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Race is the talk of small Louisiana town

JENA La.
It’s not yet 8 a.m.
but there’s a line of men waiting for a $10 haircut at Doughty’s Westside
Barber Shop.

With customers sitting in a row of chairs under a line of
antique mirrors, waiting for no-frills haircuts short styles mostly
accomplished with clippers the conversation usually runs to hunting and
fishing.

Except lately.

Last week, the first trial took place for one of six black
teenagers accused of attempted murder, aggravated second degree battery and
conspiracy after a white classmate was attacked. Talk around town took a racial
bent, a tough issue in the rural South.

“I don’t think we’re racist here,” barber shop
owner Billy Doughty, 70, said. “People work together, go to school
together. We never talk about race.”

But Doughty does not cut black men’s hair. Never has, never
will. He tells that to the occasional black would-be customer.

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