Columns

Billy Coleman died May 10. He was 50.

This week I was reading the article in the paper regarding the frequent alligator sightings in the lake, and that many people were concerned for their safety and the safety of their children and grandchildren while enjoying our town’s biggest resource. I smiled to myself as I thought of something I was told recently, that there hadn’t been a fatality by an alligator in Louisiana since the 1800s. So I turned to the internet to find out if that statement was true or folklore. Surely in a state like ours with so many bayous, byways, and ditches, that could not possibly be the case. It turns out, the statement was incorrect, but just barely. A 71-year-old man in New Orleans was killed in 2021 while wading in the flood waters after Hurricane Ida. However, this is potentially the first fatal attack in Louisiana since 1774, when a man named Jacquos Du Bois was found dead along a river, and his death was accredited to an alligator. Two fatal attacks in over two hundred years! So why is there a stigma against these animals, if they are so rarely dangerous to humans?

“It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?” I know this will be hard for all you young folks to believe, but there was a time when television shut down with just a test pattern at 10. And then it was extended to midnight. But no matter when or what station, this is the last thing they played. And many times, a public service announcement involved different celebrities with this message.

Our story on Page 1 covering the meeting of the East Carroll Parish Police Jury last week is, we believe, an accurate description of events that took place. However, we have chosen to omit many of the harsh words, accusations, and personal attacks that were spoken during a discussion of an agenda item titled “Secretary-Treasurer Appointment.”

Work began last Monday, July8,ontherooffortheEast Carroll Parish Courthouse. The East Carroll Parish Police Jury’s committees met last week and discussed the various projects that the jury is either working on or considering.

Choosing a topic to write about for these opinion columns is very hard for me. I have a journalism degree and worked for several years at weekly and daily newspapers in the region.

At this stage in life I want to pick and choose the things I commit my time and energy to. I want to be sure that they are things that will leave my family, my community, and this world better than I found it.

One of my favorite lines from any book I’ve read – and there have been many – was from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The book begins, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” This book was written in 1859, but it could have been written in 2024. Why? Because right now it is the best of times and the worst of times. Technology has brought us so far in the fields of medicine, telecommunications, and just about everything else. This has made our lives a lot easier for sure, and has reduced the mortality rate in the world today. So as far as the here and now, it is the best time to be alive.

After 43 years of service to East Carroll Parish Farm Bureau, Lynn Dukes officially retired last week. Farm Bureau board and staff held a reception for Dukes at their office on Davis Street. Dukes said that his plans were to “kick my feet up and do nothing. It’s time.”

On a wall in our nearly-finished home hangs a painting a great friend of mine did of Queen Elizabeth. She is sternly looking through side eyes, saying “Mind your manners.” She hangs for all the Queen Elizabeths in our lives. For our grandmothers, especially.