BOM is a GOLD sponsor of the Barnes Academy Cutters 9u baseball team. Pictured from left are
Karter Lumpkin, Harper Procell, Marshal Lambright, Justin Harris, Fynn Falgrast, and Miles McFerrin. Top row left to right: BOM’s Chasity Adcock, Jace Jones, Dax Lacaze, Coach Dylan Duplechain, Abel Lavespere, Austin Hess, and Landon Sylvia.

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There will be a regularly scheduled meeting of the Natchitoches Parish Council on Monday, September 20, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. – Tonight

You may LISTEN here:

https://www.facebook.com/NPJNatLa

The meeting will be held via teleconference.

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Northwestern State University will hold its Fall Graduate Career Fair Tuesday, September 28 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Friedman Student Union Ballroom.

Students attending must dress professionally and bring a resume to meet with employers.

NSU students wishing to sign up can go to CLICK HERE

Employers can go to CLICK HERE 

Employers attending include AMERISAFE, BOM, Cleco Corporate Holdings, LLC, Edko LLC, Fastenal Company – Branch, Franciscan Missionaries of our Lady University, HCA – 63655, Heart of Hospice, KTBS-TV, the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana Department of Corrections, Louisiana Legislative Auditor, LSU Law Center, Louisiana United Methodist Children and Family Services, Inc. Marine Corps Officer Program Baton Rouge, Mississippi College School of Law, Natchitoches Regional Medical Center, Network of International Christian Schools, Nicholls State University Graduate Studies, Northwestern State’s Gallaspy College of Education and Human Development and Graduate School, Ochsner LSU Health, Pinecrest Support and Services Center, Primary Health Services Center, RoyOMartin, Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Southern University Law Center, St. Landry Parish School Board, The Orchard Foundation – CLIP and Waskom Brown and Associates.

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CITY OF NATCHITOCHES JOB OPPORTUNITY: RECORDS CLERK

POSITION: Records Clerk – Part Time – Police Department

DESCRIPTION: Performs routine clerical tasks such as maintaining records, answering telephones, places records in files and retrieves them as needed, receives and prepares reports, gathers data from file records and prepares reports for the Chief, Department Officers and other assignments as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS: High School or GED

CONTACT: City of Natchitoches, Human Resources Department located at 1400 Sabine St. or P.O. Box 37, Natchitoches, LA 71458-0037. Application may also be picked up upstairs at City Hall located at 700 Second St. or downloaded online at www.natchitochsla.gov

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Applications will be accepted through: October 4, 2021

 

THE CITY OF NATCHITOCHES IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

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Going on a road trip? Have slow or no internet access at home? Are you getting close to that looming data cap? The Natchitoches Parish Library (NPL) now offers 7-Day checkout for its Wifi2Go service. With WiFi2Go, NPL cardholders can check out a portable WiFi hotspot for no cost. This will provide unlimited high-speed internet access through a cellular data connection from either Verizon or Sprint/T-mobile. If you have a signal from those providers in any location, you can access the internet using the hotspots. Up to 10 devices can be connected to a hotspot at a time for internet access.

While many people might have internet access at home, this is not always the case, especially in rural areas of the parish. Libraries are evolving to meet the needs of the communities they serve, and elected officials, small business owners, students, and the public at large depend upon libraries and the resources they offer to address the needs of their communities. By providing a resource like WiFi2Go, the NPL is providing access to knowledge and connecting its community.

“This is just one more way the library provides equal access to members of our community,” said Alan Niette, NPL Community Outreach Coordinator. “As with all library services, we want to provide tools for our patrons to succeed and compete in the connected world we live in.”

For more information on getting a library card, you may visit either library branch location or call 318-357-3280.

