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Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Wittjens enjoy family visitors

J.J. Tutor and children, Patsy, Mitch and Grace, from Hattiesburg, have been summer guests of Martha and Donnie Mitchell. While here, they have all enjoyed visiting with Jamie Brigance and sons, Stevie and Drew. They attended the collaborative VBS with the Episcopals, Methodists and Presbyterians, and travelled all over to go roller skating and to visit other relatives.

Jane Adams and sons, Conley, Jack and Harry, and Jane’s neighbor, Tila Mavvelle, all from Monroe, NC, and Theresa and Townes Quinn of Memphis, Tenn., were visitors of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wittjen last week. While here, they enjoyed swimming at Kirkwood and visiting with other friends and family members.

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261. You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Lameka Kinkle and Jontay Hoyle

Couple to wed Saturday at Hopewell No. 2

Shirley Kinkle Jones and Lisa Hoyle announce the engagement and upcoming wedding of their children, Lameka Kinkle and Jontay Hoyle. Lameka is the daughter of the late Odell Kinkle and Shirley Kinkle Jones of Holly Springs. She is the granddaughter of Juanita Ivy and the late Mamie Kinkle of Holly Springs. She is a member of the Holly Springs High School class of 2000 and a graduate of Northwest Community College, where she received her license of cosmetology. She is also a member of the Latter Rain Christian Fellowship Church.

Jontay is the son of Lisa Hoyle and Anthony Hoyle of Holly Springs. He is the grandson of Andrew and Annette Glover and Maxine Hoyle also of Holly Springs. Jontay is a member of Holly Springs High School graduating class of 2000 and a member of Hopewell No. 2 MB Church.

The wedding will be held on June 28, 2008 at 5 p.m. at Hopewell No. 2 Church MB Church and the reception will follow at the Shrine Building in Holly Springs. Everyone is cordially invited to attend.

They will honeymoon in Orlando, Fla.

Museuming
Lois Swanee
Museum Curator

King Kudzu....

When I was young, Mississippi was washing away to the Gulf of Mexico because of the terrible erosion. Mississippi has fewer rocks than any other state besides Louisiana, which has even fewer.

The early settlers loved to come to Mississippi because there were so few rocks; all they had to do was clear the virgin forests that were everywhere and use the lumber. By the twentieth century erosion had begun to take its toll, as there was no such thing as crop rotation or caring for the corrupted land.

We have here in Mississippi a new king. It isn’t cotton anymore — it is King Kudzu! Kudzu first arrived in this country in 1876 at the Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia as an ornamental vine. It originated in Japan.

In Japan, kudzu tea is drunk each morning and they say it cures all sorts of ailments, including arthritis. It makes great jelly or a substitute for broccoli in cooking.

The fabulous French chef, Norbert Barruel, made us some beautiful green kudzu syrup and jelly to sell here at the Museum. People who drink the tea say it makes them feel and look younger. My herb lady says that kudzu will be the cure for cancer because it’s full of selenium.

Kudzu vines are now being used for making baskets where in the past we have used honeysuckle vines. In Japan it is for making rope and fiber for kimonos and there’s a thriving industry turning the kudzu into Christmas trees.

Kudzu is now a part of our culture. There is a musical entitled “Kudzu, A Southern Musical,” and there are horror movies about it which include, “Kurse of the Kudzu Kreature” and others.

Sometimes, in terrible hot weather, if you look, the only green on the horizon are patches of kudzu. Cows, sheep and goats love and thrive on kudzu. It is a great way to feed your animals free. It is said that snakes don’t live in it, so that is another plus for kudzu.

I remember B.K. (before kudzu) there were huge gullies and ditches all over this place. To me they seemed as big as the Grand Canyon. We kids, at that time, used to play in the gullies climbing, sliding, and using it as a playground. Mississippi does not have many rocks in the soil to guard against erosion, so kudzu was imported from Japan to stop erosion. In the early 1930s when it got here, it took over and did its job by stopping our washing away into the Gulf of Mexico.

We had kudzu to appear in our shrubbery at the Museum. Each time the flowerbed was worked, I would tell the workman to chop down the kudzu. It tenaciously kept reappearing so I went out and decided to dig it out myself. I dug and dug and after two feet that vine showed no inclination of diminishing. That vine was so tough I had a time cutting that root in two. But the vine isn’t there anymore.

With warmer winters, the kudzu is moving north. It will be the South’s revenge on the north! It is undauntable. Mississippi State scientists say they have found an eradication for kudzu (just as we are learning its many uses.)

The bad side is that kudzu weaves an intricate blanket as it covers and smothers trees, large or small, or anything else in its path. The blanket it weaves climbs up and then down and then crossways! If you stand there long enough, it will entwine you!

One person ordered 1,000 pounds of kudzu seeds from a nursery. When asked why, he said he wanted to take it to Africa as food for the elephants. If he does, the whole continent of Africa will soon be covered in a blanket of green kudzu.

Speaking of Africa, ten years ago, there was a man who owned a farm in Africa. He wasn’t successful as a farmer because there were so many rocks on his land, so he sold it. The next owner discovered those rocks were diamonds in the rough and it turned out to be the biggest diamond mine in the world and is there today still producing.

Figure out a way to market this vine and you’ll not only become a millionaire you’ll be a hero as well!

(Reprinted from The South Reporter, August 4, 2005.)

Good News Happy Hour
Lois Swanee

County officials speak on Happy Hour

Happy Hour at WKRA 1110 AM on your dial will be on the air Thursday, June 26 from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m. Our interesting and informative guests will be tax collector Betty Byrd telling us about you know what, and county administrator Larry Hall telling us about the Marshall County Museum and how the work is progressing. Our own Mitch Stone will be singing and playing his guitar live in person. He is as talented as Elvis Presley was. He just didn’t have Col. Parker. Also as guest will be county attorney Shirley Byers.

All this exciting show will be broadcast from the museum window on the square at 111 Van Dorn Avenue. This is the first time that anything like this has been done on the square since Tom Thumb was in town in 1875 and at that time 25¢ was charged to see the world’s smallest man and P.T. Barnum. This time there will be no fee and the audience will stand on the sidewalk and wave to us like the Today Show in New York. To add incentive, the museum fee will be waived and you can see the museum free if you come at show time. There are no seats on the sidewalk, so bring your own lawn chairs. It will be fun. “Drummer Boy” Jones (Everitt) will be the engineer. In advance, find WKRA 1110 A.M. on your radio so you won’t miss any of the show. We have to relearn to listen to the radio so we won’t miss anything.

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