Vol. 4 Issue 10 August 15-31, 2010 www.cenlalight.wordpress.com [email protected]North Carolina gospel music great, retired teacher brings talent to Cenla SINGING PRAISES — Linda Tennie of Pineville sings during the Abundant Life Conference concert held at St. Matthew Baptist Church on Saturday, Aug. 14. Shown at right is the Rev. Luther Barnes signing his autograph for concert attendees. Barnes, who is known for such songs as “It’s Your Time,” and “I’m Still Holding On” was special guest for the concert, hosted by Providence Family Ministries under the leadership of Pastor Frank Jackson. For more photos of this concert, turn to Pages 4 and 5.
Transcript
Vol. 4 Issue 10 August 15-31, 2010 www.cenlalight.wordpress.com [email protected]
North Carolina gospel music great,retired teacher brings talent to Cenla
SINGING PRAISES — Linda Tennie of Pineville sings during the Abundant Life Conference concert held at St. Matthew Baptist Church on Saturday, Aug. 14. Shown at right is the Rev. Luther Barnes signing his autograph for concert attendees. Barnes, who is known for such songs as “It’s Your Time,” and “I’m Still Holding On” was special guest for the concert, hosted by Providence Family Ministries under the leadership of Pastor Frank Jackson. For more photos of this concert, turn to Pages 4 and 5.
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Sherri L. Jackson,Publisher1429 Third StreetAlexandria, LA 71301
STRONG FOUNDATION — Shown is Publisher Sherri L. Jackson, who was the speaker for St. Matthew Baptist Church’s 2010 Women’s Day observed Sunday, Aug. 1. At right, top, Jackson demonstrates the importance of building on a solid foundation. Helping Jackson are Minister Lavillian Jordan and Minister Niecey Deroson, both members of St. Matthew.The theme for the Women’s Conference was “Not Built to Break.” Shown below is Jackson with Attorney Bridget Brown, who was the speaker for the conference social, “Shining With the Stars,” which was held at the Martin Community Center.
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Veteran Baton Rouge police captain appointed new Alexandria chief of policeBy Bill Sumrall The Light
A 29-year veteran of the Baton Rouge Police Department is the new chief of police in Alexandria as of Monday, Aug. 9.
Alexandria Mayor Jacques M. Roy on the recommendation of the Alexandria Police Chief Evaluation and Selection Committee appointed Roger Tully, 57.
“I’m excited to be here,” Tully told a crowd of area law enforcement officers, public officials and citizens gathered in the Public Safety Complex’s community room, following a shift change at the police station.
Tully told the audience he’ll bring to the job as chief his experience and knowledge about law enforcement as well as personal involvement with the community.
Tully said he demonstrated that personal involvement by making his last arrest for the Baton Rouge Police Department on Thursday, Aug. 5, after he saw a man being chased for attempting to steal pillows and a blanket from a store.
“That’s why I wear a uniform, that’s why I’ve got lights on my car, because you don’t know what’s going to jump out in front of you,” Tully said.
“That’s the kind of work I believe in,” Tully said.
“I’ve never lost touch with the community, and my goal is for you, the community, and me, as the chief, to work together to build a safe Alexandria, where our children can grow up, where we can live and enjoy,” Tully said.
“I love Alexandria. I told the mayor I’ve been coming here for years. So it wasn’t hard for me to look at this. I’ve looked nowhere else, except for Baton Rouge,” Tully said, adding he tested unsuccessfully six years ago for Baton Rouge chief.
Tully was also recommended by Mayor Roy’s Personnel Committee,
and scored the highest on the Police Chief Civil Service examination and “did extremely well” — among the top two or three — on the City’s “dynamic test,” Roy said.
“Roger’s appointment comes after an extensive process ... it was very competitive,” Roy said.
The committee interviewed 10 candidates. “There was no weight given to insiders or outsiders, and Roger came out on top,” Roy said.
“Again, the competition was close. They (the committee) were very impressed with Tully but, again, I can assure you our home team did very well, very well.”
Corey Lair, who served as moderator for the Alexandria Police Chief Evaluation and Selection Committee, explained their role in the candidate selection process that led to their recommendation of Tully to the mayor.
