BY MATT VINES, The DeSoto Parish Journal

STONEWALL – The North DeSoto boys soccer team knew if they had any shot on making a Division II playoff return, they’d have to beat Minden this past Tuesday.

The rain poured down, but the Griffins managed a 2-1 victory on Senior Night no less.

But North DeSoto (6-13-2), and its 13 seniors, probably thought they’d played their last game in a loss against Benton on Thursday.

The Griffins had been on the outside of the playoff picture in the final weeks of the season, but when the playoff brackets were released Tuesday, there was North DeSoto’s name at No. 32.

Those 13 seniors will get at least one more game and will make the playoffs for the second straight season.

North DeSoto heads to No. 1 Holy Cross (15-4-4) on Thursday in a 4 p.m. kickoff.

The Griffins, who had won two of their last three matches to snap a 12-match streak without a win, are postseason bound.

“Our late-season push really showed us what we were capable of all season,” said North DeSoto soccer coach Logan Morrison. “Especially in that Minden game, we were in the rain and the guys showed a ton of grit to win that one and keep our playoff hopes alive.

“I think it’s incredibly special to the seniors to make the playoffs and have one more game together. They thought it was over after (Thursday’s game at Benton), but now we have a little bit of new life breathed into us. Of course, it’s always special to experience a postseason berth.”

Holy Cross is unbeaten in its last six matches, winning those contests by a combined score of 17-1.

The Griffins know the uphill challenge they face after making the trip to New Orleans.

“Holy Cross is the No. 1 team in the state for a reason,” Morrison said. “They are extremely good and have their program to a point that we would eventually like to get to.

“We’ll play like we have nothing to lose and see what happens in the end.”

As a No. 31 seed in 2023, North DeSoto fell at St. Thomas More, 8-0.

BY MATT VINES, The DeSoto Parish Journal

STONEWALL – Maturity. 

North DeSoto wrestling coach Dustin Burton said the pace of practice has noticeably quickened in the last month in preparation for the LHSAA State Wrestling Championships. 

But really, the Griffins have had a laser focus all season on winning their first-ever state championship as a team. 

It’s that increased level of maturity and determination for a program that finished second this past season in Division II and has three second-place finishes since 2019. 

North DeSoto desperately wants to stand atop the podium. 

“This is the year we’ve circled, the one where it’s certainly realistic for us,” Burton said. “The training in the past month has been a little different than the past few years. 

“In the past, the training has been led by the coaches. Lately, it’s being led by the athletes.  

The state tournament takes place Friday and Saturday at Bossier City’s Brookshire Grocery Arena. 

The Griffins have plenty of returning experience with both individual state champions returning in Dalton Compton and Lake Bates. 

North DeSoto also welcomed back three of their five runner-ups from 2023 and one third-place finisher. 

Jacob Kershaw, Collin Bell and Caden Robison advanced to the championship match in their respective weight classes. 

Third-place Dylan Compton also makes his return to the state championship stage. 

“Early on this season, ‘maturity’ was a big word for us – in conversations, in practice,” Burton said. “I’ve watched them grow in their maturity. 

“It’s not that we don’t feel pressure, but we know that now is when it really matters. You can feel it, see it on and off the (wrestling) mat. They all understand each other, there’s chemistry there. Each individual has to do their job, and they are mature enough to look at what’s in front of them.” 

That type of focus led NDHS to score a record number of points at the North Louisiana Regionals this past week as the Griffins won 11 of the 14 weight classes. North DeSoto scored 278 points. 

In addition to that state and regional tournament experience, North DeSoto has traveled far and wide to compete in wrestling hotbeds Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Iowa to find the best competition in the country. 

“When you reach the quarterfinals and semifinals at state, it’s not that you will be totally comfortable, but you’ll feel like it’s just another match,” Burton said. “The wrestling will take care of itself because we competed against the guys that we did. 

“Our goal was to prepare the kids physically and mentally with this schedule so they would have all the tools, the emotions and the IQ needed to compete at our best level. If you hang around with puppies, you’ll be a puppy. If you hang around with dogs, you’ll be a dog.” 

While North DeSoto put in the miles during the season, the state championships are just a short drive to Shreveport-Bossier. 

“We think it’s a positive, it’s an advantage,” Burton said. “Traveling does take a little bit of a toll when you’re dealing with weight cuts and everything else. 

“You get to be focused, sleep in your bed. And the crowd that DeSoto Parish will bring, that’ll be helpful as well.” 

North DeSoto Wrestling Lineup 

Wt  Class            Wrestler 

106                      Lathan Tabor 

113                      Jacob Kershaw 

120                      Michael Washington 

126                      Nathan Adams 

132                      Collin Bell 

138                      Dylan Compton 

144                      Dalton Compton 

150                      Chase Smart 

157                      Hayden Bell 

165                      Lake Bates 

175                      Andrew Arinder 

190                      Caden Robison 

215                      Kyan Jackson 

285                      Caiden Burns 

Tennessee pro weighs in 91 pounds even to lead after Day 1 for Group A – Group B begins competition Wednesday

MANY, La. (Jan. 30, 2024) – Despite a three-way battle atop the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard Tuesday, pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, weighed in 28 scorable bass totaling 91 pounds even to jump to the early lead for Group A after Day 1 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole. Pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas, ended the day just 2 pounds, 15 ounces behind Wheeler with 29 scorable bass totaling 88-1, good for second place. Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, began his rookie season on the Bass Pro Tour with a bang, weighing 26 scorable bass totaling 81-13 to round out the top three.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition Wednesday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition. Group A will resume competition on Thursday.

It’s no secret that the past three years on the Bass Pro Tour have been defined by Wheeler’s dominance. During that span, the Tennessee pro has racked up 20 Championship Round appearances (in 27 total events) and four wins. He took home the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in 2021 and 2022 before finishing second to Matt Becker last season.

Wheeler wasted no time on Day 1 showing that his game remains as sharp as ever, boating a Toledo Bend giant less than 10 minutes into the first period. By the time Wheeler trailered his boat, other anglers had already peppered him with questions about the 8-pounder, asking whether he’d marked the fish during practice and run to his starting spot to find it. He insisted the giant caught him by surprise.

“I just happened to pull into a little area that I caught some fish (during practice), and my first bite just happened to be an 8-pounder,” Wheeler said. “And if that’s any telltale sign for how the year is going to go, I’m all about 8-pounders.”

While the longterm implications remain to be seen, his early success proved indicative of the pattern Wheeler ran throughout the day. He didn’t divulge many details but did say that once he found a spot with the right ingredients, he generally caught fish quickly and in bunches.

“It’s definitely a pattern where if I see what I’m looking for, it’s pretty quick to generate a bite,” he explained. “I’m hoping to have enough of that stuff because that’s really what it comes down to.”

With an advantage of more than 55 pounds over 11th place, Wheeler plans to use most of Day 2 for Group A exploring new water in hopes of finding more productive areas. That could prove key, as conditions are changing rapidly on Toledo Bend.

The region was hit hard by storms prior to practice, and swaths of muddy water are moving through the reservoir as a result. Wheeler said the lake fished differently than even a day or two ago — which might explain why the Day 1 weights were a bit top-heavy, with 19 of the 40 anglers falling short of 20 pounds. With more dirty water expected to reach the main lake and temperatures likely to warm in the coming days, Wheeler said he doesn’t believe he’ll be able to ride the areas he fished Tuesday through Sunday’s Championship Round.

