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.

Elaine Waters Atkins
November 29, 1951- July 26, 2024
Service: Funeral services for Mrs. Atkins will take place Wednesday, the 31st, at Calvary Baptist Church. Interment will follow in the church cemetery under the direction of Southern Funeral Home of Winnfield

Winnfield Fire Department sources have confirmed that the blaze that demanded Delta Tire at 702 E. Lafayette Street in Winnfield on Monday evening, July 22, is currently under investigation by the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s office to determine cause.

Asst. Fire Chief Cassidy Martin said the department received the call at 7:40 p.m. from City Police Lt. Charles Curry who had spotted smoke around the building as he drove over the five-land overpass and reported that the business was on fire.

“We dispatched five units and 12 people and when we arrived the building was in fact on fire.  We were able to make entry and begin fire suppression.”  He explained that one of the units was Ladder Truck No. 1 which allowed firefighters to cut a hole in the roof to expel smoke and hot gases from the building, allowing safer access by firefighters.

“Fire crews were able to get the fire out fairly quickly,” Cassidy said.  “Once the fire was out, we contacted the state Fire Marshal’s Office.  This is standard to determine cause.  The scene was secured by the Winnfield Police Department and the Winnfield Fire Department and the Fire Marshal’s Office dispatched personnel to being the investigation.”

He confirmed that damage to the property was extensive.

It was on December 17 last year that Delta Tire suffered an earlier fire loss.

President Trump could have easily died last week. The bullet whizzed by his head close enough to injure his ear. Had his head been turning in a different direction, or at a different angle, he would likely have been killed.

How did we get here?

In a way it’s not surprising; recall the deranged supporter of leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders who almost succeeded in killing U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise a few years ago. In this instance the verbal political attacks morphed from rhetoric to rage and last week we witnessed the violence that is its natural conclusion.

When an individual is demonized for years on end as a genuine “threat,” he is unavoidably made a target of violence. That’s what we have with President Trump. For years he has endured the hateful invective that he will be a “dictator”, or that he is a “Nazi”—an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs” or that he is inherently “evil” or that he represents “an existential threat” to the continuation of our country. It’s all demonstrably untrue but to the mentally or emotionally imbalanced, it can have a dangerous effect. My point is that these attacks on Pres. Trump are based upon him as a man, an individual.

Since he came down the escalator in 2016, there have been numerous threats of violence from Democrats in Congress, the music industry, and Hollywood. Here, I cite only a few:

Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened the life of Trump Supreme Court Nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch by screaming at a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the decisions and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Schumer’s rhetoric bled directly into an attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh, with an attempted murderer, arrested outside of Kavanaugh’s home, who said that he would be “shooting for 3” justices, according to the FBI’s search warrant application.

I note that “these awful decisions” which prompted Schumer’s violent rhetoric were decisions that sought to provide some additional legal protections to innocent, unborn Americans, like fundamental due process and equal protection of our laws.

Further, shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, Madonna said at a rally with 600,000 like-minded lunatics who cheered enthusiastically at her threat at the Women’s March: ‘I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.’ Democrat Lunatic Left Rep. Maxine Waters from California exhorted “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” Comedian Kathy Griffin elevated a bloodied and detached head of Donald Trump reminiscent of a terrorist assassination.

I recognize that the rage-filled rhetoric to which I refer is not one sided. It certainly has been spewed by Trump supporters at Pres. Biden and his candidacy but the invective hurled at Biden tends to be policy based: that he is “purposely letting millions of illegals—including violent criminals, terrorists and child traffickers—into our country so the Democrats can turn them into voters”; or that Biden seeks “unlimited abortion” or that he wants to “take away our guns” or that he has “weakened our nation in the eyes of the world with debacles like Afghanistan”, or that due to his “mental and physical deterioration that he is not even running the country.” Obviously, excepting the last one these attacks are policy-based.

Not so with Trump. It’s all personal.

