On May 18, 2025, Patrol Deputies responded to a residence in the Echo, LA community in reference to a reported home invasion. Upon arrival, deputies were unable to locate the suspect, later identified as Evan Guillory. Deputies took the initial report and Sheriff’s Detectives were assigned the case for follow-up investigation.

During the investigation, interviews were conducted with multiple witnesses who stated on the evening of May 18, Guillory allegedly arrived unannounced at the residence where a verbal altercation occurred. According to statements provided, things escalated when Guillory allegedly forced entry into the home after being denied access and a physical struggle ensued between Guillory and one of the victims. The altercation continued outside the residence, during which Guillory fled the scene.

According to the victim(s), multiple threats were allegedly made by Guillory during the incident, including threats directed at the other occupants of the residence.

As a result of the investigation, Sheriff’s Detectives were able to obtain arrest warrants for Evan Guillory for Home Invasion, Interfering with Emergency Communication, and Domestic Abuse Battery with Child Present.

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With the assistance of the Bunkie Police Department, Guillory was arrested on June 16, 2025 and was extradited back to Rapides Parish. Guillory remains in jail at the time of this release, being held on a $75,000 bond.

“The Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office remains committed to the safety of our community and will pursue all leads to bring those responsible for violent offenses, especially those involving domestic violence or children, to justice” said Sheriff Mark Wood.

Arrestee: Evan Michael Guillory, 29
Address: 90 Guillory Lane, Echo, LA
Charges: Home Invasion, Interfering with Emergency Communication, Domestic Abuse Battery with Child Present

ALL PERSONS ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION.

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

June 22

Willie James Augustine, 39, Alexandria – bicycle reflectors required, five counts contempt of court, $83,100 bail;

Michael Francis Bayonne Sr, 46, Alexandria – simple burglary, criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, criminal conspiracy, no bail data;

Diane Marie Evans, 27, Pineville – three counts of possession of CDS, paraphernalia, contempt of court, $5,500 bail;

Bridget Renee Gagnard, 41, Pineville – possession of CDS, paraphernalia, use of CDS in presence of person under 17, safety belt violation, $3,600 bail;

Alexis Noel Smith, 28, Pineville – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, $600 bail;

June 21

Logan Bordelon, 23, Colfax – OWI second offense, three counts open container, speeding, failure to change address on driver’s license, $2,000 bail;

Eric Dixon, 25, Alexandria – Louisiana fugitive, two counts legend drug possession, expired MVI sticker, $3,100 bail;

Brandi French, 47, Pineville – OWI first offense, careless operation, open container, $1,200 bail;

Jake General III, 53, Alexandria —  OWI third offense, improper lane usage, restricted driver license violation, probation violation, ignition interlock devices required, $100,300 bail;

Tyler Matthews, 26, Alexandria – second degree battery, $1,000 bail;

Terricke Jermome Payne, 46, Alexandria – theft, improper display of license plate, obstruction of justice, $100 bail;

Thadeus Sampson, 35, Mansura – OWI first offense, open container, improper lane usage, $1,200 bail;

Cory Stroud, 37, Montgomery – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, limitations passing on left, $1,200 bail;

Rodney Gregory White Jr, 37, Deville – three counts contempt of court, $13,500 bail;

June 20

Joshua Blaine Burnette, 37, Glenmora – first degree rape, sexual battery, indecent behavior with juveniles, taking contraband to and from penal institutions, battery of a correctional employee, aggravated resisting a police officer with force or violence, $500,000 bail;

Keith Dauzat, 56, Marksville – simple battery, $1,000 bail;

Jarius Daymon Johnson, 18, Alexandria – domestic abuse battery, $1,500 bail;

Lonnie Ray Joseph, 37, Alexandria – second degree battery, simple burglary, $505,000 bail;

Shawna C. Thompson, 40, Pineville – contempt of court, $10,000 bail;

Erin F. Tracy, 33, Pineville – OWI first offense, improper turn, improper lane usage, improper window tint, resisting an officer, open container, $1,900 bail;

Antoine K. Williams, 35, Pineville – fire raising on land of another with malice, simple arson, criminal trespass, contempt of court, $31,000 bail;

June 19

Erika Eskeve Pantallion, 30, Alexandria – contempt of court, $5,000 bail;

Steven Jo Ray, 48, Alexandria – simple strangulation, domestic abuse battery, $75,000 bail;

Jeronda Reed, 24, Pineville – obstruction of justice, three counts contempt of court, $8,500 bail;

Ruth Ann Strother, 67, Plainview – OWI first offense, improper lane usage, failure to yield to emergency vehicle, open container, $1,300 bail;

