Veterans Tower Planned for Gautier

A Veterans Tribute Tower is in the works for Gautier. Plans are to build the tribute in front of Gautier City Hall on U.S. 90. (Photo by Verdin Co.)

Officer Lee's Death Reaches 8th Year Oct. 17

MOSS POINT -- Sunday, Oct. 17, will mark the anniversary of the death of Police Officer Larry DeWayne Lee, who was 42 years old when he died that Thursday night in 2002.

Officer Lee, who had served 14 years in law enforcement, was killed when his patrol vehicle was hit head-on by a suspect driving a Chevy Blazer as he was being pursued near the high-rise bridge on Mississippi 63.

Officer Lee was thrown 200 feet and died at the scene, according to news reports at the time.

Lee had served with the Moss Point Police Department six years and eight years with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.

Guardsmen Visit Courthouse Coffee

Lt. Scott White and Lt. Cmdr. Mike Pierno with the U.S. Coast Guard visit Courthouse Coffee in Downtown Pascagoula on Oct. 12.

Assistant Teacher Dies During Wreck in Florida

MOSS POINT -- Assistant teacher Marva Johnson died Friday, Oct. 8, following a vehicle wreck near Jacksonville, Fla.

Johnson, an assistant teacher at Singing River Elementary School in Gautier, was the wife of Deputy Police Chief Bobby Johnson, who traveled to Florida after learning about the morning accident. According to a city official, Marva Johnson had been visiting swith her daughter, Bobbye Jo, since Wednesday.

Details of the wreck were unavailable. Funeral plans are pending upon return of family members to Moss Point. Mayor Aneice Liddell said Friday that the Johnsons have other family members in Jacksonville.

Corporal Laid to Rest 66 Years After His Death

SAPETA, Miss. -- It took 66 years, but Cpl. Judge Clayton Hellums finally made it back home.

Hellums, 28, was killed Oct. 9, 1944, when a German rocket struck his M10 tank in Lorraine, France, during World War II.

He was among three of five soldiers who died from the attack, though military officials had listed him missing in action. His remains were found four years ago.

Hellums was buried Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010, at the Shady Grove Cemetery outside Bruce, Miss., with state National Guard members carrying his casket to its resting place.


(Information gathered from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and some AP reports.)

Breaking News: Wife of Deputy Chief Dies

MOSS POINT – City officials learned late this morning that the wife of Deputy Chief Bobby Johnson died following a vehicle wreck in Florida.

Mrs. Johnson, whose first name was unavailable for this report, was in Jacksonville on Friday visiting with her daughter, who also was involved in the vehicle accident but was not hurt, according to Mayor Aneice Liddell. She said the deputy chief wife’s had been in Florida since Wednesday.

Apparently, Mrs. Johnson was reported to have been doing well after the wreck but died later at an area hospital.

Further details about the cause of her death and the accident itself were not known for this report.

Mayor Aneice Liddell said Deputy Chief Johnson was on his way to Jacksonville when he learned that his wife had passed away. She said Johnson and his daughter have other family members who live in Jacksonville.

Johnson's wife was always supportive of her husband, and attended any and every function that involved the deputy chief, the mayor said. "He and his wife did everything together. They were very close."

Liddell said another officer from the Moss Point Police Department probably would travel to Jacksonville to help Johnson make the return trip to the city, but exact plans depend on continuing circumstances surrounding his spouse's death.

"We are waiting to see what his needs are," she said around midday Friday.