The
W atchman
THURSDAY JANUARY 7, 2016
SERVING THE PARISHES OF EAST FELICIANA AND WEST FELICIANA 2nd Year, No. 12
Stacy Gill
AROUND THE FELICIANAS SGILL@ THEADVOCATE.COM
New Strong Women session is offered A new session of the Strong Women program — sponsored by West Feliciana Parks and Recreation Department in St. Francisville — begins Thursday in time to help area women with their fitness goals in 2016. Strong Women is a research-based strength training program for women that helps to preserve both muscle mass and bone strength. The one-hour class includes exercises with dumbbells and ankle weights and is suitable for both sedentary and active women. The classes meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:15 a.m. Optional 30-minute floor sessions focusing on core strength and flexibility follow the morning classes only. Fees are $70 for the entire session, which runs Jan. 7 through May 13; $20 per month; or $5 per class. An additional fee of $20 will be assessed for the floor sessions or women can choose to pay $5 monthly. Registration and payment may be completed online at wfprec.com, or participants can register and pay at their first class. For information, call (225) 784-8447 or instructor Pam Myers at (225) 635-4878.
Council on Aging activities
The East Feliciana Parish Council on Aging, 11102 Bank St. in Clinton, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays. Most activities for seniors start at 11 a.m. and lunch is served at noon. East Feliciana Public Transit offers transportation weekdays for the elderly to East Baton Rouge Parish for medical appointments. Call (225) 683-9862 for information. FRIDAY: 11 a.m., exercise class followed by distribution of senior food boxes MONDAY: 11 a.m., exercise class TUESDAY: 11 a.m., games WEDNESDAY: 11 a.m., bingo JAN. 14: 11:30 a.m., devotional followed by blood
H $1.00
THEADVOCATE.COM
Board renews school’s charter BY JAMES MINTON
The Slaughter Community Charter School, with grades seven through 12 and run by a CLINTON — Voting along racial separate school board, earned lines, the East Feliciana Parish a B rating in 2015 with a school School Board performance score of 96.9, the decided Tues- parish’s highest at three-tenths day to renew of a point above Slaughter ElEast the charter ementary’s score. Feliciana Facing a large contingent of for the parish’s top-rat- Slaughter charter supporters, ed school for the board did not discuss the three years, a term its support- matter in public but elected to ers say is four years short of go behind closed doors under the guise of holding a “strategy what is warranted. Special to The Advocate
session concerning pending litigation.� The litigation is a 50-year-old federal desegregation lawsuit. After about 20 minutes, the board emerged and immediately began voting on the charter school’s renewal. A move to renew the contract for five years was thwarted by a substitute motion to renew it for three years, followed by an evaluation and a possible twoyear extension. The board’s black members —
Derald Spears Sr., Melvin Hollins, board President Michael Ray Bradford, Richard Terrell, Rhonda Matthews, Joyce Kent and Broderick Brooks — voted for the three-year term. The white members attending — J. Curtis Jelks, Paul Kent, Tim Corcoran and Beth Dawson — voted against the substitute motion. White member Mitch Harrell was absent. Lee Reid, attorney for the charter school and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter
Schools, said the board’s policy on charter schools calls for a seven-year contract renewal when the school earns a B under the state accountability program. Reid also said outside the meeting room that neither he nor charter board members received copies of a lengthy memo from Superintendent Carlos Sam concerning the parish’s review of the charter school’s operations. The document was given to board members.
Reunion allows Ruth to shares stories Family lived on Greenwood Plantation
BY HOWARD ARCENEAUX Special to The Advocate
Photo provided by LAYNE LANGLEY
Prekindergarten students Chadlynn Hardy, left, and Benjamin Brock, of Bains Lower Elementary in St. Francisville, work with tools to prepare a garden bed for planting vegetables this fall. The youths planted gardens at the beginning of the year, which were attacked and eaten by deer.
Deer disappointment
Bains student gardeners turn to herbs in attempt to thwart animals Advocate staff report
What do you get when you combine vegetable plants with hungry deer? Devastation, as some students in West Feliciana Parish learned recently. In September, after successful harvests from previously planted gardens, prekindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students at Bains
Lower Elementary School in St. Francisville were eager to begin working again with Play 30 coach Lanya Mayer and LSU Agricultural Center Area Nutrition Agent Layne Langley. However, before doing so, the students became familiar again with the garden tools they’d be using and the rules they’d be expected to follow while working in the garden. “The students had to take oaths to become members of the Green Thumb Club before they could begin preparing the beds for planting,� Langley said. So, with assistance from West Fe-
liciana Parish County Agent AndrĂŠ Brock, the classes divided into teams and planted yardlong beans, bush beans, squash, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Each student had a job, from digging holes and placing plants in the ground to watering the plants. “There was a lot of excitement, both in using the tools and during the planting phase,â€? Langley added. Just prior to harvesting their new fall garden, the students came to school one day to find the vegetables
äSee AROUND, page 2G
äSee DEER, page 2G
For George Ruth Jr., 87, a recent reunion at Greenwood Plantation was a chance to go back in time and share some memories of his early life with his wife, two of his sons and their families. Ruth was born on the sprawling property in November 1928, the sixth of eight children. Life for many poor African-American families during that era was not easy. His family earned a meager existence doing chores and odd jobs for the family of Frank Percy, who owned the Greenwood property and ran it as a successful farm. Ruth’s family lived in a small two-room wooden house on the grounds. They collected rainwater in a barrel or had to walk several hundred yards to a nearby stream, and there was no bathroom, not even an outhouse. They grew their own vegetables and raised animals such as hogs, chickens, geese and turkeys. They traveled several miles, often walking, to church on Sundays. Ruth remembers his life revolved around work on the farm and doing various chores. He took care of the horses and livestock, and he remembers planting oak trees around the property with his sister. He had lessons from time to äSee REUNION, page 2G
INSIDE East Feliciana......................... 3G West Feliciana........................ 4G Schools........................2H, 4H Sports .................................... 1H
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