DENHAM SPRINGS • LIVINGSTON • WALKER • WATSON • AMITE • HAMMOND
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T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, O c t O b e r 9, 2024
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Livingston airport breaks ground Darlene Denstorff AROUND LIVINGSTON
Need some seeds? Visit the library In partnership with Livingston Master Gardeners, the Livingston Parish Library has launched of a new service: seed libraries. For seasoned gardeners and beginners alike, these seed libraries offer a variety of seeds that patrons can “check out.” The purpose of this new service is to provide the community with access to seeds for home gardening, promote sustainability, and encourage local biodiversity. Patrons can “borrow” seeds for free, plant them, and return harvested seeds to the library. It’s simple: Browse the selection at your local library, choose your seeds, get planting instructions, sign the “checkout” sheet, and grow your garden. Seed Libraries are available at the library’s five branches. Seeds and instructions will be maintained by the Livingston Parish chapter of the Louisiana Master Gardeners. Seed donations are welcome.
ä See AROUND, page 2G
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
Surrounded by golden shovels and speakers playing “Jet Airliner,” about 70 people including legislators, local leaders and Livingston Parish residents gathered at the future site of the parish airport to celebrate its groundbreaking. The Livingston Executive Airport will be the first public airport built in the parish, and it will be located south of Interstate 12 near the Satsuma exit on Jordan Lane. The airport won’t have commercial flights, but parish leaders hope businesses and investors will take advantage of it to further grow the area. Construction will happen in phases beginning in 2025. Phase 1 will create a 4,200-foot runway. The final design calls for a 5,000foot runway. So far, $13 million has been invested into the airport. Members of the airport district and state legislators applauded
the future with a project like this. He said he will be working with the airport district members as they move toward joining the Federal Aviation Administration. “You take this kind of vision and the courage to take a risk, one guy with resources, but a parish willing to come behind, and now we see the fruition of that vision,” he said. After the ceremony, Cassidy said that the airport will lead to investment and economic opportunities — and simply, that other parishes want to be like Livingston. “Other parishes want to have the STAFF PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS population growth, the increased opportunity,” Cassidy said. Delia Taylor, Livingston Parish Airport District chair, and Lucien Cutrera, Cassidy and several people retired urban planner who helped design the master plan, look at the commended Garry Lewis, a local schematics of the airport together during the groundbreaking ceremony developer, for his donation of 242 for the Livingston Executive Airport in Satsuma on Oct. 3. acres of land in Satsuma used to make the airport a reality. “The Livingston Parish people the work accomplished and looked U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy compliforward to what the airport could mented the parish and said more ä See AIRPORT, page 2G bring to the parish. people will move to Livingston in
Fun times at the Fall Festival
Deacon Belgard tosses a bean bag through a hole at a game booth by Grace Covenant Church at the Denham Springs Fall Festival on Saturday in Denham Springs.
Charles Salzer SPORTS ROUNDUP
Denham Springs volleyball fighting for spot in playoffs With three weeks left in the regular season, the Denham Springs volleyball team is fighting for a prime spot when the LHSAA playoffs begin. So far, so good. Denham Springs had a chance to pick up a key win last week at Central. Even though it eventually came up short, it was a hard-fought match against a quality opponent. Featuring a veteran Central team as the opponent, the
ä See SALZER, page 2G
STAFF PHOTOS BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
CJ, Connor Mulvany Jr., checks out the booths along North Range Avenue from atop the shoulders of Connor Mulvany Sr. at the Fall Festival in the downtown antique district. ä More photos. PAGE 3G
Master Gardeners sell plants to fund horticulture programs
Groups come together for kids’ fishing rodeo in Zemurray Park
BY VIC COUVILLION Contributing writer
BY VIC COUVILLION Contributing writer
A perfect blue, cloudless sky, a hint of slightly cooler weather on an early fall day, and the chance to possibly catch a few fish all combined to make a success of Andy’s Fishing Rodeo for Kids at Hammond’s Zemurray Park on Sept. 28. Several hundred children, accompanied by parents and other family members, accepted already rigged fishing poles and bait and then fanned out around the lake in a quest to snag a few fish that just might have been worthy of winning one of a number of prizes that were given out at the end of
PHOTO BY VIC COUVILLION
Among the participants in the Andy’s Fishing Rodeo for Kids, from left, were Gregory Salinas, Katie McCormick and Aubreigh Salinas. The fishing experience was sponsored by the Kids’ Church in the Park, an organization that sponsors programs to enhance the lives of children ä See FISHING, page 4G in the community.
Members of the Livingston Master Gardeners Association are generally drawn to the group because of an abiding interest in the many and varied aspects of cultivating and caring for plants and in creating gardens and attractive and captivating landscapes. At the same time, members are also drawn to the association because of its commitment to sponsoring programs in the schools that promote and foster an interest in horticulture and related fields. To this end,
PHOTO BY VIC COUVILLION
Jessica Dayhoss, of Loranger, left, of Jene’s Greens, explains ä See PLANTS, page 5G how to manage a plant to Lori Breland, of Denham Springs.