Nov. 25, 2015

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Volume 2 | Issue 63

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Inside 5 News

Parents get some help with Thanksgiving Art Camp.

6 News

Ramsey, staff make food with love at Larson’s Cash Saver.

JOEY BRENT | OXFORD CITIZEN

Oxford businesses are rolling out the red carpet this coming weekend for the start of the holiday buying season, which begins in earnest with Black Friday.

16 Sports

Holiday shopping season full of fun

BY ERROL CASTENS OXFORD CITIZEN

The official Christmas shopping season opens Friday, and two local business groups are working to make Oxford even more of a destination for shoppers, whether they’re buying in earnest or

just browsing.

The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring “Shop Oxford” to remind residents not only the value to the community of shopping locally but the values that local merchants have to offer.

“Shop Oxford is a program

that we started back in 2001 because we wanted to encourage our locals to keep our spending at home during the holiday season,” said Pam Swain, senior vice president of the Chamber. “We really want to remind people this time of year how important their tax dollars are to their local com-

munity, to the city’s budget and what is impacted by the sales tax – streets, police and fire departments, and parks.

All those things are extremely important to our local quality of life.”

There was a time when TURN TO SHOPPING PAGE 9

Annual Egg Bowl may be one for books.

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 2

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Developers eyeing 2,300-acre site near Abbeville

BY ERROL CASTENS OXFORD CITIZEN

Years after developers’ boasts fizzled out about the new city they would build between Abbeville and Oxford, a new set of landowners are considering the possibilities for an expansive development.

“Lamar Adams and Patrick Sans are the two gentlemen who have purchased that 2,300 acres,” architect Corey Alger told members of the Lafayette County Planning Commission on Monday. He appeared before them, he said, not to ask for any approvals in the early stages of planning but simply to keep county officials informed of potential advances in the area.

Although they have dubbed the property “Oxford Springs,” Alger said the new owners will take a much more modest and methodical approach to its development. Previous developers of the land had declared detailed intentions for a development that would eclipse the population of nearby Abbeville, essentially creating a new, upscale municipality by fiat. Those plans, however, never went beyond paper and promise.

Adams and Sans “had a goal since Day One,” he said. “About 18 months ago, when they started looking at the property, they said, ‘We want to build lakes, we want to build roads, and we want to sell real estate.’”

Noting that the property’s characteristics are largely unknown except for its water delineation and topography, Alger said his

clients’ ambitions will be reasoned and reasonable.

“What we’re not interested in doing is pie-in-thesky development,” he said.

“They’re not that kind of people. It will be slow, it will be deliberate and it will be exacting.”

Although the property is irregularly shaped, in contrast to Abbeville’s nearly perfect square, the town and the private development are within a few acres of being the same size.

“The idea has been ongoing, developing, evolving,” Alger said. “The size … presents both some opportunities and some challenges.” Among those challenges, he said, is the more than two dozen water bodies on the site and the fact that large, central portions of the property are drainage areas that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may declare protected wetlands.

A Vicksburg consulting group, Headwaters, has just completed a stream study of the property.

“What we don’t know is what stream mitigation requirements are going to be, what the Corps of Engineers is going to think, how much of this property can be put into lakes, what the soil is like,” Alger said.

“We’re in site analysis phase. We’re not ready to come here and say, ‘Here’s what we think we can do,’ because we don’t yet know what we have.”

In answer to a question

by Lafayette County Engineer Larry Britt, Alger noted that one distinct possibility during development of the tract is a new east-west connector between Highway 7

and County Road 215.

“There will be the desire to have a connector so you don’t have to go six or eight miles north or six or eight miles south to go three miles east or west,” he said.

Alger said he and his clients are endeavoring also to keep informed the officials of the Town of Abbeville, whose boundaries are separated from the tract in question by only half a mile.

“I want to make sure you know where we are, and I’ll try to answer any questions that you have,” he told the county planning commissioners.

“This is not the be-all, end-all development that we heard of three or four years ago that was going to so massive and detailed that it would be actually incorporated?” asked Commission Chairman T. J. Ray. “There are no plans right now to do anything but analysis,” Alger said.

Pressed about any connection with prior proposals for the site, he added, “The previous plan, we feel, wasn’t really based in reality. We don’t have any analytics to support it.

“This is two guys going long in Lafayette County.

When we come back to you with plans, it will not be pie-in-the-sky proposals. It will be lakes and roads and property,” Alger said. “Rest whatever rumors are out there. There are zero plans in place for this property until all the analysis is in.

It’s been a long time getting all this in place. These are guys are not in a hurry.”

ERROL CASTENS | OXFORD CITIZEN

errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

The 2,300-acre property designated as “Oxford Springs” is within a half-mile of Abbeville and spans from Highway 7 to Woodson Ridge Road/County Road 215.

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 3

FBI brought in to look into stadium incident

BY JOHN DAVIS OXFORD CITIZEN

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called in to help lead an independent inquiry into an altercation that happened during Saturday’s Ole MissLSU game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Christopher Barnes, 27, was arrested on three charges resulting from the incident that involved a law enforcement agent hired to help with security at the game.

Social media exploded with a video showing the incident, while others have offered different accounts, saying that Barnes was not cooperating with the officers. Things turned physical in the video before Barnes was taken into custody at the Lafayette County Detention Center.

Community Thanksgiving Dinner

According to the jail docket, Barnes was charged with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was booked at 5:30 Saturday evening. He bonded out at 9:50 Sunday morning.

The University Police Department issued a statement late Monday saying they have asked for the help of the FBI. The UPD started investigating the incident shortly after Barnes engaged with the temporary officer.

No additional information will be available until the investigation is complete, the release said.

“We do not tolerate violent behavior on our campus, and our request for an independent FBI investigation should make it clear that we are taking this situation very seriously,” UPD

Chief Tim Potts said.

Witnesses with information that would be beneficial to the investigation are encouraged to contact either the UPD, which is continuing its investigation, or the FBI office in Oxford. Contact UPD at either 662-915-7234 or upd@olemiss.edu.

*Payments figured with $2,000.00 down plus tax, 72 mon. at 4.9%. Not all buyers will qualify.

WEEKEND ARRESTS There were a total of 110 arrests made over a 48hour period in Oxford. The results are from Friday morning until Monday, two days after the game. Public drunk and DUI were the two charges that the vast majority of those taken into custody were charged with.

Of the 110 arrests, 94 were were for public drunk and DUI combined. john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

BRIEFING

Houston (Texas) Thanksgiving Day parade. Armstrong and Tann Oxford-University United will were Varsity Spirit All-AmeriMethodist Church will host a cans. The two Lady Chargers communitywide Thanksgiving started their time in Houston on Dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday and were scheduled to Thanksgiving Day at its fellowleave Friday after taking some of ship hall. The church’s campus the sights, including NASA’s is on the corner of University Av- Space Center and the Galleria enue and 9th Street.

Mall.

All are welcome, and no price is involved. A traditional menu is Jail Art reception, art followed. sale to honor Mistilis North Light Gallery and the OPC seeks architects Orchard Oxford will host a reThe Oxford Park Commission ception for Angelo Mistilis and a in a special meeting Monday sale of his Jail Art collection at 6 voted to issue an RFQ - Request p.m. on Dec. 1.

Mistilis, a longtime Oxford for Qualifications - of architects interested in designing the next restaurateur, also served as Oxford Activity Center, said OPC kitchen manager at the Lafayette County Jail for several Executive Director Seth Gaines.

The Oxford Board of Aldermen years, during which time he enthis year identified a new facility couraged inmates who could draw and paint, amassing a colto replace the current Activity Center as an infrastructure prior- lection of works during that ity second only to the extensions time.

Mistilis asked that the proof West Oxford Loop and Sisk ceeds of the sale benefit both Avenue. The figure most commonly mentioned as being sup- the church and an inmate-foported by the Board of Aldermen cused ministry, so North Mississippi Kairos Prison Ministry’s for the facility’s construction Parchman mission was chosen budget is $7 million. as the partner recipient.

The public is invited to the reOMS All-Americans ception and the art sale. The OrAnn Michael Armstrong and chard Oxford, with its North Julia Tann of the Oxford Middle School cheerleading team were Light Gallery, is at 295 Highway 7 North. selected to take part in the

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Public meetings After local governments take a two-day hiatus for Thanksgiving this week, several meetings are on the calendar for next week: • 5 p.m. Monday - Oxford School Board (Oxford Middle School Lecture Center) • 5 p.m. Tuesday - Oxford Board of Aldermen (City Hall, 2nd-floor courtroom) • 11 a.m. Thursday - Oxford Tree Board (City Hall, 1st-floor conference room) • 9 a.m. Friday - Oxford Downtown Parking Commission (City Hall, 1st-floor conference room)

Fraud protection luncheon to be held Fraud is, according to some sources, the fastest-growing crime in the United States. The Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce invites you to a seminar on fraud protection from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Roberts and Michael Hallock will offer insights into protecting your identity and your assets against loss by fraud.

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OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 4

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

OBITUARIES KATIE MAE WALLACE OVERSTREET Katie Mae Wallace Overstreet, 89, passed on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 at Oxford Health and Rehab.

The funeral service was held at Oxford University United Methodist Church on Tuesday, Nov. 24. It was officiated by the Reverends Eddie Rester, Warren Black and Will Overstreet. Burial followed in Oxford Memorial Cemetery.

Waller Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.

Memorial contributions in Mrs. Overstreet’s memory may be made to Oxford University United Methodist Church – Building Fund, 424 S. 10th St., Oxford, MS 38655 or The Pantry, P.O. Box 588, Oxford, MS 38655.

WILMA HARRIS Wilma Harris, passed away Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015. Arrangements are incomplete at this time. Hodges Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

MARVIN EDWARDS

DOROTHY HENDERSON

OXFORD – Dorothy B. Henderson, 82, died Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi in Oxford.

