By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

NATCHITOCHES — A year to the day after choosing Corey Gipson as his first head coaching hire at Northwestern State, Demons’ athletics director Kevin Bostian tabbed Gipson’s replacement Tuesday evening.

Tallahassee Community College’s Rick Cabrera will officially be announced today as the Demons’ next head basketball coach. He has 150 wins and only 44 losses (a .773 winning percentage) in six seasons as a head junior college coach and will lead TCC’s Eagles into a second-round National Junior College Athletic Association tournament contest this afternoon in Hutchinson, Kan.

Gipson, who led NSU to a 22-11 mark in his only season, accepted the head job at his alma mater, Austin Peay, four days after the Demons lost in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game.

Cabrera’s hiring was confirmed late Tuesday night by NSU assistant AD for media relations Jason Pugh. CBS Sports college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein was first to report the hire, followed locally by Tim Owens of KTAL-TV in Shreveport.

Two others were also reportedly in the final mix, according to various college basketball analysts:  New Orleans native Quannas White, an assistant coach at No. 1-ranked Houston, and Alcorn State third-year  head coach Landon Bussie, who has led the Braves to two straight Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, and a pair of National Invitation Tournament appearance.

Cabrera, who has 13 seasons of Division I assistant coaching experience, is expected to be introduced in Natchitoches sometime next week, said Pugh.

While Cabrera has no direct ties to Northwestern State, he does have a good point of reference. He rose from assistant to associate head coach at Tennessee Tech while on staff there from 2012-17, working under former Demons’ assistant coach Steve Payne, who was on J.D. Barnett’s NSU staff in the mid-1990s.

Cabrera is finishing his second season as head coach at Tallahassee. From 2004-08, he was head coach at Lackawanna (Pa.) College, going 100-29 in four seasons. He has won three Coach of the Year awards, including this season as the 12^th-seeded Eagles carry a 29-5 record into their game today against No. 5-seeded Salt Lake. He is 50-15 at TCC.

TCC held a No. 7 NJCAA Top 25 poll ranking at the end of the regular season. Five players earned all-conference honors.

Along with his stint at Tennessee Tech – his alma mater – Cabrera has been an assistant coach at Arkansas State, Austin Peay and Chattanooga, where he helped the Mocs win the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championships on the way to a 2009 NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Jeff Lebo.

As a player at Tennessee Tech, he helped the Golden Eagles win an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season crown. He began his career as a high school assistant coach in Miami, Fla., and in Tennessee, and was a graduate assistant coach at Tennessee Tech before becoming a fulltime assistant at Keystone (Pa.) College.

A native of Manhattan, N.Y., Cabrera played professionally in the Dominican Republic, where his father Hugo Cabrero is one of the country’s all-time great pros. Ironically, NSU freshman sensation Hansel Enmanuel, who is one of seven NSU players entering the transfer portal on Monday, is a native of the Dominican Republic.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com

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Samuel “Cole” Pickett, center, a senior at Many High School, signed to join the Northwestern State University Fishing Team.  Picket will attend NSU on scholarship as part of the university’s competitive bass fishing team. Pickett will also be in the President’s Leadership Program while majoring in Health and Exercise Science.  He hopes to eventually become a physical therapist.   He is pictured with his parents, Andrea and Brad Pickett.  The NSU Fishing Team is open to all NSU students. For more information on the NSU Fishing Team, email team sponsor Juddy Hamous atjuddyh@nsula.edu or call (318) 332-0565. 

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Central Sabine Fire and Many Police are holding their Egg-Stravaganza on Saturday, April 1 at the First United Methodist lawn in Many. It is a free community event, with egg hunts, photo props, the easter bunny and Sparky. Door prizes are offered for all age groups:

• Ages one-four: 9am
• Ages five-nine: 12pm
• Ages ten-twelve: 2pm

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At the Harrington Law Firm, we spend a great deal of our time fighting with insurance companies in order to compensate our clients for legitimate damages resulting from car, big truck, and motorcycle wrecks.

