No Struggle, No Progress
No Struggle, No Progress
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There are some, maybe many more southside residents who are experiencing difficulty having to pay their water bills by the end of each month. That is because, according to several residents, many who are on fixed incomes, having to make the difficult decision to not pay for essential items and save what they can for the month ending due date for their water bill, is putting them under stress. They said that what they will have experienced every month is undue stress; that there is not an effort to not pay their water bill, but to come up with...
Violent acts continue in the Monroe area, as the Monroe Police Department (MPD) reports that a police car unit was struck with gunfire around 2:00 AM, Sunday, March 27, 2022. Police say that a vehicle driven by the alleged suspect. Police apprehended the alleged driver of a Nissan Altima as Xavian Bilton. Four shots were fired at a marked police unit on Martin Luther King, Jr. service road. A high-speed chase ensued, reaching up to 70mph, according to MPD. The vehicle reached the Booker T...
It appears that one of Louisiana’s state lawmakers is looking for a problem that, for some, does not exist. State Rep. Dodie Horton(R) of Shreveport has introduced a bill that, if passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, would “ban discussions of sexual identity” in the classroom. The bill also includes discussions of gender identity in certain classrooms. The bill, as written, states that "No teacher, school employee, or other presenter shall cover the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity in any class...
History was made in the city of West Monroe on March 26, 2022. On that Saturday, the first Black to hold representation on its city council as Alderman was elected by a majority vote. Local West Monroe resident Rodney Welch stepped into history and will now represent what many had called a forgotten voice in the city, its Black population, which never had someone who looked like them be their voice at council meetings. That all changed as Welch is poised to bring in a fresh face at council...
There are those who do not want to take "no" for an answer, which is why those individuals will oftentimes use intimidation and even force to achieve their objective. People who exert their will against someone else have done it more than once before. Once they are accustomed to having/getting their way, it can become a method where someone can get hurt. Often as in the case of domestic abuse situations, those times can be tragic. Thanks to an observant individual who saw something that he knew...
There were hugs and smiles galore Thursday, March 17, 2022, as the Monroe Fire and Police Civil Board voted to have former interim police Chief Reggie Brown reinstated back on the Monroe Police Department. Brown became the subject of a controversial case involving a former Monroe police officer, where it was alleged that Brown, while chief, engaged in a coverup to drag on a case in an effort to help former mayor Jamie Mayo win reelection. Brown, who was still police chief when newly elected...
While America and the rest of the world go about their affairs, one should not forget that there is a devastating war going on in the nation of Ukraine. It’s been almost a month since Russia attacked the nation, as President Putin tried to rein in what in his mind, is a breakaway republic, that needs to come back to the motherland. The only problem with that assessment is the people of Ukraine got more than a taste of freedom, of self-governance and they don’t want to give that up. The nation seems to be having a better relationship with wes...
Hearts are saddened at the expected death of Yolanda Mitchell. She was born July 31, 1969 to the late Betty Windsor and was a Ouachita Parish High School Graduate. Her family is Marques, Courtney,Jameisha, Sharnae, Jarell, Sholanda, Yasmine, Diamond and Zarria are devastated . Her funeral services are Saturday March 19, 2022 at 2pm at rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Monroe LA. Her service are entrusted to Smith Funeral Home. Please remember her family in prayer. The death of a woman at a local...
The old saying, "look before you leap" are wise words that we all should not only consider before we are about to do something regrettable but also in times when we should reconsider. The consequences are not often worth our actions. A local man is facing a possible prison sentence following his arrest after he allegedly fired a weapon at a couple Saturday, March 12, 2022 in a local hotel room. Suspect Larry Mitchell, 28, of Monroe, is alleged to have gone to a motel on Martin Luther King Jr....
Recently there was a heart-wrenching and disturbing sight of a Bastrop Police officer dragging a homeless woman to his cruiser that is causing outrage. The victim's family and community are speaking out on the unfair injustice. 58-year-old Patrice D. Ukeju was shown on a video recording Capt. Gerald Givens, as he dragged her on the ground, her pants and undergarments were allegedly around her ankles. The family was very distraught and angry with the way Ukeju was handled, and they are calling for an investigation into the matter. A family membe...
