Tomorrow, August 1, will mark a change of ownership but not a change of convenient downtown service of Pharmacy Services when Steve Shelton, a pharmacist here for 47 years who has operated out of his 100 W. Main Street location for nearly a quarter century, turns the keys over to not-for-profit Trinity Community Health Center of Louisiana.

“The board at Trinity wasn’t looking at getting into the retail pharmacy business,” said CEO Deano Thornton.  “Steve approached us as he looked to step back from the full responsibilities of the business at Pharmacy Services.  We didn’t want to see the doors closed on another business with 20 employees on Main Street.”

Shelton has certainly witnessed that trend in hometown pharmacies.  When he took over his father Leo Shelton’s pharmacy opposite the post office in January 1978, pharmacies abounded:  Flurry’s Pharmacy, New Winnfield Drugs, Winn Pharmacy, Courthouse Pharmacy, Emerson’s Pharmacy, Shirley’s Pharmacy, Medicine Shoppe, Scott’s Pharmacy. 

Shelton told the Journal that he worked in his dad’s pharmacy beginning in 1971 as he attended Louisiana Tech and was attracted to the profession.  After receiving his pre-pharmacy degree at Tech, he went on to study and received his degree at NLU in Monroe.  “I guess the word I’d use is ‘service’ to describe my work through these years,” he said.  “I’m proud of serving the people, being available, talking and visiting individually with them.”

Thornton expressed the same desire by Trinity in maintaining their service level to customers.  “I go back to my days as a student, maybe eighth grade, when Leo Shelton, a longtime coach and educator at Atlanta, opened his first pharmacy near the Baptist Church.  They have a rich tradition of taking care of people here in Winnfield, a tradition we plan to maintain.”

The CEO explained that Pharmacy Services as a division of Trinity CHC will keep on as many of the present staff as possible as well as additional pharmacists and staff to fill scripts in a timely fashion.  Upgraded pharmacy equipment and software is upcoming.  They’ve signed contracts with two local pharmacists, April Boyett who will be pharmacist in charge and Yasmeen Davis.  Familiar faces such as pharmacist Sharon Barnett, pharmacy technician Tiffany Hemphill and yes, even Steve Shelton will continue at Pharmacy Service.

“We’re happy that Steve wants to continue working as a pharmacist but only with the reduced hours that he wants to work,” said Thornton.  “He’ll be able to do the work he enjoys without the pressures of the day to day business.  After all these years, he’s earned that.  In his tradition, we’ll have expanded hours and home deliveries as folks need.”

Shelton said that since the COVID years when peoples’ attitudes altered, he’s been eyeing the possibility of stepping back.  “I’ve been talking and visiting with Trinity for some time and am happy with the arrangement.  I’d like to thank God for giving me this ability to serve people, thank my family for their patience and support and thank the people of Winnfield and Winn Parish for their confidence and respect.”

On August 1, the ownership may change but Trinity aims to preserve the warm, customer-friendly atmosphere that folks have come to expect.

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Parents and students alike will be able to get a preview of their schools and classrooms next week before classes start on Opening Day August 7, the Winn Parish School Board announced.

Featured Monday, August 5, will be the Winnfield schools.  At 4:30 p.m. the Open House at Winnfield Primary School will begin.  Winnfield Middle School will begin its Open House at 5 p.m.  Winnfield Senior High School will start its Open House at 5:30 p.m.

The rural schools will be featured on Tuesday, August 6.  Dodson High School will start its Open House at 5:30 p.m.  Calvin High School will begin its Open House at 6 p.m.

Instructional Supervisor Amanda Taylor advised that the board has continued its tradition of compiling and distributing a Winn Parish Resource Directory for the benefit of families as the new school year gets underway.

Included are not only school contacts of the district system and parish but also agencies and contact numbers for such categories as Abuse, Basic Needs, Counseling, Disabilities, Emergency Services, Health Services, Housing, Juvenile Services, Legal Services and Utilities Assistance.

Available on the School Board’s website, the information is also given to parents of pre-Kindergarten students to show them the services available to them locally and across the state.  Copies have also been distributed to the Food Pantry and Chamber of Commerce.

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The newly appointed Winn Emergency 911 board named Sheriff Josh McAllister chairman at its initial meeting July 25.  Police Juror Darrell Franks will service as vice chairman.  Others appointed by the Police Jury are EMT Russell Johnson, Winn Parish Fire Chief Dustin Parker, Winnfield Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter, Winnfield Mayor Gerald Hamms and Winnfield Fire Chief Brian Montgomery.

