Ellis Green, Sr.
Passed-June 8, 2025
Service: Final services for Mr. Green will take place at the Asbury United Methodist Church, 704 5th Street, Natchitoches, LA 71457 Friday, June 20, 2025, at 11:00 AM.

John James Moore
January 9, 1942 – June 11, 2025
Service: Funeral services for Mr. Moore began at 2:00 PM.on Sunday, June 15, 2025, at Yankee Springs Cemetery.

Debra J. Hanson
December 20, 1956 – June 12, 2025
Service: Services for Mrs. Hanson took place within the chapel of Southern Funeral Home of Winnfield on Monday, June 16, 2025. Interment followed in the Garden of Memories Cemetery.

Brodie Danielle Alford
April 21, 1992 – June 11, 2025
Service: Funeral services for Ms. Alford took place Tuesday, June 17th, 2:00 PM that afternoon in the chapel of Southern Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Zion Hill Cemetery (Tannehill, Louisiana).

With guidance from board attorney Jon Guice of Caldwell, the School Board Monday night embarked on its quest for a superintendent to replace Al Simmons who announced his retirement effective December 31 of this year.

Guice who works with other school districts on such transitions congratulated Simmons for his service.

The primary question he put to the board was when they’d want to hire the new superintendent.  That could be pushed to the closing hours of Simmons’ term.  But his recommendation would allow some overlapping time so that Simmons would have time to show the new individual around.

“ASAP,” suggested Joe Llaine Long.

There are naturally state guidelines, Guice noted.  Notice must be run (showing how and where to apply) in the official journal (Winn Parish Enterprise), then a week later in the nearest metro newspaper (Alexandria, likely), followed another week later back in the Enterprise.  No hiring action could be made until 30 days following that third advertisement.

Based on that, the board agreed to run ads June 18, June 25 and July 2, setting a deadline date for July 25 for any hopefuls to have their applications in a designated Pose Office box here.  Members set a special meeting for July 28.  Guice suggested allowing another school system to screen the applications so that the local board could consider only qualified candidates.

The board also heard suggestions on screening, the questions and interview process, fairness and confidentiality, public involvement and spreading the word through various resources and more.

Autumn Leaves Nursing & Rehabilitation Center would like to congratulate Calvin High School Lady Cougars on winning the Class C State Softball Championship with a donation to assist with the purchasing of their championship rings. Pictured here are Thomas Little, Lady Cougars softball player Kyleigh Blundell, and Kasey Bevill.

The Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call on June 5 reporting an unresponsive woman lying in the roadway in Joyce. Deputies and emergency medical services were immediately dispatched to the scene.

Deputy Caleb Reed was the first to arrive and found a woman lying on the side of Louisiana Avenue. Upon assessing her condition, he determined that she was not breathing and had no pulse.

Within minutes, Deputies Jordan Chandler and David Jones arrived to assist. Together, the deputies administered a dose of Narcan and began performing CPR. After several minutes of combined life-saving efforts, the woman regained a pulse and began breathing.

EMS personnel arrived shortly thereafter and assumed medical care. The woman was then transported by ambulance to Winn Parish Medical Center for further treatment.

Deputies determined that the woman had been in a vehicle with a male identified as Dustin Desadier. After she consumed fentanyl and became unresponsive, Desadier allegedly removed her from the vehicle and drove away without calling for medical assistance. Desadier was arrested and booked into the Winn Parish Detention Center on charges of Failure to Seek Assistance.

Sheriff Josh McAllister commended the deputies for their swift and effective response. “Each deputy relied on their training to help save a life,” said Sheriff McAllister, noting that all deputies receive annual training in CPR and the use of Narcan.

Sheriff McAllister also encourages the public to become familiar with CPR, emphasizing, “You never know when a loved one may need this life-saving technique.”

The Winn Parish School Board heard that the most recent bid efforts to sell its surplus properties of Winnfield Kindergarten School and Atlanta High School fell short so another round of bids will be in order.

Members were told that no bids were received for the old WKS property.  They also learned that just one bid from Chris Hilton was received on the AHS property but it was “well below the required 80% appraised value” so a third bid round would be necessary.

Supt. Al Simmons had previously advised that state law requires that first round bids must meet or exceed appraised value while second round bids must reach the 80% level but third round bids could be the best of any offered bids.

Costs of running a school district continue to grow but the board got a little good news in its June meeting when Wendell Luneau gave a proposal from Brown & Brown on insurance coverage on property, EDP, Boiler & Machinery and Workers Compensation.  The summer was “better rates and better coverage” than this ending year and the board accepted.

