Trinity United Methodist Church of Ruston is finding new ways to reach the community in regard to how the congregation serves and how members spread the word of God. One way this church reaches the community is through different lecture series each year. This year’s offering, which the church is opening to the public, is the Laskey Lecture Series with Dr. Sandra Richter.

Created by Virginia Laskey, the lecture series brings in dynamic speakers with a variety of topics including politics, spirituality, arts, the environment, and much more.

Three FREE sessions will be taught by Dr. Sandra Richter to speak on the bible’s Old Testament on Saturday, Jan. 21 beginning at 10 am until 4 pm. Dr. Richter is a leading expert on Old Testament knowledge. She will convey a complex understanding of culture, archeology, and language to the listeners in a way they can understand. She will address leadership and hope through examining the life of Debra in the Book of Judges.

Attendees will receive complimentary childcare services.

Other offerings to the community include regular Sunday worship and bible studies throughout the week. The congregation also invests in children and youth as they are the future. They also feed the community, which is a big part of the church’s mission because there is such a big need for feeding programs.

More recently, our outreach committee is exploring new and innovative ways we can fight hunger in the Ruston community and beyond

To find out more about the lecture series or to sign up for it, call (318) 251-0750 or go online to www.trinityruston.org/announcements/laskey-lecture-series.

NONE

Date: 1-6-23
Name: Manuel Hernadez 
Address: Winn Correctional 
Race: Hispanic 
Sex: Male
Age: 35
Charge: Battery of a police officer  

Date: 1-6-23
Name: John Njorge 
Address: Winn Correctional 
Race: Hispanic 
Sex: Male 
Age: 49
Charge: Battery of a police officer 

Date: 1-6-23
Name: Mappi Daniel Justin 
Address: Winnfield, LA 
Race: White
Sex: Male 
Age: 45
Charge: Possession of Schedule 2 (meth), Possession of drug paraphernalia, Resisting an officer 

Date: 1-7-23
Name: Taiwanda L Russell 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Male 
Age: 42
Charge: Unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling 

Date: 1-7-23
Name: Luis Carlos Palacios 
Address: Houma, LA
Race: Hispanic 
Sex: Male 
Age: 28
Charge: Speeding, No license 

Date: 1-8-23 
Name: Jasmine M Starks 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Female 
Age: 27
Charge: An aggravated battery of dating partner, Child endangerment 

Date: 1-8-23
Name: Cody Parrish 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 27
Charge: Parole and probation hold 

Date: 1-9-23
Name: Ryley Desadier 
Address: Goldonna, LA 
Race: White
Sex: Male 
Age: 20
Charge: Failure to appear (bench warrant) 

Date: 1-10-23
Name: James Howard 
Address: Winnfield, LA 
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 53
Charge: Possession of schedule one and two substances (marijuana, meth), DWI (1st), Careless operation, No license, Prohibited acts 

Date: 1-10-23
Name: Temario A Fobbs 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Male 
Age: 36
Charge: Failure to appear (x2)

Date: 1-11-23
Name: Heather R Chelette 
Address: Montgomery, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Female
Age: 44
Charge: Obstructing a public passage, Driving under suspension, Failure to register, Prohibited acts

Date: 1-12-23
Name: Kendrick L Robertson 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 38
Charge: Simple, escape, Flight from an officer, Resisting an officer, Prohibited acts (Schedule 2), Theft (over 1,000, x3)

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.

I’ve said this before, and now I’m going to say it once more again. Parents – get your children to take at least one Agriculture (Ag) class in school. It doesn’t matter what they want to do for a living. Get them to take Ag. One simple push from every parent in Louisiana could change the future of our state. And here’s how.

A few observations and facts:

– Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Not just America. The entire world.

– The median family income is about 49 grand a year. That is nearly half of the southern average.

– More than half of Louisiana households are operating either below federal poverty standards or in the realm of “working poor” families.

– More than half of our college grads live in debilitating student loan debt.

– The number of Louisiana households receiving food stamps is at its highest ever.

– There is a dearth of skilled workers. There isn’t a lot of industry anymore in our state, especially up here, but businesses are desperate to hire people. The workers aren’t there because they don’t have the skills needed.

– Back in my previous life, we had many long discussions as a Chamber of Commerce board about what South Webster needed. Jobs. Industry. Economic growth. That’s everywhere, but it takes something to get that – SKILLED WORKERS.

