PICAYUNE, Miss., Wednesday, Aug. 12 — While other muncipalities and counties throughout the nation might be awash in Obama’s stimulus money, it seems that Picayune and Pearl River Co. won’t be getting any of the billions of dollars approved by Congress to stimulate the U.S. economy, at least in the first round, or the first try.

However, the first rejection was concerning requests to hire additional law enforcement personnel at the county and city level, and there might be a later chance that the county and city will get funds for infra-structure projects, although no one was sure of that.

McGrew told the council that in the "first round" the city won't get any stimulus monies.

The subject came up for discussion at the city council’s budget workshop on Tuesday.

“Now we discuss stimulus money, potentially, maybe, maybe not,” said Mayor Ed Pinero in kicking off a short discussion on the matter.

Pinero said officials told him that Pearl River Co. will not get any stimulus funds this go-around. “If you get personnel with the money, you buy on for three years and then you pay for the fourth, and I believe that’s what they had reference to, personnel,” said Pinero, indicating the funds are not a free grant.

Pinero said requests for the funds by governments ran 100 percent over the available funds. “Everybody threw in a big request,” he added.

Picayune has requested overall $40 million in stimulus funding, discussion brought out. That would cover personnel and infra-structure projects.

Barbara McGrew, head of the grant administration dept., said that it was her understanding that the request from the police dept. for a stimulus grant to hire six additional police officers was denied. “We did get a letter stating that in the first round, we did not get it,” she said.  However, she said the letter left open the possibility that Picayune might be able to get some funding in the second round. She said that she has not seen any communications regarding stimulus money for infra-structure projects.

Contacted after the meeting, Deputy Police Chief David R. Ervin told At-Large that the dept. had applied for a grant through the federal Bureau of Justice COPS agency, which coordinates grants for police depts. throughout the U.S. The request, if it had been approved, would have funded six additional police officers for 3 years.

Ervin said the agency told the dept. here that the Picayune application would remain active, and that if any additional funding became available, there might be a chance of getting funding then.

Gouguet, Daniel converse while Watkins chats on phone shortly before the fifth of six budget workshops last Tuesday.

“We hated to not get it; we sure needed it,” said Ervin. But he added that requests for the funds amounted to over 8 times what was available. One billion dollars was set aside for the program.

He said Gulfport won one of the grants, but he added that those depts. that did receive money in the program did not receive nearly what they originally requested. About 20 police depts. throughout Mississippi will get the stimulus funds.

Councilman Larry Breland wanted to know when the “second round” will begin. McGrew said she did not know. “They have not told us,” she said.

Pinero said it was his understanding that the second round would come from monies that were not used by those  participating in the programing, and he saw little chance of anything being left over. “Who would not accept it and use it,” said Councilman Wayne Gouguet.

The council was careful to draw a distinction between funding for personnel and funding for infra-structure.

The council has been scouring every area, looking for funding to help support a tight 2009-10 budget they are now putting together. The discussion indicated that while they might get some stimulus funding next year, there’s little chance they can count on it for the new budget.

The council has the last of six workshops scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. at the council chambers at 815 North Beech Street. The meeting is open to the public but residents cannot participate in the discussion. The council’s next regularly scheduled business meeting is next Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 5 p.m. in the council chambers.

The council by law must have the budget completed by Sept. 15 and adopted by Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

(Editor’s Note: Doug McQueen graduated from Picayune High School in 1963 and later from USM with a masters. After graduating from college, he worked as an administrator in the Texas school system. He later worked in Ohio for American Electric Power Co., one of the largest utility companies in the world, as head of leadership development.  He is widely known as an educational consultant and innovator in the educational field and has been a consultant for a number of major corporations and government entities. He is also a published author. He is currently a consultant for leadership development at Ole Miss.  He and his wife, the former Sandy Shaw, also of Picayune, reside in Oxford, Miss. Sandy’s mom and dad were T.J. and Virginia Shaw. Sandy was reared on Sixth Avenue. Doug’s sister is Jackanell Smith, who was the wife of the late Judge H.K. Smith. Jackanell still resides in Picayune in the Richardson Community. Doug sent us this reminiscence of happy days on Boley Creek. It will bring back memories for many. Doug is the son of the late Jack and Harvis McQueen. Doug was reared in Roseland Park Community on Sycamore Road.)

