WATER VALLEY – Yalobusha County’s unemployment reached 16.4 percent in May, the highest rate in 22 years.     In late 1986, unemployment in the county topped out at 21.1 percent before dropping to 7.5 percent by the end of 1987.     The current rate is double that of a year ago when unemployment for May…

All City of Water Valley offices and departments will be closed Friday, July 3, 2009 for the Fourth of July holiday. Commercial garbage route will run Friday.

Staff Report     Mississippi State Trooper Rodney Williams moved to Water Valley last year, purchasing a brand new house on Wood Street. This June, U.S.D.A. Rural Development recognized Williams for becoming a new homeowner in conjunction with National Home Ownership Month.     Williams came to Water Valley from Clarksdale, where he was renting a home.…

The award was presented to WVMSA Director Mickey Howley at the annual MMSA luncheon held Thursday, June 25, in Jackson. The goal of the project was to “clean, paint, and polish up Duncan Street’s appearance,” Howley said. Volunteers ranging from business owners, high school students, church groups and WVMSA members worked four Saturdays in October…

Sellers Calls Yalobusha Home Staff Report OXFORD- Calvin Sellers, chief of police at the University of Mississippi and a former Yalobusha County resident, has been named president of the Mississippi Campus Law Enforcement Officers Association. Sellers, a member of the association for more than 20 years, said he’s seen the good MCLEOA does in helping…

Volunteers from the Fuller Center for Housing have completed nine housing upgrade projects in Yalobusha County during the past year and another is in progress. Locations include four in Coffeeville, two in Water Valley, two in Oakland, one in Tillatoba, and one in the Airmount Community. Working on the home of Emma Jean Benson near…

Music in the Park – The band “Soule” wasn’t able to perform for what was to be the final Music in the Park on June 12 due to stormy weather, according to Bennett Hill, president of the Water Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. So, the band will be downtown at the pavilion in Railroad Park…

Staff Report BILOXI – The North Mississippi Herald won seven awards – including two for first place – in the 2008 Better Newspaper Contest sponsored by the Mississippi Press Association. The awards were announced this weekend at the 143rd annual MPA convention in Biloxi. The Herald staff took first place in the Special Section category…

By David HowellEditor WATER VALLEY – Supervisors have adopted a job description defining the duties of the now vacant civil defense director post but postponed a decision on how to proceed with the hiring process. The discussion came during a recessed meeting held Monday in Water Valley.     The position was vacated June 12 after…

By Jack GurnerReporter WATER VALLEY – It’s so hot and so dry a fisherman complained of finding a tick on a catfish. The seasons changed this past weekend. But, with temperatures already in the high 90s, not many people seem to notice the summer solstice. Most were too busy sweating. Saturday at the Crawford Sports…