Barksdale Federal Credit Union celebrated its new location, 105 Richard’s Way, Minden, with an Open House Tuesday. Give them a call: 800-647-2328.

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November 15

Martino A. Hill, 39, of Ringgold, was arrested by Heflin Police on a warranted through Bossier City Police for forgery.

November 16

Travis Lynn Reynolds, 29, of Haughton, was arrested by Webster Parish Sheriff’s deputies for possession of Sch. II controlled dangerous substance.

Christopher Quashawn Galloway, 25, of Vicksburg, Miss., was arrested by Louisiana State Police Troop G for following too close, aggravated flight, improper lane usage, possession of Sch. I with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm with a controlled dangerous substance.

Michael Gene Williams, 45, of Heflin, was arrested by WPSO as a fugitive from Claiborne Parish SO and fugitive from Probation & Parole.

Corey Jamal Scott, 52, of Ringgold, was arrested by WPSO for resisting an officer, flight and as a fugitive from Bienville Parish SO.

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

A Homer woman was arrested by Minden Police Friday during a traffic stop.

Mikalah Brooks, 22, is charged with resisting an officer with false information, a bench warrant and a fugitive warrant from Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office.

According to Police Chief Steve Cropper, Ofc. Jason Smith and Off. Kayla Little stopped Brooks’ red Honda Accord for not using a turn signal at the intersection of BF Martin and Hwy. 80.

“Brooks was not driving the vehicle, but the driver said the vehicle belonged to Brooks, who was a passenger,” Cropper said. “When the officers asked for the required documents, Brooks produced a title which was not dated or notarized.”

When asked for her name, Brooks reportedly gave officers Tiesha as a first name and said she did not have a driver’s license.

“Both females were ordered to exit the vehicle in order to investigate the situation further,” Cropper said. “Brooks gave consent to search herself and possessions, and officers discovered an identification card with the name Mikalah Brooks. “

Dispatch advised officers that Brooks has active warrants from Minden as well as a fugitive warrant with no bond.

She was transported to Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

Springhill Police have arrested a Stamps Ark., man on drug charges.

Mark Anthony Bell, 43, of Columbia Rd., is charged with possession of Methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under suspension and a fugitive from Arkansas.

Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said on Saturday two of his officers observed a white Nissan Altima traveling north on N. Arkansas St., near the football field in Springhill.

“They engaged their overhead lights and flashers and initiated a traffic stop, with the final location being on Church St., about 50 yards away,” Lynd said. “The driver, Bell, did not have a driver’s license in his possession, but gave them an Arkansas ID card.”

Lynd said Bell was driving under a suspended driver’s license and had an active warrant out of Columbia County, Ark. He was taken into custody. A search of the vehicle reportedly yielded a small clear plastic bag containing three Ecstasy pills and a small smoking device with Marijuana residue.

Bell was transported to Springhill PD and later to Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.

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If you answered yes to the above questions, then we would love to talk with you. 

Webster Parish Journal is looking for a writer to help cover our parish. We want someone who loves to write features about the people who make this community great.

We also need someone who can take on some assignments and perhaps help cover local government.

If this sounds like you, please email wpjnewsla@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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When the unthinkable happens, and we lose a loved one, everyone wants the support that comes from contact with friends and family.

What would you like the world to know about your loved one? We publish obituaries at the Webster Parish Journal. Ask your funeral director for information, but if you wish, contact us at wpjnewsla@gmail.com .

There is a fee of $80 for unlimited words with a photo, and payment is due before the obituary runs. Funeral announcements (date of birth and death, as well as funeral arrangements) are free.

Again, check with your funeral director as you are making arrangements, or contact us. We hope you don’t need us, but we are here for you.

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Vera Weaver
June 29, 1938 – November 1, 2021
Graveside Services: Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Bistineau Baptist Church in Heflin, Louisiana.

Charles David Day III
September 22, 1952 – November 3, 2021
Service:  November 18th at 5:00 pm. at Ridge Room at East Ridge Country Club in Shreveport, La. 

Dennis Boyd Holland
February 14, 1956 – November 9, 2021
Services: a virtual memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 27, 2021.

Braxton Woodrow “Bragg” Stuckey
September 28, 1947 – November 13, 2021
Services: A memorial service will be held at the Brushwood Methodist Church in Dubberly, Louisiana on November 22 at 1 pm.

David Russell Marsh
May 21, 1976 – November 1, 2021
Services: A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 20, 2021 in the chapel of Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana.

