By Paige Gurgainers
It has almost been a year since the bronze plaque marking the end of Bonnie & Clyde’s infamous crime spree was stolen. The plaque memorialized the law enforcement officers that took part in the act- Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan, Chief Deputy Prentiss Oakley, along with Texas lawmen Frank Hamer, B.M. “Maney” Gault, Bob Alcorn, and Ted Hinton.
Since the first marker, one made of granite, was erected at the site in the 1970s, people have chipped pieces of it away, spraypainted graffiti on it, and shot it. Damage from numerous gunshot marks has made this marker almost unreadable. The theft of the plaque around April 3, 2023 was just the most recent in a long line of criminality surrounding the site’s markers.
But the Bienville Parish Chamber of Commerce is working to have the memorial restored and better secured in the near future.
“We wanted to bring this to the police jury because it is tourism, to see if you would go ahead and pay for that. It is tourism, so it needs to come out of the tourism fund,” said Deanna Culverhouse Curtis. “It brings a lot of people through our parish.”
According to Curtis the plaque would cost $2,688.69. The Bienville Parish Police Jury (BPPJ) collectively said that they would not have a problem funding it with the stipulation that it would be better protected in the future.
“We need to build a fence around it or something so somebody can’t get their hands on it. We did not get a price on that yet,” said Curtis.
After discussing options, it was decided that Michael Nelson, Juror for District 6, would speak with the instructor of the welding program at Castor High School to see if he may have any ideas.
Curtis agreed that would be a good option and stated that they have already ordered the plaque and would like to have to paid for in full and restored to the site before the upcoming Bonnie & Clyde Festival set to take place on May 24-25.
(Brad Dison contributed to this article)