Mississippi
How the Clarion Ledger covered the devastating Rolling Fork, MS, tornado in March of 2023
Deadly tornado tears through Rolling Fork
Deadly tornado tears through Rolling Fork, killing at least 21 and leveling about 85% of structures
Hannah Mattix/Clarion Ledger, Wochit
Rolling Fork is a town well-steeped in adversity. The community of fewer than 2,000 residents in the Mississippi Delta has witnessed flood and economics devastate its community before.
Nothing, though, had hardened it for the EF-4 tornado that ripped through the town after dark on March 24, 2023, destroying homes, businesses and claiming 15 lives in town and more than 20 across the state. Wind speeds were reported just shy of 200 mph, and nothing stood in its three-quarters-of-a-mile-wide wake.
The Clarion Ledger sprinted into action to cover the impact to this town, roughly an hour and half’s drive to the north of the Jackson area, at least that is when you could drive at all through roads torn apart or covered in debris. Before dawn, the Clarion Ledger’s team of photographers and reporters was in place.
With a live blog populated by every news and sports reporter the team had, the Clarion Ledger provided the most news gathering of any team on the ground. Our original main bar captured the sweep of the storm that the National Weather Service ultimately determined was the worst to hit its Jackson, Mississippi, coverage area in more than a half century.
About 80% to 85% of the homes in Rolling Fork had severe damage or were destroyed in the tornado.
The Clarion Ledger’s team immediately began to tell the stories of the people impacted, while chronicling the rising death toll and putting into perspective where the storm stood among the many calamities the state has endured. Compelling gallery after gallery along with video, daily live blogs and drone footage helped readers understand the devastation and the recovery. We told readers how they could help victims.
And we turned attention to the area residents’ struggles and the communities’ resiliency, Clarion Ledger staff members:
- Told a tale of coincidence and fortune — that of the local school’s prom, which no doubt saved countless lives. Chuck’s Dairy Bar, the local hangout would have been full of the city’s high school children. It always was on Saturday night. But that night was prom night, and the teens were a few miles away, enough to be out of harm’s way. Chuck’s Dairy Bar was completely leveled. The teens, had they been at their normal haunt, would have likely died. When they got word of the storm, the teens rushed to town, still dressed in their tuxes and prom dresses, and worked to help survivors out of the rubble.
- Chronicled the story of an 81-year-old minister who had been struck by a tornado twice — in just three months, losing both homes.
- Wrote about area residents who wore many hats, including the Rolling Fork mayor who also served as the local funeral director, overwhelmed by grief amid duty; and the long, torturous days of Natalie Perkins, editor of the local weekly newspaper, who also sat on the emergency management agency board the the county in which Rolling Fork was hit.
- Focused on the state of church services, an important component of the fabric of the Delta community, the day after the tornado and into the week.
- In the days that followed, told the story of people reunited with their family photos, some windblown more than 100 miles from their scrapbooks to where they were recovered.
- Explored the challenges of the local hospital, like many others in the Delta, facing closure amid financial pressure but one that saved lives after the storms.
- Wrote about the task of debris removal, the impact of the storm on local businesses and on sports throughout the state.
By the week’s end, Clarion Ledger staff members attended heart-wrenching funeral services, such as the one for 2-year-old Aubree Green in nearby Silver City, which was also decimated by the tornado that ripped through the Delta and into the city of Amory in Northeast Mississippi.
Days after the storm, President Joe Biden visited the Rolling Fork, solemnly reading the names of the 13 who died the day of the tornado. That death toll would rise. Clarion Ledger staffer Ross Reily, who had not stopped all week, was the local pool reporter.
We noted in a separate story that Biden was not the first American president to visit this Delta city. More than a century earlier, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Rolling Fork on a bear hunt, and when he refused to kill a bear that had been tied up and clubbed for him, believing it unsporting, editorial cartoonists featured the president and the bear. Thus was spawned — the Teddy Bear.
Until March 2023, if you had heard of Rolling Fork at all, that is what you knew of the city. The Clarion Ledger made sure that the stories of its people, its struggles and its heroes, were not lost.
