For immediate release: February 29, 2024

Baton Rouge, LA. – The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) urges the federal government to aid Louisiana’s crawfish industry after an unprecedented drought.

On February 2, LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, DVM, wrote a letter to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack asking that the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) and/or similar programs be properly funded and instituted to assist the crawfish industry. After meeting and hearing from many in the crawfish industry since the initial letter, Commissioner Strain sent a second letter on February 28 as a follow-up requesting the secretary expand the ELAP to include drought as a cause of loss for the crawfish industry. Three weeks ago, while in Washington, DC, he had the opportunity to bring the issues to the attention of Louisiana’s congressional delegation.

Read both his letters here.

The drought in 2023 was one of the most severe droughts in the history of Louisiana and caused significant damage to the sustainability of the crawfish industry. Lack of water and, in some cases, saltwater intrusion decimated the seed stock and has limited the ability to catch crawfish.

“According to the LSU AgCenter, preliminary estimates of crop loss and damage to Louisiana’s crawfish industry are nearly $140 million,” said Commissioner Strain. “Louisiana’s crawfish industry is more than an economic driver for our state – it is a deep part of our cultural heritage. An economic loss for the crawfish industry also negatively impacts the Louisiana hospitality and tourism industries.”

Commissioner Strain is dedicated to finding assistance for Louisiana’s crawfish industry. He continues to urge our federal partners to grant our requests for aid, and he is working with the Louisiana State Legislature to explore avenues to help our crawfish farmers in the upcoming Legislative Session.

For more information regarding the press release, please contact LDAFCommunications@ldaf.state.la.us. For interview requests, please contact PressSecretary@ldaf.state.la.us.

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In 1966, 21-year-old Wayne Anthony Allwine began working in the mailroom at Disney Studios in Burbank, California. For three years, Wayne sorted and delivered mail in the studio. In 1969, Wayne’s talents were such that he was promoted to the sound effects department where he worked under sound effects creator and voice actor Jimmy MacDonald. Wayne was glad to work alongside Jimmy because, in addition to other sound effects Jimmy had been the voice of Mickey Mouse since 1947 when he took over the role from Walt Disney himself. In addition to creating various sound effects for Disney movies and TV episodes, Wayne voiced one of the thug guards in The Great Mouse Detective, a weasel called Otto and a poor dog in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, and Ludwig Von Drake in the Disney Channel special Ludwig’s Think Tank.

In 1977, Jimmy announced that he was retiring from Disney. Disney held open auditions for someone to take over the voice of Mickey Mouse. With the auditions being open to the public, Wayne thought he had little chance of getting the part. He auditioned anyway because he knew that he would have no chance of getting the part if he failed to audition. As you probably guessed, Wayne became the voice of Mickey Mouse.

Some two decades earlier, a young girl named Russel “Russi” Taylor was on vacation with her parents at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. As they were walking in the park, little Russi saw someone she recognized. It was not one of the many character actors. It was Walt Disney himself. Walt spoke to little Russi and asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up. Russi quickly replied, “I want to work for you.” Taking the response in stride, Walt smiled and said, “Okay.” Russi became a voice actor. In the mid-1970s, Russi voiced the role of the baby on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As if the conversation with Walt Disney was prophetic, Russi eventually worked at Disney as the voices of Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Webby Vanderquack in the animated series Duck Tales. She also voiced several characters in the animated series The Simpsons including twins Sherri and Terri, German exchange student Üter, and nerd Martin Prince. She provided the voice for Pebbles Flintstone in Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstone Comedy Show. In all, she provided the voices for dozens of characters through the years.

In 1987, Wayne and Russi met while working on a Disney special. The two voice actors fell in love and married four years later. For Wayne and Russi, it was a dream come true. You see, Wayne, the voice of Mickey Mouse, married Russi, the voice of Minnie Mouse.

 

Sources:

1. “Wayne Allwine,” Disney Wiki, Accessed February 25, 2024, https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Wayne_Allwine.
2. “Russi Taylor,” Disney Wiki, Accessed February 25, 2024, https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Russi_Taylor.

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If your church, town, or community is holding an Easter celebration–let us know. Egg hunts, musicals, revivals etc. 

We will post Easter activities in the next couple weeks. 

