The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 3

Lot She dimes shrcveporttimos CONTACT VELDA HUNTER 459-3534 or 3A FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010 Investigators search DeSoto COA offices ft km By Vickie Welborn vwelborngannett.com MANSFIELD DeSoto Council on Aging management today will get its first glimpse of an audit of the agency's questionable finances. But a briefing given Wednesday to state police and DeSoto sheriff's investigators was enough to spur them into action Thursday as they carried out simultaneous searches of the agency's Senior Center in Mansfield and the home of Council on Aging. Executive Director Martha Jones and her husband, Roy. It could be several more weeks before Henrietta WiWsmithThe Times Roy Jackson (left) and Timothy Borner move items into the new Multicultural Center of the South on Wednesday afternoon. Multicultural Center moves downtown Vickie WelbornThe Times DeSoto Lt.

Robert Davidson brings a load of records out of the DeSoto Council on Aging office on Thursday as Sgt. Rick Pharris holds the door. DeSoto deputies aided state police investigators Thursday in a search of the COA Senior Center and the home of the executive director and her husband in connection with a criminal investigation into possible missing public funds. SCLC head to speak at foundation event today Byron Clay, the outgoing head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, will be the guest speaker at the annual presentation of the local Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Foundation at noon today in the Science Lecture Hall at Southern University-Shreveport, 3050 Martin Luther King Jr.

Drive. Clay, a native and resident of New Orleans, previously served as the conference's national vice president at large and now manages and leads the organization and its approximately 75 chapters throughout the nation. He soon will pass over his presidency to recently elected Bernice A. King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King the slain civil rights leader who co-founded the conference in 1957. Bernice A.

King will be the conference's first female president. 'History of the Book' set Saturday at Norton "History of the Book" will be presented at 2 p.m. Saturday at RW. Norton Art Gallery, 4747 Creswell Avenue in Shreveport. The presentation will include a page from a Gutenberg Bible, a printed first edition of the Declaration of Independence and a 3-D "peep show," which presents a book in diorama form.

The program kicks off another year of the museum's monthly Saturday Speaker Series and showcases works from two book collections the James Smith Noel Collection at LSU-Shreveport and Norton's library of 12,000 volumes. Martha Lawler, cataloger of the Noel collection, will present the program and discuss a general history of the book from handwritten manuscript to printing on a press. Admission to the museum and the Saturday Speaker Series is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. weekends. Safety Town to be site of bike rodeo Saturday Mitchell the public gets an opportunity to view the audit findings and learn the extent of the allegations of misappropriation of public funds. Council on Aging managers will have a window of time to respond to the findings following today's session with Certified Public Accountant Robert Laurents. The report will go through a couple of more steps before becoming public.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials, armed with preliminary audit information, had enough to begin their fact gathering, state police Lt. Jay D. Oliphant Jr. said. Asked if he could put a dollar figure contract van driver, even for occasional times he did not drive.

He also received payment for doing electrical repairs but is not a licensed electrician. While the Joneses and their relatives continued to receive checks, the Council on Aging's bills were becoming delinquent. Upon Martha Jones' departure, the board discovered it was about $100,000 behind in payments to its food service vendor and the IRS for delinquent payroll taxes. In December, the DeSoto Police Jury bridged the gap by giving the Council on Aging $80,000 toward its bills. At a glance DeSoto Council on Aging Executive Director Martha Jones, who is on unpaid leave, has several other family members on the agency's payroll, at least one of whom allegedly never has reported to work at the Council on Aging, according to a review of the agency's public records The Times conducted in November.

Jones' son received thousands of dollars to cut grass where none existed. Jones husband, Roy Jones, was not insured by the Council on Aging but was paid as a five staffers before money got tight. "I think this is a good move for the center because, in that building, the overhead was so expensive." Gunn said. "A lot of the nonprofits were hit hard over the past two to three ytars. But the center still does serve a major purpose in Shreveport-Bossier to provide cultural awareness." The size of the center's new building was not immediately available.