By DOUG McQUEEN

Once it was clear, clean, happy.  It had sandy bottoms, with clean white sandbars   sprinkled here and there. Trees occasionally leaned over the water and created shade, where bass and bream could be seen chasing minnows or slapping at an unfortunate grasshopper that had fallen into the creek.  If you were a kid in Picayune in the 1950’s, it was probably where you learned to swim, and maybe to fish.  For those of us who grew up in Roseland Park, it was the unofficial line of demarcation between “Town” and us.  Officially it was known as the Hobolochitto Creek.  But that was too many syllables for our casual Southern tongues; to us it was “Boley.”

As kids nothing brought us greater pleasure during our summers than a trip to the creek.  On most of those typical hot, sultry South Mississippi afternoons we kids would wind down our play near the end of the day in hopes of a trip to the Creek.  Children seem to have this mystical sense of time that adults cannot understand.  For example, though we had no watches, we always knew when it was near 5:00.  We would gather at my home, sitting seemingly aimlessly on the front porch, but really watching for my Dad’s old truck to come down Sycamore Road.  If we were lucky he would declare it a “swimmin’ day,” and we’d all jump in the back of that old truck, grabbing inner tubes and towels on the way.  We didn’t need swim suits; we were wearing them: old cutoff slacks we called “shorts” that needed a good washing anyway.  And those old tire tubes made great floats. 

I can recall at least three “swimholes” on Boley in the Picayune area.  One was over behind an old sawmill in eastern Picayune.  Another was near the Bogalusa Highway Bridge.  But for a long time the swimhole of choice was beneath the “new” Highway 11 Bridge (it was still considered a new bridge in the 1950’s).  It was a wonderful place to swim or just hang out.  On the east side of the bridge the water was just right, shallow on the north bank for those who could not swim well, and deep enough to dive into from the south bank.  A rope hung from a tree on that south side, and it was a rite of passage to become old enough and brave enough to swing from the rope and drop into the creek.  As you grew older you were further challenged not to just drop from the rope but to dive, and then to do a jackknife, and then a flip.  Many’s the youngster who went home with a red tummy after doing a “belly-buster” from that rope!

I remember the clarity of the water.  We would submerge ourselves and then open our eyes.  You could see the sandy bottom, with minnows darting all around. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you would spot a bass or a bluegill, maybe even a catfish.  Or you would spot the feet and legs of some unsuspecting friend who would soon receive a pinch or a thump.  Only a summer thunderstorm could “muddy up” the water, but it would be clear again in a day or two. 

Where the creek ran under the bridge was the perfect spot for the little kids.  It was very shallow, at spots no more than ankle deep.  The water made a gentle ripple as it coursed its way through these shallows.  Overhead the “thump-kerthump-kerthump” of cars and trucks passing by provided a steady background.  The water was always cool here, under the shadow of the bridge.  It was a great place to put a watermelon to chill while you enjoyed a good swim.  Once it cooled you could eat, not worrying about getting the juices all over you because you could soon wash them off with one last dip in the creek.

As the shadows lengthened, soon it would come time to leave.  No matter how long we got to stay, it always seemed we had to leave too soon.  Usually the sun would have set, with just the gray twilight left.  We would pile back into that old truck and begin the trek back home.  Tired, sometimes exhausted, we held on as the truck bounced over the rough dirt road that ran from the creek back up to Carroll Street.  If the swimhole had a flaw, then this road was it.  It always had huge mudholes after rains, and just plain big holes and ruts when dry.  But it was never so bad that we would turn back if on our way to the creek.  So after we banged and bounced our way back to Highway 11, we’d kick back and enjoy the cool evening breeze across our wet skins as we made our way home.  Life could get no better.

When the new outdoor pool was opened at the YMCA, fewer and fewer kids came to the swimhole at Boley.  Now they were learning to swim at the “Y.”  Those of us who had learned at the creek always thought those kids had missed something.  As we became adolescents, for some reason it was no longer “cool” to swim at the bridge.  We created a new swimming hole behind the abandoned sawmill in Roseland Park.  We hung a cable from a tree and even constructed a diving board.  It was not known to many, and we considered it ours.  We no longer needed our parents along, and we spent many summer afternoons in our own little world back there behind that sawmill.  Time passed, we graduated from high school and went our separate paths, leaving both Boley and our youth behind.  In a way so, too, did Boley leave its youth behind.  It grew old, its waters becoming murky and its sandbars disappearing.  Years of pollution took its toll.  Now it seems to barely move along its course, the water still and stagnant.  It has become an ugly scar across the face of Picayune.

