Trista Parker and Miriam Wells from Calhoun City Elementary look at some of the art on display at the “Gifted Gala” in Pittsboro Monday night. The exhibit featured works from gifted students from all over the county. Photo by Joel McNeece

J.C. White, age 90, former Calhoun County resident, passed away on Sunday, February 16, 2014, in Wynne, AR. Mr. White was a graduate of Bruce High School. He was preceded in death by his parents, C.M. White and Gertha White of Mississippi; two sisters, Evalena Herring, Atlanta, GA, Pearlena Brown, Tupelo, and one brother, Leonard White, Wynne, AR; and twin infant daughters. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Maxine Ledbetter White; two sons, one daughter, eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; two sisters, Glenda Tarver, Memphis, and Myra (Tom) Simmons, Batesville. Memorials may be made to Worship Center Building Fund c/o Tri-County Baptist Association, 301 Cogbill, Wynne, AR 72396 or Cross County Library, 402 Merriman Ave, Wynne, AR 72396.

Calhoun City earned second and Bruce third in the boys’ regional powerlifting meet at Calhoun City last Saturday.

Shaquille Wright

The Wildcats actually finished in a tie with East Union with 54 points, but the Urchins had more first place finishes to earn top overall seed.
Bruce finished third with 38 points. Mantachie, Potts Camp, Hatley and Okolona rounded out the standings.

First place finishers in their respective weight class for Calhoun City were Michael Roberson (148), Cartin McBride (165) and Keeshun Bobo (275).
Jamar Brown earned first in the 198-pound weight class for Bruce.

Second place finishers included Jaalen Thomas (181), Shaquille Wright (198), Jordan England (242) and Noah Hill (308) for Calhoun City; and Haylan Hamilton (114), Latrell Marks (165) and Jacquez Jackson (308+) for Bruce.
The teams will advance to the North Half Powerlifting meet on March 8 at Calhoun City.

“If it’s a vegetable, I’m just about going to eat it,” said Dot Fleming of Vardaman. She really likes vegetables and trying different recipes for them, and she makes the green bean and the cabbage dishes quite a bit.

She and husband, Rocky, garden most every year–peas, butterbeans, corn, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, okra and squash. “We love fresh vegetables,” saying she grew up on peas and cornbread, and she freezes a lot tomatoes and vegetable soup.
Her favorite recipe searches are in cookbooks and magazines. But she also enjoys recipes from Taste of Home, Cake Mix Doctor and a Chocolate Cake Mix cookbook.
She uses the Cake Mix Doctor book a lot, and has started her own cookbook of their favorite family recipes.

Dot says she enjoys cooking, and granddaughter, Ella Grace, 4, loves to help her, so they do a lot of cookie baking together. Ella Grace wants everything pink, so Dot has to keep pink sprinkles and red food coloring on hand, so whatever they’re baking will be pink.?They have even made a pink pound cake.
Dot and sisters, Sarah Moore and Pam Moore used to get together more often than they do now to make candy for Christmas, but that is always a good time for them. She also likes anything with rice, and makes stir fry, fajitas, and says she and Rocky also grill a lot.

She started cooking out of high school and was pretty much self-taught. Growing up, she mostly helped with outside chores while her mother did the cooking.
She did watch her grandmother, the late Lula Carter cook, and she loves making “Ma” Carter’s chicken pie. The first time she made the pie it was a success, and she was so proud it turned out to taste like her grandmother’s.

For it, she boils chicken breasts, tears it off bone, and puts half the chicken in a pan. Make biscuit dough, put strips of dough over chicken adding black pepper and up to one stick of butter cut in pats; make another layer of chicken, and put a solid piece of dough over the top.
Poke holes in the dough and pour chicken broth over, also using black pepper and up to one stick of butter cut in pats. Bake on 400° until golden brown. Remove from oven, pour 2-3 cups whole milk over and bake 10 more minutes.

Ma Carter also made sour dough biscuits and egg custard that all the grandchildren liked, but were not favorites of Dot’s like the chicken pie.
Her all-time favorite dessert is the peach delight, so it, the chicken pie, and cornbread salad are three dishes she makes pretty often for church dinners.

