A NPJ Reader is reporting that the Grand Ecore Bridge in Natchitoches Parish is closed to travel due to ice.   Please be careful if you must travel.    Listen to 94.9 The River for update in your car.

Two presentations were given to Rotary Club of Natchitoches members at the Jan. 22 meeting. The first featured Deputy Garrett Murchison with the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team and Corporal Trent Perritt, Natchitoches Police Department SWAT Team Leader. Rotary Club of Natchitoches is sponsoring Bulletproof the Blue, so the SWAT Team can purchase much-needed updated equipment. The second presentation was about clock-making and clock-cleaning presented by Ron Mayfield. The inner workings of clocks were shown and discussed. Pictured from left are Murchison, Perritt, President-elect Josh Axsom, and Mayfield (Photo by Dr. Ron McBride).

Gateway Brass, the brass ensemble from the United States Air Force Band of the West, will perform at Northwestern State University on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Gateway Brass is a brass quintet with percussion which showcases military professionalism at Department of Defense ceremonies and concerts throughout the Gulf Coast region on behalf of the Air Force. The virtuoso group of active duty airman musicians performs a range of musical styles spanning five decades.

The ensemble is a component of the USAF Band of the West located at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, where Air Education & Training Command conducts basic military training for over 30,000 young men and women each year. Because all enlisted airmen must first pass through JBSA-Lackland, it is known as “The Gateway to the Air Force,” which became the inspiration for the group’s name.

For patients undergoing surgery, having a baby, or needing emergency treatment following a traumatic incident, odds are the hands-on anesthesia care essential to their comfort and safety will be provided by a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). In recognition of the 20th annual National CRNA Week Jan. 20-26, 2019, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and the Louisiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists (LANA) want to let anesthesia patients in on a few lesser known facts about the 53,000 nurse anesthetists who safely deliver more than 45 million anesthetics to patients each year in the United States.

History: Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care to patients in the United States for more than 150 years. The first anesthesia provided by nurses was on the battlefields of the American Civil War. During WWI, nurse anesthetists became the predominant providers of anesthesia care to wounded soldiers on the front lines; today, CRNAs continue to be the primary providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel on front lines, navy ships, and aircraft evacuation teams around the globe.

Access to Care: CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered—traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists; and U.S. military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities. They are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, enabling healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, pain management and trauma stabilization services. In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals.

Anesthesia Safety: According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), anesthesia care is nearly 50 times safer than it was in the early 1980s. Numerous outcomes studies have demonstrated that there is no difference in the quality of care provided by CRNAs and anesthesiologists.

Cost-Efficiency: The cost-efficiency of CRNAs helps control escalating healthcare costs. A landmark 2016 study published in Nursing Economic$ shows that a CRNA working as the sole anesthesia provider is at least 25 percent more cost-effective than any anesthesia delivery model involving an anesthesiologist.

Education: The minimum education and experience required to become a CRNA equals 7-8 ½ years resulting in a master’s or doctoral degree. Graduates of nurse anesthesia educational programs attain an average of 9,369 hours of clinical experience. There are currently 121 accredited nurse anesthesia educational programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. While a minimum of one year of acute-care nursing experience is required to enter a nurse anesthesia educational program, the average amount of experience prior to entry is 2.9 years.

Locally here in Natchitoches, your anesthesia needs are met by a full-time staff of 3 CRNAs who have a combined 45 years of clinical-anesthesia experience. Natchitoches Anesthesia Associates, LLC is the sole anesthesia provider at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center. NRMC has been an all-CRNA facility for over 35 years, back when former Mayor Wayne McCullen was at the helm of the anesthesia group.

The managing partners of NAA are David O’Con, CRNA and Katrina O’Con, CRNA. They along with Paul Errington, CRNA, provide anesthesia coverage 24-hours a day, 365 days a year to surgical and obstetrical patients, and have been doing so for almost 13 years. This CRNA group provides anesthesia for all types of surgery and has developed a state of the art pain management program for acute surgical pain in addition to an enhanced recovery protocol for surgery patients in an attempt to decrease the amounts of opioids patients receive during and after their surgical experience.

