Local Digest

By Staff
Suzie Poole of the Meridian School District is one of five finalists in the 2001 Mississippi Parent of the Year competition sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Education.
The program was established by the Mississippi Legislature and is designed to recognize outstanding parents. School districts are asked to nominate district-level winners, whose applications are then sent to the Department of Education for review by an independent selection committee.
Three Meridian Community College faculty and staff members will be packing their bags this summer as recipients of 2001 Summer Study/Travel Grants. Chosen for the honor were: Bob Hermetz, music director and teacher; Jo Ann Kimbrell, office manager of Adult Basic Education; and Browning Rochefort, director of adult education.
Sponsored by The MCC Foundation, the $2,500 grants are awarded to provide personal and professional enrichment, encouragement and renewal. Hermetz will spend eight days and nights in New York City attending concerts, musicals and operas and visiting art museums. He also plans to visit Ellis Island and see a plaque inscribed with the names of his grandparents, who emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary in 1905.
Kimbrell will use her grant to travel throughout the western U.S., from the northern rim of the Grand Canyon to the state of Washington.
Rochefort will spend 16 days exploring Thailand on an adventure-based tour.
HATTIESBURG The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall is coming to Hattiesburg Nov. 1-7. The specific location will be announced at a later date.
Thomas E. Collins, chairman of the Purple Heart Committee, is working to bring the Moving Wall to this area. The primary purpose of the wall is a memorial to honor the 58,191 people who died in Vietnam and whose names are inscribed on the black granite. The Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall is a half-scale replica of the permanent monument in Washington, D.C.