BATON ROUGE, La. – Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB) and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser ask people in all 64 parishes of Louisiana to stop littering in 2024 and adopt one or all 10 of KLB’s proposed New Year’s resolutions to help clean up the state’s Sportsman’s Paradise.
“Litter hurts our economy, our environment, and our quality of life,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “By adopting one or all of these resolutions, you are doing your part to prevent litter and helping to let Louisiana shine.”
“Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s 2023 litter study revealed Louisiana is spending an estimated $91.4 million each year on litter abatement,” said KLB Executive Director Susan Russell. “We also found that 92% of Louisiana citizens believe that litter is a problem. It’s time to work together to address our state’s litter problem.”
Some 2024 resolutions can include:
1. Bag trash, tie the bag tight, and put a lid on my outdoor trash can. These simple actions prevent loose trash from becoming litter.
2. Keep a garbage bag in one’s vehicle and dispose of my trash properly when at home. This action helps prevent roadside litter. According to Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s 2023 roadside litter study, there are approximately 143.8 million pieces of litter on Louisiana roadways.
3. Check the bed of one’s truck to ensure its free of trash and debris that could fly out and become litter. This action helps prevent roadside litter. 53.2% of roadway litter is due to motorists.
4. Secure loads with tarps, nets, and tie-downs when transporting large items in trucks or trailers. This helps prevent accidents caused by fallen equipment, furniture, etc. 17% of roadway litter is due to unsecured loads.
5. Get a travel ashtray. Tossed cigarette butts are a fire hazard and can end up in our waterways and harm fish and wildlife. 24.5% of micro litter (less than 4 inches) on Louisiana roadways are tobacco products.
6. Keep one’s business parking lot free of litter and install trash receptacles when possible. A clean place of business is a business that cares about Louisiana. Check out the Clean Biz Partnership!
7. Talk about the importance of not littering with friends and family. Education and awareness are the key to litter prevention!
8. Use fewer single-use plastics, like plastic water bottles and plastic bags. Lightweight plastics can become litter, as they are easily carried by the wind and water. Reusable bottles and bags are affordable investments. Plastic water bottles were found at 80% of KLB’s surveyed sites and were the most frequently found visible litter type overall.
9. Sign up to clean up during Love the Boot Week, seven days of cleanup and beautification events happening April 20-28, 2024. Registration opens at LoveTheBoot.org on January 15, 2024.
10. Pick up litter when one sees it. Check out clean up supplies at local libraries through the Get Down and Clean Up program.
Litter can include paper, fast food wrappers, beverage cans, Styrofoam, cardboard, plastic bottles, cigarette butts, tire parts, plastic bags, clothing, and even biodegradable items. When not disposed of properly, trash adds to Louisiana’s litter problem.
KLB encourages the people of Louisiana to visit LetLouisianaShine.org for litter facts and prevention tips.
Louisiana Tech picked up their fourth straight win and third by double-digits by taking down Abilene Christian 66-49 at Moody Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Louisiana Tech (6-9) held one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country to just 4-22 from behind the arc. Abilene Christian (5-6) came in averaging nine 3s a game.
“It started for us on the defensive end,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “Robyn Lee got a deflection early, and that set the tone. We gave up 49 to a team that can score it, and they can spread it out. They’ve put up good numbers against good teams. They shoot it well at home. I was concerned about the three-point line. We defended that well. They hit one late; they were three of 21 up to that point. I’m just really proud of our defensive effort.”
The Lady Techsters shot lights out in the first, finishing 75 percent from the field. Tech made four of their first five shots to jump to a quick 10-2 lead just over four minutes into the game. The lead would grow to 21-8 before back-to-back three-pointers by Abilene Christian closed the gap.
The Lady Techsters looked to be in control early into the second quarter. Starting the stanza with a three by Amaya Brannon and Autumn Smith, the Lady Techsters’ lead grew to 17 at 21-14 halfway through. ACU would make an 11-point run and force Tech to call a timeout. LA Tech would close the half on a 7-0 run and lead 38-25 at the half.
Tech would cruise in the second half, increasing their lead to as much as 23 midway through the fourth.
Four Lady Techsters finished in double-figure scoring, led by Brannon with 17. Roberson had 14, followed by Salma Bates and Jianna Morris with 10. Morris finished with five rebounds, and Silvia Nativi had a game-high seven assists.
“We moved the ball well,” said Stoehr. “When you look up and put up the offensive numbers that we did, 52 percent from the field, 46 from three, and 71 from the free throw line, but 22 assists on 27 made field goals. This group is figuring it out by sharing the basketball and moving it to get easy shots. We did it against the man. They went to the zone. We did it against the zone. It was an excellent, solid outing for us.”
Abilene Christian finished shooting 37 percent from the field. Addison Martin led the Wildcats with 16 points. Bella Earle and Clare Traeger finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.
For the third straight game, Louisiana Tech found itself in a dogfight against a quality opponent on the road.
And for the third straight time, the Bulldogs narrowly came out on the losing end, falling by a final score of 73-70 to Grand Canyon on Saturday night in front of 7,436 fans inside Global Credit Union Arena.
“I saw a lot of fight and competitive spirit from this group,” said Tech head coach Talvin Hester. “In these types of games, you have to control the things you can control. We missed some free throws we should have made. I am disappointed in the loss though.”
LA Tech (9-5) managed to withstand the hot shooting of GCU (12-1). The Antelopes came into the contest ranked 234th in the country in three-point field goal percentage but managed to go 11-of-20 from beyond the arc.
Seven of those made three-pointers came in the first nine minutes of the game, including five straight, to build as much as a 10-point lead. On the other end, the Bulldogs pounded the paint. Again and again, outscoring the Lopes, 42-16, in the paint.
It was a made layup on a second chance by Tahlik Chavez that tied it up, 38-38, going into the locker room at halftime.
The lead seesawed back and forth throughout much of the second half (total of 16 lead changes and seven ties in the contest). A driving layup down the middle of the paint by Jordan Crawford made it 55-53 in favor of LA Tech with 11:05 to go, forcing a timeout by GCU.
The Lopes took back the lead, but back-to-back three-pointers by Chavez gave LA Tech its largest lead of the game at 63-58 with 7:23 remaining. Up four at 68-64 after three made free throws by Daniel Batcho, GCU got five quick points on a three from Tyon Grant-Foster and a layup by Ray Harrison.
After a timeout called by head coach Talvin Hester, Batcho seemed to beat the shot clock on a baby hook in the paint. However, in a questionable call the officials overturned it to a shot clock violation after review. What would have been a one-point lead for the ‘Dogs with 1:23 on the clock kept it as a one-point lead for the home team.
The Lopes added two free throws on their next possession, but Isaiah Crawford was able to stop an almost 6-minute stretch of no field goals for the Bulldogs with a layup at the 58 second mark, putting LA Tech down by one again at 71-70.
The ‘Dogs were able to get a defensive stop on the following possession but ended up committing a turnover that ultimately resulted in two more free throws for GCU. LA Tech had a chance to send the game into overtime, but a three-point attempt by Chavez was off the mark.
“I was trying to get the ball to Isaiah and get the ball down hill to the basket,” said Hester. “I thought he got fouled the whole way there. We tried to go back into him, but had a lost possession. Had a chance to go for the three, drawing something different than Grand Canyon had seen. I thought Tahlik came off clean, but did not get a clean look to tie it.”
LA Tech shot a season-best 56.0 percent from the field, getting double-digit points from Batcho (16), Chavez (16), and Crawford (13). Newman Jr. added nine points and a season-high nine assists.
GCU shot 44.4 percent from the field and was anchored by Harrison who had a game-high 22 points, including four made threes (came into the game shooting 22 percent from three).
Louisiana Tech’s point guard Jianna Morris was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week after helping the Lady Techsters to a fourth straight victory against Abilene Christian.
Morris scored 10 points on 75 percent shooting, including connecting on both three-point attempts in 30 minutes. She tied a career-high five rebounds and set a new mark with three steals while adding two assists.
On the season, Morris averages 7.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. She has scored in double figures in four games, including a high of 13 twice, against Richmond on Nov. 26 and California Baptist on Dec. 18.
LADY TECHSTER 50TH REUNION Louisiana Tech is celebrating the 50th season of Lady Techster basketball. All former Lady Techster coaches, players, and staff are invited to the celebration held during the CUSA home opener against Sam Houston on Jan. 6, 2024. A reception will be held on Friday, Jan. 5, and formal recognition will be during the game.
Former Grambling State University President Rick Gallot will start the new year in the same role for the University of Louisiana System after all.
Weeks of hanging in an uncertain limbo ended Saturday as it was announced Gallot has signed a contract to become president of the ULS. He’ll assume that role on Monday, taking over the nine-school ULS system.
Gallot was voted in by the ULS Board of Supervisors as the new head of the system on Oct. 25 in a move that came minutes after former ULS President Jim Henderson was elected as the new president at Louisiana Tech University.
Henderson’s contract for the presidency at Louisiana Tech was finalized on Dec. 16, but a contract for Gallot did not happen at that point with reports saying that Louisiana Gov.-elect Jeff Landry was concerned that he had yet to speak with Gallot to make sure that Gallot’s vision of moving forward with state higher education aligned with his own.
The Louisiana Illuminator reported that Gallot said in a statement released on Saturday he had spoken with Landry.
“I had a great conversation with Gov.-Elect Landry where we discussed our shared goal of making Louisiana a better state and improving our higher education enterprise,” The Illuminator reported Gallot saying in that statement.
The Illuminator’s report said that Gallot will be paid $475,000 annually with a housing allowance of $54,000, an auto allowance of $24,000 annually or the use of a state vehicle.
Henderson’s final salary as system president was $522,000 annually. Henderson will earn a salary of $450,000 at Louisiana Tech, plus additional $132,000 compensation from the Louisiana Tech University Foundation.
There has been no word yet on announcing an interim president for Grambling State University while the ULS conducts an official search to fill the void Gallot leaves at GSU.
Discussion about naming an interim president GSU was originally on the agenda for the ULS Dec. 7 board meeting but was tabled with no further explanation, a move considered likely to have been made because of the concerns issued by Landry at that point.
The timeline set for an official search for a new president for GSU was announced during the Nov. 17 ULS meeting and is as follows.
• Jan. 12 – Preferred date for applications
• Jan. 17 – Committee receives list of candidates
• Jan. 22 – Committee meets in Baton Rouge to review applicant materials and select semifinalists
• Feb. 5 – On-campus interviews occur this week and finalists selected
• Feb. 21/22 – Finalists presented to full Board of Supervisors and president selected
The next scheduled ULS meeting is set for Jan. 4 with a stated purpose of installing new officers.
