Columns

Public schools have been an integral part of DeSoto Parish life for over one hundred and fifty years. Grand Cane in October 1894 was made a public high school. On April 3, 1895 Mansfield became a high school. The State Board of Education approved Keachi and Stonewall as high schools in 1898.

The main focus of this article is to honor some of the early school board members and principals William Goss was elected President of the DeSoto School in 1902 to succeed W.C. Scott who died in office. S.R. Cummins was elected Superintendent in October 1908 and served until 1912. G.O. Houston was elected over G. Odom on the third ballot to become superintendent and he served until May 1926. Mr. Houston resigned in order to accept the position of Assistant Superintendent of Caddo Parish.

The Skull!

Don’t you just love Halloween!? It’s the first of the big Autumn and Winter holidays and kinda kicks off the seasons. The excitement of Fall and cooler weather finally coming is transferred to the fun of picking out a character to be and looking forward to the big candy haul soon to come. The lead character in that old comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” was saying, “Man, look at all this loot we got!” Another post Halloween strip he complained that he was bored now that Halloween was just over and told his pet tiger, ”let’s go down to the mall and look at the Christmas decorations they’re putting up.”

I flashed on that when I was in Dollar Tree yesterday and they were doing the very same thing. They literally had the Christmas decorations on the two aisles behind the Halloween decorations … Oh, com’on. Heck, it’s a whole month before Thanksgiving!

New AgCenter Program Encourages Cooking With a Variety of Herbs and Spices Instead of Salt Variety is the spice of life, the saying goes. A variety of spices — and herbs — also may lead to a healthier life.

A new program from the LSU AgCenter Flavors of Health nutrition initiative encourages Louisiana cooks to sample new herbs and spices to flavor their cooking without salt.

Through the “A Taste of Herbs and Spices” program, AgCenter nutrition agents work with community partners, such as libraries, to distribute promotional flyers about an herb or spice along with a free sample of the featured flavoring.

While re a d i n g earlier articles and thinking about assembling them into some kinda book form this writer remembered that he had an unfinished portion on ‘Patriotic Questions’. The twelve that were discussed in the earlier article used all of the available space then so be patient as we finish the rest.

14. Name the 13 original states: N.H., Mass, R.I., Conn., N.Y., Penn., Del., Maryland, Virg., N.C., S.C., and Ga.

15. Who was the oldest delegate to sign the Constitution? Benjamin Franklin at 81.

16. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do? Freed the slaves in the Confederate states.

17. Who was Susan B. Anthony? Fought for women’s right to vote.

18. Who did the United States fight in W.W.II? Japan, Germany, and Italy.

19. What was the main concern during the Cold War after W.W.II ended? Communism.

20. Name the U.S. Territories: Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

15 Types of Ranch Dressing

Often the “My Recipes” website will run a taste test on popular food products. With such interesting contests as the best yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines) or the best pancake mix (Aunt Jemima) the best peanut butter (Jif) I’m always hooked and have to read the results. The only drawback is many of the brands tested are not available down here so when they test 15 brands we may only have 5 or 6 in our local stores. They also rate Dairy Free, Vegan, and Organic but who cares about junk like that?

However, last week when they came out with a test of Ranch Dressings I knew I’d be writing to you about them. Steve Henson created the original in 1957 at his “Hidden Valley Ranch Restaurant” in California and it was so popular that he started selling it in a packet mix. Today it is the best selling salad dressing in America having over taken Italian in 1992.

DeSoto Extension Agent

The Science of Fall Foliage Color Change

Shorter, cooler days bring brilliant foliage color changes for many trees and shrubs in fall. This time of year can be very beautiful as green leaves give way to brilliant colors of gold, orange, maroon, red and yellow.

The reason for this color change? Trees are preparing for winter, and the color change is a byproduct of this process.

Broadleaf hardwood trees do this by losing their leaves so they won’t freeze when temperatures drop. The leaves of deciduous broadleaf trees are tender and susceptible to damage because they are thin and not protected by waxy coverings like evergreen trees. The fluid in the cells of the leaves freezes and must be sealed off and dropped in order to survive winter temperatures.

Should Myrick Ferry Road be mentioned few of us today would be familiar with the name. In the mid-1800’s Myrick Ferry Road was well known since it was a main entrance to Texas from south DeSoto. It (Lula Road or La. Hwy 481) was a main dirt road, as all roads were in those days, that served Baker about one mile south of present day U.S. Hwy. 84 west of Mansfield. Joel P. Baker married Martha Lawrence in 1873 and built a nice home there. In addition to operating a large farm he had a store with a post office and a cotton gin.

Serial Killer or Potential Friend?

I volunteered at Cub Scout Night Camp and was paired with a fabulous woman named Patty. We had the most fantastic time and agreed to exchange numbers and meet up for coffee. “I have to tell you upfront-I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.”

I was speechless, mostly because I wasn’t really sure why she felt she had to tell me. She told me with the same tone of voice as she might say “I have to tell you upfront-I am a serial killer.” I was so confused.

“I don’t understand-is there a problem?” I asked. Patty stared at me quizzically. “Well, it’s just that people tend to hesitate pursuing a friendship with me, because of my church.” I responded, “Oh girl, you don’t scare me at all. I’m just glad you’re not a serial killer. You’re not though-right?” Patty burst out laughing and our friendship resumed.

The Simple Life Tree

As a kid, I loved to climb trees. I spent many a day perched out on a limb just watching the world go by. Occasionally, I would shimmy out as far as I could go. The smaller the limb got, the more it would bend.

If I was lucky, I could grab hold and the limb would gently lower me to the ground. Often, instead of a graceful descent, the limb would break, and I would crash in an ungraceful heap on the grass.

Instead of being a deterrent, I just tried again. How I survived with no broken bones, I don’t know. But the challenge was in front of me, and I just had to meet it. Even with Mom yelling at me to get down.

Living a Simple Life can also be challenging. On one hand, we have ‘Mom’ (friends, family, society) telling us to get down. Instead, we need to be busy, for fear we appear lazy. We need to ‘get a job’, instead of staying home to take care of our house and family. Time and money are wasted on growing a garden.

When thinking of this article and the condition and mood of our nation at the present time it became overwhelming. Is our country more divided today than at any previous period in our history? Possibly a brief review of our country’s history would provide some light on the subject. The early colonies operated under the Articles of Confederation, which was a model for a weak national government. Congress had few powers, no Executive Branch to enforce laws and no Supreme Court to interpret them. George Washington said, “Something must be done or it will fail.”