Judy A. Bond Borg
February 19, 1947 – November 11, 2021
Visitation:  1:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home.
Services: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, November 20, 2021 at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home – Harrodsburg Road.
Judy’s family and friends will host a celebration of life immediately following the funeral at the Campbell House on Harrodsburg Road. Burial date is pending and will be in the Colquitt Cemetery in Haynesville, LA,

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Guess who’s coming to Minden? Our hometown tops the list of six small towns that will soon be visited by HGTV and their Hometown crew.

“We can’t say a lot right now,” said Minden resident Sara McDaniel, whose home near Academy Park has been featured in several magazines. “When we know more, we will let everyone know.”

Buffalo, Wyoming; Cornwall, New York; Winslow, Arizona; LaGrange, Kentucky; Thomaston, Georgia; and Minden, Louisiana — need a boost to re-energize their revitalization efforts and HGTV has called on some of its biggest stars to help out in Home Town Kick Start, a new renovation series slated to premiere in spring 2022. Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent (The Nate and Jeremiah Home Project); Ty Pennington(Rock the Block); Jasmine Roth (Help! I Wrecked My House); and Alison Victoria (Windy City Rehab) are among the network’s popular experts who, supported by Home Town stars Ben and Erin Napier, will lead three projects in each town: refresh the home of a local hero, give a small business a beautiful upgrade and reinvigorate a public space to enhance the residents’ quality of life and engender community pride.  

During the series, Ben and Erin, who know a thing or two about small town revitalization, will offer their insight and encouragement, and PEOPLE magazine, the No.1 brand in the United States celebrating popular culture, will share the unique stories of each location and the standout locals that reside within them. 

“We see the positive impact of this small town renaissance every day in Laurel,” said Erin. “Ben and I can’t wait to share all we’ve learned with our fellow HGTV experts so they can help these communities achieve their goals.”

Selected from the thousands of submissions HGTV originally received for the hit series Home Town Takeover, the six towns in Home Town Kickstart Presented by PEOPLE, will benefit from the expertise of the popular network stars and, through added visibility in PEOPLE, may secure more support as they work to rejuvenate their towns.     

“PEOPLE’s audience aligns perfectly with HGTV’s viewers,” said Dan Wakeford, editor in chief, PEOPLE. “We are thrilled to highlight stories about everyday heroes working towards positive change in their communities.”

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

Minden Animal Shelter will stay in its present location but is looking at an entire makeover, thanks to a $75,000 grant.

“At this point, we are planning to push over (the old building) and build a completely new facility,” Minden Mayor Terry Gardner said. “Our present location is beyond repair and is not customer friendly or handicap accessible, just to name a few of the problems.”

The shelter is currently on Dianne Street, near Ewell Park.

“I will be moving forward with the application and will be using this address as the location,” Gardner said.  

Gardner said the city will need more than $75,000 to complete the project correctly.

“We will need fundraisers, as well,” he said. “Together we can make this happen and improve our animal shelter in Minden.”

Gardner says his thoughts are to move the temporary building from the current site to the city’s auto mechanic shop behind Ewell Park.

“There is a fenced area there,” he said. “We will rent a tent to cover the slab with individual cages to house the animals.”

His hope is to have the new shelter finished in around six months from the start.

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

A Louisiana State Police traffic stop on Interstate 20 near Goodwill Road in Webster Parish netted troopers three arrests and approximately 300 pounds of Marijuana.

TFC. Jayson Linebaugh stopped the vehicle, which was traveling eastbound around 2 p.m. Monday. According to reports, the vehicle, driven by Peng Zhao, crossed the fog and center lines multiple times.

TFC. Linebaugh’s report said Zhao appeared to be extremely nervous. When speaking with passengers Wei Zhao and Ming Li, the trooper reported they had conflicting stories concerning their travel and then refused to give consent to search the vehicle.

A second trooper arrived on scene and deployed K-9 “Spike.” The dog gave a positive response to the vehicle, giving the troopers  cause to search. They discovered the 300 pounds of Marijuana in multiple trash bags and boxes throughout the vehicle.

Peng Zhao, 43, of Arcadia, Calif., was charged with possession of CDS Sch. I with intent to distribute, improper lane usage and criminal conspiracy.

Wei Zhao, 52, and Ming Li, 34, both of San Gabriel, Calif., were charged with possession of CDS Sch. I with intent to distribute and criminal conspiracy.

The trio was transported to Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.

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By Doug Ireland, Journal Sports

Thanks to a power play by people in Lake Charles, there’s been a big drop in blood pressure for plenty of folks in Natchitoches, Hammond, Thibodaux and a few on the Lakeshore in New Orleans.