Services were Wednesday, Nov. 25, at Second Missionary Baptist Church.

Burial followed in Oxford Memorial Cemetery.

Hodges Funeral Homes of Oxford was in charge of arrangements.

NITA LUNN

RANDOLPH – Juanita “Nita” Bowen Lunn, 82, passed away Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, at NMMC in Tupelo.

A celebration of her life will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, at 2 p.m., at Tutor Memorial Funeral Home in Pontotoc. Bro. Bobby Cobb will officiate.

Burial will follow in Noah Tutor Cemetery.

Tutor Memorial Funeral Home of Pontotoc is in charge of arrangements.

ERROL CASTENS | OXFORD CITIZEN

This tract fronting on Oxford Commons Boulevard near Highway 30 will host The Summit, the first new shopping center to be built in east Oxford in more than a decade.

Commercial development nearing at Oxford Commons

BY ERROL CASTENS OXFORD CITIZEN

An area of forested wetlands smaller than a typical living room will require the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before a retail and commercial development can advance on a 34.97-acre tract in northeast Oxford and adjacent parts of Lafayette County.

Developer David Blackburn said he expects no serious problems with mitigating the wetlands spot in what will be the first phase of The Summit at Oxford Commons. The site will front Oxford Commons Boulevard, the frontage road opened earlier this year on the east side of State Highway 7 connecting Sisk Avenue and State Highway 30.

The proposed work would impact 0.05 acre of forested wetlands and 1,210.39 feet of a stream that runs only during and immediately after rainfall. Wetlands species to be displaced include American sycamore, sweet gum, red maple and trumpet creeper.

“We’re doing a lot of preservation throughout the whole Oxford Commons development,” Blackburn said. “We feel real good

about it. We feel like the overall community is really in support of it.”

His specific plan to mitigate “the unavoidable loss of wetland impacts” is to purchase credits from an approved mitigation bank in the Yocona River watershed.

Anyone with an opinion about the project’s impact on natural and human environment is invited to share his or her comments with Tarmiko Graham with the Corps of Engineers Vicksburg office by phone at (601) 631-5540, by email at tarmiko.v.graham@usace.army.m il or by mail at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, 4155 Clay Street, Vicksburg, MS 39183, Attn: CEMVK-OD-F. To be considered, comments must be received by Monday, Nov. 30.

FILLING A RETAIL NEED The Summit at Oxford Commons is, according to its application with the Corps of Engineers, designed “to provide needed retail shopping on the east side of Oxford, reduce congestion on the west side of Oxford and serve the local existing and new residential population.”

The development will have al-

“

We’re still working on the plans. It’ll be both large and small retailers.

“

Marvin D. Edwards, Jr., 90, passed away Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015 at Yalobusha General Nursing Home in Water Valley.

Edwards served in the United States Navy during WWII and the Korean War. A memorial service is planned for Friday, Nov. 27th at First United Methodist Church of Coffeeville at 2 p.m.

David Blackburn, developer for The Summit at Oxford Commons most 150,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, mostly in three stores that Blackburn said will be home to national retailers. Five outparcels averaging about 1.5 acres are planned along Oxford Commons Boulevard in the same development.

“We’re still working on the plans,” he said. “It’ll be both large and small retailers.”

The Summit will be the first major retail development on Oxford’s east side since the Kroger shopping center was built in the early 2000s. Ironically, that complex is now slated for renovation next spring as the grocery store expands, displacing the smaller retailers that currently lease con-

nected space in the same building.

“The Summit is going to add a lot to the east side of Oxford,” Blackburn said. “It’ll be a few hundred thousand feet of total retail space when it’s completed.

It’s not going to be the amount of development that you see in west Oxford, but it will be very welcome for people who live on the east side of town or out in the county.”

Blackburn said groundbreaking is likely to be scheduled only after leases are signed for The Summit’s major buildings.

He noted those negotiations are in process but declined to name any of the potential tenants yet.

The earliest groundbreaking Blackburn said he could envision for The Summit at Oxford Commons is next spring, with store openings perhaps in spring of 2017.

“I am thrilled to have this development moving now,” he said. “It takes longer than I’d like to get all the pieces in place, but that’s the nature of this business.” errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 5

Parents get some help with Thanksgiving Art Camp

BY ERROL CASTENS OXFORD CITIZEN

When kids are out of school for a week, their parents may well face the hours of freedom with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Filling that time with something both useful and enjoyable can be a challenge for even the most creative moms and dads.

For a couple dozen Oxford-area youngsters, part of the answer is Thanksgiving Break art camp at Studio Whimzy, where they experiment with several visual media, mixing in a bit of music, a little physical activity and a little pure leisure.

“We’ve been doing camps for about five years. We started in my garage, and three years ago we moved into this location,” said Sarah Kathryn Dossett, owner of Studio Whimzy, located next to SkyMart on College Hill/Old Sardis Road. “Thanksgiving week is a great time to get kids out of the house and give moms a little break to do their thing and get Thanksgiving dinner on the table.

“We try to sneak in a little education,” she said. “We’re here to have fun, but today we talked about how to grow corn, how you farm it, what it looks like, what shapes are involved when you try to draw it, and then we watercolored it. So we get in some fun, and we get in some education.”

Liza Whitt, 8, confirmed exactly that lesson after a session on Monday morning: “We’ve studied corn, and now we’ve drawn a picture of it,” she said. “Now we’re painting it.”

Amanda Traylor, 10, added, “You can draw squares to grow maize.”

Dossett said Studio Whimzy is often open to adult students for classes and to do their own art projects, but they’re a secondary audience.

“The real reason we’re here in general is to do camps. I love the

JOHN DAVIS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Sarah Kathryn Dossett gives instruction to the children who took part in art camp Monday morning at Studio Whimzy. adult stuff, too, but the kids are the reason we’re here. We love to be with young people,” she said of her staff and students. “We do ‘Terrific Tuesdays,’ where we do a Painting Pals class for 2- to 4-yearolds in the mornings, and then we actually travel to Holli’s Sweet Tooth in the afternoon to reach the older kids.

“All summer long we do camps.

Last summer we did 14 camps – maybe 16 – and then this week starts the holidays. We’ll do camps like this into January, with them being out of school so much.”

Evelyn Barnett, 10, had spent Monday morning perfecting her zea mays forms at the art camp.

“You have to get the individual kernels – to draw them – and the shapes are all different,” she said.

“You have to experiment with the drawing. We use pencils to draw the ear and the kernels first, and then we paint them.” Some kids painted a conventional yellow corn, while others chose to create an ear of multihued “Indian” corn.

Dossett said she began conducting art camps in her garage some five years ago, then moved into her current storefront studio some three years ago.

“We come up with our schedule and decide what we want to offer.

A lot of it’s based on what people are interested in,” she said. “We’ve learned over the years what works and what doesn’t work for parents.”

What worked for Brett Lampton, 11, was the flexibility built into the art camp, which allowed

for attending mornings, afternoons or both, either one, two or all three days.

“My mom told me about the art camp,” Lampton said. “We came here to do this for a few hours, and then we’ll go bowling. I’m good at drawing Anime characters, but I want to learn other art, too.”

Because of the plethora of camps built around school vacations, Dossett and her staff work very hard at times, then compensate with a light schedule.

“We’re kind of selective. We’re only open during events, typically.

We’re open more often now that we are doing pottery in the back, so we’re a little bit more available for walk-ins,” she said. “We have a full schedule of nighttime stuff, too, especially during the holidays.”

Cole Feathers, 11, said he has known he had artistic skills since first grade.

“I enjoy drawing and doing art,” he said. “Other kids were always saying things like, ‘You’re a good drawer.’”

Feathers also gave evidence of enjoying solving mysteries. After Monday morning’s corn focus, he was trying to discern what the class would draw that afternoon.

“I saw some hints,” he said, noting that Dossett’s assistants seemed to be stocking up on black, brown, and red paint more than any other colors. “I think maybe we’re making a turkey this afternoon.”

Dossett said with each different object to recreate would come a different medium.

“We want to give them a little background in a couple of different mediums,” she said. “We’re doing watercolor this morning, and then we’ll switch to acrylic.

We’ll actually mess around with salt a little bit today and talk about clay.” Salt, she said, provides ceramic-like objects without the use of a kiln, which requires at least overnight firings.

“That way I can send the projects home with them; sometimes they get sad when they can’t take their projects home with them for the holidays, to give to their parents,” Dossett said.

One of the aims of her art camps are to broaden kids’ art experiences.

“It’s just to touch on some of that stuff – just to let them have a little exposure,” she said. “They’re so limited on what they can get done in schools because there are so many of them in a classroom, and they only have 50 minutes, and there’s not much of a budget.

This is just to get their fingers wet in all different areas; that’s really the goal.” errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 6

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Ramsey, staff make food with love at Larson’s Cash Saver

BY JOHN DAVIS OXFORD CITIZEN

Thanksgiving happens every day with Inez Ramsey at the helm of the lunch counter located inside of Larson’s Cash Saver. A meat and two, or three, vegetables has never been as popular, or inexpensive, than it is now at the deli.

For the past 35 years, Ramsey has been getting up before the sun, and arriving at the store by 5:30 in the morning to get things ready. A full breakfast is available. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, grits, hash browns and biscuits made by hand are just some of the items Ramsey and her staff get to work on an hour, or two, before most of Oxford rises.

When the breakfast rush dies away, the staff starts to work on the lunch items.

Spaghetti and fried chicken are available every day of the week, Ramsey said as she stirred in butter to a large mixing bowl filled with what would be yeast rolls.

“And chicken tenders,” she said seconds later. “We have red beans and rice on Mondays and Thursdays.

Chicken and dumplings and chicken and dressing everyone likes. I think the fried chicken is the most popular thing around here really. And our homemade rolls. Everybody wants those.”

Green beans, macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes are on the menu each day on that side of the counter. Purple hull peas and corn are also popular items. Of course there are a number of fried items, and catfish is available on Fridays. The counter is open until 5 p.m. everyday. A total of 15 people work in the back, Ramsey said, and that includes the ones who just work the weekends.

When the weather turns cool, and the holidays approach, that’s when things really start to heat up from a customer service standpoint. A busy day means TURN TO CASH SAVER PAGE 7

JOHN DAVIS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Raven Booker, Inez Ramsey, Allen Dunn and Dorothy Harwell are just some of those who help prepare breakfast and lunch in the deli at Larson's Cash Saver.

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Cash Saver FROM PAGE 6

between 300 and 400 people have bought a lunch.

“Friday and Sunday are busy days for us. It goes week by week. Some times is Wednesday and Thursday,” said Ramsey, who travels in from Como five days a week to work.

“Chicken and dumplings and meatloaf are on Wednesday and everybody likes both of them. Thursday we have potato casserole and pork chops.”

Most of the people that buy a breakfast or lunch plate are locals, but Ramsey, in the time she is not in the back cooking, has noticed that the line has grown. Cooking hams and turkeys for customers also completed this time of year. And people place orders for boxes of fried chicken all throughout the year. Ramsey said Dorothy Harwell can fry chicken better than anyone, and she works Thursday through Monday just in order to have a large amount ready for the weekends.

When everything comes down to for Ramsey is making people happy through her food.

“I love to cook. Sometimes it does get stressful,” said Ramsey, who agreed restaurant isn’t easy. “This is

the best home cooked out there. Everything we got is homemade just about.”

Brent Larson, the coowner of Cash Saver along with his cousins Keith, Don and Mark Larson, said Ramsey was the “heartbeat of the deli.”

“She is a sweetheart and she is one of those kind of people that keeps continuity going back there. She produces the same quality of food day in and day out,” Larson said. “That really means a lot when you go back there and get the same stuff for the customer day in and day out, week in and week out. That means a lot in our line of business.”

Larson always sees familiar faces buying something to eat in the deli. He also sees a lot of new faces. He added that the word of mouth has been a huge key to gaining new customers.

“That’s the greatest form of advertising there is and once you get one person liking it, they say this lunch is great,” he said. “When I see older alumni that have gone to Ole Miss and they say they used to eat lunch every Sunday at Larson’s, that means a lot.”

The counter has been a staple in the store since the mid 1980s.

“It’s really been a grass roots part of our business and we’ve been fortunate enough to do it and that all of Oxford, Lafayette County

PAGE 7

JOHN DAVIS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Jenica Toles makes salads and desserts for people fresh every day. She's been working in the deli for the past four months after being a long-time customer. and Ole Miss community has always responded well to us,” Larson said, who loves to eat chicken and dumplings along with green beans, butter beans and black eye peas. “And the rolls. We have people come from all over for these rolls. There is something about that Inez can only do to them. She’s been good to us and we try to re-

ciprocate. She’s a good hearted woman and we return the favor to her, too.”

Hot food isn’t the only thing that is offered in the deli. There are a number of hand-made salads and desserts for purchase.

Jenica Toles, who has worked in the deli the past four months, helps prepare those items, as well as slice meat for customers.

“I always came up here to shop and I was coming to buy some lunch and I asked if they needed some help. They told me to come in Monday at 9 and I have been here since that Monday at 9 four months ago,” Toles said. “I like it. It’s pretty fun. I know a lot of people and even if I don’t, I’m going to smile. You just never know how telling

somebody hi may change their day. The food is good here and it’s the same consistency. If you cook it and it’s not consistent, then people are not going to come back. We have a bunch of customers that eat breakfast and lunch here every day.” john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

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OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 8

Game day shuttles invaluable OXFORD CITIZEN

The City of Oxford’s use of game-day shuttles for this year’s University of Mississippi home football weekends was judged a success – so much so that Oxford officials will likely ask for more capacity next year.

“Overall, the system ran really well,” said Matt Davis, Oxford’s parking manager, who oversaw shuttle operations. “As for the fares we collected, we had over 15,000 passengers for the season.”

Those passengers, at $5 per person, paid very close to the $76,500 contract cost for Cline Tours to run the shuttle service.

Approximately 800 cars parked at Northwest Mississippi Community College’s Oxford campus on Belk Boulevard for each of the seven home games, with another 1,000 at Oxford High School’s parking lot off Sisk Avenue.

“Those were consistent and did very well for each game. The FNC Park location didn’t pan out like we needed it to,” Davis said.

That site, some two miles outside of Oxford and accessible primarily by Old Sardis Road, averaged about one-fourth usage of its nearly 1,000 spaces.

City park-and-ride locations offered guarded parking and shuttle rides to and from the stadium. Cline Tours ran the routes every few minutes from a few hours before kickoff to two hours after each game, using from 20 to 24 buses to keep passengers moving throughout that timespan except from half-time to game’s end.

Ole Miss runs its own free shuttles to ferry people from the parking lot of the Jackson Avenue Center (Oxford Mall) to Paris Yates Chapel near the west end of campus. More than 36,000 riders took advantage of that shuttle, using the JAC’s 737 spaces and perhaps even some that are reserved for mall patrons.

“We have many who walk up from surrounding areas,” said Mike Harris, UM’s director of transportation and parking.

“They fill up a lot quicker than we do,” Davis said.

“We do by-the-hour up-

“

Overall, the system ran really well. … We had over 15,000 passengers for the season.

“

BY ERROL CASTENS

Matt Davis, Oxford’s parking manager who oversaw shuttle operations dates on the lots, and (Harris) is usually telling me before noon they’re full.” (The seven home games included two 11 a.m. games, three that started at 2:30 p.m. and two at 6 p.m.)

Another Ole Miss shuttle is from the South Lot just off Highway 6 and is strictly for ADA parking. Use of the South Lot on game days requires a campus parking permit, Harris said.

City shuttles, while not free, let their passengers off on Gertrude Ford Boulevard, a one-minute walk from gates on the northeast corner of the football stadium. They also allowed most riders to park and ride without ever having faced the worst of game-day traffic. Those riding the free JAC shuttle, conversely, had to navigate West Jackson Avenue – the city’s worst traffic nightmare – before getting onto an OxfordUniversity Transit bus for the ride into campus.

Davis said city officials recognized a need to expand their shuttle service even though it barely breaks even.

“We really don’t like to make money on it,” he said, noting that the hospitality to visitors and residents as well as the corresponding reductions in traffic make the service worthwhile to the city without a financial gain.

Davis said FNC Park could be dropped as a location park-and-ride next year.

“I wish FNC could do a little more,” he said. “People who use it love it – you

just park and catch the shuttle with very little congestion.”

One thing that might encourage the FNC Park location to be kept on the shuttle list is the completion of West Oxford Loop from Anderson Road to Highway 314 and College Hill Road, alongside FNC Park. The construction may be some years from completion, however, as property acquisition and design are still in early stages.

Oxford Activity Center had been used in previous years as a park-and-ride location on game days, but it was scratched during summer planning.

“They were supposed to be under construction during the season,” Davis said.

(Construction did not commence, however, and the city is just now preparing to talk with architects about beginning a design.)

Talks with Baptist Memorial Hospital about using its parking garage have not been fruitful, although that could change after the new hospital’s planned opening in Dec. 2017.

“We’re always looking for options,” Davis said. “There just aren’t any other places that are able to accommodate several hundred vehicles on a Saturday.”

Davis emphasized that the city park-and-ride locations help reduce traffic congestion, besides their convenience for the passengers themselves.

“You’ll get people coming from I-55 and Highway 7 parking at the high school and at Northwest,” he said.

“These people aren’t even getting onto the main roads in Oxford as they’re coming in from Holly Springs, Tupelo, up Highway 7.”

Davis has already put Cline Tours on notice that Oxford’s shuttle service will need “bigger buses and more buses” next year for the popular service.

“Most of the games we had, for the most part, we had almost everybody back to their car within an hour,” he said. “Since we advertise to run for two hours after the game, all we usually had that second hour after the game was a few stragglers. It runs really well.” errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

BRIEFING Christmas Parade set for Dec. 7 The Oxford Lions Club Christmas Parade will be Monday night, Dec. 7. Taking its traditional route, the parade will start at 6:30 p.m. at Mid-Town Shopping Center, moving down North Lamar to the Square and down South Lamar to Four Corners before turning west toward the Ole Miss campus on University Avenue. The parade will end at the Gertrude C. Ford Center parking lot.

This year’s theme is a particularly Southern one: “Merry Christmas, Y’all!” Entries are invited in any of five categories pedestrian, band, float, vehicle and equestrian. The top five floats will be awarded trophies.

Applications can be found at http://lionsofms.org/docs/2015 %20City%20of%20Oxford%20C hristmas%20Parade.pdf Oxford’s Board of Aldermen voted to provide $750 in support for the parade, which brings visitors and residents alike to downtown Oxford to view the event.

State Health Dept. urges flu shots According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, the

rate of influenza-like illnesses remains very low in Mississippi and nationwide as of a Nov. 7 survey. While no flu cases have been confirmed in Mississippi, nationally 18 flu-related deaths have been reported.

Health authorities warn against complacency regarding this year’s flu virus, however.

Those with the most urgent need for flu vaccination are children over six months of age, adults age 50 and older, women who will be pregnant during the flu season, and chronically ill people regardless of age.

Wild meat basics The thrill may be in the hunt, but unless the game is kept clean and processed well, the meat won’t bring pleasure to the palate.

Mississippi has a rich diversity of game animals for hunters to bag. As a result, many freezers across the state are full of venison, turkey, duck, squirrel and more, and recipes for how to prepare them are often are passed down through families.

Bronson Strickland, Mississippi State University Extension Service wildlife biologist and associate professor in the MSU Forest and Wildlife Research

Center, said the biggest priority is to keep game meat clean.

“It’s very easy to get stomach and fecal content on the meat, so be very cautious when field dressing,” Strickland said.

