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

Tuskegee Airmen honored in Washington @ abcnews.com 

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. 

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.

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. 

Law enforcement join deputy in grief

Hundreds of law enforcement officers joined Deputy Josh Myers of Samson, Ala., to pay respects to his wife and daughter, who were laid to rest together March 15.

According to media reports at www.wkrg.com and www.wlox.com, they grieved with their comrade while helping to guard the Myers family on their way from Sorrells Fu

neral Home Chapel for burial in Samson, Ala., where Andrea Myers had been visiting with neighbors when she and 19-month-old daughter Corinne were killed. 

Deputy Myers' wife and children, including Ella, 3 months, and Joshua, 4 years, were visiting at the home of relatives of the gunman who also killed four of his relatives that day. Michael Kenneth McLendon gunned down his mother, uncle, cousin, aunt, and then killed himself. 

The funeral for Andrea and Corinne Myers was the second held for the shooting victims of Michael McLendon. The first, for Sonya Lolley Smith, was held Saturday, March 14. 

Photo: www.wkrg.com

Deputy loses wife, daughter in shooting rampage

A Geneva County, Ala., deputy was helping to chase down a gunman March 10 when the same man shot and killed the deputy's wife and 18-month-old daughter.  

Deputy Josh Myers said he was devastated after learning that his wife, Andrea, and his daughter, Corinne, were killed along with several relatives of the gunman's family, according to national and local media outlets.

Reporter Tim Guidera provided information for www.wlox.com. 

The shooter, Michael Kenneth McLendon, had wanted to become a police officer or Marine, but failed at both, law enforcement officials have said.  

The mother and toddler were among 11 victims of the shooting rampage that extended across three cities in southeastern Alabama. 

Andrea Myers was visiting with neighbors in Samson, Ala., when McLendon shot and killed the mother and daughter, Corinne, as well as his own uncle, cousin and nephew as they all sat on a porch. McLendon then went next door and shot his grandmother.

Myers also had her youngest child, 4-month-old Ella, and 4-year-old son Joshua with her at the time. A neighbor saved Ella, who suffered a gunshot to the leg. Joshua had hidden inside the house. 

McLendon already had shot his mother, Lisa McLendon, in the head and set on fire her and the home they shared with her three dogs, which he also killed. McLendon and his mother lived in Kingston, Ala., about 12 miles away from Samson, according to other news reports.  

Deputy Meyers told ABCNEWS.com reporters that someone called him and told him to get home as quickly as possible. 

The deputy had helped surround Michael McLendon at the Reliant Metal Factory in Geneva, where the gunman shot himself in the head and died. 

Law enforcement have not determined the exact reason for the shooting rampage.

Project Acorn expands Biloxi VA

Visit www.wlox.com to see plans for expansion of Veterans Administration in Biloxi. 

NOTE: Video subject to limited time period. 

TEXT WILL BE UPDATED AT FUTURE DATE. 

Commander at Keesler Headed to Kuwait

Brigadier General Greg Touhill has been assigned as chief of the Office of Military Cooperation for the U.S. Central Command in Kuwait.

Touhill has been commander of the 81st Training Wing at Keesler Air Force Base since October 2007.  His replacemant will be named soon.

More information about this announcement, made Feb. 18, may be obtained at www.wlox.com. 

Fundraiser to help deputy who lost home

A fundraiser will be held Friday, Feb. 20, to help a Jackson County sheriff's deputy who lost his home during a fire this past week.

During an interview with WLOX-TV reporter Sylvia Hall, deputy Tommy Howard said he and his wife escaped with their lives through a window. He said they lost everything in the fire.

Howard, 72, is also assistant pastor at New Light Baptist Church in Vancleave.  

The fundraiser is expected to begin at 6 p.m. at the church on Burney Road.

Donations to help the family may be made to the Howard Family Fund at any branch of Hancock Bank.

Residents may call 826-3315 for information. 

FEMA Awards Fire Grant to Moss Point

The Moss Point Fire Department Operations and Safety is among emergency agencies across Mississippi and the nation receiving nearly $19 million in grants from FEMA.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Feb. 12 provided Moss Point with a fire grant for $177,683.

The grant comes from $207,371 in Assistance to Firefighters funds to local fire departments and emergency medical agencies. 

The AFG program provides grants for fire, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, and Fire Prevention and Safety.  

