Date: 5-22-23
Name: Michael C Elliot 
Address: Sikes, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 36
Charge: Disturbing the Peace 

Date: 5-22-23
Name: Adam Seth gray 
Address: Dodson, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 34
Charge: Criminal Trespassing 

Date: 5-25-23
Name: Craig Nick 
Address: Dry Prong, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 40 
Charge: Failure to appear 

Date: 5-25-23
Name: Eric R Kirtley 
Address: Sikes, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 40 
Charge: Domestic Abuse Battery 

Date: 5-27-23
Name: Ethan Wayne Hanson 
Address: Dodson, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 21
Charge: Domestic Abuse Battery 

Date: 5-27-23
Name: Devante Devion Moffett
Address: Chattam, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 23
Charge: Speeding, Reckless Driving, Open container 

Date: 5-27-23
Name: Jean Paul Stroud
Address: Montgomery, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 54
Charge: Domestic Battery (x2), Cruelity to the infirmed

Date: 5-28-23
Name: Ronnie J David
Address: Jonesboro, LA 
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: N/A
Charge: Failure to appear 

Date: 5-29-23
Name: Dewanna Rials 
Address: Atlanta, LA 
Race: White 
Sex: Female 
Age: 47
Charge: No seatbelt, Failure to register vehicle, Driver must be licensed

Date: 5-29-23
Name: Donovan Blake Stoner 
Address: Atlanta, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 32
Charge: Fugitive (Grant Parish) 

Date: 5-29-23
Name: Destinee Wise 
Address: Dodson, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Female 
Age: 24
Charge: Failure to appear 

Date: 5-30-23
Name: Kason Hurst Lashley
Address: Atlanta, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 22
Charge: Second Degree Battery 

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 crie, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Date: 5-22-23
Name: Kelsey Rachal
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Female 
Age: 34
Charge: Direct Contempt of Court 

Date: 5-26-23
Name: Edgar Rogers 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black
Sex: Male 
Age: 63
Charge: Simple Criminal Damage to Property 

Date: 5-26-23
Name: Donnie W Folden 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 46
Charge: Theft 

Date: 5-27-23
Name: Pamela Rena Ford 
Address: Potts Camp, MS
Race: White 
Sex: Female 
Age: 48
Charge: Speeding, No proof of insurance, Flight from Officer, Owner to secure registration

Date: 5-28-23
Name: Derrick Thomas 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 44
Charge: Simple burglary, Criminal trespassing, Direct Contempt of Court

Date: 5-29-23
Name: Gary D Wise 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 48
Charge: Theft, Unauthorized Entry, Direct Contempt of Court 

Date: 5-29-23
Name: Leonard C Rhodes 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 54
Charge: Warrant, Expired Registration, Driver must be Licensed  

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.

Life in Rural Woods Preps C.O. Spikes for Heavy Equipment Duty in Europe (World War II Interview with C.O Spikes)

By Bob Holeman

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

There are often exceptions to the rule.  C.O. Spikes, Atlanta native and World War II veteran, is one.

Today’s job market virtually demands formal education for success.  But when Spikes completed 6th grade in Atlanta, he concluded that life was passing him by so he forged out on his own into the working world.  The 94-year-old has never looked back at his choice that led to a successful career.  He chuckles that, due to illness, it actually took him three stabs just to get out of the first grade.

It all started on June 30, 1918, when Charles Orville Spikes was born to Woodard and Ella Thomas Spikes in their old log house at Five Forks, near Atlanta.  “Atlanta was a big sawmill town back then.  Dr. John Pugh made house calls, either on his horse or by buggy.”

Spikes’ father worked at the Germain-Boyd sawmill but when it closed, the family moved to Campti for work at the mill there.  Here he began first grade but after only three days, he contracted typhoid fever and he didn’t get in enough days to move up.  A second move after a fire at Campti took the family to the Huttig, Arkansas, sawmill where Spikes tried first grade again.  But this time, it would be pneumonia and the Depression that delayed the classroom pursuits of the young student.  His father decided to return home to try his hand at farming and logging to feed his family of 3 boys and 8 girls.  So it was at Oak Ridge school, a little east of Atlanta, that he’d finally complete first grade.  And second grade and part of third.

