Pound Puppies- shelter home to many pets

Barks and purrs permeate through the building. Wagging tails brush up against the metal cages and echo through the halls. These are the common sounds heard daily at the Cleveland-Bolivar County Animal Shelter.

The lack of spaying and neutering throughout the county have left very few vacancies in the shelter, but that doesn’t stop the volunteers and employees from caring for each pet that is brought in.
In 2008, throughout the entire county, a total of 1,429 dogs and cats were brought to the shelter — 874 dogs, 555 cats. That doesn’t county wildlife, such as rabbits and birds that were brought in too.
“It’s very high,” Loretta Ford, shelter director, said of the number. “This year we have had so many brought in already.”

The shelter, which falls under the umbrella of the Cleveland Police Department, houses animals from the entire county.

Capt. Mike McCain of the police department supervises Ford’s work, but says that he is involved when a problem arises and that Ford manages the daily operations. He said the stray population is rising tremendously throughout the county also. “That number is growing very large,” he said. “In the south, we will not spay and neuter our animals —they’re constantly breeding and we are so overpopulated.”

Lampard’s Wholesale

Eighty-year-old business keeping up with the with the times in Cleveland

For the more carnivorous of us, finding a select cut of meat is like a treasure hunt. Well, the pot of gold can be found at Lampard’s Wholesale Meat Market. Owner Allen Williams and his staff supply top quality cuts at very reasonable prices. Lampard’s has been around for 80 years. “Ed Lampard started the business over on the Sunflower River and would bring a wagonload of goods to town every day. In 1929 his son Norman took over and set up shop for a short time where the alley is now behind Goodyear and the Merchant Farmers Bank. In the early ‘30s Norman moved to our current location,” said Williams.
Williams began working at Lampard’s back before he was in high school. “My uncle Jimmy Weaver worked for Norman and I would ride in the trucks with him when I was nine or 10 years old. I started working full-time after I got out of high school, then my uncle bought the business in 1978, so I worked with him until 2007, when I purchased the business,” he said. “I learned my butchery skills from relatives who have worked here throughout the years, but the late Denver Hudson, who was our head butcher from the ‘50s up until he retired in the early ‘90s, really taught me a lot.”

Although named a meat market, Williams employs 10 people who do everything from cutting meat to stocking shelves and driving trucks. “Lampard’s was meat-only up until the late ‘80s when I talked my uncle into going to a full line. We sell all types of paper products, cleaning supplies, desserts, casseroles and candy in addition to the meat. You can get charcoal and grilling supplies as well, and much more. We are a full line grocery,” said Williams. Most things you can find at a supermarket can also be found at Lampard’s. Milk, bread, canned goods and the like are for sale. Though some items may not be on display, they are available in their warehouse. “Being a wholesale business, we really aren’t set up to have a lot of displays like other stores, but most items are available to anyone who asks. If we don’t have it, we can get it for you,” said Williams.

Lampard’s runs a route that covers a 50-mile radius around Cleveland. In addition, they sell wholesale goods to the Cleveland School District, Bolivar Medical Center and Delta State University, just to name a few. “We supply catering to all the banks. We do a small bit of business with some of the local grocery stores, but mainly we supply to the mom and pop groceries around the area,” added Williams. Lampard’s also provides products for almost every high school sporting event or festival concession stand in Bolivar County. Octoberfest and the Crosstie Arts and Jazz Festival vendors also look to them for supplies.

Eventually, the discussion returns to the quest for a great cut of meat. When asked what his bestseller in the meat section was, Williams said without hesitation, “Ribeyes and baby-back ribs.”

Rose Strahan

Saying goodbye after 41 years in the classroom

Forty-one years is a long time to dedicate to one profession. It is an even longer time to dedicate to one institution. Upon retiring at the end of the 2009 school year, that is exactly how long Dr. Rose Strahan has spent at Delta State University — molding the young minds that have ventured over her classroom threshold.

When asked about her biggest influence to become a teacher, she was quick to point out her parents. “My daddy was always very strong with mathematics. Although he never graduated from high school, he could almost always solve any mathematical problem that would arise. I think he definitely passed a love for math down to me at a very young age,” said Strahan.

The road to becoming an educator was almost non-existent in the beginning for Strahan as she looked at every possible avenue when deciding her career choice. “After I graduated from college, I never even imagined that I would become a life-long teacher. I started looking for the high paying positions in math and found that I was just not a good fit in any of these positions, nor were the positions a good fit for myself. My parents urged me to get my teacher’s certification and I did thinking that I would always have it to fall back on. I ended up taking a teaching position in Jackson and I have never looked back. I never thought that I would love teaching as much as I have,” she continued.

RAYNER PLANTING: Deep roots in Bolivar County

BY Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

Edgar Rayner arrived in Merigold around 1911 and started working in a hardware store located where Crawdad’s is today. It was not long before he gained ownership of the hardware store and named it Rayner Hardware. He saved his money and began to buy land west of Merigold. Over the years, Rayner pieced together approximately 2,800 contiguous acres, which was a lot in the early days. Jim Meyer, a grandson of Rayner, continues to carry on the family tradition.

He said, “We used to be a large farm, but by today’s standard, we are not that big.” Some land was bought in the late ‘20s and some was bought during the second world war. Rayner began farming while he still had the hardware store. They brought in a sawmill and started to clear the land, using the timber from the cypress trees to build the barns, shops and tenant houses. Meyer said, “Most of the land we have is buckshot. Edgar Rayner didn’t like paying over $100 per acre.” Rayner Planting Company headquarters looks much the same as it did in the early days. It sits along Six Mile Lake, which runs north from the headquarters. The Rayner family never cleared the banks of Six  Mile Lake and an old mule and cow barn are interlaced among the Cypress and Oaks along its banks. Ed Meyer, grandson of  Rayner, said, “We kept about 12 mules up until about 1960.

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