New directional signs on incoming highways, fresh colors on logos and

eye-catching landscaping are just a few of the outward improvements

made in recent months at the Louisiana Boardwalk Outlets designed to

give an updated look to the retail outlet. ♦ The spruced-up external look

coincides with a new brand and marketing campaign. New York-based

Garrison Investment Group, owners of the property since March 2013, switched the

name late last year from the Outlets at the Louisiana Boardwalk to Louisiana Board-

walk Outlets to showcase the outlet store emphasis. ♦ “Our team is targeting that

market,” Marketing Manager Ashley Davis said.

LOUISIANA BOARDWALKOUTLETS GETS NEW

NAME, UPDATES LOOK

PHOTOS BY HENRIETTA WILDSMITH/THE TIMES

The trolly runs in the center of the Louisiana Boardwalk Outlets.

AboutLouisianaBoardwalkOutlets

The 550,000-square-foot outlet centerfeatures outlet stores,dining establishmentsand entertainmentvenues. Overlookingthe Red River, theLouisiana BoardwalkOutlets’ tenant rosterincludes Bass ProShops OutdoorWorld, Banana Re-public Factory Store,J.Crew Factory, GapOutlet, Levi’s, HaggarClothing Co., Carter’s,The Children’s Place,Fossil, Wilson’s Leath-er Outlet and NikeFactory Store, BuffaloWild Wings, Joe’sCrab Shack, SaltgrassSteakhouse and RegalCinema. Visit louisianaboard-walk.com for moreinformation includinga complete storedirectory, drivingdirections, store saleupdates and specialevent information.

Aerial view ofthe LouisianaBoardwalkOutlets whichis updatingand makingchanges.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015Informing more than 234,411 readers in print and online each week shreveporttimes.com

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MONROE — People living with HIV orAIDS in Southern states have a higher mor-tality rate, according to new findings byDuke University.

The South had the nation’s lowest five-year survival rate for those diagnosed withHIV/AIDS with 15 percent of people withHIV and 27 percent with AIDS dying withinthe first five years of their diagnosis.

Louisiana was one of nine Southernstates with the poorest rates of survival.Younger, rural, black females who attribut-ed their HIV infection to heterosexual sexwere among the majority of patients withthe worse survival rate.

Louisiana had the lowest survival ratesafter a diagnosis, followed by Mississippi.In Louisiana, 19 percent of people diag-nosed with HIV died within five years andone-third of people diagnosed with AIDSdied within five years.

“The targeted states with the most con-cerning mortality statistics, particularlyLouisiana, may especially be in need of fo-cused attention on addressing the factorscontributing to these concerning statis-tics,” the report stated.

Eric Evans, advocacy coordinator forShreveport’s Philadelphia Center, said peo-ple in the South, such as Louisiana and otherstates, do suffer higher mortality rates.

“It’s due to their lack of having easier ac-cess to medical care,” Evans said. “We’vehad our own individual issues in Louisianawith the privatization of hospitals and the

HIV/AIDSsurvivalrates poorin SouthMortality rates in region,state are highest in USBy Scott Rogers Gannett Louisiana

See HIV/AIDS, Page 6A

Little Free Library support spurs petition for change

COMMUNITYBACKING

PAGE 3A

HIGH 55 | LOW 37Cloudy, warmer, Page 2

TODAY’S FORECASTBusiness ................4AClassifieds..............7CSports .....................1C

Deaths....................7ATelevision ..............3BConversations. .....1B

SH-1000526805

By Vickie Welborn | vwelborn@shreveporttimes.com

See BOARDWALK, Page 5A

The Times | shreveporttimes.com Tuesday, February 3, 2015 | Page 5A

SPD: Child struckover weekend dies

A child struck by acar while riding a bicy-cle over the weekendhas died, Shreveportpolice say.

Officials learned justafter 9 a.m. Monday ofthe death of 7-year-oldDe'Asia Henderson,struck just after 2 p.m.Saturday after a car hita utility pole and rolledover onto her as shewas sitting on her bicy-cle waiting to crossYouree Drive at Hern-don Street.

