The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 3

QEhe (Eimes CONTACT VELDA HUNTER 459-3534 or veldahuntergannett.com 3A shrevcportOmcsom THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008 QUOTABLE 'They need to make it more affordable for everyone, and they need to continue the Insurance program for children." Cherrie Rison, Shreveport. on health care 1A NOTABLE Teamwork leads to arrests Sabine sheriff's authorities believe the recent arrests of three Pleasant Hill residents solve a menagerie of crimes in five parishes, including a number of church break-ins and vandalisms. 4A CLICKABLE JIB CALENDAR ONLINE NOW Need a training seminar or just maybe a chance to network? -r- nave an event t0 publish? F1 I .1 .11 imw.i. ,1,1 Youngsters earn college money at Junior Livestock Sale ST Fed T9 Sffl Jim HudelsonThe Times Megan Parker and Teaura Hawkins, with the BTW flag line, perform as the FedEx Express 727 cargo plane that was donated to Southern University-Shreveport arrives in Shreveport Wednesday morning. The plane will be used for the university's aerospace program.

Greg Pearson Tne Times Jacob Barry holds his steer before it sold for $7,400 in the Junior Livestock Sale on Wednesday at the State Fair of Louisiana. By Melody Brumble mbrumblegannett.com Karl Simon's broiler chickens fetched $700, but his sister Megan Simon was hoping for more Wednesday at the yearly Junior Livestock Sale at the Louisiana State Fair. "There is definitely some sibling rivalry," said their mother, Jackie Simon. The family traveled from St. Martin Parish for the livestock show and sale.

Megan Simon's broilers won fifth place and reserve champion in the yearly junior livestock show, and as such could command a higher price. The broilers were among 213 animals put up at the sale. The number was up from about 180 animals last year, said Jack Causey, executive director of the Ark-La-tex Agricultural Council. Bidders at the sale typically give the stock back to their owners. The chickens will end up on the Simons' table and the tables of friends.

Megan and Karl will put some of their earnings into another batch of chickens and the rest into their college funds. "We do rely a lot on the Shreveport people to buy our birds," Jackie Simon said. 'We appreciate them being supportive. We don't bring our own buyers. People tend to recruit people to help buy their birds." The same is true for other stock.

Anna Loftin, of Elm Grove, counts on a pool of supporters to help get a good price when she sells her steer each year. Loftin, 17, a high school senior, has been raising and showing steers since she was a sixth-grader. It's labor intensive. The steers go into a cooler so they'll grow hair. She has to oversee their feed and care.

"I also have to halter-break them so they'll show properly," Loftin said. Her steer this year, a Mainechi and Angus cross, will compete at a national livestock show. After that, cshreyeport 4 -urn 1 T4 2 1 i VIEW RESULTS OF THE JUNIOR LIVESTOCK SALE. LINK TO THE LOUISIANA STATE FAIR. PHOTO GALLERY.

Loftin will sell the steer for slaughter or have the steer slaughtered for her family's table. She'll start the process over with an 8- or 9-month-old calf next year. Agriculture and agribusiness, embodied in the junior show and sale, remain an essential part of Louisiana's agriculture, said Mike Strain, Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry commissioner. "It puts over $20 billion into our economy," said Strain, who attended the sale. "Our greatest need is for a new generation of farmers and ranchers.

There is no better family activity than (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H, and this show and sale epitomizes it." Jim Hudelion Ine Times Ray Belton, chancellor, Southern University-Shreveport, speaks after the FedEx Express 727 cargo plane that was donated to Southern University-Shreveport arrived in Shreveport Wednesday morning. COMMUNITY BRIEFLY Free car seat check to be held Saturday Children's Hospital of LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport and Kohl's Cares for Kids program will offer a free car seat check from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in the Kohl's parking lot, 7651 Youree Drive in Shreveport LSUHSC-S received a $31,880 grant from Kohl's Cares for Kids Hospital Partnerships program to create the Car Seats and Restraints Keep Every Youngster Safe project Scholarship pageants to be this weekend Miss Louisiana Port City and Miss Red River City Scholarship Pageants will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Performing Arts Theater.