(Ruston’s Jadon Mayfield has been named 5A All-State defensive outstanding player. Photo Credit: Reggie McLeroy)
By Kyle Roberts
Ruston Bearcat fans have known for a long time how special senior linebacker Jadon Mayfield is to this football program.
And today, the Louisiana Sports Writers Association has announced that Mayfield is the 5A all-state defensive outstanding player of the year, which is little surprise to the followers of the Firmly Founded after watching the Louisiana Tech signee finish with 114 tackles on the year, of which nine were for a loss of yards.
“I think what Jadon has done this year obviously speaks for itself and it seems others agree,” Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh said. “He is a very special player and person. We will miss him very much but will be watching to see where his next step takes him.”
Mayfield is joined on the all-state team by junior running back Jordan Hayes on the offensive side, along with both senior defensive end Geordan Guidry and junior cornerback Aidan Anding.
Hayes’ outstanding 2023 rushing campaign yielded 1694 yards on the ground with 20 touchdowns.
Guidry proved to be a sack machine after terrorizing quarterbacks for 10.5 sacks on the year with 60 tackles in all. Anding would tally four interceptions, but he likely cemented his name on the all-state team after his electrifying punt return for a touchdown near the end of the first half against Zachary in the state championship game.
Senior wide receiver Zhy Scott and senior cornerback Semaj Jones along with senior offensive lineman Sam Nations all earned honorable mention, as did junior quarterback Josh Brantley, senior defensive end Ahmad Breaux, senior defensive back Nate Johnson and junior linebacker Zheric Hill.
“We are always proud of those that are recognized individually for the accomplishments of our team and the part they played in our success,” Baugh said. “I think all of those guys are very deserving of that recognition and we are very proud of them.”
Ruston High won its first football state championship in 33 years with a 31-17 win over Zachary in the Superdome on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Jerrod Baugh was named the 2023 Louisiana Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year, almost 10 years after thinking his high school coaching career was over. (Photo by Bret McCormick)
By Malcolm Butler
Jerrod Baugh doesn’t shy away from the truth.
And his coaching success story is one anchored in plenty of truths, some not so pleasant to remember.
The Ruston High head football coach has truly traveled on a road to redemption over the past decade, overcoming a highly publicized mistake to reach the pinnacle of his profession on the high school level in the state of Louisiana.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
His nightmare turned dream-come-true journey culminated earlier this month in New Orleans. Baugh stood on the field at Caesar’s Superdome, surrounded by a group of fiercely loyal football players hoisting a state championship trophy, while thousands of Bearcat supporters celebrated the school’s first title in more than three decades.
It’s a scene Baugh wouldn’t have allowed himself to even dream about 10 years ago. And understandably so.
January 13, 2014, is a date Baugh would like to forget. Yet, one that led him to where he is today. It was the starting point down a road to redemption for the 46-year-old Ruston coach.
Having just completed his fourth season as the Gladewater (Texas) High athletics director and head football coach, Baugh was discovered asleep at the wheel in his truck in the drive-thru of a McDonald’s at 3 a.m.
He was arrested for driving while intoxicated. It was his third such offense, also receiving one in high school more than 20 years earlier and one in college. Thus, the third offense based on the laws in the state of Texas was considered a third-degree felony (in Louisiana, the first two would have already been expunged from his record).
The incident and the dominoes that soon followed led to Gladewater dismissing him. And even worse, Baugh faced the real possibility of losing his teaching certificate and ultimately his dream of coaching football as a career — or at least having to sit out at least five years.
So, it’s understandable why Baugh was a little teary-eyed when his mother, Nova, hugged him on the Superdome field following Ruston’s state championship win over Zachary a few weeks ago.
“That kind of got to me,” Baugh told reporters in the post-game press conference. “I was holding it together, but seeing her and knowing personally some of the things I’ve gone through … It has been 10 years since I thought I was going to have to get out of coaching. I made some mistakes, and it has been a long journey for me to get past those things and to make my way back.”
A journey down a road full of potholes, speed bumps and detours along the way.
But make his way back, Baugh did. And in championship style.
The Yahoo.com story about his arrest back in 2014 is still viewable. There is no hiding from that night and to Baugh’s credit, he not only knows it, but he embraces it in a way that only someone who has lived it can.
“I haven’t always been an open person, but I guess when something like this happens and there are all these stories plastered all over the news … and it’s so readily available with social media,” said Baugh. “You can pull it up and look at it. I guess it made me realize there ain’t nothing to hide.”
He vividly remembers the doom-and-gloom-feeling the days following his arrest in Texas.
“I was quite certain that that mistake was the worst thing that had ever happened to me,” Baugh said in an hour-long interview three days after defeating Zachary in the state title game. “And now (I am) able to turn around and what I thought in the moment was the worst thing that I had ever personally gone through has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
It’s almost too hard to believe: a storybook ending to be honest.
“I can tell you there are a lot of stories,” said Baugh. “If you ever want to write a book, I can give you a book’s worth. It would be a good book. There are certainly a lot of things that have led to this, and it’s unbelievable that I have ended up where I have ended up.”
Baugh was coming off a 7-7 season with Gladewater. The team had won three playoff games before falling in the Texas Class 3A Division II Quarterfinals to end the year. He landed the Gladewater job at 32-years of age after spending 11 years as an assistant at Ouachita High School and Longview (Texas) High School.
He was considered one of the young up and coming coaches in the high school ranks.
However, his fall from grace was swift. And Baugh said he remembers the fear of what the arrest could mean for the future of his coaching career.
“The kids (at Gladewater) were asking when I was going to come back,” said Baugh. “Then I found out they were going to take my teaching certificate. I was going to be put on probation for like five years. You can’t get your certificate back (in Texas) for that period of time. So, I knew I was going to be out for at least five years.”
Administrative leave and then dismissal by the school soon followed. Baugh was without a coaching job for the first time in his adult life.
He moved back to Louisiana to live with his brother, Duston, and his family. He took a job as a cabinet estimator, a far cry from his passion of coaching.
“When he took that cabinet making job, I remember him saying it was the first time he felt like he had a job he had to go to,” said Duston. “Before he said he never felt like he had a job because coaching was what he loved to do.
“He never really did change looking from the outside. But you could tell he was dealing with it, but he never talked about it.”
Baugh, who grew up in Hoghair – a community outside of Luna in north Louisiana – and who played football and basketball at West Ouachita High School before graduating in three years from ULM, was forced to change paths.
“I got stuck in a room with a computer, all day every day,” Baugh remembered. “I was miserable. The guy was good to me, and I was going to make a lot of money. But I was still miserable.”
With the outlook bleak for coaching again anytime soon, Baugh received a phone call late in April of 2014 that proved to be the first step on the path back to the sideline. Dean Smith had just been hired at Wossman High School as the head football coach. He wanted Baugh to join his staff.
The timing was perfect for Baugh. In fact, better than perfect. It was almost too good to be true.
Baugh was looking at losing his teaching certificate. He knew that and had almost accepted it as reality. But the timing of joining Dean on the Wossman staff helped indirectly circumvent that crisis. So, when he got the call, he had a short answer for Smith.
“I said, ‘Hell yeah,’ I’d come,” said Baugh.
“I was grateful. They were the first ones willing to give me a chance and work through all that I had to work though. I was up front with them on what all I was going to have to do.”
Because his court date in Texas had not arrived and thus Baugh had not been convicted yet, he was able to go through the Louisiana school board to renew his Louisiana teaching certificate. Once that was completed, it would be three years before the state of Louisiana went back and reviewed it, buying Baugh some time to re-establish himself.
“I really kind of beat the system so-to-speak to be honest with you,” said Baugh. “They went back three years later which ended up being a little bit of an issue. I had to go down there to the (Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education).”
But with State Representative Chris Turner, Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Ricky Durrett and Ruston High Principal Dan Gressett by his side, Baugh was able to get approval from the BESE board to renew his teaching certificate.
“I had seen he impact he was having on those Ruston players,” said Turner. “It was an easy decision for me to help him. I knew the relationship he had with those kids and the good he was doing at Ruston High within that program.”
“That went very well that day,” recalled Durrett. “It was really pretty easy to get it renewed. We showed support and what (Jerrod) had done … the guy has never backed away from what he did. He owned up to it. Parents knew. Kids know. Everybody knew. He made a personal mistake.”
A mistake he would spend the next 10 years working tirelessly to overcome in different ways.
Baugh started coaching at Wossman in the summer of 2014. And as much as he enjoyed being back on the field and in the weight room with the Wildcat players and as much as he was grateful for the opportunity, the summer was far from easy for him. While he worked at the school during the week, he was forced to return to Texas on weekends to serve his court-determined penalty from his arrest.
“I was going (back to Texas) to serve some jail time in Longview,” said Baugh. “I had to drive over there, stay in jail for the weekend, and then come back and do summer workouts. There were a lot of things like that I had to do.”
It was a sobering experience and one that he remembers vividly.
“I’m sitting in jail and there are some kids that I have coached sitting in there,” said Baugh. “There are some parents of kids sitting in there with me. I lay in there and I had a lot of opportunities to think about it. How did I end up in this spot?”
This is when Baugh said he realized there was no hiding from his past. It was at this point of his journey he knew he would have to embrace it, especially with the young men he was coaching.
“When I got the job at Wossman, I am carrying kids home after practice or picking them up before practice and I’ve got one of those breathalyzer things in my truck,” Baugh said. “You got to kind of be open about it. Everybody’s got to know.”
The 2014 season came and went for Wossman (and Baugh). He coached. He continued to live with his brother. He said he didn’t take a single day for granted. His plan was to stay at Wossman. He had no intention of leaving.
But the coaching world is small. And coaching connections are strong. And Baugh’s phone rang one day as Ruston High head coach Brad Laird began the effort of convincing Baugh to become a Bearcat.
Laird and Baugh had coached together early in their respective careers at Ouachita High School before they both followed Pat Collins to Longview High School. The two coached one more year together before Laird followed his dad, Billy, to Nashville, Arkansas.
But the relationship between Laird and Baugh was born during that time. And with Laird in need of filling a position on his staff at Ruston, he turned to his old coaching friend. But not before talking it over with then-Ruston principal Ricky Durrett and Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Danny Bell.
“I was very transparent with Ricky (Durrett) and Mr. Milstead with Jerrod’s situation,” said Laird. “I wanted to make sure they knew. Number one, they knew the situation. Number two, they knew my relationship with Jerrod Baugh.
“I knew who Jerrod was as a person. I just know that if somebody held me to a standard that I can’t make a mistake, then I wouldn’t have the opportunity to work. The thing was understanding who Jerrod was as a person. That’s what I wanted them to know.”