The car, a DodgeAvenger operated by46-year-old Randy Pre-sentine, had left theroadway hitting a lightpole causing his vehicleto roll over.

The Shreveport FireDepartment arrived onthe scene and took thegirl to University Hos-pital, where she laterdied.

After interviews bydetectives, Presentine,of the 2600 block ofMeadow Avenue inShreveport, was arrest-ed and originallybooked into the Shreve-port City Jail on onecount of first-degreevehicular negligentinjury, one count ofdriving while intoxicat-ed, one count of drivingunder suspension andone count of no insur-ance. The negligentinjuring charge laterwas upgraded to negli-gent homicide and theDWI charge incorporat-ed into that, SPDspokesman Cpl. BreckScott said.

Woman injured inmorning shooting

Shreveport policehope to find the personwho shot a woman justminutes into the newday Monday.

Just after midnight,police got a call fromWillis-Knighton Med-ical Center on Green-wood Road that a wom-an had been broughtthere suffering from agunshot wound to herlower body. There,officers found ShirleyRichardson, 46, whothey learned had beenshot while driving downSnowden Street. Thatruns south off PowellStreet just west of Jew-ella Avenue in the southpart of Mooretown.Richardson had beentaken to the hospital byprivate auto with whata police release termednon-life-threateningwounds.

Detectives learnedan unknown person, nodescription available,had fired a weapontoward the vehicle inwhich Richardson was

a passenger, with atleast one round strikingher. Neither she nor thedriver of the car couldprovide any informa-tion on the assailant.

Anyone with infor-mation on the shootingshould Shreveport-Caddo Parish CrimeStoppers at (318) 673-7373 or leave a tip atlockemup.org.

SPD vice unit citesbusinesses in sting

Shreveport Policevice officers cited 11local businesses duringa two-day sting opera-tion to reduce sales ofalcoholic beverages andtobacco to minors, arelease said.

Agents made numer-ous undercover pur-chases of alcoholic bev-erages and tobaccothroughout the cityThursday and Friday,according to the releaseissued Monday. Afterconfidential informantsmade purchases, agentswent into the businessesand cited the individ-uals selling in violationof state law and cityordinance.

The 11 violators andtheir charges are:

» The Cub, 3002 Gi-rard Ave.; Rosie Foster,of the 3400 block ofJohnette, sale of alcoholto a person under age21.

» Madison Park FoodStore, 336 Gregg St.;Kathryn Shahriar, ofthe 6700 block of Broa-dacres Road, sale oftobacco to a personunder age 18.

» In and Out Store,4301 Linwood Ave.;Amjad Hamad, of the8500 block of ChalmetteDrive, sale of tobacco toa person under age 18.

» Stop and Fly, 3102Jewella Ave.; Eid Ay-yad, of the 300 block ofEdwards St., BossierCity, sale of tobacco to aperson under age 18.

» Raceway, 3701Hearne Ave.; EvelynSepulvado, of the 3000block of Regent St., saleof tobacco to personunder age 18.

» Highland Park andShop, 503 Stoner Ave.;Tray Birmingham, ofthe 200 block of MelissaLane, Bossier City, saleof tobacco to a personunder age 18, sale ofalcohol to a person un-der age 21, no ABOcard.

» India Restaurant,3030 Youree Drive;Chandra Yelagam, ofthe 200 block of E.Washington St., sale ofalcohol to a person un-der age 21.

» Speedway, 4461Greenwood Road; Na-tasha Sims, of the 3100block of Catherine St.,sale of alcohol to a per-

son under age 21.» Raceway, 9535

Mansfield Road; EricaDillard, of the 200 blockof W. 77th Street, sale ofalcohol to a person un-der age 21.

» Shreveport SuperStop, 4000 LakeshoreDrive; Alawna Hussein,of the 4000 block ofLakeshore Drive, saleof tobacco to a personunder age 18.

» Lakeshore Grocery,2506 Lakeshore Drive;Zuhdi Asmar, of the9000 block of Smither-man Drive, sale of to-bacco to a person underage 18.

Kitchen firedamages SunsetAcres house

A fire traced togrease left on a stoveburner damaged ahouse in Sunset AcresMonday afternoon, theShreveport Fire Depart-ment reports.

Firefighters respon-ded to the call from the3200 block of WagnerStreet just before 2 p.m.to find a single-storywood-frame house withheavy smoke comingfrom its front door. Thefirst responders in thehouse found the kitchenon fire. The blaze wasbrought under controlin just a few minutes.

Neither of the twoadults living there washome at the time of thefire. However, one oc-cupant who returnedwhile crews were fight-ing the fire said he hadbeen home, placedgrease on the stove andforgot about it and left.He returned while SFDwas on scene. The firedamage was containedto the kitchen and didnot spread into the attic,the release said.

SPD sergeantplaced on leave

A decorated Shreve-port Police sergeantwas placed on adminis-trative leave over theweekend by Chief WillieShaw, a release says.

The Sunday noticesaid Sgt. James Creight-on was placed leaveafter an allegation ofunspecified possiblepolicy violations.

Creighton was hiredby the department inAugust 1994. He re-ceived the department’sMedal of Valor in May2003 for his part incapturing six men in-volved in an armoredcar heist, an incidentthat resulted in a fellowofficer, Mark Sharbono,being shot by one of themen involved in theheist.

— From Staff Reports

BLOTTER

Announcements areanticipated this year on anew riverfront restau-rant and additional na-tional retailers that are“unique to the market,”said Davis, who cannotdisclose details until thedeals are complete.

Until then, shoppersstill will find some newfaces among the morethan 70 retailers. Charm-ing Charlie opened Mon-day and Under ArmourFactory is scheduled toopen in mid-March.

“That will be huge,”Davis said of the popularathletic apparel line.

They join recent retail-ers J.Crew, Torrid and Le-vi’s that opened in recentmonths.

Davis complimentsthe Louisiana BoardwalkOutlets owners withspending money on theproperty to make it ap-pealing to the more na-tionally known brandssuch as J. Crew.

“We needed that bigname and the owners in-vested to make it happen.That’s the first J. Crew inNorth Louisiana,” Davissaid. “Levi’s opened lastyear, too, and is doingwell.”

On the flip side,though, the shopping cen-ter has lost some tenants,such as Wet Seal, whichclosed hundreds of itsstores earlier this monthbecause of a bankruptcyfiling, and Anna’s Linens.And a Coach pop-up storeended its temporary run.

Louisiana BoardwalkOutlets continues to ag-gressively market itselfto tourists, which Davisestimates makes up 40percent of the shoppers.A partnership with theShreveport-Bossier Con-vention and Tourist Bu-reau and other hot spotsin the area, including therenovated Municipal Au-ditorium, Sci-Port and the

Gardens at the AmericanRose Center, aims to pro-vide an “experience tour”for the group tour seg-ment.

The first tour lastweek allowed the visitorsto pair chocolates fromthe Chocolate Crocodilewith wine at Margarita-ville Resort Casino. It’scapped off with a visit toDestiny Day Spa.

“Instead of just drop-ping them off the bus ...we’re creating these ex-periences for them,” Da-vis said.

It all goes hand-in-hand with the new adver-tising campaign, con-ceived and designed byStrategy+Style Market-ing Group, a New YorkCity-area marketing con-sulting firm, features theheadline: “Shop. Save.Dine,” which communi-cates the complete life-style experience theproperty offers.

“Louisiana BoardwalkOutlets’ new marketingprogramming is not onlyvisually-compelling as iteffectively communi-cates its store roster andsavings equation, but al-lows shoppers to easilyconnect with the propertyas a robust destinationcomplete with outletshopping, an array of din-ing options and recrea-tion locations,” Strate-gy+Style MarketingGroup Partner Karen E.Fluharty said.