The former head of the Louisiana State Troopers Agency testified before the recently convened special House committee that is taking a further look into the details surrounding the death of Ronald Greene. Former LSP Supt. Kevin Reeves, who was head of the agency when Greene died after being arrested by Troopers, said that he “didn’t believe” that there was a coverup by LSP officials who handled Greene’s case. Reeves said that there was “no coverup” under his watch, even though he said that his knowledge of all that was done in the investigati...
This weekend March 4-6, 2022, was very violent, with many shootings happening in and near Monroe, LA. There seems to be no end in sight, and many are trying to process why so much gun violence is happening here. On Friday, March 5, 2022, Edward Patrick was an alleged victim of a shooting in Monroe. Also, on Friday, March 4, 2022, an alleged shooting occurred on South 9th St. in Monroe involving juveniles where one or more were shot and hospitalized. Sources tell the Monroe Dispatch that numerous...
A vocal group of Monroe city workers tell the Monroe Dispatch that Mayor Friday Ellis appears to have reneged on a promise to do something about temporary employees at city hall. Sources share with the Monroe Dispatch that Ellis allegedly made an announcement over a year ago that the city would “reduce” the number of temporary employees employed by the city, but this has not materialized. There are allegedly many temporary employees working for the city long past the 90-day clause that calls for those employees to be converted over to full-time...
A Monroe family is in mourning, as the body of their loved one was discovered behind a local motel Monday morning, February 28, 2022. Monroe Police say the body of 53-year-old Warren Douglas Swan was found about 9:00 AM by a passerby who alerted MPD to where Swan's body was found. Family members said that MPD contacted them at about 11:00 AM that Swan's body was found. The area where the body was found is close to where an automobile dealership is located. As of press time, family members told...
Sources tell the Monroe Dispatch that many Monroe citizens who utilize Monroe Transit to go from point A to point B are not that thrilled about the service. It is not so much about the city providing the service, but it is, they say, the company that is running Monroe Transit. The entity, First Transit which is charged with the overall operation of Monroe Transit, has been a fixture of controversy almost from the moment Monroe chose the company to operate the city's transit system. First Transit...
Former NFL head coach Hue Jackson and current Grambling State University (GSU) football coach has come under intense criticism for his controversial decision to hire Art Briles as a coach on the Tigers football team. Jackson had only hired Briles for a week as the team's offensive coordinator before receiving a torrent of criticism that has put the famed school on the map for the wrong reasons. Before coming to Grambling, Briles was a well-known football coach who had a very successful career at Baylor University. He became embroiled in one of...
Former Southside Economic Development District (SEDD) member Charles Theus is once again back in his old position as Executive Director of the organization after board members voted to rehire him. Theus was fired back in September 2021 for alleged “poor performance” in his position by SEDD in a move that may have caught some, if not many city residents by surprise. The organization has come under some tough times, as it has been locked out of its regular meeting place because of issues dealing with funds that have been under scrutiny by the cit...
In what should have been one of the most exciting times in a young child's life, a fight occurred in their presence and is perhaps a scene that will linger with them years from now. A Monroe City Academy League (MCAL) sponsored championship basketball game between 8-9 year old girls was held at Marbles Community Center in Monroe, LA on Saturday, February 19, 2022, but ended badly. The game ended with the Academy Bulldogs/Tigers winning by a 9-8 score, but the game was all about young little girls playing a game, just having some fun. Once the...
Donald Trump may try to sound confident when he speaks in public or writes on his new social media site, but anyone who has been watching the former president, knows that his bark is worse than his bite. It is worse for his enemies and good for his supporters, because he is reminding Republicans who disagree with him on any issues, may be out of a job after the 2022 midterm elections. But his bark doesn’t mean a thing to the federal prosecutors who are steadily gaining assess to information from Jan. 6, 2021 and his business practices that may...
