News

The Many Police Department will participate in the National Mobilization of the program, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Special Task Force” from August 18 through September 4, 2023. There will be impaired driving checkpoints throughout the Town of Many along with saturation patrols at high-risk locations.

“In 2021, forty percent of all traffic accidents in Louisiana were alcohol-related. We are participating in this National Mobilization because we care about our residents and visitors and want them to be safe while driving”, stated Chief Cheryl Wooley.

In Louisiana during 2019, the latest national data, total alcohol-impaired driving fatalities numbered 220, while there were 10,142 nationally. There were 15 fatalities in the State of youth under the age of 21 who were driving impaired.

The Town of Many recently won a Community Achievement Award in Technology & Creativity for the installation of new digital water meters at the annual Louisiana Municipal Association Convention held in Alexandria on August 3-5.

The award was given after the town replaced aging, broken, manually- read water meters with new ones that are more efficient in terms of the number of employees and hours it took to read and process data in order to send out water bills. The installation increased water sales revenue without raising water rates while reducing the number of man-hours Continued from Page 1 needed to manually read water meters and input data from paper into the billing system.

The Sabine Humane Society made a decision at its July board meeting that should have a positive result for many of the dogs and cats housed at the Sabine Animal Shelter on McDonald Drive.

Adoption fees for all dogs, cats, puppies and kittens will now be only $25. This low fee for adoption will also include all vaccinations, a clean bill of health, a microchip, a spay/neuter voucher, and a collar from Family Farm and Garden.

Dogs and cats that have been at the Shelter for more than 30 days may be adopted without any charge at all. Senior dogs and cats also may be adopted for free. Military veterans and senior citizens will not have to pay an adoption fee either. All vaccinations, a microchip, a spay/neuter voucher and a collar will still be included.

Tribal Chief: Thomas N. Rivers Assistant Chief: Jason (Jake) Rivers Secretary: Amelia Rivers Treasurer: Melody Hubbard Tribal Council: Bridget Ferguson, Alexis Hubbard Hagelin, Eddie (Chooch) Laroux, Adam Sepulvado, Mary Westbrook Rivers and Mattie Laroux Sepulvado.

Immediately following the Installation everyone enjoyed refreshments and fellowship before the council met to discuss committees and review the calendar of events. Congratulations to the newly elected tribal leaders.

Numerous local and state candidates recently qualified for the October 14 election, which sees a large number of important offices up for grabs.

Those qualifying are as follows:

Qualifying for the office of State Senator from the 31st Senatorial District were two republicans, Mike McConathy and Alan Seabaugh.

The Seventh District also saw two Republicans qualify for office. They are Larry Bagley and Tim Pruitt.

Republicans Clarence Beebe and Rodney Schamerhorn qualified to run State Representative in the 24th District.

Qualifying for Sabine Parish Sheriff were three more Republicans: Coby Lang, Aaron Mitchell, and Jeff Evans.

Tax Assessor Chris Tidwell was returned to office with no opposition.

Mark Holder will remain Sabine Parish Coroner after no challengers for his position materialized.

Shelly Salter will be elected unopposed as Clerk of Court.

Thomas “Bo” Stewart will remain the Police Juror for District 1.

This summer’s extreme heat has been and continues to be brutal on Louisiana cattle.

When the temperature at night remains above 80 degrees, it’s really hard for cattle to cool down.

During an average year, August is the worst month for heat stress in cattle. But this year, high temperatures arrived early in June.

LSU AgCenter veterinarian Dr. Christine Navarre said this summer has been especially bad.

“Extreme heat exposure day after day for months on end is debilitating to production and the health of cattle,” she said.

According to Navarre, with these scorching temperatures, poor forage quality from the drought adds to the problem.

“Poor quality forage is harder for them to digest, which causes an even higher body temperature,” she said.

Cattle can dissipate heat in only four ways: radiation, convection, conduction and evaporation.

Many of us have noticed that teenagers are unprepared when they leave their parents’ homes for the first time because, often, they don’t know how to cook, balance a bank account, or even perform basic car maintenance. We recognize that these are vital skills that every young person needs to know so we have teamed up with various knowledgeable community leaders to offer a Life Skills Class for 9th-12th graders. This class is not designed to take the place of parental teaching and guidance but to enhance and reinforce those lessons.

Some of the topics covered will include:

--Basic car maintenance

--Money Management --Household Skills --Good health habits --Social skills The class will begin September 7 at 5:15 p.m. and will be every subsequent Thursday with the last class being held on October 5th. This class will be hands on so available spots are limited. Information binders will be provided in class as well as a light snack.

Sabine Parish Waterworks District #1, received highest honors this year at Louisiana Rural Water Association’s Annual Awards Ceremony when they were named the Wayne Fontenot Leadership Award. The awards were presented on July 19, 2023, at LRWA’s 37th Annual Training and Technical Conference held at the Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The LRWA Awards Program was established to recognize the outstanding efforts of Rural Water and Wastewater Systems and their personnel. Of all the systems/operators/office personnel across the state, Sabine Parish Waterworks District #1 was selected as this year’s winner for dedication to providing safe drinking water and/or helping to maintain a cleaner environment through their efforts in the water industry in the State of Louisiana.

On August 1 at approximately 12:20 p.m., Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a one-vehicle crash on Louisiana Highway 6 near Recknor Road. The crash claimed the life of 46-year-old Nathan Gowen.

The initial investigation revealed that a 2018 Ford F-150, driven by Gowen, was traveling east on Louisiana Highway 6. For reasons still under investigation, Gowen’s vehicle left the roadway, traveled down the ditch embankment and struck several trees.

Gowen, who was restrained, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Routine toxicology samples were obtained and submitted for analysis.

While the cause of this crash remains under investigation, distracted and inattentive driving continues to be a leading cause of crashes in our state. Louisiana State Police urges all motorists to stay alert while driving. A lapse in one’s awareness can have deadly consequences.

A traditional crafts person and five musicians were inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center’s Hall of Master Folk Artists during an induction ceremony held at Northwestern State University on Saturday, July 22 as part of the 43rd Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival. Inductees included cultural authority and traditional crafter Rhonda Gauthier, who also served as honorary Festival Chair; the Broussard Family Juré group and country musician Hugh Harris.

Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of the Louisiana Folklife Center at NSU, led the induction ceremony, assisted by Cherry Perkins, Ms. 2023 Avoyelles Arts and Music Festival Queen, and Jace Jordan, Miss 2023 Avoyelles Arts and Music Festival Queen.