Kaleb John Zimmerman, 23, Alexandria – OWI first offense, off road vehicle on public road, $1,100 bail;

June 18

Dejuan Carmouche, 19, Simmesport – producing manufacturing distributing marijuana, illegal carry firearm with drugs, possession paraphernalia, $10,500 bail;

Keldrick Deion Gaines, 37, Alexandria – contempt of court, $3,500 bail;

Otha Lee Tatum Sr, 41, Alexandria – aggravated battery, aggravated assault, resisting an officer, contempt of court, $32,500 bail;

Gage Anthony Webb, 31, Pineville – OWI second offense, improper lane usage, expired MVI sticker, $2,200 bail;

The Village of Forest Hill has issued notice regarding a water outage. The water is out on Willis Gunter Rd. from Vargas Nursery to the end of the line, including Bell Rd. A boil advisory will follow.  The Village is installing new 6″ pipe and fire hydrants on Willis Gunter to improve water quality. There may be interruptions in the water service.

During the Alexandria Farmer’s Market tomorrow, June 24, the LifeShare Blood Center will be on site to receive blood donations from 2pm to 6:30pm. 

The first 10 donors get rewarded with a $5 market token. Plus, all donors walk away with the market’s exclusive crawfish t-shirt! Schedule a slot beforehand here: https://donor.lifeshare.org/…/sch…/drive_schedule/287465.

By WESLEY MULLER, Louisiana Illuminator

A new spate of undercover seafood testing at restaurants in the Alexandria area found more than half of the sampled eateries serving imported shrimp. 

SeaD Consulting, a food testing company that has been making headlines for uncovering foreign-sourced shrimp sold as local catch at restaurants and festivals across the Gulf Coast, announced that 54 percent of the local restaurants it sampled were serving imported shrimp – and several were lying to their customers about it.  

The company’s use of genetic testing found that 11 of the 24 restaurants sampled offered authentic Gulf of Mexico-caught shrimp, while the remaining 13 sold farm-raised shrimp to dinters. Six of those 13 restaurants, roughly 25 percent of the total, were serving imported fare in an “explicitly fraudulent” manner, meaning they claimed the shrimp was domestic when it wasn’t. 

The company does not publicly disclose the names of the restaurants that fraudulently serve imported shrimp, opting instead to highlight businesses that are following the law and serve domestic shrimp.

Doing it right: the local restaurants tested that offer locally caught seafood were:

• Brocato’s Breakfast, Alexandria
• Bucket’s Crawfish & Seafood, Pineville
• Crawfish Port Inc., Alexandria
• Crazy Cajun, Pineville
• Deborge’s Crawfish, Alexandria
• Koal’s Bar-B-Que, Alexandria
• Pit Grill Diner, Alexandria
• Red River Seafood & Sushi, Alexandria
• Rosie Jo’s, Alexandria
• Rotolo’s Craft & Crust, Alexandria
• Swamp Daddy’s Crawfish, Alexandria

“These restaurants are doing it right,” Williams said. “They’re supporting the local economy and giving customers what they’re paying for — the flavor of Louisiana, from the docks to the table.”

SeaD collected the samples June 3-4 from restaurants across Alexandria and nearby Pineville. The findings are relatively on par with testing the company has conducted in other Louisiana cities. Its testing  in the Shreveport area from March uncovered a 58 percent fraud rate. 

“This is about trust,” said Rodney Olander, chairman of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. “Alexandria is a proud river city with deep Louisiana roots, and its people deserve to know when they’re getting wild-caught Gulf shrimp — or when they’re being served imported farm-raised substitutes passed off as local. Having one in four restaurants being explicitly fraudulent is not right.”

In December, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, an advisory panel for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, asked SeaD Consulting to analyze shrimp from restaurants across the state in an effort to eliminate consumer seafood fraud. Its analysis includes sampling batches of 24 randomly selected restaurants in different cities across the state.

It is illegal under federal and state law to mislabel imported seafood as local and can result in fines or other penalties.

Local seafood was once easy to find in Louisiana, but an influx of cheap foreign catch – particularly shrimp and crawfish – has flooded the market over the past two decades. 

For more than a decade, Louisiana law has specifically required restaurants and other food establishments to state on their menus the country of origin of any shrimp and crawfish being served. The same requirement applies to food vendors at fairs and festivals. 

A 2023 review of state enforcement records revealed many restaurants had not complied with the law. State health inspectors issued thousands of citations to restaurants but levied no fines against them, drawing criticism from state lawmakers and local fishermen.

SeaD Consulting launched its testing efforts last year using undercover inspectors to purchase shrimp dishes from restaurants and festival vendors. The inspectors run the shrimp through a rapid field testing kit that examines seafood tissue genetics. 

