The Thanksgiving holidays have taken on a different look during this strange season of my life. Prior to my divorce they were affectionately stressful and full of chaos, trying to make sure we visited all of the places. Grandparents, in-laws, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors. There was so much cooking, chopping, mincing, baking, freezing, brining and stuffing going on that I felt like I was running a small catering business for a week.

After the divorce, visitation schedules set in and truly changed the way we celebrate the holidays. Once that part of my life seemed to be settling down my oldest daughter moved four states away. I never know if I should cook or how much I should cook. I am a holiday cooking victim of circumstance. One year I prepared way too much as if feeding a small army and ended up wasting most of it. One year I refused to cook and ended up eating fast food. It seems like I can never get it right.

This year while scrolling through Facebook I noticed that a friend of mine, who is a down right tasty southern cook, was selling pans of dressing, cheesecakes, and pumpkin rolls. Once I saw her post I felt like it was a message delivered directly from the Lord, giving me permission to purchase a Thanksgiving meal. I think he saw me toiling away in my kitchen for the past two decades and decided I needed a break this year.

I felt the peace of the Lord wash over me as soon as I messaged her with my order. If I had a few faces to feed, I would be prepared. If I were invited somewhere I would not show up empty handed. If I ended up being solo, I could freeze the extras. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, I kept scrolling through Facebook only to stumble upon some students who were selling hams, turkeys and hens for their Agriculture class fundraiser. Here I was killing two birds, no pun intended, with one stone. I order a fully smoked turkey while supporting students.

The Lord was at it again. He was blessing me during my holiday quandary. At this rate all I needed was rolls and a can of green beans. (Why go to all of the trouble of cooking a green bean casserole?)

I was on a roll. (Pun noted) As joyful as I was not having to cook a full meal, I somehow felt like I was cheating on some level. Cheater, cheater pumpkin eater.

Not long after I placed my orders I found myself in throes of a minor kitchen remodel that was becoming delayed. It was planned and long overdue. I was not sad to bid farewell to my formica countertops who overstayed their welcome a few years back. They were the base layer of many family meals, tons of junk mail, and lots of children who used them as a conversation area. With all of the constant love they were receiving, it was simply time. Little did I know that the counter top installation crew was not responsible for hooking up my faucet, sink and dishwasher once they were complete.

This lack of knowledge on my part left me sitting on a waiting list for my favorite local plumber. My plumbing business of choice is so popular that they were not available until after Thanksgiving.

When I found this out, it only made me grin again like that Cheshire cat. God made a way for me before I even knew I needed a way to worry less about cooking a Thanksgiving meal. He actually had me pre-arrange a Thanksgiving dinner for my little family that would not require loads of pots, pans and washing dishes. He knew this, I did not. He was caring for us before we even knew we needed him to intervene. I wasn’t a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.
I was actually being provided for by our heavenly father. Sure my kitchen looks like a wreckage pile right now and we are having to wash a few dishes in our laundry room but we are still making Thanksgiving memories while the Lord is providing the necessities. He truly carries about the smallest details of our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“The Lord directs the steps of the Godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand” Psalm 37:23-25 NLT

The Winnfield Christmas Parade will roll down Main Street on Friday, Dec. 2 at 6 pm with a wonderful fireworks display to follow. The theme for this year is “A Louisiana Christmas.”

A year or so ago, Jim Spencer, my good friend and avid, make that obsessed, turkey hunter, put together a book about his encounters with wild turkey gobblers, birds he described as “bad birds.” In fact, that was the name of his first book — Bad Birds.

Realizing that his book that took readers step by step up mountains, through briar thickets and across creeks to chase bad birds only covered part of his experiences, Spencer has assembled his accounts of more brushes with bad birds. His new book, “Bad Birds 2,” is hot off the presses and is available for the perfect Christmas gift for turkey hunters.

Beneath the title on the cover of his new book, Spencer adds…”Another collection of ‘mostly’ true stories starring the gobblers we all love to hate.”

Just who is this guy, Jim Spencer, anyhow? Here’s what a blurb on the back cover of the book says about this turkey fanatic….”Jim Spencer’s name and reputation are well-known in the turkey hunting subculture. A self-described turkey bum, Spencer has written more than a thousand magazine and newspaper features about turkeys and turkey hunting, and now, a third book on the subject. In more than 40 years of being whipped by turkeys, he has hunted them in three countries and 30 states. He and his wife Jill (also a well-known outdoor writer) live in the north Arkansas Ozarks, near Calico Rock.”

