By Brad Dison

Paul was born in Quincy, Illinois in 1915. Five years later, Paul and his family moved to Davenport, Iowa, where Paul’s father became a candy wholesaler. In 1924, Paul and his family moved to Hialeah, Florida, a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. By this time, Paul’s father was a partner in the Tibbets & Smith wholesale candy company. Paul’s father’s work as a candy wholesaler put Paul in a situation which changed the trajectory of his and countless others’ lives.

Doug Davis was an aviation enthusiast. In 1917, when Doug was eighteen-years-old, the United States entered World War I. Doug quit school and enlisted in the United States Air Service, forerunner of the Air Force. Doug excelled as a pilot and graduated at the top of his class. His talents were such that, rather than sending him into combat, the Air Service determined that Doug’s talents would be better utilized as a flight instructor, a job he excelled at for two years. In 1919, Doug was discharged from the Air Service, but was determined to keep flying. He purchased a surplus Curtiss JN “Jenny” trainer biplane from the government and formed the Doug Davis Flying Circus.

Flying Circuses were a popular form of entertainment following World War I. In flying circuses, daredevil pilots called barnstormers performed dangerous airplane stunts which seemed to defy the laws of physics. Some of these death-defying stunts included spins, dives, loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, wing walking, stunt parachuting, target shooting, dancing on the plane’s wings during flight, midair plane transfers, and even playing tennis.

In 1924, Otto Schnering, owner of the Curtiss Candy Company, was looking for an innovative way to advertise his company’s new candy bar called Baby Ruth. After witnessing the large crowds that gathered for the stunt shows, Otto decided to sponsor a flying circus. He convinced Doug to merge the Doug Davis Flying Circus with another flying circus and formed the Baby Ruth Flying Circus.

As part of their flying circus show, Doug would select a spectator seemingly at random from the crowd to join him in a flight to perform a special task. In reality, the spectators were preselected and were somehow connected with the Curtiss Candy Company. In 1927, the Baby Ruth Flying Circus was scheduled to perform at the Hialeah Park Race Track, a dog racing and horse racing track near Paul’s home. As the son of Curtiss Candy Company’s main wholesaler for the area, Paul was chosen to fly with Doug. Before the show, Doug explained the task that Paul would perform. Paul was excited but nervous because it was his first flight in an airplane. Doug and Paul took off from the racetrack and flew a large sweeping turn over the racetrack. As they flew over the crowd, Paul began throwing Baby Ruth candy bars from the biplane as he had been instructed. Each candy bar was attached to a small parachute which enabled them to coast safely down to the cheering crowds. Paul said later, “From that day on, I knew I had to fly.”

Paul wanted to become a pilot but Paul’s father wanted him to become a doctor. In 1933, Paul graduated from Western Military Academy. Paul went to the University of Florida to work on his undergraduate degree. While there, with the encouragement of his mother, Paul took flying lessons. To satisfy his father’s wishes, he began his pre-med studies at the University of Cincinnati, but, after a year-and-a-half, Paul decided against becoming a medical doctor. Instead, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps to become a pilot.

Paul had a distinguished military career. In 1938, Paul was commissioned as a second lieutenant and received his pilot rating. In 1940 and 1941, Paul served as Brigadier General George S. Patton’s personal pilot. When the United States entered World War II, Paul was the commanding officer of a bombardment squadron of B-17s. He captained numerous bomber aircraft during his military career, rose through the ranks, and retired in 1966 as a Brigadier General. Paul is remembered for a single bombing mission he flew in the final year of World War II. On August 5, 1945, eighteen years after Paul dropped Baby Ruth candy bars from an airplane, Paul Tibbets flew the Enola Gay, a bomber named after his mother, that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Photo caption: A Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” in 1918

Sources:
1. SeattleTimes.com “Paul Tibbets, Pilot Who Bombed Hiroshima, Dies at 92.” Accessed April 10, 2022. seattletimes.com/nation-world/paul-tibbets-pilot-who-bombed-hiroshima-dies-at-92/
2. Scott Magelssen, Performing Flight: From the Barnstormers to Space Tourism (University of Michigan Press, 2020), p.38.
3. The Miami Herald, August 6, 1978, p.31.
4. The Miami News, August 6, 1982, p.6.
5. Dayton Daily News, November 28, 1989, p.25.
6. Chicago Tribune, February 2, 2003, p.1-17.

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Maybe springtime made me think of it. Could have been the smell of fresh cotton on Easter.
Or my neck just hurt.