– Lack of skilled workers leads to a lack of industry and jobs. This in turn leads to poverty. This in turn leads to an uptick in drug abuse and crime.

Therein ends the facts and observations. Now a way to help.

Parents – get your kids to take at least one Ag class. All parents. All kids. Just one. Please.

I’ve floated this idea to people before. A lot of times I’m greeted with a blank stare. My wife wasn’t even that kind. “I wouldn’t want to take Ag,” she told me, harkening back to those days of yore when Boy Bands were a thing and Leo was in the movie about that girl who wouldn’t move over on that headboard. There was totally enough room for two on that board, Rose!

My wife’s comment goes for a lot of folk, I imagine. Ag, for whatever reason, has the connotation of being a class for the “boys not going to college.” A lot of kids and parents never would even think to take an Ag class because it’s not part of their plan for after high school. For decades the American idea of success has been predicated on going to a four year school, earning a degree, and taking over the world. Reality is different. College is still the goal. Taking over the world … not so much.

There is an excellent video on this subject from Dr. Kevin J. Fleming. Fleming is President/CEO of Grey Matters International, Inc., a unique neuroleadership and transformational behavior change consulting firm. He is a former neuropsychologist-turned-professional coach who has served as a “thinking advisor” to high profile clientele, including professional athletes, politicians, Fortune 500 CEOs, and those in the entertainment industry around what is next when advice, self-help, and therapy have failed to change behavior. His video highlights how America got to this place where four-year college is preached as an all or nothing proposition. Those who go to college – doesn’t matter what they major in or how little money they make after graduation – are the ones deemed a success. The truth is this mindset has led to over saturation in Americans with degrees in fields that aren’t necessarily needed compared to the drought of skilled workers. The stats don’t lie and the video is eye-opening. Watch it. Please.

So I say again:

Parents – get your kids to take Ag. Exposing young minds to new ideas may open up paths they would have never previously considered. This isn’t an anti-college post. This is just a “take all avenues into consideration” post.

One Ag class may spark a passion that could lead to a life of financial gain and stability rather than one riddled with low salary and a mountain of student debt. We push our kids to have new experiences, try new things, meet new people, and expand their horizons. What’s wrong with doing that for one class in high school?

Ag classes teach a basic understanding of what it means to work with your hands, be exposed to the idea of alternatives to four year colleges that produce workers who will probably struggle in the over saturation in the market and the changed world economy.

If you are not easily replaceable, if you have a specialized skill that others don’t, and if you bring your boss money because of that skill – you will make more money. It’s basic economics. But if you are one of many who has the same skill set and an expensive piece of paper from a four year school then you might not be as irreplaceable as you think.

Take me. I have a bachelors. A masters. I don’t make a lot of money. Breaking news – Teachers don’t make much money. I have a lot of expensive papers that say I’m educated. Great for me, but the market doesn’t place much monetary value on what I do. And while I think I’m good at what I do, if I were to die tomorrow or go be a mango farmer in Tahiti (my money is on that one), there would be another teacher in my room the next day. Would they be a better teacher than me? It doesn’t matter. That’s not the point. What I do is easily replaceable. Now, if a heart surgeon or an electrician or another skilled worker were to be visited by the Grim or launch a mango farming scheme, they wouldn’t be so easily replaceable. This doesn’t bother me. It’s the way of the world. It makes sense.

We need more parents and kids interested in these more lucrative career paths. There is no magic bullet or miracle elixir to solve Louisiana’s problems. Any politician who tells you otherwise is only interested in telling you what you want to hear. We have to have jobs, good paying jobs. But in order to have those jobs you have to have workers who can do what is needed in order to attract business and industry.

Ag isn’t a cure. But what we have been doing sure isn’t working. So try something new.

It starts at home.

So again: Parents – get your kids to take an Ag class. You might just be part of a revolution.

(Josh Beavers is a teacher and a writer. He has been honored five times for excellence in opinion writing by the Louisiana Press Association.)

Save the Date for the Mardi Gras Festival, set for Saturday, Feb. 4 in the lot beside the Winnfield Post office. Food trucks and vendors will begin selling at 11 am and fun will begin immediately following the parade, which begins at 2 pm. There will also be kid’s activities. For more information contact Lacey McManus through Facebook or via text at (318) 302-2427.