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BOM is proud to sponsor the Boys and Girls Club of America. Their vision is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

Pictured from left are Blaise LaCour, BOM Community Development Director, Claire Mayeaux, BOM HR Assistant, Katrice Below, BOM Lender and VP, Scott Maggio, BOM Marketing, Van Erikson, Boys and Girls Club Co-Chair, Carrie Hough, BOM Marketing Director and Senior VP, Rhyan Wheeler, Boys and Girls Club of Acadian President and CEO, Fawn Hernandez, Boys and Girls Club VP of Operations and Laura Lyles, Boys and Girls Club Co-Chair, Sabrina Liles, BOM Operations, Micah Murchison, BOM Marketing Assistant.

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Northwestern State Associate Professor of Piano Dr. Francis Yang will perform with the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall.

Tickets are $15 per concert and free for Northwestern State, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students. Memberships to the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Society start at $50 with higher sponsorship levels providing additional benefits. For more information on memberships, contact Symphony Society President Loren Ford at lorenford56@gmail.com.

Yang will perform Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A minor.” Yang has performed in cities such as Paris, Montreal, Vancouver, Quito and Montevideo at events such as the 37th International Festival Encuentros in Buenos Aires, the Wandsworth Arts Festival in London, a lecture recital at the Royal Academy of Music and the VIII Bienal of Contemporary Music in Cuenca, Ecuador. He has played with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca and the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony.

Yang has given master classes in Ecuador, Argentina, Singapore, China, Canada and throughout the U.S. He has been invited to serve as adjudicator for competitions both nationally and internationally, including the Ars Nova International Piano Competition (Singapore), the Seattle International Piano Competition and as preliminary juror for the Louisiana International Piano Competition.

Prior to his appointment at NSU, Yang served for four years as professor and director of piano studies at the Universidad de Cuenca, in Cuenca, Ecuador. Yang also taught at the Université de Montréal, the University of Ottawa and the University of Alberta as adjunct professor and teaching assistant. Yang received his doctorate from the Université de Montréal, his master’s from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan, and studied with pianists Stephane Lemelin, Richard Angeletti, Sequeira Costa, Robert Rogers and John Bloomfield.

Also on the program are Haydn’s overture to his opera, “L’Isola Disabitata” (Deserted Island), Eric Whitacre’s “October,” and Telemann’s “Don Quixote Suite.”

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The Natchitoches Parish School Board began a hurricane relief drive on Sept. 6 to help the communities in Southeast Louisiana that were affected by Hurricane Ida. All supplies collected during the drive were donated to St. Charles Parish Public Schools.

International Paper in Campti donated a pallet and a half of water toward NPSB’s donation efforts. In addition to International Paper’s generous donation, NPSB also collected cleaning supplies, clothes, non-perishable food items, etc. during their Hurricane Ida Relief Drive.

The NPSB Technology team traveled to the St. Charles Parish School Board in Luling on Sept. 16 to drop off the donations. SCPSB officials will be traveling to each school in St. Charles Parish to hand out supplies to their community.

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NATCHITOCHES:
James “J.C” Coutee, Sr.
March 12, 1962 – September 16, 2021
Service: Wednesday, September 22 at 2 pm at Bay Springs Baptist Church

Cyldia B. Groce
September 17, 2021
Arrangements TBA

Cheryl Ann Jeter Choate
March 08, 1953 – September 15, 2021
Service: Monday, September 20 at 6 pm in the chapel of Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home

John Jackson Sr.
September 15, 2021
Arrangements TBA

Ricky Lane Carpenter
May 27, 1961 – September 14, 2021
Service: Saturday, September 25 at 11 am at Fern Park Cemetery in Natchitoches

Gloria Shields
September 12, 2021
Arrangements TBA

Felenn Sowell
September 08, 2021
Arrangements TBA

Minnie Johnson
September 04, 2021
Arrangements TBA

SABINE:
James Rickey Hebert
May 20, 1963 – September 12, 2021
Service: Saturday, September 25 at 10 am at Spring Ridge Baptist Church

Wendolyn Faye Berry
March 17, 1959 – September 16, 2021
Service: Monday, September 20 at 2 pm at St. John The Baptist Catholic Church

Linda Dianne Laroux
May 14, 1958 – September 15, 2021
Service: Monday, September 20 at 10 am at Warren Meadows Funeral Home in Zwolle

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One thing the Northwestern State football team did not lack for Saturday night was scoring opportunities.

