News

The Tullos Farmers Market is joining with five other Central Louisiana farmers markets in June to celebrate Rural Farmers Market Month. On June 7th & 21st, Tullos will feature face painting and storytelling for children and on June 21 they will be carving and decorating zucchinis and watermelons as cars. 

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Jena Junior High eighth graders tour a LaSalle Correctional Center (LCC) dormitory and hear from an inmate as part of the seventh annual Youth Crime Awareness Program (YCAP). Eighth graders from across the parish visited LCC in Urania to attend YCAP and hear advice and personal testimonies from inmates on what they hope will change the lives of the students.

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Two Memorial Day programs are planned this weekend to honor the memory of fallen soldiers from this area and from throughout the nation.

The first of these events will be held at the Centennial Cultural Center in downtown Olla, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 26th.

The Veterans Honor Guard from VFW Post 5002 of Jena will participate in the events, along with numerous local citizens.

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Pritchard Baptist Church in the Old River Community is surrounded by water as Old River floods the community. Although the church could still be reached by motor vehicles over the weekend, it required driving through the flood water. Water stage on Black River at Jonesville Locks and Dam on Monday stood at 53.48-ft, with flood stage at 50-ft. In the last flood of 2016, the stage reached 53.8-ft, and during the big flood of 1973, the stage of the river reached 59.65 inches. No one is sure how the heavy rains over the past weekend will affect river levels in the area, as restricted flow is being allowed into the Mississippi River, which is well beyond flood stage. 

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Daniel Cole of Jena officially announced this week that he will be a candidate for the empty District 32 Senate seat, subject to the action of voters at the fall elections.

Incumbent Senator Neil Riser has termed limited out and cannot seek re-election for this position, leaving an empty seat.

State Senate District 32 includes all of Caldwell, Catahoula, Franklin and LaSalle as well as certain precincts in Avoyelles, Concordia, Ouachita, Rapides, Richland and West Feliciana parishes.

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Philip Ray Henry, R.Ph., 67, of Jena and former owner of Honeycutt Drug Store in downtown Jena, lost his battle with cancer on the evening of Monday, May 13, 2019, at his residence surrounded by his loving family.

He was born July 28, 1951 in El Dorado, Arkansas to the union of Vergil Henry of Mangham, and Ruth Fleming Henry of Archibald.

Phil, as he was affectionately known by everyone, grew up on a farm, doing regular farm chores. He worked on the farm, feeding livestock, helping with crops, picking cotton, and driving the farm tractor, something he still enjoyed doing around his home in Jena until his declining health prevented him from the activity.

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At the outset of the May meeting of the LaSalle Parish School Board on Monday night of last week, President Justin Reeves took a few minutes to address the problems at Olla Elementary School and inform those present of the steps being taken by the board.

“All buildings have been cleared by the state health department for re-opening tomorrow (Tuesday, May 7), with the exception of the gymnasium and auditorium,” Reeves said. “Both of these facilities will remain closed to all students, personnel, etc.”

“The gym will remain closed until bats are removed, the building professionally cleaned, and sealed and the auditorium will be closed to prevent possible bat infestation in the future,” he noted.

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Former Jena council member A. D. “Buddy” Willis addressed the Mayor and members of the Jena Town Council at their May meeting last Tuesday night, suggesting a way to obtain funds to repair all streets in Jena.

“I propose that you appoint a committee to study the possibility of calling a one-half cent sales tax for the town, with the funds being dedicated strictly for street work,” Willis said, adding that he would volunteer to serve on the committee.

While at the meeting, Willis discussed flooding along Willis Blvd. in East Jena, inquiring if the fire department is ever used to clean out culverts.

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The Tullos Town Council approved the adoption and introduction of several ordinances at their regular meeting last week concerning a range of issues such as limiting the number of in-service water meters, forbidding the possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and prohibiting large vehicle use on specific streets.

Mayor Karla Cockerham said the latter issue was raised from a host of citizen complaints revolving around large (multi-axle) trucks either driving along Doyle Street and part of Sycamore Street or bypassing the Hwy 84/165 intersection by turning at Dollar General onto East Hebert Street.

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For four years a sophisticated burglary ring eluded law enforcement in multiple jurisdictions along the Mississippi River in Louisiana and Mississippi. All of that came to an end recently as the LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Department obtained warrants for the pair alleged to have orchestrated and conducted the many burglaries.

Brady Cormier, 40, of Vidalia, and Mark Tyler Evans, 24, of Ferriday, were arrested last week by law enforcement officers in Texas on warrants from LaSalle Parish for two counts of simple burglary, two counts of criminal damage to property, and two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit simple burglary.

“These warrants are only for burglaries committed in LaSalle Parish,” La-Salle Parish Sheriff Scott Franklin said. “Because of our detectives’ work in solving this burglary operation, the Rapides Parish and Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Offices have also obtained felony warrants for Cormier and Evans for burglaries committed in their jurisdictions.”