GET YOUR Natchitoches Jazz/R&B EARLY BIRD TICKETS NOW!!!
THIS WEEK IS YOUR LAST CHANCE to secure your 2023 tickets at the lowest price possible for the Natchitoches Jazz/R&B Festival on May 12th & 13th.
The Early Bird sale ends March 31st at 11:59 pm!
Buy tickets and be entered in the Steel Magnolia’s Getaway Giveaway!
VIP ticket buyers will be entered into an exclusive VIP Giveaway to be announced! STAY TUNED!
Get your tickets & enter the giveaway here:
DeSoto Parish voters have defeated a ¼% sales and use tax proposition by a wide margin. Final vote was 995 or 56% against and 773 or 44% in favor of the tax. Again, voters have turned down a tax that would benefit the parish animal shelter and other entities.
The sales tax would have been a permanent tax that proponents estimated would produce $2,000,000 annually. In additional to the animal shelter, the tax would have funded mosquito control and activities relating to nonprofit activities such as the DeSoto Council on Aging.
The other tax proposition on the ballot in Fire District 2 passed by a wide margin. The vote was 115 or 57% in favor and 86 or 43% in opposition. This was a ten year renewal of an 11 mill tax on all property n Fire Protection District 2. It is estimated that the property tax will raise about $1,102,600 a year.
Around 12% of the registered voters in the parish cast ballots in Saturday’s election.
From the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday:
The following list of closures were provided to our office by outside agencies:
This is the limit of the information we have at this moment on these road closures. Additional information may be available by contacting DOTD or other agency handling these closures.
Signage should be in place to redirect traffic when/if necessary.
The DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office hosted a Hunter’s Education Course on March 16th – 18th with over 30 students in attendance. This course date was specially chosen for (but not limited to) 4H Shooting Sports competitors before their season began.
Another Hunter’s Ed Course will still be hosted in the coming months, before hunting season. In addition, the Sheriff will offer Hunter Skills Camp later in the year.
This was a three-day course where attendees were trained on hunting and firearm safety and certified in Hunter Safety as well. Students and Instructors had a wonderful time together learning more about the great outdoors and much more.
By Teddy Allen
Standing in line for more than two hours in a receiving line at the funeral home, not just standing in line but moving in line and sharing in line and encouraging in line — living in line — gives you time to think.
For starters, even though you don’t know everyone in line and they don’t know you, you feel a part of a greater good, a part of the force that was this life and this family you are here to honor. This one life, in ways special to each of us, touched all these people and hundreds more who couldn’t be here.
The emotional mix is stunning: the uncomfortable feeling of loss and unfairness, and at the same time gratitude for being able to count among your friends this life that radiated a deep and unselfish goodness.
It’s early spring and yet so many are going through a storm. There will always be storms but if you live long enough, they will now and then come one right after the other and you can’t keep the pieces all picked up, for yourself or for your friends. You are tying but more pieces keep falling. Breaking.
Mercy at the loss lately, and the threat of more loss. It all combines to remind me how little control we have, and how I am blind at times to things I do have control over. Which is pathetic. Sad. I am waiting in line to hug the family of a friend who was a master of doing the little things. I’m not sure he even thought so much about it. He just did them. He was aware that he had control over these little actions. He knew they made the difference.
And the difference is real, because all these people are around me. To thank him.
You can make someone happier today. You can. It might be paying for coffee for the person behind you in line at the drive-thru, or it might be calling an old friend, or thanking your Sunday school teacher, or the custodian who keeps your building clean, or the boss who signs the checks.
You ever color a picture and send it to someone for no reason? I do. It’s stupid. But it’s a surprise, and they’ll always call to thank you, because for one moment an ordinary day held a silly surprise for them, and only heaven knows how those kinds of things make a difference, but they do.
I’ve heard these things called “the smallest acts of love.” Remind someone how strong they’ve been. Compliment them for whatever makes them them. Praise. Encourage. Smile. These little things add up.
Our friend we lost, he did lots of big things. Beautiful things. He made the world prettier, literally. But when I think of him — and this has been for years, not just now — I am always left with how he made me feel. He had plenty to do but when we were together, he was present. Honest. Funny without meaning to be because he was just him. A friend.
We are all just people but somehow, we have the gift inside that, if we share it, has the potential to help a sister or brother over the next hill. The smallest thing, if it’s real, can be the thing that holds up, can be the stuff that works. The smallest thing can make a difference.
