Date: 4-16-24 Name:Amelia P Bishop Address: N/A Race: White Sex: Female Age: 35 Charge: Theft (misc)
Date: 4-18-24 Name: Bert M Givens Address: Winnfield, LA Race: Black Sex: Male Age: 38 Charge: Criminal conspiracy (Armed robbery)
Date: 4-20-24 Name: Ernest Smith Address: Winnfield, LA Race: Black Sex: Male Age: 54 Charge: Obscenity
Date: 4-21-24 Name: Austin Wise Address: Winnfield, LA Race: White Sex: Male Age: 25 Charge: Aggravated battery
Date: 4-22-24 Name: Maxine Mosely Address: Winnfield, LA Race: Black Sex: Female Age: 62 Charge: Aggravated battery, Simple criminal damage to property
Date: 4-23-24 Name: James Clinton JR Address: Winnfield, LA Race: White Sex: Male Age: 27 Charge: Theft (felony)
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.
Virginia Smith Passed-April 14, 2024 Service: Funeral services for Mrs. Smith were held Thursday 18th, at Southern Funeral Home, 202 East Lafayette Street, Winnfield, LA. Interment followed at Garden of Memories Cemetery (Winnfield).
Bobby Glenn Erskins September 20, 1942-April 17th, 2024 Service. Funeral services for Mr. Erskins were held Sunday, April 21, 2024, at Southern Funeral Home. Interment followed in Hart Cemetery (Sikes).
Herman Arthur Castete Passed- April 20, 2024 Service: A Memorial service for Mr. Castete will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at Southern Funeral Home. A Funeral Mass will be held at 2:00 PM Wednesday, April, 24, 2024 at St. Theresa’s Catholic Chapel in St. Landry. Interment will follow in St. Theresa’s Catholic Chapel Cemetery.
Both the Winnfield and Winn Parish fire departments responded to a call for mutual aid April 10 to assist firefighters from across Jackson Parish in battling a blaze that destroyed the Paradise Funeral Home on Hwy 167 at Beech Springs Hwy in Jonesboro.
It appears that the fire broke out around 9:30 a.m. and the call for assistance went out around 10 a.m. The Winnfield Fire Department responded to the Jonesboro Fire Department’s request with Ladder Truck 1 and Support 2, together with three personnel. Requested of Winn Parish Fire District 3 was water supply and the department sent two 4000 gallon tankers to assist with water shuttling operations
Once on scene, fire fighters found the building fully involved and a defense operation set up by departments from three parishes. Fire fighters met with command and set the ladder truck up on the back side of the funeral home for aerial operations. Ladder 1 was provided a dump tank to draft from and several tankers that kept the supply of water going.
The building was a total loss. There were no injuries to either citizens or fire responders that were reported. Funeral home officials have since announced a temporary location at 401 E. Main Street, the former Stage location.
Both Chief Brian Montgomery in Winnfield and Chief Dustin Parker with WPFD emphasized that while the mutual aid response took place, both the city and parish were protected by equipment and other fire personnel on and off duty.
Come through the front door of the courthouse for Early Voting which continues through Saturday this week.
Turnout on the first day of early voting for the April 27 election was fairly light, according to figures for the Winn Registrar of Voters Office. For Saturday, just 25 cast their preference in person, while another 39 mail-in absentee ballots bumped the total to 64.
But the pace picked up Monday as the courthouse halls were packed with potential jurors while a jury selection process was taking place in the courtroom. They sat, they stood, they talked, they waited, some from morning until nearly 5 when the selection was complete. Many figured that while they waited, they might go to the other end of the hall and vote early in the Registrar’s Office. Monday’s walk-in count was 80.
Tuesday saw another 50 walk-in voters, bringing three-day figure to 155 in-person, with 76 absentee (mail) ballots for an overall total of 231.
On the ballot are two parishwide taxes. The Police Jury is seeking a half-cent sales tax for continued road maintenance. The School Board is asking for a 9.25-mill ad valorem tax for ongoing school maintenance.
There is also one issue that will be voted only by those registered in the Consolidated School District 11 (Dodson/Sikes area). That will be a 15-mill ad valorem tax to pay General Obligation Bonds for capital expenditures and improvements in that school district.
Sample ballots are posted on the wall outside the Registrar of Voters Office. Registrar Bryan Kelley advises that voters may also download the GeauxVote app which allows them to view their individual sample ballot and monitor results on Election night.
