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Sunday | March 1, 2020

As Coronavirus spreads to US, Golden

Triangle residents stock up on supplies
Area medical, building supply stores see run on face masks;
Pharmacies see signs of Coronavirus fears
‘Masks. Everybody wants
masks. It’s like bread and
milk during bad weather.’
New Home Building Store
salesman Charles Stanford

BY SLIM SMITH
ssmith@cdispatch.com

Earlier this week, a CNN poll about

the COVID-19 Coronavirus showed that
38 percent of the Americans polled said
they would not purchase Corona beer —
although the beverage has no link whatso-
ever to the virus.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a new
strain of the Coronavirus that has been
around for years, started in Wuhan, China
in December, it has spread. There are cur-
rently more than 86,000 cases in 64 coun-
tries and territories, including more than
60 confirmed cases and one death in the
United States.
Nearly 3,000 people have died world-
wide from the virus so far, and all but about
100 of those were in China.
As the number of cases increases, so
does the hysteria, as the CNN poll sug-
gests. The Golden Triangle is no exception.
Charles Stanford, a salesman at New
Home Building Store, a building supply
company in Columbus, began to notice
one manifestation of Corona virus fears
just this week.
“Masks,” Stanford said. “Everybody
wants masks. It’s like bread and milk
during bad weather.”
New Home keeps a variety of dust masks
on its shelves. By Friday, all that remained
was a single box of 50 masks, which are in-
tended not to prevent viruses but inhaling
dust from worksites or paint inhalation.
“Normally, people buy smaller quanti-
Slim Smith/Dispatch Staff
ties in packs of five or 10,” Stanford said.
“Those are all gone. We had four of the Empty shelves at New Home Building Store, a building supply company in Columbus, tell the story of
the demand for masks as concerns over the Coronavirus spread. Although the masks the store sells
50-count masks in stock. That’s a quantity are primarily designed to prevent wearers from breathing construction-related dusts and related paint/
people usually don’t want, so four boxes is chemical fumes, the store has sold out of all but a single 50-count box of masks as people seek to
(usually) about a year’s supply.” protect themselves. The Mississippi State Department of Health said that’s an over-reaction since
See CORONAVIRUS, 6A there are no reported cases of the virus in Mississippi.

MAGNOLIA FILM FEST 4-County moving forward with

considering rural broadband
Co-op would hope for
federal funds to cover at
least 10 to 15 percent
of project costs
BY SLIM SMITH
ssmith@cdispatch.com
With a cautious eye on the price
tag, 4-County Electric Power Asso-
ciation is moving forward with its
Austin Frayser/Special to The Dispatch
consideration of providing broad-
Film producer Rashad Mubarak speaks with hosts Heather Warren, left, and Sean
Dyess, right, about the Magnolia Independent Film Festival in Starkville on Friday band internet services for its 49,000
while a Facebook Live questionnaire was streaming. In its 23rd year, the festival customers, including those in the
showcased 38 films Thursday through Saturday at Hollywood Premier Cinemas. Golden Triangle.
In a press release
issued Friday, the
member-owned elec-
tric co-op said it has
conducted three sep-
arate feasibility stud-
ies. Last year, the
Mississippi Legisla-
Clark
ture approved a law
that allows electric
co-ops to provide broadband.
According to 4-County, the cost
of broadband project could be as
much as $110 million.
“A project of this size would be
by far the largest and most expen-
sive we’ve ever taken on in our 80-
See BROADBAND, 6A

WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC

1 What TV scientist did an about-face in Monday MEETINGS
2015, saying after a visit to Monsanto that March 3:
■ Guest artists recital: Mississippi Univer-
he thinks genetically modified foods might Columbus City
be OK? sity for Women Department of Music presents
Council, 5
2 What photographer snapped pictures mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins and pianist
p.m., Municipal
of Yosemite National Park for 67 straight Armen Shaomian in recital at 7:30 p.m. in
years? Poindexter Hall. Free to the public. Complex
3 What color is always at the top of a single March 6:
Emma Lick
rainbow? Lowndes
First grade, Annunciation
4 What two-time Manager of the Year led Tuesday County Board of

69 Low 54 his baseball team to world championships ■ Irish tenor event canceled: The “Bridges
Supervisors Board
High in 2010, 2012 and 2014? of the Spirit” lecture recital by Irish tenor
Meeting, 9 a.m.,
Partly sunny 5 What word means a British village without James W. Flannery and pianist Rosangela Y.
a church, and is also the name of a fictional Lowndes County
Full forecast on Sebba at Mississippi State has been can-
melancholy Dane? Court House
page 3A. Answers, 2D celed due to illness.
■ Meet the Author: The Martha Helen Swain March 16:
Southern Women’s History Speaker Series Lowndes
INSIDE presents Ebony Lumumba of Tougaloo College County Board of
Classifieds 1D Lifestyles 1C at The W’s Fant Memorial Library at 4 p.m. James Merrigan, a Supervisors Board
Comics 5D Obituaries 7B Lumumba is author of “Demonstration of Life: veteran who now lives in Meeting, 9 a.m.,
Crossword 2D Opinions 4A Signifying for Social Justice in Eudora Welty’s Columbus, enjoys reading Lowndes County
140th Year, No. 301 Dear Abby 3C Scene & Seen 6C ‘The Demonstrators.’” Free to the public. the Book of Romans. Court House

DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471

2A SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
The Story of the Columbus Pilgrimage
I
n the mid-1930s,
my grandfather,
T.C. Billups, who
was circulation man-
ager for The Com-
mercial Dispatch,
was seeking ways to
promote Columbus.
He observed the
success of Natchez
and several other
Southern towns
in using a spring
pilgrimage to attract
Rufus Ward
tourists and pro-
mote community develop- bus Pilgrimage Club. The
ment.
The potential that
Columbus possessed
became apparent when,
in June 1936, represen-
tatives of the Library of
Congress’ Historic Amer-
ican Building Survey
spent a week in Columbus bers Mrs. William Frazee,
photographing buildings.
They photographed and
recorded information on
12 residences, the Court-
house, Franklin Academy
and the Catholic Church.
Billups’ residence, White- formal pilgrimage com-
hall, was one of the 12,
and he was inspired to
promote the organization
of a Columbus Pilgrim-
age.
The Galaxy Garden
Club was organized in
1936 to foster interest in
the creation of a spring
garden pilgrimage in
Columbus to be called
“Wisteria Way.” In 1937
the Galaxy Garden Club
began planting wisteria
along highways coming
into Columbus.
There was also interest antebellum homes to be
in the “Pioneer Club”
in Columbus possibly
hosting a pilgrimage. Mrs were then discussed and
T.C. Billups, a member of
the club, traveled to the
Natchez Pilgrimage to
observe its workings and
discussions were then
held at Whitehall, the Bil-
lups’ residence, about the
potential Columbus held.
When it was an-
nounced that in April
1939 The Mississippi
Federation of Music Clubs June 9, 1939, to discuss
would hold its annual
convention in Columbus,
the pilgrimage began to
emerge. On April 11 the
Memphis Commercial
Appeal, in reporting on
the upcoming convention, 1939. The writers toured
said, “The romantic old
homes of Columbus, pre-
served these many years,
will be thrown open to the at Whitehall. One of the
public for the first time
... visitors and delegates
will see relics that have
been passed down from
generation to generation
as well as some outstand-
ing examples of archi-
tecture of prewar days.”
On March 31, 1939, the
Jackson Clarion Ledger
reported the 1940 spring
pilgrimage “sponsored by
the Pioneer Club will be
known as the Pilgrimage
of Wisteria Time in Co-
lumbus. Mrs. T.C. Billups
has been named general
chairman of the pilgrim-
age movement.”
A pilgrimage asso-
ciation was formed and
began
making
plans for
a Colum-
bus Pil-
grimage
in spring
1940.
A year
later,the
asso-
ciation
became
the
Colum-
original 1939 “Columbus
Pilgrimage Committee”
was composed of Mrs.
T.C. Billups, chairman;
Mrs. T. Bailey Hardy,
executive chairman; Sadie
Hudson served for a time
as secretary; and mem-
Miss Mary Billups, Mrs.
J.P. Woodward, Mrs. B.A.
Lincoln and Mrs. Wildie
Morgan.
As the plan for the first
pilgrimage progressed a
mittee was established
with Mrs. T.C. Billups
as chairman and Henry
Pratt as co-chairman. T.C.
Billups began traveling
around the nation making
contacts and promoting
the new pilgrimage. In
Mrs. Billups’ 1939 journal
of pilgrimage association
business, the first page is
a list of the members of
the Pioneer Society.
The Pilgrimage
Committee members
compiled a lengthy list of
considered for the first
pilgrimage. The houses
voted on. There appeared
to be two criteria for
being invited to be in that
first pilgrimage: How
attractive and historic was
the house and how well
did the committee mem-
bers like who lived there.
Invitations were mailed to
the selected homeowners
to gather at the YMCA on
pilgrimage plans.
In order to publicize
the first tour of homes,
Columbus hosted an
Associated Press travel
writers tour in October
several of Columbus’ his-
toric homes and churches
and attended a reception
writer/photographers
who came was Eudora
Welty. Her interview of
Mrs. Billups at Whitehall
for the proper way to
make a mint julep circulat-
ed nationwide. The story
and recipe of the “White-
hall Mint Julep” has since
been frequently reprinted
in national publications.
The first Columbus
Pilgrimage was held
April 14-16, 1940, with 22
homes. Press coverage
of that first pilgrimage
ranged from the New
York Times to the Mem-
phis Commercial Appeal.
Pilgrimages followed
in 1941 and 1942. Of all
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
ASK RUFUS
This publicity photo for the 1942 Columbus Pilgrimage shows Whitehall. Standing
beside the side porch steps were Delilah and Johnnie who worked there. In the old
Hardy family carriage are Ida Sykes Billups (Mrs. Rufus Ward Sr.), Emmaline Hardy
(Mrs. Ben Carrick) and the man in the Confederate uniform may have been a manag-
er at the Gilmer Hotel. On horses behind the carriage are William Boyd and Virginia
Boyd. The lady at the far right on the front porch appears to be Francis Thomas.
Shown is the invitation for a home to be in the first
Columbus Pilgrimage.
the Pilgrimages, the one
that attracted the most
national and international
attention was that of 1942.
It was wartime and
Columbus Air Force Base,
then known as Kaye Field
Air Corps Advanced
Flying School, had just
opened. Base personnel
and their families played
a prominent role in the
pilgrimage. One of the
pilgrimage “star homes,”
the Dr. Cornelius Har-
dy home (now named
Magnolia Hill), was the
residence of Maj. Joseph
Duckworth, the base’s
director of training. Mrs.
L.C. Mallory, wife of Col.
Mallory, the base’s com-
manding officer, served
as a hostess at Whitehall,
and Mrs. Joseph Duck-
worth served as a hostess
at Snowdoun. In 1942, Life
Magazine did a pictorial
of airmen at a hoopskirt
party in Columbus. The
story attracted interna-
tional attention and was
even picked up by the
London Illustrated Mag-
azine. Wartime rationing,
especially of gasoline,
resulted in a temporary
cessation of the pilgrim-
age.
In 1950 the Chamber
of Commerce revived the
Columbus Pilgrimage.
Chamber of Commerce
manager Glover Wilkins,
and Chamber secretary,
Felicitas Campbell,
secured the necessary
financing and led the or-
ganizational efforts. Mrs.
T. Bailey Hardy, sister in
Courtesy image
law of Mrs. Billups the
first chairman, was the
chairman of the revived
Columbus Pilgrimage.
In 1951 the Chamber of
Commerce continued
to sponsor the Pilgrim-
age, and Birney Imes Jr.
headed the Chamber’s Pil-
grimage Committee with
Douglas Bateman and
Rachel Shute handling
the publicity.
Other events were
added to the Pilgrimage
at that time. There were
Courtesy photo
art exhibits and dance
programs at MSCW
(MUW) and the Junior
Auxiliary inaugurated the
Pilgrimage Pageant and
Ball. Also included was a
Pilgrimage Association
Antique Show and Sale,
a Museum of Antiquities
and a parade.
The Chamber of Com-
merce and the Pilgrimage
Association turned the
operation of the pilgrim-
age over to the Columbus
Antebellum Council,
which became the Colum-
bus Historic Foundation
(Historic Columbus)
under the capable hands
of Carl and Dixie Butler.
Additional events such
as the Decorative Arts
Forum, which did not
necessarily occur during
Pilgrimage, were added.
In 2008 the Columbus
Historic Foundation
turned the operation of
the Pilgrimage over to
the Columbus-Lowndes
Convention and Visitors
Bureau where through its
Visit Columbus and Co-
lumbus Cultural Heritage
Foundation it continues
to host the Columbus
Pilgrimage.
The new Preservation
Society of Columbus,
which is composed of
many of the owners of
homes in recent pilgrim-
ages, has said that it will
take over the operation
of Pilgrimage next year.
This year Visit Columbus
has announced plans for
another grand pilgrimage
in celebration of the 80th
anniversary of the first
Columbus Pilgrimage.
In that first pilgrimage of
1940, the tour began at
Franklin Square on Third
Avenue North and ended
at Whitehall on South
Side. The second year the
tour started at Ole Home-
stead on College Street
and ended at the Franklin
Square.
For the first time
since 1942, all three of
those homes will be open
during Pilgrimage as will
be other former pilgrim-
age and pilgrimage star
homes. Pilgrimage in
1957 saw MSCW host an
art exhibit by the late Josh
Meador, the Oscar-win-
ning head of Disney’s
animation effects depart-
ment. This year’s pilgrim-
age will also feature an
exhibition of Meador’s
paintings, and Meador
related Disney animation
drawings. Once again it is
time for Columbus’ spring
pilgrimage and the contin-
uance of an 80-year-old
tradition.
In compiling this I have
used my grandmother’s
(Mrs. T.C. Billups) orig-
inal pilgrimage records
and have been helped by
Carolyn Kaye in locating
old newspaper accounts
including Rachel Shute’s
1957 “The History of the
Columbus Pilgrimage.”
Rufus Ward is a local
historian.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 3A

Autopsies set for 2 more Scam email uses

inmates from Mississippi prison Columbus mayor’s
One death occurred Thursday and the other on Friday name in attempt to January, saying Parchman is dan-
gerous, vermin-infested and unfit
at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman
BY EMILY WAGSTER PET TUS
get Google gift cards
were found hanging in their cells.
for human habitation. Attorneys
in both lawsuits are being paid by
entertainment mogul Jay-Z, rapper
The Associated Press Coroners said other deaths were Yo Gotti and Team Roc, the philan-
from natural causes but autopsies thropic arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. City officials warn recipients
JACKSON — Autopsies will be Republican Gov. Tate Reeves
done on two more inmates who died
were being done.
The U.S. Justice Department an- took office in mid-January and to delete email and not fulfill
in a Mississippi prison that is under
U.S. Justice Department investiga-
nounced Feb. 5 that its civil rights
division would investigate Parch-
said several days later that he had
ordered the state Department of
writer’s request
tion. man and other Mississippi prisons Corrections to shut down most of
DISPATCH STAFF REPORT
One death occurred Thursday that have struggled with violence, Parchman’s Unit 29, where some
and the other occurred Friday at tight budgets, short staffing and of the violence has occurred.
the Mississippi State Penitentiary Columbus officials are warning residents
shoddy living conditions. Reeves said last week that about about an email scam that is using Mayor Robert
at Parchman. Mississippi prison officials have 500 more inmates will be moved Smith’s name in an attempt to extort money from
There is “no evidence of foul told state budget writers for years from Parchman to the Tallahatchie recipients.
play” in either death, Sunflower that the department has trouble County Correctional Facility, which The email, which represents it is signed by
County Coroner Heather Burton hiring guards because the jobs are is about 5 miles away. The Talla- Smith, asks recipients to purchase Google Gift
said in a news release Friday. The dangerous and the pay is low. De- hatchie prison is run by a private Cards and send the card numbers to a third party,
prisoners’ names were not imme- spite the requests, budgets were company, CoreCivic. city public information officer Joe Dillon said in a
diately released because officials cut. Death row inmates will remain at press release Saturday.
were notifying their families. Health inspections have also Unit 29 because state law specifies “At that point, the money used for the cards is
With those included, at least 21 shown repeated problems with bro- they must be there. Some lower-se- forever gone,” Dillon said.
inmates have died in Mississippi ken toilets and moldy showers at curity inmates who do maintenance In the email being sent, the writer says he is “...
prisons since late December. Some Parchman. work at Parchman will also remain in a conference and can’t talk on the phone now
of the deaths happened during out- Two federal lawsuits have been in the unit, which has about a dozen and needs Google Gift Cards...”
bursts of violence. Some inmates filed on behalf of prisoners since buildings. “This is a scam that uses the names of public
officials to trick readers into thinking they are
helping the person that is supposed to be sending
the email,” Dillon said in the press release. “The
wording on the email makes the reader think
it is urgent. It is compelling and easy to believe
AREA ARRESTS you are helping someone, but readers are being
scammed.”
The following arrests Dillon said recipients of any emails or texts of
were made by Lowndes similar form to be cautious.
County Sheriff’s Office: “It is easy to find the names and emails of any-
n Donald Blaylock, one these days, including public officials, so be
26, was charged with pos- careful. I can’t think of a time that anyone would
session of methamphet- be in a critical situation and need a Google Gift
amine, suspended driver’s Card. Just delete the email and don’t reply in any
license, and two counts way,” he said. “We all want to help another person
possession of controlled Blaylock Roland Jr. Smith Jr. Caldwell White Bell
in need, but not with Google Gift or Play Cards.”
substance. was charged with bur- Conflict disclosure: Managing Editor Zack Plair
n John Roland Jr., 28, glary of a residence. took part in editing this article. He is currently in-
was charged with aggra- n Timothy White, 41, volved in legal proceedings with the city of Colum-
vated assault with a weap- was charged with domes- bus.
on or other means to pro- tic violence and no seat-
duce death. belt.
n Anthony Smith Jr.,
n Jaquires Bell, 19, was
30, was charged with pos-
session of stolen property. charged with armed rob- Robinson Cherry Jones Cottonham
bery.
The following arrests
were made by the Oktib-
n Cameron Robinson,
29, was charged with a
sion of a controlled sub-
stance and possession of
Hold.
n Keionta Cottonham,
Mississippi man gets death
beha County Sheriff’s Of-
fice:
bench warrant.
n Ashley Cherry, 33,
beer.
n William Jones, 41,
20, was charged with car-
rying a concealed weapon
sentence for multiple killings
n Mollie Caldwell, 46, was charged with posses- was charged with MDOC and trespassing. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MAGNOLIA — A Mississippi man was given

four death sentences by a jury on Thursday, hours
after he spoke in court and blamed the devil for
his actions the night eight people were shot to

Police: 5 teens set up fatal robbery to steal marijuana death.

Teenagers have been charged as adults with capital murder
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BILOXI — Five Missis-
sippi teenagers accused of
fatally shooting a 16-year-
old girl told police they
were trying to steal mari-
juana, authorities said.
Biloxi police investi-
gator Larry Barnum told
The Sun Herald that the
victim, Madison Harris,
was fatally shot during a
robbery attempt Monday
at the home of her grand-
parents.
The five teens were
arrested and have been
charged as adults with
capital murder. They are
two 15-year-old girls and
a 17-year-old girl, as well
as two boys, ages 15 and
17.
Barnum said a witness
reported he was at the
home with Harris and one
of the 15-year-old female
suspects. According to
the witness, two males
showed up at the home,
pointed a gun and or-
dered the witness to open
a window.
Barnum said the other
two female suspects en-
tered and one of them was
handed the gun through
the window. The witness
tried to wrestle the gun
away from the teen but
the weapon discharged,
fatally shooting Harris in
the hip, Barnum said.
According to the police
investigator, the witness
said he believed Harris
was set up for a robbery
attempt by the 15-year-old
at the house.
The teens admitted to
being present and trying
to rob Harris, Barnum
said. The 15-year-old fe-
male suspect also admit-
ted to relaying informa-
tion to the others outside
Willie Cory Godbolt, 37, was convicted Tues-
day of the May 2017 slayings of eight people. Four
the home, he said.
The 17-year-old boy,
of the convictions were for murder, which carry a
sentence of life in prison. Four other convictions
had been out on bond were for capital murder — a killing committed
on a 2019 aggravated as- along with another felony.
sault charge in Gulfport, Capital murder is punishable by the death
penalty, but jurors must agree unanimously to
authorities said. The five
set that as the punishment. Without unanimous
teens are being held with-
agreement, the judge would set sentences of life
out bond.
in prison.
Because of their ages,
The unanimous decisions for the death penal-
the teens aren’t eligible ty were handed down after the same jurors who
for the death penalty, but convicted Godbolt heard testimony from several
they could face life sen- people Wednesday and Thursday during the pen-
tences if convicted, ac- alty phase of the trial, the Daily Leader reported.
cording to authorities. Godbolt gave a rambling speech full of reli-
It’s unclear whether gious references in court Thursday, and at one
any of the suspects have point a spectator seated among the victims’ fami-
attorneys who could com- lies yelled at him to shut up, the Enterprise-Jour-
ment on their behalf. nal reported.

Flooding causes temporary

closure of Mississippi golf course
The Pearl River at
Jackson crested Mississippi gets money
at its highest for transportation after flooding
level of 43.3 feet State slated to receive $16.6 million
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
on April 17, 1979
JACKSON — Mississippi is receiving millions of
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
federal dollars to pay for transportation needs after
natural disasters.
JACKSON — A state-
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thurs-
run golf course in central
day announced emergency funding for projects
Mississippi is temporari-
around the nation. Mississippi is slated to receive
ly closing because of re-
cent flooding along the $16.6 million.
Pearl River. Nearly $10.3 million of that is to repair damage
The LeFleur’s Bluff caused by flooding during February, when some
SOLUNAR TABLE
course is in a state park roads collapsed during heavy rains. The solunar period indicates
peak-feeding times for fish and game.

in Jackson, near the river. About $5.7 million is for flood damage caused in Major
Sun.
6:04a
Mon.
6:53a

The Mississippi De- late December 2018. Minor 11:56a 12:35p

6:53a
Major 6:28p
partment of Wildlife, And, $650,000 will be allocated to Mississippi fed- Minor 1:05a 2:03a
Courtesy of Mississippi Department

Fisheries and Parks said eral lands for rain damage from February through of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

Friday that the course is April 2019.

closed until further no-
tice.
Flood stage for the
Pearl River at Jackson is
28 feet. On Feb. 17, the
river reached 36.7 feet.
That is the third-high-
est level on record, ac-
cording to the National
Weather Service. The
water has been slowly re-
ceding and was predicted
to fall below 24 feet on
Saturday.
The Pearl at Jackson
crested at its highest lev-
el of 43.3 feet on April 17,
1979.
The second-highest
level was May 25, 1983,
when the river reached
39.6 feet.
The Dispatch
The Commercial Dispatch (USPS 142-320)
Published daily except Saturday. Answers to common questions:
Entered at the post office at Columbus, Mississippi.
Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, MS Phone: 662-328-2424
POSTMASTER, Send address changes to:
The Commercial Dispatch, P.O. Box 511, Columbus, MS 39703 Website: cdispatch.com/help
Published by Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company Inc., Report a news tip: news@cdispatch.com
516 Main St., Columbus, MS 39703
Opinion
4A SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
PETER BIRNEY IMES Editor/Publisher
BIRNEY IMES III Editor/Publisher 1998-2018
BIRNEY IMES JR. Editor/Publisher 1947-2003

Dispatch
The
BIRNEY IMES SR. Editor/Publisher 1922-1947

ZACK PLAIR, Managing Editor

BETH PROFFITT Advertising Director
MICHAEL FLOYD Circulation/Production Manager
MARY ANN HARDY Controller

OUR VIEW
Roses and thorns
A rose to
event orga-
nizers, city
leaders and
citizens who
turned out for
Monday’s Ward 4/Southside
neighborhood meeting at
City Hall. The meeting was
organized after a shooting on
Southside earlier this year,
but citizens were able to share
their concerns about a variety
of topics with city leaders, in-
cluding Mayor Robert Smith,
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre
Beard and city department
heads. During the meeting,
citizens raised concerns
about neighborhood issues,
especially street conditions.
During the meeting, citizens
citied inefficiencies and flaws
in the city’s recently adopted
“SeeClickFix” program, an
internet-based tool the city
uses to address problems that
emerge in the city, everything
from potholes to missing stop
signs or clogged storm drains.
We appreciate the tone of the
meeting. What might have
been a gripe session instead
was useful conversation. We
have no doubt the discussion
will help the city better meet
the needs of the residents.
A rose to
Terri Doumit
and her group
of volunteers
known as
“Operation
Colony Cats,” for their posi-
tive approach to the feral cat
problem. Operation Colony
Cats seeks to spay and neuter
as many feral cats as possible
to reduce stray populations
in Lowndes County. That im-
proves the lives and health of
the cat colonies, benefits the
community and lessens the
strain on the Columbus-Lown-
des Humane Society. In
addition, through networking
with other organizations, they
try to find homes for as many
adoptable cats as possible,
primarily kittens. Doumit’s
program closely models that
of Noxubee County’s Jean-
nette Unruh, who has worked
with Sweet Paws for years to
send adoptable dogs to New
England, where the demand
for the pets is high. It’s a win
not only for the communities
and shelters plagued with
unwanted animals, but a win
for the animals themselves.
We urge all animal lovers to
support these efforts.
A rose to
Zachary’s for
being awarded
the Mississippi
Restaurant
Neighbor
Award for the third consecu-
tive year. No doubt, this most
recent award, presented by
the National Restaurant Asso-
ciation Educational Founda-
tion, is especially meaningful.
Despite a devastating fire
that closed the restaurant for
months, owner Doug Pellum
and his staff raised more than
$33,000 for local and nation-
al causes, devoting 2,600
volunteer hours in that effort.
In addition to the generous
support Zachary’s provides
the community -- it’s become
a go-to venue for a variety
of charity and fund-raining
events. It sets an example of
what it means to be a good
corporate neighbor, no doubt
inspiring other businesses in
their own community efforts.
A rose to the
good work our
local Habitat
For Humanity
organizations
continue to do.
Last week, the Starkville Hab-
itat for Humanity announced
plans to build three more
houses for qualified families
for whom the dream of home
ownership might remain just
that, a dream. With the sup-
port of Mississippi State’s Ma-
roon Volunteer Center, which
sponsors a home build each
fall, Starkville Habitat has
built 68 homes since it came
to town in 1985. Three years
later, The Columbus Lowndes
Habitat for Humanity opened
in Columbus. The Columbus
Habitat is now working on its
51st home. Both organizations
rely on an army of community
volunteers and, of course, the
home-purchasers themselves,
who invest sweat equity in
the build. Home ownership
provides financial, physical
and psychological help like
few other things. For the new
home-owners, it’s far more
than a structure built of brick
and wood. It’s about building
a better life. Our communities
are blessed to have strong
Habitat organizations and the
dedicated volunteers who help
make their work possible.

OTHER EDITORS PARTIAL TO HOME

Mississippi
candidate slush
funds must go
A couple of years ago, after lawmak-
ers and others in Mississippi govern-
ment were shamed by the revelation of
how much campaign money they were
using to pay for clothes, cars, apart-
ments and other personal perks, the
Legislature tightened up on how the
donations could be used.
In order to get the votes the reform
needed for passage, however, lawmak-
ers included a major loophole: The new
restrictions would only apply to money
raised starting in 2018. Anything saved
over from before then could still be
treated like the recipient’s personal
bank account.
The Clarion Ledger this week report-
ed on some of those who have recently
cashed in.
Lynn Fitch, whom voters promot-
ed from state treasurer to attorney
Rush Jagoe/Special to The Dispatch
general, took personal possession of the

Beauty and sadness as Louisiana

last $15,531 in her old account two days
after Christmas. It must have been a big
holiday at the Fitch household.

dissolves into the sea

Greg Snowden, who held a top
Republican leadership position in the
House of Representatives before his
defeat last year, cashed out about $9,000
for himself.
These two examples, though, are
small potatoes to the potential payoff for
the two major opponents in last year’s
governor’s race.
Jim Hood, the unsuccessful Demo-
cratic candidate, still has $371,000 that
“The swamps and marshes of coastal Louisiana are the North Shore coast of Massa-
among the nation’s most fragile and valuable wetlands, vital chusetts centered on Swampscott.
not only to recreational and agricultural interests but also It is designed to be launched off the
the state’s more than $1-billion-per-year seafood industry. beach.” — Wikipedia
The staggering annual losses of wetlands in Louisiana are Ben, often in the company of
caused by human activity as well as natural processes.” fellow photographer Rush Jagoe,
— S. Jeffress Williams, U.S. Geological Survey sails and rows the dory loaded with
camping gear to a remote area in

he can claim for himself. Tate Reeves,
the winning Republican, has five times
as much — almost $1.9 million.
Interestingly, Reeves, a former bank-
er, did some fancy financial maneuver-
ing to preserve the size of this potential
golden parachute.
That old account, prior to the hotly
contested GOP primary, had a balance
of about $5 million. As the cost of
Reeves’ massive advertising blitz out-
paced even his prodigious fundraising,
he drew out $3.2 million from the old
account to cover campaign expenses.
When his campaign treasury needed
another cash infusion as he and Hood
neared the finish line, Reeves decided
that rather than further depleting the
old account, he would personally lend
his new one $1.3 million.
How come? He’s not saying, but the
following scenario sounds probable.
Reeves can raise the $1.3 million from
his supporters to pay off that loan to
himself and still leave untapped the $1.9
million in the old account either for a
future campaign or for life after politics.
The possibility for such personal
payouts should be eliminated. The
Legislature should require either that
the pre-2018 donations be transferred
to an incumbent’s post-2018 campaign
fund, be donated to charity or returned
to the donors. Money given to candi-
dates to run their election campaigns is
supposed to be for just that. Donations
intended for other purposes — such
as providing a cushier lifestyle for
officeholders or supplementing their
retirement — are bribes. That should
be illegal, no matter when the money
was given.
(McComb) Enterprise Journal
B
en Depp is a New Orleans-based freelance photog-
rapher with a fixation on Louisiana’s disappearing
wetlands.
His large-scale aerial photographs depict watery land-
scapes that have suffered the ravages of man yet manage to
retain a unmistakable beauty. His pictures feature aban-
doned shrimp boats, mangrove swamps crosshatched with
shimmering blue canals, flocks of birds flying over vegeta-
tion glowing with surreal hues.
While his pictures are hauntingly beautiful — and are
sought by collectors and museum curators — they also
offer troubling evidence of the gradual disappearance of a
fragile ecosystem.
South Louisiana is slowly dissolving into the Gulf of
Mexico. It has been for years.
Every hour and a half, an area the size of a football field
of it disappears, almost 30 square miles annually, accord-
ing to the USGS.
The Mississippi River, now channelized and confined by
levees, no longer makes the annual deposits that created
the Mississippi and Arkansas deltas, south Louisiana and
her barrier islands.
More recently the more than 10,000 miles of canals dug
for oil and gas exploration and commercial and agricultural
development have taken their toll. With these changes has
come an increase in salinity in formerly freshwater and
brackish landscapes. The result is a die-off of vegetation
that is the connective tissue of this natural paradise.
To achieve his aerial perspective, Ben flies a motorized
para-glider.
The para-glider resembles a narrow, arced parachute. A
fan-like apparatus strapped to his back allows him to drift
over this watery landscape like a modern-day Icarus. Ben
estimates he’s made over 200 flights since the spring of
2014.
To get to his launch site, often a place without roads, he
sails in a 17-foot wooden dory named “Dancing Feather.”
Ben has just completed work on a dory made with cypress
reclaimed from nearby Lake Maurepas. It’s 18 feet, 8 inch-
es long and named “Bebette.”
To be precise, his boat is a Swampscott dory:
“The Swampscott dory is a traditional fishing boat, used
during the middle of the 19th century by fishing villages along
the wetlands of the Mississippi or
the Atchafalaya. There they will
camp a week at a time, sometimes
longer. The beach serves as his
Birney Imes runway for the paraglider.
To see more check out their
Instagram site: @swampscott_dory.
While the forays to these primeval landscapes are spiri-
tually nourishing, there is an element of sadness to them.
“When I’m flying I often have this feeling of overwhelm-
ing beauty with this deep sadness for what’s been lost,”
Ben told producers of The Great Big Story in a recent video
featuring him and his work. https://www.greatbigstory.
com/stories/spotlight-wing-and-a-prayer
These vegetative buffers, these wetlands and barrier
islands, serve as speed bumps for incoming storms and
hurricanes. With their disappearance, so goes the protec-
tions they afford.
“I love New Orleans,” Ben says in the video, “but I try to
be realistic about living here. One major hurricane without
the protection of the wetlands (and) we’ll all be finding a
new place to live.”
On a recent visit to New Orleans, I went sailing with
Ben.
We trailered Bebette out Highway 90, east of the city,
to the Rigolets, an eight-mile-long deepwater strait that
connects Lake Pontchartrain with the Gulf.
The day was sunny and bright. And windy.
The waves pounded against the dory, which at times
leaned on edge.
The broad-beamed little boat seemed to take the pound-
ing in stride. After a mile or so in open water, we took
refuge in the avenues of a marshy island.
There the water was calm. Even with the sail lowered,
the wind gently pushed us along. Eventually we had to row.
We weren’t the only sentient beings enjoying the pro-
tections and pleasures of the marsh. Flocks of birds flitted
about. We saw evidence of deer and alligator. For these
creatures on this warm, sunny day, this was paradise.
And so it was too for the two human intruders rowing a
modest sailboat through it.
Birney Imes (birney@cdispatch.com) is the former publish-
er of The Dispatch.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 5A

Liberal gun owners face dilemma in 2020 field

‘You have a huge constituency that is looking for something different
and when you are talking about restricting a right which is so different
than everything else you talk about, you are being anti-liberal’
BY LISA MARIE PANE
The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Like many
liberals, Lara Smith considers
herself a feminist, favors abor-
tion rights and believes the na-
tion’s immigration policies un-
der the Trump administration
have just been “vile.”
But when it comes to guns,
Smith sounds more like a con-
servative: She opposes reviving
the nation’s assault weapons
ban, enacting red-flag laws or
creating a registry of firearms.
The 48-year-old California law-
yer owns a cache of firearms,
from pistols to rifles such as the
AR-15.
Smith and liberal gun owners
like her face a quandary as vot-
ing in the Democratic primary
intensifies with Super Tuesday
48-year-old California lawyer and gun owner Lara Smith
next week. They are nervous
about some of the gun control
measures the Democratic can-
didates are pushing and are un-
sure who to trust on this issue.
“You’re alienating a huge
part of your constituency,”
Smith says of the Democrat-
ic field’s gun proposals. “You
have a huge constituency that is
looking for something different
and when you are talking about
restricting a right which is so
different than everything else
you talk about, you are being
anti-liberal.”
Gun owners have long been
seen as a solidly Republican vot-
ing bloc, but there are millions
of Democrats who own fire-
arms, too.
Many of them are feeling
increasingly disillusioned by
their party as it lurches toward
the left on the Second Amend-
ment, but they’re also wary of
President Donald Trump for a
variety of reasons: his conserva-
tive leanings but a track record
in office that has led to several
gun restrictions, such as the
banning of bump stocks.
An estimated 23 percent of
Democrats nationally lived in
households with guns in 2018,
according to the General Social
Survey, which is conducted by
NORC at the University of Chi-
cago. And roughly 20 percent of
gun owners — about 12 million
people — identify as liberal,
according to results from sur-
veys between 2014 and 2018.
More than a third describe
themselves as moderates while
just under 45 percent call them-
selves conservatives.
The liberals who are op-
posed to gun control are at odds
with a broader trend among
Democrats when it comes to
tougher firearms restrictions.
According to polling by Gallup
last year, 88 percent of Demo-
crats said laws governing fire-
arm sales should be made more
strict, up from 77 percent in
2015 and 63 percent in 2010.
The political dilemma for
Democratic gun owners grew
when former New York Mayor
Mike Bloomberg entered the
campaign. Bloomberg heads
one of the most politically ac-
tive gun control groups and has
spent vast sums of money push-
ing his agenda in races around
the country.
All the Democrats running
for president are seeking one
form or another of gun restric-
tions. But current frontrunner
Sen. Bernie Sanders finds him-
self under attack for being too
pro gun. Bloomberg launched
an attack on Sanders’ gun re-
cord this week, noting he had
been endorsed by the NRA ear-
lier in his career and balked at
expanding background checks.
The candidates brought
up guns on several occasions
during Tuesday’s debate in
South Carolina, held in the city
that lived through the mass
murder of nine black church
goers by a white supremacist in
2015.
David Yamane, a sociology
professor at Wake Forest Uni-
versity who studies American
gun culture, said polarization
over the issue began in the
1970s in the wake of the Gun
Control Act of 1968, which was
enacted amid national outcry
over the assassinations of Rob-
ert F. Kennedy and Martin Lu-
ther King Jr. Subsequent efforts
by the NRA to seize on gun
rights as a partisan issue only
heightened the divide.
Before that, gun politics
wasn’t divided so sharply on
political lines. One Democrat-
ic president, John F. Kennedy,
was actually a member of the
National Rifle Association.

