Look around our area, new business everywhere. Real Estate is also getting a new look. I have been a successful realtor for 16 years. I have learned the ins and outs of the business thoroughly during this time. We have opened a new office and we’re bringing what I believe to be a much-needed change that will assist those thinking about buying or selling a home. My grandson Colby Session is working with me as a licensed LA. Realtor. Together our mission is to make the process of buying or selling more affordable. We will accomplish this by listing and selling your house for as low as 2.5%.

We hope to be an asset to everyone we come in contact with. Our thoughts will always center around “whatever it takes”. Call John at 318-332-9850 or Colby at 318-652-4878

We can help keep YOUR equity and wealth in YOUR pocket!

The Winnfield Senior High School Lady Tigers continue an historic season tonight (Wednesday) when they meet Amite in the state Division III Non-Select semifinals of the 2023 Ochsner LHSAA Girls Basketball Marsh Madness tournament in Hammond.

Winnfield, the 11^th seeded team in a 28-team playoff bracket, has won three games to reach the semifinals. The Lady Tigers opened by blasting 22^nd-seeded Marksville 74-28 on Feb. 16 at home, then pulled a surprise in the second round by winning on the road with a 32-29 upset of No. 6 Sterlington.

The surprises got even bigger last Thursday when Winnfield traveled to No. 3-seeded Springfield and not only won, but won convincingly over the home team, 65-49.

Now the Lady Tigers face their toughest foe in No. 2 Amite, which has won its two playoff games by 20 (67-47 over No. 15 Doyle) and 32 points (74-32 over No. 10 Bogalusa, both played in Amite.

Amite is very close to Hammond, where the Marsh Madness tournament is being hosted at the University Center. Due to internet problems there, fans are required to pay admission with cash only. Purchases made online last week will be honored with proof of purchase.

The NFHSNetwork.com will provide a pay-per-view live stream of the 8 p.m. game tonight, assuming the SLU internet platform is functional.

The other semifinalists are No. 1 Rosepine and No. 5 Union Parish. The winners of the two Division III Select semifinals meet Saturday at 4 for the state championship.

Bank of Winnfield & Trust Company would like to congratulate our 50 Year Service Award Winners, E. Delane Adams and Thomas H. Harrel, Jr.  

Mr. Adams and Mr. Harrel are both former senior officers of Bank of Winnfield & Trust Company, having served since 1972. 

They continue to serve as Board Members of Bank of Winnfield and were recently recognized for their 50 years of service to the bank.

 Pictured above (left to right) are President Robert P. Heard, E. Delane Adams, and Thomas H. Harrel, Jr.

It’s time for the annual flag sponsorship.  The Lions club is looking for sponsors for the American flags that are flown on the 167 bridge in Winnfield on holidays.

The flags are flown eight times a year and the cost per flag is only $35 per flag per year.

Sponsoring a flag is a great way to honor the service of the veterans in your life while also helping make our city look patriotic.

Saturday, March 11th from 10 – 12 PM Laurel Heights Baptist Church will host a Health Fair at 1001 Pedro Street in Winnfield hosted by the Baptist Nursing Fellowship.

By: Kaycie Kile
WPJ Reporter

Wednesday, February 15th, The Learning Tree (a local after-school program) had a few special guests courtesy of the Winnfield Fire Department! Firefighters Benjamin Murphy, Matthew Harrel, and Jimmy Henson took time out of their afternoons to engage with Learning Tree’s students and shake up their usual routine with two big red trucks and plenty of fire safety fun!

All students had the opportunity to participate in over an hour’s worth of demonstrations, a closer look at the insides and functions of the trucks, a creative (and that’s putting it mildly) Q&A over procedure and safety, and last but not least, the chance at yanking the rope to the firetruck’s horn and hearing that loud and satisfying bellow! As you can see from the photos featured below, they had one tickled group on their hands!

Special thank you to the officer and Assistant Chief Cassidy Martin for providing police escort and ensuring the road remained safely blocked during the demonstrations.

If you know of a community event or member you feel deserves recognition or a moment in the spotlight please utilize the email  wpjreporter@gmail.com to better improve the content and coverage I bring you!

Date: 2-20-23
Name: Edward C Smith
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 47
Charge: Bnench warrant 

Date: 2-21-23
Name: James T Rudd
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 28
Charge: Hit and run (affidavit warrant)

Date: 2-21-23
Name: Christy L Ingles 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White
Sex: Female 
Age: 45
Charge: No insurance, Driving under suspension (bench warrant)

Date: 2-24-23
Name: Edward Powell
Address: Homless 
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 34
Charge: Disturbing the peace (language), Obstructing public passages

Date: 2-25-23
Name: Garland Walker 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Male
Age: 33
Charge: Disturbing the peace (language), Disturbing the peace (public intoxication), Illegal carrying of weapon 

Date: 2-25-23
Name: Jimmy L Bradford 
Address: Kelly, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 56
Charge: DWI (1st), Open container, Texting while driving 

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.

