News

Sheriff Jayson Richardson and the Bringing Joye Program would like to remind residents of our “Friends of the Sheriff” decals that can be picked up at our various locations! If you or someone living with you lives with Autism, Down Syndrome, Deafness, Cerebral Palsy, Dementia, PTSD, etc....you can fill out a short form and receive decals for your vehicle and home. The information you provide to us in that form is entered into our dispatch system. If ever there is a call to your residence or vehicle, first responders receive an alert prior to arriving that lets them know there may be someone sensitive to sirens, lights, or otherwise that you have listed on your form. This is just one more great way citizens and law enforcement can work together to ensure ALL are served equally, and with compassion!

We are ready for a fun-filled weekend at BackAlley Community Theatre as we help celebrate Grand Cane’s birthday with our first show in our 2024 Summer Concert Series, Terry, Rocky, and Friends: On the Radio. You will enjoy a toe-tapping road trip with a playlist of all of our most loved songs from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s! The musical journey features two of our favorite performers, Terry Sparks and Rocky Maddox, along with a cast of popular local musicians and vocalists.

Show times are Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29, at 7:00 pm, and Sunday, June 30, at 2:00 pm.

Donny Smith, guitar, is returning to our BackAlley stage and is sure to delight our patrons with his skill at multiple forms of guitar. He has entertained our BackAlley audience in both plays and musicals. Donny retired as owner of Smith’s Jewelry in Mansfield and enjoys his life on Toledo Bend and taking to the road whenever the wandering bug strikes.

With fireworks tents and stands popping up across the state this week, the State Fire Marshal’s Office wants to encourage all Louisiana residents to not only be safe when using fireworks, but knowledgeable when buying them.

More than 300 retail fireworks permits have been issued for the 2024 Fourth of July season, as it is state law for wholesale and retail fireworks business operators to be appropriately licensed by the SFM, in the parishes and municipalities where they are legally allowed. The sales season extends through 11:59 p.m. on July 5th.

Northwestern State University announces the names of 498 students named to the President’s List for the Spring 2024 semester. Students on the President’s List must be enrolled fulltime at Northwestern and have a grade point average of 4.0.

For questions regarding the President’s List, contact the NSU Registrar’s Office at (318) 3576171 or email registrar@nsula.edu.

Students listed by hometown are as follows.

Louisiana Tech University has announced the names of students on its Spring Quarter 2024 President’s and Dean’s honor lists.

Students whose names are followed by an asterisk earned recognition as members of the president’s honor list. That distinction signifies achievement of at least a 3.8 academic grade point average on a minimum of nine semester hours completed (100-level or higher), with no grade lower than a B.

To be eligible for the dean’s honor lists, a student is required to earn at least a 3.5 academic grade point average with no grade lower than a C on a minimum of nine semester hours completed (100-level or higher).

Courses yielding satisfactory/ failure grades and courses audited do not count toward eligibility for either recognition. Only undergraduates with no incomplete grades are eligible to make either list.

Honor students are listed below by their hometowns, with all Louisiana students listed first by parish.

Juneteenth is short for June Nineteenth, which marks the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas in 1865. It was Union General Gordon Granger who read General Orders No.3 stating that all slaves were free. Today, it commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and is also known as Freedom Day.

On January 1, 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation at the height of the Civil War. On paper, slaves in Texas were free, but they were not aware of it. Texan slave owners kept the news to themselves, delaying emancipation of 250,000 slaves by another two years.

There are several theories why such news was delayed, including the murder of the messenger and securing further cotton harvests from Texas.

Other delayed news was the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court, which was only heard more than two months after.

UPDATE — REOPENED: LA 765 over Garrison Creek, DeSoto Parish Monday, June 17, 2024 9:12 AM (UPDATE): DOTD advises motorists that the repairs to the LA 765 bridge over Garrison Creek in DeSoto Parish are complete, and the bridge has been REOPENED. We appreciate your patience while this work was underway.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development advises motorists that beginning on Monday, June 10, 2024, the LA 765 bridge over Garrison Creek near the Texas state line in southwest DeSoto Parish will be closed.

This closure is scheduled to be in place until Thursday, June 20, 2024, and is necessary to allow for bridge pile repair.

This bridge is located approximately five miles north of the intersection with US 84 in the Town of Logansport. (see included map)

Restrictions/Permits: Total road closure at the specified location. All vehicles will need to utilize an alternate route.

Alternate Route: Detour signage will be in place.

A week of celebration has been planned to celebrate 125 years since incorporating. . On Tuesday, June 25 at 6:PM the “Rocking Chair Group” filmed in 1990 by the DeSoto Parish Library will be shown at the Cenral School auditorium. This group consists of the elderly citizens of Grand Cane and each shared their early memories of the Village. Murphy Rogers, born in 1898 a year before incorporation of the Village, shared his memories of traveling to the business district by horseback on one of the two trails intersecting the settlement. The business district had been established in 1884 with the coming of the railroad. Lottie Courtney Tinnen shared her memories of the three Churches and their importance in the life of the Village. Banker Allison Smith described the robberies he experienced including being locked up in the safe with one of his customers.

On June 6, 2024, DeSoto Parish Narcotics Agents along with members of the DeSoto S.W.A.T. executed a search warrant in the Carmel Square Apartments that resulted in the arrest of one subject, Willie Ashton (B/M DOB: 03/29/1971). Ashton had an arrest warrant for (2) counts of Distribution of Schedule II (Meth). During the search, Narcotics Agents were also able to locate more illegal narcotics inside the residence of Willie Ashton. Ashton was promptly arrested and booked into the DeSoto Detention Center, and charged with the following:

— Manufacture/ Distribution of Schedule II (Meth)

— Possession of Schedule II (Meth)

— Possession of Schedule II (Cocaine)

— Possession of Synthetic Marijuana

— Second or Subsequent Offenses

— Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

During the month of May 2024, Narcotics Agents, S.W.A.T., and S.L.I.U. with the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office were able to make multiple arrests involving the illegal possession and distribution of dangerous substances within DeSoto Parish, among other charges. These arrests are the result of ongoing investigations of which more may follow. *All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Angelina Governale was arrested on 05/29/24 and charged with: Possession of Schedule II (Meth), Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving Under Suspicion.