Mississippi Drone footage of Rolling Fork tornado damage
The small Delta town of Rolling Fork suffered widespread devastation after a tornado hit Friday., MEMA reports at least 25 dead across the state.
Kentucky has seen 20 scholarship players leave the program for the transfer portal since the end of the regular season. Another one found a new home on a power conference team. Redshirt freshman center Koby Keenum was only in the transfer portal for four days.
The former three-star recruit committed to Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon.
The Florence (Ala.) Mars Hill will move closer to home and play for head coach Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State. Koby Keenum will be a redshirt sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining in 2025. The class of 2023 signee only played 32 offensive snaps during his two-year career in Lexington.
Koby Keenum is one of 11 players in that 2023 high school signing class to leave the Kentucky roster for the transfer portal with multiple years of eligibility remaining.
The transfer portal is open for business and so far we know of 20 players who will be seeking out greener pastures this offseason.
- DL Keeshawn Silver (Committed to USC on Dec. 19)
- DB Avery Stuart
- LB Jayvant Brown
- TE Tanner Lemaster
- TE Khamari Anderson
- TE Jordan Dingle (Committed to South Carolina on Dec. 18)
- OL Courtland Ford (Committed to UCLA on Dec. 17)
- OL Ben Christman
- OL Dylan Ray (Committed to Minnesota on Dec. 21)
- OL Koby Keenum (Committee to Mississippi State on Dec. 22)
- DL Tommy Ziesmer (Committed to EKU on Dec. 15)
- WR Dane Key
- WR Barion Brown (Committed to LSU on Dec. 14)
- WR Anthony Brown-Stephens
- WR Brandon White
- EDGE Tyreese Fearbry
- EDGE Noah Matthews
- EDGE Caleb Redd (Committed to Kansas on Dec. 20)
- RB Chip Trayanum
- QB Gavin Wimsatt
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. Keep closer tabs on the Cats with our staff-only sticky thread on KSBoard, which will have updates on departures and targets throughout the offseason. Not a KSR+ member? Try it out today.
Each holiday season, the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in downtown Jackson comes alive with twinkling Christmas lights and festive decorations. All of these magical touches are made possible by Mississippi artists.
This year’s theme is “Made in Mississippi,” and honors the state’s many industries including small businesses, agriculture and tourism. Back in July, Gov. Tate Reeves and First Lady Elee Reeves’ team chose the theme to honor the local businesses, big and small, that have shaped the state.
April Hunter of Quitman was chosen as this year’s guest decorator. Hunter took over Fantasy Cottage Flowers and Gifts in 2008, eight years after its opening. In the 16 years since, Fantasy Cottage has flourished and become a community staple. Hunter provides flowers for weddings, funerals and everything in between, not just for Clarke County, but for all of Mississippi and even for some surrounding states.
Hunter’s work within the Governor’s Mansion began when she was chosen as a featured florist in Nov. 2022. Shortly after moving in to the Governor’s Mansion, the First Lady began the featured florist initiative as a way to support Mississippi artists. Each florist chosen provides floral arrangements for the mansion for the duration of their month. Hunter served as featured florist four more times in March and November of 2023 and in July and September of 2024.
Fantasy Cottage was set to serve as featured florist once again in November 2024. However, once Hunter and her team were chosen for the Christmas decorations, November was swapped out for December.
Guest decorators for Christmas in the Governor’s mansion are chosen each year out of a pool of applicants. Hunter’s application was one of seven proposals submitted to the First Lady in July. Hunter and her son Cody Hunter worked on the proposal, which outlined in detail her vision for the “Made in Mississippi” theme if Fantasy Cottage were to get chosen.
“We didn’t want to just scatter (the decorations) completely all over and it just be hodgepodge everywhere,” Hunter said. “We kind of wanted each room to have its own thing. For example, one of the bedrooms is the tourism room. Another bedroom we kind of geared more to mom-and-pop shops in Mississippi. Another one we geared towards Mississippi artists — your basket weavers, your potters. There’s a lot of Walter Anderson, McCarty’s (Pottery), Peter’s Pottery and Wolfe Studio.”
