9 days until Christmas

Mississippi Case Management Consortium

If you are looking for a great end of the year donation opportunity, please consider the Adopt a Family project as an option. Follow this link to learn more:

www.adoptakatrinafamily.org

Thanks and Blessings!

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Adopt a Family – MS Case Management Consortium

www.adoptakatrinafamily.org

Welcome to the Mississippi Case Management Consortium’s Adopt-A-Family website. The goal of this site is to inform the public about families who still need assistance post-Katrina to return to their homes. Use the menulinksto find a family you’d like to sponsor today!

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

Despite a federal law that could improve access to the major federal welfare program for the poor (Temporary Aid to Needy Families, or TANF) for domestic violence survivors, many survivors are being denied this potentially life-saving aid. A new report released today by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty shows how poor state and local implementation of an important federal waiver can leave survivors in severe economic distress.

To read the report, click here: http://tinyurl.com/y8ba776.

To support the Law Center’s work, visit http://www.nlchp.org/donate.cfm.

Happy Holidays!

Saints players to sign autographs at Edgewater Mall

BILOXI

Saints fans, mark your calendars.

New Orleans Saints wide receivers Marques Colston and Lance Moore and running back Pierre Thomas will sign autographs at Edgewater Mall near the Piccadilly at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29, the mall announced today.

The Saints have won the NFC South Division and with their recent win over the Atlanta Falcons are enjoying their first-ever, 13-win season.

The team plays the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night in an NFL Network game, which will be televised locally in Harrison and Hancock counties on ABC-26 out of New Orleans.

CENSUS JOBS

The census bureau needs help. They are paying $14.00 an hour for census takers along the 6 counties on the gulf coast. If intrested call 866-861-2010

Bay & SSC players are top selections for All-Division 8-4A football team

BAY ST LOUIS

The Bay High Tigers and the St. Stanislaus Rock-a-chaws lead the way for area players selected to the All-Division 8-4A football team announced this week.

The Most Valuable Player for Division 8-4A in 2009 was record-setting SSC quarterback Dylan Favre.

Favre rewrote the Mississippi state record books for passing and total offense this past season while leading the Rocks to their first-ever Class 4A state football title.

he All-MVP Division 8-4A offensive selections were RB Kollin Cannon (SSC), WR Brennan Dunklin (Bay High), WR Krisjon Wilkerson (SSC), Boomer Scarborough (SSC), OL Chandler York (SSC), OL Jordan Sutherlin (Bay High) and K Evan Ladner (SSC).

The All-MVP Division 8-4A defensive selections were DL Charlie Goff (Pass Christian), DL Jeremy Forte (SSC), LB Blake Morreale (SSC), LB Skylar Favre (Bay High), DB Elijah White (Bay High) and P Josh Necaise (Bay High).

The All-Division 8-4A selections were RB Julious Allen (Bay High), RB Rahien Lyons (Bay High), DL Tyler Jordan (Bay High), WR Joe Klein (SSC), WR Zander Romano (SSC), OL Chris Frigo (SSC), OL Tyler Cowand (SSC), DL Jack Gibbons (SSC), DL Taylor Thompson (SSC) and LB Brice Thomas (SSC).

The honorable mention selections were TE Marshall Hoffman (Bay High), DB Carl Ivy (Bay High), DL Kendall Island (Bay High), QB Braxton Lafontaine (Bay High), FB Dillan Ladner (Bay High), K Seth Johnson (Bay High), LB Pat Fontenot (Bay High), OL Michael Carter (SSC), OL Cody Gollott (SSC) and DB Jake Lindgren (SSC).

SSC stops Bearcats, OLA gets first Div 8-2A win

BAY ST LOUIS

The St. Stanislaus Rock-a-chaws (11-2, 2-0) stopped the Long Beach Bearcats in a non-division game on Friday, December 11th at the Brother Peter Memorial Gymnasium.

The Rocks treated the crowd for the 2009 Great Wall of Rocks for Athletics induction to an exciting 39-36 win over the Bearcats.

SSC jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first period only to see Long Beach surge back in the second period for a 19-16 lead going into intermission.

