News

The Family Dollar store in Winnfield has temporarily closed after the FDA reported over 1000 dead rodents were discovered at the franchises Arkansas distribution center. More that 400 Family Dollar stores have been closed due to the finding. The infestation has been an issue dating back to at least 2014 after a downtown Memphis location because of the smell of “dead rats” in the facility. In 2019 a health inspection report noted rodent droppings on store shelves at a Hickory Hill, Illinois Family Dollar.

Residents of Autumn Leaves Nursing & Rehabilitation Center participated in game night on Super Bowl Sunday and had a SOUPer time including .

. The residents also recently participated in an immersive version of the Price Is Right. The activity department of the facility makes sure to keep residents entertained and involved with events being planned frequently.

The 1 ^st Annual Krewe of Rex Court has been named. With much excitement, the Winnfield Animal Clinic would like to present King Rex and Queen Dot, along with their Court. Dukes: Snoopy, Cricket, Theodore, Duchesses: Alice Joy, Lu, Gracie, Princes: Ace, Artie, Oakley, Bingo, Cooper, Spot, Beaux, Princesses: Dinah, Prissy, Cleopatra, Nela, Bella, Sassy, Macie Ray.

Jamie Mayo, former Mayor of Monroe who is with M5 Consulting was at the February 8 meeting of the City Council and gave an update on strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the city. The consulting firm signed on with the city seven months ago. Mayor Mayo stated that his firm has been working with state and local officials on different projects and addressing challenges that the city faces. He added that the drainage issues in Winnfield are at the top of the priority list. Some of the other issues within the city include housing and public safety. Winnfield is still on the financially distressed list but no longer on the non-compliance list. Mayor Mayo offered feedback and actionable strategies to the council. Winnfield has signed up with the National League of Cities, which is an advocacy organization comprised of city, town and village leaders that are focused on improving the quality of life for their constituents.

Winn Parish Sheriff Cranford Jordan announced last week the early payoff of the $7.5 million Winn Parish Detention Center on Horseshoe Road resulting in a savings of nearly $1 million dollars to the parish taxpayers.

A USDA loan was approved for the Sheriff ’s Office with a 40-year payment plan to construct the Detention Center and the first note was paid in March of 2019. In June 2021, a lump sum of three million dollars was paid on the detention center note.

Then on January 28, Sheriff Jordan drove to Monroe to hand deliver the final payoff in the amount of

$3,737,743.54. With that payoff the Sheriff ’s Office completely paid for the detention center in three years rather than 40 years.

Sheriff Jordan said the taxpayers of Winn Parish were saved almost $1 million dollars in interest by pay ing off the note.

Born on the clay hills of Grappe’s Bluff just outside Campti August 29, 1910, Ben DeLoache Johnson was one of ten children, which blessed the union of the late Mr. Thornton Johnson and Mrs. Sarah Williams Johnson.

Little Ben’s character was marked by the elements we find in the true entrepreneur during his formative years as he sold his mother’s meat pies to sawmill laborers from his little red wagon. As a grammar school student, he sought out odd jobs with Campti community residents before the school bell rang and carried them out during the recess and directly after school. During his boyhood days he stopped attending school to join his uncle, the late Ben Waller (for whom he was named), as a laborer in the creosote plant where he tried to work like a man for an honest day’s wages.

On January 30, 2022, at approx. 1 a.m., a Winn Parish Patrol Deputy attempted to make a traffic stop and, when the vehicle refused to pull over, became involved in a vehicle pursuit. The pursuit ended up on an ATV trail off LA Hwy 1228 in Winn Parish and came to a halt when the vehicle attempted to cross a small wooden bridge, designed for ATVs, and subsequently overturned into a creek. The driver identified as Clay L Riggs, and a male and female passenger were checked by EMS and only the male passenger, identified as Chad Everett Johnson, was transported, treated and released from the Winn Parish Medical Center and arrested at that time.

The female passenger was released without charges. The driver and the male passenger were arrested for the following:

Driver: Clay L Riggs, W/M/DOB: 12/19/1970, who is a parole violator, of Oil City, LA was charged with:

- Modified exhaust

- Speeding 60 mph in a 25 mph zone

- Reckless operation

Over six hundred meals were prepared and delivered to residents of Winn Parish on February 5 as part of the Caring and Sharing in Unity outreach. Volunteers, including city and parish officials, the ladies from Mt. Grace, and many others set up at the Winnfield Civic Center for a great day of service to the community. Though this is the seventh year for the event, it began with Sheila Mitchell preparing a meal and inviting her neighbors to join. Over the course of time, it outgrew what she could do alone so Sheila sought the help of others. Jane Purser and Mary Lou Blackley joined in to form Caring & Sharing in Unity for our Community. Now, once a year, the Winn Community Feast is held and each year it grows in number. The Civic Center was used this year but many meals were delivered due to COVID concerns.

The March 26, 2022 election will include mayor, chief of police, city council, and school board. The qualifying period was January 26- 28.

The deadline to register to vote in person or by mail is February 23 and the deadline to register through the GeauxVote Online Registration System is March 5.

The following is a list of those who have qualified for the March 26 election:

Mayor City of Winnfield

Gerald “Scooter” Hamms

Timothy Hudgins

George Moss

Chief of Police City of Winnfield

Johnny Ray Carpenter

Council Member District 1, City of Winnfield

Erikia M. Breda

Alicia Brown

Lawanda Holden

Council Member District 2, City of Winnfield

Kristan Green

Ada Hall

Winona Harrell

Ashley Patterson

Mickey Zimmerman

Council Member District 3, City of Winnfield

Chiquita Caldwell

Sarah Junkin

Multiple suits were filed against the City of Winnfield and it’s insurer last week over the flooding damages on Boone Street, Robinson Street, Thompson Street, Cedar Street, Dunbar Street, Nimitz Street, and Martin Luther King Boulevard that goes back to 2017.

Fourteen residents filed their suits in the 8 ^th Judicial District Clerk of Court Office seeking damages “…in the amount as is reasonable in the premises and call costs of the proceedings and legal interest.”

The residents took the action about eight months after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the decision of Judge Jacque Derr to grant them class status in a Class Action lawsuit. The City and their insurer, Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, appealed the decision. The Appeals Court agreed with the defendants and overruled Judge Derr’s decision. That decision came on May 26 of last year.

Attorney for the defendants, Joshua L. Strickland, is asking the court for a trail date.