“An Evening of Songs” will be the theme this Sunday night, September 15, at Winnfield First Assembly of God when a host of Gospel groups gather to lift their voices to fill the sanctuary in praise to the Lord.

Doors will open at 4 p.m. and the program will begin at 5 p.m., says Pastor Shaun Garner.  First Assembly is located at 5693 U.S. Hwy 167 N, opposite the Calvin Hwy turnoff.  The presentation is free and open to the public.

The headline singers in this collection of groups that will be performing Sunday night will be Pastor Jerry Jones and Fantastic Jones Family of Springfield, IL, says De’Treyvion “De” Powell, Gospel promoter.  Also performing will be Songs of Joy from Jackson, MS; Divine Purpose from Cary, MS; Anointed Gospel Singers from Farmerville; and T.J. & Trinity from Alexandria.  Also featured will be the local voices of The Family Church Praise Team of Winnfield.

Worship leader for this evening of songs is Pastor Drea of Pine Bluff, AR.  For more information, contact Powell at 318-413-7249.

Louisiana Tech plays NC State Saturday at noon Eastern at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, not a marquee game — unless you’re a Bulldog or a Wolfpacker, and then it feels a bit pivotal.

Even though it’s barely mid-September.

If a preview of this game carried a song title, maybe it would be Brooks & Dunn’s “Workin’ On My Next Broken Heart.”

Wait: why Brooks & Dunn? It’s a stretch, but  … hang with us a second.

Tech alum Kix Brooks, half of the most-record-selling/most awarded country music duo act of all time, was in Aillet Stadium for his team’s 25-17 season-opening win over Nicholls State, a game in which the Bulldogs sloshed to a win despite five turnovers and back-to-back fumbles during a second-quarter rainstorm that left the turf slicker than Kenny Chesney’s head.

“It that was a country song,” Brooks, a visitor to the radio broadcast booth said at the time, “it’d be too sad to write.”

(An aside: we call Brooks & Dunn “Kix & Brooks” in this bureau. If Ronnie Dunn doesn’t have a team — and Kix says he doesn’t — he’s welcome in the Tech Camp, as the Bulldogs could use the company and the help. Also, as part of their “Reboot” Tour, Kix & Brooks will play the PNC Arena in Raleigh and the Spectrum Center in Charlotte in March. Never too early to plan, unless you just want to stay over after the game for seven months …)

Back to ball: despite the turnovers and backed by country-flavored rooting from Kix, the ’Dogs pulled through, thanks to a stifling defense against the defending Southland Conference champs. Since, the team has enjoyed a rare second-week-of-the-season open date to figure things out and heal a hurt quarterback, Jack Turner, who semi-limped off the field in the first quarter and didn’t return. (Brings to mind another Kix & Brooks tune: “How Long Gone Are You Gonna Be?”)

But back to that “broken heart” deal: for different reasons, times have been tough lately in Ruston and Raleigh.

The Bulldogs are coming off three straight 3-9 seasons — “too sad to write” — victims of a perfect storm generated through the new NIL and transfer rules and the law of averages following seven straight bowl seasons.

So there’s that.

Now in its 12^th season under coach Dave Doren, NC State, 1-1, has been to nine bowl games but are 2-15 against Top 10 teams in that span, including a lopsided 51-10 dismantling at the greedy hands of Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte in primetime Saturday evening.

Bad look for the Wolfpack and the 20-plus players from Charlotte on its roster.

The Wolfpack is a 21.5-point favorite over the Bulldogs. Local journalists (we’re keeping up with the Carolina scribes) foretell of an “easy” week for the Wolfpack. We’ll see: State was a 33.5-point favorite in its opener against Western Carolina and won by only 17, then a 9.5-underdog against Tennessee and lost by 41.

In that game, thanks to an 85-yard Pick 6, Tennessee scored more points off NC State’s red zone possessions than the Wolfpack did.

