THE ZACHA Y
ADVOCATE& T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
Leila Pitchford
|
W e d n e s d ay, Au g u s t 27, 2025
$1.00N
11TH YEAR, NO. 46
Plans to build reservoir halted
AROUND ZACHARY
Library closed for holiday
All locations of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library will be closed Monday, Sept. 1, in observance of Labor Day.
Business expo coming The Zachary Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Zachary Business Expo from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Americana YMCA. Food trucks will be available from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Vendors will be on hand to talk about business licensing, insurance, marketing and branding, computers, printing and more.
Buffalo Festival set The Baker Buffalo Festival is Sept. 18-20 at Baker City Park, 3325 Groom Road. Parking is free. Live music, vendors, food trucks, a car show and more are planned. A parade float contest will be held.
Take a Walk in Baker Desiree Odell-Collins and others in District 3 in Baker are hosting Let’s Take A Walk. The next community walks are at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 and 25. Meet at redemption Life Fellowship, 2400 Debra Drive. Text (225) 954-3360 for location updated.
SU Ag Center to host canning and preserving workshop The Southern University Ag Center will host a fruits and vegetables canning and preserving workshop from 9 a.m. to noon, Sept. 11, in room 157 of Pinkie Thrift Hall on Southern University’s campus. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to the fundamentals of food preservation and canning. Participants will learn how to safely preserve seasonal produce, trends in food preservation, and the essential equipment. During the workshop, participants will prepare fruit, pack a jar, and receive a jar of preserves to take home. The workshop is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. To register, visit form.jotform. com/252096036998066.
Sound Radio hosting birthday concert Sound Radio’s 40th Birthday Celebration/Concert is 5 p.m. Sept. 6 at Amite Baptist Church, 7100 Amite Church Road, Denham Springs. Local vocalists and musicians will be among the presentations. There is no admission charged at the door. A love offering will be taken to support the Sound Radio ministry, which is based in Zachary. Music includes The Right Road Quartet, Chronicle, the Cooksey Family Legacy, Mike Vaughn, Robbie Bass, the Barber Brothers, So Blessed, Dennis Calmes, Charles Pierre and The Gospel Travelers, Ricky Lee, The Harrells, Marlon Arceneaux, Riverside Revival Band, Olabelle and Chuck White. Email Leila Pitchford at lpitchford@theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK
Darling Creek flows beneath Otis and Willie Matthews Road in Darlington. Portions of this creek, which flows into the Amite River downstream, would be temporarily flooded if a proposed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam were built south of this area in St. Helena Parish.
Proposal again faces stiff opposition BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
MISSISSIPPI
Staff writer
Troy
LOUISIANA
Plans for a huge reservoir north of Baton Rouge to help keep the Amite River from flooding densely populated neighborhoods downstream have been sidelined by opposition from people who live in the countryside where it would be built. Instead, the agency that revived the decades-old reservoir idea will focus on restoring curves in the Amite and keeping sediment out of the river, measures that could help scale down disasters like the widespread August 2016 flood, which damaged nearly 65,500 homes and thousands of businesses in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes alone. The agency, the Amite River Basin Commission, hasn’t formally opposed the big reservoir in East Feliciana and St. Helena parishes. But it has now agreed to add the East Feliciana Parish government’s latest objection to the idea in the commission’s new master plan, which includes the reservoir. Paul Sawyer, executive director of the commission, said the action means the agency will be “laser focused” on other projects that it has money and support for, two elements he called “essential ingredients.” He said the reservoir idea has neither, even though research shows it would reduce flooding. “What we have been saying even
Woodland
432
Felixville
Chipola
Maximum flood potential of dam 10
EAST FELICIANA PARISH
38
Coleman Town Darlington
67
Clinton
KEY:
Darling Creek
960
Expected inundation area in 25-year event (15,860 acres with dam)
448
Hatchersville
Comite River 37
Proposed Darlington Dam
Amite River
EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH
Baywood
37
before this became a household topic in East Feliciana and St. Helena is that we can’t do a project like this without the support and partnership of residents of East Feliciana and St. Helena,” Sawyer said. “They have to be on board with this.” The commission will proceed with $100 million in Amite projects funded through the Louisiana Watershed Initiative, the state-run, federally funded program prompted by the 2016 flood, as well as with a plan to restore parts of the Amite
Expected inundation area in “maximum” event (26,000 acres)
ST. HELENA PARISH
16
Staff map
to reduce downstream flooding. It already has a deal in the works to buy more than 200 acres in St. Helena for the river restoration and hopes to finalize it soon. The idea is to rehabilitate former gravel mining pits to restore natural curves along the middle and upper Amite and to find ways to prevent sediment from washing into the river. A straighter river with heavier sediment loads is believed to worsen flooding downstream. Gaining political momentum after the historic floods of 1983 — and
then again in 2016 — the idea of a big reservoir has long been floated for the rural, hilly area north of Baton Rouge. The preferred location has been a section of the Amite River in East Feliciana and St. Helena just west of the community of Darlington, which gave the concept its name. Repeated analyses by the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have shown that the rolling topography there can be used to store water, reducing flooding by several feet in more populated, low-lying areas downstream. Building the storage area, however, would also mean permanently flooding tens of thousands of acres or greatly reducing their use, displacing people and potentially affecting businesses that rely on the land and the river. Chrissie O’Quin, the East Feliciana Police Jury vice president, delivered the parish government’s resolution of opposition to the reservoir to the Amite commission last month. She said people don’t want to be forced to give up their land, particularly for a project they fear may bring unwelcome changes to a rural area. “They enjoy that peaceful life up there,” she said. Opponents have appeared at several meetings in recent months, including one at a church that drew
ä See RESERVOIR, page 2G
Victim’s family unhappy with lack of prison time
Honoree advocates for autism acceptance, inclusive playdates
BY MATT BRUCE
BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER
Four years ago, a Zachary father of four found his oldest daughter’s teenage boyfriend hiding in her closet after the boy climbed through the girl’s second-story bedroom window for a pre-dawn visit. When Dezmon Hamilton, 34, confronted the 17-year-old, it led to an exchange of gunfire between Hamilton the two, and Hamilton was killed inside his home. Nicholas McQuirter, the boyfriend, was indicted on a charge of second-degree murder two years later after his case was transferred from juvenile court to the 19th Judicial District Court. On Aug. 12, McQuirter pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was
The heroes in our society often tackle longstanding plights — poverty, hunger, hopelessness. Other heroes rise to the occasion where our society is unequipped or unaware. We call them pioneers, trailblazers, or if you are in the know in Baker, Miranda Georgetown-Riley. The 2025 Baker Citizen of the Year was already the city of Baker’s Autism Ambassador. The position “mommy” preceded those titles and accolades because
Staff writer
Contributing writer
ä See SENTENCE, page 2G
PHOTO BY FRANCES Y. SPENCER
On a recent equestrian playdate, the Magnolia Rose Foundation visited GaitWay Therapeutic Horsemanship in St.Gabriel. Founders Miranda Georgetown-Riley and Roderick Riley share a moment with their children, from left, Dimitri, DavidJames, 3, and Magnolia Rose, 6.
ä See HONOREE, page 4G