“When you have access to clean water, be sure to wash the carcass thoroughly.”

A second priority is to chill the meat to below 40 degrees within three hours.

Cooking the meat correctly up to a maximum of 160 degrees Fahrenheit - prevents pathogens and parasites to which game animals are exposed in the wild from becoming problems.

Game birds such as turkeys and pheasants should be cooked to an internal temperature as high as 180 degrees, but meat from these animals is typically not as tough.

To compensate for the leaner condition of most game meat, moist cooking methods such as slow cooking or stews can help. Marinating, mechanical tenderizing and aging the meat also tenderizes it.

While some people like the distinct flavor of wild game, others prefer to minimize it by removing as much fat from the meat as possible.

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Shopping FROM PAGE 1

more Oxonians routinely headed out of town to do their Christmas shopping, and when Oxford wasn’t nearly the shopping destination it has become.

“We do see a trend since we started this campaign to see an increase in November and December sales tax collections,” Swain said.

While some of the Shop Oxford will focus on frequent reminders to shop locally via a variety of media, other focuses emphasize what Oxford can provide in terms of unique ideas, attractive deals and an overall pleasurable shopping experience.

“We’re in the middle of working on our list of gift ideas for under $50,” Swain said. This year, she added, there will also be categories for gifts in different price ranges - $10 to $20, $20 to $30 and $30 to $50.

One new aspect of the Shop Oxford campaign will be a postcard that offers a 15-percent discount on almost any one item at any – or even all – of 47 different merchants.

JOEY BRENT | OXFORD CITIZEN

The Lily Pad on the Square is one of the many places that are offering specials for customers on Friday.

“Some of those participating include Rebel Bookstore, Knit1Oxford, and Belles & Beaus,” Swain said.

“For a participating restaurant, it may 15 percent off an entrée.”

NO BLUES ON BLACK FRIDAY The Oxford Square Alliance’s membership is more than 50 businesses in and around downtown. It

will host its annual Holiday Open House this Friday, starting with early morning specials at some stores.

“What we do is simple,” said Will Lewis, owner of Neilson’s Department Store, which is showing off the new remodel of its “South’s Oldest Store” building. “From 7 to 10 we offer 25 percent off the entire stock. A lot of people are buying Christmas pres-

ents, of course, so we have a full contingent of wrappers on board.”

From 4 to 7 p.m., Neilson’s will be North Pole Central as Mrs. Claus appears to visit with children and collect their letters to take back home to Santa.

Spunky the Clown will also make balloon art for kids.

Across the Square, the Lily Pad will have an early morning sale – 40 percent

PAGE 9 off regular prices storewide (excluding Yeti brand) from 7 to 8 a.m., 30 percent off from 8 to 9, 20 percent off from 9 to 10 and 10 percent off from 10 to 11 a.m.

Jeff Johnson, owner of Nella dress shop, said he’ll be featuring discounts on dresses and denim.

“We have two types of denim, and one will probably be 40 percent off,” he said. “We have some late fall apparel already marked off.”

Johnson said faux fur is very popular this season, with prices typically in the $130 to $190 range.

“We also have a true rabbit fur vest. We sold a lot of those during the LSU weekend because the weather turned so cold,” he said.

Lots of other special sales, attractions and activities will be featured at each Square Alliance member store.

But shopping isn’t the only activity on the Holiday Open House agenda.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., children can have their pictures taken with Santa and do ornament decoration and receive a free ornament for the Christmas

tree. Carriage rides around the Square will begin at 2 p.m. and last until 6 p.m.

Carolers from Oxford Civic Chorus will perform in front of City Hall from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

The annual Christmas tree lighting at City Hall will commence at 6 p.m. followed immediately by a “Square Dollars” raffle with $1,000 worth of gift certificates.

Cannon Motors of Mississippi is the presenting sponsor and Something Southern is a Square sponsor. Square Dollars are available at Visit Oxford and can be redeemed at participating retail and restaurant Square Alliance members.

“We are really excited to be able to present the Holiday Open House again this year,” says Mark Huelse, chair of the Oxford Square Alliance and coowner of Something Southern. “It is always a fun event for all ages, with just as many locals as outof-town visitors who are here for the Thanksgiving holiday.” errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 10

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Vision 2037: High priorities

BY ERROL CASTENS OXFORD CITIZEN

When the Vision 2037 long-range plan for the City of Oxford is adopted – perhaps as early as next month – the work will, in a sense, just be beginning.

“The plan provides a revised planning framework from previous City Plans for a significantly improved capability to manage growth and change well,” said Mayor George “Pat” Patterson.

Thousands of man-hours from city officials, hired consultants and citizen volunteers have gone into the 140-page draft that recognizes massive growth in the City, the University of Mississippi, and the county along with accompanying changes in economic patterns, environmental concerns, new forms of mobility, and even the very definitions of what constitutes a quality community.

“Vision 2037 represents Oxford’s answer to those questions. Vision 2037 is comprehensive in nature,” the document states of itself.

“It covers a broad range of elements that make up the form of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation.

It is also a plan that meets the requirements of Mississippi law.

“But the plan is more than a mere legal instrument,” wrote the team of planners, designers, economists and other specialists who wrote the Vision 2037 plan. “It conveys Oxford’s vision of itself well into the future. In the year 2037, Oxford will celebrate its bicentennial. The

City’s strong aspiration is to look back on this plan as a significant cornerstone in preserving, expanding and enhancing the high quality of life and exceptional distinction as one of America’s leading small cities.”

Several basic questions arose in the research, public input and other ingredients that went into the Vision 2037 plan: • How will City grow in the future?

• What are the priorities for a quality City?

• What forces are at work that will impact the future?

• And how should the City best guide and shape its destiny?

But the proof of the work will be in its implementation – perhaps most especially in the revision of ordinances that will redefine how the community will protect what it values, reject what devalues it and encourages what serves the collective good without discouraging the individual initiative that fuels progress.

“Some of the most visible changes that will come out of the Vision 2037 plan are that it will guide, preserve and replicate Oxford’s historic development patterns,” said City Planner Andrea Correll. “Based on Vision 2037, the city will be implementing a Development Code which guides methodical development in keeping with Oxford’s Guiding Principles. It will recognize that design – of buildings, landscapes and streets – is a central part of Oxford’s plan for preservation, redevelopment and new growth.”

The Vision 2037 compre-

hensive plan outlines nearly 100 priorities, assuming its adoption essentially as it is currently proposed, for its implementation. Of those, almost 60 are considered Level 1 priorities.

They include the self-evident, such as adopting the plan – the very first of its implementation requirements – and using it as a reference when reviewing development applications and preparing the municipality’s capital and operating budgets.

There are also priorities for making sure Vision 2037 remains relevant as time passes, from requiring an annual update and public report on its implementation to holding an annual retreat for department heads for a close-up look its dayto-day use.

Some priorities focus on land use issues that affect disparate parts of the city, from requiring appropriate transitions and contextual design for new commercial sites adjoining stable residential areas to countering the effects of the conversion of owner-occupied housing to rental units. The new plan will also aim to create building and site design standards for commercial areas outside of the historic districts to – as was often mentioned during public comment phases of the plan’s development – “keep from creating another West Jackson Avenue.”

More prescriptive standards are in store for older neighborhoods and overlay districts that adjoin them – aimed at least in part at preventing more clusters of “mushroom three-story

houses” that clash with the lower residences tucked among trees in otherwise established neighborhoods.

In addition, those prescriptions would aim to reestablish older neighborhoods as primarily hosting single-family residences.

Such changes would ostensibly reduce the frequent code violations over trash, overgrown lawns, illegal parking, and excess numbers of residents that plague families in owner-occupied dwellings surrounded by student-dominated rental houses.

One priority that may be particularly welcomed by many residents but fought by some landowners and developers will be an overall aim to reduce the amount of land zoned for multifamily developments, which have come to dominate such areas as Anderson, Hathorn and Old Taylor Roads.

A major change in focus will be to “encourage planned mixed-use districts projects rather than singleuse zoning districts and projects,” which would develop into zoning and perhaps even incentives for developments that create developments that combine commercial/retail space on ground floors with upper-story residences.

Along with that is a priority to add more detail in guidelines for new commercial development as opposed to the current guidelines’ residential focus.

Several priorities aim at preserving or expanding parking while others seek to encourage non-automobile transportation modes. One

would “encourage urban redevelopment that includes bringing buildings closer to the street and parking to the rear or sides of buildings,” while others seek to retain or replace and expand parking during development and to create wayfinding signage to direct people to parking lots.

On the other hand, interconnected mobility plans that would also encourage transit, walking and biking are recommended for all new development and redevelopment sites.

A comprehensive, longrange transportation plan for the City of Oxford, Lafayette County, and the University of Mississippi is another priority of Vision 2037.

Oxford-University Transit (OUT) is poised to top 2,000,000 passenger trips this year – some 95 percent of which are by university students, staff or faculty.

The OUT system was originally planned to include all three entities before the county withdrew before its launch in 2008.

Several non-university routes serve city residents, and proposals suggested to serve residents outside the city have included shuttles to major Oxford-area employers from distant parts of the county and even from outside communities such as Water Valley, Bruce and New Albany.

Among Vision 2037’s ecological initiatives, one will be to evaluate and rebalance tree mitigation strategies, with another to “develop a landscape strategy appropriate to the plan’s place types, particularly in commercial centers and corri-

dors.” Despite being recognized as a Tree City USA, Oxford has lost hundreds of acres of tree canopy each year to development during the past several years.

The plan aims as well to minimize the acreage devoted to impervious surfaces; to require landscaping with native, non-invasive plants and tree species suited for the region and the site; and to encourage water conservation.

Economic efforts under the long-range plan will include encouraging and recruiting new “clean” industries that provide highquality jobs, inventorying available buildings and building spaces, diversifying the local economy, and annexing identified growth areas for adequate land supply and growth control.

