Commentary

50 Years Ago Week of Nov. 13, 1969

The Sabine Parish Teachers’ Association requested a one cent sales tax for teacher salaries to the Sabine parish School Board. James Q. Salter, a former principal in the parish, noted that Sabine Parish is one of only four in the state to take action on salaries. He noted that 60 teachers would be retiring after this year and first year teachers don’t get paid enough. He added that the new teachers can drive a few extra miles and receive higher salaries. The association asked that the Board come up with a proposal.

The Many Tigers ended their football season with a 1-9 record.

“The People Ask”, a new column in The Sabine Index debuted on page one.

This has not been my day!! I think the Halloween gremlins are at work in my house.

I needed a specific sweater to wear and I woke up with that on my mind this morning. I began a search that went from room to room, through closets and even upstairs into bins. I spent over an hour looking for my sweater box that I had carefully packed away last spring. 

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You know, in a world of instant consumerism it is quite humbling to be forced to wait for something. 

Basically, anything you want can be in your hands within a day or two thanks to Amazon or other online options.  Sometimes their offerings just aren’t good enough though.  When I wanted an upgrade to a guitar recently there just wasn’t anything online that quite hit what I wanted.

Of course, I could have got a “good enough” replacement that probably would’ve worked just fine, but I opted to go big or go home.  So, now a craftsman is toiling away in Maryland actually producing the instrument themselves instead of it being just assembled sloppily at some factory in China.

I feel the choice in the long run will be the right one, and the wait is really forcing the impulsive nature of my personality to slow down and wait for greatness.

In the meantime, I guess I have plenty of time to practice.  That matters more than any instrument in the world, anyway.

I sincerely wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween.  Although I’ll be staying in playing music and watching movies, if you are out be on the lookout for trick or treaters and if you’re partying be sure and have a designated driver.

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It’s a sad today today as we mourn the passing of John Witherspoon, who has graced the big and small screen in a number of beloved roles throughout the years.

My introduction to him was through several movies that made a huge impact on my childhood/early adulthood such as “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka” and Robert Townsend’s “Hollywood Shuffle.”  Later on he’d play the father in “Friday” and, in what I think was his best, the grandfather in Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks” on Comedy Central.

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It has been a few weeks since I’ve reported about Suddenlink’s internet speeds and I’d like to report that they’re still absolutely horrendous, and even worse today than before. 

Louisiana coastal advocates are making their perennial trip to Washington, D.C., to plead for more tax dollars to save our state’s disappearing wetlands. They appear to have the unquestioning support of the state’s Congressional delegation to divert more federal revenue from offshore oil and gas production to our under-funded coastal restoration program.

No doubt the local and state officials on the trip are supported by major oil companies engaged in Gulf of Mexico production. The oil industry may even be paying for the D.C. trip. Oil companies know the pennies they contribute to Louisiana coastal restoration are a fraction of what they actually owe for the damage they have caused to the wetlands. They are delighted to see American taxpayers foot the bill to clean up the waste pits, eroding canals, abandoned pipelines and other remnants of decades of oil and gas production in our coastal region.

I grew up watching NFL football. Every Sunday afternoon, we’d tune in and catch a game. He liked the Dallas Cowboys until the New Orleans Saints came along.

I loved watching the games with Daddy! I was probably one of the few high school girls that really knew what was going on!!

I loved Picayune High School football, too!! I had a special friend who was co-captain of the PMHS Maroon Tide and Daddy repainted a bobblehead doll and put his number on it. That bobblehead went to all the football games and even followed the team!

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