Profile 2018

P R O F I L E

2 0 1 8

Population

51,168 Greater than the sum of our parts

A S P E C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E N AT C H E Z D E M O C R AT

You’re always welcome in

visitnatchez.org

W

ith springtime in Natchez, the intoxicating aroma of our classic flora — our jasmine, magnolia, and gardenia — begins to fill the air. The air is also charged with energy! Energy for the future of our town.

As our elected officials and community leaders pursue goals for education, recreation, downtown development, industrial recruitment, and job creation, our hospitality and tourism industry welcomes vacationers and conventioneers from around the globe.

People have been drawn to Natchez from ancient times to today because we have the greatest view of the greatest river in the world. We are proud of our Native American story — The Nachee — from whom we derive our town’s name. We are proud of our African-American heritage, which encompasses the struggles and triumphs of people whose ancestors were force brought to America more than 300 years ago help build our great country. We are proud of our beautiful town, 200 feet above the river, which evidences our French, English, and Spanish roots and the many contributions of immigrants to the diverse history of our town.

In 2016, we celebrated our 300th anniversary as the oldest continuous European settlement on the Mississippi River. Now, in 2017, we salute Mississippi’s Bicentennial. In doing so, we come together as one people, as one community, building on our past to create our future.

Profile, published annually by The Natchez Democrat, is about the people of Natchez — who we are and who we plan to be. Enjoy the read, and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Mayor.

Sincerely,

Darryl V. Grennell, Mayor of Natchez

NATCHEZ CITY HALL | 124 SOUTH PEARL STREET 601.445.7500 | WWW.CITYOFNATCHEZ.NET FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION, VISIT VISITNATCHEZ.ORG

Working hard for the future of

ADAMS COUNTY DISTRICT 1 SUPERVISOR Mike Lazarus (601) 597-4576

DISTRICT 2 SUPERVISOR Vice President David Carter (225) 202-4387

DISTRICT 3 SUPERVISOR Angela Hutchins (601) 442-2431

DISTRICT 4 SUPERVISOR Ricky Gray (601) 807-1923

A D A M S

DISTRICT 5 SUPERVISOR President

Calvin Butler (601) 334-0678

ADAMS COUNTY CHANCERY CLERK Brandi Lewis (601) 446-6684

COUNTY ADMINSTRATOR Joe Murray (601) 445-7934

BOARD ATTORNEY Scott Slover (601) 442-0075

C O U N T Y

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

In 2016, tourism in Natchez/Adams County

produced

provided

generated over

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2,275 $964 in local & state direct travel & tourism jobs,

20% of all non-farm jobs

is

c i m o Econlopment Deve

MILLION

in direct tourist

tax relief

spending

for EVERY HOUSEHOLD

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6 PROFILE 2018

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I

have a riddle for you — How can one be greater than 51,168?

When I was a child I loved pondering such simple, yet confounding puzzles.

My grandfather, who also loved brain teasers of all kinds, enjoyed watching the quizzical looks on his grandchildren’s faces when he posed similar riddles.

He waited until right before that moment of exasperation to reveal his answers — and more often than not, a clue to some life lesson was hidden in solution.

Much hand-wringing has been performed in recent years over the declining population in Natchez and the surrounding area.

A look at statistics calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, reveals a slow, steady decline in the Miss-Lou since 1980, when nearly 61,000 people lived in Adams County and Concordia Parish.

Almost four decades later, 2017 numbers estimate 51,168 people now live in the county and parish.

The drop of nearly 10,000 people is a serious concern, but not a reason to hang the number around our collective necks in despair.

After all, one is greater than 51,168 people when we all work together as a team, when we work collectively for the greater good of the community.

Profile 2018 focuses on the diverse array of people who live in our neighborhoods, who continue to push the community forward — together.

On the following pages, you will read stories of survival, hope and faith.

We begin with a story about area youth and the hopes they have for not only their future, but the future of the city they call home. We also tell the story of two police officers who were at the right time, at the right place when then helped save the life of a small child. Also inside is the story of four other uniformed officers who work together as a team to keep our streets safe.

From a story about local volunteers who care for our community to a story of local coach’s faith in God and his daughter’s future, our staff has scoured the community looking for stories that demonstrate what makes our area so special.

We hope this edition of Profile — the newspaper’s biggest annual project — can help show that our area is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.

Our staff began working months ago to bring you the stories, photos and advertisements in this edition of Profile. We are never surprised at the amazing stories we find in our community, but always delighted to share them with you — our readers.

We hope you will spend some time in the coming days reading through each page in this special edition and realizing just how far our community has come and how those in our community are working to push it even further. And we hope to be there along with you every step of the way.

BEN HILLYER is the news editor of The Natchez Democrat.

Future is Now

12

Hope for Chloe

18

To Their Rescue

22

On the job

28

Saving a Life

32

In the fight

36

Spirits Reside

44

What’s for Lunch?

50

Down Under

53

Miracle on the court

57

Part of the Solution

60

Caring for Others

62

Advertising Index

66

Local youth discuss plans to leave, then return to area

Young renal patient defies odds of survival

Dogs find love, care after abuse, neglect

Local women ignore gender stereotypes

Officers come to the rescue of mother, child

Task force faces life threatening situations

Is Natchez a popular hot spot of paranormal activity?

Students share their personalities, creative sides

Under-the-Hill may have been original Sin City

Jefferson County coach knows the power of faith

Residents choose to help curb litter problem

Volunteers work together to give back to community

Thank you to all the businesses that helped make Profile 2018 possible

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITOR’S NOTE:

7

PROFILE 2018

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

8 PROFILE 2018

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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12 PROFILE 2018

Trinity Episcopal Day School senior Katie Borum prepares to make her directorial debut with Natchez Little Theatre’s “Winnie the Pooh.” Borum, who has always had an affinity for the arts, will attend the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall and plans to earn a bachelor degree in fine arts.

FUTURE is NOW

Local youth discuss plans to leave, then return to area

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Natchez Early College Academy freshman Quadrick Bradford poses on the Copiah Lincoln Community College campus, which hosts NECA. Though only in his first year of high school, Bradford said he is ready to take a leadership role in the Natchez-Adams County School District, and he envisions brighter days ahead, but only if he and his peers work together to make it happen.

T

hey might be the ‘leaders of tomorrow,’ but Natchez youth have a voice today.

Natchez has raised some of the brightest students the state has to offer, emboldened by knowledge and ready to make a difference in the world.

The problem, as community leaders have cited, is that many of those students will take their skills and ambition elsewhere and not return until later in life, if ever.

What can be done to keep Natchez’s finest youth in Natchez?

While that question has been pondered by many a local leader, why not hear from the subjects of that question themselves?

Katie Borum, senior at Trinity Episcopal Day School

Senior Katie Borum said her family refers to Natchez as “the quiet

New Orleans” because of its similar aesthetic, yet slower pace. It’s a place she has loved to serve — including her time volunteering as part of key club and at the Natchez Stewpot with her church — but ultimately, she is ready for something more.

“I’m kind of (thinking) because I was born and raised here … I kind of want to venture out and explore,” Borum said.

As a member of Trinity Episcopal School’s last graduating class, Borum aspires to take her passion for music and turn it into a career.

But to do that, Borum said, she believes packing her bags is all too necessary.

“With my major, there’s a little bit more to do (elsewhere,)” Borum said.

“There’s stuff to do here, but there’s a little bit more opportunity (in bigger cities).”

Borum, who in February made her

directorial debut with Natchez Little Theatre’s production of “Winnie the Pooh,” plans to earn a bachelor degree in fine arts at the University of Southern Mississippi, with the possibility of attending graduate school out of state.

Born and raised in Natchez, Borum considers her future prospects of coming back home to settle down — she loves the town, but she does not foresee a permanent return at least until long down the road.

Borum said Natchez does well by holding many special events to attract visitors, but they are almost exclusively tailored toward older crowds.

Because of Borum’s acumen for the arts, one of the great things about Natchez she appreciates especially is its dedication to a rich, diverse musical heritage.

That aspect of the city, including the many music events Natchez

hosts each year, is something she said could be built up even more to appeal to youth.

“Those are my favorite things that we have, because we love music here … I think it’s really important, because music can tell so much,” Borum said. “I like that our town really keeps music close to our hearts.”

Quadrick Bradford, freshman at Natchez Early College Academy

As just a freshman, Natchez High’s Quadrick Bradford already seeks to serve as a leader for the rebuilding of his school district, which he said would be key to Natchez’s future success.

Bradford stressed that while the work to be done in Natchez is apparent, he believes youth participation is essential in order for progress to occur.

Against the tide, Bradford is deadset on returning to Natchez to help

13

14 PROFILE 2018 Adams County Christian School senior Harley Martin divides her time between finishing her high school education and taking college courses at Copiah Lincoln Community College while playing multiple sports, serving as executive president of the student council, working at Silas Simmons, and plenty of other extracurricular activities. Martin said she would love to settle down in Natchez, but she worries about a lack of opportunity.

make the city better after he one day completes law school.

Out of all that needs to happen within the confines of this centuriesold city, bolstering the area’s public schools sits atop Bradford’s list. While he conceded that the school district is “broken,” Bradford said education lies far from the threshold of being beyond repair.

He said despite the perception of a “failing school district,” the system has not failed in the sense that the district has some of the brightest minds the area has to offer. In fact, Bradford said he believes Natchez-Adams students can compete with anyone from any area of the country.

But to make headway, he said students must take initiative and place some of the burden on their own shoulders.

“I feel like when you’re coming out of a public school district that everyone saw as failing, you want to prove people wrong and help better the school district,” Bradford said. “That’s my overall goal for me and my peers.”

The sting of hearing his classmates talk about wanting so badly to leave their town is something Bradford wants to see change.

“I feel like going somewhere that’s already on the map is not as good as putting something on the map,” Bradford said.

Additionally, he hopes the city will also offer more activities for youth, though his intent is not to alleviate boredom, but more so to keep teens off the streets and out of trouble.

While these measures could help some of the area’s brighter youth stay, ultimately Bradford said the city’s ultimate goal should be making Natchez a place non-natives can relocate and call “home.”

“There’s a quote that says ‘Home is where the heart is.’ If so, your heart is really in making Natchez a place where even people who haven’t ever been here want to come here and call it home,” Bradford said. “It’s first a mentality change. You have to want to be better and want to make it better.”

Bradford, a self-professed family

man who centers his life around relatives and friends, said he would serve as an advocate for the school district if permitted, and he hopes his peers will step up to the plate with him.

Once that occurs, he said Natchez’s youth could work together to give the city a better tomorrow.

Harley Martin, senior at Adams County Christian School

Between taking courses for college credit at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, working, playing softball, running track, dancing and serving as the executive president of the student council (to name a few things), Adams County Christian School senior Harley Martin lives life at a break-neck pace.

“It drives my mom crazy,” Martin said with a laugh.

