A company spokesman for Nashville-based Tractor Supply Co. said the company is "very interested in" opening a store in Batesville but has not inked a deal to locate here.

"Batesville is certainly on our list, but we don’t have a signed lease yet, which would make it official," said spokesman Susan Morgenstern.

Tractor Supply Co., or TSC, is the largest farm and ranch retail store in the country. A farm supply store, it stocks items such as work clothing, equine, animal and pet supplies, fencing materials, seasonal products, and various tools and hardware.
TSC began in 1938 as a tractor parts supplier, the spokesman said.

Reports that TSC has plans for a Batesville store have been circulating for months, but Morgenstern said a signed lease would come before any formal announcement.

One possible location is reportedly near Covenant Bank and Harry B’s, according to city leaders.

Morgenstern said a typical TSC store employs between 12 to 14 full- and part-time employees.

If TSC opens a store in Batesville, it would be its third store in the state following Horn Lake and Tupelo.

The farm and ranch retail store announced yesterday that it had opened its 600th store in the country.

The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange as TSCO. In 2003, TSC posted a 50.4 percent increase in net profit, a total amount of $38.8 million, the Nashville Business Journal reported. Revenue that year rose 42.4 percent to $1.2 billion.

The company’s Web site is .
 

A phone scam targeting the elderly and promising insurance is apparently making the rounds in Panola County.

Panola Sheriff Hugh "Shot" Bright reported Thursday that he had been contacted Wednesday by two "widow women" who have received phone calls from supposed insurance agents.

The scam artists asked for bank account numbers and other personal information, the sheriff said.

The scammers are apparently very slick with their presentation, the sheriff said, since part of their ruse is to ask the elderly person, "If you want this insurance, say yes or no."

"That could really confuse these ladies because then they’re being signed up for insurance," Bright said.

"We just need to get the word out about this going on," he said.

Anyone who receives what they suspect to be a phone scam call may contact the sheriff at
563-6230.
 

The Easter concert will be re-enacted on Saturday in two performances scheduled by the Como Opera Guild in the sanctuary of Como United Methodist Church. Times are 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Performing the role of Anderson will be Memphis mezzo-soprano Quortina Allen-Phipps who has performed with the Como Opera Guild previously.

Following both concerts, receptions will be held at the Emily Jones Pointer Library across the street from the church.

On Monday, February 27 at the library there will be a discussion of Anderson’s autobiography, "My Lord, What a Morning," to be led by Dr. Phyllis Lewis-Hale of Jackson State University. The discussion program is free. Both the concert and the discussion program are planned in observance of Black History Month.