Car accident claims life of Westerfield

County, Academy mourn

By Shana O'Malley
The Cleveland Current Senior Writer

Bolivar County community members are mourning the loss of Merigold resident Jim Westerfield who died after complications from a car accident last week.

The 64-year-old man was well known in the community for being a huge fan of the local athletic programs.

“He loved sports and he always followed the local teams,” said brother Andrew Westerfield. “He went to a lot of Bayou games and he also went to a lot of Cleveland High School events. He loved the sports at all the schools.”

“I played football and ran track at Bayou and he was at every game no matter what,” said nephew Jack Westerfield.

Bayou Academy Superintendent Robert Foust said things wont be the same at the stadium this fall.

“A lot of time he would stand along the fence and watch,” said Foust. “I think everyone will be sad the he’s not there and it will be a whole different atmosphere without him there watching us play.”

Along with being a true local sports fan, Westerfield was an avid outdoorsmen.
“He loved hunting and fishing and he belonged to the Merigold Hunting Club for many years,” added Andrew. “He loved taking his nephews hunting and he was an inspiration to them.”

“Growing up, Uncle Jim did everything for us,” added Jack. “He would make sure all of our guns were clean and we were loaded up on hunting trips. He would always think of the stuff that everyone else would always forget.”

Although Westerfield mostly kept to himself, he had a passion for performing.

“He was drafted into the army in 1968 during the Vietnam conflict and got out of that and went to Ole Miss and took drama courses there and excelled in theater,” Andrew said. “He was a very introverted person and a very quiet person, but when he got on the stage it was like flipping a light switch!”

Westerfield performed in plays, appeared in a movie and made friends in Hollywood but Andrew said his true calling was being a family man.

“Shortly after my father retired he had a heart attack and Jim came home and assumed the role of caregiver for my father after his retirement,” Andrew said. “My father died in 1985 and Jim stayed with my mother and took care of her. That’s what his calling was and he was excellent at it!”

Westerfield played an important role in the upbringing of his nephews and taught them everything from hunting to religion.

“I was never a big churchgoing person but Jim gave me a bible when I was about nine years old and I remember him teaching me how to pray as a child,” Jack said.

“He circled a verse in there and it was Roman’s 10:9 – ‘That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.’”

Funeral services were held yesterday in Merigold for Westerfield.

Community leader passes

By Kelli Cotton
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

Alyce Richardson will be long remembered for her dedication to the community.

Richardson, the first female president of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce, died late Friday night at the age of 79.

“She was one of the pioneering women leaders of the Cleveland community and she held a leadership role in this community for many years,” said Judson Thigpen, executive director of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce.

“Everyone knows Alyce was ‘Miss Cleveland,’” said Cleveland Mayor Billy Nowell. “She meant so much to so many different sectors of Cleveland. She will be missed dearly.”

Richardson was born on August 2, 1930 to Cordelia McNeese West and John Parker West. She married Clarence James “Rich” Richardson, Jr. on October 16, 1950. She was a long time member of First Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, where she sang in the choir, served on the Finance Committee, and Marguerite Bolling Circle. Richardson was the co-owner of West Implement Co. until it was sold in 1983, and she served on the Board of Directors for Valley Bank (now The State Bank and Trust).

“Alyce took her civic responsibilities very seriously,” said Nowell. “In fact, the West and Richardson families played large roles in building the Cleveland community.”

Graduating from Delta State in 1952, Richardson earned a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with first honors. Many of Richardsons accomplishments included serving as the director of the Delta State Foundation, secretary of the Delta State Alumni Association, secretary of the Kethley Scholarship Fund, member of the Inter-Alumni Council, and chairman of the Alumnae Advisory Board for Gamma Psi Chapter of Kappa Delta Sorority at Delta State. She and her family are also the sponsor of the J. Parker West Award presented annually to the Most Valuable Basketball Player at DSU. Richardson was awarded the DSU Outstanding Alumni Award in 1972.

Richardson’s role in the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce included serving as its first female president in 1975-1976. At the chamber, she also served as a director, vice president, member of the Program of Work Committee and served on the chamber’s Farm Implement Task force.

