Report from the Red River Sheriff’s Office for the week ending February 28, 2021.

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On Saturday, the Riverdale Rebels fought a tough opponent in Delta Streets Academy, but came up short in their effort to win another state title.  The final score was Delta Streets 74 and Riverdale 47.  Riverdale brings home the second place trophy.

The Lady Rebels earlier in the day finished forth in the race for state.  Briarfield Academy won the consolation by handing the Lady Rebels a 58 to 38 defeat.

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The Red River Bulldogs conquered Amite at home Friday night.  They move on in their quest for the state championship.  The next stop is in the Florida parishes at St. Helena Central.  Limited tickets for Bulldog fans will go on sale Monday at the school.

The game is at 6:00 pm Tuesday night.  Presale starts Monday at 8:30 am for Basketball parents.   Parents will be limited to 2 tickets each.  At 9:30 am we will open sales to anyone wanting to attend the game.    We will only have 50 tickets to sale.  Tickets are $10.00 each.

Journal Sports is preparing to broadcast the game live beginning a few minutes prior to tip-off Tuesday night.  You will get a text message about 5:45 pm with a link to listen to the game.

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Shane Hubbard, Director Red River Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness said there will be a COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic held at Rivertown Market on Thursday.  The clinic will be 9:00 am until 1:00 pm on March 4^th.

People 65 and older or 55 with an underlying medical condition (below is a list), and qualified healthcare professional(listed below) will be allowed a vaccine.  Hubbard said appointments must be made in advance.

Lsuhs.edu  is where you will find the public registration link.  Please share this link with the public and encourage people to register before the day of the event.  Registering ahead of time is how we gage how much vaccine to bring.  We will bring enough for folks to register on site.

Below is a list of folks eligible to get the vaccine:

 Limited amounts of COVID vaccines are available only for:

• Persons 65 and older
• Dialysis providers and patients
• Ambulatory and outpatient providers and staff

o  Behavioral health providers and staff

o  Urgent care clinic providers and staff

o  Community care providers and staff

o  Dental providers and staff

o  Non-emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) providers and staff

• Professional home care providers (including hospice workers) and home care recipients (including older and younger people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community or home-based care, as well as clients of home health agencies)
• American Sign Language (ASL) and foreign language interpreters and Support Service Providers (SSPs) working in community and clinic-based settings, and clients who are both deaf and blind
• Health-related support personnel (lab staff, mortuary staff who have contact with corpses, pharmacy staff)
• Schools of allied health students, residents and staff
• Law enforcement and other first responders
• Louisiana Unified Command Group
• State and local essential COVID emergency response personnel
• Some elections staff ahead of March and April elections
• Teachers and any other support staff working on site in K-12 or daycare
• All pregnant persons
• Individuals ages 55-64 with at least one of the conditions listed by the CDCas placing them at an “increased risk of severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19.” Persons with the following qualifying underlying medical conditions are advised to complete the Louisiana COVID-19 Vaccine Attestation Form, before their appointment, to receive the vaccine:

o  Cancer

o  Chronic kidney disease

o  COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

o  Down syndrome

o  Heart conditions including but not limited to heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies

o  Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant

o  Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30kg/m2 or higher but less than 40kg/m2)

o  Severe obesity (BMI greater than 40kg/m2)

o  Sickle cell disease

o  Smoking

o  Type 2 diabetes mellitus

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It was a Good Friday night for the Red River Bulldogs.  Amite came to town for the first round of the boys basketball playoffs.  The Dawgs turned them away 70 to 36.

Red River advances to Regional play with a game Tuesday night at 6:00 pm.  
They travel to St. Helena College and Career Academy in Greensburg, LA.  They are fresh from a Friday night defeat of Winnifeld 91 to 81.

Ticket information will be posted by Red River High in the near future.

Journal Sports will broadcast the game beginning about 5 minutes before tip-off.  You will get a text message with a link to the broadcast or you can bookmark it in advance.  HTTP://69.64.65.171:8192/dogs

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In a nail-biter Friday night the Rebels defeated the Delta Academy Raiders 66 to 65 at the buzzer when the Raiders missed a 3-Point shot.  The Rebels advance to play Delta Streets Academy Saturday night at 7:00.

The Lady Rebels were not so fortunate.  They fell to the Lady Thunderbirds of DeSoto School 55 to 37.  The Lady Rebels play Briarfield Academy in the Consolation Game at 1:00 Saturday afternoon.

Journal Sports will broadcast both games live beginning a few minutes before tip-off.  Look for your text message just before game time with a link to the broadcast.  Or bookmark it now.  HTTP://69.64.65.171:8192/rebels

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By Reba Phelps

As I sat there with a racing heart and a nervous sweat in full motion it seemed to take forever for my high school English teacher to deliver her first graded paper of the year. Like most teachers, their reputation proceeds them. This one was known to be tough as nails and seemed to take great joy in the power that the red ink pen in her hand evoked. Rumor had it that she rarely gave a grade above a C and she did not put up with any humor or shenanigans in her class. The best of the best students barely skated by and warned every student that came behind them.

