Columns & Opinions

The city of Shreveport is not a business per se.

Billy B. and Donald C. are two childhood friends I often communicate with. Though I am older than these guys, I am “obliged” to listen and learn from them. On one occasion we were discussing some things which occurred in our community during my teen years. I sat and listened as both of them described in vivid and in no uncertain terms an incident involving me which I simply could not remember. After a period of about five minutes, Donald C. looked at me and said, “Roy, you were too ‘naïve’ to see what was going on.”

Want a cushy, high-profile job?

Not only does Bossier Parish have some fresh water issues after the polar vortex, but there are ongoing sewage issues as well. In the case of the brown water, though, it is financial. Did you know that for nearly a decade, all the residents under the taxing authority of Bossier Parish have been subsidizing the Consolidated Waterworks/Sewerage District No. 1 of the Parish of Bossier (CWSD1)? It is not the household consumers’ fault, though. Several people did not run the math.

Where has respect for one another, and for us individually, gone? Perhaps social media especially makes it extremely easy to “fire, ready, aim!” Do I ever ask myself, “What am I thinking” (W.A.I.T.)? Maybe we need to increase thought and awareness of “the little things”; that is all we can do. Maybe that is enough!

So why did you pull that lever in the voting booth for the candidate you did? What about that candidate made you know he/she would be the one? Had you done any vetting of the candidate you cast your vote for, or were you told by someone how to vote? What did you do to ensure that your vote, so vitally important, would support the one true candidate that would take the seat on the BESE Board for District 4? Was it party affiliation? Race? What was really at the core of why one versus another? At the end of the election for the member of the

Every teacher and support personnel in Caddo Parish deserves the $1,000 stipend that the school board is proposing, without any exception. There should be no teacher or support personnel who doesn’t qualify. In fact, all of the teachers should be given $1,500, which is a way to show them that they are respected for what they do every day, and that the citizens of the parish appreciate their commitment. The school district will be receiving millions of dollars from the COVID rescue package, money that was not expected, and should be used to shore up teachers, who are woefully underpaid already.

The flashlight in my eyes was too bright and the question, “Do you know who you are and where you are?” was strange. I answered, and the lights went out. Later, inside the Level 1 Trauma Center at Oschner’s, the same question: “Do you know who you are and where you are?” I was glad that they did not ask me who was president; that was still up in the air for My Pillow Guy and some of my friends.