Sabrina Johnson says that she is having a very difficult time with a local business trying to get 2 headstones delivered to a local cemetery. Johnson said that she has waited long enough and that she believes that the headstones should have been delivered a long time ago. Johnson said that she bought the two headstones back in Dec. 2020, but was told by the owner that because of Covid concerns, the delivery of the headstones would take some extra time. As the nation was consumed by the pandemic...
It was some thinking on the part of five juveniles and the actions that they took that led to the arrest of an individual who police say threatened the kids. On Sat. Feb. 5, five kids were in a park on Elk Pointe Drive and were approached by an unknown white man. According to police reports and from what the kids told them, the man just asked them, if they "had any fine moms". Not wanting to entertain a stranger and to their credit, the kids ignored the man as they walked away. He allegedly...
A concerned Ouachita Parish resident said that he has concerns about one school in particular: Richwood High School. The individual shared that he is a 1993 graduate of Richwood and is seeing a trend that has gone on at the school for a few years. The person said that there seems to be a disciplinary issue occurring at the school by students that are not being addressed by authorities. The person said that he could recall back in the glory days of Richwood’s legacy as one of the top schools for Black kids in the area. He said that the school w...
The Republican Party is digging an even bigger hole for itself by totally ignoring what happened Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans in Congress have given up any pretense of “caring” about the nation, when the RNC(governing body of Republican Party), took the outlandish position of saying that the insurrectionists were not at fault for what they did, because they were “engaged in a legitimate political discourse” when they stormed the Capitol. The RNC headed by Rona Romney McDaniels in a statement passed/approved that censured Jan. 6 committee members R...
Domestic abuse continues to be a recurring problem that happens more often than one may think, as some couples decide to live together instead of being on their own. When that happens, no one actually "belongs" to the other, but there are times when one or the other may want to be in charge. A West Monroe couple has been arrested stemming from a violent incident that occurred on January 26, 2022, between the two over alleged messages from an outside source. West Monroe Police was called to the...
The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the Super Bowl to face the Cincinnati Bengals, who experts said, was one team that wasn't expected to play in the big game; but experts, what do they know? Both teams are winners on the small stage, but only one can stand on the main stage to receive the Vince Lombardi Trophy. After last Sunday's game, the Rams received the National Football Conference(NFC) trophy, and the Bengals received the American Football Conference(AFC) trophy for their win. The...
When Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, there was no dissent amongst Republicans, male or female. They all sang the same tune that Barrett was “well qualified” to sit on the bench because she lined up with their judicial philosophy as it related to the constitution. As all nominees are prone to do, they very seldom say anything that will disqualify themselves in the eyes of the party not in power. Republicans are now trying to get the public behind them as they criticize President Biden’s first pick to the Supreme Co...
All of the dust over a video that went viral of a West Monroe High School student allegedly using racial slurs will take a little longer to settle. The video went viral about a week ago after threats were rumored at the school's campus, causing some parents to check their children out of school. The presence of extra law enforcement was seen at the school though school officials would later say that there were no credible threats made at the school. The video, allegedly made by a female student...
It may have taken a federal lawsuit to get it done, but it appears that Monroe's sister city, West Monroe, may have its first Black representative on the board of aldermen. The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit against the city because the agency believed that the current method of electing existing candidates to office prevented Black office-seekers from being elected to city government. The way district lines were drawn diluted the ability of Black voters to select someone who looked...
Former State Senator Charles Jones spoke to the Monroe Dispatch recently, giving his views on where things stand in Congress concerning voting rights in America. Sen. Jones was very passionate in his words shared with this reporter over why we are at this juncture in American history fighting for something that was supposed to have been settled 57 years ago. Jones referred to the 1965 Voting Rights Bill signed into law by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson after a long bitter struggle by...
President Joe Biden is poised to release his plan to use his executive power to institute changes in police reform, something that is always on the “to do” list for a divided nation, but is not high on that list for law enforcement. Law enforcement associations have historically been against liberal leaning policies, getting universal support from conservatives who tout respect for police officers. Somehow that respect for those in blue seems to have disappeared after Donald Trump led his supporters to riot/fight/injure scores of police off...
