Profile 2016

PRO

THE

F I RE LE AL H

ERO

a special publication of

2016

ES

Hometown Lending Staff

Table of Contents

Profile 2016

This edition of Profile 2016 was published February 23, 2016, by

USPS 416-400 CONTRIBUTORS Davis Potter Bruce Newman Stephanie Rebman LaReeca Rucker Alyssa Schnugg Rob Sigler Jake Thompson

ADVERTISING Delia Childers Nikki Paine

32

Ross Thornton

Helping Heroes

GRAPHICS

10 Super hero cop

Wade Griffin Kathy Wile

12 Volunteer enjoy work

EAGLE TEAM

14 Advocate for homeless

Tim Phillips, Publisher

32 A true best friend

Stephanie Rebman, Editor

36 Voice for the voiceless 48 Eye doc saves a life 68 Teen feeds the hungry 72 A love for animals

42

Community Heroes 6

Fireman makes history

42 Teaching and officiating

18 Keeping the stats

52 All about the kids

22 Thoughtful and caring

60 Water Valley Renaissance

28 Keeping law and order

64 The happy cashier

The Oxford EAGLE is published Sunday through Friday, except Christmas at 916 Jackson Ave. Oxford, MS 38655 Periodical Postage Paid At Oxford, Mississippi 38655 POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oxford EAGLE, P.O. Box 866, Oxford, MS 38655 Phone: 662-234-4331 Fax: 662-234-4351 Email: news@oxfordeagle.com

Rob Johnson became a firefighter at age 44 for the Oxford Fire Department.

Career change

Story by LaReeca Rucker ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

C

larksdale native Rob Johnson remembers the first fire he fought in Oxford.

“I guess my first great big fire was The Gin, when The Gin burned down,” the 51-year-old said. “I was actually down at Station 4 on Truck 4.

“We had a ground crew that was in there. I was out on the tip of the ladder, and guys would run me out over the fire.

I was just spraying the fire from above.”

Johnson finds his passion late in life

T

hat was in 2010, a little more than a year after Johnson, then 44, was hired as a firefighter with the Oxford Fire Department, breaking a record.

“I’m the oldest new hire that the fire department’s ever hired,” he said, seated at his desk inside the new fire station on McElroy Drive in Oxford.

Johnson, who has lived in Oxford the past 26 years, has been a firefighter the past eight. He grew up hunting in the woods near Clarksdale.

“I was brought up in the outdoors,” he said. “My family belonged to a nice hunting club. From my earliest years, I can remember hunting. It’s just something that got in my blood. That’s what I live to do nowadays.”

The deer and turkey hunter grew up on a farm.

“I was in a rice field at 12 years old with a shovel in my hand,” he said. “I drove a tractor before I ever drove a car.”

He attended Lee Academy, a private

“This was a major mid-life career change at 44 years old. It never even entered my mind, never. ... I’m very happy with it. I love my job.”

Rob Johnson

The oldest new hire ever for the Oxford Fire Department

school in Clarksdale, where he played football and baseball. He later played one semester of junior college football before enrolling at Ole Miss, where he planned to study wildlife biology.

Johnson didn’t graduate, but became a self-employed photographer during his college years.

“I had a photography business,” he said. “I did weddings, all the sports stuff for the university, and whatever I could to make a living.”

He got into the business while taking party pictures to earn extra money in the early 1990s. Then he began working for a local photography studio, a job he held for seven years before venturing out on his own.

“It was fun until digital came along,” he said. “My first digital camera was a Canon D60. I ordered it. I had to wait six months for it, and it cost me $2,600.

Now you can go out and buy one at Walmart for $400 that’s better than the one I had to wait six months for.

“The paper/picture business went down. I had a lot of friends who had photography businesses that folded. My business was drastically going down, but so was I. I got burned out on it. I rarely had anybody to do work for.”

Johnson said his accountant introduced him to the idea of firefighting.

“He knew my personality,” he said.

SEE JOHNSON, 8

Rob Johnson is a firefighter for the Oxford Fire Department and is stationed at the new facility on McElroy Drive.

JOHNSON: FROM PAGE 7 “He knew I loved to hunt. I hunted when I wanted to, and I worked when I had to. I was getting my taxes done one season, and of course, my income was steadily going down, and he said, ‘You know what you should have done? You should have been a firefighter. That fits your personality just right and gives you the days off to do what you want to do.’

I applied.”

Johnson is based at the new facility where firefighters have their own rooms upstairs. After completing daily chores, they can retire to their rooms after 5 p.m., but they’re still on call.

He said most of the calls that Oxford firefighters answer aren’t fires.

“We have a great inspection division, especially with the businesses,” he said.

“They really keep that stuff monitored and safe.

“We just don’t have a whole lot of fires. Building codes require more.

Anything new now has to be sprinklered. I think some residential homes

have to be sprinklered now under new construction.”

But Oxford firefighters answer many alarm calls, particularly from the University of Mississippi.

“The university needs to open up a class called Popcorn 101 to teach kids how to cook popcorn in a microwave,” Johnson said. “Don’t put it in there for 20 minutes. It’s going to burn up, and it’s going to set off smoke.

“Hairspray can set it off. Sometimes steam from the showers can, and popcorn, popcorn, popcorn, popcorn.

Then, of course, when we have a ballgame in town, and everybody gets drunk, and they think it’s funny to set off a fire alarm at 3 o’clock in the morning — we don’t think it’s funny.”

Johnson said he rarely thinks about the challenges or dangers of his job. He just does it.

“There’s not a single guy in there who I wouldn’t go into a burning building and die trying to get out,” he said.

“We are all brothers. I see them more than I do my own family. It’s just a sac-

rifice. I would die for any of them, and they would do the same for me.”

Johnson said firefighters also respond to rescue calls.

“We’ve all seen some bad things,” he said. “It’s like if we pull up on the scene of a bad, bad accident, I tell myself, ‘Do not look at the patient.’ Your job is to get this car cut up and get them out.

Don’t look at them. Just don’t look at them.

“The accidents I’ve been to, I couldn’t tell you if the person was black or white, what color clothes they had on. I can’t tell you. I don’t look at them . . .We do our job. We train a lot, and we train on being safe.”

Johnson said he never fathomed becoming a firefighter, but he’s glad his accountant suggested it.

“This was a major mid-life career change at 44 years old,” he said. “It never even entered my mind, never. My accountant was a very smart man and somebody that you need to take advice from, and I did, and it landed me here.

I’m very happy with it. I love my job.”

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Super cop

H

Story by Alyssa Schnugg ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

ardie Meeks is a Superman fan and spends each day living up to the values his favorite superhero embodies.

“Superman represents how people can do good deeds without bragging,” said Meeks, an investigator with the Oxford Police Department. “Clark saves the world as Superman but never takes the credit. It’s a symbol there’s still good in the world.”

Hardie Meeks has worked for the Oxford Police Department since 2010.

Mild-mannered Meeks a superhero to kids

T

he Carrol County native worked at North Mississippi Regional Center where he started off in direct care and eventually became the shift supervisor. He loved working with the clients and, for all intents and purposes, he had a good job and a growing career.

But it wasn’t enough.

“I always want to be a police officer, especially a detective,” Meeks said. “But my mom didn’t like the idea because it worried her.”

About eight years ago, when he was around 27 years old, he decided to pursue his dream and signed up for the police academy without telling his mother.

“She’s used to it now,” he said, smiling. “But she still calls when she hears something going on on the news to check on me.”

Meeks found himself at the University Police Department as a new law enforcement officer. He started

“He’s caring and sympathetic. But with the kids, he’s done a great job with them.

You couldn’t ask for a better person to work with them.”

Joey East

Oxford police chief

there in 2008 and after two years, got hired at the Oxford Police Department in 2010 as an officer.

Committed to serving

Today, he is what he always dreamed of being — a detective, working cases involving grand theft to murder. His most recent homicide case involved the shooting death of Kenneth I. Roberson, a funeral home owner who was killed in October. Meeks was lead investigator on the case and made a personal promise to himself that he would solve the case before Roberson’s family said their final goodbyes.

Five days later, on the day of Roberson’s wake, the man accused of killing him, Nathanial Huddleston, was arrested in Jackson by Oxford Police

and U.S. Marshals.

“There was a lot of teamwork,” Meeks said. “And not a lot of sleep. But I set a goal to have this case settled before the wake. The family could grieve and not worry that the suspect was still at large.”

OPD Maj. Jeff McCutchen said Meeks is the kind of employee who happily does whatever tasks are assigned.

“He’s great in the community and is a solid detective,” McCutchen said.

McCutchen said a credit card fraud case was assigned to Meeks. Those are often run-of-the-mill-type larceny cases.

However, with Meeks’ careful attention to detail and commitment to treating all cases the same, he soon discovered the fraud turned out to be “tens of thousands” of dollars, McCutchen said.

Straight Talk

When he isn’t being a super investigator, he’s being a super good friend to teens in Oxford through his involvement with Straight Talk of Oxford, a group of Christian men and women who mentor 12- to 17-year-olds at the Stone Center on Monday evenings.

“A friend of mine was involved in prison ministry and some of the men told him that if they had someone to mentor them at an early age they may not be there today,” Meeks said. “We started Straight Talk. Some of them call me ‘Dad’ and that gives me chill bumps.”

Meeks said he goes to the meetings in his work attire with his badge and gun, so those attending know he’s an officer of the law, to teach them that police are their friends.

Meeks recently decided to share his love of Superman with area children and gave his fellow officers a chance to be superheroes too.

“On Halloween we went to Oxford Elementary and the Scott Center wearing costumes — I was Superman, of course,” he said. “We also had Batman, Thor, Spiderman and Captain America.”

The group had so much fun and such a great response from the students, they’ve decided to make it a regular thing and visit area schools dressed in their superhero costumes.

“We do it to put a smile on their faces, mainly,” Meeks said.

A family man

Meeks is a deacon at Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church where he also teaches Sunday school. He’s married to Katrenia and they have three children.

Anytime Meeks earns an award of some kind, he shares it with his wife since they are a team.

“She tells people she needs to get a paycheck for being a police wife,” he said with a chuckle. “She has my back in every facet of my life.”