Members had received a report that there would be no traditional “summer school,” as such this year but there would be “Summer Literacy Camp” instead.  The goal is to put a spin on fun rather than requirement to attract children to participate.  Simmons said camp “kicked off in great fashion” with tents set up in classrooms based on book reading.

The initial signup had been light but he reported that response was good.  “I appreciate the work done to create this fun nature.  You got the word out.  We’re reaching kids to respond better to situations.”

The superintendent also advised of a Jobs Fair held as the district looks ahead to fall needs for support personnel including drivers, substitutes and paraprofessionals.

Members of Christ Wesleyan Fellowship held Sunday services for the first time in their new church home at 185 Highway 156 in Winnfield.  The congregation which had disaffiliation from First United Methodist Church has been meeting in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church since April 2023.

On July 1, 2024, Rev. Russell Jones became the first pastor of the Fellowship and on December 8 that same year, the congregation met for its first Charge Conference as part of the Global Methodist Church.  (The church had voted in September 2023 to become a member congregation of the Global Methodist Church and their application was approved in October).

This past Sunday, June 8, the new place of worship for Christ Wesleyan Fellowship of Winn was dedicated and consecrated.  The ceremony was led by Kiah Beville, chairman of the Administrative Council and lay leader; Kevin Koeppen, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Larry and Donna Bates who donated the building; and Rev. Russell Jones, pastor.

Members of Christ Wesleyan Fellowship extend an invitation to the public to join with them Sunday mornings in their new location for Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m.

Summer Reading fun continues throughout the Winn Parish library system with upcoming programs announced to attract the attention of children.

Pedro will be at the Dodson branch today at 10 a.m. for a program on “Hurricanes” them travel to Sikes for a 2 p.m. program on “Extreme Heat.”

On Monday, June 16, Nathan Roberts will be at the Atlanta branch.  Also at Atlanta that afternoon will be a program for adults called the “Summer Hat Centerpiece.”

One of summer’s popular programs is brought by the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe and they will be here at the Calvin branch at 10 a.m. and at the main branch in Winnfield at 1 p.m.  

Door prize drawings will be given out after each program.  Readers are reminded to bring their completed reading log to any library branch for a prize.  Names will also be entered for a grand prize drawing.

The Harrington Law Firm in Natchitoches, while providing their clients with a small-town family feel, at the same time provides top notch legal representation as recognized by the nation’s leader in attorneys’ ratings.

“Some might call our business model a little ‘hokey’ or old-fashioned, but it is something that we truly believe in,” said partner Eddie Harrington when referring to the family approach to their business.

“My Dad (Rodney) and I are obviously family and the members of our staff have each been with us many years, and some cases, decades.” He continued, “We consider them to be part of our family as well and when someone becomes our client, we tell them that they have become a part of the Harrington Law Firm family.”

Harrington said that the attorneys and staff at the firm endeavor to treat every client the same as if they were an actual blood relative.

“Every client who comes to see us is involved in one type of stressful situation or another,” Harrington concluded. “They’ve either been in an automobile accident, are having financial problems, have been denied Social Security Disability, or are dealing with some other serious issue. We find that they are comforted by the fact that not only are we going to take care of their business, but we truly treat them like our own family members.”

When it comes to taking care of their clients’ business, one highly respected attorneys’ rating service says that the Harrington Law Firm does that as well as any firm in the country.

Martindale-Hubbell, the leading world-wide legal information service, which has been providing background information on lawyers and law firms in the United States and other countries for over 150 years, has given the Harrington Law Firm and partners C. Rodney Harrington and “AV Preeminent Rating,” the company’s highest rating. According to Martindale-Hubbell, the “AV Preeminent Rating,” which is established by the company obtaining peer reviews from other attorneys in the same geographical area, recognizes law firms and attorneys for their strong legal ability and high ethical standards.

An elite group of approximately 10% of all firms and attorneys in America hold an “AV Preeminent Rating,” a designation recognized as the “Gold Standard” of legal ratings. If that wasn’t enough, the firm has also been awarded the “Special Edition Judicial Award” which is especially noteworthy because it is based upon the confidential opinions and recommendations of members of the Judiciary familiar with the attorneys in the Harrington Law Firm. The “Judicial Edition Award” indicates perfect ratings from the Judiciary on the Harrington’s legal ability and ethical standards. 


Harrington Law Firm clients have the comfort and confidence knowing that not only are they going to be treated like family but that they represented by a firm that is recognized as the “Gold Standard” for legal firms across the country. The Harrington Law Firm is composed of partners C. Rodney Harrington and C. Edward “Eddie” Harrington and is located at 459 Jefferson Street, Natchitoches, LA. Their areas of practice are Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Bankruptcy, Social Security Disability and Wills & Successions.

