A series of concerts will be sung in LaSalle Parish Saturday night and Sunday by the Kings Heralds, male quarter from Greenville College of Greenville, Ill., it has been announced by Rev. V. T. Bradford, Pastor of the Free Methodist Church of Jena. Saturday night they will sing at the Antioch church, at Summerville church at 10 a.m. Sunday and at the Free Methodist church in Jena Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock. The members of the Kings Heralds quartet are John Hendricks, Clark DeMille, Ralph Knapper and Ron Gines. The public is cordially invited to hear this group of young gospel singers at any of the three services in this area.
The red stop sign has been officially adopted by the Louisiana Department of Highways as the standard for the state, replacing the old yellow signs. The highway director, George S. Covert, in commenting on the new red stop signs which are already being placed in major highway intersections, said the new reflectorized signs are expected to reduce traffic accidents substantially. Red is the international signal for danger and stop, Covert said, adding that highway and traffic officials have wanted such a sign for many years since it is the only color that signifies stop to everyone. Louisiana today is the forefront among the states adopting the signs on the highways. Already about 400 of the new signs have been erected and eventually all the yellow signs will be replaced, he said.
60 Years Ago
December 26, 1963
Jesse Wayne Crooks, a senior sociology student at Northwestern State college in Natchitoches, has been elected Mr. NSC by the entire student body at Northwestern. He is the son of Mrs. Myra Crooks of Jena and was a 1959 graduate of Jena High School at Northwestern, Crooks was a past president and vice president of the Junior class. He is a member of the Blue Key club, a member of the Student Council and chairman of the Men’s Spiritual association. This announcement was made by President John S. Kaiser of Northwestern State college.
Work began Thursday, December 5 on a new bridge project along the Winnfield-Olla highway, according to Highway Director Ray W. Burgess. The project is the Castor Creek Reservoir Bridge on State Route 124 being constructed under a $106,477 contract awarded to the Pamper Corporation of Crowville. The job is located at Castor Creek near Olla, on State Route 124 about 1.6 miles west of the 124’s junction with State Route 125. It will be a concrete slab span bridge. Burgess said that, during the seven-month project, the contractor will not be required to maintain through traffic. Harold W. Austin of Winfield will serve as project engineer.
50 Years Ago
December 20, 1973
LaSalle Parish Homemakers Council officers for the new year were installed at the Annual Parish wide Christmas Covered Dish Luncheon at the Pinehill Baptist Church recreation building on Friday, December 7. The business for the day included a report by Mrs. B. A. De-Mars, Cultural Arts Chairman on the Bazaar sponsored by this committee, a report by Mrs. Wade Andrews, Citizenship Chairman that 50 dozen cookies for Veterans Hospital had been prepared by Fellowship, Urania and Olla Homemakers Clubs. The program for the day featured the History, Culture and Dress at Nicaragua.
Miss Nancy Burham, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Burham of Jena, has been selected as one of twenty Louisiana Tech coeds named to the Hospitality Committee and will serve as official hostesses of the university. Miss Burham graduated from Jena High School last May and enrolled at Louisiana Tech in journalism. During high school she was very active in school activities and was very skilled in her abilities with the baton.
The Jena Police Department in investigating the Friday night burglary of the Fashion Shop in downtown Jena, according to Police Chief J. L. Jones. Jones said the building was entered through a side window of the store and $72 in cash was taken from a purse left overnight by a customer. The purse reportedly belonged to Mrs. Martha Walker of Jena and the stolen money had been donated by her Sunday school class to be used for a needy family’s Christmas. Mrs. Ruby Fields, owner of the store reported nothing else was taken.
40 Years Ago December 21, 1983
The determination if a 28-yearold Urania Man and over 210 hours of painstaking work, has produced a replica of the old Urania commissary building which burned to the ground a little over nine years ago. Herman Meredith, over the past three months, has built in miniature form, an exact replica of the old commissary building which for years graced the main street in Urania and is remembered by a host of native residents. “I started the project last spring before the tornado hit this area,” Meredith explained. “After the tornado, it took me some time to calm my nerves enough to resume work on my project.” Meredith’s replica measured 3-ft. 4 ¼-inches wide and 4-ft. 3 ½-inches deep and contains 133 real glass windows, doorways, roof, etc.
Northwestern State University Junior Photography Major Renee Hughes of Jena recently won honorable mention honors in the sixth annual national photo contest sponsored by Campus Life magazine and Minolta. Contest judges said she “managed to create the visually exciting circular blurs of the flags while simultaneously keeping the faces in focus. A difficult photogenic stunt successfully performed.” Miss Hughes, a student photographer for the NSU News Bureau, is the daughter of Judge Edwin Hughes of Mandeville. She was the only student from Louisiana to be honored in the contest.
25 Years Ago December 23, 1998
Retiring Jena Town Mayor Norman Welch was honored with a reception at Jena Town Hall last Tuesday as he ends 28 ½ years of service to the Town on December 31. Mayor-Elected Dale Willis presented Welch with a plaque in recognition of his service over the past three decades.
A LaSalle Parish school bus carrying a dozen students was in an accident in north LaSalle Parish last Thursday morning. The bus was traveling north on U.S. 165 at about 7:38 a.m., when it collided with a Toyota pickup truck. According to a report filed by the Louisiana State Police, no one was seriously injured in the accident but both drivers were ticketed.
Morgan Paige Aycock, a student at Olla Elementary School, has placed first in the State Soil and Water Conservation poster contest in the K-1st grade category. Morgan is the daughter of Jeffrey and Paula Aycock of Olla. She received a $100 savings bond and be recognized at the annual LACD Awards Luncheon in Shreveport on January 14. Morgan’s poster will now be entered into competition in the national Soil and Water Contest.
10 Years Ago December 25, 2013
Fourth graders at Good Pine Middle School recently participated in a field trip to the Centennial Cultural Center (CCC) in Olla for a special Christmas program. The students were read a Christmas book and about Jesus’s birth in Luke by LaSalle High CCC Volunteers and told about family traditions like making strings of popcorn to decorate the tree from CCC Volunteers. Former CCC President Fern McKeithen told the students stories about the daily life and traditions of the “old days” such as using a kerosene lamp, sharecropping and cooking over a wood-burning stove. Current CCC President Doug Hallmark and his daughter, Shawnda Pritt, participating in a demonstration of the wood-burning stove. Pritt and CCC Director Heather Schwieger served sassafras tea to the students and later handed out gingerbread, tea cakes and bags of fruit with help from Olla Police Chief John Stott.