Increased cooperation with the county and university are also priorities identified by the Vision 2037 process. Tangible changes will include the pursuit of a joint planning area with Lafayette County; working with the University to review private, public and university development plans on or adjacent to University land to ensure coordination of land use, services and the transportation network; working with Lafayette County and state agencies to establish cooperative planning on sewage disposal issues; and creating a joint City/University/ County working group to meet periodically for information exchange on planning matters. errol.castens@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenec

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OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 11

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OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

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Oxford - Fantastic Ranch home with brick exterior located in Yocona Ridge. Home was a fenced in level back yard. The Family room features a vaulted ceiling and gas logs in the fireplace. The kitchen features wooden cabinets, black appliances and ceramic tile floors. You enter the large patio through the French Doors. Double attached garage adds to making this a great home just outside the of Oxford in the Lafayette School District.

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Vardaman - Commercial bldn currently this home of Sweet Potato Specialties. Road frontage along Hwy 8. ha office space, kitchenette, bathroom, & approx. 50 Customers. Taxes Shown are for building and business. $110,000 Call Whitney George-662-567-2573.

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 13

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PAGE 14

THE HIGHLANDS OXFORD CITIZEN

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 15

Sad for the Tad Pad “Memory believes before knowing remembers.”

William Faulkner, Light in August (1932) unny thing about memory; the longer you live, the more there is to remember, but less brain power to do so. And so it is with Tad Smith Coliseum, the muchderided and soon-to-be abandoned basketball arena of the Ole Miss Rebels. The building opened in 1966 and at the time was a bright and shiny upgrade over the school’s Old Gym (1929). But that new car shine has faded and the building is now held in low esteem, disparaged, even hated. The arena’s fate has been sealed as a new, sparkling Pavilion is set to open on January 7, 2016 (versus Alabama). The Tad Pad, as it is known, will face the wrecking ball eventually, though not in the “foreseeable future,” according to University officials.

When the building finally is torn down, an area of green space will be cultivated, “a second Circle” as it’s been described.

Perhaps the Tad Pad has worn out its usefulness. It’s routinely dismissed as a “dump”

F

which I removed and dropped to the floor in a casual move I had once seen Barry Hannah Jim Dees execute at a lecture. It was at a point in my life when shooting Tales of the Town hoops was still a back yard pleasure. In fact, I HAD a backyard hoop at the time, complete with a worn dirt playing surface with a leaky roof and primitive and a sunset/surf scene painted amenities. (Though I have to on the back board. I shot hoops say, if being primitive and leaky most afternoons while my dogs is a death sentence, I fear for played defense. I stepped to the my own life). I regret the Tad line, passed the ball behind my Pad isn’t revered like Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, COURTESY back from one hand to the other, dribbled twice, hoisted North Carolina, basketball “We’ll miss the Tad Pad but it’s hard to argue with grass and trees.” the ball and shot… Swish! home of the mighty Duke Blue Drained it. The “grand prize” form an hour of jokes, in the through their sound check. It Devils. It was opened in 1940, turned out to be lunch at round, and every word he utwas so crunching loud the Tad seats 9,300 and is one of the Smitty’s. The prettiest girl in tered was read off a cue card.

Pad rumbled and the sound most electric environments in town graciously consented to The same week the Beach Boys pained my eardrums even in all of sports. join me and we later enjoyed a the parking lot. (To this day I There are only two games left performed. (No cards.) When to be played in the Tad Pad and Willie Nelson appeared in 1980 believe the Smashing Pumpkins pleasant lunch, some of it spent trying to figure out exactly what he wore Rebel All-American are the reason the roof leaks.) then, only memories. Flashing the meat was.

John Stroud’s number 42 jersey, Then there was the time – back in time, I recall my first Yes, I’m sad for the Tad Pad visit to “Rebel Coliseum” a year bringing down the house before sometime in the early 1980s but it’s hard to argue with remy ticket stub number was or two after it opened to see Ole he even sang a note. In 1990 placing it with grass and trees. I Bob Dylan kicked off his show called to come out and shoot a Miss play Kentucky. The score with ZZ Top’s, “My Head’s in free throw for a “grand prize.” It look forward to going to the escapes me so I’m sure they Mississippi.” He later bravely just so happened on this night I new circle and sitting among beat us but I was entranced by the blooms and birds… and not was inexplicably in the comsang, “Oxford Town” his James the venue. It seemed dark and hearing Smashing Pumpkins. dramatic, like the locale for the Meredith admonishment to our pany of the prettiest woman in town. I stepped out onto the final chase scene in a Hitchcock very town. I happened to be court to a modest ovation and movie – especially to a bugwalking through the Tad Pad Jim Dees has lived in Oxford was handed the ball. I rememeyed teenager from the Delta. parking lot in 1994 when for over 30 years and lived In 1973 I saw Bob Hope perSmashing Pumpkins were going ber I was wearing a jacket to tell the tale.

November is national Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

n 1983, President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. But while this month may be the time when this illness gets more attention, we should never really lose focus any day of the year for those loved ones who have struggled with dementia or other memoryrelated diseases.

Alzheimer’s is a brain disease that causes a slow decline in memory, thinking and reasoning skills. There are several warning signs to watch for if you think a loved one is showing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. These may include memory loss, challenges in problem solving, diffi-

I

“

ple age 65 or older has Alzheimer’s. The ratio goes up dramatically for those 85 and older, with nearly one out of three people in this age group exhibiting symptoms.

The fears of the illness being hereditary are substantiated, because family history is another strong risk factor.

The Alzheimer’s Association says those who have a parent, brother, sister or child with Alzheimer’s are more likely to develop the disand cholesterol levels, ease and cancer as a culty in completing faease. The risk increases if maintaining a healthy cause of death among miliar tasks, confusion more than one family weight and quitting with time and place, mis- older adults. member has the illness. smoking are just a few Unfortunately, there is placing items or poor When diseases tend to ways. no cure for Alzheimer’s. judgment. run in families, either When a loved one is It’s estimated that more However, there are ways stricken with Alzheimer’s, heredity (genetics) or ento help lower the risk of than five million Amerivironmental factors, or it’s not unusual to worry dementia and other cans may have both, may play a role. if it’s hereditary. The memory-related condiAlzheimer’s disease, and The growing number of greatest known risk factions, and boost overall it’s currently ranked as Alzheimer’s patients has tor for Alzheimer’s is adthe sixth leading cause of health and well-being. vancing age. According to created a growing deExercise, healthy diet, death in the United mand for memory care active social engagement, the Alzheimer’s AssociaStates. It’s also ranked tion, one out of nine peo- services available to aslowering blood pressure third behind heart dis-

The growing number of Alzheimer’s patients has created a growing demand for memory care services available to assist families whose loved ones have dementia. Memory care services provide specialized programming and safe environments where those with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia can live and thrive.

“

BY MICKI JOHNSON, RN SPECIAL TO THE OXFORD CITIZEN

sist families whose loved ones have dementia.

Memory care services provide specialized programming and safe environments where those with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia can live and thrive, despite the illness.

The treatment for Alzheimer’s varies. There are currently five FDAapproved Alzheimer’s medications on the market that treat the symptoms. Researchers continue to search for a cure for Alzheimer’s, but until that occurs, the push progresses for new medications for improved treatments.

Micki Johnson, RN is Director of Wellness at The Blake at Oxford, an assisted living and memory care community opening this fall.

For more information, visit TheBlakeCares.com or call (662) 234-5050.

PAGE 16

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

John Davis Sports Editor

Rebels, Chargers have a lot to play for this weekend

t’s rivalry week in the realm of local football. Ole Miss travels to play at Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl.

Oxford hosts its biggest rival, West Point, on Friday night. Both games should be entertaining. Both should be physical. Both games have a lot riding on the outcome.

If the Rebels are going to play in Atlanta, in the SEC Championship game, they have to beat the Bulldogs Saturday night. Alabama and Auburn play in the annual Iron Bowl prior to the contest, but it was clear that Hugh Freeze wasn’t going to keep up with it.

He wasn’t exactly sure if his players would know or not, but there was no sitting around the TV to see what happened. Alabama has to lose to Auburn for the Rebels to advance, but they also have to win. There is no backing in. Ole Miss will have to do its part, even if Auburn doesn’t.

“The good thing is our kick is at 6:15 p.m.

With an hour drive, we will probably leave at around 3. The game will just have started.

We will not turn on any TVs. I can’t control the player’s phones,” Freeze said when asked about the Iron Bowl Monday. “They probably wouldn’t follow as closely if I had access to a TV. Once we get to the stadium, all the phones will be put away. We won’t have any idea of what is going on with that game.

There may be some updates in the stadium.

I don’t know. I typically don’t hear those.

There will be enough riding on the Egg Bowl regardless of the outcome of that game. We should play with everything that we have.”

Freeze is absolutely right. There is more than enough riding on the Egg Bowl. Not only would the victory give the Rebels nine on the season, the same as last year, it would be the first over the Bulldogs in Davis Wade Stadium since Freeze was coaching in high school. That’s 12 years to be exact. It was Eli Manning’s senior year. Ole Miss may have earned 20 wins in Starkville over the years, but there have only been two since 1997.

The players know that it’s possible to win in Starkville. Just two years ago, the Rebels had a chance. And that was after playing subpar football on offense. A late fumble by Bo Wallace cost the Rebels in that one. Mistakes always play a part in this game. This is a game where only the team that executes the best has a chance to win. Rivalry games usually bring out the best in both teams. In the case of the Bulldogs, in Starkville, they play out of their minds against the Rebels.

Outside of the 31-0 win for the Rebels in

I

TURN TO DAVIS PAGE 21

LAUREN WOOD | OXFORD CITIZEN

Former Mississippi State running back Josh Robinson and the Bulldogs suffered a defeat in Oxford in 2014. The Bulldogs are looking to return the favor Saturday in Starkville.