The book is beautifully illustrated in photos taken by Spencer, his wife, and renowned wildlife photographer Tes Jolly. The foreword was written by Tes and her husband, Ron Jolly. Here’s what Ron Jolly wrote in the book’s foreword about the kind of turkey man Spencer is.

In describing a hunt in which Spencer was the shooter and Jolly the cameraman shooting a video for television, they had set up on a gobbler and when the gobbler closed the distance and was within shooting range, Spencer never got the signal to shoot before the gobbler walked away.

“When he was gone, Spencer pulled down his mask and grinned at me over his shoulder. ‘You couldn’t see him, could you?’ I shook my head. ‘You should have killed him anyway,’ I said. ‘Naw,’ he said, ‘that wasn’t the deal. You couldn’t get any footage, so I didn’t want to shoot. It’s just a turkey.’”

Giving it their all for two more days to film Spencer taking a gobbler they never had another chance but Jolly added, “Spencer proved to us to be a turkey man.”

Bad Birds 2 contains 40 stories of Spencer’s encounters with tough old birds, some he was able to conquer; some where the gobbler got the best of him. He affixed monikers to each of the bad ones he has met, names like Lazy Bones, Gabby, Sir Edmund, Ringo, Blinky and on and on.

As thrilling and frustrating and fun to read as Spencer’s stories are about the bad birds he has encountered, the book ends soberly with his epilogue where he describes in a manner only he can muster of the problems wild turkeys are facing in today’s world. “Something is happening out there in turkey country, and we need to get a handle on it,” he wrote.

This is a book every turkey hunter should read, for enjoyment, for pleasure and for instructions on what not to do. It’s also one that needs reading for his serious message about the plight of wild turkeys today.

To order your copy in time for Christmas giving, send a check for $26, which includes cost of shipping and handling to Treble Hook Unlimited, P.O. Box 758, Calico Rock, AR 72519.

Contact Glynn at glynnharris37@gmail.com

Design your own ceramic plate for the holidays on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 9 am at the Winn Parish Library. Patrons are asked to bring cookies for a cookie exchange while decorating. Drinks will be provided. It is an adult craft. Call and make a reservation at 318-628-4478, as supplies are limited.

By Steve Graf

It doesn’t matter how good you think you are or how many tournaments you have won, there will come a time when you just can’t figure the fish out and you come to the scales with nothing. This is the number one fear amongst all anglers who fish in tournaments. Anglers will literally wake up in a cold sweat at night when they have this nightmare. But let’s take a deeper look at the psyche of what goes through an angler’s mind as the day unfolds and they come in with no fish in the live well.

Very few times an angler left the ramp on tournament day because he did not feel good about his game plan. Most anglers usually have a good idea about what and how they’ll catch them on that particular day. But as the day unfolds and the clock is ticking, if an angler does not have fish in the live well by 10:00 AM, at some point he starts to second guess his game plan. He starts thinking (which is usually not a good thing) about how he should have started out deep rather than shallow, how he should have thrown a topwater bait early instead of a worm. Maybe he should have run up the lake instead of staying on the south end or how he should have fished the grass instead of the bushes. But no matter what, pressure starts to build especially when the clock strikes one o’clock with no fish in the box and a weigh-in time of three o’clock. For me, I tell myself, “If I’m going to catch them, I’ve only got two hours to figure them out!”

The next thing you know it’s two o’clock and you still have nothing to show for all the casts you’ve made. It’s at this point most anglers start to panic and start to visualize coming to the weigh-in with a big fat zero. You start to fish too fast and make bad casts, you get hung up more often and have to go and retrieve your bait in places you can’t get to. So, then you end up breaking off whatever bait you’re throwing, with the internal clock in your head moving faster, as you waste even more time looking for another bait and having to re-rig. It’s during these high-pressure times that you backlash a reel so bad that you have to put it away so that you can cut the backlash out when you get home. Then with only minutes to go, you hook the fish of a lifetime, only to watch it come off and swim away right before you get ready to swing it into the boat. A fitting end to a very frustrating day!