Like her aforementioned peers, Martin lives a fast-paced life in a slowpaced town, one that might not be able to keep up with her desired lifestyle.

Martin, who actually lives in Roxie, plans to fulfill a dream she has had since she was 3 years old to attend LSU

as a pre-medical student, hoping to one day become an anesthesiologist.

While she noted that Natchez and the Miss-Lou in general do have careers in the medical industry, Martin said staying home might mean not only missing opportunities, but also her future family.

Martin reminisced about her father, who she said was forced to work away from the city in order to find a job. She said because of the lack of opportunity at home, she missed out on spending time with her dad.

“If I get married and my husband can’t find a job here, I’ve experienced not being with my dad, and I wouldn’t want that for my kids, so of course I would move somewhere else so that he could get a job and I could get a job.”

Martin also said the city needs to establish more recreation activities for people her age to prevent them from heading to urban centers like Jackson or Baton Rouge for weekend retreats.

When it comes to creating ideas for keeping youth in the city, Mar-

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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16 PROFILE 2018

Cathedral School junior Sam Freiberger studies as a member of the school’s Science Olympiad program. Freiberger, who is also Lieutenant Governor of the Cathedral Key Club, plays tennis and runs cross-country, named industry and education as aspects the area should focus on going forward.

tin said those ideas should come straight from the horse’s mouth.

“If you look at Natchez, it’s really just a tourist town,” Martin said.

“There’s really not much to do here, but taking it from our perspective, they can take stuff and build on it and grow and offer more stuff for teens and young adults.”

Martins said her experience over the past two years with Natchez Youth Leadership, led by Adams County Supervisor David Carter, and the Mayor’s Youth Council, headed by Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell, has taught her a great deal about Natchez, but it has also taught her how important her voice is.

“Natchez is a good town. I love Natchez and I always want to stay here, but honestly I can’t because there’s not much to offer here,” Martin said. “If they get more jobs for younger adults, for me … then we could come back and stay in Natchez and stay in our hometown and grow and have kids and they can go to the same schools that we went to and stuff like that.

“But Natchez is just a small little town now, and so I think they have to take our voices and use them to better our city.”

And while Natchez has plenty of those voices, one Cathedral student had a few opinions on how to get more.

Sam Freiberger, junior at Cathedral School

Once Cathedral School junior Sam Freiberger finishes his collegiate education at Georgia Tech or even potentially an Ivy League school, he plans to see what else is out there.

An aspiring engineer, Freiberger sees the need to leave Natchez and venture out for a while as a right of pilgrimage of sorts.

“That’s actually a big cultural thing here, in my opinion, is that people in the younger generation, we move away, we live lives outside of Natchez, and we come back.

“It’s almost a feeling that we owe something to the town, because we got to grow up here. It’s a beautiful place (and) I feel like we should preserve it.”

That being said, he called any potential return to the city once he graduates “a long way off.”

Freiberger is well aware of the city’s waning population, citing the need for industry to provide opportunities for young upstarts like himself.

But aside from the well-documented need for more jobs, Freiberger has another idea that he said could bring more prosperity to the area.

Natchez’s quaint, tight-knit, distinctive characteristics combined with the city’s appetite for history and culture make for an environment conducive to higher learning, he said.

“This would be a great place for a college, Natchez would,” he said. “A proper liberal arts college … People, I think, would flock here for education if it could be built.”

But some of the same characteristics that make Natchez so charming, Freiberger said, are also what might cause many of the Miss-Lou youth to seek opportunities elsewhere.

“It honestly feels like this town is just kind of frozen sometimes,” he said. “Obviously not in the temperature sense … it feels very frozen in time.

“Not even necessarily the past, just as its own separate thing, which I think is part of what makes a lot of us want to go out, see what else there is.”

Freiberger, the lieutenant governor of Cathedral’s Key Club and a member of the school’s reigning state champion Science Olympiad team, said this town would always be a part of him and he feels giving back to the city is important.

Though for him and many others that giving back might occur from a distance, Freiberger said if Natchez provides the right circumstances down the road, he could potentially return one day and teach at Cathedral.

But if that’s to happen — not only for Freiberger, but all his peers — Natchez has to work to provide the opportunity and make it happen.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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18 PROFILE 2018

Hope for

CHLOE

Young renal patient defies odds of survival

I

n a thousand ways, Chloe Williams is just like any other 4-yearold — and her mother wants it to stay that way.

Chloe likes to play with toys and bang on a big silver pot. She loves to talk and makes sure she introduces herself to everyone in the room.

But every night before bed, her mother Wanila Williams attaches several tubes to Chloe’s little body and turns on her dialysis machine.

In the morning, Chloe takes 13 different medications.

When Chloe was diagnosed with renal failure — acute underperformance of the kidneys — at birth, doctors told Wanila her daughter would likely not make it to her first birthday.

This January, Chloe turned 4.

Something felt different

When Wanila was young, she decided she did not want to have children.

In college at Jackson State University, the parents of Wanila’s best friend went through a divorce.

“She struggled a lot with that — she was really just heartbroken,” Wanila said. “I never wanted kids and never wanted to be married.”

Now, Wanila is married and has three children: Omari, 16, Ashanti, 15, and little Chloe.

Wanila, a sixth-grade science teacher at Morgantown Middle School, said she was not trying to get pregnant when she realized Chloe was on the way.

“I was working two jobs when I got pregnant with Chloe,” Wanila said. “Before I was going to work one day, I just felt like something’s not right, and here came the best gift I could get.”

Something felt different, Wanila said, but she only became aware that something was wrong in the middle of her pregnancy.

“In the fourth month of the pregnancy, I was taking a couple of tests and the doctor referred me to Jackson because the results weren’t ... he didn’t like what he saw,” she said.

At first, doctors believed Chloe might have Down Syndrome.

“I didn’t discover the renal failure until after I had Chloe,” she said.

A team of doctors

Wanila had an emergency cesarean section at Natchez Community Hospital, and doctors immediately took her to the neonatal intensive care unit.

Doctors noticed that Chloe was not eating and was not excreting any fluids.

Chloe stayed in the NICU for five days, and on the fifth day, a helicopter came to take the infant to a Jackson hospital.

Around 3 a.m. that night, more than a dozen doctors entered Wanila’s room.

“I knew something was wrong when I saw a team of doctors — you’re the only one there — and you see social workers and 10 to 20 doctors come in all at once,” Wanila said. “It was horrifying. It was really overwhelming. That’s when they told me that her kidneys were never developed.”

Hearing all of Chloe’s illnesses at once became too much for Wanila, so she asked the doctors to come in one at a time and tell her about her child.

Chloe’s lungs are underdeveloped, and only one lung is fully functional.

She has congestive heart failure, which is a result of her polycystic kidney disease.

Later, her conditions would cause Chloe to have seizures and strokes.

In Wanila’s eyes, however, Chloe was just her baby.

“Children with these multiple illnesses say they live to about the age of 10,” she said. “I think Chloe will live longer than that.”

The first nine months of Chloe’s life were spent in a hospital.

Coming home

Alicia Williams, one of Chloe’s nurses, began visiting the Williams house almost every day after Wanila brought her daughter home.

Alicia Williams is no relation to Chloe or Wanila, but in the four years since the nurse began working with them, she has become as

STORY AND PHOTOS BY CLARA TURNAGE

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Wanila Williams holds her daughter, Chloe, in their home in Natchez. Chloe was diagnosed with renal failure — acute under performance of the kidneys — at birth. Doctors told Wanila that her daughter would not live to see her first birthday. This year, Chloe celebrated her fourth birthday.

19

20 PROFILE 2018

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

close as a sister.

“Every year me and Wanila would cry on her birthday,” Alicia Williams said.

“When they sent her home from the hospital, they said she might not make it to 1. Then they said she might not make it to 3. Now she’s 4, and I’m going to cry again.”

In those four years, Chloe has coded — lost all signs of breathing and heartbeat — several times.

Each time, she comes back, but each time it worries Wanila more and more.

In May of 2017, Chloe coded for 12 minutes. Just a month later, Chloe suffered a stroke that temporarily blinded her.

Now, Chloe has regained sight in her left eye, but doctors are not sure if she will ever see again out of her right.

Each time Chloe gets sick or has a seizure, a helicopter must take her to Jackson. There simply is not a facility in Natchez that can care for her, Wanila said.

The worry that Chloe will seize again, or that she will face another complication, plagues her mother.

“You don’t really know what’s going to happen in the next second,” Wanila said.

“Today she may be happy and tonight I may be trying to outrun a helicopter on

our way to Jackson. Those are the kinds of days that flash before my eyes.”

Living again

The last four years of Wanila’s life have been spent at Chloe’s side. She sleeps in Chloe’s bedroom, always ready to help her daughter, always wary.

“I think my biggest fear is waking up in the night and she’s gone, she said.

“She wakes up in the middle of the night calling me, and I want to be there.”

Wanila said she secluded herself away from society for the sake of Chloe’s care.

Even when going to the grocery store, Wanila said she could not stop thinking of what may be going on with Chloe.

In January of 2018, Wanila finally returned to her job at Morgantown Middle School.

“I needed to get back into society because I felt like I had lost myself,” she said. “I don’t consider myself really having a life because she is my life. I do everything for her and my kids.”

This lassitude, she said, has been especially hard on her two older children.

“I’ll be honest with you, it’s really hard,” Wanila said. “Especially with my kids. I’m away from them a whole lot.”

All the stress, all the worry and the late

nights chasing a helicopter to Jackson, praying that her daughter would survive, are worth having Chloe in her life, she said.

Chloe is growing. Though she is approximately the size of a 1-year-old, she is learning to walk and to talk. Her voice is happy and soft, but somewhat mechanized by the tracheostomy speaking valve implanted in her throat.

Alicia Williams said the goal is to have Chloe walking on her own by May. When Wanila picks up Chloe, the little girl laughs and smiles. She’s happy, Wanila said.

Chloe does not know she is different.

Since she was 14-days old she has been on dialysis; she has been on a daily regimen of medication for as long as she can remember.

Though Chloe’s innocence about her condition may not last, Wanila said she hopes it stays that way.

“My dream is for Chloe to live a normal life. My dream for Chloe is for her to someday ride a bike. Just grow up being a happy kid,” Wanila said. “I just want her to have the best days that God has for her because we don’t know how long she has left.”

4-year-old Chloe Williams, who was diagnosed with renal failure at birth, is still learning to walk. She likes to use this large silver pot to steady herself as she moves across the room in her home in Natchez.

21

22 PROFILE 2018

Hailey Huffman, named for the two people who saved her life, was emaciated and severely ill when she came to Concordia PAWS in 2016.

After David and Nancy Lansdale adopted her, Hailey is happy and thriving in her new home.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

TO THEIR

RESCUE

Dogs find love, care after abuse, neglect

B

etween animal abuse cases, dogfighting rings and everyday neglect, people often do not return the kindness of man’s best

friend.

