Graduate running back Keilon Elder (with ball) led GSU rushers with 47 yards on 10 carries in Saturday’s Bayou Classic. (Photo by T. Scott Boatright)
By T. Scott Boatright
NEW ORLEANS — It was a microcosm of Grambling State’s season Saturday afternoon as Southern topped the Tigers 24-14 at the Bayou Classic inside Caesars Superdome.
A struggling offense and persistent penalties that have plagued the Tigers throughout the season were too much to overcome, as Grambling ended its first season with first year head coach Mickey Joseph at the helm at 5-7.
The problems were easily evident on the final stat sheet — Grambling totaled 148 yards on 55 yards (an average of 2.7 yards per snap with 47 or those yards coming on a 47-yard pass from quarterback Deljay Bailey to Tylon Williams) while being penalized for almost as much yardage, being flagged 15 times for 130 yards.
Joseph admitted the problem was not new but still painful to watch.
“We haven’t been in a rhythm for about nine weeks, so now we have to go back and figure out what we have to do with the offense,” Joseph said.
When asked if he thought the problems moving the football were personnel related or caused by decision making, Joseph again had a quick but short answer.
“It’s everything,” he said.
Despite their struggles, the G-Men stayed within striking distance for most of the game.
Southern struck first on a one-yard scoring scamper by former G-Man C.J. Russell that put the Jaguars up 7-0 at the 5:03 mark of the opening stanza.
After the Jaguars stretched their lead to 10-0 on a 26-yard field goal with 9:07 remaining in the second quarter, Williams turned in his first big play of the contest as he raced the ensuing kickoff back 94 yards for a touchdown to cut the Southern to 10-7, the score in the contest as the teams went to the locker rooms for halftime.
While Grambling struggled offensively, GSU’s defense did not make things easy for the Southern offense until finally getting worn down by having to spend what ended up being five minutes more on the field than the Jaguar defenders.
Southern finished with 397 total yards of offense on 62 plays and held around a seven-minute lead in time of possession.
“(The Jaguars) played a consistent offense and stuck with what they do well,” Joseph said. “They ran the ball well. You have to take your hat off to (Southern coach Terrence Graves) and those plates and coaches. They did a great job today on that side of the ball.”
When Southern connected on a 41-yard scoring strike from quarterback Jalen Woods to Chandler Whitfield to push its advantage to 17-7 with 2:04 left in the third quarter,
Grambling again countered to pull back within striking distance when Bailey’s 47–yard pass to Williams set up a four-yard rushing touchdown by Keilon Elder with 3:44 remaining in the contest.
The play that sealed the win from Southern came with 3:24 left on the clock when Kendric Rhymes broke loose on a 45-yard touchdown run for the game’s final score.
Southern forced the Tigers to punt on the ensuing series by recording a first down (GSU totaled only nine of those in the game) before running out the clock and beginning its postgame celebration.
GSU quarterback Myles Crawley, who started but struggled, completed only six of 16 passes for 34 yards while Bailey finished with five completions on eight attempts for 65 yards.
Elder led GSU ballcarriers with 47 yards on 10 carries while Javon Robinson was the lone Tigers with multiple receptions, hauling in two for six yards.
Defensively the Tigers were led by Andrew Jones, who totaled 10 tackles, while GSU’s Bayou Classic MVP, defensive end Bryce Cage, added nine takedowns.
Despite his postgame frustrations, Joseph did manage to find some positives from the contest.
“This was the first Bayou Classic for 41 of our players, ” Joseph said. “It was their first HBCU season for those 41 kids. So now they understand that they play good football in HBCUs.”
Joseph did not feel nerves were a problem for those players new to the intensity of competing in a Bayou Classic.
“I wouldn’t say nerves, ” Joseph said. “I’ve got to do a better job with them and our coaches in getting their emotions in check, we had too many penalties again, so we have to go back to the drawing board on that.”
Next up for the Jaguars (8-4 overall and 7-1 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division) will be next week’s conference championship game at Jackson State.
Omiri Wiggins rushed for a career-high 129 yards and three scores. (Photo by Josh McDaniel)
by Malcolm Butler
Omiri Wiggins rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns and the Bulldog defense recorded its first shutout since the 2019 Independence Bowl as Louisiana Tech defeated Kennesaw State 33-0 Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Tech (5-7, 4-4) dominated the Owls (2-10, 2-6) in all three phases of the game.
“I am extremely proud for our players,” said head coach Sonny Cumbie. “I am happy with the way they finished. Really proud of our coaching staff, finishing the season in the manner of which we won. It has been a long time since this program had a goose egg up there.
“Offensively, our guys did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage. I want to use this game as a springboard. Our goal is to win conference championships and bowl games. That is where our focus is always been, we have had a hard time getting to that moment.
“We were able to finish this conference season 4-4 but that is not what we are after. We have to turn our mindset to finishing the football games.”
The Bulldogs totaled 28 first downs to Kennesaw State’s eight and outgained the Owls 443-146. It was the first time in the 113-game history of the Owls program that Kennesaw State had been shutout on the scoreboard.
“It is amazing,” said senior defensive lineman Mykol Clark. “This is a together group. The whole unit, the whole team, we wanted to go out there and do it for each other. We fought for each other. It was a great way to go out.”
After Tech’s defense forced a three-and-out in Kennesaw State’s opening possession, Solo Lewis returned the punt 49 yards, giving the Bulldogs the ball on the Owls 26 yard line.
Despite struggling this year in redzone opportunities, it took Tech just five plays to find the endzone as Wiggins took a pitch from Evan Bullock and score from four yards out to give Tech a 7-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
“Everybody was doing their job,” said Wiggins. “The whole 11 did what we were supposed to do. We wanted to start off fast and we did that.”
Despite playing without leading tackler Kolbe Fields (injury), Tech’s defense forced a three-and-out on Kennesaw State’s first four possessions of the game, and only allowed the Owls to move inside the Bulldogs side of the 50 three times in the contest.
“Our defense is difficult to play against,” said Cumbie. “The secret and the edge is they believe in one another. Coach (Jeremiah) Johnson and the staff came in here and poured into our players. They built trust. That is why they play as hard as they do. They do it with a tenacity, they fly around and play physical. I am glad they got the shutout tonight.”‘
Tech added a second touchdown early in the second quarter as Wiggins took a handoff, ran behind the left side of the Bulldogs offensive line, and scored from six yards out to up the advantage to 14-0. The Bulldogs ran for 210 yards on the night and averaged 5.0 yards per carry.
“I think you saw Omiri Wiggins grow in his confidence,” said Cumie. “Both [Wiggins and Amani Givens] came from junior college and the more they played, the more confident they got. I love the way they run. They broke tackles. Your offensive line controls the line of scrimmage. I am excited about those guys.”
Tech’s special teams struck again late in the second quarter as Buck Buchanan connected on a 55-yard field goal with less than a minute to play to make it 17-0.
The score remained 17-0 until late in the third quarter. After a Patrick Rea punt pinned the Owls on their own 1-yard line, the Bulldog defense tackled Kennesaw State QB Davis Bryson in the endzone for a safety.
“We were all on the same page,” said Clark. “This was our last time together. We had an emotional week. We all put it together.”
After the free kick following the safety, Tech took just four plays to drive 63 yards in less than two minutes as Wiggins took a hand off, patiently followed his O-line, and then exploded through a hole for a 35-yard TD. Buchanan’s extra point made it 26-0.
“I feel like I improved in being patient, letting everything develop in front of me,” said Wiggins.
Tech added its final score in the fourth quarter as Givens scored from two yards out with 10:50 to play to make it 33-0.
The only drama remaining in the game was whether the Bulldogs would pitch the shutout.
After the Owls recovered a fumble on their own 40, they drove down to the Tech 20-yard line and faced a fourth down and two. However, Bryson was sacked for a seven yard loss, turning the football back over to the Bulldogs.
“I would be lying if I said we weren’t aware of the shutout,” said Cumbie. “Our guys deserved it after the way they have played this year.”
Tech recorded one first down and then knelt on the football in victory formation.
It was the first shutout recorded by a Tech team in a regular season game since the Bulldogs blanked New Mexico State 44-0 in the regular season finale in 2011.
Bullock completed 23-of-30 passes for 233 yards. Tru Edwards caught 10 balls for 78 yards and Jimmy Holiday added seven receptions for 103 yards.
Tech allowed the Owls just 58 yards rushing on 29 carries while Kennesaw State QB Davis Bryson completed just 10-of-26 passes for 88 yards.
RUSTON, La. — The Ruston High Bearcats will be headed to the semifinals for the third season in a row after a 49-7 win Friday night over the Southside Sharks, thanks in large part to a huge first-half scoring performance for the Firmly Founded.
“Southside’s a good football team,” Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “I think our guys came out ready to play. We jumped on them from the beginning, and it all kind of came unraveled for them.”
After winning the coin toss, Southside elected to kick an onside kick which Ruston recovered at their own 48-yard line. The Bearcats would score on a nine-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Joran Parker from senior quarterback Josh Brantley with 9:41 to go in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
The Sharks answered with a 64-yard drive three minutes later on a 10-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Ramon Singleton on 2nd-and-3 with 6:41 to go in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7.