SeaD’s investigation of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City led to public outrage when four out of five vendors there were found to have fraudulently served foreign shrimp. 

Dave Williams, a commercial fisheries scientist and founder of SeaD Consulting, said consumers can play an important role in combating seafood fraud. They should always ask restaurant staff where their seafood comes from, look for clear menu labeling indicating the country of origin and report suspicions of seafood fraud to local or state health officials, Williams said.

Original Article: CLICK HERE

Oak Hill Fire Department has released its data relating to calls made between June 10 and June 17.

• Keep fireworks at least 200 feet from buildings, vehicles, and flammable debris
• Never let children handle fireworks; offer safe alternatives like glow sticks
• Avoid using fireworks if impaired by alcohol or drugs
• Light one firework at a time and monitor with a hose or bucket of water nearby
• Soak used fireworks before disposal—never toss them dry into the trash

By TEDDY ALLEN, Written for the LSWA

She picked up a basketball as a challenge when she was 9 and used it to prove a point, first in the back yard against her brother and two cousins in Coushatta, then on her way to becoming a two-time Kodak All-American at Louisiana Tech, then through 13 seasons in the WNBA and a concurrent 15 overseas, and now through another 15 seasons as a WNBA coach.

All the while, that crimson dirt of Louisiana’s rural Red River Parish on her hands proving she’d worked for it, that she’d earned it, Vickie Johnson has remained about the most genuine and gentle, polished, unassuming off-the-court ballplayer you could ever meet, even if, like her, you’d traveled from the banks of Loggy Bottom and Grand Bayou to the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston to Madison Square Garden to the gymnasiums of France and Hungary to Israel and Turkey.

“Polite, well-mannered, very bashful and shy,” said her long-ago summer ball AAU teammate Sarah Harrison Zeagler of Natchitoches.

“And,” Zeagler laughs at the memory, “insanely talented.”

It’s that delightful mix of sweet, super, and stubborn that vaulted Johnson, a 5-9 guard with a pure all-around game highlighted by a sweet baseline jumper, above the field at every level of basketball and has ultimately landed her a well-deserved, “it’s-about-time” spot in Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2025.

Family and friends from her Coushatta hometown will make the 30-minute trip south to Natchitoches for the Induction Celebration June 26-28. Event information is available at LaSportsHall.com.

It was back home in Coushatta that she wanted to prove a point to her big brother.

“I didn’t start playing because, ‘Oh, I love basketball,’” Johnson said. “I started because my oldest brother said it was for guys, for the boys. ‘Girls don’t play basketball.’ So I picked up a ball and went to the back yard. I was 9. From that day on, I loved it.”

A year later, 1982, she saw Louisiana Tech and USC, titans of the women’s college game at the time, playing on television.

“I watched with my mom and it … I was thrilled, you know?” Johnson said. “I told her, ‘One day, I’m playing college basketball. I’m gonna play for the team in the blue, the team with the stars going down their jerseys.”

The ‘team in blue’ was the Lady Techsters, only about 70 miles away through the pine trees and winding state highways from her back yard court.

“Well,” said the lady everyone in Coushatta called ‘Mrs. Susie,’ the single mom with three jobs, “if you’re gonna play for them, you’d better get back outside.”

She dribbled her way out the back door and kept shooting.

Often joining her was her father’s youngest brother from Shreveport, her Uncle John, a veteran of semi-pro hoops and a serious student of the game.

“He taught me how to play basketball,” Johnson said. “He just … how to dribble, to move, to guard, understanding the game. ‘What did you see? How could you have done better?’ He took care of me.”

Uncle John was a good teacher. By the time Johnson was a sophomore at Coushatta High (now Red River), she’d verbally committed to play for “the team in blue.”

But it wasn’t the same program she’d watched on TV in 1982. Tech fell out of the Top 25 in 1990-91 for the first time in 13 years, then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The next season was equally mediocre.

“No question that Vickie coming to Louisiana Tech really helped put the program back on the national map,” Tech’s head coach Leon Barmore, a Louisiana Sports and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, said. “If we hadn’t signed that class — Vickie, Racquel Spurlock, Amy Brown — we would have disappeared from the national spotlight. Vickie wasn’t a savior by herself, but she sure was instrumental.”

As a rookie Lady Techster in 1992-93, Johnson helped take the team to the NCAA Regional Finals, a snapshot of things to come. During her four seasons with Tech, the Lady Techsters were 116-17 and finished as national runner-up in 1994 when Johnson, a sophomore, was chosen to the All-Final Four team.

