Zachary Post June 24

Zachary Post • Tuesday, June 24, 2014 • Vol. 9, No. 25 • Published Weekly • Circulation 16,000 • zacharypost.com © 2014

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See WALLIS on page 6

Know Your CouncilmanDuring this Election Year, The Zachary Post will be interviewing each of our sitting City Councilmen so that the community can get a better sense of the people they elected to represent them. These interviews are non-partisan and do not foreshadow whether they will run for reelection. In addition, The Zachary Post offers each candidate in this year’s elections an opportunity to introduce him or herself to the voting public at no cost. The submission of a statement is entirely voluntary and each candidate may submit one time. As such, the printing of these statements does not represent an endorsement of the candidates by the Zachary Post.

The Post is the place for Zachary news.

Proud to be Zachary’s only locally owned, managed and staffed newspaper.

ZHS Principal Selected as WBR Superintendent of Schools

Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar to Anchor New Space at Americana

Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar has signed on as the first major tenant in the Villages of Americana traditional neighborhood development that’s under construction on Hwy 64, Commercial Properties Re-alty Trust announced last week.

“We feel that being at the front door of a com-munity like Americana is the ideal place for us,” says Brandon Landry, co- owner and founder of Walk-On’s Enterprises. “The neighborhood, the new YMCA, being close to the Zach-ary ball parks and the city of Zachary all helped create the perfect catalyst that led us to this great location.”

The new restaurant, which will be Walk-On’s fifth overall, will measure 4,500 square feet and include out-door seating.

Commercial Properties Realty Trust says The Villages of Ameri-cana, Zachary’s first TND, will in-clude three 33,000-square-foot res-

idential-over-retail buildings, along with other commercial buildings available. Each building will have approximately 30 apartments rang-ing from one to three bedrooms.

Level Homes began construction on the residential homes in March.

The Pointe, Americana’s com-munity center, was completed last month and the YMCA is also open in the development and has over 3,300 members.

In addition, Provident Resourc-es Group announced in May that it plans to build a $20 million senior living community at the Americana development.

Dan Wallis to Retire from Council after 32 Years of ServiceBy James Ronald skains

In 1982, Dan Wallis received 10% of the vote cast for City Coun-cilman candidates in the City of Zachary. Wallis’ total of 1,125 votes ranked him as fifth most in the con-tested election. He received 11 more votes more than Glenn Stokes who ran sixth in the race with 1,114 votes. Wallis was the first registered Re-publican to be elected to the Zachary City Council.

Also, elected in the 1982 to the Zachary City Council were Cliff An-drews, Calvin Boudreaux, Harold Henderson and David Horton. The

1982 election was the first of eighth terms that Wallis has been elected to as a member of the Zachary City Council. Wallis has served 32 con-secutive years in office, which is the longest tenure in history for any Zachary Councilman.

Zachary Mayor David Amrhein told the Zachary Post: “Mr. Dan has been a fixture in the Zachary Com-munity, and an integral part of Zach-ary City Government. His wisdom and experience will be missed, as he leaves us after serving over three de-cades on the City Council.”

Wallis has stated that his reason

for not seeking re-election to a ninth term as city councilman is to give a younger person the opportunity to be-come more involved in Zachary city government.

Brandon Noel, the youngest mem-ber currently serving on the Zach-ary City Council told the Zachary Post: “Mr. Dan has always been re-ally involved in the city government of Zachary since he first took office. He told me that it was essential for a good councilman to come into City Hall at least once a week to be able to keep up to date on the driving is-Dan Wallis

The West Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Wednesday unani-mously selected Zachary High Principal Wes Watts as its next school super-intendent. Watts had been one of four finalists selected though an intensive search to replace 10 year West Ba-ton Rouge Superintendent David Corona. The four candidates were presented to the board following a re-gional search from a private scouting firm. Corona is set to leave office at the end of July.

“We wish Mr. Watts well as he ac-cepts this new challenge, and thank him for his contributions to Zachary High. We are currently in the planning stages to determine our next steps as we begin the search for Zachary High School’s new leader,” said Zachary Superinten-dent Scott Devillier. “This is a very im-portant position in our district and our community, and we will work hard to find a quality individual who will ex-

pand opportunities and build on the school’s tradition of excellence,” he

continued.Jason Manola, the

board president, said Watts’ leadership skills and accomplishments at Zachary High caused him to outshine the other candidates.