And that’s when, in the middle of the storms, the miracles show up. In the smallest, most sincere acts. One thoughtful moment, one honest ear to listen or hand to hold. Be present and be ready. We need you. You can make the difference that makes the difference for someone today, and the difference for today can make the difference for forever.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu or Twitter @MamaLuvsManning
The Alumni Association of DeSoto High School is holding a chicken and sausage lunch on April 6th beginning at 11:00 am. It will be held at the DeSoto High School Multicultural Center.
The menu is chicken and sausage, scrumptious potato salad and the best ever baked beans. Gotta get Cha a plate! Only $10.
By Royal Alexander
We simply must not go down a road in which we are criminalizing politics.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson once described the tremendous power possessed by prosecutors and how critically important is the virtue of discretion in the exercise of that power, whether it pertains to a former president or any other American citizen.
“With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it, it is a question of picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him.”
The plan of the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, to indict President Trump on these facts presents the most dangerous kind of legal abuse. It’s the weaponization of our legal system against a political enemy when the majority of Americans would only support the indictment of a former president—who is also running for president again—for serious offenses based upon solid, indisputable evidence and within the statute of limitations.
We should note that DA Bragg’s potential indictment of Trump follows numerous campaign trail boasts during his pursuit of the DA position of his plans to prosecute Trump. (NY Post).
The charge against Trump appears to be falsifying business records to pay an alleged mistress, a misdemeanor. DA Bragg is threatening to increase it to a felony by alleging it was an illegal campaign finance donation to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign because it somehow helped Trump’s campaign for the allegation not to be exposed.
That’s laughable.
Federal law allows a candidate to contribute an unlimited amount of money to their own campaigns and it’s a real stretch to suggest Pres. Trump, a multi billionaire, was hiding a campaign expenditure with the payment. Much more likely is that Trump was trying to shush the alleged mistress to spare himself the public embarrassment of that allegation.
Recall that federal prosecutors already looked at this and didn’t indict and neither did the Federal Election Commission (FEC) find a campaign violation. This alleged “crime” also occurred approximately 7 years ago which means that under the statute of limitations it’s too late to bring this charge anyway.
No matter.
The second most laughable part of this story is that a key witness in this case is Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer, who was previously convicted of perjury. Of lying under oath. Do you see the complete lack of credibility in the desperation to “get Trump” at all costs?
Let’s remember all of the efforts to destroy Pres. Trump:
Two failed impeachment efforts, the completely unjustified and unprecedented raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, The Russia Collusion Hoax and the literal attempt by the top leadership at the FBI to remove a duly elected president based upon total fabrications that have since been conclusively proven to be lies.
What about the Steele dossier lie—the false and misleading information used to secure FISA warrants funded by Hillary Clinton with campaign donations—and the fraudulent and hugely distracting two-year, $32 million taxpayer-inquisition by Robert Mueller that yielded nothing?
You know what really highlights the great partisan dishonesty here?
First, the galactic double standard with respect to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling and destruction of classified information before her 2016 campaign for president: her wiping of her server and the destruction of her blackberries with hammers.
Yet, she was never prosecuted.
Second, the deliberate effort by the FBI to aid Joe Biden by suppressing the Hunter Biden “laptop from hell”—falsely deeming it “foreign disinformation”—even though we later learned that the FBI had been in possession of the laptop for about a year and knew it was credible.
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, a lifelong liberal Democrat who has voted against Trump every opportunity he has had, stated that this proposed indictment of Trump is the “worst abuse of prosecutorial discretion” in the 60 years he has practiced criminal law.
For the sake of the country this must stop.
Americans must come together to oppose leftist prosecutors who flout legislatures, who weaponize the law against their political opponents, and who attack our democracy as though they are the source of society’s laws, rather than We the People.
Have you seen Rumors? Do you like to laugh until your sides ache? There are still three performances at the BackAlley Community Theatre in Grand Cane. And a limited number of tickets are still available.
The play, written by Neil Simon and directed by Barry Larson, is a hilarious romp through an evening of mayhem. Not to give away the plot, but Rumors is just that and more.
So enjoy an evening of great entertainment produced right here in Grand Cane. CLICK HERE to get tickets to Rumors at the BackAlley Community Theatre.
This week Mansfield Elementary School introduced SkyQuinlar Jones, MES Principal of the Day.
The school said, “I He set a goal and worked hard to earn 50 PRIDE Bucks by being kind, persistent, respectful, independent, determined, and encouraging so that he could be Principal for the Day. He is dressed for success and was busy all morning with official school administrative duties.
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, Sheriff Jayson Richardson’s ‘Bringing Joye’ Program had the privilege of preparing and serving food during the DeSoto Parish JR/SR Prom for students with Special Needs!
