SCHOOL NEWS, 2G
ADVOCATE THE SOUTHSIDE
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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2015 H B O C AG E • C O U N T RY C LU B • H I G H L A N D • J E F F E R S O N T E R R AC E • K E N I LW O R T H • P E R K I N S • U N I V E R S I T Y C LU B THEADVOCATE.COM
Darlene Denstorff
ON THE SOUTHSIDE
DDENSTORFF@ THEADVOCATE.COM
Baton Rouge Zoo transforms for holidays
INLEAGUE
From Friday through Dec. 30, visitors to Baton Rouge Zoo will enjoy the lights and displays of all your favorite zoo animals and holiday traditions. Hot cocoa and other treats will be available to purchase. Special activities include: FRIDAY: Coca-Cola truck, ornament decorating SATURDAY: Ornament decorating DEC. 4-5: Pictures with Safari Santa DEC. 11-13: “Art Gone Wild” exhibit DEC. 18-19: Pictures with Safari Santa DEC. 26: Ornament decorating ZooLights will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Call (225) 775-3877 for information.
Library closed for holiday
Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library will be closed Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Make, take and decorate
Children ages 3 to 11 can help decorate the Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library Christmas tree by making an ornament from recycled materials from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Dec. 3. Make one ornament for the tree and one to keep.
Mrs. Claus is coming
Mrs. Claus and the Holiday Clown will stop by äSee SOUTHSIDE, page 3G
Library System hires broker for south branch location BY ANDREA GALLO
agallo@theadvocate.com The East Baton Rouge Library System’s leaders are continuing their yearslong search for a south branch location and have hired a real estate broker to help in the process. The city-parish finalized a contract this week for the library to use Sperry Van Ness/Graham, Langlois & Legendre, LLC as its real estate broker to help with the site search. The library will not pay a fee to the broker, and the property seller would have to pay any commission that Sperry Van Ness earns. Library Board members and staffers have gone through an exhaustive search of potential properties for the south branch over the past few years. They once planned to build the south branch at Rouzan, developer J.T. “Tommy” Spinosa’s mixed use development on Perkins Road. In 2013, the library pulled out of äSee LIBRARY, page 3G
Advocate staff photo by BRIANNA PACIORKA
Playing in the Baton Rouge Soccer’s Over-40 division, from left, are Mirza Rustemovic and Lynne Mayes.
BR soccer league scores high with players 40, older BY AARON E. LOONEY
Special to The Advocate
Niomi Krzystowczyk eagerly cheered on the Bravehearts while looking on at BREC’s Burbank Soccer Complex on a recent Sunday afternoon. “Good job out there,” she yelled as players passed the ball and attempted a shot on goal against the opposing Global40. “Keep going.” The 51-year-old was not cheering for her child playing, but for her husband, Doug. And she did so while waiting on the sideline to enter the game herself
“As you get older, your time to go out and be active may be limited because of work or family responsibilities. This league offers a chance to get outside and be active, keep in shape and socialize with people they may not be around normally.” PATRICK BUENO, who serves as Baton Rouge Soccer’s adult leagues director
on a substitution. Krzystowczyk is one of the 127 members of Baton Rouge Soccer’s Over-40 division, a recreational league which plays 90-minute games on Sunday afternoons. “It’s a lot of fun,” she said of playing in the league. “You get the joy you had
as a kid running full out, because you don’t get that just by exercising at the gym on the treadmill.” The league is open to both men and women age 40 years or older. However, a player may be 39 years old if they turn 40 during the season. “As you get older, your time to go
out and be active may be limited because of work or family responsibilities,” said Patrick Bueno, who serves as Baton Rouge Soccer’s adult leagues director. “This league offers a chance to get outside and be active, keep in shape and socialize with people they may not be around normally.” Bueno said the Over-40 league offers a chance for players of all skill levels to play not only with friends or significant others, but even their parents. “It’s really a social league,” he said
More tenants in line for Long Farm Village BY TIMOTHY BOONE
tboone@theadvocate.com Now that the extension of Antioch Road is complete, commercial activity in the Long Farm Village traditional neighborhood development is picking up steam. Rouses started construction of a 55,000-square-foot supermarket that will be one of the anchors of Long Farm, a mixeduse development bordered by Airline and Jefferson highways and Barringer-Foreman Road. The store is scheduled to be open by the summer. A Zaxby’s chicken tenders restaurant has been permitted for a spot at the corner of Airline and Antioch. On Dec. 14, the City-Parish Planning Commission will vote on granting fi-
nal approval to just over 18,000 square feet of additional retail space in Long Farm. Russell Mosely, who is developing Long Farm on a 237-acre tract of farmland assembled by his grandfather, the late U.S. Sen. Russell Long, said he has lease contracts and agreements with a number of tenants, which include restaurants and retailers. Mosely would not disclose the tenants but said he would release names in December or early 2016. “We’ve got to get a couple of things finished up and get a couple more contracts on paper,” he said. Plans are for Long Farm to eventually have about 400 single-family residences, up äSee LONG FARM, page 3G
äSee LEAGUE, page 5G
Baton Rouge Magnet High School students enjoy hot meals on the front lawn to celebrate the National Blue Ribbon School award Nov. 19. Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNIS
BR Magnet celebrates Blue Ribbon designation Advocate staff report Baton Rouge Magnet High School students and staff celebrated the school’s Blue Ribbon school of excellence designation Nov. 19 with music, food and activities. The school was one of nine Louisiana schools receiving the designation in September. It’s the third time the school earned the honor. The Blue Ribbon award is given by the U.S. Department
of Education, which began bestowing the honor in 1982. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at 10 a.m. announced the 335 schools named this year — 285 public and 50 private schools nationwide. Schools can earn Blue Ribbon awards in two ways: They are among the top performing schools in their respective states, or they have shown substantial progress in closing the achievement gap between all students and his-
torically low-performing subsets of students such as racial minorities and those living in poverty. Last week’s celebration included performances by ballet and band students The U.S. Department of Education honored the 335 schools at a recognition ceremony Nov. 9-10 in Washington, D.C. In its 33-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this award on some 8,000 schools.