After receiving the go-ahead to pursue Baugh for the coaching position, Laird began what turned out to be a challenging job of convincing him to come to Ruston. Baugh said it wasn’t a matter of not wanting to be a part of the Bearcats staff, but it was more of trying to not make waves.
“I told Brad no the first three or four times he called or text,” recalls Baugh. “Just because I didn’t know. I told him, ‘Look, that is going to end up being a problem for you. I don’t want to stir up any type of media deal.’
“I didn’t really know where I was at. I wasn’t trying to draw any attention or anything about my teaching certificate. I knew I just wanted to keep coaching.”
But Laird wouldn’t accept the answer, at least not without a fight. He knew he wanted Baugh on his staff. So, after three or four failed attempts, Laird finally convinced Baugh to agree to a meeting with himself, his father Billy Laird and Durrett.
“He sure did. He told me no a number of times,” said Brad Laird. “The first no I was very surprised by. I knew what Ruston High School is about. I knew the opportunity. My initial thought was how could somebody tell Ruston High no? It happened again. It happened again. But I was persistent in convincing him to meet with us.”
The meeting paid dividends.
“We all talked,” said Baugh. “I got a good vibe from it and ended up changing my mind. They were very supportive of being willing to deal with whatever came with all of the stuff that I had been through.”
Little did anyone know at that time the decision would be program-changing for Ruston football.
After serving as an assistant coach for the Bearcats in 2015, Baugh was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2016. Ruston posted a 6-5 mark in 2015 before falling to Dutchtown 31-17 in the first round of the playoffs. Laird and Co. then recorded an 8-3 mark in 2016, losing 38-14 to East Ascension in the first round.
During those two years Baugh developed a reputation among the Ruston High family for his work ethic and love for the student athletes. He became ingrained in the community. Little did he know he was paving the foundation for his next opportunity.
Following the completion of the 2016 season Laird headed to the collegiate side of coaching when he accepted the head coaching job at Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
The door was open for the next Bearcat boss. It was an important hire.
Almost two decades removed from its last appearance in the Superdome and almost three decades from its most recent state title, Ruston fans still believed the program could return to its glory days under legendary coach Chick Childress.
Ruston had played second fiddle – as much of the state had – to District 2-5A foe West Monroe. The Rebels had appeared in 16 state title games and won eight state championships since the Bearcats 1990 state title win over Catholic-Baton Rouge. The Bearcats hadn’t beaten the Rebels on the gridiron since that memorable 1990 season.
“A couple of people told me at the time that the hire might define my principalship,” said Durrett, who was principal at RHS and was in charge of the decision.
“When Brad came in and told me he was leaving, I had a group of senior boys, junior boys … football players … come to me and ask if I had any control over this. Could I please let Jerrod Baugh be the next head coach. Then I had assistant coaches – and I won’t say all of them, but I do believe it was all of them – come to me and say if this is going to be your hire, we would like for it to be Jerrod Baugh.”
Internally within the program, there was tremendous support for Baugh despite the fact he had only been at the program for two years.
Current Ruston principal Dan Gressett, who worked with Baugh on the football coaching staff his first two years and who was transitioning to an assistant principal role in 2016, remembers going to Durrett and voicing his opinion.
“It was obvious to me from early on when Jerrod showed up,” said Gressett. “This guy is organized. He knows what he is doing. He coaches kids the right way. Kids gravitate toward him. Coaches gravitate toward him. Adults gravitate toward him.
“I didn’t know him from Adam. I didn’t know his backstory when he came. I didn’t care. He stood out as being a phenomenal coach and knowing how to deal with kids and knowing how to coach kids.”
Durrett said the decision was ultimately his after talking it over with Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Mike Milstead.
“I felt so good about Jerrod that I told Mr. Milstead that we didn’t need a committee,” said Durrett. “We had our guy. I talked to a few others who had applied, but we knew Jerrod was the one we wanted.
“I had talked to people from Longview and from Gladewater when we first hired him as an assistant, so I felt really good about (the decision to elevate him). I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be able to keep him because I know a lot of them wanted him back in Texas.”
It’s a decision that changed the trajectory of the Ruston football program. Baugh has not only won, but he has developed a system that starts at the fifth and sixth grade levels.
Similar to the condition of the path their head coach was traveling, the Bearcats began the challenging and sometimes bumpy road of moving deeper and deeper into the playoffs.
In Baugh’s first year at the helm, Ruston went 8-3 and lost 23-21 to Hahnville in the second round of the playoffs. The following four seasons saw Ruston advance to the state quarterfinals each season, losing to the likes of West Monroe (34-0 in 2018), Zachary (35-27 in 2019), and Destrehan (6-0 in 2020 and 24-19 in 2021).
However, the process of rebuilding was evident.
The stands at Hoss Garrett Stadium began to fill, slowly but surely. The businesses around the community became more invested with Ruston High signage appearing more consistently around downtown during playoff time.
Its three decade losing streak to West Monroe finally came to an end in the regular season finale in 2022. Another door kicked in.
And the Bearcats broke the quarterfinal’s jinx just a few weeks later, advancing to the Nonselect Division I state title game at the Superdome before falling 17-10 to Destrehan in a contest that wasn’t decided until the waning minutes.
The decision to give Baugh a chance was paying off.
“Jerrod always says someone took a chance on him, but I never felt like we were taking a chance,” said Gressett. “I knew back then that if we hired him, that was going to be the right move. I would say it has turned out well.”
Well, indeed.
When the clock at Caesar’s Superdome struck zeros a few weeks ago and the scoreboard read 31-17 Ruston over Zachary, the celebration on the Bearcat sideline and in the stands began.
And the Jerrod Baugh stock was at an all-time high.
“I stayed around after the state championship game and listened to (Jadon Mayfield and Josh Brantley) in the press conference,” said Durrett. “I think they talked about how important Coach Baugh was to them and how he believed in them. I think when you hear kids talk like that, that kind of sums it up. Jerrod is the right guy for our program.”
Baugh and the Bearcats had finally brought the state championship trophy back to Ruston for the first time since 1990. Emotions flowed during the trophy presentation.
Even the poker-faced Baugh couldn’t suppress a decade’s worth of ups and down from surfacing following the win over Zachary.
“(Ruston has) obviously been good for me,” said Baugh, who owns a 67-21 record in his seven years as head coach at Ruston. “You add up all of the ways I ended up being here, and I don’t know how it has added up to what it has added up to. And all the things that I have personally gone through to land where I have landed.
“You hear people say that, but whenever you actually experience that it really is unbelievable. There is really only one possible way that that has happened. I try to translate that into words, and it’s almost impossible.”
The tears welled up in the corner of his eyes as he hugged his mother on the field postgame did all the talking for Baugh.
And it’s understandable.
“I think he hit rock bottom in 2014,’ said Durrett. “But he owned up to his mistakes. I think that is what people can learn from. We are all going to mess up. But when he did, he owned it. He admitted it. He continued to work his butt off and believe in kids.
“When somebody comes as far as he has … to see him at his lowest point and then to see him and those kids celebrating like they were, it’s why you get into education. To see people grow and learn.”
And no one has grown more than the Bearcats Boss over the past 10 years.
“I never wanted to turn this into something for me, but it is still something for me,” said Baugh. “Hell, I’m involved. And it is personal for me. On January 13, I will be 10 years removed from (that mistake).”
Sometimes it’s external forces; sometimes it’s entirely out of our control; sometimes it’s our own poor decisions.
But when we face a reckoning within ourselves, we’re left with a choice of who we really want to be. Do we allow our mistake to define us, or do we own our past as a way to help others?
Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh was faced with his own reckoning nearly 10 years ago. And just before his return to coaching and in his darkest hours following his arrest for a DUI and ultimate dismissal from Gladewater High School, he discovered what really mattered was the passionate care for his players and setting as many of them up for a future success, regardless of whether it was on the football field or in the real world.
“I guess the good and the bad thing about a coach is you are in contact with a lot of people and you have a chance to affect a lot of people,” Baugh said. “You are either affecting them in a good way or a bad way. I don’t think mine was completely bad, but I don’t think it was as good as it could have been.
“With all of that stuff, I decided at that point that I needed to figure out how to pass all of these experiences along to the kids. Hopefully I can curve somebody from making some of the same mistakes that I’ve made. I’m willing to share some of the other mistakes that I’ve made in my life. I think that is one of the things that people fail to want to do. They want to coach kids and they want to point out kids’ flaws, but they are never willing to share some instances where (they) can tell you all about not doing this right or that right.”
Though there was no doubt Baugh was an up-and-coming coach within the East Texas high school ranks and destined for glory in one of the South’s greatest states for football, he’s quick to clarify that prior to January of 2014, he was still taking care of his team. Players were getting rides home from practice, mentorship — you name it.
But once he realized he had another shot to lead a team again, the internal focus shifted from taking pretty good care of his kids into the new core motivation: the development of young men as football players and academics for now, and into the future as productive members of society, whatever their goals were.
So he openly shares his story with his staff and players as a means to make them better, and in the sincere hopes that they will not make the same mistakes he’s made in the past.
“I think a lot of coaches try to project themselves as always being a person that is right and never makes a mistake,” Baugh said. “I think that resonates through our kids. Whenever I tell them something, I think they absolutely know that I absolutely think that is the right thing to do. Otherwise, I tell them another way. I’ve prided myself in making sure that I’m always being honest with the kids.
“I think when you are willing to share some of the things that have happened to you, I think kids take that and they really believe you. They trust you. When you are able to trust who it is you are spending time with the bond that you (form) is just that much greater.”
Listening to Baugh talk how much he cares about his players is captivating. In multiple interviews since he has been at the helm of Ruston’s Bearcat football program, he’s never wavered from that. It appears authentic.
But still — what is it like on the other side of Baugh? Is it all coach-speak, something society has grown accustomed and numbed to over the years, or is it a real genuine driver for the new state champion head coach?
Can it possibly be real?
For former Ruston High head coach Brad Laird, he knew from day one how genuine Baugh was with the kids. In fact, it was a driving factor for getting him to 900 Bearcat Drive nine years ago as an assistant coach.
“Capital L-O-V-E for his players,” Laird said. “There are a lot of good coaches out there as far as X’s and O’s. And you can get anybody up on the white board to draw up the best offense, defense or special teams. Jerrod can do that; he’s good at that. But it’s his love for his players– that’s what makes him so good.”
Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Ricky Durrett was Ruston’s principal at the time when Jerrod being considered as an assistant; ultimately, Durrett was the one who approved the final hire. It took him no time to realize how much Baugh meant to his players and vice versa.