From there, Ruston would score four unanswered touchdowns through the end of the first half. The Bearcats would get another score from three yards out by Brantley with 3:23 to go in the first to retake the lead at 14-7.
The Bearcats would attempt an onside and get a recovery by junior Alex Hunt right at midfield. Ruston would easily move the ball down the field for another touchdown drive, capped off by a three-yard run by senior running back Jordan Hayes to extend the lead to 21-7, making it nearly impossible for the run-first Sharks to make any sort of comeback.
”We liked the alignment they gave us on the onside kicks tonight,” Baugh said. “Anytime you can get up a couple of scores on somebody that likes to run the football, it puts them out of their game plan and they have to do something they’re not comfortable doing. Again, our guys executed the way we needed them to.”
After another three-and-out for Southside, Ruston High senior wide receiver Darius James would take a wheel-route pass into the end zone from 21 yards out with 9:29 to go in the first half for a 28-7 lead. And after an interception by sophomore cornerback Jayden Anding, Brantley would score again from eight yards out with 0:19 to go in the half — a score that was set up by James making a spectacular grab over the shoulder on 3rd-and-16 for 45 yards, giving Ruston a 35-7 lead going into the halftime locker room.
”Darius is just one of those kids that is just diligent about doing his job,” Baugh said. “We haven’t thrown much in the past, this year, we’ve been able to do that because guys (like Darius) have continued to work. And Josh has done a really good job of getting the ball who he needs to. One of those things about playing receiver, they may not get their name called when they run a bunch of routes and it’s another guy catching the ball. They just continue to do their job, whether that is blocking or running routes. Darius has done that, and it’s paid off for him.”
Southside started the second with a turnover on downs, and Ruston was able to get into the end zone again with a Brantley touchdown from 16 yards out with 7:57 to go in the third to lead 42-7. Shortly after, senior cornerback Aidan Anding took a punt 67-yards to the house to put Ruston up 49-7, which started a running clock situation for the rest of the game.
Shortly into the fourth quarter, Ruston was able to pull the starters and give some of the younger players meaningful minutes in the playoffs.
”Anytime you can do that in a playoff situation, that’s always good for your program in the long run,” Baugh said. “A lot of these guys that are playing now, that same thing had arisen last year or the year before where they had an opportunity to get in and get some playing time in the playoffs. Anytime you can do that, it’s good for you.”
Brantley had an amazing night, accounting for five total touchdowns on the night. Ruston’s defense held Southside to just 115 total yards, while the offense totaled 326 yards through the air and on the ground.
Ruston will host No. 10 Destrehan Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. in the semifinals after the Wildcats beat the Vikings 69-41.
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No. 3 seed Ruston High defeated No. 6 seed Southside 49-7 in the Non-Select School Division I quarterfinals Friday night at James Field at Hoss Garrett Stadium.
The Bearcats will now host No. 10 seed Destrehan, who upset No. 2 seed Airline 69-41 in Shreveport.
Cats to Face Destehan in Semis: Can the Bearcats get the Destrehan monkey off its back? Ruston will get another chance. Destrehan defeated Ruston High in the playoffs for three straight years, including knocking off the Bearcats 17-10 in the 2022 state title game at the Caesar’s Superdome. So can Ruston find a way to beat the Wildcats and make it back to the dome?
“We feel really fortunate (to still be playing),” said Ruston Head Coach Jerrod Baugh. “We have to get that monkey off our back at some point. They are always a good football team. They are always really well coached. I think our kids will look forward to the match-up. It’s one of the things that we haven’t been able to accomplish since I have been here. We have accomplished a lot of different things. Beating West Monroe. Beating West Monroe at their place. Getting past the quarterfinals. Beating Neville. Getting to the state championship and then winning a state championship. These kids have been a part of a lot of different accomplishments, but that is one we haven’t been able to do and I feel like that is how they will look at that.”
The Jet is Temporarily Grounded: Jordan “The Jet” Hayes tweaked his ankle in the first quarter of the win Friday night, limiting the seniors touches. In fact, Hayes came out of the halftime locker room in street clothes and watched the final two quarters from the Bearcats sideline. RHS’ leading rusher this season finished the game with six carries for 26 yards and one score.
“He rolled his ankle last week (in the win over Zachary) and he struggled early in the week at practice but I thought he looked good in practice later in the week,” said Baugh. “I knew at some point he would get tackled and it would be how he could handle it. The thing is with running backs or receivers or guys who use moves to get loose … it really can be an aggravating thing.
“He likes to be 100 percent so he can do all of his stuff. He ain’t 100 percent. Hopefully, we can get him healthy by next Friday.”
Baugh said if the Bearcats had needed him in the second half, he may could have gone. But up 35-7 at the half, there was not need to use Hayes.
“We talked about it at halftime with Coach (??) Brister,” said Baugh. “But with it being 35-7, we felt good about where we were. We feel good about Dylone (Brooks) and Dalen (Powell) and some of our other running backs. It wasn’t a situation where we had to have him. We were able to start some treatment on him and had the doctor look at him.”
Fourth Down Touchdowns: Twice during the first half of the ballgame, Jerrod Baugh made a decision to go for it on fourth down and long. And both times it paid dividends for the Bearcats. On the opening drive of the game, Ruston was faced with a fourth down and goal from the nine yard line and instead of attempting a field goal, Baugh rolled the dice. Josh Brantley hit Joran Parker with a TD in the northeast corner of the endzone to give Ruston a 7-0 lead. Leading 21-7 in the second quarter, Ruston faced a fourth down and 15 on the 21-yard line and Brantley his Darius James with a score along the southeast sideline.
“I liked the field position and where we were at on the first one,” said Baugh. “Even if we didn’t get it, I wanted to see (Southside) operate on the minus end of the field. It absolutely had nothing to do with my confidence in Jack Elliott at all. It was a field position thing, and I liked some matchups that we had versus their guys. I felt really good about it either way.
“The second one we were a little further out and it was going to be a longer field goal. With the weather like it is, the ball doesn’t come off the foot like it does when its warmer. I didn’t want to chance having a blocked kick and they get a cheap score and then it turns into an onside kick fest. I don’t know that I expected us to score. I thought we would pick up some yardage. It would still be a long field for them. I just like the set up of it. And then considering they hadn’t done much offensively at that point … I said, heck, we will take a shot at it and just play defense from there if we don’t get it.
Cats Defense Takes the Bite Out of the Sharks: After surrendering a TD on the opening drive of the game for Southside, the Ruston High defense stiffened. Trailing 7-0, Southside drove 64 yards on six plays capped by a 9-yard TD run by Parker Dies to tie the game at 7-7 midway through the opening quarter. However, following that drive, Ruston surrendered just 59 total yards the rest of the game against Southside. The Bearcats limited Sharks leading rusher Ramon Singleton to just 28 yards on 10 carries.
“We just needed to do what we needed to do (defensively),” said Baugh. “With that style of offense it is very hard to simulate in practice. I think our scout teams did a really good job this week but it’s never going to be as fast as what you see live. That first drive, things were hitting and clicking a little bit faster than what we saw scout-team wise. But once we got adjusted to the speed of it, it was things we had worked on. Once we got adjusted to the speed, it was just making the plays.”
Southside Defense Had No Answer: Ruston High had little trouble in moving the ball and scoring points against a Southside defense that shutout Walker 47-0 last week in a round 2 playoff win. The Bearcats scored on six of its first seven offensive possessions in the ball game with its starters having very little trouble against the overmatched Sharks. Ruston totaled over 300 yards of offense despite the starters playing just two and a half quarters.
“I felt good about our chances of moving the ball,” said Baugh. “They kind of lined up all over the place so that always makes me nervous if you can’t get a bead on where they are lining up. I thought our coaches did a good job. We decided to work different schemes. We practiced against several schemes that have given us trouble this year. The guys did a good job. In fact they lined up differently than we thought they were initially; really differently than we worked on all week. But that is part of the ball game; making adjustments about what that looks like. I thought our coaches did a really good job of in-game adjustments.”
Anding Landing in Endzone: Not only is Aidan Anding one of the top defensive backs in the state, but the senior is arguably one of the most dangerous return specialists. Once again on Friday night, Anding flashed that skillset, returning a punt 67 yards for a score in the third quarter that put Ruston up 49-7.
“When he is healthy … and here as of last he has been back and forth on how he has felt … he had a good week of practice,” said Baugh. “We felt good about the punt return just because they haven’t punted it much. They have gone for it a bunch on fourth down. They just haven’t had a lot of in-game live (punt) stuff. They had a big defensive tackle in there that was snapping. They had basically four lineman in there that are coverage guys … so you feel really good about your return chances, especially when they are kicking it to Aidan.”
Bearcats Rest Starters Over Final 16 Minutes: Ruston High had the luxury of resting most of its starters over the final 16 minutes of the game. Once Aidan Anding’s punt return made the score 49-7, forcing a running clock the rest of the way, Baugh was able to get snaps for a lot of second and third stringers … and more importantly, get the starters out of the game.
“That’s what I wanted to get to … I wanted to get to a running clock,” said Baugh. “You don’t want to prolong anything and get anybody injured. You do want to get some of the younger guys in because that is important. But at the end of the day, we have to stay as healthy as we can to try to finish out the (rest of the playoffs).”
