2016: A year in review

January
Cole Flint was elected President of the Panola County Board of Supervisors as county officials elected in 2015 began their new terms in office.
Sardis learns that its Walmart Express will be among 269 stores worldwide the retail giant will close on January 28.
State and local officials join Ajinomoto Windsor corporate officials in Oakland to break ground for a new rice production line that will create 60 new jobs.
Directors of the Batesville Magnolia Cemetery ask the City of Batesville to take over ownership and maintenance of the cemetery and the adjoining Batesville Cemetery.
February
Sheriff’s officers investigate the armed robbery of Pauline McCullar at her home in the Mt. Olivet community where two robbers tied her up and rifled through her safe and then left, taking her cash, car and cell phone, the latter two of which were later recovered. The robbery followed the death of her husband, Tommy “Peach Man” McCullar in December, 2015.
A Panola County grand jury indicted Quinton Verdell Tellis for the December, 2014 burning and murder of Jessica Chambers. Tellis had been jailed in Monroe, La. for the fraudulent use of a debit car that had belonged to a Chinese exchange student. He was subsequently indicted for her murder as well. He will be tried for Chambers’ murder in June, 2017.
Fire destroyed three business in the 6/51 Shopping Center owned by Mike Fudge in Batesville, setting off a dazzling display of fireworks stored in one of the buildings.
March
Heavy rains in early March bring flooding and road closing to areas of western Panola County. Thirty-five homes were damaged, according to Emergency Management Agency Director Daniel Cole.
Two county fire districts became county grading districts after fire commissioners resigned to allow the county to administer their departments. Board of supervisors president Cole Flint and county EMA director Daniel Cole cited a problem with the lack of volunteers, not a problem with commissioners as reasons for the changes to county grading districts.
Former NFL star Deuce McAlister speaks to a record crowd at the annual  Boys and Girls Club Steak and Steak Fundraiser.
April
The Convoy of Hope extends helping hand to over 1,200 during a day of distribution of food, clothing, health screening, counseling and other services at the Batesville Civic Center.
Glen Martin is brutally murdered at his Farrish Gravel Road home. Three people are charged.
Sardis receives its first new fire truck in 19 years. The bright yellow, $274,292 fire truck was purchased with $100,000 in county funds, $70,000 in grants with the remainder financed through the Mississippi Development Authority.
May
Complete Computers finishes installation of video surveillance cameras on Batesville’s Public Square with monitors in the Batesville Police Department.
Marshals from the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force apprehend a fugitive in Grenada wanted for the abduction and rape of a Crowder woman he flagged down on the Pope/Crowder Road.
Craig Morgan is Springfest headliner.
The Batesville Civic Center hosts National Blue Tick Days, the second coon dog show and hunt hosted here by a national dog owners’ association.
A flyover of Como’s Friendship Cemetery by three F-16 fighter jet aircraft honors the memory of decorated Air Force pilot Col. Clyde Bryant “Joe Bob” Phillips III.
A 56-year-old Memphis man becomes the first drowning victim at Enid Lake since 2004.
June
A man arrested for growing marijuana in a greenhouse in Courtland tells officers he was “experimenting” in preparation for a move to Colorado, where pot growing is legal.
Work begins on a $538,000 upgrade of the South Panola School District’s computer network, 85 percent paid by a grant through the USAC’s E-rate program. The upgrade allow faster switches  and Internet access for every SP classroom, says Director of Technology and Information Systems Jay Sandlin.
July
Batesville Fire Department dedicates its new Broome-Florence Training Fire Facility on Panola Avenue.
Armed robbers, entering through an unlocked back door at closing time, rob Zaxby’s Restaurant.
Macedonia Baptist Church holds a ribbon-cutting and marching in ceremony for its new church building.
A utility worker leads authorities to a large plastic container of commercially-labeled marijuana near Ballentine Road. Varieties include “SFV Gorilla Glue,” “Jack Herer” and “Sour D.”