I don’t get home to Picayune much any more.  But when I do I must cross the Boley Bridge, as all travelers in the town eventually do.  I never fail to look out at the creek and reflect on what was.  The creek and the swamp that surround it are now ugly.  The town has grown up on either side and seems to have forgotten this once happy stream.  But in my mind’s eye I see a sleek white sandbar bordering a coffee-colored creek, with kids running across the sand or dropping from a rope and splashing in the water.  And I always wonder if the creek could be brought back, if some of its birthright could be restored.  

I know it will never be a “swimmin’ hole” again.  But maybe some civic clubs could adopt different sections of the swamp and clean them up.  Maybe dirt could be brought in to build jogging or bike trails through the swamp, with a pedestrian bridge or two crossing over the creek.  Perhaps azaleas and other flowering shrubs could be planted along the trail.  The entire area could become a nature preserve, where people could go to see the flora and fauna of a swamp right in the middle of town.  Or maybe the little creek could be dammed and a town lake created.  I don’t know if any of these things will ever happen but I feel I owe it to the creek to at least suggest it.  It’s a sad creek now, an eyesore for the town.  Once it was happy, a place we were proud of.  We called it Boley.

Although most of the old swimholes are gone and overgrown, there are still a few scenic spots on Boley if you know where to find 'em; however, Boley has deteriorated terribly since the 1950s when it was more pristine.

PICAYUNE, Miss., Wednesday, Aug. 5 — City Clerk Priscilla Daniel said today a “lock box” system, contracted through Hancock Bank, will save the city money and help automate more the city’s utility collections. The new system involves residents who mail utility payments to the city each month.

They will no longer be going to the City of Picayune post office box, but will be mailed to a Hancock Bank processing center in Tampa, Fla.

There the invoices will be processed at a data collection center, deposits made immediately to the city’s bank account, and the information downloaded to city computers. The data processing center will also daily prepare the city a CD as a backup for processed payments.

Daniel said the new system will help replace an employee, who usually handles the work, allowing that person to be shifted to another dept.

Some residents were wondering why their utilities bills had to be mailed to Tampa, and Daniel said, “The utility dept. is not being outsourced.” She said that by using the Hancock Bank processing system, the city is able to save money and time on processing payments for utility bills.

Daniel issued a statement on the new change, and the statement follows:

“The City of Picayune entered into a contract with Hancock Bank last year when the city was preparing to bring the utility billing and collection back in house.

“Because of the problems that were brought on by the conversion. . .the system is just getting implemented. The ‘Lock Box’, as it is called, was scheduled to begin in Sept. but because the software programmer happened to be in our office last week, we were able to get it started a month earlier.

“The cost of the Lock Box is less than a full-time employee, and since one of the employees in the billing dept. was needed in another dept., this will be a cost saving feature. The cashiers will be relieved of receiving the mail and it will allow them to spend more time with the walk-in customers.

“When the utility customers mail their payment, with the stub to the Lock Box address listed on the utility bill, the mail is opened and entered into a system that is downloaded to our system and the customers’ accounts on a daily basis. The city will also receive a CD with the posting information daily, as back up.

“This is not a new concept; many businesses, utility companies and credit card companies have been using this system for a long time. We have every confidence that this will be an effective and cost saving measure for the City of Picayune.”

• Rankings don’t mean a whole lot unless you win, says Hatten
• Five Mississippi teams in top 25 list, showing strength of Mississippi’s Jr. college football league
• Perk, defending state champs and Wildcat arch-rival, ranked 2nd nationally
• Butler of Kansas ranked No. 1            

POPLARVILLE, Miss., Thursday, July 30 — Pearl River Community College enters the 2009 football season ranked No. 11 in the NJCAA’s top 25 preseason poll that was released today.

            The Wildcats are one of five MACJC teams in the balloting, which also included No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast, the defending state champions, No. 7 East Mississippi, No. 14 Jones County, and No. 19 Northwest Mississippi.

            Defending national champion Butler CC ( Kan. ) is No. 1 in the poll.

            PRCC head coach Tim Hatten enters his eighth season with the Wildcats and boasts a consecutive string of four MACJC titles (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006), including an NJCAA national championship in 2004. He sports a 61-13 record over the past seven seasons.