Simply put, she could fail you and you would have a repeat Senior year or a summer school enrollment. I knew without a doubt that I had poured my heart and soul into this paper. This would be the paper that would set the tone for the entire year and I had full confidence that I would earn the C that appeared to be her best grade.

I sat in my seat and looked straight ahead trying not to use my peripheral eyesight to see her exact location. Breathing in and out just trying to stay alive… she then appeared out of nowhere to slap the paper down on my desk. It was face down, and she gave me a very stern side eye at the very same time. There appeared to be something on her mind as she walked away. Not being able to wait for another second I flipped the paper over to see a large red “B” on the top of my paper with a small handwritten note beside it.

It was a blur of teary eyes and pure joy as I clutched the paper tight and celebrated my victory. Everyone around me was silently comparing their grades and I proudly showed off my kill. I had the highest grade within a two seat radius and I wasn’t even concerning myself with her handwritten note until all of the high fives were delivered. My new pride and confidence radiated for the rest of the day.

There were not many occasions where I was actually proud to show my parents my work but in this case I knew they would be thrilled.  When I handed the paper over to my mother, she applauded the hard earned grade but she had a look of concern and advised me that my teacher was accusing me of cheating.

Keep in mind, at this point, I still had not read the handwritten note. I was too mesmerized by my grade.

My mother read the note out loud, “You are much smarter on paper than you are when you speak”.

Well, I just perplexed at my mother’s doubt and unbelief and I had no clue why she was being a negative Nancy. I knew I did not cheat and I was well aware of the man hours that went into this paper. From that day forward I chose to tell myself that I was a good writer. So much so, that the world’s biggest critic thinks that I can do this.

What was probably meant as an, “I have my eye on you comment”, truly made me feel as though I could write good sentences. And, sometimes even put them together to make a decent story. I completely chose to take her words as a compliment and build on top of it. From that moment I ventured out and started believing in myself and my abilities.

There is no doubt in my mind that my teacher’s words were seeds planted that eventually grew into a love of writing. It would have been so easy to be offended by her words and then make the decision not to learn and grow in her class. In our daily lives we are faced with so many

Decisions on a daily basis. The perspective we choose to respond with can change the trajectory of our lives. If you are always looking for and expecting the worst in people, you will surely find it. If you are always looking for and expecting the best in people you will find that as well.

“Your perspective will either become your prison or your passport” – Steven Furtick

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable….if anything is excellent or praiseworthy…think about such things.”

Philippians 4:8

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Red River schools had two days back in the classrooms on Thursday and Friday.  Water has been restored to the schools following an extended vacation and virtual learning due to the winter storm.

Wednesday School Superintendent Alison Hughes said, “We have been assured by the Mayor and town officials that we will have adequate water supply at our school sites.”  She added, “We will resume our normal schedule which includes virtual Friday instruction next week.” 

What about work missed due to the snow and ice storm? Hughes said, “In the next few days we will be releasing a plan to make-up for the instructional time that we have lost due to this school dismissal. Please be on the look-out for this plan on social media as well as by email and Remind.”

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The Mayor said water is on everywhere.  He added there are still some areas where water pressure is low but building back up.

The final areas to get service returned, mainly down US 71 south of town, came back Wednesday or early Thursday.  Mayor Johnny Cox told The Journal town crews are still looking for leaks and “we’ll keep on looking until the system is totally repaired.

Coushatta is still under a boil advisory.  The Mayor said, “The town has been testing the water and it’s fine.  The boil advisory is just a precaution because the water had been off and the pressure had been low.”  He added, “Our water is clear and positive.  It’s just a precaution until we get the state tests back.”

There had been talk on social media about money the town got to completely rebuild the water system.  Many folks want to know why the money was not spent fixing the system before the winter storm.

Mayor Cox said there had been a lot of misinformation circulating.  He said, “We’re spending the town’s small budget to fix the leaks.  We have not received any money to rebuild our water system.”  Cox did say he expected the process to be completed soon.

Cox explained, The grants and loans from USDA totaling $7,000,000 have been awarded, but the money has not been received.  Cox said, “The paperwork process is ongoing and the town is still working on meeting all the requirements of USDA. We haven’t received any of it yet.”

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Halfway Carroll Water System:

The boil advisory has been lifted on the Halfway Carroll Water System.  The system reported that water service had been quickly restored during the winter storm.  That no customers had been out of water for very long.  But the boil advisory had been posted for a time as a precaution.

Social Springs Water System:

Operator Barbara Griffith reported that all of their customers have their water service back on.  The boil advisory remains in effect.  Most customers who had burst pipes have done their repairs.  Tests showing that the water is safe should be back next week, so the boil advisory remains posted until that time.

Martin Water System:

Latest post:  The lines are being flushed throughout the water system. Water pressure might be low from time to time in your area for the next few days. Thank you for your patience!!

Hickory Grove:

From Board Member Christy Suggs, “The Hickory Grove Water System is running at full capacity. It is still under a boil advisory.  We do ask that customers continue to check for leaks and conserve as much water as possible.  Customers will be updated when the boil advisory is lifted.”

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