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Leland Speakes - Sitting on top of the world
By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer
Leland Speakes of Cleveland is known for achieving many firsts. He was first to fly new jets during the Korean War and the first from Mississippi to get a “Grand Slam” in sheep hunting. A Grand Slam is a term coined by Jack O’Conner, Outdoor Life Magazine writer and renown hunter, which denotes killing a Dall Ram sheep, a Stone Ram sheep, a Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep and a Desert Bighorn sheep all which reside above the tree line in the mountains of North America.
Speakes considers the latter to be one of his best firsts. He has always been an avid hunter of all types of game.
In 1963, he and his hunting partner, Charlie Gephart, began dreaming of going on a mixed bag hunt with the main goal of killing a sheep. After much research, they decided to go with a guiding outfit in the Cassiar Mountains of British Columbia. |
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Bill O'Neal, The Consummate Farmer
By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer
As with many planters, farmers must make family sacrifices during the growing season. Bill O’Neal is no different-but happy is the person who loves their work. Presently, O’Neal manages 8,300 acres for Allendale Farms and K & G Farms, located north of Shelby.
O’Neal grew up on a close-knit family farm in Delhi, Louisiana. As a child, he spent many hours with his father while he tended to the cotton and cattle. O’Neal absorbed his father’s love for being a farmer and from an early age he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
O’Neal said, “My mother always told me I could farm the family plantation, but I would have to get an education first". |
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Filling in a nearly 70-year-old gap
By Amile Wilson
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer
As of next semester, Jutta K. Ferretti will be a senior twice over. When she finishes this semester’s classes at Delta State University, the 84-year-old interdisciplinary studies major will have 90 credit hours and officially be classified as a senior.
Ferretti did have a bit of a jumpstart on her degree. She transferred in the maximum number of CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests, giving her 30 hours of college credit based on standardized tests taken. She barely missed receiving an additional six hours of credit in German, but not for lack of knowledge. She is a German immigrant. Ferretti has a slight hearing problem, something she has been able to overcome in her classes thanks to amplifiers and hearing aids.
Ferretti’s interest in returning to school came after the death of her husband of 62 years in May 2005. “He always encouraged me to go back to school,” she said. Ferretti did attend Rubicam Business College in St. Louis from June – December 1941, but gas rationing and other considerations during World War II forced her to leave college and accept a job in a company accounting department. |
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The Image Specialist - Downtown print company expands success
By Amile Wilson
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer
Businessmen in Cleveland all know about the Image Specialist Company. Located on Cotton Row, this Mississippi based company provides imaging and copying services for individuals and businesses throughout the entire Bolivar County area.
“We are the local Kiocera and Konica dealer and sell and service copy machines,” explained Jeff Lusk, general manager of the Cleveland office. In addition to handling the machinery, the Image Specialist Company also does graphic design, printing, binding and cutting in house. “Basically all the print services you might need,” Lusk added.
Lusk graduated from Delta State University in 2000 and in 2001 joined the company as a service technician. His wife, Stephanie also joined the company as a graphic designer after finishing Delta State with a degree in Fashion Merchandising.
The Image Specialist Company is a subsidiary of Southern Duplicating of Mississippi, one of the few independent print and copy service centers in the area. “We’re the only authorized Kiocera dealer,” Lusk said. “There is competition in the surrounding towns but we’re the only copy and print shop in Cleveland and the only one in the area that is Mississippi owned and operated.” |
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United We Stand - Country welcomes newest citizens
By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor
Tears flowed on the Delta State University quadrangle Friday morning — tears of joy. A naturalization ceremony was held for 111 candidates for citizenship. They represented 38 different countries. History was also made on the DSU campus, marking the third time in state history that the naturalization ceremony took place outside of a federal courthouse. In September, approximately 200 candidates were naturalized at the University of Mississippi and three months later 150 participated in a similar ceremony on the Mississippi University for Women campus.
Presiding over the ceremony was the Honorable W. Allen Pepper Jr., United States District Judge, who welcomed all of the candidates as future citizens of the country. An audience of a nearly 250, complete with U.S. Marshals, witnessed the Oath of Citizenship.
“It is a wonderful and heartwarming ceremony that is an important highlight in the lives of these new citizens, many of whom have great stories about their journey to become citizens of the United States,” David Crews, U.S. District Court clerk, said.
Noted professor, author, theologian and world traveler, Dr. Macklyn Hubble, shared stories of his travels and experiences with different cultures to the crowd and stressed that diversity is what makes the U.S. unique. After the ceremony, the new citizens were given goodie bags created by different chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames throughout the Delta region. The bags were a welcome gift for the new citizens.
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City voter rolls need purged thousands who have moved, died clutter list
By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor
and Mark H. Stowers
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer
With a city population that hit 13,841 in the last census, the city’s voting rolls currently contain 13,025 names. And according to City Clerk Wendy McClain, that’s a little bit off.
“The rolls are at least twice what they should be,” she said. “The main problem is that people move and don’t remove themselves.”
Michael Tims with the city’s election commission said, “There has been no standard in the past years. There has just been duplication.”
Like McClain, Tims pointed out that residents changing addresses and not notifying the proper officials have really cluttered the rolls and made it difficult for the commission.
“There’s no personal responsibility when it comes to going and changing your address when you move,” he explained. “It’s not fair to the citizens — it’s not fair to the candidates. |
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