Happy New Year!

2010: Politics

Bossier and Caddo Parishes had a pretty interesting time politically in 2010.
The year started out with State Representative Barbara Norton’s shameful behavior at the African American History Parade.
The Bossier Parish Police Jury outdid everyone by partying hearty at the D. C. Mardi Gras.
The Bossier Parish Police Jury paid for 9 people to attend the events. They were:
Bill Altimus, Rick Avery, Wanda Bennett, jury president Glenn Benton, Barry Butler, Paul Plummer, Joe E. Ford, Jr., parish engineer, Patrick R. Jackson, parish attorney & Craig Spohn, Cyber Innovation Center executive director all attended.
The cost to taxpayers: $22,809.56 and counting. According to the article “That total doesn't include the tab for a private dinner party for 75 guests (shared by Bossier & Caddo), mostly from Louisiana, at an Italian chain restaurant. Also missing are meals, cab fare and other expenses incurred by the nine officials the Bossier Parish Police Jury sent to the annual gala in the nation's capital.”
The Cyber Innovation Center footed the bill for $2,000 worth of booze.
Robert Adley tried to notch up Nanny government a little in a failed attempt to ban the sale of energy drinks to kids under 16.
David Melville, Pastor of Fellowship Methodist Church on Barksdale Boulevard, threw his hat in the ring to take on John Fleming in the 4th District congressional race. He did about as well as we thought he would.
Larry Deen showed his disdain for his constituents when he held a short hearing for his increase in property taxes. Rather than providing a decent space and amount of time for the hearing, the sheriff crammed the people who attended into an office and then put an arbitrary time limit on the meeting.
He told the people at the meeting that ‘state law’ required that he could only give 15 minutes to public comments. Not true, he just pulled that one out of his hat.
This wasn’t one of the sheriff’s better moments.
We had a good school board race, with one incumbent being unseated. Several of the candidates actually answered my email about a tax ‘roll-forward’. It was voted down.
Shreveport held city elections and the most interesting by far was the mayor’s race.
Bryan Wooley pushed the envelope a little too hard and probably hurt himself so far as any future elections are concerned. Big Ced pulled it off with landslide numbers.
Then, of course, there was Chubbygate.
The arrest of Bossier City Council Member James "Chubby" Knight on charges of bank fraud has, needless to say, created a lot of conversation and speculation.
"I've never done anything illegal," Bossier City Councilman Chubby Knight told KSLA.
Not so, says the Bossier City Police Department and the 26th JDC District Attorney.
The Police Department began their investigation when the bank that cashed the bogus check for Knight filed a complaint.
Knight’s attorney said that they know who is behind this ‘political vendetta’ to get Knight, but he’s not telling. According to the Times, the attorney said "This is all driven by the Bossier power bosses . . . . that machine wants you to know if you cross it, ... it will erase you, even your memory."
To round out the year, Shreveport’s Assistant CAO was summarily fired this week for having sex on Cedric’s sofa with an 18 year old Georgia girl who was in town for the Independence Bowl.
No word as to whether the Mayor has a new sofa, but I’d bet on it.

Sam Wyatt

2011 will begin with a race for Bossier City Marshal in April.  That one is shaping up between Lo Walker's right hand man, Lynn Austin, and former BCPD detective Sam Wyatt.
Later in the year we will see elections for all statewide offices, state representative, state senate and for a number of local positions.
Stay tuned!

Memorial to the Brave

Seaton Sacked

I didn't rush into this one because I thought it was better to wait until more information was available.
Now it appears that Shreveport Assistant CAO Rick Seaton did indeed engage in sexual acts with an 18 year old high school student from Georgia who was in town for the Independence Bowl.
In the mayor's office, on the mayor's sofa.  She later called police and told them that she had been raped. Mayor Glover fired Seaton.
The girl apparently was at the game where her boyfriend was arrested for creating a disturbance.  Seaton heard her trying to get money to bail out her boyfriend, and since she didn't want to ride the shuttle bus downtown, he gave her a ride.
Shreveport police will complete their investigation and determine whether charges should be brought against Seaton.
What was he thinking?
The story is also hitting the media in other states, as well as throughout Louisiana.  AP and CNN have picked it up.

Georgia Daily News

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WXIA Atlanta

WBIR – Knoxville

2010: Crime and Convictions

Several out of state men were arrested and charged with aggravated burglary, false imprisonment and simple battery of the infirmed for their part in a home invasion in Benton.  The men broke in on a 68 year-old woman and robbed her.
Ricardo Aleman Palos, Juan Jose Martinez-Flores, Mark William McKinney
Gerardo Cortina & Miguel "Bear" Escutia are still incarcerated at Bossier Max awaiting trial.