Meeks also is actively involved in Make A Plan and Adult Make a Plan,

Oxford Police Department investigator Hardie Meeks started a program called Straight Talk to mentor to troubled youth.

which helps children and adults with mental disabilities with medication and care, and the Multiple Disciplinary Team, which helps victims of physical and sexual abuse.

Oxford Police Chief Joey East said Meeks is not only a good investigator, but he also puts in extra effort in whatever task he takes on, especially with the

children of Oxford.

“He brings a lot to the table,” East said of Meeks. “Any victim he deals with, he stays in touch with them during the entire investigation. He’s caring and sympathetic. But with the kids, he’s done a great job with them. You couldn’t ask for a better person to work with them.”

“A friend of mine was involved in prison ministry and some of the men told him that if they had someone to mentor to them at an early age they may not be there today. We started Straight Talk. Some of them call me ‘Dad’ and that gives me chill bumps.”

Hardie Meeks Oxford investigator

The Pantry

F

Story by LaReeca Rucker ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

our years ago, Jackson native Clay Cavett saw a volunteer opportunity listed in an Oxford University United Methodist Church bulletin, and he signed up to work at The Pantry.

Volunteer Ralph Dean assists a client at The Pantry.

Volunteers at food bank find their calling

T

he Oxford organization at 713 Molly Barr Road next door to the Oxford Police Department provides food for needy families in Oxford and Lafayette County.

“Oxford University United Methodist Church is in charge here every January,” Cavett said Tuesday, while standing in the doorway of the food bank, as volunteers moved around him taking canned goods from boxes and placing some on shelves. “Where I work, January is a little slower, so I can take the mornings off — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — and come up here and volunteer.”

Serving a need

Cavett, 54, said The Pantry serves a wonderful purpose for people who need

it in Lafayette County.

“There are so many boxes, deliveries and things that need to be moved around,” he said. “I feel that I can come up here and lend my hands helping.”

Cavett said food donations are brought into The Pantry. Then volunteers work to find a place for them so clients can come to shop on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“Tuesdays are stocking the shelves,” he said. “Wednesdays and Thursdays, we still continue to stock, but that’s when the clients come up here.

“That’s when they need help coming through shopping, whether they are shopping for one person or multiple for people.”

He said the Oxford community has

been supportive. Monetary donations help, and volunteers are always needed.

“If people have (canned goods) in their pantry that they are not using, bring them up here. Put them on the doorstep,” he said. “It all goes to good use.”

Cavett said he’s enjoyed meeting many clients who have come to the pantry.

“You get to spend 10 or 20 minutes with them, just chatting and finding out about their background, where they are from,” he said. “You learn of their struggles.

“It’s heartwarming to hear their story and how much this means to them. It puts a smile on your face and makes you appreciate what you have.”

Mariella Scott, 77, is originally from Madison and has been involved with The Pantry for eight years.

“I’ve always volunteered on missions — Gateway Rescue Mission, in particular, in Jackson — that fed the hungry and the homeless,” she said. “When I got here at Oxford University United Methodist, the first thing they told me about was The Pantry. I’ve been working here ever since.”

Scott said The Pantry continues because of public support.

“Money donations are vital, because a lot of our food we do have to buy,” she said. “People will drop off a bag of food or a box of food, or just volunteer to come help. You see all these people in here stocking. Tomorrow, the families will come through.”

Scott said clients fill out paperwork, and they are approved to shop.

“We are told how much that family can have,” she said. “Last week on Tuesday, 82 families came through.

That’s a lot of families. And some of the families were large, five- to seven-member families.”

Scott said some volunteers adopt a person who cannot leave their home.

Volunteer Clay Cavett stocks food items at The Pantry.

“They come and shop every week at The Pantry and take a homebound person food,” she said.

Some volunteers come from churches, others are students at the University of Mississippi.

June Rosentreter, who is originally from New Orleans, has lived in Oxford for the past 38 years.

“It was a very small operation when we first started,” she said. “I think the food was probably donated by the Presbyterian Church, and we had one little unit of shelves. It’s a whole different story now.”

For more information about The Pantry, to donate or to learn how you can become a volunteer, call 662-832-8001.

A heroine to the homeless Story by Alyssa Schnugg ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

H Interfaith Compassion Ministry Director Lena Wiley

elping her daughter care for her newborn son who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in the late 1990s, Lena Wiley understood what it was like to need help as her family struggled with rising medical expenses.

Lena Wiley has been an advocate of the homeless in Oxford for years as the director of Interfaith Compassion Ministry.

Wiley tirelessly works for less fortunate

W

iley and her family owned Wiley’s Shoe Store on the Square and would do what she could as a business owner to help others. She often would work with local teachers who had students in need of shoes or a coat.

“I’d take care of the need if I could,” Wiley said.

One Sunday in the summer of 1999, the preacher announced a new organization, Interfaith Compassion Ministry, was looking for a director.

“I thought about it but then let it pass by,” Wiley said. “Then the next week they said they found someone. Then the next Sunday they said someone was hired. Then the next Sunday announced they still needed someone. Then the next Sunday said they found someone.”

ICM had hired two directors who didn’t work out.

“One showed up for a day and never came back,” Wiley said.

The following Sunday, it was announced ICM still needed a director.

“Someone has to take care of the needy. I think God put me here. Yes, I believe He did. The Board of Directors and God put me here and I love it.”

Lena Wiley

Interfaith Compassion Ministry director

“I decided to put my resume together and apply,” she said.

Wiley showed up to her interview an hour and a half early at OxfordUniversity United Methodist Church and sat on the steps, eager to be hired and work with the area’s poor population. She was hired and started her new job in September 1999.

ICM is a collaborative effort of local churches to help individuals in need by providing basic needs — food, shelter, utilities, medication and transportation.

“We are the only agency in the county that assists the homeless and we’re about it as far as helping domestic violence victims,” Wiley said.

When she started with ICM, eight

churches were represented on the board.

Today, there are 36 churches. The program is funded through area member churches, United Way of Oxford and Lafayette County, private donations and a grant from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program.

Being the director is a paid position.

But for Wiley, her job is more than a paycheck.

“It’s a really hard job, but I love and care for my community,” she said.

“Someone has to take care of the needy.

I think God put me here. Yes, I believe he did. The Board of Directors and God put me here and I love it.”

SEE WILEY, 17

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WILEY: FROM PAGE 15 ICM board president Dick Marchbanks has worked with Wiley for about 15 years and said he believes Wiley would do the work she does for ICM even she wasn’t paid to do it.

“She would do it for nothing I think,” he said of Wiley. “It’s a calling for her to help folks.”

Wiley balks at the term “hero.”

“I don’t do anything,” she said. “God and all the volunteers with ICM do it.”

Wiley is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When law enforcement officers find someone sleeping in a car or have someone released from jail with nowhere to go, it’s Wiley they call, even at 2 a.m.

“My family tells me my job is my whole life, with little time for anything else,” she said. “But it’s not just me. It’s everyone who volunteers here and all the churches. This is a pretty caring and giving community overall. People have big, caring hearts.”

In appreciation of her faithful, dedicated and unselfish service to the residents of the Oxford community, the NU Upsilon Chapter of the Alpha Phi

“Working with her, and seeing the stuff she goes through to take care of other people, is very amazing.”

Alonzo Hilliard ICM volunteer

Alpha Fraternity presented her with its annual Community Service Award in 2003. Also in 2003, the OxfordLafayette Chamber of Commerce named her Citizen of the Year.

Prior to working at ICM, she also was a paralegal at North Mississippi Rural Legal Services for a few years. In 2004, she received the Community Leadership Award for her commitment to the betterment of the community and mankind by the University of Mississippi Black Faculty, Staff and Multi-cultural Affairs Officers. Also in 2004 she was awarded the Kappa Alpha Phi Most Precious Commodity Award for her dedication to the university community.

In 2010, she received the Service and Leadership Award from the Masonic Lodge No. 16, and in October 2012, received the University of Mississippi Community Hero of the Week Award

by Community Trust Bank.

Marchbanks described Wiley as relentless and tireless.

“She’s got a heart for the people,” he said. “She finds a way to help someone even if it looks like it will be impossible — but she finds a way. She doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

ICM also offers financial counseling for repeat clients. Alonzo Hilliard has been working with Wiley’s clients on Thursdays for about two years. Before working for ICM, he had heard of Wiley and about her work with the less fortunate of Lafayette County.

“Whatever I heard, those stories didn’t do her justice,” Hilliard said.

“Working with her, and seeing the stuff she goes through to take care of other people, is very amazing.”

Hilliard said money is often tight at ICM and there never seems to be enough to help all of those who seek assistance. But that doesn’t slow Wiley down, he said.

“She’s continuously raising money,” he said. “She’s a real good leader. What drives her to do what she does is making sure she meets the needs of everyone she can.”

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‘First lady’ of OHS sports

Sarah Lacy has been the scorekeeper for Oxford High School for nearly 30 years.

S

Story by Davis Potter ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

he didn’t know if she would still be doing all of this.

Not because she ever wanted to stop, but because there was a time she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to keep going.

But here’s Sarah Lacy.

Sarah Lacy overcame cancer and still enjoys being courtside keeping statistics for Oxford High School athletic events.

Lacy has kept the OHS stats for 29 years

A

ctually, there she is, sitting in a press box or courtside almost anywhere one of Oxford High’s sports teams is playing with a scorer’s book in hand. Lacy is the official statistician for the Chargers’ football, volleyball and basketball teams and keeps a book for the baseball team at nearly every game as a backup just in case.

“She’s kind of the first lady of the athletic program,” said Johnny Hill, who retired his posts as Oxford’s head football coach and athletic director in December.

It’s an overlooked yet necessary role Lacy has volunteered to fill for decades.

Lacy retired in 2011 after 24 years as a math, biology, anatomy and physiology and genetics teacher at Oxford High School with a total of 39 years teaching.

But the thought of walking away from the one job that kept her connected to her former life never entered her mind.

“I just enjoy doing it,” Lacy said. “It’s just part of who I am.”

The only child of the late Mary Alice Trotman and Eugene Rivers Trotman, Lacy’s affection for sports started at an early age growing up in Lexington while watching baseball games with her father, particularly the New York Yankees, a team of which Lacy is still a fan of today.

