Avoyelles Parish's Top 10 stories of 2018
This past year was filled with many interesting events that could affect Avoyelles Parish for many years.
It was a year of “endings,” such as the 50-year-long desegregation case and the trial of a double murder that shocked this parish two years ago.
It was also a year of “beginnings,” such as the election of seven new Avoyelles Parish School Board members and the funding of the recently constructed Acadiana Center for Youth juvenile correctional institute.
There were some issues addressed this year that could have long-ranging effects on the parish. One was the creation of an advisory commission to help resolve issues concerning the improvement and protection of Spring Bayou. Another was the approval of Red River Charter Academy -- the parish’s third charter school.
Following are our selections of the “Top 10 Stories of 2018.”
There were many other important, interesting and newsworthy events this past year. This in no way takes away from their importance. Those were included in our year-end review in this past week’s Weekly News and Bunkie Record editions.
1. AFTER 50 YEARS, U.S. SAYS AVOYELLES IS FULLY DESEGREGATED
For most of the years after the Avoyelles School District was ordered to dismantle its “white school/black school” system of public education, little was done.
In 1988, several schools were closed and others lost their high school grades to a sweeping consolidation order issued by U.S. District Judge Nauman Scott.
In October, U.S. District Judge Dee Drell dismissed the 50-year-old deseg case and declared the public school district to be fully desegregated.
2. ACADIANA CENTER FOR YOUTH IS FINALLY FUNDED
It seemed the $20 million juvenile detention center would end up standing as an expensive monument to government inefficiency and lack of planning or vision.
After two years of having the Legislature say, “no funding” for the state-of-the-art Acadiana Center for Youth juvenile correctional facility, the state finally approved enough funding to hire enough staff to get ready to open the doors for about 36 of the 72 offenders the center will eventually house.
Those will arrive in March. The other half is expected to arrive later in the year.
The Office of Juvenile Justice held a job fair in November that attracted a lot of visitors eager to learn more about the jobs available at ACY and the process of applying for them.
ACY had a late-year scare when budget talks in Baton Rouge seem to prevent allocating $10.8 million of revenues that were collected in excess of projections, but state Rep. Robert Johnson said the “political games” would not prevent the center from opening. However, it could delay it being able to operate at full capacity.
3. BIG BEND MURDER TRIAL
A 12-member jury deliberated only 25 minutes before finding Michael Mayeaux guilty of the September 2016 murders of his grandparents, Hillman and Eloise Mayeaux, in their rural Big Bend home.
The four-day trial was held around Halloween -- a point both sides used in their closing arguments.
Defense attorney Mary Helen Johnson told jurors Mayeaux suffered from mental illness and was trapped “in a haunted house” that was his own mind, and one he cannot escape.
District Attorney Charles Riddle told jurors the “only haunted house” on Sept. 13, 2016 -- the day of the murders -- was the one the Mayeaux’s had lovingly opened up to their their grandson, who then brutally murdered them in that house.
Mayeaux was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison without benefit of parole on Dec. 18 on the two counts of 2nd degree murder.
4. VOTERS 'CLEAN HOUSE'; Elect 7 NEW FACES TO APSB
School Board members who had worked eight years to attain “unitary status” from the federal court for the school district did not have much time to enjoy reaching their goal.
Three board members chose not to seek re-election and two were re-elected without opposition. However, the four who wanted to keep their seats for one more term were defeated at the polls. Three were defeated outright on Nov. 6 and another finished so far behind her opponent that she withdrew from the Dec. 8 runoff.
Allen Holmes, who revived the desegregation case in 1987, ran for the School Board but finished third in a three-candidate race that was decided in the runoff between two political newcomers.
It was a clear “break with the old” message from voters.
5. BESE APPROVES RED RIVER CHARTER ACADEMY
After five years of effort to develop a charter school for grades 6-8, Red River Charter Academy finally reached the “magic number” of six votes -- actually receiving seven -- on the state Board of Elementary & Secondary Education.
RRCA officials plan to open the school in August 2019 at a location yet to be determined.
The school will add a high school grade in each of the next four years until it is a 6-12 high school. School officials have said that RRCA currently has no plans to add elementary grades.
6. DEATH OF A RAPPER: TWO KILLED AT BORREL'S LOUNGE
It seems the parish cannot get through a year without a murder that shocks its senses and tears at its heart.