Converting those chances was a little more difficult.

The Demons went 1-for-6 in the red zone against UT Martin in Northwestern State’s home opener at Turpin Stadium, falling 35-10 to the visiting Skyhawks.

“When you look at this game, you go back to the first half,” fourth-year head coach Brad Laird said. “The opportunities we had, four times plus-30 or in and not getting any points out of it. Fast forward to the second half, a great drive and a great call on fourth down for the touchdown to Jay (Griffin). Then get the ball back, driving down and have the turnover at the goal line.

“We got the momentum, but we weren’t able to sustain it.”

Toward the end of a first half in which UT Martin (2-1) built a 21-0 lead, the Demons (0-3) began to capture some of that momentum.

Eddie Godina’s 27-yard field goal at the first-half buzzer capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive to get the Demons on the board at 21-3.

For the second straight week, Northwestern State took the second-half kickoff and drove down the field. Unlike a week ago at Alcorn, the Demons completed the drive as Kaleb Fletcher found Jay Griffin in the along the far sideline for a 21-yard touchdown on fourth and 9.

“I’m happy we got the offense moving more than in the first two weeks, but there are obviously things we have to get cleaned up during the off week,” said Griffin, who finished with five catches for 33 yards. “Fixing our mental mistakes and not hurting ourselves in the red zone – that’s what we’ve done.”

The Skyhawks jumped to a 14-0 lead after a first quarter in which UT Martin racked up 229 yards offense. A strip sack by Isaiah Longino and ensuing fumble recovery by Jared Pedraza – one of two on the night for the linebacker – kept the Skyhawks from going 3-for-3 on scoring drives in the opening quarter.

The Purple Swarm defense again settled down across the next 40 minutes of game play, holding the Skyhawks to 62 yards in the second and third quarters.

“After we felt out the offensive line on a couple of plays, we started sitting in our gaps and making adjustments where they were needed,” said defensive end John Daigle, who led NSU with a career-high eight tackles. “Consistency is key with us. It’s not every single play we weren’t consistent, but when it counted, we weren’t. To win a game, you have to be consistent every play.”

The Demons ran for 174 yards against a UT Martin defense that surrendered and average of 73 years per game on the ground and posted a season-high 423 yards. Fletcher led NSU with a career-high 71 rushing yards while going 28-of-47 through the air for 249 yards.

NSU, however, was undone by its inability to finish drives.

Northwestern State had a field goal blocked and missed another in the red zone before Godina connected on the field goal at the end of the first half. Twice in the second half, the Demons were unsuccessful on fourth-down red-zone attempts.

The costliest red-zone miscue came on the possession after Fletcher hit Griffin for the touchdown.

The Purple Swarm held UT Martin to a three-and-out, forcing a punt and giving the Demons the ball at their 25.

On the 11th play of the drive, John Ford picked off Fletcher at the 1-yard line and raced 65 yards back to the Demon 33-yard line. Six plays later, Zak Wallace’s 5-yard touchdown run re-established UT Martin’s three-score advantage at 28-10.

“The opportunities early to get points on the board after putting together drives and the turnovers – whether it’s a turnover on downs or the turnover at the goal line – that’s four opportunities for points,” Laird said. “If you don’t take advantage of those opportunities in terms of getting points, that’s something I talked about. We have two weeks, beginning with this open date, and it’s going to be important, starting with me, to look in the mirror as coaches and players. What do we need to do moving forward, because as we kick off two weeks from today, we’re 0-0 (in conference play).”

After its open date, the Demons host Incarnate Word in NSU’s Southland Conference opener on Oct. 2.

Photo: Chris Reich/NSU Photographic Services

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The “Bishop’s Bowl” trophy will spend the next year in East Natchitoches thanks to a stellar second-half performance Friday night by the St. Mary’s Tigers football team.