That school closed, however, so Spikes began his studies in Atlanta.  “Odell Durham Cobb finished out my third grade year, Charlie Durham’s wife taught me fourth grade and Evelyn Miller was my best-ever teacher in fifth grade.  Sixth grade was as far as I went, with Edna Mae Shaw.  I could make 20 crossties a day and didn’t need any more education.  I’d get 10 cents for a 7×8 or 7×9 tie and eight cents for a 6×8.  At the end of the day, I’d skid other people’s ties.  I made about $2 a day.  I bought my first car when I was 15.”

As a young man, Spikes went to work for R.C. White at the Louisville Cooperage Co.  “The finest white oak staves that there were came from right here.  They were for whiskey barrels that didn’t leak.  I was running jobs for them here in the woods and they wanted me to move to Alexandria.  I was living in Winnfield at the time.  They furnished me a house, car, gas and paid me $45 a week.  I stayed out in the woods most of the time, buying timber, moving things around.  Everything changed all up when I was down there.”

When war broke out, White was able to get two deferments for his key employee who was 24 years old.  But in 1943, Spikes was drafted into the Army and reported to Fort Belvoir, VA, where he was assigned to the 381st Engineer Combat Battalion.  He ran all types of equipment during Engineer School and graduated with a superior rating.

“They shipped us to New York but our train was delayed and we just missed going over on the Queen Mary.  So we went across the Atlantic on the Excelsior with 3,000 soldiers, part of a 59-ship convoy.  From England we went to Le Havre, France, on LSTs with all the equipment.  When that front end dropped, I was the first one off.  I drove a dozer.”

Spikes said the battalion took off, cutting through France to catch up with the fighting force in Holland.  “They assigned me to open up the area between the British 1st Army and the 9th Army as they were heading to the Rhine River.  Some of those places in there were rough.  I went 59 days without a bath or a shave…we’d be trying to get back to the company and they’d turn us around in the road for another assignment.

“We built a road around one town, Wesel, Germany, in one night.  There was a creek running around it but all the bridges had been blown up.  It was easier to build a road around it than to try to pass through it.  It was all dark but you’d be surprised what you could do in the dark.”

The Allies later proved what they could do in a single night, Spikes said.  In a major offensive in March 1945, Allied forces arrived at the Rhine River at Remagen to find a single railroad bridge still intact, despite German attempts to destroy this river-crossing opportunity for the Americans.  “In one night, they put down pontoon bridges one here and the other up river.  I was the first man to cross that pontoon bridge.  I had five roadblocks to clear…I had to bump them around with my heavy equipment to get them out of the way.”  He explained that he watched as a Sherman tank was called in to blow up, point-blank, one of the more stubborn roadblocks.  He then bulldozed the debris.

“This was the final push of the war in Europe,” the veteran went on.  “We were trying to get back to Gen. Patton’s troops but the roads were so torn up that the war ended before we got there.  That was the last of the fighting for us.”

It was the end of fighting but not the end of action for the Winn native.  “A two-star general picked me out and told me to go find the two tallest trees in the forest.  He wanted to build some American flagpoles to show the Germans.  He said I could take as many men as I needed but I’d been doing this all my life.  I told him I only needed the two men I’d been working with, Bob Bagwell and Sanders.  We took a truck, a pontoon trailer and a crosscut saw and headed out into the forest.  We found a stand of pretty, straight spruce and cut two.  Then we dragged them back into town, 105-foot and 100-foot poles.  As soon as we got back, the general got soldiers to scraping and peeling them.  The next morning, they had those poles up with American flags flying on them.”

Although fighting in Europe had ended, the need for materials for the ongoing Pacific Campaign was still great.  “I stayed in Germany for a long time.  They picked me again because I knew something about sawmills.  There were about 80 of them in Germany.  I hauled them supplies so they could cut lumber for the Pacific.  Then they made me a shop foreman.  I had Germans working for me as mechanics and they were very good workers.”

Spikes’ service in Europe ended in 1946.  He was sent back to Le Havre, France, (the port where he’d initially landed on the LST, he mused).  There he boarded one of the many Victory Ships, the Akin, that were transporting American soldiers back home.  Stateside once more, he arrived at Camp Shelby, MS, and received his honorable discharge.

“I came straight back to Winnfield.  There’s no place like home.”  The hard-working young man picked up where he’d left off, getting a job with Louisville Cooperage.  “I went to buy my first truck from Max Theim, a 1946 Chevy truck.  I had to have $1,800 and R.C. White financed it.  I paid him back.”