Because of that, it may seem a bit odd that we are recommending to our clients and other drivers to buy more insurance. On its face, it may look as if we are trying to help out the very same companies that we are fighting. What we are actually doing is urging all drivers to protect themselves and their families by purchasing Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage as part of their automobile policy.

It probably won’t come as a surprise to many reading this to learn that statistics show that over 1 in 10 drivers on our Louisiana highways are driving with absolutely no insurance coverage. Of the drivers who do have insurance in non-commercial vehicles, more than half have “minimum limits” liability coverage. (Under Louisiana Law, non-commercial drivers are required to carry a minimum of $15,000/$30,000 in liability coverage.)

What this means is that when someone has minimum limits coverage and the driver negligently causes an accident resulting in injuries and damages to another person, the most that the insurance company will have to pay is $15,000 for a single injured party and a cumulative total of $30,000 for all injuries and damages to all parties, no matter how many there are and no matter how much the injuries and damages are.

These limits include damages for pain and suffering, medical bills, lost income, disability, etc., etc.

In other words, if a person sustains serious injuries in an automobile accident as a result of another person’s negligence with huge medical bills, loss of income, etc., and if that person only had minimal limits insurance the most that claimant will be able to collect is $15,000.

Of course, even worse, if the driver negligently causing the accident has no insurance, then there is no one to collect from and party or parties are, simply put, out of luck!

One might think you could simply sue the person who caused the accident individually and make them pay. While that is true that person would be individually liable for the damages he or she caused, our experience at the Harrington Law Office is that in situations where the driver causing the accident is uninsured or has minimum limits, it would be extremely rare that they would have the personal financial assets or income to compensate the injured party. Even if you sued them personally and got a judgment, in most cases they could simply file bankruptcy and get out of it.

So as Louisiana drivers, how can we protect ourselves and our families against these potentially devastating results? The answer is simple. Make Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage a part of your automobile policy.

Louisiana Law requires that when a person purchases a policy of automobile insurance, Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage will be a part of the policy unless the purchaser rejects that coverage. In other words, when you buy car insurance, you must sign or initial your application rejecting that type of coverage, or you will automatically have it.

Unfortunately, because of high insurance costs, many people simply tell their agents they want the cheapest coverage possible and end up rejecting Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage. Thereby, they are leaving themselves vulnerable to those Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists who are traveling our highways.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOU FAMILY AGAINST THOSE DRIVERS! Make certain that your automobile policy includes Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage! It is relatively inexpensive and could help you avoid a catastrophic financial loss should you or someone you love be injured or damaged by an Uninsured/Underinsured driver. Also, do not try to save a few dollars by purchasing “Economic Only” Uninsured/Underinsured coverage. This would only compensate the injured party for medical bills and lost income but not for pain and suffering, which often can be substantial.

Again, the difference in cost between regular Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist and “Economic Only – UM,” is fairly insignificant.

In conclusion, while it may seem strange for us, Personal Injury Attorneys, to recommend that you help the insurance companies by buying more insurance, what we are really doing is recommending that you protect yourselves, and the only way to do so is making sure that you have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage.

The main office of the Harrington Law Firm is located at 459 Jefferson Street in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and partners, Rodney and Eddie Harrington represent clients all over Louisiana in all types of injury cases including automobile accidents, slip and fall, and medical malpractice. They also handle bankruptcy and debt negotiation, Social Security claims, and successions. For a free appointment, call 318-352-5900.

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This was a favorite time of year for Rolly Walker, not that he didn’t appreciate the other times because Rolly was if anything a day-to-day guy, not a prima donna or a guy demanding to sing lead. Rolly was blue-collar DeQuincy, Loooosiana, ready to chop wood and carry water soon as the sun came up.

“You always get to choose your attitude,” Rolly would say, then he’d strap in whether it was a cold day in January or his turn to go off on No. 10 in the Fall Church Scramble.

But springtime was his wheelhouse. Long and lean and smart and resourceful, he was a good athlete and natural at so many things, a hoops player who appreciated the wonder of March Madness and a track star — track was his favorite — and a golf nut because it put him outside in his Father’s World and with friends and you could play it forever and you could mess with people and do funny stuff, enjoy the pace, be at peace with the way the round and the day dripped away. You could slowly “celebrate the temporary,” another thing he’d say that kept this athlete-turned-coach-turned-preacher in the moment.