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For Immediate Release
February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — This morning, Speaker Johnson joined Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer, Vice Chair Blake Moore, and Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne to discuss the ongoing border crisis and President Biden’s photo-op in Brownsville, TX, the “29th ranked hotspot” for border crossings.

Read the Speaker’s remarks below:

“It’s another busy week on Capitol Hill. There’s a lot going on. Let me give you a couple updates. On Tuesday, I went to the White House and met with the President, the Vice President, leaders Schumer and McConnell and Hakeem Jeffries – my counterpart in the House. I told them the obvious truth. The obvious truth is very simple. You’ve heard it repeated here multiple times this morning. We hear it all over the country. I’ve been in multiple states over the last week, all over the country: the obvious truth is that we have to take care of America’s needs first, we have to.

“The border is the issue to every American, no matter where they live, no matter where their state is because every state’s a border state. If we’re going to take care of America’s needs first, that means two things: It means securing the border. I would repeat it 10 times for emphasis, but you understand what we’re saying here. We have to secure the border. We have to do it. And we’ve got to fund our government. And so, this week, we’re working very hard to do both of those things. We’re trying to urge the President to use his executive authority to do something meaningful to stop the hemorrhaging at the border, stop the flow, reduce the flow. At the White House I talked to him about this specifically. I reiterated to him the specific provisions of the federal law that give him broad authority to do that, to unwind the extraordinary, unprecedented damage that he has done with his policies. This is a catastrophe of their design.

“As was mentioned earlier by Vice Chairman Blake Moore, we documented 64 specific actions beginning on the day he took the office of executive orders and agency orders and actions that opened that border wide and created this chaos and everybody in America knows it. Everybody knows the President has authority to do something and he won’t, and I cannot understand why he won’t. So, I pleaded with him to do that. Meanwhile, we’re getting the funding government funding piece done as well. I wish we could say the same about that border security.

“The President is going to the border, you’ve heard. It’s his only second visit in three years with everything going on as bad as it is, with the statistics as horrible, catastrophic as they are the effects in every community. He’s only seen fit to go twice. And he’s going for a photo op as you said to Brownsville which is the 29th ranked hotspot on the border. Why would he go to the 29th ranked hotspot? Because he doesn’t really want to see the reality.

“We tried to explain it to him. The National Border Patrol Council themselves call President Biden’s visit quote ‘too little too late.’ I think that’s an understatement. Also, today former President Trump is visiting Eagle Pass. That’s where I lead a group of 64 House Republicans on January 3, it was the largest Congressional trip ever. Many of us have been down to the border many times but that was the largest group to go together. And the side-by-side image of these two presidents could not be a greater contrast.

“One president was building a wall. President Trump he was cracking down on those trying to cross the border illegally. He was supporting our CBP agents, he used his executive authority to stop illegal immigration. The current President, Biden, he’s doing exactly the opposite of all those things. He stopped construction on the wall, he halted deportations, he ceded operational control to the cartels and the traffickers. And he did everything he could to incentivize illegal immigration. Long story short, one president showed strength and the other showed weakness. I mean, that’s just what it is. One President stood for control. The other stood for chaos at the border. So, House Republicans, meanwhile, are continuing to fight for strength and control. We want to keep criminals out and our families safe and that’s what the American people want. They demand that they deserve it from the Congress. That’s why we’re pushing for enforcement of the laws.

“Last week, Laken Riley, of course, we all know the UGA nursing student, tragically killed by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela came across that border released to New York under asylum laws. He committed multiple crimes, he wasn’t deported, and he went on to take Lakens’ life brutally. That story has been repeated across the country, in communities all across the country and, sadly, tragically, unnecessarily will continue we fear.

“Multiple other vulnerable Americans had been victimized just in the last week by illegal immigrants, many of them minors. And don’t forget every week, 22 kids per week, die from drug overdoses, the overwhelming majority of those are from fentanyl poisoning fentanyl as we all know, we repeat here almost weekly, is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49. Some say those are just anecdotes. I say it’s the result the completely foreseeable result of Biden’s open borders and catch and release policy. It has to end. As I told President Biden during our meeting on Tuesday, he needs to take executive action right now. He needed to take it yesterday and the day before. He needs to secure that border and protect our communities because lives are being lost. And we cannot wait.”

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I have been asked that question many times but have never addressed it in an article. The subtext of this question is usually something like this: “How do you represent people you think may actually have committed the crime?”

