By HARRIET PROTHRO PENROD

In Part II of my “Lunch with Harriet” feature with Clay Walker, he talks about the fight to curb violence in our community.

Clay Walker knew he had his work cut out for him when he became Caddo Parish Director of Juvenile Services in April 2011. In this role, he oversees the 85 staff members that run juvenile probation and juvenile detention.

“When I took over the administration of juvenile court, the school system was arresting thousands of kids for fights and sending them to juvenile detention,” he said during our lunch on the patio at Ki’ Mexico. “That’s part of the reason we’re overcrowded.

“With thousands of kids being arrested and overcrowding juvenile detention, then what ends up happening is: You take a kid that has a fight and he stays three nights with a kid that committed armed robbery — you may be teaching him a lesson about fighting, but you’re teaching him six lessons you didn’t want to teach him about juvenile delinquency.”

According to Walker, that began to change after Dr. Lamar Goree took over as Superintendent of Caddo Parish Schools.

“The school system dramatically changed when that happened,” says Walker. “Since he (Goree) started, we have reduced school-based arrests by 64 percent.”

It’s not that kids stopped fighting; it’s how those kids who fight are being handled that has changed.

Now when kids fight, the principal decides if they get arrested or go to School Fight Diversion (SFD). In SFD, the students are essentially suspended from school and sent to a different school – where they go to counseling on conflict resolution. Then their parents have to come in and help resolve the conflict.

It’s a solution that worked.

“Ninety-four percent of those kids don’t have another fight that school year,” explains Walker. “When they finish the session they go back to school, where they can make up their work. So you don’t disconnect them from their education.”

By the 2018-2019 school year, things had improved dramatically – the number of school fights had decreased, which meant kids were not being incarcerated for misdemeanors like they had previously been.

 “Truancy – the first symptom of the problem – was being really attacked,” states Walker. “Between the school system and Volunteers for Youth Justice, things were getting much, much better.”

Then, according to Walker, two things happened: 1) Instagram and guns, and 2) Covid.

And those led to an increase in gang activity.

“By March 2020, every kid vulnerable to a gang became more vulnerable to a gang,” says Walker. “When they stopped going to school, gang membership blew up. We were already looking into it in 2018-19 and then that happened. What you’re seeing now is the constant retaliatory shooting that is gang-related.”

The vicious cycle continues – more gang activity, more shootings, more incarceration.

For those numbers to decrease, Walker believes a few things must happen.

First, we must do a better job rehabilitating those that are locked up. “Incarceration doesn’t mean anything anymore,” he says. “Kids will do two years and not have any thought of turning themselves around. All they’re doing is earning stripes with their squad.”

Next, we need more criminal judges in Caddo. “We have only five,” says Walker. “East Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Jefferson have something like 15 each.”

Finally, we must put more effort into prevention. And that is where Walker is working the hardest.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study that was done in the mid-1990s showed that kids who were exposed to trauma were more likely to experience homelessness and become involved in criminal activity.

“It taught us a lot about the trauma the kids in juvenile court had gone through,” Walker says of the ACE Study. “It told us why they’re acting the way they’re acting.”

In addition to presenting ACE training – Walker recently conducted training for all principals in Bossier Parish – he responds to individual cases that arise at school.

“If I can identify a kid who is having difficulty when they’re 7 or 8 and solve the problem, it’s a whole lot easier to do it then than when they’re a 16-year-old,” he explains.

And Walker has an idea about how to solve the problem when they’re 7 or 8.

Just look what happened after the terrible tragedy that took place in 2010 when six teenagers drowned in the Red River.

“Out of that, a swimming program was created (in partnership with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, Caddo Parish Schools and the Community Foundation of North Louisiana) where every child by second grade is bussed to the Y and taught about water safety,” says Walker.

“How did we do that? Smart people who gave a damn got together and solved it – with bussing, money, swim teachers, pool access. They said, ‘Whatever it takes, we can’t have another drowning like that.’”

Walker believes the same thing can be accomplished with a program that gets these young kids into activities – sports, arts, music, etc. – that, for whatever reason, are not available to them.

In other words, if the community can come together and save kids’ lives after the horrific drowning tragedy, it can do the same with juvenile crime.

And to that end, the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana is hosting the next installment of its “Shreveport-Bossier – My City, My Community, My Home” initiative on July 27 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. This community panel will focus on Juvenile and Young Adult Crime in our community and will be comprised of Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux, Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith and Caddo Parish Director of Juvenile Services Clay Walker.

“There has to be a groundswell of people asking for solutions,” says Walker. “I think Shreveport is a place that can do it. I think it’s one of the few places that can come together on this.”

