By Donna Traywick

Correction! Correction! I misprinted the dates of First Faith Baptist Church’s Bible School in last Friday’s edition. It will be Wednesday, June 26 thru Friday, June 29. First Faith is that pretty little church on Sardis Lake Dr. in what we call the Cole’s Point and Sardis Lake Estates area.

Mt. Olivet Methodist Church’s Bible School will start this Monday, June 17 and go thru Wednesday, June 19. The theme is “Yee Haw!”

Thank you churches for trying to work together to stagger the dates of your Bible Schools this year so that children can attend several different ones. I know churches spend thousands of dollars and have tireless teachers and volunteers helping. They all have wonderful programs.

Cathy Johnson will have four little visitors from Meridian this month. They are planning to hit Mt. Olivet this coming week and then go to First Faith the next week.

I’m going to blame all my problems of getting the Bible School dates wrong on Plantar Fasciitis. If you’ve never heard of it – good! It means you have never had it.

It’s the most horrible, most debilitating, the worse adjective I can think of, foot pain. I asked my niece, who is a nurse, what causes Plantar Fasciitis. She said “cheap shoes.” Yep, that’s me. The cheaper the better. Then I can get four or five pair of those cute little nothings!

Mt. Olivet community has a lot going on right now. The flower garden at the intersection of Joiner and May Roads is aburst in full color. The Knockout Roses are in full bloom. I believe that intersection is more beautifully landscaped than ever before.

Political candidates, thank you for not putting campaign signs in this area. This is the effort on one man. One man’s dream, and he has worked hard to share this dream with the whole community. He also works hard at keeping the roadside free of litter.

This man, we all know, is Elvage Fondren. Who would not want to live in the Mt. Olivet community?

Something else – peaches are in at Pauline McCullar’s peach farm on Dees Road. If you remember, last year we had a hard freeze (27 degrees) on April 7 and 8. She lost her entire crop. She says the crop this year has been exceeding expectations. Who wouldn’t want to live in Mt. Olivet and each peach ice cream?

I was so disappointed that I could not go to Terza Methodist last Sunday. Calvin Land asked me to come and play because their piano player had surgery. Calvin, I was still flat on my back Sunday.

I love playing at Terza. Although the church is small they have some good singers and great acoustics. If those walls could talk they would tell us about all the great singers that have passed through the doors.

Our prayers go out to the piano player (I failed to get her name) and to Marsha Land Kilpatrick, daughter of Calvin, who is going through treatment at this time.

This Sunday is Father’s Day. Mt. Olivet Church will give tribute to all fathers. Ten-year-old Reanah Thetford will honor fathers by singing “Daddy’s Hands” and “Through my Daddy’s Eyes.”

She is an honor student at Batesville Intermediate School.

I have not forgotten the levee that broke at Hwy. 315 and the Mike Lovelace property (the backwaters of the Palmertree and Childs-Hartman properties). I had a meeting last week with Terry Myers, head of the National Resources Conservation Service office in Panola County.

All that he can tell us at this point is that four engineers from the NRCS in Texas have been here and are researching and studying data at this time. What we want to know of them is it really needed now? Is it going to do further damage (backwaters on Palmertree-Childs-Hartman)? Will there by any type of compensation if there is damage?

When all of this data is in then it must go before Congress and they must find the money for any upgrades. Money is the issue. Roughly 60 years ago it was built as a flood control measure to help further down Hotophia and on into the Tallahatchie River.

Farming methods have also changed somewhat – more rice, more soybeans. Many people who have moved into this area since the dam (watershed) was built and have had damage done because the levee broke wrongly think that it was built for recreational purposes.

It may take years to get this data and money if there is any.

Then I guess we can see for ourselves if there is any flooding. That’s about the best way, don’t you think? You won’t see any bulldozers anytime soon out here.

Terza, Cold Springs, and areas between call me with your news! Home phone is 563-1742 and cell is 901-828-8824. I get texts, too!