Murder most foul

The most heinous crime of 2010 was the murder of 12-year-old Justin Bloxom, whose body was found in the woods near Stonewall in March
A known sex offender, Brian Douglas Horn, is in custody awaiting trial.
Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle believes that the scenario that Horn played out was to tell Justin that if he wanted to meet in person, 'she' would send a cab to pick him up. Horn, a driver for Action Taxi, then drove to the residence were Justin was spending the night and picked him up.
Further evidence shows that the 12 year old was smothered to death, dying of asphyxiation, and then was left face down in about a foot of water. It appears that Justin was struggling for his life, but was overcome by the 34 year old Horn.

In March, Ronald Lee Broset robbed Citizens National Bank on Benton Road.
He returned two weeks later and robbed the same bank, but this time he was caught, with the money.

Charles Pilkinton entered a guilty plea to Negligent Homicide in May in the murder of 66 year old Raymond Tobin. Tobin was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car on Inda Drive shot twice in the back of the head. According to reports, when police arrived at the scene Pilkinton admitted to killing Tobin.
After explaining all of the rights and determining that the plea was voluntary, Judge Bolin accepted the plea and sentenced Pilkinton to 5 years at hard labor.
The prosecution was represented by Clifford Strider, Assistant Attorney General.

The body of 39 year old Nancy Miller was found in Red Chute Bayou. Miller had been missing since March 3rd.
A witness reported seeing Miller walk into Reflections on Hwy 80. She appeared to be confused and turned around and walked out across Hwy 80 toward the Westbound Lane. Canine trackers confirmed the story of the witness. At the time, investigators believed that she may have gotten into a car with someone.
The body was spotted by fishermen on Red Chute Bayou near Louisiana Downs

The Caddo Parish Sheriff's office arrested Bobbie Luttrell for paying to have her husband, Ernest Luttrell, killed. She was taken in and arrested right after his funeral and charged with 1st degree murder. Luttrell allegedly used a part time housekeeper and her acquaintance to carry out the crime.

In August, A 33 year old Shreveport man was arrested for gunning down 3 brothers, aged 20, 18 & 13 because he thought they stole an X-Box from his girlfriend. All three were dead at the scene.
Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said "You can have all the tent revivals you want and ask people to not be violent and go to classes, but you can't get through to some of these idiots. No amount of patrol cars could have stopped this. The only thing that could have stopped this is if he wasn't born.
I've been doing this 37 years and looking at bodies, and it gets old."
Marcus Donte' Reed is being charged with 3 counts of 1st degree murder.
The victims were identified as Jean Adams, Jarquis Adams & Jeremiah Adams.

Judge Jeff Cox accepted an amended plea in the Matthew Fite case. Fite pled guilty to Distribution of Methamphetines and was sentenced to 30 years, with no probation or parole for the first 2 years, subject to time served (which is just over 2 years).
To rehash the case a little, Fite bought drugs from Paul Martin and then gave Dorothy Gail Wilson some of the meth and a needle so she could shoot up. Wilson overdosed and died. An autopsy revealed that she had no other drugs in her system.
Martin pled guilty in March of last year and was sentenced to 25 years, all but 12 suspended, to run concurrent with sentencing from Caddo Parish.

Steven Rivers was charged in Caddo Parish for the murder of his ex-wife and her sister.

Two people have been arrested in another home invasion/robbery in Benton.
Randall Wayne Womack, Jr & Joshua Lopez & David Allen Weeks, Jr were charged with armed robbery.
The three entered (okay, I know 'allegedly'), anyway, the three entered a residence on Old Plain Dealing Road armed with a sword and a billy club and stole a whopping $132.
Womack and Weeks both have criminal history in Bossier Parish.

There has been a lot of speculation about the shooting of Vivian attorney John Morneau. Miller County Coroner Eddie Hawkins Jr first ruled that Morneau was shot in the back by a Miller County Deputy Sheriff.
He then changed his story to say that Morneau was shot in the chest.
Hawkins would not go into specifics about why that was done, except to say there was a mistake. The Miller County DA is supposedly investigating.

On November 16th Lance Thamm entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 17 month-old daughter Isabella.
Thamm slammed Isabella’s head into a doorjam when she wouldn’t stop crying.
Thamm has a history of drug use and domestic violence. He and his wife lost a son in Texas because of abuse. That child, a boy, is being raised by an aunt.


Then, of course, there was Chubbygate

The arrest of Bossier City Council Member James "Chubby" Knight on charges of bank fraud has, needless to say, created a lot of conversation and speculation.
"I've never done anything illegal," Bossier City Councilman Chubby Knight told KSLA.
Not so, says the Bossier City Police Department and the 26th JDC District Attorney.
The Police Department began their investigation when the bank that cashed the bogus check for Knight filed a complaint.
Knight’s attorney said that they know who is behind this ‘political vendetta’ to get Knight, but he’s not telling. According to the Times, the attorney said "This is all driven by the Bossier power bosses . . . . that machine wants you to know if you cross it, ... it will erase you, even your memory."