Fire Fund established for Army Guardsman

A fund has been set up at Hancock Bank to help an Army National guardsman replace his home, personal belongings and household furnishing lost during a fire this week in Hancock County.

Randy Ladner just barely made it out of his family home on Firetower Road before flames killed his cat, according to reporter Al Showers at www.wlox.com. Ironically, the feline had alerted Ladner to the blaze.

The guardsman is a member of the 155^th Infantry Battlion, which is about to be deployed overseas. This will be the second deployment for Ladner.

According to the news report, the guardsman lost everything in the early morning blaze, including his uniforms.

Donations may be made to the Randy Ladner Fire Fund at any branch of Hancock Bank.

http://www.wlox.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3431451&h1=Al%20Showers%20reports%20on%20soldier%20who%20lost%20home%20to%20fire&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=137600&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=21206633

http://www.wlox.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3431451&h1=Al%20Showers%20reports%20on%20soldier%20who%20lost%20home%20to%20fire&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=137600&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=21206633

Fire fund established for Army guardsman

A fund has been set up at Hancock Bank to help an Army National guardsman replace his home, personal belongings and household furnishing lost during a fire this week in Hancock County.

Randy Ladner just barely made it out of his family home on Firetower Road before flames killed his cat, according to reporter Al Showers at Biloxi's V-13 www.wlox.com. Ironically, the feline had alerted Ladner to the blaze.

The guardsman is a member of the 155^th Infantry Battlion, which is about to be deployed overseas. This will be the second deployment for Ladner.

According to the news report, the guardsman lost everything in the early morning blaze, including his uniforms.

Donations may be made to the Randy Ladner Fire Fund at any branch of Hancock Bank.

Bobby Lee Hayes

GAUTIER -- Today marks two years since the passing of former Councilman Bobby Lee Hayes, a committed public servant and hard-working patriot known for defending Gautier and veterans.

Hayes was 81 years old when he succumbed to mesothelioma on Jan. 25, 2007. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos.

"I doing good," said his wife, Jane, this afternoon from her home in the Hickory Hill community.  "I miss him but I'm doing good. You know, you just do the best you can."

The couple had seven children between them, including Jane Hayes' son, Randy Saunders, who lives in the Westgate subdivision off Gautier-Vancleave Road. 

"He helped me an awful lot when Bob was sick," the mother said. She said Bobby Hayes' death was tough on her son, but he also is doing well. 

"He was a step-son, but, boy, I don't know what I would have done without him," said Jane Hayes.

Last week, Hayes brought flowers to First Baptist Church of Gautier in memory of her husband's death and the Jan. 14 birthday of her daughter, Ardeth Files of Garland

, Texas, who died of cancer four years ago. The flowers had remained alive in the church, where the couple met 25 years ago.  

"They were still in church today," Jane Hayes said. "When I walked in and saw them, I said 'Oh.' It really got me."

Bobby Hayes, involved in numerous civic activities, was known as founder of the Gautier Mullet Festival, a fall event held each October, and now directed by Anna Simpson with support from the city of Gautier.  2009 marks the festival's 19th year. 

Hayes particiapted in personal and citywide clean ups, and was a staunch defender of children and submarine veterans. He had been an assistant teacher, and he belonged to the Tullibase Base Chapter of United States Submarine Veterans Inc.

Jane Hayes said the Mississippi Magnolia Chapter of the Submarine Veterans of World War II folded after Hayes died. He was state commander of the chapter and was Southeast regional director.  

"He was the last active surviving member," she said. "A lot of the chapters are having to fold because the World War II veterans are passing."

Following Bobby Hayes' death the city of Ocean Springs planted a tree in his honor near the WWII Submarine Veterans Memorial located at the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial on U.S. 90. Mayor Connie Moran presented a plaque inscribed with the words "on eternal patrol." 

Jane Hayes, who provided the words, said he husband had lost a fellow submariner, Al Hammond, during October 2006. Hammond was member of the Magnolia Chapter and had provided the designs for memorials in Ocean Springs honoring both submarine veterans and their wives. She the statue for submarine wives is the only such memorial in the country.

 

The Gautier City Council named the city's first KaBOOM! playground for Hayes. The park is located in Hickory Hill as part of amenities added to a Habitat for Humanity housing development off north Martin Bluff Road, near the Hayes' home. 

Jane Hayes said more Habitat houses have been built near the park since it was initially installed by numerous volunteers in late January two years ago. She said the park and additional homes are nice. 

"I know he would have been awful proud of the park," she said.