News

The DeSoto Chamber of Commerce Board, along with Executive Director Brenda Hall, have announced plans for its 87th Annual Banquet, which is set for March 26 at 7:00 PM. This year’s event will be held at the Clista A. Calhoun Center, located at 515 Louisiana Street in Mansfield.

Jim Hill. Area Chair for Northwest Louisiana Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), which is an office of the Department of Defense, announced that on February 3, DeSoto Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle and Chief of Corrections Dennis Reed were honored with a Patriot Award in recognition of extraordinary support of employees who serve in the Louisiana National Guard and Reserve.

Work continues on a new $600,000 fueling facility for the DeSoto Parish Police Jury’s Road Department. The need for these improvements was prompted by a 2013 LA Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) site

visit which identified items in the existing fueling system that do not meet current DEQ regulations. That same year the Road Committee chaired by Juror J.O. Burch of District 1C recommended, and the DPPJ accepted, retaining

Edmonds Engineering to prepare construction documents

The beads have been hung, and are ready to be thrown as members and parade participants ready their floats for the 13th Annual Krewe of Aquarius Parade. This year’s theme is “Let the Games Begin”, with

King Robert Foshee and Queen Carolyn Foshee presiding over this year’s festivities. They have been busy making public appearances, along with mascot Mardi Gator, at

Around 3:30 AM on Monday, February 2, two consecutive calls were received by dispatch at the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s office threatening bodily harm to Judge Robert Burgess. To be specific, the bodily harm was to blow up his house. Around the same time fram , former DeSoto Sheriff’s deputy  Robert “Robbo” Davidson received four calls to his personal cell phone threatening bodily harm to him as well. Due to the calls being made around the same town, officials believe that the same party may have made the calls to the Sheriff’s office and Davidson.

Northwestern State University’s Office of Electronic and Continuing Education will offer a Louisiana Concealed Carry Class Saturday, Feb. 7. The class is for those age 21 or older who want to obtain a Louisiana concealed handgun permit. The course will be from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. in South Hall on the Northwestern State campus and at the Natchitoches Shooting Range.  The cost is $110 plus a range fee.Montgomery Police Chief Kevin Billiot will teach the class which will cover pistol s oting fundamentals, safe handling, use of force laws and related topics. For more information, call (318) 357-5682, (800) 376-2422 or go to ece.nsula.edu/non-credit.