McNeill —
About 50 people from the Prairie Grove Christian Church in Arkansas have been building a home on Joe Smith road to replace one that was destroyed in the Christmas Day tornado.
More than a dozen homes were destroyed or damaged in that storm, and as a result many people were left without a home.
Now one resident affected by the tornado, Lynn Smith, is getting a head start on building a home to replace the one she lost.
Mallory Jenkins, a representative of the Prairie Grove Christian Church, said she and more than 100 other volunteers have been in south Mississippi building two homes, one in McNeill and the other in Wiggins. The work by the two crews will produce a home with walls, roof, plumbing and electrical wiring. Jenkins said the remaining work, including drywall and insulation, will be the responsibility of the homeowners.
Jenkins estimates their work will save Smith more than $30,000 of the cost of rebuilding her home.
The teams arrived Saturday afternoon and began work Sunday morning. By Wednesday afternoon the walls were up and volunteers were already putting up the roof. Jenkins estimated they would be done with their work by Thursday.
Money to take the 13-hour trip and to do the work came from their church’s ministry, along with a grant from a disaster relief organization. Jenkins said the organization has been helping victims of disasters for more than a decade, and this is her sixth year of participating.
“It’s just a learning experience. It helps you step outside of yourself,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said she and her fellow volunteers could be at the beach during their spring break, but she said seeing the smile on Smith’s face was worth the effort.
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Volunteers use spring break to rebuild tornado damaged home
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A private citizen offered helicopter service to assist in the search for two fugitives wanted by U.S. Marshals on charges of resisting arrest and aggravated burglary out of Tenn.
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Fugitives go on the run in Picayune
A manhunt is underway as U.S. Marshals search for two fugitives out of Tennessee wanted on charges of aggravated burglary and resisting arrest.
U.S. Marshals went to a vacant residence on Pea Ridge Road on Wednesday that was believed to house the two fugitives. -
PRC SALUTATORIAN
Pearl River Central High School salutatorian Haleigh Elizabeth Ratliff will speak at the school's graduation exercises at 7 p.m. Friday at the high school stadium.
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U.S. Marshals, local officials search area for fugitives
The U.S. Marshal's Service, the Pearl River Sheriff's Department and the Picayune Police Department are currently searching for two fugitives wanted for charges in Tennessee.
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Valente defeats Watkins in precinct 1 race
Tammy Valente won the GOP runoff with incumbent Larry Watkins in precinct one in unofficial results.
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Deputies arrest meth, cocaine suspects
Deputies arrested a couple on various methamphetamine charges on Tuesday, May 14, following an investigation by Pearl River County Sheriff’s Dept. investigators and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Deputies also made an arrest for cocaine that same day.
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Fugitives go on the run in Picayune
- Sports
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Saints ready to practice with Payton again
Even as Sean Payton tried to make the best of his one-season bounty banishment from the NFL by spending time with his children, getting in shape and playing golf, he often compared his punishment to prison time.
He missed his work that much, his players say, adding that his return has infused Saints headquarters with a fresh intensity leading up to Tuesday’s opening of voluntary offseason practices. - Wildcats honored for efforts
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Saints ready to practice with Payton again
- Lifestyles
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Arboretum Paths
At the recent Master Naturalist training held at the Crosby Arboretum, Master Gardener Susan Swope discussed how using more natives in our landscapes can save us both time and money. She went on to describe some methods well-suited to lazy gardeners. One was to create planting beds in lawn areas. First, mow the grass as short as possible, then add layers of newspaper or cardboard, add a thick organic layer such as leaves, and there you go— less grass to mow.
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- State News
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Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma
The search for survivors and the dead is nearly complete in the Oklahoma City suburb that was smashed by a mammoth tornado, the fire chief said Tuesday.
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Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma
- International
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Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis
Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope Wednesday and chose the name Francis, becoming the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
Looking stunned, Francis shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marveling that the cardinals needed to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome. - Pope Benedict VXI resigning
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Argentine Jorge Bergoglio elected Pope Francis
- Opinion
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Not your mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal
By Rheta Grimsely Johnson/Syndicated columnist
I haven’t seen the Ladies’ Home Journal in about a million years, except maybe in the dentist’s office when I was trying to avoid a television permanently set on Fox News.
Somebody’s grandchild was selling magazines for a school project, and Ladies’ Home Journal was the only one on the list I recognized. Now it comes to the house.
Let’s just say: It’s not my mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal. This month, right behind a feature called “A Country of People Who Never Stop Eating” is one called “Nice Girls Do Get Tattoos.” - Health care market needs oversight
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Not your mother’s Ladies’ Home Journal
- News Distribution Network
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US Marshalls dig through rubble in a neighborhood on 149th Street and Santa Fe Drive hoping to find survivors from a tornado that hit Moore, Okla., Monday, May 29, 2013. Kyle Phillips
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Okla. officials vow not to quit looking until everyone is found
The tornado that killed 24 people and injured at least 100 others in the Moore and Oklahoma City area cut a 17-mile-long path that started in Newcastle and ended at Lake Stanley Draper. Nine of the dead are children.
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Okla. officials vow not to quit looking until everyone is found
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A man check his car on Interstate 35 after a tornado ripped through Moore Monday afternoon.
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Audio: How can we better prepare for tornadoes?
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
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Audio: How can we better prepare for tornadoes?