Watts, who holds de-grees from the Univer-sity of Southern Missis-sippi and McNeese State University, told board members during his

public interview last week that within the first two years of his leadership, Zachary High went from being the lowest-performing school in the Zach-ary Community Schools District to the district’s top-performing campus.

During his interview, Watts also touted a school wide reading pro-gram that helped boost students’ ACT scores, and a student-driven leadership group in 2009 called Teen Influence Motivating Others.

Wes Watts

2 Zachary POST Tuesday, June 24, 2014

P.O. Box 1637Zachary, LA 70791

Phone (225) 654-0122Fax (225) 208-1165

Email stories and photos to [email protected]

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Publisher & EditorDaniel Duggan

Graphic DesignerTina Adams

Account ExecutivesGeorgiana Walls

Ashley Evans

Contributing WriterJames Ronald SkainsJen Bayhi-Gennaro

Summer Parties CooordinatorCalla Duggan

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Sand EngineerCecelia Duggan

The Crab GrabberColton Duggan

E Federal Credit Union’s Zachary

Branch to Host Food Truck Event

To celebrate the beginning of summer, E Federal Credit Union (EFCU) will be hosting its first Summer Food Truckin’ event on Thursday, June 26 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event will be held at EFCU’s Zachary Branch located at 1804 Church Street. During the event, area patrons can purchase delicious culinary dishes served by local food trucks set up in the EFCU parking lot.

For each food order placed, E Federal Credit Union will donate $1 to the Zachary Food Pantry to help fight hunger in the Zachary community. Event attendees are also encouraged to bring non-per-ishable food items for collection barrels that will be on site.

The credit union will also have the legendary “EFCU Money Ma-chine” on site, giving participants a chance to win 10 seconds grab-bing for cash.

Local food trucks Taco de Paco and Pullin’ Pork are scheduled to be in attendance.

For more information about the EFCU Summer Food Truckin’ Event, visit efederal.org.

Rotary Club of Zachary Seeks Citizen of the Year Nominations

The Rotary Club of Zachary is seeking nominations for the 2014 Zachary Citizen of the Year. Nomi-nees should be a citizen of Zachary who exhibits the characteristics de-scribed below.

List of criteria:• Citizen whose life is consis-

tent with the philosophy of Rotary, “Service above Self”

• Citizen who volunteers and is active in the community and civic organizations

• Has contributed to our com-munity on a consistent basis

• Citizen who has touched the lives of other residents

• Citizen who may have rep-

resented Zachary or the interests of Zachary on a state or national level

• Citizen who has made contri-butions to the community above and beyond his or her job or position

• Citizen who displays charac-teristics of leadership, compassion, strong moral character, and a desire to make Zachary a better place to live

If you know of such an individual, please submit in writing a brief outline of the accomplishments of the nomi-nee to one of the following individu-als: Scott Buzhardt- [email protected], Mack Lea- [email protected], Pres Kennedy- [email protected], or Sam Johnson- [email protected]

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Zachary POST 3

See FREEDOM on page 5

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Above: Rafael Nowicki, local businessman and native of Poland who escaped from Communist Poland in 1979.

Freedom is Worth the Price You are Willing to Pay for ItBy James Ronald skains

Author’s Note: The following is part one of a two-part article as told in the words of Rafael Nowicki, who vividly describes his journey to free-dom in the US. What a vivid remind-er of what we as Americans have to be thankful for as we prepare to cel-ebrate our country’s independence.

“For me, the price of freedom was 14 months on the run in the UK and Central Europe without a country to call home,” Rafael Nowicki told the Zachary Post. “When I landed at Heathrow Airport in 1979, I knew no one, could not speak English and had only 10 sterling pounds on me because the Polish security guards had taken my money from me at the airport.

Fortunately, the guard didn’t strip search me or he would have found my last tidbit of money, 40 German marks, which at the time was worth about 10 pounds sterling or about eighth US dollars. I will never for-get the experience with the security guard. He took the $100 that my fa-ther had given me, which was all in $1 bills.

The guard deliberately took so much time looking at my passport, visa, and counting my money, one bill at a time, that I missed the bus out to the plane. The bus was the only

way you could go out to the plane to board. After the bus driver pulled out, the security guard officer slowly handed all my papers back to me, but kept the $100, telling me that I could have the money back when I came back from the UK.

