Baxterville

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PRCC hosts Mississippi Showchoir Contest in Hub City

More than 30 middle and high school showchoirs will be in Hattiesburg Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5, for the Mississippi Showchoir contest.

Sponsored by Pearl River Community College, the contest will be held at William Carey University.

PRCC Honors Military

Judges will be Dr. Mark Malone, coordinator of music education in The Winters School of Music at Carey and former choral director at PRCC; Michael Winslow, choral director at Mount Zion High School, Mount Zion, Illinois; Jena Adrianson, choral director at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis; and Eric Van Cleave of Lafayette, Ind., producer, musical arranger and director.

Carol Joy Sparkman of the Missisisppi College music faculty will be the solo competition judge. Dr. Jonathan Kilgore, chair of fine arts and choral director at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, will judge the final showchoir competition.

Middle school showchoir competition begins at 3 p.m. Friday. Schools expected to compete are South Forrest Attendance Center, Petal, Purvis, Pearl River Central, N.R. Burger, Baxterville, Northeast Jones, Clinton, South Jones, Columbia Academy, Jackson Prep and Brandon.

Three Class A high schools – Forrest County AHS, Purvis and Stone will also compete Friday, beginning at 9:10 p.m.

The Voices, PRCC’s jazz ensemble, will present an exhibition performance before awards are given at 10:40 p.m. Friday.

High schools expected to compete Saturday are Wayne County, Lumberton, Columbia Academy, Picayune, Oak Grove, Pearl River Central, Hattiesburg, West Jones, Pascagoula, Clinton, Madison Central, Northeast Jones, Opelika, Ala.; Jackson Prep, Sumrall and Petal. Competition begins at 7:55 a.m. Saturday and continues until 6:35 p.m.

Three women’s groups – Northwest Rankin, Opelika and Petal – will also compete Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m.

PRCC’s showchoir, RiverRoad, will present an exhibition performance at 2:25 p.m. following preliminary competition.

The Voices will perform again at 6:35 p.m. before finalists are announced at 7 p.m. Three soloists and five showchoirs will perform again in final competition, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Awards will be presented at 10:40 p.m.

Admission is $6 on Friday night, $6 for preliminary competition on Saturday and $6 for final competition Saturday night or $10 for both preliminary and final competition on Saturday.

PRCC started the Mississippi Showchoir Contest in 1987 and hosted it in Poplarville until Hurricane Katrina in 2005 destroyed the performance venues. The contest was held in Petal in 2006.

After a two-year break, PRCC revived the contest in 2009 with the cooperation of William Carey University.

LaDona Tyson is director of choral activities at PRCC, and Archie Rawls is chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Communication.

Filed under: Arts, Featured, Forrest County, Hattiesburg, K-12, Oak Grove, Pearl River, Petal, Purvis, William Carey, Baxterville, Clinton, Columbia Academy, education, Entertainment/Culture, Gulf Coast Community College, Jena Adrianson, Mark Malone, Opelika, POPLARVILLE, prcc, Show choir, South Forrest Attendance Center, Wayne County, William Carey University, Winters School of Music

Mary “Francis” Blakeney, 59, Baxterville

Mary “Francis” Blakeney, 59, died January 8, 2011 at her home in Baxterville. Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at Moore Funeral Chapel in Purvis followed by burial in the Baxterville Veteran’s Cemetery.

Mrs. Blakeney was a seed orchard technician with the State of Mississippi and a member of Baxterville Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Dave and Lola Madison, three brothers and two sisters.

Survivors include her husband, Pete Blakeney of Baxterville; five sons, Sam Blakeney of Pinola, Dusty Williamson, Kevin Blakeney, Jamie Blakeney, all of Baxterville and Joey Blakeney of Magee; two daughters, Sandy Vaughn of Pinola and Crystal Dement of Baxterville; four brothers; four sisters; 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be Monday from 5 – 9 p.m. at Moore Funeral Home in Purvis.

Filed under: Lamar County, Obituaries, Baxterville, mary francis blakeney, Moore Funeral Home, Obits

Dr. Ben Burnett talks Lamar County Schools; Budget; Taxes; New Schools

Lamar Schools Logo

In an interview last week with PineBeltPRESS.com, Lamar County Schools Superintendent Dr. Ben Burnett covered several topics. We’ve taken those clips and posted them below.

In this clip Dr. Burnett explains what he sees as one of the districts greatest strengths.

In this second clip from the interview Burnett talks about cutting 40 employee positions in the district and how that helped to cut the districts budget by 4 million dollars. He also addresses how the economy has helped the district retain teachers.

In this third clip Burnett talks about this years millage rate increase that will cost owners of a home valued at $100,000 an extra $5 per year.

Burnett explains that the School District’s Budget has dropped by $4 million dollars this year.

The Lamar County School System continues to grow at an above average rate. The District now has more than 9,000 students and 1,200 staff.

The school with the highest growth rate by percentage is Baxterville.

Of course the growth is not limited to just Baxterville:

With so much growth in the number of students the next question is where to build the newest school for Lamar County and how to pay for it.

Lamar County test scores are among the highest in the state. Results from last years tests are slated to be released in September.

Burnett says he is especially excited about the significant increase in test scores at Sumrall Middle School. And he also wants people to know that he is working towards keeping his campaign promises from the last election. In fact, the District’s web site is being updated with the latest advancements.

Filed under: Featured, Hattiesburg, K-12, Lamar County, Oak Grove, Purvis, Sumrall, Baxterville, Baxterville Mississippi, Ben Burnett, County Schools Superintendent, education, Hattiesburg metropolitan area, Lamar County, Lamar County Mississippi, Lamar County Schools Superintendent, Sumrall Middle School