That’s a great question and the short answer is that I never ask an individual I represent whether they committed a crime and most of them don’t trust their attorney enough to admit it even if they did.

But that is a secondary point. What is important is that the presumption of innocence and other constitutional safeguards for the accused are what distinguishes our country and our Constitution from every other one in world history. It’s really more about the rule of law and requiring the government to prove guilt before the awesome power of the state can be invoked to circumscribe an American citizen’s freedom or even take his life, following due process.

Receiving “due process” of law means we are entitled to a presumption of innocence in every moment prior to a conviction. We have the right against self-incrimination—we don’t have to testify at trial and the fact that we don’t testify cannot be used against us as evidence of guilt. We have the right to an attorney, the right to trial by jury and the right against Double Jeopardy—not being tried twice for the same alleged offense, and the right to confront witnesses against us through cross-examination.

The State also has the entire burden of proof. An accused person doesn’t have to prove anything at trial. The State’s burden of proof is the heavy legal burden of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” The State also may not convict someone based upon an illegal search or seizure. Generally, if the police don’t have a warrant signed by a neutral judge—that is based upon probable cause to believe the individual has committed a crime, allowing them to be in a place to discover the alleged criminal activity, that evidence can’t be used in court.

The State also has a continuing legal and ethical obligation to turn over to me all exculpatory evidence (i.e. evidence which proves my client is not guilty) that never goes away.

Why did the Framers of our Constitution feel so strongly that it was necessary to anchor these guarantees in our Constitution? Because they had suffered the very abuses they were now protecting against at the hands of King George and the British government, which eventually led to the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson lists many of these abuses in the Declaration of Independence. So, in setting up our new government the Framers made very certain that such abuses could no longer be perpetrated.

So, when I defend someone, I present the very best legal arguments that may be available to my client. If I’m unsuccessful it means that a thoroughly vetted jury of 12 people have unanimously decided guilt. However, if I persuade even one juror that the State has not carried its burden of proving that my client is guilty, the result is a hung jury, and the state has to start over, and my client remains presumed innocent.

When the trial is finished and a jury returns a unanimous verdict of guilty, I know I have done my job, and the jury did its job. The system worked.

However, even when I lose, it is still critical that the trial was held and that my client received a zealous defense through my challenging the State’s evidence and cross-examining the State’s witnesses. I have tested the obligation of the police to remain thorough and conscientious as they do their critically important jobs—like correctly providing Miranda warnings and preserving evidence with a verifiable chain of custody; requiring the DNA expert to be certain about their findings and requiring that the doctor who performed the autopsy be absolutely certain about their conclusion regarding the cause of death. I have forced the ballistics expert to be certain that this very bullet matched this very gun and have required that any lay witnesses be very certain about what they are testifying to against my client on the witness stand.

That is why I have a clear conscience and a sense of peace. I’ve done my job and protected all of our constitutional rights and have ensured that our criminal justice and judicial systems have worked as our Founders intended.

Royal Alexander

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Rev. Robert “Steve” Casey, age 73, of Stonewall, Louisiana was ushered into the presence of
his Lord and Savior on February 26, 2024, in Bude, Mississippi. He was born on March 9, 1950,
in McComb, Mississippi to Robert “Bob” Warren Casey and Ida Mae O’Brien Casey.   

A visitation will be held from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 1, 2024, located at Rose-
Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive in Shreveport, Louisiana. Funeral services honoring
the life of Steve will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the funeral home.

Officiating the service will be Chaplain Buster Bailey, Rev. Dr. Dana Casey, and Rev. David
Radford. Interment will take place at 2:30 p.m. located at Plain Dealing Cemetery, LA-157, Plain
Dealing, LA 71064. Honoring Steve as pallbearers will be Kelly Moon, Wyatt Moon, Beau St.
Andrie, Dr. Lee Casey, Nathaniel Davis, David Weileder, and Dillon Risley. Serving as honorary
pallbearers will be DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office, Thursday Morning Bible Study Group,
Dawson Weileder, Devon Weileder, Dakota Casey, and Dallas Casey. 

Steve was preceded in death by his parents, Bob and Ida Casey. Left to cherish his memory
include his wife, LaBetha Spears Casey; children, Juan Richardson, Kelly Casey, Chris Casey,
Nicole Tull (Rev. Richard), Robin Moon (Kelly), and Robert Casey (Lauren); grandchildren,
Aniela, Kayla (Beau), William, Kyla (Dustin), Nikki, Nathaniel (Marisol), Triston, Fallyn, Gabriel,
Kierston (Dillon), Wyatt, Waylen, Grayson, and Beckham; great grandchildren, Jude, Lucy,
Jaxson, Oliver, Alexandra, Dymetri, Amelia, Sophia, Nicole, Nevaeh, and Naomi; bonus
daughter, Jenni Galli; bonus granddaughter, Aimee; brother, Rev. Dr. Dana Casey (Nancy);
sisters, Lisa Casey and Fay Starks; brother-in-law, Glenn Spears; and sister-in-law, Julia Spears
Stegall (Bill). 

He received a BA in speech from Delta State University where he was the founder of Delta
Light, an evangelistic team, and he received a Master of Divinity from Asbury Seminary. Steve’s
spiritual birthday was March 1, 1968, which launched him into more than 50 years of ministry.
His pastoral assignments were in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. For more than 21 years
he served as a chaplain with Evergreen Presbyterian Ministries which serves persons with
mental disabilities. He also served as a volunteer chaplain with Willis-Knighton Health Center,
and officiated services for individuals without pastors. In his later years, much of his spiritual
fulfillment was gained while ministering to the residents of MontClair Assisted Living/Memory
Care facility.  During his life he was an Eagle Scout, a Pro-Life champion (yes, he has been
arrested for his beliefs), and an auxiliary deputy for the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office. Highlights
in his life were being a member of Men of Prayer in Stonewall, Louisiana, and an active member
of the Thursday Morning Bible Study Group. He enjoyed reading his bible daily and has been
able to read through the bible every year for many years. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations may be made to Human Coalition, P.O. Box
5052, Frisco, Texas 75034. Human Coalition exists to make abortion unthinkable and
unnecessary.

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Legislators have adjourned the second extraordinary session of 2024, called by Governor Jeff Landry to focus on crime, six days before its schedule deadline. More than a dozen bills were approved by both chambers and now head to the Governor’s desk for signature.

Measures adopted include concealed carrying of firearms without a permit, expansion of the methods used to administer the death penalty, increased penalties for crimes including carjacking and the distribution of fentanyl, expansion of drug courts, changes to the age of juvenile offenders and restrictions to parole and probation.

“The House accomplished the mission of addressing crime in our state so Louisiana can be a safe and peaceful place to live, raise our families, and enjoy all the things that make it great,” said Speaker of the House Phillip DeVillier. “We heard a lot of debate and at the end of the day we voted on behalf of the people we represent. I’m pleased with the final outcome and our overall focus on the victims, not the criminals. Looking ahead, the House members and I look forward to addressing insurance costs and focusing on solutions to education issues.”

“Senators worked together to not only debate the measures brought to us during this crime session, but also discuss the potential impacts to the state’s budget,” said Senate President Cameron Henry. “Supporting law enforcement and providing justice to the victims of crime were promises many of us made to our constituents. With this special session complete, we’ll be working hard to get ready for the regular session and handling issues that can jumpstart our economy and improve lives.”

The 2024 Regular Session is set to convene Monday, March 11th and must adjourn no later than June 3rd. To date, more than 525 bills have been filed for consideration. More information can be found at http://www.legis.la.gov or by downloading the LA LEGE app from the Apple Store or Google Play.

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The DeSoto Parish Police Jury will hold their monthly meeting Monday, March 4 at 5pm in the Police Jury Meeting Room, 101 Franklin Street, Mansfield.

The Stonewall Planning and Zoning Commission will hold their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 5 at 6pm at the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Government Plaza, 1746 US Hwy 171 in Stonewall. The public is invited to attend. 

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Natalie Brown Gates Burr
October 14, 1927 — February 20, 2024
Service: Friday, March 1, 2024 at 1:00pm at Rose Neath Funeral Homes – Mansfield

Rev. Robert “Steve” Casey
March 9, 1950 — February 26, 2024
Service: Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 10am at Rose Neath Funeral Homes – Shreveport Southside

Corean Griffin
January 3, 1940 – February 20, 2024
Service: Saturday, March 2 at 12pm at Mt. Zion Baptist Church – Kingston

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