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PINEVILLE, La. (KALB) - The Louisiana Army National Guard (LANG) hosted a redesignation ceremony for the newly named Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville. For over 118 years, LANG has served the Cenla community, the state and the nation. But on Wednesday, the new name brought change.

“Today marks a new chapter in the history of this installation,” said LANG Major General Keith Waddell.

A committee, made up of 14 military, local and state officials, reviewed 234 potential names and made their recommendations to the Adjutant General. After careful consideration, Maj. Gen. Keith Waddell selected the name with the top number of votes from the committee: Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville. One of the focal points was the people of LANG.

“No past or present individual is more important than the team that we honor and recognize today as the Louisiana National Guard,” said Maj. Gen. Waddell.

After 153 days of submissions, the name was a match.

“Our redesignation committee convened multiple times to consider all 234 submissions and select and rank the top six,” Maj. Gen. Waddell said. “I am happy to report that the committee’s recommendation for the new name was the number one of the top six.”

Gov. Jon Bel Edwards gave credit to Maj. Gen. Waddell’s leadership and said the people of the state inspire him but has a deeper tie to LANG.

“There’s not a group of Louisianans who inspire me as frequently or as deeply as the Louisiana National Guard,” Gov. Edwards said. “There’s a lot that’s changed over the last 118 years, and we want this installation to be as strong as it can possibly be for the next 100 years and beyond.”

While the name of this installation is changing, the mission does not. The installation will remain committed to supporting all training of the LANG and Department of Defense customers in support of military and emergency operations, both federal and state.

“This has always been a place for units to do training in an inclusive place for units to do training,” said Colonel Dirk Erickson. “So, my memories are not of the name. My memories are of the men and women I served with and of the missions I launched to go do from this location.”

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PINEVILLE, La. (KALB) - The Pineville Rebels experienced growing pains in 2022 after an 0-10 season that saw the team start 17 sophomores in the second half of the season.

For the last eight months, those sophomores have been in the weight room with the motivation of that winless season to show that they are more improved this time around.

“It was thought of every single day,” said head coach Bryant Bell on his team going 0-10. “Our season last year was our driving motivational factor this offseason, and it’s something that irritates all of us in our fieldhouse.”

The 2022 season had the Rebels going back to the drawing board. Coach Bell said 24 hours after the season finale last year, his team went back to work, and now he feels they have found their identity. Coach Bell has put an emphasis on running the football behind the anchor on the offensive line that is 6′5 Aden Gaines.

The coaching staff found Gaines in the hallways of Pineville High School and invited him out to practice, where he is now expected to be a starter for the Rebels.

With a bigger offensive line, Pineville’s offense will feature more of an option attack, giving second-year quarterback Jaylan Witty more options under center.

“I’m still being the same person I am passing-wise,” said Witty. “They are just adding me more in the run game. I feel like I developed my speed more and have been working on getting faster to help as much as possible in this run offense.”

On the defensive end, where the Rebels gained the most experience is on the coaching staff. Former Louisiana Christian and Menard head coach Justin Charles is now in command of the Rebels’ defense that did not get much rest last season. Pineville gave up an average of 41 points per game a year ago. However, so far this summer, it has been the defensive unit coming out strong during camp.

“I knew when our season was over last year that I had to find somebody,” said Coach Bell. “It was an easy decision to fire myself and to bring him on when I had that opportunity.”

Coach Bell called defensive plays for the Rebels in past seasons but is relieving those duties to focus on other areas of the team. The players have already started to gravitate towards their new defensive coordinator.

“He’s bringing a lot of good insight and new ways on how to attack the offense,” said Rebels’ linebacker Zane Seits. “I’m really looking forward to it. From here on out, it’s going up. Nowhere else to go.”

The Rebels will have six home games this season, including the season opener against Winnfield on Friday, Sept. 1 and a Week 6 matchup against West Monroe. Despite West Monroe and Pineville being district rivals, West Monroe has not made the trip down to Pineville in a decade.

KALB’s Cenla Summer Camp Series 2023 is presented by La. Farm Bureau.

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Copyright 2023 KALB. All rights reserved.

A Houston energy company is considering building a $1.8 billion methanol production facility in Rapides Parish that would harvest local trees to create biomass energy.

SunGas Renewables wants to manufacture 400,000 tons of methanol each year through biomass gasification at Beaver Lake Renewable Energy, the site of the former International Paper facility in Pineville, according to a press release from Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Gasification involves burning of wood in a limited supply of air to give a combustible gas consisting of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane, water, nitrogen, along with contaminants like small char particles, ash and tars. The gas is cleaned to make it suitable for use in boilers, engines and turbines to produce heat and power.

The proposed Beaver Lake plant would use timber cut from local forests for the biomass and use carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology to burn the trees in a cleaner process to make what the company calls “green methanol.”

Controversy surrounds both biomass energy and CCS. Although many regulators currently designate biomass energy as “renewable” because trees can regrow, some environmental scientists question that designation because biomass relies on deforestation and often produces high levels of carbon dioxide and particulate matter. Some scientists even argue biomass energy produces more carbon dioxide than coal, according to an article in Physics World.

As for CCS, the technology is still relatively new and has had a spotty track record of reducing carbon emissions in a cost-effective manner. Advocates for cleaner renewable energy, such as solar and wind, say CCS has struggled to prove effective at a large industrial scale and diverts funding away from solutions that do work. Other carbon capture projects have drawn immense pushback from Louisiana residents.