Her service in United Givers of Cleveland included her leadership as past president, director, and she headed the Leadership Committee’s 1973 drive. Her service to the Cleveland Junior Auxiliary included the position of president, projects chairwoman, and New Life Associate member. Her involvement with the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries included serving as president and vice president.

Richardson was also active in the Mid-South Farm Equipment Association and the Bolivar County Farm Bureau where she served as chairman of the Talent Contest and she was also the publicity chairman for the Clean-Up Campaign.

Other positions Richardson held during her life’s work: secretary of 16th Section Committee to re-negotiate leases on 16th Section Land, Secretary-Treasurer of Bolivar County Expo Center Board of Directors, former president of the Cleveland Kappa Delta Alumnae Association and social chairman, Bolivar County Historical Society. Richardson also served in the Association for Living Historical Farms & Agricultural Museums as a charter member, she was a memver of the Mississippi Economic Council, Delta Revelers, Theta Xi Mothers Club at LSU, The Stags where she served as director and arrangement chairwoman and charter member.

She was Treasurer of the Cleveland Cotillion Mothers Club, a member of the Delta State Boosters Club, Delta Council, Mississippi Historical Society, Secretary of the Presbyterian Day School Board of Trustees, Delta Area Council Boy Scouts of America Executive Board, Bicentennial Steering Committee and the Governor’s Committee for Children and Youth.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 on Monday, July 26, at the First Presbyterian Church with Rev. Sid Harmon officiating. Visitation will be Sunday, July 25, from 5-7 p.m. at Ray Funeral Home. Burial will follow funeral in North Cleveland Cemetery.

“One of the best memories I’ll always have of Alyce is how much she loved the Lady Statesmen,” said Nowell. “I can remember the golden days when we were going to the Ladies National Championships and Alyce was always the number one spokesperson for the Lady Statesmen. She and Coach Wade were best friends and it was always fun to be around Alyce when the Statesmen were playing, because her excitement was contagious.”

I-69 environmental study completed

Officials await federal approval before big hurdle leaped

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Editor

A monumental moment in the I-69 project will come to fruition, as the final draft of the environmental impact statement awaiting approval by the Federal highway Administration.

Kevin Magee, third district engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, said that as soon as the Federal Highway Administration accepts it, at that point, it will be eligible for funding.

“It doesn’t mean that funding is coming that way,” he stressed. “It means if funding is coming we can spend it. It basically gives us the Federal Highway Administration’s blessing to spend money on that project as funds are available. As far as funding or when something is going to get built, that’s up in the air until some kind of mechanism is found.”

The 120-mile stretch of the I-69 corridor was chosen by citizens and many organizations to run through Bolivar, Coahoma and Tunica Counties from Robinsonville to Benoit. The section is known as SIU #11 (Sections of Independent Utility) and is one of 32 sections of the I-69 corridor that will stretch from Canada to Mexico to create an interstate corridor.

According to a newsletter from MDOT, dated June 2008, several frequently asked questions were answered by officials.

Included were questions about the relocation of houses and division of farmland.

In regard to housing, the newsletter says, “Yes (some homes will have to be moved), eventually, after the design and right of way plan phase has been completed. When that occurs, which could be several years from now, MDOT will work closely with residents to find suitable replacement housing.

In regard to farming operations, “Even though property lines were followed as much as the natural and human environmental opportunities and constraints allowed, some division of farming operations will occur. To reduce the impact of divided farmland, options such as frontage roads and bridges were proposed where practical. Efforts were also made to follow streams that are currently dividing farming operations. By following U.S. Highway 61 as much as possible, the study team determined that fewer negative impacts, such as the division of farming operations were realized.”

Other questions the newsletter answered were in reference to Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge, how the interchanges were located, and State Route 8 in Bolivar County. The EIS study determined to leave Dahomey untouched. Interchanges will be located where there are good access points to cities and attractions, including small communities with “every effort…made to enhance economic opportunities while minimalizing impacts to communities and farming activities.”