Early Voting will continue in the Registrar of Voters office in the Winn Parish Courthouse through this Saturday, April 20. Hours will be from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m., with entrance through the Main Street door of the courthouse. The election will be Saturday, April 27.
Of the early voters, office figures show that 191 are white and 40 black; 80 are male and 143 female; and 68 are Democrat, 125 are Republican and 38 are Other.
Chief deputy clerk Donald Boyett verifies and prepares an electronic voter card.
District Attorney Chris Nevils announced good news for Winn’s underserved rural internet users at Monday’s Police Jury meeting when he said a grant should make broadband service available to virtually all households here, with work beginning by spring of 2025.
His excitement was evident in his presentation. While improved internet accessibility in rural Winn has been discussed for years, monies have been used up by the time local requests were made. He termed this “early disappointment” that left many rural users with few options other than slower satellite internet.
He noted that broadband is defined as service with a minimum of 100 megabits per second download capacity and 20 megabits upload. Without the broadband, most of the four or five providers currently serving Winn cannot match those levels.
The “Good News” came, Nevils said, after he got together with Connect.La.gov, a state government entity. He emphasized to them that isolated Winn Parish is in desperate need of reliable internet. While the first round of funding called GUMBO 1 has been depleted, the next is GUMBO 2 and Winn will be a “full grantee,” meaning the funding has been promised with no local match with no grant applications, he said. This is federal funding processed through the state.
Nevils told the lawmakers that contracts should be signed by October “and trucks should be rolling by the first quarter of next year to put out more fiber optics.” The target of the GUMBO program is provision of broadband access to households. He added that there will also be grant applications available for businesses.
Local officials are cooperating in a drive to clean up the streets of our city and parish as part of the “Keep Louisiana Beautiful” initiative, urging teams to pull together in a big City/Parish Cleanup Day this Saturday, April 20.
Both Town Hall and the Police Jury have been working to round up teams that wish to take part in this cleanup competition, each team picking a particular city or parish road they’d like to see litter-free, bagging their efforts and taking the results to the Grove Street Recreation Center for a tabulation.
Team supplies will be available at the Police Jury Office in the Courthouse at 4 p.m. tomorrow, April 18. Included will be gloves, trash bags and liability forms. Only team leaders are needed for this pickup. Organizers say the purpose of teams announcing their selected roads is to avoid overlap. For safety reasons, state highways are not part of Saturday’s plan.
Cleanup Day will begin at 8 a.m. and continue until 11 a.m. when teams will then converge on the Grove Street Rec with their bags of litter where they will be tallied. The Police Jury added that if teams pick up any heavy items like mattresses, sofas and furniture or appliances, those should be dropped off at the parish highway barn on Thomas Mill Road instead of the Rec.
Once the work is complete, the fun will begin when there will be hamburgers and door prizes at the recreation center beginning at 11.
Organizers say there is still time to get a Cleanup Day team involved. All teams must have an adult sponsor. For details, call 628-5824 or 628-3939.
Mayor Gerald Hamms presents the city’s “Hammy” community award to Brenda Warren of Center Street who says she “doesn’t like to see it trashy” and is frequently seen downtown picking up litter. With them for congratulations is council member Erikia Breda.
With the City/Parish Cleanup Day set for this Saturday, April 20*, it was fitting that the Winnfield City Council at its April meeting presented “Hammy Awards” to two women who are going “above and beyond” in their efforts to keep the city’s streets clean.
Mayor Gerald Hamms said that Brenda Warren of Center Street can be spotted in the downtown area almost daily, picking up paper, discarded cans and litter from the streets, sidewalks and grassy areas. “She doesn’t like to see it trashy.”
Teresa Moran of Mimosa drive in South Winnfield works to clean up her neighborhood. She’s put out flower pots, trash cans and signs advising “Don’t Litter.”
They will certainly be among those encouraging folks to get out Saturday morning to work in teams to tidy up both the city and parish. The Hammy Awards are presented to recognize special individuals who work improve the community.
Two actions by the council will impact the David G. Joyce Airport on Hwy 167 north. First was action to resume a hangar fee to those using them at the airport. A fee had previously been in place but at some point dropped. Andre Bass confirmed that people are still using the hangars and the council moved to reinstate the fee.