A Tuesday afternoon announcement confirmed a swift turnaround toward the status quo. McNeese revealed it was staying put in the Southland Conference, renewing long standing cordial relations with Northwestern, Southeastern, Nicholls and UNO, much to the dismay of former friends in Texas.

It resuscitated the Southland from extinction, while creating at least a big wobble for the Western Athletic Conference, where former Southland members Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Lamar and Abilene Christian bolted earlier this year.

They tried to entice McNeese to join them. The Cowboys were receptive over the last several months, with McLeaders traveling to Denver a few weeks ago to make a membership presentation to current WAC gurus. The footsies and flirting seemed heading toward a likely engagement.

The Texas Traitors and the Cowboys have the same ultimate destination in mind: moving up from the Southland and Football Championship Subdivision membership (on-field playoffs for the top 24 teams nationally) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (and a chance to play in a low-level bowl game). The incentive$ were the lure of bowl revenue (not a lot for the bottom tier in the FBS), the chance to add another digit to low to mid-six figure paychecks from the biggest schools for football guarantee games (a trip to LSU or Texas might net an extra half-million), and the belief that playing more overly ambitious opponents at home might hike ticket revenues.

Let’s not get logic involved here and overcome ego. Anyone who has tracked attendance figures around the state has to admit the real path to hike home game ticket revenues would be to hire Marty McFly as commissioner, get Doc Brown’s flux capacitor going, and Go Back to The Gulf States Conference. Not exactly the future, but rebuilding a league with in-state schools would boost crowds in all sports, not just football, while cutting travel costs.

That’s not happening. Never mind the millions that would be produced in gate revenue and the millions in state money that would be reduced for travel. Ambition overrules everything.

Well, actually, in big league college sports, TV money does. It’s the lack of a local TV market of any consequence that left Louisiana Tech behind recently when much of Conference USA bolted for better deals and new territory. CUSA quickly went contraflow and a few days ago invited desolate-in-the-desert New Mexico State (stealing the Aggies from the WAC), deep pocketed and lonely Liberty, and two FCS stalwarts, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston (twice divorced, split from the Southland last year and now, the WAC; although there’s some chatter that the $2 million CUSA entry fee might sour Sam’s shift).

Where there are entry fees, there logically are exit fees. When the Texas schools bolted the Southland this spring, they each paid a relatively paltry $300,000 – as much as Sam Houston pays its baseball coach. Not exactly a tall hurdle to clear, so the remaining Southland membership agreed to hike their exit penalty rate.

Except in case McNeese makes a future move to FBS. The pile of concessions granted by the Southland Conference (with approval of its university presidents) was recited in a joint announcement Tuesday by the league and McNeese, with one exception. They didn’t mention McNeese staying is an engagement, not a remarriage. The door is left wide open for the Cowboys to climb up, at no cost. Nada. No toll booth to pass.

That’s a victory in Cowboy country, but a hollow plank elsewhere. McNeese going FBS is unlikely to occur any time soon. The only nearby FBS conferences, the Sun Belt and CUSA, aren’t interested or it would have already happened. For better (Sun Belt) and worse (CUSA), their membership shuffling is over for at least the next little bit, until the next seismic activity rolls downhill from the Power 5 leagues. When that happens, and it’s coming, it may very well knock the NCAA into oblivion.

In real time, McNeese recognized that losing New Mexico State and Sam Houston not only dashed the WACky dreams of upsizing to FBS status, but also suddenly greatly expanded an already frightful travel budget. The idea of a southern division was shot for a conference that stretches out to LA, up to Seattle, and into Arizona and Utah.

But keeping that option on the table presented a do-or-die decision to the Southland. Losing McNeese would have collapsed the league because it would have fallen below minimum membership requirements to maintain automatic NCAA postseason qualification for its championship teams in all sports, not just football. NSU, Nicholls, SLU and UNO were already hurriedly considering unappealing fallback affiliations with the Ohio Valley Conference or the Atlantic Sun, both requiring leapfrogging states to get to conference contests.

So the Cowboys got everything they asked for to stay put. From 2023-26, McNeese will host the conference basketball, baseball and softball tournaments, a decision that raised the ire of many coaches and fans around the Southland. The annual conference preseason football media event will be in Lake Charles. Don’t rule out the conference opening a satellite office there, hinting at moving its headquarters to SWLA.

My lunch lunch pals are wondering if we have to go to Lake City for all future eatin’ meetin’s, or at least for four years.

Will the Southland sponsor a championship in duck calling and stage it in Cameron Parish?