Louisiana Tech fans have the rare opportunity today to watch a basketball-football home doubleheader as both the gridiron Dogs and the Dunkin’ Dogs play in Ruston.
Head coach Talvin Hester and the undefeated hoops version of the Bulldogs look to make it eight straight when they host Southern. Tipoff is set for 10:30 a.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center and can be heard on 97.7 FM with Malcolm Butler and Jack Thigpen providing a call of the action.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 3-for-3 performance at the Gulf Coast Showcase where Tech rallied from halftime deficits to defeat Southern Illinois, Richmond and Eastern Kentucky in consecutive days. The Bulldogs are off to the program’s best start since 1984.
The Jaguars are 2-4 on the season with road losses to Texas A&M, Iowa and South Dakota State. Former Bulldog Rennie Bailey will make his return to Ruston as a member of the Southern coaching staff.
Head coach Sonny Cumbie and the Bulldog football team will play its final game of 2024 when they host Kennesaw State at 3 p.m. at Joe Aillet Stadium. The contest can be heard on 107.5 FM with Malcolm Butler, Teddy Allen and Jerry Byrd providing the call of the action.
Tech (4-7) looks to pick up its fourth Conference USA win of the season as it faces the Owls for the first time ever on the gridiron. The Bulldogs are coming off a 35-14 loss at Arkansas last Saturday, but for the 11th time in 11 games gave themselves an opportunity heading into the fourth quarter.
It will be Senior Day for the Bulldogs as 19 players and two support personnel will be recognized on the field 30 minutes prior to kickoff.
Kennesaw State is 2-9 on the season but the Owls have a win over Liberty and defeated FIU last Saturday.
The Tech Athletics Department is providing a number of ticket promotions for today. Anyone who already possesses a ticket to the football game can use it to get free entrance into the men’s basketball game.
There is also a Season Ticket Holder Appreciation deal where any season ticket holder for any Tech sport this year (2024-25) can gain admittance into the football game for free. Those who qualify for this should have received an email from the Tech Ticket Office this week with a link to claim two free tickets.
Tradition has always been that records are thrown out of the window when it comes down to Grambling State and Southern University facing off in the Bayou Classic.
So don’t tell the GSU Tigers they don’t have anything to play for as they kick off against the Jaguars at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans.
Grambling will be playing for its first .500 or better finish since 2019 as it brings a 5-6 overall record into the contest against the Jaguars, who have already clinched a berth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship game.
The G-Men see the Bayou Classic as a chance to earn some sort of redemption — redemption for their 22-17 loss to Alabama A&M in their most recent game on Nov. 14, redemption for losing the Bayou Classic for two straight years, and redemption by hopefully winning six games for the first time since 2019, when they finished at 6-5.
For GSU coach Mickey Joseph, it will not only be a time to find some sort of redemption — it will also provide an opportunity to evaluate for the future.
“I’ll go back at the end of the year, you know, right after the Bayou Classic and see where we’re at as an offensive staff,” Joseph said. “Really as an entire staff, because you just don’t lose on one side of the ball. Everybody’s involved, but I understand numbers.
“Numbers don’t lie. And the numbers are not great. The numbers are not where I want them to be. The numbers are not up to my standard, you know, but we’ll get to that problem after the Bayou Classic. I don’t think right now is the time to say let’s make changes, because you’re on your last leg, so now you just gotta figure out what we can do and what we can’t do and play at a high level against a very good football team.”
When it comes to this year’s Bayou Classic coaches, their attitude is “friends every day but foes for the week.”
That’s the way Joseph and Southern coach Terrence Graves have approached the week preparing for the Bayou Classic.
Joseph and Graves first became friends in 1999, but it was in 2014 and 2015 when both were serving as assistants at Grambling that their bond became significantly stronger.
“When you’re first hired and get there, they put you in off-campus housing,” Joseph said during an interview on New Orleans TV station WGNO. “All the younger coaches had taken the bedrooms, so there was only room left, and Graves and I didn’t have rooms.
“So, he took one side, and I took the other, so we always say we’re old roommates, like living in a college dormitory. He’s always been a part of my life and I’ve always been a part of his and I have the utmost respect for him.”
Graves also fondly remembers their time as temporary roommates.
“It took us forever to go to sleep some nights because we’d start telling stories and then start cracking jokes,” Graves told WGNO. “The other coaches were yelling at us to shut up because I think they were jealous because they weren’t in there with us.
“But Mickey is a great coach. He’s a great leader and it’s a blessing to know him.”
Jethro is about a year old and was found as a stray in Choudrant. He is a sweet, gentle boy that gets along well with other dogs. He is up to date on vacs, already neutered, and heartworm negative/on prevention.
He would make a great addition to any family whether big or small. Come meet Jethro and see if he is your new best bud!!
Please email 4pawsruston@gmail.com if interested in adopting.
Faith Moss was this week’s winner of the Karl Malone Toyota College Football Pick’em Contest presented by Northern Louisiana Medical Center and Johnson Physical Therapy.
Would you like to win $200 in cash … with the potential to make it $400 if you are perfect on the week (including predicting the No. 1 tiebreaker exactly right).
The Lincoln Parish Journal is proud to host the Karl Malone Toyota College Football Pick’em Contest presented by Northern Louisiana Medical Center and Johnson Physical Therapy.
If you live in the deep south, you know College Football is King!
Readers are eligible to participate and each week one lucky winner will go home with a $200 cash prize (maybe $400). Each week the winner will be the participant with the best record out of the predetermined 15 college football games (ties will be broken by two separate tiebreakers consisting of guessing the total points scored in two of our weekly contests).
Only one entry per participant will be accepted each week.
The Karl Malone Toyota College Football Pick’em Contest presented by Northern Louisiana Medical Center and Johnson Physical Therapy will be conducted for 14 regular season weeks of the college season starting with this week’s games.
There is no entry fee, just like there is no cost to SUBSCRIBE to the Lincoln Parish Journal where it will come to your inbox every weekday morning at 6:55 a.m. It takes 20-30 seconds to sign up and not much longer than that to make your picks.
All contest decisions by LPJ management are final. Weekly winners will be notified Monday and will be requested to take a photo that will run in the following week’s LPJ.
Every participant will receive a FREE subscription to the Journal, if you’re not already signed up for the easily-navigated, convenient 6:55 a.m. daily e-mail. Enjoy it all, for FREE, and enter each week’s contest. You could collect $200 each week!
Week 1: Alethea Gipson
Week 2: NaTyra Bolds
Week 3: Barbara Bradshaw
Week 4: Jason Corley
Week 5: Sheila Nugent
Week 6: Brandon Williams
Week 7: Robert Grafton
Week 8: Shane Grubbs
Week 9: John Krobetzky
Week 10: David Doss
Week 11: Mary Lee
Week 12: Jerry Lott
Week 13: Faith Moss
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Five people have been charged in an apparent drug deal gone bad that occurred just southeast of Ruston on November 19.
In addition to two arrests on drug and gun charges on the day of the incident, the Lincoln Parish Sheriff ’s Office has arrested two men and a 16-year-old juvenile for attempted murder in what authorities called a drug deal that was actually intended to be an armed robbery.
Jeremieh Are’Tez Green, 21, and Kaleb Dontrell Holland, 19, both of Ruston, were arrested last week on two counts of attempted first degree murder, attempted armed robbery, and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Green was also booked for illegal carrying of a weapon in presence of a controlled dangerous substance. Holland was also charged with illegal discharge of a weapon.
Deputies responded to a report of gunshots in the area of Pecan Street and Donna Lane about 4:00 p.m. on November 19. They found a disabled vehicle riddled with bullet holes near the intersection of La. Highway 146 and South Chatham Spur just outside the city of Ruston.
The two occupants of the vehicle were still at the scene and stated the gunfire had been directed at them, but they were uninjured. During the course of the investigation, deputies recovered a Glock 19 9mm pistol and approximately 84 grams of suspected marijuana. Dozens of empty shell casings were found at the scene.
During interviews, Karmekizik Z. Barber, 19, admitted possessing the pistol while aware the other occupant, Tremarious D. Lewis, 17, was in possession of marijuana he was attempting to sell. Both men are from Jonesboro.
Lewis admitted he was attempting to sell the marijuana at the time of the incident. He was booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
Barber was charged with illegal carrying of a weapon in the presence of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $25,000.
LPSO Lt. Matt Henderson said Green, Holland, and the juvenile met Lewis and Barber to buy marijuana from Lewis. The three instead planned to steal the marijuana at gunpoint. During the interaction, they opened fire on the vehicle in which Lewis and Barber, both from Jonesboro, were sitting.
LPSO identified the three suspected robbers and located them over the course of several days last week.
Barber, Holland, and Green remain in the Lincoln Parish Detention Center. Bail for Holland and Green was set at $850,000 each. The juvenile is being detained at facility in Jackson Parish.
The Sheriff’s Office has investigated several shootings in the Pecan Street neighborhood in recent months, according to detention center records.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Man obstructing traffic arrested near Ruston arrested
A call reporting a man lying in the road resulted in the arrest of a Ruston man by the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Department for several offenses, including felony possession of marijuana.
