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P.O. Box 729-110 Pt. Gibson St. - Raymond, MS 39154
(601) 783-2441

Sitting down to a bountiful lunch on Easter Sunday has been an American tradition for decades. However, for many, it can be a stressful day, juggling church services, family time and other activities with cooking a special meal complete with an often-tricky baked ham.

But it really doesn’t have to be a meal you dread. Believe it or not, ham can be cooked in a Crockpot the night before or while you’re attending church or tending to other things. And sides and desserts can be prepared quickly t . . .

On Tuesday, prior to the March meeting of the town’s alders, Chief of Police Anthony Moore announced a number of police officer awards.

Terry’s Officer of the Year for 2023 is Officer John Arnold, who is continually active in preventing crime, helping citizens in our town during times of disaster and bad weather, enforcing laws and apprehending wanted suspects.

The January 2024 Officer of the Month is Investigator Kenneth Short. Investigator Short’s examinations have resulted in seven felo . . .

A few months ago, when she was still alive, my wife and I were sitting in the local hospital waiting room. I was scheduled for follow-up tests after an earlier heart attack, but as usual there was going to be quite a wait. I don’t stick my nose in my phone as many do, but I enjoy people watching. Not being judgmental, but studying people.

I once read that we all, at one time, become invisible to the world. As I studied people in groups of five that day, I pondered which would be deemed as inv . . .

There is a storm raging in Paradise, with some plants causing real problems, one raindrop at a time. Starting in our own yards.

Past week or so, towns and countryside have been awash in a surfeit of beauty, fragrance, pollinators, and more. A lot goes hand-in-hand, like how hummingbirds are lured northward by an unfolding cascade of red buckeyes.

Here is the problem. Though most garden plants are beautiful, useful, and even beneficial, some easily escape cultivation as their digested fruit . . .

Jonathan Tate Reeves, you are by all accounts a gentleman and a scholar. You are a graduate of Millsaps College, which prepares you to be both. You’re from high-quality people.

I know you consider yourself a Christian. I attended Jackson’s Galloway United Methodist Church with you in the early-to-mid 2000’s. You contributed in myriad ways to that sacred place.

But, Mr. Reeves, I remain disappointed in your decision not to expand the Medicaid health insurance program for our most vulnerable c . . .

I bring this book, by Gary Chapman, to your attention because it may be of some help if you are in a relationship with another person. I’m not sure if pets count. These five suggestions are supposed to help your relationship, marriage, whatever. You choose the one that fits you and the one that fits your partner and you each work on those. By the way, they are not the Five Love Questions… Where’s my socks? What’s for Dinner? Did you put gas in the car? Why is the light bill so high? Is Monday a . . .

Churches, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations in central Mississippi have a dynamic new avenue to help spread the word about their objectives and grow their brand through traditional and social media.

Big River Strategies, a student-driven public relations agency springing from the Department of Communication at Mississippi College, began accepting clients last fall. The firm’s tagline: “Communicating What Matters to Who Matters.”

According to Reid Vance, associate professor and ch . . .

“Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to
distort the gospel of Christ.”
(Galatians 1:7)

When one looks at a Rubik’s cube, the difference between well-ordered and a complete mess is not the addition nor subtraction of any single block; the difference is in distortion. From a man who has never properly solved a Rubik’s cube, I can testify that one wrong turn can lead to a world of hurt. That world is the one of which Paul enters in Galatia. These fals . . .

Spring is coming and the Raymond Public Library is offering some new programs for the month of March. A Mental Wellness program is being offered on March 20 at 2:00 p.m. Also, a program titled “What Do I Do?” First Aid Training with Jim Pollard MS, NRP, which will focus on First Aid will be held March 25th at 1:30 p.m.

2024 New Year’s Resolution Series, health care program will be held March 20 at 2:00 p.m. Latina Williams and Scott Hohmann will host a presentation on personal self-care an . . .

A shiny new space with blue skies, a rainbow and interactive digital boards for games, puzzles and drawing is now open for patients in the state’s only children’s hospital thanks to Laughs 4 Life.

The perennially sold-out comedy shows in Hattiesburg raised over $200,000 to create the Laughs 4 Life Smile Room on the fifth floor of Children’s of Mississippi’s Batson Tower. The renovated activity room will be staffed by child life specialists skilled in helping children cope with the challenges . . .

This week in our town, we have two deaths to report, and these departed have been members of two of the old families from this part of the county. We send our heartfelt condolences to the living members of these two families. Following are the obituaries of Ervin Lewis and Glenn Yarbrough.
Ervin Morris Lewis (April 5, 1941 — January 1, 2024)

Ervin Morris Lewis passed away January 1, 2024 at Baptist Hospital in Jackson. He was born on April 5, 1941 to Thomas Lewis and Ollie Riley Lewis of T . . .

“To the churches of Galatia:”
(Galatians 1:2)

When we read Paul’s letters, a different shade of Paul arises. When we read Philippians, we read of an encouraging and joyful Pastor Paul. When we read Romans, we read Pastor Paul the logician, defining the gospel with utmost clarity. But when we read Galatians, we read of a fiery, fist-pounding Pastor Paul. He bypasses any word of thanksgiving and precedes to pronouncing anathemas upon the troublers of Galatia, going so far as to tell them to “ema . . .