On Sept. 5, the Mississippi First Lady called Hunter and told her Fantasy Cottage had been chosen to decorate the Governor’s Mansion. Hunter and her team spent the next two months preparing. On Sunday, Dec. 1, Hunter and eight team members got to work bringing in the decorations. Everything had to be set up by the following Wednesday for a gathering in the mansion.
By 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Hunter’s work was complete. Hunter’s decorations fill several bedrooms, the entry way, a conference room and two parlors in the mansion.
“I believe that sometimes big things come in small packages,” Hunter said. “You don’t necessarily need a team of 50 to get a job done. Sometimes it’s better to have a small number of hardworking individuals, and each person plays an essential role.”
Gov. Reeves provided Hunter with a list of more than 300 Mississippi-owned businesses that have been established or that he felt have flourished during his tenure as governor. In order to incorporate all of the businesses, Hunter made a gold star with the name of each printed on the front. The gold stars hang on the only live Christmas tree in the mansion, a 14-foot tree in the Rose Parlor.
The talk of the season, Hunter said, is the stuffed deer standing in front of a Christmas tree in the Gold Parlor, the room decorated to honor Mississippi’s agriculture industry. The deer, harvested by Danny Joe Jones in 2008, previously spent the better part of a decade greeting diners in Long’s Fish Camp, a restaurant in Enterprise, MS.
After long-time owner Rep. Troy Smith sold Long’s Fish Camp a few years ago, the new owners sent the deer back to Jones. While brainstorming about which decorations to put in the agriculture room, Hunter suddenly thought about that deer. She called up Rep. Smith who told Hunter the deer had been returned to Jones, who happened to be a frequent customer of Fantasy Cottage. Jones then lent the deer, who’s mount had since broken, to Hunter’s team. Hunter got the mount fixed up, and the deer traveled from Enterprise to Jackson.
“Apparently nobody’s ever brought in a deer to the mansion,” Hunter joked. “We did it… If I could have bottled up the reaction of the mansion staff when we showed up that day to start decorating and we literally came in with a real deer… we went pretty heavy.”
The deer is joined in the Gold Parlor by alligator head replicas and a turkey fan contrasted with some more traditional, festive Christmas decorations like the gold pine cones dotted throughout the room.
Among the extravagant Christmas decorations in the entrance, a gingerbread replica of the Governor’s Mansion sits greeting guests. The replica was made entirely by hand by Madison-based baker Beth Hennington.
Hennington has nearly a decade of experience under her belt with her cookie company The Vanillan. In 2022, Hennington’s career took an unexpected turn when she won Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge”. Since her Food Network victory, Hennington’s business has grown in ways she never thought possible. Hennington sold her first dozen cookies for $35. Now, a dozen of Hennington’s cookies go for $125, and as of December, she is booked until next August.
Looking at the detailed work on the gingerbread replica of the Governor’s Mansion, you may think Hennington has a long career of making gingerbread houses. In actuality, Hennington had never made anything like the replica in her life. Previously, the only gingerbread houses she made were the simple, four-walls-and-a-roof kind that come in pre-cut kits. In the summer, Hennington reached out to the Governor’s Mansion and asked if she could provide the replica for Christmas.
“I’ve made several different structures, but I’d never made a really big structure,” Hennington said. “So, why not? Let’s do a replica of the Governor’s Mansion as the first one. I mean, what was I thinking?”
Armed with cookie cutters and piping bags, from Saturday, Nov. 30 to Wednesday, Dec. 4, Hennington said she spent around 80 hours in her own kitchen constructing the gingerbread replica, leaving only a few hours for sleep. She used her own pictures of the mansion and some provided aerial photos as a guide. The process, Hennington said, consisted of a lot of trial and error.
“I debated on putting it together at the mansion, and then I thought, if I have calamities, problems, issues in the mansion kitchen where I’m not comfortable, where I don’t know where everything is, it might make it worse,” Hennington said.