It has to.

Contact Harriet at sbjharriet@gmail.com

We called it the “lie-ba-rare-ry” or “lie-berry” but of course it’s properly The Library, and on this National Library Week we honor the place where each of us, in our hometowns and school houses, spent a large part of our formative years in this glorious building that held more fact and fiction than you could digest in a dozen lifetimes.

The Writer’s Almanac reminds me that the Library of Congress, or “Gramps” as all the other libraries call it, was founded this week in 1800. Had 964 books and nine maps. 

Today, it’s a bit of a different ballgame, and if you work there, you best buckle your chinstrap. The Library of Congress has more than 17 million books now, plus recordings and art and lots of maps (like, way more than the original nine) and gets 15,000 new items each workday. They’ve got books like Hamlet had the crazies.

Speaking of, maybe the Library of Congress’s birth is why we celebrate this final week of April as National Library Week, but maybe it’s because the Bard of Avon and pretty good hand, William Shakespeare, is thought to have been born April 23, 1564, and for certain died on the same date, 52 years later, I forswear. He’s considered our greatest English dramatist and was also clever in the sonnet game:

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Except for that one time you were mean to me

And I thought, “What the heck; I’ll go ahead and scorn.”

He was a handful, ol’ William was.

So when you go by your local library branch this week, maybe tip your cap to this magical place, a joint that has plenty for kids of all ages, a place that connects the community and shares internet for job seekers and self-educators, a rest stop for movie night and craft night and poetry readings, if such is your thing.

And books. If you haven’t read or listened to one lately, here are a few I’ve finished so far this year, and brief reviews, just to rattle your cage and get you to thinking.

Amor Towles was an investments pro in Manhattan for 20 years, writing on the side, and is now a fulltime novelist and thank goodness. He is a wizard of time and place, a handy vocabulary but not high-falutin’, and tremendous with characters. My favorite of his three books is A Gentleman in Moscow, about an aristocrat sentenced to life in a luxury hotel across from the Kremlin in 1920, soon to be a Showtime/Paramount series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov, now one of my favorite fictional people.

The Lincoln Highway is about four boys in 1954 who mean to go to San Francisco and end up in New York, and Rules of Civility stars a wonderful female character, Katey Kontent, a normal girl thrown into high society in post-depression New York City. Doesn’t sound like much, but I wish I could read each of them again for the first time.

Did not enjoy Ghost Story by Peter Straub, although it was a hit when released in 1979 and the movie (Fred Astaire and some other biggies were in it) was good, which is why I wanted to read it. Mistake.

Did not like The Haunting of Hill House, 1959, from Shirley Jackson (she wrote the short story The Lottery that we all read in high school). I wish Hill House had been only a short story.

And didn’t enjoy Fahrenheit 451, the 1953 classic by Ray Bradbury. It’s about banning books and so in the current climate, I thought I’d catch up. Instead, I wish I’d have banned myself from reading it. No doubt it was timely, though, 70 years ago.

More fiction I did like was Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, speaking of catching up, as this is the Stephen King short story, more of a novella, that the movie is based on. The movie is better but the story, of justice and hope and friendship and humanity, is just so good.

Stoner by John Williams didn’t get a lot of raves in 1965 when released but it is beautifully written “academic” or “campus” novel about a farm boy who becomes an English professor and comes to terms with a life that didn’t go as he’d planned. And why I’ve felt recently like reading novels 60 years old is a mystery even to my own personal self.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (2022) starring a talking octopus named Marcellus (or at least he shares his thoughts) is about how we are better together, whether we have two arms or whether we have eight.

Out of room, so, suggested non-fiction I’ve read this year, and would recommend each, depending on your interests.

The Storyteller’s Nashville by Tom T. Hall, if you like Tom T. Hall.

Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, by Rick Bragg, if you like Jerry Lee Lewis or are just interested in a fellow Louisianan.

Killer Triggers and I Will Find You, by Joe Kenda, the Colorado detective who became famous through TV’s Homicide Hunters. If you’re a fan, you might prefer the audio versions; he narrates them.

Something Wonderful: Rogers and Hammerstein by Todd Purdum; this bureau has a fascination with musical theatre.

On Writing by Stephen King. His wife pulled the draft of Carrie out of the trash and suggested he keep trying so …

And finally, enjoyed To Wake the Giant, Pearl Harbor historical fiction by Jeff Shaara, a longtime pro in the war arena, and Unsinkable, which is not fiction but is the real thing about five men aboard the World War II destroyer USS Plunkett, and especially their “problem” that day at Anzio. Studs.