“Jerrod just believes in those kids and does things for them,” Durrett said. “I have had parents get mad about things, and then I talk to those same kids, and they are like, ‘No. I love Coach Baugh.’ I don’t know how you explain that to people. I think Jerrod wants what is best for every single one of them. It may not be playing every down, or even playing in a game. But I do think he cares and wants to give them a chance to be successful in life.
“He is a hard-working individual who believes in pushing kids and getting them to be the best they can be, even when sometimes they don’t believe they can do something. But they love him and care for him even though he pushes them hard and expects a lot from them.”
Current Ruston High principal Dan Gressett was a freshman football coach when Baugh was hired on Laird’s staff and saw immediately how much of an impact he’d have on this historic program.
“It was obvious to me from the start that he had a special talent for relating to the kids and how the kids gravitated towards him,” Gressett said. “The things that he does for kids; people have no idea about. He makes sure they have everything they need, no matter what. He’s not going to be flashy about it or brag on himself. It’s pretty remarkable.”
How about some of the dads of these young men? What would they say?
Bearcat alum Hunter Smith, father of sophomore fullback Lander Smith, has no doubts about the motivation from Baugh.
“Probably the best thing for me as a dad is knowing that Coach Baugh (and his entire staff) genuinely care about Lander (and all his teammates) as a young man and how he goes about his business,” Hunter Smith said. “The accountability and the expectations Coach Baugh has for his players, staff and program as a whole are what sets him apart.
“There are a lot of people who talk about accountability and doing the right thing, but I believe Coach Baugh’s record of acting on accountability and doing the right thing, are some of his greatest attributes.”
George Guidry’s son Geordan just finished his tenure on the field as a Bearcat and recently signed to further his academic and playing career at Tulane. George echoes the same sentiments as Smith as a dad watching his son flourish under Baugh’s leadership.
“It’s been a joy,” George Guidry said. “I can honestly tell you for the four years my son has been in high school at Ruston High, I have not questioned one move Coach Baugh has made because not only are they being set up for football, but he’s giving them the recipe for life.
“He coaches them hard, and he has their best interest at heart. There have been things that Geordan can talk to Coach Baugh about that I’ll never know, because he looks at his coach as his dad away from home. He has a respect for him like no other. It’s just a joy to watch the work that (Coach Baugh) puts in with the kids.”
Hunter Smith said he appreciates that Baugh is honest about his past mistakes, but he does not allow it to shape his perception on his son’s relationship with his head coach.
“Honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to it initially,” Hunter Smith said. “Coach Baugh has humbly shared his past struggles as a man with his players, his staff, me personally, and the public. He doesn’t hide from his past. He embraces it head on and uses it as a teaching tool to help young men become better humans, better fathers, better husbands.
“That approach is irreplaceable to me. That approach aligns with how Coach Baugh coaches his teams: don’t run from struggles and adversity, meet them head on and keep fighting.”
George Guidry agreed, even admitting that it takes a lot to earn his trust.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” George Guidry said. “We learn from them. I judge him by what I have seen him do as an individual with these kids. I’ve been around a lot of coaches. He sets a high standard for these young men going forward in the future.”
Hunter Smith sees that standard in real tangible ways with Lander and how he is led on the football field.
“Lander knows where he stands,” Hunter Smith said. “Coach Baugh and his staff spend more time around our kids than most parents do on a daily basis. To have a man who puts doing the right thing, hard work and being a great teammate above winning is the type of leadership that has fostered a championship program. My family has a long history with Ruston High football, and we are grateful for Coach Baugh and his staff’s leadership now, in the past and in the future.”
All of that culminated on the night of December 9 in the postgame press conference following the Bearcats first state title since 1990. On the dais, Baugh was able to hear firsthand from junior Josh Brantley and senior Jadon Mayfield what he meant to them.
“I appreciate you, Coach,” Mayfield said that night. “It’s been a long four years. I appreciate you for everything you did, on and off the field. You’ve made me a better person, and I’ll never, ever forget it. I just really appreciate you, and I love you.”
Brantley, fresh off winning the night’s outstanding player award, didn’t mince words.
“I really appreciate the way you trust me with the offense,” Brantley said. “You’ve had an impact on my life. You’re always there for us, and if we need something, we can ask you. I really want to thank you and tell you how much I appreciate you.”
The words from the players weighed heavy with emotion. Words from young men who achieved their greatest dream as high school athletes: state champions on the gridiron for a community that had not seen a football title in over three decades.
But they were also words from young men who had been molded for years by a man who took the right path after his biggest mistake.
“Listening to Jadon and Josh say the things that they said about me, well that way bypasses winning a state championship,” Baugh said. “That lets me know that I have impacted them in a really positive way and taught them some things that may help them down the line. If you are able to do that for some kids when they are really impressionable, then that’s better than a state championship for me.”
It’s why Baugh’s past transgressions shouldn’t be hidden, and why he brings them directly into the light with his players.
Because the true change in Baugh’s heart and motive has led to nearly a decade of success for young Bearcats that has rippled into a united and supportive community.
And that trend looks to only continue forward from here.
On Oct. 25, the University of Louisiana System (ULS) Board of Supervisors voted to name current ULS President Jim Henderson as president at Louisiana Tech University and fill that void by moving to elect current Grambling State President Rick Gallot as new ULS President.
During that October ULS meeting it was said both men expected to take on their new roles on Jan. 1.
But today, two days before the start of the new year, the plan for Gallot’s new role with the ULS System and the GSU president remain in a murky limbo, with no interim president for GSU named yet.
The picture was clouded even more last week as it was reported that Louisiana governor-elect Jeff Landry during a press interview on Dec. 20 that he wants to talk to both the board and Gallot before the matter is finalized.
“I’m not opposed to anything,” The Louisiana Illuminator reported Landy as saying during that interview. “I want to be able to meet with the board, and with Rick, to make sure the direction that they want to steer the system is the direction that people of this state believe the system should be directed.”
“When you’ve got a change of governorship — a new governor comes in — he’s taking a new direction, and he or she should be afforded the respect to visit with those folks to make sure that they all align.”
That same day — Dec. 20 — The USA Today network reported that outgoing ULS Board Chair Liz Pierre had said that she intended to present a contract to Gallot last week after conferring with other directors on the board.
But nothing else on a potential contract for Gallot has been reported since.
It has been reported that Henderson was presented a contract for the Louisiana Tech presidency last week and will assume that role on Jan. 1.
But what will happen with the ULS presidency and potential resulting Grambling State presidential void remains unclear heading into the New Year’s long weekend.
The next scheduled ULS meeting is set for Jan. 4 with a stated purpose of installing new officers.
Woman was arrested on numerous warrants after the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a report three people walking in the roadway after dark and creating a hazard.
Deputies responded to La. Highway 821 about 5 p.m. last Thursday and talked to the three individuals. Tina Cardin, 41, of was found to be wanted on warrants from Third Judicial District Court for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and improper supervision of a minor.
Warrants were also located through the City Court of West Monroe for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and theft as well as a warrant from a truancy case in Fourth Judicial District Court in Ouachita Parish.
Cardin was booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center.
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.
While new Grambling State football coach Mickey Joseph was named the 15th official head G-Man on Dec. 18, his staff has yet to be introduced.
But that doesn’t mean three key components of that staff remain secrets.
It was widely reported the day Joseph was announced as Grambling’s new coach that former Southern and Prairie View head coach Eric Dooley would be joining him as offensive coordinator for the Tigers.
Last week it was reported that John Simon, who served last season as GSU’s assistant head coach under Hue Jackson, who was fired on Nov. 28, would also be serving as a bridge between the old and new GSU staffs by being retained by Joseph.
And on Wednesday, Joseph made it official during an appearance on the Lincoln, Nebraska, sports talk radio station 97.3 that Jason Rollins will take over as the new defensive coordinator for the G-Men.
Joseph, a former University of Nebraska quarterback great who served as receivers coach and interim head coach for the Cornhuskers in 2021, brought up Rollins’ addition to his GSU staff while talking to Vershan Jackson and Terrell Farley, a pair of former Cornhuskers, on Jackson’s “The Captain” radio show.
During that show Joseph said he particularly targeted coordinators that had previous Southwestern Athletic Conference coaching experience.
“When it came to coordinators, I wanted guys who coached in the conference,” Joseph said. “Because they know the conference.
“Then I wanted some young guys, because you gotta run behind them. Because when it comes to my office, those are administrative decisions happening there. So I want some young player coaches.I want guys who will get in there and lead them and do the right things.”
Simon’s recruiting experience and abilities likely served as key reasons he’ll remain on the GSU coaching staff.
“First, they’ve got to be able to recruit,” Joseph told the radio show hosts about what he was looking for from his coaching staff. “You don’t want that stigma on you that you’re just a recruiter, but at the end of the day, you can’t control what people think of you. All coaches know football. But you have to be able to get that product in the room.”
Rollins, who served as special teams coordinator last season on the same University of Louisiana-Monroe staff as former GSU head coach Broderick Fobbs, coached at Southern University before joining ULM,coaching SU defensive backs and also serving as interim head coach in 2021 after former SU coach Dawson Odoms left the Jaguars to become head coach at Norfolk State.
Before that Rollins coached at the University of Texas-San Antonio, serving as the defensive coordinator for two seasons and spent two years as associate head coach and linebackers coach
Rollins helped mentor one of the nation’s top defenses in 2017, as the Roadrunners led C-USA in seven different statistical categories and ranked in the top 10 among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams in five. UTSA held eight of its 11 opponents to 300-or-less yards of total offense.
Rollins previously served as co-defensive coordinator in 2015 and special teams coordinator in 2014, at Tulane.
In 2013, Rollins’ secondary was a big reason why the Green Wave made their first bowl appearance since the 2002 season. Tulane ranked second nationally in turnovers forced with 35, including 19 interceptions with 15 by the defensive backfield. Doss, an All-American cornerback, picked off seven passes, returning a pair for touchdowns, and forced two fumbles. Additionally, Tulane allowed just 352.1 yards per game, which ranked 22nd in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
Prior to his tenure at Tulane, Rollins was co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at his alma mater, McNeese State, for two seasons (2005-06). He helped the Cowboys to a 23-10 record, two Southland Conference championships and a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoff appearance in his final season.
Rollins’s coaching career began as an assistant defensive backs coach at McNeese State in 1997-98. He then became an assistant coach in the Texas high school ranks at Galveston Ball (1999-2000) and La Marque (2001) before spending three seasons (2002-04) as the defensive backs coach at Northwestern State, where he helped the Demons to the 2004 Southland title on the strength of the top defense in the FCS.
Rollins was an all-state and all-district performer at Newton (Texas) High School and he went on to play safety at McNeese State where he earned his bachelor’s degree in health and human performance from MSU in 1996.
