Zachary Post • Tuesday, May 28, 2013 • Vol. 8, No. 22 • Published Weekly • Circulation 16,000 • zacharypost.com © 2013

PRESORT STDUS POSTAGE

PAIDZACHARY, LAPERMIT NO. 6

CAR-RT PRESORTPOSTAL CUSTOMERS

ECWSS Postal Patron Local

The Post is the place for Zachary news.

Proud to be Zachary’s only locally owned, managed and staffed newspaper.

See HERITAGE on page 2

See MOCK TRIAL on page 3

Jane Burk Celebrates 31 Years Overseeing Heritage Room at Plains Presbyterian ChurchBy James Ronald skains

“The Church Historian is one of the five officers of the Church,’’ Jane Burk, historian of the Church since 1982, told the Zachary Post. “Our church does believe that the history of our Church gives us the strength to build for the fu-ture. Over many years, our church has built relationships through missions and ministries all over the world.”

“In 1982, when I was selected to be Historian, our Heritage Room was not nearly as large as it is today,’’ Ms. Burk explained, gesturing around the 14’ x 22’ room. “It was only about the size of a big closet, and we didn’t have an overflow room for furniture items as we do now.’’

“When my mother died, we de-cided to take some of the money they had left and enlarge our facilities,’’ Ms. Burk elaborated. “Randy Brown and Jerry Parker were of great help to me in the renovation project. After the

renovation was finished, it took me two solid weeks of hard work to get all our exhibits placed on display.’’

A large plaque acknowledging the Maggie McKowen Mills family’s con-tribution is displayed in the Heritage Room. Jane Burk is the daughter of Maggie M. Mills, and was elegantly dressed as she showed us around the Heritage Room, which seemed to come alive as she related the memorabilia in the room.

When it came to talking about her age, Ms. Burk would only say, “I have an older brother, Albert C. Mills who will be 100 if he lives till September 12 of this year. I also have a younger brother, Gilbert Mills who is 87. I fit somewhere in between my two broth-ers age-wise.’’

“My younger brother lives on the old Mills home site which was origi-nally a Spanish Land Grant,’’ Ms. Jane Left: Betty Tucker, a Zachary Area Historian, shares a laugh with Jane Burk in Heri-

tage Room of Plains Presbyterian Church on Old Scenic Hwy.

ZHS Mock Trial Team Competes at National Championship

ZHS mock trial at the end of day 1 trials at the National High School Mock Trial Cham-pionship in Indianapolis. Pictured left to right: Craig Kaster, Kaitlin Maloy, Jackie Odom, Regan Helmick, Katy Cop, Rachel Rusk, Allison Burton, Jordan Kozar, Adrianne Hodgkins, Chris Staggs

The state champion Zachary High School mock trial team represented Louisiana in the National High School Mock Trial Championship Tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 9th through May 11th. 48 championship teams representing 45 states, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands, and South Korea participated in the tourna-ment. The ZHS team placed 41st out of 48 teams in the national competi-tion. The ZHS team participated in four trials as part of the competition representing the plaintiff in two trials and the defense in two trials. ZHS had rounds against Oklahoma, South Ko-rea, Arizona, and Connecticut. ZHS defeated the team from South Korea and lost on ballots to Oklahoma, Ari-zona, and Connecticut. Outstanding at-torney and witness awards were given

The 14U Legendz Softball teams will be traveling to Oklahoma City for a softball tournament this week. The girls along with their parents would like to collect items that are needed at shelters sur-rounding the Moore area. They will be collecting donations until Wednesday, May 29th. If you would like to make a donation of supplies, you may do so at the fol-lowing locations:

Pampered Pooch – 20377 Old Sce-nic Highway – 225-907-7543Zachary Lumber and Hardware – 9293 Main Street – 225-570-8199Bank of Zachary – 4743 Main Street

POSTPOST

In This IssueZHS Mock Trial Team Competes at National Championship .................................................... 1Jane Burk Celebrates 31 Years .......................... 1Russ Mixon Horse Stables: Teaching Riders of All Ages for 50 Years ............ 4Milestones ......................................................... 6Classifieds .......................................................... 7

2 Zachary POST Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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ORTHODONTICSChildren & Adults

P.O. Box 1637Zachary, LA 70791

Phone (225) 654-0122Fax (225) 208-1165

Email stories and photos to info@zacharypost.com

Published Tuesdays52 weeks a year

POSTPOST

Deadline for news and advertising: Wednesday 5 P.M.