My point is that elected officials, the press, and political commentators have driven the rage-filled rhetoric that Trump would “kill democracy” and “unleash death squads.” Remember, Biden himself previously denounced Trump and his “MAGA” supporters as “enemies of the people.” In fact, just this week Biden told a group of supporters on a phone call that he now needed to “put a bullseye” on Trump.

But now the Left tells us we need to “condemn political violence” in the U.S. That’s rich!

We should thank God that we have been sent a warrior to save our nation, and Nov. 5 can’t come soon enough for its safety and healing.

Houston Polson has a varied and interesting background. He has a BS in Textile Chemistry and in Technical Education, he has a MBA and a Juris Doctor degree. He is retired from the US Air Force and currently serves as a part-time deputy with the Sheriff’s office. However, he came to speak to the Kiwanis club about Ham radios. 

On April 1 of this year he became the Louisiana Section Manager of the American Radio Relay League. He has been a ham radio operator since July 1984.  At the convention in Dayton, Ohio, they had the largest gathering of hams, 35,878 people came through the gates. It was 3 days of information about hams-57 forums or programs and the world’s largest flea market. Polson even came home with a few things himself. 

There are 878,00 ham radio operators licensed in the United States. The American Radio Relay League is the national organization for amateur radio operators. It is a service-voluntary, non-commercial radio services in times of emergency. In Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Ida the only communication available was ham radio services for several days. Besides their own beacons they can also bounce off of satellites.  The ARRL has 150,000 members nationwide and is for the advancement of the art and science of radio. They are not good at marketing themselves but would like to see more people on the air. They are an advocate with the FCC.  There are a lot of things that can be done with ham radios. 

Something you may not know is that LED lights and solar panels can interfere with radio frequency waves.  A lot of technical things today such as Bluetooth were developed by or because of ham radios. 

Polson leads a group of field service volunteers (75 and there’s always a need for more) for emergencies. Since 1926 except during WWII they have had annual field day operations. This involves going out into National parks, using generators and trying to make as many contacts as possible. There are awards for contacting all 125 parks in the US. There are many different contests ham radio operators can enter usually involving how many contacts are made. 

Governor Jeff Landry has proclaimed the last week of June as Amateur Radio Week in Louisiana.  Polson gave Kiwanis way more information than could be written in this article.  Ham radios are a very necessary way to communicate in times of emergency.

You might say Glenn Austin has turned in his governmental shovel and taken up one of his own.  The Tannehill resident is a familiar face around Winn, having helped private landowners for 37 year to conserve natural resources on their farms and timberlands.  From 1995 until his recent retirement, he’s been the Natchitoches District (including Winn) district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (originally Soil Conservation Service).

Now he’s working in the private sector in the areas of forestry consulting and land management.  Over time, his responsibilities with the government office had expanded from two parishes to seven.  “Essentially I was just managing 35 people instead of managing landowner properties.  I wanted to get back in the field, helping folks with their land.  I retired young enough to do something else.”

Born in 1967 to longtime educator Charles “Pee Wee” Austin and school secretary Barbara Austin, Glenn grew up in Tannehill.  His grandfather, Evan Austin, had a timber mill nearby where Glenn worked some summers and said this piqued his interest in forestry.

“I was always involved with the outdoors.  Due to my back issues, I couldn’t play school sports so my dad always had me out in the woods, out on the water, keeping me occupied.”

A 1985 graduate of WSHS, he attended Louisiana Tech in Agriculture-Business which he described as “half ag/science, half business…accounting, finance, management.”  He received his BS degree four years later in 1989 (“I had to finish in four years…I couldn’t afford any more”) and began fulltime work with the SCS Monroe office.  He’d started two years earlier with summer work with the SCS.

The agency’s name changed to Natural Resources Conservation Service in 1991 and Glenn stayed on to work in Monroe, Oak Grove, West Carroll, Morehouse and in 1992 Farmerville, then as district conservationist.  There he met Maria Doster who was working for Farmers Home Administration next door.  They married the following year.  They have two children, Caleb (Opelousas) and Angela (Ruston) and three grandchildren.