‘Bernie or brokered’: Democratic race at critical crossroads

In a brokered convention, party bosses or delegates in and negotiations decide
the nominee after no can-
slow Sanders’ momen-
tum — and change the
lead in Iowa, the 78-year-
old Vermont senator’s
floor fights and negotiations decide the nominee after no didate amasses enough trajectory of the race confidence is surging.
delegates in the primary — with a convincing Sanders will spend the
candidate amasses enough delegates in the primary — would inflict serious victory demonstrating next 24 hours campaign-
damage on the party, as his strength among Afri- ing in the home states
BY STEVE PEOPLES, al convention. Bernie or brokered,” said well. “It’s just hard for can Americans. But just of two major Democrat-
MEG KINNARD AND BILL This marks a danger- James Carville, a veteran me to see beyond the two three days later, Sanders ic rivals, betting he can
BARROW ous moment for a polit- Democratic strategist. options,” he said. believes he’s positioned score a double knockout
The Associated Press ical party desperate to Carville is uncom- South Carolina’s pri- to seize a major delegate blow — or at least limit
replace President Don- fortable with a Sanders mary on Saturday stands advantage when 14 states the size of their victories
COLUMBIA, S.C. — ald Trump but deeply
The Democrats’ 2020 nomination but fears that as the first marker on and one U.S. territory — with a strong showing
conflicted over whether
primary season enters a a brokered convention — the four-day crossroads. vote on “Super Tuesday.” in some of Super Tues-
Sanders, the undisputed
critical four-day stretch in which party bosses or Joe Biden and his estab- After two consecutive day’s seemingly most
Democratic front-run-
that will help determine ner and a self-described delegates in floor fights lishment allies hope to victories and a tie for the hostile terrain.
whether the party rallies democratic socialist, is
behind Bernie Sanders too extreme to defeat the
or embraces a longer and Republican president.
uglier slog that could “Only two things are
carry on until the nation- going to happen: either

Court halts Trump asylum policy,

then suspends its own order
The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, known
officially as ‘Migrant Protection
Protocols,’ took effect in January
2019 in San Diego and gradually
spread across the southern border
BY ELLIOT SPAGAT
The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — A 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals panel voted unani-
mously Friday to suspend
an order it issued earlier
in the day to block a cen-
tral pillar of the Trump
administration’s policy re-
quiring asylum seekers to
wait in Mexico while their
cases wind through U.S.
courts.
The three-judge panel
told the government to
file written arguments by
the end of Monday and for
the plaintiffs to respond
by the end of Tuesday.
The Justice Depart-
ment said at least 25,000
asylum seekers subject
to the policy are current-
ly waiting in Mexico and
expressed “massive and
irreparable national-secu-
rity of public-safety con-
cerns.”
Government attorneys
said immigration lawyers
had begun demanding
that asylum seekers be
allowed in the United
States, with one insisting
that 1,000 people be al-
lowed to enter at one loca-
tion.
“The Court’s reinstate-
ment of the injunction
causes the United States
public and the govern-
ment significant and ir-
reparable harms — to
border security, public
safety, public health, and
diplomatic relations,”
Justice Department attor-
neys wrote.
Customs and Border
Protection had already
begun to stop processing
people under the policy.
ACLU attorney Judy
Rabinovitz called the sus-
pension of Friday’s order
“a temporary step.”
“We will continue
working to permanently
end this unspeakably cru-
el policy,” she said.
The government’s set-
back earlier Friday from
the three-judge panel of
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals may prove
temporary if President
Donald Trump’s adminis-
tration appeals to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which
has consistently sided
with Trump on immigra-
tion and border security
policies. Chad Wolf, the
acting Homeland Securi-
ty secretary, said he was
working with the Justice
Department to “expedi-
tiously appeal this inexpli-
cable decision.”
The “Remain in Mexi-
co” policy, known official-
ly as “Migrant Protection
Protocols,” took effect in
January 2019 in San Di-
ego and gradually spread
across the southern bor-
der. About 60,000 people
have been sent back to
wait for hearings, and of-
ficials believe it is a big
reason why illegal border
crossings plummeted
about 80 percent from a
13-year high in May.

Tell your child a bedtime story.

6A SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
Coronavirus
Continued from Page 1A
Medical mask supplies
also running low
The one mask recom-
mended to protect against
viruses is called the N95.
Leigh Walker, a sales
representative for Oxy-
Care Plus, a medical
supply company in Co-
lumbus, said the demand
for the N95 masks has ex-
ploded over the past two
weeks.
“Here in the office,
we’re getting 15 to 20
calls a day,” Walker said.
“I visit 15 doctor’s offices
and they all are asking for
them, too. There just ar-
en’t any. We’ve tried Wal-
green’s, Walmart, Ama-
zon, even eBay. You just
can’t get them.”
Many of the OxyCare
Plus customers are those
most vulnerable to virus-
es — often older people
who are already suffering
from respiratory illness-
es. For some of the pa-
tients, the fear is almost
palpable.
“I know they are
afraid,” Walker said. “To-
day, I just got a memo from
the Centers for Disease
Control. I have to read it
and sign off on it. What
they are recommending
isn’t masks. They’re rec-
ommending we tell our
patients to take the kind
of precautions you would
take with the flu — wash-
ing your hands, staying
home if you’re sick and
going to the doctor if
you begin to have symp-
toms. That’s what we tell
our customers. A lot of
them still want the mask,
though.”
Pharmacies have also
noticed an increase in in-
quiries about the virus.
“We’ve definitely had
people coming in looking
for masks,” said B.J. Cou-
gle, owner of B.J.’s Family
Pharmacy in Starkville.
“We don’t have any
masks, but what we tell
them is that they should
take the precautions you
normally take with the flu
or any other virus.
“The truth is nobody
really knows what to tell
people,” he added. “Chi-
na hasn’t really been very
good neighbors as far as
sharing information.”
In addition to masks,
there have been some
reports of people stock-
ing up on prescription
medicines. Although he
Broadband
Continued from Page 1A
plus years of existence,’’
4-County General Man-
ager Brian Clark said in
the release. “We want to
make sure that we have
the best possible informa-
tion and the most diligent
planning to make this de-
cision.”
Clark said 4-County
will use the data and feed-
back from its feasibility
studies to devise a range
of potential scenarios.
“Over the next several
weeks, we’ll be meeting
with the consultants who
prepared the studies and
getting into the real nuts
and bolts. It’s a chance to
make sure all our assump-
tions are what they need
to be, that the details are
correct so we are looking
at as realistic a model as is
possible,” Clark said.
One key factor could
be the availability of fed-
eral funds designated to
help extend broadband
services to rural areas
such as the communities
4-County services.
That funding, called
the Rural Digital Op-
portunity Fund (RDOF)
through the Federal Com-
munications Commis-
sion, will make $20 billion
available for those efforts.
How much of those funds
4-County can secure may
Get promoted? Win an award? Send us your business brief.
news@cdispatch.com
subject: Business brief
hasn’t yet seen that at his
pharmacy, Chris Bonner,
who owns Chris’ Phar-
macy in Columbus, said
he wouldn’t be surprised
if that sort of demand be-
gins to emerge.
“China is a huge pro-
ducer of pharmaceuti-
cals,” Bonner said. “That
could be an issue if the
supply chain is disrupted.
Years ago, there was an
earthquake in China that
really affected the sup-
ply of a couple of popular
medicines. I can see con-
ceivably where that could
be an issue, but I haven’t
seen it yet.”
‘There are no cases
in Mississippi’
Coronavirus fear has
manifested in another
way — through the grape-
vine. One social media
post said the virus was re-
ported in Meridian.
That’s a claim Liz
Sharlot, communications
director for the Missis-
sippi State Department
of Health, quickly shut
down.
“There are no cases in
Mississippi and no cas-
es under investigation in
Mississippi,” Sharlot said.
“In situations like this, it’s
understandable that peo-
ple are concerned. That’s
natural. Unfortunately, a
lot of misinformation goes
along with those fears
sometimes.”
Sharlot said the best
response remains prac-
ticing good hygiene and
staying informed through
reliable sources.
“We want to make sure
people have accurate in-
formation,” Sharlot said.
“What we recommend is
that people visit our web-
site (msdh.ms.gov) and
also get our phone app
(MS Ready). It’s a free
app. When we get infor-
mation, the phone app is
the first place it goes to.”
Sharlot said MSDH has
been planning in case of a
virus outbreak for weeks,
working with hospitals
and clinics throughout
the state.
“We’ve been assessing
capacity, beefing up our
lab capacity and offering
guidance to other agen-
cies,” Sharlot said. “This
has been our highest pri-
ority.”
Hospitals, too, have put
together plans to address
the virus should it appear.
be pivotal, Clark said.
“If we were able to get
10 to 15 percent or more of
our project costs through
grants, that would go a
long way towards making
the project a go,” Clark
added.
Clark said 4-Coun-
ty has not established a
deadline for making the
decision.
“It is very important
that we do everything we
can to make sure that if
we move forward, we put
as little risk on 4-Coun-
ty and our members as
is possible,” Clark said.
“That includes explor-
ing other options such as
partnerships with exist-
ing internet providers.”
Northern District Pub-
lic Service Commissioner
Brandon Presley, who led
the effort to amend the
law that would allow co-
ops to provide broadband
services for its custom-
ers, welcomed 4-County’s
continued consideration
of the project.
“I am proud to see that
4-County is still consider-
ing a broadband project to
help their member-own-
ers get connected to the
outside world,” Presley
said. “Broadband service
in 2020 is becoming as
necessary for modern life
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
el history to determine
if they are at risk for the
Coronavirus.
Students and employ-
ees who have traveled
in the past 14 days from
areas impacted by the
virus and who have a fe-
ver, cough or difficulty
breathing should contact
the Health Center or seek
medical care immediate-
ly, the release states.
‘Stay calm and use
good common sense’
Fear of the virus may
begin to show up in other
ways, too.
Zack Plair/Dispatch Staff Marion Kohut, a travel
From left, pharmacy technician Nikki Mann and pharmacist Ashely Klipstein fill or- agent with Roberts Travel
ders for customers Saturday morning at B.J.’s Family Pharmacy in Starkville. Phar- in West Point, said fears
macies have also noticed an increase in inquiries about the virus, looking especially may impact business.
for masks. “We’ve definitely had people coming in looking for masks,” said owner “It’s hard to say if it’s
B.J. Cougle. “We don’t have any masks, but what we tell them is that they should
had any effect so far,” Ko-
take the precautions you normally take with the flu or any other virus.” hut said. “We haven’t had
any cancellations. On the
to a statement sent to all
other hand, we haven’t
its facilities.
had the amount of book-
The plan includes pa-
ings we normally have.
tient screening and isola-
I can’t tie that directly to
tion units as well as daily
the virus, but people may
meetings and refresher
be waiting to see how
training for hospital staff.
it goes before planning
Signage throughout their
trips.
facilities inform visitors to
“We don’t book a lot of
alert hospital staff if they
travel to China, but we do
believe they are suffering
travel to Italy,” he added.
flu symptoms. The Coro-
“The virus is there now,
navirus mimics flu symp- so if it affects us, travel
toms.
to Italy is where we’ll see
Mississippi State it. Of course, the virus is
University and the Mis-
spreading to other coun-
sissippi University for tries, so the impact could
Slim Smith/Dispatch Staff
Women are monitoring
Leigh Walker, a sales representative with OxyCare Plus, be pretty serious. We
a medical supply company in Columbus, displays a N95 the spread of COVID-19, just don’t have any way of
both schools announced
mask, the kind recommended for combating viruses. knowing right now.”
The outbreak of the COVID-19 Coronavirus has created in press releases. MSU That fear of the un-
an unprecedented demand for the masks. While Oxy- is not approving travel to
known, although under-
Care has a few of the masks for their own use, they’ve countries that the CDC standable, is counter-pro-
not been able to find masks for dozens of requests has issued a Level 3 out-
ductive, Sharlot said.
from patients and doctor’s offices the company serves. break status, including
“We’ve tried everywhere,” Walker said. “You just can’t “The best defense right
China and South Korea, now is to stay calm and
get them.”
and discourages travel- use good common sense,”
ing to Level 2 countries,
Working with MSDH, of those questions will im- Sharlot said. “At some
the plan at OCH Region- mediately go to one of our including Italy, Iran and point, if the virus becomes
Japan. All incoming pa-
al Medical Center in airborne isolation rooms.” community-transmitted
Baptist Medical Group tients at the MSU John C. here in Mississippi, we’ll
Starkville includes three
— which operates 22 hos- Longest Student Health be ready to implement
main steps: Identify per-
pitals in three states, in- Center with cough, sneez- measures to address that.
sons at risk for infection,
cluding Baptist Memorial ing, sore throat, fever, and But we are not at that
isolate using the appropri-
ate infection control and Hospital-Golden Triangle respiratory issues will be point now. That’s why it’s
report suspected cases to in Columbus — has been masked to protect oth- important for people to
MSDH. working on its strategy er patients and asked to stay informed with accu-
“Our emergency de- for six weeks, according provide their recent trav- rate information.”
partment has added two
questions for patients
in our triage process
—‘Have you traveled in-
ternationally?,’ and ‘Have
you been in close contact
with a person known to
have the virus?,’” stated
OCH Acute Care Man-
ager Eddie Coats, a reg-
istered nurse. “Patients
who answer yes to either
as electricity. Communi-
cation with member-own-
ers is very key, no matter
what the outcome of the
decision. With nine oth-
er electric cooperatives
already moving forward
with broadband projects,
Mississippi is seeing a ru-
ral broadband revolution.”
Presley urged 4-Coun-
ty not to wait too long to
make its decision.
“Preliminary esti-
mates show that we, as a
state, could
receive
between
$500 mil-
lion to $700
million of
the Rural
Digital Op-
p o r t u n i t y Presley
Fund from
the FCC,” Presley said.
“There will be a reverse
auction in October to
disperse those funds. The
next eight months are
critical, and if any cooper-
ative or telecom provider
misses these funds, they
will be locked out of this
program for 10 years. In
short, if 4-County says
‘no’ or misses the dead-
line for application and
the auction, then they are
dead in the water on this
big fund.”
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 7A

Wall Street has worst week since 2008 as S&P 500 drops 11.5 percent
Market’s losses moderated Friday after the
Federal Reserve released a statement saying
it stood ready to help the economy if needed
BY ALEX VEIGA
AND DAMIAN J. TROISE
AP Business Writers
Stocks sank around the
globe again Friday as investors
braced for more economic pain
from the coronavirus outbreak,
sending U.S. markets to their
worst weekly finish since the
2008 financial crisis.
The damage from the
week of relentless selling was
eye-popping: The Dow Jones
Industrial Average fell 3,583
points, or 12.4 percent. Micro-
soft and Apple, the two most
valuable companies in the S&P
500, lost a combined $300 bil-
lion. In a sign of the severity of
the concern about the possible
economic blow, the price of oil
sank 16 percent.
The market’s losses moder-
ated Friday after the Federal
Reserve released a statement
saying it stood ready to help the
economy if needed. Investors
increasingly expect the Fed to
cut rates at its next policy meet-
ing in mid-March.
The Dow swung back from
an early slide of more than
1,000 points to close around 350
points lower. The S&P 500 fell
0.8 percent and is now down 13
percent since hitting a record
high just 10 days ago. The Nas-
daq reversed an early decline to
finish flat.
Global financial markets
have been rattled by the virus
outbreak that has been shutting
down industrial centers, empty-
ing shops and severely crimp-
ing travel all over the world.
More companies are warning
investors that their finances
will take a hit because of dis-
ruptions to supply chains and
sales. Governments are taking
increasingly drastic measures
as they scramble to contain the
virus.
The rout has knocked every
major index into what market
watchers call a “correction,”
or a fall of 10 percent or more
from a peak. The last time that
occurred was in late 2018, as a
tariff war with China was esca-
lating. Market watchers have
said for months that stocks
were overpriced and long over-
due for another pullback.
Bond prices soared again
as investors sought safety and
became more pessimistic about
the economy’s prospects. That
pushed yields to more record
lows. The yield on the 10-year
Treasury note fell sharply, to
1.14 percent from 1.30 percent
late Thursday. That’s a record
low, according to TradeWeb.
That yield is a benchmark for
home mortgages and many oth-
er kinds of loans.
Crude oil prices sank 4.9
percent over worries that glob-
al travel and shipping will be
severely crimped and hurt de-
mand for energy.
“All this says to us is that
there are still a lot of worries
in the market,” said Gene Gold-
man, chief investment officer
at Cetera Financial Group. “We
need the Fed to come out and
say basically guys, we got your
back.”
Traders have been growing
more certain that the Federal
Reserve will be forced to cut in-
terest rates to protect the econ-
omy, and soon. Goldman said
the Fed’s current lack of action
amounts to a tightening of rates
compared with other nations
and their actions to offset the
impact of the coronavirus.
Investors now widely expect
the Fed to cut interest rates by
a half-point at its meeting that
winds up March 18. According
to data from the Chicago Mer-
cantile Exchange’s Fedwatch
tool, the expectations for a half-
point cut jumped from 47 per-
cent just before the Fed’s state-
ment was released to 60 percent
by the close of trading.
The latest losses have wiped
out the S&P 500’s gains going
back to October. The bench-
mark index is still up 6.1 per-
cent over the past 12 months,
not including dividends. Its
weekly loss of 11.5 percent was
the biggest since an 18.2 per-
cent drop in the week ending
October 10, 2008.

US and Taliban sign deal aimed Trump picks Ratcliffe as top

at ending war in Afghanistan
Historic deal is aimed at ending America’s longest war
and bringing U.S. troops home from Afghanistan more
than 18 years after they invaded in the wake of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
BY MAT THEW LEE
AND K ATHY GANNON
The Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar — Ac-
knowledging a military
stalemate after nearly
two decades of conflict,
the United States on
Saturday signed a peace
agreement with the Tali-
ban that is aimed at end-
ing America’s longest war
and bringing U.S. troops
home from Afghanistan
more than 18 years after
they invaded in the wake
of the Sept. 11, 2001, ter-
rorist attacks.
The historic deal,
signed by chief negotia-
tors from the two sides
and witnessed by Sec-
retary of State Mike
Pompeo, could see the
withdrawal of all Amer-
ican and allied forces in
the next 14 months and
allow President Donald
Trump to keep a key cam-
paign pledge to extract
the U.S. from “endless
wars.” But it could also
easily unravel, particu-
larly if the Taliban fail to
meet their commitments.
At the White House,
Trump told reporters the
U.S. deserves credit for
having helped Afghani-
stan take a step toward
peace. He spoke cau-
tiously of the deal’s pros-
pects for success and
cautioned the Taliban
against violating their
commitments.
“We think we’ll be suc-
cessful in the end,” he
said, referring to all-Af-
ghan peace talks and a
final U.S. exit. He said he
will be “meeting person-
ally with Taliban leaders
in the not-too-distant fu-
ture,” and described the
group as “tired of war.”
He did not say where
or why he plans to meet
with Taliban leaders. He
said he thinks they are
serious about the deal
they signed but warned
that if it fails, the U.S.
could restart combat.
“If bad things happen,
we’ll go back” in with mil-
itary firepower, Trump
said.
Pompeo was similarly
cautious.
“Today, we are real-
istic. We are seizing the
best opportunity for peace
in a generation,” Pompeo
said in the Qatari capital
of Doha. “Today, we are
restrained. We recognize
that America shouldn’t
fight in perpetuity in the
graveyard of empires if
we can help Afghans forge
peace.”
Under the agreement,
the U.S. would draw its
forces down to 8,600 from
13,000 in the next three to
four months, with the re-
maining U.S. forces with-
drawing in 14 months. The
complete pullout would de-
pend on the Taliban meet-
ing their commitments to
prevent terrorism, includ-
ing specific obligations
to renounce al-Qaida and
prevent that group or oth-
ers from using Afghan soil
to plot attacks on the U.S.
or its allies.
The deal sets the stage
for intra-Afghan peace
talks to begin around
March 10, with the aim
of negotiating a perma-
nent cease-fire and a
power-sharing agreement
between rival Afghan
groups. It’s perhaps the
most complicated and dif-
ficult phase of the plan.
It does not, however, tie
America’s withdrawal to
any specific outcome from
the all Afghan talks, ac-
cording to U.S. officials.
Pompeo said that “the
chapter of American his-
tory on the Taliban is writ-
ten in blood” and stressed
that while the road ahead
would be difficult, the deal
represented “the best op-
portunity for peace in a
generation.”
intelligence official, again
BY DEB RIECHMANN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump
on Friday picked Rep. John Ratcliffe again to be
the nation’s top intelligence official, just months
after abruptly ending an earlier effort to install
him amid bipartisan criticism that the Texas Re-
publican was unqualified for the post.
Trump’s decision meant that once again the
GOP-led Senate would have to decide whether to
put the three-term lawmaker in charge of over-
seeing the 17 U.S. spy agencies that the president
has repeatedly scorned.
It also puts the leadership of the intelligence
community in the spotlight early in an election
year in which those agencies are already warn-
ing that Russia is trying anew to interfere in the
presidential race. Democrats have also accused
Trump of installing people atop some agencies
most noteworthy for their fealty to him, not intel-
ligence expertise.
“All while our elections are perilously at risk
of foreign interference. Just the way the Presi-
dent likes it,” tweeted Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
who chairs the House Intelligence Committee
and helped lead his impeachment by the House.

Federal Communications Commission proposes

fines for phone companies that shared user data
Regulators: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon
and Sprint improperly disclosed
customers’ real-time location
BY TALI ARBEL
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK — U.S.
regulators have proposed
fining the four major
U.S. phone companies
more than $200 million
combined for improperly
disclosing customers’ re-
al-time location to other
companies.
The proposed fines
by the Federal Commu-
nications Commission
amounted to $91 million
for T-Mobile, $57 million
for AT&T, $48 million for
Verizon and $12 million
for Sprint. The amounts
vary based on how long
each company sold the
user data and how many
companies and organiza-
tions it sold the data to.
The phone companies can
object, and the amounts
could change.
Critics said the FCC
took too long, and the pro-
posed fines were too low.
“Instead of meetings its
obligation to come down
hard on the wireless car-
riers that are guilty in this
case, the FCC dragged its
feet and issued penalties
that let these companies
off easy,” said Sen. Ed-
ward Markey, a Massa-
chusetts Democrat.
Lisa Hayes of the ad-
vocacy group Center for
Democracy & Technolo-
gy said the FCC’s “weak
enforcement response”
demonstrate why the U.S.
needs a comprehensive
privacy law.
Location data makes
it possible to identify the
whereabouts of nearly any
phone in the U.S. within
seconds.
According to published
reports, phone companies
were selling access to
such data to little-known
companies such as Loca-
tionSmart and Zumigo.
These data brokers then
sold the information to
other “location-based”
services, like prison-com-
munications company Se-
curus. The FCC said the
phone companies failed
to ask customers for con-
sent for what companies
like Securus were doing,
or make sure that those
companies were getting
an OK from customers.
The FCC action deals
with phone companies’
practice of providing
data to third parties with
whom users have no di-
rect contact. It’s unrelated
to users sharing locations
directly with apps and
other services.
Federal law requires
that telecommunications
companies protect the
confidentiality of some
customer data, including
location information.

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8A SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

NEW SHERIFF INTRODUCES COMMAND STAFF Petal teacher

only Mississippi
Milken Educator
winner
History teacher received the
recognition that’s also known as
the ‘Oscar of teaching’ plus $25K
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PETAL — Just one Mississippi teacher this

year was awarded the coveted Milken Educator
Award and the $25,000 that goes along with it.
During a surprise assembly Tuesday, Kath-
ryn Daniels, a 10th grade history teacher at Petal
High School, received the recognition that’s also
known as the “Oscar of teaching.”
“It took me a couple seconds to register they
had said my name,” Daniels told The Hattiesburg
American.
Daniels didn’t know she was getting the award.
It was a surprise — presented at an all-school as-
sembly by Greg Gallagher, Milken Awards senior
Isabelle Altman/Dispatch Staff
program director, and Mississippi Superinten-
Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins, center, introduces the command staff during a Meet and Greet at dent of Education Carey Wright.
Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office Thursday night. From left, Lt. Darrell Nabors, head of investigations; Capt. Scott The award recognizes the exceptional work of
Speaks, head of patrol division; Capt. Ric Higgins, jail administrator; Chief Deputy Brent Swan; Lt. Rhonda Sand- Daniels as a model in the state and the nation.
ers, public relations officer; and Capt. Brian Turner, head of the county’s joint narcotics task force with Columbus “We’re so proud of her work,” Gallagher said.
Police Department. “She’s a leader in education. Her work in educa-
tion is commendable. She mentors other teach-
ers. She teaches her students from where they are
and gets them to where they need to be.”
It was the only Milken Educator Award to be
given in Mississippi this season. Forty awards
Ex-bus driver gets jail time for assaulting disabled student were presented around the nation in 2019-20.
Daniels expects she and her husband will in-
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS of a minor, The Sun Her- to see Raymond serve She (Raymond) has af- vest the money and use some of it to get her Ph.D.
ald reported. Krebs sus- more time behind bars. fected a lot of people, not “I am so blessed and fortunate,” she said. “It’s
PASCAGOULA — A pended some of the sen- He told the judge what only my children but the about other people and that’s the irony. I feel like
Mississippi judge has sen- tence, leaving Raymond happened to his grand- other children on the bus. it’s about other people who have invested in me
tenced a former school with three months to daughter affected every- They are scared to death. along the way.”
bus driver to prison for serve and $1,000 in fines, one in his family. They thought she was go- Daniels has been a teacher for nine years — six
assaulting a disabled stu- the newspaper reported. He said the girl’s moth- ing to do to the same to years at Petal High.
dent. She is to begin serving er became so distraught them.” One person who was not taken aback by the
Circuit Court Judge the sentence April 1. after learning that Ray- Krebs reviewed vid- news was Petal School District Superintendent
Robert Krebs reviewed A video that the child’s mond and a teacher, also eo footage of the assault Matthew Dillon.
more than 20 letters of family provided to the Sun indicted in the case, were by Raymond and co-de- “For me, I know how great our teachers are
support and heard pleas Herald showed Raymond facing only misdemeanor fendant, former teacher across our district so it’s not a big surprise,” he
for leniency before he threatening to send the charges that she began Kerri Anne Nettles. The said. “They do amazing work.”
sentenced Antioinette St. Martin Middle School using drugs, overdosed at difference between the The Milken Educator Awards were created by
Jane “Toni” Raymond on student to jail, choke her, a casino and died. two defendants, he said, the Milken Family Foundation in 1987 to recog-
Friday to a year behind put soap in her mouth and “I don’t have a job and is that once Nettles told nize teaching excellence and to inspire educators,
bars on a misdemeanor even kill her if she didn’t my mother doesn’t have a Raymond there was a students and communities about the importance
charge of simple assault shut up and sit still. job because I have to stay camera on the bus record- of joining the teaching profession. A panel at state
and three months for The disabled girl’s home to take care of her ing them, Nettles stopped education departments chooses the recipients.
contributing to the delin- grandfather, Thomas (the child),” he said. “The assaulting the girl but About $1.8 million in Milken Awards have been
quency, abuse or neglect Pearce, said he had hoped video speaks for itself. Raymond continued. presented over the years in Mississippi.
Sports SPORTS LINE
662-241-5000 B
THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

PREP BASKETBALL
SECTION

MISSISSIPPI STATE MEN’S BASKETBALL Saddler’s

Bulldogs grind out road heroics lift
Columbus girls
victory against Tigers over Lafayette
in Class 5A
quarterfinals
MISSISSIPPI STATE 67, BY THEO DEROSA

MISSOURI 63 tderosa@cdispatch.com

BY GARRICK HODGE
ghodge@cdispatch.com
The figurative bubble for the Mis-
sissippi State men’s basketball team
keeps floating upward.
MSU (19-10, 10-6 SEC) picked up
its second crucial victo-
ry of the week, knock-
ing off Missouri 67-63
Saturday on the road. It
was a far cry from the
27-point win the Bull-
dogs amassed over the
Tigers in their January
matchup in Starkville, Howland
but with MSU sitting in
ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s first four
out entering the contest, coach Ben
Howland will take the victory nonethe-
less.
“I’m really happy for our team,”
Howland said.
With the win, the Bulldogs improve
to 10-6 in Southeastern Conference
play. The 10 conference wins ties the
most in a single season in the Ben
Howland era. On the flip side, it was
Missouri’s (14-15, 6-10) first loss at
home in a little more than a month.
MSU also controls its own destiny
for a double-bye in the SEC tourna-
ment. With Florida’s loss to Tennes-
see, the Bulldogs and Gators have an
identical 10-6 mark in SEC play. With
two games remaining in the regular
season, if both teams have identical
conference records, MSU would be
awarded the higher seed because of
its win against Florida earlier this year
unless the two are caught in a three-
team tie.
Senior guard Tyson Carter, coming
off back-to-back 19-point games, con-
tinued to play like his collegiate career
was on the line, finishing with a team-
high 15 points.
“I love Tyson Carter’s routine,”
Howland said. “I love the way he slows
down, takes a deep breath and exe-
cutes. Because your team is depend-
ing on you to win this game.”
Carter made one of the biggest
baskets down the stretch, converting
a floater with his team up two with 45
seconds left. The Starkville native also
sealed the victory with two free throws
with 31 seconds remaining.
See MSU MEN, 6B
Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports
FEATURE PHOTO: Mississippi State
guard Nick Weatherspoon shoots a
3-point shot during the second half
Saturday against Missouri at Mizzou
Arena in Columbia, Missouri.
FULTON —
Aniya
INSIDE
Saddler n PREP
had struggled to BASKETBALL
score for most of (BOYS):
the night. Starkville
The Columbus advances to
state semifinals.
High School se- See page 5B.
nior had only 11
points, below her
typical scoring output, with 18.2
seconds to go in Saturday’s MH-
SAA Class 5A quarterfinal game
against Lafayette at Itawamba
Community College in Fulton.
The Falcons had the ball in a con-
test tied at 36-all, and despite her
off game, Saddler was still opti-
mistic.
“I was just like, ‘Something
good’s gotta happen,’” Saddler
said. “Something good just has to
happen.’”
So she made it happen.
With the clock winding down,
Saddler took a pass from fresh-
man Shania Givens, split two
Lafayette defenders and nailed a
floating jumper from just inside
the free throw line with 1.2 sec-
onds to go. The Commodores
couldn’t get a shot off before the
buzzer, and Saddler’s heroics
stood as the Falcons advanced to
the Class 5A semifinals with a 39-
37 win.
“This team, we never give up,”
junior DJ Jackson said. “Big-time
players play in big-time moments,
and that’s what we did.”
Columbus trailed by one with
under a minute to go as Lafay-
ette played keep-away with the
basketball to run down the clock.
But before the Falcons could foul
after a timeout and send the Com-
modores to the line for a one-and-
one, Lafayette threw the ball away
and out of bounds, giving the Fal-
cons new life with 53.6 seconds to
go.
“It felt like I had a weight on my
shoulders, and it just backed off,”
Jackson said.
Saddler was fouled with 31.3
seconds left, but before she
stepped up to the free throw line
Jackson took her aside.
“‘You got this,’” Jackson told
her teammate. “You got this.
There’s no pressure. Block out
the crowd. It’s just you and this
ball and this net.’”
Facing a one-and-one opportu-
nity of her own, Saddler knocked
down both free throws as calmly
as she could — given the circum-
stances — to put the Falcons
ahead.
“We knew that she had to make
See PREP BASKETBALL, 6B

MSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Freshmen seek consistency;
Rickea Jackson on the mend
Myah Taylor finding her
voice; Vic Schaefer sounds
off on one-time transfers
BY BEN PORTNOY
bportnoy@cdispatch.com
STARKVILLE — Vic Schaefer’s
freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore.
Now sitting at 24-5 and having locked
up the No. 2 spot in the final Southeast-
ern Conference standings, Mississippi
State’s success has been predicated on
the major minutes baby Bulldogs Rickea
Jackson, Aliyah Matharu, JaMya Min-
go-Young and Jayla Hemingway have
afforded Schaefer over the 29-game
schedule.
And though MSU has found success
in its freshman class, there’s more be to
had — or in Schaefers word’s, a consis-
tency that needs to be found.
For each major moment Schaefer’s
freshmen have provided, it’s been
backed up by a seeming step back or dis-
appearance in the ensuing game.
Take Mingo-Young’s 14-point outing
against No. 1 South Carolina for exam-
ple. Lined up against likely first team
All-SEC selection Tyasha Harris, the Bo-
golusa, Louisiana, native held her own
on both ends of the floor — finishing 6
of 10 from the floor with three rebounds
and two steals.
Despite the impressive showing, Min-
go-Young has scored more than four
points in a game just once in the five
weeks since the Bulldogs visited Colum-
bia.
Most recently, it’s Matharu who will Jim Lytle/Dispatch file photo
look to avoid the usual freshman ten- Mississippi State’s Rickea Jackson (5) shoots a 3-point shot over Arkansas’ Chelsea
See MSU WOMEN, 6B Dungee (33) during the first half of their game Thursday in Starkville.
2B SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

PREP BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL ROUNDUP

CALENDAR
Today
Women’s College Basketball
Mississippi State at Ole Miss, 1:40
Ruffin lifts New Hope over rival Caledonia in eighth
BY THEO DEROSA victory. Perry struck out three runs. out three batters in
p.m. tderosa@cdispatch.com Ketchum struck out in three innings. Brennon Wright three innings for West
College Baseball six Columbus hitters in Starkville (4-2) hosts struck out three in Point, and Blake Wat-
Mississippi State at Long Beach State, CALEDONIA — his two innings on the West Point at 7 p.m. three innings of work, son struck out two in 1⅓
1 p.m. The New Hope baseball mound. Monday. and Izak Hanson fanned innings.
Ole Miss at Indiana, 10 a.m. team outlasted rival Jamad Horn drove in two in two innings. West Point will play
Southern Miss at McNeese State, 1 Caledonia 6-5 in eight
innings Friday in Cale-
a run for the Falcons (0- West Lauderdale 6, at Starkville on Tues-
p.m.
College Softball donia.
4) and struck out three
Starkville 3 Starkville Academy day.
batters in four innings.
Alcorn State and UT Martin at Missis- Cole Ruffin had the Columbus also lost
COL L I NSV I L L E 3, Bayou Academy 1,
sippi State, 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. winning single for the 6-3 to Lee Academy
— Starkville also lost Friday Softball
Ole Miss in Ole Miss Classic, TBA Trojans in the eighth earlier Saturday. The
a road game at West CLEVELAND — New Hope 10,
Lauderdale 6-3 earlier
inning, driving in Gates
Gerhart for the go-
Falcons play at Nettle-
Saturday in Collinsville.
Starkville Academy Hamilton 5, Friday
Monday ton at 7 p.m. Tuesday. held off Bayou Acad- NEW HOPE — New
ahead run. Jack Perry pitched emy 3-1 in the Volun-
Prep Archery Heritage Academy Hope softball stayed
Presley Hall led New six innings with four teers’ first road game of
West Point at Hatley, TBA (5-1) will play at Louis- hot with a 10-5 win over
Hope with two runs bat- strikeouts for the Jack- the season.
Prep Baseball ville at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Hamilton on Friday in
ted in, while Peyton Mc- ets, but the Knights Garrett Lewis
Oak Hill Academy at Starkville Acade- New Hope.
Collum had two RBIs broke a 3-3 tie with pitched six innings for
my, 6 p.m.
for Caledonia. Oak Hill Academy 6, a run in the fifth and Starkville Academy (7-
The Trojans had 16
Hebron Christian at Grace Christian, 6 Lee Academy 5 two in the sixth to give hits, including three
McCollum went 2 for 0) with nine strikeouts,
p.m. Oak Hill Academy Starkville its first loss. apiece for Charly Clan-
3 with a double, while and Colby Allen struck
Prep Girls Basketball beat Lee Academy 6-5 Jack Perry and Pull- ton, Zoe Goodman and
Tony Brooks, Nathan out two hitters.
West Lowndes vs. Pine Grove, MHSAA in the final game of the iam each drove in a run, Katelyn Humphreys.
McLemore and Thom- Lewis and Michael
Class 1A semifinal, Jackson, 9 a.m. as Tucker all had two Heritage Academy Invi- and Livingston had two Goodman and Hum-
Winfield each drove in
Prep Softball hits for the Confeder- tational on Saturday in of Starkville’s six hits. phreys each drove in
runs for the Vols, and
West Lowndes at Columbus, 6:30 p.m. ates (4-2). Columbus. Winfield led the team two runs for New Hope
Noxapater at Starkville, 6:30 p.m. (4-0).
Prep Tennis
David Young, Ryan The Raiders (2-2) Starkville 17, with two hits.
Reagan Cook pitched
Burt and Zac Butler all will play at Starkville Starkville Academy
Heritage Academy at Starkville, 4 p.m. had two hits for New Academy at 6 p.m. Mon-
Amory 7, Friday hosts Oak Hill Acade- four innings, and Clan-
STARKVILLE — ton pitched three. Each
Hope (3-1). day. my at 6 p.m. Monday.
Starkville High School
Tuesday continued its hot hit-
struck out two batters.
The Trojans host
Men’s College Basketball Heritage Academy 8, Oak Grove 12, ting with a 17-7 rout of Kosciusko 10, West Caledonia at 6:30 p.m.
Mississippi State at South Carolina,
5:30 p.m.
Columbus 2 Starkville 10 Amory in five innings at Point 0, Friday Tuesday.
The Heritage Acade- MERIDIAN — home Friday. KOSCIUSKO —
Memphis at Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m.
my baseball team went Starkville High School Seven runs in the West Point was shut out
College Softball
2-0 at the Heritage lost 12-10 to Oak Grove fourth inning and six in 10-0 in five innings Fri-
Eupora 8,
Hinds Community College at East
Mississippi Community College, double-
Academy Invitational on Saturday night at the fifth put the game day at Kosciusko. Caledonia 6, Friday
with an 8-2 win over Co- Meridian High School. away for the Yellow The Green Wave (1- CALEDONIA —
header, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Caledonia suffered its
lumbus High School on Koby Livingston led Jackets (4-0). 3) had just two hits on
UT Martin at Mississippi State, 4 p.m. the Yellow Jackets with Tae Lucious had two first loss of the season,
Saturday afternoon in the night against the
Central Arkansas at Ole Miss, 6 p.m. Columbus. three runs batted in. hits and three RBIs falling 8-6 to Eupora at
Whippets, who scored
Prep Girls Basketball Cole Ketchum and Ethan Pulliam to lead Starkville, and two runs in the bottom home Friday.
Columbus vs. Laurel, MHSAA Class 5A former Falcon KJ Smith pitched four innings Banks Perry led the of the fifth to end the The Confederates
semifinal, Jackson, 4 p.m. each drove in two runs with five strikeouts for team with two hits game on the run rule. (3-1) will play at New
Prep Baseball for the Patriots in the Starkville, and Banks while driving in two Noah Essary struck Hope on Tuesday.
Noxubee County at Houston, double-
header, 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Patrician Academy (Ala.) at Pickens
Academy (Ala.), 5:30 p.m. BRIEFLY

Heritage Academy boys fall to Jackson

Indianola Academy at Oak Hill Academy,
doubleheader, 6 p.m.
Columbus at Nettleton, 6 p.m.

Prep in MAIS overall tournament semis

Caledonia at New Hope, 6 p.m.
Starkville Christian at Hebron Christian,
6 p.m.
Heritage Academy at Louisville, 6:30
p.m. FROM SPECIAL REPORTS
Ole Miss baseball a complete-game shut- a slugfest, then shut out Logan Suggs had
West Point at Starkville, 7 p.m. out for the Rebels (10- host McNeese State 10- a home run and drove
Prep Softball The Heritage Acad- beats East Carolina 10) in a 1-0 win over the 0. in six runs in the final
Patrician Academy (Ala.) at Pickens emy boys basketball for ninth straight win Bears, and Katelin Coo- Matt Guidry had game of the weekend,
Academy (Ala.), 5:30 p.m. team saw its season end The Ole Miss base- per scored on a ground- six combined hits over and John David Bird-
Caledonia at New Hope, 6:30 p.m. Friday in the semifi- ball team beat East Car- out. the two games, includ- song had three hits in-
Nanih Waiya at Columbus, 6:30 p.m. nal round of the MAIS olina 2-1 on Saturday Ole Miss handled ing two home runs cluding a home run and
Starkville at Louisville, 6:30 p.m. overall tournament at in Greenville, North Jackson State 9-1 in five against Valpo. Walker drove in four runs in the
Prep Tennis Mississippi College in Carolina, as the Rebels innings, as Kacey Hvit- Powell pitched a com- first game Saturday.
Pontotoc at Starkville, 4 p.m. Clinton. picked up their ninth ved hit a grand slam to plete-game, eight-in- MUW plays at Blue
New Hope at West Point, 4 p.m. With a 59-37 loss to straight victory. reach the run rule and ning shutout against Mountain College at
Jackson Prep, the Pa- Pitcher Gunnar Ho- end the game. McNeese State. 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Wednesday triots were eliminated glund threw six innings The Rebels will face Southern Miss,
from contention. while allowing just one
College Baseball
Steele Altmyer had unearned run for Ole
California Baptist at
12:30 p.m. today in the
which beat Valpo 5-1 on
Friday, plays McNeese
MUW softball sweeps
Mississippi State vs. Southern Miss,
Trustmark Park, Pearl, 7 p.m. 15 points to lead Her- Miss (9-1). tournament’s champi- State at 1 p.m. today to Stillman College
itage Academy. Jared Tim Elko had an RBI onship game. Ole Miss finish the tournament. The MUW softball
Prep Boys Basketball team earned a home
Starkville vs. Harrison Central, MHSAA Long and Eli Acker double in the second in- beat the Lancers 8-2
sweep of Stillman Col-
Class 6A semifinal, Jackson, 7 p.m. each scored seven. ning, and Jerrion Ealy on Friday after beating MUW baseball goes lege on Friday in Co-
had a sacrifice fly. Jackson State 8-0 in five
Southern Miss Ole Miss, which innings.
4-0 in opening lumbus.
ON THE AIR beat High Point 6-2 on weekend The Owls (8-4) won
women’s basketball The Mississippi Uni- the first game 9-6 and
Today falls at UTEP
Friday, closes out the Southern Miss versity for Women base- won the second 8-0 in
Keith LeClair Classic
AUTO RACING
1:30 p.m. — NASCAR Cup Series: The The Southern Miss by facing Indiana at 10
baseball beats Valpo, ball team is off to a 4-0 five innings.
Auto Club 400, Fontana, Calif., FOX women’s basketball a.m. today in Green- McNeese State start. Megan Cummins
COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) team lost Saturday’s ville, North Carolina. The Southern Miss After beating More- went 3 for 3 with two
11 a.m. — South Florida at Temple, game at Texas-El Paso, baseball team beat Val- house College 7-2 and RBIs in Game 1, and
CBSSN Jana Kay Newell went
80-72. paraiso and McNeese 7-0 on Friday, the Owls
11 a.m. — Creighton at St. John’s, FS1
12 p.m. — Cincinnati at Houston, ESPN Freshman Liz Gibbs
Ole Miss softball State on Saturday at followed up with 10-5 3 for 4 while driving
1 p.m. — Indiana at Illinois, BTN had 21 points for the Ea- advances to Ole Miss the Lake Area Classic and 16-4 wins at Clark in a run. In the second
1 p.m. — Xavier at Georgetown, CBS
3 p.m. — Michigan at Ohio State, CBS
gles, Respect Leaphart Classic championship in Lake Charles, Loui- Atlanta University on game, Kaitlyn Parrish
3 p.m. — Wichita State at Southern had 17, and Kelsey The Ole Miss soft- siana. Saturday. allowed three hits and
Methodist, ESPNU Jones had 11. ball team beat Missouri The Golden Eagles Austin Braswell struck out three batters
3:15 p.m. — Northwestern at Nebras- Southern Miss (14- State and Jackson State are now 9-2 and 3-0 in pitched six scoreless in- in a five-inning com-
ka, BTN 13, 6-10 Conference on Saturday to advance the tournament after nings in MUW’s second plete-game shutout.
5 p.m. — Virginia Tech at Louisville,
ACCN USA) will host Florida to the championship of the pair of wins. game against More- The W plays at Ag-
5 p.m. — Colorado at Stanford, ESPNU Atlantic at 6 p.m. Thurs- the Ole Miss Classic in Southern Miss house, and Brandon nes Scott College at 2
5:30 p.m. — Minnesota at Wisconsin, day at Reed Green Coli- Oxford. opened Saturday by Jones had three hits in p.m. and 4 p.m. Tues-
BTN seum in Hattiesburg. Anna Borgen threw beating Valpo 13-11 in the first game. day.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL (WOMEN’S)
11 a.m. — Virginia Tech at Louisville,
ACCN

Stuck in Spain, Wuhan soccer team gets to watch Madrid-Barça

11 a.m. — Iowa at Rutgers, BTN
11 a.m. — Texas A&M at South Caroli-
na, ESPN2
1 p.m. — Notre Dame at Florida State,
ACCN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS bers of the Wuhan Zall The team will be at city at the center of the said. “I understood
1 p.m. — Duke at North Carolina, team, but on Sunday the Bernabéu on an outbreak that has killed those who were reticent
ESPN2 MADRID — It’s
2 p.m. — Washington at Oregon, Pac- they will get some re- invitation from Real more than 2,800 peo- about the team coming
12 been a tough journey prieve from their ordeal Madrid and La Liga, ple worldwide, most of to Spain. But with time
3 p.m. — Maryland at Minnesota, for the first-division by attending the Span- which has a partnership them in China. it became clear that
ESPN2 soccer club from Wu- ish league “clásico” be- with the Chinese Super Wuhan Zall arrived there was no problem
GOLF han, the city at the epi-
12 p.m. — PGA Tour: The Honda Clas- tween Real Madrid and League, the country’s in Spain at the end of with the team being
sic, Final Round, Palm Beach Gardens, center of the virus out- Barcelona at the Santia- main soccer competi- January but previously here.”
Fla., GOLF break in China. go Bernabéu Stadium. tion. The league has practiced in the Chi- González, a former
2 p.m. — PGA Tour: The Honda Classic, The team came to The team will also tour been suspended be- nese city of Guanghzou, striker who had played
Final Round, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.,
NBC Spain for preseason the famed venue in Ma- cause of the coronavi- nearly 1,000 kilometers in China, said his focus
3:30 p.m. — PGA Tour Champions: The training and doesn’t drid on Monday. rus and is not expected (621 miles) away from has been to take the
Cologuard Classic, Final Round, Tucson, know when it will be “It’s really a well-de- to resume until mid- Wuhan. Although the players’ minds away
Ariz., GOLF able to return home. served reward for April. Wuhan Zall was team was far from the from the situation at
MLB BASEBALL
12 p.m. — Spring Training: Atlanta vs. Players haven’t seen them,” José González, originally scheduled initial outbreak, Span- home. Going to the
Boston, Fort Myers, Fla., MLBN their relatives in more the team’s Spanish to stay in its preseason ish health authorities “clásico” was one way
NBA BASKETBALL than two months. One coach, told The Asso- base in southern Spain had to come out publicly of doing that, as was the
2:30 p.m. — Philadelphia at LA Clip- of them lost a family ciated Press in a tele- until mid-February, to say there was no rea- decision to give them 10
pers, ABC
7 p.m. — LA Lakers at New Orleans, member because of the phone interview. “It will just before the league’s son for local citizens to days of vacation.
ESPN virus. be an experience that planned start. Now it is be concerned about the “I honestly try to
NBAGL BASKETBALL Their arrival prompt- without a doubt they expected to remain in squad’s arrival. Three talk about the subject
2 p.m. — Raptors 905 at Long Island, ed fears among local will never forget. They the country at least un- players arrived from (virus) as little as possi-
NBATV
NFL FOOTBALL residents in the midst have been training and til the end of March. China later and had to ble,” he said. “Because
1 p.m. — NFL Scouting Combine: De- of the rapidly spread- training day after day, Other Chinese clubs stay in quarantine and they are already talking
fensive Backs, Indianapolis, NFLN ing outbreak. They had distracted by the situ- are in a similar situa- be tested for the virus about it all the time, in
NHL HOCKEY to be repeatedly tested ation back home, so it tion in countries like before joining the rest their rooms, with their
11 a.m. — Philadelphia at NY Rangers,
NBC before concerns about will be a nice break for Thailand, Japan and the of the group. relatives back home. I
7 p.m. — Washington at Minnesota, their condition abated. them to watch a game United Arab Emirates, “The fear of the un- don’t want to talk about
NBCSN It hasn’t been easy like this between Real though Wuhan Zall is known obviously al- it as well every time I
for the nearly 50 mem- Madrid and Barcelona.” actually based in the ways exists,” González see them.”

Bulldogs power through first two days of Snowman tourney
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
The Mississippi State
softball team swept
through the first two days
of The Snowman (Alex
Wilcox Memorial) Tour-
nament at Nusz Park in
Starkville.
The Bulldogs (16-3)
beat Alcorn State 8-1 to
improve their record to
3-0 across Friday and Sat-
urday after beating UAB
16-6 on Friday and 5-0 on
Saturday.
Against the Braves on
Saturday evening, senior
first baseman Fa Leilua
went 3 for 3 with a home
run and drove in two runs
to lead Mississippi State.
Leilua hit a two-run
shot in the second as the
Bulldogs scored in all
six innings in which they
came to the plate.
Freshman shortstop
Madisyn Kennedy walked
with the bases loaded in
the first inning and sin-
gled home a run in the
fourth.
Four different pitchers
saw the mound for the
Bulldogs, with Troy trans-
fer Annie Willis picking
up the win with a score-
less inning of work.
Mississippi State will
face Alcorn State again at
For Bulldogs’ California contingent, Palm Springs tournament felt like ‘home away from home’
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
STARKVILLE — As
Chloe Malau’ulu raced to-
ward the right-field fence,
her family ran with her.
Seated in the outfield
grass, they all ran up to
cheer on the Mississippi
State sophomore outfield-
er as she hauled in the
softball just shy of the
wall.
“You know how Samo-
ans are: They’re hyping
up everybody after every-
thing,” Malau’ulu said. “It
could be a strike. It could
be someone got a good
hit or a good catch. The
crowd went wild every
single time.”
The sizable Malau’ulu
clan made a big impres-
sion in numbers and in
volume as they came to
watch Chloe play in the
Mary Nutter Collegiate
Classic last weekend in
Palm Springs, California.
Malau’ulu is from Long
Beach, a two-hour trek
west on Interstate 10, so
her family packed up and
made the drive when the
Bulldogs came to town.
“It was just like an am-
bush of my family,” Ma-
lau’ulu said. “They were
just all there.”
Between her own
relatives and the contin-
gent of senior Fa Leilua
— Malau’ulu’s cousin
by marriage, who hails
from nearby Hawthorne,
California — Malau’ulu
estimated that about 50
family members made
the trip to watch the Gold-
en State-grown Bulldogs
go 3-2 from Thursday to
Saturday.
And Malau’ulu and Lei-
MISSISSIPPI STATE BASEBALL
Bulldogs, Dirtbags split first two games of series
BY BEN PORTNOY
bportnoy@cdispatch.com
After mustering just
a single hit against Long
Beach State on Friday
night, Mississippi State
found its offensive iden-
tity in a 9-0 win over the
Dirtbags on Saturday af-
ternoon.
Facing left-hander Al-
fredo Ruiz, the Bulldogs
looked the part of their
quiet selves at the plate
through the game’s first
five innings, notching
just two hits courtesy of
singles from juniors Jus-
tin Foscue and Rowdey
Jordan. Finally finding its
footing at the plate, MSU
exploded for four runs in
the sixth as Ruiz’s pitch
count hovered at 80 pitch-
Mississippi State freshman shortstop Madisyn Kennedy had reason to jump for joy after going 3 for 3 on Friday.
12:30 p.m. Sunday before
wrapping up the tourna-
ment against UT Martin
at 3 p.m. at Nusz Park.
Here’s how the Bull-
dogs fared in their other
two games of the tourna-
ment.
Mississippi State 5,
UAB 0
Junior Emily Williams
lua weren’t the only ones
who brought their own
cheering sections.
Head coach Samantha
Ricketts, who is from San
Jose, California, said her
parents and her aunt were
on hand to watch her and
her sister Keilani, who
plays for Team USA and
was participating in the
same tournament.
Senior Alyssa Loza,
from Torrance — be-
tween Hawthorne and
Long Beach — greet-
ed her parents and her
younger sister. For the
first time in a while, she
said, her grandmother
and uncle also got to see
her play.
“It was kind of a great
home feeling,” Loza said.
“Home away from home.”
A plan and a feast
As an assistant coach
under Vann Stuedeman,
Ricketts pushed for Mis-
sissippi State to play in
the Mary Nutter Classic
in 2018 and did the same
again for 2020.
“My favorite thing
about that tournament
is just the quality of the
competition,” she said.
“Everybody you’re play-
ing out there is a great
time, a postseason team,
and it’s a good test for us
early on to see where we
stand and what we need
to work on to continue
forward.”
And as soon as the
Bulldogs’ participation
in the event was official-
ly announced, the team’s
California-born players
locked in their plans.
“‘Hey, call in sick that
weekend, because it’s
gonna be a great week-
es.
Junior outfielder Tan-
ner Allen — who missed
three games earlier this
year after fouling a ball
off his knee — opened
the hard-hitting dramat-
ics as he laced a 2-1 pitch
to right center field for a
three-run triple.
One batter later, Fos-
cue capped off the event-
ful frame with a home
run over the right-field
fence to put the Bulldogs
ahead by four and end
Ruiz’s day.
Mississippi State re-
turned to its hot-hitting
form in the seventh in-
ning. Allen added to his
prolific day with an RBI
double to score Jordan
from second. The Bull-
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
MISSISSIPPI STATE SOFTBALL
tossed a complete-game
shutout as the Bulldogs
blanked the Blazers 5-0
on Saturday afternoon.
Williams struck out
eight and allowed just
two hits and three walks
in seven innings of work
while the Bulldogs’ of-
fense supported her nice-
ly. Five different Missis-
sippi State players drove
in a run.
Near the bottom left corner, Fa Leilua and Chloe
Malau’ulu aren’t easy to spot. That’s because the
two cousins and teammates brought an estimated 50
family members to watch the Bulldogs play in the Mary
Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California.
end,’” Leilua told her fam-
ily when she heard the
news.
Malau’ulu’s mom
snapped into action, al-
ready devising specific
plans.
“My mom was like,
‘OK, we’re gonna get an
Airbnb, then we’re gonna
have the team come over
for dinner, and we’re just
gonna have a great time
with all the parents get-
ting to know everybody,’”
Malau’ulu said.
As it turned out, that
was exactly what hap-
pened. After Mississippi
State beat Oregon State
and lost to Oregon in the
tournament’s first day
Feb. 20, the Malau’ulus
hosted a toana’i — Sa-
moan for feast — at their
Airbnb in Palm Springs
that evening.
But even despite an ex-
dogs tacked on three
more runs in the frame
by way of a Jordan West-
burg sacrifice fly, an RBI
single by junior college
transfer Brandon Pimen-
tel and an RBI double
from freshman third
baseman Kamren James,
which doubled the lead to
eight.
Jordan — who earned
his first three-hit game of
the season with a 4-for-
5, one-RBI, two-run ef-
fort — put the finishing
touches on MSU’s offen-
sive renaissance with an
RBI single in the eighth
inning to cap off the Bull-
dogs’ nine-run day.
On the mound, red-
shirt freshman Christian
MacLeod returned to the
Junior designated play-
er Carter Spexarth had
an RBI single in the first
inning, and sophomore
right fielder Chloe Ma-
lau’ulu did the same in the
third. Kennedy followed
Malau’ulu by plating a run
on a fielder’s choice.
Senior left fielder Can-
dace Denis drove in a run
with a double in the fifth,
and sophomore Anna
Courtesy of Chloe Malau’ulu/Instagram
tensive guest list — other
players’ parents, Ricketts’
parents, even the team’s
bus driver — there was
still too much food to go
around, typical of Samoan
culture.
Sweet and sour meat-
balls and Lahaina (Ha-
waii) fried chicken were
big hits.
“Nobody really knew
what they were eating,
but it was good,” Ma-
lau’ulu said.
That jibed with a mes-
sage from her father
George to the Bulldogs
players who were unfa-
miliar with some of the
cuisine. (Half the team
mistakenly ate the rice
paper on which the Ma-
lau’ulus served manapua,
a Chinese pork bun with a
twist on the end.)
Ricketts recalled
George’s words: “‘If you
dominant form onlook-
ers at Dudy Noble Field
enjoyed in his season de-
but against Wright State.
Using his three-pitch
mix of fastball, curveball
and changeup, MacLeod
pitched five innings of
one-hit ball, striking out
five and walking three.
Behind MacLeod,
coach Chris Lemonis
turned to freshman right-
hander Will Bednar. In
relief, Bednar allowed
just three hits and struck
out six in four innings of
work.
MSU and Long Beach
State will be back in ac-
tion Sunday for the final
game of their three-game
set. First pitch is slated
for 1 p.m.
Laura Parsley/Mississippi State Athletics
Kate Segars hit a sacrifice
fly in the sixth.
Mississippi State 16,
UAB 6, Friday
The Bulldogs put up
seven runs in the first in-
ning and kept adding on
to run-rule UAB 16-6 on
Friday in the tournament
opener in Starkville.
Mississippi State bat-
don’t know what it is, just
try it. It’s gonna be good.’”
At the feast, the Ma-
lau’ulus honored their
daughter’s new school as
well as her Samoan heri-
tage. A custom-made cake
paid homage to the team,
and the Malau’ulus hand-
ed out kukui-bead neck-
laces with the Mississippi
State logo on them.
“A lot of little touches,
a lot of personalization —
just really showing their
investment in our pro-
gram,” Ricketts said.
For the California-born
Bulldogs, none of whom
had been home since
Christmas, being able to
mix seeing family and
bonding with their team
was just what they need-
ed.
“I think just being able
to go home and allow our
families to come watch
us play and representing
Mississippi State the best
that we can was a really
great experience,” Loza
said.
‘Representing my dad’
Leilua brought plenty
of family to Palm Springs,
including her mother
Paiao, her brothers and
sister, her first cousins,
her uncles and even her
former travel ball team-
mates.
But there was someone
missing.
Leilua’s father Sio died
in 2017, and she sat out
the 2018 season at Arizo-
na State before transfer-
ring to Mississippi State.
Grieving, she nearly
stepped away from soft-
ball entirely.
“Everything I did on
the field was about repre-
Long Beach State 4,
Mississippi State 0,
Friday
Mississippi State
opened its West Coast
swing Friday with a 4-0
loss to Long Beach State
in California.
With JT Ginn still side-
lined due to arm soreness,
the Bulldogs turned to
graduate transfer Carlisle
Koestler on the mound.
In response, Koestler
retired 14 straight batters
between the second and
sixth innings. Heading
into the seventh, the for-
mer Southeast Louisiana
as hurler finally relented,
allowing two runs on two
hits before being yanked
for senior David Dun-
SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 3B
ted around and then some
in the first, sending 14 hit-
ters to the plate in the in-
ning. Junior catcher Mia
Davidson, Spexarth, Ma-
lau’ulu and senior second
baseman Lindsey Wil-
liams all had RBI singles,
and Denis plated two runs
on her second double of
the inning.
“I really liked the way
we came out swinging
the bat,” head coach Sa-
mantha Ricketts said in a
news release from Missis-
sippi State. “We’ve been
challenging the team all
week about starting the
game with a lot of energy
and a lot of focus. I think
they definitely showed
that today from the first
pitch on.”
The Bulldogs added
four more runs in the sec-
ond and in the third and
another in the fourth.
After Malau’ulu hit
another RBI single in
the second, Williams fol-
lowed with a three-run
homer. Williams finished
with four RBIs, while Ma-
lau’ulu was 3 for 3 with
three runs batted in. Ken-
nedy also went 3 for 3.
In the third, Leilua hit
a two-run homer, Spex-
arth hit a solo shot, and
Malau’ulu tripled in a run.
senting my dad: the hard
work he and I did over the
summer, the long days,
the long car drives,” Lei-
lua said.
To her, having her
family show up meant
more than just a way to
see them — her relatives
were representing her fa-
ther by watching her play
in the tournament.
“There was no doubt
that they were coming,”
she said. “They were
like, ‘I know that Fa’s dad
would be there, so let’s be
there for her.’”
Though the busy
schedule of the softball
season helps her keep her
mind off the long distance
from home, which can get
hard during the fall when
softball and family are
both a ways away.
So seeing her family
show up — for her father
and for her — meant a lot.
“It was lovely to see
them,” she said. “I was
just kind of feeling home
for a bit, especially being
away since Christmas. It
was good to see them.”
As she took the field
in Palm Springs over the
weekend, her teammates
were uncomfortably
warm in the 85-degree
desert weather. Not Lei-
lua, though. With her
family behind her, she
was back where she be-
longed.
“I was like, ‘Hey, this is
a great opportunity to just
soak it all in,’” she said. “It
was great to sweat again,
feel the Vitamin D and all
that stuff, so it was pret-
ty cool. It was just one of
those days where it’s nice
to be back home.”
lavey.
Thrust into relief, Dun-
lavey and former East
Mississippi Community
College product Jaxen
Forrester combined for 1
1/3 innings of relief, al-
lowing two hits and strik-
ing out two.
Offensively, the Bull-
dogs bats fell silent in the
Golden State. Mustering
just a single hit on the
night courtesy of a single
by freshman Tanner Leg-
gett, MSU finished the
contest with just four base
runners.
Struggling to find
contact on LBSU start-
er Adam Seminaris, the
junior southpaw tossed
eight innings of one-hit
ball, striking out 10.
4B SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
Caledonia senior Ward signs to play soccer at MUW
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
CALEDONIA — Cale-
donia senior Blair Ward
looked at the three en-
velopes in front of her
— each containing an ac-
ceptance letter — and the
choice became clear.
“‘The W feels right,”
Ward thought to herself.
The application to play
soccer at the Mississip-
pi University for Women
was in the envelope when
she opened it, and she
told her mom, Tiffany
Ward, that she was going
to fill it out.
Tiffany was shocked
— “I’m the most indeci-
sive person ever,” Blair
said — but her daughter
had no doubt. Ward had
opportunities to be a typ-
ical business student at
Itawamba Community
College or Northeast Mis-
sissippi Community Col-
lege, but she chose to fol-
low the path that allowed
her to play the sport she
loves at the next level. A
week and a half ago, The
W accepted her letter of
intent to play soccer, and
Thursday morning, Ward
held her signing ceremo-
ny to the school with her
mom, her sister Eva and
PREP BASEBALL
After move down to 5A, Columbus sets sights
on making playoffs in Allen’s second season
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
Every day, Columbus
High School baseball
coach Mickey Allen re-
peats the mantra he’s de-
veloped for his team: 120.
120.
That’s 120 minutes of
100 percent, undiluted ef-
fort — a tangible goal for
the Falcons during their
after-school practices.
“Just give me two
hours of your afternoon
and bust your tail, and we
can be successful,” Allen
routinely tells his players.
That’s not always easy
for every Falcon — “from
a 15- to 17-year-old kid,
two hours is about as
much as you’re gonna get
from them,” Allen noted
— but so far, the mes-
sage has come across.
For a Columbus program
that has struggled to stay
competitive in recent
seasons, Allen said, it’s
a significant step as he
enters his second year in
charge.
“Hats off to them: They
haven’t enjoyed the most
successful careers as a
team,” he said. “They’ve
been through some down
years. But they’ve always
shown a willingness to
want to put a stop to that.”
Allen knows Colum-
bus isn’t anywhere near
hoisting a state champi-
onship trophy this season
— as of Friday, the Fal-
cons are 0-2 with an 11-1
loss to Caledonia and a
12-1 defeat against Nettle-
ton — but he’s got a goal
for his team this year: just
make the playoffs.
Columbus’ move down
Noxubee County boys basketball eliminated by Holly Springs in 3A quarterfinals
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
FULTON — The defi-
cit was just too big.
So was Derek Foun-
tain.
As the Noxubee Coun-
ty boys basketball team
tried to kick its comeback
efforts into gear against
Holly Springs in Friday
night’s MHSAA Class 3A
quarterfinal at Itawam-
ba Community College,
the Tigers encountered
a 6-foot-8 obstacle again
and again and again.
When Noxubee Coun-
ty cut a 15-point half-
time deficit down to 10,
Fountain finished a layup
through contact and made
Caledonia senior Blair Ward, middle, signed her letter of intent to play soccer at the Mississippi University for
Women on Thursday. From left to right, Ward was joined by Caledonia coach Thomas Blake, her mother Tiffany
Ward, her sister Eva and her brother Gavin.
her brother Gavin by her
side.
“It means a lot to me
that I get to keep playing,”
she said.
In addition to being
able to continue her soc-
from MHSAA Class 6A
competition to Class
5A play should help the
Falcons in their pursuit
of that aim. New Hope,
Grenada and West Point
are still quality oppo-
nents, but no longer does
Columbus have to face
teams like Oxford, Tu-
pelo and South Panola in
district play.
“We don’t look to be
a pushover anymore like
we have been in 6A,” Al-
len said.
The top three teams
from each district qual-
ify for the playoffs, so to
earn a spot, Columbus
will have to beat out one
of the Chargers, Green
Wave or Trojans — the
last of whom won the
2019 Class 4A state title.
Allen pointed out that all
three teams have made
the playoffs more recent-
ly than the Falcons, so it
won’t be easy.
But Columbus is still
glad to avoid the murder-
er’s row of its Class 6A
schedule.
“With the last division
we were in, there was
some pretty stiff competi-
tion,” senior right-handed
pitcher Jamad Horn said.
“Bringing us down to 5A,
I believe we’re more even-
ly matched with other
teams.”
The Falcons seemed
poised to show that last
Friday, taking a 1-0 lead
into its season opener at
talented Class 4A pro-
gram Caledonia. But
the problems that undid
the Falcons in the past
plagued them again.
“Defensively, our M.O.
the ensuing free throw.
The Tigers responded by
scoring again, then forced
a miss, looking like they’d
have a chance at getting
within single digits, but
Fountain wrestled away
the rebound and put it up
and in. Thirty seconds lat-
er — down 15 once again
— Noxubee County went
up for a layup, only to see
Fountain slam it down to
the floor emphatically.
It was that kind of night
for the Tigers and for the
Hawks’ senior star as
Noxubee County (19-13)
found itself eliminated
by Holly Springs, 76-45,
in Friday’s quarterfinal
game in Fulton. Fountain
had 20 points to lead the
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
cer career, Ward said
knowing some of her
future Owls teammates
played a role. She’ll also
team up with fellow
Caledonia seniors Mad-
dy Suggs, who will play
— in a negative way — is
that we allow too many
big innings,” Allen said.
“It’s always just one in-
ning. We’ll have the lead
on somebody, and we’ll
be playing flawlessly until
the fourth or fifth inning,
and then one error will
turn into four, and that
turns into eight runs.”
That’s precisely what
happened against the
Confederates: an error at
shortstop preceded an er-
ror at third base, and the
floodgates soon opened
to give Caledonia a com-
manding lead and a run-
rule win.
“We’re an emotional
team,” Allen said. “We
feed off each other pos-
itively and negatively.
When someone boots a
ball, it tends to be a vi-
rus: We all start booting
the ball. When somebody
makes a big play, then
we’re all laying out and
making big plays.”
Despite the preva-
lence of errors, though,
Columbus trusts its de-
fense, including stand-
out outfielders Jeremiah
Lang, Timari Hinton and
Jaqualan Weatherspoon.
Allen has worked with
Horn and his other pitch-
ers on pitching to contact
rather than allowing con-
stant free passes, a recipe
for defeat in high school
baseball. He was pleased
when the Falcons walked
just two batters and only
hit one against Caledonia
“That’s something
we’ve been really stress-
ing to the pitchers this
year: cutting down our
walks and the free bases
veteran Hawks (25-7),
whose seniors were mo-
tivated by two straight
losses in the state cham-
pionship game in the past
two seasons.
“That’s what makes
them such a dangerous
team: experience,” Nox-
ubee County coach Dan-
ny Crawford said. “They
were just a lot more ex-
perienced than us, and
they knew how to win this
game, knew how to play
this game. My kids, this
is their first time making
this game. That’s pretty
much what happened.”
Fountain happened,
too. He planted himself
in the post, scoring when
unguarded and passing
volleyball and softball at
MUW, and Camryn John-
son, who will play volley-
ball. Ward has known
Johnson her whole life,
and soon after deciding
to attend, she found other
we give people,” Allen
said. “The pitching won’t
get us beat. The pitching
is what’s gonna keep us in
the games this year.”
At the plate, senior
center fielder Jaelan
Craddieth and junior first
baseman Andrew O’Neal
lead the way for an up-
and-down offense.
“Sometimes we’ll have
a little bit of trouble catch-
ing on to a pitcher,” Horn
said. They might have a
good curveball or a good
slider, but we are a pretty
good hitting team.”
Craddieth, who had
a go-ahead hit against
Caledonia as the Falcons
scored the game’s first
run, plays a major leader-
ship role for the team.
“The kids feed off
him,” Allen said. “We
kind of come and go as
Jaelan goes.”
Last year, Craddieth
and the Falcons finished
7-10 overall and 0-9 in
their district, but this sea-
son, Allen expects more
out of his team.
“I don’t care what seed
it is,” he said. “We need to
play postseason ball this
year. That’s kind of our
focus right now: doing
everything we can to fin-
ish somewhere in the top
three in our conference.”
To achieve that goal, it
goes back to what Allen
has been telling his team
every single day. 120.
120.
“If you can just focus
hard, just give me 120
minutes, and I can get ev-
erything we need to get
done in that time frame,”
Allen said.
efficiently out of double
teams when the Tigers
sent them at him.
“All you can do is try
to box him out,” said
Noxubee County soph-
omore forward Demone
Cunningham, who led the
Tigers with 12 points Fri-
day.
Cori Bell (19 points),
Tyhem Reaves (10 points)
and Ded’Drick Faulk-
ner (eight points) played
supporting roles for the
Hawks, who showed off
their shooting prowess
Friday. Bell hit three
3-pointers, and Reaves
added one.
“When 20 (Fountain)
is going, and they’re hit-
ting shots, with their ex-
Theo DeRosa/Dispatch Staff
connections to the school,
too. People she knew
from church worked in
MUW’s financial aid and
admissions offices.
“Everything started to
fall into place,” Ward said.
Patriots shut out
Generals at Heritage
Academy Invitational
BY THEO DEROSA
tderosa@cdispatch.com
Banks Hyde took off
from third and Seth Har-
ris left first base behind
him as Heritage Academy
teammate Cole Ketchum
skied a high fly ball into
right center field.
With two out in the
bottom of the second in-
ning of Saturday’s Heri-
tage Academy Invitation-
al opener against Newton
County Academy, Hyde
and Harris were off on
contact as Generals cen-
ter fielder Jax Porter
jogged under the base-
ball.
But Porter dropped it.
Hyde had long since
touched the plate, and
Harris soon came around
without a throw as Her-
itage Academy deliv-
ered its biggest blow of
the day. It was the third
run-scoring error of the
inning for the Newton
County defense, and it
gave the Patriots a 5-0
lead to which they held
on for a four-inning shut-
out win over the Generals
on Saturday.
“I’ve never met a free
run I didn’t like,” Heri-
tage Academy coach Jus-
tin Flake said.
On Saturday, all five
runs came at no charge
for the Patriots, who had
just three hits and didn’t
have — nor did they need
— a single run batted
in. Before Ketchum’s fly
ball dropped, Noel Fish-
er scored on an error by
second baseman Hayden
Wall to break a scoreless
tie, Wesley Miller scored
on an errant throw from
perience, they’re hard to
beat,” Crawford said.
With his Tigers down
33-18 at the half, Craw-
ford told his players if
they could get the lead
within five points, they
would be alright. Noxu-
bee County tried, but that
never quite happened.
The Tigers got the lead
down to 10 at 41-31 then
again at 44-34 after Foun-
tain’s three-point play.
But shortly afterward,
Dantavian Davis split a
pair of free throws for the
Tigers, and Holly Springs
went on the attack.
Fountain put back a
Hawks miss, Reaves hit
a long jumper then con-
verted a tough shot for a
But she wasn’t sure
that the school would let
her play soccer — MUW
is currently undergoing
a coaching search for its
soccer program, com-
pounding the process.
Then she got the email
that she’d be able to play.
“I wasn’t expecting this
at all when I signed up to
go there,” Ward said.
The left center back
will bring her leadership
qualities and defensive
skills to the Owls next
season after helping Cale-
donia reach the second
round of the MHSAA
Class 4A playoffs this sea-
son. Voted captain by her
teammates, Ward played
a key role in the Confeder-
ates’ 15 wins — including
13 clean sheets.
“She was a major part
of that back there as a
center back,” Caledonia
coach Thomas Blake said.
Blake added that Ward
is “really smart, really en-
gaged (and) really under-
stands everything that’s
going on around her.”
When she goes on to The
W in the fall, he has high
expectations.
“I know she can be
great,” Blake said.
catcher Hayze West in
an attempt to catch Mill-
er stealing third, and
pinch-runner Mitchell
Woodard raced home on
a wild pitch.
Woodard was filling
on the bases for pitcher
Blayze Berry, who had
walked with one out. The
Mississippi State signee
had already thrown two
scoreless innings, but he
settled in even more after
his team’s big inning
“They just scored
runs, and it made it easy
for me,” Berry said.
In the top of the third,
he struck out the side
in order, fanning fellow
Clarion Ledger Dandy
Dozen selection and Ole
Miss signee Kemp Alder-
man on a high fastball for
the third out.
“He’s got a lot of pow-
er, so I just try to keep the
ball away from him,” Ber-
ry said.
Alderman pitched all
four innings for the Gen-
erals, with his pitch count
climbing to triple digits
after the Patriots loaded
the bases in the first in-
ning but didn’t score and
followed it up by batting
around in their five-run
second.
The Patriots’ three
hits came on infield sin-
gles by Harris and Hyde
and a pop-up that found
daylight in shallow right
field by Davis Fitch, but
coupled with five walks
and a hit batsman (Berry
was plunked to lead off
the bottom of the first)
the Heritage Academy
offense had enough fire-
power.
three-point play, and Bell
hit a 3 to cap a 10-0 run in
a minute and seven sec-
onds. Holly Springs was
suddenly up 56-35, and
the Tigers looked totally
disjointed.
It didn’t get any better
for Noxubee County in
the fourth quarter, as the
Tigers subbed out most
of their starters midway
through the period when it
became clear their come-
back wouldn’t last. Bell,
Faulkner and Cadarius
Autry helped the Hawks
put the Tigers away. Holly
Springs moves on to face
St. Andrew’s in the semi-
final round Tuesday at
Mississippi Coliseum in
Jackson.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 5B