“A lot of water is going to continue to move down the system,” Wheeler predicted. “So I think that’s definitely going to continue to be the trend, water continuing to dirty up and things continuing to change. It’s prespawn, spring fishing. When you have that kind of rain, it’s definitely going to change some things, and every day is going to be different.”

While Wheeler held the top spot on SCORETRACKER® for most of the day, both Shuffield and Gill challenged his lead at times. Those three have separated themselves from the rest of the pack; they each cleared 80 pounds on the day while no one else reached 50.

Gill wasn’t the only newcomer to get off to a strong start. Rookie Martin Villa sits sixth with 40-7, while fellow rookie Justin Cooper — who lives in nearby Zwolle, Louisiana, and guides on Toledo Bend — finished ninth with 36-14.

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Toledo Bend are:

1st: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 28 bass, 91-0
2nd: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 29 bass, 88-1
3rd: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 26 bass, 81-14
4th: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 17 bass, 49-15
5th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 19 bass, 49-13
6th: Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 12 bass, 40-7
7th: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 15 bass, 39-2
8th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 14 bass, 39-1
9th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 12 bass, 36-14
10th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 36-5
11th: Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 11 bass, 35-14
12th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 11 bass, 35-3
13th: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 11 bass, 32-0
14th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 10 bass, 30-0
15th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., nine bass, 29-15
16th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., nine bass, 29-4
17th: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 11 bass, 28-9
18th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 28-0
19th: Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., eight bass, 24-5
20th: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 23-7

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Local favorite “Cajun Baby” Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part, Louisiana, earned Tuesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award after an 11-pound, 1-ounce largemouth bit his crankbait in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Friday, Feb. 2, Toledo Bend Lake Country will host an Education Day in conjunction with the tournament at Cypress Bend Park, where 260 eighth-grade students from local area schools will have the opportunity to learn about lake ecology, casting techniques and the Toledo Bend fishery. Bass Pro Tour pros will be onsite throughout the event providing instruction and working with students.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.

BY MATT VINES, The DeSoto Parish Journal

STONEWALL – No matter what happens in the LHSAA Division II soccer playoffs, North DeSoto’s girls will already have their names in the record books.

The Lady Griffins won a record 15 matches this season, but North DeSoto wants to up the tally.

The No. 6 seed Lady Griffins (15-7-4) will have that chance Friday when they host No. 27 New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy (9-10) at 5 p.m.

“The girls have really applied the little things to each game,” said North DeSoto coach Morgan Ersoff. “They have worked as a team and played together.

“We will just need to continue to play our game and stick to our game plan. When we’ve done that, we’ve seen good results.”

One of those results happened to be a loss.

After a 9-1 loss to Caddo Magnet on Saturday with the District 1-II championship on the line, North DeSoto played much better in a 3-1 loss to Division I Benton.

“In our match against Benton, we played as a team more than we have all season,” Ersoff said. “The girls went out there and proved to themselves what our team can accomplish.

“We can compete with anyone, and this is what will give us a great chance to make a deep run in the playoffs. Benton tied Byrd this season, which has competed with the best across the state all season.”

The Lady Griffins also battled Captain Shreve earlier last week, arguably the best team in this corner of the state, in a 4-0 loss.

Before North DeSoto can make a playoff run, it has to take care of business Friday against New Orleans Military and Maritime.

The Academy is a is a charter school in which all students are in the JROTC. They made a push into the playoffs by winning two of their last three matches.

North DeSoto continued its playoff streak dating back to 2010, and the Lady Griffins have advanced to the second round in their last seven playoff appearances.

But that’s when the Lady Griffins have run into trouble, having just one quarterfinals appearance in their program’s history (2018).

A deep playoff run could set North DeSoto on a collision course with No. 2 Caddo Magnet, whom the Lady Griffins could see in the semifinals if both teams advance that far.

But NDHS knows it can’t get ahead of itself, and that starts Friday with NOMMA.

A high-powered offense led by Melanie Windham (29 goals) and Chloe Phillips (13 goals) is bolstered by a stout defense that’s held 17 of its 26 opponents to one goal or less, including 11 shutouts.

And with just two seniors (Emily Long and Ella Cosby), North DeSoto appears to be a fixture on the Division II stage for years to come.

Doug De Graffenried

Several years ago, I did a funeral at First United Methodist Church in Houston. It was a Saturday funeral, which meant a drive through East Texas to be back in my church on Sunday. The amusing part of the story is that I had already buried this man once in Bienville Parish. His daughter wanted him to be relocated. So, I drove to Houston with the dearly departed in the backseat of my car. For those of you wondering, he was cremated! I’m wondering about those of you who were wondering.

On the way back home, through the woods of east Texas, I found out how strange life is.

There were three businesses that caught my attention. The first was a psychic who was giving readings in a pop-up camper. I know that because the sign was attached to the pop-up camper. I guess the psychic knew when the law was showing up and would take down the camper and move out of town. I don’t believe in psychics at all, but this was funny. A psychic on wheels makes sense. If they are really psychics, they should know who needs psychic readings and could go to them. The psychic could have a slogan, “have visions will travel.”

The second business was an “RV supply center and Notary.” From the looks of the shack, business was not very good. There were a couple of broken-down RVs in front of the shack and the sign was hand printed and tied to the tree in front of the shack. I hope the person had better notary skills than RV knowledge.

The third business was my favorite of the three East Texas candidates for Chamber of Commerce business of the year. The third business was “East Texas PC Service Candle and Gift Shop.” Talk about not having a business plan! Or maybe they wanted to touch all the bases. I’ll bet they stocked their gift shop with candles bought on the Internet using a refurbished computer. They should have bought some commas for their sign. I did try to imagine what a PC Service Candle would look like. It could have been a Politically Correct Service Candle and Gift Shop. Trying to imagine a “service candle” gave me a brain hiccup. I took the sign at face value, appreciated the need for commas, and vowed to quit overthinking things!

Do you have the feeling that these businesses might give their customers “the business?” They looked like they didn’t have a commitment to their business. They looked random and like a BBB complaint waiting to happen.

Have you ever felt life was giving you “the business?” I have too.

My advice, which is free, is to find a church! We will never give you “the business.”

After what we have gone through weather-wise over the past two weeks, I might have an inkling of why all this has come to be.

Could it be something called El Nino or La Nina? I don’t have a clue what these weather phenomena is all about but I’m searching for something – anything – to explain why we here in the south have taken such a beating from Mother Nature.

It all started last summer. As April showers brought May flowers, the clouds which up to then had been friendly, blessed us with sufficient rains to get things going. Tomatoes were up and growing crimson and plump, purple hull peas were sprouting and we could hardly wait to pick a mess, cook a pot of them and serve them up with a pone of homemade cornbread and slices of those beautiful tomatoes.

Then, just like that, Mother Nature shut off the spigot. Days turned into weeks that turned into months without rain. We watched our ponds slowly shrink in size until all that was left was dry cracks as the pond that was once home to crawfish and turtles and frogs and minnows. Cows in the pasture would walk by, give what was once their water hole a longing look, swish tails at horseflies and sadly walk away.

