COMMISSIONER EPPERSON SPONSORS RESOLUTION TO PRAISE NEWSPAPER HE VOTED TO KILL

The Shreveport Sun along with the Caddo Citizen were the official journals for the Caddo Commission/Caddo Parish for many years.
 
The Sun was based in Shreveport and the Citizen’s office was in Vivian.
 
These two papers published the official notices of the Commission and the Parish along with the minutes of Commission meetings. The money paid by the parish to these papers was a substantial income stream that maintained their economic viability.
 
Last year Caddo Commissioner Ken Epperson joined the other commissioners in voting to name the Shreveport Times as its official journal for 2025-2026 fiscal year. This vote was, in effect, to subsidize Gannett Co. Inc which owns The Shreveport Times versus these two papers.
 
This decision was a death knell for both papers. The last edition of the Caddo Citizen was in July of last year and The Sun closed shortly thereafter.
 
The Caddo Citizen was owned by a publishing company headquartered in Natchitoches.
 
The Shreveport Sun was founded by Melvin Lee Collins, Sr. in 1920 and it was owned by the Collins family.
 
The Sun held the distinction of being Louisiana’s oldest continuously published weekly newspaper targeted at African American readers. The paper originally operated on Texas Avenue, and it later moved to Jewella. At one time it was the  pride of Shreveport's African American community.
 
Epperson’s resolution of Recognition Acknowledging the Historic Contributions of the Shreveport Sun is of little solace to its owners and its long-time readers.
 
No doubt Epperson will have a long monologue at the Commission meeting filled with historical references while ignoring his part in the death of the paper.
 
Mark Anthony’s famous quote in William Shakespeare’s play JULIUS CAESAR was "I come to bury Caesar, not praise him. Epperson's hypocrisy can be summed up as “I come to praise The Sun, after burying it.”