Ex-logger now
Senator, retains work ethic By James Ronald Skains "If I had followed the career path that I enjoyed most, I would still be a logging contractor," State Senator Neil Riser told the Piney Woods Journal. "I started out in the logging woods part-time when I was fourteen working with my Uncle Kenneth Gore." "Kenneth was a very good logger who was very serious about the logging business," Senator Riser recalled. "He was all work and not much play." "One day we got rained out, and went home early," Senator Riser said. "One of the guys in the crew was named Bernard. The next morning after the rainout, Bernard said to Kenneth, 'Boss, I sure had a problem yesterday afternoon.' "All serious, Kenneth asked Bernard, what was the problem,'' Senator Riser who worked his way through NLU (ULM) by working in the logging woods recalled. "Well Boss," Bernard replied, yesterday, we got off early but I had to drive around for three hours until it got dark so that I could find my house." "Kenneth didn't say anything to him but the next morning, Kenneth gathered the crew up around the fire about daylight and made a little speech," Senator Riser remembered. "Boys, he said, I've had some complaints about the hours that we work and time that we get home at night." "Let me make it very clear to you guys, you don't need to wear a watch on my jobs and worry about time it is," Senator Riser noted. "There is only two times a day that you need to be concerned about the time; and that is daylight and you better be on the job working. The other time is when it gets dark. You can then start thinking about quitting time," Senator Riser recalled. "Kenneth had his rules and regulations and you either did it his way or you hit the highway." "I almost got fired myself for being 30 minutes late one morning," the Senator pointed out. "From then on, I set three clocks around my room so that there was no way I was going to oversleep." Senator Riser's 29th district covers parts of ten parishes, nine of which are in Congressman Rodney Alexander's 22-parish Congressional District. Riser's district begins in the southern portion of Ouachita Parish, stretches to the Mississippi River on the east and goes south through part of Rapides and Avoyelles Parishes and then jumps the river taking in all of West Feliciana Parish. "To cover all my district, I have to go out of state," the Senator acknowledged with a laugh. Neil Riser's career path changed about twenty years ago when three things occurred within a few years period. First, the forest industry began its downward path as imported lumber begin to erode the US lumber market. Next, Neil's father died at age 50 and Neil was left with the choice of having to take over the small family business for the financial security of his mother and siblings. The third factor in the career change was the death of his Uncle Kenneth Gore in a logging accident. "I first thought about running for State Senator in 2003, but Noble Ellington and I had been good friends for a long time, and I figured the best way to bust up a good friendship was to run against him," the first term Senator noted. "So in 2007, I made my first run for elected office in Noble's old senate district and he ran for State Representative in the Winnsboro area district." "We've got some real serious budget problems to work through this year," Senator Riser explained. "I've got several major concerns and one is the Pharmacy school at ULM. We've got to find a way protect its budget because Northeast Louisiana can't afford for the Pharmacy School to lose its accreditation." "Secondly, I'm really concerned about the farmers in my district," Senator Riser acknowledged. "In my district, we have more row crop farming than in any other senatorial district in the state. I'm very concerned about how budget cuts will impact our agricultural research stations and the LSU Extension Service." "The logging industry is in desperate shape and I don't see many things that we can do to help," the former logger noted. "Timber is a big industry for both Caldwell and LaSalle parishes and throughout north Louisiana. I've always thought of the loggers as being the true environmentalist who have a vested interest in taking care of our timberland." "We do have two bright spots on the horizon for the industry. First, we have a serious party interested in getting the Timbec Paper mill in St. Francisville up and running again," Senator Riser explained. "Secondly, I think that biomass has a tremendous potential for making renewable energy. This could go a long way in turning our timber industry around in Louisiana." "On the local scene here in Caldwell Parish, there are some rays of economic hope,: Senator Riser pointed out. "Lake Dechene, north of Columbia is permitted and ready to go. The new bridge over the Ouachita has been very positive for Columbia. With the help of some local businesses and organizations, downtown Columbia has been revitalized," Senator Riser, who is also on the Board of Directors of Caldwell Bank and Trust noted. "We've even had a couple of new restaurants open in the last few years." Also, we are making progress with our local port on the river," Senator Riser said. "We've got a railroad spur in the works for the Port and a couple of solid companies are looking at locations at the Port." "Developing Highway 165 into four lanes has been a definite boon for the whole area," the Senator, who has an office in historical downtown Columbia, acknowledged. "But the one area that has so much potential for my whole senatorial district is the tourist industry." "The Ouachita River is without parallel in Louisiana for its scenic beauty," Senator Riser stated. "Poverty Point is another major development in our area. Concordia and Catahoula parishes are two of the best hunting and fishing areas in the state." "My senate District is so large that it has three distinct cultures in it," the Senator from Columbia pointed out. "We've got the delta area culture, the beautiful Cajun culture in Avoyelles Parish, and the plantation background in West Feliciana Parish." "This session of the legislature is going to be tough with a lot of pushing and pulling in different directions," the Caldwell Parish native acknowledged. "In actuality, we have both a surplus and a deficit at the same time." One of the major problems with the Louisiana legislature is that it gets started so late in the day," Senator Riser stated unequivocally. "Committee meetings start mid-morning and then sessions start in the afternoon." "If we employed some `logger time lines' down in Baton Rouge at the Legislature, say get things started about 7 o'clock in the morning, we could get a lot more accomplished, probably in a much shorter period of time," the Senator from Columbia concluded. |