Jacob Wayne Elmore
Age: 20
Race: White
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
14:98.3. DWI 3rd offense. Bond: $25,000
14:39.2. First degree vehicular negligent injuring. Bond: $150,000
Patrone Vandyke Barfield
Age: 33
DOB: 9/7/1989
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
Description: Possession of firearm by person convicted domestic abuse battery. Bond: $75,000
Description: Possession of firearm by person convicted domestic abuse battery. Bond: $75,000
“Sir, I’m sorry, but we don’t have you in our computer.”
Can you hear worse news?
You can — “Sorry, we’re out of bacon” — but it’s a short list.
Such was the case this week when my friend Shine Broussard called a government entity about something governmental.
“We don’t have you in our computer,” he was told. Cold words to hear in person, colder over the telephone.
“Now I’m out here with the gnashing teeth bunch, out here where the sun doesn’t shine,” Shine told me. “No program. No starting lineups. No jersey numbers. ‘Not in our computer.’ I’m on an island with the lepers.”
If you’re ‘not in our computer,’ you are a non-person, is what you are. These days, you have to be in the computer. In a lot of computers, actually. You might be in your dentist’s computer, which is good when a molar won’t behave, but being in your dentist’s computer won’t help you a lick if a kidney wants to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. Then you’d better be in your urologist’s computer. Now. Today.
There was a time when you didn’t need to be “in our computer.” There was a time when people knew your voice on the telephone, or trusted to some extent that you were who you said you were. Those days vaporized with vaudeville.
Then you had to be “in our files.” A lot of trees died for those files. If you wanted a Social Security check or a driver’s license renewal or a copy of your transcript, you had to be in the files.
Now the files are “in our computer.” You are in our files and in our system if you are in our computer. And if our computer says you aren’t in there, well, you can’t argue with our computer. Forget that a computer is only as smart as its programmer, as energetic as its power source and as efficient as the person who typed you “in” to start with.
It’s the computer, bud. Don’t argue with it. You might as well try to win a spat with Aunt Ethel about how to cook greens or shell peas or do the jitterbug or read your Bible. Good luck with that!
So if you’re not In The Computer, you’re out of the loop. In a fix. Up a creek. Down the river. Out of luck. In a jam. Between a rock and a hard place. Out of the picture. Off the radar.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but we don’t have you in our computer.” (That’s just one frantic, lonely step removed from the hazy “I’m sorry, but our system’s down” No-Man’s Land. If the system’s down, you might as well call in the general and tinkle on the fire because the game, my dear friend, is over.)
I can imagine the computer people talking on their break. “Some poor guy called and wasn’t in the computer. I mean, come on! Idiot…Haha. Hahahahaha….!”
Makes you jealous of people who are “in.” Things are easier for the in’s among us. But how did they get in, anyway? Being “not in” makes you feel like those people Hunter S. Thompson wrote about in the Gonzo Papers, people who chase something they’ll never so much as sniff. Missing. Back-ordered. No teng .Vaya con dios. Seeya!
But do you really want to pay the price for ins-manship? First-born child? Life savings? Moe Bandy record collection? What do I have to give up? And here’s a question: What if you get in and you can’t get OUT? There’s you a pickle.
Such are modern times. All the more reason to hope that when I meet St. Peter, I’m in the computer and the system’s not down.
(Originally ran August of 2010, when all the computers seemed hot and angry … )
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
By HARRIET PROTHRO PENROD
I first met Dr. Phillip Rozeman over 20 years ago when I wrote the cover story for Forum News about the Alliance for Education. Recently, I’ve seen him at various events throughout the city – including the Community Foundation of North Louisiana’s “Community Counts” press conference and the inauguration of Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux.
We met for lunch at Notini’s Restaurant in Bossier City to catch up on everything he’s been up to since our first interview all those years ago.
If Phillip A. Rozeman’s life was defined solely by his success as a cardiologist, he has enjoyed an incredibly full and prosperous life.
It would be enough to make most people satisfied – and proud.
But Dr. Rozeman is not like other people. There aren’t many people like him.
Born and raised in Shreveport, he graduated from LSU Medical School in 1979 and did his internship, residency, and fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina and then was on staff at Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Cardiology.
The soft-spoken, unassuming doctor could have started his cardiology practice anywhere he – and his wife, Alma — desired.
Halfway through his year in Tennessee, Alma wanted to come home. So, in 1985, they returned to Shreveport and Rozeman began a 30+ year experience in interventional, invasive, and noninvasive cardiology.
He co-founded Cardiovascular Consultants/Willis-Knighton Cardiology and founded the Minden Heart and Vascular Center (where he served as Chief of Staff).