At halftime, St. Stanislaus introduced their 2009 induction class for the Great Wall of Rocks for Athletics.

The class included Pat Kergosien (SSC Class of 1982) who starred at SSC in football and track and field before moving on to an All-Metro Conference career at USM in track and field where he still owns the school and conference record in the pole vault at 17’1”.

John “Baby Grand” Scafide, Sr. (SSC Class of 1929, posthumous) starred for the Rocks and venerable coach Forster Commagere from 1926-28 before moving on to Tulane where he led the Greenies to the 1932 Rose Bowl and was a two-time All-American. He played professionally with Washington before becoming a four-term mayor of Bay St. Louis from 1953-69.

Pierre “Forster” Commagere (Administrator/Coach – posthumous) was the school’s first lay coach and athletic director who coached football, basketball, baseball, and track and field from 1916-29. He was responsible for developing athletes such Milton Phillips, Zeke Bonura, Marchie Schwartz, Pete Taylor and Doc Blanchard.

The Rocks took a 30-25 lead after three periods before holding on in a crazy fourth period for the win. SSC assistant coach Billy Reid commented, “We did not protect the basketball tonight despite Coach Jay Ladner having a solid game plan coming in the game. We did not execute but we were fortunate enough to win.”

Anthony Boswell led the Rocks with 13 points.

On Saturday the Rocks picked up a second Division 8-4A win over Greene County 80-17. Johnny Zuppardo led the way with 22 points followed by Jonathan Romain with 14.

The Bay High Tigers and Pass Christian Pirates split a pair of games on Friday night. In the girls’ game, the Lady Pirates (11-1, 2-0) defeated the Lady Tigers 48-42. Jasmine Bradley scored 19 points. Bay High (9-2, 1-1) was led by Kristian Lyons with 10 points. In the boys’ game, the Tigers (9-1, 2-1) outlasted the Pirates 59-49 behind Daron Bell’s 27 points, 19 rebounds and five assists. Dimitry Johnson added 15 points in the win. Stanley Magee led Pass Christian with 14 points.

Our Lady Academy nipped East Marion 45-44 as Kristen Morel scored the game winner with eight seconds left. It was OLA’s first ever Division 8-2A victory in basketball. Callie McNally paced OLA (6-4, 1-2) with 27 points.

Also on Saturday, the Hancock Hawks split a pair of games with D’Iberville. In the girls’ game, the Lady Hawks (9-2) defeated the Lady Warriors 48-39 as Haleigh Arcement and Kristyn McGuire each scored 10 points. In the boys’ game, the Hawks fell to the Warriors 65-55. Zack Craft led Hancock with 13 points.

St. Stanislaus’s 2009 Class 4A state football title: A championship 94 years in the making

BAY ST LOUIS

The 2009 St. Stanislaus College Rock-a-chaws were the 94th edition of gridiron action at the 155-year old catholic all-boys boarding school run by the Brother of the Sacred Heart overlooking the breathtaking Gulf of Mexico.

There have been literally thousands of football players come through the program at SSC. Some were just starters while others were conference or division all-stars and even all-staters. Some even had an opportunity to play at the next level. A few have even excelled and made it to the professional ranks. There have been some great ones that have worn the red and black and below is just a sample of what has come through. I know that I have missed some pretty big ones but there isn’t enough room to print all the ones who have made it to the next level and beyond.

The school first fielded a football team in 1916 and played their first game against the New Orleans Ramblers, a semi-professional traveling team. The Rocks ripped through the Ramblers by the score of 82-0. They played just five games that season and had a record of 3-2 and outscored their opponents 141-33. Their three wins were all by shutouts. Richard Gannon scored the Rocks first touchdown on a 60-yard interception return. He also scored the first rushing touchdown on a 30-yard run.

That season also opened the career of perhaps the greatest coach in SSC history – Forster Commagere. He was hired by the much-loved and revered Brother Peter who was serving as athletic director at the time.

Forster would coach until January of 1929 when he retired from the school. During that time, he would coach football, basketball, baseball and track and field during the year and never had a losing season in any sport. Brother Peter once said about Commagere, “…As a coach, he has no peers.”

