July 4th in Bogalusa: Time to celebrate!

Gov. Bobby Jindal

It's America's 237th Independence Day and Bogalusa's 97th birthday, and early on, there was activity as the community readied for a day full of activities — including a visit from Gov. Bobby Jindal and scheduled appearances the heads of both the Louisiana Army National Guard and Louisiana Air National Guard.

Before 7 a.m., Mack Corkern of the Bogalusa Lions Club, was making his way down Columbia Street, placing American flags in front of local businesses which have subscribed to the Lions program.

Mack Corkern and helper placing an
American flag at Bino's about 7 a.m.

In the 400 block of Columbia, there were a couple of volunteers with trash bags picking up the debris of the weekend in an attempt to clean at least a portion of the parade route.

Down Highway 21, at Jason Lumpkin's Bogalusa Equipment, his long-standing sign touting Bogalusa and long-promised Highway 3241 faced the northbound lanes, as always.

Jason's Lumpkin's pro-Bogalusa and Highway
 3241 sign at his business, Bogalusa Equipment.

It was Lumpkin who, at a recent Bogalusa City Council meeting, called on his fellow citizens to catch the attention of the governor as he made his way through the community.

"There are going to be plenty of (American) flags," he said at the time. "What we need to do is have our school children lining the parade route with signs promoting Bogalusa. Let's remind him (Jindal) about the prison and his promise to build that highway."

The parade gets under way at 10 a.m. at the corner of 6th and Columbia, moves north until it reaches Carolina Avenue, then turns west on Carolina until reaching Cumberland. Again heading west, the parade will proceed to 9th, where it will turn west until reaching Avenue F and makes a right turn to head to Willis, where another right turn will take it to the Bogalusa High School parking lot, where it will disband.

American flags, by morning's early light,
greet drivers on Columbia Street today.

At 10:30, a pair of McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles are scheduled to make a high-speed, low-altitude pass over Bogalusa.

Following the completion of the parade, there will be a brief break until the start of activities in Cassidy Park at 1 p.m.

Live music, games and activities for kids, food booths, political speeches and a bicycle parade at 3 p.m. headline those activities.

The last chance to purchase fireworks for
the July 4 holiday ... and signs mark the
spot at the former Mack Grubbs SuperStore.

Things wind down at last light today, when Bogalusa's annual fireworks display light up the night skies as they are fired from a location by the Temple-Inland pond. To afford spectators a unobstructed view, Bogalusa City School officials will open Lewis V. Murray, Jr. Stadium.

The schedule for Cassidy Park includes:

Activities located in the area by the museums include:

            1 p.m. — Wayne McCain (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

            2 p.m. — Eli Seals and Friends (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

            3 p.m. — The Petty Bones (inside the Pioneer Museum)

            3 p.m. — Turtle races (outside the Native American Museum)

            3 p.m. — Bicycle Parade (bring a non-perishable food iterm for the Bogalusa Help Center as an entry fee)

            4 p.m. — Gene Gunulfsen and Friends (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

            5 p.m. — 8 Years Difference (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

            6 p.m. — Kipori Woods (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

            7 p.m. — Beth McKee (Evangeline) (on the Pioneer Museum porch)

Activities located at the stage include:

            1:45 p.m. — Allen Barrios

            2 p.m. — Political candidates

            3 p.m. — The Forman Twins

Activities located by the covered bridge include:

            Food vendors with hot dogs, hamburgers and more as well as a sno-ball stand

Lumpkin: 'Catch Governor's attention on July 4'

Jason Lumpkin

For a Washington Parish business owner and resident, it’s all about taking care of business … and while Jason Lumpkin, who owns and operates Bogalusa Equipment Sales at 14234 Highway 21 South, is not inside the city limit, it doesn’t matter.

Tuesday night, Lumpkin, who is unashamedly pro-Bogalusa, went before the Bogalusa City Council to encourage them to be aggressive in marketing the community to Gov. Bobby Jindal when he is in town for the annual July 4 birthday celebration and Independence Day Parade.

“How many cities in the state do you think he’s going to be in to ride in a parade that day?” he asked in a raised voice. “How many cities do you think are going to be able to tell him, ‘Hey, here we are!”

Lumpkin, holding up a single sheet American flag reproduction from the Bogalusa newspaper said, “There are going to be plenty of American flags there … it’s the Fourth of July!  Why not print up 5,000 or so of these pages that say ‘Highway 3241’ or ‘Keep Rayburn Open!’ ?”

Lumpkin, who has a sign erected on the south side of his building — visible to drivers headed north on Highway 21 — that touts the merits of Highway 3241 and the manner in which funds have been collected without the road ever having been built.

“If we don’t do it this year, I think it’s dead,” Lumpkin told wpnewsblog following the council meeting. “It’s so important that we not waste the opportunity of having the Governor here in a one-on-one — or 5,000-on-one situation.”

The TIMED (Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development) program was one of the late Sen. B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn’s prized pieces of legislation in that it created a revenue stream to fund 17 projects statewide. Only Highway 3241 and the 5-mile-long Florida Avenue Bridge, now projected to cost $474 million, to run through the Lower 9th Ward and part of St. Bernard Parish, remain to be completed.

The projects were to be paid for — and have been — with a dedicated four-cents per gallon tax that has since been renewed.

The Highway 3241 project was once estimated to cost about $20 million, but cost estimates to complete the project are now $150 million or more.

Lumpkin has been persistent and passionate about the highway and the positive impact it could have on the region.

In October 2008, he went to a Town Hall meeting in Franklinton and elicited a promise from Jindal regarding the road.

“You have my commitment, we're going to build that road,” Jindal said.

At that time,  Lumpkin urged the governor to “get involved” with the long-delayed project.

There have been a number of plans and proposals over the years and, about four years ago, a preferred route was selected that followed much of the former railroad line through the countryside.

“I just want us to catch his attention while we have him in this setting,’ Lumpkin said. “Imagine the impact it could have if we have young children like this, pointing to council member Michael O’Ree’s young son on the front row of seats, holding signs that encourage him to support our community?”

Lumpkin said he felt the potential impact was worth any expense that might be incurred to print such a flyer.

There is a website on the project — http://www.i12tobush.com.