Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Sabine Parish Chief Deputy Brad Walker told Observations the Sheriff’s Department is running down every single lead on the disappearance of Taylor Nichole Nichols, 27, but thus far has been unsuccessful in finding her. Nichols has been missing for several days. Her vehicle was found earlier this week in the Walmart parking lot in Many. “Her cell phone battery is dead, according to the phone company,” Walker added.
Ms. Nichols has blonde hair, green eyes, a slim build and is 5 ft. 6 inches tall. She weighs 130 lbs. and has tattoos on her right leg, left arm and chest. Her last known address is Nichols Lane off the Big N Ranch Road off Hwy. 6, east of Many.
Some reports say she was last heard from on Sept. 15, but a witness told Observations that she saw Nichols last Friday. Another report says Nichols has been missing since Sept. 18.
The same witness said she has been searching for Ms. Nichols and thought her vehicle must not have been parked at Walmart very long because this witness had already searched there prior to its discovery on the parking lot. Nichols’ vehicle is a beige 2004 Ford Expedition with black wheels.
If you have any information at all about Taylor Nichole Nichol’s whereabouts, even if it seems insignificant, please call the Sabine Sheriff’s Office at (318) 256-9241 or message their Facebook page.
Be sure to read Friday’s Observations. We will have a guest column by Ted Dove. He is very knowledgeable about how the 12th Amendment might come into play during the upcoming Presidential Election. I did not know of this and have not heard about it on any of the national news media. It will be a quite interesting article, so please read Friday’s Observations.
DON’T MISS IT: This Saturday, Oct. 3 at Many Community Center [Sabine Theater] at 7 p.m. “The Call of the Wild” will be shown by Movies in Many completely free of charge as a Sabine Humane Society Fundraiser. Wear a mask, social distance and come support this local, hardworking group while enjoying a great movie. Attendees will also get the chance to win fun door prizes. Cokes and popcorn will be available for $1 each, as always.
The Humane Society will gratefully accept monetary donations or donations of Animal Shelter supplies, such as Purina Dog Chow and Kitten Chow, Purina Equine Strategy Healthy Choice, dog and cat treats, dog and cat toys, full-sized newspapers, fleece blankets (not filled), dog sweaters, leashes and collars, dog and kitty beds, towels, bleach and Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator liquid. They can also use hay, but that requires scheduling a time for someone to pick it up.
The Sabine Humane Society is a 501 c3 non-profit and all donations are tax deductible. Your membership or donation helps pay for the care of sheltered animals before finding the pets a loving new home.
They also offer spay and neuter help. Call (318) 256-2275 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to find out more about their spay/neuter program or to arrange a donation of hay.
Looking Back
The late Buddy Beasley was a good friend. He worked around the world in the oil industry – in 50 different countries, in fact. He was also a building contractor. An interesting story he told me one time was that he tore down the old home of Huey P. Long Sr. and his wife Caledonia Long in Winnfield and moved the lumber to Many.
He then built a home for William Milton Knott who was married to Clara Long, the daughter of Huey P. Long Sr. The house is now home to Guys & Dolls Hair Design at 1080 W. Mississippi Ave. Though the hair salon uses the end (or side) of the home as their entrance, the original entrance faces W. Mississippi Ave.
The old, original house was located at the site of the present Earl K. Long Memorial Park in Winnfield and was built in 1907. It was a large house, two-story with 10 rooms. It was very modern at the time with electric lights, indoor plumbing, high ceilings and large columned verandas on three sides. Two big white oak trees stood in the front yard.
Clara Long Knott was born Oct. 5, 1888 in Winnfield. She later became a school teacher and taught school for 10 years. On June 14, 1914 she married William Milton Knott who was cashier at Sabine State Bank and Trust Co. in Many. Knott had been born Feb. 16, 1879. Two years after their marriage, he became bank president in 1916 and served in that position until he died in 1952.
Mr. Knott is buried at Ft. Jesup Cemetery. Mrs. Knott, who died Jan. 27, 1973, is also buried there.
It was Mrs. Knott who got her brother, Gov. Earl K. Long, to take Ft. Jesup into the State Parks system. That was about 1959. She later ran to become a member of the State Board of Education, but was defeated by Harold B. McSween.
We send out special Get Well wishes this week to our friend and neighbor, Bob Gates, who had some hip surgery this week. We feel sure Bob will be kicking high before long because you just can’t keep a good man down. Get well soon, Bob!
We understand the God and Country Toledo Bend Trump Boat Parade was a huge success on Saturday. A lot of boaters and some aircraft turned out for it and had a great time. Thanks to Holly Garcie Porter of Zwolle for providing these photos.
I came to Many in the mid-1960s as editor of the Sabine Index. One of the first persons I met was our Sheriff T. M. “Pappy” Phillips. He welcomed me to town with open arms, and we became good friends. He also invited me to become a member of the Lions Club, which I enjoyed for many years.