“That’s the way we kind of bonded

was by watching the sports together,” Lacy said. “I can still see him laying on the couch snoring, watching the baseball game.”

Blended passions

Lacy’s childhood dream was to work in the Yankees’ front office, but “that didn’t come to be,” she said with a laugh. So she steered toward another passion — learning.

A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Lacy was the valedictorian of her class at Lexington High in 1965 and majored in math at the Mississippi University for Women before switching her focus to biology in graduate school at Ole Miss.

“I didn’t want to go on in math because math gets to the point where all you’re doing is solving theorems, and I didn’t like that,” Lacy said. “And the biology was so hands-on.”

Lacy got her first full-time teaching job at Oxford Junior High School in 1972 and moved to the high school 15 years later to teach the four different subjects. Whether it was watching her sons, Brooks and Stuart, play or taking them along with her to a game, Lacy kept up with the Chargers’ sports teams and soon became a part of the action.

“I don’t remember exactly how it came up, whether I volunteered or

what, but I started keeping the books for the junior high,” she said. “Then they lost their bookkeeper at the high school, so they asked me to come do that. So I did that.”

Lacy first started keeping stats for the basketball teams and was soon charting them for all the major sports with a pen or pencil and a scorebook as her tools, a combination she’s still using nearly 29 years later.

She keeps up with yards, down and distance, penalties, kick and punt returns, tackles and the opponent’s total yards for the football team and updates the stats on MaxPreps weekly. She tallies everything other than rebounds and turnovers for basketball and jots down points for volleyball.

“People say, ‘Why don’t you go to some type of software program?’” Lacy said. “I’m a pen-and-paper person, and I like to be able to write it down.”

Oxford’s baseball coaches chart their team’s stats during the game, but Lacy fills out a score sheet for the coaches to refer to if any questions come up.

“If there’s a discrepancy whatsoever with our stats in the dugout, then she’s the first person I go to,” head baseball coach Chris Baughman said.

SEE LACY, 21

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LACY: FROM PAGE 19 Scary diagnosis

A life full of classes during the day and numbers at night was injected with a jarring dose of fear around the clock nearly two decades later.

Lacy went to Memphis for her yearly mammogram, which showed what doctors originally believed was a cyst. But an ultrasound revealed something else, and on Nov. 16, 2004, Lacy learned she had breast cancer.

“That’s a date you don’t forget,” Lacy said. “I thought I was going to die.”

Lacy was diagnosed with Stage 1 mucinous breast cancer, a rare, less aggressive type of invasive ductal cancer that accounts for 1 to 2 percent of all breast cancers, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

She needed surgery as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but it was highly treatable.

“It’s tough to find out that you’ve got cancer in any shape, form or fashion,” Hill said. “It was tough, and I tried to help her prepare for it. Being a positive person, I knew she would battle it and battle it full speed.”

Lacy underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation over the next handful of months, but it rarely kept her away from her job.

The only days she missed were for her treatments, and she said she even moved her treatments up earlier in the year because she was taking a group of students to Europe in the summer and had “to get everything done.”

“I would go in and have my chemo on Thursday, and I’d be at work on Friday,” Lacy said. “Saturday and Sunday, I’d be flat on my back.

Monday, I wouldn’t feel very good, but I’d come to school.”

And she was in her usual spot at every game, trying to keep life as normal as possible.

“To me, you sit at home and think about yourself, you feel sorry for yourself,” said Lacy, who lost her second husband, David Chandler, to cancer in 1995 and hasn’t remarried. “But if you push yourself and make yourself do things, it makes you feel better. That’s just the way I look at things. I wasn’t going to let it get me.”

Her fight with the disease ended in May 2005 when she was deemed cancer-free.

It’s still fun’

She’s still here, putting in the same countless hours she has been for the last 29 years to help her former school and the teams that play for it. She also stays busy substitute teaching on occasion and serving as an online instructor for the University of Mississippi High School and Teach Mississippi Institute.

“I really think that having the sports and having my job to go to helped me fight the cancer,” Lacy said. “I really do.

You can get to the point that you just feel so sorry for yourself that you just let everything get to you. You’ve got to keep going.”

She doesn’t know how much longer she’ll be busting out her pens, pencils and paper, and it’s not something anybody wants to think too much about.

“We’re going to have to do our best to try to replace her even though she’s irreplaceable,” Baughman said. “I hope she never quits as long as I’m coaching.

I hope she outlasts me.”

Lacy is having a blast right now — one healthy stroke at a time.

“It’s still fun,” she said. “When it gets to the point that it’s not fun, then I won’t do it anymore.”

Helping those facing death

Story by LaReeca Rucker ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

O

xford native Jennifer Rambo-Theobald, 37, remembers her first experience with death when at age 6, she attended the funeral of her baby sitter.

“She was the big sister I never had,” she said. “I can remember going to her funeral and her mother picking me up. As I looked at her, her mother told me that she loved me. So I’ve never seen death as something to be afraid of, and I definitely feel very comfortable in this field.”

Morgan Walters and Jennifer Rambo-Theobald

Morgan Walter, right, and Jennifer Theobald work with families and terminally ill patients at Camellia Hospice.

Hospice nurses are there to assist

T

oday, Rambo-Theobald is a hospice nurse with Camellia Healthcare at 2166 S. Lamar Blvd.

Born and raised in Oxford, she earned a criminal justice degree from the University of Mississippi. Ten years later, after a job conducting background investigations for the federal government, she decided to become a nurse and entered a 16-month advanced program at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

After completing her nursing degree, she worked in cardiology in Tupelo a few months before becoming a hospice nurse at Camellia two years ago.

“I was searching for my calling,” she said. “Being in hospice is definitely a calling. Just like being an ICU nurse, being a trauma nurse — these are all things we are called to be. This is where my heart is.

“I wanted to be that person to be with them at the end of life. And on most occasions, our patients are surrounded in love by their family members, or by us. We are there for them.”

Rambo-Theobald said there are some differences between a regular nurse and a hospice nurse.

“All nurses are trained to save a life,” she said. “You are trained to help somebody, to fix them. We do it a different way. We help them to be at peace in those final days, months, hours that they have left, because you can’t fix what can’t be fixed.

“We’re trying to save that last time they have to give to their families and give to their friends, saving time because it is running out. We know that we cannot fix them. We are just trying to make everything as peaceful as possible.”

She said the first hospice patient whose death she was present for passed away 20 minutes before his daughter arrived from Memphis.

“I knew there was nothing I could do except make him as peaceful as possible,” she said. “I’ve had others who don’t go as peacefully, and that’s difficult also, because I feel like I’m failing at my job.

“No matter how much time we try to

give them, you are never ready, you’re never ready for that last breath, for that last heartbeat. And that’s why we try to give them that much time ahead so when it does happen, they don’t look at us and say, ‘I want it back.’”

Rambo-Theobald said she is the primary nurse for a group of Camellia patients. She sees five or six patients daily usually, depending on their needs.

She said being a hospice nurse isn’t for everyone in the nursing field.

“Believe it or not, there are nurses out there who are afraid of blood,” she said. “There are nurses out there who are afraid of death and being in the same room with a deceased body. I don’t know if it reminds them of their own mortality. I know this is just our vessel. Our spirit will be raised.

“Death is nothing to be afraid of. I see death as something to welcome, a lot of times. I have so many patients who have intense pain. Death can be very welcoming.”

SEE HOSPICE, 24

HOSPICE: FROM PAGE 23 Pontotoc native Morgan Walter, 30, is director of operations at Camellia. She also earned her nursing degree at the University of Mississippi.

“They had a program on campus here for a short time where they let a group of students stay in Oxford and do satellite classes with the Jackson campus,” she said. “If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be a nurse, but it all kind of fell into place. I stayed here and worked at the hospital for a few years after school, and I’ve been here for two years.”

Walter said she was inspired to become a nurse by the nurses who cared for her as a child.

“I was very sick when I was a child,” she said. “Most of my early childhood memories are of being in the hospital.

I just remember idolizing my nurses. I still remember their names.

“I think every doll and stuffed animal I had growing up as a child was named after different nurses I had who took care of me when I was in and out of the hospital. That always resonated with me, and I really believe that’s why I got pulled into nursing to be that person

who takes care of other people.”

Walter said hospice nurses educate patients and their families about what to expect.

“A lot of things that we do, primarily, is take the burden off the family and the patient, so they can be father and daughter, or husband and wife, and not patient and caretaker,” she said. “We come in and assume that role to take that burden off of the family so they can enjoy spending the last time they have left as family.”

Burden lifted

Walter said the family of the first hospice patient she had who died had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they were losing their mother.

“But when she finally did go, you could see a burden was lifted off of them,” she said. “That was one of those situations that I anticipated. Everybody would be uncontrollably crying, and it was very emotional, and then everyone was at peace. I really think it was because we had been there and had been teaching them what to expect.”

Walter said being a hospice nurse is “not just a punch the clock, do your

job, and go home” type of job.

“You are always thinking about your patients — always wondering if they’re OK,” she said. “A lot of times, we’ll give them our personal numbers because we want to know how they are doing even when we’re off. We are available to our patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“When you’re at work as a hospice nurse, you have to set everything else aside and make sure you are completely open and completely understanding to the needs of that patient, and compassion is the number one characteristic.”

Walter said the experience of being a hospice nurse has made her realize the importance of having good relationships with her family and friends.

“I make sure they know I love them because there have been too many situations that I’ve seen where a family member felt there was some unresolved issue with a family member who passed, and they carry that burden, or regret or disappointment,” she said. “Love and forgiveness — when I pass I want them to be happy for me and not feel like there is any regret or anything that they missed out on or needed to resolve.”

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A love for law enforcement Story by Stephanie Rebman ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

A Alan Wilburn is a sheriff’s department investigator.

lan Wilburn began as a jailer with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department and has worked his way up to wear many hats as a leader.

Alan Wilburn has worn several different hats with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department for more than 20 years.

Wilburn is out front with the LCSD

W

ilburn, 41, of Abbeville, currently is the chief investigator of the four-man investigations team, heads the department’s training and is commander of the 10-man SWAT team. He also helps investigate hundreds of criminal cases a year.

“As an investigator I investigate all the felonies when they take place, whether it is a murder or a bad check,” he said.

“It all comes through our office and four of us work them. Between all of us we probably grab 400 to 600 a year.”

As the man over training, Wilburn said: “I try to get all the deputies training that they need, or if I can see how it would help the department, I can get training classes for them.”

As the head over SWAT, he said they work closely with Oxford Police Department’s team during training and that helps when something bad happens.

“If there’s an incident, we fall in together,” he said. “We’re real close around here.”

On his way to wearing many hats with

“The best part of the job is being able to help somebody. I know that’s what every cop says, but when they say it, they mostly mean it.”

Alan Wilburn

Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department chief investigator

the department, he has served as jailer, jail administrator, deputy and investigator. It wasn’t the easiest path either, especially at first.

“On my first night, I started nights,” he said. “I went home the next day and said ‘I’m not going back to that place.’

My dad said ‘yeah you are.’ I’m glad I hung with it.”

And now after more than 20 years at the headquarters, there are some favorite parts of his job.

“The best part of the job is being able to help somebody,” he said. “I know that’s what every cop says, but when they say it, they mostly mean it. Being able to help somebody really goes a long way.

“Also, working with the people that

I work with. It’s the best group of guys, friends, they’re just all real good people working up here. We work together, train together, cry together.”

While cops are notorious for being pranksters and having a thick skin to get through their daily grind with the public, one of the hardest parts of the job can be delivering bad news, which is Wilburn’s least favorite part of his job.

“That comes when somebody dies of natural causes and you have to contact a family member, or when somebody has a wreck and it is a fatality wreck, contacting the family members. That’s the least favorite part about the job: giving good people bad news.”

SEE WILBURN, 30

WILBURN: FROM PAGE 29 But perhaps one of his most memorable moments came from a fatality he worked because something positive came from it. A man named Bobby Wilson, who served in the National Guard with Wilburn’s father, died in a motorcycle crash.

“This past year we hired Bobby’s son, Justin Wilson, as a deputy,” he said.

“Justin was a young fellow and he was able to do good and become a sheriff’s deputy. That is a success story for me.”

It’s those successes and solving challenges that keep Wilburn going as an investigator.

“I like challenges,” he said. “I like the burglaries, because I like getting people their stuff back. That’s part of helping people. When you get somebody their stuff back that they’ve had for a long time, it means a whole lot more and you can’t replace it. When they can get it back, that’s a pretty good feeling.”

As an animal lover, his joy of helping return property means lost and stolen four-legged family members also.

“We have returned a lot of animals,” he said. “Helping people with an ani-

mal is probably more heartwarming to them than anything. We have done a lot of animal rescues where we’ve rescued them from bad situations and I’ve worked with the humane shelter and we’ve gotten them into homes.”

The world being at everyone’s fingertips with the Internet has made Wilburn’s job harder finding missing things, especially missing people. But finding a missing person is also on Wilburn’s list of things he enjoys about his job.

“I like to work on finding them.

That’s a challenge too,” he said. “Used to be we had a bicycle, and you couldn’t go far on a bicycle and you had to turn around and come back. These days these kids can get a long way with a little bit of nothing.”

If unable to locate a missing person, that means not sleeping until he does.

And the same goes for the murder cases.

“All the murders stick with me, especially the unsolved murders,” he said. “I will go home at night, and cops don’t sleep much. Investigators don’t sleep hardly at all. So I lay in bed at night and go over the case in my head over

and over and over and over and over to see if I missed something or if there’s anything else I can do. I have a notepad by my bed, if I think of something, I will write it down and I will follow up on it in the morning. Unsolved murders bother me and they bother everybody.”

Wilburn has solved four since he started as an investigator, and there are four still unsolved and listed as open cases.

“There are still some that are not solved that we are still working on,” he said. “We never close a case — never. So, if we get new information we go back out on it.”

His family is patient with his lack of sleep. Wife Jennifer is a pharmacist at the hospital, and they have two children, daughter Sara, 11 and son A.J., 7.

They’re members of Abbeville Baptist Church.

“Going home at the end of the day is every cop’s goal and seeing my family has got to be the highlight of the day,” he said.

Wilburn is happy to be at home and at work, and lives a fulfilling life, he said.

“I love my job. I love working with the SWAT team. I love being an investigator, chief investigator,” he said. “The sheriff, he’s just such a good man to work for. He’s so far advanced in law enforcement with the way he thinks. And his vision — he’s just got vision to see multiple things happen at once. We work for the best, which “... I can’t is Sheriff (Buddy) East.”

The feeling is mutual for East, who said say enough good Wilburn is his top go-to man. about him.”

“He’s our number one guy,” East said.

Buddy East “He’s out front and anytime you need Lafayette County sheriff something done or anytime you need something, he’s there to help. He knows Wilburn is known for taking the lead at the Sheriff’s Department. how people should be treated, and he’s making sure he does it and the people under him do it. I can’t say enough good about him.”

Cathy Conner, administrative assistant at the department, also said Wilburn is good to work with.

“Alan is a very honest individual. He is a family man, a very grounded man,” she said. “He is very loyal to this department and works hard for the people of Lafayette County. It is an honor to work with men of such integrity.”

Chief Deputy Scott Mills has worked with Wilburn for AND many years and said he is honest and dedicated to law enforcement and residents.

“We have served many high-risk search warrants together and high-risk SWAT call-outs,” Mills said. “He has exemplified bravery in the face of danger and shows great compassion with 609 Van Buren Avenue • Oxford, MS 38655 the many tragic situations we have to deal with at the Sheriff’s Department.”

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Clifford

Big, red dog enjoys new life helping veterans

Story by Alyssa Schnugg ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

C

lifford is a big red dog, just like the fictional children’s book character. Clifford is a little lazy and likes to lie down on his doggie bed for a good part of the day. Clifford is friendly and sometimes a little shy around new people.

And to many, Clifford is a hero in his own quiet, canine way.

Clifford, who is 8 years old, lives at the Mississippi State Veterans Home in Oxford and he has one job — to comfort the residents. His official job title is “resident service canine,” and he takes his job seriously.

“He’s very spoiled here,” said Administrator Amanda May. “And in return, he gives the veterans a sense of home and comfort.”

When a resident’s roommate recently died, Clifford spent a good deal of time in her room, allowing the resi-

Clifford at the Mississippi State Veterans Home in Oxford.

dent to hug him when needed. He seems to sense when someone is sad or needs him, according to workers at the veterans home.

“When we get a new resident, he can be a little shy at first,” May said. “But it doesn’t take him long. He’s so accepting and loving at all times.”

Clifford has lived at the home for about a year and quickly settled into his new home after being donated by 9-year-old Mason Duffie, who gave Clifford to the home after reading the book, “Soldier Dog,” about dogs who help soldiers.

Mason’s mom, Katie Blalack, mentioned to her son that a friend of hers, Charles Dwyer, trained dogs to become service dogs for veterans and Mason decided that’s what Clifford should do with rest of his life instead of hunting with his family.

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After all, Clifford always loved hanging out with people more.

The home lost its last dog, Stryker, two years ago after the loyal companion died at 15 years old. He had lived at the home since he was a puppy.

Dwyer, who owns Retrieving Freedom out of Senatobia, worked with Clifford to get him ready to become the home’s new mascot and faithful friend.

May said Mason still stops in from time to time to visit Clifford.

Clifford’s veterinarian has been suggesting that Clifford be put on a diet as he’s gained quite a bit weight since coming to live at the home.

“The residents like to feed him, even though they aren’t supposed to,” May said, chuckling.

Veteran Jeffery Veazey has been at the home for about 10 months and often visits

William Jemison pets Clifford the dog at the Mississippi State Veterans Home. Veterans enjoy Clifford’s companionship.

with Clifford.

“I come up here to see how he is doing,” said Veazey, a U.S. Marine vet-

eran. “You can tell when he likes someone. And he knows when people are sad or lonely I think. He’ll go up

to them and put his head on their lap.”

Veazey said he always wanted a dog but couldn’t have one in other veterans homes.

He said he was excited to learn the Oxford home had a therapy dog.

“I always wanted a golden retriever too and now, here he is,” he said. “I think he provides a lot of therapy.

Everyone loves a dog and they just make people feel better.”

For veteran Susan Parks, who served in the Women’s Army Corps, seeing Clifford every day is an immeasurable joy.

Parks, who suffered a stroke, had four dogs she had to find new homes for when she moved into the veterans home.

“I miss my girls so much,” she said. “Now we have Clifford here. He has really brightened my life. He’s been such a blessing.”

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Supporting ‘hidden voices’

Louis Bourgeois lives in Oxford and leads VOX Press

U

Story by LaReeca Rucker ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

sing the written word, Louisiana native Louis Bourgeois teaches those who are often overlooked and discarded by society how to find their own voice.

Louis Bourgeois is the executive director of VOX Press, which publishes works of those who are incarcerated.

Bourgeois gives a voice to prisoners

B

ourgeois, 45, who has lived in Oxford for almost 20 years, has been the executive director and editor-in-chief for VOX Press for six years.

VOX means “voice” in Latin.

“With respect to what our organization represents in literary and art terms, we are interested in endorsing ‘hidden voices’ or forgotten and marginalized voices,” he said.

“We are a literary press that has a particular interest in the marginalia of society, i.e. writers and artists whom, for one reason or another, are not recognized in the milieu of the mainstream.”

Most of that work is guiding state prisoners through writing and publishing their works. But, Bourgeois said the nonprofit also has other interests that extend beyond publishing, including art exhibits, cultural events, experimental film and music, as well as outreach educational projects, such as teaching in prisons and mental hospitals.

Bourgeois completed his undergraduate studies in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University, where he studied philosophy, history, English literature and creative writing.

Most of his graduate work was completed at the University of Mississippi, where he studied poetry, and he was the first graduate of the English department’s master of fine arts in creative writing program.

“Most of my adult career has been adjunct teaching and grant writing, as

“Most of these people have been told their whole lives they are worthless and no good to anyone. We are giving them a chance to tell their side of the story.”

Louis Bourgeois

executive director and editor-in-chief for VOX

well as making a partial living from my own writing,” he said.

Bourgeois established VOX Press in 2004 along with the late artist and writer J. E. Pitts.

“We were simply very weary of the existing order of the literary and art hierarchy of the times and wanted to forge a new way,” he said. “It’s been an uphill battle ever since, but VOX is still alive and actually a little healthier than it’s ever been.”

Bourgeois said working with incarcerated people is something that he did from the beginning. It was dropped from the program for a period of time for various reasons and picked up again in 2014 at Parchman Farm.

“There are many reasons why we have an interest in working with prisoners,” he said. “Perhaps the most important is they actually have something to say that’s worth reading about because they are truly in a situation that most people cannot grasp and actually have very little knowledge about.”

Bourgeois said the way prison life is presented in the media and movies is often inaccurate and exploitative.

“We have to change that perspective by letting Mississippi prisoners tell their own stories for the first time in the

history of the Mississippi penal system,” he said.

“The name of our prison education program is currently named the Mississippi Prison Writes Initiative.

Probably soon, it will be changed to the Mississippi Prison Writes Institute as we add more classes to the program.”

They currently have three classes in two different prisons. These include a writing class for men at Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) in Sunflower County, and classes for female and youth inmates at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl.

In January, VOX added two more classes to the program at the Marshall County Correctional Facility in Holly Springs and one at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler.

Bourgeois said classes are taught using the basic form of a college creative writing workshop.

“At the end of each year, we collect the best writings from all the classes and publish them in book form,” he said.

“We hope the program will give the inmates a sense of self-worth.

SEE BOURGEOIS, 39

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BOURGEOIS: FROM PAGE 37 “Most of these people have been told their whole lives they are worthless and no good to anyone. We are giving them a chance to tell their side of the story.

“Also, for those who are released back into society, the skills they learned in our program will help them maneuver just a little bit better when going through the quite challenging process of re-entry into the free world.”

Bourgeois said they are currently working on putting together readings and performances for their Artists Series. And they are putting together their latest prison book, called “Unit 30: Writings from Parchman Prison.”

“We are also in the beginning stages of featuring Parchman art in Oxford and Clarksdale,” Bourgeois said.

Carol Anderson, the Mississippi Humanities Council’s assistant director for programs, said MHC has supported Bourgeois’ work with grants for three years that helps bring awareness to the program.

Anderson said this helps both the inmates and the public, “who through the memoirs the inmates produce, gain an understanding of the lives of these

men and women — the circumstances which landed them in prison, their hopes and fears and regrets, and the implications a program like Louis’ has for their lives after incarceration.”

Anderson has served as a MHC adviser, supporting the program so Mississippians can understand themselves and others and “place their lives in the larger context of the human condition.”

“I have had the privilege of sitting in on one of Louis’ classes at the penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi,” Anderson said, “and it was among the most moving experiences of my career in the humanities.

“As I listened to those men — men who were in prison for some pretty awful crimes — share their written memoirs, drawing on their study of philosophy and classical literature with Louis, I was deeply moved by their expressions of sorrow and regret for their past actions, their new understanding of themselves, and what led them to those behaviors and their earnest hopes for better futures when they are finally released. It is profoundly humanizing.”

Johnny Snow is one of the inmates who has participated in the writing pro-

gram. He wrote: “When I think about our class coming to an end, I think about my last chance.

My last chance and opportunity to reach the world expressionably through my writing. But not just reach the world, but be able to connect with them and have a positive impact and influence somehow with our readers. To be believed by everyone for a change concerning all the things I’m writing about because I’m simply telling the truth.

“Being incarcerated and being in this class is our gateway and outlet to the world. Where once upon a time, behind these prison walls our voices simply went unheard. But now thanks to VOX Press Executive Director Mr. Louis Bourgeois for creating the (PWI) Prison Writes Initiative creative writing class here in the Mississippi State Penitentiary known to everyone as Parchman.

“It has helped allow us to express a lot of true intimate details and things about ourselves and our lives that have been hindered and harbored within many of us throughout many of our incarcerated years. Because we simply felt like no one truly cares what we’re feeling or going through behind these prison walls.”

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Oxford, MS

at the Corner of Molly Barr Road & North Lamar

The teaching referee

B Katherine Cavette teaches while she referees.

Story by Jake Thompson ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

asketball is a sport that is not hard to sell to little kids.

Superstars such as LeBron James and Steph Curry do a great job of persuading boys and girls to pick up the sport at an early age with their larger-than-life personas and performances awing nightly.

On a much smaller and local scale, Kathie Cavette is doing her part to make sure those kids learn the game the right way and help groom the next generation of prospective future NBA and WNBA superstars.

She is doing it with the aid of a whistle.

Kathie Cavette has been officiating Oxford Park Commission basketball games at the Oxford Activity Center for more than 25 years.

Cavette enjoys officiating OPC sports

C

avette, 53, is not a coach anymore — she had a stint as the seventh- and eighth-grade girls basketball coach at Grace-St Luke’s Episcopal School in Memphis — but she’s a referee for the Oxford Park Commission basketball league and has been going strong for more than 25 years. During the winter months Cavette spends a couple nights a week officiating the 7- to 9-year-olds as well as the 9- to 10-year-olds.

Cavette’s officiating style would most likely be considered unorthodox at best at any level higher than OPC, but for the children she is around, she said the method is a perfect fit.

“With that age group I can coach, teach,” Cavette said. “That’s kind of what’s kept me. I used to do older and adult (leagues), but you can coach and teach at (the younger) level. They’re right at that critical time where they

“They’re right at that critical time where they need some instruction. When you get out in real play it’s easier to learn. ... You can make it fun.”

Kathie Cavette longtime OPC official

need some instruction. When you get out in real play it’s easier to learn. You can stop, start and you can teach them.

You can make it fun.”

Whenever a child commits a foul, Cavette will not just simply blow her whistle and then begin play again. She takes her time with the child, explaining what they did wrong and sees if he or she understands what not to do from then on. She also will help kids dribble down the court, as fast breaks are one of the many things banned during the younger levels.

“She’s always willing to help and she’s always willing to teach,” Oxford Activities Center and Oxford Outdoors

director Sam Pryor said of Cavette.

“That’s something that a lot of refs will ‘ref’ but they don’t take the time to teach.”

The Memphis native relocated to Oxford in 1984 to finish up her degree at the University of Mississippi and bounced around after school but returned to Oxford in 1990 and put roots down and has remained ever since.

What OPC does for the community is one of the biggest reasons she decided to join the organization and has been happy with that decision for more than a quarter of a century.

SEE CAVETTE, 44

CAVETTE: FROM PAGE 43 “I’ve had some great supervisors (at OPC),” Cavette said. “To give me the opportunity and to learn from some other umpires. It’s just the feeling of when you’ve done it, you think you’ve done good. It’s just a win-win.”

Family affair

Cavette decided to become part of OPC because the idea of the extra money was a plus, but the biggest factor was that refereeing was in her blood.

Her grandfather, Ersell “Red” Cavette, was a college football official for the Southeastern Conference, among other conferences in the South.

“Red” was more than just a referee who showed up on Saturdays to do a mediocre job. Cavette’s grandfather was one of the most respected officials in the game and someone that former Ole Miss football coach and legend John Vaught considered “a great personal friend.”

Ersell was a top-rated SEC referee from 1952 to 1968 and officiated 14 bowl games, including five Gator, three Orange and three Sugar bowls.

“It’s kind of ingrained a little bit,” Cavette said of her refereeing family history. “I’ve always enjoyed it. I played, my brother (played sports). My dad was offered a collegiate scholarship to Mississippi State for baseball. It was just in the family.”

With all the athletic background Cavette also helped umpire and do the scorebook for baseball, but taking foul tips constantly behind home plate helped her realize that basketball was the safer, longer-lasting career path.

“I started out with baseball and then did some basketball and eventually got hammered enough by baseballs I was like, ‘OK, that’s enough,’” Cavette said, laughing. “Basketball is really my passion. Just playing it I was pretty successful. Just came and started playing as part of the community.”

Leaving an impression

Cavette recently retired from her job at North Mississippi Regional Center where she was a bureau director over most of the community programs. She was considering hanging up the whistle before this current season started but

she was convinced to continue when members of the community and OPC asked her if she was going to be officiating games this season.

The impact of what Cavette does for the children is not something that takes time but can be witnessed over the course of a season.

“You’re blowing the whistle all the time at the very beginning,” Cavette said. “You question them and ask them, ‘Do you know what you did wrong?’

Now we’re a month-and-a-half, two months into it and hardly blow the whistle. It’s great to see the transformation and how much they’ve learned.”

Whenever Cavette does decide to call it a day at OPC, the hole she will be leaving as a ref will be easy to replace with another person in a black-andwhite-striped shirt. The caring and the style she brought with her to the activities center is something that will be much tougher to replace.

“She’s just one of those types of people where you’re not going to find a replacement.” Pryor said. “It’s a dying breed really of the type of person that she is. It’s just really hard to find that type of person in the world today.”

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Celebrates 25 years!

We are so happy to be celebrating 25 years of serving at-risk students in the Oxford and Lafayette school systems.

We currently serve 140-first, second and third graders. Students attend two afternoons a week and receive one hour of one-on-one tutoring with the same dedicated tutor, as well as enjoy a healthy snack and participate in the enrichment activity hour.

Left to Right: Julia and Anthony Williams, Beth and Bob Rosson, Sally Kate Walker. Seated: Don Waller

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www.theleapfrogprogram.org Hall of Excellence

Executive Director, Joseph Johnson; Director of Nursing, Jacob Brown; Clinical Liason, Jessica Butler; Activities Director, Karen VanWinkle; Rehab Director, Stacy Banes

234-7821 • 1301 Belk Blvd.

A life saver Story by Rob Sigler ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

A

young man from Oxford is fortunate to not only have vision, but is lucky to be alive today after a local eye physician diagnosed a rare form of cancer.

Optometrist Dr. William Strickland diagnosed a rare form of eye cancer in a patient.

OXFORD EYE CLINIC and OPTICAL

2167 S. Lamar • Oxford, MS 38655

(662) 234-6683 visionsource-oxfordeyeclinic.com

William M.E. Strickland, O.D. Ryan Wally, O.D. Family Optometry/Ocular Therapeutics

Several years ago, Dr. William Strickland diagnosed a rare form of eye cancer that is credited with saving a young boy’s life.

Strickland’s diagnosis saves boy’s life

T

he child was brought into Dr. William Strickland’s office not long after he began his practice in Oxford in the 1980s.

“They knew something wasn’t right,” Strickland said when the parents brought the toddler in.

Strickland knew pretty quickly what the problem was.

“A very rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma, which is almost always exclusively found in very young children,” Strickland said. “It’s the most common type of malignant cancer for children and you might see one case in your career.”

According to the American Cancer Society, retinoblastoma is a cancer that starts in the retina, the very back part of the eye. It is the most common type of eye cancer in children.

In most of these children, there is no family history of this cancer. Only about 25 percent of the children born with this gene change inherit it from a parent. In about 75 percent of children

“This encounter showed me how important it is to be diligent in everything we do as our actions set about a course of events that ultimately can be a matter of life and death.”

Dr. William Strickland Oxford optometrist

the gene change first occurs during early development in the womb. The reasons for this are not clear.

Strickland also noted that often times the eye could be turning in one direction or the other.

He did an initial eye exam and made the diagnosis. Strickland said the typical procedure is to remove the eye surgically. A ophthalmologist at Rayner Eye Clinic in Oxford performed the surgery.

“Usually, if caught early enough, the life can be spared,” Strickland said. “If it is a bilateral case, meaning the cancer is in both eyes, they will try radiation and other ways to treat this and not remove both eyes.”

cancer is that it is most common in children under the age of 2, when most parents are not concerned with an eye exam for their child.

“Before entering kindergarten they’ll often get an eye exam from a pediatrician with a full comprehensive exam,” Strickland said, who added Mississippi does not require an eye exam to enter school and most parents rely on school screenings.

“Many children fall through the cracks with false screenings,” Strickland said. “We recommend an eye exam before entering kindergarten and earlier to catch something like this at an early age.”

Get an eye exam

One of the main concerns with this

SEE STRICKLAND, 51

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STRICKLAND: FROM PAGE 49 Strickland also mentioned that former president Jimmy Carter challenged optometrists to detect eye conditions at an early age, such as lazy eye, which, if detected early enough, can be treated.

“There’s really nothing that can be done after age 7,” Strickland said. “He challenged us to do something about this. We have in place now for those who want to participate a program called InfantSEE.” InfantSEE is a nationwide public health program for infants. Under this program, participating optometrists provide a comprehensive infant eye assessment between 6 and 12 months of age as a no-cost public service.

“Our clinic has been participating for eight or nine years,” Strickland said, adding that the eye exam is not like those an adult would receive but “more comprehensive than a pediatricians.”

“It would be a means to detect lazy eye or this form of cancer if treated at an early age,” Strickland said. While InfantSEE is for those who may not be able to afford an eye exam for their child, Strickland also encourages those who can afford an eye assessment for

their children to do so at an early age, preferably by 6 months of age.

“We urge people who do have the means to also bring their child in to prevent heartache or permanent loss of vision or even death,” Strickland said.

Although he has not seen that young child with the case of retinoblastoma in a number of years, and has not seen another case since, he has heard through the young man’s family members that he is living a normal life now in his mid-20s.

When asked why he decided to become a doctor, Strickland said there were not many opportunities in life when a person can choose a profession that has direct one-on-one contact with another individual.

“To think that someone who cannot enjoy his life to the fullest because of a visual impairment and then to be able to help them realize the most out of their life through sight is mind-boggling,” Strickland said. “Helping people is a gift and a wonderful experience.

We take our sight for granted until we lose it. To both help people see clearly and to help prevent vision loss goes hand in hand and makes me happy and

gratified to be an eye care professional.”

Strickland said that it had never occurred to him that his work could have such a profound outcome on a person to the point that their life would be saved.

“It is a tremendously life-changing experience for both the patient and for the doctor to have had such a profound impact,” Strickland said. “This encounter showed me how important it is to be diligent in everything we do as our actions set about a course of events that ultimately can be a matter of life and death. I am thankful that I could make a positive impact in a small way in the whole scheme of the world but in a huge way for this individual.”

He added that there have been so many rewarding cases each and every day so it is nearly impossible to think of just one that stands out for him.

“Obviously saving a child’s life by detecting an ocular cancer resulted in a life-saving outcome,” Strickland said. “But equally to see the smile on a patient’s face when they see the leaves on trees, blades of grass and the face of their mother clearly after receiving their first pair of eyeglasses is truly amazing.”

Helping the kids Story by Rob Sigler ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

T

eresa Adams is passionate about the work she does as executive director of Leap Frog, but she considers the numerous volunteers and support staff heroes in the effort to provide tutorial services to those in need.

Teresa Adams is the executive director of the tutoring program Leap Frog.

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Adams loves working at Leap Frog

S

he is the longest-serving director of the program, coming on board in 2005 after not being able to find a job in education when she graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in special education. She answered an ad looking for a director to lead the Leap Frog program and got the job.

“Community service and this kind of work has always been second nature to me,” said Adams, who grew up in a family that emphasized being involved in serving the community. “I really loved the community service aspect of the program and of course being around the kids. I love working with young kids.”

She also enjoyed the inner workings of Leap Frog and what being the director entailed.

“It was a challenge for me to essentially take over a small business and run it,” Adams said of when she first became head of the program. She had to learn about the accounting and fundraising aspect of the job. “I’ve just really enjoyed it because every day is different.”

She said she enjoys the program being a “loving, nurturing and learning environment for the kids.”

“So that it’s not like in school where they’ve been in line, so we try to make it fun for them while keeping some sort of order,” Adams said.

Success stories

Adams related a story about speaking to a freshman psychology class at Ole Miss in 2008, encouraging them to volunteer in the program, when one of the students spoke up and said she had done Leap Frog.

“I said, ‘oh really? When did you volunteer?’ and she said, ‘no, I was in Leap Frog. And I was like, yay! That’s amazing when you see one of your students go to college,” Adams said.

Another story was a student who was in the program and had recently lost his mother and was living with his grandparents. He was struggling with his grades but was able to improve his reading level by two grades.

“He was going through a tough time but just having that consistent attention

Teresa Adams is longest-serving director of the Leap Frog tutoring program.

and time spent with him, that was all that he needed,” Adams said. “As far as academics go, he needed that extra time and attention.”

Heroic volunteers

Adams said the student volunteer tutors from the university are the key to the elementary students being successful.

“A lot of it has to do with those volunteers coming and being consistent,” Adams said. “And they fall in love with their students.”

Adams said she has already had nearly two-dozen returning tutors email her and ask for the student they tutored last year.

“And some of them are coming back and working with hard students,” Adams said. “But they love that challenge and they bonded with them so they have kind of adopted these kids in a way. It’s like they’re siblings because they’re young too.”

Many of the tutors return and bring their students’ treats to motivate them as prizes.

“I’ve had tutors buy clothes for their kids,” Adams said. “It’s really touching also to see the volunteer involvement

and how it can bring out such good people. Because a lot of these kids come from priviledged lives and I’ve had a few say they didn’t know this existed or this was really a problem. It’s a ministry every bit for the volunteers as it is for the kids sometimes. The volunteers take away from it an open mind, knowledge and understanding and hopefully empathy for those who are not as fortunate as them.”

The Leap Frog program is celebrating 25 years in 2016 and Adams said there is a celebration planned.

She is working on getting profiles on former volunteers and students and those individuals who have been connected with the program for a number of years.

“Our big celebration will tie into with the Firecracker Bash,” Adams said. The annual event will be held July 3 at The Lyric.

Adams wants to make sure the community is aware of the Leap Frog program and remind residents of the important work that is done by volunteers.

“I think it started off small and we’ve grown so much,” Adams said. “And we’re serving so many kids now. It’s not just an after school thing.”

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BODIES IN MOTION TEND TO STAY IN MOTION Nearly half of all Americans experience “osteoarthritis” at some point in their lives. This degenerative bone disease results from loss of cartilage in the joints, which leads to increased friction. Normally, cartilage covers the ends of bones and acts as a “shock absorber,” particularly in the knee. Approximately 80% of cartilage’s volume consists of “synovial fluid,” which is needed to support body weight and lubricate joint surfaces. However, because cartilage is porous, much synovial fluid is squeezed and leaked into the membranewalled cavity between the upper and lower leg bones. To stem this loss of synovial fluid and preserve knee cartilage, new research suggests that staying in motion causes cartilage to reabsorb liquid that leaks out. So keep moving!

For further information, contact PROFESSIONAL THERAPY SERVICES, INC. at 234-8559. Our office is conveniently located at 2304 Jackson Ave. New patients are welcome.

P.S. The symptoms associated with osteoarthritis usually take decades to develop, which means that regular exercise can help keep it at bay and postpone the need for knee replacement.

2304 Jackson Ave. • Oxford, MS 38655 Phone: (662) 234-8559 • Fax: (662) 234-7923

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Auto • Home • Life • Commercial

Renaissance in Water Valley

T

Alexe van Beuren and Dixie Grimes own BTC Grocery

Story by Stephanie Rebman ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

hree women are forging ahead to make Water Valley a place that has small-town charm but offers big-city amenities.

New businesses have made Water Valley a go-to in the past decade. Yalobusha Brewing made it home before beer was even legal in the town. Another resident purchased an EPA-condemned gas station and turned it into a crawfish business people drive far and wide to frequent.

Annette Trefzer opened Bozart’s Gallery in 2008.

Gamble paying off for businesses

I

t’s people sticking to their guns and bringing those offerings to town and making it a place to raise their children that gives a special spotlight to Alexe van Buren and Dixie Grimes of BTC Grocery and Annette Trefzer of Bozart’s Gallery. The three ladies are not only running businesses in small town U.S.A., but they are also redefining what is available and not settling for any less.

Be the change

BTC Grocery opened in May 1, 2010, to bring a fresh selection of grocery products into the small town and a healthy place to grab some grub in a more Southern, yet elegant, style.

Van Beuren, 33, is the grocer and Grimes, 44, is the chef. Together they have successfully operated a business next to anchor stores that have been in town for more than 100 years, like Turnage Drugs.

“It always has been a functioning town with a post office, a drug store, an auto parts store, a hardware store and a bank and a courthouse,” said van Beuren, who moved to Water Valley in 2006 from Virginia. “But I think what is has done in the past 10 years is there are some businesses that are more for pleasure, entertainment, the gravy part of life, if you will, that have come along.”

Van Beuren said BTC is from the Mahatma Ghandi quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

“What we’re trying to accomplish is sort of counter to the national narrative of chain restaurants and enormous grocery stores,” she said. “We’re trying to

bring really truly excellent products to our small town.

“I wanted to be able to buy really super high-quality and local milk and vegetables and coffee and jam without any corn syrup in it in town. Piggly Wiggly does a great job, but there were some niches that they were not hitting, and I wanted my friends, my family, my neighbors to be able to get that food here in town.”

They work with farmers to bring in blueberries, watermelon and countless other produce that has never been sprayed and is “incredible,” van Beuren says. But it also builds relationships.

She and Grimes work together with that fresh inventory and to bounce ideas off one another, with Grimes serving “food that you can imagine has never been served in Water Valley before,” van Beuren said.

Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, Fat Tuesday or another random holiday, van Beuren said, “Four times a year, she does something that will knock your socks off.”

The women employ around 12 people, and many of them are high-schoolers in a first job. They’re encouraged to be themselves, something Grimes cherishes in Water Valley.

Grimes moved to Water Valley with her partner Jamie in 2011 after being the executive chef for 13 years at the Downtown Bar & Grill in Oxford.

Grimes uses her Southern fine-dining background to bring something new to Water Valley.

“I grew up in Mississippi, so Southern cooking is the core of who I am as a chef,” she said. “For me it’s all about

finding a balance between those two and I think that’s something Water Valley was lacking. Even if I throw something high-end out, I always have a homey feeling to it so you feel like you’re sitting down at your grandmother’s table or your favorite aunt’s table or your mother’s. That’s very deliberate on my part. I want to trigger that response from people.”

The two women stay out of each others’ way, yet thrive off one another.

They stick to their own area of expertise, and it all works out.

“We stick to our areas and it works well for us to focus on the things that we know and love,” Grimes said. “The end result is always the same, our overall vision is the same.”

Their integrity for their business means you will never see a frozen onion ring in the business. And you will see teenagers figuring out their place in the world by developing a work ethic and learning, which is a goal for the women while they watch children grow and eventually become parents.

“This is not your typical small-town place of employment,” Grimes said. “It’s very diverse here. We encourage them to be who they are, whatever that is. So all of our employees, our teenagers especially, one of them might have a bright pink streak and be the punk girl, one is the country boy and we had Justin who was the world traveler. We encourage them to be individuals and they get a very diverse learning experience that I don’t think you get everywhere.”

SEE WATER VALLEY, 62

WATER VALLEY: FROM PAGE 61 Arts in a small town

Something else you don’t see everywhere, especially in a town of a little more than 3,000 residents, is its own art gallery.

“Annette’s key to the businesses here, because she took a big risk opening an art gallery in a small town before anything was here and she did it because it’s a passion of hers. She loves art so much and this is her home,” Grimes said of Bozart’s Gallery, just a few storefronts away from BTC. Trefzer, 55, has lived in Water Valley since 2001. In 2005 she bought the building that houses the gallery. The renovations and set-up were put on hold for two years because her husband’s family needed all the couple’s attention when Hurricane Katrina blew threw two weeks after they purchased the building.

While she is proud to bring the arts experience to those who have never had the honor of hanging original works on their walls or bring income to artists who have the hidden talent yet live at a poverty level, she salutes longtime small stores for paving the way for her.

“There are lots of heroes here in this small town. And those are the businesses that actually hung in there, like Turnage Drugs next door,” she said. They’ve had their drug store open for more than 100 years. I really admire that.”

Trefzer has hung in there right alongside them since December 2008.

“We think of this as a venue for people to meet and we think of it as kind of a space where art is possible, happening space, that brings together artists and really talented people in the community with people who see art, buy art, view art,” she said. “Where we took the gamble was when we bought this building in 2005.”

Big two-story building in bad shape

“The gamble was, can we make something out of this building, can we rehabilitate it and if we can do it, what is it? The gamble was saving a building. Let’s turn it into something that’s open and exciting.”

Her gamble wasn’t on if Water Valley was interested in art … the gamble was on if they could sustain the journey with six shows a year, bringing in people from all across North Mississippi.

“The journey is still going on. It’s still

a journey of discovery, learning, change, of finding an identity as a gallery,” she said. “It’s essentially an artist-operated gallery, so it depends on a whole bunch of people. It’s like a community effort in itself. It couldn’t exist without the artists, their creativity, their commitment.”

Proceeds from sales and events go toward artists — it’s a community funding a community, and there is a huge price range and variety of styles present so that everyone can own a piece of original art.

“I couldn’t be prouder than to say that while there were few original art buyers in Water Valley before, there is now a local clientele that comes and buys original work, Trefzer said.

It’s a struggle that is paying off in Water Valley, especially for Trefzer, Grimes and van Beuren.

“I think that every small business that opens in every small town is an act of heroism,” van Beuren said. “It has definitely been a struggle and it has definitely been really hard and if we knew what it would have been like we probably wouldn’t have done it, but I also don’t think that’s different than other small businesses opening and trying to act with integrity.”

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Always smiling Story by Alyssa Schnugg ••• Photos by Bruce Newman

B Sealetee Rogers-Fox

eing admired or hailed as a hero doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve moved mountains, saved someone from dying or put out a fire in someone’s home.

Sometimes, it’s the little things you do — a smile, a pat on the shoulder or asking a grandmother about her grandbabies.

Rogers-Fox is the happy cashier

T

hat’s what Sealetee Rogers-Fox does five days out of the week as a Walmart cashier in Oxford.

She was hired as a cashier 30 years ago.

“I had just had my daughter and was looking for work,” Rogers-Fox said. She was 20 years old.

Now 50, she has worked in just about every department of Walmart, from sporting goods to the money center.

“I also worked at the old snack bar when we had one,” she said.

Walmart used to be located where the old Oxford Mall exists today on the opposite side of JC Penny. It moved to its current location once it became a Supercenter. Rogers-Fox moved with them to the new store. Despite it being triple the size, Rogers-Fox continued to do what she does every day while at work.

“I just be me,” she said, raising her hands up. “I like to have fun and that’s hard to do sometimes in that environment, which can be stressful.

You’re dealing with people of different

“Whoever I come into contact with, I want to be a lesson or a blessing.

Sometimes both.”

Sealete Rogers-Fox Walmart cashier

backgrounds. You don’t know what they were dealing with before they came to the store. I try to be a beacon of light, to have fun and make a typical bland day a happy one.”

Rogers-Fox mostly grew up in Oxford but is originally from New York, which could be why she appears to be tough on the outside. However, that tough exterior and no-nonsense attitude is saved for those who treat others badly or with disrespect. She said there’s never a reason to be rude to her customers or co-workers and that everyone deserves a friendly smile.

“Whomever I come into contact with, I want to be a lesson or a blessing,” she said. “Sometimes both.”

Although she’s been with Walmart for 30 years, she said she isn’t too interested in having a higher position in the company and that she likes working with the customers rather than dealing with paperwork.

“Some people I see three or four times a week,” she said. “I get to know everyone after awhile. They tell me when they have sick loved ones or new grandchildren. It’s more than just providing a service. I care for people.”

For 30 years, she has seen children grow and become parents themselves.

She’s seen some come for medication and die from a heart attack at the pharmacy. She’s seen temper-tantrums from children — and occasionally adults.

She’s seen Oxford grow; however, that just means she has more customers to share smiles, laughter, wisdom — and sometimes tears — with.

Rose Marie Anderson has worked at Walmart and with Rogers-Fox for 20 years and said she’s enjoyed it.

“She’s easy to work with,” Anderson said. “She goes out of her way to do whatever she can do to help someone.

She’s outstanding and motivates us all.”

She cares about her fellow co-workers and their jobs, so she’s quick to correct someone if she sees they may be doing something the wrong way, Anderson said.

“She’ll correct you before management sees,” she said. “She doesn’t want anyone to lose their job.”

When she isn’t checking people out, helping an elderly couple get their packages safely to their car or calming down a child throwing a tantrum, sometimes she’s dancing.

“We were raising money for Children’s Miracle Network and my late friend Elvis (Will Atkinson) was doing a show and said we had to dance for the kids,” she said. “I said if it’s for the kids, I’ll get out there on my bad knees

Sealetee Rogers-Fox has worked at the Oxford Walmart for 30 years.

and dance for those kids, and it just snowballed from there. We did a few times to raise money.”

Customer Service Manager Catherine Hill called Rogers-Fox a mentor for the newer employees.

“They all go to her with questions

because she knows just about all you can know in this store,” she said. “She speaks her mind, whether it’s good or bad. She asks people about their children and usually knows them by name and what school they go to.

“She’s just a very likeable person.”

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Exhibits present the life of L.Q.C. Lamar (1825-1893). Lamar served in all three branches of the U.S. government and is the only Mississippian ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Built in 1859, Cedar Oaks is a Greek revival structure that has survived a tumultuous past. Molly Turner Orr, the builder’s sister, organized a fire brigade to save the house in 1864.

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Woman of distinction Story by Stephanie Rebman ••• Photos by Stephanie Rebman

N

ot many 13-year-olds have received an award calling them a woman of distinc-

Bella Ware juggles several responsibilities.

tion.

Bella Ware, a seventh-grader at Lafayette Middle School has, but it’s not something she brags about. But she will brag about how wonderful the Girl Scouts are and about how one day she’d love to be a troop leader.

Bella Ware: A young hero to many

B

ella started with the Girl Scouts six years ago as a Daisy. She’s since been a Brownie, a Junior and is now a Cadet in Troop 33013.

She has many, many badges from throughout the years, but the biggest award came this summer when Girl Scouts Heart of the South named her the youth “Woman of Distinction” at its annual banquet in Oxford.

“Usually they get women who are idols, like women who are strong, but I was the very first Girl Scout ever who got this award as a Girl Scout,” she said. “I help out in smaller troops than me. I go to their meetings and help out wherever they need me to.

“Heroes come in all sizes and usually are known for their acts of kindness. Bella is always ready to share her kindness and does it with a smile.”

Abi Rayburn

Girl Scout troop leader

I’ll donate to humane societies and do other activities to help Oxford. I guess since I’m involved in Girl Scouts and all the sports that I do and keep an A/B average, it helps too, is what my mother told me.”

Bella keeps up her grades, volunteers in Oxford and plays volleyball, basketball and does advanced fitness as extracurricular activities. How does she

juggle it all? She makes schedules of her day and keeps organized, and nighttime includes homework and visiting with family.

“It was hard to keep an A/B average,” she said. “I used to be a C student because I have dyslexia, so it’s really hard. But I fight and I try to impress my stepdad because he pushes me really hard. It keeps my life full.”

She takes that competitive push to do better and also uses it on the gymnasium floor.

“I guess I like volleyball a little bit more because it’s more my sport,” she said, “but I love basketball because I have improved a lot. I’m the three-point shooter — that’s what coach says — and it’s just so fun playing with all these girls.”

She also is an art lover and had fun making crafts to take to nursing homes that the elderly could use as a wall decoration or Christmas tree ornament, and she’s excited to help those who are in need or who just deserve a little something special.

“We go to The Pantry and donate cans to help people who can’t afford them and we will help soldiers,” she said. “And we are giving five boxes of cookies to janitors at our school.

They’re working really hard on our schools keeping it clean so we are going to give them boxes of cookies to show our appreciation for their kindness to our schools.”

Her troop is made up of Oxford and Lafayette County students, and two janitors from each child’s school will take

“... helping other people because I love to see the smile on their face and that good feeling inside when you know that you’ve done something good. It makes you feel good.”

Bella Ware Girl Scout

home five boxes to their families.

Bella is happy to ensure others have a special treat. Her mom, Shannon Ivy, said Bella also was concerned at the holidays that residents simply had the basics.

“She was worried about the elderly people who get Meals on Wheels not having food on Thanksgiving so she decided to feed them all for Thanksgiving by collecting full Thanksgiving meals for each one and delivered them with her stepdad, Josh Ivy,” she said.

Bella’s mom also said Bella works in the butterfly garden, participates in flag retirement ceremonies annually and much more.

Raleigh Walker, director of custom-

er care with Girl Scouts Heart of the South, called Bella a “true Girl Scout through and through.”

“In the handful of years I’ve known her, I have had the privilege of watching Bella grow into such an amazing young woman,” she said. “She cares so much about the people and the world around her. She’s always looking for ways to lend a helping hand and make others smile.”

Abi Rayburn is proud to have been Bella’s Scout troop leader last year and to have seen the mark she makes on others.

“Heroes come in all sizes and usually are known for their acts of kindness,” she said. “Bella is always ready to share her kindness and does it with a smile.”

So, what’s Bella’s favorite thing about Girl Scouts?

“Everything,” she exclaimed with a light in her eyes.

“What is there not to love about Girl Scouts? My favorite is probably helping other people because I love to see the smile on their face and that good feeling inside when you know that you’ve done something good. It makes you feel amazing.”

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A hero to animals Story by Stephanie Rebman ••• Photo by Bruce Newman

C

Cyd Dunlap

yd Dunlap has been a strong voice for Lafayette County’s animals for at least the past 18 years and shows no signs of stopping.

Dunlap, 54, moved to Lafayette County in 1989 from Helena, Arkansas, and eventually got involved with the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society. She started out with the usual activities — walking dogs, unfolding newspapers, whatever was needed. But now she has a badge from the sheriff’s department, can boast a long tenure on the board of directors and has her name on the outside of the new OLHS facility.

“I started out at the old shelter on Highway 7 South just volunteering and walking dogs, whatever needed to be done, duct-taping the shelter together,” she said. “And then I got more involved when Claire Lee Arnold asked me to be on the board.”

The board and service to animalkind got in her blood at that point, and she has been actively involved, with the exception of a few-month hiatus that just didn’t stick.

“I tried to back off, but I went back,” she said.

Cyd Dunlap unloads the animal shelter’s van. (Stephanie Rebman photo)

Dunlap is an advocate for animals

O

ne of Dunlap’s largest efforts is providing volunteer animal control efforts for OLHS and the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department.

The county does not have a leash law and the sheriff’s department does not have an officer dedicated to animal control or complaints, so Dunlap stepped in.

“In the early days, when I started here even before the shelter, I would go out in the county when I heard about animals in need, distress or being neglected or abused. At that time the sheriff’s department didn’t go with me so I would just tuck a pistol in the back of my pants and go — because I was going to go,” she said.

After a few years of that Sheriff Buddy East got involved and didn’t want Dunlap all alone on calls.

“We had a meeting with him and the chief deputy and the judges and a prosecuting attorney,”’ she said. “The final outcome was they were going to go on calls to help me and every year it’s gotten better and better. There are so many animal calls now that it is necessary. Now they go out there first, see

“The shelter is where it is because of Cyd. She has been the driving force behind it all. She’s there by noon or before and down there until 6 or 7 o’clock at night.”

Amy Russell

former shelter volunteer

what the situation is, and then they call me if the humane society needs to get involved.”

Dunlap is certainly qualified to carry her animal cruelty investigator sheriff’s department badge. She’s been through National Cruelty Investigation School levels 1, 2 and 3 from the Law Enforcement Training Institution, a course to carry pepper spray, biosecurity and zoonoses seminar, a course on combatting compassion fatigue in the animal care field, attended a governor’s Homeland Security conference, and helped for five days post-Hurricane Katrina in impacted areas.

Spay and neuter

Another large-scale effort for Dunlap started after meeting with Elizabeth Speed and area veterinarians to begin a low-cost spay and neuter program.

“It’s huge now. We do five or six a day at least,” she said.

Anyone with low income drops their pet off at the shelter, the shelter staff takes them to veterinary clinics and they pick their dog back up at the shelter. A Dodge Sprinter van she helped generate funds for back at the old shelter is the ride of choice these days for that and local transports.

Her efforts at spaying and neutering the area’s pets don’t stop there. Any way to get it done is a possibility.

The Big Fix Rig, a bus from Ashland, South Carolina, came to Oxford, thanks to a relationship Dunlap and veterinarian Dr. Robert Guy had fostered while altering euthanasia procedures to make it less stressful on everyone involved, including the animals.

SEE DUNLAP, 74

DUNLAP: FROM PAGE 73 “Dr. Guy was working with them at the time and they made their very first stop here and they would fix animals here for free for low-income people.”

Another first OLHS and Dunlap can boast is the relationship with Mississippi State University, which has two mobile spay and neuter units that travel to area shelters.

“Dr. (Phil) Bushby likes to call it their maiden voyage to the old shelter,” Dunlap said. “We were their very first stop with their new vehicle. So that was a good thing that we got started.”

But when spaying and neutering isn’t enough, Dunlap has worked with rescue groups to get animals transported up North where there isn’t necessarily a pet overpopulation problem.

OLHS used to work with Northeast Arkansans for Animals in Jonesboro and Southern Jewel Rescue out of the Memphis area. Currently the humane society is working with Homeward Bound.

The shelter buildings

Aside from cultivating those relationships, there were needs at the old shelter facility on Highway 7.

One of the biggest physical accomplishments in that facility was adding a construction trailer.

“It was an office/offices/lobby,” she said. “Back then, that was great.”

But bigger things were in store in 2008 when the board pursued a new building.

“We got a capital campaign going and we had five major donors and then we raised the rest,” Dunlap said. “It took a year. It took fundraisers, going out and beating the bushes and begging; although, when people knew what we were asking for, most people were happy to give.”

The new shelter was $650,000, with the city and county paying for a little less than half of the total. Larry McAlexander was the builder, who helped with in-kind work during construction. And in 2011 the doors were opened.

“There’s so many more volunteers now,” she said. “So many more volunteering to foster, and a lot of the older community comes out more. We didn’t design it this way, but mothers have told me their kids won’t let them go by without circling the building. All the dogs are outside, so they take them back

Cyd Dunlap works with OLHS office manager Kayla Russell.

from school, and they drive through.

There’s pretty much always traffic.”

In addition to the positives the community sees, the conditions are much better for the animals and the staff.

Dunlap said at the old facility an animal control officer fell through the floor and tore an ACL. “It’s 110 percent better the animals,” she said. “I feel like it’s a good thing for the community.”

Dunlap, the person

Dunlap, who calls herself a failed foster parent, has 13 dogs, four cats, two horses and helps squirrels and raccoons get back on their feet.

What keeps her going as a volunteer is making a difference for the people and the animals. She recently received a message from a mother with a child who is finally happy again after her last cat died because she has a new adopted friend.

“You are a saint. Mere wants to be you when she grows up,” the text said.

“Things that keep me doing this are the best and the worst. The best are things like that, good adoptions, I still get Christmas cards from pets I adopted five and six years ago. The other thing that keeps me doing it are the worst.

The dogs that I help. Martha May, my dog that was in a cage in a puppy mill for nine years. She hadn’t stepped out of a cage in nine years. Just helping the helpless animals.”

Dunlap is at the shelter helping seven days a week.

“I have to go by and make sure everybody’s got food, water, a blanket and a toy,” she said. “365 days a year.

I go by there every day. Christmas, Thanksgiving.”

And when she isn’t in the shelter, she isn’t afraid to help in other communities. She has pulled animals from puppy mill breeding operations in Vardaman and Senatobia.

Her dedication to the shelter and animals is how Amy Russell met Dunlap.

They volunteered together from 2006 to 2009 when Russell lived in Oxford and became fast friends.

Russell said Dulap “puts so many hours in” whether it is on thank-you notes, grooming dogs, fundraisers, picking up animals, investigating cases and more.

“There just aren’t words. Cyd never gives up,” she said. “It just never ends and your heart breaks over and over again every single day and she comes back every day because she loves animals. The shelter is where it is because of Cyd. She has been the driving force behind it all. We’re talking about a woman who’s president of the board, and is down there volunteering every day for hours. She’s there by noon or before and is down there until 6 or 7 o’clock and night. Doing everything.”

Russell also said Dunlap treats everyone with kindness, even people who come in to drop off a dog they had abused or neglected, and ensures the animals see kindness.

“She’s always going to meet that person with kindness and respect and she’s going to take care of the animals, no matter what it means for that animal,” she said. “No animal is ever turned away. So if that animal doesn’t get adopted, it has been loved and petted and is full before it dies.

“She is the heart and soul of that place, she truly is.”