On the day the Russell Brothers Shows arrived in Jennings, protests were heard against allowing them to operate here. The protests may not have been so much against the 'Shows' themselves as they were against the questionable and 'unquestionable' concessions attached thereto.
Several fights were made before the legislature for the creation of a new parish. This continued, led by Jennings and opposed by every other section of the parish. This continued until in 1910, when other sections of Calcasieu having also developed, began to want to be separated, and the legislature submitted a proposition to the voters of the parish to divide Calcasieu into four, but not withstanding the proposition received a very substantial vote, the majority jeered against it.
( EDITOR'S NOTE: Following is a series of articles giving the verbatim address of John H. Cooper, president of the Jeff Davis Police Jury, at the laying of the cornerstone of the parish courthouse on May 3, 1916. It is reproduced from the original found in a metal box inside the cornerstone and opened Wednesday by the present police jury. It should be noted that at the time the address was presented, this area had been officially settled only 35 years and many listening to the words had lived in Southwest Louisiana since the initial settlements had been built.)
The Jennings High School will finally open Thursday, Sept. 18, following a three-day Parish Institute. The faculty this year bids fair to be the strongest in the history of the school. Extreme care has been exercised in the selection of the staff, every member of which is a graduate of a standard college. Some are graduates of the best colleges and universities in the land and have had special training for the subject they will teach, besides several years of successful teaching experiences. The grade school faculty will be announced later. The high school staff follows: Miss Cora J. Miller, Louisiana State University, who has been attending summer school at University of California, will again be principal of the high school and teach some mathematics and civics.
Two Jeff Davis Parish men, Fred Allen Ritter, 19, of Hathaway, and Clifton Doucet, 19, of Elton, were among the 12,326 American youths who were sworn into the Navy as 'Avengers of Pearl Harbor' Sunday.
Jennings was awakened by screeching sirens announcing the invasion of Europe only a few moments after the official announcement was made this morning and less than 20 minutes the wildcat whistle and the fire siren screamed out the news and residents leaped from bed to radios.
