Last night, Historic Downtown Arcadia was filled with witches on bicycles and golf carts, superheroes, vampires, and various other ghouls and goblins for Arcadia’s Fall Festival. The crowd for the Trunk or Treat stretched the better part of two blocks. People carved pumpkins, played games, and jumped in the bouncy house. There were no tricks as there were plenty of treats for everyone.
Yesterday, the Bienville School held a Trunk Or Treat for the children. Teachers, parents, and other members of the community gathered at the school with decorated trunks and gave delicious goodies to all of the children. The children, some disguised as various super heroes, Woody from Toy Story, a UPS man, and other adorable characters enjoyed filling their baskets with treats.
Coach Jeffrey Trent was name Ringgold High School’s teacher of the year.
Mr. Jeffrey Trent is a graduate of Ringgold High School Class of 2000. He serves as High School Teacher of the Year 2022 and teaches Social Studies. Mr. Trent also serves as the Boys Varsity Basketball Coach. Education has always been and will always be an important factor in the life of Mr. Trent. He utilizes his own journey of educational accomplishments to help institute a foundation for the youth at RHS. Mr. Trent proves the importance of education by obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Science, and two Master’s Degrees, one in Education and another in Educational Leadership. Mr. Trent believes that these are the necessary instruments that allow him to fully give back to the students of our community and our school. He also believes that building relationships and mentoring young people in multiple facets are some of the most rewarding accomplishments that one can receive as a teacher.
Ringgold Junipr High Teachr of the Year 2022 is Ms. Tamelra Jenkins!
Tamelra Jenkins graduated from Arcadia High School in 2015. In 2021, she graduated from Louisiana Tech University located in Ruston, LA with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is currently enrolled as a graduate student at Louisiana Tech majoring in English with a focus in Technical Writing with hopes of becoming an even better English teacher.
Tamelra is on her 2nd year of teaching at Ringgold High School. She is the 6th and 7th ELA teacher as well as the Junior Varsity Cheer Coach.
The Arcadia Hornets and Lady Hornets will begin their basketball season soon. Take a look at the schedules below. You can bookmark, print, and/or download the schedules.
306 – Maxentius was proclaimed Roman emperor.
312 – Constantine I defeated Maxentius and became the sole Roman emperor in the West.
1420 – Beijing was officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City was completed.
1492 – Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World. He surmised that it was Japan.
1520 – Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean.
1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony voted to establish a theological college, which later became Harvard University.
1664 – The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, was established.
1726 – The novel Gulliver’s Travels was published.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British troops attacked and captured Chatterton Hill from the Continental Army.
1835 – The United Tribes of New Zealand were established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.
1864 – American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond was repulsed.
1886 – US president Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty.
1919 – The U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, which paved the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.
1922 – Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini marched on Rome and took over the Italian government.
1942 – The Alaska Highway first connected Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada.
1948 – Paul Hermann Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.
1956 – Elvis Presley’s song “Love Me Tender” became the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit. He became the first artist to follow himself into the No. 1 position. The song “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” had been the No. 1 song for 11 weeks.
1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ended and Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
1963 – The Beach Boys’ “Be True To Your School” was released in the U.S.
1965 – Pope Paul VI promulgated Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognized the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths.
1965 – The studio recording of “My World Is Empty Without You” was made by the Supremes.
1971 – Prospero became the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket.
1972 – The United States Council for World Affairs announced that it was adopting The Who song, “Join Together,” as its official theme.
1978 – The movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park aired on NBC-TV as the NBC Movie of the Week.
1991 – The Metallica single “The Unforgiven” was released.
2009 – NASA successfully launched the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program.
2009 – US President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
2014 – A rocket carrying NASA’s Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station exploded seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.
The Bienville Parish School Board has adopted a Clear Bag Policy which became effective September 1, 2022.
All carried items are subject to search. Prohibited items must be returned to the owner’s car or discarded. Any unlawful items are subject to confiscation, and the person in possession of such items is subject to arrest.
