News

Logansport and DeSoto Parish as whole has suffered a terrible loss with the death of DeSoto Fire District 1’s Fire Chief Rusty Evan Canton. His end of watch (EOW) came on May 16, 2019 in the town that he had called home for almost his entire life.

Rusty was born on October 30, 1973 in Shreveport and had served 21 years for the Shreveport Fire Department. He had served as a volunteer fireman since his teenage years in Logansport, and became the Chief of DeSoto Fire District 1 in recent years. His Facebook name was under “Loco Bombero”, which translates from Spanish to English as “Crazy Fireman”.

His legacy that he leaves the community is the love and compassion that he showed for all. It did not matter your race, standing in the community, or religion, Rusty was a friend to everyone. He was advocate for disadvantaged children and made sure all felt important. To know Rusty was to love him, and he loved everyone right back.

For the third straight weekend, various area of DeSoto Parish was affected by storms. Lightening of great magnitude was all around Logansport forcing the River City Fest to close down early for the safety of workers and fair-goers.

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On Thursday, May 2, the DeSoto Parish Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed Mansfield’s newest business, Mansfield Eye Clinic to their business family. The clinic is located at 405 Polk Street. They carry an aray of eye wear and sunglasses.

The DeSoto Chamber of Commerce was honored to hold a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony welcoming Mansfield Eye Clinic as the newest business in Mansfield. Guests were treated to heavy appetizers, cookies, and coffee as they toured the business located at 405 Polk Street. They carry an aray of eyewear and sunglasses, and offer numerous services for eye health.

Dr. Scott Taylor is now seeing new patients at Mansfield Eye Clinic. As a Mansfield native, he is excited to provide eye care to the community. After graduating from North DeSoto High School and Northwestern State University, he attended Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Philadelphia.

For the second time within a week, DeSoto Parish residents have had to prepare for storms that were headed our way. The DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office reported that 3 F-1 tornadoes touched down in the Keachi and Stonewall areas. One tornado reportedly had 95-99 mph winds.

The area between Garland Scout Ranch and Red Bluff Road received damage that you could see as you passed by, with other damage done to property on some of the lesser traveled roads. Downed trees and power lines were seen, with homeowner’s also reporting damage from the storms.

The last few weeks have flown by as Kathi Wells and her volunteer team finalized all plans for the 2019 River City Fest, “Summertime on the Sabine”. This year’s event will have carnival night only on Thursday, May 16, with the festival in full swing on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. There will be no Sunday events in 2019, but there are hopes that they can expand to include Sunday again in the very near future.

Jim’s Rides of Lake Charles has become a traditional favorite with RCF attendees, and it will return once again with all the carnival entertainment that area families have come to enjoy. River City Fest will kick-off on Friday night, April 16 with Carnival Night.

On Friday, an evening parade will take place, with organizers inviting clubs, teams, queens, businesses, church groups, bands, firemen, deputies, officials and military to participate in the parade. Horses and their riders and carriages are also welcome.

The LHS Tiger Baseball team had a season of ups and downs and lots of changes but persevered and put together another great season. The Tigers entered the post season with a record of 9-16 and a number 9 seed in the power rankings. By way of a forfeit in the first round, the Tigers advanced to the Regional round and defeated East Iberville on the road by a score of 18-2.

Against East Iberville, the Tigers combined outstanding pitching by seniors Dayton West and Brayden Tyler with 12 hits. Leading the Tigers at the plate were Kolten Kinley (2-3 with 1 RBI) and Dayton West (3-4 4 runs scored). With the win, the Tigers advanced to the Quarterfinals for the second consecutive year and earn a home game against the number 1 seed Grand Lake.

Grand Lake jumped on the Tigers in the top of the first inning on a single and a towering home run. 

Congratulations teachers, students, and faculty on a great school year in DeSoto Parish! We are so very thankful for all of the hard-working educators who are shaping the future leaders of our community and abroad. Sheriff Richardson has visited each of the schools in our Parish over this past school year and was encouraged to see values such as integrity, hard work, and professionalism in the students and faculty.

It was an honor to be able to present three academic scholarships from the Louisiana Sheriff’s Scholarship Program to Katherine Atkins of Logansport High School, Cloe’ Bolanos of North DeSoto High School, and Kyle Deas of Logansport High School.

We are proud of all of our students in DeSoto Parish. As we wrap up yet another school year in the coming weeks, we wish you all a safe and fun-filled summer ahead! (submitted by DPSO) .

With the beautiful spring blooms currently appearing on flowers and trees, it was hard to imagine that a tornado would blow in and destroy everything that was in its path in just a matter of minutes.

A round of storms passed through the area with the National Weather Service categorizing the tornado that hit sporadic locations from Hwy 191 outside of Logansport, all the way to Highway 84 and Oak Hill Road in Mansfield, snapping trees, ripping off roofs, and destroying many of the buildings at the Southeast Sales portable building location. It also snapped a light pole off of its concrete base in the old Walmart parking lot.

The tornado came very close to Mansfield High School, who lost power temporarily, but did not suffer a direct hit. School was in session at that time.

The North DeSoto Lady Griffins came into this season on a mission as they were ousted in the Semifinals last season by Deridder who went on to win the 4A title. A group of 10 seniors entered this season with some unfinished business to attend to and set their sights on one more state title to add to their credit. They also wanted to send their head coach, Lori McFerren, out on top in what would be her last season at the helm of the Lady Griffin program. However, as fate would have it, the Lady Griffins would have to get through West Ouachita. These two teams were no strangers as the Lady Griffins denied West Ouachita the state title in 2015 and 2017. The Lady Griffins had also beaten the Lady Chiefs by a score of 8-7 in an early season matchup and were 6-1 coming into the semifinal match against them.