Sweet &?Sour Green Beans
4 slices bacon, fried
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. vinegar
1 onion, sliced
2 cans cut green beans, drained
Fry bacon and remove to paper towel. Add water, sugar, vinegar, onion, and green beans to skillet where bacon was fried. Cook approximately 15 minutes. Pour beans into serving dish, crumble bacon over top, and serve immediately.

Crunchy Sausage Casserole
1-6 oz. pkg. long grain and wild rice
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. pork sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
Crumble and cook beef and sausage with onion; drain. In another pan cook rice according to package directions. Mix all ingredients and let stand overnight in refrigerator. Bake in 2 qt. casserole dish at 350° for about 50 minutes. May sprinkle sliced almonds on top if desired.

Smothered Cabbage
1 medium cabbage, shredded
6-8 slices bacon
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
Salt to taste
1/4 cup water
In deep skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove from skillet leaving bacon drippings. Saute green onions in bacon drippings about five minutes. Add cabbage, salt, sugar and water. Cover and simmer on low heat (stirring often) until cabbage is tender. Crumble bacon and place on top of cabbage when ready to serve.

Apple Dumplings
2 large Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring
16 oz. Mountain Dew
Peel apples; cut each apple into 8 pieces. Wrap a crescent roll around each apple piece. Place in a 9×13” baking dish. In small mixing bowl, mix sugar, margarine, cinnamon and vanilla flavoring. Melt  to gravy consistency and pour over wrapped apples, then pour Mountain Drew over top. Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown. Serve while warm. Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Peach Delight
2 cans crescent rolls
1-8 oz. block cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 can peach pie filling
1 stick margarine, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp. milk
Spread one can of crescent rolls in 9×13” casserole dish. Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Spread on top of rolls. Spread pie filling on top of that. Layer second can of rolls on top of all. Drizzle melted margarine on top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Combine powdered sugar and milk and drizzle on top while still warm.

Cornbread Salad
1 pan cooked cornbread
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1/2 cup chopped or diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion (purple will give more color)
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (reserve 1/4 cup)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup mayonnaise
Cook one skillet cornbread. Cool, then break into bite size pieces in large bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Place in refrigerator and chill until time to serve. Variation: May substitute two cups cooked, chopped ham for bacon.

Joel and I have gotten hooked on HBO’s new series “True Detective” starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. So we were really excited when Ellard native Johnny McPhail said he would be in the last two episodes.

Johnny said he will be playing the role of Robert Doumain in episodes 7 and 8, which will air the first two weeks of March.
The show goes back and forth in time from a case Detectives McConaughey and Harrelson worked 17 years prior to today.
In modern day, McConaughey’s character, no longer a detective, works at Doumain’s Doumain bar in the bayous of Southern Louisiana.

Lisa McNeece

Johnny said he had excellent scenes, mostly just drinking while McConaughey tends bar. Johnny’s real hair is long and graying. He said the long haired wig McConaughey wears in the modern scenes were made to match Johnny’s hair color.
We can’t wait to see Johnny in those last episodes.

I’m kind of new to the Netflix bandwagon, having it only a few months. When I first started watching I binge watched the entire first season of House of Cards and anxiously awaited the second season this month.
But instead of one a week, the entire season of 13 episodes is released at one time! I have to pace myself. If I watch them all in a two week period, it will be a really long time until season three.

A new feature in The Journal is Vaughn’s Vocabulary, written by Don Vaughn.
Each column features a short themed quiz on vocabulary words.
Vaughn teaches speech and theatre at East Mississippi Community College Golden Triangle and is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Bruce.

Vaughn’s Vocabulary started on radio when Vaughn was a morning personality on an all oldies FM station in the early 90s. When Vaughn was hired at Mississippi State University to teach Communication courses, the vocabulary segment went from radio to The Reflector newspaper at MSU and now appears in several area newspapers.
I do pretty well on some of his columns, but not so well on others.
Please let us or Vaughn know if you enjoy it: dvaughan@eastms.edu.