Approved Items include:
Prohibited Items include:
Print this page to work the puzzle. If you are unable to print this page you can download it by clicking “Download” below.
Instructions:
ZCIRPZCI is EINSTEIN
In Cryptoquotes, one letter stands for another. In the example above, Z is used for two E’s, I for the two N’s, etc. Single letters, double letters, apostrophes, the length and formation of the words are all hints. The code letters change with each puzzle.
TODAY’S CRYPTOQUOTE:
“MRMHZEXSON ZWG’RM MRMH UKOEMV SA WO EXM WEXMH ASVM WQ QMKH.” ~ NMWHNM KVVKSH
Previous Cryptoquote solution: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates
Dorcheat-Bistineau Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution met on Tuesday, October 8 at the Dorcheat Museum in Minden. Hostesses for this month’s meeting were Margaret Evans, Jessica Gorman, and Coyal Gorman. Jessica Gorman, museum assistant director and one of our DAR members, conducted a tour. The museum includes exhibits about local Native Americans, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Minden’s Historic Residential District, artifacts from Minden’s Coca-Cola bottling plant, famous Webster Parish residents, and much more. Video clips are shown throughout the museum. There is a one-room log cabin on permanent display, and a temporary exhibit of WW II motorcycles. The museum is open Tuesdays – Fridays from 10 A.M. – 1 P.M., closed from 1-2 for lunch, and open again from 2 – 4 P.M. Admission is free.
NSDAR’s National Day of Service takes place on October 11th of each year. DAR members from coast to coast celebrate the anniversary of the founding of DAR by participating in community service projects. Dorcheat-Bistineau Chapter and their family members cleaned 18 veterans’ markers in the old section of the Minden Cemetery. Jessica Gorman organized and led this project for our chapter. Chapter members also treated our police, firemen, and 911 dispatchers with cookies to say thank you for all they do to serve and protect our community.
Dorcheat-Bistineau DAR is a vibrant, growing service organization which meets in Minden, but has members in three bordering states as well. Any woman age 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) is eligible to join DAR. For more information, contact Mrs. Cindy Madden, Regent of Dorcheat-Bistineau Chapter at cindymaddendar@gmail.com Please like our Facebook page: Daughters of the American Revolution – Dorcheat-Bistineau Chapter.
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development announces a project to improve a section of LA 154 in Bienville Parish.
The $5.8 million project will provide a patch, mill and overlay on a little over 10 miles of LA 154 from LA 793 to LA 507.
As part of that project, a cross drain pipe is being replaced, and a closure of LA 154 beginning on Monday, October 31, 2022 will be necessary. That closure is anticipated to last approximately four days.
The closure will be located approximately 6.25 miles east (north) of the LA 507 junction.
Following the pipe replacement, the contractor will patch designated areas of the roadway, then remove the top layer of asphalt (milling), and overlay with a new driving surface.
Intermittent lane closures may be necessary as work progresses, but through traffic will be primarily maintained through the use of flagging operations.
The entire project is anticipated to wrap up in early Spring 2023, with progress dependent on weather conditions and other factors that may impact construction activity.
Alternate Route: Detour signage will be in place for pipe replacement closure.
Permits/Restrictions: N/A
This work will be performed WEATHER PERMITTING.
Safety Reminder:
DOTD appreciates your patience and reminds you to please drive with caution through the construction site and be on the lookout for work crews and their equipment.
Area residents should exercise caution when driving, walking, or biking near an active construction zone.
Early voting for the November 8th election began yesterday, October 25th and will run through Tuesday, November 1st (excluding Sunday) from 8:30 am – 6:00 pm at the Bienville Parish Registrar of Voters Office, 100 Courthouse Dr., Suite 1400, (200 Gap Farm Rd for GPS guidance) Arcadia, LA.
Registrar of Voters Nickie Warren said, “Please remember, in accordance with state law many districts have changed. It is important to view your sample ballot prior to arriving at the polls. To do so you can visit www.geauxvote.com or come by my office to view a posted copy. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us by phone at 318-263-7407 or email at bienvillerov@sos.la.gov.”
