The City of Starkville has adopted the South Mississippi town of Poplarville, which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, as its sister city.
Katrina damaged homes and businesses in Poplarville, which was brought to national attention when President George Bush gave a speech in the town Sept. 5.
“Actually in town it messed up quite a few businesses,” junior mechanical engineering major and Poplarville native Tommy Caughey said. “It took some roofs off businesses on Main Street.”
He said his mom lost her home, while his dad’s home saw a little damage but no major problems.
Sophomore industrial engineering major Jennifer Johnson, also a native of Poplarville, described her town as quaint. “We only have two supermarkets, and there’s two fast food places,” she said.
“There’s nice little family-owned shops downtown; those have all seen some damage,” she said.
Starkville’s Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey, who proposed the adoption at Tuesday’s board of aldermen meeting, said he got the idea to adopt Poplarville after looking at the Web site of the Mississippi Municipal League, which links city governments across the state. The group had set up a program to help North Mississippi cities less affected by the hurricane adopt South Mississippi cities that were hit harder.
He asked a MML official about the program, and the official gave him a list of cities that had not yet been adopted that included Poplarville.
“I thought it would be a good show of support for the city of Starkville to send aid to those who were less fortunate,” Corey said.
One of Poplarville’s needs right now is food, Johnson said. Her family is still going to the National Guard Armory every day for cases of water and MREs.
Sometimes they get soup. “Sometimes it’s something really outrageous like cream of mushroom,” she said, laughing.
Bigger cities like Gulfport and Biloxi seem to be getting many shipments, Johnson said. “We’re about 30 miles inland, and I guess people haven’t realized that smaller cities need help, too,” she said.
She said she’s glad Starkville has adopted Poplarville. “I would never have expected it just because Poplarville seems small and insignificant next to Starkville.”