NRMC has the distinction of having the only all-CRNA, all-doctorate prepared full-time staff in the state of Louisiana.

For more information about anesthesia, or becoming a CRNA, the public is invited to an information session featuring Dr. Katrina O’Con, CRNA, APRN on Monday, January 18, 2019, at Fournet Hall on the NSU Campus, located at 334 Caspari Street, Room 113 at 4:30 pm.

During the months of November and December, the Natchitoches Parish Library (NPL) offered its “Fine ForGIVING” program for the first time.The NPL waived most types of fines from patron accounts to honor the patrons that gave so much back to the community.Donations of all sorts were accepted for distribution: canned goods, dog and cat food, toys, coats, costumes, and even blood. Donated items were then distributed with partner organizationswithin the parish.

“If you missed this opportunity and have fines on your account, don’t let that stop you from using the library,” says Jessica McGrath, NPL Director. “Lots of our services and all of our programming can still be accessed, and as long as your fines total less than $5, you can still check out materials!”

For more information regarding NPL programming and services, you may contact Alan Niette, Community Outreach Coordinator, at alan@natlib.org or 318-238-9236.

By Joe Darby

Is Natchitoches, in fact, the oldest continual settlement in Louisiana — indeed in all of the Louisiana Purchase, as we have heard for so many years?

Maybe it is. And maybe it isn’t. It probably all depends on how one takes the meaning of “oldest continual settlement.”

This question has arisen because of a new book, “Bayou St. John, 1708-2018: Gateway to New Orleans,” by the late Mary Louise Christovich and others, produced by the Louisiana Landmarks Society and published by the UL Press at ULL.

As we all know, Natchitoches was founded by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis in 1714, four years before New Orleans was laid out in 1718. This new book documents the fact that in the spring of 1708, Bienville handed out several land grants along Bayou St. John to some Canadian friends.

Bayou St. John is in the Mid City area of New Orleans and runs from Lake Pontchartrain, alongside City Park and ends a little south of Esplanade Avenue. It provided a crucial shortcut from the earlier French settlements around Biloxi and Mobile to the site where Bienville would lay out New Orleans, today’s French Quarter. Rather than trying to work their way up past the powerful Mississippi River currents in their sailing ships, the French could just cut through Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, enter Bayou St. John and then end up very near the Mississippi River.

Bienville wanted the future New Orleans to be located where it is and he obviously felt that populating the short cut of Bayou St. John would help lead to that end result.

Today, the bayou is the site of many beautiful old homes, dating back to the late 18th century and which are illustrated in this handsome new book. The book itself does not specifically lay a claim to Bayou St. John being the oldest settlement in Louisiana, taking the place of Natchitoches as the senior settlement.

But the facts of the land grants do raise the question. Interestingly, one of the recipients of a Bayou St. John land grant in 1708 was none other than our very own St. Denis, who was a nephew by marriage to Iberville, Bienville’s older brother. It sometimes seems that St. Denis was everywhere during the first years of Louisiana’s founding.

Anyway, the book goes on to say — and this is crucial, perhaps — that all of the original land grantees had moved on by 1718 and that one man had bought them all out. “Between 1718 and 1721, Antoine Rivard Lavigne had acquired all land granted within the initial concessions…”

Dr. Susan Dollar, a professor of history at NSU and a specialist in Louisiana history, questions whether Lavigne’s sole ownership of the bayou-side land constitutes a true continuing occupation of that area. “Would you call one landowner a settlement?” she asked.

She told me that she feels Natchitoches’ claim to being the oldest continuous settlement is still solid because, beginning in 1714, Natchitoches became a true settlement, being home to a number of men, with the early fort and other structures being built here.

Dr. Dollar did find the revelations in the book interesting, however. “It looks like Bienville was taking care to set up his Canadian friends with the land grants,” she said. “I’d never seen (the land grant documents) but I’m glad to see that scholarship is continuing in that area of studies.”

In any case, nothing can take away Natchitoches’ fascinating early history and the impact that this old town has had on our whole region. It will continue to be recognized, no doubt, as the oldest settlement. The Chamber of Commerce and the Tourist Commission are not about to start claiming to be the “second-oldest settlement.”