We had a neighborhood red tailed hawk that spent much of the day on the power line overlooking the pond, looking for a morsel. As the pond disappeared, so did the hawk. Why hang around to sit and look at cracked ground?

Finally, the skies became more friendly and gave us a few showers. The pond bottom became a puddle; dry cracks thirstily lapping up the scant few gallons of precious liquid.

Things started looking up somewhat in November and December giving us a false hope that whatever Mother Nature had against us was beginning to wane just a bit.

Then came January. We welcomed the New Year clinging to the hope that finally things would start to settle out and return to a semblance of normalcy. The weatherman began talking about an event due the middle of the month that caused us a bit of concern. An artic front was due around January 14 with the forecast of not only frigid temperatures but with the possibility of frozen precipitation.

No problem, we were duped into thinking. It’s January and a little snow might provide a bit of excitement and would probably be gone the next day. Boy was that a misnomer. We went to bed Sunday night with falling temperatures and by daybreak Monday, we were wrapped up with snow, sleet and ice with a temperature in the 20s and heading south.

We became prisoners to the elements; there was no way we could leave the house and that became a growing concern as I watched the level in my jug of milk sink lower and lower. We were down to eating the last end pieces of the remaining loaf of bread. The heating unit never seemed to shut off and take a breath before kicking on again. I might have to float a loan to pay my utility bill.

Finally, things thawed enough to drive the road to the grocery store to replenish the milk and bread. By week’s end, we could at least function a bit better. Things looking much better, right?

Forecast for last week said otherwise. All the rain we missed last summer was dumped on us all at one time with heavy rain all week long.

I found a statement on-line that says it better than I can.

“It’s like Mother Nature is mad and keeps storming out, then comes back yelling, ‘And one more thing’!”

I found it interesting to read this week that Wall Street investors are “conceding that former President Donald Trump will likely win the GOP primary for the 2024 presidential race.” (The Epoch Times, Jack Phillips, 1/24/2024). These remarks were made just before Trump won the New Hampshire primary. He also won Iowa earlier this month with strong support from his working class and middle-class base which has not been diminished in their support by the politically motivated law-fare being waged against him.

In fact, pundits across the political spectrum have concluded that the Biden’s unprecedented election interference caused by the numerous political legal cases that have been filed against Trump—the numerous indictments and efforts to deprive American’s of their right to vote by removing Trump from state ballots—have provided jet fuel to the Republican nomination and to his consistent lead over Biden in national and key swing state polls.

However, as interesting as that is, I found another set of comments even more insightful. Major Wall Street investor, Jamie Dimon, who is JPMorgan Chase CEO said he agreed with multiple statements and policies that were made by Trump on immigration, taxes, and the economy.

“Take a step back, be honest. He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right on immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Trade tax reform worked. He was right about some of China,” Further, “he wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why” people voted for him. “I wish Democrats would think a little more carefully when they talk about MAGA,” he said, referencing the Trump “Make America Great Again” slogan. “I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign.” He further stated that “Democrats and President Biden are basically scapegoating them [saying] that you are like him.” (The Epoch Times).

Mr. Dimon understates the Trump record. President Trump was not merely “kind of right” on NATO; he was completely right and only by calling out the other NATO nations in his bulldogged fashion have those other nations begun to pay into that organization anywhere close to their financial obligations—which is still many billions short of America’s annual NATO contribution. Mr. Dimon also vastly understates that Trump was “kind of right on immigration.” Pres. Trump has been dead right on immigration and the scourge of drugs—including fentanyl that kills Americans daily—crime, human and child trafficking and terrorists who daily come over our southern (and increasingly, northern) border. It’s estimated that 8 million illegals have come into our country during the Biden Administration. I do agree with Mr. Dimon that President Trump “grew the economy quite well” and that “tax reform worked.” In fact, the Trump tax cuts caused the economy to explode with growth.

However, I was most intrigued by Mr. Dimon’s observation that the “negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt Biden’s election campaign” and that the Biden campaign makes a mistake when it “scapegoats” Trump supporters.

This scapegoating of Trump supporters to which Mr. Dimon refers calls to mind Hillary Clinton’s recommendation that the “cult-like’ Trump supporters be “formally deprogrammed.” Of course, we also recall her 2016 accusation in which she deemed Trump supporters to be a part of a “basket of deplorables” … “You know, … you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it.” These Clinton comments were also reminiscent of those of then-presidential candidate, Barack Obama, who stated about religious conservatives “they get bitter, they cling to their guns and religion.”

What a breathtaking misunderstanding of the beliefs and motivations of roughly half of the American people. We support Trump because he is the only hope we see to preserve any semblance of the America we grew up in and deeply cherish. He’s the only national figure we see who can again possibly slow the rapid acceleration of our federal government toward a socialist form of government and our American culture into the godless cesspool that currently smothers us.

It is for these beliefs and values that MAGA Americans are scapegoated, ridiculed, and mocked. And that is why we stand with Trump. Because he stands with and fights for us. As Trump said, ‘in reality, they’re not after me. They are after you, and I am just in the way.’

May he long remain ‘in the way.’

Royal Alexander

LifeShare Blood Center is kicking off the Mardi Gras season by encouraging you to give life to the fullest! Donate at the Shreveport or Bossier City donor center on February 1st or 2nd and receive a Lilah’s Bakery king cake plus a limited-edition Mardi Gras donor t-shirt.

“Every two seconds someone needs blood. In fact, nearly 30,000 units of whole blood and red blood cells are transfused each day in the U.S. Our donors allow others to live life to the fullest with each donation they make, and that is definitely worth celebrating,” says Mandi Johnson, Director of Community Engagement.

LifeShare is honored to partner with Lilah’s Bakery and other businesses who are committed to strengthening the community’s blood supply.

King cakes will be available in-center only at all LifeShare donor centers Thursday, February 1 & Friday, February 2. Appointments are encouraged, but not required. To schedule a donation appointment, visit: http://www.lifeshare.org/give.

(Editor’s note: One of prop bets for Super Bowl LVIII [or 58 if you’re tired of Roman numerals, which we don’t use except at Super Bowl time because we are not Roman, DUUH! ] is whether Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce will propose to superpower Taylor Swift, who has recently been classified as her own planet, displacing Pluto, on the field. As of Tuesday, odds were long on Super Love Sunday: to wager on “no proposal,” you’d have to bet $2,200 and, if there were no proposal, you’d win $100 and get your $2,200 back. Betting-wise, not a great proposal.)

Sunday’s two NFL conference championships games were examples of why it would be fun for coaches to interview journalists now and then, instead of always the other way around. 

Because first, the games were shining examples of why sports are the only true reality television.

Baltimore had the best running game in the NFL in the regular season, rushed for 229 yards in a 34-10 route of Houston Jan. 20 in the AFC Divisional round — and ran the ball only 16 times in a 17-10 loss to Kansas City in the AFC title game. The Ravens running backs rushed just six times. The Ravens defense held Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes scoreless in the third quarter, gave up just 17 points, but did not even really try to run, just expected quarterback Lamar Jackson to be Superman and/or silver-armed Tom Brady, so did NOT do “what brung ’em,” and lost. 

