Looking back at the biggest stories of 2014 that included the arrival of Walmart; the passage of liquor; a hospital expansion; an old but new Blues legend from Bruce; changes in city and school personnel; improvements at Weyerhaeuser; and a life saver for local dogs.
1. Walmart comes to Calhoun with new “Neighborhood Market” in Derma
The rumors began in early spring and proved true in midsummer – Calhoun County is getting a Walmart.
The new Walmart Express in Derma is scheduled to open Jan. 21.
Dock Gabbert
Tim Weeks, a native of Calhoun City, will be manager of the 12,000 square foot store that will feature a mix of merchandise including groceries, a pharmacy, fresh meat, produce, gas pumps and more.
The store will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. and will employ around 38.
When The Journal first reported the potential of a Walmart coming to Calhoun in April, two sites were being considered by the retail giant. One was the Baileyville site where the store is under construction right now. The other was east of Bruce on Hwy. 32.
The proposed Bruce site was just beyond the Bruce city limits. Representatives of Mossy Oak Properties approached land owners in that area such as Miles Jeffery about obtaining land for the potential store. Jeffery declined and they moved farther east where they appeared close to a deal on property owned by Jim Earl Aron.
While surveying and other studies were being conducted on the sites, Some Bruce officials made it known they weren’t proponents of Walmart moving in.
When Bruce Mayor Rudy Pope asked the board of aldermen about installing a sewer line to the potential Walmart site, he was met with some resistance.
“I personally think it will affect the businesses in town immensely. I’m against it,” Alderman Steve Nelson said. “There’s no way people in town can compete with a conglomerate like Walmart.”
For a variety of reasons, the Bruce site was put on hold while the Derma site received the go-ahead, much to the delight of town officials there.
“We’re excited to have the new store in Derma,” Mayor Dock Gabbert said. “We believe it will be of great benefit to our town, community and the whole county.”
2. Pittsboro legalizes the sale of liquor with 70% of the voters approving
Pittsboro made Calhoun County history in 2014 when voters approved the sale of liquor in a December election by an overwhelming margin.
Only 60 voters in the county seat, which has just over 100 registered voters, turned out for the election with 70% voting to legalize the sale of liquor and beer.
It was the first vote on legalizing alcohol in the county since 1966 when by a 2-1 margin, citizens chose to keep Calhoun dry after the state legislature opened the door for any county that wanted to become wet. Calhoun has remained dry ever since despite several instances in which petitions were circulated in an attempt to force another countywide referendum on the matter.
The option became available to Pittsboro due to a 2012 law change by the legislature that opened the door for any county seat to conduct a referendum regardless of population.
While voters approved beer and liquor, it was discovered after the election that the county seat exception in the state statute doesn’t apply to beer, only liquor.
Just last week, the Pittsboro board approved an ordinance adopting state guidelines on the sale of liquor opening the town up for someone to establish a package store potentially as early as sometime in February.
The mayor and board said they would explore all options on beer sales, but that would likely take more legislative action.
3. Harris pleads guilty to McGonagill shooting; will serve five years in jail
The number one story in 2013 continued into 2014 when Wayne “Honky” Harris plead guilty to the January 2013 shooting death of Chris McGonagill before special Circuit Judge Breland Hilburn in May.
He was sentenced to 20 years, with 15 years suspended, five years to serve and five years post-release supervision.
Wayne Harris
Harris entered the guilty plea to a charge of manslaughter standing next to his attorney T.R. Trout in the upstairs courtroom of the Lafayette County Courthouse on the Oxford Square.
Harris, 57, entered the proceedings facing a depraved heart murder charge for McGonagill’s death as well as one count of touching a child for lustful purposes and four counts of sexual battery from a separate investigation.
All those charges were retired to the file as part of the plea agreement with the district attorney’s office.
McGonagill’s widow, Alicia, who along with a large contingency of family and friends, sat in the first row behind the prosecutors’ desk, read a prepared statement from the stand before Harris was escorted out to begin serving his sentence.
“Sixteen months ago my life and my children’s lives were forever changed,” she said. “The pain we’ve been through has been unbelievable. I have struggled with forgiveness in this instance, but I hope with this guilty plea I can find it. Not that he deserves it, but (our family) does.”
4. Sandy Aron resigns as BES principal after only one year, Jeff Patton hired
After only one year on the job as principal of Bruce Elementary, Sandy Aron resigned and took a teaching job in the East Webster school district.
