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Feud re-enactment snapshots (published November 11, 2009)
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The Jones Liddell Feud was re-enacted for the second time on Saturday, November
7th, to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 spectators.
It took us back in time to a part of the parish’s rich and storied history as narrator and actors took the audience on a journey
of intrigue, excitement, treachery, death threats, ambushes, assassinations,
and murder trials.
The performance was a great success due to the efforts of so many Catahoulians. I would like to thank the following: WAYNE ELLIOTT, the expert re-enactor, for providing the actors, costumes,
authentic guns, props for many of the scenes, directing the action for the four
major scenes, and helping me with dates and details as I wrote the script for
the narration; the props committee, WILLIE LAZARUS for re-constructing the
Elmly/Sargent house, refurbishing the paddle wheel, painting the props, and
countless other duties; DONNA TISER
& TERRI COTTON, for the authentic-looking cotton bales, and the Llanada, Beard,
Garrett, and Elmly docking signs; SANDRA CARLTON for painting the wonderful
Elmly house scene and the steamboat murals;
GLADYS & LAURA ELLIOTT for making the stage curtain and the stage skirt to hide our
scene changes; SONDRA REDMON for the great scene change signs to introduce each
action scene; the Publicity Committee, MICKIE BROWN, MARY EDWARDS,
& CATHERINE JONES for printing and placing the flyers all over town, and for the
spots on the radio; DAVID RYAN for designing the wonderful flyers depicting the
Steamboat St. Mary and the original gun used in the feud, providing the posters
to sell at the event, making the CD steamboat whistle, and for videoing the
Feud; ALLAN BEAN for being in charge of the sound system for the event; BILL
ATKINS for being in charge of the physical facilities (making sure that
everything was moved to the park, for his Museum and Great Mound speech, etc.)
JIMI JOHNSON for being in charge of the fifteen Arts
& Crafts Booths and the Food Booths; the JONESVILLE WOMAN’S CLUB for selling our feud booklets, posters, pictures of the old Black River
bridge, and being in charge of our Donation Box;
RUTH KING for printing and assembling over 100 of the Jones Liddell Feud
booklets that we sold and for writing the proclamation to proclaim November
7th, the
“Jones Liddell Feud Day; JACKIE ROUSE for printing the proclamation and providing
the Black River Bridge pictures for sale;
MAYOR HIRAM EVANS, & THE TOWN OF JONESVILLE CREW for a huge amount of help whenever we asked;
(moving bleachers, props, the stage, hooking up electricity, building two sets
of wooden steps for the stage, etc);
the JONESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT for providing a security detail to guard the
historic gun that was loaned by the CATAHOULA LASALLE BANK; BLOCK HIGH SCHOOL
for the loan of its sound system; CATAHOULA LIFE, the CATAHOULA NEWS BOOSTER,
and other area newspapers for printing the outstanding news articles about the
feud; KIRBY KING who was a
“jack of all trades” and who located the horse and wagon for the Glen Ditch scene; PAUL DALY of the
Wild Horse Ministries in Jena who supplied the horse and wagon, and E. C.
MEYERS for bringing it from Jena to the park; HENRY ARTHUR TALIAFERRO for
bringing the gun and glass case to the park; THERESA TRISLER for singing the
National Anthem; MAYOR HIRAM EVANS for his Welcome and his leading of the
Pledge of Allegiance; the entertainment groups, MT. SINAI MEN
’S GROUP & LAVINIA MASON, MARY SCOGGINS, RHONDA & JACKIE MORRIS for the beautiful music; Weapons Expert-NICKY WOOD, and last, but
not least, the actors:
Scene Announcers – LAUREN & KATHRYN ELLIOTT; paddle wheel operator–JACKSON ELLIOTT of Jonesville; General St. John Liddell–KIRBY KING of Jonesville; Colonel Charles Jones–DALLAS HARRIS of Monterey; Willie Jones–D. J. HARRIS of Monterey; Cuthbert Jones–JESSE WILEY of Jonesville; Moses “Judge” Liddell–WAYNE ELLIOTT of Jonesville; Eliza Nichols–LAURA ELLIOTT of Jonesville; Judge J. G. Taliaferro– HENRY ARTHUR TALIAFERRO of Jonesville; Sheriff Oliver Ballard–LELAND ADAMS SR. of Jonesville; Samuel Glen–TRAVIS BORDELON of Interprise; Moses Wiggins–DAVID MORRIS of Jonesville; Boat Captain–LELAND ADAMS, JR., of Jonesville; Laura Jones–JULIE COLCLASURE of Jonesville; Mrs. Sargent–YOLANDA MCCLURE of Jonesville; Colonel Charles Morrison–ARTHUR FONTENOT of Jonesville; Michael Beard–KEITH BAUER of Kenner; Mob scene members: DAVE BOOKER, KEITH BAUER, ARTHUR FONTENOT, TRAVIS BORDELON, MURRAY HALL, & WAYNE ELLIOT; Deck hands-ROSS WIGGINGTON, RILEY & TATE WILLIAMS of Jonesville; and the Ghost of Ole’ Mrs Glen and Narrator-DOT COTTON LAZARUS. What a great job they did! What a superb job in telling the story! Just goes to prove that when so many Catahoulians work together to stage such a
monumental event as this was, the results are astounding.
