Clarke County's Annual 4-H Livestock Show and Sale

I'm on a Mississippi roll today, because I was visiting there recently. In my home county, the lead story in the county paper, the Clarke County Tribune (01/22/04), was about the annual Clarke County 4-H Livestock Show and Sale. The 4-H Club in Missisippi was traditionally for farm kids, but I gather they've been trying to broaden their mission in recent years.

The story of 14-year-old 4-H'er LeAnn Kelly is pretty cute because it's kind of unconventional for girls to compete in the livestock show, I guess. But "she is the owner of two Hampshire market hogs," one of which is featured in a color photo. The article by Janet Andrews explains:

LeAnn has an older brother Scott, who always wanted to raise an animal for market but just never did. He is now an adult with a home of his own and has provided a place for his sister to house and care for her animals. He has been a great help to her along with Ronnie Fagan who she got the pigs from.

Ronnie Fagan is probably a cousin of mine, because my mother came from the Wayne County Fagans. So we must be kin. Only if he comes from the Lauderdale County Fagans, he's probably more distant kin. But I'm glad to hear that Cousin Ronnie is helping out LeAnn with her hogs.

The story actually is kind of cute. And I like the conversational tone in which it's written.

But, come on, even in Clarke County this is not what should be the lead story in the county paper. What should have been the lead story in every week's issue for at least the last five years is the unbelievable amount of time it's taken to complete the 28-mile stretch of four-lane highway between Clarke and Wayne counties. That's a lot more important to the lcoal economy and the daily lives of the people in the county than the hawg show.

The Tribune doesn't have a Web site. But the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce does. The photo of their office is too dark. But the building is really pretty cool-looking. It's a restored train station. The train still runs by there, although there hasn't been a passenger train passing through since about 1961.