Years ago, a member of his Methodist congregation, Mrs. Loretta, she started writing down those sayings. She called them “Walker Wisdom — gems to ponder in your heart and live by daily,” and she drew a big heart in the script and around it wrote many of these “gems” so the sayings expanded into bigger hearts …

Don’t take yourself too seriously … Life is full of choices … Say, “I love you!” … You can’t please everybody …

And she splashed color all over it and his family appreciated that. So much so that at the recent celebration of his extraordinary 84 years, there were stacks of reprints at Trinity Methodist in Ruston, and anyone could get one, and I did, standing way in the back behind all those people there to honor Rolly.

Don’t stir manure … Make every day a master-peace … Are you fun to live with? … Eat dessert first …

I never got to eat with Rolly. Never rode around in the car with him. I think we suggested it a time or two…

He read by stuff for years, and I listened to his sermons, and we saw each other here and there and exchanged many letters and books and he was just a joy. He was a man disinclined to condemn the world for all its injustices, although he understood better than most the dangerous pickle, we were in. Instead, he chose to walk with grace, to make sure grace happened whenever it might be his turn to get in the starting blocks.

Rolly was like a good medicine, a homespun cure. His whole secret, which he never tried to hide, was simplicity. His life was Poe’s purloined letter, left in plain view if we’d only take the time to look.

The jug is always full … Don’t keep score … Shalom.

When Grace and Mercy breathed, they sure did look a lot like my old friend.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu and Twitter @MamaLuvsManning

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Join us for the Mardi Gras Futurity and Louisiana Downs Futurity at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, March 25, 2023

Three scholarships will be awarded through a LIVE drawing in the Louisiana Downs winner’s circle on Saturday, March 25th, immediately following the 4th race.

Applicants must register in person beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2023.

Registration will close promptly after the third race.

ENTRANTS MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN

• For more information on the scholarship eligibility or the rules, please see the attached flyer or visit LQHBA.COM

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By Brad Dison

The residents of Washington Township’s Fourth Precinct in Ames, Iowa were unenthused about the upcoming 1972 presidential election.  The Democratic Party’s nominee was Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against the incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon.  The residents of the Fourth Precinct cared nothing for the campaign promises of either candidate.  In fact, because of a new redistricting plan, the residents of the Fourth Precinct showed no emotion at all about the upcoming election. 

In the spring of 1971, the Iowa Supreme Court drew up new legislative districts in an effort to produce House and Senate districts of equal size.  Iowa state law required all precincts to be of nearly equal population but the precincts could not cross legislative lines.  The law about legislative lines took precedent over the population provision.  In not so simple terms, a precinct had to be wholly contained within a legislative district.  No part of the precinct could extend into another legislative district.  As the Des Moines Tribune explained, “the precinct is bordered on the north by a legislative line, and on the other three sides by the City of Ames to which it cannot legally be attached for voting purposes.”  Therefore, the new redistricting plan created the Fourth Precinct.

On election day, Nixon won in a massive landslide and received nearly 18 million more votes than McGovern, the widest margin in presidential history, and all without the help of the Fourth Precinct.  Not a single resident of the Fourth Precinct visited the polls on election day.  Not one.  None of the residents of the Fourth Precinct gave an opinion on the presidential election before or after the election.  You see, due to the quirk in the Ohio State Legislature’s new redistricting plan, there was only a single building in the Fourth Precinct, a facility known as the Experimental Animal Production Area.  All of the residents of the Fourth Precinct were pigs.

 Sources:

1.      Des Moines Tribune, November 2, 1972, p.1.

2.     Sioux City Journal, November 3, 1972, p.15.

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LDWF’s Fishing Course Series program (FCS) announces several upcoming courses over the next few months, including the  new Beginner Bass Fishing course. These free courses will provide new and experienced anglers with useful information and skills to help improve their fishing trips. Since space is limited, you can register to secure your spot.

