JT hears that one of the longtime members of the 911 Commission has been replaced. Not sure if recently retired businessman and former City Councilman Jack McCain asked for it or not. But our thanks go out to him for his long service to his community and this important committee. JT doesn’t make a lot of the public meetings anymore…but he’s told the 911 meetings have considerably less drama that most of our public body meetings. Jack was the City of Natchitoches’ representative on the commission. His replacement is also a well-known member of our community… Calvin Braxton. It’s an interesting choice since Braxton, the former owner of Natchitoches Ford, refused to give the 911 Commission an easement to their property located behind the dealership.
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JT can’t imagine anything worse for a defendant than going to trial and during the jury selection process you see your sheriff sitting with the other potential jurors. That was the case recently when Natchitoches Parish Sheriff Stuart Wright was called for jury duty. Like the others, Sheriff Wright dutifully showed up for service even though he had serious doubts he would be selected. No, he wasn’t selected… and no he didn’t seek payment for jury duty service.
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JT was a little taken aback the other day when he noticed crop dusters flying over Sibley Lake….the city ‘s water supply. He remembers a time when aircraft were not allowed to fly over the lake because of the poisonous chemicals they were carrying. He can only assume someone has come to the conclusion that today’s poisonous chemicals are not as poisonous as they use to be. If only for appearances, JT would feel a lot safer knowing crop dusters were flying around Sibley Lake and not over it.
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Don’t forget….absentee voting begins Saturday for two issues in Natchitoches Parish. One is the Parish Council’s forgotten tax, that’s the one that expired the end of last year that funds the garbage program and road maintenance and repair. The other is selecting someone to take Tony Davis’ place on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Election Day is April 24 but you have a week, starting Saturday, to cast your ballots absentee if you think you’ll be, or you plan, on being out of town.