Call for advertising rates.

Publisher & EditorDaniel Duggan

Graphic DesignerTina Adams

Account ExecutivesGeorgiana Walls

Ashley Evans

Contributing WriterJames Ronald Skains

Summer Party InternCalla Duggan

Bicycle DaredevilChandler Duggan

L’il RedCecelia Duggan

Stinging Caterpillar DefenderColton Duggan

Involved New NeighborIan Gore

HeRiTage continued from page 1

elaborated. “One of my great- great grandfathers, John Mills, settled in the Bayou Sara area and opened up a business and port on the River in the late 1700’s.’’

Some of those exhibits included Church Membership Rolls from the early 1800’s and two large scrap-books filled with memorabilia of news articles, special church events, and the written documents of what life was like in the Plains area during this time. It also included invitations to attend funerals of members in the area during the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The first officially installed Pastor at the Plains location at the intersec-tion of the Plains Port Hudson Road and Scenic highway occurred in 1844. That Pastor was Frederick Ernst who served until 1854.

However, the first Plains Presby-terian Church in the early 1800’s was located near Ambrosia, which became known as the Zachary Crossing. The Church still maintains a cemetery, known as the Buehler cemetery at the location of the old Plains Church near the Annison Plantation just north of the intersection of now highway 64 and Scenic Highway.

“Anytime we have church service or an event at the Church, we open our Heritage Room,’’ Ms. Jane noted. “It is

interesting to see how people react to see such things as the Christmas lights that were used in the Church in 1890, communion emblems used in 1912 and 1890, and furniture that was in use in the church more than a hundred years ago.’’

Also, in the Heritage room are nu-merous pictures of yesteryear of both people and the Plains Church. Many people from out of the area visit the Plains church when doing genealogy on their family.

Ms. Burk has lived in downtown Zachary on Lee Street for many years. She and her husband, Bill Burk, owned and operated first a West-ern Auto Store, then a White’s Store across from Zachary City Hall for 50 years. Jane Mills and Bill Burk were married in 1945 at the end of WWII.

“Bill was in the Army Air Corp and was stationed at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City,’’ Ms. Jane explained. “My mother, Maggie McKowen Mills chaperoned me all the way to Okla-homa to marry this airman.’’

It seems that Ms. Jane passed down the importance of the history of the Plains Church and surrounding area to both her sons.

“My son Drew was a real history buff, and found many relics of history around the Plains Church and Port Hudson areas,’’ Ms. Burk noted. “And Jack is the Overseer of the historical Buehler Cemetery in Zachary.’’

“What makes Jane Burk such a treasure for us, is that her family linage goes all the way back to the first peo-ple who came into the Plains Bayou Sara area in the 1700’s,’’ Betty Tucker, local Historian, told the Zachary Post. “Because the people in this area lived so close to the River, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, they were integral parts of the history of Louisiana.’’

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Zachary POST 3

in each individual round with Kaitlin Maloy and Jordan Kozar each receiv-ing one outstanding witness award; Katy Cop was chosen as the outstand-ing witness in two rounds. Jackie Odom was chosen as the outstanding attorney for the ZHS team in all four rounds of competition. Odom also received nominations for the top ten most effective attorney award in the overall competition. In addition to the four trials, the competition also includ-ed a pin exchange and reception for all of the competing teams as well as an awards gala and dance. ZHS quali-fied to represent Louisiana in the na-tional tournament by winning its first Louisiana State Bar Association high

MOCk TRial continued from page 1

school mock trial state championship in March. The ZHS mock trial pro-gram has made three trips to the state tournament since 2005 with a state runner-up finish in 2009. This year’s state champion and nationals qualify-ing team included 4 seniors, 2 juniors and one sophomore. Students who competed for ZHS were: Allison Burton, Katy Cop, Regan Helmick, Jordan Kozar, Kaitlin Maloy, Jackie Odom, and Rachel Rusk. The ZHS mock trial program is sponsored and coached by ZHS social studies de-partment chair Chris Staggs. Adri-anne Hodgkins, American History teacher at ZHS, assisted in coaching this year’s team. Zachary attorney Craig Kaster has been the attorney-coach for ZHS since 2009 and ac-companied the team to the national competition in Indianapolis.