Their website is www.theharringtonlawfirm.com.

For more information about Martindale-Hubbell and their rating system, go to http://www.lawyers.com .

After her introduction by Dr. Gaddis, Winn Parish Library Director Priscilla Massey said she has in common with the Kiwanis club that she believes in serving the community. She had prepared a folder for each person with information about the library and the services it offers. There was also a calendar of events for June and July and a puzzle book. She had just come from seeing Harvey Rabbit at the main branch. This is a program that happens every year during the Summer Reading Program.

Ms. Massey gave highlights of a flyer that gave 2024 By The Numbers at the Winn Parish Library. 80% of Winn Parish residents have library cards. That is because you can get a library card at a very young age. We have the main library as well as branches at Atlanta, Calvin, Dodson and Sikes. The branch libraries were built in conjunction with the schools. With the closure of the Atlanta school the property that the library building sits on was donated to the library and it now has its own water and electricity.

These branches are open 3 days per week except Dodson which is open 4 days per week. They each have a branch manager in charge. These branches also have a computer area and access to WiFi. The Winn Parish Library offers much more than just books. They have magazines, newspapers and movies. There are meeting room spaces available at no charge. In 2024, 5422 people took advantage of book clubs, craft days, children’s story times, class field trips, outreach & partnership programs and much more. There were about 500 programs offered in 2024. The services of the library are the same but the way the library is used is different. There are digital resources including Homework LA (a tutoring program with certified tutors), Mango Languages which is a resource for learning foreign languages.

Many people check out e-books or audiobooks from Libby using their library card. The library is an important part of the community because literacy is important, access to information is important and service to the community is important. Hours at the Winn Parish Library are 9 AM – 5:30 PM Monday through Friday and 9 AM – 1 PM on Saturday. There were over 25,000 visits to the Winn Parish Library system in 2024.

This Saturday, June 14, is “National Flag Day,” not a holiday but a recognized Day of Observation first proposed in 1861 to commemorate when the U.S. flag was adopted by resolution of the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777.

It didn’t hit the spotlights until 1916 under President Woodrow Wilson and didn’t become permanent until a 1949 Act of Congress.  The state of Pennsylvania took Flag Day one step further when they made it a state holiday in 1937, making them the only state to do so.

The flag stands for this great country but in recent decades of political and social turmoil, it’s lost some of its shine to some.  But around here, citizens seem to hold strong to their pride in our nation and the Star Spangled Banner that represents it.

On any given day, American flags can be seen flying in front of businesses and at homes both in town and in the countryside.  The Lions Club continues its program of putting out flags downtown and across the bridge, thanks to the support of sponsoring businesses.  In the recent revamp of the courthouse landscape, small flags add color to the flowerbed edges.

The central focus is the area by the Farmers Market on Main Street with the three flagpoles which has been referred to as the “Flag Park.”  Passersby may assume the flag “just happens” but work is involved to keep it flying.  The City of Winnfield provides a flag which has a lifetime of about a year due to weathering.  The Winnfield Fire Department is called on to display the flag from the poles where heights and cranks and chains may not be so cooperative.

Jesse Phillips, liaison officer with the Winnfield City Police, notes that there is so much turmoil in areas of our country (he indicated California this week) that “we’ve got to stand proud in what we believe in and the flag symbolizes that.  We’ve got three poles that stand tall.  Let’s allow them to wave for the people who fought and laid down their lives.  I believe in what our flag stands for.”

When the park was launched, the plan was to have an oversized American Flag at the center, flanked by a Louisiana flag and a Winn Parish flag.  Also in those early years, young students from Winnfield Intermediate School trained then performed with songs and the ceremonial handling and raising of that large American Flag on Veterans Day.

Times changed.  It was hard to keep up with replacements for the state and parish flags.  The oversized flag got tangled with the adjacent poles and was downsized.  For a time, three American Flags flew.  Then there was the central American Flag with a police flag at one side and fire department flag on the other.  Now there’s just the one.  WIS is no more and no one stepped into that void.

“I’d love to see kids back involved for the Veterans Day event,” said Phillips.  “Get the City and Parish both involved.  Maybe the Mayor’s Office could rekindle this interest that once was there.  Coming together for something like this is good for the community.  It’s good for morale.”

