Red River 4-H has started their annual Mum sale. It will run through September 22nd.
4-H Agent Jacque Fontenot said their members will not have an order form because we are just now enrolling students for the year.”
Now is the time to order, said Fontenot, “Because we have a limited number of each color. Available colors are red, yellow, purple, and orange.
To place an order, call the 4-H office at 932-4342. Mums are $20 for a 10 inch pot.
Football and fall sports are getting underway. School is back in session. Therefore, the Red River Parish Journal is seeking a reporter to cover local news, sports, and other events in the parish.
Good writing skills and ability to take photos are a must. This is a part-time position and pay is per item published. It is helpful if you can cover out-of-town sporting events.
High School students are encouraged to apply.
Candidates should submit a brief resume and samples of items written. Send via email to RedRiverParishJournal@gmail.com. EOE.
Riverdale Academy reported that there is a new look at the Kindergarten building.
Kindergartener, Alexis and her grandma, Page were painting and decorating the Kindergarten windows. Her grandpa was helping work in the front lawn.
The school said, “Thanks for helping out.”
By Molly Seales
This year the cafeteria at Riverdale Academy is under new management with Mrs. Kym Dabbs. Mrs. Kym is from a small town in Mississippi and graduated in 1995 from West Jones High School in Laurel, MS. She is married to her husband of 18 years, Bill Dabbs. She has four children: Sarah is 17 and is a senior at RA; Elaina is 16 and is also a senior in her homeschool program; Caleb is 14 and is a sophomore at RA; and Remington is 13 and is in 8th grade at RA.
Mrs. Kym’s kids joined the RA family last year and she filled in as a substitute teacher. This year when the cafeteria job opened up, Mrs. Kym was a great fit for the job. I asked her what she liked about RA and the new lunch program. She said, “I love the small town, family atmosphere at Riverdale. I am trying to serve a good tasting lunch that has some healthy options like fruits and vegetables.” This year Riverdale is using an online program where parents and students can preorder their lunch for the day or the week.
When she isn’t working at RA, Mrs. Kym enjoys spending time with her family, watching football, and swimming, especially at the beach. Welcome to RA Mrs. Kym!
Riverdale Academy’s Homecoming Court for 2021 has been announced. They were presented this week on social media.
Front row (L-R): Queen Kenley Loftin, Football Bearer PJ Guidry, Crown Bearer Layla Sneed, and Football Sweetheart Renee Prosperie. Back row (L-R): Freshman Maid Lilly Guillot, Sophomore Maid Emily Cason, Junior Maid Molly Seales, and Senior Maid Rylee Hodge.
Northwestern State University’s College of Business and Technology hosted a remembrance ceremony Aug. 13 for four members of the faculty who passed away in the past year. One honoree Fred Clark was from Coushatta. In addition to Clark, William “Phil” Habig, Dr. Ted Jones and Dr. John G. Williams were honored through personal tributes and the dedication of four trees outside Russell Hall.
Clark (1931-2021) was a native of Coushatta who graduated from NSU at age 18 and served during the Korean Conflict. While stationed in Germany, his assignment included teaching fellow soldiers, most of them older and more senior in rank. After being honorably discharged, he earned a graduate degree in education and began his corporate career with Agriculture Chemicals of Dallas. He and his young family relocated a couple of times before settling in Baton Rouge where he served as director and treasurer for American Republic/Fidelity National Corporation. While there, he sat for and passed his CPA exam on the first attempt.
In 1968, he began a long career in the sugar cane business. He served as director and treasurer of Cinclare Sugar Plantation in Brusly and president and CEO of Sterling Sugars in Franklin. At Sterling, he directed significant expansions in the farming and milling operations, processing record cane tonnage on a near annual basis, while keeping order among a diverse and colorful board of directors. Following his retirement from Sterling Sugars, he was tapped by Gov. M.J. “Mike” Foster to chair the Louisiana Parole Board for eight years.
Clark returned to his alma mater as executive in residence for the College of Business, a full faculty member and fund raiser. He was inducted into the Long Purple Line, NSU’s alumni hall of distinction. During his long career, he served as director of Commercial Bank in Franklin, president of the American Sugar Cane League and held ownership in finance companies, fencing establishments and rental properties.
NSU Interim President Dr. Marcus Jones said the occasion paid tribute “to colleagues who are no longer with us but whose vast contributions to Northwestern and the College of Business will positively impact the university for generations to come.”