By Katie Bedgood, Lakeview FFA Chapter Member

Over the years farmers have had to learn how to keep up with our world’s growing population, using things such as GMOs, cros-pollination, and artificial insemination. But how are they adapting to the fact they are having less and less land to grow on? Well, thanks to technology we now have precision agriculture which helps farmers make a lot out of a little.

A few parts of precision agriculture is GPS soil sampling which allows you to test fields’ soil to reveal all the important data you will need to know for making informed profitable decisions. Another part of precision agriculture is weather monitoring, which is when farmers collect weather data so that they know when to plant their crops and so they know when to water and not water the crops.

There are many other new pieces of technology that are a part of precision agriculture that do many different things but they all have a common goal which is to help our farmers seek the help of new technology to increase their crop yields and profitability all while using less of the traditional inputs needed to grow. Over the years farmers have had to learn how to keep up with our world’s growing population, using things such as GMOs, cros-pollination, and artificial insemination.

But how are they adapting to the fact they are having less and less land to grow on? Well, thanks to technology we now have precision agriculture which helps farmers make a lot out of a little. One part of precision agriculture is GPS soil sampling, which allows you to test fields’ soil to reveal all the important data you will need to know for making informed profitable decisions. Another part of precision agriculture is weather monitoring, which is when farmers collect weather data so that they know when to plant their crops and so they know when to water and not water the crops. 

Date: 1-5-23
Name: Trmario Antwan Foldos 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Male 
Age: 36
Charge: Simple criminal damage to property (affidavit warrant)

Date: 1-6-23
Name: Nathan Blake 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 35
Charge: Failure to appear (bench warrant) 

Date: 1-7-23
Name: Amy McHenry 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Female 
Age: 43
Charge: Probhitied acts (including a schedule two substance) (affidavit warrant)

Date: 1-9-23
Name: Deandra Demery 
Address: Winnfield, LA 
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 20
Charge: Direct contempt of court (x2) (bench warrant) 

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.

(Bob Holeman conducted this series of interviews with local World War II in 2011-12. Most of those 34 American heroes have passed away in the decade since).

Leo Shelton grew up with a rural Winn heritage. Born in the Sardis community where he grew up and went to church, he attended school in Atlanta.

War was looming as he studied at NSU (then Louisiana Normal College) to be a teacher and PE coach. But he’d taught for only two weeks after receiving his BA degree in August 1942 when he was drafted into the Air Force.

Assigned to radio maintenance during basics at Camp Beauregard, he attended Radio School in Madison, WI, and was sent to several air bases across the country. “But I was mostly doing KP and guard duty,” he said.

Shelton was pushing one year in the Air Force before he got his first real taste of the “Air” part of it. He explained that he’d never been up in a plane during his young life when he was sent to a second Radio School run by TWA Airlines in Kansas City, MO. It was May 1943.

“We lived in a tent city. My first time ever in an airplane was one of my most shocking experiences in the Air Force. I had to go up with just the pilot and co-pilot when they were doing all kinds of different maneuvers. It was pretty scary.”

This Winn soldier spent most of 1944 at a permanent base in Memphis that served as an overseas depot for soldiers and supplies. The radio department worked around the clock in three different shifts.

It wasn’t until July 1945 that Shelton knew he’d be going overseas. After six weeks of training in Provo, UT, he flew from New York to Calcutta, India. (“Oh, what a place,” he remembers). Then he traveled a grueling 600 miles north through the Indian jungle on a narrow-gauge railroad train to Assam at the base of the Himalayas.

“This was where the soldiers were stationed who flew supplies over The Hump to soldiers in China,” he explained. “I never did fly. I was always in radio maintenance.

“We ran short on food several times. Once, when we were real short, the captain wanted us to go on a big game hunt. With high-powered rifles, we went from one village to the next, each time hearing that there was a big deer just ahead. Finally, just about dark, we spotted this huge deer. I mean huge. We shot him and it took three guys to get him on the vehicle. We ate some fine steaks for several days.

