Monday Profile: Caledonia substitute teacher starts community pantry ‘just to help’
Suzette Bishop knows that at some point, everybody needs help.
Bishop has been that person. When schools closed last spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the longtime Caledonia High School substitute was out of work. Once, years and years ago, she and her husband Jeff had a home destroyed in a fire, prompting the community to rally around them.
Monday Profile: From ‘brown thumb’ to Master Gardener
Nancy Reeves isn’t just a gardener. She’s a master gardener. She isn’t just a master gardener, she is the president of Master Gardeners of Lowndes County.
Monday Profile: 4-County lineman braves icy roads, works long hours during winter storm
Fred Harris’ job as a journeyman lineman for 4-County Electric Power Association is pretty simple, to hear him tell it.
“Basically, it’s just maintaining lines, setting poles, keeping the lights on,” he said.
He might get five or so “trouble calls” a day — anything from a fallen limb knocking down a powerline to a squirrel or bird getting too friendly with a transformer.
But none of the week of Valentine’s Day was “normal” for Harris and his colleagues at the rural utility.
Monday Profile: Power outage does not stop Tribble from teaching children in China
At 3:15 a.m. Thursday, Suzanne Tribble was halfway through her first cup of coffee when a tree fell across West Main Street a few hundred feet east of her home, ripping through power lines and providing a horrifying light show of sparks flying from buzzing transformers.
Then her electricity, along with much of the city’s, was out and would be for the next several hours.
Monday Profile: Meet Ron Caulfield, Mississippi State baseball’s own Candyman
If Willy Wonka based his operations in North America, Ron Caufield might well be his director of Southeast distribution.
For more than two decades, Caulfield, better known around Starkville as “The Candyman,” has endeared himself to Mississippi State faithful young and old through an ear-to-ear grin and a 40-pound bag of varying confections.
Monday Profile: West Lowndes 4th grader bests mostly 8th graders to win county spelling bee
Carmen Hairston stepped up to the microphone at the Trotter Convention Center Wednesday, took a deep breath and waited to hear the word that could make her the youngest ever winner of the Scripps Howard Columbus-Lowndes District Spelling Bee.
The West Lowndes fourth-grader, competing against 25 other county students, many of them eighth-graders, had successfully advanced through six rounds to get to the moment and now needed one more correct spelling to defeat her co-finalist, an eighth-grader.
Monday Profile: Davenport brings passion for unity, spiritual growth to church leadership, community activism
Barbara Williams put all 10 of her children and several of her grandchildren through music school. They all learned to play piano, but none of them were truly passionate about it.
But one grandson, Le’Roy Davenport, turned out to be “the one” with both the talent and the passion for music, he said.
Monday Profile: West Point teacher shares love of archery with his students
When West Point resident Steve Cannon first picked up a bow many years ago, he was aiming at bottle caps. It was almost love at first sight.
“One of my great friends and relatives introduced me to bow hunting,” said Cannon, a 1993 West Point High School graduate. “Just teaching me my anchor point, shooting at a small bottle cap and making groupings around it.”
Monday Profile: Cunningham finds a family at Baptist, where her job ensures staff don’t transmit infections to patients
Registered Nurse Betty Cunningham was walking through the hallways of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle on the way to her office Friday afternoon when a fellow employee turned the corner, masked and rubbing disinfectant on his hands.
Monday Profile: After a stellar 2020, teenage West Point golf star’s rise continues
Rob Akins started coaching Emerson Blair when she was “a little teeny girl” weighing barely 60 pounds.
But Akins, a PGA professional and golf instructor from Collierville, Tennessee, could tell one thing right away: The 10-year-old from West Point showed a talent and dedication that far exceeded her size.
Monday Profile: Caledonia college student with dreams of attending medical school works winters at deer processing company
Three years ago, Melanie Moore decided to change her major from nursing to biological sciences with the goal of attending medical school.
With the decision, she realized she was taking on a major challenge. Just how big it would be, she had no way of knowing.
Monday Profile: Baptist nurse practitioner recognized for leadership, patient satisfaction
Earlier this year, Francine Glenn was surprised to receive a call from the head of the health care collective she has worked with for years.
She didn’t know why he would call, she said, until he told her he wanted to be the first to congratulate her for SCP Health’s national Excellence in Leadership award.
Monday Profile: MSMS teacher guides Choctaw Tribal School students, others to upper-level math classes online
One day last school year, Alison Alexander got a text that reminded her of why she loves teaching.
Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, where Alexander is math teacher and distance learning coordinator, had hosted students from Choctaw Tribal Schools on that particular day.
Monday Profile: Oktibbeha 4-H leader pushes herself, club members to keep serving amid pandemic
A stroke in April 2018 temporarily relegated Rose Coffey Graham to “working from the bed.”
She still had plenty to do.
Living near Oktibbeha County Lake, approximately halfway between Maben and Starkville, she has volunteered with several initiatives and organizations in both communities for decades. Possibly her best-known contribution is leading Oktibbeha County’s Controllers 4-H clubs.
Monday Profile: Local florist delivers flowers, joy out of house on the hill
Monti King bent down and extended her hand to put Todd at ease. The 4-year-old Chihuahua stood at the door and stared back at his owner, his paws scratching the door frame.
“He’s telling us, ‘It’s time to go home,'” King said of Todd, giggling.
Monday Profile: Oak Hill Academy junior balances emerging modeling career, scholastic responsibilities
Rivers Bryan’s planner is getting a lot of use these days.
Whenever the Oak Hill Academy junior hears about an assignment, a club meeting or any other task she needs to complete, Bryan, 16, puts it straight into her planner in order to stay organized.
Monday Profile: Louisiana Shrimp Shack owner brings Cajun cuisine to Columbus
From his deep bayou-based drawl to the varying fishing accessories coating the walls of the Louisiana Shrimp Shack, owner Kenneth Helmer is as genuine as it gets.
Monday Profile: Columbus couple cares for Golden Retrievers, other dogs through two businesses
The vacuum gets a lot of use at the Coover household. Otherwise, dog hair would overtake the carpeting.
Monday Profile: Self-described ‘dog lady’ cares for animals in West Point
Neely Bryan woke up Friday with a pair of swollen eyes. She could not sleep well.
The night before, she hurried from West Point to Starkville, worried. Bradley, a 7-year-old dog she had rescued, was dying, her friend told her.
Monday Profile: For Columbus business owner, working at polling places on election day has become a tradition
For those voting at Brandon Central Services in Columbus Tuesday, Lee Burdine may be the first face they see when they arrive at their polling place.