Each 2-hour class will be open to all ages and limited to ten participants. The course curriculum will be fast-paced and geared towards educating adults in order for them to guide children during the fishing portion of the program. Equipment is provided, but participants are also encouraged to bring their own gear. All in attendance will take home a package of informative material, starter tackle, and gear courtesy of Cabela’s, Magic Bait, and Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana. Anglers 18 & older must possess a valid recreational fishing license to participate, and anglers under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Seven different courses will be offered at sites across the state:

• 3/24 Beginner Bass Fishing @City Park in New Orleans
• 3/29 Intro to Fishing @Forts Randolph and Buhlow State Historic Site  in Pineville
• 4/3 Intro to Fishing @Cypress Bend Park in Many
• 4/4 Beginner Bass Fishing @Cypress Bend Park in Many
• 4/15 Beginner Bass Fishing @Waddill Wildlife Refuge in Baton Rouge
• 5/6 Beginner Catfishing @Bayou Country Sports Park in Houma
• 5/9 Intro to Fishing @Bayou Country Sports Park in Houma

To register for one of the FCS courses, visit www.louisianaoutdoors.com/events and select the event type “Fishing Ed” to see all available FCS courses. If you need assistance registering, please contact outreach@wlf.la.gov or call Joshua Porter (225) 763-3540. For more information on the Fishing Course Series program, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/fishing-workshops.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit them at www.wlf.la.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb or follow them on Twitter @LDWF.

The Fishing Course Series is hosted in conjunction with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation (LAWFF). The LAWFF was formed to help expand and support LDWF education and research programs with additional resources developed through its own facilities. Encouraging support for LDWF programs is the major focus of the Foundation, accomplished by connecting people and businesses with Louisiana’s natural resources. For more information, visit www.lawff.org.

The Fishing Course Series is funded by the Sport Fish Restoration Fund, a USFWS grant program that provides grant funds to the states, the District of Columbia and insular areas fish and wildlife agencies for fishery projects, boating access and aquatic education. 

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The Food Bank of Central Louisiana is holding a food drive where all donations will be distributed to Sabine Parish residents. Donations can be dropped off at the Sabine Parish Library in Many. Food pantry distribution times and locations are as followed:

• March 23: Pleasant Hill, First Baptist Church, 8am-10am.
• March 23: Zwolle Fiesta Grounds, 11:30am-1:30pm.
• April 7: Many, Life Church 9am-11am.

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During the early Fall I felt the need to add a couple of pieces of clothing to my very tired wardrobe. Having to wear clothes to work everyday, as most humans do, truly gets tricky after a while. You feel like you wear the same thing every day. Sometimes I will find a favorite piece of clothing and wear it so much that it fades, loses its original color or even goes out of style. Sometimes I feel like my clothes have no personality or life left in them so I have to pep it up.

On a particular trip to the store I found a pair of hot pink pants. I immediately felt a soul connection with these pants. They were bright, soft, affordable and came in my size. It was a win on all fronts. As I approached the cash register I silently wondered if the pants were in season. I could tell that they were new to the shelves, they were well stocked, it was early fall…so surely this pants were in season and meant to be purchased.

Just as I was checking out I noticed the tag on the pants read “Season-Less”. The clothing tag read my mind, it knew that I had trepidations. Then I considered the color. What would I wear with it? I quickly scanned my closet mentally and found a black turtle neck, long sleeve navy t-shirt and possibly a denim jacket…if I didn’t sell it or donate it. Dress it up with some bobbles and I would be in business.

Even though I had made all of this peace with my purchase, as soon as I walked in the house my youngest daughter scolded me.

“Who wears hot pink pants in the winter?” Why would you think you can wear summer pants when winter season is coming?”

I immediately began defending my decision by showing her the tag that clearly stated that they were season-less pants. I sarcastically explained what that meant but she wasn’t picking up what I was putting down. Soon after the drama over my pants faded away I began to wear them. Everywhere I went I received compliments over my pink pants. As soon as I would receive a compliment I felt compelled to share the fact that… “they were season less pants”…..

Many people have moved past the age old fashion standards of only wearing certain colors at certain times of the year. Season less or not, they were strict rules about color choices.

