Magnolia’s LaMariposa Cafe and Keri Morrell received honors at the annual Magnolia/South Pike Area Chamber of Commerce banquet on Thursday.
Morrell, of the Morrell insurance agency, received the W.J. Simmons Citizen of the Year Award, and LaMariposa won the Business of the Year honor.
“I love serving the chamber,” said Morrell who is chamber secretary. “There are a number of people who deserve this award in this room.”
Mercedes Ricks accepted the award for LaMariposa, saying that she was proud to be accepted into the Magnolia community and that, “if it was not for you all, I wouldn’t be here.”
The awards topped off an evening highlighted by Clarion-Ledger editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey, who showed a series of some of his best cartoons.
“My appearance tonight is brought to you by Nyquil,” Ramsey, 39, quipped, adding that he had been signing copies of his book, “Greatest Hits,” at Jackson’s Mistletoe Marketplace. He joked that the holiday gift extravaganza was a “female deer camp,” complete with women “concerned about bucks” and “looking for trophies.”
Ramsey, who’s been in Mississippi for 11 years, came to the state from San Diego, which he said “is wonderful when it’s not on fire.”
His friends, Ramsey said, asked why he would leave “paradise” for Mississippi. He joked that with such subjects as the State Legislature, governors Kirk Fordice and Haley Barbour, John Arthur Eaves, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton and the Jackson City Council, “this is paradise.”
Any politician is fair game, but Ramsey also has taken on human tragedy in a poignant way — a weeping Biloxi lighthouse after Hurricane Katrina and a saddened Lady Liberty as the World Trade Center towers toppled in New York.
One of his favorite cartoons features a hero of Ramsey’s, baseball great Hank Aaron. The drawing ripped on the subject of Barry Bonds and performance-enhancing drugs. Ramsey said Aaron liked the drawing and asked for a copy. Ramsey obliged and Aaron autographed the original. “My (three) boys will have to fight over that one.”
Ramsey, a six-year skin cancer survivor, also has taken on the “Big C” in his editorial drawings, portraying cancer survivor Lance Armstrong beating the grim reaper as the biker wins the Tour de France.
After the program, Ramsey signed copies of his books, with proceeds, he said, “going to Pamper’s” for his 5-month-old son.
Other chamber program notes included a plaque for outgoing president Kyle Webb, special recognition for Mississippi Scholar honorees from South Pike, remarks from Magnolia Mayor Jim Storer and a flag presentation by the South Pike High School JROTC.
Storer was the high bidder in a silent auction to win a magnolia painting done by the SPHS art students of Bob Martin. Proceeds will go to the school’s art program.