On the road at Holy Savior Menard in Alexandria, the Tigers roared with the game on the line. Their defense shut down the Eagles in the final two periods while the offense ran off 17 unanswered points as SMHS secured a 31-17 triumph.

Menard won the physical battle in the first half, and broke a 14-all tie two seconds before halftime with a 37-yard field goal.

But it was only a field goal. The Tigers’ defense answered the challenge when the Eagles partially blocked a punt and took over at the St. Mary’s 19. Menard was unable to get near the end zone, and although the Eagles took the lead, the Tigers began to take control.

Defensive coordinator Steven Wren added some new wrinkles at intermission that caused problems for Menard, and the Tigers turned the tables on their hosts up front.

“We made some adjustments at halftime and our kids played lights out in the second half. We just physically wore them out in the fourth quarter,” said St. Mary’s coach Aaron York. “The kids battled, and played hard. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

An unsung and unlikely hero: backup left offensive tackle Ethan McGuffey.

“We lost our starter to an injury, and Ethan had never really played football before,” said York. “He went out and looked like he belonged. We didn’t struggle. We ran it right down their throats. That’s the kind of fight these kids have.”

Menard’s potent offense was stymied. The Eagles managed only 132 total yards, 73 rushing, 59 passing.

The Tigers’ defense was spearheaded by Mixon Bankston (three tackles and an interception), Ben Bienvenu (six tackles), Ethan Busby (4.5 stops), Payne Williams (five tackles) and Drake Griffin (four stops, and a key fumble recovery).

Williams tied the game midway through the third period on a 39-yard field goal.

Meanwhile, St. Mary’s passing attack clicked, and it opened room for the running game to flourish. Junior quarterback Adam Parker went 21 of 33 for 235 yards, throwing an opening 30-yard scoring strike to Bienvenu and clinching the outcome with 4:11 remaining on a 27-yard TD scamper. Parker led SMHS with 66 rushing yards on 10 tries.

“We finally got the game I knew Adam could produce. He played very well, and we ran the ball fairly well,” said York. “Drake Griffin was tough to tackle in the fourth quarter, especially.”

Griffin’s 12-yard touchdown with 6:18 left to play broke the 17-all tie. The fullback notched 61 yards on nine totes as the Tigers ran for 144 of their 379 total yards.

Fidelak snagged seven passes for 81 yards, and ran four yards to score for an early 14-7 Tiger lead. Bienvenu notched 57 yards receiving and Ethan Busby had 49, both on five catches.

Rekindling the St. Mary’s-Menard rivalry was good for both schools, and enjoyable for the visitors.

“Our kids fed off the great atmosphere. Our fans traveled well and made their presence known,” said York. “It was fun.”

The Tigers rose to 2-1 with their third straight game against an upper-class opponent, with two more to go. Menard dipped to 0-3.

“These first five games are meant to test us, to be difficult, but it’s only going to prepare us well for

district and for the playoffs,” said York.

St. Mary’s goes to Oakdale next Friday, then is home to meet DeQuincy before district play starts.

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Heading into District 1-5A competition next weekend, the Natchitoches Central High School football program is 3-0 for the first time in 25 seasons after Friday night’s wire-to-wire victory over visiting West Ouachita.

The Chiefs got on the scoreboard fast for the second straight game, getting the first of three rushing touchdowns by junior quarterback BJ Young to cap a game-opening 85-yard drive. Young also threw a TD pass, a 76-yard connection to Colby Raupp that made it 34-0 early in the final quarter.

The NCHS defense narrowly missed notching a shutout, with the visitors scoring against the backups with 1:19 remaining.

FINAL SCORE: NCHS 34, West Ouachita 6

RECORDS: NCHS 3-0, West Ouachita 1-2

GAME SITE: Natchitoches (Turpin Stadium)

SCORING PLAYS:

NC – BJ Young 5 run (Sam Maggio kick), 1st quarter, 9:30, 7-0 NCHS – drive 5 plays, 85 yards.

