BY WENDYLOUP Maria, playedbyJolie ReneeRichard, dances in theKingdom of Sweets with butterflies Dec.15during aperformanceof‘The Nutcracker.’ The Tri-Parish Ballet performed twoshows at the Price LeBlanc PACE CenterinGonzales. The eventfeaturedmore than 80 studentdancers from Ascension, Livingston and East Baton Rougeparishes. äMore on the event. PAGE 3G
Between the last-minute Christmas shopping, throwing up Santas all over the house and planning the big Christmas Day meal, I’ve been busy with our Christmas Day issue. Afew things make this time of year hectic and special in mybusiness. For one, in order to produce the four different community news sections we publish,wehave to plan to make sure we haveenough newscopy to fill the pages afew days early.Ittakesmore than adozen folksto make this magic happen every week.And each one has an important part in bringinginformation to your doorstep, inboxor computer Those early deadlines mean countless emails reminding everyonetosendtheir stuffsoI can edit and send their copy along for the next phase of production. By stuff, Imean photos and stories, includ-
Darlene Denstorff AROUND LIVINGSTON
inglots of pictures from holiday events and festivities. That makes me happy and reminds me whyI love this time of year Seeingthe happy faces in all those photos from holiday parties, breakfastswith Santa, parades, decorated houses and gift giveaways brings me joy.Family is usually at thecenter of many of those festive photos. Kids sitting on Santa’slap for the first time or atraditional walk through abrightly-colored light display dot our pages this week. But this time of year also meansmissing loved ones who can’tmake it home for theholidays or are no longer withus. Ithink about my mom and younger sister every timeI starttaking the Christmas decorationsdown from the attic. Ornamentscrafted decades ago remindme
How does acoach get to 500 wins in agiven sport?
An easy answer would simply be to coach for along time so you can be there when good things happen. As an applicable process,more commitment and an attention to detail is required.
If you’re Korey Arnold, the girls basketball coach at Walker High, attention to detail has been an importantpart of thesuccess his teams have experienced. It’s why this season’sWildcats squad was 11-0 before hosting its own tournament earlier this month. After his roster lost five seniors, including four starters, from last year’steam that advanced to the semifinals of the state playoffs, Arnold had his squadsfocus on establishing its own identity The focus is on defense.
Charles Salzer SPORTS ROUNDUP
“Welost 95% of our scoring from last year,” Arnold said last week. “Wehave to totally revampwho we want to be. We aren’tgoing to be as good offensively as we were last year,but we can be better defensively.” So far, only two teams have scored morethan 40 points against the Wildcats. One of those was Denham Springs, adistrict rival that reached the Division Ititle gamelast year.Walker defeated the Yellow Jackets 58-55 in the final of the Livingston Parish tournament. Senior forward Arionna Patterson acknowledges her team’s change in focus while seeing its benefits. “This year there’smore of adefensive
of Christmases past, somehappyand some sad. Hopefully,wewill all make new memories this year with loved ones, many that we’ll share with our readers. Here’swishing everyone ahappyholiday season.
TheMerriestMile
Tickets are on sale for the Merriest Mile drive-thru Christmas lightshow, set throughDec.31atthe Livingston Parish Fairgrounds, 19869 Fairgrounds Road. Admissionfor asinglevehicle with up to 8people is $25onweekdays and$30 on weekends Fortickets, visit themerriestmile.ticketspice.com/the-merriest-mile.
Farmersmarket
The Four Seasons Farmers Market is open from 8a.m. to noon every Saturday at the city parking lot at Hummel Street and Railroad Avenue. Fresh vegetables, fruits and handmade items are on sale from vendors. Learning center classesset
The Southeastern Life-LongLearning Center in Walker is accepting students for upcoming classes.Toregisterfor the classes, visitsoutheastern.nbsstore.net/lifelong-learning-livingston-center
Learn to speak Italian during an online class with the Southeastern Life-Long Learning program startingJan.21. The class, held on Tuesdays is $60. Register for ACT prep classes on Jan.16 and Jan. 23. The class costs$195. Learn how to fly adroneatanintroduction to drones class Tuesdays in January.The online classis$125.
Send news and events for Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes to livingston@ theadvocate.com by 4p.m. Friday or call (225) 388-0731.
Walker head coach KoreyArnold shows his emotions in the first half against Parkview Mondaynight in Walker
Continued from page1G
style,” she said. “Lastyear we couldget offense easily but the defense was notasgood asthis year.Ifeel like we’re more energetic, more athletic on the defensiveside, andI think the defense will carry us thisyear.” The focus on defensebegan not long after last season’send.
“Westarted working on it in thespring and carrieditover into the summer,”Arnold said. “When we lock in andhavefive people connected, we’rereally good on defense but it takesfive. The way we play, you can’t have four,you can’thavethree —it takesfive.”
Arnold’sapproachtothisseason isanexample of his ability to maximize his team’s strengths. It’spartofthe reason that Walker’s68-24 winover Holden on Dec. 11 was the 500th of his coaching career Arnold talked about what it meansto reach that milestone.
“Winning is important,but themostimportant thing is taking these kids frompoint Atopoint B—whether theywantto play in college, whether they justwant togoto college or whether they wanttostart working. We trytoequipkids withdiscipline and accountability because no matterwhat happens afterthey stop bouncingthatball, those two things will carry them inlife.”
Charles Salzer covers Livingston sports for the Livingston-Tangipahoa Advocate
To reach Salzer,email livingston@ theadvocate.com.
