KCHS students waiting to return after fire

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.

There will be items from one year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, 25 years ago, and 50 years ago

Some items appear just as they originally did, while some have been paraphrased and condensed.

ONE YEAR AGO

(DEC. 17, 2020)

— Kemper County Superintendent of Schools Hilute Hudson has announced changes to the district’s schedule for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. The upcoming holiday break has been extended and the start of the school year for Spring 2021 has been delayed by one week. Due to the extended holiday and delayed start of school for the spring semester, the school year will be extended by one week to June 3.

— Construction is wrapping up on a new 147-bed three-story residence hall on East Mississippi Community College’s Scooba campus and the facility’s inaugural group of students will move in this January.

— The Kemper County School District is working in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Education to allow classified employees to become certified teacher through successfully completing select Master’s level university course work and an internship. The seven who recently completed the program are: Cynthia Bourrage; Jimeka Dancy; Danzel McCoy; Antoinette Cherry; Kimkeisha Butler; Linda Pollock: and Keith Cole.

FIVE YEARS AGO

(DEC. 15, 2016)

— Despite the threat of inclement weather, both the DeKalb and Scooba Christmas Parades were able to take place last week in front of appreciative and enthusiastic crowds.

— Laura Stewart was named Kemper County NAACP’s 20016 mother of the year and represented the county in the state NAACP mothers’ program in Hattiesburg.

— The Kemper County Sheriff’s Department has been kept busy recently responding to several incidents, including one that involved stolen vehicles. Kemper County Sheriff James Moore said that a pair of cars, both of which had been stolen, was found along side Highway 39 South in Kemper County over the weekend. One of the vehicles had been on fire.

10 YEARS AGO

(DEC. 15, 2011)

— Students at Kemper County High School missed a third consecutive day of classes Wednesday following a Saturday night fire which caused extensive damage to the high school campus in DeKalb. At press time school officials were still trying to decided how to proceed with the remainder of the first semester of school and the Kemper County Sheriff’s Department had doubled a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for causing the fire.

—East Mississippi Community College’s record-setting freshman quarterback Bo Wallace and sophomore defense end Demico Autry have been named to the 2011 NJCAA Football All-America First Team.

25 YEARS AGO

(DEC. 12, 1996)

— One of the largest parades in recent memory in Kemper County took place last Saturday when the Chamber of Commerce presented the 1996 Christmas Parade. A total of 27 entries were presented during the event, which also had a military flavor.

— After what must have seemed like forever for officials, the landfill located along Highway 16 finally belongs to Kemper County.

—Kemper County coach Charles Jackson watched his team win two more games last week to improve its perfect record to 9-0 on the young season. But still, Jackson has remained cautious about the team’s success.

— Film crews from the Mississippi Educational Television Network were in DeKalb recently and the results of the visit can be seen Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Ponderosa Processing plant will be featured on the ETV program.

50 YEARS AGO

(DEC. 16, 1971)

— Miss Brenda Cole of DeKalb was one of 22 students in the Mississippi College School of Nursing to receive her cap during impressive ceremonies at the college recently.

— Letter to Santa from Vicky Brown: I want you to bring me a talking doll. I love you Santa. I am in the third grade. I am a good girl sometimes.

— Letter to Santa from Mark Bell: I would like a BB gun and a BB pistol and a pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat for Christmas.