Hmmmm, could be. The marsh people, who up until a couple of weeks felt like McLeast, too long taken for granted in the Texas-heavy Southland pecking order, are suddenly McAlmighty.

“A school that was desperate to get out of the league now becomes its biggest player,” wrote Lake Charles American Press columnist Jim Gazzolo.

The Southland sunshine dimmed a bit Friday when it lost the Alamo City’s Incarnate Word in a move that illustrates the desperation of the WAC. Stephen F. Austin 1) reluctantly accepted UIW into the Southland several years ago; 2) left the Southland citing substandard facilities and a lack of commitment to athletics by some league members, a clear diss aimed at UIW and Houston Baptist; and 3) now has kissed the pig and rolled out the WACky welcome mat.

But while amusing from that angle, UIW’s move does heighten the Southland’s urgency to recruit a couple more Division II football-playing members. Schools like Arkansas Tech, West Texas A&M, Central Oklahoma, even Delta State and West Florida could be receptive to an upgrade.

Some better be. You have to wonder, will Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (a non-football Southland member) look at a suddenly Louisiana-heavy league, and have a WAC-waiver? Will UL System czar Jim Henderson do what he didn’t earlier this fall regarding the McMove Mistake, and ensure that the inquiries by SLU and Nicholls toward possible ASUN affiliation are 86’d?

Time to update that #SouthlandStrong hashtag. It hasn’t fit all year. Truly, it was #SouthlandShaky, and for the time being, it’s #SouthlandSaved. For now.

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Guest speaker for our November 18 Minden Lions Club meeting will be businessman Ronnie Dees. Ronnie, age 59, is a lifelong resident of Springhill and a 1980 graduate of Springhill High School. He went on to attend NWLA Vo-Tech, joining the workforce as a welder and, soon after, moving up the ranks as a construction supervisor.

In 1998 Ronnie and his brother, Mike, formed 3D Contracting, Corp. headquartered in Taylor, Ark. In 2006 he became the sole owner and in 2019 purchased Bossier City Harley-Davidson (now 3-State Harley-Davidson). Ronnie is an avid motorcycle and car collector.

Ronnie and his wife of 33 years, the former Barbara Eason, have one son (Daniel Barnard), two granddaughters (Katelyn and Jillian Barnard), and one great-grandson (Jackson Allen). They are proud to call Springhill their home.

Ronnie will be introduced by Lion Rep. Wayne McMahen.

The Minden Lions Club meets Thursdays at noon at the American Legion Memorial Home, located at 119 Pine St. in Minden.

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This week in 1969, the children’s television program Sesame Street first aired on PBS.

What started with Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch launched an assortment of misfit, humorous, glorious creatures known as Muppets, and the world has never looked at a frog or at a pig the same way since.

Take your tacky comedians and your crude comics and give me Muppets any day.

Sesame Street was the idea of public television documentary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, who wanted to create an educational series for pre-kindergarten children, something that would help teach them their ABCs and how to count. It was set in a fictional New York City neighborhood with nice adults and the creations of puppeteer Jim Henson.

Immediate smash hit. Big Bird dominated the 1970s every bit as much as bellbottoms, tie-dye, and the Cincinnati Reds.

I was never a big Sesame Street guy. I was older by then and my pre-Sesame Street allegiance was to Captain Kangaroo (more on that another time). But Henson kept creating more and more characters, and each was bound for stardom and the silver screen — funny and clever and sometimes smart and sometimes silly — so by the 1980s, I was all about any Muppet movie that showed up.

The best in one small-brained man’s opinion is “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” released a mind-boggling 29 years ago in 1992. (I’d have guessed 10 years, tops.) During this holiday season — and Thanksgiving Eve is a week from tomorrow, Nov. 24 — you might want to give it a look-see. The songs aren’t great, but I think it’s overall genius, like most everything else this bunch creates and performs.

This adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” stars Michael Caine as the miserly, Christmas-hating Ebenezer Scrooge, and he plays it straight as if he’s working with “the Royal Shakespeare Company,” he said. True to his word, he does nothing “Muppety.”

But the Muppets do.

The narrators are Gonzo the Great and, to add humor and wisecracks, the brilliant Rizzo the Rat. Love, love, love the Rizzo.

Kermit the Frog, the greatest Muppet of them all, maybe the Robert De Nero of Muppetdom, is, of course, Bob Cratchit. Miss Piggy is Mrs. Cratchit, and a tiny Kermit is Tiny Tim.

There is an understated scene early in which Bean Bunny shows up at Scrooge’s place of business on Christmas Eve, singing carols in the snow, and Scrooge sneers down and throws a wreath at him. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a rewind part for me, one of many tiny touches that make this must-see Muppets.