We hear of dogs being found, emaciated, injured and forgotten, but what comes next?

When abused dogs find a new home, can they be fully rehabilitated?

Owners of adopted dogs in the MissLou say dogs do not hold grudges.

These dogs lived through hardship, near-starvation and life-threatening health issues.

But today, Tank and Hailey Huffman sleep in warm beds and eat as much as they want.

With enough time and love, owners of rehabilitated dogs say it is possible to mend broken bridges between old friends.

Hailey’s heroes

Hailey Huffman is named after two people who saved her life.

Hailey Guillory, a volunteer at Concordia PAWS, took the pit bull to the shelter when she was first found.

And that’s where she got her first name: Hailey.

When Hailey first came to Concordia PAWS on Oct. 24, 2016, she was gaunt, her wasted sides clung limply to her bones.

S TO RY & P H OTO S B Y C L A R A T U R N AG E She was also in pain. Hailey had a rectal prolapse, meaning several inches of her colon were protruding from her body.

Nancy Lansdale, a volunteer with Concordia PAWS, said veterinarians told her the prolapse was likely the result of overbreeding.

“We think she was used as a breeder,” Lansdale said. “She has had at least three litters of puppies.”

Hailey is a blue pit — a rare, gray coloring that is highly sought after. Lansdale said she believes, with the extent of emaciation and the birth-induced prolapse, that someone used Hailey to sell more blue pits.

“Maybe it was a dogfighter, maybe it wasn’t,” Lansdale said. “We’ll never know.”

No matter what the cause, a prolapse as extreme as Hailey’s can be a death sentence for shelter dogs.

There is a simple procedure wherein a veterinarian tacks the prolapsed organ back into the animal, but if that fails, the surgery to permanently heal the dog is expensive.

Lansdale said she vividly remembers the day Hailey’s tack came loose.

“I knew what that meant,” Lansdale said. “I was just really sad that day, because I knew.”

Lansdale said the shelter directors wanted to raise money to pay for Hailey’s surgery, but there was a problem.

“I knew in my heart that we couldn’t spend $1,000 on one dog,” Lansdale said.

“That money could save so many animals. We couldn’t spend it on just one.”

The night that the Concordia PAWS decided Hailey would have to be put down, Lansdale caught up with an old friend.

Linda Huffman, who grew up near Lansdale, regularly checks up on the animals in the shelter. Lansdale said she told Huffman about the cost of the surgery, and what might have to happen.

“I told her it would take major surgery and I said, ‘We’ve got to make a decision,’” Lansdale said. “She said, ‘Nancy, get the dog fixed. Tell them to do it as soon as possible and send me the bill.’ I was just stunned.”

Thus, Hailey’s last name: Huffman.

But being rescued, even receiving the surgery that would save her life, was just the beginning of recovery for Hailey.

Lansdale said she volunteered to foster Hailey because she had grown attached to the squat, feisty pit bull.

Still though, she had no plans of adopting her.

23

24 PROFILE 2018

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT “We already had three dogs and a cat,” Lansdale said. “After six weeks, we started advertising for her a home. But we knew the chances of finding anyone around Ferriday were slim.”

Hailey had dietary needs — a special dog food that does not hurt her stomach — and she has acute separation anxiety.

Still, Lansdale said she and her husband, David Lansdale, held out hope that Hailey would find a home.

Nancy did not expect David to get so attached to the dog, though.

“When I walk away, she’s watching me,” David told Nancy.. “She’s thinking I’m there to get her. It’s bothering me. We should bring her home.”

Nancy said at first she refused, saying they could not adopt every dog they fostered, “I said, ‘No, no, no. We should wait. Somebody might get her,’” Nancy said.

“I’m glad they didn’t,” David murmured, laying a hand on Hailey’s head.

David was persistent and, eventually, Nancy said she gave in.

“I told him, ‘You know you’re going to have to build her a place outside,’” Nancy said. “We wasted a lot of money.”

Now Hailey lives inside the Lansdale’s rural home, chewing up leashes and playing with the two Shih Tzu dogs that share the space.

Hailey’s favorite place to be, Nancy said, is wherever David is.

“She likes to be right there with him,” Nancy said. “She loves him.

If he’s not in the room with her, she whines until we let her in.”

Hailey does not understand her size, and climbs into the laps of everyone she meets.

“Anytime anybody comes to see us, she thinks they’re coming to see her,” David said.

“But that’s okay,” Nancy said. “We just love her.”

The tale of Tank

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David Lansdale, holds his dog, Hailey Huffman, in their home outside of Ferriday. Hailey has grown attached to Lansdale, who adopted her from Concordia PAWS in Nov. 2016.

CELE B

When Tank first came to the Natchez-Adams Humane Society, he could not summon the strength to stand.

The driver who took Tank to the humane society almost ran over the skeletal black figure that blended into the night around 10 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2017, on Liberty Road.

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25

26 PROFILE 2018

Tank, who was found emaciated and weak on Liberty Road outside Natchez, is now returning to health. Lena McKnight, director of the Natchez-Adams Humane Society, adopted Tank after he rallied from his extreme malnutrition.

the shelter that night, but there was little she could do at first.

“When dogs come in looking like he did, it’s very rare that we can save them,” she said. “That night he couldn’t even stand up.”

The withered pit bull was little more than skin and bone, but McKnight said the dog was loving, even then.

“He’d lay his head in your lap and look up at you,” McKnight said. “But we could tell by the looks of him that he wasn’t going to make it.”

Immediately, McKnight said, she felt a connection with him. A thousand dogs pass through the arms of the shelter each year, but this dog — who had lost most of his fur due to a fungus and could not even stand — was different.

One thing she noticed immediately, she said, was how large his head was.

Were the dog a healthy weight, McKnight said she thought he’d be the size of a tank.

“And that’s what we named him,” she said.

Tank’s timing was fortuitous. The day after he was found, a veterinarian was scheduled to visit the humane society for an unrelated reason.

On Nov. 8, the humane society took in 11 dogs from a dogfighting bust in the county.

The veterinarian came to check out the animals and McKnight said she asked him to examine Tank, too.

Tank, the veterinarian told McKnight, was more emaciated, more malnourished than

any of the dogs from the dogfighting bust.

He did not have the injuries that come with competitive fighting, but he was starving.

Without further examination, McKnight said there was no way to tell what was going on inside Tank’s body.

Sometimes the decisions McKnight must make are difficult. Choosing to end and animal’s life — even if it is the most humane option — is never easy.

What quality of life could this dog have?

McKnight said she wondered.

A dog that could not even stand from malnutrition and disease — could it really come back from that?

McKnight said she decided that she must euthanize Tank on Nov. 9.

“I didn’t want to, and I think about it every day,” McKnight said. “Sometimes you wonder if they will ever be healthy and happy again.”

The decision, she said, was difficult, but ultimately kinder to the dog.

But Tank had other plans.

When McKnight entered the office on Nov. 9, dreading the prospect of putting down an animal she felt connected to, Tank was standing up.

“I said, ‘Okay, let’s give this a shot,’” McKnight said.

As Tank began improving, McKnight said she grew even closer to the dog.

“I took him home because I felt sorry for him, but he got along well with my other

dogs right away,” she said.

McKnight, who has made a habit of rescuing any animal in need, has several dogs, horses, cats, a pig and a pet squirrel living on her farm.

Tank’s ears had been cut off near the skull as a puppy, and as he filled out, he began to take on the stature he was meant to have.

“He weighed 34 pounds when he came to us,” McKnight said. “The veterinarian said with his build, he should weigh around 70.”

Whenever McKnight leaves a room, Tank follows. If he cannot follow, he barks until she finds him.

“Sometimes with a dog, you just know,” McKnight said. “I see it all the time with families. Sometimes a dog just fits.”

In McKnight’s job, she sees dozens of people come to choose a dog. But when Tank came along, he chose her.

The veterinarian was right, however. McKnight did not know what was going on inside of Tank.

“When the vets looked at his heart, we learned he was much older than we thought he was,” she said. “We also learned he had heartworms.”

The advanced state of the illness means Tank will not be here for long.

“We’re just going to love him while we have him,” McKnight said. “At least he got to be happy. We may only have him for a few months, but they will be the happiest moments of his life.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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27

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28 PROFILE 2018

ON THE JOB

O

n a construction site near Liberty Road, Jamie Bertelsen was covered in dust sawing cement cinder blocks in two.

She and her siblings were all taught how to lay brick by their father, Donnie Bertelsen Sr. “He loved everything, he didn’t just lay it, he did it just right and perfect, I paid attention to that,” she said. “It’s like you’re building something rather than just laying one brick after the other, after the other.”

Along with learning the trade, she said her father also instilled in her his work ethic.

“I don’t miss work for any reason, I would pretty much have to be dead, I was brought up like that,” she said.

When she is working, she is typically at the site at 7 a.m. and works until 3 in the afternoon. To get to the site, she sometimes has to wake up as early as 4 a.m. to drive wherever work requires.

“All the females in my family have been out here at some time or another,” she said. “I actually stuck

Jamie Bertelsen

with it and actually did it.”

For seven years straight, Bertelsen layed brick before going back to school.

Helping build the new city swimming pool, she is now working with her brother, Donnie Bertelsen Jr. She said Donnie usually does all the measurements and figures out what is needed while she is the muscle.

Her days at work consist of making mortar and laying brick, block, stone, tile and slate.

“We can just about lay anything,” Jamie Bertelsen said.

Alongside going to school and becoming an respiratory therapist and having three children, she has kept up with the trade her father taught her.

“Today marks a year since he died,” she said.

“Now that he’s gone, its not the same anymore.”

Betelsen saids she would keep the tradition going through her three sons, Gage Thomas, 17, Jacob Thomas 10 and Caleb Thomas, 5.

“Keeping him alive, I guess that’s what we do everyday.”

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Local women ignore gender stereotypes to follow passions

STORIES AND PHOTOS

BY NICOLE HESTER

L

eslie Lovett has overcome challenge after challenge on her way to becoming a firefighter. Before she joined Concordia Parish Fire District No. 2, Lovett was working two jobs while juggling being a single mom of five kids with no child support.

Lovett said she would come into the fire department on her off days or before work and train or volunteer.

“It makes me feel like I’m part of something big,” Lovett said. “It makes me feel competent in who I am because I’m finally doing something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m proud of what I do.”

Lovett said she remembers drawing fire trucks in kindergarten whenever asked what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“I’ve always wanted to be a firefighter, ever since kindergarten.”

Being a firefighter for Lovett is more than a job, it’s her lifestyle. She said at any given moment firefighters have to be ready to respond in the event of a fire or car accident.

The extra hours volunteering her time at the department eventually paid off when she was voted in for training.

“They didn’t think I would finish my physical agility test and I did with no break,” Lovett said. “The other new guys got a break in-between it and I didn’t. I had to go through all five of them by myself and I did it.”

Her friend and coworker, Mikey Moss said she shows there are no limits to what you can accomplish.