Happy reading or listening, and happy National Library Week. Got anything to share?

Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu or Twitter @MamaLuvsManning

JOURNAL STAFF

The Port of Caddo-Bossier will soon begin the bid process for a new $35 million waterline that will bring millions of gallons of water from Bossier City to The Port. The waterline will connect to The Port’s newly acquired acreage on the west side of Highway 1.

The waterline is one of the first improvements needed, so The Port will be more appealing to larger manufacturing facilities that could create hundreds of jobs.

“The Port Commission and our economic development partners The Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation, BRF and North Louisiana Economic Partnership agree that we need to have shovel-ready greenfield sites to attract new businesses to the area,” said Walt Bigby Jr., President of the Port Commission. “The Port is working on a rail spur for those sites. We also plan on adding electric substations, natural gas lines and transload facilities, so these sites are ready for construction.”

The Bossier City Council approved the waterline earlier this month. Once in use, the waterline will bring in additional money for Bossier City. If the city sells just three million gallons of water a day to a new Port tenant, it would make more than $1.7 million. The amount of the profit would increase as the amount of water sold increases.

“As a city council, we have the responsibility to provide services to our citizens, while saving them as much money as possible,” said Bossier City Councilman David Montgomery. “This agreement will increase revenues, so we can take care of our city’s needs without asking our residents for more money.”

Bossier City upgraded its Red River Water Treatment Plant to handle 50 million gallons of water a day. Currently, the city is not using the plant at its full capacity. Even if the city’s population doubled, the plant would still provide enough water to handle The Port’s expansion.

“This is a win for Bossier City and Northwest Louisiana,” said Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler. “Bossier City will be able to count on additional revenue. At the same time, this waterline will give The Port a better shot at landing a company that can create a significant number of jobs, possibly bringing new residents to Bossier City.”

The underground pipeline will connect to a waterline that currently ends at Parkway High School and will extend to the Red River. A tunnel will be bored 100 feet under the river that will connect the waterline to The Port. This will add a redundant source of water, which gives users a secondary source if needed.

While crews are boring under the river, they will add a second pipeline for sewage. Crews will cap the line until there is a need to move waste to Bossier City for treatment.

“This waterline is about jobs,” said Eric England, Executive Port Director. “By having this source of water, The Port of Caddo-Bossier becomes more desirable to manufacturers who want a mega-site where construction won’t be delayed by adding needed services.”

The Port is financing the $35 million project with a low-interest loan. The Port will use its portion of water sale profits to pay back the loan.

JOURNAL STAFF

Prolec GE USA, a joint venture between Xignux and General Electric, will invest up to $28.5 million to expand its Caddo Parish facility to manufacture electrical transformers used in wind farms, solar parks and other industrial and renewable energy applications. An estimated $19.7 million of the total investment will go toward the acquisition of new equipment and the installation of a third production line, with the remainder going toward upgrades to the existing site and infrastructure.

The company expects to create 153 new direct jobs including machine operators, maintenance personnel, supervisors and engineers, while retaining 282 current positions. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 162 new indirect jobs, for a total of 315 new jobs in the Northwest Region.

“I applaud Prolec GE for recognizing the business growth opportunity presented by the shift to cleaner fuel sources, and thank them for choosing Louisiana to serve those new and growing energy producers,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “This expansion will grow the northwest Louisiana economy and create more than 300 new job opportunities for our state’s highly skilled and capable manufacturing workforce. Our state is positioned to lead the way as America and the world transition to cleaner energy.”

Prolec GE designs, manufactures and sells products and solutions for electricity generation, transmission and distribution. As North America’s largest transformer producer, the company services a variety of industries including construction, engineering, and conventional and renewable energy.

The additional production capacity in Shreveport will help ease transformer supply chain concerns in the U.S. as Prolec GE looks to position itself for future growth.

“The hardworking and dedicated people of Louisiana were the main driver behind our decision to invest in our Shreveport operations,” Prolec GE Business Unit Director Sergio Eduardo Fernandez said. “We look forward to the continued success of the business and the betterment of our community.”

Improvements to the company’s 500,000 square foot facility began earlier this year with cleaning and demolition work. Prolec GE expects construction on the new line to get underway in June with a target completion date of March 2024 and full production capacity by June 2024.

“Shreveport has a long and exemplary history of industrial and manufacturing dedicated employees,” Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said. “We are extremely excited about Prolec GE’s $28.5 million capital investment and the jobs it will bring to Shreveport and Caddo Parish. This is another opportunity when existing companies are willing to reinvest in the local community and help grow our workforce. We are fortunate to have Prolec GE expand its physical, capital and employment footprint in Shreveport.”