His work ethic and entrepreneurial drive saw Spikes use his truck and any other resources he could find to expand his interests through the years.  “At one point, I hauled pipe.  They tried to get me to go to New Mexico.  For a while, I hired out to a contractor building a levee.  But I decided to go to work for Dunn Brothers (pipe) and worked with them for 17 years.  For the last five years, I was in charge of everything west of Fort Worth.  I probably strung 1,400 miles of pipe in the San Juan Basin alone.  And way more than that if you add it all.”

Spikes beams as he explains that he’s had two special ladies in his life. The first was Pearl Wallace who he met several years before the war. “She came down to visit her brother, Ross Wallace. She told me, ‘You and me ought to get married.’ We dated for a long time then got married on Feb. 14, 1937. They were together for 28 years. She died in 1965 after a battle with cancer.”  Shortly after Pearl’s death, Spikes met another, Marie Gresham Neal who was a widow herself. They were married in May of 1966 and were together for 45 years. She died December 26, 2011.”

Spikes has three daughters, Judy Marie Finklea, Mary McDonald Kidd and Janea
Thompson. Judy and David had 3 daughters, Desha Hight, Robyn Stephens and Brittany Townsand. Those granddaughters gave Spikes 4 great grandsons, Dustyn Howell, Jacob Hight, Rene Stephens, and Roman Stephens. Mary and Garland had 2 daughters, Brooke Reeves and Kelli Williams. They got busy and gave Spikes 8 great grandchildren, Kathryn Reeves, Anna Marie Reeves, Leah Reeves and Tanner Dane Reeves, Taylor Williams, Jada Williams, Jake Williams, and Maci Williams. (This June 1, Kelli and Keith will have another baby boy). Janea gave Spikes a grandpuppy named Bullet. 

“I have been a very blessed man, very blessed,” the veteran concludes.

by Bob Holeman 
WPSB Committee Meeting, Monday, May 22, 2023 @ 5:30 pm 

Schools are just out for summer yet the Winn Parish School Board is already looking ahead to the new school year.  Of course, the biggest change will be the switch to a four-day week, and reports at the board’s May 22 committee session showed that the Winn system will not be caught unaware.

“You don’t need to re-invent the wheel,” stated Supt. Al Simmons as he explained that principals and supervisors have researched, traveling to other parishes to personally examine and interview systems that have already gone to the four-day week.  One of the questions they posed was, “What surprised you?” and the response was “Not much because of the preparations we made.”

Winn is making those preparations.  Instructional Supervisor Marianne Little told members that a lot of information has been gathered.  “After what we’ve seen, I believe we will be able to cover everything (teaching) we need to cover in the time available.  I feel a lot better about it since we got that information.”

Simmons pointed out that it follows that “once we begin this fall, we’ll have to make some adjustments.  There’s not a single plan to follow.  Every district we studied does things a little differently.”

Members also received a short tutorial on the budget process from business manager Jennifer Vidrine who pointed out that there is not simply a single budget but perhaps 45 different budgets rolled together to keep the school district running.  The board’s primary focus is the General Fund Budget.  Ironically, though the fiscal year begins July, school starts August and the board adopts its budget September, real money figures won’t be known until the per-pupil allocation is approved by the state legislature in spring.  Those uncertainties can be resolved by budget revisions throughout the year, with a final revision at the June 5 regular meeting as the board closes out the 2022-23 School Year.

Simmons reported that the majority, perhaps 75% of the funding, is spent on salaries and related benefits.  Other costs include utilities, insurance and some maintenance not covered by other funds.  There was no good news in the area of property insurance, where the board heard the district could face a rate hike as much as 60%.  “After several bad hurricane seasons, many companies don’t want to write insurance in Louisiana, or the Gulf Coast for that matter.  It will take a couple of good (hurricane-free) years in a row before costs could come down.” 

by Bob Holeman

It’s a beautiful day for a Trade Day:  a warm, blue sky over booths where local vendors hope to sell everything from jellies and candles to boots, guns and items from the barn.  The smell of barbecue floats in the air.  There’s an anticipation of a political presentation.  The sign on the convenience store reads, “It’s not just a store, it’s Home.”  