Dooley, who played at GSU from 1985-87, graduated from Southern in 1999 while serving as an assistant coach from 1997-2010.
He later served as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff from 2011-13 and offensive coordinator at GSU from 2014-17 before becoming head coach at Prairie View from 2018-2021, when he took over as head coach at Southern.
But SU dismissed Dooley late last season, the week before the Bayou Classic pitting Southern against Grambling.
Simon and Dooley served on Fobbs’ staff at Grambling in 2014-15 with Simon coaching GSU receivers. That duor helped lead GSU to a 9-3 record in 2015.
During Wednesday’s radio show Joseph mentioned liking what he’s seen from GSU quarterbacks Myles Crawley and Johnson, while adding he plans on bringing in another QB for competition.
Joseph said he had also conducted a Zoom meeting with GSU players to talk about how they need to attack these holidays and how they need to come back mentally and physically.
“The big thing I expressed to them is that everybody has a clean slate,” Joseph said. “I’m going to look at what happened in the past with them but I’m not going to judge them on it. Everybody’s getting a clean slate and everybody’s going to be fair.
“We’re not running anybody off. We’re going to evaluate this football team until the spring, then after the spring we’ll take it to the summer. So we’ll look at grades and performance on the field after spring football and figure out who we’re going to carry over into the summer.”
Photo courtesy of Louisiana Peach Festival Facebook page
This story was originally published on June 13, 2023.
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By Malcolm Butler
Long-time Ruston residents have seen plenty of changes over the years when it comes to the Peach Festival.
Most recently the longest running agricultural festival in the state of Louisiana has been streamlined down to one weekend due to many reasons.
Coming out of Covid-19, the City of Ruston and the Ruston Convention and Visitors Bureau partnered to take over the festival — something that resided under the Chamber of Commerce umbrella for years.
Amy Stegall, Mainstreet Director and Community Coordinator for the City of Ruston, said the focus has been to stabilize — and improve — the event.
“Post-Covid we knew we were going to have to take it slow,” said Stegall. “Not only because it was post-Covid, but when we found out we were taking it over it was March of that first year. So we just wanted to do what we could do well. So we have added pieces and changed some things.
“One of the things we changed this year was moving Kids Alley. I think we are going to stick with that change. I think it worked very well. It gave us a lot of room to spread out. The kids enjoyed. The families enjoyed it. The kids entertainment stage has been a huge and fun thing for everybody.
“It was just fun to see community be community. That is really what this is about. Just making sure we have those pieces in there that we want to see. The arts and the ice cream and the music and all of those things … it just comes together in a great way.”
Although very happy with this years product, Stegall believes there is still room for improvement.
“Our goal is to eventually make it free for the entire day,” said Stegall. “That is something we are working really hard to make happen. It was a game-changer when we made the daytime free. We want to have a community event that the public can come to and enjoy without having to spend a lot of money. That’s what it is really about. Our main goal is to make the night-time part of the festival free, and we feel like we will be able to do that in the next couple of years.”
The Peach Festival has been a staple in the Ruston community for decades. Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker said he remembers in the mid-1990s when the event was on the brink of possibly folding.
Walker recalls working at Ruston State Bank in 1994 when he was approached about being the chairman for the event — which was in the red financially.
“Kyle Edmiston and myself and a few others went to five different festivals and asked, ‘What do we have to do to make it successful?’, said Walker. “They said we needed to start charging and get control of the arts and crafts, and we needed to lengthen it. So we made it basically a week long.
“So when people say it was longer, the rodeo and the pageant and the softball tournament and all those types of events were held one weekend, then everything else was held the next weekend. So we went from losing $17,000 to making about $12,000. I did not want to see the Peach Festival die back then, and I sure don’t now. I think it’s thriving now.”
Since being tasked with taking charge of the event prior to 2021, Stegall and her team and members of the Ruston CVB have worked tirelessly to make it a must-attend, family-friendly event. That has meant focusing on one weekend — something that seems to have worked well based on public feedback.
Ruston Chamber of Commerce President Will Dearmon stressed the events importance to the community.
“The Peach Festival is rooted in a great deal of history,” said Dearmon. “It touches the heartstrings of families, of businesses, of visitors … anyone that knows of Ruston. It’s synonymous with a great experience. You have seen over the last couple of years since the Chamber relinquished the leadership role of the festival to the city and to the CVB, a great recreation of the festival. It’s clearly been widely successful. I see the the joint leadership between the city and the CVB supported by other local groups as the right model moving forward.
“For local businesses, there is clearly a great deal of buy-in and you saw that just with how busy downtown was and how many businesses were represented in the community event. I am excited for the future and grateful for great community partners that see the value in the festival. From the Chamber of Commerce lens, we are excited to make sure our members are engaged and see the value in this community event.”
So moving forward what does the Peach Festival look like in future years?
“The future of the Peach Festival will look very similar to what it did this year,” said Stegall. “We are excited and happy with the current footprint. We like that everything is tighter downtown, and it feels like a festival because it is not so spread out.
“We do love things like the rodeo and all of the extra things that happen in the community and that is a great part of it. But what we call the Festival proper is probably going to stay pretty similar to what it is. The reason behind that is we want it to have that community type feel and it does. We are happy with that.”
The 2024 version should see the return of the Peach Parade, something that was put on hiatus for this year due to all of the construction on streets and sidewalks in downtown Ruston.
Stegall and Walker both added that other “peachy events” sponsored by local businesses are always a welcome addition.
“Even this year there was a 5K and some other stuff,” said Stegall. “We invite community partners to do peachy events, like the pageants and the diaper derby and the 5K event. All of those events. We hope that people will get on the band wagon and do that. Those can happen anytime during that week. But the festival proper will stay that one day like it is in the park and the surrounding area downtown.”
“We are looking at bringing the tennis tournament back and bringing some sort of softball tournament back,” said Walker. “Matt (Cotton) and I talked about that a couple of months ago. It was just too late to try to put it together this year. I continue seeing it grow.”
And grow it has according to numbers from this year’s event.
“I heard about 4 p.m. that Saturday that we had already had close to 30,000 people come through, which is bigger than last year,” said Walker. “I thought it was great. The food vendors were great. The crowds were great. The music was great. To do what we do downtown with a major US highway running through it is unbelievable.”
Stegall said she received nothing but compliments from this year’s event — outside of Mother Nature providing a little too much heat and then rain during part of Saturday.
“Everything was incredibly positive,” said Stegall. “My favorite compliment one of my vendors gave us was that he has been a vendor for 30 years and this was the best festival and the most organized festival he has ever been a part of. That speaks volumes from an organizational standpoint. It feels good to know the hard work we put in paid off.”
As the Peach Festival continues to grow in popularity, parking downtown is one area that Walker said would need to be addressed.
“Due to our numbers we are going to have to look at shuttles or buses running from some of the parking lots over by Tech,” said Walker. “Once we get Monroe Street and we have the autonomous vehicles we can change that shuttle route. There are still a lot of things moving forward we can do to improve, and we plan on doing it.”
JP Morgan Chase Bank will build a $30 million operations center along the service road on I-20 west.
This story was originally published on October 24, 2023.
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By Malcolm Butler
The Lincoln Parish Clerk of Courts office processed the paperwork late last week where JP Morgan Chase Bank purchased 2.95 acres of land along the I-20 West Service Road to the west of Ruston Assembly of God Church.
The $2.5 million transaction was between JP Morgan Chase Bank and I-20 Madera Development, LLC. Members of I-20 Madera Development, LLC, include Bertram H. Jones, Jr., Molly D. Jones Gray, Stephanie J. Jordan, and Steven B. Jones.
In late September, the Lincoln Parish School Board and Police Jury voted in favor of providing a tax abatement for “Project Middle”, a $30-plus million capital investment operations center for JP Morgan Chase.
This vote paved the way for the purchase of the land.
“This is a tremendous addition to our city,” said Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker. “We appreciate the confidence that JP Morgan Chase has not only in the city of Ruston but in Lincoln Parish and north Louisiana. This is another piece that will help us recruit additional businesses and families to our city.”
In order to secure Chase’s new Operations Center in Ruston, the parish provided the company with a competitive incentives package that includes property and sales tax abatements. A Payment In Lieu Of Taxes agreement will be awarded contingent on the company’s creation of up to 200 full-time positions in Lincoln Parish over a course of time.
JP Morgan Chase asked for a 15 year tax sliding property tax abatement, as well as a 50 percent abatement on tax from construction equipment and an abatement of five years on sales taxes on computers and technology. The property tax abatement will be dependent on the number of jobs created: starting at 25 percent for 0-24 jobs and capping at 75 percent for 151-200 jobs.
The Ruston facility will have a front operation office center with staff processing and computer processing of data with image scanners along with a vault that will be a large part of the square footage of the building.
Completion of the facility is projected to be by the end of 2025.
LPJ: Thank you for meeting with us. I know we asked you originally about meeting with Lt. Clary. Can you explain to us why you feel that at this time it’s best that you answer our questions?
Kyle Green: Sure. Lt. Clary was suspended without pay by the Louisiana State Police on December 16th of 2022. And to this day, he remains suspended without pay. So Lt. Clary has still has a few hurdles he has overcome. And I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to talk at this point in time.
LPJ: Can you explain exactly what Lt. Clary was charged with?
KG: On December 15, 2022, he was indicted on two counts. The first count was malfeasance in office, and the second count was obstruction of justice. The first charge, malfeasance in office was dismissed by the court in July of 2023, and which left the charge of obstruction of justice, which was dismissed this week.
LPJ: Was Ronald Greene in custody when Lt. Clary arrived at the scene? Did Lt. Clary touch Ronald Greene?
KG: Lt. Clary arrived at the scene of the crash after Mr. Greene was already in custody. Lt. Clary was on the scene only eight minutes from the time of his arrival until paramedics arrived to administer medical services and treatment to Mr. Greene. Lt. Clary never touched Mr. Greene nor witnessed any abuse by other officers during the short time he was on the scene. After Lt. Clary completed his work at the scene of crash, he returned to Louisiana State Police, Troop F headquarters.
LPJ: What did Lt. Clary do after he learned of Mr. Greene’s death?
KG: Lt. Clary immediately contacted Captain John Peters to let him know that there had been an in custody death and then called investigators with the Louisiana State Police to begin their investigation.
LPJ: Did Lt. Clary properly upload his videos, both fleet and body camera videos, into the Louisiana State Police System in the early morning hours of May 10, 2019? Did he properly label/title the videos?
