70 Years Ago

January 7, 1954

Fire destroyed Stoney’s Esso Station (formerly Southside Service station) about 1:30 New Year’s morning. The building, owned by Glenn Drewett, and all stock and fixtures, owned by Stoney Baker, represented an estimate loss of approximately $12,000. Willard Bell, night marshall, responded to the alarm with the fire truck but found the blaze had gained too much headway to be put out with water from the truck’s tanks. By the time the hose could be connected with a plug located at the Bank of Jena, flames had spread throughout the building. Gasoline pumps were protected from heat and flames by the shed covering the front which burned loose at the walls, and swinging down, formed a wall between the pumps and burning building. A small house has been set up and Baker is continuing to operate the undamaged pumps while work gets underway for a larger, completely modern upto- date station on the same location.

The LaSalle Parish library is now the proud possessor of a sixteen-millimeter sound projector. It is the wish of Miss Lola Cooper, the librarian, that many civic groups or various organizations will use the projector. The library has a list of films that may be borrowed. The only thing you must consider is the date that you want the film, as it is necessary to book your films in advance.

State Park and Recreation’s recently completed fish ladder at its 6000-acre Chicot State Park in Evangeline Parish is the first to be installed in this state. The ladder was built on the spillway of the State Parks’ construction engineer, Carl Smithson, with Heard Andrus as job foreman. The assistance of President Woodson Harvey and his Ville Platte Sportsman Club on this project is much appreciated.

60 Years Ago

January 9, 1964

“Christmas dinner and forestry may not have much in common, but if it hadn’t been for a few rains in December not many Forestry Commission employees would’ve eaten their holiday dinner at home,” Ranger Clarence Waggoner of Olla said today. He noted that in December nine fires burned 37 ½ acres of woodland in LaSalle Parish. Ranger Waggoner said that through midwinter months critical fire danger is not normally expected, but it “has been so long since we’ve had a normal year, we probably wouldn’t recognize one face to face.” He pointed out that, almost without exception, January, February and March are the three most dangerous months of the year and urged parish residents to be careful with fire of any kind in this period.

There is a total of 196 businesses in La-Salle Parish according to statistics released by Eugene F. Schenk, district manager of the New Orleans Office of Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. This total is based on a physical count of the January 1964 edition of the Dun and Bradstreet Reference Book. Mr. Schenk noted that this month Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. is sending requests for financial statements to 2.9 million businesses. Because of the constant flux in the American business community, there are more than 4,000 changes not occurring daily. Thus, the volume must be re-issued every two months to keep up-todate credit facts.

The Strand played “Lassie’s Greatest Adventure,” “Timbuktu,” “Kid Galahad,” “For Love or Money,” “Battle of the World” and “Atom Age Vampire.”

50 Years Ago

January 3, 1974

Despite thousands of dollars being sent by the LaSalle Parish Police Jury to control dumping of unsightly garbage along roadsides in this parish, the pileup of litter continues. Those who dumped garbage evidently threw the garbage from their car window to avoid getting out of the vehicle and placing it in the provided container. Anyone caught dumping garbage along parish roads faced a fine and possible jail term, according to Police Jury officials who once again urged citizens to utilize the garbage containers placed at points over the parish for their convenience.

In Washington, D. C. Tuesday of this week to receive the nation’s top rural development award, the “Distinguished Service Award,” were members of the LaSalle Parish Rural Development Committee. LaSalle was selected from amongst 3,000 counties to receive the award. The citation was presented Tuesday at luncheon given in honor of the recipients. The delegation also had the opportunity to visit the office of John Irwin, USDA Secretary of Rural Development while in Washington, D. C.

Volunteers from LaSalle and Catahoula Parishes struggle to save a levee behind the David Deville farm as high back water continue to threaten the levee system. The levee, which extends from Highway 28 in LaSalle Parish to Black River, is holding back a sea of backwater from an estimated 40,000 acres, including hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of farmland. The levee, although very weak, was still holding at press time late Tuesday. Over 200 volunteer workmen fought to save the levee throughout last week.

40 Years Ago

January 4, 1984

Leslie Ray, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Ray of Jena, was named “Most Beautiful” at Jena High School for 198384. She was crowned during a school-wide pageant held in December, sponsored by the JHS Future Business Leaders of America. Other winners chosen in the pageant were Pat Deas, first runner up, whose guardians are Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Shinnick; Melinda Jones, second runner- up, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Jones; and Felissa Gibbs, third runner-up, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Warfield Gibbs. Rob Wood, a representative of FBLA, introduced the Master of Ceremonies, Jim Peters. The FBLA would like to thank everyone who helped to make the pageant such a success.

At Walker’s Discount Foods an 18.5 oz. box of cake mix costs 79 cents, 2 liters bottles of Pepsi were 99 cents and a head of lettuce was 59 cents.

25 Years Ago

January 6, 1999

The three oldest businesses in Jena are celebrating anniversaries this week, and the three have a combined total of 268 years of service to the public. The oldest of the three is your parish newspaper, which just ended its 93rd year of publishing and enters its 94th year with this edition of the paper. The newspaper was started in 1905. The second oldest business is Bank of Jena, which just completed 92 years of service and begins its 93rd year this week. The bank was founded in 1906. The other business is Humphries Motors, Inc. which just ended 83 years of sales and service to the motoring public, begins its 84th year of operation. The company has the honor of being the oldest Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in the world using its surname. It was founded by the Humphries family in 1915.

Last Friday night, the first day of the year, a full moon took its place in the cold winter sky to begin an unusual series of full moons not seen in more than eight decades. There will be two full moons in January, none in February, and two again in March. That last occurred in 1915, reports Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory. When a month has two full moons the second is known as a “blue” moon, though it only rarely has a blue tint that unusual atmospheric conditions can supply. The occasional blue or bluish-green moon can take place when a lot of dust is present in the air, such as after a volcanic eruption. After January’s double full moon, February manages to skip a full moon because of its 28-day length. The two full moons in March will be on the 2nd and 31st, again the second being another “blue” moon.

10 Years Ago

January 8, 2014

Construction crews are putting the final touches on the new Jena Elementary School and school officials are making plans for moving into the facility and having classrooms ready to receive students on the opening day of the 2013-2014 school year. The 54,000 sq. ft. school will replace the present facility located on U.S. 84 in Jena. The new school contains 28 classrooms, gym/auditorium combination having a maximum capacity of 700, and a dining hall that will seat 288 people. The new school is being constructed on a 35-acre tract of land. The facility was built for a total cost of $7,168,000.