Summerfield High Honors Cheryl Ford
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Some might say
she is following in her dad's footsteps, but Cheryl Ford has some mighty big
"heels" to fill herself. As if she weren't tall enough for a girl, at
6'3", Ford said she loves wearing her heels, which adds another four
inches to her height. Last Friday, standing in her heels in the Summerfield
High gym where she grew up playing basketball, Ford was overcome with emotion
as she was honored by her former school. Principal D'Arcy Stevens said,
"There is a very, very small percentage of high school athletes who
make it to this level. We are fortunate enough to have two."
Stevens said, "Today we are showing our appreciation to
Cheryl Ford, and what she means to this community and this school_for
being a good ambassador for our community, our parish, and our state, as a
special athlete."
On April 25,
2003, Ford was about to be honored in Claiborne Parish for her outstanding
career with the Lady Techsters, where she started
every game in the 2002-2003 season, where she was named WAC Player of the Year,
All-WAC First Team, MVP in the WAC Tournament, Honorable Mention Associated
Press All-American, and Louisiana Sports Writers Association State Player of
the Year.
Activities were
canceled when she received word she had to be in New York that day. The former
Lady Techster who had received MVP in the WAC for two
years while playing at Louisiana Tech, was about to be drafted by the Detroit
Shock in the first round, third overall. Today the 23-year-old center is the
No. 2 rebounder in the WNBA and the only rookie
All-Star. Her goal is to be MVP and, if she works a little harder, she hopes to
make it on the 2006 Olympic team.
Cheryl's former basketball coach, now superintendent of Claiborne
Parish Schools, James Scriber, had nothing but praises for Cheryl and her
entire family. He said the reason
Cheryl has done well is because she has a God-given talent to play basketball
and she has taken advantage of that talent.
WNBA STAR CHERYL FORD WAS HONORED AT
SUMMERFIELD HIGH SCHOOL FRIDAY. Attending the
event to honor Ford (2nd from left) were family members (l.-r.), her aunt
Bobbie Meadors, brother
Larry Ford, dad Karl Malone, mom Bonita Ford, grandmother Ruby Ford, brother
Darryl Ford, sister Thelma Ford, and Larry's two children, Phendra
and Lamya.
Karl Malone Purchases Industrial Park
Property
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
The Claiborne
Parish Industrial Board met late Friday, March 4 to consider an option to sell
approximately 113 acres in the North Industrial Park to Malone Properties, Inc.
Several days earlier Karl Malone had met with members of the Board to discuss
the purchase. J. T. Taylor, president of the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce had
negotiated the terms and conditions of the sale for a sum of $180,000, which
included the mineral rights.
After some
discussion, Board members Renee Lincoln-Buggs, Benjie Winn, Melissa Watts, and John Wesley Cooper voted to
proceed with the sale and to authorize Board President Dennis Butcher to
execute the necessary documents. Cooper had raised concerns about selling
mineral rights and questioned the noise from the operation. Butcher said noise
shouldn't be a problem with the buffer zone they will have.
Butcher said,
"Malone is a real people person, and is sensitive to the needs of
Claiborne Parish. He has already indicated his desire to beautify and secure
the Kendrick Cemetery.
Cooper said he
felt it was the job of the Board to make decisions for the best interest of the
citizens of Claiborne Parish. He said selling the property would benefit the
parish and he would not oppose the sell.
Butcher said,
"This is an exciting opportunity, something we can all be proud of. I
think what we have just done will be a historic day in Claiborne Parish."
Four Arrested For Drugs
Four
persons were recently arrested on a number of drug charges with intent to
distribute according to Sheriff Ken Bailey.
One of the four, Demetre J. Smith, 29, of
Athens was also charged with possession of firearms by a convicted felon and
possession of unidentified firearm. Smith and Pecola
R. Haynes, 23, of Arcadia were arrested Saturday, February 26 after law
enforcement officers from the Metro Narcotics Task Force, Louisiana State
Police and Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office initiated a search warrant at
approximately 4:45 AM at 426 Carter Drive in Homer. Agents seized quantities of powder cocaine, methamphetamine,
and hydrocodone, as well as two handguns and one
shotgun.
Paul J. Kingsby, 39, and Rachel Louise Wright, 28, both of Homer,
had left the residence about thirty minutes earlier. On Friday, March 4, Metro
Narcotics Agent James Spillers received information that Kingsby
and Wright were in Natchitoches. He immediately contacted narcotic agents
there. Kingsby and Wright were arrested at the Ramada
Inn in Natchitoches within two hours, then transferred
to facilities in Claiborne Parish where they remain incarcerated.
All four were
charged with possession of cocaine, methamphetamine, and hydrocodone
with intent to distribute.
Sheriff Bailey
requests anyone with information of illegal activities to call the Sheriff's
Office at 318-927-9800 or 318-927-2011, or their local police department.
DEQ Threatens $50,000 Per
Day Fine
Homer Town Council Proposes Budget For
2005
BY SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal
Mayor Huey Dean
informed the Council he received a letter from Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality, threatening to fine the Town up to $50,000 per day
unless they get the sewer plant back in compliance. The mayor said it may take
two years to get the renovations completed at the plant using the grant funds
recently awarded and he didn't think DEQ would wait that long.
Jesse Ford
suggested contacting Balar to see what their plans
were to renovate the plant and see if they could work together with AWM to come
up with a temporary plan to correct the problem now. The Town might be able to
salvage the $12,000 it has already spent on equipment. Ford said the Town needs
someone who knows what to do to correct the problem before we spend another
penny.