KG: As soon as Lt. Clary arrived at Troop F headquarters, he uploaded both his body cam videos and his vehicle videos to Evidence.Com, which is the repository maintained by the Louisiana State Police for video evidence. Axon is the software provider that captures the body cam video and the vehicle video. The Axon Audit Trail (see attached PDF) shows that Lt. Clary uploaded his body cam video and vehicle video at 4:36 a.m. on May 10, 2019.
Once Lt. Clary’s body cam video and vehicle video were uploaded into the Louisiana State Police system, it could not be destroyed, deleted, or otherwise altered. Lt. Clary not only properly uploaded the body cam videos and the vehicle videos, but he also properly labeled the videos in the system as “Pursuit-Ouachita and Union” so they could be easily located.
LPJ: Did Lt. Clary provide investigators with his access to the Axon system so that investigators could download all the videos in the early morning hours of May 10, 2019? Were Lt. Clary’s videos actually downloaded and provided to LSP investigators?
KG: Yes and yes. An investigator downloaded the videos to a thumb drive and handed it to another investigator.
LPJ: Does the Axon Audit Trail show: a. Lt. Clary’s upload of all the videos? b. Lt. Clary’s labeling of all the videos? c. The download of all the videos?
KG: Lt. Clary provided investigators with access to the Axon system so that investigators could download ALL videos of all Troopers who were involved in the pursuit and who had arrived at the scene of the crash. An investigator with Louisiana State Police downloaded all videos onto a thumb drive and handed the thumb drive to another investigator, who, at that time, worked in Louisiana State Police Investigations. The whereabouts of the original thumb drive is unknown, but the Axon Audit Trail of Lt. Clary clearly shows that the Clary videos were downloaded at 5:18 a.m. on May 10, 2019. This download time corresponds with other individuals’ statements that the videos were downloaded to the now “lost” thumb drive given to the Investigator.
The false narrative of Lt. Clary “hiding” or “failing to disclose” the body cam video and/or the vehicle video has been perpetuated by the media and others, despite the evidence in the suit record being clearly to the contrary. The Axon Audit Trail is in the criminal suit record in Union Parish.
LPJ: Does the Axon system prevent deletion, destruction, manipulation or alteration of the videos?
KG: Videos in the Axon system cannot be deleted, destroyed, manipulated or altered.
LPJ: If the Axon Audit Trail supports what you’ve told us, then why do you think there is a false narrative that Lt. Clary “hid” or “failed to disclose” his videos?
KG: The false narrative sells newspapers and gets clicks online.
LPJ: Have others within the State Police accessed Lt. Clary’s videos or downloaded them?
KG: The Axon Audit Trail speaks for itself and shows who accessed the video, the date the video was accessed and the time the video was accessed. But to be direct, people within Louisiana State Police were actively looking at Lt. Clary’s videos while the false narrative was being perpetuated in the media.
LPJ: Did Lt. Clary voluntarily talk to LSP Internal Affairs, the FBI and Prosecutors with the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office?
KG: Lt. Clary has been forthcoming from the inception of this matter. After all, you can’t forget that he is the one who contacted investigators and began the investigation as there had been an in custody death. Calling investigators is standard operating procedures when there is an in custody death. Lt. Clary freely spoke with investigators on the evening that he contacted them. Lt. Clary freely provided investigators with access to the Axon credentials. Lt. Clary freely spoke with internal affairs. Lt. Clary freely spoke with agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Lt. Clary freely spoke with the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office prior to his indictment and has spoken with them since his indictment. His story hasn’t changed. Go look it up, its in the suit record.
LPJ: Did Lt. Clary cut a deal to get the charge against him dropped?
KG: There is not an immunity agreement. Look, people think that handling a criminal case is like an episode of Law and Order or Suits. That is simply not the case. Fundamental fairness requires that Defendants in criminal matters be afforded that information which forms the basis of the charge and any exculpatory evidence.
Since 1998, I have never had a client who entered into an immunity agreement. John’s charges are dismissed. If he receives a subpoena to testify, he will fully comply with the subpoena and provide truthful testimony that is consistent with what he has previously said before.
LPJ: What is next for Lt. Clary?
KG: I have personally been in touch with Louisiana State Police and informed them that Lt. Clary is ready, able and willing to return to work at this point in time.
Louisiana Tech freshman Colin Campbell drove two of the four stabbing victims to Northern Louisiana Medical Center Monday morning, possibly saving their lives.
This story was originally published on November 14, 2023.
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By Malcolm Butler
Colin Campbell thought it was just going to be another average Monday.
Little did he know that instead it would be a day he will never forget.
Campbell, an 18-year-old freshman at Louisiana Tech, was driving back to his dorm from his 8 a.m. class when he turned into the Lambright Intramural Center parking lot when he heard what he thought were screams.
“This was the earliest we’ve ever gotten out of this class which was quite fortunate,” said Colin when he exclusively spoke with the Lincoln Parish Journal about his role in Monday’s events. “I was on my way to my dorm room actually. I was just going to hang out in my dorm room and work on some projects that were due at 12 o’clock.
“I pulled up into the Lambright parking lot. Most days I listen to music while I’m driving back to my dorm, but today out of all days I wasn’t listening to anything. So with the music being off, I began to hear screams. I rolled down the window just to understand if I was hearing it correctly and I was.”
The screams were coming from Cynthia Woodard and Annie Richardson, two of the four stabbing victims from Monday mornings random act of violence by 23-year-old Tech student Jacoby Johnson. Johnson followed the women out of Lambright following the completion of their exercise class. He then proceeded to attack them and two other women with a knife outside of the east side doors of the facility.
Although Woodard and Richardson got away from Johnson, the vicious attack left the two ladies in serious trouble and looking for immediate help in the parking lot.
Enter Colin Campbell.
“These two ladies came up to me and asked me if I could take them to the hospital,” said Campbell. “I saw red on one of their hands. And another one had what looked like wadded up napkins pressed against her neck that was also red. I didn’t want to assume it was blood.
“But when they got up close to me, I could clearly see that one of them had taken a blow around the windpipe or neck area and the other one somewhere around the side of their head. I asked what happened and they said there had been a stabbing. I saw both of them were injured so I told them to get in. And I proceeded to drive them to the hospital.”
After helping the two ladies get into his blue Ford F-150 truck, Campbell called 911. It was a chaotic situation for the Tech cyber engineering major who is completing his first quarter of college.
“I proceeded to call 911,” said Campbell, whose blood-soaked truck was impounded by police for a while on Monday as part of the investigation. “I had no idea where the hospital was so the lady in my passenger seat is giving me directions to the hospital. I’m speaking to the 911 dispatcher and giving them all of the information of what is happening and what has happened and where I’m going and where I was at the current time.”
Campbell said he believes he got connected to the 911 dispatcher around the same time his truck was passing the Dawghouse Sports Grill.
“There was me speaking to the dispatcher,” he said. “The lady in my passenger seat giving me directions to the hospital. And the lady in my backseat telling me it was getting harder and harder for her to breathe, and asking me if I could roll down the window which I did. She eventually just collapsed in the back seat of my truck.”
Louisiana Tech Assistant Police Chief Bill Davis praised Campbell’s heroic actions, saying the police are convinced his quick actions saved lives.
“I think the fact he was willing to get involved and transport those women to the hospital … he recognized the urgency,” said Davis. “He stepped up and really did a wonderful thing. I think had he not, I am not really sure if one of the women would have survived waiting on an ambulance. I just don’t think she had that kind of time. I think getting her to the hospital was critical to her survive.”
Ruston mayor Ronny Walker spent much of Monday morning in the emergency room with some of the women’s family members and friends. And he agreed.
“It was one of those times where a kid, where an 18-year-old, had an opportunity to do something that was well beyond his years,” said Walker. “Colin showed a lot of courage when he stopped. Not only did he offer to put two people who were bleeding profusely in his truck, but also helped get them in the truck and rushed them to the hospital. The time he saved that would have taken an ambulance to get there, very well may have saved their lives.”
Campbell said upon his arrival at the hospital he quickly sought help.
“They weren’t waiting on the side where I parked,” Campbell said. “I think I parked on the wrong side, but I was in such a rush to get to the hospital … and I didn’t know exactly where I was going. So the (emergency room) doors that I arrived at were locked so I ran around to the other side where the doors were unlocked and ran in there and yelled for help. They immediately brought out a stretcher. It was instant.”
Almost eight hours after Colin Campbell’s normal Monday turned into anything but a routine day, he said he was still trying to process it all.
“I have just been real frantic all day,” said Campbell who said he has one final remaining to take on Wednesday. “I have been spending time with friends and family all day. Just trying to decompress. I am in my dorm room right now with family.”
The Minden High School graduate was quick to say he didn’t believe that it was just luck that placed him in the Lambright parking lot.
“It’s just a good thing that God put me right there,” he said. “I’m just the type of person where it’s my nature to try to help anybody that needs it. I’m just very grateful to God that he put me in that situation to help those people.”
And for the families and friends of Annie Richardson and Cynthia Woodard, they are also grateful that God chose Colin Campbell to be in the right place at the right time.
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As of late Monday night, both Richardson and Woodard were in serious but stable condition according to reports. The Lincoln Parish Journal and its staff offer our deepest condolences to the four victims, as well as their family and friends.
Ben Rosson (left) and Angela Lewis have a forever connection after Lewis helped save Rosson’s life back in August.
This story was originally published on November 23, 2023.
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By Malcolm Butler
It’s been quite a year for Ben and Kirstyn Rosson.
One they won’t soon forget for a multitude of reasons, and one they both say has left them with a renewed sense of thankfulness.
Both Ben and Kirstyn faced potential life-threatening challenges during 2023. Yet as the Rosson’s celebrate Thanksgiving today, they do so with full hearts, a new outlook on life and baby No. 2 on the way.
“I’m definitely thankful to be able to be with family and spend time with my kid,” said Ben, who has a two-year-old little boy named Will. “I am thankful to be here for them.”
Their story is almost too unbelievable to be believable.
“It’s been a crazy year,” chuckled Ben. “My whole family is like, ‘Ya’ll stop doing whatever ya’ll are doing.'”
The year began one morning in February when Kirstyn experienced a seizure that left her and Ben looking for answers.
“I just woke up one morning and was getting ready to go to work and I just had a seizure in the restroom,” said Kirstyn. “There was nothing leading up to that (moment) that gave me any idea anything was wrong.”
Doctors in Shreveport thought Kirstyn may have Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare infection that damages the material (myelin) that covers and protects nerves in the white matter of the brain.
In general, PML has a mortality rate of 30 to 50 percent in the first few months following diagnosis. Those who survive the disease may be left with severe neurological disabilities. Either way, the possibility wasn’t a good one.
“We didn’t know,” said Ben. “They just weren’t sure. We were scared.”