I used to say that fall and winter were my favorites seasons but the older I get I realize that I truly love every change of season that comes our way. As the winter barren branches begin to take on their light shade of green and the flower buds start to form, it is a reminder that a new season is coming.

Our lives are full of seasons. These seasons have nothing to do with the weather outside or the clothes on our backs. It encompasses all that God has done for us over time. He allows us to be parents and those children quickly grow up, move away and start lives of their own. He blesses us with friends who may outgrow you in one season of life so God moves them aside and sends different people your way . God blesses us with a season where we have both parents alive and healthy, sometimes those seasons are not long enough. God blesses us with a village or community that can change at the drop of a hat. We have seasons of life where we are very comfortable and content, then another season may be full of movement and constant changes.

Just as seasons change, so do our lives. If we stay close to our Savior we will always be prepared for the next stages of life. There is unfailing peace that surpasses all understanding to be found when we are grateful, and keep Christ as our center in every season, and every circumstance, we never know where the next season will find us.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens….” Ecclesiastes 3:1

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The state of Louisiana has launched a new digital platform to connect entrepreneurs and small business owners with resources to help them start and grow their businesses.
 
Louisiana Business Hub brings order to the often chaotic search for information, networking and resources that are the lifeblood of every small business. Visitors to the site gain access to a searchable database of resource providers around the state offering a wide range of services from business planning, entrepreneurial training and business counseling to sales and marketing, human resources and more.
 
Louisiana Economic Development will manage the website, which also feature a statewide events calendar containing information about conferences, webinars and other events of interest to entrepreneurs at every stage of small business ownership.
 
“LED is proud to champion this statewide network that will help Louisiana entrepreneurs access the resources that they need to build and grow their small businesses,” LED Secretary Don Pierson said. “Louisiana is home to thousands of small businesses that are the heart and soul of our state’s economy. LED, with the support and collaboration of our local and regional partners, strives to provide founders with the tools and resources their businesses need to reach their full potential. This new platform can empower them to take the next step, whether it’s applying for a loan or preparing to expand into new markets.”
 
Louisiana Business Hub is organized regionally, with separate landing pages for each of the eight economic regions in the state, with a lead organization for each region. The Northeast, Northwest, and Capital regions will be the first regions fully populated with resources.

Launch Network, led by the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program in Shreveport, is supporting efforts in the Northeast and Northwest regions. OneSource, led by Nexus LA in Baton Rouge, will drive efforts in the Capital region. Lafayette Economic Development Authority and One Acadiana are working with LED to fully launch the Acadiana region later in the year. LED will collaborate with other lead organizations for future launches in the Bayou, Central, Southeast and Southwest regions.
 
“The Louisiana Business Hub will be the support network our business community has been waiting for, and this is just the beginning,” Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program Executive Director Dave Smith said. “If you are a non-profit organization that provides a service to a business at any stage in their journey, you should join our movement.”
 
Louisiana Business Hub is built on the SourceLink platform, a nationally recognized program specializing in online community tools. Since inception, SourceLink has assisted almost 200 entrepreneurship and community development initiatives define and reach their unique goals for success.
 
“This collaboration signifies a new era of entrepreneurship in Greater Baton Rouge and we are excited to be one of the first regional hubs to offer this service,” said Na’Tisha Natt, Nexus LA director of marketing and engagement. “OneSource will make it much easier for entrepreneurs to identify and take advantage of the tools, information and resources they need to start and scale their businesses.”

About LED
Louisiana Economic Development is responsible for strengthening the state’s business environment and creating a more vibrant economy. It is the only state agency in the U.S. accredited by the International Economic Development Council, boasting award-winning programs like LED FastStart, rated the No. 1 customized workforce training program in the U.S. 13 years in a row. In 2022, LED attracted 53 new economic development projects representing 18,137 new direct, indirect and retained jobs and $20.7 billion in new capital investment. Explore how LED cultivates jobs and economic opportunity for the people of Louisiana and employers of all sizes at OpportunityLouisiana.com.

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Because people ask ….