And just as surely, history, a most fascinating topic to me and many others, will continue to challenge our thoughts and beliefs with new discoveries and revelations as scholars continue to pore over ancient documents.

Cellist Paul Christopher and pianist Chialing Hsieh will present a recital on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. at the Louisiana School for Math Science and the Arts Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Christopher and Hsieh are members of the faculty at Northwestern State University. They will perform works by Jacques Ibert, Mark Prince Lee and Beethoven.

Christopher is an associate professor of music theory and low strings. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Panama. Christopher performed guest artist recitals in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas. He has been a guest artist internationally in Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and South Korea. Christopher has presented and performed at conferences in Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio. His articles have been published in the Jacques Offenbach Society Newsletter, Strings, American String Teacher and Bass World. He has recorded the cello duos of Offenbach with seven CDs available at cdbaby.com.

An avid performer of contemporary music, Hsieh is devoted to promoting new piano solo and chamber works. Hsieh has been a featured pianist on seven CDs for the Centaur, Innova, Enharmonic and Ballpark labels. She joined NSU’s faculty in 2019 as an assistant professor of collaborative piano. In the summer, she is the piano instructor at the Lutheran Summer Music Festival and Academy and the Sounds of Summer Institute. Hsieh earned her bachelor’s degree from the National Taipei University of the Arts and a master’s and doctorate in piano performance at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.

Northwestern State University’s chapters of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma raised funds and supplies to come to the aid of an alumna whose home burned. Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma are honorary service organizations whose purposes include serving college and university band programs. On Jan. 7, Yasmine Jason and her husband lost their home and belongings in a fire. Jason was a member of Tau Beta Sigma and president of the Eta Pi chapter for two years. Members of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma presented Jason with a check for $1,600, along with blankets, towels and clothing. From left are Dean L. Mayeaux, Kappa Kappa Psi President Kyle Siddle, Nick Ezernack, Jason, Tau Beta Sigma President Ciara Gibbs and Corbin Fontenot.

Northwestern State University’s Gallaspy College of Education and Human Development Alumni Advisory Board is seeking nominations for the Hall of Distinguished Educators for 2019.

Nominees must have earned an undergraduate, graduate or doctoral degree from an NSU teacher preparation program, have at least 30 years experience and must have made significant contributions to the field of education and/or the larger community at a local, state, national or international level. Nominees can be living or deceased.

Nominations are also open for Distinguished Young Professional in Education, an award that recognizes an outstanding young professional who has made contributions in Pre-K through higher education or to the profession of education through teaching, research or community service. Nominees must be 40 years old or younger, have at least 10 years of meritorious service to education and gained prominence in some areas of teaching, administrative achievement, contributions to research, leadership in professional associations, contributions to professional literature and outstanding community service. Nominees should be of high moral character whose contributions have most fully expressed the spirit of service the award represents.

Inductees will be honored during a brunch and induction ceremony at the Teacher Education Center during Homecoming festivities.

The deadline to submit nominations is July 26.

Anyone who would like to nominate an outstanding College of Education alumnus who has had a distinguished career in education should send the nominee’s resume and other documentation outlining the reason for the nomination to NSU Gallaspy College of Education and Human Development, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA 71497.

Nomination forms and additional information are available by calling (318) 357-6278.

Emily Owens, a graduate student in music performance at Northwestern State University, was the winner in the Young Artist Division of the Rapides Concerto Competition held this past weekend. Owens, a violinist, will perform with the Rapides Symphony on March 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center in Alexandria.

Owens won the competition performing the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto.”

“I was surprised when they announced that I had won,” said Owens, who is from Benton. “I heard a lot of the other competitors and they all sounded amazing. I am beyond grateful and so excited to play with the Rapides Symphony.”

Owens won the violin competition at the Louisiana Music Teachers National Association competition last October. She was a finalist in the 2013 Rapides Symphony Orchestra Concerto competition.

“I’ve played in a few competitions recently and having competitions scheduled really motivates me to push toward that end goal,” said Owens. “When the hard work leads to a win, it’s such a rewarding feeling.”

Owens is a student of Northwestern State Professor of Violin Dr. Andrej Kurti.

