The photo at right was the original shot submitted by James Junior, the deaf 60-year-old Indian Hills resident who has a knack for growing large tomatoes on very tall plants. You see him on a stepladder about to measure the height of his plants, which wound up being almost 9 feet tall. He came by the Daily Journal office two weeks ago with a handful of photos and a handwritten note that began, “Hi, I am a deaf man.”
James is the first person I’ve interviewed who’s deaf and unable to speak. However, we had an enjoyable conversation. During his visit to the Daily Journal office, I wrote a couple of questions on the sheet and he replied with his answers. So, when I visited James at his home, I carried a legal pad because I wanted to ask a lot of questions. If you look at today’s Neighbors section and see the photo of James, his girlfriend Lorraine Seat and their neighbor Nannette Belton, that’s my notepad that Lorraine is writing on. Lorraine, who’s also deaf and unable to speak, was answering a question.
My question-and-answer session with James filled up three pages. They were questions I would ask any interview subject, and instead of saying the answer he’d write it out.
This is one of the pages used for the interview. I used a pen with red ink and James wrote his responses with a pen with black ink. James, however, misplaced his pen while I was taking photos of him, so we wound up sharing my pen.
I think there was one moment when he didn’t understand what I had written. Of course, my penmanship isn’t that great; it’s hard for anyone to read. All in all, my interview with James went smoother than some verbal interviews I’ve done during my career. James is a jolly guy who’s proud of his plants and his tomatoes. Finding people like James is what Lee County Neighbors is all about.
If you know someone like James Junior who might make a good Neighbors cover story, send me an e-mail at bobby.pepper@djournal.com and I’ll check it out.
Seems like this is turning into a Shannon Primary School blog, but that’s OK. I enjoy visiting the school and I appreciate it inviting me to special occasions like what you’re about to see.
This is a videoclip from its walk on Thursday, May 1 benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. The students and staff collect pennies – a lot of them, in fact – and donate it to St. Jude. This year they raised $1,011.66!
The clip is from the opening ceremony when a group of balloons were released. The child who helps counselor Sandi Mallary release the balloons is Andrew Benson, a kindergarten student who underwent chemotherapy treatments at St. Jude when he was 2 years old. His grandmother was at the walk, and she said Andrew celebrated his third birthday at St. Jude. Andrew is doing well, even showing me the scar on his belly where he received his treatments.
While covering the eighth annual Azalea Festival in Presley Heights, I caught the performance by Lawhon Elementary School’s third-grade choir, One Voice. The talented youngsters, led by director Courtney Rutherford, performed six songs Saturday morning. The two videoclips are from the final two songs, “Born to Make Music” and their rendition of “Hound Dog” by Tupelo’s own Elvis Presley.
It’s neat to see a Lawhon group perform an Elvis song. Long before he became the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis was just like the kids in the videoclips. Lawhon was the first school he attended.
The Azalea Festival, sponsored by the Presley Heights Neighborhood Association, is an annual event at Veterans Park in east Tupelo.
Welcome to the revised edition of the Lee County Neighbors blog. If you want to know more about Neighbors is about, visit the About Lee County Neighbors link at the top of the page.
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Out of the countless things I do on a workday, blogging has had to take a back seat. I’ve been bummed out about the direction of this blog, as if it’s missing something compared to the blogs by my Daily Journal colleagues.
Well, it’s time to change. If I’m committing to blogging, I had better do it right. This version will focus on my comments and thoughts about day-to-day things involving Neighbors, the county and my life.
My old blog will be the host for the photos and video I post online. I’ll still post some images here, but mostly it’ll be the springboard to the slideshows and video clips. In fact, here’s the link to it.
Posted by Bobby Pepper 
Posted by Bobby Pepper 
Posted by Bobby Pepper 
Bobby Pepper