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Page 2
THE NEWSPAPER OF AMERICA'8 ANTIQUE CITY
[ I YI Illlll I
www. ponchatou la. com/pti mes
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2010
I
29th YEAR
NUMBER 10
50 CENTS
ne on open late
Times Report
This Friday, for the third consecutive Friday night, downtown Ponchatoula will be all aglow with
Christmas lights, snow, other holiday attractions, and stores in the Antique City will stay open until
8 p.m. to accommodate shoppers.
Police Chief Bry Layrisson with Santa and Mrs. Claus at
the annual Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast on Sunday
BACK 1
A Sesquicentennial Reflection of
Early Ponchatoula (1861-2011)
By JIM PERRIN
Historian and Educator
As the year 1860 neared its end, the usual pleas-
ant thoughts of Christmas and joyous times with fam-
ily and friends were darkened by the political turmoil
spreading across the deep South" in the wake of the elec-
tion of Republican Abraham Lincoln as president of the
United States.
Friday Night Lights is a bid
to extend the magic of the popu-
lar Christmas Lighting Celebra-
tion to additional nights during
the Christmas season with as
many of the attractions to shop-
pers as possible.
Of course, the attraction
of shopping downtown begins
with a choice of the most unique
gifts available for purchase any-
where, a far cry from the cookie
cutter same-ole offerings found
in big box stores and shopping
malls nationwide.
Add the great restaurant fare
downtown as you stroll through
a scene out of some wonder-
ful past age, resplendent with
music and lights, without the
crowding or the traffic chaos,
and Christmas becomes enjoy-
able again.
Local citizens and visitors
are all invited to sample the
holiday magic of America's An-
tique City and its unique shops
and restaurants, especially this
Friday night!
Ardent secessionists in South
Carolina had easily carried a
special election on December 6,
and were scheduled to conduct a
convention beginning December
17th to decide that state's rela-
tionship to the federal union.
The move toward secession
in South Carolina was mirrored
by the other lower Southern
states, including Louisiana,
which were also moving along
the path toward separation
from the federal union.
Although not immune the
secessionist fever then rag-
ing through the lower South,
many residents of Ponchatoula,
in Livingston Parish's Fourth
Ward, would have been content
to continue their community
development undisturbed by
outside influences.
Livingston Parish was com-
posed of piney woods with
swamps to the south, and not
cotton country like many other
areas of the lower South. There
were few plantations in the par-
ish and proportionately fewer
slave owners than in the River
Parishes, the Feliciana parish-
es, and north Louisiana.
There were a few slave own-
ers in the Ponchatoula area who
owned some slaves to help with
farming and lumbering activi-
ties, but most white residents
in this area did not own any
slaves. In fact many local piney
woods farmers, although free,
were only a couple of economic
notches above the slaves.
Leading Ponchatoula and
Loiaisiana through this peril-
ous period of time in the Thirty-
sixth Congress of the United
States were Senators Judah P.
Benjamin, a very able Jewish
attorney from New Orleans and
native of the Danish West In-
dies, and John Slidell, a native
of New York City and an attor-
ney who had served as senator
since December 1853.
Both Louisiana senators
would resign on February 4,
1861, following Louisiana's se-
cession from the union.
The congressman represent-
ing Ponchatoula was an at-
torney named Thomas Green
Davidson, a native of Jefferson
County, Mississippi. David-
son, a Democrat, had served in
Congress since 1855, but would
resign following Louisiana's se-
cession.
After the war, Green repre-
sented this area in the Loui-
siana legislature for several
years in the 1870's and 1880's.
He died at Springfield in 1883
and was buried in Springfield
Cemetery.
The Livingston Parish
~reasurer was Darling B. Ca-
son (1810-1891), a resident
of Springfield and later Pon-
chatoula. The parish recorder
was Rev. Sylvester D. Simms,
the son-in-law of Darling B.
Cason, and long-time resident
of the Springfield-Wadesboro
area. The parish sheriff was
William Watson.
Serving as justices of the
peace in the Ponchatoula area
at the time were James H. Love-
land, the nephew of the town's
founder James B. Clarke, who
had replaced William Akers as
justice of the peace in 1859; and
William T. Facundas, who had
replaced Robert Duncan, also in
1859.
In local real estate circles,
Janette Clarke Loveland, sister
of James B. Clarke, continued
to sell lots in the town. James
Clarke had left Louisiana about
1857 to serve as the superin-
tendent of civil engineers in the
Spanish colony of Cuba.
After the initial rush of pur-
chases of commercial lots front-
ing the railroad and Pine Street
near the tracks property sales in
the new community slowed. In
fact, about 90% of Ponchatoula
remained in the hands of James
Clarke's heirs when his estate
was settled in early 1869.
The Ponchatoula Strawberry
Festival is hosting a poster con-
test. The subject of the poster
shall be: "My Fair/Festival".
Name, location and date of
event must be on poster. The
Ponchatoula Strawberry Festi-
val will be held April 8-10 2011.
• Any public, private or
parochial school student
may participate.
