chong

Hello Courtney, and Welcome!

You're out in very beautiful country out there. I was stationed in Hattiesburg for the FEMA Katrina relief efforts for 9 months. I had the privilege of serving the School Districts in Pearl River, Stone, and Perry counties and process their damage claims. Spent most of my time with Carriere, Picayune, and Poplarville schools. The worst damaged one was the Pearl River Community College buildings.

I was very impressed with those new big beautiful homes on the west side of the highway(11) between Picayune and Carriere. Some of them had banana plants, even. I also remember that most of the homes around the schools had banana plants!

On my way to the FEMA office in Purvis, there was this Snow Cone Shack on the corner of MS-589 and Old Richburg Rd that had mats of bananas on a couple of corners of the building. This is a 4-way stop, so you couldn't help but notice them. Towards Thanksgiving, I remember seeing them go brown, and I said what a pity. Then in the spring, they sprouted again, and boy, was I so happy to see that.

My wife and I have some very fond memories of Pearl River county. Folks there were so very friendly! And who can forget Chesterfield's and Sakura in Hattiesburg; Dockside in Picayune (or is it in Carriere; Bill's Fried Chicken and Remember When in Poplarville. First time I tried crispy fried okra at Bill's was a treat! Had to get seconds.

You can tell, I'm not very excited about it. LOL!