The second action will being a modern weather monitoring system, Mesonet, to the airport grounds at no cost to the city. Due to threatening storms, a ULM representative could not attend the meeting personally but communicated via Zoom. The solar-powered system will record and log wind speed and direction, temperature and solar radiation.
A presentation was heard from Meta Solutions on radar speed control equipment for the Winnfield Police Department. The department currently uses traditional radar “guns.”
The city recently took delivery of its newest fire engine that will be dedicated in an April 27 ceremony. The council authorized the mayor to donate the oldest, a 1979 Mack CP 500 fire engine, the Winn Parish Fire District 3.
The council, in an annual proclamation, named April as Fair Housing Month. It was notes as to “Fair Housing: It’s right. It’s fair. It’s for everyone. It’s not an option, it’s the law.”
*The cleanup has been announced to be held from 8 a.m. until 11 with an incentive for teams taking part being hamburgers that will be served at the Grove Street Recreation Center in Winnfield at 11. Door prizes will also be given.
Teresa Moran whose flower pots, trash cans and signs that read “Don’t Litter” promote her anti-littering efforts around Mimosa Drive. The mayor presented her the city’s “Hammy Award” for her community service. With them is council member Teresa Phillips.
The Village of Goldonna is mourning the loss of their former Mayor, Jennifer, Garner Smith. Smith passed away April 11, 2024. after a brief illness in Fort Worth, Texas.
She was surrounded by her family and her husband. She was well rooted in her faith and lived every day in service to the Lord.
Although, her illness was brief the impact she leaves behind will be felt for decades to come. Smith spent all of her career in the medical field and of course did not mind helping others in need if they needed medical advice. She was also the dedicated praise and worship leader and Board Member at River Of Life Family Worship Center in Goldonna, where she was a member since childhood. She loved to travel with her husband and their friends and she was a very proud mom to Ethan Smith.
“Goldonna lost a great citizen when we lost Jenny. We are very grateful for the time that she dedicated to serving the community. I would like to ask everyone to continue to pray for and offer support to her entire family in the days ahead,” shared Mayor Gayle Cloud.
Services for Jennifer Smith will be held on Saturday, April 27th, 2024 at Winnfield First Assembly of God in Winnfield, LA.
The Memorial Service will begin at 10am, immediately followed by an Interment at Goldonna Cemetery in Goldonna, Louisiana.
There was a Love Fund established at BOM Bank to help defray the cost of medical and funeral expenses.
Rotary president Kim Futrell stands with Supt. Al Simmons following his April 10 presentation to the Rotary Club.
Superintendent of Winn Parish Schools, Al Simmons, served as both Rotarian of the Day and speaker for the April 10 meeting of Winnfield’s Rotary Club.
Mr. Simmons is a native of Winnfield and served as a teacher and coach in Winn Parish schools for many years before taking on the challenge of administering the schools of the parish. He has confronted serious challenges since assuming the helm of our public school system and informed the group about some of these.
At the top of the concerns in this season is the increased cost of maintenance of our school properties accompanied by a steady decrease in revenues for this purpose. School funding includes several major components, such as payment of staff and funding of staff benefits of insurance and retirement, upkeep of various school buildings and the surrounding fields and gymnasiums, supplies such as textbooks, computers and other equipment, cafeteria equipment and supplies; the list could go on and on. Funds come from a variety of sources, but most must be dedicated to specific purposes.
The funds provided by the state of Louisiana for our school district are calculated on the number of students and the state provides a minimum per student. Winn’s student census has been steadily declining over the course of many years. It was declining before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, increased some in the following year, and has been continually declining each year since. Thus, funding from the state has been steadily declining as well, while the minimum funding per student has not been increased by the legislature in 25 years. These funds today provide only about 48% of the parish budget. The rest comes from local taxes.
The school district does receive some grants from federal sources, all of which are earmarked for specific purposes outside the general fund and property maintenance.
Many of the school buildings and property in the parish are getting older and require more than average maintenance. Calvin’s building has been in use since 1929 and Winnfield Primary School has been occupied since the late 1940’s, so the maintenance cost is gradually increasing.
The district’s property maintenance is covered by local tax revenue which makes up 7% of the school district’s budget. These taxes allow the schools to issue bonds for funding property upkeep and necessary repairs and improvements. This includes purchase of heating and air conditioning equipment, commercial kitchen equipment as well as other equipment essential for maintaining buildings and grounds which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The parish-wide school maintenance tax comes on the ballot in the election set for April 27. It was first passed by citizens in 1965 at 5 mills and was increased to 8 mills in 1980. The current millage is 8.15. The tax proposition on the ballot April 27 requests a tax of 9.25 mills in lieu of the current 8.15 mills, for a very modest increase which will generate an additional $75,000 per year.