“Vickie was the ultimate teammate,” Barmore said. “She did whatever it took to win, whether that meant playing defense or scoring or just being a leader.”

“She’s a winner,” said Brown, a former Parade All-American, Johnson’s Tech teammate, and now director of teacher education at Tennessee Tech after a successful, championship-filled coaching career there. “She was the type of player who wasn’t going to allow her team to lose. She practiced every day like she played every night. It was contagious with her teammates.”

Whether it was a trait developed in the back yard or through emulating Mrs. Susie, Johnson’s selflessness came early, as sweet and as necessary as her baseline jumpers.

“Vickie could have played all five positions by herself,” her AAU teammate Zeagler said. “She could see the floor, everything, everywhere, like she had eyes in the back of her head.

“But the thing that always stood out about her was I felt like I belonged on the court with her, and that was because she made us feel that way,” Zeagler said. “She made us feel like we belonged on the court as much as she did.” 

Although as a freshman and sophomore she helped Tech claw back onto the national stage, turns out Johnson was just getting started when it came to giving the folks around Cut-Off Road and Lone Star Feed down in Coushatta plenty to talk about. She earned spots on both the Kodak and Street & Smith All-America teams the next two seasons, Sun Belt Conference MVP in 1995 and 1996, and 1996 Louisiana Player of the Year.

She did it with a silky grace and salty presence.

“She was as smooth a basketball player as I can remember coaching,” Barmore said. “The baseline was her home. She would roam the baseline and make that little jump shot all night. It was a beautiful thing to watch. She was one of the players that our fans enjoyed watching the most.”

Thomas Assembly Center proved to be only a launching pad. There was more where that came from.

In the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft, Johnson was the 12^th player chosen. A quick look at only a few high points from her pro stat sheet, which is almost 30 years old — and counting…

• Nine seasons with the New York Liberty and four with the San Antonio Silver Stars;
• Twice an All-Star;
• First person in the league to collect 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 1,000 assists in a career;
• Dependable-plus, a starter in 408 of 410 games played and the first person in WNBA history to play 11,000 minutes;
• Won the league’s Sportsmanship Award in 2008, her last as a player, and has been a coach in the league since.

“As good a player as she was on the court, she’s a better person,” Brown said. “She deserves every honor she’s received for what she did as a player, but it’s even sweeter because of who she is off the court.”

“Quiet off the court, but once it was time to play, all that went away,” Zeagler said. “Never mean, but always purposeful. She was very sportsmanlike-minded: you got knocked down, she’d help you back up. Just an incredible all-around person.”

All that, the total package, game after game and year after year, in a sport that “girls don’t play.”

“A lot of people told me I wasn’t good enough,” Johnson said. “That was my fire. And that’s how I played. I wanted to guard the best players. When I chose to play overseas, I chose countries with the best players. That’s where I got my joy, from playing against the best.

“I played because I enjoyed it,” she said. “The accolades that come with it? They come with it. But my goal was to be the best I could be and get in Louisiana Tech, and I did that.”

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu

NATCHITOCHES – As a track and field coach, Leon Johnson left an indelible imprint upon Northwestern State, the region it serves, and the entire state..

The impact he made upon those who competed for him – regardless of when or where – is of matching depth and importance.

Johnson, a legendary figure in Northwestern and the Southland Conference’s track and field history, died Tuesday at the age of 86. There will be a celebration of life for Johnson held at Magale Recital Hall on the NSU campus at 3 p.m. Sunday. Visitation will be held from 5- 8 p.m. Saturday at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home, located at 848 Keyser Avenue in Natchitoches.

“I am saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend, coach and mentor, Leon Johnson,” said former Northwestern State President Dr. Chris Maggio, who ran for and coached under Johnson before ascending the ranks of university administration. “My life has been greatly blessed and enriched because this gentleman reached out to me 43 years ago and said, ‘My name is Leon Johnson, and I am the new track and field coach at Northwestern State University, and I want you to become my first recruit at NSU.’ Thankfully, I said yes to his invitation and words cannot adequately express the magnitude of life lessons that I learned from him.  

“He will be remembered as a Hall of Fame coach who mentored 50-plus All-Americans and won several conference championships. I, too, will remember him for his coaching accolades, but I will also remember him as a Christian man, a great role model and for the hours and hours he spent working with young men and women on the track no matter their athletic abilities. It didn’t matter if you were an All-American or a beginner, Coach would be there for you teaching and coaching you to be better in your event and better in your life. Thank you, Coach Johnson changing the lives of thousands of young people.”

The individual and team accolades Northwestern compiled under Johnson were many. Three Southland Conference team championships and top-20 finishes in the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Fifty-seven All-Americans among nearly 100 NCAA championship qualifiers. Two Olympic triple jumpers.