Part of my February chores are finished as I spent part of the weekend pruning my Knockout roses.
The rule of thumb with roses is to always prune them in February. And we did have pleasant weather this weekend. It’s kind of hard to get in the pruning mood when the weather is 30 degrees.
The first year or two, I was pretty conservative in my pruning, fearing I would hurt the plants and their bloom cycle for the upcoming year.
Now I just chop them back to 10-12″ tall and keep going. They get thicker with more blooms every single year.

Sometimes when you wake up in the middle of the night and are really sick, you will take anything in your medicine cabinet, no matter the expiration date.
I have done this when I had a kidney infection (which always seems to hit in the middle of the night) and nausea and vomiting (ditto). If I feel bad enough, I will consider anything.

I started getting a cold Friday, and by Friday night at bedtime, I was coughing so much I could not get to sleep. I had a couple of cough drops, but they did nothing. Then I remembered the old bottle of cough syrup with codeine in the bathroom cabinet
As the label directed, I took a tablespoon and noted the expiration date of 2011. Oops. But I was desperate.

Thirty minutes later, I was still coughing, so I decided the cough syrup must have lost some of its potency and took several tablespoons more. Wrong.
I didn’t wake up Saturday morning until 10 a.m.
Spare me of a lecture on the importance of clearing your medicine cabinet of expired meds. I just might need them, and in some instances, work just fine.

I’ve never seen a Calhoun County school wear green, except Calhoun Academy. But the Calhoun City High School boys were wearing bright green t-shirts in warmups before their game with Houston Friday night.
The shirts were to pay tribute to the South Calhoun Hornets.

The Hornets, with their green and gold colors, were the mascot of South Calhoun High School which closed in the 70s after integration.
Several former Hornets were recognized at the game Friday night.

E-mail Lisa McNeece: lisamcneece@gmail.com follow her on twitter @lisamcneece

I remember a time as a small child when I would sit at the kitchen table for hours staring at my plate refusing to eat something because I thought it had onions in it. In my house growing up, you ate what was on your plate or you didn’t leave the dinner table. That resulted in some long nights for yours truly.

Today, there are few things more appetizing to me than an onion. I love them raw, fried, sautéed, grilled  or Funyon’ed.
Funyons, the onion-like potato chip delicacy available at your favorite local convenience store, is off limits at my house. My wife Lisa forbids me to have them. She alleges the smell of a Funyon stays with you for days. I’ve never heard the guys complain on our many road trips, which always begin with an early pit stop for a big bag of Funyons.

Joel McNeece

It’s amazing how your tastes change as you grow older –?music, clothes and especially food. I loved everything fried as a kid. Now I prefer all the same foods grilled or broiled.

My oldest friend, Chris Brewer, a graduate of Forest Hill High School in Jackson, loved sardines when we were young. Anytime we went on a fishing expedition, whether in search of bream at his grandfather’s farm in Bolton, catfishing near my grandfather’s home in Raymond, or bass fishing on the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Jackson, Brewer always brought along at least one tin of sardines.

He scarfed them down like he was eating a Hershey bar. You couldn’t watch him and not think those must be delicious. So like clockwork, every time I would give one a try, thinking this time their appeal will unveil itself to me. It never happened.
The last sardine I ate was as nasty as the first.

Fast forward several decades and I find myself picking restaurants based on the fact they serve great raw fish. (Note: sardines aren’t truly raw fish, but they aren’t cooked by heat.)

Lisa and I are regulars at the sushi restaurants in Oxford. We enjoy Kabuki when we’re with the kids, who enjoy the entertainment of the Hibachi grill, but always opt for the sushi bar or a trip to Jinsei in east Oxford if we’re sans children.

Among our favorites are the lobster roll with asparagus, cucumber, masago, and avocado and the Nikko – a combination of smoked salmon, unagi, tamago, asparagus, cream cheese and avocado.

There are so many other appetizing sushi rolls on the menu such as Jari Jari, Bangkok, Atsui, Shirohama and Midori, which includes a tempura sweet potato, that it’s always difficult to make a choice.

I can’t help but grin at the thought of that kid at my parents’ kitchen table who would have genuinely debated whether to taste a piece of sushi or feel the impact of my dad’s thick leather belt on the backside.

