Tax Season is Here - But So Is Your Library

It's tax time again, but your Library is here to help you. It may not be much fun to file your taxes, but your Library will make it as easy as possible.

The most valuable tax service available at your Library is the tax preparation provided absolutely free by the well trained volunteers from AARP. They'll be here every Wednesday from 9 am to 5 pm, from February 1 through April 11. People are served on a first come first served basis. It's very popular, so you might have to wait a while. However, thanks to a grant from Entergy, there will be coffee and cookies available - and you can always browse the Library while you're waiting.

Looking for FORMS? We have the Mississippi tax forms, instruction booklets, and mailing envelopes - as well as a few Federal forms - conveniently located at the information desk just inside the front door. Come in and help yourself. Federal tax forms and instructions are no longer mailed out by the government, but they can be downloaded and printed from the internet by following this link, which is also on our web site, either at the Library or at home. Also thanks to the grant from Entergy, all tax related printing charges will be discounted. The grant also allows us to set up a special computer just for patrons printing forms or filing taxes.

Everyone can use FREE File and let the IRS do the hard work for you.  Brand name tax software is available free from several participating software companies if your income is under $57,000 - and some companies also include free filing of state tax returns. Everyone is eligible to use Free File Fillable Forms, which are online versions of the paper forms designed for people comfortable preparing their own tax returns.

Today is Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day. Created in 1975, EITC helps offset the impact of Social Security taxes and provides an incentive for work. It is the federal government's largest benefit program for low income workers. You could be eligible to get more money back from the IRS - as much as $5,751. If you earned less than $49,078 from wages, self-employment, or farming last year, you may qualify for EITC. EITC is a financial boost for working people in a recovering economy. You may be among the millions who will qualify for the first time because your financial, marital, or parental status changed during the recession. So click on the widget below to see if you qualify.

New Best Sellers for January

FICTION

Private: #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. When a former lover’s dead body is found in his bed, Jack Morgan, a former Marine and the head of an investigative firm, is accused of murder.

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly. A former magazine editor attempts to turn her parents’ summer house into a bed and breakfast.

Death comes to Pemberley by P D James. Elizabeth Bennet and her husband, Darcy, of Pride and Prejudice, must deal with a murder.

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz. A 19th century tycoon’s mansion has been turned into luxury apartments, but it remains in the grip of evil forces.

Locked On by Tom Clancy with Mark Greaney. Jack Ryan Jr must stop an emerging threat from a Pakistani general.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. The third volume of the Millennium trilogy, about a Swedish hacker and a journalist.

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell. The chief medical examiner Kay Scarpetta investigates a string of killings linked to the murder of her former deputy.

The Drop by Michael Connelly. Harry Bosch of the LAPD uncovers both the operations of a sadistic killer and a political conspiracy.

A Devil is Waiting by Jack Higgins. Dean Dillon helps to foil a plot to assassinate the President in London.

NONFICTION

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. William Dodd, the US ambassador to Germany, and his daughter, Martha, in 1930s Berlin.

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. A boy’s encounter with Jesus and the angels during an emergency appendectomy.




TEENS

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Sixteen year old Nora Grey struggles to face the truth while coping with having a fallen angel boyfriend named Patch and unraveling the mystery surrounding her father's death.

Wolfbane by Andrea Cremer. Alpha wolf Calla Tor forges an alliance with her masters' enemies and tries to rescue her pack from imprisonment in Vail.

Crossed by Ally Condie. Seventeen year old Cassia sacrifices everything and heads to the Outer Provinces in search of Ky, where she is confronted with shocking revelations about Society and the promise of rebellion.

Love, Inc by Yvonne Collins. When three fifteen year old Austin, Texas, girls, who met in group therapy, discover that they are all dating the same boy, they first get revenge and then start a wildly successful relationship consulting business.

CHILDREN

The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle. Rather than use the same old colors, a child paints animals and objects in a variety of different hues. Includes biographical information about the German painter Franz Marc, who created unconventional animal paintings in the early 1900s.

Dork Diaries 3 ½: How to Dork Your Diary by Rachel Renee Russell. Includes tips and blank pages to write your own diary.

The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. A mouse concocts a batch of cookies in his little house in a tree trunk, sets them in the oven, and then dozes off, with worrisome consequences.