But in an instant, it was boyhood again, and with it the hazy memory of a red streak on your sweaty little neck, a sign of a rite of passage, long gone now thanks to all the modern conveniences.

In sports, getting “clotheslined” means getting knocked down by a guy’s outstretched arm at neck level. Your neck is just running along minding its own business when suddenly an angry arm hits it and stops it; the bottom part of your non-neck body keeps going, but obviously not for long.
This happens often in TV wrestling. Standard move. It is the cousin of the “lariat,” which is the classic clothesline, only with the offending arm moving forward like a hatchet.

Crowd pleaser.

But in unrehearsed arenas, most often on the football field and daily ‘way back when’ on the school playground, the clothesline was Standard Operating Procedure. Everyone’s neck knew this going in and, if you were a victim, you held no hard feelings … at least not at once you’d caught your breath and felt your neck pipe would live to breathe again.

But the saying itself — clotheslined — would be lost on the youth of today. We knew exactly what it meant and why it fit perfectly. We knew because our moms had clotheslines.
They are rare as an honest soul these days, the clotheslines of our youth. We all have inside clothes dryers now. Even in the 1960s, some people had electric clothes dryers inside their actual homes. Awesome.

But the rest of us had dryers, too. They were just non-electric and hung in the backyard.
The most basic of rural clotheslines were a pair of cross pipes about 20 feet apart, maybe 30, and three or four rows of heavy twine or light wire connected the two. On those were clothes pins holding up various blouses and socks and jeans and underwear.

Very few secrets in rural life concerning haberdashery.

The ends of the cross pipes were hollow, so we’d stick 6-ounce Dr Pepper bottles in the ends to keep the wasps from homesteading. There was a step stool, in case little sis had to help “hurry and get in the wash” before a brewing rain.

You didn’t want the clothesline right in the middle of the backyard because that would mess up playing, but you couldn’t hem it in; the wind needed a fair shot to dry the clothes. Our backyard was big enough so that our clothesline was pushed to the back third. Sweet. It just made the run to the back door a little longer if you were hurrying in under a sprinkle with a quickly gathered load.

The only problem with clotheslines came if you were playing around one you weren’t familiar with. You were the visiting team in another kid’s yard. The lines were high enough so we wouldn’t run into them unless … unless you were on your bike. If you hit a clothesline, it was like being whipped off your bike by an invisible and unforgiving, very healthy and surprisingly strong string.

What the…?!

The days you saw a buddy get clotheslined while on his bike — the bike would keep going and your friend would half somersault in the air before landing on his back — those days were the jewels of childhood.

It was always funny — when it happened to somebody else.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

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By: Royal Alexander

It has been both dizzying and fascinating to watch the back and forth these past days between billionaire businessman, Elon Musk, and Twitter. Musk recently purchased a roughly 9% stake in Twitter—making him the largest single shareholder—and was offered a seat on the Board of Directors which he first indicated he would accept.

However, a few days later he reversed course and stated he would not be joining the Board. He then indicated he would seek to increase his shares to as much as 15% or even attempt a hostile takeover, offering to buy the company for $43 billion. Twitter is now scrambling to oppose Musk’s effort with a potential “poison pill”—a legal mechanism that prevents a stakeholder from increasing his stake in a company—thus preventing a takeover by Musk.

However, according to Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley, “federal law may force them to fulfill their fiduciary duties” to their shareholders and sell to Musk, even at the cost of supporting what is to the Orwellian Thought Police who run Twitter, the “nightmare” of free speech.

This is all interesting from a standpoint of corporate law but, what I find most hopeful is Musk’s statements that he was opposed to Twitter’s so-called “content moderation” practices and their negative effect on free speech. Musk has stated that “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” In fact, one Twitter user explained it this way “let me break this down for you. Elon (just) became the largest shareholder for Free Speech…”

Musk’s comments are underscored by his tweet in late March that succinctly states the critical free speech issue at the core of the debate: “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” His attempted purchase of Twitter appears to be the answer to the suppression of free speech by Big Tech which, as a willing and eager tool of the Biden Administration, is promoting culturally toxic wokeness that is attacking the fundamental principles of our Constitution.

As Musk says, “Wokeness is a mind virus … it is arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilization.” Musk believes that “at its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. It basically gives mean people a reason, it gives them a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.”