Remember Statler and Waldorf, the two cranky hecklers in the balcony in Muppet skits? They are the brothers Marley who come back to warn Scrooge and tell him he’ll be visited by three spirits. The loveable Fozzie Bear plays Scrooge’s old employer — Mr. Fezziwig in the original but Fozziwig here — who runs a rubber chicken factory.

And of course, a lot of rats like Rizzo are Cratchit’s co-workers, huddled about trying to keep warm underneath their shawls and stovepipe hats. A rat in a stovepipe hat? Now that’s comedy. (It’s the little things.)

Don’t get caught up in the gimmicks and forget the acting though. You’d think that after 50 years, Kermit the Frog would be typecast. Not hardly. Guy’s such a quality actor that I don’t see a frog when I see Kermit as Cratchit; I see Cratchit as Dickens might have imagined him — had Dickens imagined him as a frog.

Take 85 minutes, gather the loved ones, and enjoy yourself some “Muppet Christmas Carol” in the next few weeks. You’ll probably send me chocolates if you do. 

God bless us, everyone.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

 

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ORLANDO— Sometime in the next few weeks I’ll be opening a new restaurant, bar, and tiki bar in the Fondren neighborhood of Jackson, Mississippi. Those are all very familiar concepts to me. I have worked in the restaurant business for 40+ years, and over 33 years have been as an owner.

The restaurant menu will be very similar to the menu at Crescent City Grill, our Hattiesburg concept that opened in 1990. The bar will take a lot from our Mahogany Bar, also a 31-year proven concept. We have a lot of experience in the tiki bar field as we used to host tiki takeovers in our cocktail bar concept, Branch.

To add to the bona fides, our Jackson management team has all worked together for over 12 years. In many ways we are opening on third base when it comes to management and experience in the restaurant and bar side of things. The textbooks might advise, “Location, location, location.” But it my book the key to success in the restaurant business is, “Management, management, management.”

So, when it comes to menu development, production, concept design, mixology, and experience, we have all those bases covered.

Though we are also opening a bowling alley and a movie theatre. I have zero years’ experience operating a theatre or a bowling alley. Granted I am a movie nut and usually go to at least two or three movies on an average week. But attending over 100 movies a year does not make me a theatre operator. That would be akin to all the people I have heard over the past four decades who say things like, “I know the restaurant business. I eat in a lot of restaurants. So, I am going to open a restaurant.” Experience eating in restaurants will give one about 5% of what one needs to know about operating a restaurant.

The same goes for bowling, and I have never bowled three times a week.

So, for the past three years, my partners and I have hired the industry’s top consultants in those fields who will be guiding us along the way. We have also been attending conferences and conventions submerging ourselves in the movie theatre and bowling business. That is why I am writing this column from a hotel in Orlando, Florida.

I am down here for a trade show that covers a lot of ground in the family entertainment center field. It just so happens that my son was down here attending a music festival over the weekend, so he has joined his mother and me for a few days and will attend the convention with me.

He has chosen the restaurant business for a career and is currently working towards an undergraduate degree in business. Two years from now, when that phase is complete, he will go to culinary school to become a chef. Then he will spend two years working for other people in six-month stints (stages). It’s a plan that I laid out for him several years ago when he told me he wanted to get into the business. It’s actually the route I wished I would have taken.

Once he has completed the two-year period of staging with other chefs and restaurant owners, I told him he can go to work in one of our restaurant concepts, but he’s going to start at the bottom. No matter what his college degree states, or what his chef title is, or where he has worked, he’ll jump back on the line and work like everyone else. The degree to which he works his way up into management— or not— will depend solely upon him and his commitment, effort, and passion.

Either way it is nice to have him with us for a couple of days. We used to come down here and visit the various parks when he and his sister were younger. There was even one time when he was too young to come, and we came with his sister and left him home with the grandparents. This makes up for that, I guess.

There is something about hanging out with your adult kids that is very special. Granted, I loved every minute of their childhood years, and especially that period when he was around 10 years old, and I was like some kind of superhero in his eyes. That was special. But this is special too, and an entirely different kind of special.

It’s nice to just sit and share a meal and have adult conversations. Last night at dinner I was sitting across from the two of them and several times during the meal I just paused and did my best to talk a mental snapshot of the moment. These are the times that I don’t ever want to forget.

It took me a long time to finally figure out what life is all about and how to prioritize the things that truly matter. In my thirties and early forties life was mostly about material and monetary things. Once those two children came into our lives all of that changed. Life became about the relational and spiritual things. That is where true joy lies— with family and friends.