As far as Miss. Highway 8, “SR 8 is one way to connect surface and water transportation at the Rosedale Mississippi River Port.” Basically, the widening of the two-lane road is a possibility as the project progresses.

Fighting Pests

Bolivar Mosquito Battles

By Mark H. Stowers
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

In the south, mosquitoes are a fact of life. In Bolivar County, the pesky bug thrives in the thousands of acres of rice fields that submerge the county. But without consistent, persistent and effective mosquito control methods, the Delta might be uninhabitable. Mark Ponder has been on the front lines of keeping the tiny bloodsuckers in check. With a Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Biology, Ponder has been finding ways to limit the mosquito population for more than three decades and has spent the last 20 years making Cleveland and Bolivar County less buggy.

“I’d say we’ve had more than average this year,” Ponder explained. “There’s 65,000 acres of rice, give or take 5-10 thousand or so, every year in Bolivar County.

And subsequently the number of mosquitoes that come out of that large number of rice is pretty tremendous and at times overwhelming.”

The county works seven days a week, usually 8:00-11:00 p.m., spraying both from trucks and airplanes to kill adult mosquitoes. From June through July 4 is the “worst” part of the mosquito season. And there have been plenty of innovation, technology and science in the war against mosquitoes. Early spray mixtures consisted largely of diesel oil, and then potions of DDT were used until mosquitoes became resistant to it.

“Everything we use is a contact insecticide,” Ponder said. “And these mosquitoes are somewhat secretive in nature and everybody knows it groups up in cool spots around the back doors and entry ways trying to get out of the heat. It becomes a particular problem when people are going in and out of the house it comes in.”

More than half a million dollars is spent battling the insect throughout the county.

“I believe life would be miserable or almost unbearable if it were not for our program,” he said. “The comments I receive are 99 percent positive about the effects of our program.”

Mosquitoes are not thought highly of but are on the bottom of the food chain and many prize bass and other animals have progressed through infancy feeding off mosquito larvae and mosquitoes themselves.

Fighting the pest can be difficult due to adult mosquitoes’ ability to travel from four to six miles and spraying can go as late Thanksgiving. And other problems in fighting include homeowners having stagnant water where the mosquitoes can reproduce.

“These homegrown mosquitoes are the ones most likely to have West Nile virus and we switch our methods to a disease abatement program. So far we’ve been successful,” Ponder said. “It’s not a June mosquito but more of an August and September mosquito.

Cleveland Country Club names new chef

Former KC’s cook heading kitchen

By Shana O'Malley
The Cleveland Current Senior Writer

The Cleveland Country Club has recently named Jay Brennen as the head chef of the restaurant.

Brennen started his new position a few months ago and has been slowly transitioning the restaurant over to new and improved lunch and dinner menus.

“I am putting new dishes on the menu and I am trying to bring a lot of new things in the kitchen,” he said. “I want to use different meats like buffalo meat. Not many people in this area see that on a daily basis and I want people here to be more comfortable with that kind of food so they don’t shy away from it when they see it on the menu.”

Brennen added that he is taking a more health-conscious approach to the new dishes by using as many fresh and natural ingredients as possible.

“I will not cook frozen fish or frozen meats. I don’t like things covered in pesticides, I am very organic,” he said. “I don’t think that’s cooking.”

Brennen said his new additions and changes have been well-received by customers so far.

“It depends on what I cook for certain people. I haven’t really had anything negative yet. So far everyone has been ‘thumbs-up.’”

Although Brennen is only in his 20s, he describes his cooking style as “old school.”

“My cooking experience comes from my family,” he said. “I come from an Italian family so ever since I could hold a knife, my grandma put one in my hand. I have all the traditional Italian family cooking skills from her.”

Brennen also received a wealth of cooking knowledge while working at KC’s Restaurant in Cleveland where he worked under owners Don and Wally Joe.

“When I went to KC’s, it really sparked my interest in food,” he said. “I had been to college and I traveled the country with my band and did all sorts of stuff like that. I am a city kid from New York and Don and Wally are very strict. They took this punk city kid and really sparked a fire inside me!”