Mirror images Annual Egg Bowl may be one for history books

BY JOHN DAVIS SPORTS EDITOR

It all comes down to one game for the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs. The annual Battle for the Golden Egg is here. For the Rebels, a win over the Bulldogs in Starkville would be the first since 2003. That would be significant. And if the Auburn Tigers are able to upset Alabama in the annual Iron Bowl, a win over the Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium would be historic for the Rebels.

There is always a lot riding on the result of the annual meeting between the Rebels and Bulldogs, but this year may take the cake.

A win for Ole Miss, and a loss by Alabama, means a trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game for the Rebels, who enter the game with an 83 overall mark and 5-2 record in the SEC. A rematch with Florida is something the Rebels would savor for sure.

For the Bulldogs (8-3, 4-3), a win over Ole Miss at home

at

Kickoff: 6:15 p.m.

Radio: WQLJ-FM 93.7 TV: ESPN 2 Series: Ole Miss leads 62-43-6 would bring the Egg Bowl trophy back home. It would be the sixth straight over the Rebels at home, and the victory would vault them over their biggest rival in the final SEC standings. MSU would almost certainly have a chance garner a more desired bowl trip as well.

If the stakes don’t make the game interesting enough, factor in how even the teams are.

TURN TO EGG BOWL PAGE 20

LAUREN WOOD | OXFORD CITIZEN

After winning the 2014 Egg Bowl, the Ole Miss Rebels are looking to keep the Golden Egg in Oxford. The Rebels clash with Mississippi State in Starkville Saturday night.

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 17

Byars provides positive spirit for Chargers each Friday night

BY JOHN DAVIS SPORTS EDITOR

Ansley Byars has been on the sidelines or in the gym cheering on the Oxford Chargers since she was in the seventh grade.

She has been cheering even longer than that, so it’s an activity that she is very familiar with.

“I did dance when I was little. I did Oxford Cheer for two or three years and I loved that,” Byars said. “I really enjoy cheering on Friday nights. We did it in middle school, too. That wasn’t as big of deal because it was on Tuesday nights, but it was really fun then. It’s good to be there with all the surroundings and with the band and it being on a Friday.”

The junior is one of the many talented cheerleaders on the OHS squad. She has seen the Chargers win 11 games heading into this Friday’s big matchup with West Point. She has also helped the team get ready for the state competition, which will take place next month.

“We’re really looking forward to that and then after that, it’s off to Disney World in February,” Byars said about the two big competitions the team will take part in. “We’re competing in the national cheer competition and it’s in Disney World. Teams from all over the United States will compete. There are two different types of competition. You have game day which is cheering and doing stunts and then you have your actual competition routine.

I’m very excited about that. This is the first time in a while that this has happened for Oxford High School cheer.”

Byars likes the last five minutes of a game, which means she must have loved the way the Chargers defeated Germantown last week. Quarterback Jack

Abraham led the team down the field in under three minutes for the game-winning score.

“I like when the score is close and the student section really gets involved and we will do cheers like Charger Nation and the band will start playing with us,” Byars said about her favorite part of a Friday night. “It’s really a fun time.”

Before the win over Germantown, Byars said the game that was the most fun for her was the Madison Central contest in Week 3.

“I know a couple of girls that go to Madison Central. Starkville was another fun one because we were on TV, which was really awesome,” Byars said. “Unfortunately I didn’t make TV, but my mom did.”

Senior linebacker Dee Fair is the Charger that Byars gets snacks for prior to a game. Byars has dated Fair the past year, so she knows exactly what to get him.

“He’s always positive. He’s a natural leader for the team. He’s a strong part of the defense considering that a bunch of defensive players graduated last year,” she said. “They’ve had to make a lot of adjustments and people have had to try out new positions. People have done really well with that and the team is really good at being flexible. If someone gets hurt, someone PETRE THOMAS | OXFORD CITIZEN can fill in easily.”

Junior Ansley Byars enjoys being with her friends on Friday nights, and also cheering on the Chargers.

The level of recognition of what the cheerleaders do has increased this year, Byars said.

“With the new administration, we’ve had more spirited pep rallies and people have been getting into the game more,” Byars said. “School spirit is at a higher level I think.”

MEET YOUR

Cheerleader Ansley Byars

john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

Meet your cheerleader sponsored by

Proudly Serving Oxford & Lafayette County Since 1938

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 18

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Friday Night Previews: Week 15

SPORTS IN DEPTH LAST WEEK’S RESULTS Oxford 40, Germantown 33 Germantown 0 20 0 13 33 13 12 7 8 Oxford 40 First Quarter OXF – Hiram Wadlington 3 run (2-point failed), 9:57.

OXF – DK Metcalf 26 pass from Jack Abraham (Connell Yoste kick), 2:09.

Second Quarter GER – Nic Patterson 5 run (Connor McKay kick), 11:18.

OXF – Ken Presley 8 pass from Abraham (kick failed), 10:15.

GER – Chander Dillard 65 pass from Michael Allen (McKay kick), 10:04.

GER – McKay 43 field goal, 4:59.

OXF – Metcalf 14 pass from Abraham (2-point conversion fail), 2:35.

GER – McKay 34 field goal, 0:37.

Third Quarter OXF – Metcalf 14 pass from Abraham (Liam Cooper kick), 4:42.

Fourth Quarter GER – Dalton Bradfield 3 run (McKay kick), 11:21.

GER – Nigel Knott 92 intercetpion return (2 pt failed), 2:48.

OXF – Metcalf 11 pass from Abraham (Abraham 2 point run), 31.4 Records: Oxford 11-2; Germantown 9-4.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

MHSAA QUARTERFINALS Last Friday’s Results • Class 1A Lumberton 34, Nanih Waiya 27 Resurrection Catholic 31, Stringer 0 Simmons 75, West Lowndes 12 Smithville 14, Shaw 13 • Class 2A Baldwyn 30, Calhoun City 16 Bassfield 42, Taylorsville 13 Bay Springs 13, Lake 12 East Webster 37, O’Bannon 12 • Class 3A Aberdeen 28, East Side 6 Charleston 28, Yazoo County 0 Collins 41, Kemper County 14 West Marion 12, Hazlehurst 8 • Class 4A Greenwood 23, Kosciusko 22 Lawrence County 35, Vancleave 21 Noxubee County 56, Houston 26 St. Stanislaus 44, Moss Point 20 • Class 5A Laurel 35, Pascagoula 0 Oxford 40, Germantown 33 Wayne Co. 37, P. River Central 13 West Point 16, Grenada 9 • Class 6A Madison Central 21, Warren Central 14 Meridian 35, Oak Grove 29 Petal 35, Brandon 30 Starkville 45, Clinton 27

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL MHSAA SEMIFINALS FRIDAY’S GAMES

Class 5A • NORTH West Point (11-2) at Oxford (11-2), 7 p.m. (95.5 FM) Wayne County (10-3) at Laurel (10-3)SOUTH CLASS 6A • NORTH Madison Central (9-5) at Starkville (12-1) • SOUTH Meridian (8-5) at Petal (9-4) CLASS 4A • NORTH Noxubee County (10-4) at Greenwood (12-1) • SOUTH St. Stanislaus (10-3) at Lawrence County (13-1) CLASS 3A • NORTH Aberdeen (11-3) at Charleston (12-2) • SOUTH West Marion (13-1) at Collins (13-1) CLASS 2A • NORTH East Webster (13-1) at Baldwyn (12-2) • SOUTH Bassfield (12-2) at Bay Springs (12-2) CLASS 1A • NORTH Simmons (10-0) at Smithville (12-1) • SOUTH Lumberton (8-5) at Resurrection (12-0)

MAIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

AAAA DIV I Jackson Prep 51, MRA 13 MAIS AAAA Div II Washington 37, Oak Forest, La. 20

OXFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

MONDAY’S RESULT Ridgeland (G) 36, Oxford 33 Ridgeland 7 14 4 11 36 Oxford 7 6 17 3 33 Ridgeland – Natalie Ervin 12, Kayla Simmons 11.

Oxford – Aliyah Herod 9, Maggee Hobson 9.

Records: Ridgeland 2-1; Oxford 3-1.

PETRE THOMAS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Oxford quarterback Jack Abraham and the Chargers host West Point Friday night in the MHSAA Class 5A north state title game.

Chargers face Wave in 5A north state title game

BY JOHN DAVIS SPORTS EDITOR

A knife fight in a phone booth.

That was the way Oxford Johnny Hill described the matchup between his Chargers and the Green Wave of West Point. In a perfect world, West Point would keep the Chargers bottled up, and in a position to take shots that made them weaker as the game went on.

The key, when the two meet again at Oxford in the MHSAA Class 5A north state title game, is to maintain poise, and not flinch.

“It doesn’t matter that we’ve won four straight. It doesn’t matter. Their mentality is they want this to be a brawl,” Hill said. “They want to talk smack. They want to intimidate you. That’s just the way they do it. If you cower down, they will pour it on. You can’t be intimidated by them. If they see a sign of weakness, they’ll pour it on. They’re going to try and intimidate you in any way they can.”

Oxford vs. West Point Kickoff: 7 p.m.

Radio: WOXD-FM 95.5

In the first meeting between the two Division 1-5A rivals, the Chargers were able to open the game up and unload on the Green Wave from the air. Quarterback Jack Abraham threw for 421 yards and five touchdowns in a 50-28 win. Hill was hoping that happened again, but he is also keenly aware that no matter what has happened in the past is guaranteed.

“I don’t know if we can score 50 points against them, but we sure are going to try,” Hill said. “The biggest thing we have to do from the first game is to not have them have the ball 96 snaps. We can’t get out flanked. We’re going to have to stick your nose in there.

We got out flanked last time and I did a poor job of coaching them up and letting them get out flanked. We’re bound and determined we’re not going to let that happen.”