The system that has been providing additional security for Winn residents since the 1980s was launched out of efforts to bring affordable fire insurance rates for rural homeowners, 32-year 911 veteran Don Garrett had earlier told the police jury.  Only the most expensive fire category of 10 was assigned to those living outside the city of Winnfield, if insurance was available at all.

The Rural Fire District and the Emergency 911 system were necessary to bring those rates down.  Much of the impetus for both was provided by Cranford Jordan who remained involved with each through the years, he said.

A challenge facing the new board is one that confronted 911 from its outset, only more expensive.  That is advance of communication technology.  The system worked best at its start when virtually all phones were landlines and incoming 911 calls could be accurately traced to their source.  Garrett gave an example of 911 working at its best:

A 5-year-old kindergartener walked home but her mother, a teacher, was not yet home and the child panicked.  As taught in school, she called 911 and cried that her mother was gone.  The dispatcher (who Garrett terms “the most important link”) while dispatching a police unit to the home, maintained calm conversation with the hysterical child.  She got the child’s name, assured her that the police would find her mother right away and that a policeman would soon be at her home.  “He’s your friend.  Let him come in.”  About that time, the police car did arrive and not long thereafter, the mother too came home.  All was resolved.

Communications technology—cell phones, smart phones, texting—have complicated the 911 process.  Multiple signal towers are necessary to triangulate an accurate location of a mobile call and Winn may never be large enough to have that tower density.  Since its beginning, Winn’s 911 system has seen four system upgrades and the “next generation” could cost well over $700,000.

Currently, about 50% of the phone lines in Winn are still landlines.  But the other 50% are cell phones.  Of the cellphones, about 20% are Smartphones, meaning their signals go directly to satellite where GPS is available.

“Fees for Winn’s 911 service have never increased,” said Garrett.  “They are 55 cents for a landline, 85 cents for cell phone and $1.43 for business line.  The board had the wisdom to set aside 60% of payments from the start and has been able to pay for upgrades until this point.”  His report to the jury indicated that Winn’s 911 is in sound shape financially…but not $700,000 or $800,000 worth.  “Truly, Winn has so few customers (and our population is declining) that a rate increase wouldn’t make up that difference.”

Garrett said that companies that handle 911 upgrades anticipate the local 911 systems have their own offices, dispatchers and technicians.  He explained that 911 calls within the city are routed through to the Winnfield Police Department while rural calls go to the Sheriff’s Office.  Volunteers who’ve assisted the system through these years have been the “technicians” while “the office is the back of my pickup truck,” he said in relation of handling mapping and bookkeeping for the system.

Winn’s system is small and will remain that way.  Fees bring in about $140,000 annually.  “Real” 911 calls may be as few as 2 or 3 monthly, mostly auto accidents, folks lost in the woods or lost on the lake and domestic calls.  Additional traffic may be “test” calls, perhaps youngsters who’ve just learned about 911 in school who are calling to see if it works.

“The challenge for the new 911 board will be to work within the parameters of what we can afford…to stay within the money.”

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Summer Vacation is over.  A week from today, students across Winn Parish will be back in school (for a half day).  On Thursday, August 8, they will be back in their classrooms for a full day.  Through the month of August, students will be in school five days a week.  Beginning September 3 following the Labor Day weekend, classes will resume their four-day schedules.

Even though students still have another week to wrap up their summer activities, educators here are already back in class, getting their programs in line before the August 7 start date.  “Why?” the Journal asked.  “I can tell you exactly why,” replied Instructional Supervisor Amanda Taylor.  “We do all of this so we can best meet the needs of the children in Winn Parish.  All of our programs are for the children…it’s not about the adults.”

“All of this” started on August 26 when a training session was held for cafeteria managers and staff.  There was also in-service training for bus drivers and anyone else like coaches who will be driving buses.  Then daily sessions began July 29 with Administrative sessions for superintendent, supervisors and principals.  Financial sessions were also held for principals, secretaries and auditors.  July 30 followed with an orientation session for new teachers.

Upcoming, July 31 will see sessions in numeracy training, an aspect compelled by the legislature for grades 4-8 educators.  Taylor explained that the legislature previously required literacy training for educators in grades K-3.  “In Winn, we train all our teachers to have this knowledge.  Reading skills are the foundation of literacy.  The same as numeracy skills are to math.”

Training continues August 1 when Special Services Director Candy Polk leads training of all teachers who address any of the special service areas including special education, resources, self-contained, gifted and like programs.  A new area known as “Bayou Bridges” for teachers K-8 will provide training in social studies on August 2.  Back to classes on Monday, August 5, training will be held in all subject areas.  Included will be CPR training for all paraprofessionals as well as all persons involved in athletics.

