By Marilyn Miller

Shane Huffstetler, veteran officer with the Haynesville Police Dept., has joined the Dixie Inn Police Dept. as a full-time police officer.

According to DI Chief of Police Jeffrey McNeill, Huffstetler’s duties will closely align with those of an assistant chief. While serving as assistant chief of the Haynesville department, his duties included the hiring of new officers, scheduling, submitting reports to the FBI, reviewing and downloading body cam footage for the DA’s office, evidence custodian and delivering all evidence to the crime lab for analysis, test firing seized guns, compiling a monthly report for the chief that is delivered to the town council, training coordinator, lead investigation on major cases, maintaining a close relationship with the Pine Hills Advocacy Center in Ruston, serving as North LA Criminalistics Laboratory coordinator, and more.

During its March 13 Regular Meeting, the Dixie Inn Village Council also set a pay scale of $17 per hour for the new police officer.

In other police news, Chief McNeill presented the monthly report, as follows for April 2025: Traffic Stops, 47; Citations, 7; Arrests, 2; Lemis Reports, 10; Non-Lemis Reports, 36; Building Checks, 61; Backups (two in Minden), 20; Public Assists, 40; Calls for Service, 55; and Accidents, one.

In other business, the council:

• Adopted the Minutes for the April 2025 Regular Meeting;
• Adopted the Financial Statements for April;
• Were reminded by Mayor Donna Hoffoss that Financial Reports for the Louisiana Ethics Board must be completed by May 15;
• Unanimously adopted Proposed Ordinance #134, an ordinance adopting the annual budget of Revenues, Expenditures, and Appropriations for the Village of Dixie Inn, in the Budget Year July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026;
• Unanimously approved the purchase of a 2023 Ford Interceptor for the DI Police Dept. Chief McNeill explained that “we were going to wait until June to purchase a new vehicle, but this vehicle only has 15,000 miles on it and is loaded with $12,000 in equity (extras). We need to jump all over this. It will save the Village at least $20,000.”