Early Friday morning, Sheriff Jason Ard stood surrounded by hundreds of toys as hegave out directions to deputies for delivery of the gifts as part of the 37th annual Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Christmas Crusade ToyDrive. Deputies served as elves as they followed their marching orders todeliver thetoys, collected throughout the parishwide drive. This year 648 families applied for help and 1,421 children received toys through theprogram sponsored by Ard.
carries abiketobedelivered.
BY WENDYLOUP Contributing writer
The Tri-Parish Ballet took audiences on adazzling journey Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 through asnowy magical forest andthe Kingdom of Sweets duringperformances of “The Nutcracker” at the Price LeBlanc PACE Center in Gonzales. The event featured more than 80 student dancers from Ascension, Livingston and East Baton Rouge parishes. The dance troupealso collected canned goods for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and the First United Methodist Church of Denham Springs’ Community
performanceof‘TheNutcracker’
Renee
with the
performed by Walker High School sophomore Ryder Chance Pettitt-Wise.
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Twenty-fivelocal entrepreneursinLouisiana across13parishes aretaking their businesses to thenextlevel.Ifyou arealocal business owner with afierce drivetogrowand an entrepreneurial dream, then youcan also apply forthe ShellLiveWireLouisiana AcceleratorProgram.
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Applicants areacceptedfromAscension, Assumption, East BatonRouge,WestBaton Rouge,Iberville,Jefferson,Lafourche, Livingston, St.Charles, St.James, St.John the Baptist, St.Mary, andTerrebonne Parishes. Businesses do nothavetobeinthe oil andgas industrytoapply
Applications forthe 2025Shell LiveWire Louisiana Accelerator Programare being acceptedthroughJanuary 31, 2025.Application formscan be found on: www.shell.us/livewire.
BY JAMES MINTON
Contributing writer
In afew short years in the 1920sand ‘30s, Gov.Huey Long turned LSU into anationally recognized institution of higher learning, but he nearly ruined it with his heavy hand, according to a retired journalism professor.
Bob Mann,who taught at LSU for 18 years, told Edward Livingston Historical Association members at aDec. 7luncheon how he decided to write a book just on one smallaspect ofLong’s legacy, his fascination with LSU
The result is “Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU,” Mann’sninth book in acareer that also includes newspaperreporting and serving as aspokesman for U.S. Sen. Russell Long and Gov.Kathleen Blanco Mann told the group hestarted the book because he did not fully understand Huey Long’sinterest in the university Long did not have acollege degree and had only spent afew weekends on campus for political rallies. Mann said
Long told people he didn’tattend LSU because his family couldn’tafford to send him to school, although his father was fairly prosperous for thetimes.
In fact, the reason he didn’tattend LSUwas because he was kicked outof high school for circulating apetition against hisschool’sadministration, Mann said.
Although heeventually became a lawyer,Long briefly attended three colleges, includingTulane’s lawschool, but neverearnedadiploma.
Initially,Long’sfascination withLSU began with its football team and band, but he eventually pouredmillionsof state dollarsinto buildings and faculty salaries that brought the school to nationalprominence.
Long served as governor from 1926 until he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1932. He was still serving as asenator when he was assassinated in theState Capitol in 1935 Mann’sbook details thestepsLong took to raise the university’sprofile and the missteps he took in nearly jeopardiz-
ingthe law school andthe university’s accreditation because of his dictatorial approach to interfering in university affairs, including recriminations against studentsand faculty members he perceived as critical of him.
Before he was elected governor,he criticized the decision to relocate LSU from the property around the presentday capitol to its location south of the city, but Long eventually built new buildingsand established amedical school in New Orleans.
During his reign as Louisiana’sKingfish, Long hand-picked the university’s president,who would later die at Angola while serving aprison sentence for his excesses.
Mann said the lesson of Long’srelationship to LSUisthatfor theuniversity to thrive, agovernor should be its head cheerleader “but don’ttry to run the school.”
The historical group meetsat10a.m. on the first Saturday of themonth, usually at the parish library on Iowa Street in Livingston.
Community news report
Livingston ParishLibrary patrons have tallied morethan 82,000 eAudiobook checkouts so far in 2024, eclipsing theprevious system record set in 2023 and elevating the item’sstatus among the Library’smostpopular services, library leaders said.
From January through November,Livingston Parish Library patrons checked out approximately 82,310 eAudiobooks. That is 15% higher than the previous record of 71,340 set in 2023, with onemonth remaining this year
Locally,the popularity of eAudiobooks has surged over thelastfouryears, rising by more than 134%
since 2020 (35,148 eAudiobook circulations).
Here’sabreakdown of the Livingston Parish Library’seAudiobook circulations by year since 2020:
n 2020: 35,148
n 2021: 43,646
n 2022: 56,483
n 2023: 71,340 n 2024: 82,310 (January through November) In 2023, eAudiobook circulations accounted for nearly half or 48% of all digital content checkouts. The Livingston Parish Library offers several digital resources for eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, music, television shows and eCourses.
To use the Library’sdigital services, all you need is alibrary card.
Community news report
More than 3,800 pairsof new,unused socks were donated through the Livingston Parish Library as part of the20thannual Sock It
To Me! Holiday Sock Drive.
Held every year during the holiday season, the Sock It to Me! Holiday Sock Drive takes place in the GreaterBaton Rouge area, covering East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension, Pointe Coupee, Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes, anews release said.
The sock drive is organized by Baton Rouge Parents Magazine.
This year,the Livingston Parish community donated approximately 3,818 pairs of socks across the Livingston Parish Library’s five branches. This is the most the system has ever collected, surpassing the previousrecord by nearly 800 pairs, the release said. To ensuredonations remain in the Livingston Parish community,all socks collected by the Livingston Parish Library will be donated to TheFamily Village, anonprofit organization that serves children in Livingston Parish. For information on The Family Village, visit www. tfvwalker.org.