As we know, Twitter often conducts purges of speech it doesn’t like by arbitrarily deeming (almost always conservative) speech to be “disinformation,” “hate speech” or “authoritative” speech. Do you see how broad those categories are? Anything and everything could potentially be banned! This double standard is implemented by the tweaking of complex algorithms to either filter out or prominently display certain content as the computer software directs.

Twitter’s double standard cries out for correction. For instance, Twitter bans Trump, but the murderous Iranian ayatollah, the violent and hateful Louis Farrakhan, the Wuhan/Chinese and American China Virus liars and propagandists, Porn Hub (the largest host of child porn and rape videos in the world) and Planned Parenthood (proudly performs most abortions in the U.S.) are all still free to post.

Behemoth social media companies like Twitter occupy an enormous place in the public forum and in the daily lives of most Americans and function as state actors, or arms of the government and The Deep State, as the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story clearly proves.

Of course, while the 1st Amendment applies to government suppression of speech, government censorship is not the only kind. As such, though companies like Twitter are legally so-called “private” companies and not subject to the 1st Amendment, while they enjoy the enormous benefit of Section 230 legal liability protection from 3d party content under the Federal Communications Decency Act, they shouldn’t be allowed to selectively censor and to exercise editorial judgment. Rather, they should function as neutral arbiters running information platforms and creating a marketplace of ideas for everyone—as intended by Congress.

Whether his takeover bid is successful or not, Musk has done the country a great service by prominently raising a very important point: Twitter is the closest thing America now has to a traditional public square and its censorship of speech is a dangerous thing for our country and its democratic principles.

 The views and opinions expressed in the My Opinion article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Winn Parish Journal. Any content provided by the authors is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.

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Courtyard of Natchitoches: Full Time, Part Time, & PRN

Required Education and Experience
1. High School graduate or equivalent.
2. Current Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification in the State of Louisiana.
3. Current Basic Cardiac Life Support certification or must obtain within three (3) months of hire date.

Offering Sign-On Bonuses • Great Salaries & Benefits

To view and apply for these openings, please visit: www.nrmchospital.org/jobs/.

If you have questions or would like to speak to our Recruiter, please contact Larissa Cameron at 318-214-5819 or at larissa.cameron@nrmchospital.org

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NATCHITOCHES:
A L Brossett, Jr.
April 27, 1930 – April 13, 2022
Service: Saturday, April 23 at 1 pm at Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery in Natchitoches

RED RIVER:
Sally Joline Lowring
March 30, 1984 – April 15, 2022
Service: Thursday, April 21 at 1 pm at Rockett-Nettles Funeral Home Chapel

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By: Kaycie Kile
WPJ Reporter

With warmer weather ahead and school soon to let out, the time for mapping out adventure and accessible fun is near! Fortunately, residents of Winnfield won’t have to wander far. Thanks to the kind and creative efforts of Fredrick and Melody Bonnette, owners and operators of the Social Coffee House (located at 301 E Main Street), locals can now enjoy more than just their usual caffeine fix. As of last Thursday, April 14th, ‘Movie Night’ is here, and it’s only the first on a long list of ideas soon to be in the works for our community’s pleasure. 

After researching the most popular outdoor showings, the Social’s team landed on the 2017 action-comedy Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. The free-to-view film went up a little after eight o’clock following a brief intermission due to technical difficulties, but thankfully that didn’t slow the team down or dampen the excitement of their turnout. If you missed out on Thursday’s fun, mark your calendars for April 29th, and don’t forget to bring a chair! 

If you have yet to find the time to stop in and support this small local business, let this be your sign. If coffee isn’t your thing, rest assured there is something to your taste behind that bar. One of their cold refreshers, blended smoothies or even their newly added milkshakes should entice you to make it a regular stop. 

If not, the infectious laughter and easy-going manner of the Bonnettes and their staff is more than enough reason to lend them your time and business. “You walk through that door, you become family, and we want everyone to know we remember every face and do our best to make you feel that walking over our threshold.”, says Melody. She and her husband want nothing more than to give back to the community and create a safe and comfortable space where residents know their coffee is fresh and their best interests are always at the top of the list. 

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Dug Fest Gives Back’s free formal wear closet returns on April 19th just in time for prom season! Dresses, shoes, jewelry and suits are available.

The event will take place in the Allen Building from 5:30 to 8:00 PM on Tuesday, April 19th.

Interested in donating?? We are currently looking to expand the closet by offering make-up, hair accessories, jewelry, shoes and of course dresses!