Larry Dwayne Fields, 57, was arrested just after midnight on the morning of November 21 on Tarbutton Road near La. Highway 544.
Deputies responding to the call located Fields walking in the southbound lane of Tarbutton Road. Fields initially refused to stop for deputies and was told it was illegal to walk in the road
obstructing traffic. He said he could walk anywhere he wished and attempted to walk away during the investigation and was given commands to stop.
Deputies attempted to arrest Fields who yanked his arm from behind his back and attempted and resisted handcuffing. A search after the arrest yielded a bag of suspected synthetic marijuana and a glass smoking pipe.
A records check showed Fields has previous convictions for possession of marijuana in 2016 and 2019. A third offense is a felony under Louisiana law.
Field was booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center for third offense possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer, and obstruction of a public passage. Bail was set at $2,000.
At the detention center, Fields admitted to smoking crack cocaine and “mojo” just before being stopped by deputies.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
For the latest local news, subscribe FOR FREE to the Lincoln Parish Journal and receive an email each weekday morning at 6:55 right to your inbox.Just CLICK HERE to sign up.
Two men who said they were victims of a shooting near Ruston Tuesday afternoon were arrested on drug and gun charges by the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a report of gunshots in the area of Pecan Street and Donna Lane about 4 p.m. Nov. 19. They found a disabled vehicle riddled with bullet holes near the intersection of La. Highway 146 and South Chatham Spur just outside the city of Ruston.
The two occupants of the vehicle were still at the scene and stated the gunfire had been directed at them. During the course of the investigation, deputies recovered a Glock 19 9mm pistol and approximately 84 grams of suspected marijuana.
During interviews, Karmekizik Z. Barber, 19, admitted possessing the pistol while aware the other occupant, Tremarious D. Lewis, 17, was in possession of the marijuana he was attempting to sell.
Lewis admitted he was attempting to sell the marijuana. He was booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
Barber was charged with illegal carrying of a weapon in the presence of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $25,000.
Both men are from Jonesboro.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
For the latest local news, subscribe FOR FREE to the Lincoln Parish Journal and receive an email each weekday morning at 6:55 right to your inbox. Just CLICK HERE to sign up.
At their annual Holiday Press Conference, Experience Ruston announced the official kickoff to the 2024 holiday season. In partnership with the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights, Experience Ruston shared details about upcoming holiday events in Lincoln Parish, as well as holiday announcements from around North Louisiana.
Kicking off the press conference, Ruston Main Street Director and Community Coordinator Amy Stegall shared a sentiment about the hometown feel of Ruston Louisiana, expressing her excitement to share the holiday fun with visitors this year. She encouraged visitors to come support local businesses, vendors and restaurants in Lincoln Parish. Stegall shared a bit about what makes Downtown Ruston so special during the holiday season.
“When we turn on the lights in downtown, something magical happens to this place,” said Stegall. “This is a historic place that’s been here since the late 1800s, and it just becomes this little Hallmark village. People love to come down and shop with the people they know and just find incredible treasures for the people that they love. So, whether you eat here, shop here or just come and walk around the lights, it just has a feeling that you can’t really put into words. So, we love that it’s our hometown.”
In partnership with Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights, Experience Ruston Director of Marketing and Communications Tori Davis shared some of the exciting holiday activities that will be happening is Ruston over the next few weeks. Many local partners and businesses will be hosting holiday events, all included on Experience Ruston’s holiday calendar. Davis highlighted some of the larger events, including the Holiday Open House, Lincoln Lights Up the Pines, Ruston Community Theater’s production of “White Christmas”, and the Holiday Arts Tour.
“We are so fortunate to have such passionate and dedicated partners here in Ruston and Lincoln Parish,” Davis said. “We have something happening every single week, and often multiple things happening throughout the week. There are so many events that you won’t want to miss.”
Reflecting on the work that goes into bringing the holidays to Lincoln Parish, Mayor Ronny Walker thanked many of the organizations, community members and workers who dedicated their time to making Ruston so beautiful during the season.
“It takes a village, or in this case a city,” said Walker. “Amy (Stegall) does an incredible job with our main street and our merchants downtown. Amanda (Carrier) and Tori (Davis) with the CVB help tremendously with publicity, ads, and events like this. I think the group that is often left out is the group of about 30 people from the city that put up all the lights. They actually started this process about 5 weeks ago and they come in early to try to get all this up.
“So, I want to say a big shoutout to our city workers, from electrical department to the street department. Everybody in the city pitches in because it takes so many people to do all this. Especially thank you to the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Main Street and the merchants.”
Several other groups from the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights group spoke and invited the community to experience the holidays in North Louisiana. Speakers included guests from Discover Monroe-West Monroe, Visit Shreveport-Bossier and Visit Webster Parish.
Visitors and community members can find out more about the holiday events in Lincoln Parish by picking up an Experience Ruston Official Holiday Guide from the visitor’s center at 2111 N Trenton St. Or you can view the holiday calendar online at www.rustonlincoln.com. Let your heart be light this season and come experience the joy of the holidays in Ruston and Lincoln Parish.
In our tight-knit town of Ruston, stories of resilience and community support often remind us of the strength of the human spirit.
One such story belongs to five-year-old Reed Pipes, a kindergartener at A.E. Phillips Lab School, whose big smile and love for basketball have inspired our entire community.
Reed’s mother, Lauren, a junior high math teacher at A.E. Phillips, and her husband Trey faced unimaginable circumstances when Reed began feeling unwell in January 2024. What started as achy joints and a low-grade fever quickly escalated into every parent’s worst nightmare.
On February 20, Reed was diagnosed with leukemia. By the next day, Lauren and Trey found themselves walking the halls of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, overwhelmed by uncertainty and emotions.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Lauren shared. “We had to figure out arrangements for our eight-year-old daughter, Landry, while trying to process everything happening with Reed.”
For two months, the family lived at St. Jude, where their days were filled with medical treatments and sleepless nights. Lauren recalls the surreal feeling of being surrounded by other families facing unimaginable challenges.
“It’s awful knowing your child is sick, but for so many families, it’s so much worse,” said Lauren. “It’s humbling and heartbreaking at the same time.”
Back in Ruston, support poured in for the Pipes family. As a beloved sixth and seventh-grade math teacher at A.E. Phillips, Lauren’s colleagues stepped up in incredible ways, ensuring she never had to worry about her students.
“They didn’t ask for anything—they just did it,” Lauren said, with gratitude.
The school community also rallied around Reed. His kindergarten teacher, Haley McHale—Lauren’s best friend—helped organize a special welcome home celebration after his return in November. The event, complete with the Lady Techsters basketball team and head coach Brooke Stoehr, left Reed grinning ear to ear.
His classmates showered him with handmade cards, showing that even at five years old, friendships and compassion can run deep.
“Reed is so resilient,” Lauren said. “He’s been through so much, but he’s still just this happy, funny little boy who loves basketball and life.”
Lauren, like many parents of children battling cancer, has found herself tapping into a well of strength she didn’t know she had.
“People think it’s strength, but it’s not,” she explained. “It’s just what you do when your child is sick. You go into fight mode and do whatever it takes to get them well.”
That fight isn’t over. While Reed is happy to be back at school, his journey continues with weekly treatments in Shreveport for the next 120 weeks. A recent allergic reaction to medication brought them back to St. Jude in October, where Reed underwent a 28-day treatment. They’ll return again in January for one more 28-day treatment.
Through it all, Lauren says her perspective has shifted.
“I’ve learned not to take anything for granted,” said Lauren. “Ruston is such an amazing community, and I have such a huge heart for St. Jude now. I want to figure out how to give back.”
This holiday season will hold extra meaning for the Pipes family. After a year of uncertainty and challenges, they are embracing the moments they once might have taken for granted. Reed is eagerly awaiting Christmas morning, where he hopes to find a Nintendo Switch and all the Memphis Grizzlies gear.
For Lauren and Trey, the holidays are a time to cherish joy, and the presence of their two children. Landry, who has shown incredible maturity through her brother’s journey, is looking forward to more time with her family.
As Ruston rallies behind the Pipes family, one thing is clear: love, faith, and resilience are at the heart of this journey.
And through the halls of A.E. Phillips, in the stands of Techster basketball games, and within the walls of their home, Reed Pipes is not just a little boy with a giant smile, he’s a beacon of hope and strength for all who know him.
Reed Pipes and his AEP kindergarten classmates enjoyed a visit from the Lady Techster basketball team recently.
Wes Gregory (fourth from left) with his family and members of the Ruston Fire Department and EMS who helped save his life.
by Malcolm Butler
Wes Gregory couldn’t breathe.
It was late on a hot summer’s night in August. Wes and his family had just returned home from vacation to the beach.
But as he sat on his bed, he knew something was wrong. Really wrong.
Wes dialed his wife, Lanie, who was on the other side of the house with their youngest daughter, Lesley. It was the night before the first day of a new school year for Lesley, and Lanie was trying to get her settled.
“She is my child that won’t sleep,” said Lanie. “So, I was laying down with her trying to get her to sleep. When he called my cellphone, I knew something was wrong. He said, ‘I can’t breathe.’”
So, Lanie came running.
“It was late,” said Lanie. “I was panicking. He was panicking.