JasmineMitchell

Zachary High School Class of 2013

Due to an inadvertent error, Ms. Mitchell’s picture was left out of the Zachary Post’s Special Graduation Edition last week, we apologize and congratulate her and all of the other Seniors who celebrated their Commencement Ceremony on May 21, 2013 at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker.

4 WHEELERSWELCOME

4 Zachary POST Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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Russ Mixon Horse Stables: Teaching Riders of all ages for 50 YearsBy: James Ronald skains

The day the Post/Explorer vis-ited the Russ Mixon Riding Sta-bles on Liberty Road, there were 13 riders in the arena. The major-ity of the riders participate in 4-H riding events in a six-parish area.

“I’ve been training horses to ride kids and kids to ride horses for 50 years,’’ Mixon acknowl-edged; “and I’ve loved every min-ute of it. This was my dream job, and I was able to do and enjoy it.’’

Not only does Mixon train kids to ride but adults also. “Learning to ride horses was on my bucket list 6 years ago,’’ 66 year Brenda Baudeaux explained to the Post/Explorer. “Once I started riding with Russ, it was too much fun to stop. I was amazed at how quickly I learned to properly ride a horse under Russ’s training.’’

8 year Mary Broussard has only been riding for a year but has al-ready won 14 ribbons in 4-H com-petition. A little on the shy side, Mary who goes to school at West-minster Elementary in BR did say: “The first time I got close to a See MIXON on page 8

horse I was nervous because they are so big. But Mr. Mixon got me on a horse and taught me how to make a horse do what I want them to do. I’ve only been tossed off a horse one time in a year.’’

Becky Venable is the mother of 9-year-old Ashyln and 13-year-old Emily who attend school at St. Alphonse in Central. “I’ve been around horses all my life, and own several Arabians. Both my girls started riding when they were 4 years old.’’

“When Ashyln and Emily would ride in a horse show, Mr. Mixon would work with them a little to improve their riding hab-its, so we just decided to come get them full time lessons from him,’’ Becky added. “They are bringing home some ribbons from the com-petition now.’’

“I teach all my students to sad-dle and unsaddle their horses, so each time they ride it is their re-sponsibility to saddle, unsaddle

Russ Mixon, pictured in center with blue shirt, guides a class of eager riders at his stables in Pride.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Zachary POST 5

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Pictured left: Local students Joshua Mooney and Payton Richardson, both from West Feliciana High School, placed 2nd at the state finals of the Ford/AAA AutoSkills competition held in Alexan-dria, La. on April 18. The competition challenged the top 10 school automotive teams in Louisiana to repair an identi-cally bugged 2013 Ford Focus within a set time limit. This year’s competition was especially difficult with only 4 out of the 10 teams able to fix and drive their vehicle to final judging. Congratulations to these young men for their efforts and placing 2nd. They were instructed by Mr. Bobby Clark and sponsored by Superior Ford located in Zachary, La.

Pictured right: Baton Rouge Symphony Youth Orchestra Members Honored! Anna Sloan (a cello student of Nina Wachter of Wachter Music in Zachary) and Zachary resident Savannah Callaway (a violin stu-dent of Kelly Smith Toney in Baton Rouge) were honored at the Spring Concert of the Louisiana Junior String Ensemble, a youth orchestra of the Baton Rouge Symphony. Anna and Savannah received the prestigious Director’s and Leadership Awards, respectively. Both have been with the LJSE since 2011, and were section leaders. Congratulations!

6 Zachary POST Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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Births • Engagements • Weddings • Awards Obituaries • Anniversaries • ReunionsMilestonesJoshua and Megan Richard Welcome Daughter livia

Joshua and Megan (Bateman) Richard of Zachary are proud to an-nounce the birth of their daughter, Livia. Liv was born December 23, 2012 at 8:41 am at Woman’s Hos-pital. She weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Proud grandparents are Randy Richard of Port Hudson, Venda Per-due Brown of St. Francisville and Jeffery (Scooter) and Anna Bate-man of Central.

Great-grandparents are Pat Rich-ard of Zachary, Davis and Judy Lio-ret of Young Harris, Georgia, and

the late Donald Richard of Zachary, Linus and Doll Bateman of Gloster, Mississippi, and Patsy Lioret of Zachary.

Ashley Paige Serrett of Zachary, LA and Blaine Ellis Courville of Denham Springs, LA were married in a sunset ceremony April 6th at the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge, LA. Brother Michael McKnight officiated.