Then it’s time to head for the weigh-in and you hope everyone is gone by the time you get there…but that’s never the case. It’s funny how when you have twenty pounds of fish in the live well, no one ever asks how you did. But when you have zero, it seems everyone in the tournament, including their grandma, wants to know what you’ve got. But oh, the shame and embarrassment of having to say, “Zero!” It just doesn’t get any worse than that! So, it’s at this time you head straight for the boat ramp, load your boat, tuck your tail between your legs, pull your cap down low so maybe no one recognizes you, and head home. If you want to see who did not catch fish that day, watch the parking lot at the ramp and see just how fast an angler can load his boat and get out of there.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about the misery of what an angler goes through on those days when he just doesn’t catch them. But the thing that’s great about the end of a tournament is it means there’s an opportunity for redemption at the next event. Forget it and move on because that tournament is over and there’s nothing you can do to change the outcome of that event. Till next time, good luck, good fishing and don’t forget your sunscreen.

Steve Graf
Hook’N Up & Track’N Down Show &
Tackle Talk Live

Two transformational and highly-decorated figures in the state’s sports journalism field, Lafayette writer and editor Bruce Brown and longtime New Orleans Times-Picayune prep writer Lori Lyons, have been selected for the 2022 Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

The duo will be inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame next July 29, LSWA president Raymond Partsch III and Hall of Fame chairman Doug Ireland announced Wednesday.

Brown, whose journalism career is nearing 50 years, is an acclaimed writer whose 20 years as sports editor of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser saw the paper earn well over 100 LSWA honors as the industry, and the Advertiser, went through radical changes.

Lyons, a Houma native, rose through the ranks from starting as a sports agate clerk to winning LSWA Prep Writer of the Year honors twice and becoming the second-ever woman president of the state sports writers’ association.

Both have authored books and branched out into other aspects of journalism, with Brown contributing to online publications and being a regular panelist on an award-winning sports talk show, and Lyons also dabbling in broadcasting and continuing as a correspondent for various publications as she is now teaching the vocation to high school students.

The DSA honor, to be made official next summer in Natchitoches, means Brown and Lyons will be among an elite 12-person Class of 2023 being inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. They were selected from a 29-person pool of outstanding nominees for the state’s top sports journalism honor.

The Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism recipients are chosen by the 40-member Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame selection committee based on nominees’ professional accomplishments in local, state, regional and even national circles, with leadership in the LSWA as a beneficial factor and three decades of work in the profession as a requirement.  

Distinguished Service Award winners are enshrined in the Hall of Fame along with the 467 current athletes, sports journalists, coaches and administrators chosen since 1959. Just 71 leading figures in the state’s sports media have been honored with the Distinguished Service Award since its inception 39 years ago in 1982.

Brown and Lyons will be among the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Class to be spotlighted in the annual Induction Ceremony on Saturday evening, July 29, at the Natchitoches Events Center. The Induction Ceremony culminates the 2023 Induction Celebration beginning Thursday afternoon, July 27, with a press conference followed by a public kickoff reception in  the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street in Natchitoches.

Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning Joins four-time WNBA All-Star Alana Beard and College World Series champion LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri in a star-studded 10-member group of 2023 competitive ballot inductees announced in September.

The LSHOF Class of 2023 also includes New Orleans native Ron Washington, who managed the Texas Rangers to a pair of World Series appearances and last year helped the Atlanta Braves win the world’s championship; two-time LSU track and field USA Olympian and world champion Walter Davis; and Slidell native, Tulane great and Chicago Bears two-time Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte.

Also elected for induction next summer are All-American LSU pitcher Paul Byrd, a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran who made the 1999 All-Star Game; Shreveport native Wendell Davis, who shattered LSU football receiving records before heading to the NFL; multiple national champion and world class weightlifter Walter Imahara, a UL-Lafayette legend; and retired Baton Rouge-Parkview Baptist baseball coach M.L. Woodruff, whose teams claimed 11 state championships.

The 2023 inductees will be showcased in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum, operated by the Louisiana State Museum system in a partnership with the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The striking $23 million, two-story, 27,500-square foot structure faces Cane River Lake in the National Historic Landmark District of Natchitoches and has garnered worldwide architectural acclaim and rave reviews for its contents since its grand opening during the 2013 Hall of Fame induction weekend.

