Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
ROTC Students Build Veterans Memorial Garden
BAY ST. LOUIS -- ROTC students at Bay High held dedication ceremonies May 22 for a Veterans Memorial Garden they built on the school grounds to honor fallen soldiers.
Lt. Robert C. Onteto-Sikorski is the first soldier's name added to the memorial, etched into a brick. He died Oct. 31, 2005, during a combat mission for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Ontenus-Sekorski, 33, was a native of Bay St. Louis. The company officer was leader of the Army's 155th Infantry Battalion.
Read and view more about the Veterans Memorial Garden at WLOX-TV 13.
Coast Guard Rescues Officers, Companions
Ocean Springs Officer Missing After Week in Mississippi Sound
OCEAN SPRINGS -- Law enforcement, family members and residents across South Mississippi went through a tremendous scare this past week when three police officers and their companions went missing May 17.
That scare continues today for the family of Officer Stephen Bond and the Ocean Springs Police Department. Nearly a week after the co-workers and friends failed to return from a Sunday afternoon boat trip to Horn Island, the whereabouts of Bond still are unknown.
While Bond's wife, Susan, and mother, Susan Vallette, are holding onto hope that the 32-year-old man may be found on one of the islands stretching across the Mississippi Sound, the U.S. Coast Guard has called off its rescue mission, according to local news reports.
Hope is fading and the likelihood of Bond being found alive lessens each day. Some officials have even speculated that the Sound's currents already may have taken Bond out to sea, probably toward Louisiana.
Another storm that rolled through South Mississippi this weekend further hampered continued search efforts by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and Ocean Springs police.
Media reports said Bond was one of five people aboard a 21-foot boat when 5-foot waves flipped its passengers into churning waters caused by high winds from an approaching storm. They were on a sailing trip that included time at the annual Horn Island Blowout.
Reportedly, the Coast Guard rescued about nine more people from the Gulf Coast waters.
The four boaters with Bond included reserve officer Jonathan Navas, 23, and his wife Whitney, patrol officer Michael Green, 31, and his girlfriend Becky Welch, 37. They spent Sunday night floating in the Sound before the Coast Guard rescued them Monday afternoon, May 18, near Horn Island. They were taken to Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, where all were treated and released by Thursday, May 21.
While at Memorial they recounted their ordeal to media outlets:
(videos are subject to time limit)
Eloi Anthony Guidry Jr.
Lance Corporal Eloi Anthony Guidry Jr. of Long Beach died Wednesday, April 22, 2009, in Gulfport.
Media reports said Guidry, 21, was killed when his Honda motorcycle struck a Ford 250 pickup on U.S. 90 in Pass Christian. He died at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport.
Guidry was a member of the United States Marine Corps and a student at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. He loved family, friends, fast cars, and his dogs George and Sue.
Guidry was survived by his wife, Desiree Guidry of Long Beach; infant daughter Brenna Leann Guidry; mother Paulette Jones and her husband Scot of Long Beach; father Tony Guidry and wife Lisa of Necaise Crossing; siblings Angela Guidry of Long Beach, Alan Peters of Diamondhead, Tyler Amacker of Pass Christian, Tomi Rene Barnes of Carthage, Stephen Jones of Long Beach, Chris Jones of Carthage, Joseph Stelly of Necaise Crossing; and grandparents Glenn and Norma Dore' of Kiln, Randall Snyder of Asheville, N.C., Robert and Joyce Guidry of Necaise Crossing and Barbara Jones of Slidell, La.
Funeral services were April 25 at Reimann Family Funeral Home in Long Beach. Interment was in St. Joseph's Cemetery at Rotten Bayou.
In lieu of flowers a memorial account was established at Hancock Bank in Guidry's honor to help provide for his family.
A online guestbook may be signed and viewed at www.riemannfamily.com
Remembering Varnado and Barron
GULFPORT -- It's been four years now since another two families lost loved ones serving in the military on foreign soil.
Spc. Danny Varnado, 23, and Spc. Bryan Barron, 26, died May 23, 2005, while serving in Iraq.
Both men were from Gulfport, and were members of the Mississippi National Guard, 155th Brigade Combat Team known as Dixie Thunder.
(This information will be updated later.)
Officer Curry Added to National Memorial
GULFPORT -- Police Lt. Robert James Curry had his name added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., on May 13.
He is among 387 officers in the nation and among 199 from Mississippi who died in the line of duty to be added to the memorial.
Curry, 39, died Aug. 14, 2008, when a vehicle struck his motorcycle as he helped escort a funeral procession on U.S. 49 in Gulfport.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Maritime Exhibit at Pascagoula Library
A special dedication of The Maritime Exhibit at the Pascagoula Public Library was held Tuesday, April 14.