World War II Veteran Jesse Green, Winnfield

(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).

            Born in Dunn in northwest Louisiana, Jesse Green’s family moved south and he spent most of his growing up years in Winnfield.  In those Depression times, Green figured that the military offered a better future than did farming, his father’s work, so he joined the Marines at age 17, even before he had graduated from high school.

            As a young man, this local veteran was in the thick of several of the most significant pacific battles during World War II.  His war would end earlier than the dropping of the bomb on Japan.  As was the case with so many American men who fought in the humid jungles on Pacific islands, it would not be bullets of shrapnel that would end his war but parasites and disease.

            Green was taken by train to San Diego for his basic training, and he remained there for his pre-war duty.  “I was still in San Diego when they bombed Pearl Harbor,” he explained.  “To put things in perspective, they bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 (1941) and I left the States for American Samoa on Jan. 6.  We were an occupational force.  The American command expected that the Japanese would invade Samoa but that never happened.  We were there for nine months.”

            The next assignment for the Marines was the critical site of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands northeast of Australia.  This first major offensive by the Allied forces was waged between August 1942 and February 1943.  Green said their arrival was late in the action, after the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November had turned back the Japanese tide.  “But there were still a few Japs left when we got there.”

            The veteran smiled when he talked about their next assignment.  “From there, we went to New Zealand.  It was hog heaven.  They speak English so it was like being in the United States.  They are sure nice people.”

            The respite was helpful, for the next action the Marines would see was some of the fiercest in the Pacific campaign.  His summary that “we took Tarawa in just 76 hours,” doesn’t begin to describe the devastation on this tiny island where about 6,000 troops, Allied and Japanese, died in such a short span of time.  The Allied flotilla of carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers and transports carrying 35,000 troops tremendously outnumbered an estimated 4500 Japanese soldiers.  But the enemy was bound to fight to the man and Marine losses especially during the initial assault were heavy.  Reports of the losses raised some protests back home but defenders argued that “the capture of Tarawa knocked down the front door to the Japanese defenses in the Central Pacific.”

            Another break, this time to Hawaii.  After all the action, Green recalls that port of call, even with its beaches and pretty girls, as “boring.  “And I don’t recall seeing all that many girls there, either.”

            What he does remember, however, was observing the naval spectacle “when we went to a place called Eniwetok and rendezvoused with many other ships to invade Saipan.”  The small volcanic island south of Japan and east of the Philippines is dominated by Mount Tapotchau at its center.  “There was quite a bit of jungle between the beaches and the mountain and fighting in that terrain was difficult,” Green recalls.  “There were 30 days of fighting, starting mid-June 1944.”

            Once again outnumbered and determined not to surrender, Japanese soldiers hid by day in the caves in valleys surrounding the mountain…allied troops called it “Hell’s Pocket”…and came out to strike at night.  A last-ditch banzai charge by the remaining Japanese essentially ended the fighting when most of them were killed.  Green, who carried a rifle throughout the conflicts, said, “I wasn’t wounded.  Didn’t get so much as a scratch.  I was lucky.  Quite a few of our men were killed.”

            But the Marine wasn’t as lucky as he might tell you.  In the jungle fighting, he’d contracted some sort of intestinal parasite and was shipped back to Hawaii for medical tests.  “As best I remember, they X-rayed my chest and did some other exams.  They found that I had some amoeba bug in my gut.”  They also discovered that he had malaria and had contracted tuberculosis, a shadow of which remains with him more than six decades later.

            “I stayed in the hospital quite a long time,” he said, first in Hawaii, then stateside.  After his discharge on June 6, 1945, he returned to Louisiana and made good use of the G.I. Bill by attending a business college in Alexandria.  He’d take his first job briefly in Pineville, before heading to Cleveland, TX, where he’d manage a wood veneer plant for the next 11 years.  Then he returned to his roots, accepting a position in the business office of Latnie Brewton’s lumber company.  He went on to the American Plywood Association in quality control where he’d remain until his retirement.

            The war over and the Marine discharged, Green exclaimed that he was happy to get back home.  Shortly after returning to Winnfield, Green he met a young brunette, Margie Chandler.  “I thought she was pretty.  We got married.”  The couple had two children, daughter Carolyn and son Gary.

            Like so many of his brother-in-arms, Jesse Green racked up enough war stories in a few short years to tell for a lifetime.  Yet, like so many of his fellow veterans, he waited nearly a lifetime to begin telling them.  This is only a sketch of the full picture.