“I ran in there and said let’s get in the car and go to the emergency room. He was like, ‘I can’t make it to the car.’ So, I called the ambulance.”
Although Lanie said the events from that night are seared in her memory, Wes said he doesn’t remember a whole lot.
“The last thing I remember was the paramedic getting here and him asking me, ‘What is wrong,’ said Wes.
The paramedic was Captain Chris Butler from the Ruston Fire Department. Captain Butler had rushed from Station 3 on the north side of town off North Trenton Street along with ambulance driver Artur Christian and firefighter Lake Horton.
“Three minutes felt like three hours,” said Lanie, admitting that the ambulance arrived very quickly. “They did get here fast, but when you are panicking, it felt like forever.”
“When we arrived on the scene, (Lanie) met us outside and said (Wes) was having trouble breathing,” said Captain Butler. “You could tell she was in a lot of distress herself. (Wes) was sitting on the side of the bed in a position where you could tell he was having trouble breathing. He was tripod breathing; he was leaning over and couldn’t catch his breath.”
Wes was fighting for his life.
“I reached over and grabbed his shirt and said, ‘I need you to keep me from dying,’” said Wes. “That is the last thing I remember.”
“He did grab my shirt, and said, ‘You got to help me,’” said Captain Butler. “I told him that’s what we were there for.”
_______________________________
Wes Gregory moved to Ruston in 2012. He laughs in telling the story, admitting he didn’t really have a choice if he wanted to stay married to Lanie.
Having grown up in Magee, Mississippi, his only connection to Ruston was Lanie, who grew up here until her family moved to Magee when she was a junior in high school.
However, according to Wes, in 2012 she told him she was moving back home.
“I guess I really didn’t have much of a choice,” said Wes, grin on his face.
Prior to move to Louisiana, Wes had served as both a volunteer firefighter in Magee and a full-time firefighter in Brandon from 2002 until 2012. It was something he loved.
“I never thought about being a fireman,” admitted Wes. “I am that guy. I could pass a wreck on the road, and it would freak me out.”
According to Wes, living in a small town like Magee, he knew the chief of the volunteer fire department who was also the owner of the local NAPA store. That’s the connection that started his path into a decade in the profession.
“I started working with the Magee Volunteer Fire Department, and I really liked it,” remembered Wes. “I liked helping people.”
_______________________________
As Wes was transported from his bedroom to the ambulance in his driveway laying on the gurney, Lanie was right by his side.
“They got him out to the ambulance, and I was looking out the windows, and they were doing the bag,” said Lanie. “(Captain Butler) came out, and I was like, ‘Is he okay?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah he is breathing and talking some.'”
According to Captain Butler, he was still trying to determine exactly what the issue was while trying to stabilize Wes’ breathing.
“His pulse ox was in the 50s or 60s … very low,” said Captain Butler. “As soon as we got him into the ambulance, we put him on a CPAP that forces air to expand your lungs. His O2 stat only improved to about the 70s so we could tell he had something else going on that the oxygen wasn’t fixing.”
Lanie and her mother followed the ambulance in her car to Northern Louisiana Medical Center. And as they arrived at the emergency room, things took a turn for the worse.
“When we got close, we saw through the little back window of the ambulance … we could see them doing CPR,” said Lanie. “They got him out of the ambulance, and there was a guy on top of him on the stretcher. I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Captain Butler did.
“As we were transporting him through downtown Ruston, we could tell something was changing and he wasn’t breathing,” said Captain Butler. “The CPAP requires (the patient) to breathe in to get the air, and we could tell he wasn’t responding well to that. He started to decline.”
So off went the CPAP mask.
“We started chest compressions,” said Captain Butler. “We were a couple of minutes away from the hospital and this decline happening pretty quickly.”
_______________________________
Wes Gregory knows what it’s like to save a life.
In 2010 when he was still working for the Magee Volunteer Fire Department, he and his colleague John Rankin were part of such a heroic task.
The date was January 21, 2010. Wes remembers it well.
“When you are working at a professional fire station, you sleep there,” said Wes. “But not when you are working for a volunteer fire department. I was at home in my bed when we got the call.”
Wes and John and their team arrived on the scene within minutes, beating the full-time firefighters to the location.
“That’s almost unheard of because of response time,” said Wes.
On that night, a mobile home had caught on fire. The owner, James Stephens, had taken his children to another house, called 911 and then re-entered his burning home to try to put the fire out.
However, the smoke had overcome him.
“When we got there, John and I were the primary attack team,” said Wes. “We were going down the hall, and we found him. He had been overcome by smoke. We found him lying in the hall, and the back of the trailer was on fire.
“We did what we do. We dropped the hose, and we grabbed him.”
After carrying Stephens out of the trailer which soon became engulfed in flames, Wes and John and their team performed CPR. Stephens lived.
Wes said he will never forget that night.
“You don’t get that often,” said Wes. “It’s a lot of finding people for closure. Getting people out of car wrecks. It’s just something special when you do get to save someone’s life.
“It takes a special kind of idiot to run into a burning house. But once you do it and have the training, it’s an adrenaline rush like nothing ever.”
_______________________________
After being intubated at Northern Louisiana Medical Center, an ambulance transported Wes to Christus Highland Medical Center in Shreveport the next morning. The doctors still weren’t 100 percent sure what was causing his breathing issues.
On Friday morning, Lanie was told they were going to take the tubes out to see if Wes could breathe on his own.
Lanie and much of Wes’ family were in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting news from the medical staff.
“Fifteen minutes goes by,” said Lanie. “Thirty minutes goes by. And I was like, ‘Did they forget about us?’ We didn’t dream anything bad would happen. So, we were like, ‘Let’s sneak back in there.’
“So, we snuck back in there and turned the corner and every nurse and doctor were in his room. We knew something wasn’t right.”
The assumptions were correct.
“The doctor came out and said, ‘Well, it didn’t go so well. We had to put it back in,'” said Lanie.
Wes had taken a few breaths on his own after the tube was removed and then almost immediately started turning blue.
According to Wes and Lanie, this is when doctors went from thinking it was a lung issue to believing instead it was a heart issue.
Wes was suffering from a pulmonary edema caused by a prolapsed mitral valve.
The mitral valve controls the flow of blood from the heart’s left atrium to the left ventricle. A prolapsed mitral valve means that the valve’s flaps do not always fit and close properly between each beat of the heart, which may cause the valve to leak blood backward through the valve back to the left atrium.
Wes’ was simply not working.
“They said it looked like at some point mine had all fused together,” said Wes. “And then it just popped. That’s what allowed my lungs to fill up with blood. And that’s why I couldn’t breathe.”
“His lungs just filled up with fluid,” said Lanie.
According to Wes, doctors had discovered years earlier that his mitral valve wasn’t working perfectly. However, he had also had it checked a few weeks earlier and there weren’t any major concerns at that time.
“They thought it was a lung condition because I couldn’t breathe,” said Wes. “The mitral valve they knew about, and I was being treated for it, but it wasn’t severe so that’s why they were focused on it at the beginning. I had just been to the doctor two weeks before and had an echocardiogram, and everything was okay.”
Once doctors discovered the real culprit, Wes started to slowly improve.
“They want you to breathe for an hour on your own before they will take the tube out,” said Wes. “Well, I was lying flat on my back. I would lay there for 45 minutes or an hour and breathe and breathe and breathe, but by the end of the time, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
“The pulmonologist came in and said, ‘He has mitral valve issues, why do we have him lying on his back?’ It wasn’t letting the valve open like it needed to. So, they sat me up at 60 degrees and over the next two hours, I was breathing good.”
Tubes came out on Tuesday.
“I think that’s really when I turned the corner,” said Wes. “Once they got it out and figured out that I needed to be sitting up, it was like someone flipped a switch.”
But surgery was still needed to fix the problem completely. So, Wes underwent heart surgery on August 27 where doctors completely replaced – not repaired — his mitral valve.
“After the surgery, the surgeon came in and told us he had never seen a mitral valve that bad where someone survived it,” said Lanie. “The chords on his were fused together and it popped like a rubber band.”
Wes began rehab and was discharged to go home on September 1.
“I now have a carbon fiber mitral valve,” said Wes. “If you listen closely, you can actually hear it (clicking).”
_______________________________
Wes Gregory and John Rankin were honored by the state of Mississippi as the Mississippi Firefighters of the Year in 2011.
“The state knows how special it is,” said Wes. “They made a big deal out of it. I got an Act of Valor Award from the state.”
It’s not an honor he took lightly.
Wes now has the unique view of being on both sides of the equation. The life saver and the one whose life was saved.
“I know what it’s like,” said Wes. “The police. The firefighters. They don’t get enough credit. They don’t make the money they should. It’s those rare things that you get as a win that truly makes it worth it. If you can just save one person … You see people on the worse day of their life. They are looking at you to make a difference.”
On October 1, Wes and Lanie and daughters, Lily and Lesley, and his in-laws David and Kathy Williams, all went to the Ruston Central Fire Station to personally thank Captain Butler, Artur Christian, and Lakin Horton for their part in saving his life.
“It was really special to go up (to the Ruston fire station) and see those guys,” said Wes. “It brought back a lot of emotion and memories from when I was in the fire service.”
According to Wes, James Stephens came up to the fire station in Mississippi to personally thank he and John more than a decade ago.
