News

United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Debra Bossier a/k/a Debra Palmer, 48, of Mansfield, Louisiana, entered a guilty plea today to one count of acquiring or obtaining controlled substances by fraud. The hearing was held before United States District Judge Donald E. Walter.

According to evidence presented to the court, Bossier worked as a Medical Assistant at the Desoto Regional Health System (Desoto Regional) in Mansfield, Louisiana. Desoto Regional used an Electronic Medical Records System to document patient encounters and generate electronic prescriptions. Bossier used the Electronic Medical Records System to falsely document telephone encounters to obtain controlled substances by fraud and forgery by generating controlled substance prescriptions for herself, her husband, her daughters, and a daughter’s boyfriend.

The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) recently released its 2022 Legislative Scorecard, highlighting legislators inside the State Capitol who supported pro-business legislation in this year’s regular session. LABI, the state’s chamber of commerce and manufacturing association, worked with a bipartisan group of legislators and stakeholders to push for student-focused education reform, historic infrastructure investments and stabilizing the Unemployment Trust Fund.

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Mansfield Rotary Club on 9/28/22 at the Mansfield Female College Museum Library for lunch featured Ms. Jana Bledsoe of Pegasus Landing from Atlanta, Ga., a Commercial Realtor, who handles the old Walmart building and parking lot. She told the club that her company has been close to selling it twice recently but both deals fell through at the last moment. However, she hinted that negotiations are underway with another prospective buyer!

Ms. Bledsoe answered many questions posed by the club but, also, had questions for the members. She wanted to know about Mansfield and its people. She wondered what they thought would work in getting a marque tenant in that location and what type of business would be successful? The Mansfield Female College Museum just happened to have a promotional brochure on Mansfield that could be gifted to Ms. Bledsoe and the Rotarians predictably had some good ideas for her to take back home.

New location provides customers with multiple enhancements

On September 26, Cleco held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the relocation of its Mansfield Customer Service Office.

In attendance was Cleco executive, Shane Hilton, and employees, Mansfield Mayor Thomas Jones and city council members, DeSoto Parish Police Jury President Ernel Jones and parish council members, DeSoto Parish Chamber of Commerce President Sheriff Jayson Richardson and other elected officials and representatives from the DeSoto Parish Chamber of Commerce.

“Cleco has been serving the city of Mansfield for over 70 years, and we’re thankful for the longstanding relationship,” said Shane Hilton, president of Cleco Power. “We’re proud to be a part of the Mansfield community and believe the new location provides customers multiple enhancements, including accessibility, additional parking and a more modernized facility.”

Fundamental Pediatric Therapy, owned by Michael Bagley Johnston, will hold a Grand Opening on Saturday, October 8, with the Ribbon Cutting set for 10:00 a.m.

They will have breakfast, a bounce house for the kids, and fun giveaways.

A DeSoto Parish man who killed his estranged girlfriend by shooting her 12 times was convicted of second- degree murder Thursday in DeSoto District Court.

David White, 53, and Tiffany Wilson, 43, were in the process of breaking up in January 2020 when White went to the South Mansfield home where Wilson was employed as a caretaker for an elderly couple. White first shot Wilson six times then reloaded his gun and shot her six more times.

The elderly couple inside the home was not injured. White told the woman not to call the police, but she did.

DeSoto sheriff ’s deputies stopped him on Blunt Mill Road in Grand Cane. He had reloaded his gun and held deputies at bay during a brief standoff.

Now-retired Capt. James Clements was able to talk White into surrendering. Clements supervised the parish’s registered sex offenders, which included White.

Last week, Rep. Larry Bagley was recognized by the Louisiana Industrial Development Executive Association (LIDEA) for his promotion of economic growth at both the state and local levels.

Bagley stated, “I think one of government’s primary responsibilities is to get out of businesses’ way and to promote economic growth. Since I have been in office, I have worked diligently with our state and local governments and organizations to do so for our region. While we are experiencing a revival of the Haynesville Shale, we can’t sit idly by and let the opportunities created right now pass us by.”

Rep. Bagley also said he would like to thank the Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Association (LIDEA) for recognizing my efforts during this past session and presenting me with a LIDEA Economic Development Champion award.

Do you have too much “stuff” in your house and you would like a chance to get rid of it while making a little extra cash? Organizers are making plans to help you out and have announced the date for the first event of its kind to wind through DeSoto Parish and end in Joaquin, Texas. The “Fifty Mile Trail of Treasures” will be a continuous yard sale, with vendors setting up on Hwy 171 in Stonewall, where they will continue through Mansfield. Shoppers and treasure seekers will then find their way down Hwy 84 through Stanley and Logansport, cross over the bridge into Texas with Haslam and Joaquin lying at the end of the trail.

Kansas City Southern (KCS) recently announced the first return to the rails of the KCS Holiday Express train since the start of the pandemic in 2020. This year, the festive, six-car holiday train with intricate displays inside and out will bring Santa Claus and his elves to visit children and families in 20 communities in eight states. In addition, the KCS Holiday Express project will continue its tradition of charitable giving to The Salvation Army. The date for the Holiday Express stop in Mansfield is Tuesday, November 29 at 4:00 p.m. in Mansfield at 1004 Polk Street.

In April 2021, retired DeSoto Parish Detective Robert “Robbo” Davidson and award winning journalist P. J. Jones partnered to write his memoirs as a veteran homicide detective. Six accounts are woven together with his memories, case files, witness statements, and trial transcripts. Jones is an award winning journalist, the recipient of the Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for open records investigations. The result of their collaboration, “The Evil I Have Seen” not only peeked the interest of local readers and supporters, it spread nationally and internationally. The writing team was recently notified that their book had won First Place in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards under Non-Fiction True Crime.