            “Preseason poll recognition is great,” Hatten said, “but, in the long run, polls don’t mean a thing if you don’t produce wins on the football field. In our league, everybody we face on our schedule is a challenge.

            “Five (MACJC) teams in the preseason poll goes to show you the strength of our conference.”

            The Wildcats finished its 2008 campaign with an 8-3 mark, defeating East Mississippi 42-35 in the first round of the MACJC playoffs before falling to MGCCC (Perk) 52-7 in the state title bout. Last year, PRCC also fell to Gulf Coast 10-3 during in the regular season and East Central 44-38 in double-overtime.

            Mississippi Gulf Coast finished its 2009 season with a 10-2 overall mark, including a lopsided 41-7 victory over Georgia Military in the inaugural Mississippi Bowl, while East Mississippi was 8-2, Jones County 7-2, and Northwest Mississippi 6-4.

We dropped into Commercial Printing Co., 304 W. Canal St., to pick up some printing and got into a conversation with the new owner, Joseph Sanders and his wife, Susan. We asked them did they know that they owned one of the two oldest continuously operated businesses in Picayune? They weren’t aware.

Commercial Printing and the Picayune Item are the two oldest continuously operated businesses in Picayune.

It came about this way:  (If we are inaccurate in anthing, please correct us in the comments section. Also please add to this story in the comments if you have additional information.)

Susan and Joseph Sanders, owners of Commercial Printing, the second oldest, continuously run business in Picayune.

It was 1904. The lumber harvest of the virgin yellow pine, which grew all around Picayune for hundreds of miles, was well underway, and Picayune was beginning to grow, although it was still just a sleepy village with cows roaming up and down the dusty roads of the little village on what was an open range.

Eastman Francis Tate was in town and realized the potential of the little village. His grandson, Col. John H. Napier,  writes in a Picayune history that Tate possessed information that there was going to be a rail spur from a large lumber mill operation laid to connect at Picayune with the New Orleans & Northeast Railroad that ran from New Orleans  north through Picayune. The railroad had been constructed through Picayune in 1883.

That would make Picayune a bustling terminal at the connection busy railroads, so the village was bound to grow, reasoned Tate.

The village leaders, led by Tate, petitioned the State Legislature to incorporate Picayune into a town; that was done in 1904. Tate did two other things that were to live on long after he died in the early 1930s: He founded the Bank of Picayune and the Picayune Item.

The Bank of Picayune failed in 1976 and its healthy assets were acquired by Hancock Bank, after the FDIC facilitated the acquisition.

That left the Picayune Item as the oldest continuously run business in Picayune.

The small village experienced a growth spurt but nothing near what Tate and his business partners and associates had envisioned.

In a remembrance written years later by Jesse Ryals Furr (the remembrance was supplied to us by his daughter, Charleen Schrock), Furr wrote that about 1910 the Item shut down in Picayune and was moved to Carriere, 10 miles up the road. Furr was to later own and run the Item for 28 years. The Harbesons had established a huge lumber mill at Carriere, known earlier as Lacy, and everyone figured that Carriere would boom and grow. The Item was published in Carriere for several years under the name The Pearl River Countian. No copies of the Countian, as far as we know, exists.

In 1915-16 the real boom finally hit Picayune, and that was when L.O. Crosby Sr. came to town, purchased the Blodgett virgin pine timber tract of land that stretched all the way from Picayune to Poplarville, even north of  Poplarville, covering the entire western section of the county. In five short years Picayune’s population jumped from a few hundred to over 5,000. For the next 40 years, Picayune would only grow by 2,000 residents to hit 7,000 in 1960.

The Blodgett timber tract was one of the largest virgin pine forest tracts remaining in the South. Just how Crosby acquired the tract is lost to history although he had connections to the Rowlands family, who had married into the Goodyear family, you know, the tire and rubber barons.

Crosby began cutting the virgin pine timber, and his mills would run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from 1916 to the mid-1930s until the last of the timber was cut and the Great Depression shut his mills down in Picayune. My grandfather, Robert Andrew Farrell, after whom my son, Andy, is named,  worked for the Crosbys all his life, from 1918 to 1948, when he died, living in a Crosby mill house at Crosby, Miss., where he worked for Hollis Crosby, one of the three sons of L.O. Crosby Sr. The Crosbys had opened a big timber mill there, too. Robert Howell and L.O. Jr. were the other two sons.