Sixteen years ago, a young man had an idea for an outdoors program. At the time, he was doing Natchitoches Central football as color analyst with Chris Boyd, who did the play-by-play. Chris was an outstanding sports broadcaster and a great mentor to this young man, who learned a lot under his tutelage.

During this time, NCHS football was not successful and, on this night, they were at West Monroe (Louisiana’s top high school football program those days). It was 42-0 at the half, and during a commercial break the young man pitched his outdoors show idea to Chris, who thought it was a great idea and encouraged him to pursue it.

After getting a full endorsement from Chris, the enthusiastic young man decided to move forward. Several people tried to discourage him and said it would never work. Their point was, no one wants to listen to hunting and fishing. But he disagreed and asked himself, ‘What do people in our region like to do?’ The answer: they hunt and fish!

Bound and determined to make this work, he immediately started reaching out to businesses that he felt would benefit from such a program. Any business related to the hunting or fishing world was on his radar, and in most cases, there was a personal connection.

One reason the young man believed he could make such a program work was due to the great list of contacts he had related to the bass fishing world, both from a business standpoint and personal relationships he had with professional anglers. He made these connections due to the level of tournament fishing he was competing on in the FLW Tour and B.A.S.S. Opens.

Formatting a show would be the easy part. Gaining sponsors would be more difficult since only a handful of people had tried producing this type of program. A few had tried, but all had failed.    

Two weeks later the Hook’N Up & Track’N Down Show was born in February 2007. With sponsors on board and an broadcast agreement reached, the HUTD Show was now a go. That’s right, the young outdoorsman with dreams of a good outdoors show was yours truly.

Over the course of sixteen years, the show as gained a national following. We’ve interviewed the greatest names in the bass fishing world — Kevin Van Dam, Skeet Reese, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Ray Scott, Mark Zona, and Rick Clunn, to name a few. By having the top professional anglers in the country appear, the HUTD Show obtained instant credibility. 

Today, the Hook’N Up & Track’N Down Show continues to set the bar for great outdoors entertainment as we talk hunting and fishing on a weekly basis. But the success of the program would not have been possible without two other guys — my co-hosts, radio legend Gary McCoy and H&W Team Trail Tournament Director and duck hunting guide Mike Echols.

They say successful people surround themselves with people better than themselves. This is definitely true in my case, as these two guys brought not only a wealth of knowledge of the outdoors but offered great personalities as well. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed going down the path of the HUTD Show and how the program got started. You can catch the program on our web site: www.hutdshow.com. It’s proof that if you believe in something strong enough, you can make it happen.

Until next time, good luck, good fishing and don’t forget your sunscreen!

Contact Steve at sgraf26@gmail.com

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An anonymous donor contributed $100,000 to the Northwestern State University Foundation to create a scholarship honoring a former business professor and his wife.  

The H.N. and Inez C. Towry Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a female undergraduate in the amount of $5,000 per year for four years through graduation.  The student must maintain a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and seek a degree in business or education.  

Towry was a much-loved professor in NSU’s School of Business.  A native of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corp right after Pearl Harbor and served in the Pacific Theatre. Soon after returning from the war, he moved his young family to Louisiana, where they remained for 50 years as he served on NSU’s faculty. The Towrys were very active in the First Presbyterian Church in Natchitoches. Mr. Towry spent the last years of his life in Atlanta, Georgia, and passed away on Nov. 24, 2022, days before a 100^th birthday celebration was planned in his honor. He was predeceased by his wife Inez and nine siblings.  

Drake Owens, executive director of the NSU Foundation, said he was contacted by the anonymous donor who wished to honor the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Towry and asked him to develop the scholarship for an undergraduate in business or education, with preference for a female student. The donor requested that the family to be involved in developing criteria for the scholarship,  

“I can’t tell you how much this means to Northwestern State University, having a scholarship of this size, especially in business and education, two areas that we are very proud of,” Owens said.  

Several members of the Towry family visited NSU for the scholarship announcement March 16.  

“We have a lot of really special memories of growing up in Natchitoches,” said daughter Debra Towry, a 1972 NSU graduate. “All of us have memories of being together at home with Mom and Dad.”   

