Editing Waterproof, Louisiana (section)

==History==

===20th century to present===
[[Jim Crow]] rules were strong through the segregation era, and the [[Ku Klux Klan]] was active in southwest Louisiana through the late 20th century. Although there were 7,000 blacks living in the parish in 1964, none had been registered to vote. The 4,000 whites controlled parish and city politics for decades. The first 15 blacks were registered to vote in 1964, after passage of national civil rights legislation.<ref name="flaherty"/>

Three young Waterproof men died in action in the [[Vietnam War]]: Carl Raymond Goodfellow, a navy ensign; Robert Lee Ross, an army private; and Douglas Mac Washington, an army sergeant.<ref>[http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/tensas/military/milit005.txt Tensas Parish: Military], Rootsweb</ref>

As of 1990, Waterproof hosted "a general store, a grocery, two gas stations, two banks and the Western Auto franchise".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Christopher |date=1990-05-16 |title=Many remember river's good old days |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/enterprise-journal-many-remember-rivers/151236914/ |access-date=2024-07-13 |work=Enterprise-Journal |pages=17 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

The village has the Tensas Parish Detention Center South. This prison facility holds inmates sentenced in Waterproof and Tensas Parish courts and courts of other cities in the Tensas Parish area. It has recently been used to detain undocumented immigrants. The listed address of Tensas Parish Detention Center South is 8606 Highway 65.

On December 8, 2018, the village elected its youngest mayor in history, Jarrod Randell Bottley, an African American male. He was 31 years old at the time and serves the town on a full-time basis.

===Case against mayor and police chief===
In September 2006 [[Bobby D. Higginbotham]] was elected as mayor of Waterproof. After taking office, he hired Miles Jenkins as chief of police. Both native to Waterproof, the two African-American men had also lived and worked for years in other cities, including [[New Orleans]]. Jenkins had a 30-year career in the US military and earned a master's degree in public administration from [[Troy University]] in Alabama. He started to professionalize the small town police department.<ref name="flaherty"/>

On July 24, 2007, Parish Sheriff Rickey A. Jones, who is white, arrested Higginbotham on counts of [[police impersonation|impersonating a police officer]], criminal trespass, and felony criminal damage to property. Higginbotham claimed that Jones arrested him in order to prevent his running for sheriff again in the October 20, 2007, non-partisan blanket primary. Jones said he incurred $7,500 in legal fees before he took office as sheriff because Higginbotham sued him over allegations of a "rigged" election.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070725%2FNEWS01%2F707250322 |title=''The News Star'' (Monroe, LA), July 25, 2007<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=February 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016173518/http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070725%2FNEWS01%2F707250322 |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In the 2007 primary, Jones defeated Higginbotham, 2,188 votes (77.6 percent) to 631 votes (22.4 percent).<ref>[http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10200754 Louisiana Secretary of State-Parish Elections Inquiry<!-- Bot generated title -->]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Jones and District Attorney James E. Paxton of the Louisiana 6th Judicial District, who was elected in 2008, recognized Caldwell A. Flood Jr., as the bona fide mayor of Waterproof. Police chief Miles Perkins was also arrested and charged for profiting from traffic tickets.<ref name="flaherty1">{{cite web|url=http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/did-a-racist-coup-in-a-northern-louisiana-town-overthrow-its-black-mayor-and-police-chief/|title=Jordan Flaherty, "Did a Racist Coup in a Northern Louisiana Town Overthrow Its Black Mayor and Police Chief?" |date=March 26, 2010|work=Dissident Voice |publisher=dissidentvoice.org|access-date=June 12, 2010}}</ref>

In March 2010, Police Chief Miles Jenkins filed a lawsuit asserting conspiracy by Jones, Paxton, and other members of the white power structure to prevent the legal exercise of power by black elected officials. He said that he and Higginbotham were illegally forced from office and prosecuted by white officials. He cited numerous arrests by Jones and prosecution by Paxton, on charges that observers said they had never heard used against a police official. The case was closely watched by civil rights activists.<ref name="flaherty"/>

Although the village is 55% black, Higginbotham was convicted by a jury of 11 whites and one black in 2010 of two charges: malfeasance in office and felony theft. He was sentenced to five years of hard labor, two years suspended, for malfeasance and seven years hard labor, three years suspended, for felony theft. The conviction was reversed and the sentence was vacated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2012, based on trial irregularities, including missing witness testimonies. Higginbotham had been freed on parole for good behavior in December 2011.<ref name="flaherty">[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-flaherty/conviction-of-black-mayor_b_1454458.html Jordan Flaherty, "Conviction of Black Mayor Overturned by U.S. Court of Appeals in Case Closely Watched by Civil Rights Activists"], Blog, ''Huffington Post'', updated June 25, 2012; accessed January 22, 2018</ref> The Louisiana State Supreme Court denied a writ of ''[[certiorari]]''. In 2016, the US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, upheld the District Court decision denying habeas relief.<ref name="5thappeal">[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-5th-circuit/1729651.html Bobby D. HIGGINBOTHAM, Petitioner–Appellant v. State of LOUISIANA, Respondent–Appellee, No. 14–30753, 18 March; FindLaw; accessed 22 January 2018].</ref>