Detroit pretty much DID do what brung ’em, but they lost too, 34-31 in San Francisco. Dan Campbell, a big man who in three years as head coach has turned Detroit’s franchise around and made them winners for the first time since Moses was cleaning Red Sea slime off his sandals, has gambled since he took over the team, running and gunning on fourth down, rolling the dice, all that sort of thing. Playing with a reckless, carefree confidence. Those results paid off — until they didn’t Sunday, when ill-timed fourth-down decisions in a game with No Tomorrow didn’t go as Campbell and Detroit and their long-suffering fans had hoped. 

“Part of the gig,” Campbell said afterward, having been around long enough to know you win some, you lose some, you get praised for some, you get criticized for some, but you dress out for all of them. He didn’t read the room right Sunday, but you’ve got to love the guy.

This is what might have happened had Campbell gone to the press box 45 minutes after the game and had a press conference with the writers, tables turned, concerning several stories and TV reports that all those critical failures to convert fourth downs contributed to Detroit’s loss, which they did. Same as they’d have contributed to a win had they succeeded.

Coach: “So here’s the lede you wrote: ‘Four chances. Four chances on fourth down for Detroit to show the football world what it’s made of. The Lions blew them all.’ You start a sentence with a NUMERAL and end a sentence with a PREPOSITION?! Where did you learn grammar, K-Mart?”

Writer: “I got your ‘starting a sentence with a number’ right here. How about ‘Four score and seven years ago.’ Sound familiar? How about this?: ‘Sugar and spice and everything nice. That’s what little girls are made OF.’ It’s only one of the most famous nursery rhymes ever and has been around 10 times longer than since Detroit last won a playoff game.”

Coach, to another writer: “You start a story with ‘It,’ the ultimate in lazy. You wrote, ‘It will go down as one of the great blunders in NFL Championship history.’ As in, ‘I can’t think of how to describe ‘it’ right off the bat so I’ll just say ‘it’ and explain later. Hopefully.’ Pitiful.”

Writer: “Really? REALLY? ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ If it’s good enough for Chuck Dickens, it’s good enough for me. I almost went with ‘Call me Ishmael,’ ‘Ishmael’ being Arabic for ‘Guy Who Should Have Taken The Field Goal.’”

Coach: “You said our second-half defense was a ‘colander.’ Did you mean ‘sieve’? The phrase is ‘a sieve-like defense,’ not a ‘colander’ defense.”

Writer: “Sieve. Colander. Sling blade. Kaiser blade. Potato. PoTAHto. You’re nit-pickin’ now! Tell me, when’s the last time you wrote on deadline? The next time will be the first time, that’s when. You make a B+ on a freshman theme or win an award from the Optimist Club for an essay and think you’re Grantland Rice. I’m done here: I still have to write a column and a sidebar…”

Coach: “Well why not try for something lighter, something more optimistic, something like, ‘It was the best of times, it was the could-have-been-a-little-better of times…’”

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

1/22/24
FULLER, HENRY C
B M 64
DISTRUBTION OR POSSESSION W/INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE CDSII
SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSE
Frierson, LA

HARLAN, ROBERT PAT
W M 31 DOMESTIC ABUSE BATTERY
Keithville, LA

01/23/24
HORTON, CARLTON ROSHEADEON
B M 43
POSSESSION OF SCHEDULE 1 W/ INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE
TENAHA, TX

01/25/24

HOLMES, D’ANDRE
B M 26
ATTEMPT
SECOND DEGREE MURDER
FUGITIVE WARRANT/ARREST
Mansfield, LA
YOUNG, LADREYLAN
B M 22
Simple Criminal Damage 1000-49999
Logansport, LA

RHOADES, NICHOLE
W F 36
FUGITIVE WARRANT/ARREST
Logansport, LA

01/26/24

WILLIAMS, GABRIEL LAMAR
B M 47
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA Logansport, LA
POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHENALIA Logansport, LA
VEH REQUIRE HEADLAMP
Logansport, LA

ARBUCKLE, LARISSA
W F 28
WARRANT DESOTO PARISH
Logansport, LA

01/27/24

DORSEY, SULANDA MIRAND
B F 49
WARRANT DESOTO PARISH
NATCHITOCHES, LA

THOMAS, DMYCHAEL,TRESEAN
B M 29
OPERATING A VEHICLE UNDER SUSPENSION FOR CERTAIN PRIOR OFFENSES
FUGITIVE WARRANT/ARREST
Mansfield, LA

01/28/24

LEWIS, RICKY DARNELL
B M 53
VIOLATING MAX SPEED
OPEN ALCOHOL CONTAINER IN VEH.
POSSESSION OF CDS I
MANUFACTURE/DISTRIBUTION OF CDS II
POSSESSION OF FIREARM IN PRESENCE OF CDS
SHREVEPORT, LA

MORAES, JEFF
I M 23
Operating while intoxicated; first offense; penalties
CARELESS OPERATION PENITAS
HIDALGO, TX

The portal to enroll into PreK 4 (entire parish) and PreK 3 (Logansport & Mansfield) opens on February 9th! You can enroll online to secure your child’s spot in the 24-25 school year!!! Go to desotoreadystart.com to complete online registration!

LSU AgCenter suggests the best times to prune certain fruit trees, shrubs and vines in Louisiana are as follows: Apple: Jan-Feb, Blackberry: After harvest in early summer, Blueberry (Rabbiteye): After harvest in June or July, Fig: Jan-Feb, Muscadines: Jan-Feb, Pawpaw: Jan-Feb, Peach: Jan-Feb, Pear: Jan-Feb, Plum: Jan-Feb, Oriental Persimmon: Jan-Feb. 

Dr. Harold King
January 15, 1933 — January 15, 2024
A graveside service for immediate family will be held later.

Lynda Dianne Mitchell
July 3, 1960 — January 24, 2024
Graveside Service: Friday, February 2 at 11:30am at Northwest LA Veterans Cemetery – Keithville

MATT VINES, The DeSoto Parish Journal 

STONEWALL – Outside in the heat alongside the football team. 

In the weightroom over the summer. 

Clearing out space in the cafeteria to work on their routine because of space restrictions. 

If you were on the North DeSoto High campus over the summer or fall, chances are you saw the NDHS cheerleading team putting in the hours. 

That hard work paid off as North DeSoto won the national championship in the Novice Varsity Crowd Leading Large division at the National Cheerleaders Association High School Nationals this past weekend in Dallas. 

To watch video of their performance, click here or visit North DeSoto High’s Facebook page.  

The Griffins took home “black jackets,” – similar to the green jacket awarded to the winner of The Masters – in just their third season of national competition as a program. 

“While no performance will ever be perfect, both performances we had at nationals were pretty close,” said NDHS cheerleading coach Emilie Parker. “The girls executed extremely well and implemented every small change that we made in the weeks leading up to the performance. 

“There were small moments that most may not even notice that the girls could have allowed a stunt to fall or could have been lazy on small piece that would have changed the outcome of the entire weekend, but they fought hard for their skills and did what was necessary to win.” 

North DeSoto scored a 97.334 overall en route to winning division awards in Best Use of Tumbling and Best Showmanship. 

“I believe that showmanship piece is what elevated us,” Parker said. “The judges commented that we set ourselves apart with genuine school spirit, strong and difficult stunt sequences and well-timed and executed jumps. 

