Rotarian of the day Bob Holeman introduced Winnfield Rotary Club’s special guest on August 28, Florence Bethard of Coushatta. This entertaining speaker informed Rotarians about the gratifying and enjoyable ministry in which she participates as the pilot of her own Cirrus airplane. Mrs. Bethard flies patients to their medical appointments free of charge as a pilot with Pilots for Patients.

The mission of Pilots for Patients is to provide free air transportation to those patients needing medical diagnosis and treatment at distant medical facilities which they cannot obtain locally. The goal is to eliminate the burden of travel, allowing the patient to focus on treatment and recovery. The pilots who participate in the program donate their time, fuel and airplanes, and the service is free of charge to the patient.

The patient must be able to board and disembark from the aircraft on his own, and their doctor must certify that air travel will not interfere with the patient’s condition. A family member or caregiver may accompany the patient. Pilots for Patients may also arrange ground transportation from the airport to the medical facility.

PFP covers all of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and a bit of Tennessee. Over 7,000 flights have been since flown the beginning of the service. Mrs. Bethard has flown 234 flights. Other pilots have logged over 600. “I love it because I love to fly and I get to see a lot of happy people,” says Mrs. Bethard. The patients are happy because they are receiving life-saving treatment. Many patients needing air transportation are participating in experimental programs with much success.

Florence beams with satisfaction as she speaks of her Cirrus aircraft, which is a composite body plane with state-of-the-art safety features, including the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System [CAPS]. The system is a parachute for the entire plane which, when properly deployed, allows the entire plane to land softly instead of crashing. The aircraft also has parachute and ejection systems for pilot and passengers, of course. According to Mrs. Bethard, no one has died in a plane with the Cirrus system when the system is used properly.

If you or a loved one needs medical care not available in your local area, go to

pilotsforpatients.org or call (318) 322-5112.

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There wasn’t a lot of “main” going on down the length of Main Street in downtown Winnfield this Monday as businesses closed and folks stayed home for family get-togethers and barbecues on Labor Day.  Many stores and businesses along the five-lane were open to handle the holiday traffic however.

Winnfield’s business community was back to work as usual early Tuesday morning and ready to take care of all the needs and wants of their customers.  Be sure to Shop Winnfield First.

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The Operation Christmas Child West Central Louisiana Area Team is holding their annual OCC kickoff celebration Saturday, September 7, at 10 a.m. in Natchitoches at First Baptist Church in the FBC gym.  The address for FBC Natchitoches is 508 Second St., 71457.

Barbie Strickland, Area Coordinator for the Northeast OCC Area will kick off the event with her testimony and pictures of her trip to Ecuador.  She was privileged to be part of OCC Outreach Events in Quito, Ecuador, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ was shared and shoeboxes were distributed. 

“This is an open invitation.  There will be other activities and fellowship with Shoebox packers like yourself after Mrs. Strickland’s testimony,” says Jeanine Ford, area coordinator for the West Central Louisiana Area team.  “Plan to attend if you can.  We hope to see you at FBC Natchitoches on September 7.”

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Laurel Heights Baptist Church will be filled with the sounds of music and praise Sunday night, September 29, when they hold a traditional “Fifth Sunday Singing.”

Planned will be not only congregational singing but also “all kinds of special music” at the evening service which begins at 5 p.m.

“Come and join us and bring a song to sing,” invites Pastor Jimmy Yocum.

Laurel Heights Baptist Church is located at 1001 San Pedro Street.

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Not many people know this because it’s tacky to brag and “smarts” is not my calling card, but I was history student of the year in eighth grade and made an “A” in Spanish as a high school freshman even though I’d never been to Spain.

Just sayin…

The catch was, I mowed the yards of both my eighth-grade history and ninth-grade Spanish teachers. You do what you can.

My grades lagged in winter; I trace this back to a hatred of raking. But I started strong in the North Louisiana autumns that felt like summer, then rallied in the early spring and right on through Memorial Day and the school year’s final bell.

As the grass rose, so did my scores.

In college, it was a different ballgame. They make you grow up in college, or you basically fail your own self. Shoot yourself in your lazy, refuse-to-be-educated foot. My teachers, who were now deemed “professors,” wouldn’t tell me and my lawnmower where they lived.

They play hardball at the university level.

In the grownup world, it’s always something.

But this teacher’s pet/yardman has proof that I was a force to be reckoned with in pre-college. If I couldn’t cut it in the classroom, I could cut it on the lawn. You play to your strengths.

Witness my freshman yearbook, signed by “Senora Mullins” in her unmistakable hand, with a squiggly thing above the “n” in senora and everything: “You MUST be OK,” she wrote; “I still like you, even though you’re my neighbor!”

Why she used the capitals and exclamation point is anybody’s guess. Did she not like her previous neighbors? Did she fail their kid? With an “A,” I asked no questions. Just said “gracias” and moved along – even though her “You MUST be OK” line, which translated into street language means “You sort of get on my nerves,” hurt me.

You must be “OK”? Tacos are OK. Mi nombre es Tedro!, or something like that. Muy bueno, babe! Come on!

“OK” is for losers.

I learned later that, from women, you take your OK’s where you can get them and learn to like it. Just part of my education, none of which would have happened without Mrs. Mullins and her tireless Sisterhood of The Classroom Teachers.

They have flooded my mind and always do with the first refreshing chill of September, these women who smelled like hand lotion and hairspray and lunchroom rolls and chalk. You’ve thought of them too, maybe not for long but always for at least a moment. Might as well try not to blink as to try and dodge the autumnal world of a long-ago yesterday. For the length of one daydream, we all go back to school this time of year.  

How did they do it? Day after day. Lunch room duty. Ball game. Sponsorship of the Interact Club. Raising three children at home and 150 at school. Yet always, The Teacher suited up.

When you see one this year, give them a nod. A fist bump. Maybe five bucks! Be an encourager. They have a long way to go and deal with short attention spans, and the best ones leave it all on the field. I praise my exhausted teachers who were, for me, a cut above.

 

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

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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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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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Please check back 9/11/24 for the updated Death Notice. Thank you.