Baby Steps, Inc., is sponsoring the annual Fishing with Fathers event June 22 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the home of Omar Moore in the Darden Community.

The event is for all fathers, grandfathers, mentors and a male caregivers of children ages 3-8.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.
Bring your own poles and lawn chairs and join in a morning of fun and fishing.

Snacks and drinks will be provided.

For information, call 447-5040.

The post Fishing with Fathers is Saturday appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. – Pvt. Christopher Blake Lofton, son of Michelle Malone of Houston and Don Lofton of Mantee, recently completed U.S. Marine Corps basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island.

His training consisted of marksmanship with an M16A4 rifle and rifle firing qualification, close order drill, martial arts, bivouacs, weapons training, combat water survival, and 25-mile hikes, as well as military history, customs and courtesies.

Lofton advanced to Marine Combat training in Jacksonville, N.C. where he will complete the course for basic combat skills. He will then move on to begin his MOS training.

Lofton is a graduate of Houston High School.  

Shumpert graduates basic training

HOUSTON – Air Force Airman Gerard W. Shumpert graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Shumpert is the son of Beverly and Gary Shumpert of Houston and the grandson of Mable and William Stanfield of Buena Vista.
He is a 2012 graduate of Houston High School.

The post Locals graduate Basic Training appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

BLUE MOUNTAIN – Kelsey Danielle Nelson of Vardaman has been invited to join the Pi Tau chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the National Biological Honor Society, at Blue Mountain College.

Beta Beta Beta is a society for students dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research. She has also been selected to serve as Vice-President of the chapter in the fall of 2013.
Nelson is a senior Biology major at Blue Mountain College where she is a member of the BMC softball team and served as Class President her junior year.
She is the daughter of Damon and Tania Nelson of Vardaman.

The post Nelson joins Tri Beta appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Houston firefighters Robert Goza, from left, Jonathan Blankenship and Billy Watkins stand at the new fire station site with the tanker truck that will be housed in the facility. The lot at the corner of Harrison and Jefferson streets was cleared in preparation for construction.
(Photo by Floyd Ingram)

HOUSTON – It’s spring and dirtwork at the corner of Jefferson and Harrington streets will soon sprout a new fire station for the city.

The Houston Board of Aldermen teamed up with the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors last week and used county equipment to clear and grade the lot just south of the Square in Houston and adjacent to the current Houston Fire Station.

“They let us use their excavator and Ricko (Nichols, Street Department Superintendent) dug it up,” said Houston Mayor Stacey Parker. “The county also let us use two of their trucks to haul off the dirt.”

The site will now see a concrete slab poured and a 50-by-52 foot metal building constructed to house three city fire trucks.

“Right now we’ve got three trucks that we can’t put under a roof,” said Houston Fire Department Captain Jonathan Blankenship. “We’ve got a brush truck and tanker that are out in the weather. We’ve also got a pumper that is being repaired and when we get it back we really won’t have anywhere to put it.”

Blankenship said fire trucks must be kept above freezing so as not to spring gaskets and ruin pumps in the winter. He said sunshine in the summer degrades hoses, rubber and plastic.

“Fire trucks are a major investment for any department,” said Blankenship. “They will last a lot of years if they are maintained, driven correctly and kept inside.”

Parker said the city borrowed money to get construction of the fire station started and is looking to do much of the work themselves.

The three-bay building will face south and trucks will roll onto Harrington Street.

Houston recently took delivery of a new mini-pumper that has taken much of the workload off larger pumpers.

Blankenship has repeatedly said 60 percent of the department’s calls are medical related and responding with smaller trucks is more economical and leaves the tankers and pumper ready to respond to true fire calls.

The new fire station will not immediately improve the city’s fire rating.

Houston has a Class 7 fire rating. Moving to a Class 6 would not dramatically reduce insurance rates for homeowners and would probably require to the city to hire additional personnel, build and staff a new fire station, up grade water lines and therefore raise taxes.

Houston currently has six full-time firefighters with two per 24-hour shift. The department also has about 20 volunteers.

Dirt removed from the Harrington Street site was used to fill in a ditch next to the Kids Park at Joe Brigance Park.

The post Houston preps new fire station site appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

We are pleased to see the City of Houston and Chickasaw County working together on the site that will soon house Houston fire trucks.

Supervisors loaned a back-hoe and two dump trucks to the city to clean off the corner lot at Harrington and South Jefferson last week. The dirt was then hauled to Joe Brigance Park to fill in a ditch.

Too often elected officials forget the City of Houston is in Chickasaw County and vice-versa. That also goes for the towns of Okolona, Houlka and Woodland and each of our respective school districts.

In this time of limited government revenue, our cities, schools and county need to look to each other for help with projects and specifically maintenance of infrastructure, real property and buildings.

Each of these entities has equipment and skilled personnel who can perform work efficiently and effectively and most importantly, at a reduced cost.

We hope the leaders of city, county and school boards never hesitate to go before another entity to ask for help and we hope each elected official will politely ask the questions and get the answers they need to support these joint-venture projects.

Yes, there will be times when boards can’t get together on a project. And yes, there do need to be certain agreements drawn up to define who is responsible for what and to ease questions of cost and liability.

The fire station project is probably one of the easier projects for the City of Houston and Chickasaw County to join hands on. The Houston Fire Department is often called to crank up and roll to fight a fire in the county. County volunteers are quick to lend a hand when the pager goes off on a city fire, too.