A detailed history and timeline of the process, which was designed to keep politics out of the selection, will be publicly released next week, Lair said.
“The process to select the next Alexandria chief has been rigorous, deliberative and exhaustive,” Lair said.
“The evaluation selection committee voted to continue its oversight for one year. During that time, the committee reserves the right to recommend to the mayor dismissal of the chief and recommendation for hire of other applicants,” Lair said.
“It is important to remember that this fit must work and it is only after real-time evaluation that the community can know that we’ve got the right guy,” Lair said.
Tully said he’ll have an open-door policy as Alexandria’s police chief.
“My door is open. My phone is open. I answer questions. If I can’t fix it, I’ll find who can. There’s obviously a lot of talent in Alexandria PD (police department), there’s a lot of things going on here that are good, that are working, and we just need to let the
community know,” Tully said.More than 60 people attended the
press conference portion of the event which followed the shift change, when the appointment was first announced to Alexandria police officers and area officials.
As an Assistant to Baton Rouge’s Chief Jeff LeDuff, Tully was Commander of the Uniform Patrol Bureau, directly supervising 10 captains and more than 400 officers, the mayor said.
In addition, Tully has served in various capacities that include Chief of Staff for Chief Jeff LeDuff, Instructor for the Baton Rouge Police Department and LSU Basic Academy and Commander’s School, Commander
of Professional Standards, Criminal Records Commander, and Accreditation Commander, Roy said.
Tully was instrumental in electronically converting Baton Rouge Police Department records and helped Baton Rouge Police Department achieve its first-ever national accredited status, Roy said.
LeDuff attended the press conference in support of Tully, whom he introduced to the audience.
“You’re getting somebody who’s going to put their boots on the ground.
NEW TOP COP — Mayor Jacques Roy presents Roger Tully, the City of Alexandria’s new police chief. Tully comes to Alexandria from the Baton Rouge Police Chief. Roy made the announcement on Thursday, Aug. 5
PoliceContinued on Page 10
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The Rev. Luther Barnes of Rocky Mount, N.C. was in concert Saturday, Aug 14, at St. Matthew Baptist Church in Boyce.
Barnes, a retired public school teacher, was the guest of Providence Family Ministries under the leadership of Pastor Frank Jackson.
The Crusade Community Choir, comprised of singers from local various churches, was the house choir that sang with Barnes.
About 300 people attended the event that was the culmination of a two-day conference.
On the following day, Barnes preached during the 11 a.m. worship service at St. Matthew and at 2 p.m. at Providence.
All Photos byOdessa Wilson
Gospel artist, preacher Luther Barnes comes to Cenla
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Shining With the Stars
Shown from left are Chris Dials, Attorney Bridget Brown, Deacon James Dial,and Catherine Synder Kyles, all of Alexandria. They were attending the “Shining With the Stars,” affair that was a part of St. Matthew Women’s Conference.
Model Kenya Sariale
Model Daisy Landry
Guests attending the “Shining With the Stars” affair dine on hors d’oeuvres prepared by Rev. Mabel Smith, Minister Joann Cook Harris, Anita Sanders and others.
Photos byOdessa Wilson
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Shining With the Stars
Model Lauri Monk Model Loretta Hayward Model Angela Bracey Minister Joann Cook Harris
More than 100 women registered for the 2010 Women’s Conference hosted by St. Matthew Baptist Church Women’s Ministry.
The three-day conference was held July 30-Aug. 1. The Rev. Sherri L. Jackson is director of the Women’s Ministry. Dr. Joe S. Green is pastor.
The theme was “Not Built to Break”
with Matthew 7:24-29 as the focus scripture.
The conference began with a Night of Consecration that featured the Lord’s Supper, a testimony by Betty Monk of Alexandria and Pastor Jean-nie Williams of New Day Deliverance Holiness Church as the speaker.
The Rev. Hilda Porter of Hammond
led the Saturday Morning Glory with powerful praise and worship.
Speakers for Saturday included Minister Sally C. Victor, Minister Lavillian Jordan and Minister Shalanda Preston.
During lunch Dr. Velva Boles led a discussion on menopause.
