News

The LaSalle Clerk of Court’s office was a beehive of activity on the first day of qualifying last Wednesday as candidates showed up to file paperwork for the fall election.

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unRoark siblings – seven-year-old Jedidiah, four-year-old Jaycee and three-year-old Jessa – recently explore the book collection on the LaSalle Parish Library’s Bookmobile. (Parents are Jason and Megan Roark of Jena.) The bookmobile is a mobile library that visits homes and different locations around the parish to those who are not able to visit the library to check out books. This service has been in existence in the parish since 1953. “We love the bookmobile,” their mother, Megan Roark, said. “It’s a wonderful service for parents and the community. The kids look forward to it every two weeks.”

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Retail sales in LaSalle Parish rose very slightly parish wide during the past fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, according to figures released by the Concordia Sales Tax Collection Agency, which collects sales taxes for several bodies in the parish. The LaSalle Parish School Board and the LaSalle Law Enforcement District saw a substantial rise in sales tax collections for the fiscal year, but the towns of Jena and Olla saw collections remaining steady.

According to the collection agency, the school board and law enforcement district saw the increases because of a substantial (one-time) payment of an audit performed by the sales tax agency last summer. Those increases can be noted in collections for the month of August 2017. After seeing retail sales drop by about 17.5-percent between the years of 2014-15 and 2015-16, officials are hopeful that the economy has balanced out and that a steady increase in sales will be in the future.

Retired Science Teacher Prentiss Powell instructs local youth on how to build a special type of rocket during the Centennial Cultural Center’s Rocket Camp last week at the center in downtown Olla. Students spent the whole week learning about different rockets as well as constructing and launching them as part of the camp. During the summer, the CCC hosts several camps involving science, art and more as well as a camp for students with special needs. For more information about the CCC and upcoming events and/or to volunteer, call 495-7988 or visit www.culturalcenter.us.

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Retired Science Teacher Prentiss Powell instructs local youth on how to build a special type of rocket during the Centennial Cultural Center’s Rocket Camp last week at the center in downtown Olla. Students spent the whole week learning about different rockets as well as constructing and launching them as part of the camp. During the summer, the CCC hosts several camps involving science, art and more as well as a camp for students with special needs. For more information about the CCC and upcoming events and/or to volunteer, call 495-7988 or visit www.culturalcenter.us.

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A former Jena High School basketball coach who held many honors including the national and state coach of the year and an inductee into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame passed from this life at her home in East Jena last Saturday morning. Carrice Russell Baker won more games than any high school girls’ basketball coach in Louisiana history. Coach Baker coached 26 years at Winnsboro High School, winning four state championships and coached for another 13 years at Jena High School, winning another four state championships. Almost every year the team she was coaching at the time won district and went on to play in the Sweet Sixteen Tournament that year

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Lee Worsham, coodinator of the Mid-Louisiana Big Rig Truck Show, presented Polly Duncan, Director of the LaSalle Council on Aging with a check for $1,650, the proceeds from the event held in Jena on June 9, 2018. Duncan expressed thanks for the donation and said it would help the Council on Aging to provide benefits to those served by the COA

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