Columns & Opinions

This past Friday, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri announced that after 15 seasons at LSU and 39 seasons in all he would be hanging up his spikes and retiring from coaching at the end of the season.

Still seated around the end of government boardroom table between meetings were Mayors Pink and Red along with Administrator Green (not their real names). The chat turned to recollection of a town hall meeting the night before and the grumpy state senator who couldn’t understand why the project to repaint the Jimmie Davis Bridge couldn’t proceed. Remember when we voted on a color we would like – purple -- and then they announced that they couldn’t repaint because of environmental law? There are a lot of laws about transportation projects.

Leaders lead, actors act, and pontificators pontificate. It is time for the mayor of Shreveport to step up and lead this city in a time when crime is out of control. The citizens of Shreveport are shuttered in their homes because of the random violence that is emasculating black communities in the city.

It takes many individuals to make Goodwill Industries’ mission succeed: employees, board members, donors, shoppers, clients, students, and community partners. Each one is necessary and vital to help Goodwill run smooth and effectively.

Shreveport Councilman Jerry Bowman Jr. rarely speaks at council meetings.

“The nine words above were spoken by Shreveport’s Ms. Tabatha Taylor, the District A City Council member, to Police Chief Ben Raymond as he stood at the podium during a council meeting almost four months ago. Ms. Taylor made reference to the chief’s request for assistance from the city council and the mayor. He cited the many vacant police officer positions.

We live in interesting times. It seems almost daily that we hear about yet another cyberattack that cripples a vital portion of our economy, a mass shooting that stuns us at workplaces, and, of course, we are still “on-edge” as we slowly emerge from quarantined life, attempting to return to some semblance of normalcy. Locally, we hear “invitations” to increase our level of fear daily. It’s extremely easy to “curl up” in fear these days; these are the times in which we live.

No.