In the early years of football at SSC, Commagere would demand much from his players and, in return, they gave much and the reward was a chance to play at the next level. Commagere was a three-sport letter winner at Tulane and several of his players went on to athletic fame there. But, the point is he developed the physical aspect of the student at SSC.

The Rocks scored 110 points in a single game against the New Orleans Rugby Club in their second season en route to 4-1 record that year.

Commagere had players like Nat Tycer in the early teens of the 20th century. Tycer was once called by the Southeastern Amateur Athletic Union as the “greatest athlete in all the land.” He went on to a stellar track and field career in the spring after football and later became a federal judge in Louisiana.

Also, in the early parts of the program there were players like Zeke Bonura, John “Baby Grand” Scafide and Milton “Hippo” Phillips. Bonura later earned a World Series title during his 15-year career in MLB. Scafide was an All-American at Tulane before playing with the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills. Later, he became a four-term mayor of Bay St. Louis. Phillips was a national AAU champion in the javelin and was invited to the Olympic Trials. He was called SSC’s greatest athlete by Commagere upon his retirement. He also coach Harry “Wop” Glover who was Tulane’s last four-sport letter winner.

He won a Gulf Coast Conference championship in 1919 and 1921. The Rocks regularly played collegiate squads like Tulane, Springhill and the LSU freshman teams.

As football moved into the 1930s, SSC received its first All-State football player in 1937 when V.J. Gianelloni was selected. He was also a state champion boxer and later played football for LSU. During this time, the MHSAA was founded and SSC became a charter member of the fledgling organization. The Rocks had to quit playing the college and university teams and play games against high school opponents.

Following Commagere, there have been many coaches take over the program. There have been names like Grady Perkins, Wop Glover, Baby Grand Scafide, Dick Thames, Billy Murphy, Bill Poole, Barry Jones, Vernon Powell, Ken Lyons, Dave Kenson and Casey Wittmann to name a few. Arthur “Slick” Morton was coach for only one season but he later created what became known as the Bernard Blackwell North/South All-Star Classic when he was the head coach at Mississippi State University. Wittmann is the only coach to lead all of his teams to the post-season during his run from 2002-07.

Dave Kenson also defeated a top-10 ranked Petal four straight seasons while Ken Lyons brought the first SSC team to the state playoffs under the current format. Forrest Williams, a former Mississippi State letter winner, has the distinction of being the only coach in SSC history with a state championship.

SSC was a chartered commercial college until 1923 and then became college preparatory at that point.

The school’s most decorated football player came on the scene in 1938 as a freshman in the form of Felix “Doc” Blanchard. He would go on to an all-state career and lead SSC to two Gulf Coast titles and sign with the University of North Carolina before enrolling at West Point. He became the only person in athletic history to win the Heisman, Maxwell, Sullivan and Walter Camp awards in the same season. He was a three-time All-American with three national championships and never lost a game. He was joined on his freshman team by a senior named C.J. “Pete” Taylor who is in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and has the baseball park at USM named in his honor.

Following World War II, the Rocks had more mediocre years than highly successful ones, but the Rocks still managed to put out several solid players. Kenny Wittmann played on the 1958 LSU national championship team while Billy Rhodes was chosen All-State and played at Southeastern.

In 1960, SSC put out J.E Loiacano and Ronnie Artigues who would later lead Pearl River Junior College to the national championship. Loiacano became an All-SEC linebacker at Mississippi State and played professionally for Canton.

Following Loiacano were players like Joseph “Doc” Rhodes, Mike Meyers (La Tech), Joe D. Benvenutti Ole Miss), Jimmy Oustalet (LSU) and Paul Gravolet.

The 1970s gave way to some leaner years but still players like Rick Kergosien, Gary Dubroc, David Weir, the Hoda brothers (Dewey, Martin and Gene) were conference all-stars. In 1980, Scott Senner left SSC and became an All-American punter at Southeastern and later in the NFL with Dallas and Denver. Joe Gex (SSC ‘82) became an all-conference quarterback before becoming an All-American catcher for the Ole Miss Rebels.

