By John Howell
The annual St. Jude Bass Classic will add a concert and other attractions at the Batesville Civic Center in 2016, tournament director Rick Lesley said.

“Y’all open up so many more opportunities than we’ve ever had before,” said Lesley who, with tournament sponsor Tracy Williams of Performance Marine, attended the August 4 meeting of Batesville’s mayor and aldermen. Lesley and Williams had attended a city board meeting in April seeking underwriting assistance with the 2015 tournament in May.

The 2015 tournament raised $240,000 for St. Jude, Lesley said.

“I’m hoping the donation this year will be $10,000,” Lesley said. Lesley said that all tournament expenses are covered with monetary donations or donations of goods and services. “If we don’t get it donated, we don’t use it. Every dollar we collect, we give back to the hospital.”

Lesley also mentioned several well-known entertainers would be willing to perform for St. Jude at no cost, creating a ripple of speculation among city officials and others who attended in the auxiliary meeting room at City Hall while voters cast ballots downstairs.

In other Civic Center business city officials approved a request from the South Panola School District to be allowed reduced fee use of the Civic Center for graduation on Saturday, May 28, the same May 27-29 weekend as the St. Jude Bass Classic is scheduled for 2016.

BCC Director Roy Hyde said that the scheduling would present no problems since people attending graduation clear out quickly following the awarding of diplomas.

City officials also approved the reduced-fee use of BCC for a South Panola Band Concert on April 28, 2016.

In other BCC business, among other items discussed during a lengthy executive session at the end of the August 4 meeting, Hyde announced the June 2016 retirement of BCC secretary Linda Floyd and created a position of administrative assistant to allow Hyde to begin a search for the person to fill that position.