Intriguing to look in the rearview and the most recent time these two played. October 2, 2021. Down 14 midway through the fourth quarter to a team that had beaten Top 10-ranked Clemson the week before and had one of the best defenses statistically in the country, Tech was intercepted in the end zone from 22 yards out on the game’s final play and lost, 34-27, at Carter-Finley.

Tech left the stadium that day 2-3. Besides that heartbreaker in Raleigh, the Bulldogs had last a 20-point fourth-quarter lead in Starkville in a 35-34 season-opening loss to Mississippi State and had lost at home to SMU, 39-37, on a final-play Hail Mary two weeks before going to NC State.

The loss to the Wolfpack started a five-game slide that hasn’t ended. Saturday, a different team returns to the same scene of the crime.

Saturday, it’s a chance for the ’Dogs, like Kix & Brooks, to reboot.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

Ellen Naomi Cohen was born in 1941.  Ellen lived with her parents—her father was an entrepreneur, and her mother was a nurse—in Virginia and later Baltimore, Maryland.  Her grandparents were European Jewish immigrants who came to America in search of a better life.  When she was seven years old, Ellen’s parents sent her to live with her grandparents while Ellen’s mother gave birth to Ellen’s little sister.  Ellen said later that this “aroused some insecurities in me.”  Ellen felt as if her parents had abandoned her in favor of the new baby.  Ellen calmed herself by overeating.  Ellen moved back in with her parents soon after the baby was born, but the insecurities remained.  By the time she became a teenager, she weighed approximately 180 pounds, almost double the weight of the other kids in her class.  Her weight became the subject of many cruel jokes by her classmates, which fueled her insecurities.  She ate to calm her anxieties about her weight.  Ellen was trapped in a vicious cycle.  Ellen’s parents recognized the problem and took her to a doctor.  The doctor put her on diet pills which were amphetamines.  At the time, amphetamine pills were prescribed to combat “mental and emotional distress” and as a “weight-loss remedy striking at the emotional causes of overeating.”  The amphetamine pills contained a potent stimulant and were highly addictive.  Upon taking one of the pills the user felt a sudden “flash” of joy abusers nicknamed a “rush.”  Inhibitions were lowered.  The user felt more self-confident, had more energy, was more social, and felt that they were thinking more clearly.  Ellen was a part of America’s first amphetamine epidemic.

In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors prescribed amphetamine pills without restraint.  Pharmaceutical companies gave kickbacks to doctors who prescribed their amphetamine pills.  Doctors had not yet learned the side effects of amphetamines such as high body temperature, memory loss, stroke, heart problems, and possible damage to young, developing brains.  Amphetamines quickly became a recreational drug.

Despite the amphetamine pills, Ellen continued to be a big girl.  Rather than becoming angry when classmates made jokes about her weight, she eased the burden by making the jokes herself which were more clever than what her classmates could come up with.  That way, they were laughing with her and not at her.  Later in her teenage years, Ellen shocked her parents when she explained that she wanted to be a Broadway singer.  Ellen joked that she would be “the most famous fat girl that ever lived.”  Her horrified parents failed to see the humor in her claim.  Finally, they made an agreement that if Ellen failed to make it as a singer with five years she would go to college.  Ellen moved to New York to begin her Broadway career. 

Ellen’s auditions were promising.  In 1962, she was almost cast as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway musical “I Can Get It for You Wholesale,” but she ultimately lost the part to Barbra Streisand.  It was Barbra Streisand’s big break.  While waiting for her big break, Ellen rehearsed constantly.  She knew that she had to perfect her sense of pitch.  Ellen joined a trio called the Mugwumps, but the trio was short-lived.  Ellen wanted to join a trio called the New Journeymen while she awaited her big break, but the trio’s leader refused because “she was too fat.”  Undeterred, Ellen used many ploys to persuade the trio into becoming a quartet including introducing them to LSD.  Finally, Ellen was allowed to join. 