Onward.

Eggplant Casserole

2                      Eggplant, medium size

1 /4 cup           Bacon grease (or canola oil)

1 cup               Onion, small dice

2 cups              Red bell pepper, small dice

1 cup               Tomatoes, diced, peeled and seeded

1 /2 cup           Celery, small dice

1 Tbl               Garlic, minced

1 tsp                Dried basil

1 /2 tsp            Dried oregano

2 cups              Mushroom Béchamel Sauce

2 cups              Corn flake crumbs

1 /4 cup           Butter, melted

                            

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place eggplant on baking sheet and bake 20 minutes. Rotate and continue baking 20 minutes more. Remove and allow to cool.

Using a paring knife peel the skin from the eggplant. Cut eggplant into two-inch cubes.

Place the bacon grease in a large skillet over high heat. When oil is very hot add eggplant to brown. Add onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, celery, garlic, basil and oregano. Cook for five to six minutes. Stir in Mushroom Béchamel Sauce and pour into two-quart baking dish.

Bake uncovered 40 minutes. Combine the corn flake crumbs and melted butter. Spread evenly over top of casserole and bake 10 minutes more. Remove casserole from oven and serve. Yield: 10 – 12 servings

Mushroom Béchamel Sauce

1 Tbl               Olive oil, light

1 /2 cup           Onion, minced

1 /4 cup           Shallot, minced

1 /4 cup           Celery, minced

2 tsp                Salt

1 tsp                Garlic, granulated

1 /2 tsp             Thyme, dry

10 oz              Mushrooms, cleaned, sliced (4 cups)

3 cups              Chicken broth

1 /2 cup           Butter

3 /4 cup           Flour

1 cup               Whipping cream

Heat oil in a three-quart saucepot over low heat. Add onions, shallots, celery, and salt. Cook vegetables until tender. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often. Add chicken broth, garlic and thyme. Bring back to a simmer and cook 10 more minutes.

In a separate skillet, make a light-blonde roux by melting butter and stirring in flour. Add to simmering broth mixture. Cook three to four minutes and add cream. Freezes well. Yield: two quarts

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Lloyd Jeffries of Memphis, Tennessee, suffered from Cerebral Palsy (CP), a group of disorders which affects a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture.  CP is the most common motor disability in childhood.  In severe cases, a sufferer of CP might require specialized lifelong care.    Lloyd’s case was severe.  In 1968, when Lloyd was just sixteen years old, he suddenly lost the ability to speak.  He could only produce a sort of crowing sound.  Doctors gave Lloyd’s mother the grim prognosis that Lloyd had a paralyzed larynx and would never speak again.  Lloyd eventually lost his ability to stand on his own and required a wheelchair to get around.  When it became too difficult for his family to properly care for him, Lloyd became a resident of the Shelby County Home for Incurables.

One morning in 1980, Betty Dozier, Lloyd’s nurse, came into his room and greeted him with a “good morning” as she did every morning.  She waited patiently to hear his normal crowing sound.  Lloyd started to crow, but then something unexpected happened.  His crowing sound merged into an intelligible reply.  Lloyd said “good morning.”  Lloyd had been unable to speak for 18 years.  

At first, the nurse thought Lloyd was using some sort of electronic device to speak, but that wasn’t the case.  Lloyd and his nurse both looked at each other in stunned silence.  Lloyd tried another word, and then another.  After a short conversation, Lloyd said he wanted to call his mother.  

Lloyd’s mother was at home making a glass of tea when her telephone rang.  She answered it and heard Lloyd greet her with just three words.   At first, Mrs. Jeffries thought someone was playing a cruel joke.  “It’s me,” Lloyd said.  “I can talk again.”  Mrs. Jeffries was in shock.  Tears welled up in her eyes as that three-word greeting replayed over and over in her mind.  Tears turned into laughter as their conversation continued.

Lloyd was thrilled.  After his lengthy conversation with his mother, Lloyd wheeled himself around the nursing home and conversed with the other residents.  Everyone wanted to hear him speak and they certainly got their chance.

Several doctors examined Lloyd but were never able to explain how he regained his ability to speak.  To Lloyd and his mother, it was nothing short of a miracle.  Mrs. Jeffries said, “I was always a believer in God – but now I’m really a true believer.”  What were those three words, the first three words Mrs. Jeffries heard Lloyd speak in nearly two decades?  Mrs. Jeffries answered the phone and heard Lloyd say, “Happy Thanksgiving, Mother.”