When the mill played out here in the 1930s, hundreds of families moved to Crosby to continue working for the Crosby family. There were no other jobs. Few realize how wealthy the Crosbys were. In 1948, when L.O. Sr. died, they were reputed to be worth $80 million, which would translate into billions today. They were once one of the richest families in America. They built the stadium, the high school, the library and the hospital and gave it to the city.

We don’t know how Furr wound up here in Picayune, or from where he came, but he was here, and he recognized that there would be a need for a newspaper here, once the Crosby timber boom got underway.

Tate must have still owned the name because Furr purchased the moribund Item from him and reopened the newspaper in Picayune. It was, of course, a weekly. He was to run it for 28 years after which he sold it to Chance Cole. In order to help generate some extra revenue, Furr had began a print shop in conjunction with the Item.

The print shot gradually grew along with the Item.

In 1944, Furr, worn out from the grind, decided to sell the newspaper. Chance Cole, a West Virginia newspaperman, wanted to buy it but did not want the print shop. There was a guy in town, however, who wanted the print shop, and that was none other than, Joe Whatley, a Louisianan who had resettled in Picayune. Whatley bought the print shop, set it up separately and named it Commercial Printing. Whatley also began a radio program over WRJW that was to be an icon here for years, Joe Whatley and the Local News. Whatley recently died.

The Item is the oldest continuously operated business in the city and Commercial Printing is the second, being founded originally, not by name, in 1916, when Furr revived the Item.

Counting from 1904, the Item is 105 years old, and from 1916, Commercial Printing 93 years old.

Chance Cole held on to the Item until about 1961 when he sold it to Charlie Nutter, who was the manager of the International House (IH) in New Orleans. The IH was a sort of chamber of commerce that worked with the Port of New Orleans in an effort to attract new businesses and increase traffic to the port.

Nutter was a former AP wire service bureau chief and actually served as an AP foreign correspondent in the 1930s to Russia, once interviewing the evil dictator Stalin. I once asked Mr. Nutter what it was like talking to Stalin and what he was like. “Cold, icy, no emotion; remember he killed millions of his own countrymen,” said Nutter. “He could sign the death warrants of thousands of people, and then go to bed and sleep like a baby. The man had no conscience.”

Nutter came to Picayune because it was expected that Picayune would grow into a large metropolitan city because of the location of the NASA test site in northern Hancock Co. only a few miles southeast of Picayune. They established the buffer zone and ordered all the residents out of the zone and began construction in 1960.

Cole was criticised for selling the newspaper to Nutter because Picayune was expected to grow, and it was envisioned that the Item would shortly become a daily. It was rumored that L.O. Crosby Jr., who was a close friend of Nutter and met him at the IH, loaned Nutter the money to buy the Item.

We went to work for Nutter in 1968, and cut our jounalistic teeth under him. We will always remember the first day on the job; he came out of his office and threw a dictionary on my desk, and huffed, “Here, memorize this!” He was short-tempered and gruff, exhibiting all the traits of a rough and tumble newsman. He worked during a time when wire service reporters were aggressive characters who roamed their beats seeking a scoop or big story.

We remember he would write editorial diatribes against the supervisors, and he actually once exposed a supervisor for embezzlement. That was when the county north-south split almost became a small civil war. Some supporters of the supervisor caught Mr. Nutter at the Caesar store one day, jumped on him and beat him up.

He was transported to the Hattiesburg hospital, and the next day a hand-written editorial was delivered to the Item to be run in the next edition. The title of the editorial: “Bloody But Unbowed!”

Nutter reportedly purchased the Item from Cole for $80,000, which was a lot of money in the early 1960s. Nutter held on to the Item until about 1972 when he sold it to James Boone of Tuscaloosa, Ala., the publisher of the Tuscaloosa News, for $400,000, a lot of money in 1972. Boone was on his way to establishing a chain, and the Item was his first acquisition.

Boone owned a chain of newspapers eventually and kept the newspaper until about 1979 or 1980. About 1976, Boone also bought the Poplarville Democrat for $80,000, the same amount Nutter paid for the Item in 1961. Bill Posey was named publisher of the Democrat. Murphy Weir owned the Democrat at that time when it was sold, and his son, Butch, is now the editor. The Democrat is still owned by the Item.