Hill said whether it was shoving after the play, a cheap shot or trash talk, the Green Wave are going to try and get under the skin of the Chargers.

“And what makes them angry is the fact they haven’t been able to do that the last three years,” Hill said adding he felt like the Green Wave had improved since September. “They’ve played a lot more games and they have solidified what they’re going to do. It’s circle the wagons in a game like HOME FINALE this. They’ve gotten better, but Friday will be the final game at we’ve gotten better as well.”

Bobby Holcomb Field for the

OHS senior class, a group that has won at least 11 games in each of the last three seasons.

“They’re good group of guys and they’ve had a good group of guys with them and some good guys behind them,” Hill said.

“They have been a big part of a very good football team.”

SCOUTING REPORT

West Point (11-2) advanced to Friday’s 5A north state title game by defeating Grenada 16-9 in the semifinals. The Green Wave average 317.6 yards per game on the ground, and have two players – Marcus Murphy and Chris Calvert – who have rushed for almost 3,000 yards and combined to score 33 touchdowns.

Murphy is the quarterback and he has added 715 yards and nine touchdowns through the air.

Dmarrio Edwards is the top receiver with 23 catches for 394 yards. john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 19

LB Turner has led Chargers on defense

BY JOHN DAVIS SPORTS EDITOR

PETRE THOMAS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Senior Oxford linebacker Jack Turner leads the team with 131 tackles. He has been a big reason why the Chargers have won 11 games and playing in the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs currently.

In the Chargers’ win over Germantown, Turner finished with 15 tackles and a quarterback hurry. He had an interception against Vicksburg and he has a total of three on the season. To put into perspective how successful Turner has been, no other Charger has 100 tackles. And only two players have more interceptions than him, while no Charger has more sacks.

“I feel very fortunate and proud for Jack to get his shot to be that guy and for Jack to step up and be that guy,” Hill said. “He didn’t back down from the challenge of playing middle linebacker. He’s accepted that challenge, and he does a really good job with it. We count on him. He’s one of our main stays on defense.”

Turner watches film of how he has played each game. He compares it to other games, and he was

“

I knew that if I gave 100 percent, I would be on the field starting. This group, this is our last year. We have to go out with a bang if we’re going to.

“

There was a void left at linebacker for the Oxford Chargers when Michael McGhee graduated and Thomas Allen moved away following the 2014 season.

Head coach Johnny Hill knew how important those two were to the defense, and he knew that someone had to step in the middle.

That someone turned out to be senior Jack Turner. The 6-foot-2, 215pound Turner has done everything asked of him this fall, Hill said. He makes all the calls on the field, and he has been productive, having 131 tackles heading into Friday’s matchup with West Point.

“I told our defensive coaches early in the season last year that we needed to get some of these young linebackers in there because these other guys were going to be gone and that they needed as much experience as they could get,” Hill said. “Of course Jack was the first guy that popped into our heads. We knew that we had to get him some game time, quality game time out there. We did and Jack has really matured and evolved into a really good linebacker for us. He makes the calls and he moves the linemen around when they don’t get the call or they’re not thinking. He calls the stunts from the huddle.

He’s our quarterback in there and done just a really good job.”

Other coaches have taken notice of Turner’s strong season as well. He was named one of the top two inside linebackers for the Division 1-5A team, which is voted on by the other league coaches. Hill said another thing he really liked about Turner was that he put the team first.

“And it’s team first with him. Period. That’s the way it ought to be with everybody,” Hill said. “We have a lot of team players out there and it just makes it so much easier to coach and a lot more fun to play with. I think he’s a complete linebacker because he will hit you on the run. He had a big interception against Vicksburg. He’s been playing well.”

Jack Turner, Senior linebacker about the program and his teammates certain that defense played better against Germantown.

“It all came from how we practiced. You play how you practice, and that’s what the coaches were preaching to us all last week,” Turner said. “They told us to go hard in practice and we would play that way in the game.”

The offseason involved a lot of work for Turner, who used the word grind to talk about his offseason.

“I knew that if I gave 100 percent, I would be on the

field starting,” said Turner, who has been around the program and was comfortable with his teammates.

“This group, this is our last year. We have to go out with a bang if we’re going to.”

The Chargers host West Point in the MHSAA Class 5A north state title game on Friday night. A win means the team will play at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in the 5A championship.

“We whipped West Point earlier in the year, but they still scored on us a little bit,”

Turner said. “They will be seeing a completely different defense this time for sure. They definitely don’t like us and we don’t like them. It’s going to be a brawl all the way until the end.”

A nose for the football is something a linebacker needs to be successful.

Turner added that being physical is, and ready to strike somebody, is also another requirement of the position.

“When the ball is snapped, you have about 0.2 seconds to get where you’re supposed to be and you have to be somewhere just about every single play,” Turner said. “You have to have your head in the ballgame for sure. To finally be out there and be a contributor to the team is just means the world to me and my family.”

Every senior on the roster is like a brother to Turner.

He grew up with them and the bond is very strong.

“You definitely don’t want to take it for granted.

We want to come out here all of the seniors need to realize that this is the last time out here on Bobby Holcomb Field no matter what,” Turner said. “Do as much as you can, win the game and play with everything you’ve got.”

Oxford is back at home Friday, playing the Green Wave, thanks the late scoring drive led by quarterback Jack Abraham. Turner had all the confidence in the world that Abraham would get the Chargers into the end zone and find a way to defeat Germantown.

“If we would have had 10 seconds on the clock, I feel like we would have scored,” Turner said. “The determination he had on his face was he was scoring no matter what.” john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 20

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Lady Chargers lose momentum in loss to Ridgeland

BY JOHN DAVIS SPORTS EDITOR

After winning the first three games of the season, Cliff Ormon didn’t like the way his Oxford Lady Chargers played to start their OHS Charger Shootout Monday night. The Lady Chargers lost 36-33 to Ridgeland and it was the way they lost that Ormon didn’t like.

“The first half, I didn’t think we were playing with the intensity it took execute anything offensively, even defensively,” Ormon said.

“We were out of position and getting into foul trouble. Aliyah (Herod) had three fouls in the first quarter. She helps offensively by giving us a threat the drive and shoot the 3. We kind of challenged them at halftime and said that wasn’t the way we had played all year. We had been the ones that had set the tempo.”

Oxford responded in the third quarter with a lot more fire and energy. There were steals that the team made, and shots started to fall. The Lady Chargers erased a 2113 deficit to lead by five (3025) heading into the fourth.

Jordan Freeze and Maggee Hobson started the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers and the momentum carried until the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been a spurt team all year. We haven’t had two bad quarters back-to-back

Egg Bowl FROM PAGE 16

Both quarterbacks have almost the exact same stats.

Both teams have almost the same stats on offense. It may end up being a shootout, a game that really does come down to the last possession.

“They can do what they want. In years past, they have run power and counter. I don’t want to get too much into that, but that isn’t what they have done the last few weeks, and they have been very successful, offensively,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said of MSU. “They really spread it out with perimeter run game, with Dak (Prescott) inside some and throwing it around.”

Prescott drives the Bulldogs, offensively, and

JOHN DAVIS | OXFORD CITIZEN

Oxford’s Maggee Hobson gets set to shoot a free throw. like we had in the first and second,” Ormon said.

“Ridgeland had some size that gave us some trouble with their long arms and seeing over the zone defense. We don’t prepare as much against the zone because we work on our stuff.

It’s not that we don’t ever talk about 2-3, but you can’t

simulate when you don’t have their athletes and some of the things they are looking to do.”

Ormon felt his shooters were better than what they have shown this year so far.

He felt like the shooting would come together.

“I told that I would much rather it be early in the sea-

son when we have one of these games and us learn from it and get better from it,” Ormon said. “It told me that we need to spend more time on zone and I would much rather learn now than at the end of the year when they start to mean a whole lot. There are some shots that we’re going to be

through his leadership. The senior quarterback has been as good as ever, throwing 23 touchdowns against just three interceptions. He has thrown the ball more than in the past, but Freeze said he must be accounted for in the running game, which makes it that much more difficult to defend him.

“He has talented receivers on the perimeter.

You have to fit their perimeter runs with what they can do on the outside, and you have to know also that they have a big quarterback that looks like a big tailback when he gets the ball and runs,” Freeze said.

“This year, we are most similar than any year we have played. I think our defensive fronts are strong. I think our receiving corps are strong. Our quarterbacks are playing well.

There are a lot of things that are really similar. We both have given up some back-end passing yardage.

There are a lot of similarities for sure.”

NKEMDICHE UPDATE

SCOUTING REPORT Mississippi State has scored 369 points this season, good for a 33.5 points per game average, which is fourth best in the SEC behind Ole Miss. The Rebels have 445 points in 11 games, good for a 40.5 points per game average.

The Bulldogs rank ninth in the SEC in total defense (380.2 yards per game allowed) and are two spots ahead of Ole Miss in scoring defense (21.5 points allowed, seventh).

Prescott has accounted for 21 touchdowns the last five games, the most in the nation over that time period.

Freeze said senior linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche was still under the watch of medical personnel Monday. With access coming to an end due to Thanksgiving, it was unclear if Nkemdiche would be able to play against the Bulldogs.

Nkemdiche missed the LSU game last Saturday after being hospitalized for an undisclosed reason.

“He continues to be progressing very well. We’re supporting him and his family in any way that we can here,” Freeze said.

“Our athletic director and training staff are doing anything that they can do to help in that process. We are all for it. We are under the doctor’s supervision as to what the next steps are; playing would be up to them. I am not real sure on

able to hit and some of it is confidence. Some of them are stepping in roles this year where their shots have to go down. They have to be able to go to that next play mentality. We have good kids and they want to win.

They were just as disappointed as I was going into that locker room.”

Even if the game had turned out to be a close win, Ormon saw things his Lady Chargers need to work on.

