News

Many Police Department and Walmart have joined together to make Christmas a little more special this year. With the help of a generous donation by our local Walmart Manager Ronnie Gray, Many Police Department is starting the “Shop with a Cop” program, which will take place on Saturday, December 17 at 10 a.m.

“This year will be our first year but we intend to make it annual event.”, said Chief of Police Cheryl Wooley.

“I am very excited for our Walmart store to start this tradition” said Mr. Gray.

The “Shop with a Cop” program, which is a nationwide event, began in 1989 when a small group of officers quite literally passed around a hat and collected money to take a single child ‘in need’ shopping for toys. Each year since then, the program has grown with thousands of kids being served over the past 30 years across the nation. If chosen, a child and a police officer will go to Walmart and shop for toys or other items.

Sheriff Aaron Mitchell reports an altercation that occurred at “The Border” lounge in the City of Zwolle early Saturday morning, December 3.

At approximately 1a.m. Saturday morning, a fight occurred between several subjects inside the bar, then it moved outside.

Zwolle Police Officers and Sabine Parish Sheriff Deputies responded.

Officers determined Bobby Parrie Jr, Dustin Cartinez, and Payton Lindsey were involved in the fight.

Parrie Jr was seriously injured in this altercation, and he was later taken to a Shreveport hospital, where he remains in ICU as of Sunday night.

The Zwolle Police Department is the investigating agency in this case. On Monday, December 5, the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office reported on Facebook that the Zwolle Police Department had also obtained an arrest warrant for Kobe Cartinez for second degree battery. Shortly before the newspaper went to press there was an announcement that the arrest was made.

It was with great elation that I discovered the release of the new book “Fort Jesup – A History” by local historian and Many High School band director Scott Debose.

I’ve known Scott DeBose as long as I’ve known pretty much anyone, from attending church together as children to working our way through all three Many schools. We, along with a few other classmates, shared an extreme love of history. Our paths changed after school, as he pursued an actual history degree while I floundered around a bit before discovering a love of journalism, and I couldn’t have been happier to finally receive a copy of his book, which he began researching in 1995 after volunteering at the park, according to the introduction of the work. Needless to say, I have zero doubts every piece of information in this book is factual and well-researched.

It was with great elation that I discovered the release of the new book “Fort Jesup – A History” by local historian and Many High School band director Scott Debose.

I.D. Bostian has been named the Honorary Grand Marshal of the Many Christmas Parade Mr. I.D. turned 96 years old this January. He was married to Mrs. Betty for 74 years. Together they had two children; Cheryl and Randy. He is also a grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather.

He worked for, and retired, from Cleco after 40+ years and is a member of First United Methodist Church of Many. Mr. I.D. served on the Many City Council for 24 years, was active in Dixie Youth for several years and has been a board member on the Sabine Council on Aging since 2019.

The Sabine Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution hosted the rededication of the Veterans Park in Many at 2:00 pm on November 11. Despite the rainy conditions, a crowd gathered to the welcoming sound of live music in the Park located on Mississippi Street.

Mrs. Katie Lombardino, Sabine Chapter Regent, presided over the ceremony. Local Veterans along with members of the community helped make the ceremony as success. Mr. Dean Crittenden led the opening prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was led by U.S. Navy Veteran Moe Gulett, and Mr. Buster Jordan led the National Anthem.

Fans of the Many Band will have two chances to hear the Many Band this Christmas Season. On Thursday December 1st at 6:30 pm the band will host its annual “Community Concert” at the Many Community Center/Sabine Theater. This concert will feature the 7th-12th grade Concert Band performing a dozen of your favorite Christmas songs. Tickets for this event are $ 6 for adults, $ 3 for school age children and children 4 and under are admitted free. On December 6th at 6:30 the band will host a concert at Many High School featuring the 6th grade beginning band, the Many Jr. High band and the 7th -12th grade band. There is no fee for this event; however donations will be accepted.

The Many Tigers defeated the Richwood Rams 21-0 on November 18 during the regional round of the playoffs.

Although Many has looked the dominant team for most of the season, this game brought about a number of struggles following their firstround bye.

Things started well for the Tigers when on the second play of the game, Jeremiah James put out a 52-yard run to bring the score to 7-0.

Early on, it became apparent that the Rams were there to play a game. Their quarterback mis-threw one pass, but on third and 11 they got a huge gain when Garet Culverson missed a tackle. Thankfully, Tackett Curtis was there for the assist. Richwood was to make one more big gain.

During the next Richwood possession, it was Kedrick Gosey with fantastic coverage to bring the opposing team to a third and 10.

This year’s Many Christmas Parade and Festival is pleased to announce that Louisiana Senator Louie Bernard will serve as this year’s grand marshal. The parade is set to roll on Sunday, Dec. 11 with the parade at 3 p.m. and the festival at the Sabine Parish Fairgrounds from 7 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

The Town of Many has a new texting service for residents looking for answers or to report an issue.

TextMyGov allows residents to receive answers or report issues about city services with just one text. Opting in to receive messages from the Town concerning road closures, water issues, or emergencies can be done by texting MANY to 91896.

The Town’s website, townofmany.org has the TextMyGov logo on the homepage and by clicking on the logo, you can get more information on how to opt in or op out to receive messages directly from the Town. Under the Contact Us tab on the homepage, click on Report an Issue for a link that takes you to the page where you can either click on the iWorQ logo or the word Portal to send requests directly to the new work management system.