A letter mailed September 7 gave Crenshaw Mayor Sylvester Reed notice that the Mississippi Department of Health (MDH) had received no water samples during August, Melissa Parker confirmed Friday.

Parker is MHD Director of Compliance and Monitoring. Her letter gave notice that the Crenshaw "water supply failed to comply with the bacteriological sampling requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act," during August.

The letter also contradicts what Mayor Reed told alderman David Whitsell during the October 3 meeting of the Crenshaw mayor and aldermen. Whitsell asked the mayor if the town’s water was being tested.

Reed replied that the samples were being taken.

Whitsell’s question was prompted by a letter from former Crenshaw maintenance worker Jimmy Frazier.

"I have received a letter from the state health department showing that there have not been any water samples taken," Frazier wrote the mayor and aldermen on October 1.

Frazier was notified by MDH because he had been the town’s certified water operator until his resignation in July.

Last week an undated letter on the Town of Crenshaw letterhead was posted around the town giving notice about the lack of sampling during August. It was signed by Mayor Reed. Parker’s September 7 letter instructed the town to "provide public notice to persons served within 30 days."

MDH Region I engineer Jeff Williams said that no samples were submitted in August and a sample collected on September 28 was held too long before being brought to the health office in Batesville for overnight shipment to Jackson for testing.

On October 6, samples from two locations in Crenshaw were collected by town employee Larry Cotton and correctly submitted to MDH. The samples showed good water, according to the test results.

Amy D. Byars has been named principal in the William H. Polk & Company, CPAs according to managing partner Mickey Aldridge.

The announcement comes in conjunction with the Polk firm’s announcement that the company will soon open an office in Oxford. They will join with Kerry King, CPA to form Polk, King and Company CPAs of Oxford.

Aldridge said the extension of the Oxford offices is being made to better serve current clients in the area and to join the growth trend currently being experienced in that city.

Aldridge also announced that Polk accountant Jennifer Heafner recently passed all segments of her Certified Public Accountant’s exam and will soon receive her CPA certificate.

Byars has been employed with Polk since 1990. Originally from Canton, she attended Canton Academy and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Mississippi in 1985.

She was formerly employed with Williams, Weiss, Hester and Company, CPAs from 1985-1990.

Byars is married to Randy Byars and they are the parents of an 11-year-old daughter, Mary Sybill. They reside in Oxford where they are members of the First Baptist Church.

Heafner is from Katy, Texas where she graduated from high school in 1999 and attended Northwood University near Dallas graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and was named salutatorian and to the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. She also ran cross-country and track while at Northwood.

She married Chad Heafner in 2003 and in 2004 moved to Batesville where he is associated with his family’s automobile dealership.

The South Panola High School Leadership program includes students "hand picked" by their teachers to serve as mentors for youngsters at Batesville Middle School and Batesville Intermediate School.

The high school students must maintain a G.P.A. of 3.0 and were recommended because of their leadership skills shown in the past, Coach Ralph Stallings, the program’s advisor, said.

On Tuesdays the mentors visit with the fourth and fifth graders and Wednesdays and Thursdays, the third grade.

On Fridays the mentors target third grade students who were picked by their teachers for one-on-one attention. The goal is to help improve the students’ grade scores and help in areas the students are having problems.

During their visit last week with the third graders, the mentors discussed loyalty, honesty and integrity. They performed skits and read books with the students.

SPHS students serving in the Leadership program throughout the fall semester include:
Sharod Adams, Camille Ballentine, Jessica Cannon, Tanika Chapman, Wade Cosby, Johnny Cummings, Matt Downs, Ellen Farrish, Jenny Flint,
Kayla Gonzalez, Blake Goodwin, Karla Hubbard, Whitney Kiihnl, Brittany Lloyd, Kayla McNair, Bethany Moore, Chris Patton, Andrea Pittman, Lakamaree Pride, Kayla Swindoll,
Lindsey Thaggard, Elizabeth Tolbert,
Shaatrie Tunson, Allie Ware, Dixie Wingler,
Margie Woodall, Layton Province, Joseph Blair, Alysia Boren, Kayla Britt, Dane Broome,
Allan Burnett, Joshua Cannon, April Conteras, Aimorye Farris, Grant Goforth, Elizabeth Goodnite, Katy Herron, Jennifer Newcomb, Whitney Pegues, David Renfroe, Megan Stroud, Kelsey Sullivan,
John Tapp, Jarrett Taylor and McKenzie West.