Position: Administrative Assistant 5
Salary: $2,883.00 – $5,675.00 Monthly
Location: Natchitoches, LA
Job Type: Classified
Department: Northwestern State University
Job Number: 171972
Closing: 3/9/2023 11:59 PM Central

Supplemental Information

Northwestern State University is currently accepting applications for an Administrative Assistant 5 in Business Affairs.

Applicants must have Civil Service test scores for 8500-Office Support Exam in order to be considered for this vacancy unless exempted by Civil Service rule or policy. If you do not have a score prior to applying to this posting, it may result in your application not being considered. 
 
Applicants without current test scores can apply to take the test here.
 
To apply for this vacancy, click on the “Apply” link above and complete an electronic application, which can be used for this vacancy as well as future job opportunities. Applicants are responsible for checking the status of their application to determine where they are in the recruitment process. Further status message information is located under the Information section of the Current Job Opportunities page.
 
*Resumes WILL NOT be accepted in lieu of completed education and experience sections on your application. Applications may be rejected if incomplete.*
 
For further information about this vacancy contact:
Benetrus Brooks, H.R. Specialist
Northwestern State University – Human Resources
200 Sam Sibley Dr. – St. Denis Hall
brooksb@nsula.edu
 

It has been, and will continue to be, the policy of Northwestern State University to be an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are based on job related standards and must comply with the principles of equal employment opportunity.

In keeping with this policy, the University will continue to recruit, hire, train, and promote into all job levels the most qualified persons without regard to race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, veteran status, or retirement status. All personnel actions, such as compensation, benefits, transfers, layoffs, training, and education are administered without regard to race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, veteran status, or retirement status.

The University is committed to equal opportunity for student success by providing access to educational programs, tuition assistance, and social and recreational activities for all students without regard to race, color, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, veteran status, or retirement status.  Additionally, the University provides equal access to the Boy Scouts of America and other designated youth groups.

Student complaints or inquiries related to Title IX should be directed to the Director of Student Advocacy and Title IX Coordinator, Julie Powell (318-357-5570), Room 308 of the Friedman Student Union or email obannonj@nsula.edu.  Employee Title IX issues should be directed to the Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Human Resources, Veronica M. Biscoe (318-357-6359), Room 111 Caspari Hall or email ramirezv@nsula.edu.

In accordance with Section 35.106 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all participants, applicants, organizations, and interested individuals are advised and notified that the ADA Coordinator for Northwestern State University for facilities is the Director of University Affairs, Jennifer Kelly (318-357-4300), located in New Fine Arts, 104 Central Avenue, Ste. 102 or email andersonje@nsula.edu. For studentacademic services, contact the Director of Access and Disability Support, Taylor Camidge (318-357-5460) located in Room 108-C Watson Memorial Library or email camidget@nsula.edu.  For faculty/staff accommodations and services, contact Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Human Resources, Veronica M. Biscoe (318-357-6359), Room 111 Caspari Hall or email ramirezv@nsula.edu.

Qualifications

Job Concepts

Function of Work:
To serve as the special assistant to a classified/unclassified executive or high-ranking classified administrator.

Employees perform duties independently and exercise a high degree of independent judgment and initiative in determining the approach/action to take in non-routine situations.

Level of Work: Advanced.

Supervision Received:
General from a classified/unclassified executive or high-ranking classified administrator. 

Supervision Exercised:
May supervise 1-2 lower-level personnel.

Location of Work:
May be used by all state agencies.

Job Distinctions:
Differs from Administrative Assistant 4 by the presence of responsibility for serving as special assistant to a classified/unclassified executive or a high-ranking classified administrator.

Differs from Administrative Assistant 6 by the absence of responsibility for serving as the confidential executive assistant to the unclassified Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Undersecretary, Assistant Secretary, or equivalent high-level classified/unclassified executive of a major state department.

Examples of Work

Relieves the executive of a variety of administrative matters by assuming delegated authority in assigned areas.

Performs and supervises administrative support activities such as maintaining files and central records, printing and duplicating services, security, purchasing of supplies and equipment, warehousing, and preparation of payroll and personnel records.
Serves as executive support to department advisors and decision-makers, including administrators and boards/committees.

Reviews correspondence and receives telephone calls related to the most sensitive and confidential matters and determines appropriate action to be taken.

Interprets departmental policies and procedures for staff members and the general public.

Conducts and/or supervises special projects, such as organizing charity drives or coordinating facility maintenance.

Collects and compiles budgetary data for monitoring funds and staffing levels.

Prepares materials needed for meetings, such as agendas, handouts, binders, etc.

May attend meetings and transcribe minutes.

May serve as backup for experienced-level professional duties, such as procurement, accounting, etc.