Starkville advances to state semifinals
BY BRANDON SHIELDS
Special to The Dispatch
IT TA BENA — Starkville
has been here before.
For the second straight
game, the Yellow Jackets won
on the final shot as Forte Prat-
er went coast to coast and hit a
layup with 1.2 seconds left to
lift Starkville past Olive Branch
65-63 in the quarterfinal round
of the MHSAA Class 6A Basket-
ball playoffs Saturday at Missis-
sippi Valley State.
The Yellow Jackets (27-2)
will face Harrison Central in
the semifinals at the Mississip-
pi Coliseum at 7 p.m. Wednes-
day.
“We talked about spreading
everyone out and keeping the
ball in his hands and let him
get the opportunity to get to
the rim,” said Starkville coach
Greg Carter. “He what he was
supposed to do: Get to the rim
and finish.”
After Starkville’s Eric Green
hit a pair of free throws with 22.4
seconds left to give the Jackets
a 63-60 lead, Olive Branch’s
Kyron Pleas hit a three-pointer
with 14.2 seconds left to tie the
game at 63.
After a timeout, Prater took
the inbounds pass and drove
straight to the basket for the
game winning layup.
“Just a big play at the end and
PREP BASKETBALL
with the ball in my hands I had
to make the big shot,” Prater
said. “This is my senior season,
and I had to step up and make
a play. Coach makes us play in
those situations every day in
practice, so we are used to it.”
Prater finished the game
with nine points.
Starkville trailed Olive
Branch 35-23 at halftime but
ended the third quarter on a
16-1 run to take a 46-44 lead
heading into the fourth quarter.
“They were more physical
than us in the first half, plain
and simple. We couldn’t get
stops, but in the second half
we toughened up,” Carter said.
“The third quarter we got stops,
made shots and were able to get
to the basket.”
Jailen Jones scored nine
of his team-high 15 points for
Starkville in the third quarter.
“We’ve been waiting on
him to have a breakout game,”
Carter said. “It’s been coming
,we’ve seen it coming, and he’s
getting more playing time, so it
was good to see him play like he
did today.”
Northeast signee Zeke Cook
added 11 points for Starkville,
the defending 6A state champi-
ons. Eric Green chipped in 10
points for the Jackets.
“We’ve been preaching one
game at a time, and the kids re-
ally look forward to playing in
state tournament,” Carter said.
“Really excited to get go back to
Jackson.”
Jackson State signee Wes
Taylor had a game-high 23
points to lead Olive Branch,
while Mississippi State signee
Cameron Matthews added 18
points for the Conquistadors
(22-6).
“We knew it was going to
be tough, and they got five re-
ally good shooters,” said Olive
Branch coach Eric Rombaugh.
“We talked about all week free
throws and lay-ups were going
to win the game. We went 5 for
15 from the free throw line, and
they made layups.”

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Mays’ strong second half lifts LSU past Texas A&M

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU
guard Skylar Mays rose deci-
sively for late-game 3-pointers,
mixed in a crisp, cross-court
pass to set up Emmitt Williams’
pivotal fast-break dunk and hus-
tled into the paint on the defen-
sive end to help the Tigers com-
pete for rebounds.
Mays scored 19 of his 24
points in the second half and
grabbed eight rebounds to
help LSU defeat Texas A&M
64-50 on Saturday. It was a
performance the Tigers sorely
needed coming off a 15-point
setback at Florida that marked
LSU’s fifth loss in its previous
seven games.
“The biggest thing that we
did out there was we just com-
peted and took pride in it,”
Mays said. “It shows what we
are capable of and we are just
going to build on it.”
LSU (20-9, 11-5 SEC) now
needs one victory in its final
two regular season games — or
one loss by both South Caroli-
na and Mississippi State — to
clinch a double-bye in the SEC
tournament. A victory would
be preferable for as the Ti-
gers seek to re-establish their
NCAA Tournament credentials
after recently plummeting out
of the Top 25.
Javonte Smart scored 14
points, hitting three 3-point-
ers in the first half to help LSU
open an early 13-point lead.
“We played with really good
effort, energy and physicality,”
LSU coach Will Wade said. “It
was a much needed win and I’m
proud of their effort.”
The Tigers held a lead of
around 10 points for much of
the game, but the Aggies (14-
14, 8-8) briefly closed to 55-48
when when A&M top scorer
Savion Flagg hit a 3 with 5:54
left.
Mays responded with his
fifth 3 of the game and later set
up Williams’ transition dunk
that gave the Tigers a 60-48
lead with 3:26 left. The Aggies
managed only one basket the
rest of the way.
“They’re really good. All
credit to them,” A&M coach
Buzz Williams said of LSU.
“Their size, their length, their
talent, their scheme — all of it
for sure impacted us.”
Hitting 6 of 8 shots, includ-
ing 5 of 6 from 3-point range,
Flagg finished with 17 points,
giving him 10 or more points in
six straight games. Josh Nebo
added 11 points and nine re-
bounds for A&M.

Shuler carries Ole Miss to
blowout win over Vandy
OXFORD — Not much has
gone right in Jerry Stackhouse’s
first season at Vanderbilt.
The Commodores are last in
the Southeastern Conference
with only one SEC win, and
that one was almost a month
ago. Even so, Saturday’s 86-60
loss to Ole Miss was especially
demoralizing for Stackhouse,
more so for the way his team
played than the outcome.
“It was just one of those days,
I guess, where everything that
could go wrong did go wrong,”
Stackhouse said. “Even though
we haven’t been winning
games, we’ve been doing things
well. Today was one of the first
games where I thought we
didn’t get better.”
All five Ole Miss starters fin-
ished in double figures. Devon-
tae Shuler scored 18 points and
KJ Buffen scored 17 points to
lead Ole Miss (14-15, 5-11 SEC)
in the win. The Rebels shot 55
percent from the field (35 of 64)
and hit nine 3-pointers. Behind
Shuler and Buffen, Blake Hin-
son had 13 points and Khadim
Sy 12.
“Defensively we never real-
ly set the tone of what we were
trying to do,” Stackhouse said.
“We came in with a different
game plan than what we nor-
mally do, just to try to get ball
out of the hands of Tyree and
Shuler. Sort of banking on the
other guys not to step up, but
they did.”
Vanderbilt (9-20, 1-15) al-
lowed a 13-1 run to open the
game, then hit four straight 3s,
two by Scotty Pippen Jr. to tie
the game at 13. The two teams
traded leads twice over the next
few minutes, but a 19-5 run late
in the half put the Rebels up 43-
27 at the break, and they never
trailed in the second half.
Vanderbilt held Ole Miss
leading scorer Breein Tyree to
11 points, his lowest point total
in eight games, but the Rebels
registered 26 assists and simply
found other ways to generate
offense. The Commodores also
turned the ball over 11 times.
“We just moved the ball re-
ally well,” Ole Miss head coach
Kermit Davis said. “Breein only
played 30 minutes, which I think
is a good thing. We jumped out
to that quick lead and subbed
some guys in, and boom, it was
tied, but then the next time
we subbed those guys in, they
held. Just ball movement, ball
shared. We had a couple of real-
ly good possessions there in the
second half.”
Sy was 5 of 7 from the floor
and had six rebounds.
“In practice, coach has been
telling me to be more physi-
cal around rim and to work on
shooting the ball with better
balance,” Sy said. “He’s been
telling me that for a while, and
I’m just trying to listen and im-
prove my game.”
Ejike Obinna led the Com-
modores with 13 points, Pippen
scored 11 and Saban Lee 10.

GOLF

Fleetwood the leader going into final round of Honda Classic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. —
Tommy Fleetwood has won in Scotland,
England, the United Arab Emirates,
France, South Africa, even Kazakhstan.
Victory in the U.S. hasn’t happened
yet.
The Englishman is in position to
change that Sunday.
Fleetwood birdied four of his final six
holes on the way to a 3-under 67 in the
third round of The Honda Classic on Sat-
urday, moving to 5 under for the week
and one shot ahead of Brendan Steele at
PGA National. Fleetwood, ranked No. 12
in the world, has been close to getting
that elusive win on U.S. soil with two
runner-up finishes.
“If you’re going to win around here,
you’ve proven yourself as an all-around
golfer,” Fleetwood said. “Realistically,
yeah, it probably is another step in my
career. I’m not going to lie and say, ‘Ah,
I don’t really mind about winning in
America.’ Of course I do. I want to win
everywhere I play and the PGA Tour is
for sure one of those places where I hav-
en’t done it yet.”
Steele shot 71. He was alone on the
lead through 36 holes at 5 under, birdied
two of his first three on Saturday to get
to 7 under and then made four bogeys in
an eight-hole span.
But he survived, which was the order
of the day for the leaders.
“It feels like a major championship
toughness-wise,” said Daniel Berger,
who is three shots back.
Fleetwood rolled in a birdie from
nearly 50 feet on the par-3 17th to high-
light his big finish. But he thought his
two most important shots on Saturday
were putts that dropped on the 10th and
15th holes.
And both were for bogey.
Let that speak for how challenging
PGA National was — yet again. Of the
69 players who made the cut, only 11
broke par on Saturday. Fleetwood’s 67
was the second-best round of the day;
Mackenzie Hughes, who made the cut
on the number Friday, shot a 4-under 66
on Saturday and went from tied for 59th
to start the day to tied for eighth with 18
holes left.
Fleetwood’s score of 5 under is the
highest by any leader through 54 holes
since the Honda moved to PGA National.
“It’s just a strong test of your all-
around game,” Fleetwood said.
Luke Donald birdied the last to finish
a 71 and get to 3 under for the week, two
shots off the lead. Lee Westwood (71)
was tied with Donald going into the final
round, surviving an up-and-down day
where he birdied two of his first three
holes -- and then made just one more in
the last 15 holes.
“I didn’t have my A game today,”
Westwood said. “But, ground it out and
didn’t do too much damage. I don’t feel
like two shots is much around this golf
course.”
True, but the Honda — at least the
current incarnation of it — is not exactly
known for comeback victories.
Since the tournament moved to PGA
National, 12 of the 13 winners have been
either first or second after 54 holes. And
in terms of deficits overcome, the big-
gest has been three shots -- Padraig Har-
rington rallied after being three back of
Ian Poulter in 2015, and Ernie Els was
three shots behind Donald, Matt Jones
and Mark Calcavecchia in 2008 before
prevailing.
Berger (69), Charl Schwartzel (70)
and Sungjae Im (70) were tied for fifth at
2 under, three back of Fleetwood.
There was a five-way tie for the lead
— Schwartzel, Steele, Im, Donald and
Fleetwood — on the back side for a brief
spell Saturday at 4 under.
It didn’t last long as all five dropped a
shot within a span of about 15 minutes, a
span in which Schwartzel got a remind-
er of how fast things can change at PGA
National.
He put his tee ball in the bunker on
the par-4 16th, then saw his second shot
hit the lip of the sand and plummet into
the water to set up a double bogey.
“I thought I was really good today out
there,” Schwartzel said. “I played well,
made a stupid decision on 16, but hit
good shots after that and kept going. It’s
a tough golf course.”
DIVOTS: If Ryan Palmer (2-under
68 Saturday, even par through three
rounds) signs his card and officially
finishes Sunday, he’ll become a Honda
millionaire. He’s earned $999,167.54 in
13 previous appearances. ... Grayson
Murray aced the par-3 17th with a pitch-
ing wedge, then tossed the ball into a
grandstand filled with revelers after
pumping his fist probably a couple doz-
en times. Murray is 1-over for the week,
but 4-under on his three trips to 17 and
didn’t exactly follow strategy Saturday.
“My caddie was telling me to go 15 feet
left and I would have taken that any day,
but I had other plans,” said Murray, who
a 1, three 3s, 12 4s, a 5 and a 7 -- thanks
to a triple-bogey on the par-4 4th -- on
his card.

Contacting the Sports Department

If you need to report game scores or statistics, you can call us at 662-327-2424 ext. 126. If you need to reach sports editor Garrick Hodge, email him at ghodge@cdis-
patch.com. If you need to reach sports writer Ben Portnoy, email him at bportnoy@cdispatch.com or sports writer Theo DeRosa, email him at tderosa@cdispatch.com.

Game Coverage / Results

High school football coaches who don’t speak to a reporter from The Dispatch are asked to email information to the sports department from their games. The Dispatch
will include its prep football coverage in Sunday’s edition, so we will contact coaches Friday night or Saturday to get details. Coaches, please let us know what is the best
time for us to contact you.
6B SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

COLLEGE BASKETBALL AUTO RACING

No. 8 Kentucky tops Homecoming dance: Jimmie

No. 15 Auburn to Johnson honored in Fontana finale
clinch SEC title THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FONTANA, Calif. — So many

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS of Jimmie Johnson’s best rac-
ing memories occurred on this
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Other than a couple of weathered California asphalt
instances, Kentucky has needed every posses- about 100 miles north of his
sion to first gain an edge and then keep it in a hometown.
gauntlet of close victories. The seven-time NASCAR Cup
Series champion is hoping to add
The No. 8 Wildcats followed the same pattern
to answer yet another challenge against No. 15 one more incredible memory in
his final start at Fontana.
Auburn, earning a win along with another South-
eastern Conference title. Johnson is the king of Auto
Club Speedway heading into the
Immanuel Quickley had 18 points and a ca-
reer-high 12 rebounds, Kentucky used a big run third race of his final Cup Se-
ries season as a full-time driver.
in the first half before holding off the Tigers and
clinching the SEC regular season championship The cool Californian has been
the home favorite ever since he
with a 73-66 victory Saturday.
A Rupp Arena crowd of 20,638 cheered loudly notched his first Cup win here
after the final horn, but the Wildcats exited the back in 2002, and he eventually
court like any other game. They soon received added five more trophies.
And after qualifying in an im-
blue-and-white baseball caps signifying their
pressive second place Saturday,
achievement that required eight consecutive
he’ll start on the front row with
wins this month — six by a total of 38 points.
Clint Bowyer on Sunday as he
The Wildcats (24-5, 14-2) entered with a
goes for a historic finish in what’s
two-game lead on the second-place Tigers (24-
likely his farewell to the home
5, 11-5) but had to overcome a 20-11 deficit be-
fans who have backed the Cali-
fore responding with the 20-3 spurt over 5:47
fornia kid from the start.
and eventually build an eight-point advantage.
“It would be insane,” Johnson
Auburn fought back to within 53-50 early in the
said. “I’m very optimistic about
second half, but Kentucky stayed ahead in a foul-
this weekend. It would just be
plagued half by making 14 free throws down the
incredible to pull that off if we
stretch. That included seven by Quickley, who
could.”
made all 11 from the line.
Johnson leads the Fontana
Kentucky made 27 of 33 free throws while Au-
record books with six victories,
burn hit 13 of 22 in a game featuring 23 fouls by
980 laps led, 17 top-10 finishes,
each team. The schools also finished with 38 re-
13 top-five finishes and a 7.6 av-
bounds each, which helped the Tigers outscore
erage finish. He has started 25
the Wildcats 12-5 in second-chance points. times here since that first win 18
Auburn fought to within a possession at times
years ago, and he has somehow
but couldn’t get even. Meanwhile, Kentucky
finished every lap in every race.
pushed the ball inside to create chances at the
After finishing fifth at Las Ve-
line and convert enough of them to offset 42%
gas last weekend in his Hendrick
shooting, including 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.
Motorsports Chevrolet, Johnson
Nick Richards scored 14 points and Nate Ses- is allowing himself to think about
tina 11 off the bench as the Wildcats avenged a a seventh win at Fontana. After
75-66 loss to Auburn on Feb. 1. all, he is already the only driver
The Tigers began pursuit of their first-ever ever to win here in his 20s, 30s
season sweep by hitting their first four 3-point- and 40s.
ers, including three by Daniel Purifoy for their Fontana has put in plenty of
first nine points. They cooled off significantly effort to make a special weekend
from there and hit just five of the next 30 at- for Johnson. Images of his face
tempts, including 2 of 16 after the break. and his cars throughout the years
J’Von McCormick had 13 points and Austin are plastered around the track on
Wiley 10 for the Tigers, who shot 36 percent and banners and murals. Johnson will
had their two-game streak snapped. lead the field in a five-wide sa-
lute to the crowd during the pace
laps, while his friend and former
teammate, motocross star Ricky
Johnson, serves as the honorary
pace car driver.
And then Johnson’s wife,
Chandra, and daughters Gen-
evieve and Lydia will drop the
green flag.
“To come to my home track
and see the effort that they put in
to kind of honor me and my ca-
reer means a lot to me, it really
does,” Johnson said. “I feel a lot
of support.”
Johnson wasn’t the first Cal-
ifornia driver to succeed in NA-
SCAR, but he has long since sur-
passed the achievements of Dick
Rathman, Ernie Irvan, Kevin
Harvick and even Jeff Gordon to
become the state’s biggest stock
car star.
Johnson’s past is rosier than
his present: He is stuck in a ca-
reer-worst winless streak of 97
races.
So while Johnson can’t help
thinking about the past during
his special weekend, he is still
grounded in the reality of day-to-
day competition. His memories of
his inaugural victory in 2002 are
a bit more pragmatic than you
might expect.
“That’s when I knew I was go-
ing to be employed,” he said with
a laugh. “They told me they’d
be patient and I had time, but in
my heart I didn’t think that was
the case, and I knew I needed to
win. So to leave here with a tro-
phy meant that I’d have a job for a
few years, and I was pretty stoked
about that.”
More things to watch during
the race in the outer Los Angeles
suburbs:
Defending dominance
The first two races of the new
Cup season were both won by
their defending champions, so
that’s good news for Kyle Busch.
The overall series champion dom-
inated last year’s race at Fontana,
leading both stages and 134 laps
on the way to his milestone 200th
career victory across NASCAR’s
top three series. Only Johnson
has more wins at Fontana among
active drivers than Busch, whose
four victories include the first of
his career in 2005.
Up front
Johnson is joined on the front
row by Clint Bowyer, who won
only the fourth pole of his 15-year
Cup career. Busch is back in 17th,
while Martin Truex Jr. must start
from the back after thrice failing
inspection.
Blaney bounces back
Ryan Blaney is feeling better
about his role in the last-lap crash
at the Daytona 500 that injured
Ryan Newman. Blaney hit New-
man from behind and sent him into
the wall in a scary wreck. Blaney
says he wanted to be alone last
week, but his parents and friends
reminded him of the inherent
danger of their sport — and that
he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Blaney went camping in the desert
to clear his mind, and he felt bet-
ter after speaking to Newman by
phone Wednesday.
“Even though it was uninten-
tional and it’s racing, it still takes
a toll on you when it’s off of your
nose,” Blaney said. “You never
want to see anyone get hurt in this
sport. We are all competitors but
we are also a big family.”
Blaney finished second at Day-
tona and 11th in Las Vegas.
Logano’s time?
Joey Logano won last week at
Las Vegas, but he is among sever-
al veteran drivers who have never
won on Fontana’s 2-mile track.
Logano has repeatedly fallen just
short, with four consecutive top-
five finishes, but no victories in 13
career starts. A win at this tough
venue would cement Joe Gibbs
Racing’s dominance.