Provost Dr. Greg Handel, Dr. Danny Upshaw, associate professor of business; and past presidents Dr. Chris Maggio and Dr. Jim Henderson offered remarks, which began with an invocation by Student Government Association President Tja’h Edwards. Each talked about their personal and professional relationships with the four honorees who were teachers, mentors, advisors, colleagues, friends, men of inspiration and representatives of Northwestern.
The pep rally themes for the 2021 football season have been announced by Riverdale Academy. We love to see your school spirit. Students are allowed to dress for the theme on Fridays as long as it meets dress code requirements!
There will be no pep rally on October 15 since that is during Fall Break.
Jane Lee Cash
July 22, 1953 to August 14, 2021
View full obituary here:
https://redriverparishjournal.com/2021/08/18/jane-lee-cash/
Louise Cox Glover
February 13, 1927 to August 18, 2021
https://redriverparishjournal.com/2021/08/19/louise-cox-glover/
Charles Wain Warren
May 15, 1962 to August 18, 2021
https://redriverparishjournal.com/2021/08/19/charles-wain-warren/
Publication of the complete obituary with photo is available by contacting The Journal at 318-564-3609.
Red River Elementary is telling students they may wear a college t-shirt in place of their uniform shirt on September 2nd. That day will be College Shirt Day and comes just before the start of the Labor Day break September 3rd through 6th.
Fall Kickoff family night is Sunday at Martin Baptist Church. There will be hamburgers and hot dogs and homemade ice cream in the church gym. It begins at 5:30 pm.
American Bank will close their lobby to customers beginning next week. The COVID-19 surge is cited as the reason.
Rebel football, fresh from a season-opener win against Central School last Friday, plays host to PVA tonight. Kickoff is 7:30 pm.
Music faculty from Northwestern State University, Louisiana Tech and the University of Louisiana-Monroe will collaborate in a concert featuring the music of composer Mark Mellits on Tuesday, August 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall.
Funeral services for Charles Wain Warren, 59, of Coushatta, LA will be held at 10 A.M. Saturday, August 21, 2021 at Rockett-Nettles Funeral Home Chapel with Bro. William Hall officiating. Interment will follow in Zion Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 6 P.M. until 8 P.M. Friday, August 20, 2021 at the funeral home.
Mr. Warren was born May 15, 1962 in Coushatta, LA and passed away August 18, 2021.
Louise Cox Glover, 94, passed away peacefully on Wednesday August 18, 2021. She was born February 13, 1927. Graveside services will be conducted at 11 A.M. Friday August 20, 2021 at Springville Cemetery. Services will be limited to family members only due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Publication of the complete obituary with photo is available by contacting The Journal at 318-564-3609.
Jane Lee Cash, 68, was born on July 22, 1953, to Gervis Guy and Audie Sewell Lee in Shreveport, LA and passed away August 14, 2021, in Shreveport, LA. She will be cremated as per her family’s wishes.
Mrs. Cash was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Kenneth Eugene Cash. Left to cherish her memory are her son, Garrett Cash and nephew, Jerry Jordan.
The Town of Coushatta Water system has experienced problems with our water supply system due to low pressure below 20 PSI. Because of these problems, the water produced by our water supply system is of questionable microbiological quality.
Therefore, as a precaution, the Coushatta Water System is issuing a BOIL ADVISORY effective immediately. The BOIL ADVISORY is to remain in effect until rescinded by the Water System.
It Is recommended that all consumers disinfect their water before consuming it (including fountain drinks). Making ice, brushing teeth, or using it for food preparation or rinsing of foods by the following means:
Boil water for one (1) full minute in a clean container. The one minute starts after the water has been brought to a rolling boil. (The flat taste can be eliminated by shaking the water in a clean bottle, pouring it from one clean container to another, or by adding a small pinch of salt to each quart of water that is boiled.)
Again, please be sure to disinfect your own water prior to consumption until you have been advised otherwise.
The Coushatta Water System will rescind this Boil Advisory upon notification from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals-Office of Public Health that additional water samples collected from our water supply system have shown our water to be safe.
Water pressure dropped dramatically in the late morning on Tuesday. It was reported to be caused by a water leak on US 71 near Dairy Queen. Town Hall said the leak was repaired and the water pressure was building back up on the town system.
Schools were dismissed about noon and the busses were called to carry the students home. The school district put out this message:
Due to a Town of Coushatta water outage, we are dismissing schools today at 1:00pm. Car riders may be picked up beginning at 1:00pm. Buses will load shortly thereafter and begin their routes. Please call your child’s school if they are not home within the expected time. The Town expects adequate water service will be restored later this evening. Schools will be open tomorrow unless otherwise notified. We apologize for any inconvenience that this early dismissal may have caused.