So, Ben and Kirstyn headed to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in early May to see world-renowned neurologist Dr. Mark Keegan.
“We got in touch with a neurologist up there, and he wanted her case,” said Ben.
After flying north and undergoing a multitude of tests, Dr. Keegan gave the Rosson’s the good news.
“He said it wasn’t PML,” said Ben. “He said it was a really bad lesion due to multiple sclerosis. She was in the hospital for three months. She had to learn how to walk, how to talk, everything all over again. One day it finally started clicking. And it all came back.”
“I spent a good bit of time in a Ruston rehabilitation hospital,” said Kirstyn, who underwent the rehabilitation from March through May. “There was a few months where I several issues. I had to relearn a lot of things, like walking and even using my hands. I probably got back right about the middle of June.”
Potential life-altering experience resolved, a blessing for sure.
But just when life for Ben and Kirstyn began to show some signs of normalcy, Ben got a work call on August 7 that almost cost him his life.
“They called in this job,” Ben said. “The power was out.”
The power was out around Princeton Place on White Street, coincidentally enough (and luckily) just a stone’s throw from Northern Louisiana Medical Center.
Ben, 25-years-old Farmerville native completing his sixth year working for the City of Ruston’s Power and Light Department, headed towards White Street along with his work partner Andy Sherrill.
Enter Angela Lewis, a complete stranger who was about to turn into Ben’s Guardian Angel.
Angela lives on White Street. But on that Monday morning, she was miles away at the Lambright Intramural Center.
A retired 70-year-old who spent more than two decades working at Northern Louisiana Medical Center, Angela said on most weekday mornings she attended the senior citizen exercise classes, including the water aerobics class at Lambright in order to “just strengthen” her muscles.
That strength would come in handy that day.
“That morning I went to water aerobics and when I got in the water, I kept hearing a voice saying ‘Go home. Go home. Go home,'” said Angela. “I was like, what? I didn’t understand it.”
But Angela headed to the premonition, got out of the water and headed home. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she drove right past Ben and Andy who had arrived at the site of the power outage.
“I went in the house and sat on the couch in the dark,” said Angela. “I was waiting because I didn’t know what was going on. I sat on the couch for a while. I just started crying, like something was wrong. I was just weeping. All the lights were off. No TV. No nothing.”
As Angela sat on her couch crying, Ben was outside attempting to remove a limb from the power line to try to restore power. His accounts of those moments and the days that followed come solely from others.
“I don’t remember that day,” said Ben. “I know what I was told about it, but I don’t remember any of it. I don’t even remember my first four days in the hospital.”
According to Ben, the power line was supposed to be dead.
“There was a three-pot bank. It’s a delta bank so all the phases are connected,” said Ben. “We didn’t realize it at the time. We didn’t think about that bank. So, the switch was open on the line I was on. It was supposed to be dead.
“A limb was hanging on it the line. I, apparently, tried to knock the limb off and untangle the wire, and the wire was wrapping back around. I reached back around and grabbed it to stop it, and that’s when it got me.”
What got Ben was 13,200 volts of electricity, more than enough to stop his heart.
“All of sudden the lights started blinking,” said Angela, who survived her own near-death experience when she spent a month in a coma in the ICU at NLMC due to a thyroid storm. “The TV came on. I heard this buzzing sound. I looked at my phone. I was like ‘What is that sound?’ I went to the door, and I heard a man’s voice say, ‘Help! Help! I need help!'”
Angela ran outside and that’s when Andy yelled to her that Ben had been electrocuted. As Andy lowered the bucket containing Ben’s limp body down, Angela waited ground level. Once the bucket was ground level, Angela said she used strength she didn’t even know she had to help lift Ben’s lifeless body out.
“At first all I could see was his red hair,” said Angela. “He was white as a ghost. I have never seen a ghost before, but I got him by his shoulders, and I just pulled him out. I began to pray and ask the Lord to help. I was like, ‘You are not going to die in my neighborhood on my time. No sir.'”
Ben’s heart had stopped. Death was a real possibility.
“From what I understand if a couple more minutes (had gone) by then I wouldn’t be here today,” said Ben. “My heart was not beating for five minutes. That’s crazy.”
Fortunately for Ben, in addition to Andy and Angela’s help, an ambulance was in the vicinity at Northern Louisiana Medical Center. It took EMTs just a minute to arrive on the scene once the 911 call was received.
Call it luck. Call it Divine Intervention.
“If there hadn’t been an ambulance at the hospital that close, I wouldn’t be here today,” said Ben. “I talked to (Andy) on the phone afterwards, and he said Angela was my saving grace because he couldn’t get me out of the bucket without her.”
Ben was transported to NLMC and stabilized, then airlifted to Oschner LSU Health in Shreveport where he remained for seven days. His injuries included burns on both hands and a blood clot in his lungs.
Almost four months later, the signs of the burns are almost gone, and Ben’s lungs and heart are well on their way to recovering. He has a doctor’s appointment next week and hopes to be cleared to return to work.
One of the first things he did after being released from the hospital was go back to the scene of the accident to meet Angela.
“I wanted to go meet Angela and talk to her,” said Ben.
“There was a couple of weeks where he was confused,” said Kirstyn. “His memory wasn’t good. Once he got his mind back right, I actually told him about Miss Angela and took him to her house. He got a chance to meet her.”
According to both Ben and Angela, the meeting had an impact for both of them.
“I told Ben that I didn’t know why God brought him back, but it’s for a reason,” said Angela, who received The Excellence Made Here Award from Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker and Fire Chief Chris Womack weeks after helping Ben.
Angela still humbly says she doesn’t understand why people made such a fuss over her actions that fateful day.
“I didn’t want to be treated like a hero,” said Angela. “I was like, ‘What did I do?’ You reap what you sow. I have a son. Anytime I see someone else’s son in trouble, I am going to jump in there and help. But give the credit to God. He was the one who worked through me.”
The word angel is part of Angela’s name. And as far as Kirstyn and Ben are concerned, it’s very fitting.
“She was his angel as far as I’m concerned,” said Kirstyn, who first met Angela in the emergency room the day Ben was electrocuted. “We are very thankful for Miss Angela. I am extremely thankful for her because she played a big role in keeping my husband here so that I could have a dad for both of our children and so I could still have a husband.”
As Thanksgiving arrives, Ben said life has a new, deeper meaning for he and his family.
“My wife and kids, my whole family … we are in church every Sunday,” said Ben. “I cherish the little things more. You never know what day will be your last. It’s been quite a year.”
One that Ben and Kirstyn are thankful to have lived to talk about.
Ben and Kirstyn Rosson and their two-year-old son, Will.
Josh Brantley was named the Most Valuable Player of the Nonselect Division I Championship game. (photo by Josh McDaniel)
This story was originally published on December 10, 2023.____________________________________
by Malcolm Butler
Kudos, Josh Brantley.
You made me eat my words.
Several times this fall, I had written and said that I felt the biggest question mark for the Ruston Bearcats and their chances of winning a state title lay largely on the right arm of Brantley.
With Jordan Hayes and Dylone Brooks providing a physical, explosive one-two punch in the backfield and Brantley running over defenders like a young Earl Campbell, the Bearcats had one of the top rushing attacks in the state.
A ground game that very few, if any, opposing defenses could slow down.
But what IF a team lining up on the opposite side of the field from the Ruston offensive unit COULD find a way to slow down the Bearcats ground attack? Could Brantley and the Bearcats make them pay through the air?
There were plenty of times this year, fair or unfair, that I didn’t think the answer would be yes. At times that strong right arm would misfire too often when Brantley was asked to throw.
It never cost Ruston in the Win column, mainly because of Ruston’s ground attack and stellar defensive unit.
Even Zachary head coach David Brewerton said postgame he felt that Broncos had the Bearcats right where they wanted them as they took Hayes and Brooks out of the equation.
“You have to credit Ruston,” said Brewerton. “Nobody thought they were going to come out and sling the ball around the field like they did. If you had told me before the game, ‘Hey Ruston is going to have to try to beat you throwing the ball’ … then I would have felt pretty good.”
However, Brantley’s own head coach knew his signal caller had it in him.
Jerrod Baugh told me numerous times this calendar year he believed in Brantley’s ability to throw the football and that his first year starter was making progress. But I still had my doubts, until Saturday night.
In the biggest game of the season with a state championship title on the line, Brantley threw for a season-high 194 yards while completing 11 of 19 passes. Sure. Brantley rushed for 134 yards and three scores too, but it was his ability to make some big-time throws in some big-time moments that I thought proved to be the difference in a big-time game.
Zachary showed they could slow down Hayes and Brooks. Heck, stop them if we are being honest. Hayes carried it 12 times for three yards and Brooks added five carries for 14 yards. That’s 17 totes for a total of 17 yards for what has proven to be the Bearcats bread and butter this year.
No need to worry Bearcat fans, Josh Brantley was out to prove his critics wrong. Brewerton. Me. Everybody who doubted him.
He made Zachary believers.
“He’s pretty talented,” said Brewerton. “He’s a pretty talented guy.”
Yes, coach Brewerton. Yes he is.
Brantley’s favorite target on the night was senior wide receiver Logan Malone, who hauled in 5 passes for 112 yards. However, the first big play through the air came in the first quarter on a slant to Jamar Woods who carried the ball 33 yards down to the Zachary 5-yard line, setting up a 27-yard field goal by Jack Elliott and an early 3-0 lead.
It wouldn’t be Brantley’s last explosive play through the air.
With the two teams tied at 10-10 coming out of the locker room for the third quarter, Brantley and the Bearcats began to throw on early downs. It paid dividends.
Brantley and Malone hooked up on four pass plays on the opening drive of the third quarter, covering 9, 27, 5 and 20 yards to drive the football down to the Broncos 5-yard line. And on fourth down and goal from the 3-yard line, Brantley ran a power counter off the left side of the Bearcat offensive line, and broke the goal line for a TD and a 17-10 Ruston lead.
It was a man’s run that culminated a mostly aerial drive.
“I think that is something that has been a progressive growth process for us through the year,” said Baugh. “It’s something we knew Josh was capable of doing. When we put gameplans together … we want it all to work together to win ball games.
“A lot of time through the year it’s not necessarily the fanciest of game plans … everybody wants to see you throw it all around and score a bunch of points. We just want to win. And so we do whatever is necessary. Josh absolutely made the plays tonight that we absolutely needed to have in the second half.”
Another one of those plays was a 51-yard strike to Malone late in the third quarter that set up the Bearcats’ next touchdown — a Brantley 9-yard run giving Ruston a 24-17 lead.
Brewerton admitted that Ruston’s ability to consistently hit big plays through the air was a surprise and one of the differences in the ball game.