But as we look around, we see other projects that will need a united effort between the county, schools and municipalities. Centralized dispatching, economic development, road maintenance, use of inmate labor, athletic facilities, juvenile crime, industrial park improvements, disaster relief and parking lot repairs are just a few of the projects that are on the horizon.

We hope the elected officials of our county, our cities and our schools continue to work together for the benefit of all who live and pay taxes in our community.

The post Working together appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Over the past several hunting seasons, Mississippi deer hunters have harvested some of the largest white-tailed deer on record. Mississippi is beginning to be acknowledged as one of the top white-tailed deer states in the nation.

This was recently highlighted in the June/July issue of Outdoor Life magazine. Outdoor Life ranked Mississippi seventh in the nation for producing large bucks.

This ranking was based on four criteria for each state: number of bucks qualifying for the Boone and Crockett records program, hunter density, cost of guided hunts, and hunter friendliness in terms of laws and regulations.

The top ten states were ranked as follows: Kentucky; Kansas; Indiana; Iowa; Minnesota; Illinois; Mississippi; Nebraska; Ohio; and, Oklahoma.

To view the full Outdoor Life article, visit www.outdoorlife.com/whitetailscale.

The post Mississippi producing big bucks appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Chickasaw Journal
HOUSTON – Austin Reeves hasn’t been shooting competitively for long, but he’s been doing it well enough to claim a spot at the 4-H Shooting Sports National Invitational contest at the end of this month.
“I started shooting competitively last year,” Reeves said. “I went to State last year in .22 (rifle).”
His placement of eighth at the State competition was good enough to earn him an invitation to the National meet June 23-28 in Grand Island, Neb.
Reeves has been soliciting donations from businesses, civic organizations and individuals to help fund the trip on which he will be accompanied by his coach, Brand Huffman, his father and a family friend.
A 4-H member can only compete once at the national level so sponsors would make a one-time, tax deductible donation to support him in competition.
County Extension Director Scott Cagle said the opportunity to compete in the National meet doesn’t come around very often.
“He qualified last year at the State meet,” Cagle said. “National is always a year later. This is the first time in several years we’ve had someone qualify for National.”
Reeves will leave June 21 and will compete the next week.
“It’s a five-day event,” Cagle said. “He’ll be shooting every day.”
Reeves won’t have much of a break when he returns. The 2013 State meet will be held in July and he has entered the shotgun competition. He also won’t be traveling to the State meet alone.
“Cassidy Earnest is going to State, too,” Cagle said. “She’ll compete in .22 rifle and Austin is going to compete in shotgun.”
Cagle said the 4-H Shooting Sports program has grown tremendously in the last few years and he credits the partnership of volunteers from the Regional Jail, Sheriff’s Department and Police Department.
“Andy Harmon and Dustin Dendy are the shotgun coaches,” Cagle said. “Amanda Huffman coaches air rifle and Michael Fowler coaches archery. We had about 40 kids involved last year and 22 went to competition. It’s really grown over the past four years.”
The regular season for shooting sports will resume in September, but Cagle said interested youth can sign up anytime.
“Any youth from eight to 18 can come by the Extension Office and sign up with Angie (Abrams, Program Associate),” Cagle said. “It’s growing and there’s more interest. We’ll start up again after school starts.”
As for Reeves, he’s looking forward to his trip to Nebraska and to competing at State once again.
“I’m very excited,” Reeves said.

The post Heading to Nebraska appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Submitted by Barbara Moore

Everyone that knows me knows I am an animal lover. I live on Pyland Road, which older people call “Rattlesnake Ridge”. Twice this week I have had unwelcome visitors.

My sister in law, Linda Kay Spencer Moore, and her grand-daughter, Emma Phillips, were visiting and playing with my chihuahua puppies. One of the puppies got behind our grill on the patio. As Emma was trying to get the puppy from behind the grill I spotted a cotton mouth water moccasin slithering out of the trash can beside the grill.
I was frightened as she was oblivious to how close the snake was to her. But, we got the snake from under the grill and sadly to say it went to snake heaven.
Four nights later I was working with my flowers on the front porch. I saw something from the corner of my eye slithering towards the right corner of my porch. I called Larry, my husband, to help me get it (not that I wasn’t confident I could handle the situation myself), I just didn’t want to take my eyes off it and let it get away. Yep, another water moccasin! Larry held the snake with a hoe while I hit it over the head. Sorry to say it also went to snake heaven.

The post Two is too many appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Ericka Daniell Medders and William Paul Criddle of Houlka are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Garrett Ruger Criddle.

Garrett was born on May 29, 2013 at Gilmore Memorial Regional Medical Center. He weighed 7-pounds, 2-ounces and was 19.5- inches long.
Garrett was welcomed home by his siblings, Aniston and Harper Criddle, Remington Medders and Dallius Langley.
Proud grandparents are Bo and Dorothy Medders of Woodland and Tony and Barbara Moss of Houlka.

The post BIRTH: Garrett Ruger Criddle appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.

Hannah L. Pease and Michael A. Bryant II of Houston are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Bentley Hayze Bryant.

Bentley was born on May 24, 2013 at Gilmore Memorial Regional Medical Center. He weighed 6-pounds, 12-ounces and was 19-inches long.
Proud grandparents are Michele Fowler of Biloxi and Chad Pease of Derby, Kan., and Tina and Mike Bryant of Houston.

The post BIRTH: Bentley Hayze Bryant appeared first on Chickasaw Journal.