“Lori Lyons and Bruce Brown are the epitome of ‘service’ when it comes to sports journalism in Louisiana,” said Partsch, the LSWA president. “Yes, you could easily cite the plethora of award-winning work Lori was responsible for during her time working at The Times-Picayune. But what stands out to me is what she has done behind the scenes for the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.  Bruce was one of the most respected scribes in our state but what stands out to me is the journalists he helped mentor and develop at The Daily Advertiser.

“We are extremely fortunate to have both Lori and Bruce help tell Louisiana’s storied sports history. I can’t think of a better way to honor them, and their tireless work over the years, than having them inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.”

Brown served on the sports staff of the Lafayette Daily Advertiser for 21 years, and worked for 37 years overall as part of theAdvertiser editorial staff. Most of that time – 20 years – he served as sports editor and helped guide the Advertiser through radical changes in both that newspaper and in the industry.

During that time, the Advertiser sports department won more than 100 LSWA awards for writing, layout and photography, as well as numerous Louisiana Press Association honors. The Advertiser also won a coveted national Best of Gannett award in 2005 for its coverage of Lafayette’s team in the Little League World Series.

Brown began his career as a part-timer in January of 1975, covering a prep basketball game between Pecan Island and Meaux as his first assignment. He joined the Advertiser staff full-time in August of 1975 under then-editor Bob Tompkins, and one year later he took over as sports editor, serving in that capacity for two decades. In 1995 he left that role to concentrate on writing and covered prep, college and pro sports as well as military, faith and values and non-profit organizations for the Advertiser. He moved back fulltime to sports coverage in 2011 before retiring in 2012.

In 1980, Brown wrote “Prides of Acadiana,” a book about legendary UL sports standouts including Hall of Famers Walter Imahara (a fellow 2023 inductee), Ron Guidry, Bo Lamar, Harold Porter and Chris Cagle. He served two years as LSWA vice president and another two as secretary, and has been a member of the Hall of Fame selection committee for two decades. In retirement, he has been a freelance writer for the UL Athletic Network, for Quick Slants and Tiger Rag magazines, the Crowley Post-Signal and the Abbeville Meridional, and still contributes pieces to the Baton Rouge/Acadiana Advocate and the UL Athletic Network.

Lyons started her newspaper career as the assistant society editor at the Houma Courier while still in high school. She was a member of The Mirror staff at Terrebonne High School and, later, The Maroon while majoring in English and journalism at Loyola University in New Orleans. She began as a sports agate clerk at The Times-Picayune in 1986 and rose to become the president of the LSWA (the second woman in that role) with an impressive collection of writing awards. 

Climbing a steep hill at a time when women sports journalists were uncommon in Louisiana, she became the high school reporter for the T-P’s River Parishes Bureau in 1991, remaining there until 2012. She continued to cover the River Parishes as a freelancer until she became the sports editor at L’Observateur in LaPlace, winning an Louisiana Press Association writing award as well as an award for Best Photo. After leaving L’Observateur in 2017, she continued to freelance for multiple outlets.

Lyons was twice chosen by out-of-state judges as the LSWA Prep Writer of the Year, was honored by the Louisiana High School Athletic Assocation as its Prep Writer of the Year in 2008 and won the LSWA’s prestigious Mac Russo Award that year for contributing to the ideals and progress of the organization.

She was president of the LSWA from 2012-2014, helping to oversee the opening of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches. Lyons created, launched and continues to maintain the LSWA’s website (lswa.info) and Facebook page. 

She is a longstanding member of the LSHOF selection committee, and for 25 years served on the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame selection panel.

An occasional mom blogger, Lyons also authored Adoption in America: The Diary of a Mom-in-Waiting, an account of her and husband Marty Luquet’s quest to adopt a baby. Their daughter is now a senior at Northwestern State University and the editor of The Current Sauce, the century-old student newspaper.Lyons is now teaching high school journalism, creative writing and multimedia at Riverside Academy in Reserve and is the advisor for the Rebel Express student news website. She is also the social media manager and content provider for the Baton Rouge Rougaroo summer collegiate league baseball team.