There was the 1986 birth of the Lady Demon track and field program that also occurred on Johnson’s watch.

In other words, Northwestern could build a trophy case simply for Leon Johnson and his student-athletes’ accomplishments. What transpired in the past 48 hours could fill a virtual one as well.

“I first stepped foot on the Northwestern State campus 40 years ago this August,” former Director of Athletics Greg Burke said. “Even then, as an intern, I recognized what kind of man, what kind of mentor and what kind of coach Leon Johnson was. I had the good fortune to come back as athletic director and have him sitting at our head coaches’ table. The perspective he offered, the respect he had among coaches and staff within the department was really remarkable.

“One needs to look no further than social media in the past 48 hours and read the number of posts – and not just the number – but the heartfelt messages from so many track alumni,” Burke said. “Oftentimes, the true measure of a coach’s impact — and how lasting that impact is — will be reflected in the sentiments expressed by the student-athletes who practiced and competed under that coach.”

Johnson began his career as a high school basketball coach in Colorado before coaching state champion high school track and field track and field teams in Louisiana at Opelousas and DeRidder, ultimately taking over at Northwestern where his name became synonymous with the school.

Northwestern track and field athletes compete in the Leon Johnson Invitational each spring after entering the Walter P. Ledet Track and Field Complex via Leon Johnson Lane.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s state cross country championships also conclude in that area, thanks largely to Johnson’s push to bring the event to Natchitoches where it has become a staple of the city’s athletic calendar, with Johnson and staff doing yeoman’s work each November to make it happen. They did the same each spring when NSU hosted high school district and regional track meets, and when Special Olympics or the American Heart Association came calling.

What Johnson built at Northwestern was done so on the foundation of a family feel – one that serves as a living testament to Johnson’s approach.

“He helped shape so many men’s and women’s lives,” said current Northwestern track and field coach Mike Heimerman, who competed under Johnson before coaching with him and, ultimately, succeeding him as the program’s leader. “Hundreds of athletes – probably closer to thousands – came through Northwestern under coach Johnson, and he helped shape and mold them into young men and women, good mothers and fathers, good husbands and wives.

“He made Natchitoches and Northwestern State a home for so many young men and women, including myself. That was an attraction to NSU and to Natchitoches. That’s something we’ve tried to instill in the program now. It’s something I learned from him, and we tried to take it up a notch. The other thing I learned most from him is making sure the student-athletes get a degree and that you care for them. When you care for them, they do more for you. That’s been very evident in the past here with the men’s and women’s programs and the success we’ve had.”

Johnson’s legacy was made working with Northwestern’s track and field athletes, but his influence permeated the athletic department as a whole.

Late in his career, former Demon men’s basketball coach Mike McConathy utilized Johnson’s ability to provide insight on flexibility and conditioning for McConathy’s team. It proved to be a learning experience for both the Demon players and their longtime coach.

“His impact was invaluable in the fact he taught me as well as the kids so much,” McConathy said. “It was the respect my players had for him. The way he taught and instructed them was amazing. He used the technique of lower volume. He had something they were interested in. They all locked in with no distractions. That taught me something, taught my staff something.

“The attention he gave them showed me they had a tremendous amount of respect for his ability. It was just incredible to witness. I don’t know that you can paint a word picture to describe what we actually saw.”

The Alexandria Police Department responded to a two-vehicle crash involving a car and a four-wheeler at the intersection of Culpepper Road and North Boulevard on Wednesday at approximately 6:36 p,m.

The four-wheeler was occupied by four juveniles: a 12-year-old driver and three passengers, ages 10, 6, and 4. Preliminary investigation determined that the four-wheeler failed to stop at the posted stop sign at the intersection, resulting in the collision.

Sadly, the 6-year-old passenger later succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash after being transported to a local hospital. The 4-year-old suffered minor injuries, while the 10‑ and 12-year-olds remain in critical condition. None of the children were wearing helmets at the time of the incident.

Alexandria Police Chief Chad Gremillion issued the following statement: “Our hearts hurt anytime someone is injured or killed. I personally witnessed the tireless efforts of the first responders from the Alexandria Fire Department and Pafford Ambulance, as well as the emergency staff at Rapides Regional ER — they gave everything they had.”

“The Alexandria Police Department extends its deepest condolences to the family of the child who lost their life and sends thoughts and prayers to the injured children and their loved ones during this difficult time,” he added. 

Chief Gremillion went on to say, “But let me be clear: riding an ATV on city streets is illegal and a recipe for disaster. These vehicles are not designed for road traffic, and the consequences can be tragic.  I beg our community to quit putting innocent lives at risk.”

