JT saw something last week he thought he’d never see. One of our firemen was shoveling SNOW away from the doors of the Central Fire Station. It’s a rarity indeed. Just as rare, perhaps, as JT seeing Cane River starting to ice over. Early Tuesday morning JT looked and sure enough, the edges of Cane River were, in fact, frozen several feet out into the river. JT didn’t see a lot of cars in the ditches but he heard there were quite a few. Then again, he wasn’t out joyriding; he was just headed to the office and back. JT knew he should have stayed in when he saw a city police car headed his way… sideways… on University Parkway near the college. Those who know JT know that he tends to have a heavy foot on the accelerator. He prefers to be on time, if not the first one…rather than the last one, to arrive. Anyway…the snow, sleet and ice have really tested his nerves. He also learned something. He wasn’t aware his car could travel at 10 miles an hour.
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Speaking of crazy things…. The NSU football team was set to play their first game in over a year last weekend. That’s right, the COVID delayed Fall Football season and had the Demon’s opening their season on the road at Lamar University last Saturday; however, that game was cancelled and rescheduled for March 27 in Beaumont. So now the Demons will have their first game… at home…Saturday, March 6, when they host Nichols in a 6 p.m. contest at Turpin Stadium.
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JT did notice last week something that slowed down drastically. It was the Internet. JT figures it was the students on line for virtual learning. On top of that you had all social media people reaching out to check on their friends and posting photos. If there’s a silver lining….it’s that JT doesn’t own one of those electric cars. No power would have meant you are really stuck. No water, no electricity, no television and then no charge for the vehicle batteries. That would have meant JT would have to do a lot of walking. His walking is pretty much from the golf cart to the golf ball.
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All our beautiful trees weren’t so beautiful once they got loaded with ice and crashed the power and cable lines…. knocking out power. JT heard utility crews made about three or four trips down Williams Avenue because tree limbs were knocking the power out. It was a different location each time. It got JT to wondering, if residents want those lovely trees in their yards, maybe they should bear some of the cost when their falling trees or tree limbs cause a power outage. By the way…kudos to all our city employees, volunteer crews and emergency responders for the long hours. And let’s not forget the plumbers who were putting in some equally long hours repairing burst water pipes. JT hears they will be busy for a while.
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One more crazy thing from last week. JT drove by the Church Street Bridge several days in a row and each time he saw what looked like a duck sitting near the bank in the same spot. The first time he saw it he thought perhaps the duck had the water freeze around him and he was stuck. Around the third day with the duck being in the same location it finally dawned upon JT. It was a decoy and not a live duck.
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JT read recently where the La. State Police Training Academy has come under fire for inappropriate or unnecessary tactical exercises used on the cadets. Some said the training was intentionally brutal, if not retaliatory. The inquiry has led to the demotion of a handful of training officers. JT heard through the grapevine that other “training academies” could be just as guilty and that some law enforcement officials have even spoken up about some of the academies tactics. Don’t get JT wrong, he wants our emergency responders to be properly equipped and trained…but it appears a line is, and was, being crossed in the tactical training segment. He just hopes all training academies will get a review similar to the one by the State Police.