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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Justin Daniel Curry
January 31, 1984 – July 2, 2025
Service: Funeral services for Mr. Curry took place Tuesday, July 8th at 2:00 PM inside the South Winnfield Baptist Church with interment at Sardis Cemetery immediately after the service under the direction of Southern Funeral Home.

Barbara Ann Booth Waters
April 29, 1932 – July 3, 2025
Service: Funeral services for Mrs. Waters took place Monday, July 7th, 2025, at 11 AM in the Southern Funeral Home Chapel. Interment followed at Garden of Memories Cemetery i(Winnfield, LA).

Van Dale Evans
June 30, 1947 – July 6, 2025
Service: Funeral Services for Mr. Evans will be held on Wednesday, June 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM within Temple Baptist Church. Interment will immediately follow the service in Mt. Zion Cemetery with full military honors under the direction of Kinner and Stevens Funeral Home.

If you were a graduate of Winnfield Senior High School (or Winnfield High School before that), then Winnfield’s Civic Center was the place to be Saturday night where the 2025 WSHS Reunion filled the hall with graduates and guests.

The focus of the reunion was the 50-year mark and it was the Class of 1975 that organized and hosted reunion events that saw Friday night activities, a Saturday morning tea and the Saturday night gala.  

But the tradition of the WSHS Reunion is to include all classes.  The earliest class represented was the WHS Class of 1951 by Edna Jean Finney Strickland who was accompanies by her daughter Judy Wagoner, WSHS Class of 1974.  The Travel Trophy went to Rose Bennett Pye who came here all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah, with husband Steve.

The hall at the Civic Center was filled with guests, conversation and reminiscences of “School Days.”  Tables around the room carried photos, keepsakes, tributes those classmates who have gone on and more from five decades ago.  

A theme of memories was built around the old Parkway Drive-In Theater, compete with the familiar red and white bags of popcorn handed out to all following a plate-filling buffet dinner.

The theater theme carried over to the evening’s video presentation that captured memories for the 50-year class, including the pre-showing sequence that theater-goers remember of era-suited commercials plus the periodic countdown of “3 Minutes to Showtime,” then “2 Minutes to Showtime” and finally “1 Minutes to Showtime” until Showtime rolled.

Old newspaper accounts would conclude, “And a good time was had by all.”  The bar was set high as the Class of 1976 took notes and begins plans for the 2026 WSHS Reunion.

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Tickets are now available for the 2025 Dugdemona Friends of NRA Event here in Winnfield, announced chairman Edward Harrell.  The popular gathering will be held on Thursday, July 24, in the Winnfield Civic Center, 2000 South Jones Street.

“Early Bird” tickets are available from now until July 17 for $40 (single) and $60 (couples), with Table Sponsor starting at $400.  As extra incentive, there will be an Early Bird Drawing Prize.  After that date, tickets will be $50 (single) and $80 (couples), with Table Sponsor starting at $450.

Harrell also announced that the 2025 Gun of the Year (exclusive to Friends of NRA Events) is a Henry Lever-Action Supreme 5.56/.223 with “Friends of NRA” logo.

The chairman reports that all proceeds from the local event go into a state NRA Fund from which grants are written by organizations like 4-H and law enforcement groups doing shooting range improvements…all promoting shooting sports.  “It helps everybody out.”

Contact information for Edward Harrell is 318-413-1533.  Learn more about the organization at friendsofnra.org.

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Winn Healthy Alliance Coalition recently had the opportunity to meet Dr. Gene Robichaux Jr, MD, Board Certified General and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Behavioral Health Director for Trinity Community Health Centers.  His presentation was at the museum in Winnfield.

Dr. Robichaux says, “psychiatry is the medical practice of diagnosing, treating, and preventing mental health problems.” Explaining further, he states, “A psychiatrist can prescribe medications but would first carefully evaluate the individual since a medical health problem can actually present itself as a psychiatric condition. A psychiatrist is first and foremost a physician, focused on promoting general health and well-being.”

Dr. Robichaux is a native of Alexandria and a graduate of ASH who graduated from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 2012.  He returned to Louisiana where he received his doctorate of medicine from LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport in 2016.  It’s not a quick process, for his next five years were spent in residency and fellowship training in general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry.  

In 2021 he worked with a small private practice before moving on to the Central Louisiana Human Services District (“Caring Choices”), which operates clinics in Alexandria, Jonesville, Leesville and Marksville.

“But the state began cutting funding, and I saw the need to look for additional work.  My wife, Carmen Marie, and I have six children.  The opportunity for the position of Trinity’s Behavioral Health Director came about. We talked, I interviewed, and they offered me the job.  Trinity is absolutely 100% of my practice.”

Dr. Robichaux is based at Rapides Academy School-Based Behavioral Center in order to serve children enrolled in Rapides Parish public schools. He also sees patients at Winn Community Health Center, Rapides Community Health Center, and South Grant Community Health Center in order to serve children in the wider community.  

Trinity Community Health Centers’ program focuses on a variety of concerns.  “We first evaluate and rule out medical causes of symptoms. We clarify immediate concerns, while seeking to understand the child’s difficulties in the context of their family, school, and other relationships.  Then we pursue a wide range of treatments, including counseling, academic interventions, and/or medication, when necessary.”

Areas of the abnormal conditions he mentioned include anxiety, mood instability, disruptive behavior, developmental disorders, and psychosis.

Asked about other aspects of his life, Dr. Robichaux says, “It would be worthwhile to mention that we are actively involved in our church.  I am a professional organist and serve as the director of music at St. Rita Catholic Church.  It’s our longtime family church, and I’m happy to be there.”

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The City witnessed the adage of “One man’s treasure is another man’s trash” when the council met in special session June 26 to hear concerns of businessman Ray Cage.

Cage sought the meeting after he received a $12,000 bill for an ordinance-driven cleanup of his 4-acre property on Cotton Street.  “You said it was cleanup.  I said it was punishment.  They came on the back of my property where nobody can see.  Behind my building.  They took equipment and I didn’t get anything for it.”

City inspector Andre Bass said the unsightly property has been an ongoing problem.  “If you read the ordinance, we’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to do.  We have done the same with other people.” He said the city had sent official notification to Cage each year for the past four years (except during COVID).

Cage pointed out that the last notice was July 2024.  “That’s a long time” to wait before this most recent action.  He explained that he uses this property to do his work.  “I never stop working to fix and repair stuff.  I’m steadily working to improve things.”

The landowner complained that the city’s action against him is the result of a personal issue from a neighbor.  “Why just me?  Look around the community.  You don’t have to go to a 4-acre tract where nobody can see.  Cleanup is one thing but attack, abuse, that’s something else.  Is that right?  You represent the people.”

“Yes, we represent the people,” replied council member Chiquita Caldwell.  “They’re complaining.  I didn’t hear anything” about the city’s cleanup plans.

“Maybe it’s trash to you but it’s not trash to me.  I fix things.  My reason for coming here tonight is to hear the opinions of the other councilmen.  Is this right?  I want to see if they agree.”  But other members said little.

“OK, if you think this is right, we’ll have to do something else,” he said.  He mentioned his attorney had made contact with City Attorney Clay Carroll but had not received a reply.  “OK, we’ve heard your voice,” said Mayor Gerald Hamms to Cage, drawing the discussion to a close.  “You have your attorney, the city has its attorney.” 

“At this point, if you’re talking about attorneys, we should leave it with them,” suggested councilman Matt Miller.  “I’ll take my direction from legal advice.”

“So we’ll fight this out in court,” concluded Cage.  He thanked the City Council to taking the time to meet with him.

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The man informally known as “the historian of Winn Parish,” Gregg Davies, spoke to the Winnfield Kiwanis Club on June 24 about the Outlaws of Winn Parish. Mr. Davies was born and reared here in Winn Parish and has worked under three Winn Parish sheriffs and one Winn Parish judge. He has also studied and researched the history of the parish and probably knows more about parish history than any other resident.

Mr. Davies commented on a column printed in the Winn Parish Enterprise for many years by Harley Bozeman titled “Winn Parish as I Have Known It,” which he has discovered got some things wrong about historical events in the parish, mainly because his information was gathered by word of mouth from ones who might be called old-timers. Now historians like Davies may use the internet to access the National Archives to find more accurate information about Winn Parish history.

From such sources, Davies reports Winn Parish was formed in 1852 from portions of the surrounding parishes. These were areas not deemed desirable by those parishes because they had little in the way of productive land and industry. He identified Dennis Mackey, the man who surveyed the areas to be incorporated into Winn Parish, as the “Father of Winn Parish.” It seems that Mr. Mackey made a deal to survey the land to be formed into the new Parish in exchange for land within the parish instead of money.

As for the outlaws of Winn Parish, Davies referred to a news article appearing in a Wisconsin newspaper in 1871 stating that Winn Parish was controlled by bad outlaws, namely, John West and Daniel Dean. According to historical accounts Davies has found, John West and Daniel Dean were both men who did not bother abiding by the law, both resided in Winn Parish and became engaged in a feud related to their respective illegal activities. Dean was persuaded to leave the parish and stayed away for several years but returned to Winn Parish eventually. His return resulted in a gun and knife fight with West and his gang. According to the article in the Wisconsin newspaper, after this gang fight, West kidnapped Dean’s parents and brother. Dean and his men discovered where his family was being held, rescued them and killed West and his men.