NC – Young 1 run (Maggio kick), 2nd quarter, 6:12, 14-0 NCHS – drive 8 plays, 50 yards

NC – Jeremiah Miles 19 run (Maggio kick), 3rd quarter, 9:22, 21-0 NCHS – drive 1 play, 18 yards

NC – Young 1 run (Maggio kick), 3rd quarter, 1:26, 28-0 NCHS, drive 8 plays, 67 yards

NC – Colby Raupp 76 pass from Young (kick failed), 4th quarter, 9:44, 34-0 NCHS, drive 4 plays, 77 yards

WO – Kohl Nolan 44 run (run failed), 4th quarter, 1:19, 34-6 NCHS, drive 3 plays, 60 yards

KEY STATS: Natchitoches Central outgained West Ouachita 390-181. NCHS rushed for 224 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 166 and a touchdown. The NCHS defense gave up only 157 rushing yards on 33 attempts and 24 passing yards on 10 attempts. Before wholesale substitutions in the fourth quarter, the varsity players only gave up 95 yards rushing and a total of 119 yards. The Chiefs were flagged 11 times for 77 yards.

NCHS senior tailback Caylin Demars didn’t score for the first time this season, but he recorded a third straight 100-yard game, with 130 yards rushing on 10 carries, including a 68-yarder. Jeremiah Miles ran for 57 yards on eight tries and quarterback BJ Young had 44 yards on 10 runs.

NOTES: NCHS is 3-0 for the first time since 1996 as the team heads into district play. The game had a non-traditional aspect as Natchitoches Central wore white at home in conjunction with the “White Out” theme. The Chiefs won in front of one of the largest home crowds on hand in the last several years.

COACH JAMES WILKERSON’S COMMENTS: “I am very proud of our effort and our intensity in the game. Defense played lights out and on offense we were able to implement some new wrinkles. The coaching staff did a great job of having the boys prepared. We are where we wanted to be after three games record-wise, but we have a lot to improve on.”

NEXT UP: The Chiefs will travel to Bossier City to face Airline (0-3) next Friday night to open district play.

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Playing at home Friday night was a new experience for the 2021 Lakeview High School Gators football team.

Unfortunately, the Gators ran into the same troubles they encountered in their opening loss two weeks ago and visiting Rayville pulled away to post a 32-6 non-district victory over LHS.

The Gators (1-2) fell behind early, battled throughout, but faltered frequently when they had good chances to score, said coach Brandon Helms.

“The opening of the game was a microcosm of how it went for us. We got behind the chains with a penalty, that stalled the drive, and we had to punt. They got a long punt return, then we held them on four downs inside the 1 – but got a penalty and they were able convert and score the touchdown on the extra play.”

Lakeview (1-2) moved the ball well enough to win, except when it was close to scoring. The same storyline dogged the Gators in their opening 22-6 loss at Tensas.

“We just once again stalled out in the red zone,” said Helms. “We had four trips in the red zone, no points, because of either a first or second-down penalty, a mishandled exchange whether it was a snap or a handoff. It was just sloppy play that we have to clean up.

“Our kids competed all night. They played hard. I’m proud of them. They’re young, and inexperienced, and having to learn how to play on the fly. We’re limited athletically, which we realize, and we’re short on numbers, so we lack depth. Rayville dressed out 62 last night, and we had half that. We had eight guys playing both ways, and they had none. At the end, they wore us down and kind of stretched it out.”

Rayville (2-1), whose only loss was a first-week COVID forfeit, has now scored 82 points in its two wins.

The Gators have shown they’re capable. They just have to convert.

“We’re capable of winning games like that, despite the disadvantages,” he said. “It’s a matter of learning to be consistent play after play. We got big plays in our win (40-0 last week at Beekman Charter) but haven’t been able to take the ball and drive it into the end zone. We can move it, but we’ve had breakdowns that have kept us from getting on the scoreboard.”

The next chance to cash in comes at home next week against Menard (0-3), a hard-fought 31-17 loser at home to St. Mary’s on Friday night.