That’s the Wattsville Center.  It is, in fact, more than a convenience store because owner Ken Bates continues to work to make it a gathering place for the community and a museum and archives of Old Ward 8 history.  He carries the familiar corner store products but declares, “You can’t make a living on cold drinks and Honey Buns.”

It’s not that he needs to make a living from this venture.  After graduating from Calvin High School in 1966, Bates matriculated to NSU for his BA in history (later a Master’s in education).  He then went on to a 21-year career in the U.S. Army, followed by a second career of 20 years teaching history at Natchitoches Central High School.  So why build a store with a 45-minute commute from home?

“Mainly for my love of community,” he replies.  “I want to have a place where folks can feel absolutely at home so they can get together today to hash things out, solve the world’s problems then come back tomorrow and solve them all over again.  I was raised right here, went to this church (Bethlehem Baptist),” as he points towards the road.

In the past there was such a community gathering place where “everybody went” in (Gertrude) Garrett’s Store but Bates explained that when she was unable to run it anymore, it closed.  Bates’ action was not immediate, for it was six years after his NCHS retirement that he began this project.  “I got this property from my great uncle Aura Bates.  It was his place.  So I had this hill and thought it would be a good place for a store.  It took a year to build, completed mid-2020.”

“I’m a military and history guy,” Bates explains in reference to his archives in the corner.  “I focus on everything Ward 8.”  This includes military uniforms and memorabilia from locals and military binders and photos of locals.  “I’m trying to keep a record of all vets from this area from the Civil War to present.”  He also has materials related to Calvin High School and a collection about people, happenings and obituaries from Ward 8.

But mostly Bates sees Wattsville Center, a few miles north of Calvin on Hwy 501 at the intersection of Hwy 1232, as a gathering spot.  David Hailey, sitting at a table at the front, looks up from his coffee long enough to smile and agree, “Yeah, a place where the Wattsville gang can hang out and talk.”

By Bob Holeman 

The Winn Chamber of Commerce was on hand to welcome a new business May 23 when Winn Physical Therapy held a ribbon-cutting and open house at its 6252 Hwy 167 North location.  Pyles describes physical therapy as a “conservative alternative to medication for recovery from injury or to remedy loss function or pain.”

Physical therapist Tyler Pyles is no stranger here.  The son of Andy Pyles and Angela Audirsch is a 2008 graduate of WSHS, a 2012 graduate of NSU and a 2016 graduate of the University of St. Augustine in physical therapy.  After early work in Georgia and Virginia, Pyles began working with PT Doug James who has practiced in Benton and Stonewall and began a partnership with James for the Winnfield venture.

“My inspiration to start my own business came at graduation when I felt the need for a bigger physical therapy presence here in Winn.  When people are going out of town, it’s not advantageous to the community.  For a business to succeed, you find a need and fill it.  I think having quality local options here is an asset to local folks.”

This new business is open weekdays from 8 until 5 (with a lunch break) and first opened its doors in February.

Pyles’ partner Doug James has 12 years of experience in the field of physical therapy, with eight of those in private practice.

By Bob Holeman 

At the May 23 reception honoring her retirement, she was called “The Number One advocate of Winnfield Senior High School.”  Dr. Jane Griffin has logged an incredible 53 years in the field of education, 26 of those as principal of WSHS.

“I appreciate so much, I was humbled, that so many people attended, with all those memories.  It was an affirmation that what you did actually made a difference,” she tells the Journal.

Griffin and several others still here in the community had the distinction of graduating in the first class (1967) that had gone all three of their years in the newly consolidated and constructed WSHS.  At that time, only grades 10 through 12 were “high school” and the classes finishing in 1965 and 1966 began their studies at the old Winnfield High School.

She headed to NSU to major in home economics but quickly changed to math, “where I really needed to be,” she admits.  Meanwhile Ronald Griffin, a friend throughout their school years, had joined the Marines, was sent to Vietnam and seriously wounded during the Tet Offensive of 1968.  Brought back to Memphis for treatment and rehab, he found time to visit home and marry Jane in April that same year.  He was later shipped to California as a machine gun instructor.

Jane hurried her studies to catch up with him and received her degree in two and a half years, in January 1970.  She traveled to California to be with her husband but was unable to get a teaching job as the state prepared for an influx of returning soldiers.  The couple returned home later that year and had no trouble finding work.  “We rolled into Mom’s house on a Monday morning and I started work on Tuesday at LaSalle for 1970-71.”