MSU women MSU men

Continued from Page 1B Continued from Page 1B

dency to fall back to earth after her 18
points helped MSU lock up the No. 2
seed in next week’s SEC Tournament
with a win over Arkansas Thursday in
Starkville.
“It seems like every one of those
freshman comes off a great game they
cant stack them — which is typical of a
freshman,” Schaefer said in reference
to Matharu, Mingo-Young and Hem-
ingway. “And so my focal point with
Aliyah today is going to be ‘humble
and hungry and make sure you can get
through the door with your head be-
cause if you can’t there’ll be somebody
that can shrink it for you real quick
whether it’s Sunday afternoon (against
Ole Miss) or a couple of coaches the
next couple days.’”
Rickea on the mend
Speaking of freshmen, it appears as
though Rickea Jackson may not be 100
percent when MSU heads to Oxford
Sunday for its regular season finale
against Ole Miss.
Battling a case of strep throat
throughout the week, Schaefer said
he didn’t think Jackson would play
Thursday against the Razorbacks.
She would. In a limited 17 minutes of
action, Jackson scored seven points on
3-of-8 shooting, though her energy vis-
ibly wasn’t there due to sickness.
Schaefer said Friday that she’ll con-
tinue to be monitored throughout the
weekend.
A candidate for both SEC and Na-
tional Freshman of the Year, Jackson
has been wholly impressive in her
inaugural season in Starkville as she
currently averaging 14.7 points, 4.8
rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
Speaking with the media Friday,
Schaefer stressed how truly special
her freshman season has been.
“I think that’s what impresses me
about Rickea — she’s doing it on a
young team and she’s the focal point”
he said. “And she can do it in so many
different ways. She finishes at all three
levels — at the rim, mid-range, can
stretch you to the 3-point line. She’s
just a multidimensional kid. That kid is
going to be one of the premier players
in women’s college basketball in years
to come.”
Myah Taylor’s development
While Jackson and her fellow fresh-
man have shown a propensity to fill up
the scorer’s sheet, sophomore guard
Myah Taylor has done so in a less of-
fensive way.
A floor general by nature, Taylor
thrives off setting her teammates up
— though she can finagle her minute
5-foot-7-inch frame through traffic and
to the rim at times.
Thursday, she offered a glimpse at
that ability, finishing with a final stat-
line of three points, three rebounds
and seven assists in a game the Bull-
dogs went over 90 points for the sev-
enth time this season.
“I just (have to) contribute the way
I can — playing defense, assisting the
ball, scoring on a need-be basis,” Tay-
lor said. “But last night we had players
that were hot and scoring the ball real-
ly well so I just did my role to get the
win.””
Having played just 11.2 minutes per
game a season ago, Taylor has watched
her playing time skyrocket to over 25
minutes per contest this year. As such,
she’s taken a more vocal leadership
role on and off the court as the latest in
a long line of Schaefer-developed point
guards.
“I’ve definitely seen her take a lot
of accountability for this team,” senior
guard Jordan Danberry said of Taylor.
“She’s just grown as a leader, as a per-
son and as a player.”
Schaefer on the one-time transfer
With the NCAA beginning prelim-
inary discussions toward a one-time
transfer in which athletes could switch
schools without having to sit out of
competition for a year, Schaefer was
asked about his thoughts on the poten-
tial change Friday.
He responded with the following:
“I can probably take both sides. It’s
concerning in some ways and in some
ways certainly I think if kids are in
the wrong situation they need to be
allowed to have the opportunity. I also
think we’re in this world of instant grat-
ification and all of a sudden you have a
bad day or a bad week and all of a sud-
den it’s ‘Let me try something else,’ in-
stead of learning to deal with adversity
and that’s how you grow. That’s how
your character is developed. So I think
there’s both sides of it and certainly if
someone is in a bad situation and not in
a good place then certainly I think it’s
beneficial for everyone involved and
I’m certainly for it in those regards.”
“I just knew I had to make a play,”
Carter said of his basket. “When I
got in the lane, I saw it open up a
bit, so I took it to the basket.”
Nick Weatherspoon and Reg-
gie Perry finished with 12 points
apiece, while all eight of MSU’s
players seeing action scored. The
Bulldogs shot 53.2 percent from
the floor and held Missouri to 6 -of-
29 from beyond the arc.
“I thought our defense today
was the key,” Howland said. “They
had some good looks from three
that they didn’t make, which,
thank you, Lord. But seriously.
Some were good looks.”
At halftime, MSU entered the
break with a 41-34 lead, thanks to
shooting 58 percent from the floor
in the first half.
Three Missouri players finished
in double figures, including Xavier
Pinson (20 points), Dru Smith (19)
and Mitchell Smith (10). The Ti-
gers shot 37 percent from the floor
and outrebounded MSU 36 -30.
“Those two guards (Pinson and
Smith) are special,” Howland said.
“They’ll be in the NCA A tourna-
ment next year. They’ve got every-
one coming back but Reed Nikko.
They’re really, really tough to han-
dle.”
MSU is back in action at 5:30
p.m. Tuesday against South Car-
olina in Columbia in the team’s fi-
nal chance this year for a quadrant
one victory. After the bout with the
Gamecocks, MSU closes the regu-
lar season at Humphrey Coliseum
Saturday against Ole Miss

Prep basketball
Continued from Page 1B
them,” Hairston said. “She made them
when it was time to make them.”
But Columbus fouled Lafayette with
18.2 to go, and the Commodores split
their free throws.
Saddler’s services were needed again,
and she delivered by dropping the floater
and firing up the Falcons’ bench. The se-
nior never takes that type of shot during
games, her coach said; when she tries
them in practice, she usually misses.
“We practice that, but she doesn’t
make it,” Hairston said. “She made it
when it counts, though. That’s all that
matters.”
Columbus saw its 17-11 lead at the end
of the first quarter evaporate as Lafayette
went on a 10-0 run early in the second
quarter to go up 21-19 with 3 minutes, 39
seconds left in the half.
The stretch motivated the Falcons to
quickly respond.
“We have to put everything on the
court in order to win,” Saddler said. “So
when we saw them coming up, we were
like, ‘Nah, we can’t have that. We have to
work — we have to do something in order
to take the lead.’”
Columbus did just that, scoring six
straight points to close the half at 27-
21. But after the Falcons went up 31-25
with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter,
Lafayette went on its own run to tie the
game 31-31 headed to the fourth.
Saddler, who finished with 13 points,
had seven of Columbus’ eight points in
the fourth quarter, including the final
six. With the Falcons down three points,
she made a jumper from the right elbow
and drew a foul with 2:43 left. Saddler
missed the free throw, and Lafayette held
possession for nearly two minutes before
turning the ball over at a critical moment.
“She just turned the ball over,” Hair-
ston said. “She threw it, and nobody was
there, and we had an opportunity to get
our hands back on the ball.”
Saddler and Columbus capitalized, as
the senior put her team ahead with her
clutch free throws and pushed them into
the Class 5A final four with her underuti-
lized floater.
“We’re just happy,” Hairston said. “Oh
my God, if somebody had told me at the
beginning of the year we were going to be
in the playoff playoff, I would have said,
‘No, no way.’
Now, Columbus is headed to Jackson
to face Laurel (17-15) in the semifinal
round at 4 p.m. Tuesday. For the Falcons,
it’s still “one game at a time,” Hairston
said.
“We get another game, so that’s the
most important thing,” she said.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 7B

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AREA OBITUARIES
ceded in death by her or East End Baptist County to the late J.W. Pallbearers will be arrangements.
husband, Dudley Tip- Church, P.O. Box 8480, Hunter and Lois Davis Curtis Knight, Chris Mrs. McKee was
ton; and siblings, A.J. Columbus, MS, 39705. Hunter. She was a life Rieves, Corey Hum- born Oct. 23, 1939,
Shields, Roger Shields, long resident of Monroe bers, Anthony Lindsey, to Dessie Mae and
Alvin Shields, Christine Marianna Miller County. She formerly Johnny Ross and Joey Coleman Columbus
Hill, Laura West and HAMILTON — Mar- employed as a seam- Bagwell. Neal in DeKalb. She
Avis Threadgill. ianna Hunter Miller, 76, stress for TIL and a was a member of
Pallbearers will be Becky Bacot United
Brad Tipton, Kenny
died Feb. 28, 2020, at caregiver at the nursing Norma McKee Methodist Church
her residence. home. Marianna was a STARKVILLE —
Tipton, Taylor Tipton, and a lifeguard at the
Graveside services member of the Hamil- Norma Carolyn Neal
Ethan Tipton, Chase Aquatic Club of Pas-
are 2 p.m. today at New ton Church of Christ. McKee, 80, died Feb.
Tipton and Brad Sulli- cagoula. She worked
Prospect Cemetery In addition to her 27, 2020, at her resi-
van. tirelessly helping with
with Minister Evan parents, she was pre- dence.
Services were Satur- her grandchildren
Bolen and Minister Tim ceded in death by her
Barbara Pope Wilson officiating. Buri- husband, Basil Harold day at Welch Funeral and her daughters at
COLUMBUS — Bar- Home in Starkville. Riverbend Galleries
bara Taylor Pope, 71, al will be at New Pros- Miller; son, Wheeler
Welch Funeral Home and Children’s House
pect Cemetery. Visita- Harold Miller; and sis-
died Feb. 28, 2020, at was entrusted of her See OBITS, 8B
Baptist Memorial Hos- tion is today from 1-1:45 ter Earlene Boatman.

for publication Tuesday through
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notices must be received no
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Monday through Friday editions.
Paid notices must be finalized by
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Monday through Thursday; and
on Friday by 3 p.m. for Sunday
and Monday publication. For
more information, call 662-328-
2471.
Michael Sessum
COLUMBUS — Mi-
chael Earnest Sessum,
60, died Feb. 19, 2020,
at his residence.
Bobby Browning
pital-Golden Hospital. p.m. at Tisdale-Lann She is survived by
Memorial Funeral her daughters, Mariesa
Ser-
vices are 3 Home in Aberdeen. Brewer of Hamilton and
p.m. today Ms. Miller was born Sandra Weideman of Bobby R. Browning Sr., 76, of Hillsboro, Iowa
at the Dec. 7, 1943, in Monroe Bradenton, Florida. and formerly of Millport, Alabama, passed away
chapel of at his home on Sunday, February 23, 2020.
Bobby was born on August 26, 1943, and raised
Memorial
in Millport, Alabama, the son of John William
Funeral and Wilda Parlee Browning. He worked for the
Home, Pope city of Shrining, Texas for the water department
Second and worked construction. He lived life to the
Avenue North location, fullest and his family was very important to him.
with the Rev. Ed Knox He enjoyed fishing, flea markets, gardening,
and the Rev. Byron Ben- cooking and his lemon ice box pies.
son officiating. Burial He is survived by his children, Kathy Littles,
will follow at Egger Kay Patterson, Lynn Browning, Lisa Richardson,
Cemetery in Caledonia. Rene Vasser all of Columbus, Mississippi,
Visitation is today from Bobby Browning Jr. of Olds, Iowa, Casey “John”
1 p.m. until the time of Browning and Luke Browning both of Montrose,

A service will be
held at a later date.
Lowndes Funeral Home
is in charge of arrange-
ments.
Mr. Sessum was
born July, 3, 1959, in
Williamsburg, Virginia,
to the late William E.
and Bonnie Shoemaker
Sessum.
He is survived by his
siblings, Debbie Gaddy,
Ronnie Sessum, Gary
Sessum, all of Caledo-
nia, and Dale Sessum of
Quitman, Arizona.
Edna Tipton
AMORY — Edna
Geraldine Shields
Tipton, 80, died Feb. 28,
2020, at Diverscare in
Amory.
Services are at 3
the service time.
Mrs. Pope was
born Dec. 27, 1948,
in Columbus to the
late Chuck and Alyne
Watson Taylor. She was
a graduate of Caledonia
High School and mem-
ber of East End Baptist
Church. She was a real
estate agent for almost
50 years and was broker
and owner of Southern
Family & Association
Realty. Barbara was a
member of the Golden
Triangle Association of
Realtors.
In addition to her par-
ents, she was preceded
in death by her hus-
band, James Earl Pope;
brothers, L.C. Taylor
and Dennis Taylor.
Dean Threet
Mrs. Dean Warren Perkins
Harper Threet, 90, died
Thursday, February 27, 2020, at
the Arrington. Arrangements
were entrusted to Memorial
Gunter Peel Funeral Home &
Crematory, Second Avenue
North location. Services were
Saturday, February 29, 2020,
at 1:00 PM at Bethel Baptist
Church with Rev. Walter Butler
officiating. Visitation was one hour prior to the
service at the church. Interment followed at
Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
The daughter of the late William Addie
and Terah Seals Warren, Mrs. Threet was
born March 17, 1929, in Detroit, AL. She was
employed for several years at American Bosch,
and she was a member of Bethel Baptist Church.
She was predeceased by her parents; her siblings
Pete Warren, Robert Warren, Mavis Chandler
and Thelma McPherson; her daughter Alice
Faye Perkins Hemby; and her husbands Brandon
Iowa and Angie Browning of Hillsboro, Iowa;
his grandchildren, Robert Dale Browning,
Ashley Whitten, Brandy Andrews, Amanda
Drish, Jeffrey Barksdale, Valerie Braddock,
Andrew Vasser, Dawson Vassr, Austin Browning,
Madison Johnson, Lee Elinburg, Lindsey
Elinburg, Luciana Browning, Logan Browning,
Maliek Browning, Kalarissa Browning and
Caroline Browning; 13 great-grandchildren; his
sisters, Shirley Moore of Millport, Alabama and
Barbara Sansing of Cullman, Alabama.
Bobby was preceded in death by his parents,;
one daughter Rebecca Browning; brothers and
sisters, Frances Avery, Charles Browning, Billie
Vails, Owen Browning, Opal Renfroe, Harold
Browning and Roger Browning.
A Celebration of Bobby’s life will be held at a
later date. Cremation has been entrusted to the
care of Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant,
Iowa.
Online condolences may be sent to the family
at www.murphyfuneralandmonuments.com.
Paid Obituary - Murphy Funeral Home

p.m. today, at Cleveland
Moffett Funeral Home.
Burial will follow at
Jones Cemetery. Visita-
tion is two hours prior
at the funeral home.
Cleveland Moffett Fu-
neral Home of Amory
is in charge of arrange-
ments.
Mrs. Tipton was
born July, 22, 1939, in
Russellville, Alabama,
to the late Airrey L.
and Thelma Latham
Shields. She was a
graduate of Aberdeen
High School. She was
formerly employed with
garment factories and
as supervisor at Red
Kap Industries. She was
a member of Smithville
church of Christ.
In addition to her
parents, she was pre-
Jerry Kendall
Visitation:
Thursday, March 5 • 10 AM
East End Baptist Church
Memorial Services:
Thursday, March 5 • 11 AM
East End Baptist Church
2nd Ave North Location
Danny Fortner
Memoiral Service at a later date
2nd Ave. North Location
Barbara Pope
Visitation:
Sunday, March 1 • 1-3 PM
Memorial Funeral Home
Services:
Sunday, March 1 • 3 PM
Memorial Funeral Home Chapel
Burial
Egger Cemtery
2nd Ave. North Location
memorialgunterpeel.com
She is survived by
her son, John Taylor of
Columbus; sister, Rita
Foley of Olive Branch;
and two grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be
Nathan Watson, Max
Watson, Kelsey Taylor,
Joshua Taylor, Daniel
Foley and Kyle Foley.
Memorials may be
made to the Ameri-
can Cancer Society,
1380 Livingston Lane,
Jackson, MS, 39213;
American Heart Associ-
ation, P.O. Box 840692,
Dallas, TX, 75284;
Perkins, Davis P. Harper and Kermit Curtis
Threet.
Mrs. Threet is survived by her son Davis P.
Harper, Jr. of West Point; her daughter Pamela
Joy Harper Valentine of Olmstead, IL; three
grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and
many nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to Columbus-Lowndes
Humane Society, P.O. Box 85, Columbus, MS
39703 or to the donor’s favorite charity.
Sign the online guest book at
www.memorialgunterpeel.com
716 Second Avenue North • Columbus, MS
Robert Swindol
On February 27, 2020, Robert Anthony (Rob,
Tony, TonyRob, or General Beauregard) Swindol
took his last breath at the age of 43 after losing a
hard-fought battle with “the cancers”.
Rob was born and raised in West Point,
Mississippi and joined the Marines in 1994
in order to escape the monotony of living in a
small town. After four years of duty, he moved
to Massachusetts to be closer to his mom and
favorite (and only) sister. After six years of harsh
(pronounced “hahhsh”) winters, overcooked
food, and playing in some wicked cool bands,
he decided he really missed Waffle House and
moved back home. Rob never married as he
preferred buying guitars, drums, speakers,
and comic books over having a wife who told
him he couldn’t. But he is survived by a loving
family, lifelong friends, half a dozen females who
claimed to be his BFF, and a slew of people he
hacked off on Facebook. His favorite free time
activities included sharing weird YouTube videos
with his brother-from-another-mother, finding
ways to irritate his mom, watching his favorite
movies for the millionth time while quoting
them word-for-word in the character’s voices,
and having his sister time how quickly he could
drink Yoo-hoos. Rob spent the last years of his
life running The Elbow Room in Columbus,
Mississippi and running his mouth to people who
disagreed with him. When he wasn’t arguing,
he was most likely quoting his favorite movies
and television shows or talking about how badly
Hollywood screwed up his favorite superheroes.
He was an audiophile who could talk for hours
about the subtle differences between types of
speakers...usually to people who didn’t ask. He
was a talented musician who played a range of
different instruments and had a beautiful voice,
even if his tastes in music were questionable. Rob
was a gifted artist who could pick up a new type
of art medium and produce a piece of artwork
that would hack off the artists around him that
actually had to go to school to learn that crap.
Rob was smart, kind, and generous to those he
loved. He was also funny, goofy, and weird. But
above all else, Rob was a pot-stirrer who loved to
get a rise out of people. If you were ever friends
with him online, you know exactly what I’m
talking about. He was stubborn, argumentative,
and always completely sure he was right and you
were wrong while simultaneously being caring
and concerned about those less fortunate than
himself. There will never be anyone else like Rob
(although his one-and-only niece is pretty close...
bless her heart). His last words before he passed
were “Captain America” - a fitting end for a true
superhero. A celebration of Rob’s life will be held
in early April. Details to follow.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in
his name to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Lovingly written by his sister.
Paid Obituary - Calvert Funeral Home
8B SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Person in Washington state

first in US to die from new virus
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS her late 50s and having
a high medical risk. He
A person has died said healthy Americans
in Washington state of should be able to recover
COVID-19, state health if they contract the new
officials said Saturday, virus.
marking the first such re- Washington Gov. Jay
ported death in the Unit- Inslee said in a statement
ed States. the person who died was
State officials issued a man from Washington
a terse news release an- state, but then issued an-
nouncing the death, gave other one removing the
no details and scheduled
gender and describing
a news conference. A
the individual as “a Wash-
spokesperson for Ever- ingtonian.”
greenHealth Medical “We will continue to
Center, Kayse Dahl, said work toward a day where
the person died in the fa- no one dies from this vi-
cility in the Seattle sub- rus,” the governor said.
urb of Kirkland, but gave Washington state and
no other details. King County health of-
President Donald ficials said “new people
Trump described the per- (have been) identified
son as being a woman in with the infection, one of
whom died.” They did not
say how many new cases
there are.
Amy Reynolds of the
Washington state health
department said in a brief
telephone interview: “We
are dealing with an emer-
gency evolving situation.”
Health officials in
California, Oregon and
Washington state worried
about the novel corona-
virus spreading through
West Coast communities
after confirming at least
three patients were infect-
ed by unknown means.
They had not visited an
area where there was an
outbreak, nor apparently
been in contact with any-
one who had.

Obits
Continued from Page 7B

Montessori School. Since moving rial Funeral Home of Aberdeen is

to the Starkville, Norma was in-
volved in activities at Artesia Baptist
Church, Annunciation Catholic
School and Emerson Family Center.
She was preceded in death by her
son, Bobby Wayne McKee Jr.
She is survived by her husband,
Bob McKee; daughters, Jan McKee
Pettus and Penny McKee Downey;
sister, Katherine Sink; brothers,
Jarone Neal and JW Neal; five grand-
children and eight great-grandchil-
dren.
Sandra Valentine
ABERDEEN — Sandra Lott
Valentine, 75, died Feb. 28, 2020, at
North Mississippi Medical Center
-Tupelo.
Services are noon Tuesday at
Aberdeen First Baptist Church with
Dave Dowdy, James Clardy and the
Rev. Kenny Davis officiating. Burial
will be Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Rose-
land Park in Hattiesburg. Visitation
is Tuesday 10 a.m. until service time
at the church. Tisdale-Lann Memo-
entrusted of the arrangements.
Mrs. Valentine was born Feb. 12,
1945, to the late A.C. and Mary Lott
in Hattiesburg. She grew up in Hat-
tiesburg and attended Hattiesburg
High School. She was employed as
a secretary, pre-school teacher and
teacher’s assistant. She retired as
an administrative secretary at Tates
Creek Baptist Association in Berea,
Kentucky. Sandra was a member of
First Baptist Church in Aberdeen,
Women’s Missionary Union and
other ministries.
She is survived by her husband,
Hamp Valentine; son, Paul Valentine;
daughter, Hope Williams, all of Ab-
erdeen; brother, Bill Lott of Orland
Park, Illinois; and three grandchil-
dren.
Earnest Wells
NOXUBEE — Earnest Earl Wells,
54, died Feb. 27, 2020.
Arrangements are incomplete and
will be announced by Carte’s Funeral
Home of Macon.
Lifestyles LIFESTYLES EDITOR
Jan Swoope: 328-2471
THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
C
SECTION

A community’s cats

Courtesy photo
Operation Colony Cats and Sweet Paws Rescue volunteers prepare cats for travel north for adoption. Terri Doumit, in purple, works with Leah Keys Gray
(leaning forward) and Pam Dawkins. Van driver Daniel Downey is inside the vehicle.

Operation Colony Cats is on a mission

Courtesy photos
First from left, these two gray felines were found close to the Columbus Soccer Complex, born to a feral female. They were fortunate to go to
an experienced foster family so they can eventually be adopted. Second from left, this Operation Colony Cats kitten is on its way to a crate
with water, food and litter box for a van trip to Massachusetts for adoption. Third from left, Operation Colony Cats put these two kittens in
foster care and then re-homed then locally.

BY JAN SWOOPE
jswoope@cdispatch.com

O
n Thursday, four cats from Colum-
bus caught a ride to Pennsylvania
with other crated felines destined
for something better. For these four, their
second chance was courtesy of a tireless
cadre of volunteers known as Operation
Colony Cats (OCC). Their mission is to
spay and neuter as many feral cats as
possible to reduce stray populations in
Lowndes County. That improves the lives
and health of the cat colonies, benefits
the community and lessens the strain on
the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society
(CLHS). In addition, through networking
with other organizations including Sweet
Paws Rescue out of Massachusetts and
Wings of Rescue based in Washington,
they try to find homes for as many adopt-
able cats as possible, primarily kittens. Courtesy photo
Terri Doumit is the “force of nature” A Wings of Rescue pilot readies for a flight in January from Golden Triangle Regional
behind OCC, said Jeanette Airport. Some of the cats on board are from Operation Colony Cats, headed north for
adoption.
Unruh of Macon. “Lowndes
County is lucky to have populations common to warmer climates. whelmed ladies wondering what in the
her. She’s making a huge Strays don’t survive harsh winters and world they could do to make a difference,
difference for the feral and spay/neuter programs are more prevalent Doumit said. That led to a meeting with
stray cat community, and there, Unruh said. the humane society in 2018 and the
educating the public along
launch of the mission.
the way.” Unruh is Sweet ■■■ The grim reality is that many litters of
Paws Rescue’s Mississippi Unruh
representative. She helps kittens born to feral cats will die, suc-
Doumit’s concern about the size
OCC coordinate getting adoptable cats cumbing to environmental hazards or
and fate of Lowndes County’s feral cat
sent northward in USDA-approved trans- population became so great a couple of contracting feline diseases. To offer those
port trucks. At the journey’s end, the years ago, she couldn’t sit on the side- kittens a chance their mother may have
animals get a veterinarian visit, receive lines. She was already volunteering at the never had, and to reduce unwanted cat
a health certificate and stay at a quaran- Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society, but populations, Doumit and fellow volun-
tine facility for 48 hours. Animals have through an acquaintance with Faye Dre- teers set out to expand on Drewry’s TNR
a better chance of adoption in northern wry, she became determined to do more. efforts.
states that don’t have the dog and cat OCC started as just a few over- See OPERATION COLONY CATS, 5C
2C SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Local event helps launch tour for Smith’s gripping fifth novel
The author will read from ‘Blackwood’ and writers Parker and Graham
Phillips, based in New York
sign copies at Wednesday reception and Los Angeles. The brothers
are directing the film that,
BY JAN SWOOPE Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, when finished, will be titled
jswoope@cdispatch.com North and South Carolina and “Rumble Through the Dark.”

U
“ nsettling,” “heart-
breaking” and “fre-
quently astonishing”
are a few of the words Kirkus
Reviews
uses to de-
scribe Mi-
chael Farris
Smith’s
latest novel
“Black-
wood.”
Disturbing,
harrowing,
powerful
also apply Courtesy image
to Smith’s
Southern gothic fiction, to be
officially released Tuesday. On
Wednesday, the Columbus Arts
Council will host a reception in
the writer’s honor from 5:30-7
p.m. at the Rosenzweig Arts
Center, 501 Main St. Smith, a
former Columbus resident now
living in Oxford, will read from
and sign copies of the novel
published by Little, Brown and
Co.
“Columbus will just be our
second event, the day after the
release in Oxford,” Smith told
The Dispatch. “I like doing all
the Mississippi stops first. It’s
always a really fun week, to see
so many people who support
you and know you.” For March,
Smith already has signings in
Florida.
Columbus Arts Council
Executive Director Jan Miller
said, “We are so excited that
Michael wanted his second
book signing at the arts coun-
cil in Columbus. That speaks
volumes. We can’t wait.”
“Blackwood” is Smith’s fifth
book, but the launch of a novel
still generates excitement.
“It’s still a thrill. I still get
that feeling of anticipation of
a new book coming out,” said
the author, who is an associate
professor of creative writing
with Mississippi University for
Women.
Genesis
The concept for “Black-
wood” began with a landscape,
Smith explained. A kud-
zu-choked valley set ideas in
motion.
“I just imagined this deep
valley absolutely swallowed
by the kudzu,” he said. “What
kind of ghost stories might
arise from something like that,
or what if there was something
lurking underneath there,
whether real or imagined?”
The result is a gripping tale
set in fictional Red Bluff, Mis-
sissippi, a little drying-up town
past its better days. Early on,
readers meet a cast of broken
The public is invited to a reception from 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday
at the Columbus Arts Council’s Rosenzweig Arts Center in honor of
Michael Farris Smith and the release of his novel, “Blackwood.”
people whose stories will inter-
sect in page-turning fashion:
a troubled junkyard sculptor
named Colburn who is return-
ing to Red Bluff, and Celia, a
barefoot bar owner who never
really left. Central throughout
the book, yet never named,
are an itinerant man, woman
and boy who upend the lives of
everyone around them.
In considering “Blackwood”
and his previous books — “The
Fighter,” “Desperation Road,”
“Rivers” and “The Hands of
Strangers” — Smith feels for-
tunate to have been able to tell
the stories he wanted.
“Every one of them has
turned out to be exactly what
I wanted them to be,” he said.
Courtesy photo
“Every one has been my own
novel and my own vision. I
haven’t had to compromise
anything.”
As the “Blackwood” book
tour begins, Smith looks for-
ward to revisiting and talking
about characters he first creat-
ed some time ago.
“It’s almost like a reunion,
and fortunately I like my char-
acters, so there’s none I want to
avoid,” he laughed.
Film projects
In addition to the book
launch, Smith has been busy
with film projects. Currently,
his 2018 novel “The Fighter”
is being cast by film directors/
Cassian Elwes, known for
“Dallas Buyers Club” and “The
Butler,” is producer.
“The plan is to shoot it in
the Delta, which I’m thrilled
about,” said Smith, who wrote
the script.
California-based Brad
Smith, formerly of West Point
and Columbus — and an
original member of the band
Blind Melon — is creating the
musical score.
“It’s something to have two
Mississippi boys from such a
close proximity to end up years
later working together on it,”
Smith remarked.
“Blackwood,” as well as
Smith’s 2017 novel “Desper-
ation Road,” have also been
optioned for film.
Smith’s books have ap-
peared on Best of the Year lists
with Esquire, Southern Living,
Book Riot and others, and have
been named Indie Next List,
Barnes & Noble Discover and
Amazon Best of the Month se-
lections. He has been a finalist
for the Southern Book Prize,
the Gold Dagger Award in the
UK and the Grand Prix des
Lectrices in France.
For more information about
Wednesday’s event in Colum-
bus, contact the CAC at 662-
328-2787 (closed Mondays).

March Quick Bites: gardens, bugs and eating right

BY JAN SWOOPE of topics. Sign up for the Camp” brings John Guy- Juaqula Madkin presents attending any free video at http://techoutreach.
jswoope@cdispatch.com programs through local ton, associate Extension “Eat Right Bite by Bite: session should contact msucares.com/dis-

T
he transitional
month of March
brings with it a
new menu of free Quick
Bites programs for com-
munities to participate in
at their county Extension
offices. Offered from
noon to 1 p.m. on desig-
nated Thursdays, Quick
Bites are interactive
video sessions presented
by the Mississippi State
University Extension
Service on a wide variety
Extension offices, or
catch them in Bost 409
on the MSU campus.
March programs
include:
n March 5 — In
“Making Plans for Spring
and Summer Gardens,”
Lynette McDougald of
Plant and Soil Sciences
talks about plants to add
to gardens to enhance
floral designs.
n March 12 — “Sum-
mer Fun: Bug and Plant
professor, to talk about 20 Nutrition and Health their county’s Exten- tance-education using
Tips for 2020.” Good sion office to sign up. the online county sign
MSU Extension’s first
nutrition doesn’t have to (In Lowndes County, up system. From the
residential bug camp
be restrictive or over- 662-328-2111; Oktibbeha Distance Education drop-
hosting campers from
whelming. Small goals County, 662-323-5916; down menu, click on the
across the country. The
immersion camp includes and changes can have Clay County, 662-494- County Schedule Signup.
a cumulative healthful 5371.) Or, counties may email
early risings and packed
days, night collecting and effect. County offices can distanceed@ext.msstate.
Those interested in sign up for the programs edu.
more. 4-H agents serve
on the camp staff.
n March 26 — Reg-
istered dietitian and
Extension instructor in
Food Science, Nutrition
and Health Promotion

CLUB NOTES

Courtesy photo
Pictured at the Northwood Garden Club February meeting are, from left, speaker
Candace Wheeler and hostesses Kathy Howell, Lucy Phillips and Marilyn Garner.

Northwood Garden Club was to try to move daily through some

The February meeting of Northwood
Garden Club of Columbus was held in
the home of Kathy Howell. Candace
Wheeler, personal trainer at North Mis-
sissippi Medical Center Wellness Cen-
ter in Tupelo, presented an interesting
program on “Feeling Better with Simple
Stretches.” Her request to members
type of light exercise with, for example,
bands, weights or stretching. Most
basic exercise can be done at home,
or there is always the option to join a
fitness center for personal training or
classes that meet individuals’ needs.
A moment of silence for the club’s
first president, Gay Orr, was given. A
memorial will be given later.

Northaven Woods President ElWanda it means to Columbus.

Garden Club
The Northaven Woods
Garden Club of Colum-
bus met Jan.21 at the
Tenn-Tom Waterway
Museum. Judi Jarrett and
Helen Reed were hostess-
es. Eight members and
one guest, Pam Bullock,
were present.
Pridmore called the
meeting to order at 11:30
a.m. and gave the invoca-
tion, led the club prayer,
the conservation pledge
and Pledge of Allegiance.
Jarrett introduced
Rufus Ward who gave
the history of the Tenn-
Tom Waterway and what
Ward then took members
on a tour of the museum.
After the tour, the
business meeting began.
Minutes and financial
reports were given and
approved.
The February meeting
will be in the home of
Barbara Bailey.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 3C

CALENDAR
Monday, March 2
Guest artists recital —
Mississippi University for Women
Department of Music presents
mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins and
pianist Armen Shaomian in recital at
7:30 p.m. in Poindexter Hall. Free to
the public.
Tuesday, March 3
Irish tenor event canceled
— The “Bridges of the Spirit”
lecture recital by Irish tenor James
W. Flannery and pianist Rosangela Y.
Sebba at Mississippi State has been
canceled due to illness.
Meet the Author — The Mar-
tha Helen Swain Southern Women’s
History Speaker Series presents
Ebony Lumumba of Tougaloo College
at The W’s Fant Memorial Library
at 4 p.m. Lumumba is author of
“Demonstration of Life: Signifying for
Social Justice in Eudora Welty’s ‘The
Demonstrators.’” Free to the public.
Exhibit reception — A free
Starkville Area Arts Council recep-
tion at 5:30 p.m. at The Partnership,
200 E. Main St., Starkville, opens
an exhibition of works from the
Artist-in-Residence program at the
Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge.
Wednesday, March 4
Book signing — Author Michael
Farris Smith attends a reception and
book signing for his just-released
novel, “Blackwood,” at 5:30 p.m. at
the Columbus Arts Council’s Rosenz-
weig Arts Center, 501 Main St.
Thursday, March 5
Town & Tower — Town & Tower
meets at 11:30 a.m. at The W’s
Pope Banquet Room. The program
includes a panel on Celebrating
Women’s History Month with Women
in the Law. Lunch $15. RSVP by
March 3 to 662-329-7119 or muw.
edu/towntower.
Taco Hop — Visit downtown
Starkville’s Main Street for this
event from 5-8 p.m. with craft beer
tastings, tacos by Starkville restau-
rants ($2 each) and live music.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day
of event. For more information, go
to visit.starkville.org, 662tix.com or
call The Partnership, 662-323-3322.
Thursday through Saturday,
March 5-7
Music by Women Festival
— The W’s Music by Women Festi-
val in Poindexter Hall includes lec-
ture-recitals, papers, presentations
and performances related to music
composed, taught and performed by
women. For more information, visit
muw.edu/musicbywomen or email
musicbywomen@muw.edu.
Saturday, March 7
Dr. Seuss birthday party —
See details at top of calendar.
Lilapalooza 2 — This fami-
ly-friendly fundraiser benefiting St.
Jude Children Research Hospital
begins at noon with live music, burg-
ers and raffle at Town Creek Farm
Pavilion in West Point. $10 donation
at the door. Lawn chairs, coolers
welcome. For more information,
contact Tim Wilson, 662386-3185,
or Jeremy Klutts, 662-295-8361.
Sunday, March 8
Sundays at the Center —
An exhibit of Monte Brasfield’s “funky
birdhouses” and a talk on Art in
the Garden by MPB’s “The Gestalt
Gardener” Felder Rushing begin
with a free 2 p.m. reception at the
Louise Campbell Center for the Arts,
521 Commerce St., downtown West
Point. Sale of birdhouses benefit local
nonprofits.
Tuesday, March 10
Quilt reception — The
Columbus-Lowndes Public Library,
314 Seventh St. N., hosts a public
reception at noon. Kathy Willcutt of
Magnolia Heirlooms is guest speak-
er. Quilts by area quilt makers will
be displayed through April 24. For
more information, contact Brenda
Durrett at bdurrett@lowndes.lib.
ms.us or 662-329-5300.
Sunday, March 15
“St Patty’s Pawty” — This
fundraiser for the Columbus-Lown-
des Humane Society is 1-6 p.m.
at Zachary’s, 205 Fifth St. N.,
downtown Columbus. A pet parade,
live music, raffles and green beer
are featured, along with food by
Huck’s Place. $10 donation at the
door (cash only). For information,
contact CLHS, 662-327-3107. For
sponsorships, contact Colin Krieger,
662-329-7653.
Courtesy photo
Thursday, March 19
Story State: Fostering
Innovative Storytelling —
Mississippi State’s Department of
Communication presents this free
event about using stories to achieve
communication goals at 12:30 p.m.,
with talks from writers, filmmakers
and others in McComas Theatre on
campus. Visit storystate.msstate.
edu.
Thursday through Saturday,
March 19-21
“Farce of Nature” — The
Columbus Arts Council and Colum-
bus Community Theatre present this
Southern-fried farce directed by Mel-
anie Tubbs at 7:30 p.m. nightly, plus
a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. Tickets
are $10 in advance, $12 at the door,
if available. For tickets or information,
visit columbus-arts.org/cct or call
662-328-2787 (closed Mondays).
Friday, March 20
Piano trio recital — Mississip-
pi University for Women Department
of Music presents a free guest artist
piano trio recital featuring Alexei
Saturday,
March 7
Dr. Seuss birth-
day party — The Co-
lumbus-Lowndes Public
Library hosts this event
at 10 a.m., with Mother
Goose Storytime, Se-
uss-themed games and
birthday cake at 314
Seventh St. N. For more
information, contact Tori
Hopper at the library,
662-329-5300.
Trushechkin at 7:30 p.m. in Poindex-
ter Hall.
Saturday, March 21
Symphony Masterworks —
The Starkville-MSU Symphony Or-
chestra and MSU University Chorus
Masterworks concert begins at
7:30 p.m. in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth
Auditorium in the Mississippi State
campus. Free to the public.
Sunday, March 22
Rust College Choir — St.
James United Methodist Church, 722
Military Road, Columbus, hosts the
acclaimed a capella Rust College
Choir at 11 a.m. The public is invited;
there is no charge.
Trudy Gildea film — “Trudy
Gildea: The Love for the Music”
premieres in two showings, at 2 p.m.
and 3:30 p.m., at the Columbus Arts
Council’s Rosenzweig Arts Center,
501 Main St. Directed by Carlos Ro-
sales and produced by Brian Gildea,
the film traces Trudy Gildea’s musical
roots in New York to her founding
of the Columbus Suzuki Strings and
beyond. Free to the public. Refresh-
ments will be served.