If only I had known then what I know now.

Email Joel McNeece at joelmcneece@gmail.com & follow him on Twitter @joelmcneece

Something interesting happened last month when Scott Central’s Victoria Vivians set the Mississippi all-time high school scoring record, scoring 41 points in a game against Union to go well over 5,000 points in her career.

That’s right: 5,000.
Here’s what happened: I wrote a column for our msfame.com, documenting Vivians’ achievement and the fact that Scott Central and Vivians had donated the record-breaking ball to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
Almost immediately, the tweets and e-mails started arriving, most saying something like this: “Yeah, but look at the competition she was playing against.”

True, Class 2A is the second smallest of Mississippi’s public school athletic classifications, but Scott Central often schedules up in class. Anyway, Vivians scored the 41, four under her average, on a Friday night. The next night, playing against 6A powerhouse Tupelo, and despite often being double- and triple-teamed, she went for 60. That’s right: sixty. She can score against anybody.
Vivians has continued her onslaught on the record books since then — this, despite the fact, Chad Harrison, her coach, often sits her when Scott Central takes a big lead against an inferior opponent.

Still, she doesn’t get the credit she deserves. And I’m not talking about tweets and e-mails here. Somehow or another, the group that selects McDonald’s All-Americans left Vivians off the list — this, despite the fact she now ranks second in the nation in scoring at 46 points per game.

Apparently, a 23-person committee — made up of reporters, analysts and coaches — selects players for the McDonald’s honor. One wonders if these are the same people who write the copy for The Weather Channel and can’t figure out Mississippi — “the land mass between New Orleans and Mobile” — exists. I mean: How do you overlook 46 points per game and well over 5,000 points in a career?

There’s more, sometime this week or next, Vivians, who will play collegiately at Mississippi State, will become the all-time national high school CAREER scoring leader. She will score more points than any female player has ever scored in U.S. high school basketball. And yet the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) will not recognize that feat because Victoria scored 573 of her points as an eighth grader. The NFHS recognizes only points scored from the ninth grade through the 12th.
Now then, you tell me, if a player is good enough to play varsity basketball in the eighth grade, shouldn’t her points count?

You don’t have to answer. It’s common sense. The points counted in those games; they should count in the record books.
Thankfully, Vivians and Scott Central avoided the ultimate insult. For the longest time it appeared Scott Central would be banned from the state playoffs because Scott County Schools officials had blundered, causing the county’s schools to face state takeover. (In cases of state takeover, students’ extracurricular activities are severely limited. Of course, in most cases takeover is caused by poor academic performance — not so in Scott County.)

Thankfully, common sense did prevail. The school officials who caused the problems resigned. Scott Central will begin district play this week. If all goes as expected, Vivians will close out her high school career in the State Tournament at Mississippi Coliseum, shooting for a third state championship in four years.
It’s not a given, but it is expected. And fans should have one last chance to watch the greatest girls basketball player this land mass has ever produced compete at the high school level.

Rick Cleveland (rcleveland@msfame.com) is the executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

Separate meetings were held last week in Bruce between City of Bruce, Weyerhaeuser and Mississippi Department of Transportation officials as part of ongoing efforts to get a turn lane installed on Hwy. 9.

Bruce Mayor Rudy Pope has publicly made the case for a turn lane both at the Hwy. 9-32 intersection and entering the town from the south to allow better access to both Weyerhaeuser and Haworth.

“There are studies that show a turn lane is needed,” Pope said. “The traffic count verifies it. We just have to find funding for the project.”
Last week’s meeting focused more on a south bound turn lane for Weyerhaeuser to prevent log trucks from having to line the shoulder of the highway awaiting their turn to unload.

“It can get so busy at times, and we’re thankful for all that traffic,” Pope said. “We want it to be busy, but we also want it as safe as possible. There are a lot of cars, school buses and other big trucks trying to get through there at the same time.”

Weyerhaeuser is currently working on opening a new entrance drive for the approximate 180 log trucks that enter the mill every day. They will be able to come through the old Memphis Hardwood gate and approach the scales down a longer drive to alleviate some of the congestion on the highway.

