News

A retirement reception was hosted for Dr. Jerry Williams and his Office Manager, Mrs. Gayle Gilcrease on Friday. Residents and former patients turned out in abundance to offer their well wishes and blessings.

Rapides Regional Medical Center’s Trauma team visited Winn Parish Medical Center earlier this month to teach a Rural Trauma Team Development Course.

“The goal of the class is to help rural healthcare facilities develop a systematic approach when caring for trauma patients,” said Shawn Moreau, MSN, TCRN, CEN, Trauma Program Director. “Once processes are put in place and the appropriate team members are identified and know their roles and responsibilities, trauma patients can be stabilized quickly and transferred to a nearby Trauma Center.

Rapides Regional Medical Center is the area’s only Level II Trauma Center and is the closest Trauma Center to several rural hospitals, many of which had representatives in attendance for this training. Jeremy Timmer, MD, FACS, Trauma Medical Director for Rapides Regional Trauma Center, was featured presenter.

A Retirement Reception will be held at Williams Optometry Clinic, at 1605 West Court St. honoring Dr. Jerry Williams and his Office Manager Gayle Gilrease. Dr. Williams has been for practicing 67 years, 63 of those in Winnfield. Mrs. Gayle Gilcrease has been with Dr. Williams for 47 years. The reception will be held Thursday, April 14, 2022 from 3:00-5:00pm. Dr. Bill Gaddis and staff will host the event.

“One of the most basic things we can do is let the men in our lives know it’s not okay to mistreat a woman.” — Tim McGraw

“If the only way you can feel like a man is to hurt a woman, then you’re not a man at all.” Karl Malone

“Men have an important role to play in sending out the message that real men do not hurt or abuse their partners.” — Ian Somerhalder

Two-term District Two Councilman Gerald “Scooter” Hamms has been elected Mayor of the City of Winnfield, becoming the first person of color to hold the seat.

In addition to the Mayor’s race, City Councilmen members Matt Miller District Four and Teresa Phillips in District Five were reelected, there’s a new councilmember for District One and District Three whiles a runoff is set for the District Two seat held by mayorelect Hamms.

Hamms defeated incumbent Mayor George Moss by 82 votes in the March 26 election. Hamms received 557 of the 1,104 votes cast, giving him 50.45 percent of the vote. He avoided a runoff by receiving three votes more than he needed to become Mayor.

Moss, who was in his first term as mayor received 475 votes while a third candidate Timothy Hudgins collected 72 votes.

Friday, July 29 – Saturday, July 20 the Red River Quilters will hold its annual quilt show at the Louisiana Fairgrounds Ag Building at 3701 Hudson Ave, Shreveport. This year’s theme is “New to You in 2022.”

The hours will be Friday, 9am-6pm and Saturday, 9am-4pm. Admission will be $10 for ages 11 – Adult, $5 ages 5-10, and under 5, admission is free.

Lenita Smith will be the featured quilter and there will be over 200 quilts and quilted items on display with a silent auction being held. Handmade items will be for sale in the Guild Booth and there will be tickets available for a queen-sized quilt made by Red River Quilters guild members with proceeds going to fund community service projects.

If you live in Winn Parish you have undoubtedly heard of the Trista Tyler Memorial Scholarship and the long list of students who have gratefully received a $500 payment towards their education. The scholarship was created by family and friends of the late Trista LeAnne Tyler to honor her memory.

Trista passed away on June 20, 2003 at the age of 17. She was a very active student and senior at Atlanta High School. Trista was a member of Beta, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FBLA, 4-H, Gifted Arts, the yearbook publications, Tri-Arts, National High School Honor Roll, Who’s Who Among American High School Students, and a member of the Atlanta Lady Varsity basketball team as well as the track team. She was scheduled to graduate in 2004 as Valedictorian. Her beloved #14 basketball jersey was retired in October of 2003 and currently hangs in a trophy case at Atlanta High School gym.

Winnfield was buzzing with excitement on April 2 with the Louisiana Forest Festival Pageant. Part of that included a special reception for Queens throughout the state that was held at the Allen building. The ladies enjoyed a beautiful display of refreshments followed by activities that included a scavenger hunt. The ladies continued the day by attending the Louisiana Forest Festival Pageant. Cont’d on page 14A

The Winnfield Senior High School Powerlifting team, led by Coach Jay Watson and parent Coach Klint Womack, excelled at the LHSAA Powerlifting State Championship held on Thursday March 24th, 2022 at the Fant-Ewing Coliseum on the campus of ULM.

WSHS Senior Travon Nichols has qualified for the state competition the past four years and placed 3rd in the 2A-198 lb. weight class with a cumulative 1395 lbs. Nichols, who won the state championship his freshman year, finished the day with an impressive 600 lb. dead lift.

Winnfield’s Clayton Chandler (Jr) also competed in the 2A-198 lb. weight class and placed 5th in the State Meet with a cumulative 1200 lbs. During his first year of powerlifting, Chandler’s dedication was evident as he qualified for the state competition by placing 5th in the statewide 2A Regionals.

It’s hard to go undefeated in anything. That’s why the WMS Softball Team never really focused on being undefeated. It was never mentioned. The goal was to take each game, one at a time, and focus on the little things that, in the end, would lead to victory. The focus was, each team member had a role and each team member was expected to carry out that role to the best of their ability. When mistakes were made, and they were made, go the next play and keep moving forward; kind of like you have to do in life when you have that adversity knock you down. You have to get back up and keep moving forward and flush the past.

This team kept getting back up, even after the one blemish that occurred in Ruston when a time limit was called in the fourth inning with the score 4-4 going into the last inning. The Lady Tigers kept moving forward and came back the very next day and won a big game at Caldwell.