Hinds County Gazette, Christiansen's Comments

Charles Rather Alderman at large


Gaddis McLaurin Hardware Store
Bolton Mississippi



Jack the Hardware Cat

It is calm around Edwards. The heat and humidity are on the rise, so life here in mid Mississippi has changed, it is still proceeding, but the tempo is a bit slower…and the rains have stopped. The rains stopping that is disquieting.

We do have new aldermen, Charles Rather, is our alderman at large, Leon Goldsberry won the race in ward 3 and Marty Green will be taking the seat for ward 2.

Our Mayor RL Perkins, will be serving another term, as will Ira L Thompson and Wilson Larry Jones, aldermen wards 1 and 4, all were unopposed. I understand the swearing in ceremony for the board will be Monday July 6.

Thank you, all of you who ran, I am grateful there are those who are willing give up their time and sanity in the effort to make our town, Edwards, Mississippi a quality place to live.

Last week, I was in the Gaddis McLaurin… the day Jack, the hardware cat, was having to get his flea medicine on his back….it was quite a show, Joyce was slipping around trying to keep Jack from knowing what was fixing to happen…there were a couple of false starts…Joyce had a bit of trouble getting the container open, then she had to go back and read the directions one more time. Of course us on lookers were captivated by the drama, causing us to be very quiet…Jack not being a stupid cat, he knew something was up, when it went to silence at the Gaddis McLaurin…If there are folks in the store, it is not quiet at the Gaddis McLaurin….

Jack was laying in his drawer, but when he became suspicious, he got up, turned around , sat down and looked straight at Joyce, and calm as anything, watched Joyce fumbling and bumbling with that tube of medicine.

Nettie shook a few cat treats on to the counter…in an attempt to distract Jack. It worked he turned around and commenced to eating….when Joyce finally got it all together, she came over to the drawer, put the medicine between Jacks shoulder blades….Jack did not care…granted he was momentary preoccupied by the treats…but he really did not seem to give a hoot. My cats after they get their meds…they scatter, and any bits and pieces in their way get tossed Up, Down, East and west….leaving a path of fallen and up tipped objects in their wake, and I don’t see the cats again until they get hungry…Real hungry….My cats hold a grudge. Jack just kept on eating.

Saturday, I was back at the Gaddis and the folks standing around the west counter were studying on growing pineapples…wondering if when you cut that green top off , if you set it down in dirt would it root? I wasn’t there when the discussion began, apparently it had been going on awhile…they had computer print outs of pineapple plants spread out in front of them…I really didn’t get the feeling anybody was going to go home and try it….I don’t know what it was all about…Maybe just keeping a conversation going …allowing them to stay out of the heat a bit longer.

I gotta go now….I was in the Gaddis buying stuff to work on my back porch…caulk and a caulk gun. well….I have caulk strung all over the back yard and on the back steps…I tried to wipe it off the steps…I just smeared it and made it worse…so I am going out now, to see if can I cover the smears with potted plants…like in those beautiful photographs of places in Italy….…..we’ll see.

Call if you need me

I am always conflicted when it comes to praying for rain….Just because I want rain…doesn’t mean that everybody needs rain…I commence to wonder…. is there some old person with a hole in the roof and the repair man can’t get there right now?…or a single mother who has to wait until her next paycheck to her roof fixed? A farmer trying to get a crop in the bin. Or a job, a project that would be ruined by rain?Prayer is a duty and obligation and a privilege and a great comfort…..but still not without it’s struggles. Not that God would do what I asked…. Against His will or the prayers of others…but he might want me to be more mindful of the consequences, if he did answer every one of my long list of whinny prayers ……

Life, is what happens to.......

Community Revival in the town square...

Marianna and Jamie.....

“Life, is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” John Lennon,

We in small town America know exactly what John Lennon meant. Here in Edwards, in less then a two week period, we have had three deaths, three funerals, a wedding, two births, a Friendship club meeting, and a community revival in the town square. . And a good number of the citizens of Edwards were in some way or another were effected by all.

The morning of Sunday May 10, Jimmie Lee Fowler and Sonny Montgomery, life long friends and neighbors died within an hour of each other, both funerals were held on Tuesday, Sonny’s in the morning, Jimmie Lee’s in the afternoon. I saw many of Jimmie Lee’s family members that morning at Sonny’s visitation…they had stopped to pay there respects on their way to Jackson to the services for Jimmie Lee.

That afternoon at the graveside service, Montgomerys were there, respectfully honoring Ms. Jimmie Lee’s passing. My friend, Betty Kemp, over on Long wood Drive, last month she diagnosed with acute leukemia, even though dieing herself, mourned the passing of Sonny and Jimmie Lee. Everyday Betty asked about Jimmie Lee and Sonny.

On with the Plans that had been made.

Saturday, May 16 there was a wedding here at the Presbyterian church Marianna Harpole married Jamie Hilbun. Betty’s grandson Andrew Noble was in the wedding, he was there standing with his friends Marianna and Jamie on the biggest day of their lives. Andrew and Marianna grew up together…much of the time on the same block on Jackson street. Andrew went from the wedding reception to his grandmothers bedside…Where Betty was anxious to hear all about the wedding.

Tuesday Kay Turner entertained the Edwards Fellowship Club out to her house, it was a refreshing time, the was sun shining, the birds singing and flowers blooming. Wednesday in the square there was a community revival. Several pastors of Edwards churches, black and white, participated in the revival. I went away filled with hope for the future of Edwards.

Early Thursday morning, surrounded by a loving family, my friend Betty Kemp passed, Betty was able to stay home through out her illness, with help from Hospice her family was able to care for her in final days and hours.

Betty’s memorial service was Saturday, at same Presbyterian church, where just the week before the wedding had been held. In fact for the memorial service, the father of the bride, Dave Harpole with Betty’s son-in-law, Ronnie Noble sang “Victory in Jesus” .

After the service, the ladies of the church served the Kemp family a meal, at the home of Suzanne and Dave Harpole…Where Just a week and a day ago, had been the location of a crawfish boil…the rehearsal dinner before the wedding.

Love to all and call if you need me…

Oh, the two births, Jennifer Stuart, Sonny Montgomery’s daughter, became a grandmother the day Sonny died. Thursday, the day Betty died, Kay and Lewis Montgomery became grandparents again…Victors wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl in Memphis. Life does go on……….

It is also said, that in a small town, “Everybody gets in everybody else’s business“….I feel it my great honor and privilege to live where that is true.