FHJCC Student Government Association President Crystal James (left) presented the FHJCC Community
Relations Council with a framed souvenir from her summer internship in the offi ce of Representative Bennie Thompson.   Accepting the photo was CRC president, Batesville Mayor Jerry Autrey.

Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby has requested that Finch-Henry Job Corps Center (FHJCC) students and instructors be allowed to help with the renovation of a drug-forfeited building on Wood Street for use by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest Mississippi. Darby made the request during the quarterly meeting of the center’s Community Relations Council. Representatives of the Boys and Girls Clubs want to develop the building into a supervised gathering place for older youth, Darby said. Panola County recently gained possession of the property at 104 Wood Street where city and county officers had conducted a drug raid last fall and arrested the store owner. Luster King subsequently pleaded guilty to a single count of selling Hydrocodone. In August, the Panola County board of supervisors voted to pay the back taxes on the building before it was sold for taxes. The building had been operated as King’s Cafe at the time of the drug arrest there. It once housed Thomas Sundry where Mr. and Mrs. Lamar Thomas provided a respite and meals for civil rights volunteers helping to register black voters during the Freedom Summer of 1964. FHJCC Director Cordella Smith said that the center only needed a letter from the Boys and Girls Clubs stating the type of work needed before they could provide the volunteer labor for the renovation. FHJCC have helped with construction on a variety of projects in Batesville, including projects in the city’s parks. The center provides construction career technical training in bricklaying, carpentry, welding and painting.

Panolian