A court order blocking Winn students’ attendance at Montgomery brought a sudden growth of Atlanta High’s numbers and some makeshift construction saw Jane Griffin teaching in a 16×20 plywood room in the middle of the auditorium.  Ensuing construction improved the situation and the educator remained there through 1982, taking a year off to secure her doctorate in 1979.

“I was transferred to WSHS where I taught math and Algebra 2, then later added geometry, calculus and trigonometry,” she says of the start of her years at the school where she’d spend the majority of her career.  “Principal Jerry Bamburg asked me to be assistant principal in the fall of 1995.  In January that same school year, he retired and I was named principal.”  She’s remained at the helm since.

This veteran educator has seen major changes through her 53 years.  Changes in students, in parents, in new teachers, in curricula, in certification requirements.  “But the students and parents are still wonderful.”  And while salaries have increased over the decades, those increases have not kept pace with increases in other fields.  “Anyone who stays in education does so through commitment.”

“I’ve enjoyed my career,” she concludes.  “With my various positions, I’ve had the opportunity to do special things, to travel.  My family and the administration have been supportive and I’ve been able to network with so many people across the country.  It’s been very rewarding.”

During May 23 reception, Dr. Jane Griffin visits with NSU president Dr. Marcus Jones who is a product of WSHS education.  With them are Dr. Wiley Cole, B.R. Audirsch and Judge Jacque Derr.

Bob Mann, a professor at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications and published author will be a guest of the Rotary Club of Winnfield at the June 7 meeting.  He has spoken here before with the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame.

Mann will be discussing his ninth book entitled  “Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU.”  It tells the story of how Huey P. Long, known as “The Kingfish,” worked his political magic to transform Louisiana State University from a minor institution of learning into the state’s flagship university.

Because of the significance of the topic and speaker to the history of Long’s birthplace Winnfield, Rotary club president Mary Lou Blackley says the Wednesday, June 7 meeting will be open to those interested.  Rotary meets at noon at Mama’s Iron Skillet.  Meal cost is $13 or visitors may simply “audit” the presentation.

For planning purposes, visitors are encouraged to call or text the club president at 318-481-0227.

The annual WHS/WSHS alumni reunion will be Saturday, June 24, 2023, at the Winnfield Civic Center.
The annual event is hosted by the class celebrating their 50th high school reunion. The class of 1973,
directed by Jan Beville and Mary Lou Coon Blackley, have been working diligently to bring the alumni a
memory filled evening.

Anyone who is a graduate of WHS or WSHS (from any year) or who attended but for any reason did not
graduate from Winnfield is welcome to attend the reunion as long as they are pre-registered. How do you
pre-register? Send your name and mailing address to Jimmie Frazier Davies to her email
address: jimmieleedavies@hotmail.com or to Mary Lou Coon Blackley: Blackleym227@gmail.com.
Your name will be added to the database and you will receive a newsletter with the registration form
enclosed.

“You must be pre-registered to attend the coffee that morning and the dinner and banquet that evening”
emphasized Jimmie Lee Davies. “No one will be admitted at the door without registration. There is no
charge for the breakfast but we need a head count for the caterer. The dinner and banquet is $20 per
person.”

Organizers stress that time to register is running out. Registrations have to be returned in just 10 days, by
Saturday, June 10. Alumni are welcome to bring guests, including spouse, children, grandchildren and
friends who are 18 years or older as long as they are also pre-registered and any per person costs are paid.

“We look forward to seeing you at the breakfast and dinner to renew old friendships, meeting fellow
classmates, and reminiscing about the fun times from our high school days. Make plans and join us for an
enjoyable reunion evening,” Davies encouraged.