The 2023 Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, July 27, with a press conference and reception. The three-day festivities include two receptions, a youth sports clinic, a bowling party, and a Friday night riverbank concert in Natchitoches. Tickets for the Saturday night, July 29 Induction Ceremony, along with congratulatory advertising and sponsorship opportunities, are available through the LaSportsHall.com website.

Anyone can receive quarterly e-mails about the 2023 Induction Celebration and other Hall of Fame news by signing up on the LaSportsHall.com website.

The Induction Celebration weekend will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame.  The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com.  Standard and customized sponsorships are available.  

WINN:

Shirley Ann Rivers
June 24, 1946 – November 20, 2022
Service: Saturday, November 26 at 10 am at St. Joseph Catholic Church

Ronald Lee Preston
April 7, 1954 – November 18, 2022
Service: Friday, November 25 at 2 pm at Welcome Home Baptist Church

Judy Fay Conerly
February 24, 1945 – November 22, 2022
Service: Friday, November 25 at 2 pm at Warren Meadows Funeral Home Chapel

NATCHITOCHES:

Alexander Ryan Nobles Jr.
July 29, 1949 – October 31, 2022
Service: Wednesday November 30 at 1 pm at Blanchard St. Denis funeral home in Natchitoches

Stephen Lane Stroud
October 26, 1959 – November 2, 2022
Service: Tuesday, November 29 at 10:30 am at Rosemary Beach Town Hall in Panama City Beach, FL

The Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution at its Nov. 17 meeting, commending the City of Winnfield line workers who traveled to Florida to assist the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) in restoring electric service after Hurricane Ian.

The City sent a 4-member crew, two bucket trucks and a pick-up truck to assist FMEA after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on September 28, 2022. The Winnfield lineworkers traveled and worked for two weeks with lineworkers from Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) to help restore electric service in the communities of Gainesville and Lakeland, Florida.

FMEA requested mutual aid assistance from LEPA just prior to the hurricane’s arrival. Winfield had received valuable assistance from mutual aid line workers from other states, including Florida after it suffered significant damage from Hurricane Laura in 2021.

“This was Winnfield’s first out-of-state mutual aid callout. We are forever grateful,” said Amy Zubaly, Executive Director of FMEA, who said the hurricane had caused horrific destruction. She noted that the coordination from LEPA, along with the response from Winnfield and LUS, helped get power restored quickly.

“Here in Louisiana, we know, all too well, the devastation that hurricanes cause, and how difficult it can be to get electrical power restored in these communities,” said Kevin Bihm, LEPA General Manager. “Mutual aid is essential to getting vital power restored as quickly as possible after hurricanes, and in this case, the Board of Directors recognized that Winnfield played an important role in that effort.”

LEPA is a joint-action agency made up of 19-member municipalities, each owning their own municipal electrical systems. It is based in Lafayette. LEPA Members include Abbeville, Alexandria, Erath, Gueydan, Houma, Jonesville, Kaplan, Lafayette, Minden, Morgan City, Natchitoches, New Roads, Plaquemine, Rayne, St. Martinville, Vidalia, Vinton, Welsh and Winnfield.

Above: Shown at the LEPA Board of Directors meeting after receiving their commendation are the Winnfield linemen who provided mutual aid in Florida. They are, from left, lineman Joseph Conroy, groundman Josh Colyer Jr., LEPA Chairman and Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft, Jonathan Paul, Lafayette Electric Operations Manager; Greg Labbe’, and apprentice Grady Williford.

Mayor Gerald Hamms was also recognized for approving this mutual aid effort.

The 2022 Winnfield Christmas Parade is scheduled for December 2nd at 6:00 PM on Main Street with a wonderful fireworks display to follow.

If you are interested in participating in the parade, please complete an entry form and return it to the The Louisiana Political Museum or email to shonnasmoss@gmail.com. The Entry deadline is November 30th.

Entry forms may be picked up at The Louisiana Political Museum, Winnfield City Hall and Sabine State Bank.

This year’s theme is A Louisiana Christmas.

Parade sponsors are:
Kiwanis of Winnfield
Winn Chamber of Commerce
The Louisiana Political Museum

These Winnfield boys are at it again! This year the 7-8 year old boys coach pitch team has claimed 1st place in the Natchitoches Fall Ball league for the second year in a row!