Through those years, Glenn has helped landowners in planting trees…lots of them.  He’s seen some 20,000 acres of nonproductive farmland turned into hardwood forest that both benefit wildlife and provide timber production.  “But it’s not just planting trees.”  He’s helped them manage timberland, both hardwood and pine.  And he’s also been involved in feral hog control, both through trapping as seen in forested Winn and even shooting from helicopters as seen in open-fielded Natchitoches Parish.

Glenn had already launched a small landscaping venture and, with retirement, is branching into the field of consulting.

Fire broke out Tuesday evening, causing extensive damage to longtime business Delta Tire at 702 E. Lafayette Street in Winnfield.  An emergency 911 call came in to officials at 7:41 p.m. at the same time City Police coming over the five-lane overpass spotted smoke surrounding the building and reported the blaze.  Winnfield Fire Department responded.

Watch the Journal for detailed updates as they are made available.

Members to Winn’s Emergency 911 board were appointed for a four-year term by the Police Jury in special session Monday night and the first meeting of that new board was slated for this Thursday at noon in the courthouse.

Don Garrett who has worked with Winn’s 911 system for some 32 years in a mapping and accounting capacity was slated to update the jury at its June meeting but was unable due to illness.  He opened the July 22 session with an overview ranging from the 911 financial status to how 911 has kept up with technological evolutions since its startup in the 1980s through system upgrades.  More may lie ahead.

Some of the members are re-appointees, some are new.  Named were EMT Russell Johnson, Winn Parish Fire Chief Dustin Johnson, Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter, Mayor Gerald Hamms, Winnfield Fire Chief Brian Montgomery, Sheriff Josh McAllister and Juror Darrell Franks.

Asked about additional members, Jury President Frank McLaren observed that the board has operated with seven members in the past but if the need to expand is seen, the jury has that authority.  The selection of members is effective immediately.

Garrett explained that the immediacy of the first meeting is so the board can elect officers, with someone named to sign checks as soon as possible.

“I’m a firm believer that if you’re on a committee, you need to make every possible effort to attend meetings, if at all possible,” stressed McLaren.  There had been some discussion about a resolution to that effect but McLaren said Monday was not that time.

During Monday’s session, the lawmakers also renamed Nathan Vercher to the Saline Lake Fish & Game Commission for a four-year term.

Don Causey, Rotarian of the Day, presented Winnfield Senior High School head football coach Jay Watson and team center, Peyton Glenn, one of 15 seniors on this year’s squad as the special guests at Rotary’s meeting on July 17, 2024.

Coach Watson informed Rotarians that the high school squad is currently at 66 players, down from the 80 with which the team began the summer. Fifteen of those players are seniors, including Glenn who Watson says has really progressed this past year and is now coming into his own. The team has a tough season before them, facing Jonesboro-Hodge, Caldwell, Jena, West Ouachita and Bunkie in the first games of the season, but he has expectations for a positive year. Last year was a rebuilding year in which 20 starters from the previous year were replaced.

Both the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator are returning to WSHS this year. The offensive line is much improved from last year. Watson sees the linebackers and offensive skill players as the main strengths of the team going into the season. The Tigers have four coaches, a good hardworking group of guys, and have more in the works.

Regarding current preparations for the season, August 5 is the first day the team will be able to practice, followed by practice with pads and helmets the next day. However, no “two-a-days” will be possible this year due to the early start of the school year. A scrimmage will be held on August 23, and the team will participate in the Jamboree in Tioga on August 30.

Watson is excited about the first home game of the season on September 6 against Caldwell. We will have the team from the live radio show here in Winnfield covering the game from kickoff to half-time. So on September 6, everyone in town should show up at Stokes-Walker Stadium to make a good showing for this big media opportunity!

