By JIM BUTLER

As expected Pineville has a new mayor.

Unexpected is that it lost a City Council member in the process.

Now both the Police Jury and the Pineville council have 20 days to make interim appointments.

First the scripted: Joe Bishop, Ward 9 police juror and parish president, on Wednesday was named mayor, succeeding Rich Dupree.

The vote was 3-1, Kevin Dorn not joining the Mutual Admiration Society due to dislike for the legally prescribed process for appointing a mayor.

Now the surprise, Mayor Pro Tempore Mary Galloway, Bishop’s sister, resigned her council seat before the mayoral discussion began.

Her announcement gave no indication as to the contributing factors.

The buzz was immediate.

Was she concerned about a potential conflict of interest?

Is she interested in filling her brother’s parish post?

Who is in that field?

Who’s interested in the council vacancy?

Will jury vice president Sean McGlothlin seek to succeed to the parish presidency in January?

McGlothlin is serving his fourth consecutive term as District G juror, active in public affairs at the local, state and national levels.

According to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, on the final day of early voting, Oct. 29, Louisiana broke the single-day in-person record (99,004) and the all-time in-person record (817,957), both set in 2020. Nearly 1/3 of eligible voters have already cast their ballots. Election Day is now six days away. Visit GeauxVote.com or download the free GeauxVote Mobile app to learn more.

Amazing, isn’t it, what half a century of time can do to a place.  I grew up in rural Natchitoches Parish near the village of Goldonna and I’ve been gone from there over five decades. I go back today on occasional visits and hardly recognize anything. 

There were four of us who grew up together, one year apart. I’m the oldest; my cousin Doug is a year younger; my brother Tom a year younger than Doug and Sambo a year younger than Tom. The four Harris Boys, they called us. Living less than a quarter mile apart, we were constant companions. Summer days were spent barefooted and bare-backed in the woods and creeks around our homes, bird hunting, fishing, killing snakes, playing “deer and dog” and swimming.

One particular area served as a catalyst for our summertime outdoor activities — the Tank Pond. On a visit back home several years or so ago, I took a walk down through the woods to visit the Tank Pond but to my surprise and dismay, it was no longer there.

Thick buck brush grew over a damp spot where we once swam and played. If I listened closely though, I could hear a trickle of water somewhere down there in the brush. I could only rely on my memory to bring to life the old pond where the four of us learned to swim. Back then, fresh spring water coursed over a concrete spillway that had been built there maybe a century earlier to impound the little creek into a nice-sized pond.

The Tank Pond was used as a water source for the engines of the L&A Railroad trains that stopped there for water to generate steam. Near the pond was an elevated tank where the water was pumped from the pond. A boom was lowered and water flowed from the tank into the boiler of the engine where it was heated by a coal-fed fire box, thus generating the steam that served as a power source for the train.

I recall lying in bed at night, listening to the train grind to a laborious halt with screeching wheels and hissing steam as it stopped at the Tank Pond for water. Once the boiler was filled, the engine would begin a slow CHUG … CHUG … CHUG before the wheels lost their grip on the rails with a rapid CHUGCHUGCHUG.

I knew what was next. The train had to back up all the way below Goldonna, nearly a mile distant, to get a running start at the gradual grade that culminated on Oshkosh Hill a couple of miles on up the track past the Tank Pond.

That’s all gone now. The L&A railroad is no more, the tracks long abandoned, the right-of-way overgrown. My sister told me that the rails were pulled up and sold to a company that transported them to Chile. I find it odd that the rails I walked barefoot as a kid are now supporting train traffic and barefoot boys in South America.

Water that coursed over the spillway trickled through a culvert beneath the railroad tracks where it spilled into Molido Creek 50 yards from the tracks. Just below where the Tank Pond waters met Molido, a deep hole in the bend of the creek made for a fine swimming hole, one that holds a plethora of memories. The only snake bite I ever had was inflicted in this swimming hole. A  snake bit me behind the knee while we were swimming. One look at Doug’s rusty Barlow and I decided to take my chances of dying of snake bite rather than to have Doug whittle on my leg with his dull knife. Luckily, the snake was a common water snake and I survived without my cousin’s help.

I visited the area a while back and to my surprise, the Tank Pond is there again, much as it was when Doug, Tom, Sambo and I swam in it as youngsters. I learned that some 20 years ago, the brush, debris and sediment were removed, and the pond was excavated to recreate our old swimming hole much like it was when we were boys.

Some things old and forgotten can be brought back to existence. I’m thankful our Tank Pond is now breathing new life.

Contact Glynn at glynnharris37@gmail.com

Arrests are accusations not convictions. 

October 29

Weapons

Tyrin Toliver, 28, Terrytown — illegal handling machine gun, felon with firearm, aggravated criminal damage, $75,000 bail;

Other

James Lewis, 48, Boyce — criminal conspiracy, obstruction evidence tampering, $2,000 bail;

Lindsay Watkins, 28, Boyce — criminal conspiracy, obstruction destruction/damage, $2,000 bail;

Dasmine Young, 28, Jackson, MS — felony flight, felony fugitive, hit & run, reckless operation, no driver’s license, resisting, $26,600 bail. 

