photo by buster wolfe alford returns to roots ca’s …...being bullied as a child is one of the...
TRANSCRIPT
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In the Halls.............2AJail/Fire .................3AOpinion ..................5AObituaries ..............6ASports ................1-10BClassifieds ..........4-9B
Inside
Volume 114, No. 1675 cents
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9
Marion County’s News Source Since 1882
Prep basketballcoverage.
— Pages 1-10B
School lunchmenus posted
Page 8A
INSIDE TODAY Clicking It In Columbia: Various scenes from around town, page 12A
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Columbia students learn about bullying
Being bullied as a child isone of the many thingsstudents face in school.
Last week, with the help ofColumbia High School SAVEmembers, second- and third-graders at Columbia PrimarySchool learned about
bullying.The high schoolers spoke to
classes and handed outcoloring books discussingways to get along and preventbullying. Along the way,students of two completelydifferent age groups madefriends.
“The Allstate InsuranceFoundation has sponsored theSAVE Club, which is a
national club,” Toni Floyd,health and consumer studiesteacher at CHS, said. “SAVEstands for Students AgainstViolence Everywhere. It beganin Charlotte, N.C., to honor astudent that had been shot ata party. The message that theSAVE Club extends to ourstudent body and now to theprimary school is a messageof peace and safety. It’s about
relationships and gettingalong with others. It also haselements of save driving,refraining from texting anddriving and drinking anddriving.”
At CPS, students interactedwith their younger peers,according to Floyd.
“With our SAVE Club
See Bullying | Page 10A
Asia Montgomery speaks to a class at Columbia Primary.
Photo by Mark Rogers
By Mark Rogers
Managing Editor
By Buster Wolfe
Staff Writer
CA’s McCayleaves
coaching
See McCay | Page 9A
As an added safety feature for itsstudents, Columbia Academy has beenusing two security guards at the schoolsince January.
Headmaster Angie Burkett stressedto parents, faculty and students that theadded protection was not because of
any danger to the school.“We talk about the fact that we are
on (U.S. Hwy.) 98 and it’s hard to secureour campus,” she said in her officeearlier this week. “We had no threats, noconcerns and no pressing situation. Wejust try to be pro-active in how weconstantly look at making our campussafer and what can we do to improve oursafety. Anytime that we have another setof eyes and ears on our children is
good.”Burkett said the security guards —
Columbia Police Officer Lanny Arinderand Marion County Constable RobbieGill — represent safety to the school.
“To me, having somebody that isseen is a deterrent helps because anyonewho tries to make threats is going toscout you out to how insecure you are to
See Security | Page 10A
By Buster Wolfe
Staff Writer
CA adds security guards
Growing up living inthe Dan StepneyApartment Complex
— government housing justoff Hwy. 13 south in Columbia— Anthony Alford dreamedof playing Major LeagueBaseball.
Following that dream, hefirst stepped to the plate atDuckworth Park, where hebegan honing his skills, whicheventually led him away fromhis hometown to Petal HighSchool. For the Panthers, hebecame a star and waseventually drafted in the thirdround by the Toronto Blue Jaysin 2012, which included alofty $750,000 signing bonus.
Fast forward nearly fouryears, after the 21-year-oldplayed one season asquarterback for the Universityof Southern Mississippi andafter transferring to Ole Missand playing defensive back fortwo years, Alford is focusingsolely on baseball. LastSaturday, he returned to his
See Alford | Page 11A
By Adam Prestridge
Publisher
Alford returns to roots
Columbia native and pro baseball player Anthony Alford motions for children to begin Saturday’s
camp. Below, Alford autographs a variety of items following the camp.
Photos by Adam Prestridge
City native,pro player
holds camp,gives advice
“You can’t use that negativityas an excuse. I grew up in DanStepney, which is government
housing, I could have usedthat as an excuse, but I didn’t;
I used it as fuel and itmotivated me even more.”
— Anthony Alford, pro baseball outfielder
After 17 years of basketballcoaching — including 14 atColumbia Academy — LadyCougars head coach Reid McCayhas decided to concentrate on hisbusiness interests.
McCay, whoannounced hisretirement overFacebook on Feb. 15, said he hadrecently bought anew business to gowith his landscapebusiness and hewould not be able to devote the timeneeded to coach at ColumbiaAcademy.
McCay said the decision to leavecoaching was difficult.
“It is a tough decision,” he said inan interview Monday. “It isbittersweet, but a lot of people overin Columbia don’t even know that Ihave a landscape business. I’ve gotseven full-time guys working forme.”
McCay said the opportunityarose for him to add to his landscapebusiness and he couldn’t pass up theoffer.
“What we ran into was I wastrying to get some mulch from a guythat I had been getting from for 10years,” he said. “He told me he was
Lanny Arinder, right, works the CA car line for security.
Photo by Buster Wolfe
McCAY