In total, Hennington crafted 56 royal icing wreaths placed on the replica’s front door and 55 windows, all made individually by hand. She indented every single brick with a paintbrush before putting the walls into the oven. The completed structure is four feet long, two and a half feet tall and three feet wide at its widest point. The house is completely hollow inside, and the only non-edible features are the little decorations on the replica’s lawn and some paper on the inside of the windows.
The replica is held together solely by icing, and no glue was involved in the building process. Hennington used isomalt as an adherent, a sugar substitute that the baker called “hot glue for bakers.” Some of the structure’s walls are made from classic, soft gingerbread dough, and some are made from what’s known as “construction gingerbread,” which doesn’t contain eggs so the final product is stronger and studier.
After she had finished the replica, which was built on a piece of plywood, Hennington and her husband, Jackson Fire Department Captain Kenneth Hennington, laid down the seats of her Nissan Rouge and loaded up the structure. She then drove the replica from her home with her husband holding it steady from the front seat and delivered it straight to the Governor’s Mansion.
Despite the hard work and long hours, Hennington said she had a great time recreating the Governor’s Mansion out of gingerbread.
“I’m playing with icing and gingerbread,” Hennington said. “My house smells good. I got Christmas music playing… my house has been the North Pole. I have always wanted to be an architect. I just didn’t know my medium was going to be gingerbread.”
All of the decorations will come down Jan. 2. Hennington said if the Governor doesn’t want to keep the gingerbread replica, she will take it back and preserve it with resin.
As for Hunter’s decorations, the Quitman florist said Jan. 2 will be a bittersweet day. Hunter called her decorations a “work of heart,” emphasizing what an honor the whole experience has been, especially for a small-town florist. Fantasy Cottage sits right across from the Quitman post office in a town with only two red lights, Hunter quipped.
“It takes my breath away sometimes when I think about the magnitude of it, but I’m so thankful and so proud that we were chosen,” Hunter said. “I hope that we have made Clarke County proud and Mississippi. This has been a Christmas to remember.”
Got a news tip? Contact Mary Boyte at mboyte@jackson.gannett.com
From Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Affairs Office
LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) – A woman died from injuries suffered in a two-vehicle collision Friday afternoon on a stretch of Mississippi 42 in Lamar County.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol said a 2004 Toyota Sienna driven by 32-year-old Alaina R. McLeod, of Bassfield, was traveling east on Mississippi 42 when it collided with a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado driven by 36-year-old Harold Guilbeau, of Sumrall.
The accident took place about 2:30 p.m. Friday, MHP said.
MHP said McLeod was declared at the scene.
The crash remains under investigation by MHP.
‘Want more WDAM 7 news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
Copyright 2024 WDAM. All rights reserved.
Ohio Lottery Pick 3 Midday, Pick 3 Evening winning numbers for Dec. 22, 2024
Oklahoma Ford Sports Blitz: December 22
Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon under a high wind watch Monday and Tuesday
Pennsylvania state trooper hit by vehicle in Somerset County
Atlantic Mills tenants form first commercial tenants union in Rhode Island | ABC6
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Trump names several new White House picks to work on AI, crypto and more: 'America First Patriots'
Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10
Who is Sebastian Zapeta? Guatemala migrant set a woman on fire on New York City subway
Fetterman: Those hoping Trump fails are 'rooting against the nation'
AfD party calls for big rally after Germany's Christmas market attack
-
Politics1 week agoCanadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25789444/1258459915.jpg "OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change")
Technology1 week agoOpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics1 week agoU.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25546252/STK169_Mark_Zuckerburg_CVIRGINIA_D.jpg "Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit")
Technology1 week agoMeta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
-
Business1 week agoFreddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23951353/STK043_VRG_Illo_N_Barclay_3_Meta.jpg "Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age")
Technology1 week agoMeta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age
-
News1 week agoEast’s wintry mix could make travel dicey. And yes, that was a tornado in Calif.
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924653/236780_Google_AntiTrust_Trial_Custom_Art_CVirginia__0003_1.png "Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps")
Technology2 days agoGoogle’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps