Domestic violence workers come to Oxford for regional training event
The Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence will hold its regional Domestic Violence Shelter Programs Training Institute for member shelter programs in northern Mississippi in Oxford this weekend.
Martha Crawford, victim advocate at the Domestic Violence Project in Oxford, said she’s looking forward to the training event that will be held Thursday and Friday at The Inn on the University of Mississippi campus. (June 23, 2010, Page 3A)
Oxford mourns loss of community leader
From his work as a civil rights activist, who was instrumental in integrating Oxford public schools, to working with felons as a U.S. probation officer, to serving as a Lafayette County Planning Commissioner, Leonard Thompson’s death Monday has been called a major loss for the community as a whole.
Thompson died Monday at about 10:30 a.m. after going into anaphylactic shock when he was stung by a wasp while putting his lawnmower up in his garage at his Highway 334 home. (June 23, 2010, Page 1A)
More join effort to help needy
On a mission to provide a weekly meal to the needy, about 50 folks representing every walk of life came together Tuesday evening to learn more about the program slated to begin in September.
College students and the elderly, artists and social workers, the rich and the not-so-rich, gathered at the Stone Center to see what they could do to help provide “More than a Meal” to those members of the community who could use some assistance from time to time. (June 23, 2010, Page 1A)
Former principal, community leader dies after wasp sting
Leonard Thompson, 73, died this morning at Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi after being stung by a wasp, according to Lafayette County Coroner Rocky Kennedy.
Kennedy said Thompson went outside to put away his lawn mower. He came back inside his home on Highway 334 and told his wife he had been stung by a wasp.
“He collapsed moments later,” Kennedy said.
Thompson, who was instrumental in integrating the Oxford School District, was the first minority to graduate from the University of Mississippi graduate program in 1967. He became a principal at Central High the year the schools integrated and was given the vice-principal job at Oxford High School. Funeral arrangements are incomplete with Hodges-Freeman Funeral Home of Oxford.
Share your memories of Thompson with The EAGLE in our comment section. (June 22, 2010)
Co-ed football camp offers both genders chance to enhance athletic ability
NFL player Terrance Metcalf wants all youth to learn the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Metcalf, founder of the Metcalf-Holden Outreach Foundation, wants to enhance the growth and development of children by providing a positive atmosphere through recreational activities.
The foundation will help achieve that goal by hosting its first Co-ed Football Camp this Saturday at Oxford High School. (June 22, 2010, Page 3)
Coaches team up for kids
During a football game, Rebel coach Houston Nutt and Bulldog coach Dan Mullan are on opposite sides of the field, both instructing their teams to do whatever necessary to beat the other’s team.
However, the two will come together on July 31 during the “Tailgate Together for Our Kids,” presented by Cellular South at the BancorpSouth Conference Center in Tupelo. (June 22, 2010, Page 1)
Filling a growing need
When a call was put out to local churches to address the growing homeless and neeedy problem in Lafayette County, several churches responded.
Four of the churches planned community meals once a month and churches collected donations of toiletry items.
Now these churches are coming together to invite all civit organizations to help feed our area’s homeless and needy residents once a week at Stone Center in Stone Park. (June 21, 2010, Page 1)
Land records now available online
For $30 a month, interested parties can view all deeds and land records filed at the Lafayette County Chancery Clerk’s office.
The information went online on June 15, thanks to Delta Computer Systems which hosts the website where the records are available. Delta also hosts records for the Circuit Court and Tax Collector/Assessor. (June 21, 2010, Page 2)
Stark Young: Oxford’s other early well-known author
In the fall of 1907, when the University of Texas lured Stark Young away from Oxford, William Faulkner had not risen to fame as Oxford’s well-known author of the first half of the 20th century. Neither had Young been recognized as an author, playwright or drama critic.
Their time was yet to come. (June 18, 2010, Page 3B)
Hoping the oil spill doesn’t take away favorite memories
Most people I know do not realize I have not always lived in Mississippi. I lived in Florida up until I was about 4 years old. And one of my family’s favorite past times was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico — the Gulf that is now filled with millions of gallons of crude oil. (June 18, 2010, Page 2B)