One time I was in his office in the Courthouse and he had the head of a skeleton in his office. I asked him about it and he said some sheriff, years before him, had left it. Pappy said he was told that it was of a retarded boy from Pine Flat whose parents kept him in a barn. A long time after his death, whoever was sheriff at the time was called to come pick up the boy’s bones, which I assume were left in the barn, or perhaps his parents brought them to the Sheriff’s Office. Pappy was not entirely sure of the information he had heard.
“Do you want the bones?” Pappy asked. The question took me aback, but when I answered, for some reason, I replied, “Yes.” He put the head in an old burlap feed bag which held the rest of the bones. It was not a complete skeleton, but just a few bones. I took the bag to the Index where it remained for several years.
By this time, I had met James Stallworth who lived in Pine Flat and was writing a very popular weekly column for the Index. I asked James about the unfortunate boy and he faintly remembered something about it, but not too many details.
I told James that we should give the unknown youth a burial in a cemetery at Pine Flat. James was somewhat superstitious and at first didn’t want any part of it. “But he deserves a decent burial,” I told James. He thought about it a few weeks and then decided he would help me, but only if we did it at night. I never knew why he wanted to do it at night.
So one night in October when a big bright, yellow moon was shining, I picked up James and we went to some cemetery in the area that he knew about. I don’t remember the name. Anyway, he had brought a shovel and I had the bag. He found a spot, dug a hole and I laid the burlap sack in the hole. I said a few words about the unfortunate soul. I don’t remember a lot about what was said all those many years ago. I did remark that I hoped his life had not been so bad and that he was now resting in peace.
After I finished my few words, to my surprise James pulled his harmonica out of his pocket and started playing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” After he played the chorus, he sang the first verse and a chorus, and then he played his harp again. I don’t know how many verses the song has, but James sang every one of them.
As the moon was shining brightly, James and I left the cemetery. We thought we had done a good deed, and we hoped the Big Man would be happy with our efforts. Neither of us ever spoke of it again.
Good Gracious is now operating again in Many at a brand new location on San Antonio Ave. with lots of shopping space and good parking.
“We’re excited to finally be open!” owner Grace Thomas Manasco said Monday, the first day in her new location at 1225 San Antonio Ave. The white frame house has been refurbished throughout and has an inviting shaded porch with newly installed black-and-white awnings to welcome shoppers.
Grace first opened her boutique with apparel and accessories inside Lou’s Flowers & Gifts a little over a year ago, but it quickly outgrew available space and she also needed more room for fitting rooms and other items she wished to offer.
When Observations asked how the original idea for a boutique happened, Grace’s husband Lang spoke up, “I think she’s always had it in the back of her mind,” he said with a smile, and Grace agreed.
“I love clothing and I love working with people,” she explained.
In addition to apparel, accessories and gifts, Grace has another creative partner at her side – her mother Paula, who now designs fresh flowers and plants in a perfect space inside the new location.
Good Gracious is open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. It are located at 1225 San Antonio Ave. and may be reached by calling (318) 273-2239.
We want to wish our longtime friend Jimmy Barnhill a very Happy Retirement today. Aug. 3, 2020 was the 50th Anniversary of his first day of work at what used to be called the Northwest Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory – the “Crime Lab” – in Shreveport. Barnhill was first hired as a drug chemist/toxicologist.
In 1980, the name of the facility was changed to North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory (NLCL), dropping the “Northwest” designation. Over the years, Barnhill served as the first Quality Manager for the Lab System and did all the work required to get the NLCL accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Lab Accreditation Board.
“Our three labs located in Shreveport, West Monroe and Alexandria were the 39th, 40th and 41st labs [in the nation] to be accredited by that body,” Barnhill shared. “We were the first labs in the South to be accredited, and we were in the ranks of NYPC Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco and other national metropolitan centers, by being accredited early on,” he explained.
In 1992, Barnhill was named Director of the Shreveport Headquarters Lab of the NLCL System and then in 2000, he was named NLCL System Director.
Looking back over a half-century of work in the crime laboratory, Barnhill says, “It was the perfect job for a science and math nerd like me. My wife Katie once said to me, ‘Jimmy, You don’t have a job, you have a hobby,’ and in many ways she was right, because I absolutely loved my work and the crime lab. It has been my life and it won’t be easy to walk out the door at the end of the day on Sept. 30th knowing that it is over,” he said.
Congratulations to you, Jimmy! We wish you the very best in your upcoming retirement.
It was a hot time Friday night, Sept. 25, on San Antonio Ave. in front of the old Sabine Theater in downtown Many.
The third Social Distance Social benefitted the Sabine Humane Society. People listened and danced to the music of The Turn-Ups, shopped, visited, tossed bean bags at the Corn Hole Tournament, snacked, watched the Studio B dancers, and had a great time.
An overnight stay in a suite at Cypress Bend Resort was the grand prize. It also included breakfast and dinner for two. Susan Giblin of Many was the lucky winner. Cypress Bend Resort donated the grand prize.