This type of vigilantism continued in Winn Parish for some months and years until John Abel, a circuit-riding Justice of the Peace, convened an inquest in which he, without hearing from any witnesses, determined that members of Dean’s gang were involved in the murders of the West gang. Some of these men were arrested and hanged. One of Dean’s compatriots, Loss (or maybe Laws, who knows how these names were spelled back in the “old” days) Kimbrell escaped to Texas but was eventually caught and hanged.

William Edenborn, who became the 10th richest American, acquired over 250 patents and became a close personal friend of President Teddy Roosevelt, constructed a railroad between Shreveport and New Orleans and owned the Coochie Brake between Atlanta and Verda. Another Winn Parish resident named Dick Merrill made the first transatlantic flight from America to Europe, which suggests that not everyone in Winn Parish was an outlaw.

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A new initiative is launching in Winn Parish to support pet owners facing financial hardships. Local resident and director of the City of Winnfield Animal Shelter, Camelia Shelton, has opened a Free Pet Food Pantry with the mission of ensuring that no animal in the community goes hungry.

“Times are tough, and the cost of living continues to rise,” Shelton shared. “Our goal is simple, to help every pet have a full belly each day.”

Currently, the pantry will serve residents within the Winn Parish area with plans to expand as donations allow. The pantry will rely solely on donated pet food and can only provide a limited amount to each household based on availability.

Pet food will be repackaged into labeled gallon-sized bags, each containing approximately four pounds of dry dog or cat food. Due to the nature of these donations, specific brands or types of food cannot be guaranteed, and prescription or specialty diets are not available at this time.

Each eligible pet (cat or dog) may receive up to two bags of food while supplies last. This resource is intended as a temporary supplement during financial difficulties and is not meant to replace a pet’s regular food source.

To request assistance, residents are asked to text (do not call) the following number: 318-628-0264. A hold harmless agreement will be required for all recipients.

The organizer asks for patience as the program gets off the ground, expressing hope that the pantry will grow with continued community support and donations.

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The Rotary Club of Winnfield held its installation dinner on June 26 with ceremony at Mama’s Iron Skillet in which Kim Futrell was given the reins for the club for the 2025-26 Rotary year.

Also sworn into office were President-elect Mary Lou Blackley and Treasurer Jennifer Vidrine.  Conducting the installations was Past District 6190 Governor Bob Holeman.

Outgoing president, Mary Lou Blackley, planned several light-hearted games which she described as “ice-breakers” on the front end of the dinner.  At the conclusion, Blackley gave comments on the accomplishments of the club over the past 12 months while Futrell looked ahead to continuing the community projects through this coming year.

Rotary here in Winnfield provides scholarships to both college-bound and vocational school-bound seniors, provides school uniforms for young students, gives dictionaries to third grade students, hosts an annual 5K Walk & Run and has members active in the Community Food Pantry program.

The international theme for the Rotary Year 2025-26 is “Unite for Good.”  This fits well with the ongoing theme of the Rotary Foundation of “Doing Good in the World.”

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“Learn how to recover from an abuser who fakes love for profit,” advises Annie Goods, DART advocate for Winn Parish.

1.   Romance Fraud Defined: Romance fraud involves exploiting someone emotionally to gain access to their money, status or assets. Abusers use trust and deception to make the victim believe in a genuine relationship while secretly pursuing financial or personal gain.

2.  Emotional and Financial Devastation: Victims of romance fraud often face intense betrayal, financial losses and legal challenges, especially if children or shared assets are involved. Recovery is a complex emotional and legal process.

3.   Steps to Recover: Survivors are encouraged to cut off contact with the abuser, seek therapy or support groups, rebuild their social connections and consult legal experts to recover stolen assets. It’s essential to remember that fraud is not the victim’s fault, and healing is possible with time and support.

Sometimes a relationship or marriage is just a long con called “Romance Fraud.” That is, the abuser enters the relationship primarily to gain access to the target’s money, visa status, home, inheritance, or something else. The love and romance are deceits. It feels like love to the victim—but it is actually a form of exploitation.

“Romance Fraud” refers to faking love to exploit another person. The term is most commonly used to refer to online schemes. But Romance Fraud exists in the real world, too. The key element is that an offender defrauds a target through what the target perceives to be a genuine romantic relationship. These scams succeed only if the abusers are skilled enough to establish trust with their victims through developing a relationship.