This crash remains under active investigation.

If anyone has any information about this incident or any other type of crime in the Alexandria area, contact the Alexandria Police Detective Division at the phone number 318-441-6416 or APD Dispatch 318-441-6559. Information can be emailed to detectives at APDDetectives@cityofalex.com.

For a cash reward, call Crime Stoppers of CenLa at (318) 443-7867. The Crime Stoppers P3 Tipster App can also be downloaded to leave tips and get a claim number for a cash reward at www.p3tips.com/community/mobile.

Next week, the Pineville High School Lady Rebels Volleyball team will kick off its inaugural Youth Volleyball camp. 

The camp, for girls ages 7 to 12, will be held Monday through Thursday, June 23-26, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day at the PHS Girls Gym. Attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable athletic clothes and sneakers. 

The cost of the camp is $100 and includes a camp t-shirt and free admission to PHS’s first home match of the 2025 season. To register, scan the QR code in the image above. 

By JIM BUTLER

The parish has set the rules for any future solar farm development.

Acting on recommendations from the Area Planning Commission police jurors this month unanimously adopted guidelines for such a renewable energy project. Juror Randy Wiggins was absent.

Louisiana is currently experiencing a surge of investment in such construction.

The ordinance sets minimum standards for solar projects that are neither residential nor single business-driven.

Not less than 20 acres are required for a proposed site. Rotating panels are limited to height of 16 feet; non-rotating to 18 feet.

Setback of at least 100 feet from any public roads or neighboring property will be required, with minimum fencing of 8 feet in height.

Provisions are also made for required signage, noise abatement and visual concealment barriers.

The permitting process requires estimates of economic, wildlife and environmental impacts, as well as drainage, public safety, sound and aviation analysis.

A non-refundable review fee of $10,000 is due on application. The permit fee is set at 1% of total construction cost, payable prior to the permit issuance.

That cost depends on size of the farm. Industry publications estimate cost at $500,000 to $1,000,000 per megawatt of generation capability.

The Planning Commission is charged with recommending approval or rejection of a permit request.

Rapides Parish – On June 18, 2025, at approximately 5:00 a.m., Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a fatal crash on Louisiana Highway 28 at Navy’s Way. This crash claimed the life of 22-year-old Nicholas J. Baqqett of Boyce.

The initial investigation revealed that a 2013 Ford Mustang, driven by Baqqett, was traveling West on Louisiana Highway 28. For reasons still under investigation, Baqqett failed to negotiate a left hand curve, exited the roadway, entered into the westbound ditch, and impacted a concrete culvert which caused Baqqett to be ejected from the vehicle.

Baqqett, restraint usage unknown, sustained severe injuries and was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Toxicology samples were obtained and submitted for analysis. The crash remains under investigation.

By JAKE MARTIN, Written for the LSWA

Don’t ask Andrew Whitworth to catalogue binge-worthy Netflix series.

Chances are he hasn’t seen it. In order to contribute to the conversation, one would have to actually sit down to, you know, watch. And if you know anything about this year’s Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee, well, that ain’t happening.

“No, I don’t binge shows,” Whitworth said. “I love to be active. Right now, I just walked seven or eight miles hitting golf balls. I’m always outside. That’s my version of a great day. I wake up, get my coffee, hike a mountain, hit 6,000 golf balls and then go hang out at the beach with my kids. I don’t like to sit down.”

Makes sense when you think about it. Longevity in the NFL doesn’t accompany an All-Pro career by happenstance. Laziness isn’t exactly a common trait for 16-year NFL veterans either. 

The former West Monroe High School and LSU standout, who helped teams at all three levels win championships, headlines the LSHOF’s Class of 2025 being enshrined June 26-28 in Natchitoches. Event information is at LaSportsHall.com.

The never-idle Whitworth actively participated in sports growing up, like tennis, basketball, baseball, golf and powerlifting. Heck, he even threw the shot put in track and field. But each had its importance. Every sport taught the future Los Angeles Ram something that indirectly contributed to retiring as the oldest offensive lineman to win a Super Bowl. In some ways, Whitworth’s activity was his greatest gift.

“Play multiple sports,” said Whitworth with passion. “I grew to be 6’7” 330 pounds. I was going to be able to push people around with my God-given ability. But playing tennis and baseball and track and all those other things taught me a skill.

“Basketball, for example, helped me with my pass protection. What does playing defense look like in basketball? It’s like trying to slide protect. If you want to be a great blocker, you have to keep the defender between yourself and the quarterback. That’s just like in basketball, using your body to stay between them and the goal. A lot of things carry over.”