To secure the project, the state of Louisiana offered Prolec GE a competitive incentives package that includes the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart as well as a performance-based award of $500,000 for construction, equipment and implementation of the new product line. The company is also expected to apply for the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption and Quality Jobs programs.

“Our existing industry in north Louisiana continues to make a significant impact on the community, and Prolec GE’s new job creation is a substantial contribution to it,” North Louisiana Economic Partnership president & CEO Justyn Dixon said. “This additional investment in Caddo Parish is a testament to north Louisiana’s steadfast workforce and strong business climate. We congratulate the team at Prolec GE and are proud to have them a part of north Louisiana’s ecosystem.”

Norman Clayton Wright III

Age: 39
Race: Black
Sex: Male

Current booking information:

14:81.2|Forcible rape. Molestation of a juvenile or a person with a physical or men. Bond: $225,000
14:004A. Warrant-failure to appear. Bond: $45,000
14:004A. Warrant-failure to appear. Bond: $45,000

JOURNAL STAFF

The Shreveport City Council will hold a regular city council meeting today at 3 p.m. at Government Plaza. The council holds it meetings the second and fourth Tuesday of each month and will be reserved to only items on the Agenda.

The public is invited to both the council meetings on Tuesdays and the Administrative Conference meetings that take place the Monday before with the understanding that items not on the agenda will not be discussed at the scheduled council meetings, but the public is welcome to discuss any topic at the Administrative Conference meetings.

Attached is the agenda for this week’s meeting.

JOURNAL STAFF

After breaking its attendance record, Film Prize Junior’s 2023 festival came to a close Sunday during a live broadcasted Awards Ceremony where the winning films were announced and over $12,000 in scholarships and media grants were awarded. The festival, presented by the Prize Foundation, was part of Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s Artbreak!

The festival featured screenings of a record-breaking 92 films from 50 schools across the state of Louisiana, 28 of which were Title One schools. Student filmmakers and their teachers, families, and friends were able to view the films during in-person screenings and vote on their favorite films for the Audience Choice winners.

“We were blown away by the attendance and exuberance of these teachers and kids who came from all over the state to show their film and to celebrate filmmaking,” said Gregory Kallenberg, Executive Director and Founder of the Prize Foundation. “Film Prize Junior is one of the most important things we do, and seeing these kids being transformed by this program is incredibly inspirational to me and Team Film Prize Junior.”

In addition to viewing and voting for films, the festival hosted a virtual red carpet for the student filmmakers, industry-led mentorship panels for students and their teachers, and Production Island, an interactive exhibit where students were given guided hands-on access to cameras as well as lighting and sound equipment. Additional support for the event was given by Louisiana Economic Development’s Entertainment Division and Louisiana Film and Entertainment Association.

This year’s festival also hosted hands-on demonstrations with teams from Panavision, MBS Equipment Company, Crafty Apes, and Bossier Parish Community College as well as representatives from IATSE #478 demonstrating Hollywood-style digital animation and filmmaking, hair and makeup styling, lighting techniques, and more. All the events were free to attend for students and their teacher sponsors.

The awards were a standing-room-only affair and were filled with students and teachers cheering for each other as the winners were called by the Film Prize Junior Staff members.

And the winners of Film Prize Junior 2023 are…

In the high school division, Reap What You Sow from Woodlawn High School was selected by the voters to receive the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film, receiving a $1,500 equipment grant, $250 for student celebration, and $250 to the sponsoring teacher. A panel of industry professionals voted for the Judges’ Choice Award, which was presented to Ghost from Caddo Magnet High School. The school received a $2,500 media grant along with $1,000 for student celebration award, and $1,000 to the sponsoring teacher.

For the middle school division, the Audience Choice Award went to The Green Room from Caddo Middle Magnet, earning a $750 equipment grant for the school $250 award for the sponsoring teacher. The Judge’s Choice Award went to Cherrywinche from Plainview High School. The school received a $1,500 equipment grant, $500 for student celebration, and $500 to the sponsoring teacher.

Films were also recognized for best of animation and best of each film genre. For high school, Best Animation went both to Pride for Our Planet from Bruin Theater Alliance and Shamefaced from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts; Best Comedy to A Black Girl’s Court Room from Northside High School; Best Drama to Ghost from Caddo Magnet High School; Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy to A Tabletop Journey from West Ouachita High School; Best Thriller both to Reap What You Sow from Woodlawn High School and The Janitor from Plainview High School; and Best Documentary to Martha’s Journey from New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy.

