Community

During the American Legion Department of Louisiana Convention held at the Best Western Convention Center in Alexandria, Commission on Media and Communications Chairman Lynette Blanchard and Department Commander Carl McGee presented the department’s Local Newspaper Award for Publication of American Legion Programs and Activities to the James O. Hall Post 19. The Jennings Daily News was recognized for providing the best treatment of American Legion programs and activities in the state of Louisiana. McGee (from left) and Blanchard presented the award to Post 19 Adjutant Jesecca Creger, who painstakingly gathered and recorded every published article and picture for the official record.

During the American Legion Department of Louisiana Convention state-level meeting held in Alexandria June 6-9, Melody Bertrand, of Jennings, was named the American Legion Citizen of the Year for Louisiana. Shown presenting the award are James O. Hall Post 19 Commander Charles Burrell (from left), American Legion Department State Commander Carl McGee, Bertrand, National Security Commission Chairman Charles Lasseigne and James O. Hall Post 19 Adjutant Jesecca Creger.

The Jennings Rotary Club welcomed Jennings Parks and Recreation Director Donald Citizen as the guest speaker this week. Citizen gave the group an overview of his department’s plans to upgrade the city’s parks with additional equipment and other projects. He encouraged everyone to complete the City of Jennings Community Survey to get the public’s opinion on adding more amenities and playground equipment for youths of all ages. The deadline to submit a survey is 4 p.m. on Friday, June 21.

Jennings High School Class of 1964 recently awarded scholarships to two recent JHS graduates to help offset the cost of continuing their education.

The 2024 4-H/FFA Grazing Program wrapped up in April. The beef grazing project is where 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) youth compete with pens cattle. A pen is four head of cattle made up of steers, bulls or heifers -- no mixing on 2.5 acres of ryegrass. Divisions are broken by steers, bulls and heifers. The cattle must be raised and kept at the participant’s property. Calves can be from commercial or registered cows and should be born after December 1, 2022. The cattle must be grazed on two and a half acres of winter grazing for each pen, the grazing can be done on cool-season forage or combinations of cool-season forages. There can be no supplemental feed given to the cattle, but they can have silage or hay during the bad winter months and you are able to provide minerals to the cattle. The cattle are usually grazed for approximately 150 days, starting around December 1 and terminating in mid-May. This year, grass was excellent for the participants even considering the uncertainties from last summer’s drought.