Over the last approximate year and one half there have been many changes in the Clerk’s office. Two employees, William Choate and Debbie Greene both with over 30 years’ experience retired. Another employee with more than 12 years’ experience left to accept a job in the Registrar’s office.

Former Chief Deputy Clerk Debbie Greene was the most recent to retire. Her dedicated leadership was vitally important to help navigate the office through these difficult times. Change is always hard, but with strong leadership it can lead to a positive outcome.

I am very proud to announce that I appointed Eddie Holmes as my Chief Deputy immediately following Debbie’s retirement. Eddie’s background and experience made him the most qualified member of my staff. He also has the support of all of our Deputy Clerks.

Eddie has lived in Bienville Parish most of his life. When he was in tenth grade, I hired him to work as an intern during the summer, and because of his strong work ethic, I kept him on through the next two summers. During that time he worked mostly in the land department and learned that operation very well.

When Eddie left Arcadia to attend LSU in Baton Rouge. He contacted me to ask if I could assist him with work in one of the nearby clerk’s office, I was happy to call my good friend Mark Graffeo, Clerk of Court in West Baton Rouge Parish, and recommend Eddie to him. After interviewing Eddie, Clerk Graffeo hired him to work in his office as Eddie’s college schedule permitted.

After graduating LSU with a degree in criminology, Eddie came back to Bienville Parish and was hired by our school board to teach at Ringgold High School. After teaching a year, Eddie decided that he would enroll at Louisiana Tech to obtain his Master’s Degree. He came to see me to ask if I could employ him part-time while he attended La Tech. Fortunately we needed someone part-time and I agreed to hire Eddie again.

Within a year, Eddie decided that his calling was to serve the public and asked for a full-time position in our office. As fate would have it, we needed a full time deputy at the time and I appointed Eddie to the position as Deputy Clerk of Court in August of 2008. Since that time, Eddie has worked in every department of our office. His strong computer skills have been invaluable to me as I was running our computer department myself.

Eddie and his wife Annie, who is employed by the school board as a school psychologist, live in Arcadia and have a 4 year old son. Eddie is a long time member of the First Baptist Church where they regularly attend and Eddie serves on the media team.

It is my hope that young people will see this story and be inspired to take advantage of opportunities available in our parish. You can be successful here, work hard and good things will happen for you!

We are honored to welcome you to our new state-of-the art courthouse built by the great people of this parish. This facility was established to better serve the citizens of our parish as we move toward the future. We consider it a privilege to work here and serve you.