There is also a measure on the ballot for the Dodson-Sikes district seeking to renew a millage used to provide lights for the baseball field, which is needed for replacement of major mechanical equipment and roofing repairs.
The election is scheduled for April 27, and early voting began on Saturday, April 13, and ends on April 20, so Mr. Simmons asks all registered voters to vote YES on all proposals early or on election day, April 27, 2024.
Police report that failed brakes were the likely cause of an accident on April 7 that sent a pickup truck through a plate glass storefront window of Nichols department store in Winnfield. The incident occurred around 2:15 p.m.
Because this was a Sunday, Nichols was closed and even though both adjacent Family Dollar and Brookshire’s Grocery stores were open, no one was on the sidewalk in the accident area at the time. No one was injured.
The driver left the scene before police arrived but a description of the truck and the license plate number led to the arrest of a suspect not long after, Winnfield City Police reported.
Arrested was Rita Wilson of Winnfield. She was charged with hit & run, no insurance, no driver’s license and brake failure. She has been released on bond.
Bob & Diane are joined by friends and family on the back patio in Corsicana, watching as the solar eclipse develops.
(Editor’s Note: Talk about Murphy’s Law referenced in this story last week. The adage that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong” struck this story itself when a technical glitch sent most readers back to the “Early Voting” story rather than this “Total Eclipse” item. Let’s hope for better this time around. Thanks for your patience, WPJ.)
The total eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8, was as impressive as you read about, if you’re in the right place. When we learned a year ago that our son’s home in east Texas was in the path of the eclipse, we said we’d like to come. He had the sun-proof glasses and a spare bedroom. All was set.
Then there’s Murphy’s Law. What could go wrong? On our visits to Corsicana, we’re generally greeted by warm, open, blue skies. What if the weather chose that one special day to put on a Louisiana-style overcast or even a rain storm? So we started watching our cell phones for weather forecasts. Sure enough, as April 8 neared, clouds and maybe rain were in the picture. “Bummer,” our kids would say.
We headed west, still optimistic. Friday was beautiful, warm and sunny. But Saturday dawned drab and cloudy, a shroud of fog over the fields. As the day burned away, so did the clouds. By 12:30 (the start time for Monday’s eclipse) all was clear. Same thing happened Sunday. But when Monday arrived the opening curtain looked bleak, with a heavy overcast and rain predicted.
By noon, the sky was mostly cloudy yet the sun peeked through from time to time. With our special glasses handy, we sat on the back patio, glancing up at the sun periodically when it broke through. The eclipse started punctually at 12:20 and over time, between the clouds, we watched the sun’s sphere slowly nibbled away by the moon’s shadow until it looked through the glasses like an orange crescent moon.
Then Murphy’s Law struck…in reverse. As the cloud cover continued drifting eastward, we saw a large expanse of clear blue to the west, headed our direction. The magic and majesty of the eclipse was unfolding. As the shadow neared its totality and the sun was the tiniest sliver, it was as if Old Sol was fighting to resist, sending all its light and energy through that narrow gap. For the sunlight was no longer a warm yellow but an intense, bright white-hot light.
Then it was gone. In the total eclipse, the sun’s face is blocked and only the outer ring of the corona is there to accent the rim of the black shadow. Plus a couple of solar flares visible through binoculars. And, yes, we are now watching the entire four-minute show of the total eclipse through that one large open space in the clouds. It was amazing. The next total eclipse being discussed is two decades out.
On “decades,” Diane and I just marked an event that at one time was a regular feature in weekly newspapers: our 50th Anniversary. We found a nice cabin near Nacogdoches, Texas’ oldest town, and enjoyed a couple of quiet days there before making a short drive through the woods to Corsicana.
So I use this opportunity to answer the question, “To what do you attribute your marriage success?” Just a couple of words: Love. Compromise. Commitment. And the need to have a Christ-centered household.
Our greatest success? I think that Diane and I could each point at one thing or another but in the long run, I think we’d conclude it’s our children. We are given only so much time on this earth so it’s good to see your children carry on the values and beliefs impressed on them by their parents and grandparents.