The W’s fourth annual Music by Women Festival begins Thursday

Register online
to attend free
concerts
MUW UNIVERSITY
RELATIONS

M
ississippi Univer-
sity for Women
will host its
fourth annual Music by
Women Festival Thurs-
day through Saturday,
March 5-7. This interna-
tional event is dedicated
to highlighting the
contributions of women
composers historically as
well as in the present day.
As part of the festival,
there will be 15 concerts
spread throughout the MUW University Relations
three days, all free and Julia Mortyakova, seated, Department of Music chair at The W, is pictured with faculty members and presenters for the 2019 Music by Wom-
open to the public. The en Festival. This year’s festival is Thursday through Saturday at the university.
concerts will take place
at 10 a.m., noon, 2:30 by learning more about itan University of Denver, compositions discussed studying history in gen- Endowment for the Arts,
p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. women composers and Florida State University, in a historical setting, eral and the contributions a federal agency. This
Thursday, Friday and by listening to virtuosic Oklahoma State Univer- and explores the influenc- of women in particular. project is also supported
Saturday. performances of their sity, University of Maine, es of society, politics, re- The overarching topic is in part by funding from
Between the concerts, beautiful music,” said De- University of Nevada Las ligion and how they had the status, contribution the Women’s Philhar-
there will be concurrent partment of Music chair Vegas and many others. an effect on the composer and the reception of wom- monic Advocacy.
lecture recitals and and artistic director for The presentation top- and her work. en in general throughout For more information,
papers presented. The the Music by Women Fes- ics include exploration of The sessions also ana- history. “There will be including a complete
public must register to tival Julia Mortyakova. the life and works of indi- lyze the reception of the something of interest for schedule of events, and to
attend these sessions. All Some of the artists for vidual women composers composer’s work during everyone,” said Mortya- register for the festival,
events will take place in this year’s festival include from different regions, her lifetime, as well as kova. visit muw.edu/musicby-
Poindexter Hall on the music faculty from the cultures, time periods after her death. While This project is sup- women.
W’s campus. Korea National Universi- and musical genres. Most the topics are meant for ported in part by funding For questions regard-
“The public is cordial- ty of Arts, University of research presented in the a musically engaged au- from the Mississippi ing the festival, contact
ly invited to celebrate Wisconsin, James Madi- papers and lecture-recit- dience, the subjects will Arts Commission, a state Mortyakova at musicby-
Women’s History Month son University, Metropol- als places the people and be of interest to anyone agency, and the National women@muw.edu.

Dear Abby

D
EAR ABBY: My father-in-law is
his own worst enemy. While
my husband and I were dating,
we visited his father regularly. Since
our marriage, our visits have become
less frequent. This is because my
husband and I both have demanding
jobs, and I am in school. We are
BUSY trying to secure a stable life
together.
My FIL has taken offense to this.
He insists that the real reason we
don’t visit is because we are angry
with him and hate him. We have
tried explaining that it isn’t so, but he Dear Abby
refuses to believe us. He’s convinced
that he has somehow deeply offend-
ed us, and we are refusing to talk about it.
Unfortunately, he obsesses over this every time
we DO visit and makes it awkward by guilt-tripping
me and my husband, begging us to
tell him what he did wrong. He also
tries to prevent us from leaving when
it’s time to go by distracting us with
conversation, refusing to see us out
the door, and sometimes physically
sitting in front of the car so we can’t
drive off. Neither my husband nor
I look forward to visits anymore
because they have become such a
chore.
My FIL has issues with mental
illness (which contribute to his
behavior), but he refuses to get help.
Worse, he has an elementary school-
age child who believes everything he
says. The child is convinced we hate
and have abandoned them because of hearing my
FIL talk. I am frustrated and sad for the child, but
my words to my FIL fall on deaf ears. Do you have
any advice? — DAUGHTER-IN-LAW IN THE SOUTH
DEAR D.I.L.: Frankly, I am surprised your FIL is
not focusing his entire attention on the child who
is living at home rather than obsessing about his
adult son and you. The man appears to be not only
disturbed but also irrational.
Because your husband has dealt with his father
his entire life, take your cues from him. If your
father-in-law is currently married (I assume he must
be because he has a young child living with him),
talking to his wife might help. She may be able to
help counteract the damage that is being created
with the child.
DEAR ABBY: My son is welcoming his first child
at the age of 39, and I will be hosting a baby shower
for him and his girlfriend. The problem is, I asked
him for a list of attendees, and at the top of the list
is someone my son and daughter were friends with
since middle school. However, a few years ago, she
interfered with my daughter’s marriage and caused
a lot of heartache, so my daughter cut all ties with
her.
My son travels a lot. He is not home often and
doesn’t know the extent of what happened between
my daughter and their mutual friend. I’m not sure
how to handle this. Should I not invite her, or should
I tell my son what happened and suggest he not
invite her out of respect for his sister? Or do I tell
my daughter this is about her brother, it’s only one
get-together, and she needs to respect her brother’s
wishes?
I’m in the middle and not sure what to do. At one
time I was close with this girl, but after what she
did to my daughter, I haven’t spoken to her either. —
GETTING ALONG IN THE EAST
DEAR GETTING ALONG: Your son may travel a
lot, but he has a phone. Call him, fill him in and ask
how he and his girlfriend want this handled. I’m
betting he will tell you to scratch “Miss Troublemak-
er” off the list.

Horoscopes
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (March 1).
Applying your talents for the betterment
of your family, friends and community
will be at the forefront in your goals.
With a concentrated and practiced
regiment, progress becomes apparent.
You’ll love where discipline takes you,
but build plenty of rewards, breaks and
leisure into your life to avoid burnout.
Cancer and Scorpio adore you. Your
lucky numbers are: 9, 2, 22, 10 and 13.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). The
lesson of fizzy soda, sparklers and flash
pots? Excitement and brevity go togeth-
er like Siamese twins. Yes, they can be
separated, but usually not without great
risk of terrible consequences.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The
pen is in your hand, and the page is
open. You have everything you need to
write the story of your life. Please don’t
take the page numbers literally. This
one can go out of order -- if you dare.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The
friendly, sweet and giving person is
going to help you, and so will the cur-
mudgeon and the negative Nellie and
all the others. State what you need and
help will come.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). When
you’re new, it seems like all the people
understand a thing that you don’t. The
funny thing is that no one on the inside
understands any more than you do.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You would
have told the other person so many
different things if you weren’t in the
position you’re in. But positioning is ev-
erything. You’ll hold something back out
of compassion. Be proud you have it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).
“I’m not giving in to security under
pressure/ I’m not missing out on the
promise of adventure/ I’m not giving up
on implausible dreams/ Experience to
extremes.” -- Neil Peart, Virgo
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You’ll
do just about anything just to see your
loved one’s smile, though there are
plenty of undoable things, too, and
there’s the consideration that some
smile-producing things are also just not
that healthy or sustainable.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). The
work scene will be highly competitive,
but you’re a contender. As long as you
show up having done your homework,
you will win. The best wins are group
wins, so involve as many as you can.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21).
There is no saving anyone right now.
You can help, and you can love, but
saving is a thing that each person must
do individually, at least for today.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19).
You are now ready to wake up to some-
thing hidden in your psyche that you’ve
long ignored. Relationships bring both
joy and sorrow, but you benefit so much
from them that you’re even happy for
the sorrow.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You
are playing a sporting game that has
nothing to do with sports at all, and the
ball is in your court. Don’t overthink it.
Know where you want it to go, and keep
your eye trained on the destination.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You
want a clear instruction for the current
problem, but if the universe were really
to thunder from the clouds saying,
“Do this!” you’d rebel and tell it to stop
bossing you around. So try to read and
heed the signs.
4C SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Garden art, ‘funky birdhouses’ featured at West Point exhibit

Felder Rushing, Monte Brasfield are center stage at March 8 event the decorative details.”
Some houses have a theme,
SPECIAL TO THE DISPATCH turfgrass, just plants, yard art He is author or co-author and others are seemingly ran-
and “people places.” of 18 gardening books and dom 3-D collages.

A
n Art in the Garden
presentation by Felder
Rushing kicks off the
Funky Birdhouses by Monte
Brasfield exhibit and sale in the
Louise Campbell Center for the
Arts in West Point. Opening
Sunday, March 8, the 2 p.m.
talk and reception are free to
the public.
Tenth-generation Amer-
ican/Mississippi gardener
Felder Rushing is known for
his overstuffed, quirky cottage
in the Jackson area and his
green truck gardens. He has
been featured in numerous TV
programs and publications, in-
cluding a cover of Southern Liv-
ing and in the New York Times.
His celebrated gardens include
a huge variety of weather-hardy
plants along with a collection of
vernacular folk art. There is no
Rushing will talk about and
share photos of a variety of
art objects gardeners use to
enhance plantings and express
themselves. These include
classic statuary, art designed
for gardens and outdoor areas,
and some outrageous and
unexpected items that add fun
and interest to flower beds and
yards.
Believing that too many
would-be gardeners are intim-
idated by a crush of “how-to”
experts Rushing said, “We are
daunted, not dumb.” He uses an
offbeat “down home” approach
rife with humorous anec-
dotes and garden-irreverent
metaphors, observations and
photography to help gardeners
of all styles and skill levels
get past the “stinkin’ rules” of
horticulture.
started the Mississippi Master
Gardener program. His articles
or photographs have appeared
in National Geographic and
Better Homes and Gardens,
among other magazines. He is
MPB’s “The Gestalt Gardener,”
and is a weekly online Q&A
blogger for HGTV.com.
For the birds
Brasfield of West Point,
known for his fun birdhouses,
has made more than 30 for this
exhibit, just in time for spring
nesting season. Most will be for
sale, with proceeds benefiting
the center for the arts, the West
Point/Clay County Animal
Shelter and the Sally Kate Win-
ters Home.
Many of Brasfield’s bird-
houses are points of interest in
Rushing Brasfield
West Point area gardens due to
his generosity to friends and
his donations to organizations
wishing to auction his creations
for fundraising. Many have
been featured auction items
and have produced frenzied
bidding.
“I come from a long line
of carpenters who were also
problem and puzzle solvers,”
Brasfield said. “The basic
house shape is built using wood
scraps and other sturdy items,
letting their shapes guide the
process. Then comes the fun
part — selecting and attaching
“Looking around my
workshop I have lots of stuff to
choose from, as my friends and
sometimes people I don’t even
know will drop off odds and
ends they think I might find a
use for,” he said. Hours spent
in the workshop constructing
the base and working out the
puzzle of decorative elements
are “art therapy” and “creative
expression” for Brasfield.
Sponsored by the West
Point/Clay County Arts
Council, the exhibit will
hang through April 30. The
arts center will be staffed on
certain Wednesdays 1-4 p.m.
for visitors to see the show.
For more information or to
schedule a tour at another day
or time, contact Kathy Dyess at
662-494-5678, or Julie Gray at
662-295-0461.

Metropolitan Opera star to bring lecture recital to The W Monday

MUW UNIVERSITY In 2013, Hopkins per-
RELATIONS formed “Sue” in Robert
Bradshaw’s recording of

M
etropolitan
Opera star Janet
Hopkins will
present “Confronting
Social Norms Through
Music,” a lecture recital
by mezzo-soprano Hop-
kins and pianist Armen
Shaomian on Monday,
March 2 at 7:30 p.m. in
the Kossen Auditorium
in Poindexter Hall on the
campus of Mississippi
University for Women.
The event is free and
open to the public.
The duo from the Uni-
versity of South Carolina
will present a collec-
tion of works by living,
contemporary American
composers and will cover
an array of themes relat-
ed to political to societal
issues communicated
through music.
“We are honored
to have artists of such
stature perform for our
university and Columbus
community,” said Julia
Mortyakova, chair of the
Department of Music.
Hopkins is also giving
a masterclass to W music
majors on Monday at 1
p.m. in Kossen Audito-
rium. This event is also
free and open to the
public.
Hopkins is a 16-year
veteran soloist of the
Metropolitan opera
where she performed
in “Die Walküre,” “Der
Rosenkavalier,” “Katya
Kabanova,” “Die Frau
ohne Schatten” and
Mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Mississippi Uni-
versity for Women’s Poindexter Hall.
“Elektra, Jenufa,”
among many others. She
performed three tours
in Japan for “Der Rosen-
kavalier,” “Die Walkure”
and “Rigoletto.”
Hopkins has appeared
at Carnegie Hall and at
the opening ceremonies
of the 1980 Winter Olym-
pics in Lake Placid, New
York. Her recordings
Courtesy photo
include “The Ghosts of
Versailles” and Elektra
DVDs, along with 13
performances over the
Texaco Broadcast “Live
from the Met” series.
his new opera “Plastic.”
Solo recordings available
include Ulysses Kay:
Works for Chamber
Orchestra and Soprano,
“When I have Sung my
Songs,” and “ARIA.”
Hopkins holds a
bachelor of music degree
in music education, cum
laude, and a master of
arts degree in vocal
performance, cum laude,
from the State University
of New York, Potsdam, Shaomian
New York. She joined
the University of South and its signature Youn-
Carolina School of Music gArts program. He is an
in 2008 and is associate active concert pianist and
has performed numerous
professor of Voice in the
concerts at venues in
School of Music. For
Europe and the United
more information, visit
States. He has authored a
janetehopkins.com
book on Swedish Nation-
al Romantic Music and
About Shaomian his piano recordings of
Armen Shaomian,
composer Hugo Alfvén
DMA, is an associate pro-
fessor in the Department are featured on Vax
Records’ Vaxholm - Ett
of Sport and Entertain-
ment at the University Dubbelnöje.
of South Carolina and is Shaomian holds a
currently serving as the master and doctor of
president of the Music musical arts degrees in
and Entertainment In- accompanying and cham-
dustry Educators Asso- ber music with cognates
ciation. He is the founder in music business and
and CEO of Armenize entertainment industries
Inc., an arts consulting from the University of
agency specializing in Miami, and a bachelor
nonprofit arts manage- of music degree in piano
ment and foundational performance from Wayne
strategies. State University. He
Prior work includes also served as faculty at
programs manager/as- the University of Miami
sociate producer for the Frost School of Music’s
National Foundation for graduate program in Arts
Advancement in the Arts Presenting.

SCHOOL NEWS
OUT THERE
March 7 – Jason Aldean
(Morgan Wallen, Riley
Green, Dee Jay Silver),
BancorpSouth Arena,
Tupelo. 662-841-6528,
bcsarena.com.

March 7-8 – Tupelo Con

(cosplay contest, Battle
Bots, after party, more),
Tupelo Furniture Market,
Tupelo. 662-205-5985,
tupelocon.org.

March 9 – “Jersey Boys,”

BancorpSouth Arena,
Tupelo. 662-841-6528,
bcsarena.com.

March 12 – Harry Connick

Jr., Thalia Mara Hall, Jack-
son. ticketmaster.com.

March 17 – An Evening
with Bruce Hornsby, Ford
Center, Oxford. 662-915-
7411, fordcenter.org.
Courtesy photo
March 18-22 – Oxford Film
Members of East Mississippi Community College’s new Winter Percussion Group perform during their first competition Feb. 8 at Nesho- Festival, Oxford Commons
ba Central High School. The group is gearing up for the Mississippi Indoor Association state competition March 27 in Jackson. Malco. 877-560-3456,
oxfordfilmfest.org.

March 19 – An Evening
with Bruce Hornsby, Riley
Center, Meridian. 601-696-

Send in your News About Town event.

2200, msurileycenter.org.

email: community@cdispatch.com March 20 – Lynyrd Sky-

Subject: NATS nyrd, BancorpSouth Arena,
Tupelo. 662-841-6528,
bcsarena.com.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 5C

IN THE GARDEN WITH FELDER

Take a ‘tasteful’ look around

M
y neighbor-
hood hosts
a largesse
of edible stuff people
don’t seem to appre-
ciate.
There’s a small
tree in a nearby
churchyard with
beautiful spring
flowers that every-
one appreciates.
But in the autumn,
Felder Rushing
it bends under the
weight of hundreds
of large, beautiful, crisp, sweet
crabapples, which usually fall,
untouched. Except by me. I walk Japanese persimmons are obvi-
by it often, and when they begin
to ripen, I can forage them for
about a month. Nobody notices
or seems to care. There’s a lot
around the corner whose own-
ers demolished the old house,
but they left four fig shrubs
nobody seems to pick but me; I
make preserves for rainy winter
days. And I know of three pome- many commonly grown shrubs
granate shrubs whose owners
grow them just for the reddish
orange flowers. Thank you,
the flowers are lovely — and
the fruits delicious.
Nectar of the gods,
and all that. Other
ornamental trees
and shrubs that
produce delicious
fruit scattered here
and there around my
little town include
pecans, hickories,
muscadines, rab-
bit-eye blueberries
and the less-fa-
miliar mulberries,
reddish-leaf Indian
cling peach, quince, ginkgo,
loquat, and jujube. Big orange
ous, but I find commonly grown
Eleagnus shrubs by their super
fragrant late fall flowers and
come back later for the small
apple-like midwinter fruits.
By the way, I’ve written a
little treatise on growing at-
tractive, landscape-quality fruit
plants for Mississippi, including
with surprisingly good fruit.
Glad to email you a free copy.
I got started with this as
a youngster raised in a big,
Felder Rushing/Courtesy photo
There are a lot more edibles
out there than many realize,
like these edible fruits of the
Elaeagnus shrub.
varied landscape with mixed
fruit plants and honed it when
Euell Gibbons came out with
his famous “Stalking the Wild
Asparagus” book.
That’s where I learned that
the flowers of orange daylilies
have the same nutrition as
broccoli and can be eaten the
same many ways. I’ve made tea
with fresh pine needles, cooked
bamboo shoots and eaten the
tender new shoots of smilax raw
and steamed just like asparagus.
I won’t get into all the culti-
vated and wild flowers that are
edible, including weeds in the
lawn. A partial list would include
dandelions, chickweed, henbit,
wild onions, clover, violets,
dock, purslane, violets, clover
and Florida betony tubers.
But back to regular yard
plants. Not many people realize
that pyracantha fruits are
mealy-tasting little apples, and
the purple berries of beautyber-
ry were used by Native Ameri-
cans as a filler. The furry “wild
lemons” on a thorny but fully
hardy citrus plant named Pon-
cirus are seedy and very acidic
but make great lemonade or
preservative, or my preserves.
Ever taste the fruit of prickly
pear cactus, or cook its flat
round leaves?
As I drive around the state, I
see countless colonies of native
Chickasaw plums, ditch-bank el-
derberries, wild pears with their
little fruits and blackberries.
And every Boy Scout knows
how to make a refreshing lem-
onade-like “bug juice” drink by
steeping the burgundy summer
berries of sumac.
Important point: Can you
tell Queen Anne’s lace (wild
carrots) from the somewhat
similar-looking but deadly water
hemlock? Need to know what
you are doing because, in addi-
tion to harvesting only what is
legal — not on private property
or state parks — it’s crucial to
know edible from poisonous,
or how to treat it to make it
safe to eat. Acorns have to be
treated, and only young shoots
of pokeberry are edible. And I
never harvest wild mushrooms.
Too risky except for those with
training.
Food for thought: What if
someone on every block in my
’hood planted some of these by
the street for neighbors to enjoy
both flowers and fruit? It’d be a
year-round edible forest feast!
Felder Rushing is a Mississip-
pi author, columnist, and host of
the “Gestalt Gardener” on MPB
Think Radio. Email gardening
questions to rushingfelder@
yahoo.com.

Operation Colony Cats

Continued from Page 1C
TNR — Trap, Neuter,
Return, also known as
Trap, Neuter, Release
— is a humane, effec-
tive approach to reduce
feral numbers. Cats are
trapped, spayed or neu-
tered and, when recov-
ered, returned to their
territory or colony where
they help control rodents.
Before release, steril-
ized ferals are eartipped
while under anesthesia, a
universal sign they have
been “fixed.” A few can
sometimes be relocated
as barn mousers.
“But all our kittens we
try to socialize and move
into homes, sometimes
into rescue programs up
north, occasionally at the
humane society. That
partnership is important,”
said Doumit.
TNR benefits the
colony’s health, reduces
community complaints
about cats and stops the
out-of-control breeding
cycle in treated cats.
Dr. Renee Westbrook
of Self Creek Veterinary
Clinic in Starkville is one
of the veterinarians who
performs procedures on
OCC cats, some of them
through a grant applied
for by the CLHS.
“It’s hard for people to
realize that one cat can
become 80 to 120 cats
in just 18 to 20 months’
time, assuming a littler
of four to
five kittens,
with two or
three being
female, and
the mom
having
three litters
per year. Westbrook
The first and second
litters can have their own
litter or two in that time
as well,” said Westbrook.
“It’s a never-ending cycle
and unless you catch and
fix these cats, they will
just continue to multiply.”
■■■
CLHS Director Karen
Johnwick
said OCC
has made
“a big
improve-
ment.” She
believes
she is see-
ing it in the Johnwick
numbers.
In 2018, the shelter took
in 1,493 cats. In 2019, the
total was 1,020.
“It’s made a huge
difference on some of the
feral cat colonies. With
the whole TNR program,
they’re just not multiply-
ing as much,” Johnwick
said. “These power rang-
ers are out there tracking
them down. There’s a lot
of footwork that goes into
it, and they’re not getting
paid for any of it. They’re the trip to ■■■ so quickly (for those),
just doing it to hopefully Massachu- and there’s only a certain
improve the lives of these setts in a Kitten season is just number of spots they
cats.” few weeks. ahead. Doumit and John- get every few months.
OCC’s numbers also Getting wick know colonies and We pool our resources
tell a story. In 2019, it attached to shelters will be inundated and ask the community
spayed or neutered 575 kittens and with litters in the coming for help,” said Doumit,
cats, almost all from then letting months. Every cat OCC who also invites anyone
Lowndes County. A total Nedoff
them go is can get fixed makes a interested to follow or
of 142 cats were sent hard, the medical technol- difference. contact the private group
north with Sweet Paws ogist admitted. The work is not easy, through its Facebook
Rescue, and 42 local “I refer to them all as and sometimes it’s heart- page; request to become
adoptions were complet- my foster fur-babies,” breaking and exhausting, a member.
ed. she said. “But I love my Doumit said, but with “We are trying to be
“This year, in 2020, animals and realize we’re the support of others, it good caretakers of the an-
in just two months there to help them in the continues. Donations to- imals of Lowndes County.
we’ve done 136 spays or transition to find a forever ward the $35 procedures, ... You have to be active
neuters,” Doumit said. home. You realize you’re made to CLHS (50 Airline and you have to really
“We’ve sent 28 to Sweet sending them off to find Road, Columbus, MS care and you have to be
Paws. We sent seven cats that with someone — and 39702) and designated for committed.”
with Wings of Rescue to I know I’ll get more; I’ll OCC, are a major help. See more photos at cdis-
Canada, sent 15 to Penn-
get to love more babies.” “The grant runs out patch.com, Lifestyles link.
sylvania with different
ground transport, and ad-
opted out three cats with
special health issues.”
The work is never-end-
ing, and the mission
is expanding. OCC’s
primary needs are desig-
nated donations to CLHS,
earmarked for OCC to
use for low-cost $35 spay/
neuter procedures. They
also need more tempo-
rary foster “parents.”
Sarah Nedoff of
Starkville is in her third
year of fostering kittens.
“The first year, we
had six total; last year I
lost count,” she laughed.
Nedoff currently has
two OCC foster kittens;
they’re expected to make

Visit 662tix.com to purchase advance tickets to the

events below:

March 5
The Taco Hop from 5-8 p.m. on Starkville’s Main Street features
a craft beer tasting, specialty tacos ($2 each) by area restaurants, plus live music. Tickets
are $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the event. Presented by the Greater Starkville Devel-
opment Partnership.
Scene&Seen THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020

Yulonda Dawkins, Leah Dawkins, Jason Latham, Alex Dawkins, Aaron Verdell Desmond Young, Braylin Henry, Zhakeem Thomas

DAY OF
SERVICE
Volunteers organized by
Community Recovery of
Lowndes County came
together Feb. 22 to help
with clean-up still need-
ed in part of Columbus
hit by an EF3 tornado on
Feb. 23, 2019. Deanna
Robinson/Dispatch Staff

Nella Conerly, Lee Burdine, Mary Margaret Swedenburg, Kathryn Phillips T.J. Peguas Jr., Mary Lewis

Johnathan Williams, Cortez Johnson, Willie Stewart Ladarius Hutton, Brylen Gore, Leonardo Buckner

Danielle Gaude, Gray Gaude, Mary Barrett Mary Sue and Marco Nicovich

“BLAME IT
ON BECKETT”
Wednesday evening’s
performance drew the-
ater-goers to Playhouse
on Main in Starkville
for Starkville Commu-
nity Theatre’s “Blame
it on Beckett.” Austin
Frayser/Special to The
Dispatch

Lisa and Brian Ballus Page and Jim Leftwich

Sue and John Tomlinson Heather Blaylock, Sandra Butler

Classified & Comics D
LEGALS
CALL US: 662-328-2424
Legal Notices
State of Mississippi
County of Lowndes
Notice of Sale
WHEREAS the following ten-
ants entered into a lease with
RENT A SPACE for storage
spaces in which to store per-
sonal property:
TERIKA GREEN
6 WENDY McCOY/JEAN BARNES
SARA HURST
54
WHEREAS, default has been
made in the payment of the
rent and RENT A SPACE pursu-
ant to said lease is authorized
to sell the personal property to
satisfy the past due rent and
any other charges owed to it.
NOW THEREFORE, notice is
hereby given that RENT A
SPACE will offer for sale, and
will sell at auction to the
highest bidder and best bidder in the storage. Said property
for cash all personal property
in the storage. Said property
located at RENT A SPACE 3431 COLUMBUS, MS will be sold at
HWY 12 EAST STEENS, MS
39766 will be sold at 10:00
AM on MARCH 20, 2020.
Title to the personal property to be sold is believed to be good,
be sold is believed to be good, but at such sale, RENT-A-
but at such sale, RENT A
SPACE will convey only such
title as is vested in it pursuant to its leases and as allowed
to its leases and as allowed
under Mississippi Code Annot- ated Section 85-7-121 et seq.
ated Section 85-7-121 et seq. (Supp1988).
(Supp1988).
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE ON
FEBRUARY 26, 2020.
RENT A SPACE
By: MANAGER
PUBLISH: 3/1/2020
NOTICE OF STORAGE CON-
TENTS SALE
THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL IS
IN DEFAULT OF PAYMENT ON
THEIR STORAGE AT MCCON-
NELL BROTHERS TRANSFER
AND STORAGE & COLUMBUS
WAREHOUSE AND STORAGE,
2406 AND 2412 HWY 69
SOUTH, COLUMBUS, MS
39702. THE CONTENTS OF
THIS STORAGE WILL BE AUC-
TIONED ON 3/11/20 AT 10:00 WHEREAS, default has been
A.M.
ABDULAZIZ ALGHAMDI
– UNIT 6
SHANE JILES
– UNIT 20
PATRICK JOHNSON
– UNIT 13
CORY SANTOS
– STG5539
JANEY STUBBS
– 19-6145
Publish: 2/23, 2/26,
3/1/2020
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Legal Notices
State of Mississippi
County of Lowndes
Notice of Sale
WHEREAS the following ten-
ants entered into a lease with
RENT-A-SPACE for storage
spaces in which to store per-
sonal property:
JEFFERY BARRY
– UNIT 7013
DRENA CARPENTER
– UNIT 6110
SHIRLEY JONES
– UNIT 5127
– UNIT 311
WHEREAS, default has been
made in the payment of the
rent and RENT-A-SPACE pursu-
ant to said lease is authorized
to sell the personal property to
satisfy the past due rent and
any other charges owed to it.
NOW THEREFORE, notice is
hereby given that RENT-A-
SPACE will offer for sale, and
will sell at auction to the
highest bidder and best bidder
for cash all personal property
located at RENT-A-SPACE 1526
GARDNER BLVD. SUITE 1,
10:30 AM on MARCH 20,
2020.
Title to the personal property to
SPACE will convey only such
title as is vested in it pursuant
under Mississippi Code Annot-
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE ON
FEBRUARY 24, 2020.
RENT-A-SPACE
By: MANAGER
PUBLISH: 3/1/2020
State of Mississippi
County of Lowndes
Notice of Sale
WHEREAS the following ten-
ants entered into a lease with
RENT A SPACE for storage
spaces in which to store per-
sonal property:
CHRISTOPHER JAMISON
LR116
made in the payment of the
rent and RENT A SPACE pursu-
ant to said lease is authorized
to sell the personal property to
satisfy the past due rent and
any other charges owed to it.
NOW THEREFORE, notice is
hereby given that RENT A
SPACE will offer for sale, and
will sell at auction to the
highest bidder and best bidder
for cash all personal property
in the storage. Said property
located at RENT A SPACE 216
LINCOLN ROAD, COLUMBUS,
MS 39705 will be sold at 9:30
AM on MARCH 20, 2020.
Title to the personal property to
be sold is believed to be good,
but at such sale, RENT A
SPACE will convey only such
title as is vested in it pursuant
to its leases and as allowed
under Mississippi Code Annot-
ated Section 85-7-121 et seq.
(Supp1988).
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE ON
FEBRUARY 26, 2020.
RENT A SPACE
By: MANAGER
PUBLISH: 3/1/2020
satisfy the past due rent and
any other charges owed to it.
NOW THEREFORE, notice is
hereby given that RENT A
SPACE will offer for sale, and
will sell at auction to the
highest bidder and best bidder
for cash all personal property
in the storage. Said property
located at RENT A SPACE 216
LINCOLN ROAD, COLUMBUS,
MS 39705 will be sold at 9:30
AM on MARCH 20, 2020.
Title to the personal property to
be sold is believed to be good,
but at such sale, RENT A
SPACE will convey only such
title as is vested in it pursuant
toLegal
its Notices
leases and as allowed
under Mississippi Code Annot-
ated Section 85-7-121 et seq.
(Supp1988).
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE ON
FEBRUARY 26, 2020.
RENT A SPACE
By: MANAGER
PUBLISH: 3/1/2020
State of Mississippi
County of Lowndes
Notice of Sale
WHEREAS the following ten-
ants entered into a lease with
RENT-A-SPACE for storage
spaces in which to store per-
sonal property:
STEVEN SHORT
F1736
TAVORIS SHERROD
F1745
WHEREAS, default has been
made in the payment of the
rent and RENT-A-SPACE pursu-
ant to said lease is authorized
to sell the personal property to
satisfy the past due rent and
any other charges owed to it.
NOW THEREFORE, notice is
hereby given that RENT-A-
SPACE will offer for sale, and
will sell at auction to the
highest bidder and best bidder
for cash all personal property
in the storage. Said property
located at RENT- A- SPACE 406
WILKINS WISE RD COLUMBUS,
MS will be sold at 9:00 AM on
MARCH 20, 2020.
Title to the personal property to
be sold is believed to be good,
but at such sale, RENT-A-
SPACE will convey only such
title as is vested in it pursuant
to its leases and as allowed
under Mississippi Code Annot-
ated Section 85-7-121 et seq.
(Supp1988).
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE ON
FEBRUARY 26, 2020.
RENT-A-SPACE
By: MANAGER
PUBLISH: 3/1/2020
EMPLOYMENT
CALL US: 662-328-2424
General Help Wanted
CALEDONIA BUSINESS
needs General Laborer.
Valid driver's license,
transportation & experi-
ence helpful. Will train on
the job if needed. Call
Jesse & Beverly's Lawn
Service at 662-356-6525.
RENTALS
ADS STARTING AT $25
Apts For Rent: South
2BR/2BA, newly renovated
downtown apt. Roof deck,
open concept. $1,200/mo
+ dep. 662−328−8655.
Apts For Rent: West
VIP
Rentals
Apartments & Houses
1 Bedrooms
2 Bedroooms
3 Bedrooms
Furnished & Unfurnished
1, 2, & 3 Baths
Lease, Deposit
& Credit Check
viceinvestments.com
327-8555
Apts For Rent: Other
1ST MONTH − RENT FREE!
1−2 BR Apt: $350−435
1−2BR TwnHome:
$625−650
Lease, Dep, Credit Check.
Coleman Realty
662−329−2323
DOWNTOWN: 2BR/1BA
CH&A, 1 story, W/D,
historic district, 1 block
from downtown.
$575/mo. + $575 dep.
NO PETS. 662−574−8789.
Peaceful & Quiet area.
Have a rental property?
List it here for fast results.
ads.cdispatch.com
Medical / Dental
SERVICE DIRECTORY
PROMOTE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS STARTING AT ONLY $25
Automotive Services
Carpet & Flooring
CARPET INSTALLATION.
Re−Stretch & Repair also
avail. I accept select jobs.
Call Walt, 662−574−8134.
DAVID’S CARPET &
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
1 Room − $50
2 Rooms − $70
3+ Rooms − $30 EA
Rugs−Must Be Seen
Car Upholstery
Cleaning Available
662−722−1758
SECTION
THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
Apts For Rent: Other Commercial Property For Rent Houses For Rent: Other
FOR RENT LOCATED NEAR
DOWNTOWN. 3,000 sq. ft. RENTALS
truck terminal, 9,500 sq. 802 17th St. N. All
ft. shop & 3,200 sq. ft. electric, 2BR/1BA,
office/shop. Buildings can Renovated with fresh
paint, new appliances,
be rented together or
ceramic tile bath.
separately. All w/ excellent
access & Hwy. 82 visibility. $435/mo. Lease,
662−327−9559. deposit, credit check.
Houses For Rent: North
No pets.
1933 Cherry St. 2BR/
2BR/1.5BA @ 8827 HWY 1BA, CH&A, fresh paint,
45 N. CH/A, carport & in− appliances. Lease,
door utility room. Caledonia deposit, credit check.
Schools. $700/mo & dep $435/mo. No Pets
req. 205−712−5901.
Downtown Area. 2BR/
COLONIAL TOWNHOUSES. 1BA. CH&A, hardwood,
appliances. Walk to
2 & 3 bedroom w/ 2−3
bath townhouses. $625 to MUW, churches, shops.
$675/mo. No Pets, no
$675. 662−549−9555.
Ask for Glenn or text. smoking. Lease,
deposit, credit/
reference check.
GREAT LOCATION! Dead
COLEMAN
NO HUD.
end street. Very private and
country atmosphere with South Columbus. 3 BR/
RENTALS city convenience. Updated
1BA brick house.
TOWNHOUSES & APARTMENTS and remodeled. $850/mo.
Renovated, CH&A, new
901−413−8121.
1 BEDROOM appliances, carpet,
fresh paint. Lease until
Houses For Rent: South
2 BEDROOMS closing with approved
3 BEDROOMS FOR RENT: 408 11th Ave applicant. No pets. No
S. 3BR/2BA, CH/A, smoking. $675. Lease,
LEASE, deposit, credit check.
© The Dispatch
garage, fenced yard, quiet
NO HUD.
DEPOSIT neighborhood, recent
remodel. Call 662−752−
AND 9010. LONG & LONG REAL
ESTATE
CREDIT CHECK 662−328−0770
662-329-2323 Shop Mobile Homes for Rent
2411 HWY 45 N
Classifieds
RV/MOBILE HOME SITE
near CAFB, Caledonia
COLUMBUS, MS schools. Call 601−940−
1397.
Transportation
Find the best deals.
Childcare General Services General Services
CHILDCARE SERVICES GRAVEL. $360 PER LOAD. CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY
Look No Further!! Local delivery, 14 yd truck. $545 plus Filing Fee
Quality Childcare Services Backhoe & Dozer work.
Are Available For The Mobile Home Pads & CHAPTER 13 BANKRUPTCY
Golden Triangle Area!! Driveways. All Attorney Fees Through The Plan
662.343.8386 or 662−497−1388 Jim Arnold, Attorney
662.813.3672. Serious
662-324-1666
PAINTING &
Inquiries Only, Please!!
104 South Lafayette Street, Starkville
CARPENTRY
General Services
WEEKEND WARRIORS.
A & T TREE SERVICES 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE. You have problems, we
Bucket truck & stump GREAT PRICES. have answers. 30 years
Call Leslie,
removal. Free est. exp in roofing, drywall,
Serving Columbus painting, flooring, decking.
662-570-5490
since 1987. Senior Free estimates. Local refs.
citizen disc. Call Alvin @ 662−386−3658.
242−0324/241−4447
"We’ll go out on a limb for
you!" MONOGRAMMING Lawn Care / Landscaping
WORK WANTED:
Licensed & Bonded.
Just for Ladies JESSE & BEVERLY’S
LAWN SERVICE
Mowing, cleanup,
Carpentry, minor electrical,
minor plumbing, insulation,
Mossy Oak Mall • West Point landscaping, sodding,
& tree cutting.
painting, demolition, 662-492-4221 • Mon.-Sat. 662−356−6525
gutters cleaned, pressure CHILDREN’S & LADIES’ CONSIGNMENT
washing, landscaping, Painting & Papering
cleanup work, moving help.
662−242−3608. JEWELRY REPAIR SULLIVAN’S PAINT
SERVICE. Special Prices.
RKERS Interior and Exterior
GET YOUR PRIVACY PA
ON
FENCE NOW! Painting. 662−435−6528
J.
Reasonable pricing.
100 Russell St.
New installations &
E Are you a painter?
W ELER Starkville, MS
J
fence maintenance. Advertise here!
Text/Call 662−549−7167. 662-268-8058
2D SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Houses For Sale: Other Mobile Homes for Rent General Merchandise