About 1978, under Boone, the Item went daily. I was the managing editor at the time, and we went from two days a week publication to five days a week. So I worked on the Item as a weekly, a semi-weekly and then daily.

Along about 1979 or 1980, Boone sold both the Item and Democrat to Donald Reynolds, owner of Don-Rey Media Group; Reynolds was one of the richest men in America. Reynolds owned both the Item and Democrat for years, and when he died the Rose Law Firm acquired the Reynolds empire and with it, the Item; that’s right, the same law firm that Hillary worked for.

Later the current owners, a chain, acquired the Item and Democrat.

Reynolds paid $1.5 million for the Item in 1979, and wrote a personal check for $250,000 for the Democrat, we were told by reliable sources later on. The Item today is probably worth anywhere from $10 million to $20 million, maybe even more, quite a long way from the little four-page first issue in 1904.

We will never forget the story that Bill Posey used to tell about when Mr. Reynolds bought both the Item and the Democrat. Mr. Reynolds, who actually lived in Las Vegas on a 40-acre estate right near downtown right off the strip, boarded a private jet one day, flew to New Orleans, rented a stretch limo and rode to Poplarville.

He pulled up in front of the Democrat and walked into Posey’s little office. He stuck out his hand, shook Posey’s hand, and said, “Hello, I am Donald Reynolds.” At first it didn’t ring a bell, but then it hit Posey and he burst out, “So your the dude who bought this place.” They both laughed. Posey said Reynolds talked to him about 15 minutes. Posey asked him why he come to Poplarville. Reynolds told him, “This is the smallest property I have, and I just wanted to see it.” He then left, rode back to New Orleans, boarded his jet and flew back to Vegas. At one time he owned 69 newspapers and over 100 tv stations. His outdoor advertising holdings, which blanketed Las Vegas, was probably worth as much as his papers and tv stations. He was on the Forbes list.

We worked for Posey for about 10 years as associate editor and then became editor about 1988.  I resigned in 1992 to enter the trucking industry. I left Picayune and didn’t return until about two years ago to retire. During the 1980s, I worked mainly under Dave Sims, who was Item publisher in the 1980s. Tom Andrews, former Item advertising director, is now the publisher. I worked for the Item for 25 years, as a reporter, associate editor, managing editor, and at the Democrat, as associate editor and editor.

Whatley kept the print shop, which he combined with an office supply company, for decades, and along about the mid-1970s sold it to Norman McCaskill and his brother, who worked as printers for Whatley. Norman then bought out his brother. In 1991 I purchased the shop, and kept it for about a year, and realized, that although I might be a journalist, I sure as hell wasn’t a printer. Norman graciously bought it back from me. He willed it to his grandson, Steve, who on May 1, 2007, sold it to Sanders.

Sanders has been in the printing business for 30 years and says he loves his work.

• Hatten eyeing 8th season at Pearl River
• Rashod Henry of Lumberton probably one of best athletes to ever play at Pearl River, says Hatten
• Willie Downs of Tallahassee, Fla., was high school All-American
• Picayune sophomore Albert Richards will compliment Wildcat ground game
• Picayune’s Justin Flowers will be back at linebacker after seeing plenty action last year

PICAYUNE, Miss., Wednesday, July 22 — Police Chief Jim Luke, Officer Monica Jacobsen and Deputy Chief David R. Ervin appeared before the council on Tuesday, July 21, with the most coveted award any police dept. in the state can own, the Mississippi Muncipal League’s (MML) top public safety award.

The Picayune Police Dept. was awarded the prestigious award at the recent MML annual convention held July 15  in Biloxi.

The award was in the public safety category for cities with a population over 10,000. “We competed with the big dogs and won,” said Luke.

The recent award is the sixth award in a row the police dept. here has won in MML competition. The award this year was won with a program developed by Jacobsen that saw recycled cell phones given to the elderly, domestic abused  victims and the disabled, allowing them to call 911 when they need help. The refurbished phones allow only for the 911 call.

Said Luke to the council: “We had the privilege to attend the banquet. . .We had the opportunity to be honored with the top public safety award for 2009 for cities with a population over 10,000 in Mississippi. We competed with the big dogs and won, and believe me the competition was fierce. I want to thank Monica Jacobsen for her efforts. She is making this chief and this city look really good.”