This was one of the classic tricks of the Polish Communist govern-

ment, which was dominated by Rus-sia in order to keep young people

from leaving the country or forcing them to come back. I was 19 years old at the time I was standing there, watching the security guard jerk me around. But I thought to myself, ‘This insignificant little communist bureaucrat has my freedom in his hands.’ I truly wanted to break his neck at the time.

After I got my papers back, I was standing there not knowing what to do because I had missed my plane. I suddenly looked out through the glass doors and saw that the bus driver had just made a block and the bus was sitting in front of door. The bus driver was waving for me to get on the bus. I began to feel that God had a purpose for me. I got on the bus and made it to the plane and then to Heathrow Airport in the UK.

After I got to my seat in the plane, I realized I had another problem, which at the time seemed insur-mountable,” Rafael recalled. “The


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Lady Lightning Brings Home the Trophies

Congratulations to the LA Lady Lightning 10U softball team for winning the Memorial Weekend Blowout Tournament! The tournament was held in Zachary on May 24 & 25th. LA Lady Lightning went undefeated scoring 75 runs and only allowing 13. The girls have been busy! The girls also won 2nd at the Worth NOLA Big Easy Blowout Tournament in New Orleans the weekend of May 17th. They placed 4th in Gulfport, MS at the Crossfire Spring Fling Tournament out of 13 teams the weekend of May 10 & May 11th. The team is based out of Zachary and is comprised of 9 & 10yr. old girls from the Central, Zachary, St. Francisville & Watson areas. Pictured right: Memorial Weekend Blowout Tournament Photo: L-R (Sitting): Autumn Vessier, Destiney Gary, Bailey Guercio and Bailee Avant L-R (Kneeling): Elaina Kreamer, Brianne Bankston, Madelyn Edwards, Char-leigh Parolli, Kaitlyn McClure and Morgan Fresina L-R (Standing): Coach Kellie Guercio, Coach Jason Guercio, Head Coach Brandon Bankston and Coach JC Fresina. Pictured left: Worth NOLA Big Easy Blowout Tournament Photo:L-R (Front Row): Bailey Guercio, Kaitlyn McClure, Bailee Avants and Mallory KendrickL-R (Middle Row): Coach Kellie Guercio, Elaina Kreamer, Madelyn Edwards, Charleigh Parolli, Destiney Gary, Morgan Fresina, Autumn Vessier and Brianne BankstonL-R (Back Row): Coach Jason Guercio, Head Coach Brandon Bankston and Coach JC Fresina.


FREEDOM continued from page 3

See VILLAGE on page 5

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UK authorities, at that time, required anyone coming into England from Poland to have at least the equivalent of 60 US dollars. I only had less than $10.

My seat happened to be next to a bulkhead, which had a map of Lon-don and surrounding area. After I calmed down somewhat, I began to look at the map. Maps had always been a large part of my younger years and I had often looked at world maps imagining how it would be to visit different countries. I began to develop a plan of how I might get through customs at the airport.

All the passengers on my flight from Poland were ushered into this big room where several customs

agents were checking the papers of the people on the flights. I was well aware that these custom agents dealt everyday, with people trying to get into England from Poland without the proper papers or the right amount of money. I was very nervous, sweat-ing profusely, and couldn’t stand still.

One of the agents was a black man. I had never seen a black per-son before because there are very few black persons in Poland. I kept trying to figure out if any of the cus-tom agents would empathize with me or just have me put on the next plane back to Poland. Finally, it was my time to go up to a custom agent, which happened to be the black guy. I just knew that I was going to be ar-rested and sent back to Poland and probably to jail.

When I got up to the black cus-

toms agent, he startled me by ask-ing in fluent Polish, “How was your flight?” I stammered a little bit, then answered, “The flight was fine. I’m anxious to see my friends now.

The agent replied, ‘Oh, you’re here to visit friends.” I began to talk about my friends in the UK who were all make believe and gave him places they lived which I had picked off the map on the bulkhead in the plane.”

In my brief conversation I told him other places that we planned to allegedly visit. He never asked me about how much money I had, as he was supposed to have asked. He just told me to have a good visit in the UK and handed me back my papers. I was astonished, but I knew that my problems were far from over.

I was flat broke, knew no one, had no place to stay and did not know but five words in English, “I love you,” “dog,” and “Beatles.” I was fluent in French, but I found out quickly that the English didn’t like people who spoke French.

