You don’t think the government controls your lives? How punk did you feel earlier this week adjusting to Daylight Savings Time? It’s a killer….and it happens twice a year. It’s antiquated and needs to be eliminated. World War II is over. JT thinks the government keeps it around just to let you know it’s the boss. JT attended the Louie Bernard for Senator fundraiser Thursday night and there was a huge crowd. So far, Louie is the only one to announce for the Senate seat currently held by Gerald Long, who is term limited. There have been some rumors of a candidate out of Rapides Parish, which has a sizable vote count in the district. Historically someone has held the seat from either Natchitoches or Winnfield. But as we know, nothing is certain in politics. JT has heard that Louie is such a nice person and well liked, it might work against him. One only needs to remember Louie was secretary-treasurer of the Natchitoches Parish Police Jury (now Parish Commission) for many years….and nothing gets more heated and political than that group. Natchitoches Parish has a lot of programs and institutions that need help from Baton Rouge. We need our Senator to be from our area.
———-
Speaking of politics, JT notices that DA Billy Joe Harrington stays really visible around town and at events. He has had some good press lately with convictions and some tough cases. JT is willing to bet we will see him around for quite a while.
——-
Congratulations to our high school basketball teams and their successful seasons. Natchitoches Central’s Boys and Girls teams finished second in the state, St. Mary’s Boys also finished second in the state in their division and Lakeview’s Boys team was knocking on the door of a championship.
——-
It sure is nice to see the rowers return to Cane River. JT noticed at least three schools had their teams and equipment on the Riverbank last week.
——-
Speaking of nice returns….JT can’t want for the Jazz Festival in April. They skipped last year because of the Riverbank construction, but are roaring back with an outstanding lineup of talent. The Jazz Festival is slated for Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28 on the Riverbank. Tickets are now on sale, so you might want to reach out to Johnny Earthquake (alias Rodney Harrington) at the Harrington Law Firm.
——-
JT took a closer look at the downtown improvements and thinks it looks really nice. The Cane River Waterway paid for much of the work. Seems they had plenty of money in their piggy bank with their tax base. For a project that was supposed to be completed by November of last year, there sure is a lot of work still going on down there. He was concerned though why they paid for a water line from a Red River Oxbow all the way to the Cane to pump in water at low summer levels. He can recall a time a two…..a long, long time ago…when farmers pumped from the Cane and it dropped the water level significantly. JT is not sure if it has ever been used and wonders if the project was really necessary. JT hears that those who grew up on the river’s main concern were the snakes and an occasional alligator, but the water level never was a problem.
——-
Well, the Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature kicked off Monday and we sure hope “something” gets done. After the Special Session ended (just last week) JT is hearing more and more people say the lawmakers should not be paid because they didn’t do anything. Former State Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown, in one of his recent columns, reminded us of the motto “in the fall, fire ‘em all.” While it sounds good, JT hears that in most districts around the state, folks rate their representatives pretty well. They like them. As a whole, though, the legislature gets very low marks from the public. So whom do we blame for the shape our state is in? JT saw a couple of articles where they tried to blame the late Huey Long and his policies. The real truth, as pointed out by former Senator Don Kelly and current Senator Gerald Long, is that special interests have taken over our state.