RENT A CAMPER!
CHEAPER THAN A MOTEL! WHITE POSTER
BOARDS.
ON THE WEB
Utilities & cable included,
from $145/wk − $535/mo 24"x23"
$0.50 each.
Visit www.cdispatch.com
Columbus & County School
locations. 662−242−7653 100 in stock.
Visit 516 Main St. or
for a printable copy of
or 601−940−1397.
call 662−328−2424. these puzzles.
Office Spaces For Rent
Sporting Goods
OFFICE SPACE FOR
LEASE. 1112 Main St., ED SANDERS GUNSMITH
Ste. 5. 3700 sq. ft. OPEN FOR SEASON!
Plenty of private parking. 9−5: Tues−Fri &
662−327−9559. 9−12: Sat.
Over 50 years experience!
Repairs, cleaning,

REAL ESTATE refinishing, scopes

mounted & zeroed,
handmade knives.
ADS STARTING AT $25 Located: Hwy 45 Alt, North
of West Point, turn right on
Yokahama Blvd, 8mi & turn
Houses For Sale: North left on Darracott Rd, see
sign, 2.5mi ahead, shop on
FSBO: 3BR/2BA, 3304 5th left. 662−494−6218.
St N. Fenced back yard w/
sm shop. Great neighbor−

VEHICLES
hood. $110,000. 662−356
−4764 or 901−848−0051.

Houses For Sale: Caledonia

ADS STARTING AT $12
FSBO: 3BR/2BA ON 2.5
ACRES. 1600 sqft. Autos For Sale
Completely remodeled.
$178,000. 662−386− 2005 FORD FIVE
Sudoku YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Sudoku
7113. HUNDRED SEL, $3000
well maintained, very good
Sudoku is a number- Yesterday’s answer
Lots & Acreage condition, no accidents, placing puzzle based on
new tires, garage kept, Sudoku
a 9x9 gridis witha several
num- 2 9 6 8 4 7 5 3 1
1.75 ACRE LOTS. regular maintenance. Call ber-placing
given numbers.puzzleThe object 8 3 5 6 2 1 9 4 7

2020 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Good/Bad Credit Options. 662−570−5673. based onthe
is to place a 9x9
numbers 1 4 7 9 5 3 2 6 8
Good credit as low as 10%
down, $299/mo. Eaton Campers & RVs grid
1 to 9with
in theseveral
empty spaces 4 2 8 7 3 5 6 1 9
Houses For Sale: Other Land, 662−361−7711. given
so thatnumbers.
each row, eachThe 6 7 9 1 8 2 4 5 3
2012 JAYCO EAGLE 5th object
column and each 3x3 the
is to place box
WHEEL. 39ft, 4 slide−outs. numbers 1 to 9 in 5 1 3 4 6 9 7 8 2
contains the same number 9 8 1 5 7 6 3 2 4
Find the perfect home.
2BR, 48" TV & 27" TV. the empty spaces so
$26,500. 662−386−9605. only once. The difficulty
that each row, each 3 5 4 2 9 8 1 7 6
level increases from
Motorcycles & ATVs column and each 7 6 2 3 1 4 8 9 5
Monday
3x3 boxtocontains
Sunday. Difficulty Level 2/28

1993 KAWASAKI the same number only once. The difficulty level
MERCHANDISE VOYAGER XII Only 25,500
miles. Runs & looks good.
No problems. $3000 OBO.
increases from Monday to Sunday.

ADS STARTING AT $12 Can be seen local.

Farm Equipment & Supplies
JOHN DEERE MODEL M
TRACTOR. A set of one row
cultivators w/ hydraulic lift,
has been repainted, looks
good & runs good, $3500.
Call 662−436−2037.
501−545−7750.
1999 ROADSTAR 1600
Only 45k miles. Hard bags,
rider & passenger back
rests w/ luggage rack, has
windshield. Ready to ride!
$3000 OBO. Can be seen
local. 501−545−7750.

General Merchandise 2017 Harley Davidson CVO

HUGE CLOSEOUT SALE
THROUGH MAR 14.
ALL MUST GO!
662.435.0641
548 Hwy 45 N.
Frontage Rd. 10−till.
By appt, 662.352.4460
Furn, home decor,
linens, Tonneau cover,
kit appl/utensils, etc.
No junk.
WANTED FREON R12.
We pay CA$H.
R12 R500 R11.
Convenient.
Certified professionals.
312−291−9169
RefrigerantFinders.com/ad
Houses For Sale: Other
Street Glide Special
Starfire Black. Beautiful
Bike with 2 luggage racks
and saddle bag inserts.
Excellent Condition.
$25,500.00
662−574−9663
2015 Harley Davidson
VROD Night Rod Edition.
Dark Red with 8,000 miles.
Excellent Condition.
$8,500.00
662−574−9663
2014 Harley Davidson CVO
Limited. Silver and Sunset
Orange, approx. 20,000
miles, new front and rear
tires and battery.
Excellent Condition.
$15,500.00
662−574−9663

Looking for
a new pet?

ACROSS
1 Throngs
7 Top-rated
Five Questions: 11 Boo-boo
12 Choir voice
13 Egyptian
1 Bill Nye landmark
14 Casual tops
15 Hardly wordy
2 Ansel
16 Cherishes
17 Search out
Adams 18 Closing
number
19 Sinuous fish
3 Red 21 Danson of
“The Good
Place”
4 Bruce
22 Practical 40 Little dears 20 Diminished
joker’s gadget 22 Yellow flower
Bochy 25 Soft shoe, for
short
DOWN 23 Hides from
1 Goes for view
26 Second letter 2 Indian coin 24 Warming in
5 Hamlet 27 Foot parts
29 Guitar acces-
3 Earthy colour
4 Shot make-up
the microwave
25 “Are you glad
sory 5 Eat in style I’m back?”
33 Team 6 Scandal 28 — cuisine
34 Bender subject 30 Tony winner
35 Enterprise 7 Relay need Worth
crewman 8 Raise 31 Baseball’s
36 Individually 9 Pittsburgh pro Fielder
37 Catching 10 Flung 32 Wails
need 16 “Mephisto 34 Reach across
38 Bitter compo- Waltz” composer 36 — loss
nent of tea 18 Chimney
39 Different parts