“This team has worked incredibly hard to get to this point in numerous weather conditions and locations as well. We used the cafeteria and could only run half our routine because of limited space, but regardless of the situation, these girls made it work.” 

Preparation consisted of up to 15 hours per week, which included weightlifting and conditioning as well as cheer-specific practices like tumbling and stunting. 

“We were able to win a national championship in our third season of competition through the hard work of our team members,” said Parker, who has been the program’s coach since 2018. “They knew the ultimate goal was to win a national championship and how much time and effort that would take.  

“Every team member was up to the challenge.” 

Captains Briley Pendleton and Regan Davlin led a senior class that included Meredith Roberts, Madison Richardson, Rileigh Falls, Kloe Kennington, Mikayla Mondello and Molly Wiley. 

The junior class consists of Macy Wiley, Anna Giddens, Katie Enloe, Abby McInnis, Madelyn Stringer, Katelyn Cory and manager Lacy Carney. 

On the sophomore roll call – Raelee Browning, Carsyn Curtis, Mattie Sue Cross, Kadyn Fuller, Ellie Wagner and Mackenzie Falls. 

Freshmen on the team included Makenzie Longoria, Aubrey Woolard, Jaliyah Brown, Emmaleigh Brown, Emma Derrick and Emma Stringer. 

While the girls are still basking in the glow of a national title, thoughts are already turning to next year. 

Tryouts for next year’s team are in the first week of February, and Parker has already reserved her favorite choreographer for next year’s routine. 

“We are losing nine seniors who are such great workers and examples for our underclassmen, but we have a great group of girls returning and coming up from our middle school program,” Parker said. “We will enjoy this victory for a few weeks and then get right back to work!”  

Congratulations to the following ladies for their outstanding performance at the NW District Commercial Heifer Pen of 3 Show and Sale.

Champion Bred Pen: Addison Salley from Stanley 4-H
Champion Open Pen: Adilee Register from Central 4-H
Reserve Open Pen: Lauralye Jeter from Stanley 4-H

Judges assessed the pens of 3 by the daily rate of gain, uniform build, and overall health.

The ladies also received a monetary prize donated by Red River Livestock. The two champions will also receive a custom belt buckle compliments of Red River Livestock. 

BY MATT VINES, DeSoto Parish Journal 

STONEWALL — The North DeSoto girls soccer team will take aim at a district title this weekend when it finishes its district schedule Friday at Northwood and Saturday at Caddo Magnet. 

The Lady Griffins (14-4-4, 3-1 District II-1) shut out Pineville (2-0) and Minden (4-0) to put themselves in position to take a swing at the district crown. 

North DeSoto is on a three-match winning streak, which included a Senior Night win against Minden in a pair of senior’s final home matches. 

But they’ll see the North DeSoto soccer field again as the No. 5 Lady Griffins are set to host at least a first-round playoff match. 

If NDHS can handle business against Northwood, No. 2 Caddo Magnet awaits in what will feel like a late-round playoff bout. 

Thirteen North DeSoto boys soccer seniors celebrated their final home game with a 2-1 win against Minden on Tuesday night, building a winning streak of two that snapped 12-match winless streak (0-10-2). 

The Griffins (6-12-2) entered Thursday night’s finale at No. 35 in the Division II rankings, needing a win against Benton and possibly help to vault into the 32-team playoff. 

NDHS started the streak with a 6-1 domination of Huntington to turn around a week that started with losses to Sterlington and Haughton. 

BOYS BASKETBALL 

North DeSoto (6-4, 0-1 District 1-4A) snapped a four-game skid with a 36-33 win against Logansport on Monday. 

The bad news? The Griffins opened district play with a 50-point loss to Booker T. Washington. 

NDHS is No. 31 in the Division II power rankings, sitting 0.7 points outside of a spot in the 28-team playoffs. 

The Griffins, who haven’t won a district game in more than a few years, will likely need at least a couple to make a playoff push.  

NDHS heads to Northwood on Friday before hosting Evangel on Tuesday and traveling to Huntington on Wednesday. 

Mansfield (6-15, 2-2 District 3-2A) is in a similar situation sitting at No. 30 in Division III, about 0.4 points out of the playoff picture. 

The Wolverines started 2-0 in the league but fell in overtime to Lakeview and dropped a nine-point decision at home to Red River. 

Mansfield will need to repeat their victories against Many on Friday and Jonesboro-Hodge on Tuesday to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

Logansport (5-7, 1-2) is currently in the playoffs at No. 27 in Division IV, holding less than a 0.1-point edge on No. 29. 

The Tigers earned their first district win Tuesday in a 47-43 triumph over Montgomery. 

Logansport was drilled by St. Mary’s by 42 points before they couldn’t duplicate their earlier win against NDHS, falling by three. 

The Tigers have just four games left in their regular season – all district games – which starts Tuesday against Northwood-Lena, a team that won by 14 over Logansport to begin district play. 

Stanley (8-19, 1-2 District 3-B) picked up its third win against Converse this season in 48-43 fashion on Tuesday. The Panthers have work to do at No. 32, and their five-game stretch to end the season started late Thursday night against Zwolle. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL 

The girls basketball playoff picture is much more settled in DeSoto Parish. 

Mansfield (12-8, 3-1 District 3-2A) has all but guaranteed itself a first-round home playoff game sitting at No. 10 in Division III. 

The Lady Wolverines lost a tough fight to Lakeview (No. 5 in Division IV) in the first salvo of the top two competitors for the district crown. 

Mansfield rebounded by topping Red River, 44-7, on Tuesday, the second district opponent that the Lady Wolverines held in single-digits. Mansfield hosts Many tonight before heading to Jonesboro-Hodge on Tuesday and Winnfield on Friday. 

Both North DeSoto (No. 17 in Division II) and Logansport (No. 17 in Division IV) are clawing for one of those 16 home games in their respective divisions. 

The Lady Griffins (16-5, 1-0) picked up a win in their District 1-4A opener by handling Booker T. Washington at home, 51-39. NDHS heads to Northwood tonight with Evangel visiting on Tuesday. 

Logansport (8-9, 0-3 District 3-1A) is still looking for its first district win after losses to St. Mary’s and Montgomery. 

The Lady Tigers start their five-game stretch to end the season with one-loss LaSalle tonight at home before hosting Northwood-Lena on Tuesday and heading back to LaSalle on Friday. 

Stanley’s losing skid extended to six games with losses to Negreet and Converse. The Lady Panthers are squarely out of the playoffs at No. 43 with four games remaining. 

In 1930, Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield bought an old colonial house on Bedford Street in Whitman, Massachusetts.  At the time, the house was located on a toll road about halfway between Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts.  Because it was located on the toll road, the Wakefields called it the Toll House Inn.  The Wakefields advertised that the house was built in 1709, but some people claimed the house was built in 1817 and the earlier date was used as a marketing ploy.  The Wakefields rented rooms to tourists who were passing between the two historic towns.  Ruth, a former dietician, served home-cooked meals to travelers.  Before long, people began coming to the inn, not for its colonial charm, but for Ruth’s wonderful cooking.  The inn became a tourist destination in itself.

