Street Talk

Tsavo East National Park is in Kenya near the Tanzania border. It is a big park, about nine times the size of Yalobusha County. On a clear day you can see Kilimanjaro in the distance.
But, the summer day near dusk that I was lost there, first gear crawling down a jeep trail, clearly not reaching Mombasa, Kenya as planned, all I could think of as the sun set was I’m gonna spend the night in the bush with three other folks in this Land Cruiser. In lion country. When miraculously in the headlights appeared a tented camp, run by a Swiss guy named Bobby.
Bobby put us up for the night in his plush tents and in the morning over breakfast asked me where I lived. Oklahoma I replied, for the last 4 years. Bobby jumped up and looked at me like I was the craziest person on the planet, “Oklahoma!” he said, “That’s so dangerous!”  When I pointed out that we’d seen a cheetah right before camp just a 100 yards away and there was a pride of lions on a hill a third of mile from the camp and even last night a hippo had passed between the tents leaving clear evidence, he was dismissive, “They’re predicable, but tornadoes aren’t”.
I guess what one is scared of depends on familiarity.
As I’m writing this, Oklahoma just got wacked real hard by tornadoes. Something we well know about in Mississippi, also. Oklahoma may be number one for twisters, but we’re not far off. So here are some reminders; stay alert, know what to do when one is coming, think about your plan ahead of time, and be able to re-act quickly. Don’t let these beasts of storms be the one to get you.
Ramona Bernard and Tyler Hill were in Louisville, Miss., last week for three days. They were part of the MSU Stennis Center “Your Town” workshop program. It is a training session specifically focused on small town development issues—anything from bypasses, to signage, to zoning, to recreation, to arts and entertainment. They worked with architects, city planners, state agency folks, infrastructure specialists, academics, and other small town activists. It is a pretty intense three days, going from eight in the morning to nine at night with a critiqued review of their plans at the end. So if you see them, say “thanks” because they took their time now to benefit us for the future.
Margie Johnson will be in town early on June 4. She is the retail expert for Main Street and she has worked all over the country. Margie is the shop local guru and if you are in the business of selling anything on Main Street Water Valley, you’ll want to be at this short seminar from 8 to 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, June 4, upstairs in the BTC building. It is free but what you learn will be valuable.
The seventh season of the downtown Farmers Market will open June 1, Saturday, from 8 to 11 a.m. in Railroad Park under the big magnolia. If you would like to be a vendor at the market call 662-473-6767 or email manager@watervalleymainstreet.com or like us on Facebook at Water Valley Farmers Market