“She’s also shown it does not matter. We do not have men and women in the service we have fire fighters,” Moss said. “She’s proven she can hang with any one of the guys. We had five obstacles, and she opted not to take a break in between them.”

Lovett said there is nowhere else she would want to be then working at the fire department, alongside the people who have become another family to her. She said there were times she didn’t have a car or was worried about buying Christmas gifts for her kids, and they stepped up and all chipped in to help.

“Trying to juggle that with five kids, they have made sure I do not go without,” Lovett said. “Everybody pulls and does their part for each other and that’s what it’s supposed to be.”

Lovett said said anyone considering being a firefighter shouldn’t hold back.

“I”ve been proving it everyday out here, I push my limit everyday.”

Leslie Lovett

29

30 PROFILE 2018

A

t the Copiah-Lincoln Community College welding shop, blowtorches release fumes and sparks fly as students fuse pieces of metal together. The space is filled with the noise of loud conversations spoken over the din of ventilation systems punctuated by occasional strike of metal breaking apart.

This is where Kiana Miles and Loletha JacksonMoore said they have found their peace.

Dressed in steel toe boots, leather shirts and gloves, with their hair pulled back, the two women work sideby-side, seeing the world through safety glasses and welding helmets.

“When I have my hood on and when I’m welding, there’s just something about it,” Miles said. “It’s peaceful I forget all my problems and I just focus on this a lot.”

At first, Miles said she was planning to enlist in the army. Welding was her second choice until she had hands on experience, and that changed her perspective.

The first time she tried to enroll in the class it was full.

“The second time I got in and fell in love with it. I love everything about it.” Miles said. “I know there’s still a lot I have to learn.”

“And I want to get everything down pat. Being a woman going into a man’s field I need to know everything, I want to know it all,” she said.

Miles said at first, her family didn’t see her vision for her future, and she was told welding was for men. Now her family has changed their tune.

“I’m just so focused on it, it’s my passion I just want to learn everything about it,” Miles said.

Jackson-Moore said she and Miles are very close, and had actually known each other outside of the class. The two are similar in their determination and feeling of serenity when welding.

“When you’re welding its just you that rod and that plate, “ Jackson Moore said. “It’s peaceful — I can’t deny I love it.”

After years in sales and marketing, working as a manager and assistant manager for a couple of local businesses, Jackson- Moore decided it was time for a career change.

“When I decided to go into welding I didn’t have second thoughts about it.” She said, “When I had a chance at a second career I wanted to go for it.”

Jackson-Moore said her family knows she has always been very determined, and when she makes up her mind to do something, she makes it happen.

“I always had that mind frame that I can pretty much do anything,” she said.“That I can do this, I can get this done, and I’m going to get this done.”

While both Miles and Jackson-Moore had originally had set out with different intentions for their future both are determined to make welding their way of life.

Miles intends on moving to Texas because there are more opportunities for work. Jackson- Moore said she is open to travel until she finds somewhere to settle down.

“You can succeed in anything in life if you put your mind to it,” Jackson-Moore said. “You have to have that go power about yourself, some people are just sitting out there dreaming, you can’t dream about it. You’re gonna have to go out there and get it done.”

Kiana Miles, left, and Loletha Jackson-Moore

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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32 PROFILE 2018

Saving a life

STORY BY DAVID HAMILTON PHOTOS BY NICOLE HESTER

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

Officers come to the rescue of mother, child

N

atchez Police officer Bryan Smith started Sept. 21 like most ordinary days looking down at his 2-year-old son.

Hours later, he was holding someone else’s baby — an unresponsive 1-month-old child fighting for survival.

Law enforcement officers risk life and limb every day, but this was different. In the blink of an eye, Smith had the life of Kyngslee Nickelson in his hands.

Kyngslee’s mother, Jamenisha Noble, watched in horror as her son’s face transitioned from its typical hue to dark purple.

“I was just thinking I was (about to) lose my baby,” Noble said.

What began as a normal day had quickly devolved into a lifeor-death moment, one where Smith and NPD Sgt. Felisha Fleming would determine an infant’s fate, hanging in the balance.

Though Smith allowed his training to kick in, that did not mean he was numb to the dire circumstances.

“I was scared,” Smith said. “Seriously. Nervous, scared, because at a moment like that, you don’t know what to expect, and then you don’t want to mess up either.”

Smith said when he arrived at the scene on Garden Street, he witnessed Noble in her car, leaning over the baby, trying to get a response.

“You could see that he was turning colors,” Smith said. “So I immediately took control and started doing CPR.” After three cycles, Smith said he noticed the baby began to catch his breath a bit.

Shortly after, Sgt. Fleming arrived on the scene.

visor James Tarver took over until the ambulance arrived and transported Kyngslee to the hospital.

When Noble arrived, she was given the news that her baby would live, in large part due to Smith and Fleming’s efforts.

“When we got to the hospital, he started gaining his color back,” she said. “He opened his eyes for me.”

Finally, everyone could breathe easy.

The aftermath

During those events, instinct and training took over.

Afterward, the two officers had a chance to think about what had just occurred — they had likely saved a life that had only just begun to bloom.

“When you leave the car and just get a chance to sit in your car for a minute or go to the station and sit down, it’s just like that’s when the emotions start hitting you,” Fleming said.

“Then it’s just like, ‘Wow, what just happened?’”

The moment especially The call hit Smith, who immediateNoble had planned to take ly thought about his own Kyngslee to the grocery store baby. that unassuming Thursday af“With me having kids … ternoon. it just took me to a place,” But soon after the two deSmith said about his expeparted, the baby began making rience. “It makes you just choking sounds. Noble, a mothrealize, especially when er of three, immediately knew you’re a parent yourself, the noises were not typical. just anything can (happen).

She had already scheduled a Amid all the commotion, doctor’s appointment for KyngNoble didn’t even get a slee for the very next day. Her chance to speak to Smith or intuition told her something Fleming, but she later sent was wrong because of Kyngthem each a heartfelt messlee’s excessive amount of sage thanking them. sleep.

And the moment did not The appointment turned out go unnoticed. In October to be one day too late. less than three weeks fol“I looked over and he kind lowing the incident, Smith of —” Jamenisha Noble and her 6-month-old son Kyngslee Nickelson are flanked by Natchez Police and Fleming received a She imitated the sharp, conDepartment Sgt. Felisha Fleming, left, and officer Bryan Smith, who each helped save Kyngcommendation from Natcise asphyxiation here, like the slee’s life in September. Noble called 911 when Kyngslee became unresponsive, and both chez Mayor Darryl Grenstart off a coughing fit cut off Smith and Fleming wound up performing CPR on the then 1-month-old infant to resuscitate nell and the Board of Alabruptly. him. On facing page, Kyngslee sleeps on his mother’s shoulders during a visit to the park. dermen for their heroics.

“He choked up, and I looked “According to medical over, and his tongue was like (out of) his mouth, and his head was to the side,” “During that time, the adrenaline is rushing,” professionals, if these officers had not done what they had done, we could have possibly had a life Noble said. she said.

That’s when the 1-month old began gasping for The two police officers’ quick response was such lost here in Natchez,” Grennell said.

Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong also what was nearly his last breath. that they beat the AMR ambulance to the scene, “I grabbed him — he wasn’t breathing,” Noble and with no time to waste, Smith and Fleming spoke to the events of Sept. 21, 2017, which he said said. “I was driving, trying to do CPR and on the hopped in his unit and began to transport Kyng- embodied a role of a police officer that is not always considered. phone with the ambulance.” slee to the hospital.

“When I heard about the service that they had Noble frantically tried to revive her baby and As Smith drove, Fleming continued performturned the car around back toward her aunt’s ing CPR on the child, something neither she nor rendered to this infant child, it just really made me understand our commitment to this communihouse where they had just been.

Smith had done before with a small child.

Her efforts came to no avail, as Kyngslee began “You have to be careful — you can only press ty,” Armstrong said. “It’s not just to arrest people and lock them up and investigate crimes, but it’s to slowly slip away, when … down (with two fingers),” Fleming said.

“He pulled up and took control,” Noble said.

“A one-month-old baby … you have a dummy; also to help save lives and protect those individuyou can push on that all day long,” Smith said. als that need our help.

The blue breath of life “Had it not been for these two officers, I know “He” was officer Smith, the first responder to “But you can’t push on the baby, because he’s not the outcome would have been very grim.”

Noble’s 911 call. Smith showed up almost imme- fully developed yet.

But, for the officers, the reward is not recogniWhile en route, Smith spotted the AMR paradiately.

“Going to the call, it’s like you don’t know what medic who was responding to the scene. He tailed tion or glory or even words of “thank.” The reto expect,” Smith said. “That’s the last thing that the vehicle and eventually successfully flagged ward is seeing Kyngslee, now 6 months old, continue to grow.

I (expected) was a one-month-old baby. I wasn’t down the paramedic.

“That’s plenty,” Fleming said with a smile.

At that point, AMR Assistant Operations Superexpecting that at all.”

33

34 PROFILE 2018

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

35

36 PROFILE 2018

From left, Walter Mackel, John Cowan, Chris Stricklin and Chad Fuqua are members of the Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force.

For two years, they will battle drug trafficking and crime in their jurisdiction.

O

fficers of the Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force were telling jokes and laughing in their dark SUV as they cruised down a small street in Clayton.

As a spotlight attached to the front of the car swept across a crowded street corner, one man sprinted toward a nearby house.

The jokes ended as officers erupted from the car – some pursuing the running man, others moving to the street corner where three other men sat on buckets and lawn chairs.

Each officer knew his task.

They also knew a single mistake, could potentially endanger the rest of the team.

Investigations Sergeant John Cowan and K-9 Officer Chris Stricklin secured the scene while officers Walter Mackel and Chad Fuqua pursued the man, chasing him into the little house on the corner.

When Mackel demanded him to raise his hands, the suspect instead reached toward the small of his back, where a handgun hid in his waistband.

Over Mackel’s shoulder, Fuqua aimed his stun gun.

The man fell, landing hard on the front steps.

Fuqua and Mackel handcuffed the man, retrieved the handgun and walked back to the SUV, where other officers were searching the men standing by the road.

Investigations Sergeant John Cowan found a small bag of marijuana on the ground where the men had been sitting — no one claimed to know who threw it.

Inside one pocket, Cowan found a matchbox. When he looked inside, he saw a bag of what looked like crystal methamphetamines.

On another man’s leg, a handgun.

But the night was not over. After calling for transport for the men who were in possession of handguns or drugs, the officers piled back into their cars, ready to finish patrol.

dalia police departments or the Concordia Parish Sheriff ’s Office may filter through or help out on cases, but these four eat, sleep and breathe narcotics investigations.

For the last seven months, Cowan, Fuqua, Stricklin and Mackel have spent hours and sometimes consecutive days together working cases, following leads and making arrests where they can.

“We’re all very tight-knit,” Mackel said.