The Ringgold Junior High Football Team just finished an undefeated season for the first time in many years. Ringgold celebrated their 8th graders playing their last junior high game. Below are pictures of the 8th grade boys with their parents.
You’re invited to join Coach Mike McConathy, his wife Connie, their family, and many friends at the Natchitoches Events Center Thursday for an announcement event officially launching his campaign for the Louisiana State Senate representing District 31.
The event is reception-style, running from 4:30-7 p.m., with a short program expected to tip off at about 6 o’clock. Attire is casual. Light refreshments will be served. There is no admission charge.
After concluding a remarkable career as an educator and basketball coach that began in the late 1970s, McConathy is continuing his lifelong commitment to being a servant-leader.
The vibrant 66-year-old Bossier City native and Louisiana Tech University graduate is the winningest college basketball coach in state history, with 682 victories in 39 seasons as head coach at Bossier Parish Community College (1983-99) and Northwestern State University (1999-2022). The number of wins is just one measure of his far-reaching impact not only on campus but in communities around northwest Louisiana.
The new District 31 has roughly 70 percent of its population located in Bossier, Caddo, Natchitoches and Sabine parishes, with portions of Webster, Bienville, DeSoto, Red River, Rapides and Winn included. That fits the geographic footprint which was the base of McConathy’s recruiting area and team rosters at NSU and Bossier Parish Community College.
District 31 has been served by Senator Louis Bernard, who announced this summer that he will not be seeking reelection.
McConathy grew up with a first-hand perspective on public service. His father, John McConathy, was the Bossier Parish Superintendent of Schools for 20 years and later was a key collaborator in the development of the modern Bossier Parish Community College campus between U.S. 80 and I-20 in Bossier City.
Among his accolades, the former NSU coach is enshrined in the university’s Hall of Distinguished Educators for his service as a faculty member at Northwestern, and in 2012 he earned an elite Pillar of Education award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches for leading the Demons’ program into continuing educational outreach in area schools. His program was noted for its wide-ranging community service endeavors, and its academic performance – a remarkable 90 percent of his players earned degrees at NSU.
For questions, information, call Mike McConathy, 318-792-1541
Fall elections begin Tuesday, October 25, 2022 and includes a tax renewal for the Bienville Parish Law Enforcement District (Bienville Parish Sheriff’s Office) which was previously passed on April 6, 2013. The original millage was levied at 10 mills but due to reappraisal there will be a ninety-one hundredths of a mill increase over the 10 mills authorized in 2013.
REMEMBER THIS IS A RENEWAL AND NOT A NEW TAX.
Please vote YES for the Sheriff’s 10.91 mills, 10 year continuation! Early voting starts tomorrow and ends November 1 ,2022 (excluding Sunday) with early voting hours from 8:30 AM-6:00 PM. Election day is Tuesday, November 8, 2022 with voting hours from 6:00 AM-8:00PM.
Please exercise your right to vote!!
On Monday, Gibsland-Coleman High School announced their Teachers of the Year.
Mrs. Sarah Edwards-Harris – Elementary
Mr. Terry Calep – Middle School
Mrs. Arlisia Kennon Miles – High School
Congratulations and thank you for your hard work.
By: Attorney General Jeff Landry and Sheriff John E. Ballance
Across the country, over half a million children go missing each year. Even worse, 25% of all human trafficking cases include a child, and children from minority populations are three times more likely to be abducted or go missing. Of course, if you suddenly found yourself in this unimaginable and horrifying situation, the statistics would be worse than irrelevant – they would be reducing your child to a number, on a list you’d never dreamed they’d be on.
No, in such an impossible situation, the only number that would matter is 24: the first twenty-four hours that can make all the difference in the world. That is time that must be used wisely, which is why the National Child ID Program was created in 1997 following the abduction and death of Amber Hagerman (the namesake for the Amber Alert).
Their child ID kit includes an inkless fingerprinting system, a DNA collection tool, and areas to document your child’s physical description and identifying marks, as well as sections to list phone numbers for chosen medical professionals and place a current photograph. None of this is designed to be stored within any sort of database. Instead, this is a tool for parents to keep privately within their home, only to provide to law enforcement should the unthinkable occur – when every second counts.
