Peavey Electronics presented the final installment of its 3rd Annual Lights On Afterschool Celebration where Meridian High School student Sarah Margaret Huff, 17, was proclaimed the winner of the Afterschool (not) Idle competition by judges Hartley Peavey, Founder of Peavey Electronics, Bob Saproti, former Vice President of Warner Bros. Records, and Mark Pinske, former Chief Recording Engineer for Frank Zappa.
The event was held at the MSU Riley Center, where the top three finalists, Huff, 7 year-old Holly Brand, and 15-year-old Oshima McKee performed before appearances by special guests singer Bo Bice, singer Julia Burton, and Nashville session musician Michael Sprigs. Other on-stage guests included members of the Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi and last year’s winner, Marisa Potate.
But the most important people in the theater Wednesday night were the kids in the audience, who came from local schools and Boys and Girls Clubs from across the state. The kids had a great time, laughing, clapping along to the music, and screaming enthusiastically (and loudly) at prompts from the announcer.
Mary Peavey, wife of Hartley Peavey, said the competition is held to, “inspire children by letting them see other children in their peer group excel. More than anything, though, it’s for them to have a good time.”
Bice, who came for his second year at the event, met the Peaveys when he was hired to endorse their products, he said, and was eager to become a part of the program as soon as he heard about it.
The event is part of the Mississippi Afterschool Alliance program, an organization which works to create more after school programs for Mississippi children.
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Kids light up with excitement at Lights On Afterschool
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City cuts payment to Watkins
The Meridian City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to cut their monthly payment to David Watkins, project developer of Meridian's new police station, by $9,999 until work resumes on the project.
The order, made during the Meridian City Council meeting Tuesday morning, included a mutual agreement between the councilmen and Watkins to reduce the project developer's monthly consultant fee of $10,000 to $1, effective Tuesday. -
Crews work on gasoline pipeline
If you hear a loud, booming sound early today, between 4 a.m.-10 a.m., there is no cause for alarm.
Workers with Plantation Pipeline will be performing maintenance work on their 30-foot gasoline pipeline in the Meridian area to accommodate the widening of Highway 493. The location of the work activity will be at Highway 493 North and Oak Hill Baptist Church, just inside the city limits. -
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High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
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Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. -
Inmate escapes custody
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Monday afternoon an inmate escaped from custody Friday and is still being sought.
Officials said Johnny Hall Jr. escaped from two Wilkinson County Correctional Facility officers’ custody while being escorted from his father’s wake at the Picayune Funeral Home in Picayune. Preliminary information indicates Hall left the officers and jumped into a waiting black vehicle with a white female driver. -
Citizen’s Police Academy begins today
The work law enforcement conducts on a daily basis is often misunderstood by the general public.
Officials at the Meridian Police Department developed a program to inform and educate citizens on what police do in serving and protecting the population. The program, The Citizen's Police Academy, has been gaining speed for a couple of years since it was first offered. Officials said it shows residents are interested in police work and how it is conducted. - Woman: decongestant brought meth charge in Alabama
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