Contact 318-628-0401, any Dug’ board member, or email outreach@dugfest.com with questions or to arrange pick-up.

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The Winn Parish Police Jury will meet for a regular meeting Monday, April 18, 2022, at 5 PM in room 112 at the parish courthouse.

I. Call to Order.
II. Invocation and Pledge.
III. Amendments or deletions.
IV. Adoption of Agenda.
V. Adoption of Minutes-March 21, 2022-Regular Meeting and March 31, 2022-Special Called Meeting.
VI. Announcements and Comments.
     Recognize Coach David Huckaby and the Calvin Cougars.
VII. GUESTS:
      (1) Ms. Lindsay Gouedy, Executive Director of Sparta Groundwater Commission-to give an update on             Sparta
VIII. BUSINESS: 

1. Mr. Kirk Miles-Motion to approve monthly invoices.
   –Motion to adopt a Resolution to assist the Village of Sikes by repairs to Second Street by pothole patching.
2. Mrs. Tammy Griffin-Motion to nominate Mr. Mike Carpenter for another three year appointment to the Board of Commission for the Sparta Groundwater Conservation District as Winn Parish Representative.
3. Mr. Phillip Evans-Motion to purchase a 35′ Gooseneck Trailer in amount of $25,599.25 from CF’s Welding Services & Custom Built Trailers.
   –Motion to Purchase a Durapatcher in amount of $91,505.96 from Covington Sales & Service off State Contract.
   –Motion to Advertise for pothole patcher truck chassis and 5 yard dump bed.
4. Mr. Joshua McAllister-Motion to reappoint Ms. Desirae Bruce to the Central Louisiana Human Services Board of Directors for another three year term.
   Motion to Proclaim April 11-15, 2022 as National Community Development Week. (in compliance with Community Development Block Grant)
   –Motion to Adopt a Resolution referencing the benefits of Community Development Block Grant and the negative impacts which it would cause by funding cuts.
   –Motion to solicit proposals for debris removal.

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Date: 4-12-22
Name: Billy L Gorham
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: 32
Charge: Battery, Domestic abuse, Violation of protective order

Date: 4-13-22
Name: James Benjamin Hanson
Address: Tullos, LA
Race: White
Sex: Male
Age: 42
Charge: Direct contempt of court (x3)

Date: 4-16-22
Name: Demorris R Abraham
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Age: 46
Charge: Possession with intent to distribute, Illegal tail lamps, Disturbing the peace, Violent and tumultuous manner

THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AS PUBLIC INFORMATION. PERSONS NAMED OR SHOWN IN PHOTOGRAPHS OR VIDEO AS SUSPECTS IN A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, OR ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH A CRIME, HAVE NOT BEEN CONVICTED OF ANY CRIMINAL OFFENSE AND ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW.

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Early voting is April 16-23 (excluding Sunday, April 17)  from 8:30 AM – 6 PM.

• The deadline to request an absentee ballot is April 26 by 4:30 p.m (other than military and overseas voters). You can request an absentee ballot online through our Voter Portal or in writing through your Registrar of Voters Office.
• The deadline for a registrar of voters to receive a voted absentee ballot is April 29 by 4:30 p.m. (other than military and overseas voters).
• On election day, the polls are open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

On the ballot:

Council Member — District 2, City of Winnfield

Name	Sex	Party
Ada Hall	Female	Democrat
Winona Harrell	Female	Democrat

Winn Parish Early Voting Results through Saturday, April 16, 2022.

Total	In Person	Absentee (Mail)
8	1	7

White	Black	Other
2	6	0

Male	Female
4	4

Democrat	Republican	Other
6	2	0

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The Rotary Club of Winnfield (the club) is excited to announce that the club is accepting applications from high school seniors for its two scholarships.

The club is pleased to offer two $1500 scholarships to high school seniors who plan to pursue post-secondary studies at a university, community college or technical college.

The scholarships are the Lawrence I. White Rotary Scholarship, offered solely to WSHS seniors, and the Thomas H. Harrel Memorial Scholarship, available to seniors parish-wide.

WSHS seniors may use the WSHS-Scholarship Packet to apply for both scholarships. Seniors at Dodson, Calvin and Atlanta High School please use T.H.-Harrell-Scholarship Packet to apply.

The application deadline is April 18, 2022. Applications can be turned into school counselors or submitted via email to rotaryclubwinnla@gmail.com.

For more information, you may contact the Rotary Club of Winnfield President Jodi Taylor at 832-573-5085 or President Elect Mary Lou Blackley at 318-481-0227. 

