Mississippi balloon lands at local plant

By Staff
Nathan Strickland
A school experiment in Mississippi paid a visit to Vulcan Materials in Russellville over the weekend.
Vulcan Material workers retrieved an almost deflated balloon floating in the plant’s parking lot Saturday. The balloon was carrying a message from a student in Olive Branch, Mississippi, who had let the balloon go to celebrate her school’s 100th day.
Vulcan Materials Foreman Dean Talley said it was very unexpected.
Mississippi student Danielle King appeared to have attached a letter to the balloon to see how are it would travel before being retrieved. The note asked whoever was able to retrieve the balloon to write back and let her know how far the balloon floated.
The note said the balloon was released on Jan. 22.
Vulcan Material employees answered the massage by taking it upon themselves to measure how far the balloon had floated. Their measurements concluded that the balloon had traveled 147.5 miles from Olive Branch, Mississippi to Russellville in one day.
Vulcan Material office plant clerk, Lisa Plylar said the company is going to reply to the message.
The company wants to make sure the student who released the balloon is recognized for her experiment with the message in a balloon.