In September 1965, the quartet released their first album.  By December of the same year, they were stars.  Four albums and four years later, the quartet disbanded.  Ellen had a successful solo career and became a successful TV personality.  Despite all of her accomplishments, the fat jokes continued.  In 1973, Ellen was a guest on The Dean Martin Show and during her introduction Dean Martin said, “I wouldn’t say she’s fat, but from the front she looks like Carroll O’Connor from the back.”  The fat jokes were hurtful to Ellen, but she usually smiled and played along.  She still struggled with the vicious cycle of eating to help with her insecurities and taking medicines to help her lose weight. 

Ellen’s health was declining.  In a period of seven months in 1974, Ellen was hospitalized five times for shortness of breath and loss of consciousness.  Despite her worsening health, she began a world tour.  On the evening of July 28, 1974, after an all-night birthday party for Mick Jagger in London which lasted late into the following day, Ellen finally returned to her rented apartment and went to bed.  In the early hours of the following morning, July 29, 1974, Ellen had a fatal heart attack in her sleep.  An autopsy revealed that she had no drugs in her system when she died. 

Most of the world never heard of the death of 32-year-old Ellen Naomi Cohen.    That name was meaningless to everyone but Ellen’s family and childhood friends.  Ellen developed her own stage name.  She based her first name on the nickname her father had given her, Cassandra, and the last name in honor of a friend who had died.  While few know the name Ellen Naomi Cohen, people around the world know Cass Elliot or Mama Cass, member of the New Journeymen quartet who changed their name to The Mamas and the Papas.

For half a century, people have repeated the false story that Ellen died from choking on a ham sandwich.  According to Ellen’s daughter, a friend of Ellen’s who was staying with Ellen at the rented apartment had made her a sandwich and left it next to her bed.  Ellen’s manager, Allan Carr, created the choking story because he knew people would assume that she had died from a drug overdose just as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin had done.  Ellen’s manager never expected his false story to turn into a macabre joke.  He was trying to protect her. 

Sources:

1.     Hadley Freeman, “The secret life of Mama Cass – by the daughter she left behind,” The Sunday Times, May 5, 2024, accessed September 8, 2024.  https://www.thetimes.com/article/1125cc4e-9371-4ed0-83df-7b2223316b9c?shareToken=957e326b9e883745acf14a6fbb663504.

2.     Erin Blakemore, “A Speedy History of America’s Addiction to Amphetamine,” Smithsonian Magazine, October 27, 2017, accessed September 8, 2024.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/speedy-history-americas-addiction-amphetamine-180966989/.

September 11, 2024

Every year there are certain seasons that people look forward to: week one of the NFL, opening day of baseball season and for me it’s the arrival of both the spring and fall seasons. But for most outdoorsmen, it’s hunting season! This is like Christmas morning for anyone who enjoys chasing a squirrel, dropping ducks from the sky or finally shooting that trophy buck of a lifetime. 

Today let’s look at what hunting season means to so many outdoorsmen. Let’s start with dove season which is basically a tailgate party with guys carrying shotguns. Dove season, like football season, kicks off the new year for all hunters. They gather in small groups and enjoy some time in the field hopefully where there are plenty of birds passing through. Dove hunts are simply a social hunt and a great way to introduce kids to hunting. 

Next comes teal season (mid-September) which brings out a totally different kind of hunter. These guys are serious about shooting what just might be the hardest duck to hit on the fly. Teal are the F-16’s of the duck hunting world and can do a fly-by quicker than some hunters can get a gun up. Teal are also a great tasting bird and make great table fare. 

But the first of October is the official start of deer season as bow hunters take to the woods in search of some good venison backstrap. Bow hunters are very committed and put in a lot of time practicing in their back yards or on a bow range. Deer hunting in general, is probably more popular than any other wild game that’s pursued.

Bow hunting requires a lot of skill in order to be effective and take a deer with good arrow placement. The popularity of bow hunting is due to the fact it’s a throwback to how our ancestors used to hunt. Bow hunters might be the most dedicated group of hunters there are due to the amount of effort and skill required.  