But the Boardwalkowners have not forgot-ten about the local shop-pers. Davis encouragesthose who have not beenin a while to check outwhat’s been taking placein their absence.

The wayfinding sig-nage that’s been erectedthroughout includes up-dates to the pylon andmonuments to assist inpointing shoppers to dif-ferent locations through-out site. Even motoristsentering the property andparking garage will findnew directional signsgeared to helping with

traffic flow. “We wanted the way-

finding to be fresh andeasy to read with a littlebit of playfulness,” saidScott Bond, owner ofWorkshop Design in Kan-sas City. “We combinedseveral elements fromthe new logo into the de-sign — mainly colors andshapes — as a means toreinforce the develop-ment’s identity as a retaildestination for the com-munity.”

Newcomers or returnshoppers also will findthat the open-air trolleyonce confined to tracksinside the property hasbeen replaced with one onwheels that is enclosedwith air conditioning andheating. It also now has aparking lot route.

Davis makes a point ofscheduling assorted spe-cial events and weekendentertainers that not onlygives shoppers a littlesomething extra but al-lows local groups to show-case themselves.

She encourages peopleto view the LouisianaBoardwalk Outlets as the“downtown mecca” ofBossier City and put it ontheir list to spend a fewhours during their offtime to see a movie, eatout and shop, or find aspot to visit with friends.

“A lot of locals havenot seen our changes.There is a new feelingaround the Boardwalk,”Davis said.

Twitter: @vawelborn

HENRIETTA WILDSMITH/THE TIMES

Charming Charlie is a new store coming to the Louisiana Boardwalk Outlets.

BoardwalkContinued from Page 1A

“We needed thatbig name and theowners investedto make ithappen. That’sthe first J. Crew inNorth Louisiana.” ASHLEY DAVISLouisiana BoardwalkOutlets marketingmanager

BATON ROUGE — Louisi-ana’s fire marshal’s officehasn’t consistently inspect-ed schools, universities,state buildings and healthfacilities to ensure compli-ance with fire and safetycodes, according to an auditreleased Monday.

Legislative Auditor Da-ryl Purpera’s Office re-viewed inspection and en-forcement actions from

2011 through 2013 and out-lined several ways the firemarshal was falling short.

The fire marshal doesn’tmake sure violations arequickly corrected anddoesn’t penalize repeat of-fenders to ensure theyclean up their mistakes, theaudit said.

In a written response,State Fire Marshal ButchBrowning defended his of-fice’s work, saying theagency has been reorga-nized and improved since

2008. He said a computerupgrade in May will “com-pletely revolutionize” in-spection and enforcementto put them in line with theauditor’s recommenda-tions.

The fire marshal’s of-fice has an operating bud-get around $22 million and54 inspectors for nearly25,900 structures, accord-ing to Purpera’s review.Fire marshal employeessaid they had competing re-sponsibilities — such as ar-

son investigations andamusement ride inspec-tions — that often takeaway from their buildinginspections, the audit said.

Louisiana law puts thefire marshal in charge of in-spections for all state orfederally-licensed build-ings, universities andschools. The office is re-quired to do annual inspec-tions of health care facili-ties, day care centers,group homes and sub-stance abuse facilities.

State regulations don’tspell out a specific inspec-tion timeline for schools,universities, state build-ings and outpatient facili-ties like mental health pro-viders and public healthclinics. The audit suggeststhe fire marshal needs todevise a “risk-based strate-gy” that ensures regular in-spections of these facili-ties, which make up 69 per-cent of the structures un-der its oversight.

Purpera’s office said it

spot-checked 278 of thosebuildings and found that 65weren’t inspected during2013 and 20 weren’t in-spected over the full three-year period reviewed.

Auditors also reviewed385 violations cited by thefire marshal from 2011 to2013 and said the officedidn’t return to re-inspect21percent of the violations.Thirty-two percent of thebuildings with violationshad repeat problems, butdidn’t receive penalties.

Audit: Fire marshal needs to improve inspectionsBy Melinda DeslatteAssociated Press