Columns

It has been said, “Don’t ask a question that you don’t know the answer to”. Historical buffs who follow this article like to read history that they know but certain parts of it had slipped their mind — especially dates. Mansfield’s history is one of the writer’s favorite things to reminisce about.

In the early 1930’s times were stressful in some ways like today but in different kinds of way. Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, felt the need for a more jovial spirit and humor. As the Great Depression became more stressful Long started a little word battle with the Governor of Georgia and the Editor of the Atlanta Constitution. The proper way to eat “cornpone” or cornbread was with soup or milk or potlikker. Long contended the proper way was to dunk the cornpone in the “potlikker” which you younger readers may not know was the juice from boiled vegetables like mustard, turnip or collard greens cooked with salt and pepper and fat pork. The above concoction was a favorite meal of most southern families.

The New World Screwworm and Its Threat to U.S. Livestock

It may have the word ‘new’ in its name, but the New World Screwworm (NWS) is nothing new to United States livestock producers. Scientifically known as Cochliomyia hominivorax, the NWS has been around for over a century, with the first known discovery in the Southwestern United States in 1842, with eradication from the U.S. in the 1960s. This eradication was completed through the use of sterile male NWS flies. NWS flies mate once, and the female fly then dies. This allowed the flies to mate without egg fertilization, thereby depleting the population of larvae. Sterilization of the male NWS fly was performed with ionizing gamma radiation.

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today released the following statement after voting to pass President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill.

“President Trump and I want to preserve the American Dream for working and middle America,” said Dr.

Cassidy. “We keep taxes low, cut taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, extend the Child Tax Credit, fix our broken education system, support our military, secure our border, and build a business environment that creates better paying jobs — especially in Louisiana.”

As chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Cassidy led the Committee’s portion of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which fixes America’s broken higher education system and addresses the root causes of the student debt crisis.

(Our dear centenarian and historian, Raymond Powell, is currently in the hospital with plans to move him to a local facility for rehab sometime in the future. Please send your prayers and best wishes to this dear and much loved man that has written for The Enterprise for decades!)

July 4th is approaching soon and it is one of the most sacred days for the American Citizen. On July 4th, 1776, delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Penn. voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. The 56 men who issued that famous document realized they were signing their own death warrants because the British would consider them traitors. A follow- up article next week will tell of the suffering and hardships each of the signers and their families went through.

Last week the evening news reported on and showed footage of a giant black snake weaving through the limbs of a tree in Fenton, La. The landowner reported seeing it near one of his crawfish ponds and claimed it was over 12’ long! When asked for an I.D. of this giant the La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries were of the tentative opinion that it was a “… very mature Black Rat Snake.” The largest on record in Louisiana being over 7’ long.

Well, I’ve watched the video (over and over and…) and believe it isn’t a Rat Snake. I ought to know because I had two huge Black Rat Snakes a few years back. I kept them in a large display case I’d made complete with a water bowl and gnarly pecan branch for them to climb on. They were very long but slender and very mean – they would strike in an instant! This pair got up to around 6’ until the apartment manager made me give them away. The boy’s Daddy who’d answered my ad repeatedly asked me if I was SURE they weren’t poisonous!

Tiger Sauce

My friend Butch and I have a lengthy set of “Gameday Rituals” for LSU football and baseball games. Heck I guess most intense fans do, too: Favorite shirt or hat, lucky appetizers or foods, cheers or chants and on and on. In our minds we all know that any lucky habits like these ultimately have no effect on how young men play a game but in our hearts we still don’t want to chance it. One of my gameday rituals is to make a big Bloody Mary after breakfast with Zing-Zang mix and extra hot sauce. Zing-Zang is excellent with only ice and vodka but you know I have to add a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce, Crystal Hot Sauce, and (of course) Tabasco. This is where the title of Tiger Sauce comes in. Butch’s nephew, and mine kinda too, is Bake Barron son of Gay and Roy Lee Barron who were from right here in Mansfield, La. He asked Butch if I would do a little research on and write about Tiger Sauce.

What was the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport, La. in 1940 for three senior boys out of school for the day with five dollars each to spend? DeSoto Parish schools were off for Fair Day and the three boys called themselves the “Do-It Trio”. The buses left Logansport High School at 8:00 am and John who was a football player, J.L. who was a basketball player, and this writer called “Senior” who was a boxer spent their first 25 cents for the bus ride still leaving $4.75 left for the Fair.

The month was October with the world famous “Royal American Show” waiting. It took 80 train cars to move the Show and after seeing all the rides, sideshows and food stands it was easy to see why it took so many cars. In addition to the large group of Carnival workers that traveled with the show there were many local people employed for the 10 days selling tickets, working in food booths, & etc.

“…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18 NASB1995 A friend of mine sent me something that read, “Focus on Progress not in Perfection”. So often we forget that we are imperfect. Change will only occur when we completely understand perfection is impossible. Our best selves emerge with growth in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

“Faith of our fathers, living still; In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.

O how our hearts beat high with joy; whenever we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our Fathers; holy faith. We will be true to thee til death.”

Yesterday over the television, I heard the most disturbing announcement that on the average 105 men daily commit suicide in America! I just can’t believe such a terrible statement as that. Soon we won’t have any men in any of the home in America, save in the jails or nursing homes!