Courtesy of Effect Fitness, LLC and Winnfield Volunteers

The following pictures are from this past Saturday, July 20th. Effect Fitness returned to Winn Parish for their 3rd annual ‘318-Field-Day’, promoting not only healthy living but community fellowship. Events of the day included a mobile health clinic, a pop up pantry, backpacks, food, music and plenty of fun down at the Moss Street Gym and ballparks. 

Thank you to all participants, volunteers and sponsors who showed up and showed out for the day!

The annual Back to School Bash for Winn Parish children, sponsored by Caring & Sharing in Unity and the Winn Healthy Initiatives Coalition, will be held at the Winnfield Civic Center on Friday, July 26.

Doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. In addition to school supplies and hygiene packs, door prizes, music and entertainment, hotdog lunches and bounce houses, many service organizations will have representatives on hand to provide information to the public about the programs and services they offer. 

Some of those include the Winn Parish Library, Winn Parish School Board, Winn Parish Medical Center, Winn Community Health Center, Winn Parish Sheriff’s office, and numerous other organizations serving our community. Anyone with a school age child will benefit from the offerings and information available at this event!

Louisiana Supreme Court Justice James T. “Jimmy” Genovese was introduced Tuesday in Natchitoches as the 21st president of Northwestern State University. The event is archived on the university website, nsula.edu, and the Facebook/NorthwesternStateUniversity page.

Since the retirement of longtime President Dr. Randall J. Webb in 2014, in each of the following presidential searches, the NSU Alumni Association has endorsed a candidate. After the recent semi finalist interviews, the Association’s board of directors called a special meeting to discuss and voted to endorse the finalist.

Traditionally, the Alumni Association president participates on the search committee which gives us a line of sight into the entire search process. Current Alumni Association President Leah Sherman Middlebrook of Bossier City served in that role in this search.

“The following resolution shows our strong support for the new president. We are excited about his vision and leadership,” she said.

A Resolution of Endorsement by the Northwestern State University Alumni Association of The Honorable James Genovese, J.D., for the Position of President of Northwestern State University;

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Association has reviewed and evaluated the finalists selected by the ULS NSU Presidential Search Committee for the position of President of Northwestern State University in connection with the search for this position which is being conducted by the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System;

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Association believe that the qualifications and credentials possessed by the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., place him in a position to be the best choice to serve as the next President of Northwestern State University, for reasons to include:

1.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a distinguished record of accomplishment and demonstrated leadership skills at all of his levels of public service for over four decades, including his current tenure as Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court;

2.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a leadership style that is collaborative, consultative, open, and transparent, balanced by a record of strong leadership and a willingness to make tough decisions;

3.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has an appreciation and understanding that the interests of the students are paramount;

4.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., possesses impeccable integrity;

5.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has an appreciation of the values and objectives of our alma mater which includes a dedication to quality teaching and scholarship, as well as a commitment to enhance the academic profile and reputation of the university;

6.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., recognizes the importance of attracting, recruiting, and developing excellent administrators, and a commitment to building a strong, collaborative leadership team;

7.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a commitment to recruit and retain a highly qualified faculty;

8.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has an appreciation and understanding of the unique quality of life issues for a Northwestern student, including an appreciation for the arts, history, and unique culture of the area;

9.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a commitment to supporting and embracing the unique characteristics of our university and university community;

10.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., will work effectively with the Board of Supervisors and implement the board’s policies;

11.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a proven ability to communicate effectively at all levels, to include faculty, staff, students, families, alumni, legislators, community leaders and other external constituents, as well as to maintain strong professional relations with elected officials and higher educational leadership;

12.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., has a strong commitment to athletics, and it is specifically noted that he was a Demon athlete and letter winner as a member and leader of the Northwestern tennis team;

13.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., will take a prominent and sustained role in fund raising to expand the university’s resource base, additions to endowments, gifts for facilities, scholarships and financial support for our faculty and staff; and

14.That the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., will foster an environment of optimism, creativity, and innovation.