I was able to find a construction job site where they were building apartments. The boss was an old guy who spoke German. I was able to communicate with him enough

to let him know I needed a job. He gave me a paintbrush and a bucket of paint and pointed to a door he want-ed painted. He watched me paint and decided I could paint well enough to hold a job with his company. During my teenage years, my dad had taught us painting, carpentry, electrical and plumbing. These skills served me well during my months in England.

Although I was out of Poland and in the UK, I couldn’t go anywhere else because my Visa expired af-ter three months. Although I found another country to go to, I couldn’t leave the UK without getting deport-ed because of the visa. The only way to get an extension on my visa was to go in person to the Polish Embassy in London. To do that, I was sure was a one way trip back to Poland and jail and then probably a prison in Siberia.”

Writer’s note: It will take at least one more article to tell Rafael’s story of how he got to the USA, then to Zachary where he became the own-er of a very successful bio-medical company based locally. Also of note is that Rafael’s 90-year old dad, Wik-tor, lives with him in Zachary. Wiktor participated in Rafael’s escape from Poland by “faking a heart attack.”

The Lane Regional Medical Center Auxiliary will host a Book Fair on Thursday, June 26 and Friday, June 27.

The sale will be held in the West Wing Conference Room on the first floor of the hospital from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 26, and 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Friday, June 27.

There will be a wide variety of books and gifts at great savings! Cash, check and credit cards will be accepted.

All proceeds will go toward future Auxiliary projects and educational scholarships. For more information, please call the hospital gift shop at (225) 658-4309.

Lane Auxiliary to Host Book Fair


WALLIS continued from page 1

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sues of the week. Mr. Dan, after 32 years of service, still comes into City Hall at least one day a week, which is usually on Tuesday. I try and run my schedule so that I too can come into the city office on the day Mr. Dan is there. He is such a mentor for me and an inspiration. I will really miss him personally as he has been a great friend to a “newcomer” to the council.”

In 1961 when Dan Wallis moved to Zachary, the official population was 3,500. By the time Wallis was first elected to the Council in 1982, the population of Zachary had almost doubled in size to 7,500 residents. By the time Wallis officially retires at the end of 2014, the population

of Zachary will be over 16,000 and headed toward 20,000-population count at the next census in 2020.

After becoming a resident of Zachary, Wallis became a local busi-nessman, owning and operating Sav-O-Pac on LA 19 for 30 years. During his career in business he became a licensed Louisiana Real Estate Bro-ker. Now retired from both the store business and the real estate business, he still owns and operates ABC Self Storage and Notary Public Service.

Wallis is a native of New Or-leans, and attended St. Aloysius High School. He has been married to Georgiann “Jan” Wallis for 55 years. Four children (three boys and one girl) and 14 grandchildren were the results of their marriage. His son, Danny, now Assistant State Fire Marshall for the State of Louisiana,

is also a retired Fire Chief of Zach-ary. Son Henry Wallis is an engineer with Halliburton Company and a member of the Navy Reserves with the rank of Lieutenant. Mike is a fire-man with the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting force at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport as well as an Emergency Room Nurse at the West Feliciana Hospital. Their daughter, Jody, teaches school in Virginia.

Wallis has been very active in civic affairs in Zachary even before being elected to the Council. He was a member of the forerunner of the Zachary Chamber of Commerce, which was known in the 1960’s and 70’s as the Zachary Business Asso-ciation. In his long career in Zach-ary, Wallis has been a member of the Zachary High Century Club, the Lion’s Club, ASRP-AAII, United Commercial Travelers and many amateur radio clubs in the area. Wal-lis has also been involved with most

civic initiatives that have occurred since Wallis became a resident of Zachary.

Wallis also served in the US Navy Aviation Department for six years between 1956 and 1962. In 1962, he entered the Naval Reserves. Wallis and his family are also members of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

Retirement plans as a City Coun-cil Member for Dan Wallis seem fairly simple. He plans to continue to operate his self-storage business, and spend enjoyable time with his grandchildren. Wallis also noted that he would continue to be involved in civic activities and keep up-to-date on activities concerning the City of Zachary.

“I’m extremely proud of the progress that the City of Zachary has made since I became a member of the City Council,” Wallis said. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my many years of community involvement as a Councilmember for the City of Zachary. I would like to thank the citizens of Zachary for their support and vote of confidence in me over the last 32 years.”

Writer’s note: It isn’t often that any city is blessed to have a City Councilman re-elected 7 times to of-fice. Undoubtedly, Dan Wallis had the trust of the people and his fel-low Council members over those 32 years to be the glue that bound the City from one election cycle to the next.


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