Now let’s fast forward to mid-October. Opening day of rifle season triggers a landslide of deer hunters taking to the great outdoors in search of that monster buck they’ve been watching on their trail cameras for the past two months. No other wild game opening day is more popular than the opening day of gun season as deer camps are overflowing with both excitement and the anticipation. It’s like a child waiting on Christmas morning; they literally cannot sleep! 

Today, there are so many traditions that revolve around different types of hunting seasons. Deer camps have been a part of family traditions for decades and most would give up their home before giving up their deer camp. 

Many outdoorsmen plan their entire year around their favorite hunting season. It determines when they will take their vacation or request extra time off from their daily jobs. They are literally consumed with everything that revolves around hunting. 

They plan Thanksgiving and other holidays around hunting season. It’s like people planning their lives around their favorite football team; nothing else is more important! If you’re one of the fortunate that have a great hunting camp; count your blessings and never let it go. Because once it’s gone, you will have a hard time replacing it. 

Till next time, good luck, good hunting and to all outdoorsmen, have a great hunting season! 

Steve Graf

Angler’s Perspective

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.

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 river run starts at noon on Saturday, September 14th 

Beverly Katherine Parker
December 23, 1953-August 31, 2024
Service: Services for Mrs. Parker took place Thursday, September 5th at the Olla Pentecostal Church. Interment followed at Rosefield Cemetery (near Olla) under the direction of Southern Funeral Home.

Dr. Calvin E. Phelps
December 19, 1935-September 3rd, 2024
Services: Services for Dr. Phelps took place Friday, September6th at the First Baptist Church of Winnfield. Interment followed in the Garden of Memories (in Winnfield). 

William Howard O’Bryan
April 15, 1947-September 4, 2024
Service: Services for Mr. O’Bryan took place Monday, September 9th at Southern Funeral Home. Interment will follow in the Bethlehem Cemetery (near Calvin) under the direction of Southern Funeral Home. 

Vicky Lynn Keiffer
June 5, 1954-September 7, 2024
Services: The funeral service for Mrs. Keiffer will be held Wednesday, September 11th, 2024 at 11 AM within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interment will follow in the Garden of Memories (in Winnfield).

Dustin Maris Pickron
March 27, 1990-September 7, 2024
Services: Services for Mr. Pickron will take place Wednesday, September 11th (visitation 5-7 PM) and Thursday, September 12, 2024 (funeral services 2 PM within Southern Funeral Home. 

Discussing the role of teachers during the School Board’s traditional “School Spotlight” this week, Calvin High School mathematics teacher Teresa Martin questioned, “Are we preparing students for their future?”

Principal Justin Tinsley introduced her presentation by explaining that this Spotlight was “a little different” from the usual when accomplished students had been brought before the board to make presentations.  “We have many wonderful teachers at Calvin High School and our test scores have knocked it out of the park.”  He added that while all the modern technology available in education today is useful, it’s the teachers that truly make the difference.  “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”

Results back from the state proved that at CHS where subject mastery levels where increased from 22% to 37%, far exceeding the 5% bump they had projected.  Martin, he explained, is not only teaching high school mathematics but offering dual curriculum college offerings of geometry this semester, with plans of trigonometry the next.  Students at Dodson High School and Winnfield Senior High School are also participating via Zoom technology.

“We’ve delved deeper than required,” she told the board.  “We’ve got to teach our students from bell to bell.  Our time has to be spent with quality teaching.  If quality teaching is to take place, quality planning needs to be prepared ahead of time.  It can’t end with the school day.  We have to take work home with us.”

Martin, who holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics, pointed out that she is not teaching the same way she did when she started, or even as she did ten years ago.  ”We have to be willing to change.  Teachers have to improve their instruction methods for student scores to improve.

Russell Jones, retired assistant police chief of the Winnfield Police Department and current pastor of Winnfield’s Christ Wesleyan Fellowship, was special guest and speaker at the Winnfield Rotary Club’s meeting on August 21.  