“I had already told them that the first half wasn’t our basketball, not being able to finish plays and being mentally tough,” Ormon said. “I think we had done some really good things early. The first game was really a lot of fouls, so we worked on our defense and sliding our feet.

We got two charges tonight from Emma Schultz. She’s a tough kid and she’s going to make some big plays. There were some things that stick out in the third quarter that we want to do. We want to push the ball and play fast, but when you only score 33 points, it didn’t look like we wanted to play fast.”

As the new roles get understood for the Lady Chargers (3-1), Ormon felt like his team would get better and better.

“It’s not going to be overnight to be exactly where we want to be,” Ormon said. “We have to get our bench set and who is coming in and who is going to stay out there. We didn’t play that many kids tonight, but it’s going to be that way sometimes. I definitely think this group wants to be good and we can better than we were tonight.” john.davis@journalinc.com Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

Monday on where that ROAD WARRIORS stands. We’ll lean on the Mike Hilton said while medical staff. Whatever it’s tough to win on the road they advise us to do, we’ll in the SEC, especially in a do.” rivalry game, the Rebels were confident that they could reverse the trend NOT AVAILABLE Ole Miss freshman cor- with a good week of pracnerback Cam Ordway was tice, and by playing misejected during the Rebels’ take-free football. win over LSU for throwing It’s just like any game. a punch. That means he You correct your mistakes, will miss the first half of the you better your chance of Egg Bowl. Freeze said he winning. That’s something didn’t not see Ordway we’re going to harp on this throw a punch when he week,” Hilton said. “Offenlooked at the film of the sively, Dak is playing topgame. Freeze later said he notch. He’s completing a lot accepted the decision of his passes right now. Dehanded down by the SEC fensively, we know we have to make sure we’re tip-top. and moved on.

“We have a god relation- Their defense is playing ship with our SEC officials,” well. We have to make sure Freeze said. “When they our offense is playing well give me something that also so everything will go they believe is the right in- hand in hand.” terpretation and the right view of what they saw, I will john.davis@journalinc.com support it.”

Twitter: @oxfordcitizenjd

OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

PAGE 21

Oxford Citizen Pick ’Em JOHN DAVIS

PARRISH ALFORD

CHRIS KIEFFER

PATRICK OCHS

BEN MIKELL

Oxford Citizen Sports Editor Record: 71-29

Daily Journal Ole Miss Sports Reporter Record: 72-28

Daily Journal Multimedia Editor Record: 72-28

Sun Herald General Assignment Reporter Record: 66-34

Sports Writer Guest picker Record: ##-##

out this year for the Bulldogs. He has 23 touchdown passes against just three interceptions. He also has 3,159 yards and another 478 on the ground. He and Chad Kelly each have nine rushing touchdowns. That’s 18 touchdowns scored by the quarterbacks. Amazing to say the least. Especially for quarterbacks who have both thrown over 20 touchdown passes each.

It’s not like these are option quarterbacks running the triple option. Both have demonstrated they have the ability to throw

the ball all over the field, and place it where only their receivers can get it.

The overall stats are almost dead even. Kelly has completed 256 passes. Prescott has completed 260. Kelly has attempted 395 passes.

Prescott has 393. The only difference between the two is that Kelly has 12 interceptions. Prescott has three. Turnovers have hurt the Rebels the most this year. They were excellent in that department last season. They are second to last in that category in the SEC this year. Still, Freeze and his team is a great 60

minutes away from a ninth win, and if everything breaks right, a chance to play Florida again in the SEC title game.

defeated Chargers down to West Point for the 4A north state title game. West Point gave them their first loss of the season, in heartbreaking fashion. Oxford has played for the state title the past two years. And the Chargers have plans of playing in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, site of the state title games, next week. They will have to execute well in order to do that. West Point is looking to make the contest a physical battle. The Chargers made the first meeting of the year a track meet. Oxford quarterback Jack Abraham threw the ball all over

the yard. If he does that again Friday, expect the Chargers to be moving on. It will all come down to mistakes, just like the Egg Bowl.

Whichever team makes more, they will lose. It’s really that simple.

Both games should be memorable. They could end up being remembered for years and years to come.

Rivalry week, there’s nothing like it.

GAME 1 Ole Miss at Miss. State

GAME 2 Alabama at Auburn

GAME 3 Florida State at Florida

GAME 4 Texas A&M at LSU

GAME 5 Oklahoma at Oklahoma State

GAME 6 Notre Dame at Stanford

GAME 7 UCLA at USC

GAME 8 Ohio State at Michigan

GAME 9 Baylor at TCU

GAME 10 Navy at Houston

Davis FROM PAGE 16

2003, the trips to Starkville in the last 20 or so years have been more painful than not. The Rebels lost by 13 in 1999 and by 21 in 2005. They lost by 28 in 2011. And by 14 in 2009.

What will happen this year?

It’s anybody’s guess, but two of the best quarterbacks in the SEC will be opposing each other. That much is certain.

MSU’s Dak Prescott has been fantastic during his career, and he’s been lights

FAMILIAR FOE West Point, to Oxford, is much like the Bulldogs to the Rebels. Friday night’s MHSAA Class 5A north state title game should be intense. The Chargers have defeated the Green Wave four straight. They have controlled the rivalry in recent times when West Point used to control it with the Chargers. A decade ago, Johnny Hill brought his un-

John Davis is the Oxford Citizen sports editor. He can be reached at john.davis@journalinc.com.

Follow him on Twitter at @oxfordcitizenjd.

Citizen OXFORD

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OXFORD CITIZEN

toll free • 800.270.2622 p • 662.842.2622 f • 662.620.8301

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Publication of any classified advertisement does not constitute endorsement by Journal Publishing Company. We make every effort to screen out advertising that may not be legitimate. However, since we can not guarantee the legitimacy of our advertisers, you are advised to beware of offers that appear to be too good to be true, misleading ads and those that ask you to send money.

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YARD SALE

SERVICES

Tuesday 4 P.M..........................Thursday Thursday 4 P.M...........................Sunday

A-1 Gutter Maker Call for FREE Estimates, Seamless gutters installed. No job too small. 662-213-5875

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Deadline..............................Edition Call 662-842-2622

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COME TO OUR SALE.....

DRIVER TRAINEES NEEDED NOW! Learn to drive for

US Express

New Drivers earn $750/wk & Benefits!

NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED!

CDL & Job Ready in 3 weeks!

1-888-540-7364

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Clip Ad for Free Calendar

DUKE PECAN COMPANY

preferably with leads & contacts. Pay based on experience & connections, Job based in Columbus, MS volumedoug@cableone.net

The REAL Duke Pecan Company Tupelo: Same Location 811 EAST MAIN

or Call 662 574 4400.

Employment Services

DOWN FROM ELVIS PRESLEY’S

CAUTION!

(Bingo Building) ACROSS FROM DAIRY KREAM

844-9664 West Point Operation:

Large U.S. No. 1 Pecans New Crop Shelled, Chocolate Pecans, and Candies “Since 1938”

Drivers

You need answers.

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You need results.

Oxford Citizen Classified Ad-Visors are as close as the nearest phone, well-versed and ready to assist you. We have a variety of ways to customize your ad to get the action and results you want!

Call today to place your classified ad!

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PECANS

Fresh NEW Crop

JOBS

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Special Notices

494-6767

Special Occasions

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR GREAT VALUE AT A LOW PRICE,

WILL BE OPEN NOV. 28, 2015

508 Brame Avenue West Point, MS

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISERS When Placing Ads

1. Make sure your ad reads the way you want it. Then our Ad Consultants will read it back to you.

2. Be sure your ad is in the proper classification.

3. After the deadline, ad cannot be canceled or corrected until after it runs the first day.

4. Check your ad the first day for errors. If an error has been made, we will be happy to correct it; however, we cannot be responsible for errors after the first day.

If you cannot find your ad, call us at 1-800-270-2622 the day you expect it to start.

PONTOTOC STOCKYARD

Duke Pecan Company

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

FOR MORE INFO: CALL 205-300-2395 OR 205-272-9397

Whheenn W ? ? e r e r e e h h W W & &

Advertisements in this classification usually offer informational service or products designed to help FIND employment. Before you send money to any advertiser, it is your responsibility to verify the validity of the offer. Some ads may require a toll call or a directory purchase. Inquiries can be made by contacting the Better Business Bureau at 1800-987-8280 Oxford Citizen Classifieds Get RESULTS! Call Today!

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REAL ESTATE All Real Estate advertising herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination. We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

If you believe that you may have been discriminated against in connection with the sale, rental or financing of housing, call The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at 1-800-669-9777.

Manufactured Housing For Sale 16x80 Single Wide 3/2, good condition $15,900.00 includes delivery & set up Call 662-401-1093

STUFF

Miscellaneous

COLLECTABLE BASKETBALL CARDS - Michael Jordan 92 player Chicago Bulls, Patrick Ewing Upper Deck MVP, James Worthey Upper Deck 93, Mahmoud-Abdul-Rauf Upper Deck 93. All cards in mint condition. $175 for All. (662)840-2025

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Musical

GUITAR

For sale: Gretsch 6120 pro series guitar Brian Setzer model. Serious inquiries only.

Guitar is in like new condition with Grets. Call Tim or text at 662-401-3050.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015

OXFORD CITIZEN

PAGE 23

www.oxfordcitizen.com

Contact us • Sports Editor John Davis john.davis@journalinc.com

MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 1176 Oxford, MS 38655

• News reporter Errol Castens errol.castens@journalinc.com (662) 816-1282

OFFICE (662) 801-9607

• Advertising Sarah Brooke Bishop sarahbrooke.bishop@journalinc.com

FAX (662) 638-0111

CORRECTIONS The Oxford Citizen will correct any error found in the newspaper.

To request a correction or clarification, call (662) 380-5409.

A correction or clarification will appear in the next issue.

A publication of Journal, Inc.

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OXFORD CITIZEN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2015