“We want to see each other become lieutenant or sergeant. We spend more time with each other than we do our own families.”

For everyone but Fuqua, police work is in their blood.

Mackel is a second-generation officer, Stricklin is third-generation, and Cowan’s father, Dennis Cowan, is the assistant police chief in Vidalia.

Although not in his blood, Fuqua said crime-fighting for him is still about family.

The most recent addition to the task force, Fuqua said he had seen people — friends, family members — with addiction to drugs.

STORY BY CLARA TURNAGE PHOTO BY NICOLE HESTER

The unit

The Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force is made up of four full-time officers.

Other members of the Ferriday and Vi-

IN THE

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

37

FIGHT

Chasing suspected drug dealers, working days without ceasing and facing life-threatening situations may seem tortuous to some, but to Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force, it sounds like a normal day.

“I don’t want my kids on dope,” he said. “That’s part of why I got into it, to get all the dope off of the streets.”

Regardless of how each officer got to the position, working on the task force is not just a job for the four men.

“We all come from different backgrounds, but we could do anything we wanted to in law enforcement, and we chose this,” Cowan said. “It’s a passion.”

Although ridding Concordia Parish entirely of drugs is a far and distant dream, Cowan said the sentiment hits at the heart of why he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“My dad asked me, ‘Why do you want to be in law enforcement?’” Cowan said. “And I said, ‘To help people.’

“He said, ‘That’s what everybody says. Be specific.’

“He told me, ‘The reason I’m in it is to save you.

Nobody else. Everybody else will benefit from it because I’m going to do my job, but I do it to save you.’”

Now Cowan said his reasons are similar to his father’s: He wants to make the world better for his children.

Until the world is a little safer, however, each of the officers has work to do.

The job

perwork,” Cowan said. “The paperwork is the most The job of the task force is to identify and combat frustrating part. But it’s part of the job.”

One day in January, the officers loaded into the illegal drug activity in the parish, but often that work leads the officers far from the everyday drug black SUV and took off toward Clayton, where a drive-by shooting suspect was busts. allegedly hiding out.

“Drugs are the hub of The task force members crime,” Cowan said. “People spend as much time as they shoot people for drugs. Peocan laughing. They tell jokes, ple rob for drugs. Overdosmake fun of one another and es. Domestic abuses. Child fight about what’s on the raabuse. It’s the hub of a madio. jority of crime, and we’re in Usually, that humor and cathe mix of everything.” maraderie extends to the SUV, The nickname of the task but not today. force, Cowan said, is “in“You know what we’re thinkvesti-cotics,” denoting the ing about?” Stricklin said in scope of their work.

John Cowan the near-silent car. “We’re tryThe great bane of the naring to guess every possible outcotics force, Mackel said, is Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force come. Will he have a gun? If he paperwork. has a gun, will he use it? It’s all On the first day of December, when the force had spent more than 36 hours we can think about.”

A constant in the life of a narcotics officer is the straight together while working a drug bust, the officers had to weigh more than 4,082 grams of mari- ever-beeping radio. A thousand calls come over the juana, 907 grams of methamphetamines and 290 radio every day, but there is one call each of the officers fear. grams of THC. “’Shots fired, officer down’ is probably the worst “10 minutes of action requires three hours of pa-

“People shoot people for drugs. People rob for drugs.

Overdoses. Domestic abuses.

Child abuse. It’s the hub of a majority of crime, and we’re in the mix of everything.”

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call you’ll ever hear,” Cowan said. “Because you can’t get there fast enough.”

“Because your vehicle only goes so fast,” Fuqua said.

“Because there’s only so much you can do,” Mackel said.

As much as the men dread the thought of a fellow officer seriously injured or even killed in the line of duty, the thought is even more harrowing for family members at home.

Cowan said he sometimes finds himself in the position of counselor, telling an officer or the officer’s wife to be patient, that the work being completed is meaningful to the community.

“That’s how we justify the hours we’re gone — it’s for the greater good,” Cowan said. “Like I said, the real heroes are the ones who put up with us. The ones we leave at home.”

And though relationships are hard, they have one another to lean on, Mackel said.

But even that, it seems, must end.

Time to go Despite how close the officers have grown in the past seven months, their time together is limited.

After two years on the Narcotics Task Force, Cowan said he would have to assess the officers and make sure they have not become tired.

“In two years, we will be so burnt out, and calloused and hard that we need fresh people,” Cowan said. “You can only sustain so many days of no holidays, no vacations, calls at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Though he knows the necessity of the change, Cowan said it would not be an easy move to make.

“The hardest part is the introspection that says, ‘I need to pass this torch,’” he said. “The hardest thing is when our two years are up, and we have to go different directions.”

That eventuality, however, is still more than a year away. Until then, the officers will work long hours, make jokes and, if possible, make a difference.

“It feels like when you’re trying to save the world;

your family doesn’t realize you’re saving them, too.”

John Cowan

Concordia Parish Narcotics Task Force investigations sergeant

At home

“The superhero is at the house,” Cowan said.

Each of the members of the task force has a wife or girlfriend, each of them has children.

Each of them has a lot to lose.

“We have a really high divorce rate — especially in narcotics — and it’s because of the secrecy that has to go on in the job, the being away from home,” Cowan said. “It feels like when you’re trying to save the world; your family doesn’t realize you’re saving them, too.”

The stressors on family life, Cowan said, include long hours away from home, the secrets that must be kept and a callousness that can grow as officers see more and more crime in the world.

But the tension also grows from the feeling that significant others will not understand, Mackel said.

“There are certain things that you just can’t tell people because they wouldn’t understand,” Mackel said. “Everybody in this room understands.”

It’s not an issue of trust, Cowan said, that

keeps them from speaking candidly about their job.

“We’ll talk about stuff that, for most folks, would be morbid, but it’s a way for us to exhaust our emotions — to get it off your chest,” Cowan said. “We look for that camaraderie with one another.”

Mackel said the fear of a loved one being injured reaches down to children, too — even to his 5-year-old daughter, Madison.

“I was taking Madison to school, and she didn’t want me to go without my vest,” Mackel said.

Earlier in the day, Madison had asked Mackel what the vest was and why he had it. When Mackel told her it was used to keep him safe, she became upset.

“That day she wouldn’t stop crying because I didn’t put my vest on to take her to school,” Mackel said. “She’s 5, but she knows.”

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42 PROFILE 2018 In recent years, the historic house Glenfield has offered a tour highlighting the ghosts and other strange happenings on the property.

This historic photo shows a horse and buggy in front of the house on Glenfield Lane.

SPIRITS RESIDE Is Natchez a popular hot-spot of paranormal activity?

STORY BY CAIN MADDEN

T

he walls of the old houses in Natchez have stories for sure, but they also might have ghosts.

In Natchez houses and businesses, you might hear a disembodied voice, see objects move on their own or sense something reach out and touch you.

Glenfield Plantation may be one such place. Dating back to a land grant in 1774, the property has belonged to the Meng family since 1880.

Growing up in the house, Marjorie Meng said she never gave much thought to ghosts. Sure, interesting things happened in the house — such as her name being called from and unidentifiable source.

But Meng said she did not pay it much attention until guests at the bed and breakfast began to speak of other strange happenings.

“A lot of people love to be up on things like this,” Meng said. “I think all of the old homes in Natchez have something, they just don’t pay it much attention.

“But I’ve had delightful people at my B&B tell me things.

I never tell anyone anything about something that might be going on. They tell me, and I just listen.”

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COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI PARANORMAL SOCIETY

The old Adams County Jail is frequently visited by ghost hunters, including the Mississippi Paranormal Society, who recently came to the building for research.

In one story, Meng said a woman came out of her guest room asking where the maid was. The woman said she had been talking to the maid and had something else to say to her, Meng said.

Meng said she did not have a maid at the residence that early in the day.

The maid could be Abbie, who died in 1864, Meng said. During the Civil War period, the house was occupied by the Cannons, and their daughter, Lucy, kept a journal. Abbie raised the Cannon’s children and was so important that when she died, she was buried in the Cannon cemetery.

In another happening, a judge staying at the B&B came out for breakfast one morning and said his wife was scared to death during the night, Meng said.

Meng said something apparently fell on the woman and she jumped so high she thought she would hit the ceiling. The woman described the thing that hit her as like a cat.

“Of course, I don’t have a cat or any animals,” Meng said.

Glenfield Plantation is not the only ghost

hot spot, as the town is so haunted that the Mississippi Paranormal Society has visited several times, most recently to the old jail.

“We had a lot of encounters with different spirits at the jail and also the Eola Hotel,” said society founder Brian Riley. “Those two would be a toss up for most haunted. I think King’s Tavern would be right in the top three, as well.”

At the jail, using specialized equipment Riley said they witnessed shadowy figures, caught disembodied voices, heard footsteps and the sound of what appeared to be the door to the gallows dropping.

These days, the gallows are welded shut.

“It is a residual haunting, where something happens over and over again,” he said.

“Kind of like a psychic imprint.”

At the Eola, Riley said they have images on the thermal camera of what looks to be a woman peaking out from a doorway. Riley said they also have a picture of a shadowy mass that they could not be explained.

Riley said they also caught more disembodied voices, footsteps and witnessed objects being moved at the old hotel.

“For us, for paranormal investigators, it can be either exciting or frightening,” Riley said. “It depends on what is happening and it also depends on what kind of spirit we are coming into contact with.

“Something like a door opening, or something sliding across a table, that is maybe not as frightening to some people as getting pushed or scratched.”

Speaking of being pushed, that happened at King’s Tavern, Riley said.

“I don’t know if being pushed was intentional or if a spirit was trying to touch me and it came out as a push,” Riley said.

“Some spirits don’t realize how much energy they use and sometimes it can come across as something different.”

Riley said he does not think the spirit at King’s Tavern was evil, nor has he encountered such a ghost in Natchez.

“Most ghosts are just lost souls, people who might have died really fast and are stuck and may not know they are dead,” Riley said. “Some are attached to places where they used to live or frequented a lot.”

In Natchez, stories of lost souls are fre-

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

quently told to tourists seeking a different point of view about the city. The Mengs do a nighttime candlelight ghost tour and local tour guide Karla Brown provides a ghost tour in Downtown Natchez.

Stops on Brown’s tour include the old jail, King’s Tavern, Nellie Jackson’s Bordello, the Forks of the Road, Under-theHill and the cemetery.

“It is probably one of my more popular tours,” Brown said.

Brown said King’s Tavern, supposedly haunted by Madeline, and the old jail, where more than 300 people were hanged, are the most haunted, as they frequently see activity using K2 meters, flashlights and cameras.

The K2 meters light up, the flashlights will go on and off and the would-be ghost investigators have captured pictures of orbs, At the old jail, they go in during the dark, so a flashlight going out can be scary.

“Oh, they get pretty excited,” Brown said. “It is somewhat comical because most of the time, I will get a couple of screams and I have had people run out of the room.

