fgazette.com Community news site for Union Parish Louisiana

By Jim Brown My family and I are currently on an extended vacation to Paris and Provence in central France.  Relations with our country never have seemed better.  Our welcome was quite warm everywhere we traveled.  President Biden has developed a close and warm relationship with current French President Emmanuel Macron. And that’s good news for Louisiana.  It wasn’t too …

As tractors became more sophisticated over the past two decades, the big manufacturers allowed farmers fewer options for repairs. Rather than hiring independent repair shops, farmers have increasingly had to wait for company-authorized dealers to arrive. Getting repairs could take days, often leading to lost time and high costs. A new memorandum of understanding between the country’s largest farm equipment …

Let’s play a game. I’ll list the benefits of a particular activity, and you try to guess which pursuit it is. Ready, set, go! Improved respiratory function. Increased aerobic exercise. Stress reduction. Enhanced mental alertness. Better posture and muscle tone. Boosted immune system. Maybe we’re talking about running? Or walking? Or yoga? Could be. But add to that list: Expanded …

The Union Parish Police Jury in its monthly meeting Tuesday rejected a request from Union General Hospital for funds to repair a flaw in the hospital’s water system.  The juror’s balked at the hospital’s request for a grant of $24,477 to cover the cost of installing a backflow preventer, with one juror noting that the lack of a backflow preventer …

The Union Parish Police Jury is considering an offer by the Department of Transportation and Development to turn over responsibility for portions of two state highways to the parish along with a tempting up-front, lump sum payment to maintain those highways for decades. DOTD is offering to transfer responsibility for a portion of Highway 552 near Point Wilhite and a …

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On the walks my husband and I take through Cook Park on the outskirts of Ruston, a diverging path often comes into view, and my mind wanders to Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.” This poem has been a favorite of mine for decades, and I find myself pondering its meaning time and time again. In “The Road Not …

Occasionally we wake up to a reality that had only been supposition prior to this realization.  Many times we have a tendency to say that the problem is someone else’s issue; “better he than me”. Then one day like a bolt of lightening an epiphany takes place and suddenly reality strikes.  What had been supposition becomes life. We are experiencing …

Foul weather may have prevented the keynote speaker from attending the Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet last week, but it didn’t prevent the people of Union Parish from gathering to recognize some of their most admired neighbors. Despite a torrential downpour that grounded airplanes and washed out roads, hundreds turned out to the Willie Davis, Jr. Recreational Ccenter to recognize …