May God Bless America

Brad Dison, a lifelong resident of Bienville Parish and writer whose history column “Remember This?” runs weekly in the Journal, has released a new book about Sheriff Henderson Jordan’s pursuit and capture of notorious gangsters Bonnie and Clyde.

“The Trap: The Untold Story of Sheriff Henderson Jordan and the Final Pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde” is now available for purchase at www.HendersonJordan.com. 

“There has been more fiction than fact written about their crime spree,” Dison said. “For 91 years, people have assumed that former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer used his superior tracking skills to locate Bonnie and Clyde. This is another bit of fiction. It was Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan who located two of their hideouts in Bienville Parish. It was he who set three traps to capture the gang.  It was he who used an ‘undercover man’ and a ‘man on the inside’ to determine where they would be on that fateful morning of May 23, 1934. It was he who led the ambush posse and ended their violent crime spree.”

The biggest, most star-studded and fun-filled party of every summer for miles around is coming your way at the end of the month.

Three days of festivities are approaching beginning Thursday June 26 through Saturday June 28 for the 2025 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Induction Celebration in Natchitoches.

The LSHOF’s Class of 2025 will be enshrined Saturday night June 28 at the Natchitoches Events Center to culminate the 66th Induction Celebration. The final event is already full with a waiting list and standing room only tickets available.

The Induction Celebration will kick off Thursday, June 26, with the Welcome Reception from 5-7 p.m., free to the public at the Hall of Fame museum at 800 Front Street. 

The Friday, June 27 schedule begins with the Celebrity Bowling Bash presented by BOM at Four Seasons Bowling Center in Alexandria. The 2025 Rockin’ River Fest, a free concert on the downtown riverbank stage, begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 10:30. In conjunction with the Rockin’ River Fest is the VIP Taste of Tailgating party, a ticketed indoor-outdoor event that is approaching capacity.

The slate on Saturday, June 28 kicks off with the free LSHOF Junior Training Camp led by community relations personnel from the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, along with Northwestern State coaches and this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, on the NSU campus at the Webb Wellness and Recreation Center and Turpin Stadium. This event is presented by Natchitoches Regional Medical Center and is nearing capacity. Free registration for kids ages 7-16 is required and can be easily accomplished at LaSportsHall.com.

At noon Saturday, the Round Table Luncheon presented by the Tiger Athletic Foundation is set for Riverside Reserve on Mill Street. Fox Sports broadcaster Tim Brando emcees an entertaining program.

Festivities culminate Saturday evening with the Induction Reception at the LSHOF museum beginning at 5, followed at 7 by the Induction Ceremony at the Natchitoches Events Center. Northwestern State University and State Farm Agents of Louisiana are presenting sponsors Saturday evening.

The VIP Taste of Tailgating, the Bowling Bash, the Round Table Luncheon and the Induction Reception and Ceremony are ticketed events requiring purchase in advance through LaSportsHall.com or by calling 318-238-4255.

The Thursday reception, the Friday evening River Fest and the Junior Training Camp are free. 

The Class of 2025 is headlined by two men pivotal in LSU’s 2003 football national championship – coach Nick Saban and Andrew Whitworth, a champion at West Monroe High School, LSU and in the NFL during a 16-year pro career. More sparkle is provided by pro basketball All-Stars Danny Granger and Vickie Johnson, the state’s winningest all-time college baseball coach Joe Scheuermann and Danny Broussard, one of the nation’s most successful high school basketball coaches, in this year’s induction class.

It also includes LSU gymnastics great and NCAA individual champion April Burkholder, transformational Catholic-Baton Rouge high school football coach Dale Weiner and George “Bobby” Soileau, a four-time high school and 1956 NCAA boxing champion at LSU who also won a state crown as a football coach at his alma mater, Sacred Heart High School in Ville Platte.

LSU graduate Herb Vincent, now a longstanding associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, is receiving the Hall’s Dave Dixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award with his enshrinement.

Also being honored: Ed Daniels, a generational television sports broadcaster in New Orleans, and Glenn Guilbeau, one of the nation’s more decorated sportswriters in a career that has seen him cover LSU, state college, high school and pro sports along with stories across the South and around the SEC. They are being inducted as recipients of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism.

The 2025 Induction Celebration will be hosted by the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Foundation, the support organization for the Hall of Fame. The LSHOF Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 non-profit entity in 1975 and is governed by a statewide board of directors.  

For information on sponsorship opportunities and other participation, contact Foundation President/CEO Ronnie Rantz at 225-802-6040 or RonnieRantz@LaSportsHall.com, or Greg Burke, Director of Business Development and Public Relations, at 318-663-5459 or GregBurke@LaSportsHall.com via email.