Gibsland News

ARCADIA - The Bienville Parish sheriff's office expects to be busy in the coming weeks picking up suspected street and midlevel drug dealers identified through a parishwide undercover drug investigation that began three months ago, Sheriff John Ballance said today.

Toni Magee Causey of Baton Rouge will have three of her novels published in mass market paperback this summer.

GIBSLAND - When Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shredded by more than 160 bullets south of here 75 years ago, the day was oppressively hot and humid, a sticky, nasty day well suited for death.

The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum is in Gibsland, La. When lawmen used a field near this tiny town to set the trap for Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, they wrote Gibsland into a macabre love story thata s fascinated generations.

A monument stands May 17 where lawmen ambushed Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in Gibsland.

Filming for "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde," featuring Hilary Duff and Kevin Zegers, will begin in Alexandria toward the end of July, according to the film's producer.

This weekend will probably be as busy as it ever gets in Gibsland. The Bienville Parish town's major claim to fame, as the place outlaws Bonnie and Clyde ate their last meal before heading to appointments with bloody death at the hands of pursuing lawmen, is being celebrated this weekend on the 75th anniversary of the famous ambush.

GIBSLAND - Like a lot of small towns, Gibsland has lost most of its once thriving downtown atmosphere.

When lawmen eager for revenge used a field near this tiny town to set the trap for Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, they wrote Gibsland into a macabre love story that's fascinated generations.

All of the dozen people who were at the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde in 1934 are dead.

They had terrorized much of the Midwest and Southwest during a two-year crime spree, the bodies of lawmen and laypersons alike left in their wake.

Reader Margaret Palmer Salter, who lives in Bienville Parish not fair from Sailes, where Bonnie and Clyde were headed when they were gunned down in May 1934, grew up listening to stories of her family's encounters with the legendary duo the day they died.

Even though they were Swiss-cheesed by a blizzard of bullets 75 years ago, Bonnie and Clyde are still on the run. They're not so much robbing banks nowadays as they are gracing the covers of books -- at least a dozen in the past decade, and two within the past month. They're also singing and dancing, in four different stage musicals in development. Bonnie will be channeled by Hilary Duff in a feature film that starts production in July on the same Southern back roads the infamous duo once terrorized. In Gibsland, La., next weekend, thousands will watch shootout reenactments during the annual Bonnie and Clyde Festival. People will gather at the site of their fatal May 23, 1934, ambush to watch them die all over again.

Shreveport's Office of the City Engineer has announced street inconveniences and closures for the week: Louisiana Boardwalk's Regal Cinemas has extended the run of 'The Last Lullaby' through Thursday.

Harris, Albert, 61, of Gibsland, died Monday; services at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Faith Memorial Baptist Church, Gibsland; burial in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Mount Lebanon; arrangements by Paradise Funeral Home, Arcadia.

EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1112 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... WEST CENTRAL JACKSON PARISH IN NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... SOUTHWESTERN LINCOLN PARISH IN NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES ...

EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1052 PM CDT THU APR 9 2009 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHWESTERN BIENVILLE PARISH IN NORTHWEST LOUISIANA... SOUTHEASTERN WEBSTER PARISH IN NORTHWEST LOUISIANA... * UNTIL 1115 PM CDT * AT 1051 PM CDT...NATIONAL ...

ARCADIA - A Homer man is free on bond following his arrest Monday on warrants accusing him of speeding and impersonating a police officer.

Thompson, Charlie 'Teddy Bear,' 67, of Gibsland, died March 13; services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Faith Memorial Baptist Church, Gibsland; burial in Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Mount Lebanon; arrangements by Paradise Funeral Home, Arcadia.

Even though the chilly, rainy weather was somewhat uncooperative, the party inside the new Villaggio development last week marking its grand opening was definitely warm.