Gunn said 10,000 to 15,000 square feet would be plenty. Besides cuts to many arts and culture organizations at the state level, Shreveport withheld its annual funding of $200,000 the year. The city had paid that amount since 1996 for a total of $2.8 million per a state legislative order. During the 2010 budgeting season. City Council members questioned The Multicultural Center of the South's financial solvency and whether state law requires multicultural funding to go to a specific organization.

In December, City Council Chairwoman Joyce Bowman said that maybe Shreveport Regional Arts Council which passes city money on to smaller organizations could receive the multicultural money. She appointed a committee to get to the bottom of the question. That group is set to meet at 2 p.m. Monday. Bowman could not be reached for See CENTER ISA By Adam Kealoha Causey acauseygannett.com The recently shuttered Multicultural Center of the South should reoix'n soon in a smaller venue several blocks away in downtown Shreveport.

The move should jump start a shuffling act that will relocate city and state offices to make way for a new Greyhound station and park. The Multicultural Center of the South got the last of its items out of the city-owned building at 401 Texas St. on Thursday, according to Shreveport interim Chief Administrative Officer Dale Sibley. The center's new address is 520 Spring which houses a hair salon and often has been home to political campaign offices. Attempts by The Times to reach The Multicultural Center of the South staff and board President Patricia Kim were unsuccessful.

The center's Web site says it should reopen in February- The former Pioneer Bank building at Texas at Edwards streets presented problems for the center. Its cavernous, 53,000 square feet meant big utility bills that got tough to pay on an operating budget of just less than $400,000 a year, according to former Executive Director Valerie Gunn, who said she was laid off in September. Two full-time workers and a part-time employee remain with the nonprofit, down from about I See COA 5A New program aims to help elderly disabled vuuuu kjitiui a i uiwi aim uii. Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier will host a bicycle rodeo from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Sheriff's Safety Town, 8910 Jewella Ave.

in Shreveport, according to a news release. Sheriffs deputies will be teach first- through fifth-graders proper bike safety and riding skills. Children then will be allowed to ride their bikes through Safety Town to practice their skills. Children are asked to bring their bikes to participate, the release states. Each participant will receive a free bike helmet and knee and elbow pads from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission.

Parents also can benefit by learning safe riding habits to reinforce at home. The rodeo is free, but preregistra-tion is required. Register by calling Sheriff's Safety Town at (318) 698-7233. Booths to feature Relay for Life information The American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Caddo and Bossier Parish will set up an information booth at Brookshire's, 4918 Barks- To learn more Call (318) 741-8302 or the Caddo Aging and Disability Resource Center toll-free at (800) 793-1198 for more information about the Community Living Program. Income limits are $2,022 for a single person and $4,044 for couples.

Individuals can have no more than $25,000 and couples no more" than $145,000 in assets. Assets don't include a house or vehicle. Jim HudehonThe Times Melanie McGuigan (from left), her father, Pat McGuigan and his wife, Nellie McGuigan, sort through items with other family members and friends on Thursday morning after a tornado destroyed their home on Wednesday evening in Waskom, Texas. GO TO SHREVEPORniMES.COM TO VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY. Northwest Louisiana area dodges weather bullet By Melody Brumble mbrumblegannett.com Up to 1 19 people in northwest Louisiana will receive short-term help so they can stay in their homes instead of going to a nursing home.

The federally funded Community Living Program is being piloted here and in the Baton Rouge area for six months. People who qualify can receive minor home modifications like handicapped ramps, personal care services and transportation, among other help. Participants and their caregivers also are eligible for education and training sessions provided by the Alzheimer's Association. The program, Louisiana Answers for Living at Home, will be open to people in Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto, Webster, Claiborne, Bienville, Red River, Natchitoches and Sabine, said Jay Bulot, director of the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs. That agency estimates 76,000 older adult in the region need help.

The program is open to the elderly, younger adults with disabilities, people with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers. Workers with the Northwest Louisiana Aging and I.JHI. JIIIUI.H, IM 'UW III IB. IIIIU.MIII.IUI. I.