Guests began asking for Ruth’s recipes, which she was happy to share.  So successful was her cooking that a Boston newspaper printed some of her recipes.  In 1936, Ruth compiled her “Tried and True Recipes” into a cookbook which became a best seller.  Her most requested recipe was for a dessert that came about in 1930 as an accident.  Ruth had run out of an ingredient without which the dessert would be a disaster.  She had no time to go to a grocery store to buy more powdered baker’s chocolate, so she substituted it with broken pieces of a chocolate bar.  When she removed the dessert from the oven, she was disappointed.  The chocolate had not melted properly, but there was no time to make another dessert.  She had no choice but to serve it as it was.  She watched anxiously as her guests tried the dessert.  Most of her guests replied, not with words, but with “Mmmmm.”  Everyone loved her accidental creation and wanted her recipe.  In her recipe, Ruth included the name of the company which made the chocolate bars.  So many people began making the dessert that the company noticed an increase in sales of their chocolate bar. 

Everyone, it seemed, wanted Ruth’s recipe.  The company which made the chocolate bar used in Ruth’s creation also wanted the recipe, so they made Ruth an offer.  In exchange for the rights to her recipe, they would provide her with a lifetime supply of chocolate.  Ruth had been giving the recipe away to her guests and had shared it in Boston newspapers, so she instantly accepted their proposition.  The company began packaging chocolate specifically for Ruth’s recipe and, to help sales, the company printed Ruth’s recipe on every package.

In 1966, the Wakefields sold the inn and retired.  In 1984, seven years after Ruth’s death, the inn was destroyed by a fire which began in the kitchen, the same kitchen that she had accidentally invented one of the most beloved desserts in history—Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Rather than being named after herself, Ruth named her cookie recipe after the inn.  You and I know them as Nestle’s Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.  “Mmmmm.” 

Sources:

1.      Aimee Tucker, “Toll House Cookies – the Original Chocolate Chip Cookie,” New England, October 13, 2021, https://newengland.com/food/toll-house-cookies/.

2.     “Ruth Jones Graves Wakefield (1903-1977) – Find A Grave,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3065/ruth-jones-wakefield.‌

3.     ‌The Daily Item (Lynn, Massachusetts), April 1, 1937, p.7.

A Hunters Safety Course will be offered, free of charge, to anyone needing to obtain their Hunters Ed Certification. It will be held at the DeSoto Sheriff Training Center and will be led by various individuals from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, staff from the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office and other agencies.

Students must complete ALL 3 DAYS of the course to receive certification. Parents may drop students off or stay with them. Students will be provided everything that will be needed to complete the course. Snacks and refreshments will be provided on Thurs./Fri. and a lunch provided on Saturday. For all further questions you may reach out to Captain Phillip Daniels at (318) 401-3017.

DATES:
Thursday, Feb. 29th (6pm-9pm)
Friday, March 1st (6pm-9pm)
Saturday, March 2nd (8am-Noon)

AGES:
– As of Thursday, Feb. 29th, students must be at least 10 years of age to be eligible to receive a certification.

LOCATION:
DeSoto Parish Sheriff Training Center
120 Sprocket Ln., Grand Cane, LA
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER:
https://louisianaoutdoors.com/events/192765

Over the many decades of professional bass fishing, electronics have made more advances in a shorter time than any other item on a bass boat. These are even more advanced than the high-tech engines that push a bass boat today at speeds exceeding 80 MPH and are more fuel-efficient and quieter than ever. But nothing has created more controversy than the latest advancement in electronics. Forward-facing sonar is the newest and most controversial technology, maybe ever. Today, I’ll give you my perspective as a guy who uses and competes against guys with one of these $ 5,000 units on their boat.

Let’s start with the fact that I am not against any advancement that improves fishing. Baseball has changed the ball to get more distance off the bat. Golf has made the same type of strides with their new and innovative advancements in golf balls and clubs, so much so that golf has decided to pull the reins back and make golf balls that don’t fly as far because they are making certain golf courses obsolete.

Forward-facing sonar has created the same controversy with a unit that shows fish swimming up to 100 feet away. You can see them in real-time on a screen as big as the one in your living room. So why the controversy? Well, the fishing purists, or old timers as we call them, hate this new piece of equipment because they feel like some anglers (especially the younger anglers) have a distinct advantage. It’s made instant champions out of anglers who have just gone through puberty—young boys who have just put away their GI Joe collection.

Fishing instincts or years of experience are no longer as important as they were 10 years ago. Young anglers today are making a quicker rise to the professional ranks without having “paid their dues” like many of the legends we know today. Tournament bass fishing is a whole new ballgame all due to forward-facing sonar. This technology has made finding fish too easy and allows anglers to target the bigger fish in the school and pick them off one big fish at a time.

That’s right, I said BIG fish. Here’s part of the controversy: forward-facing sonar allows an angler to zero in on the bigger fish in a school, brush top, or isolated stump, picking them off like blackberries on the vine. This new technology also directly threatens the breeding population of bass and other species like crappie.

Gone are the days of an angler wasting time pulling into a pocket and fan-casting for fish until he caught one. Now, anglers pull into a cove, put the trolling motor down with a transducer for FF sonar, and start to scan the area in a matter of seconds like some form of radar. They locate the fish and then attempt to catch those fish with whatever techniques work best.

It still needs to be made clear where this new technology is headed with regard to tournaments. But it’s about 50/50 on opinions for or against it. The B.A.S.S. organization will interview anglers after each of their Elite Series events in 2024 to come to a conclusion, which may result in rule changes for 2025. So, stay tuned…. more to come on this as we go further into the B.A.S.S. and Major League (MLF) tournament schedules.

Based on my experience and talking to people involved, I see it both ways: being banned or allowed. One benefit tournament, like the DeSpino Tire Children’s Miracle Network event on Toledo Bend, has decided to ban this technology to level the playing field. As far as I can report, this is the first tournament to make such a decision. It will be interesting to see if it affects the number of entries.

But as far as professional anglers are concerned, it all depends on which angler you ask. Here’s the bigger question: are we developing top-level anglers today with this new technology, or are we creating robotic angling nerds who don’t have the skills that professional anglers should possess? These skills would include reading the water and understanding bass behavior and how they react under different conditions. Most young up-and-coming anglers today lack this knowledge or the instincts to compete at the highest level WITHOUT this new forward-facing sonar.

Here’s a great example. A friend of mine fished the co-angler (amateur) side of a recent tournament at Sam Rayburn and drew a young 18-year-old as his pro for the day. Around mid-morning, all the electronics went blank on his boat, sending the young angler into panic mode. He had no idea how to fish without his forward-facing sonar or how he would navigate the rest of the day. It was as if his XBOX video game went out, and he could no longer play! This is just one example of how unprepared some of today’s young anglers are. Most do not possess the skills necessary to compete with anglers much older who have years of experience to fall back on if they lose their electronics.

In some ways, we are not doing a good job of developing the next generation of anglers. We are setting them up for failure, especially if major organizations like the B.A.S.S. Elite Series and MLF (Major League Fishing) ban this new technology. All this being said, these electronic companies who created this monster have invested too much money just to stop making them. Tournament anglers make up a small portion of the overall bass fishing population. Even if some tournament organizations decide to ban this technology, the average weekend warrior (non-tournament angler) will continue to use it.

