Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Today marks the start of Observations’ return to our regular Wednesday weekly schedule. As in the past, Wednesday’s column will be posted at bdcradio.com on Tuesday afternoons. Thank you for faithfully reading.

Three infants in Sabine Parish have died in the past two weeks while sleeping with their parents. The deaths are under investigation, but Sheriff Ronny Richardson said his detectives consider them accidental.

The deaths include three-month old Taylen Tate of Pitkin, 11-week-old Ethan Ammons of Pleasant Hill and six-month-old Byron Bolton of Zwolle.

Taylen was pronounced dead at Sabine Medical Center Sunday morning, according to Coroner Ron Rivers. He was brought there by his parents, John and Krista Tate who were staying at their family camp near Many, along with their other children. Krista Tate said Taylen and a two-year-old were placed in the bed with her and her husband. When she got up to go to the bathroom, she noticed Taylen was “not sleeping right.” She explained he was face down between two mattresses that were pulled together to make a king-sized bed. She said she did chest compressions because she did not think Taylen was breathing. She woke her husband and they called 911 at 5:55 a.m.

In the case of Ethan Ammons, Coroner Rivers was called to Pleasant Hill April 28 and found Ethan in a Pleasant Hill patrol unit. His mother, Emily Ammons, said she had fed her son and placed him face up in his play pen. When discovering a problem, she said she started CPR and called 911. Paramedics arrived and confirmed the death. Rivers said Ethan was face up at the time of death. The father, William Ammons, said Ethan had slept in the bed the night before.

Little Byron Bolton was pronounced dead on April 19 in Zwolle after CPR failed to revive him. His mother, Jasmine Bolton, said she was sleeping with the child because she had been up all night with him. She woke up to find him underneath her. She didn’t know how long he had been there. The mother had one of her other children go for help, and first responders began CPR upon arrival. The Office of Children’s Services is involved with the investigation of Byron’s death and the well-being of Bolton’s other four children, Rivers said.

Sheriff Richardson put the following warning on Facebook a few days ago:  “It is with sadness that I report we have had three deaths recently of infants while sleeping in the bed with adults. I am in no way accusing or admonishing these parents. Many of us parents and grandparents have probably slept with our babies and we’re lucky. We at the Sheriff’s Office simply want to appeal to anyone doing this and not putting the children in the crib or baby bed, to realize the possibility of tragedy exists. It’s like letting your children ride in an automobile unrestrained. It’s a gamble with their lives. I pray for these parents who lost children that God will give them a peace that only He can give. I also plead that others will heed this warning. Our children are our greatest assets.” 

And in more bad news, a Baton Rouge child drowned in Toledo Bend Lake Saturday after wandering away from his parents. Two-year-old Sean Dawson was found a few feet from shore in about two feet of water. Peter and Julia Dawson said they arrived at a family camp on Sweet Bay Dr. about 10 a.m. They said their children were inside playing when they noticed Sean missing. His father estimated it was only about five minutes.

They searched the home, yard and then the lake, which is at the backyard of the property. The child was found face down in the water. A family member began CPR and 911 was called. The family was en route to Sabine Medical Center when they were intercepted by the ambulance. It took Sean to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:29 p.m.

SABINE CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Like most across Sabine, we have come to depend on District Attorney Don Burkett’s daily Coronavirus updates. Here is his latest information as of shortly after noon on Tuesday:

“May 5: State has Sabine [at] 17 [cases]/1 [death], but actual number is about 35/1. [Other nearby parish stats are] Caddo 1629/123, Rapides 308/11, Bossier 300/17, DeSoto 202/13, Natchitoches 90/6, Red River 34/6, and Vernon 17/2. Hospitalizations went up from 1502 to 1512 and [the use of] vents went down from 220 to 194. Deaths in Louisiana went up from 22 to 51. Out of 29,996 reported cases in Louisiana, 2042 have died and 20,316 have recovered so far. As of yesterday, Sabine had 16 presumed recovered and 1 death. It’s not over yet,” Burkett stated.

The liberals who used to complain about our using plastic straws and bags sure do love to use plastic gloves now.

This Thursday, May 7, is the National Day of Prayer. The day is an opportunity for people of all faiths to again “turn to God in prayer and meditation” for guidance to make important decisions across the nation. It is also an opportunity to self-examine and take time to repent of personal failures and seek personal strength to make good choices through God’s power.

Though there have been different National Days of Prayer called since our country’s founding, this particular modern tradition was signed into law in 1952 by Pres. Harry Truman. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by Pres. Ronald Reagan for the day to always be celebrated on the first Thursday of May. It is recognized by citizens nationwide and even noted on Hallmark calendars along with Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

As people of European descent with mostly Christian backgrounds, the country’s founders based their critical decisions on the moral lessons of biblical scripture. And that is why this holiday was first put in place.

