News

Members of the LaSalle Parish Police Jury adopted their 2016 budget totaling just over $7.29-million at their regular December meeting held Monday night of last week. A public hearing on the proposed 2016 budget was held at 5:45 p.m., prior to adoption by jurors. Also during the public hearing, jurors were set to receive comments on deleting Pintail Drive in District 9 from the parish road system. No comments were received on either item.

 

LaSalle Parish educators, students and parents could not have received a better Christmas gift this year than when they learned that the LaSalle Parish School District is among the very top districts in the state recognized for exceptional growth on performance scores. The District Performance Score (DPS) increased from 84.5 to 96.5, which is an increase of 12 points on the DPS as compared to 2014-2015, meaning the local school district ranked at #3 in the state for gains in performance scores. A 96.5 DPS represents a letter grade of “B”.

 

Urania Council member and Fire Department Representative Stacie Strain shared concern with Mayor Terri Corley and her fellow Council members over the need for department volunteers on Monday night of last week at the Council’s regular monthly meeting. 

 

LaSalle High student David Rusk reads “The Tale of the Three Trees” book to Fellowship and Nebo Elementary fourth graders during their visit to the Centennial Cultural Center in Olla last week. All public school fourth graders in LaSalle Parish visited the CCC last week for their annual Christmas event where students are read Christmas books and told old-time Christmas stories by Mawmaw Nelly and served homemade gingerbread, teacakes and sassafras tea to teach what children did at Christmastime over a century ago. 

 

The Jena Town Council approved a $6.5-million budget for year 2016 at their regular December meeting held Tuesday night of last week. The total budget contains $3,185,655 in revenue for the general fund; $2,326,800 in revenue for the utility fund; and $953,700 in revenue for the sales tax fund.

 

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at 1 p.m. last Thursday for the newly renovated Community Center (former Fair Barn) in Jena prior to an open house held until 3 p.m., sponsored by the LaSalle Parish Police Jury. Taking part in the ribbon cutting event were, from left: Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Abbie Whittington, Secretary Jamie Jones, Secretary-Treasurer Kay Smith, Jury Vice-President Mike Crooks, Jury President Bard Lambeth, Jena Mayor LaDawn Edwards, and Jurors Jack Zeagler, Bobby Ray Francis and Larkin Jackson. Renovation work was recently completed on the Community Center through a 75/25% Louisiana Capital Outlay grant. Womack and Sons Construction were awarded the contract for the work at a cost of $240,632, which included completely renovating the inside of the facility. Landscaping greatly enhanced the appearance of the facility.

 

LaSalle Detention Facility (GEO) Warden David Cole (second from right) and Training Administrator Bruce Spence (second from left), presented the Colonial Trails committee with a $1,000 check last week to assist with expenses for Howdy Neighbor Day, which was held on September 26 at Jena Town Park – (left to right) Colonial Trails Vice President Candy Barton, Spence, Colonial Trails President Blake Phillips, Cole and Secretary/Treasurer Gayla Warren. Phillips, along with the Colonial Trails committee, would like to extend his appreciation to GEO for their donation.

 

The annual Jena Christmas parade will be held this Friday, Dec. 11, beginning at 6 p.m., with a former Jena business couple, Max and Virginia Mitchell, serving as Grand Marshals. The parade will line up in the Jena Town Park and pull out promptly at 6 p.m., going onto U.S. 84 from Sycamore Street, and traveling west through downtown Jena, turning north on First Street (LA 127) and ending at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse.