News

The City of Winnfield held it’s regular monthly meeting on Aug 8. Lindlay Howell, the Regional Director with Rural Revitalization was present. Rural Revitalization is a new office at the state level directly under the Governor’s office. It was formed to help rural communities. Howell stated that she had previously met with mayor Hamms to discuss the needs of Winnfield and also Winn Parish. The one thing that is greatly needed is a plan, a vision. She added that there have already been two meetings with leaders throughout the entire parish. The goal was to touch all areas of leadership. They discussed the needs, strengths, and weaknesses as well as ways to improve the quality of life and in doing that, the community would buy back into it. They all agreed that it was time to unify resources, city and parish. They agreed to do a community calendar so that events within the parish could be planned without conflicting dates.

The regular monthly meeting of the WPSB was held on August 1. All members were in attendance with the exception of District 8 member Patrick Howell and District 11 member Leah Clingan.

The Winn Parish Medical Center continues to make upgrades to better serve their patients. In fact, the Radiology Department recently received their new digital equipment. It’s a direct capture which means it’s much quicker for the patients, more cost effective, and less radiation.

Radiology Director Amber Callender states that it offers direct capture which means that patients are “in and out in five minutes.”

This new technology seems to be more cost effective, which also benefits the hospital as the upgrade means better reimbursement from Medicare.

Maybe the best news regarding the new digital equipment is this means less radiation than the computed radiography that was used before. In fact, Callender states that it is around 50 percent less radiation.

Trash cans should be placed for pickup with the handle facing away from the road. They should also be a safe distance off the roadway as the trash truck has arms that extend up to 10 feet for pickup. Please do not place cans on the edge of the road. Some cans have instructions with arrows on the lid stating: “Place container with arrows facing the street for collection”. See photo showing how a can should properly be placed for pickup. Door to door trash pickup is paid from a 1¢ sales tax that is shared by the City and the Parish. For questions or problems, Parish residents can call: 318-628-5824; City residents can call: 318-628-3939.

A special called meeting of the city council was held on July 21. The only item on the agenda was the purchase of the Timberman building located across from the City Hall. Mayor Hamms opened the floor for discussion. City counsel member Theresa Phillips offered questions on where the funding would come from. Mayor Hamms added that it had been set aside over previous years. Phillips stated that a lot of money has been put into the current building and added that she didn’t feel comfortable tying up money into the Timberman building. Hamms added that it is important to move forward and move Winnfield forward.

The Winnfield Fire Department recently made history by now having ten full time fire fighters. The fire department has four shifts and will now have two fire fighters per shift plus the part time and fire officers to supplement that as well. Recently hired due to a vacancy was John Hurt and with the tenth full time position, Matthew Harrell was hired also. The fire department would like to thank the mayor and council for making this happen and supporting the fire departments efforts to better protect the citizens of Winnfield. Meet the new fire fighters:

John Hurt:

Been in the fire service since 2019

EMT-Basic

Hazmat awareness & operations

Fire Fighter I & II

Driver operator-Pumper & Aerial

Fire Instructor I

Public Fire Educator I

Matthew Harrell

Been in the fire service since 2018 Third generation fire fighter at WFD

EMT-Basic

Hazmat awareness and operations

A little over a year ago Natchitoches Parish School Board member Mr. Eugean Garner walked into the school board office to attend a regular monthly meeting. Dr. Grant Eloi, Board Superintendent, approached Mr. Garner and told him that he had some good news he wanted to share with him after the meeting. After the meeting, Mr. Lee Waskom along with Dr. Eloi met with Garner and told him that they had a little over $1,000,000 to give to the Goldonna school to establish fiber optic high speed internet. The District Technology Coordinator, Mr. Mike Cozad, played a huge part in the process as well, says Garner. “They could have used that money for other things. They could have used it for new laptops or anything in the technology department. I am indebted to these three men,” stated Garner. He also feels indebted to the other members of the NPSB for voting to use the money in this manner.

There are currently 297 Winn Parish residents who could lose their voting privileges due to inactive status.

This list includes 9 with Atlanta area addresses, 7 from Calvin, 29 from Dodson. There are also 5 voters from Montgomery, 2 in the Olla area, 8 with Natchitoches addresses who reside in Winn Parish, 5 from Montgomery. The list also includes 9 from the Sikes area, 3 from Tullos, and 219 residing in Winnfield.

The list, according to the Secretary of State’s office, is of inactive voters because of a number of reasons. During the annual canvass an individual’s registration address might be able to be verified by the parish registrar of voters or the address on file has been returned undeliverable.

In some cases, the mailing address may not be within the city limits of that town, but the address are based on the mail delivery address. That’s why there are 8 on the list who live in Winn Parish but have a Natchitoches mailing address for example.

On July 19, the Winn Parish Communications District Board Members held a meeting in the meeting room of the WPSO. During that meeting, Sheriff Jordan went over the financial report. The members of the board approved the report. Mayor Gerald Hamms was in attendance and given an update on the procedures of the meetings. Sheriff Jordan also explained that the 911 Control is in the basement of the courthouse. There are three places that can answer 911: WPSO, WPD, and the Detention Center. The 911 System started in Winn Parish in 1989 with no funds available. Currently, this is the third system. Rates have not increased since 1989, which began at $.50 per residential phone.

Mayor Hamms asked about training for the dispatchers. Jordan explained that training can be done at any time and that it is part of the fire rating that those dispatchers should be trained. He stated that it is mandatory for dispatcher’s of the WPSO be trained.

Per Winn Parish Ordinance 003 of 2006, I hereby declare a BURN BAN on all outside burning in Winn Parish effective at 6 am on Thursday 21 July 2022. It shall remain in effect until further notice.

The BURN BAN shall not apply to prescribed burns by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, by those trained and certified by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry or by those who conduct prescribed burning as a “generally accepted agriculture practice” as defined by the Louisiana Right to Farm Law (R.S. 3:3601 et seq.).

The current KBDI as of 19 July 2022 is 601 and 700, this range puts Winn Parish in a SEVERE DROUGHT Condition.

Violation of this BURN BAN may result in a $500 fine and/or six months in jail.