Debra said her mother, who was also an educator, was a character and a powerful personality.   

“We have a very strong connection to Northwestern,” she said. “We graduated from Natchitoches Elementary on the Northwestern campus, with our daddy teaching here. There are a lot of strong positive memories.”  

Daughter Kristy Towry Lee, a 1981 NSU graduate, said NSU feels like home.

“We all went to Warren Easton.  Daddy’s office was in Caldwell Hall, which burned down.  This was our playground.  We would go at Christmastime to the Student Union where they would paint all the windows.  I lived in Varnado when it was coed in the 80s.  Our daddy is so connected to this place,” Lee said. “This scholarship couldn’t be more meaningful to us as a way for us to reconnect to our childhood, our family and Northwestern as our home.”   

“It’s nice to know that Mama and Daddy will be remembered forever,” said daughter Carolyn Towry Mayeaux, a 1972 graduate of NSU.   

“Listening to these stories drives home the impact that Northwestern has had on so many lives,” said NSU President Dr. Marcus Jones. “We are grateful to the donor who generously provided this scholarship and that the Towry family was able to share their memories of Northwestern.”  

Pictured: The family of H.N. and Inez Towry visited Northwestern State for the announcement of a scholarship in their parents’ names, funded by an anonymous donor. From left are Stacy Fontenot, Jerry Mayeaux, Carolyn Mayeaux, Antonio Carletti, Debra Towry holding a picture of her parents, Kristy Towry Lee and Cameron Lee. 

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Spring is in the air!, and so is love and so is pollen — in the air, in your hair, your eyes, your nose, on your car.

You take the bad with the good when the payoff is spring.

Before we meet again it’ll be Officially Spring, so says The 2023 Old Farmer’s Almanac. Monday at 4:24 p.m. (Saw that on Facebook too, so it must be true, right?)

That moment in time marks the spring equinox, which I have never had the patience to study enough to see what it really means in terms of the Earth’s tilt and what not and this and that and to and fro.

I do know “equinox” comes from two Latin words that mean “equal” and “night.” The day and night are basically the same length. And after that, our hemisphere starts tilting toward the sun which means the days are longer and it’s about to get hot up in here.

But you don’t need an almanac to tell you spring is coming. You hear a ball pop into a mitt or you start filling out your NCAA March Madness bracket, and you know what’s up.

Or, you just look outside, through the yellow pollen mist, and there’s springtime, waving back.

A month ago, a warmish February morning, six robins and two cardinals were in the backyard, scouting. They’ve been there since.

The willows are greening, bulbs shooting and blooming. Little pictures of springtime.

Like me, you’ve probably already mowed once, which is mainly mowing clover, and leaving a little of that for the bees since they don’t have much else to enjoy right now. My yard looks like a drunk person mowed it. With thinning shears.

Speaking of lame brain, it was three years ago this week that the world shut down, semi-thwarting the man-made things that complement spring. It was 2020 and Friday the 13^th (which was Monday of this week) when college basketball tournaments and then baseball games were cancelled, and then Monday the 16^th (tomorrow, Thursday, is the 16^th) is when schools quit and all sports quit and Weird Spring started.  

(Somebody messed up!)

Thank goodness THAT’s over. At least I think it is …

And, speaking of loopy, those birds in the back yard might have had one too many, and I’ll tell you why.

There is a window-sized mirror along the fence, placed there before we moved in, I suppose for decoration. It’s confused at least one of the robins. She keeps flying into its reflection of grass and water and leaves, landing at its bottom, and trying again. Dozens of times. Flying into the mirror.

It happens almost every day, and maybe it’s the same robin and maybe they are all giving it a whirl, trying to figure it out, trying to fly right into springtime.

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu or Twitter @MamaLuvsManning

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Sabine Medical Center has entered a collaborative partnership with Vantage Health Plan. For more information contact Cortney Vinson at 318-439-0277 or email cortney.vinson@ahmgt.com OR Lacey Malmay at 318-947-0021 or email laceym@sabinemedicalcenter.net. If you are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you will be allowed to make this one time change by the enrollment date deadline March 31, 2023.