Replied Mayor Ed Pinero Jr.: “We thank you all for all the positive efforts. Obviously you dominate the entire state and you make the entire city look good throughout the state, and we appreciate that.”

Replied Luke: “I also invited Deputy Chief Ervin up here. We recently presented the city manager with our five-year plan, and a lot of work went into preparing that plan, and Chief Ervin spent many hours working on the plan. We worked on it very diligently. We think it is a good plan. We got external input into it from the citizens. We are real proud of the plan, and this man deserves a lot of the credit for putting it together.”

Not only has the Picayune Police Dept. won the top awards for the past six years, but the dept. is accredited both by the state and national organizations who on a regular basis meticulously inspect the dept. before awarding the dept. its accreditation.

The national standing is the most gruelling. Chiefs of Police from the national organization grade the Picayune department on 454 points of inspection. Ervin, after the council meeting in a short interview with ”At-Large”, said the chiefs who perform the inspection and grading are highly respected professionals who have had years of experience in law enforcement,  some running large metropolitan police forces.

“They not only inspect your equipment and uniforms, they also go over your policy and procedures with a fine-toothed comb. The inspections last a week. It’s all aimed at protecting the city and the citizenry. It deals with accountability and transparency,” said Ervin.

The dept. is well into preparations for a national inspections planned for mid-August.

From left Luke, Jacobsen, Ervin. Based on awards and accreditation Picayune has one of the best police depts. in the state and nation.

It began with a call from my son, Andy.

Andy: “Dad, are you keeping Sy (my grandson) tomorrow (Friday)?

Paw Paw: “Yes, as a matter of fact, Ann (my daughter) called today and said she wanted me to come up there (Carriere) and sleep at her house so she won’t have to get Sy Devin up so early and bring him to Picayune.”

Andy: “Well, Zoey (my granddaughter) wants to know if you all are going swimming tomorrow?”

Paw Paw: “Well, we probably will because Sy Devin always knows he can get Paw Paw to do whatever he (Sy) wants to do, and he is always wanting to go to the creek. That makes his day.”

Andy: “Zoey wants you all to come by and get her. She wants to go, too.”

Paw Paw: “No problem. We will drop by at about 10 a.m. and pick her up.”

So I go up to Carriere and spend the night. At 7 a.m. I here Sy: “Mommy! Mommy!” I expected that he would sleep to about 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. but for some reason he is up unusually early.

He wonders into my room. He asks where his mommy is. I tell him she had to go into work early today, so that is why I came up to his home, so he could sleep in.

Assured that everything is okay, he says: “I want to watch E.T.” That is his favorite movie. I have watched it probably one thousand times with him.

We watch E.T. for perhaps an hour while lying in bed together.

Sy: “Paw, Paw, I’m hungry.”

Paw Paw: “Okay, let’s go into the kitchen and see what we can round up.”

We walk into the kitchen, and I go through the cabinets. There is cereal but no milk, at least not real cow’s milk, only soy milk. I don’t like soy milk so I know that is an option for me.

Paw Paw: “Sy, do you want cereal?”

Sy: “Naw!”

I spy a dish wrapped in aluminum foil. I unwrap it and see a delicious-looking German chocolate cake, real moist, about half already gone.

Paw Paw: “Who made this chocolate cake?”

Sy: “Maw Maw.” That’s his father’s mother, whom I call Miss Glenda. I remember she is a very good cook.

We have chocolate cake for breakfast.

What the hell, I tell myself. We will make up for it at lunch. We will have a very nutritious meal at noon, thus cancelling out the indulgence. We eat the whole other half of the cake.

I look at my watch. It is 9:30 a.m. We have 30 minutes to make it to Zoey’s in Picayune.

We stop and pick up Zoey and go to the trestle bridge where they usually play in the shallow waters.

We arrive at the trestle and have a great disappointment. It has rained last night in central Pearl River Co., and the runoff is just reaching Picayune. East Hobolochitto (Boley) is muddy and two to three feet higher than usual.

They are devastated. They insist on going in. I, in my authoritative tone, tell them there is no way you will go into that. It is muddy and stirred up and way too deep for you two, neither of whom know how to swim. So much for plan A.