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The Webster Parish Journal “WPJ” will start publishing paid engagement and wedding announcements for couples who reside in the parish, who have relatives in the parish or who are getting married in the parish. (Fees apply.)

This move by the Journal allows couples to showcase their announcement. 

Information for engagement announcements include: 

Digital photograph of the couple 

The couple’s names 

The couple’s hometowns 

High school and/or college of the couple 

Parents’ names and/or grandparents’ names 

Ties to the parish 

Wedding time, date, and place 

An interesting fact about the couple 

Information for the wedding announcements include: 

Digital photograph of the couple 

The couple’s names 

The couple’s hometowns 

High school and/or college of the couple 

Parents’ names and/or grandparents’ names 

Officiant  

Attendants 

Ties to the parish 

Wedding time, date, and place 

For engagement and wedding announcement fees and/or to submit information for publication, please email wpjnewsla@gmail.com. 

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If you answered yes to the above questions, then we would love to talk with you. 

Webster Parish Journal is looking for a writer to help cover our parish. We want someone who loves to write features about the people who make this community great.

We also need someone who can take on some assignments and perhaps help cover local government.

If this sounds like you, please email wpjnewsla@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Vera Weaver
June 29, 1938 – November 1, 2021
Graveside Services: Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Bistineau Baptist Church in Heflin, Louisiana.

Charles David Day III
September 22, 1952 – November 3, 2021
Service:  November 18th at 5:00 pm. at Ridge Room at East Ridge Country Club in Shreveport, La. 

Dennis Boyd Holland
February 14, 1956 – November 9, 2021
Services: a virtual memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, November 27, 2021.

Braxton Woodrow “Bragg” Stuckey
September 28, 1947 – November 13, 2021
Services: A memorial service will be held at the Brushwood Methodist Church in Dubberly, Louisiana on November 22 at 1 pm.

David Russell Marsh
May 21, 1976 – November 1, 2021
Services: A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 20, 2021 in the chapel of Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana.

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

For the past few months, Safety Initiative Program (SIP) commission members have been working on three ordinances to present for a Minden City Council vote.

At a workshop last week, the council was presented with drafts of two of the three, and those two brought about major discussion.

The first proposed ordinance – shown here – involves a curfew for juveniles (persons under 18 years of age).

According to the proposed ordinance, “curfew” means a regulation to restrict outdoor activities of juveniles in the city between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. each day, except Fridays and Saturdays, on which days the curfew shall be in force from midnight until 5 a.m., except on designated holidays, on which days the curfew shall be in force from midnight until 5 a.m.

“After receiving a lot of input, we changed the curfew times from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. each day,” said Minden Police Association President Jason Smith. “We also added specific holidays to the ordinance.”

Where the original ordinance named a few nonspecific holidays, it was recommended they designate the exemptions to New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter.

Special dispensation is also being added to cover events such as the fair, church and sporting events and other similar events where parental guidance is involved.

Once it is a law, fines are enforceable to parents or guardians whose underage children are out past curfew. There is also a possibility of community service for the youth.

Even after discussion, only two councilpersons felt comfortable saying whether they would like to put this ordinance on the next agenda for a vote.

District A councilman Wayne Edwards said no, he needs more time to review, while District D Councilman Michael Roy said yes.

“If this inconveniences a thousand people and saves one life, then we’ve done our job,” Smith said. “We are trying to save these kids from being a victim or witnessing a crime.”

District E councilwoman Pam Bloxom referred to a workshop with teens and their parents concerning the ordinance.

“If you remember, there was one black mother who came up to the microphone and said: ‘I want to know if my kid is out without my permission,’” Bloxom said. “That spoke volumes to me, right there.”

Lt. Joel Kendrick, vice president of the Minden Police Association, said the ordinance will give the police enforceable teeth.

“Right now, we can tell them to get off the streets and go home, and they can go on about their business,” Kendrick said. 

SIP Commission member Mike Harper asked to hear from the other two councilpersons on the subject.

“Are we headed in the right direction?” he asked. “Is this something you want to see happen?”

“It is, but what about the parent whose child is repeatedly out, and the parent says they have permission?” District B councilwoman Terika Williams-Walker asked.

“It depends on what that child is doing,” Kendrick responded. “And if they fall within the left and right limits of the exceptions to the rule.”

Minden resident Dennis Myles (District E) is in total disagreement with the ordinance.

“It sounds like you are going to violate a bunch of civil rights,” Myles told the council. “You’re telling a parent how to parent. If I choose to let my children do wrong on the streets of Minden, that should be my choice. You can’t legislate morality.”