Jones was raised in Calvin and upon graduation from Calvin High School, he joined the United States Navy. He trained and served as an electronics technician, travelling all over the world working in that capacity. After serving his six-year term in the Navy, Jones returned to Winn Parish, where he made a connection with local law enforcement in martial arts class. He was hired by Winnfield’s police chief at that time, Cranford Jordan, and spent 43 years on the Winnfield Police force, working his way up from an entry level position to assistant police chief, the first non-Caucasian person to have done so.

In commenting on the changes he has observed in law enforcement in his 43 years on the force, he said he has noted a lack of unity, love and compassion in homes as well as in the community as a whole, a lack of Jesus Christ as the center of the home, and a decrease in the number of Christian leaders in our community. Jones also said the decrease in Winnfield’s population in the last several years and the closing of plants and mills has resulted in fewer jobs and opportunities for young people. It also seems to him that people are generally less willing to help each other now than when he was growing up in the parish.

Since leaving the Navy, Jones has furthered his education at numerous institutions of higher learning, including Northwestern, Louisiana College, New Orleans Theological Seminary and the Louisiana Baptist Seminary,

Jones said he was called by the Lord to preach in 2004 and was blessed to have a supportive Christian wife, Raynore Jones, who has helped him greatly in the ministry. Much of his higher education was to learn more about the Bible so he can “rightly divide the word of truth” from the pulpit. 

Jones pastored the Christian Fellowship church in Dodson for 15 years. The Lord recently opened the door for his retirement from the police force, and the opportunity for full-time ministry as he was called to be the pastor of Winnfield’s Christ Wesleyan Fellowship in Winnfield. Rev. Jones looks forward to spending all day every day in growing the Kingdom of God here in Winn Parish.

The race is on, you might say.  Winnfield’s Bo Walker corrects that a little by observing that the Ride Ataxia Dallas is a fundraiser bike ‘ride.’  But the fundraising ‘race’ is on for Kate’s Krewe which has set a goal of topping the $36,000 they raised last year before the Dallas event which is set for November 2.

At the center of Kate’s Krewe is Kate Walker, a senior at the University of Arkansas and daughter of Jason and the late Rachel Walker of Ruston.  Kate is 21 and was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia when she was 12.  With the support of friends and family, she’s formed Kate’s Krewe to help provide funding for research hoped to defeat this degenerative disease of the nervous system.

“This is the eighth year for the Krewe that had raised $193,000 for research so far,” explains Bo Walker.  “Our fundraising ‘race’ is not a quick one.  It’s slow and steady with folks giving a little here and a little there.”

The current drive is the Kate’s Krewe Bake Sale which will continue through the month of September.  To bake or buy, the contact is Kim Caldwell.  Contact via PM, text or call 318-332-1792.  Pickup will be at Winn Family Eyecare or 207 E. North Street.

Kate is the granddaughter of Jimmy and Helene Walker and Bo and Chris Walker, all of Winnfield.

The bike ride is offered at multiple distances, 50 miles, 25 miles or 6 miles and also offers a 1.5- mile walk for those who prefer.  There are four national “rideATAXIA” events, held annually in Gainesville, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas. 

The next fund event for the Krewe will be a Spaghetti Dinner on October 10.  The Krewe is also selling Tee Shirts.

Runners and Walkers alike are encouraged to sign up soon for the Rotary Club’s 5K Run & Walk that is slated for Saturday morning, September 28.  After watching the Olympic Games, there might even be some Speed Walkers who show up.

Rotary’s annual event heralds the start of the Winn Parish Fair which will begin the following Monday, September 30.  This is Rotary’s primary fundraising project to help with the many community projects they support.

Their September 28 5K will be held at the Winn Parish Fairgrounds, staged at the old Coon Hunter’s Pavilion site.  Registration will open at 7 a.m. and a 1-mile Fun Run for children ages 5 through 10 will start at 7:30 a.m.  There is no entry fee for this Children’s Race.

The 5K Run & Walk will start at 8 a.m.  Individual entry fee for this race will be $20 prior to September 20 then $25 up until race time.  Participants will receive a T-shirt, swag bag, water and sports beverages.  DJ entertainment will be provided.