“I’m really thankful for my teacher, Dr. Andrej Kurti for being my teacher and mentor,” she said. “He really has been a great inspiration to me and has been so supportive.”

NATCHITOCHES PARISH:

Sherice Robinson
January 20, 2019
Arrangements TBA

WINN PARISH:

Paul Wesley Garner
June 24, 1957 – January 21, 2019
Service: Thursday, January 24 at 11 am at Jordan Hill United Pentecostal Church
Interment: Jordan Hill Cemetery

The much-anticipated Chick-fil-A Express on University Parkway will hold an official grand opening at 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 28. Students and administrators from Northwestern State University, Sodexo and the Natchitoches Area Chamber of Commerce will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting. The public and media are invited to attend.

The new restaurant is located at 912 University Parkway adjacent to the renovated campus NSU Marketplace bookstore that opened last fall and across the street from NSU’s Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library.

“The Chick-fil-A restaurant has received a lot of attention over the past few months and we are very excited to bring a new dining option to our NSU students and to the community,” said Drake Owens, executive director of the NSU Foundation, which owns the building where the Chick-fil-A Express is located.

Restaurant hours will be 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. Students will be able to use their declining balance at Chick-fil-A.

The Chick-fil-A Express will offer a variety of breakfast and lunch items, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, sides and much more.

Clerk of Court David Stamey swore in members of the Provencal Village Council. Pictured from left are Chief of Police Gary Robertson, Alderman Ricky Coe, Alderman Bo Gongre, Mayor Randy Dupree, Alderman Dan Gongre and Stamey.

Kristen L. Rouse, US Army Veteran and Founding Director of the NYC Veterans Alliance will speak on “Sophocles’ Philoctetes: A Soldier’s Perspective” on Monday, Jan. 28 at 7 pm in Morrison Hall (Room 227/230) as part of a Scholars’ College Texts and Traditions class. This event is free and open to the public.

Kristen L. Rouse will speak about her experiences working with the Aquila Theatre Company’s performance of The Philoctetes in New York City as part of its series of veteran-performed theatre. She will also discuss how the play reflects some of her military experiences. Kristen has served as both non-commissioned officer and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard for more than 24 years. She served in Afghanistan in 2006, 2010, and 2012, for a combined 31 months in country. Her roles have included mission planning for resupply convoys to remote combat outposts in eastern Afghanistan and working directly with the Afghan National Army. Her civilian experience has included creating regional and citywide logistics plans and programs for NYC’s Office of Emergency Management and teaching literature and writing as an adjunct professor. She has written on veteran and military issues for The New York Times, New York Post, Daily Beast, Tampa Bay Times, and other publications, and spoken about her experience as a veteran and her service in Afghanistan on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and NPR. Her experiences following her return from her third tour of duty led her to get involved in veterans organizations in New York City and to address the needs she still saw in the community by founding the NYC Veterans Alliance, a nonprofit that involves veterans and families directly in making change at the local level and advancing them as civic leaders, including training veterans and spouses to run for elected office. Originally from Florida, she claims New York as home and lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with her partner Caitlin.

This talk is sponsored by a grant from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South’s Committee for the Promotion of Latin and by NSU’s Eta Gamma Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi, the National Classics Honors Society.

NSU– The Northwestern State basketball team hits a milepost in the 18-game Southland Conference schedule Wednesday night at home when league-leading Sam Houston State visits Prather Coliseum for a 6:30 matchup.

The Bearkats entered 2019 and the Southland season with a 5-8 record, but have won their first five conference games and have the only perfect mark in the league. Last Saturday, they prevailed 71-65 at Houston Baptist for their seventh win in the last eight games, after losing five of six. SHSU is 2-7 on the road but has won its last two — along with the triumph at HBU, they came home from Central Arkansas with a 78-69 victory.

The Demons (7-11 overall, 2-3 in the Southland) fell 78-69 last Saturday at Abilene Christian, playing without second-leading scorer DeAndre Love, idled with a wrist injury.

NSU did get sophomore point guard C.J. Jones back on the court at ACU after a five-game absence due to a shoulder injury. He and true freshman point guard Brian White didn’t commit a turnover, while White posted season bests with 12 points and four steals in 24 minutes.