The low water pressure did not prevent firefighters from battling a structure fire on Ringgold Avenue. See separate article in this edition of The Journal.
The structure on Ringgold Avenue that had been Shaky Ray’s Fish Market for years was destroyed by fire Tuesday at midday. Flames and smoke climbed high into the air for nearly an hour as firefighters fought the blaze.
Firefighters entered the blazing building to fight the fire. Others sprayed water through windows and over the roof. By the time the fire was extinguished most of the roof had either collapsed into the building or burned away. The exterior walls are about all that remain.
Traffic on Ringgold Avenue was blocked as firefighters rolled to the scene. Many large trucks blocked the street in both directions. City policeman Ashanti Cole directed traffic. The alternate route through town, US 84 was blocked from the railroad tracks to the 4-way at the foot of the bridge by sewer repair work.
The barricades at the bridge were moved and traffic coming through town from the north was routed down Front Street to Alonzo and onto US 84 to cross the Red River.
Firefighters had pressure at the hydrant across the street from the blaze. However the hose was disconnected so traffic could pass and firefighting proceeded with water brought in by tank trucks. Low or no water pressure in other parts of town did not appear to have a major impact on fighting the structure fire.
By midafternoon firefighters had departed. Several units from the State Fire Marshall were on the scene beginning their investigation into the cause of the blaze.
Over 16% of Red River Residents left the parish from 2010 to 2020. The US Census Bureau released the 2020 results for the parish late last week.
Red River had 9,091 residents in the 2010 Census. By 2020 that total had dropped to 7,620. That is a drop of 1,471 people or a loss of 16.2%.
The arrest report was corrected on Wednesday morning by the Sheriff’s Office.
SELMA THOMAS MANGHAM WAS CHARGED WITH 16 COUNTS OF AGGRAVATED CRIME AGAINST NATURE. I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS ERROR.
Capt. Joey Wiggins, Warden
Red River Parish Jail
In addition, Mangham was charged with 16 counts of Sexual Battery as stated in the original report.
Original article:
A Coushatta resident is being held on $150,000 bond following his arrest and booking into the parish jail. Thomas Selma Mangham was charged with sixteen counts of sexual battery and one count of aggravated crime against nature.
The Red River Sheriff’s Office reported that Mangham was arrested after noon on Friday, August 13th.
By Molly Seales
The lights were bright, and the excitement was high on Friday night, August 13, as the Riverdale Rebels began their football season against opponent Central School of Grand Cane. This is Central’s first year to ever have a football team, and from the kickoff, the Rebels took advantage of their inexperience. The Rebels came out on top with a 78-6 win. All of the Rebels saw a good bit of action in the game.
According to head coach Jared Smelser, there were 13 total offensive plays, with an offensive total yards of 324 and 8 touchdowns. 274 of those yards were rushing yards that resulted in 6 touchdowns. Senior Monroe McCarty had 2 carries for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns, while senior Jake Messenger had 2 carries for 61 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sophomore Kyle Guillory had 3 carries for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior Ben Almond had 1 carry for 36 yards and a touchdown, while his younger brother, 8th grader Ashton Almond had 3 carries for 25 yards. Sophomore quarterback Ryder Huddleston had one passing attempt with resulted in a 50 yard completion to Jake Messenger for a touchdown.
Defensive coordinator Jensen Spillum had his boys fired up, and they showed that the work they put in this summer paid off. Monroe McCarty had 1 solo tackle, 2 PBU, and 2 interceptions which resulted in 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ryder Huddleston was strong on the defensive side as well with 4 solo tackles, 1 assist (4 TFL) and 1 interception. Jake Messenger was also strong with 3 solo tackles, 1 assist (1 TFL) and 1 PBU. Senior Denver Williams had 2 solo tackles and 1 assist (2 TFL.) Senior Ty “Bones” Jones had an assist with a TFL. Junior James Wagoner had 2 solo tackles, 1 assist, and 2 interceptions for 39 yards. Junior Tyler Parker had 2 solo tackles, while sophomore Hayden Hillman had 2 assists with 1 TFL. Ben Almond had a solo tackle, while his brother Ashton had 1 PBU. Kyle Guillory and freshman Aston Hester each had 1 solo tackle and one assist, while freshman Colton Caskey had a fumble recovery. 8th grader Tanner Carlisle who also saw his first action in a varsity game had 1 solo tackle and 1 assist. The defense shut down Central as the Pioneers had 13 attempts rushing with a loss of 4 yards and one touchdown. They were 8 for 26 in passing for only 45 yards and gave up 5 interceptions.