Team registration is also encouraged for teams of three and more.  That cost is $15 per person before September 20 then $20 up until race time.  T-shirt sponsorships require a donation of at least $200.  Sponsors may enter up to four participants at no additional charge.

The Rotary Foundation has a slogan that states, “Doing Good in the World.”  The Rotary Club of Winnfield also holds “Doing Good in Our Own Community.”  

Local projects supported by this 5K Fundraiser include providing school uniforms for underprivileged children, giving dictionaries to 4th graders parishwide, scholarships to high school seniors for college and Vo-Tech studies, and support of the Fall Festival, Easter Egg Hunt, Dixie Youth, school sponsorships and other community projects.

For registration details for the 5K or other Rotary Club questions, contact president Mary Lou Blackley at 318-481-0227.

Winn Parish individuals, church groups and yard sale followers hope to take advantage of increased traffic this weekend when the second annual “Sales Along 84” expands from its original LaSalle Parish launch last year to expanded territory stretching from the Mississippi River, across Louisiana, taking in Winn to the west.

In its first year, vendors in the LaSalle area reported an excellent response to the three-day yard sale event. Founder Lavelle Evans is optimistic that same sales enthusiasm can spread east and west as the map and publicity of Sales Along Highway 84 expends in this second effort.

Evans said that everyone participating in the event should be involved, 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,” he said. 

The 2024 event will take place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 5, 6, and 7, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily. The route includes all of U.S. Hwy. 84 across Louisiana and into Mississippi.

To provide continuity along the sales route so that potential buyers will recognize that your yard sale is going on, Evens encouraged participants to put up yellow balloons to call attention to their sales area.

By Jasmine Jones

Photo Courtesy Rylee Duff

The Winnfield Tigers travelled to Tioga High School to play in a Jamboree last Friday. They played against two teams resulting in a 10-0 loss to the Tioga Indians and a 6-0 win against the Menard Eagles. They played a 20-minute series against each team and neither result will count against their record as each game is only for additional practice. 

The Tigers’ defense held the Indians as well as they could in their first game. Logan Adams made a big stop as the Indians neared the end zone and held them off on a touchdown. Pushing the offense back, Javonta Grisby made a vital tackle during Tioga’s second possession. The offense also held their own. After the touchdown by Tioga, the Tigers took the field and a rush by Zaelyn Thomas led the Tigers to their initial first down of the Jamboree. Jaylon Jackson played a major role in both defense and offense, making multiple play-stopping tackles and consistently gaining yardage.  However they were never quite able to score. 

After the first series against Menard the rain started to come down but the Tigers pressed on. Against the Eagles, Winnfield did well leading off with a run by Jaylon Jackson which got the Tigers a first down. Soon after, Jayvian Woods was able to pick up a fumble from Menard, claiming possession for the Tigers. Winnfield then drove the ball to the end zone in a series of plays and eventually Nickalas Mockosher handed the ball to Jaylon Jackson who scored their first touchdown. Following the touchdown, the Tigers defense protected the team’s lead.  Particularly strong in that defense was Javen Jackson who consistently made effective tackles and even broke up a pass. With these two forces working together the Tigers came out on top. 

When asked about the first game head coach Jay Watson said, “In the first game we knew they were gonna be physical. Our boys adjusted to the physicality, and we were able to clean up our plays throughout the night.” When asked about the game against Menard he stated, “In the second game our offense moved the ball well.” Overall Coach Watson told us, “The best thing that I saw tonight was the positivity from the boys. During both games, whenever someone made a mistake no one got down and pointed fingers.” Looking ahead the Tigers planned to “spend the Labor Day working” to improve for their first regular season game next Friday. 

At long last, on September 6, the Winnfield Tigers will play a Week One matchup against the Jonesboro-Hodge Tigers on the road at 7 that evening. The evening is predicted to be cloudy with a comfortable 80 degrees. Make the drive to Jonesboro to support the Winnfield Tigers!