STARKVILLE — Dixie Sparkman was 17 when she enrolled at East Missis­sippi Junior College as a freshman in 1936.

STARKVILLE -- High fer­tilizer prices continue to be a hot topic any time farm professionals gather, but now is not the first time costs have doubled or even tripled for some crop staples.

Three Kemper Academy students are set to travel to Hartfield Academy near Jack­son on Friday to take part in the Mid-South Association of Independent School’s (MAIS) statewide spelling bee.

 An obviously frustrated Kem­per County Sheriff James Moore told the Kemper County Board of Supervisors on during their recessed meet­ing on Monday that the trees surrounding the Kemper/Neshoba County Re­gional Correction Facility were hazardous to the inmates and the correctional officers be­cause they were being used as an avenue to get contraband into the prison.

 During its Monday recessed meeting, the Kemper County Board of Supervisors adopted a policy that requires those who have tested positive for COIVD-19 to stay at home for five days fol­lowing a positive test if they are not symptomatic, or if they were showing symptoms to remain at home until those symptoms have passed.

Craig Nave almost doesn’t re­member a time when he wasn’t checking on seniors and other vulnerable people or singing at funerals.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are all saddened by the death of longtime writer of the Kipling News, Janie McWilliams. Janie took over writing the Kipling News on August 4, 1988. She loved writing and sharing about her community. She will be missed by not only the Kipling community, but everyone that enjoyed her articles. She was 96 years old. Her very first article follows this note. Hope you enjoy and as she always said "Thank You for reading the Kipling News!"

This past Thursday morning, a house fire on Alma Kirk Road, claimed the life of one individual, reported to be a young female. The name of the victim is being withheld at this time.

Cleaning out an office leads to a lot of interesting discoveries. For us at the Kemper County Messenger it meant finding hundreds of old photos, some in color and many in black-and-white that had been used, but had not been returned to their owners.

The holiday season has the power to bring people together and uplift them in spirit. At CTE, our students and faculty wanted to do just that by getting together with each other and those in the community to uplift the spirits of others by giving back for the Christmas holidays.

State college public relations officials are doing their part to encourage students to continue their interest in the area of communication at Mississippi’s two- and four-year colleges with three $1,250 scholarships.

District 32 Senator Rod Hickman was appointed Vice Chairman of the Interstate and Federal Cooperation Committee.

Kemper County’s unemployment rate dropped to the lowest percentage in nearly 31 years when it was recorded at 4.3 percent for November, according to figures from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

The Looking Back feature has returned to the Kemper County Messenger. Every week we will take a quick look at stories of interest from back issues of the newspaper.

The Lions of East Mississippi Community College had 16 players from their 2021 football team sign national letters of intent with four-year universities during the NCAA’s early signing period.

Dear Santa:

Christmas is a time that young and old look forward to, and some events lend more excitement to the season, such as the annual Christmas tree lighting at Keyes-McRae Park, in DeKalb, which took place at 5 p.m. this past Saturday.