“Getting all those log trucks off the highway has long been a concern of ours,” said Weyerhaeuser area manager Jerry Nix.
The extremely cold, wet winter has delayed many of the improvement projects still ongoing, including the new entrance, since Weyerhaeuser acquired the remainder of the original E.L. Bruce Company mill property in late 2012.

“Our goal is to have a lot of that completed by the end of the first quarter, weather permitting,” Nix said.
Randy Darracott, manager of the Bruce Mill, reported last week’s meeting with MDOT as “very productive.”

Mayor Pope agreed, noting the biggest obstacle remains funding.
“We’ll just have to wait and see if MDOT can come up with the money,” Pope said. “We certainly can’t afford it as a city.”

Bruce Mayor Rudy Pope

Pope said he still has hopes of getting some kind of turn lane in place at the redlight to help improve traffic flow at the busier times of day. He said many grow frustrated when they have to sit through two or three redlights because they aren’t able to turn due to the oncoming traffic.

He said the only short term suggestion from MDOT was to return to a four-way stop, but he doesn’t view that as an option.
“I don’t like four way stops and I don’t like speed bumps,” Pope said. “We’re just going to have to keep working on this and hope some funding comes available down the line.”

The Bruce Lady Trojans’ season came to an end last night with a 62-52 loss to Eupora in the Division 1-2A tournament at Bruce. Lakerria Holland is pictured driving to the goal. The Vardaman Rams won their game at Smithville to advance. Get a preview of all this week’s tourney action below in sports. Photo by Joel McNeece

Calhoun County basketball teams begin their push for a trip to Jackson this week with division tournaments opening.

The top four teams from each tournament will advance to play in a single-elimination game next Monday (girls) and Tuesday (boys) to see who advances to the North Half Tournament. The top three teams from the North will advance to Jackson.
Calhoun County has five contenders to advance to the North Half tournaments and compete for a trip to State.

Calhoun City boys’ and girls’ teams both won the Division 4-2A title during the regular season. The Vardaman Lady Rams won the Division 4-1A title. The Bruce Trojans placed second in 4-2A and the Vardaman Rams won Tuesday’s 1-4A quarterfinal to guarantee a spot in next week’s North Half qualifying round.

The Lady Wildcats have been the most dominant of the local teams this season finishing 21-2, undefeated in division play, and winners of 16 consecutive games entering the postseason.
“The biggest thing for us is we’re playing as a team,” Coach Rob Fox said. “Nobody cares who gets credit or scores the most points. These girls are playing for each other. All they want is to win.”
The Lady Wildcats need a win Thursday to secure a home game next Monday in the qualifying round for the North Half Tournament. They will draw an opponent from Division 3-2A in that game.
Despite their 21-2 record, the Lady Wildcats haven’t cracked the state rankings this season. Projected favorites in 2A include New Site, Coahoma County and H.W. Byers.
“We just have to take it one game at a time and take care of business and it will all work out,” Fox said.

Coach Daren Coffey’s Wildcats, 17-10, also finished unbeaten in division play and enter Thursday’s division tournament game at Bruce as the top seed.
A win there will set them up with a home game next Tuesday against a Division 3-2A school with a trip to North Half on the line.
Baldwyn and Coahoma AHS are the perceived favorites in Boys’ 2A, but Coffey said his team must focus on Thursday.
“We need to take care of business in the division tournament at Bruce,” Coffey said. “That top seed coming out of there is important.”
Coffey said the key to his team advancing will be defense and protecting the ball.
“We can’t have an off night this time of year,” Coffey said.

The Vardaman Lady Rams finished the regular season 15-10 overall and undefeated in Division 4-1A for the second consecutive year. The Lady Rams will be looking to win their second consecutive division tournament and then host a team from Division 3-1A in the North Half qualifier next Monday.
“Teamwork and hustle are the keys for us going forward,” Lady Ram Coach Deanna Winter said. “We’ve already proved we can beat everybody in the division. The only question is are we willing to put on the work to do it a second time.”