Also on Saturday, Rev. Mabel Smith
hosted “Shining With the Stars” at the Martin Community Center. The event featured Attorney Bridget Brown as the speaker and a fashion show with clothes from Dillards and Florita’s.
On Sunday, the conference ended with Jackson preaching the closing sermon.
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A Night on The TownThursday, Aug. 15
On Thursday, Aug. 12, Michael Bell captured these photos from Karaoke Night at the Fleur De Lis Room located at 908 Third Street in Alexandria.
Attendees took turns at the microphone to belt out songs along with a singing machine.
Karaoke is a wildly popular pastime that involves singing the lyrics of a song while accompanied by recorded background music. It allows people to sing and interpret their favorite songs while uninterrupted by the original singer. Karaoke has obtained global popularity, with particular success in the United States and Asia.
All Photos by Michael Bell
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If you are here from the community ... you will see a uniformed chief. You will see a chief that is involved with his community,” LeDuff said.
LeDuff noted that Tully believes in community policing. “He has an institutional knowledge of rules and regulations that are second to none,” LeDuff said.
“He’s been a problem-solver for me,” added LeDuff, the Baton Rouge chief, about Tully, who served as his assis-tant.
“You’re getting a criminal justice professional,” LeDuff said, specifically addressing Alexandria police officers.“We believe in the process, we believe
in the people, we understand what the community members mean to our fight against crime, we understand what it is to be a team,” LeDuff said, who concluded his remarks by embracing Tully.
Mayor Roy detailed the process for the selection of the chief.
A police advisory panel charged with selecting the committee that evaluated candidates for recommendation to the mayor was “diverse as to rank, gender and race.”
“That’s important because of the city we have in Alexandria, not only with its demographics, but, key, it’s also im-portant because the ICP (International Chiefs of Police) findings discussed those issues about diversity and how improvement should occur in the future, and all the things that are big changes that this department faces,”
Roy said.“I want you to see the protections
that are there to remove politics,” Roy said.
In addition to diversity, technology, community policing and organizational change were cited by the ICP report, the mayor said, adding that Police Commissioner T.W. Thompson insti-tuted organizational changes before his tenure expired.
“All in all, as you can see, this pro-cess did in fact remove the political parts of a selection and I think repre-sents a best practice that we can be very proud of,” Roy said.
Roy cited the formation of a five-member police advisory panel who were elected by the rank of the Alex-andria police force, Roy said.
Four police panel members were elected through the union and one
member was elected at-large who was not a union member, Roy said, and did not come from him or his office. Lt. Ethel Queen chaired the police advisory panel.
The panel decided to give no prefer-ence whether the candidate was from inside or outside the Alexandria Police Department, Roy said.
The panel also considered whether the chief should live inside or outside the city limits and concluded the chief should live inside, Roy said, though that did not disqualify anyone who didn’t as time would be given for a candidate to relocate.
PoliceContinued from Page 3
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JUMP START — Shown is Attorney Ingrid F. Johnson surrounded by Rapides Parish students who were among hundreds of students who received school supplies through Johnson. The attorney distributed the bags of supplies at the Boys & Girls Club of Central Louisiana on Saturday, April 14. At right, Zina Paige, director of the Boys & Girls Club of Central Louisiana, and James Smith of Pineville, volunteer in helping Johnson bag supplies for distribution. Johnson has been distributing school supplies to students for several years. Each year she saves a portion of her personal money to purchase the supplies. The Word Christian Center, Pineville Concerned Citizens and the Golden Eagles were among others to distribute supplies.
SISTERHOOD — Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sisters Sandra Powell, Detra Gaulden, Sherri McCurry and Stephanie Ford, all of Alexandria stop a moment to pose for a photo while attending their sorority’s national conference in New Orleans.The 50th annual conference was held July 30- Aug. 4.More than 14,000 attended the conference that included a parade modeled after Mardi Gras and featured eight floats and 170 riders with six local high school marching bands on Friday, July 30, 2010.Also, the conference featured 22 service projects that ranged from providing school supplies to children and tennis shoes to local residents.Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre, a New Orleans native is the national president.