For a man who prides himself on being mobile, the irony isn’t lost on Whitworth that his most viral moment involved him sitting on the floor of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. His career peaked with the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI victory against (of all teams, the one he spent his first 11 NFL seasons with) the Cincinnati Bengals just days removed from Whitworth being named the 2021 Walter Payton Man of the Year. Talk about a whirlwind. Amongst all the confetti on the turf, the West Monroe native sat with his family and told his children that it was “Daddy’s last ballgame.”

“It will forever be special,” Whitworth said. “You’ll meet somebody, and you can tell they’re trying to explain to their wife who you are. Then they’ll say you probably saw him on the ground with his family at the Super Bowl. And that’s immediately when they recognize me. I don’t ever sit down and take a breath, and that was the moment for me to do it with my kids. It was one of the calmest moments of my career. I knew it was over.”

Perhaps the saddest person to see Whitworth go was his head coach Sean McVay, who didn’t mince words when it came to Whitworth’s importance to the franchise.

It was a master stroke to acquire a left tackle who finished his career with 250 NFL starts, meaning McVay was protecting quarterback Matthew Stafford’s blindside with an experienced All-Pro, sure. But it also provided leadership for a first-year head coach on the job.

“When we lost him, I thought I appreciated how valuable he was in terms of his leadership and giving me the ability to hear what I needed to hear and not what I wanted to,” McVay said. “I thought I valued it a whole lot, but since he retired, I realized what a unique human being he is. You can’t say enough good things about him. I can’t describe what he means to me. I think he has to go down as one of the greatest free agent signings of all time.”

A storybook ending for a career that featured multiple first-team All-Pro accolades (2015, 2017) and four Pro Bowl selections is quite the contrast to Whitworth’s rocky start. Put it this way — no confetti fell during Whitworth’s first live rep of middle school football at Ouachita Christian School. Not when he stood opposite of the coach’s daughter, Molly Harper, during his first practice. What happened next would be told time and again over the next three decades.

“I get in line and realize I’m going against a person with really long hair, and I’m like, ‘This is the ‘90s… There aren’t too many boys with long hair.’ Other players are like, ‘Hey dude, you better lock in,’” Whitworth remembered. “I’m thinking I don’t know how hard I want to hit her because she’s a girl, and she pancaked me and knocked me down.

“I remember thinking, ‘Maybe football isn’t for me,’ because I was a basketball kid at the time. I love to tell that story because if you have a totem pole of where you career is, near the bottom has to be what people think of when the coach’s daughter trucks you. But it’s not about that. I didn’t quit. I made a commitment to finish something, and I ended up falling in love with it.”

Redemption followed. Whitworth quickly ascended to one of the top prep players in Louisiana with the West Monroe Rebels and played a part in two national championship teams in 1998 and 2000, arguably the peak of that prestigious football program.

Before Whitworth completed the trifecta of winning a ring at every level, he was a valued member of an LSU football team that broke through and won the 2003 national championship.

“We were freaking rock stars,” Whitworth said. “Every single day, going back-and-forth to practice, we felt like we were a part of Guns N’ Roses or Aerosmith. Fans were outside our hotel. They were shaking and hitting the busses. Playing in New Orleans for the national championship when it’s been almost 50 years since you won it, that’s hard to replicate. Yeah, they’ve had talented teams since, but what that one meant, it was really special.”

Football remains a focal point of Whitworth’s life, even though it’s in a different capacity. His work now consists of breaking down the game in front of a camera, rather than taking on many hall of fame pass rushers he’s faced through the decades.

Evolution was a big part of Whitworth’s game, as he slimmed down and embraced flexibility exercises to counter the speedy pass rushers that flooded the league in the latter stages of his career. And here he is parlaying retirement to evolve once more.

Surprisingly, Whitworth admitted this new venture is a little more nerve-wracking too. Some might think he’s making a fashion statement with the hoodie under his suit on Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football telecast, but it actually has little to do with that. 

“When you get feedback from people who say they love seeing you on T.V., it makes you feel good because you just don’t know,” Whitworth said. “I’m not super confident in it. That’s why I wear my hoodie. It makes me feel comfortable to be myself. I’m just trying to be me.”

Traveling from one NFL city to the next as part of a broadcast crew is a fitting “retirement” for the Louisiana legend. Nope, you won’t catch Whitworth slowing down any time soon. For a man who is seemingly always on the move, it’s a lifestyle well earned.

Contact Jake at jakemartinsec@gmail.com

NATCHITOCHES — Longtime, legendary Northwestern State track and field coach Leon Johnson, who led the Demons and Lady Demons to national prominence and tutored a pair of USA Olympians before retiring in 2013, died Tuesday in Natchitoches after a brief illness.