The Bruce Trojans finished the regular season 10-16, but 3-1 in the division to earn second. They will face Eupora Thursday night in the division tournament.
The winner will be guaranteed a home playoff game the following Tuesday. The Trojans beat Eupora 55-40 in the regular season matchup.
“We can’t count on what happened in the regular season,” Bruce Coach Davin Young said. “We have to be ready to play Thursday.”
Young said his team’s potential is high, but relies on their approach.
“If we’re playing our best we can get to state,” Young said. “Mental preparation is the key. We have to be focused on each game plan and everyone must execute their responsibility.”

The Vardaman Rams came up with one of their biggest wins of the year Tuesday night when they defeated TCPS in the division quarterfinals 68-57 at Smithville.
Quon Cummings led with 21 points. Tavis Townsend added 16, Ta Buchanan 14 and Michael McKiney 10.
The win advances the Rams to the division semifinals Thursday night and guarantees them a playoff game next Tuesday.

The Bruce Lady Trojans were unable to pull off the upset Tuesday night falling to Eupora in the Division 1-2A qualifying game.
The loss ended a winless season for the Lady Trojans.

DIVISION 4-2A at BRUCE
Thursday
(G) Calhoun City vs Eupora 4 p.m.
(B) Calhoun City vs Okolona 5:30 p.m.
(G) East Webster vs Okolona 7 p.m.
(B) Bruce vs Eupora 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Girls Consolation 4 p.m.
Boys Consolation 5:30 p.m.
Girls Championship 7 p.m.
Boys Championship 8:30 p.m.

DIVISION 4-1A at Smithville
Thursday
(G) Coffeeville vs Houlka 4 p.m.
(B) Coffeeville vs Vardaman 5:30 p.m.
(G) Vardaman vs TCPS 7 p.m.
(B) Houlka vs Smithville 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Girls Consolation 4 p.m.
Boys Consolation 5:30 p.m.
Girls Championship 7 p.m.
Boys Championship 8:30 p.m.

Calhoun County Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation has announced plans for its 19th annual Hunting Heritage Super Fund Banquet and Auction.

According to Steve Gulledge, Banquet Chairman, the event will be at the Extension Building in Pittsboro, Saturday, Feb. 22, starting at 6 p.m.
One of the highlights of the evening will be an “Full Strut” buffet prepared by Taylor Grocery.

This year’s feast will include Mississippi farm raised fried catfish fillets, southern fried hand breaded chicken tenders, fried shrimp, garlic crab, Cajun boiled shrimp as well as homemade hushpuppies with all the trimmings.

Gulledge encourages couples and their kids to come out for this family event that will also feature an auction of high quality NWTF merchandise that includes limited edition prints, guns, furniture, and other collectibles

Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door. For more information call Steve Gulledge at 983-4013.

Itawamba Community College will hold open tryouts for graduating high school seniors on Wednesday, February 26th at Eaton Field.

Registration is $20.00 and will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the ICC Football Fieldhouse on the Fulton Campus. Participants are responsible for bringing cleats, street shoes, appropriate workout attire and must bring a valid athletic physical form.

The Bruce Chamber of Commerce is hosting their annual banquet at the Bruce Forestry Museum on Thursday, Feb. 27 starting at 6:30 p.m. with a Silent Auction and hospitality.

Joy Foy

The Banquet, catered by Paisley’s Boardwalk, will begin at 7 p.m.

Joy Foy, Director of Asset Development for the MDA, will be our guest speaker.  Joy is a former resident of Bruce and graduated from Bruce High School.

Tickets for the banquet are $25 and may be purchased from the Bruce Chamber of Commerce office, Jeffery’s and any Board Member.

For more information, you may call the Chamber Office at 983-2222.

Local farmer Colby Parker has directed a $2,500 donation to Calhoun City Middle School. Funded by America’s Farmers Grow Communities, the donation will be used to purchase ELMO projectors and playground equipment.

Thanks to the support of farmers across the country, more than $3.2 million is being directed to nonprofits in 1,289 counties in 39 states.
When asked why he chose the organization, Parker said, “This school needs the funds for updates within the school.”

