The
W atchman
FIGHT THE ANTS. PAGE 3G
THURSDAY
NOVEMBER 19, 2015 H $1.00
SERVING THE PARISHES OF EAST FELICIANA AND WEST FELICIANA THEADVOCATE.COM
2nd Year, No. 6
Building labeled historic
Galapagos gallivant
J.S. Dawson High added to Register
West Feliciana teacher visits Darwin’s inspiration BY HOWARD ARCENEAUX
BY HOWARD ARCENEAUX
Special to The Advocate
Special to The Advocate
ST. FRANCISVILLE
ST. FRANCISVILLE — The now-closed J.S. Dawson High, a school that educated African Americans in West Feliciana during the days of segregation, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. On Tuesday, school SuperinWest tendent Hollis Milton presented Feliciana Ken Dawson, the grandson of the school’s namesake, a cerParish tificate designating the school’s place on the National Register. The presentation occurred at Tuesday’s West Feliciana School Board meeting, where Dawson spoke of the impact the school, located on Tunica Trace about 3.5 miles northwest of St. Francisville, had on a generation
West Feliciana High School teacher had the opportunity of a lifetime when she visited the place that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Nicole Means, who teaches ninth-grade classes in advanced placement human geography and world geography, traveled to the Galapagos Islands Sept. 11-20. She was awarded the National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship, and the trip was funded by National Geographic and its alliance with Grosvenor. The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands on either side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of Ecuador, and they include a national park and a marine reserve and have a population of about 25,000. During his voyage on the HMS Beagle in the 19th century, Darwin spent time in the Galapagos as he developed his revolutionary theory.
äSee HISTORIC, page 2G
East Feliciana Parish
Contractor called to finish roadwork BY JAMES MINTON
Special to The Advocate
Photo provided by NICOLE MEANS
West Feliciana High School teacher Nicole Means gets a close-up look at a The Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program is a professional development opportunity made possible by couple of tortoises on one of her excursions in the Galapagos Islands. Means traveled to the islands as part of a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher äSee GALAPAGOS, page 4G Fellowship in September.
Rains don’t drown photography festival Despite rains canceling the second day of this year’s Yellow Leaf Festival in October, the annual arts and crafts event was a huge success. Professional photographers were slated to judge the festival’s wildlife photography contest, but organizers chose to award prizes based on people’s choice votes. According to organizer Lynn Wood, attendees enjoyed the exhibit and voted enthusiastically.
Stacy Gill
AROUND THE FELICIANAS SGILL@ THEADVOCATE.COM
This year’s Yellow Leaf amateur photography contest win-
ners include Arlene Folmar, first place, $100, raccoon; Bonnie Marquette, second place, $50, chipmunk; and Kathleen Harris, third place, $50, fawn.
Frontier Day rescheduled
Frontier Day in Jackson, initially planned for Oct. 31 but postponed due to bad weather, has been rescheduled for April 30, the same weekend as the Battle of Jackson Crossroads reenactment.
All exhibitors and demonstrators are invited back to participate in this all-day event celebrating the 200th year of Jackson. Although the event won’t fall in Jackson’s bicentennial year, it will kick off the next century for the East Feliciana Parish community, organizers said. Also, on Dec. 12, Jackson will host a bicentennial year finale called “History in the Making,â€? äSee FELICIANAS, page 2G
CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish Police Jury voted unanimously Tuesday to hold a contractor to the terms of a road repair project the jury approved in May. R.J. Daigle and Sons Inc. submitted the low bid of $1.9 million to repave and repair some 50 parish roads totaling about 43 miles but has not completed a portion of the work. Tim Hart, a representative of the engineering firm inspecting the work for the jury, said Daigle contracted with another firm to do a portion of the project, “seal coating� some of the roads on the repair list. Juror Sean Smith, chairman of the Public Works Committee, said the work involves coating a road surface with a thin asphalt emulsion and spreading crushed limestone over the tar. Hart, of Professional Engineering Consultants, said the contractor is concerned about doing the work during winter weather. He said state highway specifications say seal coating only should be done when the temperature is “60 degrees and rising.� Parish Manager J.R. Rouchon said the seal coating amounts to about $400,000 of the project cost and involves work on 14 or 15 roads. Hart said the jury had two choices: allow the contractor to delay the work until warmer weather or hold the firm’s “feet to the fire.� Jurors said the contractor should have taken action to finish the work if the subcontractor was not performing, and they said they were not interested in delaying the project until the spring.
INSIDE Regional news........... 2G, 3G
West Feliciana..................... 5G
East Feliciana...................... 8G
Sports ................................. 1H
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