According to the governor’s press release, a front-end engineering and design study on the site is planned in October. The company expects to make a final investment decision in August 2024, and to begin construction beginning by the end of that year. It anticipates commercial operations to commence in 2027.

The company said it expects to create 109 direct jobs with an average annual salary of $78,000. Beaver Lake’s construction would create 1,150 temporary jobs, according to the Louisiana Economic Development agency.

To attract the project, the state is offering SunGas Renewables a $6 million performance-based grant for infrastructure improvements upon meeting investment and employment targets. Also, if the project moves forward, the company will likely receive incentives through the Quality Jobs tax credit program and the Industrial Tax Exemption Program.

SunGas Renewables plans an engineering and design study of the Pineville site in October, the governor’s office said. The company plans to make its final decision on investing in the Beaver Lake project by 2024 and would begin construction later in the year. The plant would begin operations in 2027.

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PINEVILLE, La. (KALB) - It is the time of year when the twinkle of Christmas lights lining rooftops and tree branches brings out a twinkle in children’s eyes. A sense of wonder only the Christmas season creates. It is that same sense of wonder that Shannon Casey looks to inspire each year with Casey’s Christmas Light Show in Pineville, as he transforms his ordinary brick home into a scene of holiday magic.

“I remember as a kid, I would always see the lights but we couldn’t afford it, we didn’t have it,” said Casey. “But I always said that if we were able to we would. And we do.”

Though he does not necessarily have a big budget, he has a big love for the Christmas season worth at least 100,000 bulbs of lights - and counting.

Putting on such a massive display, especially in your front yard, is a big undertaking. A year’s worth of planning, six weeks’ worth of work and a whole lot of help from neighbors and friends, and it’s the ornate display on Hickory Hill Road that has dubbed Casey ‘The Lightman’ in his neighborhood.

“A lot of my stuff, a lot of people don’t believe me, but it is actually handmade. You know, I make it myself out of PVC pipe, tomato cages, plywood, paint and just metal pipe,” explained Casey. “I have an idea one night or something will come to me, and throughout the year, I build stuff and put lights on it and see how it’s gonna work and add it to the show.”

As his show grows, his ideas do too. Each one that does not make it into the Christmas show gets added to his ‘Christmas Playbook’ for the next year.

“As soon as I start taking this down in January, February I’ll start building, making new stuff for the next year’s show,” said Casey.

Adding to his love for Christmas is the giving spirit of the season, fitting for someone who retired after 30 years of service in the Louisiana Army National Guard. Each child that stops by Casey’s house can leave an address-marked letter to Santa in his big, red mailbox, and they can expect a present at their doorstep before Christmas Day.

Casey added that the mailbox is also open to anyone wanting to donate to his gift-giving efforts.

Casey’s Christmas Light Show will dazzle visitors until January 1 at 2483A Hickory Hill Road Pineville, LA 71360.

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The Central Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for Ritchie Real Estate celebrate the opening of their new Pineville branch at 3919 Highway 28 East and also held one for their next door neighbor, Khmericano Coffee.

"This is a secondary branch location for Ritchie Real Estate,” said Matt Ritchie, owner of the real estate brokerage in Alexandria. “It’s great to see a Pineville office for Ritchie Real Estate. This is our 20^th year in business in Central Louisiana.”

The office will be staffed by Jennifer Byrd who also lives closer to the Pineville location than the Alexandria location so it made sense for her to have an office here, said Ritchie.

“Jennifer Byrd, who has been with us for four years, is the number one agent in the market. She just keeps breaking records and helping folks and families move and buy and sell and has just done a phenomenal job and this is the result of it,” said Ritchie.

To help celebrate the opening of the new office and Khmericano Coffee, Byrd invited high school students from some local schools for two reasons. The first one was because she invited a Louisiana Tech recruiter and her friend Sam Speed to talk to them about the school. She and her husband Warren Byrd are both La. Tech graduates, and the school was a big part of their journey.

“I always try to spread the La. Tech love,” said Byrd who majored in business.

The second reason was because she wanted the students to see entrepreneurship at work so they can appreciate the monumental risk that business owners, like Khmerican Coffee owners Kristen and Bebe Leang, take just to serve them a cup of coffee.

Khmericano Coffee, owned by Kristen and Bebe Leang, has been open since June and recently expanded their shop to include a seating area, study room and playroom.

The Leangs started Khmericano Coffee as a coffee truck that was a converted horse trailer before making their dream of opening a brick-and-mortar a reality.

“They are the most incredible people that you will ever meet. They have such a passion for life, for God, and for serving other people and, just to give you a spirit of a wonderful joy over a cup of coffee,” said Carlina Rika, a customer and friend. “And every time you come in, you can't meet them without a beautiful smile, and they will go out of their way just to make you feel welcome. I keep coming back and coming back not for business just, but because I love them as a couple.”

Dupree told them that it was a great accomplishment in going from a food truck to a standing location.

“We have another success story just up the road with Jim Deggy’s. He started as a food truck in a vehicle that a military vehicle that he converted for that purpose and that the demand for that became such that he had to move into a brick-and-mortar location. Same thing here. So I'm glad that two very successful food truck entrepreneurs now call Pineville home,” said Dupree.

“I’d like to mention that we’re in Pineville a lot lately and what a great thing that is. There’s so much happening. And I think we’re going to keep cutting ribbons on this side of the river,” said Chamber president Deborah Randolph.