Utica Area News

To everyone’s surprise, we heard several sonic booms Friday morning, April 27, and since that is so unusual these days, I investigated. A meteor came whizzing by so close to us that the booms could be heard in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, north Florida, and parts of Tennessee. My son was in North Florida and heard them. I was in Huntsville, North AL and heard them. Amy Dowe was at Utica and heard them, along with a lot of other folks. Apparently, most people did not even question them.

About 8 am Friday morning, the meteor came so close to hitting us that it caused a giant fireball in the SW Mississippi, NE Louisiana sky. According to NASA, it was about a foot in diameter and would have weighed about 90 pounds. They also said it broke up over Claiborne County into about 25-30 pieces, almost all of which burned up in the atmosphere. If it had made a direct hit without breaking up, we would not be writing or talking about it, we would all be dead or dying. Such a meteor of that size would have been like 500 blasts of TNT, which would have killed many people and caused a huge amount of damage. Meteor hunters are out scouring fields and any place with their metal detectors to see if they can find fragments.

There is a big flap about it in Mississippi and Louisiana but all but none in Alabama. Of course, news media in Alabama treats Mississippi like we are not there in everything from football to medicine to unique resources, so that is nothing new.

NASA says, if you find anything, you can keep it. I know that meteorites sell for good prices at rock shows and on the internet. They also say this is the fifth fireball to come over MS in recorded history. The others were in 1854 or 1857, 1910, 1922, and 2012. I never heard anything about the earlier ones, and the coverage on this one has been sketchy. We know they happened earlier because the Aztecs recorded them in their stoneworks in Central America, and the Big One, hit Earth with a direct strike in the Gulf and Yucatan about 65,000,000 years ago that wiped out most the dinosaurs and most of the world as it was known at that time. NASA is evaluating this close miss as an “after the fact.”

I am concerned because nobody is paying more attention. I hope these things do not get so little attention that one of a larger size shows up too late for anything to be done. Russia has had two larger than this in memory, one that hit and caused a huge crater and a lot of damage to timber and wildlife, and their most recent since 2000 that destroyed a lot of timber and damaged a lot of buildings in a city in Siberia. Lots of damage, no deaths that they could find.

Utica was alive last weekend again with Twisted B, Jerry’s, Cane Ridge, and other stores and food truck type setups open for business. It is good to know that you all remember Utica is here. I did not hear whether the truck crop sales were going on. Remember, if they are open, they are planting and growing these vegetables themselves, so buy local.

An old friend who spent his entire lifetime trying to help Hinds County and Mississippi, Wirt Adams Yerger Jr., 92 years old, passed away in Jackson MS peacefully at his home Monday, May 2, 2022. Wirt Yerger is from one of the oldest families to settle Mississippi, and his ancestors of several generations are buried at historic Greenwood Cemetery in downtown Jackson. His great grandfather Wirt Yerger was a well known businessman and newspaper editor in Jackson before the Civil War, and a famous Colonel during the War. He lived during the last days of duels, and he was killed in one after the War by John Martin Jr., who had settled in Utica before moving on to Jackson. That is a long story I will tell another day. John Martin still has Utica relatives.

A native of Jackson, this latest of the Wirt Yergers was born March 18, 1930, the son of the late Rivers Applewhite Yerger and Wirt Adams Yerger Sr. He was educated in the Jackson Public Schools and became an Eagle Scout at age fifteen. Wirt received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity. From 1952 to 1954 he served as First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command. In 1956, he married Mary Polk Montague of Hattiesburg. In 1954, he joined Ross and Yerger Insurance Company, and he had a very distinguished career. He also had a long and distinguished record of service as a volunteer in the Jackson and Hinds County community, YMCA, Boys Clubs, Rotary Club, Jaycees, Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations.

Wirt was a founding trustee of Jackson Prep, a huge supporter of French Camp and a other Presbyterian schools, and was a deacon at First Presbyterian Church. Wirt was the leader in establishing the Republican Party in Mississippi; serving as State Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party from 1956 until 1966. He was also Chairman of the Southern Association of Republican State Chairmen. In May, 2009 he was honored as Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Emeritus for his work in building a two-party political system in Mississippi. He did not leave Utica out in his Hinds County and Mississippi efforts.

Wirt’s greatest reward in his life was being a son, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and brother. He is survived by his wife Mary Montague Yerger, son Wirt Adams Yerger III and his wife Linda Biggers Yerger, daughter Mary Yerger Dunbar and her husband Thomas Tarver Dunbar, son Frank Montague Yerger and his wife Jane Prater Yerger, 2 granddaughters, 8 grandsons, 8 great-grandchildren, his brothers Ivan Bass Yerger and William Hardin Yerger, his sister Rivers Yerger Lurate and numerous other relatives. . He is predeceased by his parents, 6 in-laws, and a host of friends and colleagues. His services were held on May 3 at First Presbyterian Church, with burial at historic Greenwood Cemetery in the Yerger Family plot.

Mississippi once again is reducing its coronavirus problems, although a new strain has been found. Just stats: we have had 798,065 cases, with 12,450 deaths. Only 16 nursing homes in Mississippi are currently infected, down from hundreds. Compared to us, Arkansas has had 812,056 cases with 11,394 deaths; Alabama has had 1,301,171 cases with 19,570 deaths; Louisiana has had 1,239,763 cases with 19,268 deaths, and Tennessee has had 2,025,209 cases with 26,110 deaths. The second round of booster shots have been approved, so check with your doctor or clinic about getting one.

I hope this does not cause a problem, but I have been authorized to say you can call Damille Butler Spivey, who is a highly recommended cleaner of houses in our area around Utica and SW Hinds County. Her phone is 662-209-0181. I do not know what she charges.

Antoinette Franklin has announced work days for Samaritans Purse/Operation Christ-mas Child. I can’t find my list right now, but in general it will be 9 am on Thursday. Call the church if you are unsure. Vacation Bible School will be held jointly with other churches in town in June. I am late getting my news in this week, so I am cutting this short. Until next week, send me your news!