The news that the headstone of a local family's loved one was removed without their knowledge has brought heartache and pain to them after closure had finally been reached. Now, the alleged actions of the manager at Richwood Memorial Gardens has reopened old wounds and has now caused the family to experience even more grief and pain from their loss. We know that it takes time for families, occasionally more time for some families to completely get over a loved one's death, as the one individual...
The ghost of Ronald Greene continues to hover over the Louisiana State Troopers law enforcement agency (LSP)as news of a high-ranking official announced his intentions to retire from the agency. In recent developments, it was announced that Sgt. Albert Paxton has put in his retirement papers at LSP, which has to be discerning, given the nature of Paxton's involvement surrounding the circumstances of Greene's death. Paxton was the LSP officer who was actively looking into the circumstances in...
A Louisiana judge is in hot water for using racist language following the arrest of a Black man who was charged with an attempted burglary charge at the judge’s residence. Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet was among others in her home using the n-word as the Black man was being apprehended. At the time, the suspected burglary was captured by video with the voices of people inside the residence openly using the n-word, as Odinet was reportedly one of the individuals. Odinet would later confirm through her attorney that she indeed did u...
The Ouachita Parish Police Jury may have rubbed some people the wrong way when members of the Jury voted unanimously to support a West Monroe venture to the tune of $1 million. West Monroe Mayor Staci Mitchell spoke at the Police Jury meeting recently and got Jurors to make a commitment. Her administration is proposing to build an indoor sports complex next to the Ike Hamilton Expo Center. Mitchell, who is running for re-election, said that the sports project would also drive economic activity benefitting the parish. She said that a million...
A drive-by shooting occurred at Kingsway Apartments in Monroe, LA on December 14, 2021 with kids witnessing over 100 shots that were allegedly fired. One person was hit by gunfire. It was a scary incident that happened out of the blue, scaring children and adults. Community residents are terrified and afraid of this unwarranted violence happening in their neighborhood. Witnesses on the scene recall many innocent people including kids running and ducking gunshots. Luckily no one was in the open...
A local school band director is in trouble after an alleged incident on campus, where a Carroll student received corporal punishment for performing poorly during rehearsal and was disciplined. Band Director Desiree Player, who is a well-known and respected educator, uses the same form of punishment on other band students. Monroe City Schools Board (MCSB) officials took action against Player after Carroll's Principal Eric Davis informed her that a parent had filed a formal complaint. According...
District F Ouachita Parish Police Juror Lonnie Hudson says that garbage/trash containers located in several parish neighborhoods are an eyesore and make the residential areas unattractive. The containers are really commercial dumpsters, used by some residents in parish neighborhoods such as Tanglewood and Charmingdale, as other residents in those neighborhoods use regular-size trash cans, the kind that riders pick up and empty. Those dumpsters being used in the areas mentioned are the kind that...
Black people and some White people know a thing or two about sharecropping. That’s where the owner (or master) has people to work for him and he gives them what he thinks their “share” of the profits should be. It was and is a system that kept Black people from progressing, because for a long time, that was a way of life for them. While some may believe that the owner was a benevolent person who gave everyone a fair share. That was not always the case, if ever. Before any money was given, the owner would always look at the “numbers”, that mone...
All of God's Commandments are important for us to follow, and there is one that can help one live a long life. The one where we are to "honor our father and mother" should be upheld to show love and respect to them. Yes, we may all have disagreements with our parents, but one must remember who is the parent and who is the child. Parents are legally responsible for us until the age of 18, and after that, we are on our own. Circumstances sometimes dictate that parents extend their guardianship further depending on a child's health or mental...
A local woman has spent the last several years going through some harrowing experiences that she hopes no one else goes through. She said that her encounters began when she was living in an apartment complex in West Monroe, LA. She said that things started soon after she had moved in and a man of a foreign descent moved into an apartment directly above hers. She remembers speaking to him once, and what he allegedly told her shocked her. She said that he told her that he "knew" that she didn't have any furniture in her apartment, though he had...