Then on Tuesday, August 6, the day before students arrive in force, educators will hold a dress rehearsal in the form of a Virtual Opening Day.  That day, educators will report to their assigned schools and by way of a Zoom call, will connect with a transmission from the School Board’s media center.  Finally, Opening Day is August 7.

It’s a longer, more detailed training program than Winn’s school system saw in years past.  “We want our training to be more specialized so our educators are prepared to offer the best for our students,” said Taylor.  “It’s not a shotgun approach.”

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By Craig Franklin

Sellers and vendors participating in the 2024 Sales Along 84 massive yard sale event scheduled for September 5-7 are reminded to register online to add their location to the official map.

Event founder Lavelle Evans noted that a special newspaper tabloid is being printed to be distributed along the route for visitors to use during the event and the printer has set a deadline of Friday, August 2.

“If you want to be included in this special promotional tool that will be given away free during Sales Along 84 then you must be registered by August 2,” Evans said. “We really want everyone to register and not have anyone left out.”

The map will also be assessable through Facebook so shoppers can utilize it during the event on their phones.

To register, visit “Vendors Only – Sales Along 84” on Facebook. Fill out the simple application and your location will be listed.

Evans said that everyone participating in the event should be registered, including individual/personal sales, vendor locations with multiple sellers and businesses along the route.  “We really need businesses, like those located in downtown areas who have specialty shops that our visitors will enjoy, to register,” Evans said. “Don’t take it for granted that they will know you are there. By registering, they will know exactly where you are located and what you have to offer.”

Others who need to register include restaurants, motels, campgrounds and RV parking.

The 2024 event will take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 5, 6, and &, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily. The route includes all of U.S. Hwy. 84 across Louisiana and into Mississippi.

For more information about Sales Along 84, contact Evans at (318) 316-0781, Jason Holland at (318) 316-7090, or visit the Sales Along 84 Facebook page.

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Gail Shelton spoke to the Kiwanis club July 30 about her recent trip to Spain. This was her 18th trip with Go Ahead Tours. She is a tour coordinator for them. She began with them when she was teaching and taking trips with her students because they had educational trips for students. Later on they added adult trips under Go Ahead Tours. Spain was not on Shelton’s bucket list (she’s been to a lot of European countries) but several other people were interested so she decided to go there. The trip was originally scheduled during COVID but was cancelled. 

The group flew into Barcelona which is on the northeast corner of Spain. They rode the high speed train to Madrid. From there they traveled to Seville and then to Costa del Sol where they visited several small towns. At each city they went out to other destinations. Most of the time, they traveled on a 55-passenger bus. There were only 17 people on the tour and 9 of them were from our area. 

Shelton talked about the unexpected things. There is a lot of ancient history in Spain including Roman ruins in Cordoba. It was settled by the Romans in 218 BC. Originally it was settled by the Moors who were Muslims (you can see Africa from Gibraltar).  In 1492 the Christians took over and made churches out of mosques. On the outside they look like mosques but on the inside they have the traditional Roman Catholic decor.  It was beautiful architecture and tiles in many beautiful colors and patterns. The food was not Mexican food but a lot of fish and seafood. The served a variety of small dishes with many different kinds of food, tapas, chicken and beef and the food was not spicy.  Businesses were closed from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. for siesta. People got up late and stayed up late.  In the evening it was cooler so there was outdoor dining but the locals eat later, around 9 to 10 p.m.

58 million tourists visited Spain last year. Most tourism professionals speak English. Spain is the top producer of olive oil in the world. The group visited a family operation that grew olives, harvested them and turned them into olive oil.  There are also 47 UNESCO sites, medieval towns that had been saved and looked like they did in the 1400’s. 

80% of the population is Roman Catholic. In Barcelona they visited a church La Sagrada Familia, a church that has been being built for over 100 years and they are still not finished, maybe by 2030. It has had several different architects and each one has put their own stamp on it. It was traditional on the outside and modern contemporary on the inside. Different areas showcased different types of decor. The stained glass was not a picture but different shapes put together. On the east was it was blues and greens representing heaven and on the west side it was yellows and oranges representing hell. 

Shelton passed around the books she had made with drawings, photographs and writings of what they saw. The books are available at The Pea Patch. Her next trip will be to Egypt in March 2025. There is still time to sign up.

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Rotarian of the day, Chesney Chandler, introduced her guest speaker for Winnfield Rotary’s July 24, meeting, Eight Judicial District Court Judge Anastasia Wiley. Judge Wiley, who was Winnfield’s City Judge before assuming the district court bench in January 2021, considers her job to be one of community service, and she continually strives to help more people as best she can.