“The next thing I knew, I was called into the Lieutenant’s office. ‘Shelton,’ he said. ‘Do you realize that you were sent here by mistake? You’re supposed to be back in Calcutta.’ Well, I didn’t like the sound of that. I’d rather have stayed there but that didn’t make any difference. They said I could either go back on that same train or, if I could leave right then, I could fly back with the paymaster. I tell you, I grabbed my things and got on a big old B-25 and we flew. On the way, I saw the Taj Mahal. It was beautiful.”

Shelton was in Calcutta when the war ended…and beyond. In March 1946, he boarded a ship and sailed east to Seattle where he vividly recalls his first meal back on American soil as being “steak and ice cream.” He headed to Fort Bliss in El Paso for his discharge. He’d served three years and eight months.

Since he already had his BA degree, Shelton decided to take advantage of GI Bill benefits to get himself a degree in pharmacy, beginning at the University of Texas and completing his degree at Loyola in New Orleans in 1950.

“During my studies, I’d come home to visit. My folks had moved to Winnfield and in the fall of 1946, I joined First Baptist Church. It was also during this time that I met Dorothy Sowers. She was teaching at Atlanta. We got married June 3, 1948.”
The couple had three children, Steve, Becky and Mark, and eight grandchildren. The 90-year-old veteran added that he has no great grandchildren, “as of now.”

There is still a “t” or two to cross, but if Buc-ee’s comes to Ruston and Tarbutton Road as most hope, the next generation of Lincoln Parish children will be more spoiled than the generation who were on the good end of the transition from outhouses and Sears and Roebuck catalogs to indoor plumbing and toilet paper.  

I can hear a kid 10 years from now: “Paris? Rome? Waikiki? Man, that don’t impress me much. My momma used to change my diaper in Buc-ee’s. BUC-EE’S, bro! I grew up there. I grew up in there.” 

No way can you adequately convey what a Buc-ee’s is and isn’t. But one trip and you will never forget it. 

The more I’ve heard about this newest enterprise, the more I’ve imagined the famous monologue by James Earl Jones in W.P. Kinsella’s brilliantly conceived Field of Dreams in 1989, the scene that shows his character convincing Ray, the owner of the baseball and corn fields and Kevin Costner’s character, not to sell his land, even though the bank plans to foreclose the next morning. In the Ruston re-make, the setting is Tarbutton Road’s northwest corner by I-20, Ray is Ruston and Jones is Jones and Mark is the brother-in-law representing the bank, in this case a Buc-ee’s non-believer. 

JAMES EARL JONES: “Ray, people will come, Ray. They’ll come to Buc-ee’s in Ruston for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up into the store, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive to get a selfie made with the giant wooden buck-tooth beaver, innocent as children, longing for the past —  and maybe for some Buc-ee’s Barbecue Rub or Steak Seasoning, gluten-free if needed.  

“‘Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,’ you’ll say. ‘You just need to buy some gas, or maybe a smoker or a onesie pajama bear suit or a dozen shoe charms or icebox magnets.’ They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have, and peace they lack. Peace, and some Buc-ee’s Fruit Sours.”  

MARK: “Ray, this is going to hurt the town more than help. We can’t waste this land. It’s obvious that … “ 

JONES: “And they’ll walk out to the Nut Wall, just gaze as they did when they were children when they cheered their heroes, which were either Planters salted or unsalted, except here they are overwhelmed by Beaver Nugget Sweet Corn Puff and Butter Toffee and Honey Toasted and Pina Colada Pecans and that’s only the tip of the nutberg — and it’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces …”  

MARK: “Ray what Ruston needs is another Mexican restaurant. It’s as plain as that cup of Dippin’ Dots you’re holding … “  

JONES: “People will come, Ray.” 

MARK: “We need money, we have this tremendous asset of location and land, and we’re putting it on a joint that sells tie dye drink glasses and T-shirts that say stuff like ‘I Paused My Game to Be Here’ and ‘I’m Into Fitness. Fit’ness Taco In My Mouth’?” 

JONES: “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. Well, that and consumerism. And free enterprise. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a brisket at a tailgate barbecue, rebuilt, and erased again. But it’s jerky that has marked the time — the Bohemian garlic flavor, mesquite, lemon pepper, Teriyaki … it’s salt water taffy in a resealable bag and a pink imitation leather cosmetic case that reads, ‘Just a Girl Who Loves Beavers,’ and mostly it’s that Buc-ee’s sign taller than Wyly Tower or Mount Driscoll and that Giant Magnetic Beaver, whose Siren Song draws tourists to these clean bathrooms like tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches draw Protestant country folk. It’s consumerism that has marked the time, Ray. The hope of this store, this sort of Giant Jerky Wall joint, this heaven of dessert-in-a-plastic-case-to-go, this wellspring of emotion overload, this ‘game’ — it’s part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. 

“Ohhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”  

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu 

Two American tourists took a much-needed vacation in England and Scotland.  They visited the usual tourist attractions in London such as Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the British Museum, and the Great Clock of Westminster, which is commonly referred to as Big Ben.  They traveled to several cities in Scotland and visited the usual tourist sites there such as Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, and Holyrood House.  Finally, they decided to get away from the bustling crowds of the cities and went hiking in an area of the sparsely populated Scottish Highlands, about 100 miles north of Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh.  The views were breathtaking.  They hiked on the ancient winding paths at the base of the mountains along the River Dee.

While hiking, they met another man and woman, Dick and Liz, who were walking in the opposite direction toward a favored picnic site.  Dick and Liz rarely saw hikers in this area because it was so remote.  As the hikers neared, Liz said hello and sparked up a conversation.  The hikers were instantly drawn in by Dick and Liz’s accents.  The foursome engaged in small talk.  The hikers told Dick and Liz of their travels throughout Britain and where they would be visiting on the remainder of their vacation. 

As the conversation progressed, one of the gentleman hikers asked Liz where she lived.  She replied, “Well, I live in London, but I have a holiday home just on the other side of the hill.”  “How often have you been coming up here,” the gentleman hiker asked.  “Oh, I’ve been coming up here since I was a little girl, so over eighty years.”  Dick and Liz could see that the gentleman was thinking about her reply.  Then he asked what was one of the most asked questions by a tourist in Britain.  “Well, if you’ve been coming up here for 80 years,” he said, “you must’ve met the Queen.”  Liz replied, “Well I haven’t, but Dick, here, meets her regularly.” 

The hikers turned their full attention to Dick, who had spoken very little up to that point.  “What’s she like,” the hikers asked Dick.  “Well,” Dick replied matter-of-factly “she can be very cantankerous at times, but she has a lovely sense of humor.”  The hikers held onto every word Dick said about his meetings with the Queen.  The hiker was so enamored that he had met someone who had met the Queen that he handed Liz his camera and asked if she would take a picture of him with Dick, to which she obliged. Then, they swapped places and Dick took pictures of the hikers with Liz. 

After a while, the hikers said goodbye to Dick and Liz and continued on their hike.  As Dick and Liz gave a final wave to their new hiker friends, Liz turned to Dick and said, “I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he shows the photographs to his friends in America.”  You see, Richard “Dick” Griffin really had met the Queen regularly because he was her royal protection officer.  The American hikers learned at some later point that the lady who accompanied Dick on the picnic was Queen Elizabeth II.

Source:

https://news.sky.com/video/platinum-jubilee-richard-griffin-on-the-queens-sense-of-humour-12626988

Trinity United Methodist Church of Ruston is finding new ways to reach the community in regard to how the congregation serves and how members spread the word of God. One way this church reaches the community is through different lecture series each year. This year’s offering, which the church is opening to the public, is the Laskey Lecture Series with Dr. Sandra Richter.

Created by Virginia Laskey, the lecture series brings in dynamic speakers with a variety of topics including politics, spirituality, arts, the environment, and much more.

Three FREE sessions will be taught by Dr. Sandra Richter to speak on the bible’s Old Testament on Saturday, Jan. 21 beginning at 10 am until 4 pm. Dr. Richter is a leading expert on Old Testament knowledge. She will convey a complex understanding of culture, archeology, and language to the listeners in a way they can understand. She will address leadership and hope through examining the life of Debra in the Book of Judges.

Attendees will receive complimentary childcare services.

Other offerings to the community include regular Sunday worship and bible studies throughout the week. The congregation also invests in children and youth as they are the future. They also feed the community, which is a big part of the church’s mission because there is such a big need for feeding programs.

More recently, our outreach committee is exploring new and innovative ways we can fight hunger in the Ruston community and beyond

To find out more about the lecture series or to sign up for it, call (318) 251-0750 or go online to www.trinityruston.org/announcements/laskey-lecture-series.