That is why the Office of the Attorney General Jeff Landry has worked to provide these child ID kits, at no expense to parents, for all Louisiana elementary school students this year. This gift of safety will be distributed through Sheriff John E. Ballance’s office in Bienville Parish. In this way, the Attorney General and the Sheriff are continuing their efforts to not only keep our communities safe but also protect our children.
And through our partnership, we hope to share in the long-running success of this initiative to help parents reconnect with their lost children. For the past 25 years, the National Child ID Program has distributed over 75 million kits nationwide; and we pray those distributed across Louisiana will be effective tools for our neighbors, should the worst ever happen.
Of course, nothing can ever truly prepare a parent for this sort of event, but by being able to quickly provide vital information to law enforcement, the hope is that a missing or abducted child can be safely located with far greater efficiency, speed and success. That is why awareness of this safety initiative and free community resource is the first step towards keeping families in Louisiana together.
1689 – General Enea Silvio Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera; he died of the disease soon afterwards.
1813 – War of 1812: A combined force of British regulars, Canadian militia and Mohawks defeated the United States Army in the Battle of the Chateauguay.
1825 – The Erie Canal opened which allowed direct passage from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
1881 – Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday participated in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.
1935 – Judy Garland, at the age of 12, sang on Wallace Berry’s radio show on NBC.
1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.
1937 – Nazi Germany began expulsions of 18,000 Polish Jews.
1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier was sunk and another carrier was heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser were heavily damaged.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ended with an overwhelming American victory.
1958 – Pan American Airways made the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.
1965 – The Beatles were awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire) medals.
1968 – Space Race: The Soyuz 3 mission achieved the first Soviet space rendezvous.
1970 – Elton John’s “Your Song” was released in the U.S.
1977 – Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, developed a rash in Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
1980 – In Los Angeles, CA, Paul Kantner (Jefferson Starship) suffered a brain hemorrhage during a recording session. He stayed in the hospital for 15 days.
1981 – Queen and David Bowie released the single “Under Pressure” in the U.K.
1992 – Pearl Jam set a new record for first week sales when the album Vs. sold 950,000 copies.
1993 – Catholic churches in San Juan, Puerto Rico urge residents to tie black ribbons on trees to protest Madonna’s first concert there.
1995 – Yolanda Saldivar was sentenced to life in prison by a Texas jury for the murder of Selena.
2001 – The United States passed the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
Governor Edwards said, “As President Biden announced this week, applications for the federal government’s student loan debt relief program are now open. I strongly encourage every Louisianan with student debt to apply by going to the website www.StudentAid.gov. The White House estimates that more than 600,000 Louisianans are eligible for relief, including more than 400,000 who are eligible for $20,000 in loan forgiveness. The application takes less than 5 minutes, is available on desktop and mobile devices, and you don’t need to upload any documents to apply. Once again, the website to apply is www.StudentAid.gov.”
You might be contacted by a company saying they will help you get loan discharge, forgiveness, cancellation, or debt relief for a fee. You never have to pay for help with your federal student aid. Make sure you work only with the U.S. Department of Education and our loan servicers, and never reveal your personal information or account password to anyone. Our emails to borrowers come from noreply@studentaid.gov, noreply@debtrelief.studentaid.gov, or ed.gov@public.govdelivery.com.
The Louisiana Department of Health’s (LDH) Office of Public Health (OPH) for Region 7 (Northwest Louisiana) will host a drive-thru flu vaccination clinic at the Bienville Parish Health Unit on Friday, October 28, 2022, from noon to 6 p.m. at 1285 Pine Street, Suite 102, Arcadia. All COVID-19 vaccines, including the COVID-19 bivalent boosters, will be available for anyone ages 6 months and older.
If you have insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare coverage, or are uninsured, the flu vaccines are available at no cost to you. There are no out-of-pocket costs; however, if you have insurance, it will be billed. Bring a valid insurance card with you to your visit and your COVID-19 vaccination card if you have one.