Sandy Aron
While Aron made no public comments as to her reason for resigning, her and husband Jeremy Aron’s frustration with the Bruce High School softball program was well documented and several sources suggested that caused the change.
The Arons met with the school board in executive session in April to file complaints on what they said were “Title IX” violations, alleging girls’ softball wasn’t receiving the same benefits as other sports at BHS.
Aron resigned less than two months later.
In the same meeting that Aron’s resignation was accepted by the school board, Jeff Patton was hired as Aron’s replacement.
Patton, a 17-year teacher at Bruce High School, had previously run for superintendent losing a close race to Mike Moore.
“I am truly excited about this opportunity. Bruce Elementary is a great school with a great staff,” Patton said after his hiring. “It’s my sincere desire to support the teachers and try to be a positive influence in the lives of the young students.”
5. City of Bruce buys theater in auction
The City of Bruce topped four other bidders in April at a public auction in Pittsboro to acquire the Cinema 22 building on the Bruce Square.
The bidding opened at $10,000 and ended with the city’s bid of $36,000.
Following some minor renovations, the city hosted a few movie events during the year, free to area children, including a Christmas movie in December that drew 146 children.
6. Calhoun Health Services approved for $2 million expansion
Work is expected to begin in 2015 on a $2 million addition to Calhoun Health Services (CHS) that will provide a new headquarters for the ambulance service, a larger physical therapy unit and office space for hospital administration.
“This is something we’ve needed for some time and we’re excited about the opportunities it will provide us to better serve the people of Calhoun County,” CHS Administrator James Franklin said.
The new facility will be located on the northeast corner of the CHS campus next door to the current medical clinic and physical therapy building.
Franklin said representatives with North Mississippi Medical Center evaluated the space needs for the hospital and approved the new 10,032 square foot addition.
7. Wells establishes Dog Lovers’ League
Bruce is now home to a no-kill animal shelter overseen by the “Dog Lovers League” established by Rose Wells.
Wells negotiated a lease with the City of Bruce and ground was broken on the new facility just last month.
Wells started the “no-kill” shelter looking for a better solution than how the city was handling “stray dogs.”
Unclaimed stray dogs picked up by the city were being euthanized after they were held for at least five days.
“They were unnecessary deaths,” Wells said. “Dogs shouldn’t be killed simply due to a lack of space.”
8. Local Bluesman now in demand
It would be difficult to find someone who had a better 2014 than Leo “Bud” Welch of Bruce. The 82-year-old Bluesman released a new album, toured Europe, Canada and the U.S., has been featured in countless publications and is the subject of a documentary currently in the works on his life in Calhoun County.
The highlight of all the notoriety for Welch has simply been the increased opportunities to do what he loves best.
“I just love to play,” he said gripping his hot pink guitar. “I’m going to keep on playin’ as long as I’m here.”
9. Gray wins lawsuit; fired months later
The long time feud between Roderick Gray and his employer, the City of Bruce, came to an end in 2014.
The year began with Gray being awarded $18,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against the city stemming from
Roderick Gray
the city’s hiring of Joe Moss, who is white, as public works director in 2010 over Gray, a 23-year city employee. Gray claimed the city chose Moss based on race. Town officials vehemently denied the claim citing Moss’ greater management experience as the reason for his selection.
Following Moss’ resignation to take another job, the city split the public works department in half naming Gray director of the water department and Joe Farmer director of streets.
Gray’s disputes with the city continued until he was ultimately fired in July on a 3-2 vote by the board due to “destroying public property and other reasons,” Mayor Rudy Pope said. The public property was a GPS system the city had installed in many of its vehicles to keep track of them.
Cody Liles, who had worked with the department for the past three years, was promoted to Gray’s position.
10. Weyerhaeuser getting turn lane
The long line of log trucks awaiting their turn to enter the Weyerhaeuser mill in Bruce should get a little more organized in 2015 when a turn lane is installed on Hwy. 9. The long-sought after project by the city was approved by MDOT in 2014 and Willis Engineering, of Grenada, has been hired to oversee the project.
Other top stories from 2014, in no particular order included:
•Lack of education funding creating teacher shortage
•Bruce Square changes from yield to stop signs
•Bruce approves bid for $1 million sewer improvement project
•Calhoun City football returns to state championship game
•School Board gives pay raises to non-certified staff, superintendent
•858th returns home from Afghanistan
Editor’s Note: This list was compiled by the staff of The Journal considering the overall news value of each story, the number of people impacted and historical significance.