Funeral arrangements will be announced soon for Johnson, 86, whose decades-long career at Northwestern made him a nationally recognized name in track and field. He is survived by his wife, Elaine, and his son, Dean, a former NSU assistant, another son, Kendon, and daughters Darla and Molly, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

“I’ve known Leon Johnson for many years, since he was coaching and teaching at Opelousas High School, and he has always been an exceptional person, mentor, educator, coach, neighbor, and family man,” Northwestern State President James T. Genovese said. “He brought out the best in people, not just his athletes. What he did in his coaching career in high school and then for 33 years at Northwestern is remarkable not only for the championships won, the records broken, but for the tremendously positive, nurturing influence he had on the young people around him along with his coaches and colleagues.

“As a coach and as a man, he made impact in the communities where he lived for generations of people whose lives are better because of him.”

The second-longest serving head coach in Northwestern State athletics history, Johnson’s impact on both the Demons program and the Southland Conference is indelible.

Johnson’s 31-year head coaching career at Northwestern ranks second in school history only to H. Lee Prather’s 36-year run as the Demons basketball coach. Like Prather, Johnson’s name resonates across campus.

Track and field fans enter the Walter Ledet Track Complex by walking or driving down Leon Johnson Lane. Northwestern’s annual track and field meet was renamed the Leon Johnson Invitational in 2011, making Johnson the exceedingly rare coach who led a team in a competition that bears his or her name.

A high school basketball coach in Colorado before moving to Louisiana and becoming a state champion high school track and field coach at Opelousas and DeRidder, Johnson took the reins of the Northwestern track and field program in 1982.

For the next 31 years, he presided over 57 All-Americans, nearly 100 NCAA championship qualifiers, including national champions and a pair of Olympian triple jumpers – LaMark Carter (2000 Sydney Games) and Kenta Bell (2004 Athens Games and 2008 Beijing Games).

He helped Brian Brown develop into one of the world’s best high jumpers in the early 1990s after he won the 1989 USA Outdoors and the 1990 NCAA Indoors, setting a meet record with a 7-8 clearance. Brown went on to earn his doctorate and is the deputy director of athletics for student-athlete development, integrated healthcare and inclusion at Missouri.

“All of us at Northwestern are saddened by the loss of Leon Johnson,” Director of Athletics Kevin Bostian said. “Coach Johnson’s impact on our track and field program is both tangible and intangible. His standout career helped cement the foundation for a tremendous stretch of competitive success that is reflected in the current state of our program – especially our women’s program that has captured five of the past six Southland championships. Coach Johnson earned the respect of so many of his contemporaries as evidenced by the Southland Conference’s Leon Johnson Coach of the Year Award. He was in a class by himself and we are grateful for all he poured into Northwestern State track and field, the university and our community.”

In 1986, Johnson was tasked with starting the Lady Demons track and field program. Under Johnson’s direction, and with his protégé and former competitor Mike Heimerman coaching her, Trecey Rew became Northwestern’s first female track and field national champion, capturing the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Discus championship.

Student-athletes like Carter, Bell and Rew – and a slew of other All-Americans — flourished under the tutelage of Johnson, a 1999 N-Club Hall of Fame inductee.

His Northwestern teams were fixtures near the top of the Southland Conference, capturing conference titles in 1993, 1999 and 2002 while finishing in the upper half of the conference standings each year from 1989-2005.

Johnson’s Northwestern squads collected top-20 team finishes in both the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

That extended run of success landed Johnson in the Southland Conference Hall of Honor in April 2017. Since 2014, the Southland presents the Leon Johnson Coach of the Year award to the top men’s track and field coach in the conference each season.

“Coach Johnson was one of the nation’s best mentors in his sport, and made a meaningful impact on his university, the league, and certainly the championship student-athletes he led in his program,” Southland Conference Commissioner Tom Burnett said upon Johnson’s receipt of the Southland’s top individual honor.

Johnson’s impact stretched far beyond the track, throwing areas, and jump pits where he spent most of his career – especially as it pertained to the student-athletes he coached.

He was the driving force behind bringing the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Cross Country State Championships to Natchitoches and keeping it here for more than 30 years, making it a staple of the city’s athletic calendar.

An active volunteer, Johnson gave his time to the Louisiana chapter of the Special Olympics, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society.

Following his retirement from coaching track and field, Johnson became a volunteer assistant and advisor to former Mike McConathy’s Northwestern State men’s basketball team, providing insight on flexibility and conditioning for student-athletes while also imparting his vision to McConathy and his staff.