Coaches for this year’s team were Kacie Smith, Jeff Fisher and Chase Bostick. The boys started the season off by playing in the Fall League Opener that was hosted in Tioga. That event was an opening tournament to kick off the Fall season where the boys finished in 3rd place. They learned a lot by playing through an aggressive bracket, going head to head with travel ball teams. They took what they learned from the tournament and went on to be 7-0 in regular league play in Natchitoches.

Upon completion of the regular season, each player was awarded a 1st Place “Gold” ring to add to their trophy shelves. The coaches would like to thank the parents and players for all of their dedication and hard work throughout the fall season.

Home-run Leaders: Jacaden Edwards 8, Ayden Abels 5 and Denver Bostick 4. Batting Average Leaders: Jacaden Edwards .941, Denver Bostick .888 and Ayden Abels .882. Everyone is looking forward to expanding their baseball knowledge and skill sets in the upcoming 2023 Dixie Youth season!

A family road trip to see the KCS Holiday Express might be just the ticket! This year’s Louisiana stops include Shreveport, Monroe, Mansfield, DeQuincy, and Leesville. See schedule below.

The 2022 KCS Holiday Express train will return to the rails for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020. This year, the festive, six-car holiday train with intricate displays inside and out will bring Santa Claus and his elves to visit children and families in 20 communities in eight states. In addition, the KCS Holiday Express project will continue its tradition of charitable giving to The Salvation Army.

“KCS is thrilled that we can once again run the Holiday Express train and stop in communities along our rail network,” said president and CEO Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. “We are grateful to the many donors who continued to support the virtual Holiday Express program over the last two years, and look forward to another successful fundraising campaign to help The Salvation Army help people who need it most during the holiday season.”

Over 21 years, the charitable component of the KCS Holiday Express project has raised well over $2.6 million. Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the 2022 KCS Holiday Express fundraising campaign may donate here.

The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. In 2000, a group of warm-hearted KCS employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train to the KCS Holiday Express experience that thousands enjoyed for 19 years prior to the start of the pandemic.

In the first 19 years, the KCS Holiday Express train stopped in 20 or more communities in five or six states between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At each stop, visitors could board the train, meet Santa and his elves and tour the inside of three cars of the festive six-car train. These events return in 2022 after not occurring the previous two years. The KCS Holiday Express is free to the public at all of its stops.

Special thanks to our 2022 Holiday Express Sponsors.

Date: 11-18-22
Name: Triqueeni H Anderson
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Female 
Age: 48
Charge: Arraignment 

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.

This Thanksgiving I had the distinct pleasure of talking turkey with several of Goldonna’s residents. Each one of them were grateful for different things but they all held one common thread. All of them choose to be grateful and thankful every day of the year and not just on a beautiful fall day that is riddled with delicious food, parades and football games.

Natchitoches Parish School Board Member, Eugene Garner, shared, “Thanksgiving means a lot for my family and grandchildren. I love them so much and enjoy spending time with them. Soon it will be Christmas time and life gets even better! Living with grandchildren is a life-changing experience for and I will always cherish this time.”

Goldonna Assembly of God Pastors, Timmy and Pam Harris said, “Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, stop for a moment and reflect on God’s blessings! Simply take a breath, be quiet for a few moments, bow your heads in humble surrender to the creator and lover of our souls, and just say thank you. The list of things to be thankful for is forever long we all know; but if I had to mention just one it would be, Jesus! Our Savior. John 3:16”.

Linda Dupree- One blessing leads to another. I can most clearly see my blessings in my rear view mirror! Paul tells us to always be grateful. That’s difficult in some areas, but he encourages us to have an attitude of gratitude. It lasts a lifetime. Salvation. Family. Church. Friends. Opportunities for serving and helping.

Goldonna Baptist Church Pastor Ben Dupree- “Ive always liked 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” There are blessings everywhere. Once we begin to search for them, even in situations we may deem as unpleasant, we will soon find out that God is far more good than we can ever imagine and certainly more than we deserve. So this Thanksgiving season, I’m thanking God for himself. He’s a God so powerful, he extinguished the sting of sin at the cross but he did so because he couldn’t imagine eternity without you. I can’t limit that Thankfulness to just the 3rd Thursday in November.

River of Life Family Worship Center Pastor George Procell “Thanksgiving is a reminder of how much God has given us. Blessings and hardships. We must be thankful for everything, all year long and not just one day of the year.”