Harper said he agreed to be a part of the commission because “I kind of like this city. I want it to be a better city.”

He said District Councilman Vincen Bradford had not given him any idea of whether he thought the ordinance was a good idea.

“I can’t tell you how I’m going to vote,” Bradford responded. “This is not a place to vote. Let’s move on.”

Mayor Terry Gardner asked council members to review the ordinances.

“Let me know if I can put these on the next agenda,” he said. “I’m not going to put them on the agenda to fail. I want to put them on the agenda to pass to help our police officers.”

Watch for stories on the City Parks and Property ordinance, police and fire raises and a possible increase in water rates in the Webster Parish Journal.

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By Bonnie Culverhouse

In last Saturday’s election, Webster Parish voters gave all four Constitutional Amendments a resounding thumbs down.

But on the state level, Amendment #2, which lowers the maximum allowed rate of income tax and allows providing a deduction for federal income taxes, managed to survive.

Webster Parish voters, with a turnout of 11.6 percent (2,790 voters), voted 1,375 (49 percent) for the amendment and 1,415 (51 percent) against.

On the state level, with 413,242 voters, 223,269 (54 percent) voted in favor of the amendment, while 189,973 (46 percent) voted against.

The other three amendments were defeated on the parish and state levels.

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Jonathan Bryant has been named Glenbrook School’s High School Student of the Month. Jonathan is in the 9th grade and was nominated as Student of the Month for the character and effort he displays in class. Jonathan works hard, puts forth his best effort and displays a positive attitude in his work. He is always respectful and ready to tackle any task given to him.  

Colby Procell is Glenbrook’s Elementary Student of the Month. Colby helps, listens and participates. He is respectful, kind to others and does what he is asked to do with a good attitude. He takes his time to do his best work and is a joy in the classroom.

 

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It’s no secret that Minden loves a parade.

The Christmas season is no different than any other, and those who wish to participate in this year’s Christmas parade should sign up by 4 p.m. December 4.

Using the theme “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” Minden’s Christmas Parade is scheduled for 5 p.m., Saturday, December 11 in downtown Minden.  

This year, there is an extended parade route, so citizens can  practice social distancing.

The parade will begin at the corner of Elm and East and West streets and end at the same location.  Line up begins at 3:30 p.m. at the corner of Elm Street facing south to McArthur. 

Please do not bring vehicles, trailers or floats to line up before 3:30 p.m. To drop off participants to get to their floats, please drop off at Richardson Elm School.  Pick up will be in same location at Richardson Elementary School.   

Parade entries should feature a favorite Christmas Carol or song as inspiration. Build a float or other parade entry to illustrate the theme of the song. Have music playing for an extra touch. Add lights and colors to make the entry unique.

If you are throwing candy or trinkets you MUST have adult walkers on either side of your unit and throwers must wear a mask.

Awards include the following:

Best Band

Best Marching Group 

Santa’s Award – Given to the overall outstanding entry presenting and illustrating the  theme “Twas The Night Before Christmas!”

Spectacular Sparkles -Given to the entrant that presents an outstanding display of lights and/or other type of illuminations

Awards will be presented in the front of the Minden Civic Center at 6:45 p.m. (or after parade ends).

General Rules: The Greater Minden Chamber of Commerce reserves the right to reject any entry which it believes does not follow the required rules and regulations.

All floats/entries in the parade should have some form of Christmas decoration and Christmas music where practical. Seasonal music and lights are what make Christmas parades special, and all participants are encouraged to emphasize these elements.

Animal Groups

1. Animal entries must incorporate the parade theme.

2. Animal entries shall exercise appropriate measures to keep spectators safe.

3. Horses may be either bagged or accompanied by “scoopers” during the parade and while in the staging area.

Lights and Christmas music are welcome and encouraged!

Since the parade is broadcast live on KASO/KBEF Radio, all entrants must supply their own signage for their float/entry. Banners and signs should be neat and easily recognized. Six-to-eight-inch lettering is recommended. Basic, simple signs show best.

Any float with children must have one adult for each five children.

Please NO SANTA costumes! Santa will have his own float at the end of the parade. Santa Claus is our featured guest each year.

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Mark Your Calendar is a way to find out what non-profit events are happening in the community. If you have a non-profit event: church, school or community, please email it to wpjnewsla@gmail.com.*

November 18:

Job Fair from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Greater Minden Chamber of Commerce Board room. Hosted by Jean Simpson.

December 11:

Christmas in Minden, begins at 5 p.m. with a parade downtown.

*Webster Parish Journal reserves the right to determine if a calendar item is a paid advertisement.

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