• Posters will be judged
in the following four
categories:
Grades 1-3
Grades 4-6
Grades 7-9
Grades 10-12
• Posters must be displaced
on 14"X22" white poster
paper. (1/2 sheet of
standard poster paper)
• All work must be vertical.
Nothing horizontal will be
judged.
• All lettering must be free-
hand. Do not use stencils.
• Medium used shall be:
Crayon, Water Color,
Acrylics, Felt-Tip Pen,
or Oil. No Cut-Outs or
Collages.
First, Second and Third
place winners in each
category are eligible for
state competition.
Posters will be judged and points
will be awarded as follows:
• Originality
35%
• Theme 25%
• Neatness 25%
• Spelling 15%
Information card (5"X7"index card)
should be placed on the left top
comer of the poster in such a way
To Be Continued
Every Other Week
PLEASE SEE PAGE B-2
Ponchatoula man is busy football official
Pictured third from left is lifelong Ponchatoula resident Scott Vaughan with fellow of-
ficials calling the recent Big-12 Championship Game. Scott Vaughan is following a family
football tradition three generations long, (Courtesy Photo)
the NFL in stripes
Ponchatoula native and third generation football official Scott Vaughan, 44, in an exclusive inter-
view with The Ponchatoula Times gave a rare behind-the-scenes view of a game that most of us take
for granted, and think we know.
Clearly on a career path to
follow his father Jack Vaughan
~'O-the rarifi-ed heights of mak-
ing the do-or-die decisions on
the field for the National Foot-
ball League, Scott Vaughan is
now a back judge in the Big 12
Conference.
While the rest of us are
tuning in to the big game, he
spends 30 weekends a year on
the road officiating 13 college
games a year and 10 arena foot-
ball games, plus participating
in numerous clinics.
For the Class of 1984 Pon-
chatoula High School graduate
it all began in 1993 when the
Pittsburgh Steelers were play-
ing the San Francisco 49ers
in Barcelona, Spain. "They
didn't have a game clock of-
ficial so Dad volunteered me,
even though I had never done
it before (Vaughan is now a
game clock official for the New
Orleans Saints games). When
I came home in 1993 I joined
the Hammond Football Offi-
cials Association," Vaughan told
The Times, "I've been at it ever
since."
That first step as a football
official echoed the footsteps of
his grandfather and father.
Scott Vaughan's grandfather
Jack Vaughan was the first foot-
ball coach at PHS and in those
days was able to go directly
from that post to working as an
SFC official, the presumed rea-
soning being that someone so
involved in high school coach-
ing shouldn't be an on-field high
school football official.
Scott Vaughan's father, also
named Jack, began his ap-
prenticeship by officiating high
school and college games for 18-
years before he got picked up by
the NFL as an official in 1976,
and then it was a rocket climb of
a career, officiating 465 games
in his career, plus 20 playoff
games, two Pro Bowls, and
three Super Bowls, XX, XXV
and IXXX, (his family has the
rings to remind them). He "re-
tired" in 2000 as an on-field of-
ficial, but still works in for con-
ference games and in the review
booth where an experienced eye
is needed to give a second look
at challenged plays.
PLEASE SEE PAGE A-4
By OLE HARDHIDE
The Alligator
Two Country Market sisters who share a sewing and em-
broidery booth are a hoot - Merle Mulkey and Margaret "Mar-
di" Massel. They sew, but not just so-so. Their latest creation is
the football equivalent of a voodoo doll trademarked as a (what
else?) - Voo Dat. "Mardi" sharpened her needles and her skills
stitching cute threads for a creative little tyke named Britney
Spears.
Red meat is not bad for you. Fuzzy green meat is bad for
yOU.
Champion of the Fantasy Football League, Ponchatoula's
Amy Brennan, assigned herself to coverage of Roger Dodger
Quave's legendary turkey shoot this year. She reports: "The
Queen of the turkey shoot was Ellen Vogel of Hammond. A
total of 10 women competed, resulting in a shoot-off, Sheryl
Hare of Hammond and Ellen Vogel, the victor!"
Hey big shooting women, how about throwing your favorite
alligator a bird?
A fisherman from Ponchatoula was out fishing on Bedico
Creek in a small boat. He noticed another man in a small boat
open his tackle box and take out a mirror. Being curious, the
man rowed over and asked, ' Pnat is the mirror for?" "That's my
secret way to catch fish," said the other man. "Shine the mirror
on the top of the water. The fish notice the spot of sun on the
water above and they swim to the surface. Then I just reach
down and net them and pull them into the boat." "Wow! Does
that really work?" ' ou bet it does." '"Would you be interested
in selling that mirror? I'll give you $30 for it." "Well, okay."
After the money was transferred, the Ponchatoula angler asked,
"By the way, how many fish have you caught this week?"
' ou're the sixth," he said.
It was Caesar who wrote, "All Gaul is divided in three parts,"
but here in Ponchatoula they don't divide, they conquer. Ask
Ruth Hextall and Mike Whitlow, the latest gall bladder givers,
if you don't believe me.
A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons.
The stewardess looks at him and says, I'm sorry, sir, only one
carrion allowed per passenger.
PLEASE SEE PAGE
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