This date: 17 arrests, 9 including one or more contempt counts and 12 with at least one prior. 

Arrests are accusations not convictions.

October 29

Clayton Campbell, 61, Alexandria — possession 2 counts, paraphernalia, contraband penal facility, $5,000 bail;

Christina Cloud, 47, Boyce — possession with intent 3 counts, $15,000 bail.

In accordance with La R.S. 1:55 (E) the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court’s office will be closed Friday, Nov. 1 in observance of All Saints Day. The office will reopen Monday, Nov. 4 at 8:30 a.m.

BOM is a sponsor of the Pineville High School softball team. 

By JIM BUTLER

Facing an upcoming statutory deadline, the Pineville City Council meets at 1 p.m. today to consider appointing an interim mayor with years of public service.

The published agenda indicates Joe Bishop, parish president and brother of Council President Pro Tempore Mary Galloway, is the designee. Bishop is also the police chief’s cousin.

Bishop, a former three-term Pineville council member, indicated he would accept if the appointment is offered and resign the Ward 9 jury seat.

State law prohibits dual office holding.

The meeting call does not indicate who might be sponsoring any such proposal or conclusions of any informal discussions regarding it.

(Under law, walking-quorums of public bodies are prohibited, but private discussions, including texts and electronic mail, between less than a quorum are permissible.) The council has 20 days from the official resignation of Rich Dupree (October 20) to fill the post, otherwise the governor does.

Questions include:

Can Galloway vote under ethics rules?

Is the appointee prohibited from running for a full term in the next election?

And across the river, who’s lobbying to succeed as jury president if Bishop departs?

Who’s a candidate for appointment to the Ward 9 seat?

Bishop has three times previously been parish president and is a former president of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana and in his 14th year on its executive board.

Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a two-vehicle crash on Oct. 28 around 4:22 pm on Louisiana Highway 488 at Louisiana Highway 1199.  The crash claimed the life of 32-year-old Jacob Strange of Forest Hill.

The initial investigation revealed that a 2007 Honda motorcycle, driven by Strange, was eastbound on Louisiana Highway 488. For reasons still under investigation, Strange was traveling at a high rate of speed passing a vehicle in a no-passing zone. As Strange passed the unknown vehicle and re-entered into the eastbound travel lane, he struck a westbound 2011 Toyota Camry attempting to turn left onto LouisianaHighway 1199. This action placed the motorcycle in the direct travel path of the Toyota, which resulted in a collision. 

As a result of the crash, Strange sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased on the scene. The driver of the Toyota, who was restrained, sustained no injuries. A toxicology sample was obtained and submitted for analysis.

While the cause of this crash remains under investigation, Louisiana State Troopers wish to remind motorists to obey all speed limit signs and avoid all distractions. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects in the roadway, extends the distance necessary to stop a vehicle, and increases the distance a vehicle travels while the driver reacts to a situation.  Speeding and other aggressive driving behaviors are among the leading causes of highway crashes and fatalities.

NOTICE OF HEARING ON FIRST AND FINAL ACCOUNT, PETITION FOR DETERMINATION OF HEIRS, PETITION FOR DECREE OF DISTRIBUTION, APPROVAL OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES, COSTS, EXPENSES, AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE’S FEE, AND FOR DISCHARGE OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE

TAKE NOTICE THAT that Michael Coyne, Personal Representative of the Harold J. Griffith, Deceased, filed his First and Final Account and Petition for Decree of Distribution, Determination of Heirs, Approval of Attorney’s Fees, Costs, Expenses and Personal Representative’s Fee and for Discharge of Personal Representative on October 22, 2024, and the Judge of the Court set the Final Account and Petition for hearing on November 12, 2024, at 1:30 p.m., in the Delaware County Courthouse at 327 S. 5^th Street, Jay, Oklahoma 74346, and all persons interested in the Estate are notified to appear and show cause, if any they have, why the heirs should not be determined, the Estate should not be distributed, the Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, Expenses and Personal Representative Fee approved, and the Personal Representative discharged.

DATED this 22nd day of October, 2024,

/s/ David Crutchfield
THE HONORABLE DAVID CRUTCHFIELD
JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT

/s/ Bryce P. Harp
Bryce P. Harp, OBA # 30869
HARP LAW
33 W. 3rd Street
Grove, Oklahoma 74344
Telephone: (918) 786-0500
Attorney for Personal Representative

October 30, 2024, November 6, 2024

Arrests are accusations not convictions. 

October 27

Weapons 

Jaitravian Kittlin, 23, Alexandria — felon with firearm, illegal possession stolen firearm, parole violation, $40,000 bail;

Other 

Zachary Atterberry, 41, Alexandria — illegal possession stolen things, identity theft, bank fraud, contempt 2 counts, fugitive, $28,780 bail;

Gary Crooks, 59, Ball — sex offender unlawful presence, sex offender failure to renew registration, $20,000 bail;

Michelle Rachal, 30, Alexandria — aggravated assault, $1,500 bail. 

This date: 16 arrests, 6 including one or more contempt counts and 10 with at least one prior.