Romance fraud can be devastating. Victim-survivors are crushed to learn that the person who they had genuinely loved and trusted was a con artist. They feel immensely betrayed—as their golden dream castle comes crashing down into a pile of sand. Victim-survivors often blame themselves. They may lose large sums of money, their homes, and their self-esteem in the process. If they have children in common, they may be stuck negotiating custody and/or paying child support to a scam artist for the rest of their children’s lives.

If you believe you have been a victim of Romance Fraud, keep the following things in mind:

1) It is not your fault. The fraudster who was skilled enough to scam you has probably scammed others before you and will scam others in the future. The scammer created a false reality, and it was natural that you believed it. This reflects poorly on the scammer, not on you.

2) The intense, terrible feelings will not last forever.  Sometimes when the fraud is exposed, people feel like they are drowning in betrayal and shame. They feel like they will never recover. Remember, it will look different in a year, in five years and in a decade. The aching wound will fade into feelings of sadness and anger. At a certain point, you may be surprised to realize that you no longer think about that person or the situation very much at all. A support group, therapy, writing, exercise, and meditation can all help.

3) Feeling lonely and a bit lost is natural. Especially at first, you may miss the intensity of the relationship. Reconnect with family, friends and neighbors who you may have been isolated from. Consider volunteering. Try to avoid getting involved in another romantic relationship until you have healed. (I suggest giving it at least a year, but that’s up to you). If you get involved too soon, while you are still vulnerable, you are at greater risk for further hurt and exploitation.

4) Cut off all contact with the fraudster. If you are not bound by children in common, block this person on social media and report them if you need to. Speak with your local domestic violence agency to see if you can file a protective order. If you have children in common, you should be able to restrict communication to that which is absolutely necessary. Consider using just one channel such as a parenting app. You may need an attorney’s help with this.

5) You will need to un-gaslight yourself. Learn about the nuances of gaslighting. The fraudster has undoubtedly deceived you not just about financial matters but also about the people in your life, the agreements you have made, and so much more! It may take a while to trust what you know again.

6) Consider speaking with an attorney to see if anything that was taken from you can be recovered.  If you can prove that you signed documents or contracts under duress or false premises, it may be possible to reverse them. The sooner you act, the better. 

7) See if you qualify for compensation. FreeFrom’s Compensation Compass is a free tool that helps survivors determine if they are eligible for compensation based on what they’ve endured, where they live and how much time they would be willing to invest.

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When it comes to local sports coverage, the experts say you can’t do better than what you get for free in your favorite Online Journal publication.

The experts are out-of-state sports media who judged entries in the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s annual Writing Contest. Results from this summer’s contest, which included content produced in the calendar 2024 year, were announced Sunday during the LSWA’s Awards Brunch in Natchitoches.

As coaches say, statistics don’t lie. The numbers point out the tremendous value Journal readers get with top-caliber content on their local teams as well as compelling state and national topics.

The Shreveport-Bossier Journal sports team – editor/writer Doug Ireland, and writers John James Marshall, Ron Higgins, Teddy Allen and Tony Taglavore – produced more award-winning entries than any other single-market news media outlet In Louisiana, and it wasn’t close.

The SBJ team was rewarded with 18 LSWA recognitions, including some of the top honors in the contest. No other single-market media entity had more than 10.

Adding in awards won by the staff (Malcolm Butler, Kyle Roberts and Reggie McLeroy) at the Lincoln Parish Journal and columnist Bob Tompkins in the Rapides Parish Journal, the Online Journals’ LSWA contest haul was 24 honors. That was on pace with the collective total of the closest competition, which had four outlets that received a combined 24 recognitions.

Journal writers received some of the contest’s top honors, headed by Ireland earning the LSWA’s Sports Writer of the Year award after he earned recognition in eight different categories. He previously won the honor in 1987 for the Alexandria Town Talk before shifting into the athletic media relations profession and not returning to sports writing until 2021.

Marshall was named the LSWA’s Prep Writer of the Year for his high school sports coverage in the SBJ.

Journal writers took home first and second in the state Columnist of the Year in Class II (circulation below 10,000 daily) with Tompkins winning the award while Butler was the runner-up in that category. Butler was also named runnerup for the Class II Prep Writer of the Year for the second straight year.  

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The 45th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival will be held on Saturday, July 19, in air-conditioned Prather Coliseum located at 220 South Jefferson Street on the campus of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. The festival’s curated showcase of Louisiana folk musicians, food vendors and traditional crafts persons will open at 9 a.m., with live entertainment scheduled from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. The family-oriented festival is fully wheelchair accessible. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets are $10 at the door for all events, or $6 for an evening pass to all events after 5 p.m. 