Tales From a Not So Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell. When scholarship student Nikki Maxwell, whose father is the school exterminator, decides to enter the talent show at her expensive private school, her nemesis MacKenzie threatens to reveal Nikki's status to the rest of the school.

A New Year!

Not this again!

New year's resolutions have almost become a thing of the past and the object of jokes. Let's face it -people are very skeptical of them. But in this new era of self improvement and reinvention, perhaps there is a place for a new brand of resolutions. After all, starting a new year is almost like having a clean slate, a fresh beginning. So if you're not perfect yet and want to change some part of your life, the Library can help you succeed. Here are just a few resources, but we have many more.

Get Organized

What's a Disorganized Person to Do? 317 Ideas, Tips, Projects, and Lists to Unclutter Your Home and Streamline Your Life by Stacy Platt

Grow Your Own Food

Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens by Barbara Pleasant

Save Money

Thrifty Living by Barty Phillips

Improve your Relationship

1001 Ways to Be Romantic by Gregory Godek

Get Fit or Expand Your Horizons with DVDs

Yoga for the Rest of Us: Back Care Basics featuring Peggy Cappy

Carol Dickman's Seated Yoga and Bed Top Yoga

The French Chef with Julia Child - the original PBS series featuring 12 episodes

Visions of Europe travel DVDs featuring 6 different countries or regions

And if you've always wanted to brush up your Shakespeare, we have 15 of his greatest produced by the BBC.

If you just want to read more, join our Brown Bag Book Discussion Group. Our next meeting will be at noon on Wednesday, February 15, and the book we're discussing is The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

Come on in, get a library card, or use that old one you've been carrying around - library cards never expire. You'll find a great selection of helpful books, DVDs, and audio books that will help you get your new year off to a great start.

LSU's First Touchdown & First Win were in Natchez!!

1893 was the first year LSU had a football team, and they were coached by a professor. They played one game, which was against Tulane. LSU lost and never even scored. However, this was the beginning of the Purple & Gold. They wanted to use Mardi Gras colors on their uniforms, but they couldn't find any green ribbons because the Tulane Green Wave bought them all.

1894 LSU football team

In 1894, they got a real football coach (Albert Simmons) and played three games. Their first game was on November 30 and was against the Natchez Athletic Club in Natchez. Here they scored their first touchdown and went on to get their first win with a score of 36 - 0. The team's captain, Samuel Marmaduke Dinwidie Clark, became the first LSU player to ever score a touchdown.

Johnny Waycaster had heard this story and asked us if we had the Natchez paper for that time on microfilm. We looked, and sure enough there was an article in the Natchez paper, The Saturday Evening Banner. (You just never know the treasures and trivia your Library has available!) Here's the story - it's hilarious:

The foot-ball game between the University team of Baton Rouge and the Natchez team came off yesterday afternoon. The game was to have taken place on Thanksgiving day, but the visitors were detained on a sand-bar near Lehmann's Landing, on board the steamer Royal, until yesterday morning, when they came up on the Natchez. The game attracted a large crowd to the park, as a foot-ball match was something new for Natchez. It proved to be quite entertaining to those present, but the home team proved to be too weak for the visitors, the score standing 36 - 0. The visitors were entertained last evening at the hospitable home of Capt. F. J. Arrighi, whose son, Hughes Arrighi, is a member of the Baton Rouge team. They departed for home this morning well pleased with their visit, and the courteous treatment received while here. The Natchez foot-ball colors, red, orange, and blue, have been quite prominently displayed during the past few days.

So Natchez families have been sending their children to LSU for a long time - and Natchez hospitality and partying after games are obviously well established traditions.

LSU's second game that year and first home game was against Ole Miss, and LSU had their first loss to Ole Miss. LSU's only touchdown was scored by the coach, who was presumably a player-coach.

1895 LSU football team

In 1895, Coach Albert Simmons, in his last year at LSU, helped the Tigers to their first undefeated season  in LSU football history. The season also featured the first home victory in LSU history with a win over Tulane in front of 1,500 spectators. They did not play Ole Miss that year - but they did play Alabama in the last game of the season. Surely that will happen again on Monday!.

1896 LSU football team

In 1896, LSU played 6 games, was again undefeated, and won their first Conference Championship. This time, they beat Ole Miss for the first time. And this rivalry continued forever.






NOTE: The pictures and some of this information came from Wikipedia.