“One time I had two couples, and it was the two men that screamed, not the women.”

At King’s Tavern, if they are not busy, employees will tell stories of things that have happened. Most claim the activity is

done by Madeline, who was supposedly the mistress of one-time owner Richard King.

Brown said King’s wife eventually found out and Madeline went missing.

In the 1930s, three skeletons were found in the fireplace, one of them female with a jeweled dagger near her.

“One of the things that makes me smile about King’s Tavern is they have a jeweled dagger as their symbol,” Brown said.

“It says ‘Spirits of all kind’ underneath.

I think that is pretty neat.”

Before the building was put up for sale, Brown said she would take people to the Prentiss Club, and she got activity down in the bar area.

Riley said he got activity at the Prentiss Club, too, which he said used to be a speakeasy back during the depression.

“There are a lot of cold spots,” Riley said. “We have seen full body apparitions and shadowy figures.”

Riley said his group enjoys coming to Natchez and they would love to do more investigating in different historic locations as well as private residences.

“Natchez is a very haunted city,” Riley said.

Over the years, horrible deaths have occurred in Natchez, which could have left an imprint on the properties.

At Glenfield Plantation, Meng’s daughter, Valarie, describes such a gruesome story.

Valarie Meng said some of the guests

over the years have asked her if her children were OK, at a time when her children were at camp and not at the residence.

“They said, ‘We heard a child crying last night, like weeping,’” Valarie Meng said.

Valarie Meng said at least two children have died in the house, and guests have also claimed to have heard children laughing and playing.

However, the weeping child could be one of the Cannon children, Valarie Meng said. After the Union occupancy, William Cannon had lost everything and his wife had recently died, Mr. Cannon killed himself in 1867 with a shotgun in the house, Valarie Meng said.

Valarie Meng said even though the floors were sanded and stained in 1990, you could see some discoloration where the blood marks are on the floor. Also in that room, on the back of the door are the fingerprints of a little child.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ what if those fingerprints are from the child who found him in the morning?’” Valarie Meng said.

“That could be the weeping child.”

Valarie Meng said the house has been used by many different families, and different things have happened to them, such as death by yellow fever and the youngest Cannon child dying of tuberculosis.

“There are spirits within these walls,” Valarie Meng said. “We like to share it.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Glenfield Plantation owner Marjorie Meng and her daughter Valarie enjoy sharing the many stories of the antebellum house on Glenfield Lane in Natchez.

47

48 PROFILE 2018

Morgantown Baptist Church

2164 2nd St., Natchez, MS 39120 (601) 442-2793 Pastor Stephen Wyles Sunday School ................................................ 9:45 a.m.

Sunday Morning Worship.........................11:00 a.m.

Sunday Evening Worship ............................5:00 p.m.

Wednesday Prayer Meeting & Youth & Children Activities .................... 6:00 p.m.

Bethel Church

204 Airport Rd • Vidalia, LA 318-336-HOPE (4673) Pastor Troy N. Thomas, Sr. Sunday Intercessory Prayer......10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Morning Worship .........................................11:00 a.m.

Tuesday Broadcast Record Night ............. 7:00 p.m.

Youth Outreach ( ages 12-17)

Abundant Life Church

147 Lower Woodville Road, Natchez, MS 601-442-0097 John and Vickie Collard, Pastors

Sunday Morning Worship ....................................... 10:30 a.m.

Wednesday Youth Service..........................................7:00 p.m.

Weekly connect group meeting call office for information.

Join us for service

Come, let God’s word transform you.

Pilgrim

Missionary Baptist Church 117 PILGRIM BLVD, NATCHEZ, MS • (601) 442-5767

Walking in Victory 1 Corinthians 15:57

WEDNESDAY Holy Eucharist/Holy Unction 5:30pm

1st Sunday Communion Service ........ 11:00 a.m.

2nd Sunday & 4th Sunday Morning Worship ............. 11:00 a.m.

3rd Sunday Youth In Action Service... 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study ...... 6:30 p.m.

Pastor Melvin White

Trinity Episcopal Church

The Reverend Ken Ritter, Priest 305 South Commerce at Washington trinitynatchez.org • 601-445-8432

United Methodist Church 511 Jefferson Street, downtown Natchez Rev. Bill Barksdale, Pastor jeffersonstreetumc.org

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ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY Men’s Prayer Meeting ................................9:30am Sunday School...............................................9:45am Children’s Church ...................................... 10:45am Morning Worship ...................................... 10:45am Evening Prayer Meeting ...........................5:30pm Evening Service.............................................6:00pm

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Sunday Breakfast .............................................................8:30am Sunday School...................................................9:15am Sunday Worship ............................................. 10:30am Youth Group ..................................................... 5:15pm

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Wednesday Supper ............................................................... 5:15pm Programs ........................................................... 6:00pm Choir Rehearsal ................................................ 7:00pm

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

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49

50 PROFILE 2018

At left, Kenley Grappe, 6, holds up a napkin on which her mother inscribed a special message.

At right, Emmorie Deason, 5, grabs her lunchbox, which has Poppy from the movie “Trolls� on its front, at the beginning of lunch period at Vidalia Lower Elementary School.

Aiden Bramlin, 5, looks up from his lunch which included pretzels and a sandwich. At left, Steven Smith, 6, pulls chicken nuggets and Cheetos from his lunchbox. At right, Riley Marsailis, 7, laughs with friends in the cafeteria during lunch at Vidalia Lower Elementary School.

WHAT’S for LUNCH?

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

51

STORY & PHOTOS BY CLARA TURNAGE

F

or almost as long as schoolyards and cafeterias have existed, so too have lunchboxes.

Lunch does not get the attention it deserves. It is not the most important meal of the day — breakfast has held that title for the last decade. It does not quite have the sway a family dinner entails. And it has nothing on the treasured midnight snack.

But for children in school, lunch is time spent with your friends and classmates and, if you bring your own lunch, a time to show off a little of your personality.

So, we asked, what are kids bringing for lunch these days?

The lunchbox

Perhaps one of the most-changed items is the lunchbox itself.

At Vidalia Lower Elementary, students come armed with lunchboxes of every variety: Princesses and robots, little pink trolls or personalized, stylish bags.

Long gone are the brown-bag lunches and the retro tin boxes filled with goodies. Kids these days like their lunchboxes to represent a little bit of their personality and style.

Bryce Hancock, 4, brings a Transformer lunchbox to school almost every day.

Students share their personalities, creative sides at cafeteria table

Hancock can name each of the characters that decorate the little mesh box — Bumble Bee, Megatron and his friends — and what each of them “transforms” back into.

“Megatron is cool,” Hancock said.

And the little boys surrounding him at his table agree.

Other lunchboxes are hand-medowns, with an older sister or brother’s name scrawled in fading marker on the lid.

Emily Heidel, 5, has a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine lunchbox, and she, too, knows every character.

Spiderman, Elsa and Batman dot the other students lunchboxes in the cafeteria.

The lunchbox is not just a utilitarian bag, it is something of a fashion statement, a kid-sized conversation piece, that shows what each child values.

What’s inside

As varying as the lunchboxes can be, the contents are even more diverse.

The sandwich is the traditional

lunchbox fare, but many students are opting for the modern approach to an entre: portable lunch trays.

Lunchables carry little, round pieces of flatbread, tomato sauce and cheese, or the ingredients for a ham and cheese sandwich or — a crowd favorite — tiny nacho chips with a cheese dipping sauce.

Other children take an old favorite — leftovers.

Steven Smith, 5, carries with him pizza from home and a big plastic bag of Cheetos.

Kenley Grappe, 6, has fried chicken wrapped up in aluminum foil, Doritos, Reeses cups and a small water bottle.

Other children bring little containers of soup, chicken nuggets, or fries, and as far as sides go, chips are the norm.

Very few children opt for salads — parents are too sensible to think that would fly — but there are ways to get children to eat more health-conscious foods.

Riley James, 6, brings a yogurt

drink and a piece of fruit drink every day with his lunch.

Riley drinks the yogurt first, saying it is his favorite part of the meal.

Unbeknownst to Riley, the yogurt is one of the healthiest items in his lunchbox, too.

The sweet side

Without fail, each child’s favorite food in the bag is dessert.

Some children bring Oreos; others bring gummy bears or snack cakes.

Some children go straight for the sweets, opening their fruit gummies or tearing their Oreos apart to eat the cream first.

Other children take it slow, rifling through their sandwiches and grapes and saving the best for last.

Though the food inside may vary, the person who packed the lunch is almost the same for every child: Mom or Dad. Six-year-old Kenley Grappe’s parents opted to add something a little special to their daughter’s lunch.

On the napkin packed tightly inside her floral, monogramed lunch bag, her mother wrote “You are special” and drew three colorful balloons.

The napkin is a reminder of what packed lunches have always been — something from home that children can carry with them as they grow.

At left, Emmorie Deason, 5, holds up her favorite part of lunch: dessert.

At right, Eden Godbold, 5, points to her sandwich in her “Frozen”themed lunchbox in the Vidalia Lower Elementary School cafeteria.

52 PROFILE 2018

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

53

DOWN UNDER Was Natchez Under-the-Hill the original Sin City?

I

n the evening, a steamboat stops along the dock of a well-lit river town with the sounds of fiddles, laughter and merriment on shore.

As the steamer docks and its passengers disembark to scope out the town under the bluff, they find men and women dancing, gambling and drinking.

The bell to the steamboat rings to continue on its voyage, but before the passengers are able to return to the boat, the merriment is instantly ended and the lights of the town extinguished.

Ropes are drawn across the road and passengers are knocked down in full sprint. They are relieved of their money and watches in an instant and as they board the steamboat, they never hear or see more of their riverside plunderers.

Such is an account of Natchez-Under-the-Hill by Captain J.E. Alexander in 1833.

“The lower town of Natchez has got a worse character than any place on the river; every house seemed to be a grog shop, and I saw ill-favoured men and women looking from the windows,” Alexander said. “Here the most desperate characters congregate, particularly in the spring of the year, when the upcounty boatmen are returning home with their dollar-bags from the New Orleans market.

Historic renderings and views of Natchez Under-the-Hill show the area to be teaming with industry and business. The area included more buildings and more activity than today’s small strip of buildings along Silver Street.

S TO R Y B Y C A I N M A D D E N | I M AG E S P R O V I D E D B Y T H E H I S TO R I C N ATC H E Z F O U N DAT I O N

54 PROFILE 2018

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Miller said the city and Silver Street busiSilver Street on the town’s grid dates back “Dreadful riots occur… eyes are gouged out, ness owners made an effort to clean the city to 1790-91, Miller said. noses and ears are bitten and torn off.”

Before the town was plotted, the riverfront up.

