Changes

In addition to Townsend's defeat for the state Senate, the Natchitoches Republican [[Rick Nowlin]] was elected to the House seat that Townsend had vacated. He defeated former Mayor [[Joe Sampite']], a Natchitoches Democrat. The Long and Nowlin victories marked the first time since [[Reconstruction]] that Natchitoches Parish had been represented by Republicans in either house of the state legislature.<ref name=house/>​ Nowlin, defeated in a revised district in 2011, thereafter served two terms as the first president of Natchitoches Parish.

In addition to Townsend's defeat for the state Senate, the Natchitoches Republican [[Rick Nowlin]] was elected to the House seat that Townsend had vacated. He defeated former Mayor [[Joe Sampite']], a Natchitoches Democrat. The Long and Nowlin victories marked the first time since [[Reconstruction]] that Natchitoches Parish had been represented by Republicans in either house of the state legislature.<ref name=house/>​ Nowlin, defeated in a revised district in 2011, thereafter served two terms as the first president of Natchitoches Parish.

In 2014, Townsend represented Walter Clyde Lee, Sr. (born 1934), then an elected member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education who pleaded not guilty in state district court in Mansfield to four criminal charges stemming from alleged overbilling of travel expenditures. He was accused of billing for expenses from both BESE and his former employer, the DeSoto Parish School Board, for whom he had been the superintendent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/5/arraignment-set-for-bese-member-walter-lee/#ixzz2vHt04Ie8|title=BESE member Walter Lee pleads not guilty|date=March 5, 2014|publisher=''The Washington Times''|accessdate=November 25, 2019}}</ref>

In 2014, Townsend represented [[Walter Clyde Lee]], Sr. (born 1934), then an elected member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education who pleaded not guilty in state district court in Mansfield to four criminal charges stemming from alleged overbilling of travel expenditures. He was accused of billing for expenses from both BESE and his former employer, the DeSoto Parish School Board, for whom he had been the superintendent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/5/arraignment-set-for-bese-member-walter-lee/#ixzz2vHt04Ie8|title=BESE member Walter Lee pleads not guilty|date=March 5, 2014|publisher=''The Washington Times''|accessdate=November 25, 2019}}</ref>

==References==

==References==