News

Winn Parish Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the August 2025 Business of the Month, Friends Gifts and More.

Friends originally opened in December 2023. They relocated to their current location, 209 South Abel Street, a year ago. Friends was recognized as our New Business of the Year for 2024. They carry lots of unique gift items, most of which can be personalized. Some of the items you can find at Friends are school spirit items, candles and freshies, Bibles/devotionals, jewelry, and other specialty engraved items. They can even engrave signatures, recipes, and messages in a loved one’s handwriting.

Bria Williams, Justice Bus Program Manager, spoke to the Kiwanis club, Tuesday, August 26th. She is originally from Charlottesville, VA and came to Alexandria by way of Houston. She graduated from a college that required 20 hours of community service to graduate. She believes in public and community service. Her degree was in education and her first year to teach was 2019-20 which was the year COVID shut everything down. After teaching first graders virtually she transitioned into public service.

Gail Shelton spoke to Kiwanis, Tuesday, August 19th, about her experience as an extra in “The Chosen”. If you are unaware, this is a TV series about the life of Christ. The idea came from Dallas Jenkins who is the creator and director. They started small with 3 episodes. There was not a lot of money available so he asked for crowd funding, the viewers and supporters pay. You can make a donation to the foundation in support of the filming. It is free to watch. It is available on Prime Video and also an app you can download and watch on your phone or your smart TV. 280 million people have seen worldwide and it has been translated into 40 languages.

Winn Parish – On August 11, 2025, at approximately 3:20 p.m., Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a twovehicle crash on Louisiana Highway 471 near Atlanta. The crash claimed the life of 40-year-old Dustin Demoss of Monroe.

The initial investigation revealed that a 1995 Dodge work truck, driven by Demoss, was northbound on Louisiana Highway 471. For reasons still under investigation, the Dodge crossed the centerlines into the southbound travel lane and collided head-on with a 2012 GMC.

Demoss, who was not restrained, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and a passenger of the GMC, who were restrained, sustained moderate injuries and were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Routine toxicology samples were obtained and submitted for analysis.

4HU First Place Winners Ella Higginbotham and Catherine Page will be guest servers on August 21 at the Pea Patch in Winnfield. They will be serving their winning recipe for lunch from 11am – 1:30pm.

Sec. 24-35. Vehicles prohibited except by permit.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, or entity to operate a vehicle or combination of vehicles having a total gross weight in excess of 20 tons on parish roads and bridges maintained by the parish without first obtaining a permit from the police jury.

(b) The permit shall be issued by either the parish highway department or the main office, if, in the exercise of their discretion, they determine that the applicant should have a permit. The departments shall consider the following factors in the issuance of the permit, as well as any other circumstances existing in the particular case: (1) There is an economic necessity for the permit; (2) There exists a necessity of transportation by public roads; or (3) The departments consider that the best interest of the parish requires the issuance of the permit.

(c) The permit shall be issued by either department at no cost.

The recreational department has given out the registration forms to all Winn Parish schools. Make sure to check your child’s backpack for the registration form!

The age groups are: 4-6, 7-9, 10-11-12 The cost per player will be $ 40.00 and due no later than Friday, September 12th.

There will be NO. sign-ups on tryout day!! NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

You must have your registration form and fees paid by Friday, September 12th for your child to participate in the tryouts on September 13th• The Grove St. Gym will be open until 8 p.m. daily, to accommodate everyone that needs to pay later in the day. The season will go from Oct-Nov. The dates of the games will be announced the week after tryouts.