Grog, by the way, was a popular drink at Sin City also suffered a travesty around the the time, said Historic Natchez Foundation was accessed by a road from the base of Fort Executive Director Mimi Miller. Grog con- Rosalie to the French settlement, which was time of the clean up, but Miller said the tragsists of rum, beer, water and citrus juice, and located at the abandoned Isle of Capri Casino edy might have helped spur cleaning the town up. In 1840, a tornado hit the area and more was favored by sailors because the citrus pre- parking lot.

During the English period, a semblance of a than 300 people were killed, many of whom vented scurvy.

Grog shops were not unique to Silver Street, town in Under-the-Hill began to be construct- were on steamboats docked at the landing.

All of the buildings on Silver Street were as the shops also lined St. Catherine Street, ed, but no more than 10 houses or buildings. which Miller said was similar to Silver Street Most of the development during the English destroyed.

“The more temporary, lessor buildings were in that it was designed to attract travelers, period was at the Forks of the Road.

Silver Street itself was created during the destroyed,” Miller said. “The less substantial typically men.

In the early 1800s, if you wanted to visit Sin Spanish period, which ended in 1798, Miller the building, the more likely it will have some of the viler kinds of business.

City, with a grog shop or brothel seemingly on said. “ M o re s u b s t a n t i a l every corner, Natchez’s buildings were built back Under-the-Hill was your with families living on destination. the second story, many Writer Joseph Holt Inof them Jewish. I think graham described Underthat made a difference.” the-Hill as the nucleus of Today, three of its vice upon the Mississipbuildings date back to pi, a place that had “exbefore the Civil War and tended its fame throughthe number of steamout the United States, in boats coming through wretched rhyme and vilis not as plentiful, but er story.” when they do visit, Silver While Natchez’s UnStreet Gallery and Gifts der-the-Hill had a repuowner Gail Guido said it tation as Natchez imis a treat. proper, Miller said the “It just adds a whole reputation was common different feeling when to port areas in all towns, 300 people get off a boat though Natchez’s reputaand they are wandering tion seemingly exceeded about in Natchez for the the other ports. first time,” Guido said.

“Because transient “It is refreshing to have people are coming in and people come through the out of the cities, whethdoor where you can chat er on the Atlantic or the with them, find out who Mississippi River, a lot of they are, where they are the people were a little from and answer any rough,” Miller said. questions they might The people were workhave.” ing transporting hams Guido said the tourists and other products along also like to hear stories the boats, Miller said.

“They were not upper A photograph of Natchez Under-the-Hill before the second Mississippi River bridge was built about the town.

“You never run out scale tourists, let me put between Natchez and Vidalia and before gambling returned to the area. of stories to tell them,” it that way,” she said.

Guido said. “I think that “They were rough and is why they come to Natready, not high society.

Natchez Under-the-Hill began to clean up chez, to hear the stories.

“Also low life tends to prey on people who “I feel fortunate to be right here when they come in and out, and passengers made for its act in the mid 1830s, Miller said, though get off the boat.” it still was not without its character. easy prey for people to take advantage of.”

The Under-the-Hill Saloon was built shortly Ingraham said “there is still enough of the The way life worked back then, the law often could not catch up to criminals, Miller cloven-hoof visible, to enable the stranger to after the Civil War, Magnolia Grill is a new recognize that its former reputation as well building built to copy an old building that said. was on site, and the building next to Magnolia “It’s not like today where if you get a speed- earned.”

In 1834, actor Tyrone Power remarked Grill was reconstructed, Miller said. Miller ing ticket in New York, Mississippi will know about it,” she said. “It was a different life. You “Even at Natchez Under-the-Hill, manners, said the other buildings date back to before if not morals, are improving. Murder is not the Civil War. couldn’t go after your attackers.”

Miller said the tourists enjoy having a gift The reputation had started many years be- nigh so common here as it was a few seasons shop available when they come to Natchez, back.” fore the 1830s when Alexander described it.

Cleaning its act took time, though, said and many tourists find a way to eat at both Traveller William Richardson published in 1816 that it was without exception the most Miller. Even as late as 1871, the Natchez news- restaurants, Magnolia Grill and The Camp, paper reported on March 29 that Mag Reyn- while also finding time to visit the Saloon. licentious spot he had ever seen.

Locals also frequent Silver Street, Miller “It is inhabited by the worst characters and olds, operator of a brothel Under-the-Hill, it is well known that not a virtuous female was ordered to leave town and the building said.

“On nights, cars are parked all the way up will ride in this poluted spot,” Richardson she occupied was razed.

In the rubble, six dead bodies were found, Silver Street,” Miller said. “I am really enjoysaid. “From this filthy spot emanate all the contagious disorders that infest the town one of them a prominent state official who ing Silver Street, but I don’t think it has realized its full potential.” had been missing for three months. above.”

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THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

MIRACLE on the I COURT Jefferson County basketball coach knows power of faith

S TO R Y B Y E M M A L E E M O L AY | P H OTO S B Y N I C O L E H E S T E R

sley Walton was born a fan of Jefferson County High School athletics — all 3.2 pounds of her tiny miracle body.

The week before Walton came into this world on Jan. 8, 2009, her father, Marcus Walton, was faced with a critical decision.

Even though his wife and unborn child’s life hung in the balance, Walton said the decision was easy.

“The doctors told me to either have a baby by the end of the week, or I might lose them both,” Marcus Walton said.

“I left it in God’s hands because regardless of what man tells you, God has the final say so.”

Walton and his wife, Tiffany, chose to induce labor, and so came Isley.

Tiffany had been on bed rest for several months during the pregnancy when finally the complications became overbearing. Doctors had initially conducted a procedure to stitch Tiffany’s cervix together in an attempt to draw out the term, yet she was still having issues with high blood pressure.

Isley was initially scheduled to be born in March, spending a little more than six weeks in the hospital following her birth.

“They wanted to take (Tiffany) in that day, and they told

Jefferson County High School basketball coach Marcus Walton, left, has watched as his daughter, Isley, grew from weighing just 3.2 pounds at birth.

Now 9 years old, Isley Walton has excelled in her studies despite her parents not knowing if she would live.

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58 PROFILE 2018

Isley Walton, left, has been cheering on the Jefferson County High School varsity squad for the past three years, as her father, Marcus Walton coaches the varsity boys basketball team.

me I could just pray that they would figure out why her blood pressure was elevated,” Marcus Walton said. “Now, I have a little girl — still.”

On the sidelines, Marcus Walton’s job is to coach Jefferson County’s boys basketball team. But at all other times he is just Isley’s dad. The person that his daughter, now 9 years old, has grown into has exceeded even his wildest dreams.

“Looking at her now is just amazing.

All the credit goes to God,” he said. “It’s nothing I did or man has done. God really stepped in and showed just how immaculate He is.”

Since her birth, Isley has been by her father’s side every step of the way. For the past three years, she can be found across the court on the varsity cheerleader squad.

Isley’s cousin, TyTe’Anna Cameron, is a senior cheerleader this year. Tagging along to practices became a regular thing, Tiffany Walton said.

“She was doing just as much as they were doing, and she asked her dad if it was OK for her to cheer,” she said. “Of course she wanted to do it, but we had to explain that the practice schedule came along with it —

the uniform, everything.

“We told her the only way she was going to be able to cheer was if she maintained a good grade point average. It became an incentive for her to study.”

Though she is much smaller, Isley packs just as much of a punch as any other cheerleader on the squad. Other teams sometimes see her as a threat.

“They actually think of me as their secret weapon,” Isley said. “I’m the only peewee cheerleader on the squads that we have seen.”

Both Tiffany and Marcus Walton said the deal has so far worked out for everyone.

“Cheerleaders have to be disciplined and ready to work. It only took that one time for us to tell her,” Tiffany Walton said. “At this point, she is an A student. The doctor told us he would bet his salary that she wouldn’t live, and to see her mastering things tells the complete story about her.”

Marcus Walton agreed watching Isley grow is priceless.

“A lot of my coaching friends tell me they wish they would have done it the way I am,” he said. “I’ve never seen a book on parenthood, and this is just what we are doing to

try to make the most of it.

“I don’t take time for granted. Every opportunity I get I look at it as a blessing to really spend time with her and do as much as I can, because I know one day she might not want to hang out with her old man.”

To have Isley there through the ups and downs of coaching is just icing on the cake, Marcus Walton said.

“Even with coaching, I’m preparing kids for life,” he said. “Being a father — trying to be a father figure, I never really know what I am to them. Having my own child home really puts that into perspective.

“It really puts winning and losing into perspective, too. When you win, she is there with a big smile. When we lose, she always says how she wishes we would have won but she still brings that big smile.”

Through their varying roles, Marcus Walton knows one thing for sure.

“She is one of the main reasons I try to stay well-grounded and try to humble myself,” he said. “She’s what motivates me to get the job done — to be the best father, coach, teacher or whatever I try to be in life.

“She’s my heart. I’m just really thankful — I thank God every day.”

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60 PROFILE 2018

Jeff Mansell and his 2-year-old dog, Ollie, travel the bluff before dawn as Mansell picks up litter along the way. The two’s ritual began months after Mansell got Ollie as a puppy and occurs nearly daily, so long as the weather allows for early morning walk.

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

PART of the SOLUTION

Residents choose to help curb litter problem

W

hile most of Natchez sleeps, Jeff Mansell and his canine companion, Ollie, venture out before dawn to rid the city of trash left in the previous day’s wake.

The pair, who have been taking their early morning cleanup hikes for the past two years, have just about seen it all when it comes to litter — from tipped trash cans to condoms floating around like blown-up balloons and even a dollar bill wrapped around marijuana.

“That was one of the strangest,” Mansell said.

For Mansell, seeing a city so rich in history and culture tarnished by trash reached an apex when his friends from New York City visited Natchez and, upon Mansell’s recommendation, took a trip to Emerald Mound.

Expecting positive feedback, Mansell inquired about their experience, but their answer disappointed him. “(He) goes, ‘Can I tell you something?’ I didn’t learn much about Emerald Mound because we were so taken aback by all the litter and trash on the road out there,’” Mansell recalled. “I was like, ‘Wow.’” Mansell, a historian at the Natchez National Historical Park, feared that his visitors would return to New York with the trash having clouded their perception of Natchez.

He then thought back to a time in college when he was complaining about an issue he was having, and a friend challenged him with a simple question: “What are you going to do about it?”

“He was like, ‘Jeff, nobody likes a whiner, man’” he said. “‘Be part of the solution and stop complaining about it.’”

So, Jeff and Ollie did something about it. Now, weather permitting, the two travel each day through the garden district, along the bluff, and span the streets of downtown as Mansell uses a grabber reaching aid to pick up litter as they go.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell, who has called litter one of his biggest, most perplexing challenges since taking office,

gifted the grabber to Mansell.

During Mansell and Ollie’s 5-mile excursions — and even longer walks on weekends — Mansell typically stuffs two plastic grocery bags with trash he finds, though it could be much more in the aftermath of a parade or other large-scale event.

The walks double as both a public service and a way to work off some of the 2-year-old pup’s abundant energy.

Mansell’s efforts help out the city’s Public Works Department, which must allocate precious man-hours to cleaning up garbage within city limits.

And Mansell is not alone. Others have also taken it upon themselves to try and keep Natchez clean, such as a woman Mansell said he randomly encountered one rainy morning.

Mansell said he and the woman shared a connection over their similar objective.

“She said, ‘Wow, so I’m not the only one doing this,”’ Mansell said.

One young man, Maurice Lewis, even received recognition from the city for his dedication to cleaning trash. Grennell said he would see Lewis meandering down Martin Luther King Jr. Street every morning to clean up the city.

“And it’s a young person,” Grennell said of Lewis. “That’s what’s so incredible about it.”

These people continue striving to clean the town, despite the persistent presence of beer bottles, plastic bags and Styrofoam cups that detract from areas such as the walking trails along the bluff and the banks of the Mississippi River.

City leaders have begun to take a more macro-level approach to curb trash pollution. City Planner Riccardo Giani has even formed a litter task force with this aim.

But as long as the problem persists, you can find Mansell and Ollie hitting the streets before sunrise and taking advice from his old college friend to just “be part of the solution.”

S TO R Y B Y DAV I D H A M I LTO N | P H OTO S B Y N I C O L E H E S T E R

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After moving back to Natchez from California, Robert Pernell started offering his time and energy to local organizations, including Adams County Democratic Executive Committee, of which he has chaired, the Southwest Regional Railroad Authority, community alliance, Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, Veterans Services, the NatchezAdams School District and the Natchez Business Civic League.

Caring for others Volunteers work together to give back to community STORY BY CAIN MADDEN

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

V

olunterism may be the greatest form of optimism.

Faced with some of the area’s biggest challenges, volunteers work together to make Natchez a greater place to live.

Whether they are keeping downtown beautiful, helping people take care of their health and care for the area’s animal population, volunteers help give back to the community in many ways “I am very optimistic about Natchez and its future,” said Robert Pernell. “I think we can do anything if we all work together and get it done.”

Pernell came to Natchez five years ago to build a house on family land and retire. His parents and grandparents are from Natchez, but much of his work had been in construction in Sacramento, Calif.

“My mom wanted to move back,” Pernell said. “I saw some property with a house on it, and I bought it and moved her back to Natchez.”

Pernell said he followed some years later and built a house on the land of his mother’s house. Pernell said his mother, Luader Pernell, had been influential in his volunteering.

“She said, ‘Regardless of how high you go, don’t forget where you came from. Make sure you put back,’” Pernell said. “A lot of the things she taught me, I still do today and I have been blessed for it.”

While he was not the only volunteer, Pernell was part of the team who helped Delta Regional Authority’s Innovative Readiness Training medical clinic come to town. The clinic is a volunteer military training program that offers medical services, such as eye exams, dental visits and screenings to underserved and underinsured people.

Other volunteers included Alcorn State University’s Ruth Nichols and Mississippi State Department of Health’s Madeline England.

“I just was helping get the word out to the community and helping them find a venue, which turned out to be the college campus,” Pernell said. “I had gone to Memphis to see how it worked to make sure it was real because it was a little hard to believe.

“They did a total of 10,752 procedures and the total value cost wise was $1.37 million. That was one I am proud of because it helped a lot of people.”

Pernell also serves as chair for the Parchman Ordeal monument project. More than 150 men and women were arrested in Natchez during 1965 and jailed at Parchman for attempting to march for their civil rights.

“I think it was important for the city because, for one reason, it kind of brought the whole situation full circle,” Pernell said. “Natchez is not trying to hide its past. It is embracing its past and looking toward the future.”

Pernell said the monument, when built, will describe what happened that weekend as well as a resolution by former mayor Butch Brown apologizing for the event.

“Instead of a negative, we are turning it into a positive,” Pernell said. “It will bring in a different demographic of tourism. I think this will go a long way in supporting additional tourism.”

F.O.R. Natchez, which is led by Chesney Doyle, is another big project Pernell said he is proud of.

“For Natchez is a plan that kind of modernizes downtown, helps bring in tourists and economic development to our city,” Pernell said. “I think Natchez is a great town, but we have to keep moving forward.”

Pernell also volunteers for the Adams County Democratic Executive Committee, of which he has chaired, the Southwest Regional Railroad Authority, community alliance, Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce,

the NAACP, Veterans Services, the Natchez-Adams School District and the Natchez Business Civic League.

“For me, this doesn’t feel like I am being overworked,” Pernell said. “This is something I like doing. I like helping my community and being a positive influence and role model for the young adults that are coming up.”

By day, Susan Weed works in the note department at Delta Bank.

At almost any other hour, however, she can be found volunteering at the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society doing everything from changing light bulbs, giving animals medicine and transporting dogs and cats across the country to help them find homes.

“I am kind of the little jack of all trades,” Weed said. “Just whatever they need. I love on the puppies, I clean up after the puppies and I am just a voice for the puppies. I love every minute of it.”

For years, Weed had driven by the humane society after work on her way to take care of her horses, Flash and Jewel. One day two years ago, she decided to help out.

“I came in on one of the Saturdays when they were doing orientation,” Weed said. “They did a walk through, and I said, ‘I came to work today.’

“Kathy Fitch (with the transport program) said she could use someone to help take pictures of the dogs, and that is how I got started.”

The picture taking can be entertaining, Weed said.

“That gets to be interesting trying to make the puppies make faces,” Weed said. “Just keeping the cats on the table is a job.”

Susan Weed works at Delta Bank during the day.

Whenever she is not at the bank, Weed can be found at the Natchez-Adam County Humane Society animal shelter doing what she loves most, caring for dogs and cats. Weed, at right, helps load puppies on an animal transport van that will find a new home for the animals in another part of the country.

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Weed said the time spent is well worth it, and pretty much every day after work at 5 p.m. she goes home to change her clothes then heads to the shelter.

Because of an ordering issue recently, Weed said she has even volunteered to go in late at night to fill the heater with kerosene so it will continue heating until morning.

The time spent at the shelter does not really bother her, she said.

In fact, the opposite can be true when she is not at the building.

“I find it hard when I am not there on a weekend,” Weed said.

“Like If I go out of town, I wonder what is going on at the shelter.”

Sometimes picking up animals even leads to her ultimately keeping the animal. All five of her cats and dogs were either adopted from the shelter or are rescues.

Weed ended up with a miniature pincher, Jasmine, after a woman down the street was moving to an apartment in Texas to be closer to her children. She adopted her cat, Merial, who was fostered because the animal could not be transported due to medical issues.

The transport program is where she volunteers.

“Without the transport program, we could not take in any more animals at the main shelter,” Weed said. “The program takes animals who might not be adopted locally out to other areas so they can find homes.”

Weed said she has loved animals all of her life and wants to see them taken care of.

“We have a lot of animals in our area,” Weed said. “Sometimes it seems like people don’t care, especially when we pick up some of the animals in the shape we get them in. Someone has to do it.

I am willing and I am able.”

Beth Dudley took an early retirement from Cardinal Healthcare 12 years ago and came back to Natchez to help care for her father, who suffered with Alzheimer’s.

At first, Dudley said she felt disconnected to the community, her parents had been tireless volunteers and taught her about giving back to the community.

Dudley took those lessons to heart and joined Grace United Methodist Church, which helped her get connected to the community. First volunteering at the church, Dudley then was able to find the Mississippi State Extenison Service and the Adams County Master Gardeners, where she has twice served as its president.

“It was through a Grace United Methodist Church member, Anne Gray,” Dudley said. “I arranged the flowers every Sunday for the church and she said, ‘Do you want to come and be a part of the Mississippi State Extension Service.’ I said, ‘Sure.’”

Dudley said she has gone on to enjoy the program so much that she has put in many hours. In 2016, she was awarded first place in the state for the most hours volunteered in one year for the program.

“It has been something that I have really, really enjoyed,” Dudley said. “I love every aspect of gardening.”

The master gardeners have done landscaping for the city, including at the visitors’ center and on the bluff at the gazebo.

“It has been very rewarding and it is a great opportunity to meet people that have an interest in gardening,” Dudley said.

Dudley also helped organize Operation Christmas Child in the area. The program delivers shoeboxes full of gifts to children around the world.

In addition to Grace United Methodist, people from Parkway Baptist Church, the First Assembly Beth Dudley, right, volunteers with many local organizations, including the Adams County Master Gardeners and Operation Christmas Child.

of God and Highland Baptist Church are also involved in Operation Christmas Child.

“We started the drop off center here in town,” Dudley said. “I used to use my horse trailer and drove it up to McComb, but our numbers have grown.

“In the Natchez area, we are now up to a 26-footer, the biggest truck you can rent from Penske, and it is full of shoe boxes coming out of the Adams County area.”

Dudley also delivers meals for the Natchez Stewpot.

She delivers 70 meals twice a month for the local food pantry.

The stewpot as a whole delivers 300 meals a day to the elderly and shut-ins of the county.

“Many times, I know I may be the only smile someone may see on that particular day,” Dudley said. “Therefore I smile bigger and wider for those receiving my smile.”

Pernell, Weed and Dudley all said they hoped they could inspire others to volunteer in the community because of the difference it can make.

Dudley said to find something you are passionate about and go out and get involved, as many options exist for every interest.

“The message is not about me, it is about giving back to the community and just focusing on others,” Dudley said. “If you get out and focus on someone else, it is just fulfilling.

“That is what we are intended to do, care for others.”

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66 PROFILE 2018

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Jordan, Kaiser & Sessions, LLC..........................15 Magnolia Village................................................46 Mammy’s Cupboard..........................................64 Maxwell Chiropractic Clinic..............................52 Medical Directory........................................ 40/41 Merit Health Natchez.......................................... 4 Natchez Adams County Airport........................20 Natchez Visitor and Convention Bureau ........... 5 Natchez Electric & Supply Co............................64 Natchez Heating & Cooling...............................38 Natchez Market.................................................... 5 Natchez Pathology............................................45 Natchez Water Works.........................................49 Natchez, Inc........................................................38 Patrick’s Fine Jewelry.......................................... 8 Paul Green & Assoc. Realtors............................17 Publications Press..............................................59 Redco..................................................................64 River View RV Park.............................................45 Roger’s Lawn & Garden.....................................27 S. Lee Falkenheiner, D.D.S.................................59 Serendipity Flea Market & Collectibles............64 Silas Simmons....................................................31 Southern Bath & Kitchen...................................59 Southwest Mississippi Electric........................... 9 St. Catherine Readymix.....................................64 Stout and Co......................................................... 6 The Barklee Pet Hotel & Spa.............................45 Two-J Ranch, Inc./Vidalia Dock & Storage, Inc........56 United Mississippi Bank....................................15 West Feliciana Parish Hospital..........................67 Wilkinson County Christian Academy................ 8 Wilmar Construction Company, Inc..................49 Woodville Republican.......................................43 Worship Directory.............................................48

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