While acknowledging that 2020 was a bad year, Judge Wiley told the group of positive changes in court procedures that resulted from the need for social distancing with the advent of COVID-19. Holding conferences with attorneys and the parties to cases via Zoom or other electronic video means is now standard procedure. This eliminates travel as well as the time previously spent in court waiting for one’s case to be called up. It also avoids the need for parties to see each other in person in contentious cases. Training sessions for court personnel are also via video communication.

Another positive change was the use of a staggered docket, scheduling sets of cases at separate times, rather than every case being set at the beginning of the day. This, too, is more efficient because the fewer cases set at one time means fewer people who must appear and wait for other matters to be handled before theirs.

Judge Wiley is the vice current president of the Judicial College, which is the educational arm of the Louisiana Supreme Court. The College teaches judges how to do their job, what they should know and how they should act. As a member of the City Judges Association and the Juvenile Courts’ Association, Judge Wiley brings a rural perspective to these groups instead of the only viewpoint being that of judges from the cities in Louisiana. 

According to Wiley, Louisiana’s legislature has passed several laws this year with significant impact on the courts and law enforcement, including requiring that all 17-year-olds be charged as adults, the imposition of more severe sentencing and penalty provisions, and requiring that all those convicted of crime serve at least 85% of their sentence, an increase from 35%.

As judge in one of the nine judicial districts in Louisiana which do not have drug courts, Wiley anticipates soon receiving funds from the legislature and from the opioid settlement allowing her to implement some aspects of the drug court model in her court. She also has appointed a juvenile facilitator who will connect with the district attorney’s families in need of services officer and a contact person at each school in the parish to deal with truancy, as well as juvenile offenders. 

In conclusion, Judge Wiley emphasized her commitment to helping all people in the community as our district judge.

Rotary’s president adjourned the meeting with the Rotary motto, Service Above Self!

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Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils joins Billy West discuss to update the public on crime issues that are affecting Winn Parish and the surrounding areas.

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The annual Back to School Bash produced by Caring & Sharing in Unity and the Winn Healthy Initiatives Coalition was in full swing from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Winnfield Civic Center on Friday, July 26. Highlights included a bounce house and live music by Franklin Graham and his grandson Joe Lewis IV.

Twenty organizations set up tables with school supplies, hygiene kits and educational items and information for the children and their parents. State agencies included Central Louisiana Human Services District, CenLA Area Health Education Center, Office of Public Health-Health Disparities, Community Health Ways, Early Steps, and the Louisiana Political Museum & Hall of Fame. Winn Parish services on hand were the Winn Parish School Board, Library, Health Unit, and Fire District 3. Several representatives of the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office were on hand throughout the event.

Also on hand to highlight their services were Winn Community Health Center, Winn Parish Medical Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates, DART, the Strengthening Families training program, Winnfield Lion’s Club, Winnfield Pilot Club, First United Methodist Church Learning Tree and the organizer of the event, Caring & Sharing in Unity.

The bounce house was set up in the building due to the rainy weather, music kept things moving along with door prizes awarded throughout the event, and a sack lunch of hotdogs, chips, fruit chews and drinks. 

Caring & Sharing in Unity and the Winn Healthy Initiatives Coalition are grateful to each organization and person who exhibited, handed out supplies, and attended their party.

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For the past few years, it was looking like Louisiana’s turkey hunters would have to reluctantly put away their shotguns and turkey calls and go back to doing what we were doing a couple of decades ago. It seemed the only outdoors springtime activity would be fishing. All the statistics pointed to a steady decline in turkey populations, back like it was when only a handful of local diehards, like Blue Parkman, Pete Brister and L.W. Hamner went out morning after morning hoping they might find a turkey track or actually hear a gobble.

Then something happened. According to a press release by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), Louisiana’s turkey hunters enjoyed the best year by far from a harvest standpoint in 2024. They reported taking 3695 birds during the recently completed hunting season. 

This year, for the first time since the harvest reporting was mandated in 2009, turkey hunters reported taking more than 3,000 birds. In fact, the past three seasons were the best ever reported since harvest data was compiled. Last year, an astounding 2833 birds were taken but for the 2024 season, the take was 30.4 percent higher than that.

What happened? Why did the harvest data take a jump in the right direction over the past three years? In 2018, the LDWF staff recommended that the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission push back the opening date for turkey season to give gobblers and hens more time to take care of the business of breeding and putting more baby turkeys on the ground.