At Willis-Knighton, Rozeman pioneered coronary stenting and dual-chamber pacemakers and served as both Chief of Staff of Internal Medicine and Chief of Staff of the entire Health System. He has served as president of the Shreveport Medical Society (NWLA Medical Society) and received the Louisiana State Medical Society Community Service Award, the Northwest Louisiana Medical Society Distinguished Service Award, and the American Cancer Society Distinguished Service Award.
He has been named one of “America’s Top Cardiologists” by Consumer Research Council.
Rozeman has achieved just about all there is to achieve in the field of cardiology.
For most people – and doctors – that would be enough. But Rozeman learned a lesson from his mother that influenced him to do even more.
Much more.
“She taught us: ‘Don’t be so involved in yourself – do things for other people,’” Rozeman says of his mother, who worked as a school nurse and counselor. “She took care of everybody’s problems. She taught us that life is not really worth living – it’s meaningless — if you’re just living it for yourself.”
He took that lesson to heart and, by doing so, has made an impact in the community that equals his dedication to healthcare.
But why?
“Two things that are the main drivers about my work in the community are 1) if working on this issue has the potential of creating greater opportunity for others and 2) whether this work is God’s will for my life,” explains Rozeman.
“In that regard, it has to follow the great commandment of ‘loving your neighbor as you do yourself.’”
When Rozeman wanted to create the Alliance for Education almost 25 years ago, he went to visit his friend Bob Hamm – the president/CEO of Berg, Inc., and a tireless community leader.
“That guy encouraged me to do anything,” he says of Hamm. “I went to talk to him before I started the Alliance for Education. He put in money and joined. He got me on the Board of the (Greater Shreveport) Chamber of Commerce and the Board of the Louisiana Committee of 100.”
That was just the beginning.
Rozeman has served as a member of multiple governor and legislative commissions on healthcare and education, is past chairman of Blueprint Louisiana and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Council for a Better Louisiana.
He is founder of both Alliance for Education – created to increase community involvement in public education in northwest Louisiana – and Shreveport Bossier Imperative as well as co-founder of Shreveport Bossier Business Alliance for Higher Education and Magnolia School of Excellence Charter School.
When asked where – as a practicing cardiologist – he finds the time to dedicate so much effort into the community, Rozeman explains:
“I try not to waste any time. I organize my mind, take a project at a time. I try to get something done then move on (to the next thing).”
The “next thing” is helping bring Louisiana Key Academy to Shreveport. The charter school, which will focus on best practices to help children who have difficulty reading because of dyslexia, will open in the fall at the former Arthur Circle Elementary School.
Dr. Laura Cassidy (wife of Sen. Bill Cassidy), who co-founded Louisiana Key Academy in Baton Rouge and is bringing the concept here, describes it as “a community of trained, knowledgeable caring professionals whose mission is to unlock the potential of dyslexic children.”
“It will start with first through fourth grade in the fall,” says Rozeman, “and probably add a grade every year. The thought is to definitely go through middle school and, at some point, think about high school.”
With the realization of a charter school for dyslexic children opening in Shreveport, Rozeman can begin thinking about his next “project.”
“I want to potentially do a podcast on medical advances,” says Rozeman, who currently does a weekly podcast called Education Checkup on KTBS. “This is a huge medical community. There is a lot of expertise in healthcare here and I want to communicate that to the people here.”
Rozeman does all that he does for the simple reason that he wants to make his community a better place.
“I was born and raised in Shreveport,” he says. “I love Shreveport. It’s always been good to me and I want to leave it a better place.”
To accomplish that, Rozeman sees his role as that of a facilitator.
“I believe when you get people together and they begin to talk about these things, you begin to have some movement on things,” he says. “If it’s not something I’m interested in or that I’m doing, maybe I know somebody who would be interested and I can get people together.”
Rozeman does all of this in his “spare” time. He doesn’t play golf, fish, or hunt. His hobbies are visiting his grandkids (each of his two daughters lives in Texas and has two children) as often as possible, getting to Los Angeles to visit his son (every six months or so), watching college football and March Madness, reading, and going out to eat every night with his wife.
“I consider the things I do in the community as fun,” he says. “It’s like a hobby.”
Once more, I ask where he finds the time for all of his “hobbies.”
“I start with the premise ‘just say yes where my God-given talents fit,’” says Rozeman, who credits his long-time co-workers for ‘basically taking care of me.’
“When I am true to this, there always seems to be the time and energy to help.”
Contact Harriet at sbjharriet@gmail.com
Adrian Tremaine Mahoney
Age: 42
DOB: 9/20/1980
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
Description: Obstruction of justice. Bond: $30,000
Description: Speeding (maximum speed limit). Bond: $2,500.00
Description: Driving under suspension. Bond: $5,000
Timothy Scott Stevens
Age: 45
Sex: Male
Race: White
Current booking information:
14:69. Illegal possession of stolen things. Bond: $$5,000
14:62/Z. Simple burglary-theft from a motor vehicle. Bond: $5,000
40:967|C. Schedule II – Possession. Bond: $2,500
00:00. Surrender off Bond. Bond: $0
14:108. Resisting an officer. Bond: $500
14:402. Intro contraband to and from penal institutions. Bond: $2,500
JOURNAL STAFF
The Bossier City City Council will hold a regular council meeting today in City Council Chambers at the Bossier City Hall located at 620 Benton Road. The meeting will convene at 3 p.m.