Until next time, good luck, good fishing, and make sure to apply your sunscreen even during the cold weather months.

Steve Graf

Five hundred fifty-two students were named to the President’s List for the Fall 2023 semester. Students on the President’s List must be enrolled full-time at Northwestern and have a grade point average of 4.0.

Frierson – Kaci McDaniel;

Keatchie – Tara Foster;

Logansport – Linden Criswell;

Mansfield – Shaniyah Blaze, Dallas Britt, Aaliyah Ford, Taylor Opatz;

Stonewall – Natalie Cobb, Madison Jones, Elana Sepulvado, Braedon Theodos.

Eight hundred fifty-six students named to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2023 semester. Students on the Dean’s List must be enrolled full time and earn a grade point average between 3.5 and 3.99.

Gloster – Cameron Curtis;

Keatchie – Katy Cash, LaCarol White;

Logansport – Jessica Morrison, Jasmine Odom;

Mansfield – Mckinnsey Brouillette, Mckayla Courtney, Ladeidre Jackson, Lamar Montgomery, Valentina Puac, Kemariya Thomas, Antoinette Turner

Stonewall – Avery Ajlani, Jhardai Armstrong, Eloise Boudreaux, Lily Carney, Christopher Compass, Aly Delafield, Sarah Edelen, Tyler Erario, Rhyan Floyd, Hunter Hanson, Brianna Jacobsen, Courtney Johnson, Breanna Murphy, John Sepulvado, Todd Wedgeworth, Samantha Wilson.

Six hundred eighty-nine students who were named on the Fall 2023 Honor List. Students on the Honor List must be enrolled full-time at Northwestern and have a grade point average of between 3.0 and 3.49.

Frierson — Rachel Todd;

Gloster — Raven Fields, Hannah Gregg, Caitlyn Seaton;

Keatchie — Evan Howe;

Logansport — Sierra Brewer Bailey Mcconathy, Ava Vowell, Aleric Wallace;

Mansfield — Foster Rougely, Shacobie Gray;

Pelican — Krystal Kelly, Da`Kaliah Williams;

Stonewall — Lauren Weindorff.

Farmers and ranchers from across Louisiana and neighboring states gathered in Chicot State Park for the inaugural Louisiana Farmers Climate Convening on January 21 and 22 to tackle the increasing impacts of climate change on local agriculture. After a year that saw overlapping climate disasters that impacted Louisiana farms—including persistent drought, wildfires, record-breaking heat and saltwater intrusion—this two-day event hosted by the Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition (LSSAC) provided opportunities for farmers to connect on the community impacts of climate change and gain technical skills for climate-smart agriculture.

SPROUT NOLA’s Producers & Sustainability Director Margee Green discussed the purpose behind the event and the benefit of creating a space for farmers to gather, share resources and learn together. “We’ve had about 150 people join us over these past two days,” Green said. “We’re really excited to have spent Sunday as a day building community and helping farmers figure out tools and shared experiences that will help them organize against the impacts of climate change on all different kinds of farms.”

On the heels of the extreme winter weather fueled by climate change that slammed Louisiana and most of the US, Sunday’s program focused on the social, emotional and community impacts of climate change on Louisiana’s food system. The day opened with a keynote address by Southern climate justice writer Mary Annaïse Heglar on climate grief and processing a changing environment.

Tray Lively of L4S Farms in Scott, Louisiana, spoke to the importance of getting to know other farmers from across the state when facing the challenges of climate change in farming. “We learned a lot about the climate and had great camaraderie, great relationship building. I think the most important thing is for farmers to come together to talk about any problems that they have, and that they think they could help each other with.”

The event’s series of panels and workshops were geared toward farmers and growers from all regions of Louisiana, and individual workshops addressed the needs of different types of farmers such as urban farmers, rural farmers, meat producers and flower farmers. Federal USDA agents were also on hand to talk about their programs, and Monday’s series of workshops moved into brass tacks solutions for Louisiana farmers to mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

“We’re seeing farmers connect over techniques like windbreaks, carbon capture on their farms, cover cropping, and biochar effects,” Green continued. “We even have some really awesome research here on climate smart agriculture solutions for sugarcane and rice production.”

Adrianne Williams, a third generation fruit and vegetable farmer from Batchelor, Louisiana, discussed the importance of sharing experiences with other Louisiana farmers. “I’ve learned that as farmers come together and talk about issues, we may think that the issue is just in our area, but really these issues are all over Louisiana,” Williams said. “I’ve also learned about resources, people that we can reach out to in order to solve these problems.”

As Louisiana farmers face new obstacles with increasing heat, drought and other climate impacts, farmers also discussed the importance of experimentation when developing growing techniques that adapt to climate change. “We’re all doing something different. We all have different observations, and a farmer is just as good as what they see has been happening in their system and how they can adjust to do things better,” said Brock Barker, farmer at BrockEllie Patch in Scott, Louisiana. “The more we talk to each other, the more we know—what’s working and what’s not. Especially what’s not. We’re all experimenting with some of the same things, and so it’s just so important to hear everybody’s successes and failures.”

This LSSAC event was a collaboration among multiple organizations working in food and farms across the state at the frontline of climate change, including:

Acadiana Food Alliance

Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance

Louisiana Central 

Market Umbrella

New Orleans Food Policy Action Council

Shreveport Green

SPROUT NOLA

###

About the Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition
The Louisiana Small-Scale Agricultural Coalition (LSSAC) is a statewide organization that exists to strengthen capacity, resiliency, and economic opportunities for Louisiana’s small-scale agricultural producers. The coalition’s members provide comprehensive technical assistance to farmers and the Coalition acts as advisors to organizations and institutions that wish to purchase Louisiana grown, harvested, raised, and produced food directly from Louisiana Farmers, Ranchers, and Fishers. LSSAC member organizations have deep roots in Louisiana agriculture and support small scale producers with technical assistance and programs across multiple program areas.

The Louisiana Sheriffs’ Scholarship Program will award scholarships providing assistance to worthy
Louisiana students in furthering their education and training with resources made available through the
Louisiana Sheriffs’ Honorary Membership Program. Scholarships of a maximum of $1,000 each will be
awarded to graduating high school students from each parish where the Sheriff is an affiliate of the
Honorary Membership Program.

Completed applications must be submitted to the Sheriff of the parish of the applicant’s permanent
Louisiana residence by April 1. Further, applicants must be eligible for admission to the school indicated
on the application. The award will only be paid for attendance at institutions of higher learning within
the State of Louisiana.

To download the application, click the following link: www.dpso.org/downloads/2024_scholarship_a
pplication.pdf

Our federal government has been out of control for decades. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a number of others have not been simply implementing the legislation and policy the U.S. Congress and president have agreed to and enacted into law. Rather, these massive, unaccountable agencies have been making law themselves. That is an unquestionable violation of our principle of representative government and our Separation of Powers doctrine.

How have we gotten to this unconstitutional impasse?

I think the major reason is the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court case of Chevron v. NRDC. In that case, as noted by the Wall Street Journal “the Justices ruled that courts should defer to administrative agencies’ interpretation of laws when the statutory text is silent or ambiguous. In practice this has become a license for Congress to write vague laws that delegate legislative power to administrative agencies.” (WSJ, 1-16-24).