“Just saving one person makes your whole career worth it,” said Wes. “There are guys who go through their entire careers of 25 or 30 years and never get that opportunity. Those stories, my story, usually turns out to not be good news.”
The gesture meant as much to the Gregory’s as it did to the men who were a part of that August day.
“It’s very rewarding to see the difference that we can make,” said Captain Butler. “It may happen more than we want, but when we get to meet him a months later, it’s very rewarding.
“Knowing that (Wes) has a firefighter background, and he can relate to it. He knows what we have been through, and we know what he has been through.”
Butler, Christian and Horton were all presented with a sticker in the presence of the Gregory’s that day by Ruston EMS Director David Wells. The sticker is an image of the Grim Reaper behind the red “no” sign, or prohibition sign (see photo below) for their individual firefighter helmets.
“In college football helmet stickers are given for individual and team achievements,” said Wells. “It has decades of tradition.
“That day death came for Mr. Gregory and this sticker will serve as a reminder that their efforts made a difference in his life and our community’s lives.”
It’s something Wes won’t soon forget.
“Everybody cared,” said Wes. “It wasn’t just a job. They were personally invested in me. They were all just amazing. They saved my life. The folks at the Ruston Fire Department and Northern Louisiana Medical Center … they saved my life. The folks at Christus Highland Medical Center. All of them.
“It was God’s hand all over it.”
_______________________________
It’s been a slow recovery process for Wes.
However, he hasn’t complained. He knows how lucky he is.
“We had so many people call and text and pray for him,” said Lanie. “I believe that is what did it.”
And according to Wes, the support has been overwhelming.
“You talk about the Ruston community … it’s a good place,” Wes said with tears welling up in his eyes. “When something like this happens, it makes you think about everything and evaluate what you are doing to see what is really important. Everything else is trivial. Ruston is such a good place to be.”
Wes recently went back to work at Courtesy Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Ruston where he has been employed since moving to town in 2012. He may not be 100 percent yet, but he is well on the path to a full recovery.
And as Thanksgiving rolls around, thankfulness has a new meaning to him.
“Everything, every part of my life right now, has a different meaning,” said Wes. “Thanksgiving, especially. Any time I’m with family, it’s different. It just feels different. In the past you get so caught up in everything. And you are like, ‘Oh yeah, we are thankful for family and ….’ And everyone says the same thing, but this year I am especially thankful for family and community.”
Wes and his family attend The Bridge Community Church. And according to him, it’s a Thanksgiving tradition for members to go on camera and say one thing they are thankful for each year.
This year, it was impossible to keep it to just one.
“This year mine was two lines,” said Wes. “My family was thankful for our family, but I was also thankful for health and for faith and God’s grace. Without that, I’m not here today.”
Wes Gregory was named the Mississippi Fireman of the Year in 2011 after saving a man’s life in a trailer fire.Wes Gregory talking with Chris Butler, Artur Christian and Lakin Horton.The blue helmet sticker with the Grim Reaper X’d out is given to Ruston Fire Department employees when they go above and beyond in saving a life.
RUSTON, La. — Summer ’13 was supposed to be a typical break for newly-graduated C.J. Gatlin — killing time in at home, taking vacations, so on and so forth.
“We went to the beach that summer,” Gatlin said. “I think we went to Six Flags — I worked out a little bit to get ready for college.”
His now-wife Emaleigh remembers how typical any day that summer would have been for the two, who started dating when C.J. came to Ruston High.
“We were a month shy of being together for a year,” Emaleigh said. “It was just another average day for us.”
Transferring from Central Louisiana to play his last year of football for the Ruston High Bearcats as the starting quarterback, C.J. earned himself a preferred walk-on spot at Louisiana Tech for football, where he was slated to be enrolled in the fall to study engineering.
It all changed within seconds on a Saturday morning that August.
Identifying himself as “accident-prone” after walking away from a rollover wreck the year before, C.J. recalled the day starting as normal as the one before: clearing a ditch near his in-law’s house in a neighborhood that is adjacent to what is now the “Rock Island Greenway.”
C.J. was driving a Polaris Ranger and hauling out debris to kill time on this particular morning for a neighbor. Unbeknownst to C.J., and a great irony here, is both Emaleigh and her mother, Tanya Bickham, had tried multiple times to call C.J., and unable to reach him, they both assumed he had an accident.
“When I called her back, she told me where she was, so I headed her way,” C.J. said, noting he accelerated and pointed the Ranger in her direction. “I was going back to get her, and then I felt the steering wheel shaking, and it jerks to the right and then left quickly. I saw I was about to hit a tree, so I tried to jump out.”
But C.J. didn’t jump out in time. Instead, he hit the roll bar full of the Polaris full force as it careened into the tree, knocking him though the passenger seat and onto the ground. At this point, his body goes into shock, and he goes completely numb.
Emaleigh heard the cracking of the branches and knew something was wrong.
“I didn’t see the wreck happening, but I heard it — and it was just a terrible sound,” Emaleigh said. “I can still hear it in my mind. And when I get to him, the Ranger is headfirst into a tree.”
Amazingly, C.J. is standing up and able to talk, and at no point during the entire process did C.J. lose consciousness. But what C.J. doesn’t quite realize at this time is that the skin of his face and scalp had become detached. C.J.’s exact words to describe it were “my left eyebrow is touching the back of my neck.”
Emaleigh’s instincts have kicked in by now, knowing that she’ll need to act fast while staying calm for C.J. And what she does next has now become a bit humorous in retrospect for the family.
“I’m yelling for her to call 9-1-1,” C.J. said, laughing. “And she’s calling her mom instead. That’s the best part. I literally was like, are you kidding me?”
In retrospect, her rationale for dialing her mother first is very sound.
“We’re in the middle of the woods, and nobody else is going to know how to get to where we are,” Emaleigh said. “And I don’t want to say anything in front of C.J., but I’m trying to keep him calm and awake. I’m telling him what I’m doing and that it’s bad — but that it’s going to be okay.”
Emaleigh then holds C.J. close to her — attempting to apply any pressure to quell the bleeding.
“I put his head in my lap,” Emaleigh said. “I tried to reattach the scalp to his skull the best I could. And I’m holding it there — I’m trying to make sure he stays with me. I don’t want him to pass out.”
Bickham located C.J. and Emaleigh on the property before driving back to find the ambulance to lead the way. By this time, Emaleigh had called Christine, C.J.’s mother, who was at the school where she was working at the time. Christine knew something was off when she answered the phone.
“Emaleigh never calls me,” Christine said. “She told me C.J. had been in an accident and didn’t really say anything else. I called my husband (C.J.’s father, Chris) and left the school for her house. I had only been there once at this point, and I couldn’t remember where it was. And then I see an ambulance behind me, and I pulled over to follow it to the house.”
The ambulance and Christine then headed into the woods towards C.J. and Emaleigh, and when they approached the crash, she realized the full extent of her son’s injuries.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Christine said. “It was very hot outside, and I almost passed out just from the grotesqueness of it.”
Fearing a head or spinal injury, the first responders on site put C.J. in a neck brace and strapped him to a gurney. And given the severity of his wounds, he would need to be air-lifted to LSU-S in Shreveport. A helicopter would be waiting at a clearing adjacent to Glen View Elementary School in Ruston. C.J. is still awake as they load him on the helicopter.
“We were about to walk back to the sheriff’s vehicle, and I hear him yell for us,” Christine said. “I was thinking he was going to tell us that he loves us so much. Instead he yells “Hey, this is my first helicopter ride!” I remember thinking — no way he called us back to tell us that.”
Everyone made their way to LSU-S as C.J. entered surgery to reattach his scalp. Family members, Ruston High Coaches Chad Reeder, Billy and Brad Laird, and a host of friends all came to the waiting room just to sit with the Gatlins and Bickhams as they awaited news.
“Looking back, it’s such a God thing because everybody showed up when we needed them,” Emaleigh said. “It was very heavy in the waiting room because we were waiting on results, and we had no clue what we were going to hear.”
Awake the entire time, C.J. would take nearly 300 stitches to his face, all with only local anesthesia, meaning he was awake for the entire procedure.
“The doctor and I talked the whole time,” C.J. said. “I don’t remember her name, but she went to school in Iowa. I got to watch every stitch, and we had a 3.5 hour conversation. It was just crazy.”
Despite some nicks from the needle, C.J.’s biggest discomfort was being hungry — he hadn’t eaten at all that entire day.
“I had the best Burger King cheeseburger when it was all over,” C.J. added.
Following surgery, his recovery was incredibly easy despite bouts of impetigo and the needed blood-cleaning from his scalp (“It was like Jell-O when you touched his head,” Christine said). Now, the only physical reminder of the accident is the scar that runs along his face — a scar that has healed so well over time that it’s only noticeable when one is actively looking for it.
Miraculously, ten years later, C.J. has no cognitive issues whatsoever from the crash. Now married to Emaleigh with daughter Chooty and son Tripp, C.J. is an assistant coach for the Ruston High Bearcats, who will be playing Friday night against Southside in the quarterfinals. He uses his story as a teaching opportunity for his players.