Here is the link of today’s council proceedings.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjME2ZFlm9Hlg8tKxXnSap6VKOU9kA?e=UalGOL
JOURNAL STAFF
The City Council of the city of Shreveport will hold its regular meeting today at 3 p.m. in the Government Chamber at Government Plaza, 505 Travis Street in Shreveport.
Here is a link to the Shreveport City Government website with today’s agenda.
https://shreveportla.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=374
Jaycee Corey Davis
Age: 32
Race: White
Sex: Male.
Current booking information:
14:46. False imprisonment. Bond: $1,000
14:67. Theft. Bond: $0
14:35.3L|SIMPLE. Domestic abuse battery-strangulation-simple. Bond: $30,000
Robert Van Ezell Jr.
Age: 40
Race: White
Sex: Female
Current booking information:
Description: Possession of schedule I. Bond: $0
Description: Manufacture – distribution of schedule II. Bond $18,000
Description: Traffic-control signals. Bond: $200
This may be THE BEST COOKIE I have ever made. The boys disagreed because their favorite Original Tolllhouse Chocolate Cookies exist. And I say it’s a 3-way tie for me with the Kentucky Butter Cookies and the Texas Sheetcake Cookies from The Copper Whisk Cookbook. Nonetheless these are stellar!
I used Heath toffee bits for these, but the beauty is that you can use whatever candy bar you want to! Think Butterfinger, Snickers, Reese’s, etc. The small bites of crunch combined with the sweet is just a perfect combination.
I am writing this and trying not to think about eating 4 more of these before dinner. They are THAT good. Let me know when you make them!
Ingredients:
Directions
Combine cake mix, eggs, and oil and mix well with mixer. Stir in toffee bits by hand. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. After 1 hour preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cookie scoop to drop dough onto baking sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes.
Ashley Madden Rowton is a wife, mom, and contributor to Webster Parish, Natchitoches Parish, and Shreveport-Bossier journals, as well as a published cookbook author.
By Bonnie Culverhouse
Anyone who has ever had a hospitalized loved one knows the importance of rest for the caregiver.
Ronald McDonald House has released plans to build a new $10 million, 3-story, 20,000 square ft. facility in the Shreveport-Bossier area that will house families and serve hospitals there and in surrounding parishes.
Ronald McDonald House CEO Janell Mason said the project “just fell into place.”
“We started fund-raising, just lightly, the fourth quarter of 2022,” Mason said. “We’ve raised $3.6 million already.”
Construction will not begin until 80 percent of the funding is committed.
Mason said it will be located near Willis-Knighton South. There will be 20 family suites, indoor/outdoor place spaces, expansive kitchen and large dining room, laundry rooms, meals and snacks and personal care items, just to name a few amenities. All services are provided free to families.
During a special event Thursday, Minden Medical Center, Northwest Louisiana Medical Center (Ruston) and Allegiance Health Management presented Mason with a check for $25,000. She told MMC CEO Jim Williams the hospitals will be listed on a founding wall, and a suite will be named for them.
Williams, who has a story to tell about his son, said he was more than happy to help garner support for the project from area hospitals.
“I had a scenario where had there been a Ronald McDonald House at that time, I could’ve taken advantage of the services,” Williams said. “My son was born way too early. He was transported to Shreveport.”
Williams’ son stayed in the hospital several months, and a local facility would have helped in many ways.
Ashleigh Benson, whose son Cole is a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patient, shared his story with the group.
“When we first took him to Memphis, we were told we would be there an extended period of time and not able to leave,” Benson said.
She said her family wondered how they would eat, where would they sleep and how they were going to pay for these things.
“Ronald McDonald House was a huge blessing,” she said, going on to describe the facilities that included a cafeteria, apartments, a game room, playground area and other amenities.
Goals for the area Ronald McDonald House are to break ground in the first quarter of 2024 with a grand opening Dec. 31, 2025.
To become a founding donor, contact Mason at 501-374-4347 or email janell@RMHCArkansas.org. Also contact Roy Griggs, Campaign Chair at 318-347-3306 or email roy.griggs@partners.mcd.com.
By Royal Alexander/Opinion
Biden Administration CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said last month that a ban on future gas-stove installations in homes and high-rises is on the table. “We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether that’s drastically improving emissions or banning gas stoves entirely,” Trumka said. “And I think we ought to keep that possibility of a ban in mind because it’s a powerful tool in our tool belt, and it’s a real possibility here.” (N.Y, Post, 1-12-2023).