To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE

To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE

Join us for the Mardi Gras Futurity and Louisiana Downs Futurity at Louisiana Downs on Saturday, March 25, 2023

Three scholarships will be awarded through a LIVE drawing in the Louisiana Downs winner’s circle on Saturday, March 25th, immediately following the 4th race.

Applicants must register in person beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2023.

Registration will close promptly after the third race.

ENTRANTS MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN

• For more information on the scholarship eligibility or the rules, please see the attached flyer or visit LQHBA.COM

To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE

COMPLIMENTS OF ROSE-NEATH FUNERAL HOME – MANY, LOUISIANA

SABINE PARISH SOFTBALL SCORES

Monday, March 6, 2023

Converse – 15 (6-2)

Hicks – 4 (5-2)

Florien – 3 (6-3)

Minden – 1 (5-5)

Negreet – 18 (7-2)

Lakeview – 1 (0-1)

Negreet – 19 (8-2)

Lakeview – 2 (0-2)

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Converse – 8 (7-2)

Hornbeck – 3 (1-4)

Evans – 15 (3-4) (1-0)

Ebarb – 0 (0-2) (0-1)

Simpson – 22 (1-5) (1-0)

Pleasant Hill – 2 (0-5) (0-1)

Logansport – 6 (11-2)

Zwolle – 3 (6-2)

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Converse – 11 (8-2)

Loyola Prep – 2 (4-6)

Simpson – 19 (2-5) (2-0)

Ebarb – 12 (0-3) (0-2)

Florien – 3 (7-3)

Pitkin – 0 (9-3)

Logansport – 8 (13-2)

Negreet – 5 (8-3)

Hornbeck – 16 (2-4) (1-0)

Pleasant Hill – 2 (0-6) (0-2)

CONVERSE HIGH SCHOOL TOURNAMENT

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Converse – 20 (9-2)

C E Bryd – 10 (0-12)

Converse – 7 (10-2)

Captain Shreve – 2 (7-3)

Negreet – 23 (9-3)

Ebarb – 3 (0-4)

Negreet – 16 (10-3)

C E Bryd – 1 (0-13)

Zwolle – 6 (7-2)

Hornbeck – 0 (2-5)

Haughton – 8 (5-6)

Zwolle – 6 (7-3)

OUACHITA PARISH HIGH SCHOOL TOURNAMENT

Friday, March 10, 2023

Many – 13 (7-6)

Mangham – 0 (5-7)

Florien – 8 (8-3)

Ouachita Christian – 0 (8-6)

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Sterlington – 12 (15-2)

Many – 4 (7-7)

Many – 4 (8-7)

Neville – 1 (7-6)

Florien – 7 (9-3)

Ouachita Parish – 1 (5-11)

Claiborne Christian – 14 (11-3)

Florien – 6 (9-4)

SOFTALL DISTRICT STANDINGS
DISTRICT 3 – 2A
District – Overall
Mansfield 1-0 4-3
Red River 1-0 3-5
Many 0-0 8-7
Winnfield 0-0 6-6
Jonesboro-Hodge 0-1 2-6
Lakeview 0-1 0-6

DISTRICT 3 – B
District – Overall
Converse 0-0 10-2
Negreet 0-0 10-3
Florien 0-0 9-4
Zwolle 0-0 7-3
Stanley 0-0 5-9

DISTRICT 3 – C

District – Overall
Evans 1-0 3-4
Simpson 2-0 2-5
Hornbeck 1-0 2-6
Ebarb 0-2 0-5
Pleasant Hill 0-2 0-6

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL POWER RATINGS – 3-13-2023

DIVISION III

Overall
District

# School Power Wins Losses Wins Losses Ranking

12 MANY 20 8 7 0 0

DIVISION V

3 CONVERSE 25.25 10 2 0 0
4 FLORIEN 25.25 9 4 0 0
10 ZWOLLE 22.2 7 3 0 0
14 NEGREET 21.07 10 3 0 0
37 EBARB 11 0 5 0 2
39 PLEASANT HILL 7.66 0 6 0 2

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