The dedication was among activities conducted in celebration of National Library Week, April 12 to 18, 2009, under the theme "Worlds Connect @ Your Library."
The event was sponsored by Pascagoula's Library Board. The library is part of the Jackson-George Regional Library System that includes about six branches in two counties of South Mississippi.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Seabee building damaged during brief storm
The Seabee Base in Gulfport was among locations that sustained damage when severe storms quickly passed through South Mississippi early this afternoon.
By 4 p.m. the two hours of strong winds, drenching downpours, lightning, and reported tornadoes had cleared. The sun broke through decreasing clouds and calmness belied the previous weather disturbance.
Access www.wlox.com and www.sunherald.com to get more information.
Photos at www.wlox.com, courtesy of Navy Base
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sgt. Lerando Brown Jr.
The one-year anniversary of the death of Sgt. Lerando Brown occurred during mid-March.
He was one of two South Mississippi natives who were killed in early 2008, including Maj. Michael Lee Green of Gautier, who died in January last year.
Brown, 27, died of a gunshot wound to his chest March 14 in Iraq, five days before the 5-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. March 19, 2009, marked six years.
Brown was a resident of Poplarville, where his family included wife Candice, a step-son, and his own young son.
A native of Gulfport, he had attended Harrison Central High.
Funeral services were held at Harts Baptist Church in Poplarville.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sculpture honors Tuskegee Airman Roberts
PASS CHRISTIAN -- The well-known Roberts family on March 28 attended the dedication of a wooden statue carving to honor their father and husband.
Sculptor Marlin Miller of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., has created an American eagle tree carving located at War Memorial Park to honor the life and memory of Col. Lawrence Roberts, according to www.sunherald.com and www.wlox.com.
The statue is one of numerous carvings by Miller, Dayle Lewis and Dayton Scoggins made from trees left dead along the beaches of South Mississippi by the winds of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005.
Col. Roberts was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American combat flying unit that fought during World War II.
Follow media links to read articles and see videos of Col. Roberts' family members who include wife Lucimarian Roberts, former member of the state College Board, and their children -- Robin Roberts, Sally Ann Roberts, Dorothy Roberts McEwen.
View more carvings @ www.sunherald.com
Roberts flies in honor of her father @ www.tuskegee.edu
Michael Green Memorial Highway Dedication
Numerous military and veteran organizations are expected to be on hand when a dedication ceremony is held in early April for the Maj. Michael Green Memorial Highway.
The dedication is set for 10 a.m. April 3 at the Gautier Convention Center, which is located next to the city's public library and community college.
Green, an Army major and Green Beret, was killed Jan. 7, 2008, by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
According to www.patriotguard.org, riders will meet Green's family at Singing River Mall to help escort them, along with the Mississippi Highway Patrol, to the dedication.
Hundreds of residents from across Jackson County and other areas of South Mississippi braved icy wind and rain in 2008 to honor Green during his funeral procession along U.S. 90 in Gautier, part of the stretch of highway that will bear his name.
According to The Press-Register at www.gulflive.com, the Maj. Michael Green Memorial Highway will extend from Oak Avenue near Gautier's east city limits to Shamrock Court, which connects with Library Lane where the Saturday dedication ceremony will be held.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Officers Byrd, Gaston Share a Day
Frederick Gaston III Photo of Byrd unavailable at this time
Two former law enforcement officers who had served in Moss Point and Pascagoula share a day that has its yearly anniversary in late March.
Two former law enforcement officers who had served in Moss Point and Pascagoula share a day that has its yearly anniversary in late March.
Frederick Gaston III., who was a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department when he was shot to death in 2008, was born March 27, 1959. He was 49 years old.
On that same date Patrolman Micheal Byrd, a member of the Pascagoula Police Department, lost his life in a motorcycle accident on Chicot Road in 2006. At the time of Byrd's death, Gaston was with the Gulfport Police Department.
Gaston had served with the Moss Point Police Department since 2007, and was interim police chief from January to mid-summer 2008.
Gaston had only recently become a deputy for the county agency led by Byrd's father, Sheriff Mike Byrd. Gaston was on his way to military training in Virginia when he was killed during a robbery in Gastonia, N.C., on Aug. 2, 2008.
Byrd was on his way to Singing River Hospital to see a newborn nephew when he swerved to avoid a collision with a vehicle and was thrown off his motorcycle, then tragically run over by a truck.
The familes of the two men still pay homage to their lives on their shared day -- March 27 -- as well as the differing days of birth.
Byrd would have turned 30 years old this coming April 11. He was born in 1979.
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