News from the North

By Kay Wolfe

If you haven’t been to a Sardis Board Meeting, you need to attend one. Last week’s meeting was a very informative one with approximately 25 items on the agenda.

There were two highlights for me. Willie Stokes, Loggann Boutwell, and I presented our plan called Highlight Sardis to the Board. Our inaugural project will be the “Adopt a Piece of Sardis” program based on a model that Michael Price and Willie initiated. 

We want to encourage our citizens, businesses, churches, and civic organizations to tackle the litter and other debris problem. Sardis is a jewel in the rough. Please adopt a street, several streets, or part of a street and keep the litter picked up on an ongoing basis. Twice a week would be ample. Do not make this a chore! I’m certainly not. 

At some point, a small sign will be added to give recognition to the individuals or groups who participated Call me at 662-609-6450 if you live east of the railroad tracks to see if the parcel that you want to adopt is available or Willie Stokes at 662-934-4549 if you live west of the railroad. 

Codes have been updated, and Sardis has a Code Enforcement Officer, Coda Medlin. The mayor and staff at the city hall have adopted Lee Street from the railroad tracks to the city limits just past the town shop. We are here to help you highlight your piece of Sardis.

The second highlight for me was to watch our Police Chief, Chris Franklin get several items passed by the board. Many have no idea how fortunate we are to have this man employed as our Chief. 

He came out of retirement to help Sardis. Even though I taught Chris many years ago, I was so incredibly proud to watch him speak to the board, being very assertive when necessary and backing off a bit until the board understood his message. He did a magnificent job at the meeting. 

He married another former student of mine, Amy Hentz Franklin, who works with special needs children at the health department in Batesville. They have a son, John Forrest, who is a Building Inspector in Batesville. He also does building inspections in Sardis on an as needed basis. John Forrest was a student in Patrick Parham’s welding classes. 

As many of us Career and Technical people know, winning the State Welding Award is unbelievable. Those conventions are so exciting. This young man went on to the National Convention and won first place. I can’t imagine the excitement at that level.

Sardis Public Library shares a Librarian with Crenshaw, Charlene Bradford and Ciarte Love are both so knowledgeable and so willing to help you and explain things to you. They are a delight to have at our library. 

My daddy, Roy Girner, was mayor of Sardis when the new library was built. I remember we worked with dad about the correct pronunciation of the word “library”. He would say “Liberry.” We finally told him to just call it the Book House. My daddy was a very smart man, but just had some type of mental block when it came to pronouncing that particular word, as I do with spaghetti.

The Como Community Club met Nov. 10 in the meeting room at the Como Library. Hostesses were Becky Floyd and Shirley Turner. I’ve heard how wonderful the refreshments were and how beautiful the tablescape was. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to go, but daughter Elizabeth was coming to visit and have supper. 

The speakers for the CCC were Tammy Campbell, Municipal Court Clerk, and Jenniffer Stephenson, Assistant Director for Public Services, First Regional Library. She is currently Interim Branch Manager in Como. Jenniffer’s normal territory includes 5 counties and 14 branches. 

The new librarian has been hired and will begin Dec. 1. In house library programs for all ages will resume. Ms. Ruby will resume the outreach programs for daycares, schools, nursing homes and senior care facilities. Virtual programs will continue on the website. www.firstregional.org.

The Como Scrabble Club meets the last Wednesday of the month at 1:30 p.m. at the library.

Have a great finish to your week. Please consider adopting a street to help with our “Adopt a Piece of Sardis. Give Willie or me a call. ” Live! Life! Love!