So I have a plan B. I tell them, “I know a place where there is a good-sized white sand beach. Although you will not be able to wade, you will be able to play in the sand. But we will have to go back and get your beach utensils and get some mosquito spray, because when you go into the woods a little bit, you always run into millions of mosquitoes.”

They are overjoyed and agree readily.

So off we go back to Zoey’s house and get her beach toys and sand shovels, and we stop at a quick stop to get some spray. I am amazed that a can of “Off” costs $7. But I have to have it. But I will discover later that I did not need it, because I do not see a single mosquito, and I have no idea why. The last time I was at the place, they ran me out.

We arrive back at the trestle. We enter the woods on a nice wide trail and in a few minutes are at the old Dow swimhole. The swimhole was used for about 50 years by many residents, but with the changes in the creek, it slowly fell out of favor. There used to be a huge sand beach at the swimhole, but the creek has washed most of it away; however, there is still a small portion of it left. It will do fine for Zoey and Sy to play on.

They run onto the sandbar, throw their beach toys in the sand and immediately start digging holes.

I place my beach chair on a small knoll overlooking the sandbar so I will have a good view of them, since I know I will have to keep an eye on them constantly because the water is deep here, and they cannot get close to it. They must stay on the sandbar.

Here is where the fun begins, and the enjoyment. If you keep your mouth shut and don’t interject yourself into kids’ conversations you can hear some amazing things. You must not interfere with their play and talk unless things get really out of hand and they are in danger of hurting themselves. But as long as the talk flows in a civilized manner, just kick back and listen, and you will be highly entertained.

Zoey and Sy are good buddies. They rarely disagree on anything. They genuinely love each others’ company.

For about 30 minutes everything goes smoothly, and then this happens: While Zoey is digging her hole in the sand, close by Sy’s hole, she accidentally throws sand on him.

Sy: “Don’t do that! I am going to tell your mommy that you threw dirt on me. You are a meanny.”

Zoey: “Sy, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident. And if you tell my mommy that I threw dirt on you, I am going to tell your mommy that you called me a meanny. You are a meanny.”

Sy: “I am not a meanny. I am a sweet boy.”

Zoey: “You may be a sweet boy sometimes, but right now you are a mean boy. I know, Sy, because I am older than you.” Sy is 3 and Zoey is 6.

Sy: “Well, you called me a meanny, and you said you were going to tell my mommy on me, so I am going to tell your mommy on you.”

Zoey: “Oh! Forget it! There’s no use worrying about it because I know that by the time you get back home, you will have forgot all about it.”

Sy: “No I won’t!”

Zoey looks at me and smiles.

They forget about the altercation and go back to playing amicably.

Then about an hour later there is this short exchange:

Zoey: “Sy, let’s open a restaurant and cook Paw Paw a pancake.”

Sy: “Okay!”

Zoey takes one of her plastic pans and fills it with sand and then evens the top by scrapping off the excess sand on top to make it level with the top of the pan. It is a perfect pancake from what I can see from where I am seated.

Sy moves in close getting ready to help and eyeing the sandy pancake.

Zoey: “Sy, will you please move over a little bit?”

Sy: “Why?”

Zoey: “Because you are sitting on the oven!”

Sy: “I don’t see any oven.”

Zoey: “Oh My Lord!”

They continue to play. Then this conversation takes place.

Sy hears the bells that sound every hour from the First Baptist Church. Our little beach is that close to downtown Picayune.

Sy: “What is that, Paw Paw?”

Paw Paw: “The church bells at First Baptist Church.”

Zoey: “That’s where I go to church. Where does Sy go to church, Paw Paw?”

Paw Paw: “Carriere First Baptist Church.”

Sy: “Where do you go to church Paw Paw?”

Paw Paw: “Roseland Park Baptist Church.”

Sy: “Who is your teacher?”

Paw Paw: “My Sunday School teacher is Gerald Cruthird.”

Sy: “Who?”

Paw Paw: “Gerald Cruthird.”

Then the conversation ends abruptly, and I wait for another response. They say nothing, only continuing to play.

Then I add: “Well, I am glad to see that the Baptists are well represented here today.”

They don’t respond. They are in the midst of digging more holes.

"What now Paw Paw?" The creek is muddy and high. "We go to plan B."

East Boley is muddy, up and uggly from a rain in Central Pearl River Co. the night before.

Zoey prepares a sandy pancake for Paw Paw.

Sy Devin and Zoey mostly made sand castles and dug holes.