The draw down of Vernon Lake has enticed some out onto the spillway and levee, despite signs that warn against the trespass, said Arno Arpke, chairman of the Vernon Parish Game and Fish Commission.

LifeShare Blood Centers of Alexandria will be hosting two blood drives later this week in preparation for the July Fourth holiday.
The drives will be held from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 2 at Byrd Regional Hospital and from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Friday at Wal-Mart.
Healthy people who are 17 or older and weigh at least 110 pounds are being asked to donate blood.

Weekly family rail, with a review of the new “Transformers” movie, tips on volunteering and more.

For two years, Larry Tye pored through thousands of research pages and wrote hundreds of pages about an often-overlooked American icon: baseball great Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Satchel’s story, said Tye, is about overcoming “every obstacle any human being could ever imagine.”

In Vernon Parish a Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party will be held on the lawn of the Historic Courthouse in downtown historic Leesville Saturday, July 4, Independence Day, at noon.
The event is being hosted by Angelle Lord of Leesville and will include activities for all ages.

 An Independence Day celebration is set for July 4 at 5 p.m. on Headquarters Field here.
Headlining the show is country artist Clint Black, whose performance will begin at 8 p.m.

Staying cool during the heat of summer takes hard work, or a drive to Anacoco Lake. These kids spent part of Thursday taking a break from the heat by swimming in the cool waters.

The Northwestern State University Leesville-Fort Polk Freshman Connection will be on Wednesday, July 15, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.  The fee is $35, payable by check at the Leesville campus by Tuesday, July 14.

Drivers who refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test may be facing stricter penalties upon the approval of Governor Bobby Jindal.
Louisiana lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and Senate have agreed to stiffen the penalties for drivers who refuse the breath test after they have been stopped on a suspicion of drunken driving, but Representative James Armes says that even this new bill has diminished from what was first passed by the House.

The highly anticipated opening of the Leesville City Pool is projected for around the first of July, said City Administrator DeLain Prewitt. The pool will be open noon until 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from 1-5 p.m. Sundays. For $3 swimmers will receive a wrist band and will be able to swim all day. Two lifeguards will be on duty along with the City Pool Manager daily, and a concession stand will open daily. The complex can be reserved, after hours, for private events. Charges for private rental will depend on the number of swimmers.

As temperatures continue to rise, reaching near-record levels, many residents may have begun to worry, unnecessarily, about high electric bills.
A state rule, instituted in 2007, prohibits utility companies from cutting off the utilities of customers when the heat index is 105 degrees or hotter, but customers will still have to pay their bills.

Recently, Governor Bobby Jindal announced reappointments to the Board of Commissioners for the Sabine River Authority.
 The Board of Commissioners for the Sabine River Authority serves to regulate, manage and maintain the waters of the Sabine River and its tributary streams.

The highly anticipated body of new work by Leesville native Jonathan Moore will be on display in an upcoming exhibit set for July 8 through Aug. 1.

When consumers toss unused household chemicals and other hazardous items into the garbage, they wind up in municipal landfills, which often are not equipped to handle this kind of waste. But keeping cleaning solutions, insecticides and other items around the house has its dangers. Many household cleaning products, pest-control chemicals and lawn-care chemicals can be replaced with more natural, less toxic methods.

An unusual chance to see a close pairing of Jupiter and Neptune awaits the next clear night. Due to its magnificence, brilliant Jupiter is easy to pick out and probably most people have seen it without even knowing it. Neptune, however, although it is a giant planet as well, is so far away very few people have ever seen it. This is a chance to find Neptune with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope with little trouble, since it is close by the King of Planets, Jupiter.