So, by deferring to the federal agencies in this way, the Supreme Court made a huge concession—and mistake—and essentially allowed each federal agency to become a sovereign unto itself and to interpret statutes, enact federal regulations and decide disputes in any manner it chose, and with virtually no oversight from the judiciary or the legislative branches of government.

Let me offer an example: if the highly partisan Environmental Protection Agency challenges coal miners in West Virginia because the EPA believes coal production and consumption supposedly contribute to “global warming,” the Supreme Court could conclude that the statute addressing the acceptable amount of coal production is not clear. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court could “punt” by saying “it’s not clear to us what Congress intended so we’ll defer to the EPA’s decision to limit coal production at a certain number of tons a year.” This is how a Democrat Congress writes legislation with intentionally vague language, knowing that clear, specific language could not pass through the House or the Senate, but that vague language would be interpreted by the federal agency in the manner liberal Democrats in the Congress intended. This legislative deception is toxic to our ‘government by consent of the governed.’

A decision of such magnitude as how much coal production should be allowed in West Virginia, or the U.S., is a monumental policy question that must be decided by the Congress itself. No one elected the Secretary of the EPA. No one voted for the thousands of career bureaucrats who work in that agency. The EPA may well possess substantive, technical expertise regarding environmental issues, but these individuals must not be allowed to be the nameless, faceless, decision-makers who are apparently determined to put the coal miners in WV and across the country out of work because the EPA believes that “coal is bad.”

To underscore this point, I share an anecdote. I worked in the U.S. House of Representatives for almost eight years for two Members of Congress from Louisiana. During those years, I met a number of career employees in the agencies. I recall a conversation with one individual who worked for nearly 40 years for an agency in DC. He told me once, in a rather matter of fact way, that “look, man, the president will be gone in 4 or 8 years; congressmen and senators may be here for a decade or two, but we career employees are here for much longer, so we make the policy.” I remember being taken aback by his answer but realized he was correct. Well, this status quo is completely and sadly unconstitutional.

The cases the Supreme Court heard this past week pose a different issue than the West VA coal miners—but present the very same constitutional principle: can an agency—this time it’s the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS)—force a small family-owned herring boat operator to pay for the cost of a federally-mandated monitor on his boat to be sure he’s not catching more fish than allowed. Congress didn’t fund the cost of the monitors and the statute’s not clear, so who pays?

Hopefully, with these cases, the Supreme Court will stop deferring to federal agencies and force the Congress to do the hard work of writing and debating legislation with clear language and intent, sending the bills through the regular committee process to the House and Senate floors to be voted up or down and either signed or vetoed by the president.

Royal Alexander

Johnny Houston Haynes, 92, of Logansport, Louisiana passed away on Monday, January 15, 2024, and was born July 18, 1931. He was known as Coach Johnny Haynes but to most he was “Coach”.

Coach Haynes played Varsity football for four years and was on the varsity track team for two years at Springhill High School. He was inducted into the Springhill High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Coach Haynes graduated from Northwestern State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1953 with a Major in Health and P.E. and a Minor in Math and graduated Stephen F. Austin in 1964 with a Master of Education Degree. Plus-30 graduate hours attained NSU in 1973.

He was employed at Logansport High School, DeSoto Parish, La. from 1954-84. In 1954-76 he was the Head Football and Track Coach teaching Algebra I and II and Geometry; 1976-77 served as Athletic Director; 1977-79 served as Principal for grades K-12; 1979-84 served as Principal for grades 7 -12. He was a Class A Representative on the LHS Athletic Association Executive Committee 6 years (1977-84); an elective position every 2 years. Coach Haynes was proud to serve as the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s representative on the Logansport High School Coaches Association Executive Council (1979-80). In 1984 he retired in Louisiana.

After his retirement in Louisiana, he then went to work as Math Teacher at Beckville High School, Beckville ISD, Texas from 1984-94. He served as President of Beckville Classroom Teachers Association from 1989-91. He was voted, by the students, as “Outstanding Teacher” at Beckville High School for the years 1987-88, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1993-94. He then retired from Texas in 1994.

Coach Haynes went back to DeSoto Parish working as Assistant Principal at North DeSoto High School from 1994-96; 1996-97 part time math teacher as N.D.H.S.; 1994-97 Head Coach and Athletic Director at North DeSoto Jr. High School, 1996-97 the football team was undefeated with a record of (9-0).

He was a school board member for 15 years in DeSoto Parish where he served as president for four years, vice president for four years, and six years on the finance committee. Coach Haynes worked checking wells for Register Oil Field Company for 20 years.

Preceded in death by his wife, Monteen Haynes; parents, Clyde Haynes and Avie Johnson; sister, Anna Ruth Haynes; stepfather, Ray Johnson; and granddaughter, Jennifer Haynes.

Those left to cherish his memory are his sons, Stan Haynes, and Dudley Haynes and wife Debbie; daughter, Kathy Barton and husband Mike; grandchildren, Katie Tamplin and husband Wade, Blake Haynes, Whitney Haynes, Amber Haynes, Brandon Jones and wife Katie, Sadie Paige DeRosa and husband Jonathan, and Hayden Barton; and eight great-grandchildren.

Honoring Coach Haynes as pallbearers will be Blake Haynes, Eli Haynes, Bentley Haynes, Bryce Tamplin, Hayden Barton, and Brandon Jones. Honorary pallbearers will be Wade Tamplin, Jonathan DeRosa, and Micheal Gibson.

Funeral services celebrating the life of Coach Johnny Haynes were held Sunday, January 21, 2024, at Logansport High School Gymnasium. Bro. Rusty Hall and Rev. Nancy Wofford officiated the service. Interment followed at O.E. Price Cemetery, Logansport, Louisiana. 

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to First United Methodist Church Logansport Building and Believing Fund. Text the Keyword “build” to 1-888-444-8774 or mail to P.O. Box 177, Logansport, Louisiana 71049.

The DeSoto Council on Aging and the DeSoto Parish Sheriff Office will host Senior Fun Day on Wednesday, January 31 from 9am to 1pm. It will take place at the DeSoto Parish Sheriff Training Facility, 120 Sprockett Lane, Grand Cane. There will be door prizes, Bingo, Guest Speakers and more. Lunch will be provided. To schedule a ride call the DeSoto Council on Aging Transportation Department at 318.872.2270

BassMaster 2024 Elite Series tournament on Toledo Bend from February 22-25 is looking for boat camera operators. Minimum 21 foot boat with 250 HP motor. Contact Ron Jones 9.6.615.6319 or email talon_one@sbcglobal.net.

2024 NW Region Master Cattleman Course will begin February 27. Classes to be held once a week in the evenings for 10 weeks at the LSU AgCenter DeSoto Parish Extension Office 10117 Hwy. 171 Grand Cane. Classes Include One Topic Each Week: Pasture Agronomy, Pasture Weed Management, Cattle Nutrition, Economics and Marketing, Reproduction, Animal Health, Breeding and Selection, End Product, Beef Quality Assurance Certification, or Cattle Handling. For more information contact: Lee Faulk, 318-245-420 afaulk@agcenter.lsu.edu or Joshua Salley,  318-872-0533  jsalley@agcenter.lsu.edu.