Observations wishes all a great National Day of Prayer and invites everyone to personally participate. Traditionally in Sabine, a public prayer gathering is held at DA Don Burkett’s office parking lot at noon on this holiday. Though it is not possible to gather this year, folks may wish to continue the tradition with a noon prayer at their homes or businesses, or to simply find time during some part of the day to thank God for His many mercies and ask for blessings on our country.

We asked Sabine Supt. Sara Ebarb if football season would be allowed this year at Many High School. She responded, “At this time I can’t answer that question and it is a good question. The state is telling us to have contingency plans for distance learning in the event we don’t start school on time or we don’t start with a regular schedule. We did not end school with a softball or baseball competed season, so I just don’t know right now.” We hear that in DeSoto Parish they will start football practice later this month.

Congratulations to Margaret “Maggie” Martin who is retiring after almost 56 years with The Shreveport Times. She has had a distinguished career and is highly regarded by all who know her. Through the years, she took on many reporting roles for the newspaper. She covered a broad range of topics, from investigative reporting as part of The Times Enterprise team, to writing about travel, fashion, food, religion, medicine and education.

“I am thankful for all my readers who have made my life richer for having shared theirs with me in so many ways,” Martin commented. “My career has been a great ride because of all of you and the newspaper staffers. Being a journalist was not just a career. It was a dream come true, one I chose many years ago when I was a young child reading The Times on our stoop in Queensboro.”

I first met Margaret when we were both students in journalism at Northwestern. One summer semester she took a practical journalism course, which meant she had to work at a newspaper. She took the course at The Natchitoches Times where I worked at the time and my boss, the late Charles Cunningham, put me in charge of the course. Margaret had her mother spend the summer with her in Natchitoches and the three of us used to borrow Mr. Cunningham’s white Cadillac convertible and go to A&W Root Beer for hamburgers, curly Q’s and root beer. Those were the days. We offer our best wishes to Maggie for her continued good health, happiness and peace.

And I want to congratulate my sister Evelyn Sutton who retired May 1 as Warranty Manager at Frymaster in Shreveport after 36 years with the company. She has always been a hard worker, dependable and loyal. She spent most of her career as part of the Technical Department, working in the spare part order area and then moving over to manager of warranty claims several years ago.

“Evelyn has a reputation for fairness and being guided to do the right thing,” her supervisor Ken Guzel commented. “I met her when I started with Frymaster in May of 1991. We have seen a lot of changes and improvements over the years. We have come a long way since then. She has been an amazing employee and I appreciate her contributions through the years.”

My New Year’s resolution in 2019 was to stay away from negative people. Now my resolution in 2020 is to stay away from positive people.

We send our condolences to former well-known Many resident Joe Lowrey and his family down in Florida on the untimely death of his son John who lived in Jacksonville. He was found dead in his apartment Monday morning. The cause of death was not immediately known. John went to school in Many and is remembered fondly by teachers and classmates alike. Please remember the Lowrey family in your thoughts and prayers.

Steven Prudhome of Zwolle caught a big 10.57 lb. bass on Toledo Bend back on April 2. He weighed in at Buckeye Landing. Congratulations to Steven on an impressive catch.

Congratulations to our friend Debbie Hillman Stewart, who celebrated her birthday on Monday. She said she had a great day, and we wish her many more happy birthdays!

Work continues on the big 30-inch-plus pipeline currently being laid in Sabine Parish. It’s bringing a lot of activity and a lot of workers to the area. The line will run from DeSoto Parish to Gillis near Lake Charles and will carry that wonderful Haynesville Shale gas. This shot was made just off Pioneer Rd. west of Many.

We saw an interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida last week, and he reported that while things are slow on the state’s highways because of the Coronavirus, they have been building and repairing roads and bridges in the state. You won’t find that kind of thing going on in Louisiana. Without a doubt, we have some of the worst roads in the country.  Just drive from Many to Natchitoches.

This guy has been wearing a mask for a long time.  The Lone Ranger initially started as a radio series in the 1930s and was an immediate hit. The series goal was to always tell a story in which the Lone Ranger would be the hero, every single time. In 1949, Clayton Moore (shown above) played the part in a television series of the same name for ABC. It was the network’s highest-rated show in the early 1950s.

We have seen a few mouthy politicians on TV news footage recently wearing their facial coverings and masks in Washington DC. It is a definite improvement.

That is all for this Wednesday. Thank you for reading. To save, send or print this week’s Observations, click on the appropriate icon below. I love to hear from you and learn your ideas for future articles. Send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call me at (318) 332-7873. To see older Observations, follow the pages below or visit our Facebook page.

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