500 Common St, in Shreveport Admission is $10 at the door. For more information, call Stenson Baker at Djourney3 bellsouth.net. Dementia conference scheduled for Nov. 7 The upcoming "Dementia Care Conference" will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Nov. 7 in Kilpat-rick Auditorium at Centenary College in Shreveport. The conference will feature coach Frank Broyles, who will give a caregiver's perspective, and Bill Bridgwater, who will discuss living with early onset of Alzheimer's. Additional speakers will educate attendees on latest research, future therapies and suggestions for everyday issues in Alzheimer's care. Attendees who are RNs, social workers and nursing home administrators can request continuing education units for attending this conference.

There is a registration fee to attend. For registration, call toll-free (800) 272-3900 or (318) 861-8613 or e-mail louisianainfoalz. org. Diabetes seminar and screening set Fitness Lady will host "Diabetes: Prevention. Treatment and Lifestyle," a seminar and screening to determine whether you are at increased risk for diabetes and pre-diabetes.

A 12-hour fast is required for testing that will begin at 8 a.m. with a finger stick and blood pressure check. Blood sugar will be re-tested two hours later after a light breakfast. Speakers will include Elizabeth Willis, R.N., M.S.N., C.F.N.P., Ark-La-Tex Cardiology, and Kedgy Larson, ACSMHFI, CIARspe-cialist, ownerdirector of Fitness Lady. The event is open to the public and will take place at 8 a.m.

Nov. 8 at Fitness Lady, 1700 Old Minden Road Suite 180, Bossier City. RSVP required. Call (318)747-1897. Blood drive to benefit 7-year-old with cancer A replenishment blood drive to benefit 7-year-old Jackson Kennedy is set for 7 a.m.

Saturday at the Martin McClanahan Masonic Lodge, 714 Benton Road. Jackson, the son of Bossier City police officer Jeremy Kennedy, is undergoing chemotherapy, said Mark Natale, city spokesman. Jackson was diagnosed with a brain tumor and underwent surgery this year. Jackson's treatment requires blood transfusions and Saturday's blood drive will help restock the blood supply used for Jackson and help make blood available for Jackson's future transfusions. A replenishment blood drive is a drive held to replenish the blood supply.

The drive is often held in the name of a person from the community who has needed or will need blood. When a donation of blood is given at a replenishment drive, the blood does not go directly to the person but rather the community blood supply. All blood types will be accepted at Saturday's blood drive. The drive ends at 4 p.m. From Staff Reports By Icess Fernandez ifernandezgannett.com FedEx Express donated a Boeing 727 to Southern University-Shreveport on Wednesday for a program whose graduates have been hired by the company.

The plane, about 153 feet long and 209,500 pounds, will be used by students in the university's aerospace technology program, which is housed at Slireveport Downtown Airport. This is an example of the type of program that SUSLA offers," Chancellor Ray Belton said. FedEx is retiring the plane after 28 years of flight 15 with the company and 13 as a former fleet member of Air Canada. Joseph Orban, SUSLA's science and liberal arts dean, said the negotiation for the plane started about a year ago. "It is a big day, and we should recognize that" he told 40 people gathered at the airport "Initially, (we) had our fingers crossed that file deal would go tlirough." Students, who now work on smaller planes, will use the idled jetliner as part of their curriculum, said program professor David Fol-gemann.

The larger plane will give them a better college experience that is more aligned to real-world experience, he said. But first the faculty will have a go at it "It's the biggest toolbox I've worked with." Folgemann said. "I know that the faculty will have to go through On Wednesday, the plane took off from the runway as the news conference started. Minutes later, after landing The plane Length: 153 feet. Weight: 209,500 pounds.

Years of flight: 28. Flight hours: 46,912. Landings: 28,335. slireveportitast LINK TO SUSLA. planes typically are named after employees' children.

The plane donated to SUSLA is named Benjamin, after Donald Foster's 17-year-old son. "FedEx believes in the value of education," said Patrick Payne, ramp manager for FedEx's local operation. After die news conference, spectators toured the plane's cockpit and empty body where cargo lias been shipped. Wednesday's event was filmed to be replayed during the Bayou Classic game Nov. 29 between Southern and Grambling State universities in the Suj)erdome.