II. IN. M.HH..III Disability Resource Center will lead people through the application process and line up resources for those who qualify. "When people call, we'll determine if they meet income eligibility requirements," said Mary Alice Rountrce, executive director of'the Northwest Louisiana Aging and Disability Resource Center. "If they do, a case manager will do a home visit to determine their needs.

We find them what they need to stay in their homes." Caddo again approves leasing mineral rights By John Andrew Prime jprimegannett.com Bossier and Caddo received hail and heavy rain late Wednesday from a fast-moving storm system that punished east Texas then moved into south Arkansas. But northwest Louisiana dodged the brunt of Mother Nature's anger, damage reports from the local office of the National Weather Service show. "We had significant damage in the Waskom (Texas) area, primarily outside the city limits," said Bobby Gibbons, chief deputy with the Harrison County sheriff's office. "Several structures, residences were damaged extensively, but there were no reports of serious bodily injuries." There were reports of at least seven tornadoes between 5:27 p.m. and 6:56 p.m., from Waskom and Mineola to Harleton and Geneva in east Texas, according to the Weather Service.

U.S. Highway 80 Interstate 20 was blocked for several hours, and "several county roads were blocked "due to power lines down and trees across roadways," Gibbons said. Deputies and citizens armed with chain saws assisted Panola-Harrison Electric in clearing away debris and "greatly helped restore order in those areas affected," he said. Several buildings, including a bank', the post office and a grocery Jim HudelsonThe Times dale Blvd. in Bossier City, from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m. Monday. American Cancer Society employees and volunteers also encourage people to wear purple Monday to show support for the organization's signature fundraiser. This year's Relay For Life is set for April 30 at Lee Hedges Stadium in Shreveport and Airline High School in Bossier City. During the event Monday, people can sign up for Relay For Life teams and learn more about the American Cancer Society and how to volunteer.

View this item at or call (318) 219-1668 to learn more about Relay for Life. Caddo sheriff to sell 6 errant donkeys, horses The Caddo sheriff's office plans to sell a half dozen equine Wednesday. The sheriffs office's livestock patrol picked up the three donkeys and three horses when they were found wandering loose. All were advertised but went unclaimed, sheriff's Sgt. Doyle Smith said.

The sheriffs office will take sealed bids on the animals from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday at its substation on North Market Street in Shreveport. From Staff. Reports Family and friends of Pat and Nellie McGuigan sort through items with others on Thursday morning after a tornado destroyed their home on Wednesday evening in Waskom, Texas where they have lived for the past 32 years. By Adam Kealoha Causey acauseygannett.com Caddocommissioners on Thursday again approved allowing the state to lease about 75 acres worth of parish mineral rights.

The panel initially approved leasing the rights in October, according to parish Public Works Director Robert Glass, but a technical error sent it back to the local level. Most of the acreage is roads, west of Shreveport near the intersection of Interstate 20 and Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Glass said. It's in the hotly sought after Haynesville Shale natural gas zone. Caddo's most recent gas windfall came Jan. 13 when the state Mineral Board awarded the lease of about 88 acres to Questar Exploration and Production for $795,330.

Since Haynesville Shale activity got busy in 2008, the parish has raked in more than $30 million from leasing mineral rights. Commissioners saved the cash to seek public input on how to spend it. In late 2009, when commissioners approved the parish's 2010 budget, the group increased its main savings account, or operating reserve, with $17.5 million in gas revenue. The reserve sits at about $28.5 million. That leaves about $14 million in a separate oil and gas fund.

reported, though most was dime-size or smaller. One report from a "trained spotter" was of a flash flood a mile south of Dune Estates, north of Shreveport in Caddo, but the entry at 6:31 p.m noted no property damage. Tornadoes were reported at 5:55 p.m. near Natchitoches and 7:49 p.m. near Gaars Mill in Winn, with the only damage from either given as downed trees.

There were no reported injuries. store in the Harleton area were damaged, Gibbons said. But there were no reports of other private property damage or injuries there. "It was bad enough. We don't need it to be any worse." Reports of hail dominated the 21 Louisiana weather concerns reported to meteorologists from the storm, with all but one of the 17 reports from Bossier and Caddo noting ice falling from the skies.

Hail up to 1.75 inches diameter was.