DOGS & CATS NEED FURR-EVER HOMES. ADD A NEW MEMBER TO YOUR FAMILY THIS HOLIDAY ä Page 4G
ADVOCATE THE SOUTHSIDE
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THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 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
Registrants sought for tennis camp Registration for Highland’s Christmas Junior Tennis Camp for ages 4 to 16 ends Saturday. Camp will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Highland Road Community Park Tennis Center. Cost is $35 per person per day for a full day, or $25 for a half day. For information, call Camp Director Natalie Johnson at (225) 278-3018.
Temporary home for vets restored BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com Volunteers of America is building a fence, a covered pavilion and a fire pit outside The Garfield House, a transitional home for formerly homeless veterans, said Amanda Gustavson, marketing director for VoA. The project was funded by a $6,000 grant from the Home Depot Foundation, with labor from volunteers of both her organization and area Home Depots. “They came out in September of 2013 and began some other projects,” Gustavson said, including the demolition of a back fence and an old wooden pavilion, both of which were rotting.
Dog Days at the swamp
BREC’s Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center’s Dog Days, in which the center drops its “no pets” policy and opens to pets four times a year, will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. All pets are welcome, but they must be on a leash and current on vaccinations. General admission costs apply; pass holders get in free. Call (225) 757-8905 or email bbswamp@brec.org for information.
Winter Wonders Camp
Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center will hold its Winter Wonders Camp from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Early drop-off is at 7:30 a.m. and late pickup at 5:30 p.m. The camp, for ages 7 to 12, focuses on animal and plant adaptations for surviving winter, migration and hibernation. Cost is $46 for East Baton Rouge Parish residents, $55 for out-of-parish residents and $10 extra for early dropoff and late pickup. Call (225) 757-8905.
Santa Drop-n-Shop
Parents in need of some time to finish holiday shopping or just take a break can bring their children to Highland Road Community Park for BREC’s Santa Drop-nShop from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday. The program, for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, is $14 per child and includes snacks, drinks and a dinner. There will be recreation games, socialization, crafts and more. Call (225) 272-9200.
ans, she said. There are many factors at work that could lead to homelessness for veterans, Gustavson said, and their priority once they’re at the Garfield House is to make sure they have resources at their disposal to address what brought them to the house in the first place. “Whether that’s substance abuse treatment, help for posttraumatic stress disorder, financial planning or medical help,” she said. And while they’re at the house, Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH she wants them to feel at home. “We want it to look nice,” she Allen Ray, manager of Home Depot’s Denham Springs locasaid. “Every time I come by, tion, holds a post steady while Jamar Hayes, manager of the there’s always a group sitting Gonzales location, secures a cross piece on Dec. 5 for what will be a pavilion at The Garfield House, a transitional home äSee HOUSING, page 4G for formerly homeless veterans.
Harp Strings
‘The Nutcracker,’ bayou style
Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, accompanied by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, presents “The Nutcracker: A Tale from the Bayou” at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the River Center Theatre. Tickets are $45 for orchestra (floor level), $38 for balcony rows A-C, $25 for balcony rows D-J and $20 for balcony rows K-O. Ballet VIP members can purchase tickets for $55. Visit http:// bit.ly/1Y8UYwk.