Belton said the plane will have deeper impact to students than just something to practice on. "We want to thank FedEx for the instructional resource that will further prepare students for the aviation industry." at 10:35 a.m., it taxied down the runway and was showered by a spray of water. As it rolled to its place near the SUSLA hangar, the crowd clapped and the band played, welcoming the university's new acquisition. David Sutton, the company's managing director of aircraft acquisition arid sales, said FedEx 2 Greg PeartonTne Times Some youngsters look at a goat before the start of the Junior Livestock Sale on Wednesday at the State Fair of Louisiana. Radical Islam, Russia future threats, author says If you go By John Andrew Prime jprimegannett.com Best-selling author and national radio and television commentator Oliver North, headed here as part of Former Marine, author and radio commentator Lt.

Col. Oliver North will sign copies of his latest book, "American Heroes," from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Wal-Mart SuperCenter at 2536 Airline Drive, Bossier City.

a book-signing tour leading to Veterans Day, will sign copies of his latest book, "American Heroes," a few days after the nation elects its next president But North, who says his leanings ft fcr i North North has been covering soldiers, sailors, airmen. National Guard personnel and Marines fighting the Global War on Terror for FOX News Channel since the terrorist attacks Sept 11, 2001. His new book, published by Publishing, is a firsthand account of the men and women defending the United States against radical Islamic terror. North, who has just returned from a monthlong stint in Afghanistan where he covered U.S. troops, says he keeps coming back to this area because it is peopled "by patriots.

It's a place where people buy books, at least Ollie North's books. A lot of that has to do with Barksdale Air Force Base, I mink. But a lot of veterans live in Shreveport-Bossier City, that whole area." He says what moves him the most is when people come up to him with a book in one hand and an envelope in the other, asking him to sign not only the volume, but also a photo "not just (of) me, but me standing by their son or daughter. IU be out in Diego Garcia of Djibouti or Iraq or Andersen Air Force Base, and there's their offspring, husband, daughter, and there's Ollie North. It's an astounding number of them that do that" bigger threat to Russia." That he said, make it puzzling why Putin has not responded more positively to overtures from the West for improved relations, and why he has provoked the West with recent mili-tiry actions against such former Russian territories as the new nation of Georgia.

"Every possible overture you could make to Putin about a reapproach-ment to the West has been made," North said. North, a one-time figure in the Iran-Contra episode during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, has made numerous stops in Bossier City this decade, most tied to the release of his books. His visit this time is part of a book tour with stops leading to a major Veterans Day event in Missouri. The host oftlie FOX News program 'War Stories" has timed his tour to end Nov. 10-11 in Branson, at the "Veterans Homecoming," one of the largest such gatherings in the nation.

Besides Bossier City and Branson, the tour will stop in Biloxi, New Orleans; Houston; Killeen, Texas; Oklahoma City; Edmond, and Springfield, Mo. do dial." He emphasizes the radical part not targeting Islam the religion itself, and his next threat underscored diat "A nuclear-armed Iran will be very serious, and not enough has been done to prevent tliat. "No. 3 is the rise of Russian nationalism and xenophobia in the person of Vladimir Putin, who aims to make trouble in the short time Russia has left to make trouble," North said, "hi the long term, Russia is not a threat but in the short term it is. Russia is one of few countries on the planet with a decreasing population, and I mean rapidly decreasing." No one is immigrating to Russia, and Russian women are fleeing the nation "faster than they can count" he said.

"With a decreasing population, one-sixth of the world's land mass, at least one-third of the world's natural gas and perhaps a third of its oil, they cannot protect (their resources) from a country next door that adds two million human beings a month to its population." That country is China, which North sees not so much as a threat to us as to Russia. After all, while China and the United States may jockey against one another in this century to be the dominant superpower, they do not share a long border, as do China and the globe's fading superpower, Russia. "Putin is nobody's fool," North said. "He's taken advantage of the fact that oil was up, until recently, $130-some-thing a barrel over the cost of producing that oil. Remember, there's a difference between cost and price.

What he's been doing is salting away that money, rebuilding his strategic defenses, in large part because he understands Russia does not have the manpower to continue as a major power. He's doing it without being very frank with his own people. China is a much bigger threat to Russia than to us, and radical Islam also is a much as a conservative Republican "are no secret" has one-size-fits-all advice for the next U.S. president Look for threats from the East "I don't have the gift of prophesy, but based on my experiences and having just come back from the region, it's very clear that radical Islam will be a threat for a long time," he said. "You can pull everyone back to the border of the United States of America, and well still be the No.

1 target for radical Islam. We can fight them over there or the streets of Bossier City or Boston its up to the next commander-in-chief. God willing, we won't have to.