee, on which he sits, and from the Department of Transportation.

Included is $247,500 for Hart Airport in Many. The money will be used to repair 12,000 square yards of apron pavement.

We appreciate it, and we hope funds are found soon for the improvements of our highways as well.

The Power of Prayer group met last Tuesday evening at Mark’s Wholesale Tires, according to Bruce Taylor, who started the group. It was formed to pray about all the things that are not good that are presently going on in Sabine Parish. Brother Mark Schoth and his wife Kim are sort of the group leaders.

Bruce said the group had a good turnout and has decided to meet each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Mark’s. Everyone interested in praying for better times is invited to attend. The business is located at 214 Texas Hwy. in Many.

Daylight Savings Time will go into effect on Sunday, March 8. Be sure to set your clocks forward one hour. The time officially changes at 2 a.m.

Election coming up on April 4. On the ballot will be the presidential preference for both the Democratic and Republican Parties. There are 14 Democrats on the ballot and five on the Republican side.

And voters in the Village of Florien will vote on a Chief of Police. Longtime Chief Herman R. Love has strong opposition from Jackson Kleven.

This picture showed up on the internet in a meme about Robeline being a Speed Trap Town. Don’t know how truthful the image is. According to a report a year ago in the Advocate, Robeline ranked fifth in top Speed Trap Towns in Louisiana with 84.4 per cent of its revenues made up by fines. And, as they say, if you don’t want a ticket, slow down as you go through town.

A legal notice has been running in the state’s official journals that there may be introduced at the session of the State Legislature which starts March 9 a bill to authorize assessors to increase their annual salary compensation up to five per cent annually for the next four years and to provide for related matters. The notice does not say who is responsible for this bill, but we assume it must be the State Assessors Association.

It should be noted that the Sabine Parish Assessor, according to the audit for the year ended Dec. 31, 2018, had a compensation package that totaled $203,199 annually. According to the audit, salary was $131,797; statutory allowance, $13,180; retirement, $23,196; deferred compensation, $8,000; insurance premiums, $23,750; taxable personal use of vehicle, $931; and Medicare taxes, $2,395.

There was no explanation as to what statutory allowance is, nor what deferred compensation means. And the question is, why is a public official using an Assessor’s vehicle for personal use?

And another big question in the legal notice is:  What does “to provide for related matters” mean?

Roderick Davis of Many pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and one count of exploitation of the infirmed in Baton Rouge on Thursday of last week. His son and daughter were both charged with one count of exploitation of the infirmed and with criminal conspiracy. The State Attorney General’s Office handled the investigation and prosecution in East Baton Rouge Parish.

According to unconfirmed reports, Davis pleaded guilty to two counts of Medicaid fraud and was given a year’s probation on each charge, with a fine of $1,000 on each charge, and was ordered to pay restitution of $8,000.

In exchange for his guilty plea, the Attorney General’s office agreed to drop charges against his children, son Roderick Davis Jr., 27, and daughter Athene Mitchell, 20, of Shreveport.

Davis was a long-time employee of the Sabine Association for Retarded Citizens (SARC.) When charges were filed against him, SARC had to immediately give him a check for $25,000 for back pay.

The Attorney General’s Office tried the case without even consulting with Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett, who found out about the plea from a third party.

Observations asked the Attorney General’s Office for comment on the matter, but as of publication time Tuesday afternoon, they had not responded.

After all the wet weather we have had, it sure was nice to see a beautiful sunset in the area on Monday. Several beautiful photos of the sunset across Many and over Toledo Bend Lake were posted on social media Monday evening, and we have taken the liberty to share our favorites here.

A special thank you to Diann Migliore, Judy Cathey, Savannah Gilcrease, Carolyn Wages, Reggie Green, Cindy Ezernack and Suzanne Bossier, who captured the beautiful shots featured above.

A lot of people continue to be vocal on the matter involving Florien High Coach Dewain Strother and his son Chad. If you recall, Chad has been suspended from attending Florien High functions in the parish for a year.

Observations contacted Schools Supt. Sara Ebarb last week and asked her who made the decision to ban Chad and asked if he has a right to appeal. Supt. Ebarb again said she can’t discuss the case, but sent us five pages containing policy on public conduct on school property, unacceptable behavior at athletic events and visitors to the school. We did not have time to read everything prior to posting this week’s column, but will report on them at a later date.

Supt. Ebarb did say:  “You will see that a person may make a request to the principal to attend special functions (they don’t usually limit to graduation or conferences) at the school, while under a forbidden.”

Observations reached out to Florien Principal Eddie Jones Jr. for a comment and he responded Tuesday morning, as follows:  “The incident that you are referring to is a personnel matter which prohibits me from speaking about or providing information to the public. In addition, it’s my understanding that this incident may be in legal litigation which would further prevent me from making comment.  I would direct you to contact Dr. Sara Ebarb for any further information regarding this matter.”

Concerning the incident at Many High School, we understand that Judge Stephen Beasley last week set a bond hearing for three students charged as adults for the end of March. They will remain jailed until then.

We also understand that the two coaches on duty at the time, Darrin Dyess and Ryan Vines, have been suspended.  It is rumored that Coach Dyess might be thinking about retirement and that Coach Vines will be transferred to Negreet High.

We have nothing official on this. Concerning most of our requests of late, we get the response of “no comment because it is a personnel issue.” Tedd Dumas had a pretty good comment on his popular “Open Line” program Tuesday morning:  “We pay $50 million a year to the School System. Looks like we ought to have a right to information about how it is operated.”

The investigation into the apparent theft and posting on the internet of a confidential drug informants’ notebook is continuing, according to word from Sabine Chief Deputy John Adair. The book was reportedly stolen from the patrol car of Deputy David Deshautelle, along with some rifles. He was reportedly fired after the theft was reported. Deputy Adair said the Sheriff’s Department is taking the lead in the investigation and the Louisiana State Police is investigating.

According to unofficial reports received by Observations, the incident happened over a year ago and was not made public until just a few months ago when someone posted information from the confidential book on the internet.

The book contained names and phone numbers and other information about something like 75 persons. In addition, it contained notes from the Tri-Parish Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Former Many Mayor Mike Tarver presented the Many Town Council with a letter suggesting projects he thought the city should tackle to make our town better at their Tuesday, Feb. 18 meeting. Said Tarver, “They looked at the letter and kinda said something like, ‘My gracious, we’ve never seen anything like this.’”

Tarver said Councilwoman Mary Beth Brocato came to visit with him the next day concerning the letter.

Tarver’s letter follows:

That’s a wrap for this week. Please share your thoughts and ideas for future articles in an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call (318) 332-8653. I always love to hear from you. To see recent Observations, follow the pages below. To see older, archived ones, visit our Facebook page, where they are listed by date under Photo Albums. To save, send or print this week’s column, click on the appropriate icon below. As always, thanks for reading.

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