“Every day is a gift,” C.J. said. “I let my players know that anything can happen at any moment. I struggle sometimes with small things bothering me. Now I ask myself if these things really matter. In the grand scheme of things, would this be really worth my two minutes of being upset?”
Emaleigh also has a reminder of the miracle from Christine: a Pandora angel charm for her bracelet.
“It’s a way to say to her thanks for being there,” Emaleigh said. “She really helped make sure he was taken care of that day, and we were very blessed.”
And for C.J.? Well, no more ATV rides from here. And a confession all these years later:
“I’ve always stuck to the story that I was only going 20-25 miles per hour. This is the first time I’ve ever admitted it: I was going way faster than I should have been.”
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A portrayal of the first Thanksgiving courtesy of the Library of Congress.
by Wesley Harris
The food my family eats at Thanksgiving differs little from what I ate as a kid. No matter if we eat at home, at the in-laws, with our children, or with friends, the dishes are almost always the same.
Thanksgiving meals vary by region, at least to some degree. “Stuffing” accompanies the turkey in New England while “dressing” is a Southern dish. Thanksgiving in the movies includes bread cube- or crumb-based stuffing instead of Southern cornbread dressing, perhaps because most movies are set in the Northeast and the West Coast. South Louisiana menus include items not typical of a North Louisiana meal.
Looking back over the decades, the traditional Thanksgiving meal in Ruston has been based on turkey and dressing. The side dishes may vary with the big bird as the main feature.
In 1933, Ruston’s Hightower Cafe advertised its Thanksgiving meal of turkey, dressing and giblet gravy, peas and carrots, cranberry sauce, baked potato halves, and salad for 60 cents. Not to be outdone, the Red Onion Cafe sold its holiday meal for 50 cents, encouraging diners to come inside to see the menu.
In 1987 when Shoney’s advertised its Thanksgiving dinner for $4.99, diners received sliced turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, buttered peas, bread, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Not much different from what we eat today. Except for the price.
This year, I conducted a quite unscientific poll on social media to determine the ideal Ruston Thanksgiving meal. I queried Facebook users in a discussion group catering to Ruston and Lincoln Parish. Listing 24 Thanksgiving dishes from baked turkey to pecan pie, I asked participants to vote for seven dishes they consider essential to a North Louisiana Thanksgiving.
Within 24 hours, 3,600 votes were cast. If every participant voted for seven and only seven dishes as I requested, roughly 514 people participated in the poll. The large sample size gives credibility to the results.
The outcome was not surprising, with most voting for baked turkey and baked ham, sweet potato casserole and cornbread dressing, pecan pie and sweet potato pie. Along with my poll options, several people added selections to my original list, increasing it to about 40 items. Nothing outlandish. For example, a healthy number of votes came in for fried turkey, a relatively new phenomenon. No one fried turkey when I was growing up in Ruston.
I included specifics like cranberry sauce with or without berries and dressing versus stuffing. I enjoy my cranberry sauce right out of the can with the little ridges of the can aiding in uniform slicing of the jelly stuff. Most participants sided with me on the plain no-berry-straight-from-the can sauce (226) with only a few opting for homemade cranberry sauce with actual whole cranberries (40).
Dressing (415) was no surprise, far surpassing the paltry number who selected stuffing (9). To me, nothing ruins cornbread dressing more than excessive sage. I can’t eat it. It just tastes awful. In a vote within the discussion thread of the poll, when asked “sage or no sage,” the “nos” won out 15-5.
Baked ham (255) beat out baked turkey (195) followed by fried turkey (175). I asked if anyone favored a meat other than turkey or ham, expecting to see a good bit of venison. The write-ins included smoked ham (8), smoked turkey (7), venison (2), fried chicken (1), and one vote for Cornish hens from a family tired of turkey.
I was anxious to see what side dishes would garner the most votes. Of my original poll options, cornbread dressing led the way (415), followed by sweet potatoes or casserole (257), green beans or casserole (230), mac & cheese (143), mashed potatoes (120), corn casserole (112), and collards/greens (79).
With all that dressing, an unexpected vote total for dinner rolls (289) shocked me. We always have rolls although I’ve never seen the need with all that delectable dressing.
A smattering of dishes were added by voters garnering a handful of votes including potato salad, butter beans, peas, roasted vegetables, dumplings, hot water cornbread, and salad.
Deviled eggs (132) was the surprise write-in of the poll. Some families have their own special dish to accompany the traditionals. My friend Robert Hendrick, a retired physician, likes green bean bundles wrapped in bacon on his Thanksgiving dinner plate. Another friend, Fred Hamilton, enjoys some cabbage casserole.
I included giblet gravy and “regular” (non-giblet) gravy. Giblet gravy surpassed alternatives 117 to 63. People, do you know what is in giblet gravy? A store-bought turkey usually includes a packet stuffed inside the bird containing the neck, heart, gizzard, and other organs. Chop that stuff up—I shiver at the thought—add bits of boiled egg and chicken or turkey stock and you have giblet gravy. Sorry, I can’t look at a gravy boat and not think about those bits of heart and turkey neck floating around in there. I’ll stick to gravy made from turkey or bacon drippings or the store-bought jars of ready-made gravy.
Of the desserts in my poll, pecan pie (201) was the clear winner, followed by sweet potato pie (104), pumpkin pie (62), apple pie (32), and bread pudding (14). Of the desserts added by voters, banana pudding received 18 votes. Other desserts collected one or two votes each.
A list of the “nine most popular traditional Thanksgiving dishes in Louisiana” appeared in a major newspaper some time back. Only two items in the top seven of my Ruston poll made this list with its obvious South Louisiana slant: gumbo, cornbread dressing, oyster dressing, sweet potato casserole, andouille or boudin, corn & crab bisque, Spinach Madeline, dirty rice, and collards.
In a nod to South Louisiana, I included “a rice dish” in my poll. Only 23 poll participants said rice in some form would be on their Thanksgiving table. Apparently what is traditional in South Louisiana does not match up with traditional further north.
Whatever is on your table, enjoy it with thankfulness for all the blessings we received this year.
In 1941, just days before America was pulled into World War II, Lincoln Parish celebrated Thanksgiving on the third Thursday in November.
And seven days later, the community celebrated Thanksgiving all over again. Why?
Thanksgiving has been observed on various dates from the time of the Founding Fathers until Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday in 1863. Lincoln set Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November. For the next 75 years, most communities settled on that date as the time to feast and give thanks for the blessings of the past year.
On October 31, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation changing the holiday to the next to last Thursday in November. The change came at the urging of the business world. The president said the idea sounded “silly” but decided to defer to the merchants, the Associated Press reported.
Today, merchants put up Christmas decorations before Halloween, but in the 1930s, promotions of the holiday shopping season never began until after Thanksgiving. Setting the earlier date added more shopping days to the season, presumably boosting retail sales. Shoppers did not start their Christmas buying until after Thanksgiving and in the 1940s, advertising Christmas sales before then would have spurred severe backlash.
The proclamation wreaked havoc on the holiday schedules of families, schools, and businesses, and many Americans were not in favor of the change. In a nation steeped in tradition, now even the holiday of Thanksgiving was thrown into turmoil and widespread confusion due to the presidential decision aimed at boosting the economy.
Americans were split by the quandary. While some states heeded Roosevelt’s call to celebrate on the second-to-last Thursday in November, many others refused to abandon tradition and held Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month as usual. The result was a patchwork of Thanksgiving dates that divided the country and sowed confusion for families and businesses alike. By 1940, 23 states celebrated on Roosevelt’s new early date, while 22 held firm to the traditional date. Three states opted to celebrate both dates, which only added to the confusion.
In 1941, the local newspaper reported, “The difficulties facing the good people of Ruston and vicinity began several years ago when precedent-breaking President Roosevelt took his royal prerogative between his teeth and moved Thanksgiving Day up one week from the last Thursday in November to the third Thursday in November. The original reason for the change was supposed to increase the length of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, thereby giving the merchants a break with more shopping time for the buyers between holidays.”
The paper explained the problem. “This year in Ruston, something went wrong. Ever since the change was made, there has been dispute, some observing one Thanksgiving and some the other . . . Members of the retail merchants association cussed and discussed the situation and finally decided, with some reservations, to celebrate the 20th,” but as the editor reported, Louisiana Tech and public schools chose the 27th as Thanksgiving.
Louisiana‘s governor, Sam Jones, designated Thursday, November 20, 1941, as Thanksgiving, conforming with the earlier date designated by President Roosevelt. But Louisiana Tech had already set its annual calendar with the 27th as the Thanksgiving holiday. Tech had an afternoon football game scheduled with Centenary College for the 27th so its Thanksgiving holiday was scheduled to correspond with the annual holiday game tradition.
The Lincoln Parish School Board designated November 27 as Thanksgiving to conform with Tech’s schedule. The Ruston High Bearcats were undefeated as the holiday approached and the Bearcats were vying for a state championship with a big game slated for the 28th so 27th was the better day for the holiday.
But the majority of Ruston merchants decided to observe November 20 as set by Roosevelt and Jones, giving them an extra week to peddle their wares before Christmas. According to the Shreveport Times, most people in Ruston and Lincoln Parish celebrated both days.
So Ruston and Lincoln Parish bucked the majority of the state by utilizing the earlier date for the Thanksgiving like businesses in Monroe and other cities did.