Students from all schools were in attendance, wearing their finest attire, to dance, eat, and have a fun time at the RB4 Center in Logansport. Sheriff Richardson and staff prepared fried catfish, chicken strips, fries, green beans and desserts for dozens of students, teachers and parents! This is an event we look forward to every year, and Bringing Joye is always happy to participate in any way possible. Even Mansfield High SRO, Nathanial Anderson, jumped in to take a pic with his students as they were headed out to Prom.
Clara Springs Baptist Camp celebrated it’s 70th anniversary this past weekend. There was the March Fourth Friday Fish Fry on Friday night. And there were great worship and other activities on Sunday.
The camp said, “Our 70th Anniversary Celebration for the families may have been a rainy one but it was still so much fun. We are so thankful for everyone that braced the storms to come out and enjoy the camp. We had an amazing time of Worship with Vine&Co with a devotion time led by Roger Greer of Overcoming Obstacles.
“Our staffers did a tremendous job from running all of the games to preparing and serving a meal to everyone that came. We are so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to serve at Clara Springs.”
Clara Springs is making preparations for a full slate of camps and activities over the summer of 2023. And come April 28th they will have the next Fourth Friday Fish Fry.
This Week’s report covers a one week period as of 9:00 am Monday morning and includes of all arrests made in DeSoto Parish by the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office (DPSO), Mansfield Police Department (MPD), and Louisiana State Police (LSP.)
This report covers March 20-27, 2023.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Clarence ROOSTER Johnson
1/17/1943 – 3/21/2023
Service: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 @11:00 A.M. Shady Grove UMC Mansfield, LA.
The DeSoto Parish Journal publishes paid obituaries – unlimited words and a photo, as well as unlimited access – $70. The obituary will be included in the emails sent to subscribers. Contact your funeral provider or DeSotoParishJournal@gmail.com. Must be paid in advance of publication. (Notice of Death shown above with no link to the obituary are FREE of charge.)
The National Weather Service on Tuesday said another round of severe weather is on the table for Friday, March 31. Our parish is in the “slight risk” zone. For now, all hazards appear possible. Timing and hazard severity will become clearer by midweek. Monitor forecasts later in the week as changes are expected.
Stonewall Town Hall alerted Thornton Road Residents that culvert replacement at the intersection are now underway. For Twin Oaks Road Residents they should begin soon.
The Louisiana Department of Education announced Tuesday its 2024 Teacher and Principal of the Year semifinalists and New Teacher of the Year finalists. These 57 teachers and principals represent schools and systems across the state.
One semifinalist is from DeSoto Parish. He is Barry Carter of North DeSoto Middle School, and he is in the running for 2024 Louisiana Principal of the Year.
“Schools across Louisiana are beginning to make significant gains thanks to the commitment of our teachers and principals to remain focused on what matters most – improving academic outcomes,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. “Congratulations to Louisiana’s Teacher and Principal of the Year semifinalists and our New Teacher of the Year finalists. They represent the many dedicated professionals leading our Louisiana Comeback.”
All Teacher and Principal of the Year semifinalists and New Teacher of the Year finalists will be honored at the 17th Annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Awards Gala, which will be held at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on the evening of July 22. This exciting event is co-sponsored by Dream Teachers.
The DeSoto High School Alumni Association is throwing a Sock Hop during Spring Break. It is an ol’ Skool Sock Hop and Open Mic fundraiser on April 6th from 6:00 to 10:00 pm.
There will be prizes for the best decorated socks. And an Open Mic to showcase your vocal talents. Admission is $5.
The annual re-enactment of the Civil War Battle of Pleasant Hill is scheduled next weekend at the battlefield site. It’s that time of year again for history to come alive before your very eyes.
This is the 159th Anniversary of The Battle of Pleasant Hill. This was the last major battle with the Union army that was won by the Confederates. And this is the 43rd Annual re-enactment of the battle.
There will be battle re-enactments both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, a period ball and court presentation Saturday night and a special presentation on the strategy and tactics of the battle. The complete schedule is below.
Admission is $5 per person 5 and older. Activities take place 3 miles north of Pleasant Hill at 23271 Hwy 175 Pelican. So mark your calendars because you don’t want to miss the excitement!! March 31st – April 2nd.
JOURNAL STAFF
The latest chapter in the ongoing process of churches disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church Denomination played out in Baton Rouge on Thursday. Nine United Methodist ministers, four of whom live in Caddo Parish, filed suit on March 13 in East Baton Rouge Parish District Court against the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, South Central Jurisdiction. The hearing of that lawsuit was held Thursday, March 23 and Judge Kelly Balfour dismissed the lawsuit deciding that his court did not have jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit. The judge followed a doctrine that states civil courts do not have jurisdiction since the United Methodist Church has its own court to address such issues.
