Batter up - Park Commission geared for summer

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

The smell of summer, hot dogs and crackerjacks mixed with the sounds of cheering fans and the crack of a baseball bat radiate at Cleveland¹s numerous parks throughout the summer. As a staple in the community, the Cleveland Park Commission has grown throughout the years to boast numerous state tournaments and even a couple of Little League World Series. Now, under the direction of Stephen Glorioso, this summer will no doubt be like the past.

³We try to make it a family atmosphere,² Glorioso said as he peered onto the empty fields at Bear Pen Park. The torrential rain the area has experienced over the last couple of weeks has cancelled many games, but the director looks forward to another great round of ball.

³We have 1,003 kids signed up to play baseball now and somewhere in the neighborhood of 325 girls that play softball,² he said. ³You have a lot of people from Bolivar County that choose to play in our league.² Since Glorioso has taken over after legendary Parks Director Quinton Steen, he continues to see a big amount of interest from the children; however, the senior league numbers have neared extinction.

The Flying Eagles Motorcycle Club, Easy Riders turned philanthropists

By Keith Wood
The Cleveland Current Senior Writer

The Flying Eagles Motorcycle Club was founded in Cleveland in 1975. The founding members are Leroy Washington, Larry Carter, Leymon Lee, Bo Sias and Robert Johnson. ³We were all friends who rode together, so it just came together for us. We do all sorts of riding, from dirt racing to street riding,² said Johnson.

The club currently has 45 members and is in the habit of helping those in need. They recently donated $500 to the Community Action Rainbow Emergency Shelter in Cleveland. ³We have also been associated with the Burn Center here for about 20 years, and put on an annual show for them,² Johnson said.

Other businesses having received contributions from the Flying Eagles include the C1 Head Start Center and an elderly care facility. ³The club also has chapters in cities like St. Louis, Jackson, Itta Bena and Greenwood, Tenn., and Athens, Ga., just to name a few. This network lets us coordinate our involvement with many communities who are in need of help. If they need funds, we try to provide it. We earn money by putting on riding exhibitions and races, as well as entertainment. Our price for admission to any of our events has been $3 per person since 1975. Every penny is put back into whatever need it was raised for. We want to invest in our community.

Wild about Crawdad¹s - Hunting history told on walls
In this Merigold restaurant, the potatoes aren¹t the only things that are getting stuffed.

By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current

In 1984 Andrew Westerfield started off with a 22 foot by 14 foot shack that he called Crawdad¹s.

It was early in the days when crawdads were becoming popular to eat. There was not much room, but many people piled in to drink Heineken beer and get their hands red from the seasoned crawfish. As with any successful business, expansion was necessary due to demand, and so the story goes for one of the most popular restaurants in the Delta.

One of the more interesting experiences in Crawdad¹s is the ambiance of all the many creatures that keep keen eyes on the place  while you are enjoying your fare. Andrew said, ³As we were expanding things, we had to figure out something to put on the wall. It was all old cypress so you could hammer a nail wherever you wanted, and we started putting up deer heads, mounts, pictures of kids hunting and people who came by.² Prior to Crawdad¹s blazing fire of 2002, the pictures and mounts essentially told the history of Crawdad¹s.

It¹s all in a day¹s work for the Dukes of Shaw
A century of farming and still going strong

By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current

 Around the 1890s, Bill Gunnels¹ granddaughter, Lillie Gunnels, married Rance Morgan of Duck Hill and the couple settled around the Sand Ridge area and began farming cotton. In the 1920s they moved to an 80-acre parcel of land three miles east of Sunflower where the Morgan family set its roots.

In 1907, the two had a son, Noel. Noel married Ruby Williamson in 1927 and he worked his days at Weber car dealership in Sunflower before succumbing to the urge of going back to farm life. He started buying land on his own and started farming outside of his family¹s farm.

Ruby and Noel sired four daughters and three sons and they grew up on the farm. Duke Morgan said, ³Every morning I would milk the cows and after school there would be more chores to do.² After Noel¹s death, Ruby rented out some of the land and continued to farm.
She was adamant about her children finishing their education and made sure they all finished before returning to the farm. It was not long before all the sons had finished college and began farming together.