For middle school, Best Animation went both to The Costume Gift from First Baptist Church School and To the Moon and Back from Southfield School; Best Comedy went to The Green Room from Caddo Middle Magnet; Best Drama to Cherrywinche from Plainview High School; Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy to Virtual Exit from Harriet Tubman Charter School; and Best Thriller to Plaything from McKinley Middle Academic Magnet School of Visual & Performing Arts.

In addition to the best of categories, select films were chosen to receive a Founder’s Circle award. The Founder’s Circle provides $250 grants to the schools to create films for next year’s festival.

For high school films, the awards went to the following: A Day in the Office from Benton High School; Marwan’s Suit from Warren Easton Charter High School; Outside My Comfort Zone from John Ehret High School; Sean the Sleeper from North Caddo High School; Something for Your Mind from West Ouachita High School; The Circle from Captain Shreve High School; Nowhere Girl from C.E. Byrd High School; and Do Black Lives Matter? from Booker T. Washington High School.

For middle school films, the awards went to the following: Moe-Shin from Bossier Parish School for Technology & Innovative Learning; Little Red from Donnie Bickham Middle School, Time Traveling through Middle School from First Baptist Church School, Misunderstood from Catholic Schoolhouse, and The Djin from T.H. Harris Middle School.

Film Prize Junior is the student version of the Film Prize Foundation’s flagship festival, Louisiana Film Prize. It is open to high school and middle school students across the state of Louisiana. The competition was created by Tobias Kallenberg, son of Film Prize founder Gregory Kallenberg, and aims to incentivize students to become engaged in the collaborative, multidisciplinary art form of filmmaking and creative entrepreneurship while guiding students through the entire process from pen to production to marketing of the film.

For more information about the program and to view the films, visit FilmPrizeJr.com.

JOURNAL SPORTS 

Byrd will hit the road for New Orleans to start the second round of the LHSAA Select Division I baseball playoff best-of-three series against Brother Martin Thursday, a day before the other seven local teams begin theirs Friday. 

The Yellow Jackets are the No. 10 seed with a 21-13 record and will face the No. 7 seeded Crusaders, who finished their regular season 21-8. The series will be played at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium with the first game slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch Thursday. Friday’s second game is scheduled for 4 p.m. and if necessary the third game will follow.  

Two other teams are in the Select Division I bracket with Byrd. No. 4 seeded Captain Shreve (22-12) will host No. 13 Rummel (19-14) at 6 p.m. Friday and No. 5 Northwood (27-7) hosts No. 12 Tioga (13-15) at 7 p.m.  

In Select Division II, No. 13 Evangel (12-20) travels to No. 4 Teurlings Catholic (20-10) for a 4 p.m. Friday first game. 

Calvary (24-10) is the No. 6 seed in Select Division III and will host No. 11 Fisher Friday at 6 p.m. 

Non-Select Division I has three teams from District 1-5A that swept their first round of games to advance. No. 9 Parkway (23-8) will play at No. 8 St. Amant (25-9) and No. 20 Benton (21-15) is in Lake Charles to play No. 4 Sam Houston (27-4) with both Friday games slated to start at 6 p.m. No. 10 Haughton (24-11) will be in Monroe to face No. 7 Neville with a 7 p.m. start Friday.

If weather permits the Friday games to be played, game two and if necessary game three will follow Saturday.  

The winners of each of the series will advance to another best-of-three series in the quarterfinals that will determine who plays in the single-elimination state tournament. 

LHSAA Second round  

(best-of-three series)  

Select Division I 

No. 13 Rummel (19-14) at No. 4 Captain Shreve (22-12), Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, Noon and if necessary 3:30 p.m. 

No. 12 Tioga (13-15) at No. 5 Northwood (27-7), Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m. and if necessary 4 p.m. 

No. 10 Byrd (21-13) at No. 7 Brother Martin (21-8), Thursday, 4 p.m.; Friday, 4 p.m. and if necessary 7 p.m. 

Select Division II 

No. 13 Evangel (12-20) at No. 4 Teurlings Catholic (20-10), Friday, 4 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. and if necessary 1 p.m. 

Select Division III 

No. 11 Fisher (17-10) at No. 6 Calvary (24-10), Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, noon and if necessary 3 p.m.   

Non-Select Division I 

No. 9 Parkway (23-8) at No. 8 St. Amant (25-9), Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m. and if necessary 4 p.m. 

No. 10 Haughton (24-11) at No. 7 Neville (23-10), Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m. and if necessary 4 p.m. 

No. 20 Benton (21-15) at No. 4 Sam Houston (27-4), Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. and if necessary 3 p.m.