In the 1980s there were names like Sean Logan and Casey Wittmann who helped lead Gulf Coast to the national junior college championship. Jimmy Dempsey and Todd Thriffley suited up for Millsaps College while Shannon Garrett went to Mississippi College before heading north to the Canadian Football League. There, he enjoyed a 13-year career and three Grey Cup titles.

In the 1990s, Stanley Chapman left to play for LSU while Bryce Gex, Mickey Quinlan and Johnny Rutherford all played on the diamond for PRCC. Lee and Leo Seal played for Mississippi State and Correy Gex played for Ole Miss. Nathan Middleton played in Minnesota while Vince Moran opted to run track at Mississippi State after an All-American career in high school. Corey Charles added his name to the alums at Grambling under the venerable Eddie Robinson

Cameron Byrne, Jason Santiago, Kris Cannon and Hunter Dawkins all played at Duquesne, La Tech, Emporia State and Catholic University, respectively.

In 2000, Stephen Peterman entered LSU and became a two-time All-American and is now playing with the Detroit Lions as a starting guard on the offensive line. Lee Klein (Air Force/Millsaps College), Michael Cure (Dartmouth), Stefan Sofianos (Air Force), Brenan Gordon (TCU), J C Brignone (Mississippi State) and Tim Kulikowski (PRCC) among many others suited up for the Rocks.

Now comes the 2009 state championship team. Where do they rank on this list of all-time greats? Well, for certain a few of them will make it to the next level. What happens next is anybody’s guess. One thing is for certain, this team is the only one to hoist a state championship trophy. Will there be some to advance to the next level and perhaps beyond? I think we can safely say the answer to that question is a resounding “Yes!”

Pass Christian man finds his stolen car in the back yard of a Gulfport home

PASS CHRISTIAN

Harrison County Sheriff Melvin T. Brisolara reports the arrest of Darren T. Brown, II, 21, 1235 Fournier Avenue, Gulfport, on charges of felony possession of stolen property, an Oldsmobile Hurst.

Brisolara said, “The owner of the Hurst said (that) while he was at a Faye Road business in the Pass, his 1983 Oldsmobile Hurst was stolen. The victim obtained information concerning where some of the parts from his vehicle were located and followed up on the information. During his follow-up, the victim found his vehicle in the back yard at 1235 Fournier Avenue in Gulfport.

“The victim contacted the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and the vehicle was recovered and Brown was arrested while driving a similar vehicle with parts allegedly (taken) from the Hurst on it. Brown was placed in custody at the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department Adult Detention Center under a $10,000 bond set by Justice Court Judge Louise Ladner. Investigator Mechelle Carbine is in charge of the case and made the arrest.”

Suspect allegedly beat teen-aged girl with tire iron

LONG BEACH

Felony charges of aggravated assault have been signed against a Long Beach man who allegedly beat a 14-year-old girl with a tire iron.

Hancock County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Normand said Tuesday that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Dustin James Sterling, 19.

Sterling was arrested two weeks ago when the crime was first reported to the Long Beach Police Department.

Long Beach Assistant Chief Don Bass said the initial complaint was reported to his department, but there was some question about where the beating actually took place.

Normand said Tuesday that after further investigation by both Hancock County and Long Beach, it has been determined that the case should be transferred to Hancock.

Normand said investigators believe the crime took place on a road just off of Highway 603 in Hancock County.

Sterling and the girl had apparently gone for a ride and gotten into a verbal confrontation early on the morning of Nov. 29, Bass said.

Sterling then allegedly pulled off the highway and kicked the girl and struck her with the tire iron, authorities said.

Normand said the victim was a friend of Sterling’s and not his girlfriend.

She was hospitalized because of the injuries, Bass said.
Sterling, who is on probation for a previous grand larceny conviction, has been housed in the Harrison County Jail for the past two weeks under a $100,000 bond.

He is expected to be transported to Hancock County later in the week, when the warrant here will be served.

A warrant for probation violation has also been served by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.