Central City News

In September 2008, Hurricane Gustav swept through the new City of Central with winds over 90 miles per hour, and damage was widespread.  Central received 10 times more damage than during Hurricane Katrina. It was Central’s most destructive hurricane in living memory. But the community pulled together, and in many ways, it was Central’s finest hour […]

The new Central School Complex on Sullivan Road, which cost $46 million, contains two separate schools — Central Middle School and Central Intermediate School. The new school complex includes classroom space for 1,200 students at Central Middle School and 1,200 students at Central Intermediate School. The classrooms are state-of-the-art and include presentation tables with computers for […]

The Central City News has named the late Mayor Pro-Tem of the City of Central, Ralph Washington, as Central’s Servant Leader of the Decade. Editor Woody Jenkins said Washington best epitomizes the ideal of a man or woman who became a great leader through humble service to the community. “I’m sure there has never been […]

On Monday night, Nov. 2, 2009, a 25-year-old Central man decided to “get involved” and do more than just “mind his own business.” As a result, five members of a family are still alive, and the worst tragedy in Central history was averted.  Ironically, the man was in just the right place at just the […]

On Monday, March 25, 2013, Jesse Shaffer III and his son Jesse IV were honored at Arlington National Cemetery with one of the nation’s highest civilian awards, the Citizen “Service Before Self” Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Jesse III, 54, a native of Central and 1976 graduate of Central High School, and […]

As a result of the incorporation of the City of Central in July 2005 and the creation of the Central Community School System in January 2007, a great deal of governmental authority was transferred from Baton Rouge to the new governmental entities in Central and to the people of Central.  Here are 10 of the […]

Over the past 10 years, many citizens of Central have made an important contribution to building a new city, creating a new school system, developing the infrastructure, and building the economy.  Yet, there can be little doubt that the outstanding accomplishment of the decade 2005 to 2015 is the creation of the Central Community School […]

There is an old saying, “time flies when you’re having a good time”. Well, 10 years have flown by for the City of Central and there have definitely been some good times. From the beginning, our city planners used forward thinking  for the future of our city. The efforts of many people helped steer Central […]

Hurricane Katrina was the worst tropical storm to hit Louisiana since the 1960’s but here in Central, the worst was Hurricane Gustav which hit Central in 2008, bringing winds of 90 miles an hour, very heavy rain, and flooding of the Comite River.  When Katrina and Gustav are compared, Gustav actually did 10 times more […]

The idea of incorporating the City of Central began at least as early as 1973 when the delegates to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention negated a provision of the City-Parish Plan of Government that prohibited the creation of any new cities in East Baton Rouge Parish.  But it wasn’t until Russell Starns and a hardy band […]