This year was no different as 20-year-old Taji “Marley G” Simon -- an up-and-coming rap performer with Rap-A-Lot Records -- and his friend Derrick McGlory were shot and killed at Borrel’s Lounge on Preston Street in Marksville on Oct. 14.
Jimmie McGlory, 28 -- a cousin of Derrick McGlory -- was arrested and charged with two counts of 1st degree murder.
Simon’s mother, Wakena Williams, mounted a campaign to have Borrel’s closed, citing lack of security measures she said could have prevented the murders had they been in place.
Borrel’s has remained closed since shortly after the incident.
7. SIMMESPORT GIVES NEW PURPOSE TO CLOSED SCHOOL
The Town of Simmesport and some heavy-hitter partners entered into a long-term lease with the Avoyelles School Board to convert the court-closed Dunbar High/ Simmesport Elementary School into a community center complex that will house a Simmesport Hall of Fame and several programs to offer education, recreation, job training and employment opportunities when it opens in early 2019.
Among the partners and tenants are Joe Simon’s Chicago-Simmesport International Records and Dallas businessman Mike Wilson’s Philemon Project, which combines a Christian philosophy with well-grounded work training and actual production of custom millwork and other products for customers of his Sophia Design Group.
8. TUNICA-BILOXI TRIBE ELECTS NEW CHAIRMAN
Tunica-Biloxi Tribe members elected Marshall Pierite as Tribal Council chairman -- the modern equivalent of the traditional position of chief -- on April 1.
Beverly Chapman Rachal was re-elected secretary-treasurer. Two new members elected to the board were Jeremy Zahn and Bobby Pierite Sr.
Three other members of the 7-member council -- Vice Chairman Marshall Sampson, Brenda Litinger and Harold Pierite Sr. -- are up for re-election in 2020.
The tribal chairman has traditionally also held the position of tribal administrator, but those duties were split during this term with Earl Stubbs serving as tribal administrator.
9. KEROTEST EXPANDING
Kerotest Manufacturing, one of the few manufacturers in Avoyelles Parish, received local government support in the form of tax incentives for a $4.3 million expansion of its plant in the Mansura industrial park.
The project will create another 50 permanent manufacturing jobs at the plant and could lead to additional expansion in the near future, company officials said.
Kerotest said the tax incentives were needed to make the project economically feasible. Company officials said if it did not receive those incentives, the expansion could take place at its other plant in Pennsylvania.
Kerotest said the market for the valves made at the plant has increased and the company needs to expand to keep up with the demand.
The construction will cost about $1.5 million and the equipment and supplies to operate the new manufacturing lines will cost about $2.8 million.
10. SPRING BAYOU FLAP; LAKE COMMISSION NAMED
Some called it the “Battle of Spring Bayou.” It was an issue that pit outdoor recreation enthusiasts against large agricultural landowners.
The Police Jury found itself in the crossfire and spent several months trying to appease both sides before biting the bullet and forming a nine-member advisory board in an attempt to force both sides to work together for the common good of the important ecological/recreational complex.
Sportsmen claimed adjacent landowners to their favorite fishing hole were pumping too much water, dropping the water level so low that it made some areas impassable by boat.
Landowners countered that state law gives them the right to pump water for agricultural purposes.
Some said siltation was a bigger cause of boat access problems than pumping water for agricultural use.
The Police Jury obtained an Attorney General’s Opinion that indicated landowners’ rights could be checked if their pumping created a scarcity of water in the waterway or infringed on others’ rights to the water.
The 9-member commission was sworn in on Aug. 27 and its members include representatives from all parties with interests in the vitality and survival of Spring Bayou -- farmers, landowners, sportsmen, conservationists.
Discussions in the commission’s first few months have centered on how to address the siltation problem in the waterway and the effect pumping has on the recreational use of Spring Bayou.
As of this writing, the commission has not made any recommendations for action but has been studying and discussing several issues affecting the future of Spring Bayou.
The place was once called “Sportsman’s Paradise” and then went through a period of neglect and decline.
In the past few years, it has made a remarkable revival in the past few years. That comeback is due in large part to state efforts to stock the area with bass and other game fish and the local Spring Bayou Restoration Team, which has funded the introduction of grass carp to control vegetation.
Spring Bayou attracts many out-of-parish and out-of-state visitors and holds potential to be an even bigger tourist attraction if fishing, canoe paths and visitor amenities can be improved.