“Hopefully we can get over that hump here next Friday night. It’ll be two teams hungry for a win, that’s for sure,” Helms said.

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James “J.C” Coutee, Sr.
March 12, 1962 – September 16, 2021
Visitation:  5 pm on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at Bay Springs Baptist Church.
Services:  2 pm on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at Bay Springs Baptist Church.

Cheryl Ann Jeter Choate
March 08, 1953 – September 15, 2021
Visitation:  4 pm until 6 pm on Monday the 20th at Blanchard-St. Denis.
Service:  6 pm Monday, September 20, 2021 in the chapel of Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home. 

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Natchitoches Central High School
Natchitoches Central  36
West Ouachita  6

St. Mary’s Catholic School
St Mary’s  31
Menard  17

Lakeview High School
Lakeview  6
Rayville  32

Note:   NPJ Detailed High School Coverage Sunday Morning at 6:55am – Join us!

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For fourth-year head coach Brad Laird, there is nothing like running through the purple smoke ahead of a Northwestern State home football game – especially in the fall.

For the first time since November 2019, Laird will lead his alma mater through that wafting smoke in the south end zone of Turpin Stadium for a home fall football game as the Demons wrap up their non-conference slate by hosting UT Martin at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“I don’t know if there’s anything better,” Laird said of running onto the Turpin Stadium turf. “Yes, we played here in the spring, but you have to go back to the fall of 2019 as the last time we had everybody in the stands and everything that goes along with playing at home and is part of the home-field advantage. Our community supports us and our university supports us so well. For our guys to have that opportunity to come out of that locker room and run through the purple smoke is something you look forward to and can’t wait for that opportunity to come Saturday.”

Saturday’s game can be seen on ESPN+ and will be heard on The Demon Sports Network and its flagship station, 94.9 FM The River in Natchitoches. Free streaming audio is available through http://www.NSUDemons.com and the Northwestern State Athletics app, which can be downloaded free for Apple or Android devices.

As the Demons (0-2) prepare for their long-awaited fall Turpin Stadium return, several NSU players will take lessons learned from the six-game spring season with them into the matchup with the visiting Skyhawks (1-1).

Starting rover Keenan Leachman is one of those.

A Baton Rouge native, Leachman’s play in the spring helped the former walk-on earn a scholarship and lock down a spot in the starting lineup. Through two games, Leachman has tallied nine tackles, building off his productive spring season that featured 20 tackles (one for loss), a fumble recovery and a pass breakup in six games.

“In the spring, I felt it click,” Leachman said. “Everything was coming easier. My leadership role increased. My part on the team increased.”

Leachman and the Purple Swarm took a step forward against Alcorn this past Saturday, limiting the Braves to less than three yards per rush attempt (122 yards, 41 attempts) and keeping the Braves from reaching the end zone for nearly 56 minutes.

Still, Leachman and his teammates expect to take another leap against the Skyhawks, who are coming off a 33-27 win against Samford.

“We have to fix the little mistakes – being in the right gap, being on the same page in coverage,” he said. “I feel like that will help us take an even bigger step in Week 3.”

Saturday’s game marks the fourth meeting in the series between the Demons and Skyhawks. The first two came in back-to-back seasons – 1965 and 1966 – before the series resumed in 2019 in Martin, Tennessee.

Although the teams met roughly 25 months ago and the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are numerous Demons who did not appear in that 42-20 UT Martin win in 2019. Even those who did may find themselves in a different role.

“There are some similarities but also some differences, schematically or personnel-wise,” Laird said. “Offensively for them, it’s different from the spring based on their transfer quarterback from Tulane (Keon Howard). They were down 17-0 and had five turnovers (against Samford), and to be able to come back tells you a lot about them. They’re a great team coming to Turpin Stadium, and we look forward to playing them at home. We are different from 2019 just like they are.

“Take Isaiah Longino. At the time, he was running down on the kickoff team and playing linebacker. He tears his ACL in that game. Fast forward to 2021, and he’s changed positions. He’s become a great player and a great leader for us.”