The secretary of the Monroe-West Monroe Chamber of Commerce told the media Twin Cities merchants were closing on 20th. George Holland said a Congressional proclamation setting the last Thursday in November as the holiday date beginning in 1942 had led to even more confusion on top of the President’s proclamation.
To the president’s disappointment, the anticipated economic boost never materialized. The disarray of having two Thanksgiving dates proved to be a logistical nightmare for retailers, schools, businesses, and families, with many reporting lackluster sales regardless of the extra week. Criticism mounted from traditionalists, and Roosevelt’s move was widely lampooned in the media and public discourse.
So, for at least one year, those in Ruston and Lincoln Parish feasted twice in two weeks while lifting prayers and giving double thanks for their blessings and good fortune. Those prayers would increase ten days later when military bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, were bombed, bringing America into a global conflict and seeing hundreds of local men die over the next four years.
This fall break, I’ve been working on decluttering my children’s rooms. This is easier to do when they aren’t in the house because every item I find to give away (or, in case of broken or missing parts, throw away) turns out to be THEIR MOST FAVORITE TOY EVER. Even though they’ve outgrown it. Even if it’s broken. Even though they haven’t asked about it in years.
So things got done during my fall break while they were still in school.
However, in the midst of cleaning out for my older daughter, I stumbled upon a treasure that I had forgotten all about – and that truly could be labeled as her “most favorite.” A little backstory: my father passed away in 2016 and my mother in December 2022. Also, I’m an only child. If Kyle or one of the girls asks me about something in my childhood that I don’t remember, I gently joke, “Well, that institutional knowledge is no longer available.” Because there are a lot of things that I don’t know and that I can’t ask a parent any longer.
But this book I discovered in my daughter’s room – this gives me some of that knowledge back.
It’s called “Grandmother Remembers,” and my mother purchased and started writing in 2015 – a year before my second daughter was born. The book has prompts which request her hand write answers to questions about her grandparents, her parents, herself, and what I was like as a child – again, things that are absolutely precious to me and to my girls. She wrote in total in about half of the book, which is fine – that’s the part that talks about our family history that I didn’t live through myself.
She added more to it, too, the month before she died. Her handwriting is much shakier in that blue ink, but it is definitely readable and understandable. What’s so fun, too, is that some of her humor comes through, and I’m so glad to have that.
For instance, when she talks about my maternal grandparents, she wrote that her father taught her to work hard and be honest – while her mom taught her the importance of looking good. She was always well known for wearing flashy clothes and wearing large earrings (she told my dad she had big ears, so she needed big earrings – not sure if that was just a way to get larger pieces of jewelry or if she truly believed that, but I remember that). When talking about how she met my dad, she wrote about how they met at a community dance, which I knew. She said my dad was attracted to her because “of the way I started at the door and looked everything over before walking on in to the dance. Of course, I was also told I was a hot looking number.”
LOVE it.
My parents eloped on May 16, 1969, and they went on a honeymoon in New Orleans. I didn’t know that.
There is a little about me in the book, but I have more in my baby book, which she kept way better than I kept my two girls’. There is one comment about, “Wayne (my father) and I were proud of everything Judith did. Him, unreasonably so.” We used to joke that if I wanted encouragement and to feel good, ask him how I did on something. If I wanted the truth, ask her.
I am so thankful that she purchased this book so many years ago and even more so that she added more details right before she passed. I don’t remember how I came in possession of this book. I remember her talking about it briefly, but I don’t remember if she gave it to me or if I found it in her house after her passing. But I have it now, and that is a blessing.
And what a great book of personal history of which to be thankful.
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Across the US, Thanksgiving traditions vary from state to state and family to family. In North Louisiana, things might look a little different to the rest of the country. In the South we often see “dressing” instead of “stuffing” and pecan pie rivaling pumpkin. For Ruston, our town transforms into a lit-up Hallmark-style haven for the holidays. Families and friends can eat a delicious Thanksgiving meal and walk the Downtown streets, enjoying this spectacle of holiday lights.
However, with a large percentage of Lincoln Parish’s population being college students, Thanksgiving in Ruston isn’t just about family traditions. Many Ruston residents know that Thanksgiving also means extending warmth and hospitality to students who call Lincoln Parish home for the holidays.
For some students, Lincoln Parish is already their permanent home, with family just around the corner.
For others, college is a world away from where they grew up and making it home for the holidays isn’t always an option. In Ruston’s tight-knit community, Thanksgiving becomes more than a family affair. The holiday is an opportunity to extend hospitality through family gatherings, Friendsgivings, community events and local programs.
Amy Stegall, Main Street Director and Community Coordinator, highlights what makes Ruston unique during the season of gratitude.
“Thanksgiving is all about tradition, and for many Ruston families, spending the holiday together is a cherished custom. It’s about sharing recipes, reliving memories, and simply being together,” Stegall said. “What sets Ruston apart is its hospitality toward college students who can’t make it home, especially those from far away. Local families and churches often open their doors, ensuring everyone has a place to celebrate. In Ruston, the warmth of the community and the kindness of strangers, make it a truly special place to spend Thanksgiving and the entire holiday season.”
With Ruston having such a heart for college students, there is no shortage of resources for students to get connected over the holidays. One program reaching out to students is the college ministry at the Bridge Community Church. The Friendship Family Program offered by the church pairs international students with host families, allowing them to build meaningful relationships during their college stay.
Many of these families invite the students to their Thanksgiving meals, giving them a chance to experience their traditions.
Director of The Bridge Kids, Lori Waits, explained how local churches support college students and give back to the community for Thanksgiving.
“We value the importance of discipleship across all ages. You see this benefit people in so many different ways, but one way is during the holidays,” Waits said. “People in our church that disciple college age kids often invite them into their homes during the holidays if they can’t make it home to be with their families.” While opening your home to strangers may not seem ideal for everyone, many Ruston families embrace the idea of “the more the merrier” and welcome those without Thanksgiving plans.
One Ruston resident, Meissa Billeaud, knows that international students especially, often lack a cozy place to spend the holiday. She explained how she and her family share their Thanksgiving traditions with others.
“Because of the huge international student population at Tech, my family has started a tradition of inviting any international students we know to our family Thanksgiving,” Billeaud said. “We’ll have friends joining from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. It’s always fun to hear about their traditions as they participate in ours.”
While Thanksgiving may look different for everyone in Lincoln Parish, one thing is for certain. Whether Lincoln Parish is your hometown, your home away from home, or just a temporary place to stay, you can be sure that you’ll be made welcome in this little corner of the world. Lincoln Parish embraces the spirit of togetherness, making sure everyone feels at home for Thanksgiving.
While we should be expressing thankfulness year around, this week is one that is typically set aside for an extra dose of consideration. Most of us, when asked what we are thankful for, will typically respond to people, opportunities, or special things. If we have recently overcome a challenging situation, we may refer to more basic aspects of life.
Rather than use this column to express my thankful list of people, opportunities, and outcomes, I thought I would take a different approach. This approach might just be a challenge for you to do the same thing and deal with some things that you have avoided for years. This challenge might just help you see how God worked or is working in your life through a struggle, a heartbreak, a setback, or a failure.
There is a verse in the New Testament that talks about giving thanks in all circumstances. Now, if you are like me, that’s hard to do. However, it’s sometimes easier to do once you look back from a different perspective.
My parents divorced when I was ten. I remember being lonely, scared, and uncertain. I am thankful that Jesus entered my life and that His presence filled that void. I may have been by myself at times, but I was never again alone. For that I am thankful.
Growing up was a struggle financially. It wasn’t nearly as easy as what others seemed to experience. However, I learned how to work, save, and budget. I saw God time and again provide opportunities for me when I needed them most. I am thankful that God showed me how to just take one step at a time when things weren’t clear. For that I am thankful.
I loved athletics growing up and playing sports. While I needed positive encouragement and a challenging approach, I didn’t always get this coaching. I experienced some negative, demeaning, and confidence-shaking moments that cut to the core. However, it made me tougher and more determined to not let others define my future. For that I am thankful.
My first full-time job after college was at a CPA firm in South Louisiana. There were some real jerks that were in positions of authority. One of these managers would often question my ability and remind me on a regular basis that I wasn’t worthy to work in such a firm. I was not just challenged to prove him wrong, but to aspire to be something in that firm that was severely lacking – a competent, caring leader. I am thankful for that motivation that changed me in many ways. For that I am thankful.
Early on in my second job after college, I was totally humiliated by a senior leader in a meeting. That encounter prompted me to engage in every aspect of that operation over the next few months not only to be prepared for the next meeting, but to better support the 850 workers at the mill. I learned more, faster than I would have if not for that encounter, but most importantly, I learned how to value others. For that I am thankful.
Now, almost 40 years after that first job, I have embarked on something that is filled with uncertainty. I am not sure who next month’s clients will be. The uncertainty can be tough. But I am thankful for all of those that I have been able to connect with, support, and help. I look forward to where that next opportunity will come from and for that I am thankful.
I look back over those experiences and can see a pattern of growth and for that I am thankful. What’s your story? Can you spend some time this holiday season and find those thankful nuggets that shaped who you are today? You might just find that they are hidden in those difficult struggles!
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