The cheerleaders and mini cheerleaders both had great halftime performances, and there was a huge crowd on hand for the game. The Rebels will be at home again this Friday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on Prairie View Academy. Come out and support your Riverdale Rebels!
Photo Credit Leslie Johnson
By Brad Dison
Virginia “Ginny” Patterson Hensley was born in 1932 in Winchester, Virginia. Her father, Sam, was an alcoholic with a short temper. He was often without work. Her mother, Hilda, was, by all accounts, a feisty woman out of necessity. She was afraid of Sam at times, but she never let it show. Yelling matches between them were common. Ginny witnessed many arguments between her parents, and, like her mother, developed a feistiness out of necessity.
At four years old, Ginny surprised her family and friends when she won a street fair talent contest with a tap dance routine. Her prize was a new electric lamp. She had never taken dance lessons. No one knew exactly how or when Ginny learned to tap dance. They suspected she copied the moves from her idol, Shirley Temple. Confident in herself after the win, she proclaimed to her mother that she was going to become a dancer when she grew up. Her dreams were dashed when she realized there was no money for dance lessons.
When she was a little older, she joined her parents in the church choir. Singing in the choir was her escape from her miserable home life because her parents never fought in church. On her eighth birthday, Ginny received an old piano. Although piano lessons were too expensive for the family to afford, Ginny learned to play by ear. She told her mother that she was going to be a pianist when she grew up. As with dancing lessons, there was no money for piano lessons.
Finally, Ginny focused on singing because, as her mother noted, “It was the one thing she could do that wasn’t going to cost us.” Listening to the radio was free. Ginny sang nonstop. Family and friends recalled that Ginny sang while walking to and from school, while playing with other children, and pretty much any other time she was awake. They remember that, even as a young girl, she sang pretty good.
When Ginny was thirteen-year-old, she developed a terrible throat infection. Ginny’s throat infection progressed into rheumatic fever. The simple act of breathing became a struggle for Ginny. The lack of oxygen put a strain on her heart. At one point, her heart stopped beating. Doctors revived her and put her in an oxygen tent which forced oxygen into her lungs. Her heart began to beat normally again and her condition slowly improved. Doctors determined Ginny’s illness had left none of the long-term negative effects usually associated with rheumatic fever.
Following her serious illness, Ginny noticed a change in her voice. Before her illness, her voice was pretty but somewhat weak. After her recovery, Ginny’s voice was strong and booming. She compared her voice to that of “The First Lady of Radio,” Kate Smith, an American singer with a powerful voice whose signature tune was Irving Berlin’s patriotic song “God Bless America.”
When Ginny was 15 years old, she requested and was granted an audition for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Ginny and her mother drove through the night and arrived in Nashville before daylight the next morning. With no money for a hotel room, they slept in their car until the time of the audition. Ginny, dressed in her best and flashiest cowgirl regalia, performed well at her audition. Representatives of the Grand Ole Opry were impressed but were afraid to hire such a young girl. They said they would be in touch. Ginny anxiously awaited a letter from the Grand Ole Opry that never came, well, not yet.
Undeterred, Ginny kept performing. In 1952, she joined Bill Peer’s Melody Boys and Girls. It was Peer who suggested the Ginny adopt a more professional sounding stage name. In 1953, Ginny met and married a man named Gerald. Although the marriage only lasted four years, Ginny performed under her married name for the remainder of her life. For her stage name, Ginny used a shortened version of her middle name along with her married name. Ginny only recorded three albums as a solo artist before her untimely death in an airplane crash. Ginny is considered one of the most influential vocalists of the twentieth century. Her three albums contained such hits as “Walking After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” and “She’s Got You.” You and I know Virginia Patterson Hensley as… Patsy Cline.
Source: Margaret Jones, Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline (New York: Harper Collins, 1994), 1.
By Molly Seales
Riverdale Academy has a new face in 1st Grade, Mrs. Lauren Wiggins. Mrs. Lauren is originally from Elizabeth, LA, and graduated in 2009. She is married to Joedy Wiggins of Ringgold, LA. Joedy is a graduate of Riverdale Academy. They have 3 children Joedy Jr. who is 5, Rey Olivia who is 4, and Myles who is 3. Before coming to Riverdale, she was the director of First United Methodist Church in Ringgold.
