SERGEANT AT ARMS: The American flag still flies high with Jackie Lofton, who survived four tours of duty in conflict areas.

Readjustment, Life after war

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

“Basically, all it is is luck,” Jackie Lofton said. Lofton, a 25-year-old Clevelander, spent seven years in the U.S. Army and the last seven months readjusting to civilian life after returning from a third tour of Afghanistan — a different battle he faces on a weekly basis.

“I don’t have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder),” he quickly said. “I don’t have war nightmares. I blocked it all out; I’m pretty good at that.” In the time Lofton has spent back in the states, he has enrolled at Delta State University, although he is still undecided on what he wants to do in the future. Like many vets, Lofton has had a difficult time finding a job — even just a summer job while he waits for school to start back.

“Finding a job is difficult,” he explained. “It’s just weird because the army told you where your job was and I don’t even know where to start to look for a job. I can call friends and family but that only goes so far and I’ve got bills.”

Lofton, like many vets attending places of higher education, relies on his G.I. Bill to make ends meet. “It goes towards school and my other bills, but now that school is out for the summer, money is tight.” He recently exhausted his unemployment benefits.
According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 170,000 vets who have served after Sept. 11, 2001, are unemployed — a shocking 10.3 percent unemployment rate. This time last year, the rate was closer to six percent. The national unemployment rate is only 8.3 percent.

John Henry, From the bogue to the field

Farming has come natural for the son of a cotton farmer.

By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current

A.V. Henry grew up in Pace, Mississippi, during the depression when a forty or eighty acre farm was a kingdom. He was born in 1919 only to lose his mother at an early age. A nearby aunt took him in and they lived in Pace on the banks of the Bogue Phalia. A.V. began plowing the land with his mules around the late 1930s. The mixed land sits east on the high side of the Bogue where he grew cotton and maybe a few beans. His son, John Henry said, “From the banks of the Bogue, you can throw a rock and hit the gumbo.”

A.V. fenced in the banks of the Bogue that bordered his property to raise sheep. John remembers the sheep as trouble, but assumed that his father used the animals to keep the Bogue bank clean.  A.V. married Robbie Holloway from Ruleville around 1939. They had three children, with the baby being John. By the time John came of age to farm, A.V. had built his land holdings to about five hundred acres. Some of John’s earliest chores on the farm was to spray the Johnson grass along the roadsides and turn rows during the summer.

Back then they still had some woods that needed clearing. His job was to pick up the chunks, as he called them, and burn them in the fire. John said, “When I was a young boy, I remember plowing cotton and also picking a little cotton by hand with my playmate whose father worked on the farm.” In those days, they had a one-row cotton picker, barns, pastures and tenant houses for labor.

Courtroom moves, gets needed facelift

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

“It’s indescribable how much more convenient it is now,” Cleveland Police Chief Buster Bingham said about the new municipal court building, located right down the road from the police department.
“Just by making it look like a state-of-the-art courtroom, the more decorum we have.”

Renovations to the old social security building have made Cleveland’s municipal court a “Smart Courtroom.”  Monitors located on the judge’s stand, plaintiff’s and defendant’s seat allow court officials to view video without having to leave the courtroom, a task all too common at the old location.
In past years, crowds have crammed into the police department where a section of the building was designated as the court.

“There was so much traffic,” Bingham said. “It was all cramped up, but now we have room and it is operating so much better. We wanted it to be as functional as we could possibly get it.” The new building has state-of-the-art equipment, such as a new metal detector. Sensors and lights show officers where metal is on the body so a detailed search will not have to be conducted. Sensors, alarms, reinforced holding cells and waiting rooms for the officers or attorneys are also new.

Court is held twice a week, sometimes three times. “This building makes it a lot easier,” Bingham said. “We have a few little kinks that we have to get used to, but that’s because it’s a new building.”
The chief converted the old courtroom into a roll call room/training/processing room, whichever is needed. Bingham said the added space will help out the department tremendously and has already made things more efficient. He plans on cleaning up the police department, getting a fresh coat of paint, and possibly do slight remodeling in the near future.

KC’s is rolling

Rice finds new purpose in the Mississippi Delta

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

Twice a month, KC’s Restaurant in Cleveland has sushi night, which has proven quite popular and tasty.
“It’s more a niche market than anything,” Don Joe, co-owner of the restaurant with his family, said. “Either we find people that love it or ones that won’t even touch it.”

On Tuesday, orders rushed in for traditional and exotic rolls before the restaurant even opened its gates.
The handmade rolls varied from crunchy shrimp to spicy tuna, surf and turf to nigiri — all made fresh to order in the kitchen. “Some of them are kind of traditional and others are updated contemporary,” Wally Joe said. “We have rolls for the novice — not too scary — and rolls for the adventurous.”
The process begins by adding “sticky rice” to a seaweed wrap. The rice, according to the Joes, is the most important ingredient for a sushi roll.

“It’s got to be a particular kind of rice, Japanese Sticky Rice,” Don said. “It’s a little bit sweeter than your normal rice, and actually sushi is mainly about the rice and not the fish.” From there, the fish and vegetables are added. Carrots and avocado are traditional choices to complement the tuna, salmon, fried shrimp etc. “Sushi is not going to be all raw. We have some fish that is cooked so people don’t have to worry about eating raw fish if they want to try some,” Wally said.

A roll contains anywhere between six and eight pieces and is generally served with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. According to Don, the pickled ginger cleanses the palette in between pieces and also kills off parasitics in the mouth. They recommend mixing a little bit of wasabi, which gives the sushi a bit of a kick, to the soy sauce for the perfect dipping combination.

Taylor Roberts

Illinois whitetail hunts, no bullets needed, just a bow

By Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current

Pharmacist and advid hunter, Taylor Roberts, and a group of his friends go bow hunting for big whitetail every year in southern Illinois. When November rolls around,  these guys are packing up their gear for a weeklong hunt with rack potential to make the Pope and Young books. The land they hunt is an hour above St. Louis,  along the Mississippi River where the river bottoms rise up to the big timber of the hills. Illinois has an archery season that usually runs Oct. 1 to around Jan. 17, with muzzle loading and shotgun seasons that last only a few days out of the year. Roberts is an accomplished bowhunter and has been hunting this area for about six years. He said, “We stay in a three bedroom house that has become like a second home to us. We stop in St. Louis to stock up on groceries and everybody has their night to cook so we eat like kings for five or six nights. The women think we’re up there roughing it.”

The land they hunt is made up of a number of farms that may range from 200-400 acres.  One of the first years he hunted in Illinois, he was hunting with a good friend of his who was familiar with the area. His buddy guided him to a location that was a funnel for deer. Roberts grabbed his climbing stand and headed toward his spot but ended up at the property line where he was not supposed to be, so he headed back the other way.

Stanton pleads to murders

Domino’s trial ends with not guilty verdict

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

One chapter appears to be closed in the Leadway double murder case. On Friday afternoon, Terrance Stanton pleaded guilty to the brutal shooting deaths of storeowner Alfred Quong and store clerk Sophia Jung. Stanton accepted a plea bargain, which likely spared him the death penalty, although his sentencing has been deferred until further notice and the Bolivar County District Attorney’s office offered no comment.

Stanton was arrested shortly after the Sept. 19, 2007, murders along with Josh King, both of Shaw. King, a minor at the time of the shootings, is also charged with capital murder, although the state cannot seek the death penalty in his case. His trial is slated for the fall term.