During his time at KC’s, Brennen said the Joes taught him a lot about ingredients, as well as how to operate in the kitchen.

“I really learned about the ins and outs of the different kinds of meat, as well as the heat and the equipment that I am working with,” he said.

The Cleveland Country Club is open for lunch from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and dinner from 5-9 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday and for lunch on Sunday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

BEST FORK FORWARD: Although he is in his 20s, Jay Brennen brings an old school cooking style and a fresh taste to the Cleveland Country Club’s kitchen.

Matthew Wood/The Cleveland Current

Cleveland Glass & Paint

Supplying Bolivar County and beyond

By Mark H. Stowers
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

For more than 70 years, Cleveland Port City Glass & Paint has been in existence.

but has had several owners providing services for the Delta area and surrounding states. Richard Heffner came along in 2003 to help run the business but soon bought the successful business along with his wife Debbie and three others to extend the Cleveland institution into the 21st century.

“Paul Braswell owned it all the way up to 1985 and then Lewis Auto Glass out of Memphis bought it then,” Richard explained. “I took over in 2003 running it for them and then we bought it out from them.”

Services offered at Cleveland Glass & Paint include “anything dealing with auto glass,” Pittsburgh house-paint, several major brands of automotive paint and a complete selection of automotive body shop supplies. In addition, the business does flat glass glazing and mirrors and shower doors and storefront work.

“We carry PPG, Dupont and Sherwin Williams automotive paint,” Heffner said.

“Paint is the biggest part of our business and automotive paint is the biggest seller.”

All of the popular and hot paint colors you’ve seen on the highways and side streets are available at Cleveland Glass & Paint so you can find an exact match for your vehicle’s paint.

With a second store located in Greenville, Cleveland Glass & Paint delivers its products to clients within a 250-mile radius. With 16 employees, Heffner is contemplating stretching that radius by opening another store but hasn’t come to the conclusion of where to put the new store just yet.

“We’re talking about branching out and making our horizon bigger,” he said. “We’re working on that now. We’re talking about going further into Arkansas and further down into Louisiana.”

If it has wheels and an engine, Cleveland Paint and Glass the company can supply it with new glass — from your garage to your farm and everywhere in between.

“We deal with anything and everything that has to do with auto glass,” Heffner said.

“Any kind of trucks. We deal with 18-wheelers and even if a customer has a tractor glass broken out, we can do that too,” he explained. “Anything dealing with glass, paint and body shops — we take care of it.”

They also supply truck accessories. Nerf bars, toolboxes, bed liners and bed caps to mention a few.

Cleveland Glass & Paint is located at 512 East Sunflower Road in Cleveland. You can reach them at (662) 843-5391.

Born to Farm

This Cleveland eighth grader spends his summers in the fields and on the move

By Taylor Mitchell
The Cleveland Current Sports Editor

The average workday starts at eight and lasts until five that afternoon.

If you’re a farmer, the workday may start earlier. Eighth graders on the other hand work off of a different schedule.

Most eighth graders aren’t working in the summer, they’re out at the swimming pools or ball field having fun being a kid. Needless to say, they’re rarely awake at 7 a.m.

However, Gentry Clark isn’t your typical eighth grader.

Clark, instead of doing the normal day-to-day activities of a school kid during summer, works with his grandfather, Jerry Gentry, on his 4,500 acres of farmland and is up at 7 a.m. some days.

“He loves farming,” his mother, Kristi Clark, said. “He lives, eats and breathes farming. That’s all he thinks about.”

Clark, the son of Michael Clark, who owns South Street Pharmacy, has been farming since he was eight years old, doing what little stuff he was able to do, but he’s been a farmer ever since he was born.

“He’s been actively farming since he was eight,” Kristi said. “He came here farming. The day he was born, he was meant to farm.”

It was only five years ago that Clark took his first job on a farm cutting stalks, but he has gained the necessary experience to handle more important jobs by himself.