Cody Cedatol is Turkey Program Manager for LDWF and he believes that giving turkeys more time to do what they naturally do in spring before hunters take to the woods played a big 

role in the improvement of the number of gobblers being taken. “This clearly indicates increasing turkey populations in many areas of the state and provides additional evidence that the season change is working,” said Cedatol. “Many hunters indicated increased encounters with jakes (juvenile turkeys), which is an indicator of good reproduction. Similar reports were noted in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.”

Jason Lupardis, native Kentuckian, has been named CEO of an up and coming organization, Turkeys for Tomorrow, that has the goal of trying to pinpoint problems nationwide having to do with the overall decline in wild turkey populations around the country.

We visited with Lupardis recently to ask about Turkeys for Tomorrow and get his take on what he sees as some of the main problems and why he believes Louisiana has beat the odds, in a manner of speaking, by having such good results over the past 2-3 years while other states continue to struggle.

“Reports from brood surveys of Louisiana turkeys have shown a higher poult-to-hen ratio which means that there has been good production of young turkeys. That is partly due,” said Lupardis,” to the pushing back opening day to allow gobblers and hens to breed.” To find out how Turkeys for Tomorrow works, visit turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

He also noted a new regulation Louisiana will implement beginning the 2025 season that will protect young gobblers. “The new regulation means only youth hunters may take one jake per season. For remaining hunters, only mature gobblers may be taken and jakes will be off limits. A mature gobbler is described as an adult with tail feathers the same length, beard longer than 6 inches and spurs at least ½ inch long,” he said.

It is troubling to realize that in so many areas, Louisiana is at or near the bottom in rank. However, when it comes to wild turkeys, our state because of more restrictive regulations, is setting standards that hopefully will see our wild turkey population continue to thrive.  

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Gimme an “E!” for “excitement!”

Go team!

It’s ‘that’ time of year, and the password is “excited!”

We can talk volleyball or soccer, and “certainly there is reason for excitement!” as most any coach would say, about the upcoming prospects on the court and on the pitch.

But the Kingpin of Autumn is football, so …

Pigskin Excitement!

Of all your excitements, the best and most contagious kind has got to be Pigskin Excitement! Optimism is rampant, hyperbole is free and easy.

And so — here we are. With August and the first days of (legal) practice knocking at the door, the only way to get in is to say you’re “excited,” or one of its cousins.

You can be “Eager!” or “Fired up!” or “Stoked!” or “Juiced!” or even, if you are light-headed due to excitement, “in a tizzy!”

It does not matter if you’re a Rhodes Scholar pulling guard or a quarterback with a rocket arm and chicken lo mein for brains, if you are not “EXCITED!” then buddy you’d better GET excited or get your butt OUT of this locker room and OFF this field!

These are exciting times!

But … what about the teams that SAY they’re excited but are NOT excited? What about the teams that are just flat-out depressed? Don’t they deserve some love too? 

We’ve been around and can testify: there’s not always a lot of exciting joy in Mudville.

There is what you will read in the newspapers and hear on film clips — “After an inspired offseason, we’re excited about getting on the field and sending these seniors out as champions!” — and there is what you will hear when the depressed coach walks back to the training room and pours his soul out, sweaty hat in hand, to the equipment manager. 

“We’re not worth donating to the homeless store. It depresses me to think that State U. is going to come in here in about eight weeks, right about the time we’re 2-5, and beat us like a rented mule.

“And ol’ Frankie Junior, he could be the best tight end in the league but I swear, if he was any dumber, we’d have to water that boy twice a day.

“We tried to put in a new system in the off-season and, Moses and Enoch themselves as my witness, it’s not going to be any better than the OLD system because we have the SAME players! We don’t need a new system; we need new players. Preferably ones with IQ’s higher than their shoe sizes. 

“On top of that, our mascot is getting neutered Tuesday. Did you know that? Doesn’t even have a vote. We’ve got more problems than a little bit. 

“And jock itch has infected the whole team. I’m telling you I’m so unlucky, I could reach in a barrel of silver dollars and pull out a penny.

“Only thing that can save us now is the NC Double A fining us and putting us on permanent suspension so we don’t have to play, but we’re too poor to have broken any rules. We couldn’t buy the toot off a whistle if they were selling for a nickel a pop. Boy if heartaches were commercials, I’d be all over everybody’s television sets…

“Meanwhile I’m having to tell the press and fans we’re ‘excited!’ Yesterday I even threw out a ‘SUPER-excited!’ Think they bought it?

“You know what excites me? That the season won’t last forever. 

“But it’s sure gonna seem that way.”

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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.

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