2010: Changes

Hell Froze Over
On February 7th, Louisiana’s Team won the Super Bowl when Tracy Porter intercepted a Petyon Manning pass with 3 minutes remaining in the game and went all the way, making the final score 31-17.

A new Police Chief for Bossier City

Shane McWilliams started acting as police chief in April and was sworn in officially in July.
"We have an outstanding department and employees. We're going to strive to continue going in the right direction and work with other agencies as well as the people we have here. We're going to do better to make sure the residents feel safe and maintain the confidence of the residents of Bossier City.”



The Cross on the Hill
The 199 foot cross at Central Assembly of God Church in Haughton was dedicated this year. A permit to build the cross was originally denied by the MPC because zoning regulations say that a structure in that area can’t be taller than 45 feet.
The Church then appealed to the Police Jury for an exception, which was granted.

Bossier City Voters sent a message
Bossier City voters gave the public safety tax renewal proposition a landslide vote of ‘yes’.
In 2000, when the city was not having financial problems, the tax was approved by 73% of the voters. This year, when the city was having budgetary problems, 80% of the people who voted said yes.
The people are saying ‘we support our Firemen and Police officers and you’d better not mess with them’.

Shreveport Police Chief
Shreveport gained a new police chief, Willie Shaw, when Henry Whitehorn was appointed U.S. Marshal for the Western District.

New weather interruption policy from Channel 12
James Smith, Station Manager at KSLA, has announced via an email that the station will be changing its policy about interrupting progamming. This occurred after the brouhaha that arose during the LSU-Auburn game when most of the last half was interrupted for tornado warning coverage in Central Arkansas. No tornadoes touched down.
Smith announced that the station will do what all of the others do, run a small screen with warnings.

Jerry Springer tryouts at Haymeadow Trailer Park

Let me make one thing clear.  The New Orleans Times-Picayune was somewhat misleading with its headline Woman, holding baby son, booked with hitting grandmother in Benton.  She was booked in Benton, but that trailer park is NOT in Benton, it carries a Bossier City address.
Here's the sheriff's account.

A Bossier City woman was arrested on Christmas Eve for simple battery of the infirmed, cruelty to a juvenile, and simple battery, said Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen.
Sabra Nicole Tunstall, 32, of the 5200 block of John Wilson Drive, began a physical altercation with her 77-year-old grandmother and uncle while holding her child. The grandmother and uncle were trying to get the child away from Tunstall who had been drinking all day and was trying to leave the residence. Tunstall, while holding the child, began to hit both relatives. She caused a severe skin tear on the grandmother’s right arm. When deputies arrived on scene, Tunstall was holding the child in her left arm and hitting her grandmother with her other arm.
Tunstall was arrested and transported to the Bossier Maximum Security Facility. Her bond was set at $7,000.

2010 in review: What we lost

Joe Cobb

A Bossier City legend passed away.
Joe Cobb, the owner of Cobb's Bar-B-Que in Bossier City since 1952, passed away in January. Who in Bossier City (or Shreveport for that matter) hasn’t eaten one of those wonderful sandwiches topped off with coleslaw?
If you thought of barbecue in the last half century, you automatically thought of Cobb's.

Joshua Tomlinson

In May Army Spc. Joshua Tomlinson, 24, of Dubberly, was among five U.S. soldiers killed in May in Kabul. The Army said a bomber detonated a vehicle near a U.S. convoy.  Funeral services were held in Minden.

Wayne Culver

Also in May, Major Wayne Culver of El Dorado, Arkansas, was killed in Numaniyah, Iraq. He grew up in Blanchard and was the brother of Bossier City Police Sgt. Shane Culver.

Major Culver was executive officer for the 2nd Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment, based in Shreveport.

Dakota Huse

On the day that the Marine Corps celebrated its 235th birthday the Pentagon announced the death of the 19 year old Marine from Greenwood while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Johnny Wyatt
In October the popular Bossier City Marshal was killed in a one car crash.  Wyatt took a very pro-active stand in the marshal's office, and was a leader in tracking online pedophiles in our area in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies.

A lot of people, of course, had individual losses and those were also losses to the entire community. 

We will be looking at other events that affected us in 2010 in coming days.

Merry Christmas 2010

St. Luke's Account
And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, everyone into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them; and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward Men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
And they came with haste and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The Night Before Christmas

Recorded by Thomas Edison in 1920

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
(or A Visit from St. Nicholas)
by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

"Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid!
On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"