When I asked Mrs. Lauren what she liked so far about RA, she replied, “The atmosphere is amazing. I love the close-knit family. I love the freedom to learn and play at RA.” When she is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her children, getting her nails done, and watching LSU football. Welcome to RA Mrs. Lauren!
The state Department of Transportation and Development has released another group of road repair projects around the state. Total price tag is over $31 million dollars.
Red River is getting a $2.5 million dollar project. La 514 and La 507 will be repaired. The stretch runs between US 371 and the Bienville Parish line. No date was given for the work to begin.
There is supposedly $6 billion dollars for desperately needed roads, bridges, and other projects in Louisiana, but we must ask ourselves what long term price in federal expansion, taxes, and deficits we are willing to pay for it.
The widely hailed bipartisan “infrastructure” bill (2,702 pages long) that passed the Senate this week, at a cost of $1.2 trillion, contains comparatively little funding—only about 23% ($548 billion)—for traditional “hard” infrastructure like roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, rail, highways, interstates, waterways, and the electric grid. Instead, the large majority of the bill’s funding will be used for so-called “green energy” projects—including those contained in the Green New Deal—and entitlement spending. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this bill would increase federal deficits by $256 billion over the next decade.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy has been one of the architects of the $1.2 trillion plan and has touted the benefits in the bill for Louisiana, stating he believes “this is Louisiana’s chance to catch up in areas that we’ve fallen behind in and position our state’s economy to move forward in the future…”
However, as U.S. Senator John Kennedy has noted, the bill “…raises $14.5 billion in new taxes over ten years on petrochemical manufacturers” which includes Louisiana having to pay “roughly $1.3 billion in new taxes on an industry (oil and gas) that supports 100,000 jobs in our state.”
Kennedy, who opposes the bill, also noted the inflationary impact of the bill, stating “it is an inflation bomb, it is going to raise Louisiana prices at the gas pump and grocery store, and that is a tax, … inflation is a tax that hits working people the hardest.”
[A highly disconcerting issue is the “linkage” between this bill and the mind-numbingly monstrous $3.5 trillion “human” infrastructure bill of Sen. Bernie Sanders that Democrats are bringing up next that they plan to get passed through a legislative device called “reconciliation” requiring only a simple majority to pass the Senate. And, while he later “revised” his comment, Pres. Biden first said he was not going to sign this $1.2 trillion bill without also signing the $3.5 trillion bill in tandem.]Please allow me to address something else. National Democrats have argued that “the Trump tax cuts added trillions to the debt,” so they can too. That’s simply not true. After the Trump tax cuts, the economy exploded! It grew faster—and the federal government received MORE revenue—than before the tax cuts. The problem is that House Democrats spent all of these new tax revenues and then added still more spending on top of that. If President Trump hadn’t signed their spending bills, the government would have shut down, causing chaos. Let’s remember our civics: the U.S. House has the power of the purse and with Speaker Pelosi in control of the House, they have insisted on spending more and more with a reckless disregard for the finances of the government.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing of all is that while Congress is a highly partisan institution, traditional infrastructure legislation and funding have historically been truly bipartisan issues and this opportunity is being squandered on mostly non-infrastructure related funding.
A second disappointment is that the bill is filled with financial gimmicks and “smoke and mirrors” to create the impression that the “pay-fors” (i.e., the false claim that the bill pays for itself) included in the bill are real: like the fiction that savings will result from delaying a Medicare rule or extending by a decade a guarantee fee that government institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge on mortgages they back. Also, senators had initially agreed to use $205 billion in unused, repurposed Covid funds in the bill but when some of the liberal states refused to do so only $43 billion in Covid funds were used.
A third disappointment contained in the bill is the enormous amount of additional federal dollars given to bureaucratic federal agencies to reconstruct the economy in their Leftist “vision.” The Department of Energy, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will all receive billions in new funding. This will allow them to further intrude into issues and decision-making that should be reserved for state and local government policymakers. Issues like drinking water, private sector broadband and the determination about location and type of electric vehicle charging stations.
There is a very high price to be paid for the federal expansion, increased deficits, and gargantuan cost of this bill. Generations of Americans will be burdened with it. We must honestly ask ourselves if this is the best way to meet the great needs of our beloved Louisiana.
Laura Lee Dickson Bonnette
April 3, 1929 to August 16, 2021
https://redriverparishjournal.com/2021/08/17/laura-lee-dickson-bonnette/
Publication of the complete obituary with photo is available by contacting The Journal at 318-564-3609.
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