WHEREAS, after considering the applicants for the position of President of Northwestern State University, the Board of Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Association has elected to endorse the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., as the next President of Northwestern State University

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Board hereby endorse the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., as the next President of Northwestern State University, and respectfully request the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System to select the Honorable James Genovese, J.D., as the next President of Northwestern State University.
After consideration of this Resolution at a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Board of Directors held on the 17th day of July, 2024, on the motion by Joseph B. Stamey, and seconded by Dr. Hayward Hargrove, Jr., and John R. Evans, to adopt the Resolution, a record vote was taken and the following result was had:

The Board of Directors voted unanimously in favor of the Resolution to endorse The Honorable James Genovese, J.D. as President of Northwestern State University.

THUS, UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED at a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Northwestern State University Alumni Board of Directors held on the 17th day of July, 2024.

ATTEST: Leah Sherman Middlebrook NSU Alumni President.

It’s summer time; it’s hot and outdoors activities are best confined to early and late in the day. It’s proper to sit back under the cooling hum of the air conditioner and remember how special the outdoors can be and to be reminded of events of the past that made impressions of me. 

I remember once when visiting my hunting club in later summer, I experienced something that was news to me. I was privileged to see two wild turkeys take to the air from the back side of the goat weed patch, climb nearly a hundred feet high to sail over the tops of the pines at the edge of the field. Turkeys are not known as strong fliers and I had no idea they could fly that high with such ease. 

The most fascinating thing I saw, though, was right here in my own back yard. 

Living in the country working from my home office, I’m often privy to nature doing what nature does. I’ll hear a commotion outside the window and it’ll be two hummingbirds undergoing a kamakazi attack on each other. Something scratches on the side of the house, I’ll go out and a squirrel will scurry away. Looking across the pasture when I walk out for the morning paper, I’ll frequently see a red-coated doe browsing along pasture’s edge.

Recently, I saw something that at first baffled me. My interest was piqued when I noticed a mound of sand pushed up against the concrete slab of the back porch from under the ajuga plants growing there. I assumed it was the mole that has given us fits this summer. I was about to fetch the mole trap when a creature crawled out of a hole in the middle of the sand pile and flew away.

It was the biggest wasp I’d ever seen. It looked like a hornet on steroids. Colored yellow and black somewhat like a yellow jacket or guinea wasp, the creature was a good two inches long. I was baffled and I’ll admit, a bit shaken. What if a colony of super-sized hornets or yellow jackets had chosen this site for their home? I could forget about relaxing on the porch under the ceiling fan. I live too far from the emergency room to enjoy that privilege. 

When I spotted a cicada lying in the sand next to the wasp’s entry hole in the sand, a light bulb came on in my head. I had read an article sometime ago about cicada killer wasps that inhabit our area.

A trip to cyberspace revealed that the creature which had troubled me was indeed a cicada killer. Photos accompanying the articles I read confirmed it. Here’s what I learned from a University of Kentucky website about these interesting bugs.

“Also known as sand hornets, these wasps attract attention due to their large size, the burrows that they dig in home lawns, and their buzzing flights over the lawn. These insects occur in all states east of the Rocky Mountains and prefer to dig their burrows in sandy, bare, well drained soil exposed to full sunlight. The wasps feed on flower nectar while the immature or larval stage feeds primarily upon cicadas that are brought to the burrow by the adult. 

“In spite of their large size, the wasps usually ignore people but they can give a painful sting if bothered. Mating males are aggressive and more easily disturbed.” 

According to the article, the females search tree trunks and lower limbs for cicadas. The wasp stings its prey, turns the victim on its back, straddles it, and drags it or glides with it to the burrow. Each cell is furnished with at least one cicada (sometimes two or three) and a single egg before being sealed off. Two to 3 days later the egg hatches. Depending on the number of cicadas in its cell, the larva feeds for 4 to 10 days until only the cicada’s outer shell remains. 

And I thought a high-flying wild turkey was going to be the highlight of my week!