Lonnie Mae Baker
December 8, 1941 – May 30, 2023
Arrangements TBA

Debra Darby
July 19, 1960 – May 18, 2023
Service: Saturday, June 3 at 11 am in the chapel of the Winnfield Funeral Home of Winnfield

Sylvia Stanfield
May 28, 1942 — May 28, 2023
Service: Wednesday, May 31 at 10 am at Trinity Baptist Church with interment to follow at Memory Lawn Cemetery in Natchitoches

Patsy Procell
February 13, 1947 — May 26, 2023
Service: Wednesday, May 31 at 11 am at St Anne’s Catholic Church in Spanish Lake Community followed by burial at Beulah Cemetery

Maudie Irene Fabian
December 25, 1935 — May 22, 2023
Service: Saturday, June 10 at 9 am at the Bolton Cemetery in Gorum

Date: 5-11-23
Name: Jitahadi Kahey 
Address: Shreveport, LA 
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 71
Charge: Residential Contracting Fraud 

Date: 5-13-23
Name: Danny W Browning 
Address: Dodson, LA 
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 62
Charge: Criminal Damage to Property 

Date: 5-13-23
Name: Danny W Browning
Address: Dodson, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 62
Charge: Driving under suspension, Failure to report accident, Illegally armmed, Possession of CDS with Intent (x39), Possession of Counterfiet Bills (x14), Possession of Legend Drug, Reckless Driving (caused accident)

Date: 5-15-23
Name: Nathan Wayne Folden 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 19
Charge: Simple Burglary of Inhabited Dwelling, Theft 

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.

Date: 5-14-23
Name: Miranda Fountain 
Address: Winnfield, LA 
Race: Black 
Sex: Female 
Age: 25
Charge: Disturbing the peace (violent and tumultuous manner) 

Date: 5-17-23
Name: Caleb Box 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White
Sex: Male 
Age: 20
Charge: Simple Battery (attempted), Simple Burglary (x2), Criminal trespassing, Identity theft

Date: 5-17-23 
Name: Timothy B Smith 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: White 
Sex: Male 
Age: 27
Charge: Direct contempt of court 

Date: 5-17-23
Name: Detravias Holmes 
Address: Winnfield, LA 
Race: Black 
Sex: Male 
Age: 27
Charge: Direct contempt of court 

Date: 5-19-23
Name: James Monk 
Address: Pineville, LA
Race: White
Sex: Male 
Age: 35
Charge: Domestic Abuse Battery 

Date: 5-22-23
Name: Kelsey Rachal 
Address: Winnfield, LA
Race: Black 
Sex: Female 
Age: 34
Charge: Direct contempt of court 

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.

The Winn Parish Police Jury took action May 15 to keep local traffic moving despite major bridge damage in two locations.  One of the bridges is on Hwy 84 East at Tullos, while the other is on the Bethlehem Road (1232).

Relating to the Tullos bridge closure, road superintendent Perry Holmes reported that the road crew is doing additional work on the Albritton Road to help alleviate that problem by allowing local traffic to travel by an alternate route.  This will not be available to heavy commercial traffic.  He added that the state has performed a load-rated test on a bridge on the Coldwater Road and posted a weight limit of 35 for two-axel vehicles and 44 tons for commercial vehicles.

The jury also awarded a roadway construction bid along the Douglas Garrett Road and the Joe Frazier Road in the amount of $695,988 to Regional Construction LLC.  The roads experienced extensive damage as traffic has for several years bypassed a damaged and now a one-lane bridge on the Bethlehem Road.  The problem could worsen when the bridge is closed for replacement, a project that could take another three years.  Jury president Josh McAllister made numerous trips to Baton Rouge to advocate the issue and jurors thanked the representatives and senators who secured the funding.

The jury also agreed to grant the Winn Parish Assessor’s Office $68,000 to purchase a Geographic Information System (GIS) from Spatial Net Inc.  This was the least expensive of three bids considered at a previous meeting when action was tabled for study.  The accepted bid from Spatial Net Inc. also includes an annual upgrade fee of $2,000 which Assessor Lawrence Desadier says that office can fund.  Two other bids were around $400,000 and $143,000, with higher annual fees.  

If the parish has GIS capability, connecting local data to online maps, then industries, businesses, real estate, individuals, hunting clubs and more can track all property data online without having to travel to the local courthouse to pore over records there.  Winn is one of only four state parishes that lack GIS technology.

“This is not a knee-jerk reaction,” said juror Tammy Griffin.  She said the jury tabled action in order to study the issue.  The possibility of seeking a grant through Kisatchie Delta was discussed but even if a grant could be secured, it would be several years before the funding would be available.  Spatial Net bid should have Winn online with GIS by year’s end.

The jury also adopted 2023 ad valorem millage rates totaling 22.37 mills.  They are General Alimony 3.94, Health Unit 3.24, Library 5.03, Library 3.03, Road District #1 1.99 and Road District #2 5.12.