America’s Farmers Grow Communities works with farmers to support nonprofit organizations like Calhoun City Middle School, who are doing important work in their communities. The program offers farmers the chance to win $2,500, which is then donated to the farmer’s nonprofit of choice. The search for funding to sustain and enhance programs is a year-round job for nonprofit organizations across the country. Through America’s Farmers Grow

Communities, farmers have been able to support a variety of groups, such as schools, fire departments, community centers and youth organizations like 4-H and FFA.

America’s Farmers Grow Communities launched in 2010, and has since donated over $13 million to more than 5,200 nonprofit organizations across the country. America’s Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, is part of the America’s Farmers initiative, which highlights and celebrates the important contributions of farmers like Colby Parker.

Brent Gholston, CCMS principal Stacia Parker, and Kent Parker

C.J. Weddle, left, of Vardaman, won the Premier Exhibitor scholarship contest for Meat Goats at the Dixie National Livestock Show and was awarded a $2,000 college scholarship. With C.J. at the Dixie National was Sen. Russell Jolly, and her mother, Ladonna Williams.

Christa Davis will tell you the hardest thing about drawing a portrait of someone is the eyes.
“Everybody’s eyes are shaped a little different,” she said. “That’s always the most challenging part.”

It’s a challenge she’s obviously up to based on the growing demand for her charcoal drawings. What began as just an experiment to test her on artistic talents has turned into a side business.
“I wanted to try something different, something maybe other people weren’t doing so I got a kit of charcoals and started tinkering,” Christa said.
She found a wildlife scene online with a large moose in it and decided she’d try and draw a replica.

“I really didn’t like the way it turned out so I decided to try something different,” she said.
She pulled out a recent picture of her son Dawson and her niece and began drawing it. She soon found her niche – portraits.
“When I finished that one I realized that’s what I could do,” Christa said. “It took off from there.”

She posted a family portrait she had completed on facebook and instantly began getting requests from friends and family.
She’s completed more than 50 now. Each one begins with a picture that she studies and then slowly begins creating a charcoal drawing on her giant note pad.
“I usually start by drawing the rough outline and then I really focus on the facial features and just continue working on them until I get them right,” Christa said. “I can’t really tell you exactly how I do it. I just do it.”

She said creating a drawing from a photograph is a work in layers. Because she’s only using a pencil, everything is lines and shades.
“I’m always hesitant to show people a work in progress because they don’t see what I see,” Christa said. “I can look at the individual layers and see the finished product.”
Finishing a project can be a challenge in itself. Christa, who is married to Jarrod Davis of Calhoun City, home schools their two children – five-year-old Dawson and two-year-old Easton – and works one day a week at Trade to Treasures in Calhoun City.

“You get plenty of breaks (from drawing) with them around,” Christa said of her sons.
When she does have time, she’ll spend up to 10 hours on a single drawing constantly agonizing over every detail.
“It gets to a point where it has to leave the house or I just can’t quit working on it,” she said. “The more I look at it the more I want to do. It never ends. I’ve always been a perfectionist.”

When she is finally able to turn loose of a drawing and deliver it to the customer, that’s when Davis receives the best reward.
“When you see the reaction on their face the first time you give it to them, there’s nothing else like that feeling,” Christa said.
She has a number of portraits she is continuing to work on currently and is exploring putting together a collage of old Calhoun County churches.
“There are a lot of things I’d like to try and do with it,” Christa said of her art.

She’s considered experimenting with painting, but says the rarety of charcoal has an appeal she doesn’t want to lose.
“I like doing something different and I don’t see a lot of charcoal works around,” Christa said. “I’d love to one day maybe have my own studio, but for now I’m enjoying this experience.”

Calhoun City High School recently held its 2014 Beauty Review in which Kajah Coleman was crowned most beautiful. Pictured, from left, are Chelsea Vance, Makayla McCormick, Alison Childs, Lacoria Humphries, and Kajah Coleman.

Join us at the Jesse Yancy Memorial Library in Bruce Tuesday, Feb. 25 at noon for a Brown Bag Luncheon with Mississippi author and educator, Jimmy Reed.

Reed is a Vietnam veteran, a graduate of both Delta State and Ole Miss, a weekly columnist for The Oxford Eagle and English instructor at Northwest Community College.
Reed’s second book, “Boss, Jaybird And Me: Anthology Of Short Stories,” contains over 200 stories.

