Tom McCullar, who along with his wife Pauline, operate the orchard off 315 in the Mt. Olive community, says his family found themselves in the peach business seven years ago at his wife’s urging.

"She saw these peach trees on the side of a hill in Illinois," he said. "So she got the idea of starting an orchard on the 12 acres of land we own."

McCullar said the orchard consists of 1,800 peach trees or 26 different varieties, four nectarine trees, four pear trees and thornless blackberry bushes, all of which is surrounded by an elk fence.

"You have to have a fence up to keep the deer out," he said. "The deer can just kill an entire orchard."

So what goes into producing a successful peach crop?

First, the trees have to be planted in an area that will allow water to run off because too much water can kill a tree.

"We had to sell ourselves as rural Memphis," Alexander said. "Trying to sell as Panola County or Northwest Mississippi wasn’t going to work."

Alexander said even though the county did not get the site, Toyota praised the county for their efforts and keeping the project private.

"We were the only state involved with the project that were not yammering on about it," he said.

Alexander said the bit of press that included Como and Panola County from The Commercial Appeal made Como seem like a third world country.

She is the daughter of Wayne and Christina Houston.

Little Miss Batesville will represent the community in upcoming parades and ribbon cuttings around the city.

Nineteen girls ages 4-6 participated in annual the event.

Alternates were Katie Grace Carlini, first, daughter of Phillip and Pennie Carlini; Mary Beth Johns, second, daughter of Jonathan and Beth Johns; and Jessica Grace Massey, third, daughter of Shannon and Amanda Massey.

Also helping on stage were BJWL members Misty Kilgore, the mouse, and Kay Hudson, who portrayed the fairy godmother.

That’s in addition to two new patrol officers who start April 1, said Major Tony Jones.

But the new officers won’t be ready to go on the streets alone for quite a while with a 10-week police academy facing them starting May 12 and 10 weeks of field officer training after that, Jones said.

One officer, a Mississippi National Guard member, has been activated for duty and is at a training site awaiting deployment to the middle east, Jones said.

There are several other police officers who are guard members and could be mobilized, Jones said, including one who is retired but could be recalled.