My son concluded in a card he made for us, “Nothing eclipses the day you met.”
Sun’s face is totally blocked with only corona visible
Winn Parish Clerk of Court Chesney Chandler explained some details on the operation of her office to the Winnfield Kiwanis Club during its April 16 meeting
On April 16, Chesney Creel Chandler, Winn Parish Clerk of Court, spoke to the Kiwanis club. She began by saying that mortgages, conveyances, and marriage licenses are now available on-line. Some of them back to 1906. They also have birth certificates but do not do passports.
To access records on-line the fee is $20 daily, $100 monthly or $1,000 yearly. It took 4 years to complete conveyance records (seller/buyer). The mortgage records are available back to 1993. She has hired someone part-time to scan the records into the data base. There is a redaction company that takes care of removing social security numbers to make the records safer. It takes time to get new things right but they are working on it. There are 2 back up methods, locally and an off-site storage. Our office still keeps the books because if the computer goes down they can still look up records and add records.
The clerk’s office does the civil and criminal records. In e-reporting you do not have an original.
Another topic talked about was jury selection. There are 8,000 registered voters in Winn, a list she gets from the Secretary of State’s office once a year. They update monthly with people who have moved or have died. One problem is that people move and register to vote in another parish or state but do not report it locally. There is no central database that keeps up with voter registration.
Future plans include civil e-filing which is being required by law. With the part-time employee they are working on scanning all records into the on-line system.
A question was asked about the financial situation of the office. Many people do not know that the office is self-funded through the fees they charge. They get no state or local monies. The police jury helps with supplies. There are 3 employees in addition to Mrs. Chandler. Those include a civil, criminal and conveyance person. There is a part-time employee to do the scanning. She uses grants to help with expenses for the new things they are doing. There is an increase in criminal paperwork and they get no money for that and they don’t get money for appeals. Overall they are holding their own financially.
Club members were very happy to see Les and Janine Michie at Kiwanis on Tuesday. The couple left at the end of 2023 to go back home to Moses Lake, Washington, but had come back to visit.
Parish road superintendent Perry Holmes came into Monday’s Police Jury session, telling jurors that he was just returning from a response to high waters in the Beulah area. “With 8 to 9 inches of rain recently, we’ve had a lot of road washouts. We’ve been trying to get them back in shape.”
There is good news for the Harrisonburg Road, he said. Three bridge projects were originally planned under the state’s “Build Back Better” program but that got narrowed to one. That bridge is on that road, with a budget of $400,000 to $500,000. The superintendent is optimistic that work could move swiftly, perhaps by the end of the year, since survey and right of way are complete and plans are at 90%.
Phillip Evans reported on an earlier Road Committee session when a priority of keeping road graders in one district at a time for efficiency (instead of moving from here to there) was discussed. But he agreed that when situations come up like the flooding Holmes mentioned, the superintendent will take the necessary actions.
The jury did agree to accept a bid from LouisianaCAT to activate a GPS tracking service on all of the parish Caterpillar equipment at an annual cost of $1,200. Holmes said the GPS technology is already installed on the equipment and needs only to be activated. This will allow jurors to follow the location and activity of the equipment.
In other jury action, lawmakers agreed to assist the Village of Dodson in grading the J.C. Parker Road, Keith Street, Gresham Street and Red Barn Road. An amendment to the personnel manual will add mandatory Cybersecurity training. And the following were named to PEMAC (Parish Emergency Management Advisory Committee): Frank McLaren, Cindy Tilton, Phillip Evans, Dustin Parker, Gerry Lumus, Aleta Hoffman, Sabrina Kuhlmann and Brian Montgomery.
I am upping the game of your plain-o sausage ball with this Red Lobster Sausage Ball Recipe. So so SO good. These are great to go along with your supper or to make for a crowd, no matter the occasion. They are 100 percent sure to please!
Ingredients:
* 1 box Red Lobster biscuit mix
* 1 pound Jimmie Dean sausage, cooked
* 16 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
* Butter as directed on the biscuit mix box
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cooked sausage with the biscuit mix and cheese in a stand mixer. Use a large cookie scoop to drop scoops onto baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Mix butter and the seasoning packet from the box. Brush onto each baked sausage ball when removed from the oven.
Ashley Madden Rowton is a wife, mom and published cookbook author who lives in Minden, La.