“You start getting eyes looking in the backfield,” said Brewerton. “And next thing you know you are getting hit over the top. It’s one of those things where you pick your poison with a group like that from Ruston.”
As I watched Brantley on the field and even on the sideline, he never looked anything but confident and determined. The moment never looked to big for him.
At one point late in the third quarter, I walked up to Josh’s dad, Jonathan, and told him, “Josh is sure answering my question tonight.”
Josh gave his dad credit in the postgame press conference.
“There were a lot of people going into this season that doubted me,” said Brantley. “(My dad) was the one that said, ‘You got it, Josh. You got it, Josh.'”
Josh definitely got it.
The final nail in the Zachary coffin came with under two minutes to play and the Bearcats facing a fourth-down-and-8 from the Broncos 24-yard line. Ruston led 24-17 and didn’t want to give the football back to a dangerous Zachary team.
Following a timeout, the Bearcats faked the toss to Hayes and Brantley kept it on a naked bootleg, racing 24-yards untouched to the end zone to seal Ruston’s first state title since 1990.
In the postgame press conference Brantley said he pleaded with the Bearcats coaching staff during the timeout to let him keep it on the fourth down play.
Baugh laughed when he was asked about it.
“I don’t think Josh really has to say anything,” said Baugh. “I think we know with him. Your best playmakers want to be there to make plays. And Josh has been that for us.”
(Picture by Patrick Jefferson, courtesy of Facebook.com)
By Kyle Roberts
Stifling summer heat aside, middle school football fans on Aug. 31 packed out Ruston Junior High’s stadium to watch a pair of games: the seventh graders against sixth grade I.A. Lewis and the eighth graders against Calvary Baptist from Shreveport.
“This was the first year that I know of that RJHS and I.A. Lewis have played each other,” Ruston Junior High head coach Hilton Hay said of his seventh graders’ 22-6 win. “It brought a really big crowd which was awesome to see. I felt like both teams played very well. Our seventh grader Anthonie Tobin scored all three touchdowns for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing what both of these teams do for us next year.”
Not to be outdone, the eighth graders won a nail-biter over Calvary Baptist 16-8 on a last second touchdown pass from Aiden Adams to Max Pyles.
“I thought the defense did a really good job of containing them to one score,” Hay said. “Offensively, we struggled to hold onto the football, but that’s something we can work on and fix. It was a good start to the season, and the team showed a lot of promising things to build on.”
A proud Ruston High graduate and former football player himself, Hay is in his second season as the head coach for the seventh and eighth grade RJHS Bearkits after spending time at the high school level for his alma mater.
And while Ruston High head coach Jerrod Baugh may be focused on the varsity season that is now in full swing, it’s equally important for him to have a handle on how these future Bearcats fared last week and into their own 2023 season and to be supportive of Hay in his role as the head coach of the Bearkits.
“A lot of people have this idea that they’re “just” coaching at the junior high,” Baugh said. “But it absolutely is one of the most important jobs; in fact, probably the head job down there may be even more important than mine in some ways because it can be majorly beneficial to the high school or detrimental, depending on who that person is and what they have going on.”
In fact, one of Baugh’s first acts as the new head coach nearly seven years ago was to develop a more streamlined approach from I.A. Lewis, to Ruston Junior High to the high school. And it required an overhaul in the change of philosophy at a time when the new high school head coach did not have the multiple winning seasons and a state title run to back up the changes.
For Baugh, having one junior high here in Ruston lended itself to implement the strategy of unifying the schools’ approach to the similar playbooks and similar game plans.
But, as with any change, there was resistance in the beginning.
“I think there was a lot of question on what the purpose was or maybe what the feeling was on (making the changes),” Baugh said. “There was a lot of pushing and shoving on that at first. I will say one thing about not just Ruston, but any place, is that you’ll have people supportive until you starting changing stuff or changing people’s roles. Some people had to be moved around or some moved away. It’s not always an easy thing to do.
“But at the time, I did not say that my way was the only right way; instead, I thought if we screwed it up all in the same direction, at least we’re headed in the same direction. It took a little while to get people on board that were bought into what we’re doing.”
Baugh’s previous stint as a head coach in Texas was ultimately why he recognized the importance of engaging the middle school
“It was something I did out of necessity,” Baugh said. “In Gladewater (Baugh’s previous head coach position prior to Ruston), we were in a really tough district with Carthage and Gilmer. It was tough sledding in there.
“I had to try to figure out how to get this program that had not been very good at all and not even making the playoffs. So it took a lot to figure out what we needed to do. And I had brought a junior high coach with me over there to Gladewater from Longview. We worked really close to figure out what how to try to get things going between the junior high and high school at the time.”
Baugh took that same approach to back in 2017 by going to the RJHS administration to pitch his idea of having the high school program be more involved with the junior high, who was willing to try it.
“I wanted to try something on a preliminary basis,” Baugh said. “I wanted their coaches to come be in the room with us and come watch what we do anytime the high school coaches were there. That was the first stage of trying to get the seventh and eighth grade going.
“At the end of the day, everybody was trying to do what was best for the kids.”
For Hay, the relationship between the schools that was fostered those years ago has only improved and blossomed for his crew.
“I think we have a great relationship,” Hay said, as he starts his second season at the Bearkit head coach. “Starting in the summertime, we meet to get ready for the new season and what they’re expecting from the junior high level. We communicate on summer workouts and summer conditioning. We’re all involved in the kids’ camp; junior high all the way up. And then we have a coach’s retreat, where we get together and discuss fall practice and more on what the high school wants to get from the junior high.
“Through the season, we communicate all the time. Maybe not everyday, because they are obviously busy, but there’s probably four or five of the coaches that come to our home games; and there are even some who come to the away games. And after the high school season ends, they’ll be over here every Thursday to watch workouts.”
The results spoke for themselves: last year’s 2022 squad had the first class of seniors that benefitted from Baugh’s new approach and made their way to the Super Dome, ended West Monroe’s three-decade winning streak over the Bearcats and taking the 2-5A District title.
Now a defensive tackle for Northwestern State, Christian Davis anchored the defensive line for Ruston last season was one of those seniors who remembers what it was like to be invested in early on by the high school when he himself was a middle-schooler.
“It was help for us to build our chemistry early on,” Davis said. “The coaches would come watch up practice and work out. We would run similar defensive schemes that were simplified for junior high players. But we would also get together on Friday nights and go watch the high school games together.
“I thought that was a big part of being connected with older groups and getting to spend time with them.”
Anytime there are shifts in culture, there are inherent risks. But thankfully, the payoff has been worth it, and Hay sees the results in the big picture.
“I believe the biggest difference is the kids being prepared when they get there and understand what is expected of them, instead of going through the motions as a junior high and then making that jump,” Hay said. “We get to discuss with the kids what things are going to be like when they get to the high school.
“They understand it all more than they did before; that’s been a big difference since Coach Baugh has been around.”
The Zion Hill Baptist Church in Ruston was burglarized last Thursday, according to police.
Ruston Police said the break-in occurred between 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. According to the church pastor, an unknown person damaged a side door to make entry into the church. The door frame metal appeared to have been cut to allow for the deadbolt to be opened.
The suspect then moved through the church, collecting two wireless microphones, a laptop, a cell phone, and cash. No other items have been reported stolen at this time.
The pastor reported several room doors were damaged when they were forced open, and several cabinets left open which appeared to have been rummaged through.
The church is located at 502 Lee Avenue just east of the rear entrance to Louisiana Delta Community College.
Information on this crime or any other crime in Lincoln Parish can be submitted to Crimestoppers at 318-255-1111.
I have a friend who does not make resolutions at the beginning of the year. Their stated position is very correct. “Why pile up a bunch of promises at the beginning of the year? Why not make resolutions every morning for that day. See if you can keep a resolution for one day.” I have often suspected that New Year’s resolutions are a way of gaining control over tomorrow. We are, in essence, saying to God this is MY plan for the year. What if we resolved to live each day, abiding in Christ? My friend’s philosophy seems very Jesus like. Jesus told us to pray for our daily bread and reminded us that there is little sense in worrying about tomorrow. Wake up every morning and follow Jesus for that day. See how you do!
The problem with resolutions and all those resolutions we re-resolve in Lent is that we know we won’t keep them. We make them and play such games with our own resolve. What does that say about us?
When I did make resolutions, they began on January 2nd. That way I can have as much fun as I wish to have on New Year’s Day then on January 2nd the change begins. I resolved one year that I would quit making resolutions because by March I seemed to have forgotten what I had so boldly resolved in January. My friend is correct in resolving every day to live for Christ. I want you to note that as a culture the notion of resolve is fading. The hard truth is there is no change in our lives until there is resolve in our lives.
This year my beginning of the year pondering revolves around the concept of ETM. King Solomon said, “Where there are no oxen, the stable is clean, but a good harvest requires the strength of the ox.” (Proverbs 14: 4)
I think Solomon was saying, if you want good things to happen in life, you must “endure the manure.” You can only have a clean stable by getting rid of the oxen. If you remove the oxen, then you remove the ability to obtain a bountiful harvest. The very “tool” that helps bring you success also makes a very big mess. That is the essence of ETM (endure the manure).
ETM means that the good things in life don’t come easily. You must work for them. Do you want a better career? In most cases, forty hours will not bring you financial riches or success. Do you want a great marriage? Well, that means using muscles other than the ones that hold on to the remote control. It means paying as much attention to our spouse as you do to your social media presence. Do you want to be a great parent? Great parents are involved in every aspect of their child’s life. They also reclaim the parental word, “No.” Now we have created competing loyalties between career, marriage, and family. ETM means you struggle to be faithful in the middle of that conflict.
Do you want your spiritual life to grow? You must ETM. That means when you pray, listen to God for 30 minutes rather than begging him for something for three minutes. It means loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It means loving your neighbor as yourself. Loving those neighbors can be the hard part of our Christian walk. Loving your neighbor can be messy!
ETM is my aiming point for 2024. To be a better person and to have a bountiful harvest you and I need to “endure the manure.”
Each Monday and Friday, the Lincoln Parish Journal will post a list of non-for-profit upcoming events happening in the parish. If you would like to add your event to this list or advertise your for-profit events, please email us at lpjnewsla@gmail.com.
Sunday, Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve
Additionally, Ruston City Hall and the Utility Billing Office will also be closed on Monday, Jan. 1 in observance of New Year’s Day. Garbage pickup for Jan. 1 residential city of Ruston routes will be picked up on Wednesday, Jan. 3. There will be no commercial garbage and trash collection during these closures.
For emergency utility services, call 318-255-1316.
Lincoln Parish Schools’ classes will resume Monday, Jan. 8.