Region 7 serves the parishes of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, and Webster.
For more information on CDC guidelines and recommendations for flu vaccinations, visit www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccinations.htm
For more information on where to find flu and COVID-19 vaccines in Louisiana, visit vaccines.gov
For more information on CDC guidelines and recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html
The quarterly meeting for the Louvenia Gipson Chapter of GCAA will be Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. in the Gibsland-Coleman cafeteria. All members and any other interested persons are urged to attend. We hope to see you there.
The Arcadia Hornets took a loss against homer Friday night. The Hornets are now 5-3.
The final score was Hornets 6, Homer 43.
The Hornets are scheduled to take on Magnolia School of Excellence in an away game Friday evening at 7 p.m.
Take a look at the schedule below.
| Date/Time | Opponent | Home/Away | Win/Loss | Final Score |
| Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. | Lakeside | Home | Win | 26-12 |
| Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. | Delhi | Home | Win | 34-6 |
| Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. | Lincoln Prep. | Home | Win | 44-0 |
| Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. | Bolton | Away | Win | 34-21 |
| Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. | Glenbrook | Away | Loss | 20-53 |
| Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. | Ringgold | Home | Win | 36-0 |
| Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. | Haynesville | Home | Loss | 18-47 |
| Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. | Homer | Away | Loss | 6-43 |
| Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. | Magnolia School of Excellence | Away | ||
| Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. | Plain Dealing | Away |
If the school year were a dog and the first day of school was its head and the last day was its tail, you’d be picking it up right behind its front legs about now. You’ve got a good, safe grip on it, but there’s a lot of dog left hanging down.
October, which rivals May (for different reasons) as the best month of the year, is soured by only two things: one is that winter and cold is coming, and the other is that, for the young student, there’s lots and lots of school year left.
That is not a bad thing once you get older and develop an appreciation for how quickly time passes and how lucky you were to be able to go to school. But who cares for such drivel when you’re a teenager?
Once you get out of school you learn that, secretly, you never really leave. You’re always learning something, whether you want to or not, which would be learning things the hard way. Examples:
“Yes, your honor, I understand!”
“Oh, so if my card is declined, that means there’s no money in the account?”
“I don’t know, doctor. I guess it was that 12th pork chop. Or the third bowl of Blue Bell.”
There’s a trick in just learning how to learn. My dad says that on the first day of school, they taught him that two plus two three equals four, and then on the next day they told him that one plus three equals four, and he decided right then that if they didn’t even know what equals four, how was HE supposed to ever know?
But once teachers coach you up, show you there’s more than one way to skin a cat, you realize the world is your classroom. Some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet got that way without having many documents to frame and hang on the wall.
Often a friend named Gene writes me, which I’m thankful for because he is old school, born in an oilfield company house near a wide spot in the highway in Depression era- Garfield County, Oklahoma.
When he was in elementary school, his family rented the first floor of a house owned by a gentleman named Whitey Liddard. He lived upstairs and owned a nearby café where Gene’s father worked as a short-order cook. Whitey had barely a third-grade education, but he was a Rhodes Scholar when it came to running an oilfield-town café.
One day a young customer came in to celebrate his high school education, the first diploma earned by a member of his family.
“He proudly displayed the new diploma for Whitey’s inspection,” Gene said. “Whitey looked it over, front and back, then handed it back to the graduate.
“Now that’s a fine thing to have,” Whitey said. “Just don’t let it keep you from learning something.”
Hearing that from a wise man like Whitey Liddard kept Gene modest as he went through both high school and college, even on to some graduate work. “I still try to ‘learn something’ every day,” he said.
True, some things will remain forever a mystery. Why, for instance, is the word panties plural and the word bra singular? Think about it. Or not.
Why do we eat nuts out of socks in front of a dead tree in our dens in December? Why is “contraction” such a long word?
The older I get, the more I understand that “I don’t know” when I really don’t know is a mighty handy answer.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
(Ran originally 10-21-2012)
October 16
October 18
October 22