The festival features three stages of music. Music headliners include Cajun band Amis du Teche, zydeco band Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, blues artist D.K. Harrell, western swing artist the Kristyn Harris Band, roots band Smithfield Fair, gospel group the Amazing! Rhythm Disciples and swamp pop dance band the Has Beans. The festival also includes numerous food vendors offering traditional Louisiana cuisine. Outdoor activities feature demonstrations of traditional blacksmithing, Dutch oven cooking and a child-friendly hands-on demonstration of a 19th century wash day. 

In honor of this year’s theme, “Crafting Louisiana,” more than 80 crafts vendors have been invited to display and discuss their traditional work with those attending the festival. Craftspeople are expected to display beadwork, baskets, cowhide chair covers, alligator jewelry, Pysanky eggs, Native American crafts and pottery. Other expected craftspeople will display needlework, wood carvings, handmade toys and dolls, paintings, sculpture, homemade soap, spinning & weaving, handcrafted knives, handmade brooms, walking sticks, folk art quilts and more. 

The Festival will include a Red Beans and Rice Cookoff, in which professionals and hobbyists alike can compete in one of multiple categories and demonstrate their cooking skills. Registration and the cooks’ meeting will take place at 8 a.m. Tasting and judging will begin at 12:30 p.m. with winners to be announced at 3:30 p.m. There is no fee to compete in the Cookoff. Red beans & rice must be cooked on-site outside of Prather Coliseum, but beans may be pre-soaked. 

The Annual Louisiana State Fiddle Championship will be held at 1 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. There will be a non-championship class and a championship class. A twin fiddle category will also be held. Registration is at noon in the first-floor foyer outside Magale Recital Hall. The Fiddle Championship winner will perform on the main stage in Prather Coliseum at 5 p.m. 

The festival includes several opportunities for patrons to engage directly with Louisiana folk culture. Free dance lessons include line dancing taught by the Classy Steppers, Celtic dance taught by the Thistle Dancers and Pipers and Cajun and zydeco dancing taught by the Cajun French Music Association Dance Troupe. Interactive activities include a yodeling demonstration by Kristyn Harris, dancing with the Louisiana Czech Heritage Dancers, a son jarocho fandango dance by the Armadillos Tejano and a musical spoons workshop taught by folk musician Clancey Stewart, with 50 free musical spoons given to workshop attendees. 

“The festival bridges the distance between artists and the festival patrons, thus breaking the artificial barriers between artists and audience,” said Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of the festival and NSU’s Louisiana Folklife Center. “Rather than watching from the sidelines, everyone who takes part in these activities will share and engage in Louisiana’s rich culture.” 

KidFest will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kidfest is an area dedicated to child-friendly activities and is a fun way for children to examine their own cultural and family traditions as well as those from around the state. 

Narrative sessions will be held in the festival N-Club Room from 10 a.m. to 6 p,m. and feature presentations on traditional dolls and dollmaking, Creole architecture, Mexican fiddle styles and folk artist Clementine Hunter, with music informances on the blues with D.K. Harrell and roots music with Smithfield Fair. ASL interpretation, assistive listening devices and audio description for these cultural discussions will be made available upon prior request.  

This year also features several pre-Festival events which are free and open to the general public. Fiddlin’ with the Finest will be held at the Many Depot Museum on June 14 and will include several Louisiana State Fiddle Champions discussing and performing traditional fiddling. Attendees are invited to bring their own acoustic instruments for a folk music jam session. A second free pre-festival event, A Life of Zydeco, a Musical Informance with Chubby Carrier, will be held on June 21 at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches with Grammy winner Carrier discussing the cultural significance of zydeco to Louisiana with Rasmussen. A third pre-festival event will be an interactive crafts workshop, with Creole and Native American tradition bearers sharing their cultural knowledge. It will be held at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum on July 12. Free crafting materials will be provided for attendees. 

For a full schedule of events, as well as registration forms to participate in the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship and the Red Beans & Rice Cookoff contact the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332 or email folklife@nsula.edu or go to louisianafolklife.nsula.edu. 

Support for the festival is provided by grants from the Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc., the City of Natchitoches, the Louisiana Division of the Arts Decentralized Arts Fund Program, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, the Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, and the State of Louisiana. The festival is sponsored by C&H Precision Machining, City Bank, Cleco, Evans Family, LLC, Exchange Bank, the Family Doctors of Natchitoches, the Harrington Law Firm, Natchitoches Wood Preserving Company and Young Estate, LLC. 

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