Uniquely, each story contains exactly 500 words. Most of them deal with his growing-up years in the Mississippi Delta and with his two-decade career as a cotton farmer.
The stories are told in the old-fashioned, traditional Deep South storytelling fashion.

His inimitable grammatical and syntactical skills make his stories effortless to read and enjoy, mainly because much effort goes into the preparation of them.
Because most of the stories are seasonal, the book’s contents are listed by the twelve months in a year.
Dessert and coffee will be served. Copies will be available for purchase and signing following the program.

Both Calhoun City teams and the Vardaman Lady Rams each advanced to their respective division championship games with semifinals wins Thursday night. The Bruce Trojans and Vardaman Rams were both beaten to fall to Friday consolation games.

Niesha Willis

The Vardaman Lady Rams overwhelmed TCPS 65-46 with Niesha Willis leading the way with 17 points. Danicqua Stephens added 12 on four three-pointers and Alaysia Madkins scored 10.

The Lady Rams will face Coffeeville in Friday’s championship game at 7 p.m. in Smithville. The Lady Pirates knocked off Houlka Thursday.

Calhoun City’s Lady Wildcats had an equally easy time rolling over Eupora 89-30 in the 4-2A semifinal at Bruce.

Destiny Bush led the Lady ‘Cats with 20 points. Alison Childs added 14.

The Lady Wildcats will face East Webster in the division championship Friday at 7 p.m.

The Wildcats broke open a tight game late and pulled away for a 76-56 win over Okolona to advance to the boys’ final. They will face Eupora Friday night at 8:30 p.m. after the Eagles knocked off second seed Bruce in Thursday’s semifinal round.

The Trojans will play Okolona in the consolation game.

The Vardaman Rams will play Houlka in the 4-1A consolation after getting beat by top seed Coffeeville 101-44 in Thursday’s semifinals. Michael McKinney and Quon Cummings each scored 12 for the Rams.

Coach George Lamar Hailey, 85, passed away surrounded by his loving family on Thursday, February 20, 2014, at his residence in Louisville, Mississippi. Visitation will be at Nowell-Massey Funeral Home in Louisville on Friday, February 21, 2014, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 22, 2014, in Nowell-Massey Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Creighton White and Rev. Ben Hailey officiating. Interment will follow in the Hailey Richey Cemetery.       Coach Hailey was born August 20, 1928, to Jemmie Chancellor and Chester Hailey. He was a member of Coy Methodist Church. Coach Hailey finished high school at Prince Chapel in Kemper County in 1949. He served in the U. S. Army twice. After finishing high school he enrolled in E. M. C. C. at Scooba, Mississippi. He went to the University of Southern Mississippi and received his Bachelor’s degree. Later he received his Master’s degree at Mississippi State University. He coached basketball for 29 years. He coached at Burn’s, Lambert, Bruce, Calloway, Philadelphia, Burnsville and Edinburg. He was the high school principal at Burnsville for two years. His crowning achievement was winning the State Basketball tournament in 1962 at Lambert. He was elected into the Coaches Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Coaches Hall of Fame at E. M. C. C. in 2008. He had a record of 867 wins and 17 losses when he retired. After retiring he moved back to his farm in Winston County where he enjoyed farming, camping, hunting and fishing. He enjoyed working with his cattle.He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Ceceile Bostick Hailey; his son, Marc Hailey, of Louisville, Mississippi and his grandson, Rev. Ben Hailey and wife Beth, of College Station,Texas. Coach Hailey is also survived by his great-grandson, Nathan Hailey and his great-granddaughter, Hannah Hailey both of College Station, Texas. He leaves behind one sister Jerry Dees, of Sebring, Florida. He was preceded in death by his parents; sons, Mike and Terry Hailey; sisters, Hazel, Francis, Rachel, Sybil and Aldean; and brothers, Chancellor, Boleyn and Duane Hailey. Services are under the direction of Nowell-Massey Funeral Home, 724 North Columbus Avenue, Louisville, MS. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family by signing the guest register at www.nowellmasseyfuneralhome.com