Life ROAMING THE HINTERLANDS | PAGE 5
Minden
Press-Herald WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020
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MINDEN, LOUISIANA
68th Night at the Museum WILL PHILLIPS Minden Press-Herald
The guest speaker for the 68th Night at the Museum held at the Dorcheat Historical Museum was Adolf Wesselhoeft. Wess was a member of the United States Airforce, and the fact is surprising after understanding the life that he lived as a young child, experiencing the Second World War first hand. Both of Wess’s parents were from Germany and came to the U.S. and they met in Chicago where Wess was born only a short time later in September of 36’. As he tells it, his time in America was that of a typical American boy. “They never spoke to me in German, just in English, so I grew up as an American boy,” said Wesselhoeft. “By the time I was six, I finished first grade and we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning when I went to school.” Even in his early years Wess could always recall being fascinated by airplanes and had a dream to become a pilot. “One of the things that interested me was flying and planes. In my yearbook that I still have, I drew a little picture of an airplane,” said Wess.
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Edwards discusses first case of coronavirus along with other topics on opening day of session MARIA MARSH, CATHERINE HUNT AND PAIGE DANIEL LSU Manship School News Service
COURTESY PHOTOS
Adolf Wesselhoeft was the guest speaker for the 68th Night at the Museum, where he spoke about his life as a child during WWII.
After World War II had started, unfortunately, Wess’s family became a bargaining chip in the United States negotiations to try and get some of their citizens back. “President Roosevelt had a problem with the people that were trapped under Hitler. So he had to figure out how he
could get the American people back,” said Wess. “So he came up with the idea to see what there was for Germans that he could maybe trade. And so my parents were declared as enemy aliens, and I was a volunteer somehow, they listed me as a volunteer anyway.”
For a while, his Dad was put into a prisoner of war camp, and he had to live alone with his mother. However, this didn’t mean that the Father was the only one harassed by the government. “While I was with my mother, the FBI came See, MUSEUM, Page 3
Louisiana lawmakers approve more than $1 billion in infrastructure spending, pending funding (The Center Square) – Louisiana legislators on Monday gave final approval to more than $1 billion worth of infrastructure projects that are supposed to go forward if and when enough money is available. “We go as far as the dollars will get us,” said Shawn Wilson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. There was little discussion at Monday’s meeting of a joint House and Senate committee focused on transportation and public works. Officials had pre-
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viously discussed the projects is about $39.2 million, and the at other public meetings. expected flood damage reducThe tentative construction tion benefits are worth almost budget for roads for the $409.3 million, ac2020-2021 fiscal year is cording to documents $729.5 million. Of that distributed at Montotal, $103.2 million day’s meeting. would come from state DOTD listed 18 government, with federpartially funded port al dollars making up the projects expected to rest. cost about $326.8 milRecommended flood WILSON lion. The remaining control projects are balance of Louisiana’s expected to cost more than funding share is about $114.1 $258.7 million, though some of million. Another $39.9 million that cost already has been paid. in new projects also were apThe balance of the state’s share proved.
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Lawmakers also approved about $114.2 million worth of airport projects, for which the state match is about $26.1 million. The Revenue Estimating Conference has not yet agreed on how much state government will be allowed to spend next fiscal year. The state ran a $535 million surplus last year, officials say, and construction projects are among the constitutionally permissible uses of surplus dollars, which cannot be spent on general government operations.
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BATON ROUGE--Gov. John Bel Edwards on Monday disclosed the first case of coronavirus in Louisiana, a Jefferson Parish resident who was hospitalized in Orleans Parish. While the case of covid-19 has yet to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control, the state is treating it as a “presumptive positive,” he EDWARDS said. “Now together we all—as a government, as health care systems and providers, as schools, businesses and as neighbors—must take action and be vigilant to prevent the spread of this virus in our great state,” Edwards said. Edwards made the announcement as he addressed the Louisiana Legislature to begin this spring’s session. Edwards told returning legislators, as well as 45 freshman representatives and 20 freshman senators, that the state can move forward only through bipartisanship, especially in areas where it does worse than other states, including education and the cost of auto-insurance. Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, won re-election last fall. Republicans gained more seats in the Legislature and now have a supermajority, or two-thirds of the seats, in the Senate. They are now only two seats away from holding a supermajority in the House. One of the biggest issues that the Legislature will face this session is how to lower insurance premiums. Louisiana residents pay the second highest auto-insurance rates in the country, behind only Michigan. Little has been done
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