Whether you’re buying or selling a home,

put classifieds to work for you.
Classified ads are a great form of
person-to-person advertising.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is
“There is Liberty”
Ke nne th Mo ntg o m ery
Proudly serving our community
for over 30 years
2500 Military Road Suite 1
Columbus, MS
662-328-7500 WEST REALTY COMPANY
westrealtycompany.com
Don West, Broker/Owner
Northeast Exterminating
If it Jimmy Linley • Richard Linley
crawls, Columbus
call... 662-329-9992
BRISLIN, INC.
Sales • Service • Installation
Residential • Commercial • Industrial
Since 1956
www.brislininc.com
4051 Military Road • 662-328-5814
INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, INC
www.hydrovaconline.com
Jarrett’s Towing
Wrecker Service
5209 N. Hwy 182 E. • Columbus, MS 39702
329-2447
If no answer 251-2448 cars
R Free Estimates
LER OO
EE FIN Licensed
& Insured
W H INC. G FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH — 7th St. and 2nd. Ave.
COMMERCIAL
“A Family Business Since 1946”
RESIDENTIAL
662-328-3625 • 662-328-7612
Rae’s Jewelry
Authorized Dealer
Citizens and Pulsar Watches
Downtown Columbus 662-328-8824
When Caring Counts...
FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY
1131 Lehmberg Rd., Columbus • 662-328-1808
Shelton Cleaners
3189 Hwy 45 N. • 328-5421
1702 6th St. N. • 328-5361
APAC-MISSISSIPPI, INC.
Michael Bogue & Employees
Lake Norris Rd. 328-6555
Telephone: 662-327-1467
P.O. Box 1278 • 1616 7th Ave. S., Columbus, MS 39703
This ad space can be yours
for only $10 per week.
Call today 328-2424
to schedule your ad.
Do you need to change your
church’s listing? Call 328-2424 or
email changes to tinap@cdispatch.com
subject: church page
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
Church Directory
These church directory pages are made possible by the sponsorship of the following businesses.
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
NEW LIFE ASSEMBLY OF GOD — 4474 New Hope
Road. Worship 10:30 a.m., Children’s Church 10:30 a.m.,
662-664-0852
THE ASSEMBLY COLUMBUS — 2201 Military
Road. Christian Education 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m.,
Nursery Church (2-3 yrs.) Children’s Church 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. (something for all ages). Nursery
provided for all services. Jody Gurley, Pastor. 662-328-
6374
BAPTIST
ANTIOCH BAPTIST CHURCH — Hwy. 45 N.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Discipleship
Training 5 p.m., Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Mitch
McWilliams, Pastor. 662-328-4765
ARMSTRONG BAPTIST CHURCH — 1707
Yorkville Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. Bible
Study Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. William Vaughn, Pastor. 662-
328-0670
ARTESIA BAPTIST CHURCH — Sunday School 10
a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 6 p.m. Pastor
Jeff Morgan.
BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH — 3232 Military Road.
Sunday School 10:00 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday Bible Study 6 p.m. Walter Butler, Pastor.
BETHESDA BAPTIST CHURCH — 2096 Bethesda
Rd, Crawford. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Discipleship Training 6:00 p.m., Worship 7 p.m., Wednesday
7:00 p.m. Allan Dees, Pastor. 662-272-8734
BORDER SPRINGS BAPTIST CHURCH — 12771
Hwy. 12 E., Caledonia. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship
10:30 a.m., Discipleship Training 5:15 p.m., Worship 6 p.m.,
Wednesday Bible Study – Adults, Children, and Youth
classes 6:30 p.m. Dan Louman, Pastor. 662-386-0541.
www. borderspringsbaptistchurch.com
BROOKSVILLE BAPTIST CHURCH — Main
Street, Brooksville. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship
10:55 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
CALEDONIA BAPTIST CHURCH — 7840 Wolfe
LLC
Road, Caledonia. Sunday Men’s Prayer Service 9:30 a.m.,
Sunday School 10 a.m. Sunday, Worship 11 a.m. Sunday,
Bible Study 4 p.m., Worship 5 p.m., Wednesday Bible Study
6:30 p.m. Kelby R. Johnson, Pastor.
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH — 295 Dowdle
Dr. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Adult
Choir rehearsals and Discipleship Training 5 p.m., Worship
6 p.m., Wednesday 6:15 p.m. Rev. Ralph Windle, Interim
Pastor. 662-328-6741
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH — 385 7th St. SW,
Vernon, Ala. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and
5 p.m. (6 p.m. - Daylight Savings Time), Wednesday 6:30
p.m. Wil Corbett, Pastor. 205-270-1845
CANAAN BAPTIST CHURCH — 1008 Lehmberg
Rd. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. and 5
p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Paul Shaw, Pastor. 662-327-
3771
CANAAN MB CHURCH — 2425 Bell Ave. Sunday
School 8:15 a.m., Worship 9:30 a.m., Wednesday Bible
Study 6 p.m. Jimmy Pounds, Pastor. 662-327-1226
COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH — 2490
Yorkville Rd. East Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m., Wednesday Bible Study, Children & Youth Classes
6:30 p.m. Matt Moehring, Pastor. Edward Rhinewalt, Music
Director. 662-327-5306
CORNERSTONE BAPTIST CHURCH — 844
Old West Point Rd., Starkville. Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Greg Upperman, Pastor. 662-323-6351 or visit www.
cornerstonestarkville.com
EAST END BAPTIST CHURCH — 380 Hwy.
50 W. (Hwy. 50 and Holly Hills Rd.) Sunday School 9:15
a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Worship 5 p.m. followed by
Discipleship Training, Mission Friends and GAs 5 p.m.,
Sanctuary Choir 6:30 p.m., Wednesday Prayer Meeting,
Youth Worship, Preschool & Children’s Choirs 6:30 p.m.
Bryon Benson, Pastor. 662-328-5915
EASTVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH — 1316 Ben
Christopher Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
We unlock Wednesday 7 p.m. Junior Eads, Pastor. 662-329-2245
FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH — 127 Airline Rd.
Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m. Dr. Breck Ladd, Pastor. 662-328-2924
FAITH CHRISTIAN BAPTIST CHURCH — 1621
Mike Parra Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.
Rev. Michael Love, Pastor. 662-434-5252
N. Sunday Worship 8:45 a.m., Sunday School 10 a.m.
(Worship televised at 10 a.m. on WCBI-TV, Columbus
Cable Channel 7), Contemporary Worship 11 a.m.;
Sunday Evening Worship 5 p.m., Midweek Prayer Service
Wednesday 6 p.m. located downtown. Dr. Shawn Parker,
Pastor. 662-245-0540 columbusfbc.org
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF STEENS — 40
Odom Rd., Steens. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11
a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.
FRIENDSHIP BAPTIST — 125 Yorkville Rd. W.
Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m. John Gainer, Pastor. 662-328-6024 or
662-328-3183
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH — 708 Airline
Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m. & 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m. Charles Whitney, Pastor.
GRACE COVENANT BAPTIST CHURCH — 912
11th Ave. S. Sunday 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Pastor Sammy
Burns. 662-328-1096
GREENWOOD SPRINGS BAPTIST CHURCH
— 278 East between Gattman & Amory. Sunday School 10
a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7:15 p.m.
Rev. John Walden, Pastor. 662-356-4445
IMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH — 6342 Military
Rd., Steens. Bible Study 10:30 a.m., Worship 9:15 a.m. and
6 p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. 662-328-1668
KOLOLA SPRINGS BAPTIST CHURCH —
Caledonia. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m.,
AWANA 4:45-6 Ages 2-12th grade (Sept. - May), Worship
5 p.m., Choir Practice Wednesday 6 p.m., 252 Basics
Children’s Ministry an Cross Training Youth Wednesday
7 p.m., Wednesday Bible Study 7 p.m. Rev. Don Harding,
Pastor.
LONGVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH — 991 Buckner
Street, Longview. Sunday School 10:00 a.m., Worship
11:00 a.m., Discipleship Training 5:15 p.m., Evening
Worship 6:00 p.m.; Wednesday Prayer Meeting 6:30 p.m.
Interim Pastor Ron Linkins, or email ynyministry@yahoo.
com, 662-769-4774
MCBEE BAPTIST CHURCH — 2846 Hwy. 50 E.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Discipleship
Training 5 p.m., Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Rev.
Jimmy Ray, Pastor. 662-328-7177
MIDWAY BAPTIST CHURCH — Holly Hills Rd.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m., Prayer Service every Saturday 6 p.m. Rev. Denver
Clark, Pastor.
MOUNT PISGAH BAPTIST CHURCH — 2628
East Tibbee Rd., West Point. Sunday Worship each week 8
a.m., 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday Worship 11:30 a.m., Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Donald Wesley,
Pastor.
MOUNT ZION BAPTIST CHURCH — 1791 Lake
Lowndes Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m.
and 6 p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Steve Lammons, Pastor.
662-328-2811
MT. VERNON CHURCH — 200 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Sunday Worship 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Service Life Groups
for all ages 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Connection Cafe 10 a.m.,
Discovery Zone. 662-328-3042 mtvchurch.com
MURRAH’S CHAPEL BAPTIST CHURCH —
9297 Hwy. 69 S. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
NEW COVENANT BAPTIST CHURCH — Highway
50 E. Sunday School 9 a.m., Service 10 a.m., Wednesday
7 p.m. Ed Nix, Pastor.
NEW JOURNEY CHURCH — 3123 New Hope Rd.
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m., Small Groups 5:30 p.m., Kevin
Edge, Pastor. 662-315-7753 or thenewjourneychurch.org
NEW SALEM BAPTIST CHURCH — 7086 Wolfe
Rd., 3 miles south of Caledonia. Sunday Worship 8:00
a.m. & 10:30 a.m., Sunday School 9:15 a.m., Sunday
Evening - AWANA 4 p.m., Discipleship Training, Youth
& Adult 5 p.m., Evening Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday -
Adults, Youth & Children 6:30 p.m. 662-356-4940 www.
newsalembaptistcaledonia.com Bro. Mel Howton, Pastor.
NORTHSIDE FREE WILL BAPTIST — 14th Ave.
and Waterworks. Sunday School 10 a.m., Sunday Worship
11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Pat Creel,
Pastor.
OPEN DOOR MB CHURCH — Starkville Sportsplex,
405 Lynn Lane, Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.
1st 2nd and 4th Sundays. Donnie Jones, Pastor. 662-263-
7102
PLEASANT GROVE MB CHURCH — 1914 Moor
High Road, Crawford. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship
11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Riley Forrest, Sr., Pastor.
662-272-8221
PLEASANT HILL BAPTIST — 1383 Pleasant Hill
Rd. Sunday Worship 10 a.m. & 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.
Bill Hurt, Pastor. 662-329-3921
PLYMOUTH BAPTIST CHURCH — 187 Plymouth
Rd. Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev.
Randy Rigdon, Pastor. Neil Shepherd, Music.
SOVEREIGN FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH — 7852
Hwy. 12 E., Steens. Sunday Worship 10 a.m., Service 5
p.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Charles Young, Pastor.
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH —
12859 Martin Road Spur, Northport, Ala. Worship 11
a.m., Sunday Bible Study noon. Todd Bryant, Pastor.
sovereigngrace.net
STATE LINE BAPTIST CHURCH — 7560 Hwy. 1282
E. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Wednesday
Night small group 6:30 p.m. Robert Gillis, Pastor. 662-
329-2973
TEMPLE OF DELIVERANCE BAPTIST
CHURCH — 4307 Sand Rd., Steens. Maurice Williams,
Pastor. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m. 662-327-2580
UNITED CHRISTIAN BAPTIST CHURCH — 2
blocks east of Hwy. 69 on Yorkville Rd. Sunday School 9
a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m. Steven James, Pastor.
UNIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH — 1104
Louisville St., Starkville (located in Fellowship Hall of St.
Luke Lutheran Church). Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship
11 a.m. Bert Montgomery, Pastor. www.ubcstarkville.org
VICTORY FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH —
Victory Loop off of Mill Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship
11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Pastor, Al Hamm.
WOODLAND BAPTIST CHURCH — 3033 Ridge
Rd. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Worship
6 p.m., AWANA Wednesday 6:30 p.m., Wednesday 6:30
p.m. Kevin Jenkins, Pastor. 662-327-6689. Brad Wright,
Youth Minister.
10TH STREET FAIRLAWN BAPTIST CHURCH
— 1118 7th St. S. Sunday School 8 a.m., Worship 9:30 a.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m., Youth Ministry Wednesday 4:30 p.m.
Rev. Brian Hood, Pastor.
INDEPENDENT BAPTIST
BETHESDA CHURCH — 1800 Short Main. Sunday
School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.
Nathaniel Best, Pastor. E-mail: bethesdambchurch@
yahoo.com
BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH — 5860 Hwy. 50 E., West
Point. Sunday School 10 a.m., Service 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m.
FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST CHURCH — 1720 Hwy.
373. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m. Martin “Buddy” Gardner, Pastor.
LIGHTHOUSE BAPTIST CHURCH — 5030 Hwy.
182 E. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. and 6
p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. 662-327-1130
SHINING LIGHT BAPTIST CHURCH — 957
Sunset Drive, Starkville in the Comfort Suites Conference
Room, Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. and 6
p.m. Pastor John Harvey. slbcstarkville.org 662-648-0282
MISSIONARY BAPTIST
ANDERSON GROVE MB CHURCH — 1131
Woodlawn Rd., Steens. Sunday School 9:20 a.m., Worship
11:00 a.m., Bible Study Wednesday 6:20 p.m. Rev. William
Sparks, Pastor. 662-356-4968.
ANTIOCH MB CHURCH — 2304 Seventh Ave. N.
Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Wednesday 6 p.m.
Kenny Bridges, Pastor.
BETHLEHEM MB CHURCH — 293 Bethlehem Road,
Caledonia. Sunday School 1st and 4th Sundays 8 a.m., 2nd
& 3rd Sundays 9:30 a.m., Worship 1st & 4th Sundays 9:30
a.m., 2nd & 3rd Sundays 11 a.m., Wednesdays 6 p.m. Rev.
Willie James Gardner, Pastor. 662-356-4424
BLESSING MB CHURCH — Starkville Sportsplex,
Activity Center 405 Lynn Lane Road. Sunday Worship 2nd,
4th & 5th Sundays 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Pastor Martin. 662-
744-0561
BRICK MB CHURCH — Old Macon Rd. Sunday School
9:30 a.m. each Sunday, Worship 2nd and 4th Sundays only
11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Everett Little, Pastor.
CALVARY FAITH CENTER — Hwy. 373 & Jess
Lyons Road. Sunday Worship 8:00 a.m., Sunday School 9
a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Pastor Robert
Bowers, Pastor. 662-434-0144
CEDAR GROVE MB CHURCH — 286 Swartz Dr.
Worship Services 11:15 a.m., Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Johnnie Richardson, Pastor. 662-
434-6528
CHRISTIAN HILL MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH — 14096 MS Hwy. 388, Brooksville, MS 39739,
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11:00 a.m., Wednesday
6:30 p.m. Bobby Bowen, Pastor. 662-738-5837/549-6100
CHRIST MB CHURCH — 110 2nd Ave. S. Sunday
School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6 p.m., B.T.U.
Program every 1st & 3rd Sunday 6 p.m.
ELBETHEL MB CHURCH — 2205 Washington Ave.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday
7:00 p.m., Rev. Leroy Jones, Pastor.
FAITH HARVEST MB CHURCH — 4266 Sand
Road. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Bible class
Tuesday 6 p.m. Hugh L. Dent, Pastor. 662-243-7076.
FOURTH STREET MB CHURCH — 610 4th St. N.
Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:45 a.m., Wednesday
Bible Study 7 p.m. Rev. Jimmy L. Rice, Pastor. 662-328-1913
FRIENDSHIP MB CHURCH — 1102 12th Ave. S.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday
6 p.m. Dr. Stanley K. McCrary, Pastor. 662-327-7473 or
662-251-4185
GREATER MT. OLIVE M.B. CHURCH — 1856
Carson Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m.,
Wednesday 7 a.m. Donald Henry, Pastor.
HALBERT MISSION MB CHURCH — 2199 Halbert
Church Rd., Ethelsville, Ala. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m. Ernest Prescott, Pastor.
HOPEWELL MB CHURCH — 4892 Ridge Rd.
Sunday School 8 a.m., Worship 9 a.m., Minister Terry
Johnson, Interim Pastor.
JERUSALEM MB CHURCH — 14129 Hwy 12 E.,
Caledonia. Sunday School 8:30 a.m., Worship 9:30 a.m.,
Wednesday Bible Study 6 p.m. Rev. Willie Petty, Sr., Pastor.
MAPLE STREET BAPTIST — 219 Maple St.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m. Joseph Oyeleye, Pastor. 662-328-4629
MILLERS CHAPEL MB CHURCH — 425 East
North St. Macon. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11
a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Ron Houston, Pastor.
MISSIONARY UNION BAPTIST CHURCH
— 1207 5th Ave. N. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship
11 a.m., Baptist Training Union 5 p.m., Worship 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m. Rev. Tony A. Montgomery, Pastor.
MOUNT ZION MB CHURCH — 2221 14th Ave. N.
Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Tuesday Bible
Study 7 p.m. Jesse J. Slater, Pastor. 662-328-4979
MT. ARY MB CHURCH — 291 S. Frontage Rd., Lot
#4. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m. Rev. Erick Logan, Pastor.
MT. AVERY BAPTIST CHURCH — 12311 Nashville
Ferry Rd. E. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m. every
Sunday except 5th Sunday. Rev. John Wells, Pastor.
MT. OLIVE MB CHURCH — 2020 Atkin Rd., Millport,
Ala. Sunday School 9 a.m. Worship Service 10 a.m. Pastor
Benny W. Henry. 205-662-3923
NEW HOPE MB CHURCH — 271 Church St., Artesia.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m. Thomas E. Rice is Pastor. 662-494-1580
NEW BAPTIST TEMPLE MB CHURCH — 5937
Nashville Ferry Rd. E. Sunday School 9 a.m. each week
except 5th Sunday, Worship 10 a.m. each week except 5th
Sunday, 5th Sundays: Ushers Board Fellowship. Rev. L.A.
Gardner, Pastor. 662-329-3321
NEW ZION PILGRIM MB CHURCH — 5253 New
Hope Rd. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship Services
11 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Rev. Christopher Wriley,
Pastor.
NEW ZION STEENS MB CHURCH — 3301 Sand
Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Wednesday
6 p.m. Pastor Rev. Billy D. Hill. 662-329-5224
OAK GROVE MB CHURCH — 1090 Taylor
Thurston Rd. Sunday School 9:00 a.m., Worship 10 a.m.,
5th Sunday 8 a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 6:15 p.m.
Pastor Therman Cunningham Sr., 662-798-0179
OAKLAND MB CHURCH — 18 Fairport Road,
Crawford. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Wednesday Bible study 7 p.m., Mass Choir Rehearsal
- Wed. before 1st and 2nd Sun. 6 p.m., Male Chorus
Rehearsal - Wed. before 3rd Sun. 6 p.m., Junior Choir
Rehearsal - Wed. before 4th Sun. 6 p.m. Rev. Sammy
SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020 3D
L. White, Pastor.
PLEASANT GROVE ROBINSON MB CHURCH
— 9203 Hwy. 389 N., Starkville. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11:15 a.m., Wednesday Prayer Service/Bible
Study 7 p.m. Pastor George A. Sanders. 456-0024
PLEASANT RIDGE MB CHURCH — Ridge Rd.
Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m. A. Edwards, Sr., Pastor.
PROVIDENCE MB CHURCH — Old Hwy. 69 S.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday
7 p.m. Rev. Gilbert Anderson, Pastor.
SAINT MATTHEWS MB CHURCH — 1213
Island Rd. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Curtis Clay, Sr., Pastor.
SALEM MB CHURCH — Hwy. 86, Carrollton, Ala.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday
6 p.m. Rev. David J. Johnson, Jr., Pastor.
SECOND JAMES CREEK MB CHURCH —
4898 Baldwin Rd., Brooksville. Sunday School 9:45 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m. Pastor Michael Tate. 662-738-5855
SOUTHSIDE MB CHURCH — 100 Nashville Ferry
Rd. E. Sunday School 8:30 a.m., Worship 10 a.m.,
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Rev. Rayfield Evins Jr., Pastor.
SIXTH AVENUE MB CHURCH — 1519 Sixth Ave.
N. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m., Bible Study
Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. W.C. Talley, Pastor. 662-329-
2344
SPRINGFIELD MB CHURCH — 6369 Hwy. 45 S.
(1st & 3rd Sunday) Sunday School 10:30 a.m., Worship
11:30 a.m., (1st & 3rd Wednesday) 7 p.m. Robert Gavin,
Pastor. 662-327-9843
STEPHEN CHAPEL MB CHURCH — 2008 7th
Ave. N. Sunday School 8:30 a.m., Worship 9:45 a.m.
Bible Study Wednesday 10:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.
ST. JAMES MB CHURCH — 6525 Hardy-Billups
Rd., Crawford. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.
and 6:15 p.m. Rev. Chad Payton, Pastor.
ST. JOHN MB CHURCH — 3477 Motley Rd.,
Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday
Bible Study 7 p.m. Joe Brooks, Pastor. 327-7494.
ST. PAUL MB CHURCH — Robinson Rd. Sunday
School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6 p.m.
Rev. Willie Mays, Pastor.
ST. PAUL MB CHURCH — 1800 Short Main St.
Disciple Training/Sunday School 8 a.m., Worship 9:00
a.m. Rev. John F. Johnson, Pastor. 662-241-7111
STRONG HILL MISSIONARY BAPTIST
CHURCH — 325 Barton Ferry Rd., West Point. Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday Bible
Study 6 p.m.
UNION BAPTIST MB CHURCH — 101 Weaver
Rd. (Hwy. 69 S) Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11
a.m., Wednesday 6 p.m. Pastor McSwain.
TABERNACLE MB CHURCH — Magnolia Drive,
Macon. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m.
UNION HOPEWELL MB CHURCH — 150
Spurlock Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Wednesday 6 p.m. Carlton Jones, Pastor.
WOODLAWN LANDMARK MB CHURCH —
8086 Hwy. 12. East, Steens. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. David
Retherford, Pastor.
THE WORD CHURCH INTERNATIONAL — 366
Carson Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11:15 a.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m. John Sanders, Pastor.
ZION GATE MB CHURCH — 1202 5th St. S. Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Worship 8 a.m. and 10:45., Children’s
Church 10:15 a.m., Worship 5 p.m., Wednesday 6 p.m.
Dr. James A. Boyd, Pastor.
PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
ABERDEEN PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH
— Washington St. & Columbus St., Aberdeen. Sunday
10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Herb Hatfield, Pastor. 662-369-
4937
HAMILTON PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH —
Flower Farm Rd., 2 miles South of Hamilton, just off Hwy.
45. Sunday 10:30 a.m. Jesse Phillips, Pastor. 662-429-
2305
MAYHEW PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH —
842 Hwy. 45 Alternate, Starkville. Sunday Service 10:30
a.m. Herb Hatfield,Pastor. 662-315-4937
SPRINGHILL P.B. CHURCH — 3996 Sandyland
Road, Macon, MS. Walter Lowery Jr., Pastor. Sunday
School 9:00 a.m., Worship 10:00 a.m., Tuesday Bible
Study 6 p.m. 662-738-5006.
SULPHUR SPRINGS PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
CHURCH — North of Caledonia on Wolf Rd, Hamilton.
Sunday 10:30 a.m. & 1st Sunday Night at 6:30 p.m. Elder
Joseph Mettles, Pastor. 662-369-2532
ANGLICAN CATHOLIC
SAINT DAVID’S AT MAYHEW — 549 Mayhew
Rd., Mayhew. Holy Eucharist - Sunday 10 a.m. 662-244-
5939 or anglicancatholic.org
CATHOLIC
ANNUNCIATION CATHOLIC CHURCH — 808
College St. Mass Schedules are as follows: Sunday 8
a.m. & 10:30 a.m., Monday, Wednesday & Friday 8 a.m.,
Tuesday 5:30 p.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m., and Annunciation
Catholic School (during the school year). Father Jeffrey
Waldrep, Priest.
CHRISTIAN
FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH — 811 N. McCrary.
Lavelle Smith, Pastor. Sunday School 9:30 a.m.,
Worship 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH — 720 4th Ave.
N. and 8th St. N. Sunday Service 10:30 a.m.
CHURCH OF CHRIST
CALEDONIA CHURCH OF CHRIST — Main
St., Caledonia. Sunday Bible Study 9 a.m., Worship
10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday 6 p.m.
CHURCH OF CHRIST — 4362 Hwy. 69 S.
Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. , Wednesday 6 p.m. Loviah
Johnson 662-574-0426 or E-mail: jtychicus00@gmail.
com
CHURCH OF CHRIST — 437 Gregory Rd.
Sunday Bible class 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6
p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Richard Latham, Minister.
662-328- 4705
CHURCH OF CHRIST DIVINE — 1316 15th
St. S. Morning Worship (1st, 2nd, & 4th Sunday)
9:45 a.m., (3rd & 5th Sunday) 8:30 a.m., Wednesday
Prayer 6 p.m., Wednesday Bible Study 7 p.m. 662-
327-6060 Bishop Timothy Heard, Pastor.
COLUMBUS CHURCH OF CHRIST — 2401
7th St. N. Sunday Bible Class 9:30 a.m., Worship
10:30 a.m., Sunday Bible Study 5 p.m., Wednesday
6:30 p.m. Paul Bennett, Family Life Minister; Billy
Ferguson, Minister of Discipleship; Hunter Johnson,
Youth Minister.
EAST COLUMBUS CHURCH OF CHRIST —
Highway 182 E. at Gaylane. Sunday Worship 9 a.m.,
Bible Study 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 7
p.m. http://eastcolumbuschurch.com
HW Y. 69 CHURCH OF CHRIST — 2407 Hwy.
69 S. Sunday Bible Study 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:15
a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Minister Jay
Street. www.highway69coc.com
LONE OAK CHURCH OF CHRIST — 1903
Lone Oak Rd., Steens. Bible Study 9 a.m., Worship 10
a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.
MAGNOLIA CHURCH OF CHRIST — 161 Jess
Lyons Rd. Bible Study 9:15 a.m., Worship, 10 a.m. and
6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Minister David May, Pastor.
662-769-5514.
NORTH HILLCREST CHURCH OF CHRIST
— 900 North Hillcrest, Aberdeen, MS 39730, Sunday
Worship 10:00 a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 6:00
p.m., Bro. Arthur Burnett, Minister, 662-304-6098.
Email: nhill crestcoc@gmail.com
STEENS CHURCH OF CHRIST — Steens
Vernon Rd. 9:15 a.m. Bible Study, Worship 10 a.m.
and 5 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Tim Gentle, Minister.
10TH AVE. N. CHURCH OF CHRIST — 1828
10th Ave. N. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m., Bible Class 5 p.m., Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday
7 p.m. Willie McCord, Minister.
WOODLAWN CHURCH OF CHRIST —
Woodlawn Community. Sunday 9 a.m., Worship 9:45
a.m., Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday 7:30 p.m. Willis
Logan, Minister.
CHURCH OF GOD
CHURCH OF GOD IN JESUS’ NAME — Hwy. 12.
Sunday 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday 7 p.m. David Sipes,
Pastor.
CORNERSTONE WORSHIP CENTER — 7840
Wolfe Rd. Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.,
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Tony Hunt, Pastor. 662-889-6570
4D SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2020
Let us replenish the seed of faith through ...
Regular Church Attendance
LATTER RAIN CHURCH OF GOD — 721 7th Ave.
S. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. Wednesday 6
p.m. Brenda Othell Sullivan, Pastor.
NORTH COLUMBUS CHURCH OF GOD — 2103
Jess Lyons Rd. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Clarence Roberts,
Pastor.
YORKVILLE HEIGHTS CHURCH — 2274 Yorkville
Rd., Sunday Connect Groups 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m., Wednesday Worship 7 p.m.; Nursery available for all
services (newborn-4). Scott Volland, Pastor. 662-328-1256
or www.yorkvilleheights.com
CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST
BIBLE WAY PROGRESSIVE CHURCH OF GOD
IN CHRIST — 426 Military Rd. Sunday School 8 a.m.,
Worship 9 a.m., Monday Prayer 6 p.m., Wednesday Bible
Study 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday Prayer Noon. Tommy
Williams, Pastor.
FIFTEENTH ST. CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST
— 917 15th St. N. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m.
and 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Marion C. Bonner, Pastor.
GREATER PENTECOSTAL TEMPLE CHURCH
OF GOD IN CHRIST — 1601 Pickensville Rd., Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Monday 6 p.m., Tuesday
7 p.m., Friday 7 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. Ocie Salter, Pastor.
MIRACLE TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN
CHRIST — 5429 Hwy. 45 N. Sunday Prayer 8 a.m.,
Sunday School 8:30 a.m., Worship 9:30 a.m., 4th Sunday
Fellowship Lunch, Youth Sunday 4th Sunday, Wednesday
Bible Study 6 p.m. Elder Robert L. Brown, Jr., Pastor. 662-
327-4221. Email: mr.endure@aol.com
NOW FAITH CENTER MINISTRIES — 425 Military
Road, Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11:30 a.m., Tuesday
Night Bible Study 7 p.m. Elder Samuel Wilson, Pastor.
OPEN DOOR CHURCH OF GOD — 711 S. Thayer
Ave., Aberdeen. Sunday School 10:30 a.m., Worship 11:30
a.m., Tuesday Bible School 10 a.m. & 6 p.m., 2nd & 4th
Thursday Evangelist Night 6 p.m. Johnnie Bradford, Pastor.
662-574-2847.
PETER’S ROCK TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN
CHRIST — 223 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Starkville.
Sunday Worship 7:45 a.m., 10 a.m., 6 p.m., Sunday School 9
a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 7 p.m.
VICTORY TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD IN
CHRIST — Minnie Vaughn Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 12 p.m., Tuesday 7 p.m. Donald Koonch, Pastor.
662-243-2064
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE
CAFB CHAPEL — Catholic - Sunday: Catholic
Reconciliation 4:00 p.m., Mass 5 p.m. Catholic Priest Father
Paul Stewart. Protestant - Sunday: Adult Sunday School
9 a.m., Worship 10:45 a.m. Wing Chaplain Lt. Col. Steven
Richardson. 662-434-2500
EPISCOPAL
GOOD SHEPHERD EPISCOPAL CHURCH —
321 Forrest Blvd. Sunday Bible Study 9 a.m., Worship 10
a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 6 p.m. Rev. Sandra DePriest.
662-574-1972
ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH — 318 College
St. Sunday 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday School 9:15 a.m.
Rev. Jason Shelby. 662-328-6673 or stpaulscolumbus.com.
FULL GOSPEL
BREAD OF LIFE FELLOWSHIP — New Hope Road.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m. Jack Taylor, Pastor.
BEULAH GROVE FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST
CHURCH — 8490 Artesia Rd., Artesia, MS. Sunday
Service 8:30 a.m., Tuesday Bible Study 6:30 p.m. Timothy
Bourne, Senior Pastor.
CHARITY FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH —
1524 6th Ave. S. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Wednesday 7 p.m., Saturday 6 p.m. Charles Fisher, Pastor.
CHARITY MISSION FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST
CHURCH — 807 Tarlton Rd., Crawford. Sunday School
9:40 a.m., Worship 11:15 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m., Prayer
Hour Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m., Saturday 8 a.m., New Membership
Class 9:30 p.m., 5th Sunday Worship 6:30 p.m. 662-272-
5355
COVENANT LIFE MINISTRIES CHURCH — W.
Yorkville Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Evening 6:30 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.
FAIRVIEW FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
— 1446 Wilson Pine Rd., Crawford. Sunday School 9:30
a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Tuesday 7 p.m. Bobby L. McCarter
662-328-2793
GREATER MOUNT ZION CHURCH — 5114 Hwy.
182 E. Sunday Corporate Prayer 8 a.m., Sunday School 9
a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m., Bible Study
7 p.m. Doran V. Johnson, Pastor. 662-329-1905
GOD’S ANNOINTED PEOPLE MINISTRY FULL
GOSPEL FELLOWSHIP — 611 Jess Lyons Rd.
Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6:30
p.m. Jerome Gill, Pastor. 662-244-7088
HARVEST LIFE CHURCH — 425 Military Rd. Sunday
Service 10:30 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. F. Clark Richardson,
Pastor. 662-329-2820
NEW BEGINNING FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST
CHURCH — 318 Idlewild Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. 662-
327-3962
NEW LIFE FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
— 426 Military Rd. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship
10a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Michael Love, Pastor.
PLUM GROVE FULL GOSPEL CHURCH — Old
Macon Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11:30 a.m.,
Tuesday 6:30 p.m., Thursday 7 p.m. Samuel B. Wilson,
Pastor.
SHILOH FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
— 120 19th St. S. Sunday School 8:30 a.m., Worship 10
a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m., Missionary Service every 2nd
Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Freddie Edwards, Pastor.
JEWISH
B’NAI ISRAEL — 717 2nd Ave. N. Services Semi-
monthly. Friday 7:30 p.m. 662-329-5038
UNIVERSALIST
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST — Meeting at Temple
B’nai Israel, 1301 Marshall, Tupelo, every 1st & 3rd Sunday.
662-620-7344 or uua.org
LUTHERAN
FAITH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
(WELS) — Hwy. 45 N. and 373. Sunday School/Bible
Class 3:45 p.m., Worship 5 p.m. 662-356-4647
OUR SAVIOR LUTHERAN CHURCH (L.C.M.S.)
— 1211 18th Ave. N. Sunday School 9 a.m.. Worship 10 a.m.
Stan Clark, Pastor. 662-327-7747 oursaviorlutheranms.org
MENNONITE
FAITH MENNONITE FELLOWSHIP — 2988 Tarlton
Rd., Crawford. Sunday Worship 10 a.m., Sunday School 11
a.m., 2nd & 4th Sunday Worship 6 p.m., Wednesday 7:30
p.m. Kevin Yoder, Senior Pastor.
METHODIST
ARTESIA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — 50
Church Street, Artesia. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11
a.m. Gene Merkl, Pastor.
CALEDONIA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
— 811 Main Street, Caledonia. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m. John Longmire, Pastor.
CLAIBORNE CME CHURCH — 6049 Nashville
Ferry Rd. E. 2nd and 4th Sundays - Sunday School 10a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m., 1st and 3rd Sundays - 3
p.m., Geneva H. Thomas, Pastor.
CONCORD INDEPENDENT METHODIST
CHURCH — 1235 Concord Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m. Robert L. Hamilton, Sr., Pastor.
COVENANT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
618 31st Ave. N. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.
Eugene Bramlett, Pastor.
CRAWFORD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
Main St., Crawford. Sunday School 9:30 a.m. and service 10
a.m. Kathy Brackett, Pastor. 662-364-8848
CROSSROAD CHAPEL CME CHURCH — Steens.
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 6
p.m. Rev. Carl Swanigan, Pastor.
FIRST INDEPENDENT METHODIST — 417
Lehmberg Rd. Sunday bible study at 10:15 and morning
worship at 11 a.m. Minister Gary Shelton.
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — 602
Main St. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 8:45 & 11 a.m.
Rev. Jimmy Criddle, Lead Pastor; Rev. Anne Russell
Bradley, Associate Pastor; Rev. Aislinn Kopp, Associate
Pastor. 328-5252
FLINT HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
80 Old Honnoll Mill Rd., Caledonia. Sunday Worship Service
9:30 a.m. Sunday School 10:30 a.m. John Longmire, Pastor.
GLENN’S CHAPEL CME CHURCH — 1109 4th St.
S. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m. Rev. Raphael
Terry, Pastor. 662-328-1109
HEBRON CME. CHURCH — 1910 Steens Road,
Steens. Meets first, second and third Sundays, Bible class
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
each Wednesday at 7 p.m. Earnest Sanders, Pastor.
MILITARY CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH — Hwy. 12, Steens. Sunday School 9:45,
Service 11 a.m.. Meet on 2nd and 4th Sundays. Wednesday
Bible Study 6:00 p.m. Rev. Antra Geeter, Pastor. 662-327-
4263
NEW HOPE CME CHURCH — 1452 Yorkville Road
East, Columbus. Sunday School 10:00 a.m., Worship
service first, third and fourth Sunday (Youth Sunday) 11:00
a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 5:00 p.m. Rev. Cornelia
Naylor, Pastor. 662-328-5309
NEW HOPE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
2503 New Hope Road. Sunday Worship 8:45 a.m., Sunday
School 10 a.m., Tuesday Bible Study 5:30 p.m. Rev. Sarah
Windham, Pastor.
NEW ZION UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
2169 S. Montgomery St., Starkville. Sunday School 9:30-
10:30 a.m., Young Adult Bible Study (ages 18-30) Thursday
6:30 p.m. Tyrone Stallings, Pastor. 662-324-0789
ORR’S CHAPEL CME CHURCH — Nicholson
Street, Brooksville. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m.,
Saturday 9 a.m.
PINEY GROVE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
— 102 Fernbank Rd., Steens. Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m.,
Sunday School 10:45 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Andy
Tentoni, Pastor.
PLAIR UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — 1579
Sun Creek Rd., Starkville. Sunday School 8:45-9:45
a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Tuesday Bible Study 6-7 p.m. Rev.
Sylvester Miller III, Pastor. 662-324-0036
SANDERS CHAPEL CME CHURCH — 521 15th
St. N. Sunday School 8 a.m., Sunday 9 a.m., Tuesday 11:45
a.m. Rev. Dr. Luther Minor, Pastor.
SHAEFFERS CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH — 1007 Shaeffers Chapel Rd., Traditional
Worship Service 9 a.m., Rev. Curtis Bray, Pastor.
ST. JAMES UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
— 722 Military Rd. Breakfast 9:10 a.m., Sunday School
9:40 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Adult/Children Bible Study
Wednesday 6 p.m. Rev. Dwight Prowell, Pastor.
ST. PAUL INDEPENDENT METHODIST
CHURCH — Freeman Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Sunday Services 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Youth activities 5 p.m.
John Powell, Pastor.
ST. PAUL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH —
307 South Cedar Street, Macon, Sunday School 9:30
a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. , Wednesday Bible Study 6 p.m.
Demetric Darden, Pastor.
ST. STEPHEN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
— 800 Tuscaloosa Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11
a.m. and 6 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Andy Tentoni,
Pastor.
TABERNACLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
— Rt. 2, 6015 Tabernacle Rd., Ethelsville, AL. Sunday
School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday 6:30
p.m. Carol Lambert, Pastor. 205-662-3443
TRINITY-MT. CARMEL CME CHURCH — 4610
Carson Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Pastor
Lizzie Harris. 662-329-3995
TURNER CHAPEL AME CHURCH — 1108 14th St.
S. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 5
p.m. Yvonne Fox, Pastor.
WESLEY UNITED METHODIST — 511 Airline Rd.
Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 10:55 a.m., Wednesday
5:15 p.m., Chancel Choir 7 p.m., Youth Monday 6:30 p.m.
Rev. Sarah Windham.
WRIGHT CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH — Hwy. 45 Alt. S., Crawford. Sunday School
9:30 a.m., Worship 10:15 a.m., Tuesday 6 p.m. Kori Bridges,
Pastor. 662-422-9013.
MORMON
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY
SAINTS — 2808 Ridge Rd. Sacrament Meeting 9 a.m.,
Sunday School 10 a.m., Priesthood & Relief Society 11 a.m.,
Youth Activities Wednesday 6 p.m. Bishop Eric Smith. 662-
328-3179.
CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
FIRST CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE — 2722
Ridge Rd. Sunday School 9:30 a.m.,Worship 10:40 a.m. and
6 p.m. Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Stephen Joiner, Pastor.
NON — DENOMINATIONAL
A PREPARED TABLE MINISTRY — 1201 College
St. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:10 a.m., Wednesday
6 p.m. Timothy J. Bailey, Pastor. 662-889-7778
ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN CHURCH — 611 S.
Frontage Road. Sunday 9:30 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Craig
Morris, Pastor.
ALL NATIONS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
CHURCH, INC. — 1560 Hwy. 69 S., Sunday 9 a.m.,
Wednesday 6:45 p.m., Friday Corporate Prayer 7 p.m.
Pastor James T. Verdell, Jr. crosswayradio.com 9 a.m., 11
a.m., & 7 p.m. on Fridays only.
CALEDONIA OPEN DOOR WORSHIP CENTER
— 3288 Cal-Vernon Rd. Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10
a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Randy Holmes, Pastor.
662-855-5006
COLUMBUS CHRISTIAN CENTER — 146 S.
McCrary Rd. Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m., Kid’s Church
10:30 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m., Kenny Gardner, Pastor.
662-328-3328
CONGREGATIONAL WORSHIP CENTER — 109
Maxwell Lane. Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 11:15
a.m., Wednesday Prayer 6 p.m., Wednesday Bible Band 7
p.m. Grover C. Richards, Pastor. 662-328-8124
CORNERSTONE WORSHIP CENTER — 98
Harrison Rd., Steens. Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m., 1st
Sunday Evening 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Marion (Bubba)
Dees, Pastor. 662-327-4303
EMMANUEL CIRCLE OF LOVE OUTREACH —
1608 Gardner Blvd. Services every Friday, Saturday and
Sunday at 7 p.m. J. Brown, Pastor.
FAITH COVENANT CHURCH — 1133 Northdale Dr.
Sunday Worship 5:30 p.m. Lee Poque, Pastor. 662-889-
8132
FINDING YOUR WAY THROUGH CHRIST
MINISTRIES — 1472 Blocker Rd., Starkville. Sunday
School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m., 2nd Sunday Morning
Worship 9 a.m. Pastor Kenyon Ashford.
FIRST CALVARY FAITH AND FELLOWSHIP
CHRISTIAN CENTER — 247 South Oliver St.,
Brooksville. Prayer Saturday 5:30 p.m., Bible Study 6 p.m.,
Sunday School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. Pastor David
T. Jones,III. 601-345-5740
FULL GOSPEL MINISTRY — 1504 19th St. N. Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10 a.m., Tuesday 6:30 p.m. Rev.
Maxine Hall, Pastor.
GENESIS CHURCH — 1820 23rd St. N., Sunday
School 9 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
Darren Leach, Pastor.
HOUSE OF LIFE FREEDOM MINISTRY — 1742
Old West Point Rd. Worship 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., Wednesday
6 p.m. Donnell Wicks, Pastor.
HOUSE OF RESTORATION — Hwy. 50. Sunday
School, 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.,
Wednesday 7 a.m., Pastors, Bill and Carolyn Hulen.
JESUS CHRIST POWERHOUSE OF THE
APOSTOLIC FAITH CHURCH — 622 23rd St. N.
Sunday School 10:30 a.m.; Service 11:45 a.m., Tuesday 7:30
p.m., Friday 7:30 p.m., Prayer Mon., Wed. and Fri. noon. For
more information call Bishop Ray Charles Jones 662-251-
1118, Patricia Young 662-327-3106 or 662-904-0290 or
Lynette Williams 662-327-9074.
KINGDOM VISION INTERNATIONAL CHURCH
— 3193 Hwy 69 S. Sunday 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., Sunday
School 10 a.m., Tuesday 7 p.m. Pastor R.J. Matthews. 662-
327-1960
LIFE CHURCH — 4888 N. Frontage Rd. Sunday
Worship 10 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. For more information,
call 662-570-4171
LOVE CITY FELLOWSHIP CHURCH — 305 Dr.
Martin Luther King Drive, Starkville. Sunday Worship 11
a.m., Pastor Apostle Lamorris Richardson. 601-616-0311
LIVING WATERS LIFE CHURCH
INTERNATIONAL — 113 Jefferson St., Macon.
Sunday Service 10 a.m., Wednesday Bible Study 6:30 p.m.
Johnny Birchfield Jr., Senior Pastor. 662-493-2456 E-mail:
livingwaterslifechurch@gmail.com
NEW BEGINNING EVERLASTING OUTREACH
MINISTRIES — Meets at Quality Inn, Hwy. 45 N. (Every
1st and 3rd Sunday) Sunday School 10 a.m., Bible Study
10:30 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. Pastor Robert Gavin, 662-327-
9843 or 662-497-3434.
NEW COVENANT ASSEMBLY — 875 Richardson.
Worship Service Sunday 10:30 a.m. Bruce Morgan, Pastor.
NEW HORIZONS GOSPEL ASSEMBLY — 441
18th St. S. Sunday 10 a.m. Dr. Joe L. Bowen, Pastor.
PLEASANT RIDGE HOUSE OF WORSHIP —
2651 Trinity Road. Sunday School 9:45 a.m., Worship 11
a.m., Every 2nd and 4th Sunday Intercessory Prayer 9 a.m.,
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Pastor Donna Anthony. 662-241-0097
TABERNACLE OF MERCY (MINISTRY OF
JESUS CHRIST) — 4435 Hwy. 45 N., Sunday Service
9 a.m., Wednesday Prayer 6:30 p.m., Bible Study 7 p.m. 662-
241-6723 www.memorialgunterpeel.com
THE LORD’S HOUSE — 441 18th St. S. Thursday 7
p.m. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. 716 Second Ave. N. • Columbus, MS • 662-328-4432
THE RIVER CHURCH — 822 North Lehmberg Rd., 903 College St. • Columbus, MS • 662-328-2354
Sunday Worship 10 a.m., Children’s Church 3&4 yr. old,
5-12 yr. old. Wednesday Worship 6:45 p.m. Pastor Chuck
Eubanks.
THE SHEPHERD’S CARE & SHARE MINISTRY
CHURCH — 4068 Jess Lyons Rd., Sunday Prayer
Time 9:50 a.m., Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
Thursday Bible Study 6 p.m., Annie Hines-Goode, Planter
and Pastor. 662-630-5216
TRIBE JUDAH MINISTRIES — 730 Whitfield St.,
Starkville. Sunday Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday Bible
School 7 p.m. Rev. Greg and Rev. Michelle Mostella,
Pastors. 662-617-4088
TRUE GOSPEL EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY —
2119 7th. Ave. N., Sunday School 9 a.m., Worship 10:30
a.m., Tuesday Bible Study 6:30 p.m. Clyde and Annie
Edwards, Pastors.
TRUE LIFE CHURCH — 435 Cedarcrest Dr. (corner of
Yorkville and Cedarcrest), Sunday prayer 8:45 a.m., Worship
10 a.m., Wednesday prayer 6:30 p.m., Service 7:30 p.m.
662-798-0259
SHELTON’S TOWING, INC.
TRUE LIFE WORSHIP CENTER — 597 Main St., Since 1960
Caledonia. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 5
p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Eugene O’Mary, Pastor.
24 Hour Towing
TRUEVINE CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER 1024 Gardner Blvd.
MINISTRIES — 5450 Cal-Kolola Rd, Caledonia. Sunday
School 9:30 a.m., Worship 10:45 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
328-8277
Pastor Francisco Brock, Sr. 662-356-8252
UNITED FAITH INTER-DENOMINATIONAL
MINISTRIES — 1701 22nd Street North, Columbus.
Sunday Worship 8-9:30 a.m., 662-889-8711
VIBRANT CHURCH — 500 Holly Hills Rd. Sunday
8 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The Vibe Cafe 7 a.m.,
First Wednesday 7 p.m. Age 6 weeks through 5th grade,
Champions Club (special needs children). Jason Delgado,
Pastor. 662-329-2279
WORD IN ACTION MINISTRY CHRISTIAN
CENTER — 2648 Tom St., Sturgis. Sunday School 10
a.m., Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Curtis Davis,
Pastor. 662-230-3182 or mdavis43@hotmail.com
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
ST. CATHERINE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
CHURCH — 725 4th Ave. N. Visit www.
stcatherineorthodox.com for schedule of services and
updates on this Mission.
APOSTOLIC PENTECOSTAL
APOSTOLIC OUTREACH CHURCH — 204 North
McCrary Rd., Prayer/Inspiration Hour Monday 6 p.m. Danny
L. Obsorne, Pastor.
DIVINE DESTINY APOSTOLIC CHURCH — 2601
14th Ave. N. Sunday School 10:30 a.m., Worship 12 p.m.,
Tuesday Bible Class 7:30 p.m. Pastor Easter Robertson.
JESUS CHRIST POWERFUL MINISTRY OF
LOVE — 1210 17th St. S., behind the Dept. of Human
Resources. Sunday School 10:30 a.m., Friday 7:30 p.m.
Gloria Jones, Pastor.
SPIRIT OF PRAYER HOLINESS CHURCH — 267
Byrnes Circle. Sunday Worship 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m.,
Saturday 11 a.m. Terry Outlaw, Pastor. 662-324-3539
THE ASSEMBLY IN JESUS CHRIST CHURCH
— 1504 19th St. N. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11:45
a.m. and 7 p.m., Wednesday and Friday 7 p.m.
THE CHURCH OF THE ETERNAL WORD — 106
22nd St. S. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11:30 a.m.,
Tuesday Bible Study 7 p.m., Thursday Prayer 5 p.m. District
Elder Lou J. Nabors Sr., Pastor. 662-329-1234
THE GLORIOUS CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST
— Billy Kidd Road, Caledonia. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.. Tuesday 7 p.m., Friday 7
p.m. Ernest Thomas, Pastor.
VICTORY APOSTOLIC FAITH CHURCH — 6 6
Boyd Rd., Starkville. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship Noon,
Tuesday Prayer 7 p.m., Wednesday Bible Study 7 p.m.
Mildred Spencer, Pastor. 662-341-5753
ONENESS PENTECOSTAL
NEW HOPE PENTECOSTAL CHURCH — 875
Richardson Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m.,
6 p.m., Tuesday 7 p.m. Jared Glover, Pastor. 662-251-3747
E-mail: nhpccolumbus@yahoo.com
PENTECOSTAL
FAITH AND DELIVERANCE OUT REACH
MINISTRIES — 118 S. McCrary Road, Suite 126. Sunday
10 a.m. and 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Christian Women
Meeting Friday 7 p.m.
LIVING FAITH TABERNACLE — Shelton St.
Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Youth
Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Rev. James O. Gardner, Pastor.
LIVING WATER MINISTRIES — 622 28th St. N. Elder
Robert L. Salter, Pastor. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship 11
a.m., Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Friday 7:30 p.m.
SPIRIT OF PRAYER HOLINESS CHURCH — 922
17th St. N. Sunday 11 a.m., Wednesday 7 p.m., Saturday 11
a.m. Terry Outlaw, Pastor,
VICTORY TABERNACLE P.C.G. — 5580 Ridge
Road. Sunday School 10 a.m., Praise & Worship 10:45 a.m.,
Wednesday Bible Study 6:30 p.m. G.E. Wiggins Sr., Pastor.
UNITED PENTECOSTAL 1721 Hwy 45 N
CALEDONIA UNITED PENTECOSTAL
CHURCH — 5850 Caledonia Kolola Rd., Caledonia.
® Columbus, MS
Sunday 10 a.m., 6 p.m., Wednesday 7 p.m. Grant Mitchell, 662.848.0919
Pastor. 662-356-0202
Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm
FIRST PENTECOSTAL CHURCH — 311 Tuscaloosa
In Style. In Reach. Sunday 1pm-5pm
Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m., Sunday Evangelistic 6p.m.,
TRINITY PLACE
Wednesday 7 p.m. Rev. Steve Blaylock, Pastor. 662-328-
1750
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY
PRESBYTERIAN
BEERSHEBA CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH — 1736 Beersheba Rd., New Hope Community. Offering independent living apartments, personal
Rev. Tim Lee, Pastor. Sunday Worship 10 a.m., Church care/assisted living suites, and a skilled nursing home
School 11:15 a.m., Wed. Mid Week 6 p.m. 662-327-9615 300 Airline Road • Columbus, MS • 327-6716
COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (EPC)
— 515 Lehmberg Rd., East Columbus. Sunday School 9:30 “Our Bottom Line Is People”
a.m., Worship 10:30 a.m., Wednesday Prayer Meeting 4 Hunting • Fishing
p.m. John Richards, Pastor. Working Or Stepping Out — We Have A Complete
FIRST CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN Line Of Clothing For You And Your Family
CHURCH — 2698 Ridge Rd. Sunday School 9:15 a.m.,
Worship 10:30 a.m., Adult Choir 4 p.m. Youth Group 5 p.m.,
Oktibbeha County Co-Op
Bible Study 5 p.m.; Monthly Activities: CPW Circle #2 (2nd Check Out Our Boot & Cap Section
Tue. 4 p.m.), Ladies Aid (3rd Tue. 2 p.m.); Weekly Activities: 662-323-1742
Exercise Class Tuesday and Thursday 8 a.m. Rev. Luke 201 Pollard Rd., Starkville
Lawson, Pastor. 662-328-2692
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — 3200 Bluecutt
Rd. Worship 10 a.m., Youth Group Sundays 11 a.m.,
Adult Choir Wednesdays 6 p.m., Fellowship Suppers-3rd
Wednesdays 6 p.m. B.J. Chain, Pastor.
MAIN STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
(PCA) — Main and 7th St. N. Sunday School 9:30 a.m.,
Worship 10:40 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesday Fellowship
Supper 5:30 p.m., Bible Study 6 p.m. Rev. Todd Matocha,
Pastor.
MT. ZION CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH — 3044 Wolfe Rd. Sunday School 10 a.m.,
Worship 11 a.m.
SALVATION ARMY CHURCH
THE SALVATION ARMY CHURCH — 2219 Hwy.
82 East. Sunday School 10 a.m., Worship Service 11 a.m.,
Wednesday Men’s Fellowship, Women’s Fellowship 5:30
p.m., Thursday Character Building Programs 5:30 p.m.,
Majors Alan and Sheryl Phillips, Commanding Officers.
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST
COLUMBUS SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST
CHURCH — 301 Brooks Dr. Saturday Service 9 a.m.,
Sabbath School 10:30 a.m., Wednesday Prayer Meeting
6:30 p.m. Ray Elsberry, Pastor. 662-329-4311 The McBryde Family
SALEM SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST — 826 15th
St. N. Saturday Sabbath School 9:30 a.m., Divine Worship
1120 Gardner Blvd. • 328-5776
11 a.m., Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Roscoe Shields, Pastor. 662-
327-9729
APOSTOLIC CHURCH
TRUE FAITH DELIVERANCE MINISTRIES
APOSTOLIC CHURCH — 3632 Hwy. 182 E. Sunday
School 10:30 a.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m., Tuesday 7:30 p.m., • RECYCLING SINCE 1956 •
Wednesday Prayer Noon, Wednesday 7:30 p.m., Friday 7:30 Specializing in industrial accounts
p.m. 662-328-8176 973 Island Rd. 1-800-759-8570
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