Administrative Assistant 5 – View Online

EOE

By Brad Dison

In February 1914, May Pierstorff’s parents prepared for their five-year-old daughter, May, to visit her grandmother.  May and her parents lived in Lewiston, Idaho.  May’s grandmother lived about 70 miles away in Grangeville, Idaho.  In the 1910s, automobiles had not yet become the predominant form of transportation in Idaho.  Most people traveled on or were pulled by horses if they were traveling within a short distance from home.  May’s parents decided that May would travel to and from her grandparents’ home by train due to the distance of the trip.  For some reason, probably the cost of train tickets, May’s parents could not accompany her on the trip.

The cost of May’s ticket was more than the family could afford.  May’s parents looked for a loophole.  Surely, they thought, they could purchase a discount ticket due to May’s age, but the railroad offered no such discount.  Maybe, they thought, they could get a discount due to May’s weight, which was 48 ½ pounds.  They got lucky.  This was the loophole they had been looking for.  May was just a pound and a half below the 50-pound weight limit.

On February 19, May’s parents pinned something on May’s coat and dropped her off at the train station in Lewiston, Idaho for the 70-mile trip.  They watched as May boarded the train and, at the proper time, the train chugged out of the station.  When the train arrived at the Grangeville station, no one was waiting to pick May up.  An employee named Leonard Mochel delivered the five-year-old to her grandmother’s home.

When money is tight, all of us look for clever ways to save money.  May’s parents were no exception.  May traveled from Lewiston to Grangeville… as a parcel in the train’s mail car to save money.  The thing May’s parents attached to May’s coat was 53 cents in parcel post stamps.  The employee who delivered May to her grandmother’s home was the mail clerk.  May’s parents mailed May to her grandmother’s home.  When their visit was over, May’s grandmother sent her back to her parents in the same manner, through the mail.

Sources:

1.     Smithsonian National Postal Museum, “100 Years of Parcels, Packages, and Packet, Oh My!”  https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-article/100-years-of-parcels-packages-and-packets-oh-my/the-oddest-parcels.
2.     The Pomona Progress, February 20, 1914, p.1.
3.     The Long Beach Telegram and the Long Beach Daily News, February 20, 1914, p.1.
4.     The Minneapolis Journal, March, 26, 914, p.11.

This thing we call life can be a funny dance partner.

A story to illustrate. It’s your story and mine and it’s everyone’s story. Because the day began like any other but …

Life. You never know.

One evening not long ago at all, we were sitting on benches and chairs off the lobby of a big hotel, a very unrehearsed scenario, eating take-out supper off paper plates, at the end of a three-hour bus ride on the way to play baseball games.

Maybe just for moral support, I said that if I acted weird at any point during this trip it was because I’d eaten lunch with my mom and she was having surgery Thursday and all was well but … it was my mom, in her mid-80s, and …

It was my mom.

And that after that I’d visited one of my bosses in the emergency room because at four in the morning, she thought she was having a stroke she was only 50 and the doctors in West Monroe were sending her to Alexandria to a specific neurosurgeon and so I walked in and she started crying and then I started crying and I told her I was crying only because the hospital gown she had on was SO not her color and …

She was scared. Because she didn’t know what was wrong. Nobody knew what was wrong. Legit excuse for tears … I guess mine were just because we didn’t always get along at first, which is fine because it was professional and not personal, but I was scared because she was scared and I have grown fond of her and we all want her to be well.

And then I got a text that one of my hero sports writing brothers was having a surgery that was invasive like Germany invading Poland in 1939 was invasive and …

So, it’s not a good day and no one should be in this pickle it’s just a cross you have to bear because as usual, you are thinking of only yourself…

But … you never know. Because …

Then one of the guys who’d been on the bus — again, we’d been talking for three hours already, just jokes, but now for just a few minutes it was different — said his mom had cancer surgery that week and his niece had just called to say that while all was well so far, the doctors were confused why something wasn’t acting the way it should so …

And then another friend said, well, his dad, one of the great humans in history, had been checked into a nursing home that very morning and was not enamored with it at all but that no one in the family could physically handle this once vibrant and wonderful personality because his mind was going and …

You come to the same conclusion you’ve come to lots of times before. Doesn’t make it easier to accept. But you know it’s a dead solid fact. And that’s this …

Life is difficult. It’s a bear. It’s wonderful — colors and sounds and senses, and who can capture it all? how spectacular it is when it’s all going your way — but you never know what someone is going through. A person can be coaching a baseball game or preparing a sermon or teaching second grade or … you just don’t know. Their mom might be in surgery. Their aging dad might be in a situation he doesn’t understand. Their toddler might have just lost her mom to some tragedy or their salt-of-the-earth grandfather might have just passed away.

So …

Try to make someone smile today. Use your heart parts. Sincere goodwill is our ace in the hole, no matter the storm.

It’s a little thing, but it could be a big thing. For them, but for you too. Make the world a place that’s happier. You can do that.

No matter the cost, it will be worth it. It will come back, bread upon the water.

We need you.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu or Twitter at @MamaLuvsManning