News

Come one come all to the 2023 Krewe of Demeter Mardi Gras Parade in Mansfield, Louisiana. January 28th, 2023. We start at the old Walmart on Highway 84 go all the way into town, turn right on Polk street. Continue down Polk to City Hall, turn left at the light at city hall to Franklin and end in front of the Police Jury office.

Lineup is at 5:00. Parade starts at 6:00. If you would like to be in our parade, please contact Captain-Linda Carter-464-0429, Co-Captain Deborah Stewart-455-5873 or private message me on Facebook.

We will have a fireworks show after the parade back where we started sponsored by U-Store It (Sherry Brumley),Granger Ford, and The City of Mansfield La.

Louisiana Office of Tourism, under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, won the 2023 Showmanship Award during the 134th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, for the “Celebration Riverboat” float. The award recognizes the float for most outstanding display of showmanship and entertainment, which featured a live performance by Country Music Association Award winner, 2022 Academy of Country Music New Female of the Year winner, and Louisiana music ambassador Lainey Wilson from Baskin, Louisiana. She performed mid-parade for millions of viewers nationally and internationally as an invitation to visit the state.

The 134th Rose Parade was Louisiana’s second year participating, fresh off last year’s float winning the Wrigley Legacy Award and encouraging millions around the world to visit the state.

“I am extremely proud of our Office of Tourism team, six convention and visitors bureaus and 22 Louisiana Ambassadors that

Former Raiders cornerback Albert Lewis has been selected as one of 15 Modern-Era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023, the Hall announced Wednesday.

Lewis played 16 seasons in the NFL, his first 11 for the Kansas City Chiefs and the last five for the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders. In the 75 games he played in the Silver and Black, he racked up 242 solo tackles, four interceptions and eight sacks.

He was a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time firstteam All-Pro over his career. As a Raider, his lone pick-six of his career in 1998 gave him the recognition of being the oldest player (38 years, 26 days) to score a defensive touchdown in NFL history.

This is Lewis’ first time making it to the finalist stage for the Hall of Fame, as well as his last year of eligibility as a Modern-Era candidate.

On Thursday, January 5, the DeSoto Parish School Board members were sworn by Judge Nicholas Gasper in for their new terms in office prior to the meeting. Coday Johnston was elected as President, with Bobby Boyd to serve as Vice President. Donnie Dufour will remain as Finance Chairman. All three of these men have previously served in these positions. Pictured l-r are Dale Morvan-District 7, Jeff Dillard-District 3, Vice President Bobby Boyd-District 10, Mark Ross-District 8, Alice Thomas-District 6, Judge Nicholas Gasper, Finance Chairman Donnie Dufour-District 4, DeSoto Superintendent of Schools Clay Corley, Dudley Glenn-District 1, Rosie Mayweather-District-11, Dr. Neil Henderson- District 2, Ronnie Morris, Sr. – District 9,and President Coday Johnston-District 6.

You are cordially invited to attend the 26th Dr. Martin Luther King March and Ceremony on Monday, January 16. The march will began at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of East Alabama and MLK Drive in Many. The March will end at King’s Chapel AMC at 1810 San Antonio Avenue. The ceremony will begin at 11:00 a.m. This year’s speaker for the March will be Judge Agnelis L. Reese.

Judge Reese is a native of Bastrop, Louisiana and an honor graduate of Bastrop High School. She furthered her education at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston as a graduate with a double major in Sociology and History. In May 1989, she graduated from Southern University Law Center, magna cum laude, (third in her class). While at Southern, she was Vice President of Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, and President of the Moot Court Board.

Dr. Seuss’s Grinch seemed to be trying us out during the Christmas holiday break with ice storms and weather causing water outages all throughout DeSoto Parish. Broken pipes, then requests by community leaders NOT to drip their water due to the endangerment of Fire Departments not having any water in case of fire emergencies, caused some celebrations of Christmas to be delayed or limited due to the inconvenience of water issues. But as the Grinch states, “Maybe Christmas itself is a little bit more than what comes from stores, the roast beast, and other traditional family happenings… the entire celebration is to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

On December 28, Raymond and Evelyn Powell celebrated their 74th Wedding Anniversary. We wish them the happiest of anniversaries and much health, wealth and happiness in 2023! May God Bless this very special couple!

Local Chef and Author Hunter Lee who’s first cookbook Louisiana, “Recipes of a People” was released in May 2022 has hit a home run with the second cookbook in his three book series published by Fulton Books.

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 29 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 2022. They assist him on determining who was naughty and who was nice, with some even falling onto both lists and descriptions.

During my first six months as Mayor of Mansfield, we hired a full-time Code Enforcement Officer who has been intimately engaged in instituting a comprehensive plan to beautify our city. Pastor Ronnie Morris has worked with several of the council members and community volunteers in their perspective districts in removing trash and debris from ditches and roadways. Community service workers, trustees, youth groups and adult volunteers have all contributed to our clean-up efforts. The city has also purchased another dumpster to facilitate the clean-up efforts, especially with the demolition of dilapidated houses and abandoned, trashed properties. As of today, seventeen dilapidated houses have been removed, several others are in the process of being removed. Twenty-Three properties that had extreme overgrowth have been cleaned. We will purchase one more dumpster in early 2023 to further expand our clean-up campaign in our Mansfield communities.