In the past, the city of Monroe has been the scene of some big promotional events that brought many big-name stars perform. The artists have played to standing room crowds and have, from time to time, providing economic stimulus to the city. Now, the Monroe Dispatch has learned that some promoters are allegedly feeling some heat from the city, as future events or shows can only be held at two places. Events/shows must be held at either the Civic Center or The Hub. Sources allege that the city appears to come down on area promoters and not...
The race to fulfill an open seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives has been relatively quiet, as announced candidates have been campaigning, trying to get their messages out to voters. House District 16 seat in the Louisiana legislature became vacant when former representative Fred Jones, son of former State Senator Charles Jones, who had the seat, was elected judge to the Fourth District Court. The seat was held by Katrina Jackson until she left the House to run for former State...
A few weeks ago, Louisiana State Trooper Superintendent, Col. Lamar Davis announced to the public, the changes that he is implementing following two controversial traffic incidents involving two African American men. Those men, Ronald Greene and Aaron Bowman were severely beaten allegedly by officers of Troop F based outside of Monroe over a two-year span. Ronald Greene succumbed to his injuries and Bowman suffered multi-injuries, especially to his head area, that thankfully didn't result in his...
The announcement of more money allocated to Carroll High School to make much-needed repairs/renovations to the facility is good news. The school has produced remarkable students through the years, and with new leadership at the school, there is no reason not to expect that the trend will continue. The repairs/renovations to the band room, restrooms, and the heating/ac system are all good for the school, but many feel that more can be done. The school board has just built a multi-million-dollar Martin Luther King Jr. High Middle School that...
In 2007 actor's Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson starred in a movie titled The Bucket List. In the movie the twosome meet while sharing a hospital room. Through sharing a space they share conversation and the desire to complete a list of random things they want to do and see before they die. The two leave the hospital against doctor's orders to explore and complete things on their bucket list together. I saw the movie a few years after it came out in theaters, and loved the idea of coming up with a list of things to do before death, so I...
The family of Clara Hardwell made a heartfelt plea to the people of the Monroe-West Monroe communities to put an end to the senseless killings that have plagued so many families. Hardwell, who was said to have been pregnant at the time, was killed Thursday, September 23, 2021, in what has been called a cold-blood murder. Hardwell had done a friend's hair, and the individual and Hardwell got into a disagreement because that individual allegedly refused to pay Hardwell. It would not be long...
We have been hearing a lot lately about the "Mark of the Beast", as more concerted efforts are being made to bring COVID-19 under control. Even though there has been an uptick in vaccination rates, still there are not enough people that have been vaccinated for the nation to reach the so-called "herd immunity" status. We are also seeing a growing number of police, firefighters and nurses begin to take legal action against their employers after they have been mandated to get vaccinated or subject themselves to weekly testing. They use the same...
Some residents in a West Monroe neighborhood are terrified and afraid to come outside of their homes following a shooting during the early evening hours of Sunday, September 19, 2021. According to the West Monroe Police Department, an individual was in his vehicle when an alleged shooter, identified as Christopher Williams, shot an alleged victim. Police say Williams shot at the victim after he refused to give him any money. The victim was hit twice by the gunshots in the torso and the hip. The...
When people are in relationships where things for whatever reason are not working, it is time to part ways. The best thing to do is to make a clean break as quickly as possible and move on. There are times when our attempts to get away from trouble lead us right into it, and a life-changing decision must be made. A local woman is in jail after being arrested for firing a gunshot in the air, as she said that her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend was following her. 23-year-old Johnavia T. Baker was...
Have you ever tried cutting something with dull scissors? Or try cutting thick meat like steak with a butter knife? Despite all of the tugging or manipulation one may try, the wrong knife or scissors aren’t a bit of good. As a young girl, I would often spend the summers with my grandmother Rosie, who is a master cook. When her knives were dull, she would dig to find what looked to me like a giant needle. She would hold the handle of the “needle” and slide the knife up along the metal until she knew it was sharp enough. I couldn’t underst...
