The Jena Times Olla-Tullos-Urania Signal

01/24/2025

The LaSalle Parish Police Jury elected a new President and Vice-President during their first meeting of the new year held Monday night, January 13. This year, members unanimously elected District 10 Member Casey Jones as President and last year’s President, District 6 Member Jack Zeagler, as Vice-President ⬇️

The LaSalle Parish Police Jury elected a new President and Vice-President during their first meeting of the new year held Monday night, January 13.

01/24/2025

Members of the Olla Town Council voted to increase the pay scale for the town’s only full-time police officer, excluding the Police Chief, after learning the officer was considering a full-time position at another town for higher pay. The action took place at the Council’s monthly meeting held Tuesday night, January 14, at the Olla Town Hall ⬇️

Members of the Olla Town Council voted to increase the pay scale for the town’s only full-time police officer, excluding the Police Chief, after learning the officer was considering a full-time position at another town for higher pay.

01/23/2025

One of the most successful LaSalle Parish School System Parent Expos took place Thursday afternoon, January 16, at Jena Elementary School’s gymnasium, with over 600 in attendance ⬇️

One of the most successful LaSalle Parish School System Parent Expos took place Thursday afternoon, January 16, at Jena Elementary School’s gymnasium. Over 600 people attended the event (334 students/238 parents/plus vendors), where valuable information was distributed, not only about the services...

01/23/2025

With over 9 million views in the last month alone, the Walking America Couple has become a social media sensation and captured the attention of LaSalle Parish last week when they finally arrived in Olla.
Torin and Paige Rouse of Missouri started their journey of walking through all 50 states on May 16, 2022, spreading a message of love and hope through the changing of the mind ⬇️

With over 9 million views in the last month alone, the Walking America Couple has become a social media sensation and captured the attention of LaSalle Parish last week when they finally arrived in Olla.

01/22/2025

The Jena Giants played a couple of games this past week and improved their district record to 2-0 to maintain their lead in the District 2-3A standings.
Thank you to this week's Giants basketball page sponsor Ace Family Hardware!

The Jena Giants played a couple of games this past week and improved their district record to 2-0 to maintain their lead in the District 2-3A standings.

01/22/2025

The Jena Lady Giants played a couple of home games this past week and continued with their dominating performance on both sides of the ball getting two more wins.
Thank you to this week's Lady Giants basketball page sponsor Homeland Bank!

The Jena Lady Giants played a couple of home games this past week and continued with their dominating performance on both sides of the ball getting two more wins.

01/22/2025

The LaSalle Tigers lost two games last week but got a huge win to help their confidence as they continue to work hard and improve each week.
Thank you to this week's Tigers basketball page sponsor Caldwell Bank and Trust!

The LaSalle Tigers lost two games last week but got a huge win to help their confidence as they continue to work hard and improve each week.

01/22/2025

The LaSalle Lady Tigers played three games last week, two District 3-1A contests and one non-district game, and by the end of the week, their district record stood at 1-1.
Thank you to this week's Lady Tigers basketball page sponsor Caldwell Bank and Trust!

The LaSalle Lady Tigers played three games last week, two District 3-1A contests and one non-district game, and by the end of the week, their district record stood at 1-1.

01/22/2025

This week's edition is sizzlin' with the latest news and local deals, hot off the press and ready for you! (Carefully) make your way to the mailbox or local newsstand to check it out. Or, start an e-edition subscription today and the next time a winter freeze comes to town, you won't have to leave the warmth and comfort of your cozy blanket to read the latest edition of The Jena Times.

01/21/2025

An early morning tragedy sent shockwaves and mourning in Jena today as a local resident lost his life in a vehicle fire. Read the full story on our website - no subscription needed ⬇️

Tragedy in Jena An early morning tragedy sent shockwaves and mourning in Jena today as a local Jena resident lost his life in a vehicle fire. LaSalle Parish Sheriff Lane Windham said that preliminary investigations reveal that Drew McClure, 24, of Jena, lost his life this morning in a tragic vehicle...

01/21/2025

SCHOOL CLOSED AGAIN TOMORROW
The LaSalle Parish School System will be closed once again tomorrow, Wednesday, January 22, due to dangerous conditions of roads and bridges.
The LPSB official release states:
"Due to the dangerous conditions of our roads and bridges, all LaSalle Parish schools and offices will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, January 22.
All extracurricular activities will also be canceled.
Temperatures are expected to climb tomorrow and conditions should improve enough where we anticipate being able to reopen on Thursday."

01/21/2025

Office Closed Until Noon
The Jena Times Olla-Tullos-Urania Signal office will be closed this morning with plans to open at noon.
Newspapers for this week are scheduled to go out on routes on their regular schedule, including getting to the post office for all subscribers to receive as usual tomorrow.

01/21/2025

POST YOUR SNOW DAY PICS!
As LaSalle Parish wakes to a dusting of snow, we're asking for you to post your Snow Day pictures and we will choose some to feature in the newspaper next week.
Whether it's beautiful scenery or children playing in the white stuff, please share you memories with us.
Here are some early Tuesday morning images we captured.

01/20/2025

MLK Day Events
Many in LaSalle Parish braved the elements today to take part in three Martin Luther King Jr. Day events.
The day started with a prayer breakfast at L&A Missionary Baptist Church in Trout, followed by the annual MLK Day Parade through downtown Jena and ending with a special community program at New Evergreen Baptist Church in Jena.
Due to an early print deadline (enacted because of the approaching winter storm) complete coverage of all events will be featured in next week's newspaper.

01/20/2025

LaSalle Parish schools CLOSED Tuesday, January 21, due to incoming winter storm.

01/19/2025

01/18/2025

Every life has a story and purpose, and finding and fulfilling that purpose has been the ongoing work of Urania native Archbishop Doyle Volentine. Archbishop Volentine spent 40 of his 78 years working in mission fields across the continents and this past July, he commemorated his life’s story into a book entitled “Faith That Works by Love: Memoirs of a Missionary.”

Every life has a story and purpose, and finding and fulfilling that purpose has been the ongoing work of Urania native Archbishop Doyle Volentine. Archbishop Volentine spent forty of his 78 years working in mission fields across the continents and this past July, he commemorated his life’s story i...

01/18/2025

During the last year, I have been amazed at the number of (social media) posts of uninformed people of our parish and it has me screaming: “It was in the paper!” I also regularly receive texts or calls from friends who ask me about certain topics and while I gladly respond and answer the questions, what I really want to say is: “It was in the paper!” ⬇️

During the last two years since acquiring this newspaper, my social media life has been drastically downgraded. In fact, although I’m a member of Facebook, Instagram and X, seldom do I post anything and the only platform I really look at is X as it has the most unregulated/ unfiltered news.