Two other people were the lucky winners of fall décor items created and donated by Southern Ladeez owner Robbie Edwards.
The Humane Society worked a table loaded with items for dogs and cats that were for sale. They included food bowls, neckties and bandanas for dogs (or cats), homemade dog treats, catnip pillows, and many other tempting items for pet lovers. It was a busy night at the sale table as shoppers crowded around the items to buy the perfect presents for their pets.
“We were thrilled with the turnout and the support for the Humane Society,” said Jackie Conyer, president of the Sabine Humane Society. “I hope this becomes an annual fall event,” she continued.
Conyer said the Humane Society members are grateful to all the sponsors of Social Distance Social – Laurie Gentry, James Wagley and The Turn Ups and Adam Lehr, as well as members of the Cultural District Advisory Committee, Town of Many’s city worker Mark Oxley, for making the big event possible.
Attorney Verity Gentry, Laurie Gentry Designs, Vanguard Behavioral Health Consultants, Mayor and Mrs. Ken Freeman, John and Betsy Godfrey, and Wagley Industries all sponsored the Social Distance Social.
A special thank you to Mary Brocato for the article above.
Last Friday was an eventful day for me. It all began when I started getting calls about my Honda ATV being stolen from my old home place in the Bethany Community near Marthaville. Law enforcement officers from Sabine, Natchitoches and Winn Parishes were all over the whole bazaar affair.
Seems Joshua Cole Green, a native of Pleasant Hill, stole a work truck in Shreveport and headed south. Somehow, he ended up at my place. He was attempting to turn around on some grass beside a pasture gate, but he picked about the wettest, muddiest spot on the whole place to do it, and he got stuck. Green had a juvenile with him and apparently, after getting stuck, they started looking around my place for something to use to get the truck out and found my ATV in a locked shed.
They broke into the shed and tore the ignition switch out of the ATV and hot-wired it. Afterward, we saw their tracks where they tried to pull the stolen truck out with the four-wheeler. Those muddy ruts were way too deep and it just didn’t happen. They also stole a John Deere UTV from a place on the Thyra Johnson Road in Sabine Parish near Pleasant Hill. Both vehicles were later located on the Ajax Rd. My ATV was damaged to the point I had to get rid of it.
At some point in the day, the juvenile was arrested. Green then took to the woods. Dogs from the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office were brought in and they chased him for several hours, but he was able to get away. Green was later taken into custody off Hwy. 1221 near Rebel Park, according to Sabine Chief Deputy Brad Walker. He was taken to Natchitoches where he was booked into the Parish Detention Center.
Green also has arrest warrants in Sabine for Monetary Instrument Abuse, Failure to Appear for Court for Possession of Schedule II, Drug Paraphernalia, Forgery, Illegal Possession of Stolen Firearms and Possession of Firearm by Person Convicted of Certain Felonies.
We are proud to see Many Police Chief Roger Freeman back home and feeling good enough to sit with family on his front porch again. We have missed seeing him there. Freeman underwent serious surgery in Shreveport last week and looks to be recovering well. Continued Get Well wishes to the Chief.
Please note: The name of Lang Manasco was erroneously posted in an earlier version of the following article. It has been corrected and we apologize to Mr. Manasco for this error.
Perhaps you’ve noticed a change in who’s been handling law enforcement duties on some highways around Many the last while. Observations has noticed, too.
Since late June, the Many Police are no longer writing tickets, investigating wrecks or taking care of other road-related matters on Hwy. 171 north toward Walmart and on Hwy. 6 east toward Many High School. Those duties have shifted to the Sabine Sheriff’s Office.
Apparently the change came about shortly after Dustin Gilcrease was issued a speeding ticket. Former Sabine Assessor Cindy Manasco advised the Dept. he would not be paying it because the ticket was issued on a road not in the City Limits.
Research revealed that only a strip of land along the road, and not the road itself, was annexed some years ago when the Walmart and school locations were annexed by the Town of Many.
But for years the Many PD enforced the law on those two roads as it was assumed by all parties involved that the annexation included the roadway.
“We investigated the complaint and found it to be legitimate, as did City Hall,” acting Chief Kyle Cook said. “A determination was made on June 23. That is the date I let the Sheriff’s Office know of our findings and withdrew enforcement from those highways, per [advice from] City Hall/Town attorney,” Cook explained.
Since those findings were discovered, the duties beyond the Many City Limits on both highways are now handled by the Sabine Sheriff’s Office.
“For now, in an abundance of caution, we are continuing our withdrawal of enforcement until we have more information or the limits are officially reviewed and changed,” Cook stated.
That is all for this last day of September. Sure is nice to be enjoying some beautiful fall weather as of late. I love to hear your ideas and suggestions for future articles, so send an email to robertrgentry@gmail.com or call me at (318) 332-8653. To save, send or print today’s column, click on the appropriate icon below. To read Observations of the recent past, scroll through the following pages. To see older ones, please visit our Facebook page. As always, thank you for faithfully reading.
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