Coach Mike McConathy’s team has won five of its last eight overall without having all of its six top scorers available.

“We’re playing a lot better. Our moving parts are coming together,” said the 20th-year coach. “Hopefully we’re getting another one back at some point this week with Deandre Love returning, after he had a great game with 16 points and seven rebounds in the win at Stephen F. Austin.”

The Bearkats have thrived in conference play thanks to giving up only 60.8 points per game, best in the league. NSU’s average yield of 65.8 is third.

Both teams have standouts inside. NSU’s preseason first-team All-Southland senior center Ishmael Lane averages 12.1 points and 7.8 rebounds, while SHSU’s junior postman, Kai Mitchell, has overall rates of 11.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. Mitchell has stepped up his scoring in Southland games to a 15.4 average and is the reigning conference player of the week. Lane’s improvement in league play has come on the boards, where he is averaging 10.2.

McConathy cited defense and toughness as decisive factors Wednesday night.

“We have to contest shots, rebound and have a sense of toughness. Sam Houston is really tough team, very physical, probably as much as anybody we play,” he said. “We’ve got to be the aggressor because we’re bigger and hopefully stronger. They are really fast and really strong, but hopefully we have bigger guys who can impose their will.”

Both teams will be a third of the way through the conference season after Wednesday’s meeting. SHSU and ACU have a combined 10-1 league record, with the other 11 teams all owning at least two Southland losses. Eight teams have already dropped at least three games.

“Sam Houston and Abilene are off to great starts, undefeated and with one loss, respectively. The rest of the league is like things in a big bag, wadded up together,” said McConathy, whose Demons are tied for seventh with SFA and Saturday’s opponent, Southeastern Louisiana. “It’s so competitive game after game. You need to win home games and we have two this week, so hopefully we can play at a high level and get a lift from having our students back, adding to our homecourt advantage.”

NSU has won two-thirds of its home games in McConathy’s tenure.

The contest can be heard on the Demon Sports Network with Patrick Netherton calling the action. Steaming video and audio are available at http://www.NSUDemons.com/watch or through the new Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded through either the Apple Store or Google Play.

Saturday’s contest with SLU is the second half of a doubleheader beginning with a 1 p.m. women’s matchup between the schools. It’s the annual Battle for the Paddle Chili Cookoff with free chili for all fans served up between games.

Northwestern State University has earned the 2019-20 Military Friendly School designation from VIQTORY, publisher of G.I. Jobs. This Northwestern State’s ninth time to receive the designation. The list of Military Friendly schools provides a comprehensive guide for veterans and their families using data sources from federal agencies, veteran students and their families and proprietary survey information from participating organizations.

“It is a privilege and honor to be recognized as a military friendly school,” said NSU Vice President for Technology, Innovation and Economic Development Dr. Darlene Williams. “We believe that our military service members deserve the opportunity to pursue educational goals, and NSU is dedicated to providing exceptional services and support throughout the educational experience.”

The 2019-2020 Military Friendly Schools list will be published in the May issue of G.I. Jobs magazine. The list can also be found at militaryfriendly.com. Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer) and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.

The Military Friendly Schools list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources for more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly Schools survey from participating institutions. The survey questions, methodology, criteria and weighting were developed with the assistance of an independent research firm and an advisory council of educators and employers. Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services, independently evaluated the scoring methodology used for the Military Friendly Schools list using the criteria set forth by VIQTORY.

Northwestern State has a campus at Leesville/Fort Polk and also offers classes at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City. The university has more than 40 degree programs available online through nsula.edu/ensu.

Information on Northwestern State’s services for veterans is available at nsula.edu/registrar/veterans-affairs.

 

Jennifer new the correct answer to the Mystery Sound and won the CASH by playing the Mystery Sound Cash Contest, sponsored by AxsomAir, on 94.9 The River.

“We’ll do it all again each weekday morning with a Mystery Sound and a cash jackpot,” said Trini Triggs.  Weekday mornings starting at 7am – Trini will take calls from listeners who think they know what the mystery sound is.

The first caller to guess correctly will win the jackpot. But wait, it gets better! For each incorrect answer, $5 will be added to the pot. The River Line is 318-581-4025.