News

At the January 4 regular meeting of the DeSoto Parish School Board new officers were elected for the 2024 school year. Dr. Neil Henderson of District 2 will serve as President with Dudley Glenn of District 1 serving as Vice President. Alice Thomas of District 5 was selected to serve as this year’s Finance Chairperson.

Through generous donations, DeSoto Sheriff ’s Office Staff were able to team up with donors to provide Christmas gifts to a few families who may have needed a little extra assistance this holiday season! Plenty of toys and other surprises were purchased, wrapped, and delivered to various families that our office was recently made aware of. Staff not only had a great time experiencing those smiling faces, but they had a little extra fun out shopping as well: i.e. Detective Jerek Lewis says, “THEY’RE SO FLUFFYYYYY!!!”

United States Attor ney Brandon B. Brown announced that Jerry Edwards, Jr. has resigned from the Department of Justice after having been confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as United States District Court Judge.

“There is a reason I selected Jerry Edwards as my First Assistant after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. Attorney,” stated U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “Judge Edwards is a wellrespected litigator, the consummate professional, garners great respect among our local, state and federal judges and over the years has constantly displayed strong leadership abilities amongst his peers in this office. I could not dream of a better district judge selection. Weare quite saddened to lose him as a colleague in this office, but great things lie ahead for this district due to this historical confirmation.”

It has been a tradition for The Enterprise to team up and help Santa with his letters from DeSoto Parish, Joaquin, and Pleasant Hill children for several decades. This year with postal issues continuing to plague the country, Santa needed our help more than ever. Believe me, we did our part with special Santa letter typist elf Taylor Curry, along with staff members Kaycee Deas and Julie Morris. Together we typed over 32 newspaper pages of letters comprising 2 sections that expressed the children’s heartfelt wishes and want lists. The popular yearly feature has become so popular that Santa couldn’t help but chuckle “Ho! Ho! Ho!” when he saw the letters that The Enterprise printed in 2023. They assist him on determining who was naughty and who was nice, with some even falling onto both lists, descriptions.

When you watch the Rose Bowl Parade on January 1, be sure and watch for the Louisiana float that two local florists were invited to work on. Vicki Murray of In High Cotton and Eve Mitchell of Twisted Topiary traveled to California to donate their skills to help build this year’s Louisiana Float, “Explore Louisiana”.

It’s no secret that parades are a staple in Louisiana. On January 1, 2024, we are bringing our parading skills to California for the annual Rose Parade, hosted by The Tournament of Roses Foundation. The 2024 theme for the event is “Celebrating a World of Music: The Universal Language.” The theme is quite fitting, considering Louisiana knows a thing or two about music.

From swamp pop to blues, we are thrilled to highlight the great state of Louisiana during the event. As a bonus, Louisiana will once again stage the midparade performance! Performance details will be released soon.

Mansfield High School’s Athletic Booster Club has a tradition of selling fireworks as one of their annual main fundraisers. This year is no exception as the familiar fireworks stand returns to the former Market Basket grocery store parking lot, located on Hwy 84 (Washington Avenue).

MHS Boosters’ stand opened at noon on December 18 and will continue to sell fireworks, sparklers, Roman candles, etc. until 12:01 PM on January 1. Hours are 10:00 AM until 9:00 PM, but can run over during busy times. Go out and show your Wolverine Pride as you show them your support with a purchase or two!

Coach Fletcher Carter and Robert “Bull” Kent stress that this is the ONLY Mansfield High School Booster firework’s stand in the city and the competitors in town are not related to their fundraising efforts. No matter what the weather is like from freezing to summer-like, you’ll find these dedicated men working to make all the money that they can to support MHS’s Wolverine football.

If Hurricane Katrina causing the levees to break in New Orleans is the only thing you know about Louisiana , here are a few more interesting facts about the Bayou State: * Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the nation at 450 feet.

* The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans was the largest enclosed stadium in the world when it was built and for two decades thereafter.

* The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest overwater bridge in the world at 23.87 miles.

* Louisiana ‘s 6.5 million acres of wetlands are the greatest wetland area in America.

* The oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase Territory is Natchitoches, Louisiana founded in 1714.

* The first bottler of Coca-Cola, Joseph Biedenharn, lived in Monroe, Louisiana (he first bottled Coke across the river in Vicksburg, MS), and was eventually one of the founders of Delta Air Lines, initially called Delta Air Service.

On Monday, December 11th, the Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department held its annual Officer Election to determine who would serve as the leadership of the department in 2024. The results are as follows: (Not pictured in group as listed) Chief – Jeremy Boyett 1st Assistant Chief – Rusty Wilson 2nd Assistant Chief – Mike Stephens Secretary/ Treasurer – Athena Ezernack Training Officer – Stephen Ewing Traffic Officer – Tommy Boyett Maintenance Officer-Michael Bates Assistant Maintenance Officer – Mike Parker None of the officers were changed from their positions in 2023. We congratulate them on another year in their roles within the department. With that, this edition of the report will come to a close. The Joaquin Volunteer Fire Department hopes everyone has a great and safe week going forward.

On December 15, Gov. John Bel Edwards was joined by Congressman Troy Carter and other officials as he and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that the NTIA has approved Louisiana’s Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s “Internet for All” initiative. Louisiana is the first state to reach this important milestone and may now request access to 20% or more of the $1,355,554,552.94 that NTIA allocated to the state.

The DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office has been made aware of a well known Scam recirculating in our area, and they would like to remind citizens to be cautious if you should receive a call, email, or text from individuals claiming that: “We have a warrant for your (or your loved ones) arrest.”