Ribbon-cutting officially opens newly constructed House-Carlson Extended between Pine Lodge Road and House-Carlson Drive.
Dollar General announces purchase of former Walmart Express location in Sardis.
August
Wreck at the intersection of Highway 6 and Eureka Street kills Bobby Gene Cook, 69, of Batesville.
A high-speed chase that begins in DeSoto County travels south on I-55 to Batesville where suspects switch lanes for several miles as the flight continues. It ends with a wreck north of Grenada and one suspect dead.
Coach Lance Pogue announces that the 2016 season will be his last as South Panola head football coach after compiling a 119-11 record here.
Jennifer Barefoot is killed and her husband, James Barefoot, and sister-in-law, Vikki Barefoot Holland, are wounded by gunshots in an altercation that began with Facebook postings.
Como’s Home Place Plantation holds two-day music and food Boucherie featuring renowned chefs and pasture-raised pork celebrating USDA approval of its new slaughter and processing plant.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Winchester CEO Tom O’Keefe join in ceremony to break ground for new shooting sports facility at Charles Ray Nix Wildlife Management Area.
September
The Federal Bureau of Investigation honors the memory of agent Drane Lester of Batesville, a Rhodes scholar who became the “face of the FBI” during the 1930s as they investigated the Lindbergh kidnapping, arrested the John Dillinger gand, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson and Alvin Karpis.
Sonny Simmons is terminated as director of the Panola Partnership.
Shelia Pounders and Don Clayton are named local event managers for the the second season of the Polar Express Train Ride in Batesville.
Not-for-profit Curae Health acquires Merit Health Batesville and three other Community Health Systems, Inc. hospitals.
October
Ground is broken in Marks for the Northwest Regional Amtrak station.
Sardis celebrates its 150th anniversary with fireworks display on the Sardis Reservoir levee and a Main Street festival.
Country music star Luke Bryan’s concert at John Thomas’ farm on Macedonia Road attracts over 5,000 to the open-air evening venue.
Panola Partnership Fall Forum brings state senators Lydia Graves Chassaniol and Gray Tollison and state representatives Lataisha Jackson and Nolan Mettetal to answer participants’ questions.
The North Panola and South Panola school districts vow to pull up scores in student testing as both receive “D” grades in the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) scores from the 2015-’16 school year.
November
Batesville Casket Company, citing declining demand in traditional funerals using caskets, announces that it will close its Panola plant with the layoff of over 200 workers in March. Not mentioned in the company’s press releases is the wood casket manufacturing facility it opened some years ago in Mexico.
Kay Mothershed appointed City Clerk in Sardis to replace Mary McDowell who plans to relocate.
Panola voters give Republican Donald Trump a slim victory in the county, 7,371 to 7,300 for Democrat Hillary Clinton.
An 18-car derailment on CN’s rail line through Crenshaw scatters tons of soybean and wrecked rolling stock at about 6 a.m. but injures no one. Repair crews have the track cleared for another train to pass through the site before midnight.
The Polar Express Train Ride begins its second season in Batesville on November 18.
December
Batesville Planning Commission votes to recommend for mayor and aldermen approval a 120-foot cross by the side of Interstate 55 near the south Batesville exit.
A Marine on leave for the birth of his child is shot in the eye as he returns from visiting the mother and child in Oxford. An Oxford man turns himself in later for the shooting.
Ricky Woods is named SP head coach to succeed Coach Lance Pogue.
Supervisors hire accountant and attorney Kate Bishop Victor of Oxford and the new assistant county administrator and the likely replacement for county administrator Kelley Magee who is retiring.
“Body found in trunk; no foul play suspected” headline stirs much comment but stands in light of facts gathered by law enforcement officials.
The Pope community was shocked by a murder/suicide December 23. Postal carrier Pamela Williams was shot in her car as she made her route. Her estranged husband then shot himself.
The Polar Express closed out its six-week run December 23, after making 78 round trips from Batesville to the North Pole.