By Pat Culverhouse

Webster Parish voters showed their disdain for more taxes Saturday, soundly defeating three proposals including two targeting the parish school system.

A proposed one percent sales tax for the Webster Parish School Board Educational Facilities Improvement District failed, with 70 percent of the voters saying no. The 20-year tax would have provided additional funding for the public school system.

A proposal which would have rededicated funds from an existing 25-plus mill property tax in Consolidated School District 3 was turned down by a 64-36 percent margin. If passed, revenue would have been used to provide additional support to schools in the district.

Consolidated School District 3 includes schools in north Webster Parish.

Sarepta voters gave thumbs down to a proposed 2.5 percent sales tax, with proceeds to be used for town purposes. That proposition failed by a 73-27 percent margin.

Also in Saturday’s election, voters decided who will face off to occupy Louisiana’s second seat in the U.S. Senate, handing Republican Julia Letlow and Democrat Jamie Davis the nod to meet in November.

Letlow, a current member of the U.S. House of Representatives, handily defeated state Treasurer John Fleming with 57 percent of the statewide vote to claim the Republican nomination. Webster Parish voters, however, handed Fleming 58 percent of the vote compared to Letlow’s 42 percent.

Democrat Davis, a Tenses Parish farmer,  claimed 80 percent of the vote to easily overcome business executive Gary Crockett and pick up his party’s nomination. Webster Parish Democrats also picked Davis, giving him 78 percent of the votes.

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