Toney Johnson
said, "We need a temporary plan to get this plant in compliance now and we
are going to have to spend the money, no matter what it takes. We need to show
DEQ we are trying to get this thing fixed."
Ronnie Anderson
asked Bruce with American Wastewater Management (AWM) if they were to get the
other basin in operation, would it solve the problem and keep the Town in
compliance on a regular basis. Bruce said it would be a step in the right
direction.
Dean said AWM
was hired to manage the plant and meet the requirements, and that is not
happening. Ford said if AWM is not running the plant suitably, the Council may to
look at something else.
Bruce said he
didn't think anyone else could do a better job than they are doing under the
present circumstances. They were only waiting to see what improvements Balar Engineers was going to propose.
Anderson said,
"They have a lot of problems. The plant was an albatross when they got
it." He felt they were doing the best they can.
Anderson also
suggested the Council go back to the recommendation presented by AWM two years
ago to install a pump to recirculate the water to
avoid having to treat 15,000 to 20,000 gallons of excess water from the Sparta
Aquifer each day. The cost would be less than $10,000 and would pay for itself
the first year.
Robert Goss
with AWM explained the resolution approving the Municipal Water Pollution
Prevention Environmental Audit Report and actions necessary to maintain permit
requirements including implementing the grant for $860,900 received from the
USDA. The Council approved the resolution.
Mayor Dean
presented the Budget proposed for 2005 by the Finance Committee but suggested
the Council go ahead and take Carlos' recommendation to transfer funds from the
Street Fund to the General Fund for salaries in the amount of $150,000, then
transfer $201,842 from the General Fund to the Enterprise Fund of offset some
of the deficit. He reminded the Council that District Attorney Walter May had
warned the Council not to continue spending dedicated funds to cover the
deficit in the Enterprise Fund.
J. C. Moore
remembered when May came before the Council. He said, "I don't see any
reason for him to come back. We need to do what we have to do. To be honest, I
didn't appreciate him coming here that time."
Elmer Poss, chairman of the Finance Committee, said he had
reviewed the proposed transfers and said they would not affect the budgeted
figures, only the fund balances.
The Council
approved the budget with the transfers proposed by the Mayor. The summary of
the proposed Budget for the year 2005 shows $3,254,012.64 in total estimated
revenues and $2,923,582.56 in estimated expenditures. With a beginning cash
balance of $803,105.84 on January 1, 2005, the projected cash available at the
end of the year is $1,133,535.92, an increase of $330,430.08.
The Street Fund
includes $85,942.00 in the budget for overlaying streets ($19,600 from the
Police Jury and $66,342 in capital outlay). The cash available at the end of
the year in these funds are as follows:
General Fund $136,756.90
Enterprise ($156,919.64)
Industrial $549,720.35
Street $58,021.34
Police $15,717.48
Fire $148,941.68
Recreation $38,777.48
Contingency $104,601.53
Hotel/Tourism $36,121.75
Poss presented the following recommendations of the Finance
Committee to the Council:
1) A procedural
policy be written which provides that the Treasurer is
responsible for having all postings completed by the 15th of the month and the
bank statements reconciled; the Town Clerk to verify this is completed on time
and report any exceptions immediately to the mayor.
2) Setting
April 1 as a deadline for office staff to get financial records current and
financial statements prepared, that these be completed thereafter by the 15th
of each month with any exceptions reported immediately to the mayor. Financial
statements should be part of the agenda packet and should reflect the
operations compared to the budgeted amounts. Discussion should be documented in
the minutes.
The Council
approved the Committee's recommendation.
Claiborne Parish—4th In School Growth
Five Schools Receive Total Of $24,289.85 For Performance
School
Superintendent James Scriber said he was proud to see Claiborne Parish schools
ranked fifth in the state last year in overall growth. Over a two-year period
Claiborne is ranked 12th in the state. He said, "We are pleased with our
growth level, but we have goals higher than that we want to achieve." The
State School Rewards Fund is allocated to those schools who
meet or surpass their growth target, and when schools show growth in the
performance of students who are classified as high poverty students.
Scriber said
the immediate goal is to be a 2 star system, which is about a point away. He
expressed his concern that the requirements in Louisiana are so much higher
than other states being compared to, especially where they score special needs
students and attendance.
In Claiborne
Parish, five schools will receive checks for meeting or surpassing their growth
targets. They are as follows:
Athens High -
$4,000
Haynesville
Elem. - $4,000,
Homer
Elementary - $6,952.98
Homer High -
$4,828.89
Summerfield
High - $4,507.98.
Eighty-six
percent of Louisiana's public school districts showed improvement on District
Performance Scores (DPS) that were released last Thursday. Fifty-seven districts improved. Seven
districts had decreased scores. Two districts - St. Charles and West Carroll -
remained the same. Two new districts - Baker and Zachary - did not receive
performance scores.
East Carroll
Parish led the state in growth, improving an impressive 9.5 points, while Winn
Parish, Catahoula Parish, Bienville Parish, and Claiborne Parish rounded out
the Top 5 in growth. Of districts with decreased scores, Caldwell Parish and
Morehouse Parish had the largest decline followed by the City of Bogalusa,
Grant Parish and Franklin Parish.
ACS "Relay For Life" Set For
Friday,
April 22 • 6 PM
The American
Cancer Society "Relay For Life" will be held Friday, April 22 at the
Homer High football stadium beginning at 6 PM. Chairpersons Sandra Griggs and
Nancy Mason are looking for corporate sponsors and teams to participate. For information or to sign up, call Griggs or
Mason at Regions Bank at 927-9626.