Democrat leaders in major cities across the country are moving forward with bans on natural gas stoves without regard to available infrastructure, the requirements of a reasonable transition, and the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Sensing a political catastrophe from the public response to this policy insanity, the Biden Administration quickly walked back the comments of its commissioner saying it had no plans to impose such a ban on the federal level. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, various elected officials have responded in opposition to the proposed edict:
If the “maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands,” tweeted Ronny Jackson, a Republican Texas member of the U.S. House and a former White House doctor.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted Monday “the Biden Administration is once again going to extreme lengths to appease Green New Deal fanatics — they’re considering a national ban on gas stoves … The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.” Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, posted “I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on.”
The American Gas Association responded by stating “any efforts to ban highly efficient natural gas stoves should raise alarm bells for the 187 million Americans who depend on this essential fuel every day pointing out that ‘natural gas utilities have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 69% since 1990 and help homeowners reduce their carbon emissions 1.2% every year.’”
Breitbart News observed that:
“Anyone aware of the past knows how absurd this latest hysteria is. In a few short decades, we have gone from natural gas burning 24/7 in homes by way of pilot lights to natural gas only burning when the appliance is in use. Additionally, most natural gas appliances are vented in some way, so there are no fumes at all.”
A Harvard Medical School study by Wynne Armand published Sept. 7, 2022, stated, “gas stoves affect air quality inside and outside your home, circulating pollutants that raise risk for asthma and other illnesses.” But further in the same study, Armand wrote that “observational studies can’t prove that cooking with gas is the direct cause of asthma.” That important detail is, unsurprisingly, being ignored by the national “media” and radical green groups.
The important point is that common sense and rationality have prevailed for the moment.
The lesson to take from this is, as stated by Gerard Baker of the Wall Street Journal, to remember this victory when future Leftist lunacies arise.
“The small triumph chalked up for common sense and normality is so rare these days it’s worth celebrating in itself. It’s also a useful reminder that the inexorable march of government mandates, the endless effort by our rulers to enforce their “scientifically” unchallengeable dogma on what they see as a population of ignorant drudges, can be resisted.” (Emphasis added).
I close with a note of warning from Germany and the Rule of Unintended Consequences to the Climate Religionists. Numerous news reports reveal that in Germany, the Worship at the Altar of Climate Change has been demoted by the desperate effort to keep the lights on and the heat flowing into the homes of Germans.
In order to provide power and heat to its citizens during this bitter German winter, the German government recently announced that Germany was reopening five power plants that burn lignite, a highly polluting type of coal which energy experts tell us produces more carbon dioxide than any other form of generation.
The German government has also authorized that a large wind power project be dismantled to provide space for the expansion of a mine that produces lignite.
And this is happening while China reportedly builds one new coal plant unit per week.
We are nowhere near complete reliance on renewables, and we must diligently push back on this kind of policy insanity.
Brandon Wayne Lindsey
Age: 33
DOB: 8/16/1989
Race: White
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
Description: Resisting officer by force. Bond: $10,000
Description: Simple escape. Bond: $3,000
Description: Theft. Bond: $100
Description: Simple battery. Bond: $3,000
Description: Careless operation. Bond: $0
Description: Aggravated flight from an officer (felony). Bond: $0
Oshay Demontra Brown
Age: 30
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
14:35.3I|SIMPLE. Domestic abuse battery-child endangerment. Bond: $50,000
14:35.3L|SIMPLE. Domestic abuse battery-strangulation-simple. Bond: $50,000
14:63/I. Criminal trespass-immovable structure. Bond: $0
14:108. Resisting an officer. Bond: $500
District 8 representative Doug Rimmer was named president of the Bossier Parish Police Jury during the public body’s first meeting of 2023 Wednesday. Rimmer, who is in his fourth term on the police jury, has previously occupied the president’s chair.
Picked to serve as vice president was District 3 jury member Philip Rodgers. Rodgers is in his first term on the police jury.
Butch Ford also received another appointment as parish administrator. This will be the second year in the administrator’s seat for Ford. He previously served as parish engineer for 19 years before being named administrator.
In other business during Wednesday’s meeting, police jury members:
Charles Lee Wilson
Age: 48
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
Description: Theft. Bond: $10,000
Description: Resisting an officer. Bond: $500
Shawn Derell Washington
Age: 38
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Current booking information:
40:966|C. Schedule I – Possession. Bond: $0
14:004A. Warrant – failure to appear. Bond: $150,000
14:95.1. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Bond: $0
14:004A. Warrant – failure to appear. Bond: $120,000
14:000. Fugitive. Bond: $0
14:004A. Warrant – failure to appear. Bond: $6,000
14:000. Fugitive. Bond: $0
14:004A. Warrant – failure to appear. Bond: $600