We put on the Feud under adverse circumstances this year. The flood water kept rising, narrowing our viewing area, and we could not move
the stage out of the park because it would not go through the sea wall.
We apologize for the inconvenience this might have caused some of our viewers. We realized that some of the spectators could not hear all of the actors, and
next year, we hope to have microphones for everyone.
The final financial figure is not in, but we think the amount collected will be
in the neighborhood of around $800.00 from the vendors
’ fees and from the sale of the booklets, etc. We will be able to pay our expenses this year, and have some left over for the
museum project.
And, most importantly, we thank the AUDIENCE for supporting us by coming to
watch the show!
My thanks to everyone. Hopefully, we’ll see you again next year with a bigger and better Feud.
Dot Cotton Lazarus, Chairperson
Sicily Island receives $525,992 from DEQ (published November 11, 2009)
On Friday, Nov. 6, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality awarded
$7,385,285 to four municipalities in northeast and central Louisiana. The
municipalities were Urania in La Salle Parish ($1,581,643); West Monroe in
Ouachita Parish ($4,750,000); Sicily Island in Catahoula Parish ($525,992); and
Clayton in Concordia Parish ($527,651).
This represents the first four of the 55 awards that the department will be
issuing.
DEQ received approximately $43 million from the U.S. EPA as part of the federal
stimulus package for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, also known as CWSRF,
to support wastewater improvement and green infrastructur projects.
“We’re using this money to address wastewater treatment concerns across the entire
state," said DEQ Secretary Harold Leggett.
“We know by the number of applications we received that the wastewater
infrastructure throughout the state, and the nation for that matter, is in dire
need of repair. Since that issue is a top priority, we made a concerted effort
to get funding to those municipalities that met the criteria set by the
department.
”
To ensure the benefits from the stimulus package were felt statewide, the
department looked at compliance issues and
regional diversity to ensure there would be widespread sewer system
improvements across the state. The department also looked at projects where
there was a possibility to eliminate any imminent threats to human health or
the environment. Financial constraints were also taken under consideration.
Communities that did not have the ability to repay loans were targeted. The
average median household income for the 55 selected municipalities is $22,785;
well below the state
’s median household income. Additionally, DEQ considered criteria involving
project cost, population served, requested amount, a community
’s ability to assume additional debt, and projects that would provide economic
recovery.
The federal stimulus package allows states to keep up to four percent of their
award. The DEQ opted to keep none of the allowable administrative set-aside
dollars; choosing instead to direct the stimulus funds to support wastewater
improvement projects across the state.
The 55 selected municipalities across 42 parishes do not have to repay their
loan awards because the DEQ is allowing the 55 recipient municipalities to
receive a zero percent interest loan with 100 percent principal forgiveness.
However, each of the 55 recipients must go through the standard loan process,
since the CWSRF program is not set up to offer grants.
Presenting the check to Sicily Island Mayor Arte Goode (center holding check)
were (l. to r.) Senator Neal Riser, Bryant Hammett, DEQ Deputy Secretary Dr.
Alex Appeaning, and Representative Noble Ellington.
Sheriff Kelly initiates Citizens on Patrol Program (published November 11, 2009)
The Citizen on Patrol programs were started in Arizona, and Bossier Parish was
the first in Louisiana to implement the program.
Lincoln Parish formed their own s.c.o.p. a few years ago, and now catahoula parish has begun the program.
Sheriff James Kelly recognized the value and benefits of such a program and
enlisted the help of the men shown in the photo to start a
s.c.o.p. here.
What is s.c.o.p.? It is a group of people dedicated to the betterment of our communities, who
serve as eyes and ears of the Catahoula Parish Sheriffs Office.
They are authorized to patrol their areas looking for criminal activity, safety
hazards, checking on seniors living alone, individuals who are handicapped and
at home alone, and doing other things in the interest of the parish.
They can check homes for those who are on vacation or out of town for medical or
other reasons.
They can observe for illegal activity and immediately contact the Sheriffs
Office.
This is strictly a volunteer group with no agenda other than trying to make
Catahoula Parish a better place to call home.
Rhonda Squyres, with the c.p.s.o., has done much of the work in researching and organizing this group and
believes "We can do a lot of good things for our parish."
Rhonda can be contacted at 744-5411 for those wanting more information about s.c.o.p.
From left to right are David Mitchell, Wilbert Trisler, Glendon Hutchins, David Bailey, Sheriff James
Kelly, S.C.O.P. Supervisor Bobby Alexander, and Billy Fletcher, Jr.
(not pictured, Rev. Jack Long)
Recent drug arrests (published November 11, 2009)
Four drug related arrests were reported this week from local law enforcement
agencies.
The Jonesville Police Department nabbed the following two individuals:
Ray Von Holder, 48, of 2580 Austin Rd., Jena, arrested Novemeber 3 and charged
with possession of crack cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond set
at $25,000.
Trekisha L. Finister, 25, of 227 Luttrul Dr., Joneville, arrested November 6 and
charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of
CDS in a school zone, possession of CDS in the presence of minors, and
possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Catahoula Parish Narcotics Task Force tallied the following two arrests:
Christne Rollins, 28, of Jonesville, arrested by task force on Nov. 3, for
possession of Schedule III CDS.
Carol Curry, 40, of Harrisonburg, arrested on Nov. 4 and charged with possession
of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of Schedule III CDS,
and illegal use of CDS in the presence of a minor.