News

John Michael Murphy, 36, of Many was sentenced on August 22 for trafficking methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown. United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. sentenced Murphy to 151 months (12 years, 7 months) in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

11th Judicial District Judge Verity Gentry was notified recently that she has been chosen by the United States Secret Service to attend a Digital Evidence for Judges Course at the National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI) in Hoover, AL this fall.

Judge Gentry is one of only 25 judges nationally to be selected to take the class, which is specifically designed for state and local trial and appellate judges who handle criminal cases and have a basic level of understanding of digital evidence and its forensic process.

“Almost every crime in Sabine Parish includes a digital component,” Judge Gentry noted. “A deeper understanding of the various ways electronic communications, storage, use of social media, forensic artifacts, and other digital aspects relate to crime will help me preside more effectively over cases involving digital forensic evidence,” she said.

Over the past week, a series of fires have plagued various areas of Sabine Parish causing acres of woodland to be lost, along with a number of homes, structures, and vehicles.

The first large fire was reported on Monday, August 14 in the Mt. Carmel area. Fueled by the drought conditions currently being experienced by numerous Louisiana parishes, the fire quickly spread to consume 2,100 acres. Reports state 10 homes were lost, along with eight other structures and numerous vehicles.

The response to the fire was immediate and effective. After the fire was first reported at around 2:15 p.m. on August 14, multiple fire and forestry department units were dispatched. The reporting of a second fire made the situation even more dire. Later, a Facebook post by the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office (SPSO) noted that the fire had been contained, but conditions make it likely the fire could re-ignite.

The Many Police Department will participate in the National Mobilization of the program, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Special Task Force” from August 18 through September 4, 2023. There will be impaired driving checkpoints throughout the Town of Many along with saturation patrols at high-risk locations.

“In 2021, forty percent of all traffic accidents in Louisiana were alcohol-related. We are participating in this National Mobilization because we care about our residents and visitors and want them to be safe while driving”, stated Chief Cheryl Wooley.

In Louisiana during 2019, the latest national data, total alcohol-impaired driving fatalities numbered 220, while there were 10,142 nationally. There were 15 fatalities in the State of youth under the age of 21 who were driving impaired.

The Town of Many recently won a Community Achievement Award in Technology & Creativity for the installation of new digital water meters at the annual Louisiana Municipal Association Convention held in Alexandria on August 3-5.

The award was given after the town replaced aging, broken, manually- read water meters with new ones that are more efficient in terms of the number of employees and hours it took to read and process data in order to send out water bills. The installation increased water sales revenue without raising water rates while reducing the number of man-hours Continued from Page 1 needed to manually read water meters and input data from paper into the billing system.

The Sabine Humane Society made a decision at its July board meeting that should have a positive result for many of the dogs and cats housed at the Sabine Animal Shelter on McDonald Drive.

Adoption fees for all dogs, cats, puppies and kittens will now be only $25. This low fee for adoption will also include all vaccinations, a clean bill of health, a microchip, a spay/neuter voucher, and a collar from Family Farm and Garden.

Dogs and cats that have been at the Shelter for more than 30 days may be adopted without any charge at all. Senior dogs and cats also may be adopted for free. Military veterans and senior citizens will not have to pay an adoption fee either. All vaccinations, a microchip, a spay/neuter voucher and a collar will still be included.

Tribal Chief: Thomas N. Rivers Assistant Chief: Jason (Jake) Rivers Secretary: Amelia Rivers Treasurer: Melody Hubbard Tribal Council: Bridget Ferguson, Alexis Hubbard Hagelin, Eddie (Chooch) Laroux, Adam Sepulvado, Mary Westbrook Rivers and Mattie Laroux Sepulvado.

Immediately following the Installation everyone enjoyed refreshments and fellowship before the council met to discuss committees and review the calendar of events. Congratulations to the newly elected tribal leaders.

Numerous local and state candidates recently qualified for the October 14 election, which sees a large number of important offices up for grabs.

Those qualifying are as follows:

Qualifying for the office of State Senator from the 31st Senatorial District were two republicans, Mike McConathy and Alan Seabaugh.

The Seventh District also saw two Republicans qualify for office. They are Larry Bagley and Tim Pruitt.

Republicans Clarence Beebe and Rodney Schamerhorn qualified to run State Representative in the 24th District.

Qualifying for Sabine Parish Sheriff were three more Republicans: Coby Lang, Aaron Mitchell, and Jeff Evans.

Tax Assessor Chris Tidwell was returned to office with no opposition.

Mark Holder will remain Sabine Parish Coroner after no challengers for his position materialized.

Shelly Salter will be elected unopposed as Clerk of Court.

Thomas “Bo” Stewart will remain the Police Juror for District 1.

This summer’s extreme heat has been and continues to be brutal on Louisiana cattle.

When the temperature at night remains above 80 degrees, it’s really hard for cattle to cool down.

During an average year, August is the worst month for heat stress in cattle. But this year, high temperatures arrived early in June.

LSU AgCenter veterinarian Dr. Christine Navarre said this summer has been especially bad.

“Extreme heat exposure day after day for months on end is debilitating to production and the health of cattle,” she said.

According to Navarre, with these scorching temperatures, poor forage quality from the drought adds to the problem.

“Poor quality forage is harder for them to digest, which causes an even higher body temperature,” she said.

Cattle can dissipate heat in only four ways: radiation, convection, conduction and evaporation.

Many of us have noticed that teenagers are unprepared when they leave their parents’ homes for the first time because, often, they don’t know how to cook, balance a bank account, or even perform basic car maintenance. We recognize that these are vital skills that every young person needs to know so we have teamed up with various knowledgeable community leaders to offer a Life Skills Class for 9th-12th graders. This class is not designed to take the place of parental teaching and guidance but to enhance and reinforce those lessons.

Some of the topics covered will include:

--Basic car maintenance

--Money Management --Household Skills --Good health habits --Social skills The class will begin September 7 at 5:15 p.m. and will be every subsequent Thursday with the last class being held on October 5th. This class will be hands on so available spots are limited. Information binders will be provided in class as well as a light snack.