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By Joe Darby

First let me say I’m not a prude. I enjoy a good sexy book or movie and when it comes to that, I’m not really judgmental.

But it seems to me that this society is becoming publicly sexualized like never before.
The glorification of sex is nothing new. The sexual revolution occurred way back in the 1960s, although I think it was a little slower getting established in the South than maybe in other parts of the country, particularly in California, home of the original Hippies and the Free Love Movement.

Pornography has long been readily available to anyone who wants to look at it and one of the things we have to worry about these days is children learning about sex from the Internet, where no limits are set on what can be viewed.

Movies that are available on almost any home TV set often get pretty close to hard core porn. Moves are routinely produced today for public consumption that would have been rated X some years ago.

But what has really raised my eyebrows lately is the display of sexuality by countless numbers of our young “girls next door.” So let me explain why I’m saying that. I’m a big fan of Youtube. You can find almost anything that interests you on Youtube — except hard core porn — from music videos to sports highlights to how to fix a leaky faucet to photos of auto wrecks from the 1920s.

In the last year and a half I’ve really enjoyed re-watching the highlights of LSU’s magnificent 2019 football season, led by the fantastic Joe Burrow, who’s now doing well as quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. I also like to watch certain classical music pieces, videos of classic autos, like my 1939 Chrysler Imperial and footage of antique aircraft in flight, as well as the demonstrations of the capabilities of our latest combat planes.

As you may know, when your video of choice on Youtube ends, Youtube suggests several others for you, not all of them on the topic that you have just chosen to watch. So it was in that circumstance that I first saw promotion of a Tik-Tok video, in which young women make quick clothes changes. So, okay, I was curious and I took a look. Most of the girls started off dressed in very baggy gym clothes and with no makeup on then, boom, were transformed into exotic dancers with extremely provocative clothing, lots of makeup and come hither looks in their heavily shadowed eyes.

There are endless variations on these themes. Most of the videos were obviously shot in the girls’ bedrooms, no doubt when the parents were away or were shot behind a locked bedroom door when mom and dad were downstairs watching TV. But what I find rather disturbing about this whole trend is that these kids, and some of them look pretty young, are putting themselves on display as very sexual beings for every pervert and dirty old man who wants to see them.

I don’t know. Maybe this is really these girls’ lifestyle. But that’s kind of hard for me to believe. God knows what goes on at young people’s parties these days. But at least parties are held in private spaces, where you know most of the people who are there.

But when, let’s say, a 16-year-old girl, who presents herself to the public looking like a high-priced call girl, just may live down the street from a sex offender, trouble is likely to follow. I think there’s a lot of risks in these kids’ behavior that they never really consider. And it’s modern technology and social media that make all of this possible. I often wish we could go back to the technology of, oh, 30 years ago. We got along just fine without having our noses constantly buried in our phones. And God knows what the tech people have coming down the road for us next.

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The Project Leader Workshop for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child was held in Natchitoches for the West Central La team.

The team covers Red River, Sabine, Winn, and Natchitoches Parish. Bill Huggins is the area team community relations coordinator and he encouraged schools, businesses, and organizations to participate and promote packing shoeboxes.

Freida Berry is the area team church relations coordinator for the team. Freida explained the importance of packing shoeboxes and the need to pack “one more box.” Packing of shoeboxes should always begin with prayer. Helen Antilley is the area team’s prayer coordinator. Helen explained how every box should be covered in prayer. Natchitoches Parish was well represented at the workshop with 12 Churches and 4 Community participants.

National Collection Week is November 15-22, 2021.

Brenda Ingram, the logistics coordinator for the team, can be reached at 318-471-9415 and First Baptist has shoeboxes and more resources. It is not too late to pack a shoebox.

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BOM is a proud sponsor of the NSU Purple Pizzazz Pom Line! You can watch these talented dancers this Saturday at Turpin Stadium! In this photo from left to right: BOM’s Samantha Bonnette, Captain Kelsy Elkins, BOM’s Scott Maggio, and Co-Captain Mariah Kador.

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