Jan Smith and her fellow Home Depot co-workers began planning in February for the ongoing beautification project, she said. “We came in and did a walkthrough assessment of needs,” Smith said, including the preferences of the nine residents of the house. “We tore down the back fence two years ago, and the pavilion, so we went back and figured out how much wood, how many bolts and screws, we would need, then wrote a grant proposal, which was awarded,” Smith said. The group came together Dec. 5 for a work day. The Home Depot Foundation supports programs meant to improve the lives of military veter-
Heavenly sounds draw group together BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com
T
he ladies who make up the Baton Rouge Harp Ensemble range in age from 10 years to nearly 78 years, and have varying levels of experience on the stringed instrument that brought them together, said Gladys Runnels, co-founder of The Runnels School and member. “The common factor among us is Ms. (Rebecca) Todaro,” Runnels said. “She is responsible for bringing us all together.” Todaro, former harp instructor at the school, has moved to New Orleans, but still makes the drive to Baton Rouge to rehearse with the tightly-knit group. All are either current or former students, or parents and friends of either Todaro or her students, but all eight share a deep love for the harp. The group’s first concert took place Dec. 12 at the home of Tom and Brooke Yura. Brooke, a relatively new harpist, began playing a few years after her daughter, Rachel, 16, began taking lessons. “I came to love it. I love the way it sounds, I love listening to my daughter practice. I just love the instrument,” Brooke Yura said before the concert. “When she got more serious about it and moved up to a pedal harp, I started learning on her old one,” she said. It has become another way in which the mother and daughter relate, and has taught them the fine art of working together. That’s a lesson everyone in the group has learned over the course of the past three months, as the harpists gather at the Yura home for their monthly rehearsal, Brooke Yura said. “Playing in an ensemble is an entirely different experience,” Yura said. And, Runnels said, the Yuras have gone to quite a bit of trouble to make sure everyone in the group gets the
Advocate file photo by PATRICK DENNIS
Raymond Matherne, as Santa Claus, waves to motorists during last year’s Kenilworth Subdivision luminary candle lighting. This year’s event is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Luminary lights to brighten Kenilworth BY C.J. FUTCH
cfutch@theadvocate.com
The project is part of a larger collaboration between the mayor’s Green Light Plan team and the state Department of Transportation and Development. The continuing DOTD portion of the project includes widening along Essen Lane leading to the I-10 intersection, Wards Creek
Residents of the Kenilworth Subdivision stood in line Sunday to pick up their luminary kits — white paper bags with tea lights, 25 per member of the Kenilworth Civic Association — for one of the most anticipated traditions of this tightknit neighborhood. The official 2015 Lighting of the Christmas and Holiday Luminaries will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 20, said Celeste Robin, of the KCA. Residents light the candles, place them in the bags along with a cup of sand, dirt or cat litter, and set them at regular intervals along the sidewalks in Kenilworth, Robin said, creating a glow that not only adds to holiday light displays, but also to the neighborhood ambiance. It’s a sight that attracts many visitors from around the city. It’s Kenilworth residents’ goal, she said, to maintain a continuous string of luminaries all around the neighborhood, both for outside visitors and for friends and family visiting each other within the neighborhood. As is the tradition every year, holiday displays will be judged by a panel for a variety of categories, including most religious, most whimsical, best lighting and best mailbox, according to the KCA newsletter. Many residents will purchase extra 25-piece kits for $4 each, she said, in order to make as continuous a line of luminaries
äSee ESSEN, page 5G
äSee LIGHTS, page 4G
Advocate photo by C.J. FUTCH
Baton Rouge Harp Ensemble member Ann Marie Gladney, 15, rehearses her solo. experience. “They move the furniture around in this room every time we come here, and they always feed us well,” Runnels said. The experience has been well worth the trouble, Yura said, and the small audience of friends and family of the group members agreed. Despite only three rehearsals as a group, the BRHE played a 20-minute program of mostly Christmas music for the crowd.
One of the powerful lessons to be learned from working as a group, Todaro told the students just before their performance, is the capacity members of that group have to pitch in when they notice another part that needs a boost. Group members intend to keep up the rehearsals into the new year. Members of the group are the Yuras, Runnels, Todaro, Kate Gladney, 10, Ann Marie Gladney, 15, Katie Carpenter, 12, and Natalia Tooraen, 13.
Closed for Christmas
Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library will be closed Dec. 24-25 in observance of Christmas. Contact Southside Advocate Editor Darlene Denstorff by phone, (225) 388-0215 or (225) 603-1998; or email southside@theadvocate.com. Deadline: 2 p.m. Friday.
Essen turning lanes officially opened emony Dec. 10 that marked the opening of two additional turnCity-parish officials cut the ing lanes onto Interstate 10 that ribbon last week on the latest will allow dual left turns for both construction work designed to southbound and northbound Esease traffic snarls along Essen sen Lane. More than 55,000 motorists travel Essen daily. Lane. Command Construction InMayor-President Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, city-parish offi- dustries was responsible for cials and area business leaders the intersection improvements held the ribbon-cutting cer- included as part of this first Advocate staff report
phase of construction, which was awarded via the public bid process in February and was constructed at a total cost of $2.1 million. The improvements were part of the city-parish’s Green Light Plan. It’s taken less than a year to complete the construction on the first phase of improvements to Essen.