The bride is the daughter of Darrell and Sandy Serrett of Zachary, LA.

She is the grand-daughter of Doris Strickland of Zachary and the late Gerald Strickland, Stonewell (Stoney) Serrett of Zachary, and the late Mary Gladys Serrett.

The groom is the son of Gerald Cour-ville and Lisa Debetaz of Denham Springs.

He is the grandson of Ellis and Geneva Debetaz of Morganza, Gladys Kahl of Baton Rouge and the late Aswell Courville.

Given in marriage by her father, the bride was attended by her matron of honor, Brittney Peraino, and maid of honor, Francelle Serrett. Brides-maids were Brittany Cangelosi, Stephanie Cloy, Brandie Courville, Melissa Doucet, Rachel Flarity, Melissa Lavergne, Lindsey Martin, Rebecca Meyers, and Monica Valen-ciano. She was also attended by her junior bridesmaid, Rebekah Serrett and flower girl, Ava Serrett.

The groom was attended by his best man, Brent Courville. Grooms-men were Samuel Blum, Brandon Broussard, Ryan Camp, Matt Digi-rolamo, Andrew Hood, Jared Mays, Trey Quirk, Brandon Whitehead, and Steven Wilson. He was also at-

tended by the ring bearer, Brayden Camp. Ushers were Justin Serrett and Kyle Serrett.

Special music for the ceremony was provided by vocalist, Meghan Henson and guitarist, Travis Hood, whom were friends of the couple.

The bride is a graduate of Loui-siana State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psy-chology. She is currently a Project Director for The Arc of Louisiana.

The groom is also a graduate of Louisiana State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management. He is currently a Project Coordinator for Performance Contractors, Inc.

The couple honeymooned in St. Lucia and will reside in Denham Springs, LA.

ashley Paige Serrett weds Blaine ellis Courville

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Zachary POST 7

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and put their saddles up,’’ Mixon pointed out. “This teaches them responsibility.’’

When asked why he has each student back their horse into the riding arena before mounting, Mixon related: “First, that is one of my little tried and proven tech-niques. When a kid finds out they can walk in front of a 1,000-pound horses and make them back up, it gives the kid a real boost of con-fidence. It also settles the horse down and lets the horse know that the kid knows how to handle them.’’

Jolen Taylor, 11 years old, has been riding for 6 years. “I’m proud of what all my students ac-complish in their riding competi-tion,’’ Mixon elaborated; “but I’m particularly proud of Jolen, be-cause even at age 11, she knows how to set goals and do the hard work to achieve her goals.’’

“Jolen is leading a local riding Association in her age group by 50 points over the second place rider to win a saddle at the end of the year,’’ Mixon said proudly.

“The more you train with Mr. Mixon, the better you get to know his techniques and appreciate how good of a trainer he really is,’’ Jo-len said. She added, “I’m going to win that saddle.’’

14-year-old Madison McHugh attends school in Walker. She and her mother, Danyel, both ride at the Mixon Stables. “Learning to ride and compete in events and

win ribbons has done so much for Madison’s confidence. Once you accomplish something it is always yours.”

“Another thing I like about Madison riding horses is that it is a physical activity, it gets her outside the house away from the computer and TV,’’ Danyel relat-ed. “As for me, I’m a nurse so this is great relaxation for me, and gets my mind off all the medical stuff.’’

Perhaps the most surprising rider was 51 year Will Walker (a PhD) who actually lives in Bal-timore, Maryland but is on a one year teaching assignment in BR. “I rode at Mixon Riding Stables between the ages of 13 and 18 be-fore graduating from Baton Rouge High, and leaving to go to col-lege.’’

“When I found myself in Baton Rouge again, I remember the good times that I had experienced with Russ, so I called him up and began to come out and ride on a regular basis,’’ Walker explained. “Strad-dling a horse helps me get over all things you go throw during a day in the classroom.’’

All of Mixon’s grandkids be-gan riding horses at an early age. Meagan, who is 17 years, placed 6th out of 125 riders in a National Regional competition in 2012 in Perry, Georgia. Tara, now 13 was winning ribbons and trophies at age 6 in 4-H competition.

“I’ve been here on Liberty Road for 28 years,’’ Mixon con-cluded. “About 15 years ago, I put a top over the arena so the kids could ride, rain or shine.”

MiXON continued from page 4