Goldonna Mayor Jennifer Smith – “Every year as we enter the Thanksgiving season, we often find ourselves taking assessment of our lives and what we are most thankful for. One thing that comes to mind is my upbringing. I’m thankful my parents were Godly parents who made it a priority to raise me and my siblings in church. Their dedication to seek God has been a cornerstone of my life.”

Mayor-Elect Gayle Cloud- “I am thankful for my family, my health and the ability to continue an active lifestyle. I am also very thankful that I am still able to keep the store open, and especially for all of my incredible customers.

Don’t forget the following events happening soon!

On Saturday, November 26th at 1:00 the Village will welcome back the Indian Santa who visited last year. Children of all ages are invited to take pictures with Santa and he will have a special gift for everyone that comes to Town Hall.

Goldonna Christmas in the Park Committee is still seeking donations and volunteers for the Festival that will take place on Friday, December 9th. Pictures with Santa will take place at 4:00pm until 5:30pm. The parade will begin at 6:00pm with lineup beginning at the School. The fireworks show will start at 8:00. There will be refreshment served. If you have a business who would like to sponsor please reach out to Mayor Smith or one of the councilmen.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and may God shine his face upon you.

If you have news to share please email Reba Phelps at jreba.phelps@gmail.com

With the Pilgrims held up as our example, we learned early to “be grateful.” 

As they dragged us to various in-laws’ in assorted neighborhoods for turkey and pumpkin pie and secondhand smoke, our parents reminded us that at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 (give or take), the settlers of the New World had it much tougher than we do. They had to eat outside. They didn’t have potatoes over here yet. The yeast rolls didn’t rise. William Bradford forgot to pick up a Marie Callender’s Apple Crumb Cobbler at the store, and the cable went out halfway through the Detroit Lions-Chicago Cardinals football game. 

“And they didn’t even complain,” our parents said. 

“Bet they got drunk then,” I said. 

“No, they most certainly did not!” 

The Pilgrims really WERE tough; I would have complained if there’d been no potatoes. Loud and clear. They could have heard me back over in England.  

But to hear our parents testify, no one 40 years ago ever complained about anything, especially on Thanksgiving. When you are spoiled like I am, that is setting the bar sort of high. But hey, I’m old school too and really not much of a complainer – as long as everything goes right. That’s just me. 

This week, complaining is a given. This week is about the pre-Thanksgiving misgivings about “where we’re going for Thanksgiving.” Do you know where you’re going yet? Or what you’re bringing? Or the order in which you’re going to whomever’s house when? Are we all on the same page? 

It can be dicey. 

“Are we going to grandmama’s?” 

“Not this year. But we’re not sure. We might.” 

“When will we know?” 

“I don’t know. Who are you, Dan Rather? We’ll know when we hear from everybody and decide.” 

“It’s Tuesday.” 

“Then good! Since Thanksgiving is on Thursday, as it usually is, that means we don’t have to know yet.” 

“We’re cutting it close.” 

“I’ll show you what cutting it close is, mister!” 

“I was just asking…” 

“Well just quit just asking, mister man. Your grandmother might meet us at Big Aunty’s. We might go there.” 

“Not to Big Aunty’s! Big Aunty can’t cook, momma. Big Aunty won’t have nothing even done until supper. We’ll starve.” 

“She most certainly will have and you most certainly will not starve. I’ll make you a pimento cheese to hold you over. We might just all bring different things.” 

“What do you mean, ‘we all?’ Who all is coming?” 

“Aunt Jean will bring the macaroni and cheese and we’ll bring the bean casserole and…” 

“Momma that means Uncle Lester is coming. He’s a professional smoker. We’ll all smell like something burnt. They’ll be ashes in the macaroni.” 

“No there will not!” 

“There was last year.” 

“You’ll think last year if you don’t shut up! Now I mean it!” 

“Can we just stay home and make hamburgers?” 

“NO! We can be thankful and not complain about gummy rice and ashes in the food and Jello with nuts in it and getting your picture taken. And if I hear one word, ONE MORE WORD….” 

Precious memories. And Happy Thanksgiving; I hope you get where you’re going. 

(Originally ran Nov. 20, 2009) 

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu