Today’s Enterprise-Journal comes packed with a hefty surprise: the 2017 Perspective edition, filled with features and in-depth articles on people and businesses in southwest Mississippi.
The 132-page magazine boasts a cover story on former McComb resident, La’Porsha Renae, who was named Citizen of the Year for the intense worldwide publicity she gave her hometown on “American Idol.”
La’Porsha, a single mother and vocal supporter of women abused by their husbands or boyfriends, is working on her debut album and drew a hefty crowd when she performed for her “Idol” homecoming segment.
Also prominently featured is Joe Young, longtime Pike County tax assessor, who was named the Life Achievement Award winner.
Young has enjoyed a life full of service — as a teacher, as tax assessor for 28 years, then in the late 1990s as a member of the popular gospel group The Providentials.
Their stories lead off the magazine, as do stories on Unsung Heroes. They include McComb Railroad Museum volunteers and senior citizens Bob Bellipanni, Delton Moak and James Earl White, who took up the task of painting old train cars, a project that was far outside the museum’s budget.
An Unsung Hero of a different kind is 80-year-old Annette Smith-Jones, a Chatawa native who returned to Pike County after Hurricane Katrina and continued her lifetime passion for learning and serving God. She had a long cosmetology career, was a restaurant owner, is a cancer survivor, and just received a degree from Harper Baptist Seminary. She continues to fulfill her promise to God to help others.
Here’s a look at some of the other stories inside today’s Perspective magazine:
• An Entergy pilot program that includes a Brookhaven solar farm.
• A feature on residents of local assisted living facilities, including Aston Court, Camellia Estates and The Claiborne, all of which can be called “home away from home” for senior residents.
• A story examining the growing trend of more nurse practitioners as primary care providers in an area where there is a doctor shortage. Federal statistics show that Mississippi has the highest concentration of nurse practitioners in the nation.
• A look inside the start-up of Personal Pediatric Care in McComb, which provides Medicaid-funded help for families who have children, age infant to 21, who have special medical needs. Families are grateful for the center’s low ratio of participants to caregivers.
• A feature on Luke Walters, an Amite County missionary who has traveled through civil war zones and helped with tsunami victims. His world mission goal started when he said, “God told me to go to India.”
• A piece on local influential women, including Sen. Tammy Witherspoon, Rep. Angela Cockerham, along with locally elected “leading ladies,” who represent the tax offices, the Pike County Board of Supervisors, chancery clerks in Pike and Amite counties, circuit clerks in Pike and Amite counties, the Pike County Economic Development District, and the female-heavy McComb School District Board of Trustees.
• A look at several local churches, including Storehouse Church in McComb and Inhabitants of the Rock in Smithdale — even the Cowboy Church at Brushy Creek Ranch in Gloster. Also featured are local pastors who are bi-vocational, the Revs. Greg Partman and Jerry Gressett.
• A feature on Smithie Buie Jr., whose fried fish catering service is a frequent meal for fundraisers of all types.
• A story on banjo afficionado Larry Wallace, who found a musical calling that took him from McCall Creek to the Grand Ole Opry and many spots in between.
• A look at the efforts to restore native longleaf pine in southwest Mississippi.
• A feature on dairy farming, a profession that has seen its numbers declining over the years. Walthall County, once home to more than 100 dairies, is down to just 13.