“He’s starting to get to that age where he will start to do a lot more. He’s gotten to where I’m able to turn him loose,” Jerry said. “When he was a kid I would just let him go out and do it, but now he’s gotten to where I don’t have to stay out there. I know he’ll get it done.”

At 13 years old, Gentry is hoping to drive some of the heavy equipment and with harvest fast approaching, the combine is what he has sights set on.

“I want to plant and run the buster,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to drive a combine.”

There are things he likes and doesn’t like when it comes to farming, like technology and, of course, air conditioning.

“Sitting in the air conditioned-cab,” Gentry said is one of the things he likes about farming. “I also like the GPS automated farming. It drives the tractor for you. All you have to do is turn around.”

At times Gentry seems like an adult with the things he says, but then other times the teenager inside him comes out like when he said his favorite crop to grow was corn.

“There’s not as much work you have to put in it,” he said. “Rice you have to walk. Soybeans we have some, what we call levees — that kills beans so its not really my favorite.”

But while kids across the country prepare for inevitable return of school, Gentry is out on a tractor, riding until darkness comes.

And then he rides some more.

TRACTOR TEEN: Gentry Clark has

learned the ropes on his family’s

farm and lovees to be in the fields.

Taylor Mitchell/The Cleveland Current

The Delta’s Horse Whisperer

Rowe Rhett trains horses with a gentle touch

By Shana O'Malley
The Cleveland Current Senior Writer

Rowe Rhett has been training the Delta’s most stubborn horses for the last few decades, earning himself a highly respected reputation among horse owners and breeders across the state.

Rhett began riding horses as a child growing up in Columbus during the Great Depression.

“I started riding a pony when I was about four or five years old and from there I started riding horses,” he explained. “Back then, during the Depression, we didn’t have any money to buy a saddle so I rode the horse bareback!”

Although he has always loved horses, Rhett took a break from horseback riding while he started his career and raised a family.

“I moved to Cleveland in 1953 and I worked in the farm equipment business all my life,” he explained. “I decided to buy a horse after my boys were grown.”

Rhett spend $1,500 on a 15-month-old Tennessee Walking horse named Emerald Chief and put thousands of miles on it during the 16 years he owned it. After the success of training his own horse, Rhett decided to start training horses for other people.

“For about 10 years, I only worked with ‘problem’ horses,” he said. “Anyone that had a horse they couldn’t correct, I would work with them on the weekends.”

Rhett can remember how he trained almost every horse he worked with and said no horse was worse than “Tommyhawk.”

“A friend brought me that horse to train because he wanted his son to ride it,” Rhett explained. “Well, that horse had been abused by a human and I had never seen one that acted the way that he did. He didn’t trust people.”

Rhett convinced the man to sell him the horse so he could try his hand at training it.

“I am always up for a challenge but I was in my 60s when I got him and I knew he was a quarter horse and quarter horses will buck,” he exclaimed. “I decided to ask a young man to ride him for me and I held the horse while he got on. I turned that horse loose and he went about 20 yards and that boy went flying over the horse’s left shoulder and landed on the ground! The horse went about 20 more yards and then the saddle was on the ground because the horse had bucked the saddle over his head!”

A few days later, Rhett asked another young man to ride the horse but he was also bucked from the beast.

‘The boy looked back at me and said ‘did you see that’ and I said — ‘that’s the second time I’ve seen that,’” he exclaimed. “The next day I found a note on my barn door that said I was going to need to find someone else to ride that horse and from then on it was me!”

Rhett said it took a few years to train the horse and for it to develop a trusting bond with people again.

“After that, he had a bond with everybody,” he exclaimed.

Rhett uses similar training methods as nationally known “horse whisper” Monty Roberts and said the key to being a successful trainer is having lots of patience and an understanding of the horse you’re working with.

“They are so much like rearing children that it is unbelievable,” he said. “Each horse has their own personality. Some of them are timid and afraid and some of them have a strong will. You’ve got to be patient with them. They are wonderful animals and it is amazing what you can do with them!”

ROUGH RIDERS: Rowe Rhett’s passion

for horses has made him the go-to guy

when it comes to training the massive animals.