The petition alleged that the Louisiana Annual Conference is not using the proper process to hold meetings where local churches vote on disaffiliating and it asked the court to enjoin the disaffiliation process from proceeding. In their petition, the nine ministers used the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport as their example of what they consider to be a flawed process.
The Louisiana Annual Conference filed an exception to the petition stating that the civil court does not have jurisdiction to hear this case because the United Methodist Church has its own court that hears these kinds of matters. A memorandum filed by the Louisiana Annual Conference states that the church court has already decided against persons making claims similar to those made by the nine ministers.
On Monday, March 20, the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport filed an intervention pleading stating that the church has followed the rules regarding disaffiliation and explained the steps taken by that church. The church stated that a meeting is scheduled for April 16 where a vote is to be taken and if that meeting is postponed, it is unlikely that another meeting can take place before the time for having such meetings has expired. At the meeting, two-thirds of the persons present must vote to disaffiliate in order for the church to disaffiliate and thereby become a Methodist church, independent from the United Methodist Church.
The First United Methodist Church of Shreveport is scheduled to vote on April 16, 2023, on whether to disaffiliate or remain a member of the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. Over 67 Methodist churches in Louisiana have already voted to leave the UMC denomination.
By Brad Dison
The residents of Washington Township’s Fourth Precinct in Ames, Iowa were unenthused about the upcoming 1972 presidential election. The Democratic Party’s nominee was Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against the incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon. The residents of the Fourth Precinct cared nothing for the campaign promises of either candidate. In fact, because of a new redistricting plan, the residents of the Fourth Precinct showed no emotion at all about the upcoming election.
In the spring of 1971, the Iowa Supreme Court drew up new legislative districts in an effort to produce House and Senate districts of equal size. Iowa state law required all precincts to be of nearly equal population but the precincts could not cross legislative lines. The law about legislative lines took precedent over the population provision. In not so simple terms, a precinct had to be wholly contained within a legislative district. No part of the precinct could extend into another legislative district. As the Des Moines Tribune explained, “the precinct is bordered on the north by a legislative line, and on the other three sides by the City of Ames to which it cannot legally be attached for voting purposes.” Therefore, the new redistricting plan created the Fourth Precinct.
On election day, Nixon won in a massive landslide and received nearly 18 million more votes than McGovern, the widest margin in presidential history, and all without the help of the Fourth Precinct. Not a single resident of the Fourth Precinct visited the polls on election day. Not one. None of the residents of the Fourth Precinct gave an opinion on the presidential election before or after the election. You see, due to the quirk in the Ohio State Legislature’s new redistricting plan, there was only a single building in the Fourth Precinct, a facility known as the Experimental Animal Production Area. All of the residents of the Fourth Precinct were pigs.
Sources:
Severe Thunderstorms can be expected on Friday, March 24th for our area (DeSoto Parish). The National Weather Service has projected isolated severe storms will be possible early Friday before sunrise over southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, and northeast Texas. Severe storms are likely across the remainder of the area on Friday and will exit the area around midnight. Strong tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds in excess of 74mph, and heavy rainfall are all possible.
DeSoto Parish is currently designated in the ENHANCED RISK area. Depending on the direction and speed at which this storm will be traveling, the conditions we experience could be lessened or worsened. Please pay attention to your local weather stations for the most recent updates, and make sure you have the DeSoto Sheriff App as we will be pushing out that same info to our residents as quickly as possible.
4-H club members had the time of their lives last time at Marsh Maneuvers. It is time to register for this year’s adventure.
Marsh Maneuvers is a 4-H educational summer camp that offers high school 4-H’ers the chance to explore Louisiana’s coast through hands-on experiences. All high school 4-H members in Louisiana are eligible to apply for this amazing opportunity.
Applications for Marsh Maneuvers 2023 are now being accepted. Don’t wait because the application deadline is Monday, April 3rd. Learn more call the local 4-H office or apply at tinyurl.com/MMinfo2023. Applications are due by Monday, April 3.
From the Logansport Branch of the DeSoto Parish Library:
Button ring making was the focus of Logansport Library’s Happy Hour this month. We had a great group of ladies who made some beautiful rings.
Happy Hour is held every third Thursday at 1:30 at Logansport Library for adults. We make a new craft each month. Join us on April 20th to make flowers, jewelry, and figures out of salt dough.