Download applications and information here – 

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Winnfield Senior High School students attended Northwest District Literary Rally and competed in Division III.

Thirteen students qualified for state competition at LSU. These included Joy So in Advanced Math – Functions and Statistics, Noe Vasquez in Agriscience I, Lauren Rouse in Agriscience II, Kaden Victor in Agriscience III, Jeremiah Laughlin in Algebra II, Macy Hemphill in Biology II, Jayden Lawson in Business Computer Applications, Peyton Little in English IV, Mackenzie Green in Fine Arts Survey, Latricia Johnson in Introduction to Business Computer Applications, Annie Heard in Psychology, Micah Simmons in U.S. History, and John Spikes in World Geography.

Six students, Joy So, Noe Vasquez, Lauren Rouse, Kaden Victor, Jeremiah Laughlin, and Peyton Little, earned medals for making the highest score in their subject in the division.

In Advanced Math – functions and statistics, Joy So placed 1^st, Kaden Victor placed 2^nd and Edward Starks placed 3^rd.

In Agriscience I, Noe Vasquez placed 1^st, Breanna Pray placed 2^nd , and Riley Lawson placed 3^rd.

In Agriscience II, Lauren Rouse placed 1^st, Olivia Busha placed 2^nd, and Alyssa VanBlaricum.

In Agriscience III, Kaden Victor placed 1^st, Lauren Poole placed 2^nd, and Micah Simmons placed 3^rd.

In Algebra I, Emily Nevils placed 3^rd, Jasmine Jones placed 4^th, and Addison Griffin placed 5^th.

In Algebra II, Jeremiah Laughlin placed 1^st and Joselyn Stark placed 5^th.

In Biology II, Macy Hemphill placed 3^rd.

In Business Computer Applications, Jayden Lawson placed 2^nd.

In English I, Emily Nevils placed 3^rd.

In English IV, Peyton Little placed 2^nd and Chandler Poisso placed 4^th.

In Financial Literacy, Rianna Mafnas placed 5^th.

In Fine Arts Survey, Mackenzie Green placed 2^nd, Rianna Mafnas placed 4^th and Alon Shelton placed 5^th.

In Introduction to Business Computer Applications, Latricia Johnson placed 2^nd and Tineshia Sapp placed 5^th.

In Psychology, Annie Heard placed 2^nd.

In Spelling, Peyton Little placed 1^st and Ala’zea McMiller placed 2^nd.

In U.S. History, Micah Simmons placed 2^nd and Mackenzie Green placed 5^th.

In World Geography, John Spikes placed 3^rd.

Congratulations to all of these students.

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As part of our Healthy Living Grant, Winnfield Senior High School held a “March to Fitness” steps challenge for our faculty and staff during the month of March.   The winners of our challenge were:

1st place – LaShonda Sapp (315,843 steps)

2nd place – Coach Parks (298,396 steps)

3rd place – Coach King (267,083 steps)

Congratulations to our winners and to all of the faculty/staff at WSHS who participated!  

A very special thank you to our local businesses who supported this effort through their generous donations:  Walmart, Nichols Department Store, Rhema Nutrition, & Geaux318

Pictured: (Left to Right) Coach King, LaShonda Sapp, Coach Parks

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West Central La Drop Off Leaders had their first team meeting for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.  Jesse Reimer, the regional coordinator from Dallas, Texas presented a motivational presentation of reasons why we are encouraged and passionate about packing shoeboxes.

 EVERY 24 hours this happens :

30,136  Hear the Gospel
6,629    Commit to Pray/Share
11, 785   Enroll in The Greatest Journey
8,727      Graduate from The Greatest Journey
6,203       Accept Jesus as their personal Savior.

There is no time like today to pack a shoebox and share God’s amazing grace. Any individual, group, school, organization, or business can pack shoeboxes.

For more information or resources go to www.samaritanspurse.org or call Jeanine Ford at 318-628-2862.

Pictured (from left to right) Susan Longino-Martin Baptist Church (Red River Parish); Vanessa Birdwell-First Baptist Robeline (Natchitoches Parish); Cherry Wells-Calvary Baptist  (Sabine Parish); Jesse Reimer- Regional Coordinator; Brenda Ingram-First Baptist (Natchitoches Parish), Jeanine Ford- First Baptist Winnfield (Winn Parish); and Glenna Ott – Mitchell Baptist (Sabine)

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