NATCHEZ — Joseph Smith of BlackNatchez.org has continued his work to spruce up buildings and the area around the MLK Triangle at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and St. Catherine Street in Natchez, but his choice of paint colors is not sitting well with some in the city. The Natchez Preservation Commission on Wednesday night discussed briefly photos it had received of buildings Smith and other volunteers have painted on St. Catherine Street at the Triangle. “That’s an issue for the code enforcement officer,” said Andy Sartin, chairman of the city’s historic preservation commission. The comm ..read more

Oct. 17, 1958 – May 25, 2024 NATCHEZ – A celebration of life service for Prophetess Dr. Barbara Ann Johnson Minor will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 15, 2024, at St. Mary Baptist Church under the direction of Webb Winfield Funeral Home with Dr. James M. Miller presiding and Bishop Larry Minor officiating. The burial will immediately follow the service in Sunset View Memorial Park Cemetery. Prophetess Dr. Barbara Ann Johnson Minor was born Oct. 17, 1958, to the late James B. Johnson and Rosie Lee Fort-Johnson. She was baptized at an early age and was a member of the Pleasant ..read more

Sept. 22, 1991 – May 31, 2024 NATCHEZ – Funeral services for Brandon James Ford, 42, of Richmond, TX, formerly of Natchez, who departed this earthly life on Friday, May 31, 2024, in Richmond, TX will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 11 a.m. at New Beginnings Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Roderic Lewis officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset View Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of West Gate Funeral Home. Brandon was born Sept. 22, 1991, in Natchez, the son of Joan Turner-Clark and Curtis Ford. He was a 2000 graduate of Natchez High School and furthered his education ..read more

Feb. 15, 1990 – June 6, 2024 NATCHEZ – Funeral services for Willie Deon Newman, Sr., 34, of Natchez, who departed this earthly life on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Pineville, LA will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at 1 p.m. at True Love Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Michelle Brooks officiating. Burial will follow at Sunset View Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of West Gate Funeral Home. Visitation will be held on Friday, June 14, 2024, from 5 until 6 p.m. at the funeral home and will continue on Saturday, June 14, 2024, from noon until the time of the service at the churc ..read more

VIDALIA, La. — A three-day celebration of Juneteenth in Concordia Parish begins Thursday, June 13 and lasts through Saturday, June 15, with large events happening in both Ferriday and Vidalia. The kick-off is a welcome reception and “1990s takeback stage play” featuring famous African Americans beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Delta Music Museum Arcade Theater in Ferriday. The welcome also includes the introduction of 2024 award recipients Clarence L. Hyman, Henderson Cook, Fred Marsalis and Willie Dunbar. On Friday, June 14, the “Parade of Legends” along E.E. Wallace Boulevard begins at 6 ..read more

June 6, 2024 – June 7, 2024 NATCHEZ – Baby Boy Hammett was laid to rest Tuesday, June 11, 2024, under the direction of Webb Winfield Funeral Home at New Hope Baptist Church on Liberty Road. The post Baby Boy Hammett appeared first on Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper ..read more

Dec. 8, 1922 – June 11, 2024 FERRIDAY – Mary Emogene Miller “Jean”, 101, of Pittsfield Plantation, Ferriday, died peacefully at home on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. Services will be Friday, June 14, 2024, at Young’s Funeral Home-Ferriday. The family will receive friends from 10 until 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Interment will follow at Natchez City Cemetery. Mrs. Miller was born Dec. 8, 1922, in Sheridan, AR to the late Martin Tomlin and Lucy Hammack Tomlin. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Ferriday. Mrs. Miller was preceded in death by her husband, William Ulrich “B.U.” Miller ..read more

VIDALIA, La. — Water rates will have to increase for Vidalia residents in order for the town to not be cut off from state funding, Mayor Buz Craft said to the regular board of alderman meeting attendees on Tuesday. “We’re looking at a possible water increase now because we’re extremely low, and it’s state-mandated for us to be turning a profit or else, they’re going to cut funding,” Craft said. “If you’re not charging enough for your service to turn a profit to maintain your systems, you’re going to the state to bail you out. There’s a bill now that says (the state) is not going to allow that ..read more

NATCHEZ—The fate of a request by the owner of the former Natchez Children’s Home is still in limbo after the planning commission held a special hearing on the matter on June 6. Bishop Stanley Searcy of New Hope Mission Baptist Church, which owns the building at 806 N. Union St., has applied to the city to re-establish the grandfathered-in use of the building as a children’s home. A hearing was first set for May 16 but could not be held because a quorum of the members of the planning commission was not present. The planning commission is a nine-member board. However, one seat, which Deborah Ma ..read more

NATCHEZ — Natchez native Bob Buseck, executive director of the not-for-profit Mississippi Coding Academies, told the Natchez Mayor and Board of Aldermen on Tuesday that the organization will open its fifth coding academy in Natchez by late summer. The mayor and aldermen held its first regular meeting of June at the NAPAC museum, as has become a tradition since Mayor Dan Gibson took office. Buseck, who attended the meeting remotely, said the Natchez coding academy will join others his group operates in Jackson, Biloxi, Columbus and Clarksdale. The initial start-up funding for the coding academ ..read more