By Steve Graf
Once again, we’re going to venture away from the world of fishing and talk about what our youth of today need the most. A few weeks ago, while listening to a Sunday morning sermon on “life’s temptations” at the Natchitoches First United Methodist Church, our pastor, Gary Willis, asked the congregation a question. “If you knew you could get away with it and no one would find out, what would you do?” Now this question really intrigued me for some odd reason, and of course, my mind immediately went to something sinister…like stealing, cheating in a tournament, or even worse causing physical harm to someone who’s given me grief in the past. We all have enemies that we would like to inflict pain upon at some point in our lives, but 95% of us never act on any of these sinful ideas.
Then my mind went in another direction. What if I could do something good for someone and not reveal to them it was me who did the good deed? Nothing says more about a person who does good things for others and never wants the credit. Examples of a good deed could be something simple like buying someone’s lunch or dinner, paying for another person’s gas or groceries, or maybe assisting the elderly. But then it hit me! The best thing you can do for anyone is to give of your time. This could be taking a kid fishing and teaching them the tricks of the trade and helping them to become a better angler, or doing fishing seminars for high school and college youngsters by educating them on the unwritten rules of tournament bass fishing.
So many youngsters today are growing up without the guidance of both parents. Boys and girls today are missing the male leadership necessary for them to grow into strong productive citizens. While I have nothing but admiration for the single moms and dads who are doing their best to raise this generation, the lack of having both parent’s influence and perspective has affected the devolvement of our young people. Nothing has a bigger impact on a young boy than a relationship with their dad. In the 1990’s the divorce rate started to skyrocket and so many men walked away from their families, leaving young boys looking for a path on their own on how to become a man. This trend has only gotten worse over the last twenty years. We’ve basically lost a whole generation of men who no longer understand their role as a father and how important it is for the self-esteem and development of a boy or girl.
Temptations for today’s youth are staggering and totally different than my generation. During my youth growing up in the 70s, we had landlines, not cell phones, and although alcohol was available, most just drank beer. Hard alcohol was not the choice of the majority. The hardest drug that was prevalent was marijuana, with speed and cocaine use on the rise by the end of the decade. Today’s drugs are so potent that one small pill might kill you! Drugs like crystal meth, cocaine, and opioids (specifically fentanyl), along with hard alcohol, social media, cell phones, and peer pressure are just a few of the temptations this generation of kids is facing.
Kids today are addicted to their phones and are constantly waiting for the “ding” to alert them about the latest incident or derogatory statement that was made about someone. Nothing has been worse for the youth of today than the invention of the cell phone, and no one is to blame but parents themselves. From this angler’s perspective, no child should be allowed to have a cell phone until they reach high school, and even then, they do not need access to social media until the drinking age of 21. I’ve seen that a bill has been proposed in a few states requiring that a person be 16 years of age to be on social media. This is a good start, but the age should be higher.
In today’s world, the temptations our youth face are tremendous. It’s important that we exposed this generation to God’s great outdoors. There’s an old saying…” Kids that hunt and fish, don’t deal and steal.” What a profound statement! Whoever said it, deserves a medal! So many of life’s lessons can be learned through the outdoors like hard work, dedication, and commitment. Other lessons they’ll learn are conservation, wildlife management, survival skills, and how to provide for themselves if times get tough.
Whether it’s hunting or fishing, it gives youngsters something to focus on besides all the negative temptations they face daily. Whether it’s related to the outdoors or a particular sport, kids today need hobbies to occupy their time. They need goals that are attainable that will encourage them to pursue their dreams. Bottom line, take the time to introduce a kid to the great outdoors…it just might save their life!
Till next week, good luck, good fishing, and don’t forget to wear sunscreen and good protective clothing. Don’t be that guy who thinks they will never get Melanoma…because I was that guy.
DeSoto 4-H is spreading the work that any DeSoto 4-H’ers interested in showing horses this year make sure to contact our office for details on possession validation and other information. Possession papers are due by April 1, 2023.
The NW District Horse Show will be held June 16 at the North Louisiana Exhibition Center in Ruston. There will be classes for Halter/Showmanship, Western and English, Speed Events and Jackpot Barrels. Buckley and prizes will be awarded to winners.
Contact the DeSoto 4-H Office for more information.
“We had a beautiful in person Founders Day,” said the Mansfield Branch of Nstional Association of University Women. The celebration was held recently at Wesley UMC in Mansfield.
The group issued a special thanks, “To Pastor Anna Morris-Jackson for hosting us again. Also we appreciate our very own Debbie Fuller for being our motivational speaker.”
Corcitra Phillips prepared a delicious meal. Shelia Coleman did an amazing job planning this event. What a wonderful day of fellowship. Great job, ladies.