The Pass Christian Volunteer Fire Department is hosting a kid’s fishing tournament on Saturday, April 20. The event will be held in the west side of the Pass Christian Harbor.

Check-in will begin at 7 a.m. the morning of the event, and doughnuts will be provided for breakfast.

All participants must sign in prior to fishing. Bait will be provided at check-in the morning of the event.

Fishing will begin promptly at 8 a.m. and end at 10 a.m. Fishing will be from the shore/pier of the harbor area only. No fishing from boats allowed.

The tournament is open to all kids 12 years of age or younger.

The tournament will be separated into two divisions: children ages 6 and under, and children ages 7-12. Trophies will be awarded in each division for the largest fish.

All participants must register by Wednesday, April 17. To register, email the following information to passchristianvolunteerfire @ yahoo.com: Child’s Name and Age; Guardian’s Name; Address; Phone, Email.

For questions, please contact Andy Purchner at 228-216-2336 or John Pope at 228-216-3210. Questions may also be sent to the email address listed above.

Participation is FREE. Come out and enjoy the event!

Click here for the registration form:  Kids Fishing Tournament Registration 2013

We know that many of our readers saw the anonymous Sound Off in today’s newspaper that claimed the city was taking out a bond to pay for a “motel.” In fact, the Board is holding a public hearing tomorrow at its regular Board of Aldermen meeting — Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the city court building — for a TIF Plan for a new 82-room Hampton Inn hotel on the west side of Market Avenue, between Scenic Drive and Second Street.

We spoke with Laurence Leyens, an economic development consultant who is working on the project. He has worked on a number of similar plans throughout the state and explained the way this particular plan works. He will also be at the public hearing tomorrow to explain in further detail and answer questions.

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At their meeting on Mar. 5, the Pass Christian Board of Aldermen awarded the Harbormaster building construction contract to Vision Constructors of Gulfport in the amount of $1.2 million. The project is being funded jointly by a CDBG grant and FEMA funding.

The Board also awarded the contract for concrete labor and materils for the west Harbor parking lots islands and electrical platform to Mega Concrete in the amount of $16,603. This funding will come for the city’s Tidelands allocation.

The Board also set a public hearing date for a tax increment financing, or TIF, plan for the Hampton Inn Hotel Project for the next meeting on Mar. 19 at 6 p.m.

The new Hampton Inn is being planned on the west side of Market Avenue, between Scenic Drive and Second Street.

The Board also approved allowing Neel-Schaffer to advertise for the parking lot and multipurpose building on the city property at Davis Avenue and Second Street (the old Mississippi Power lot). The design of the pavilion was discussed, with much debate, but the Board ultimately voted to proceed with the project, which will include a covered pavilion with a restroom and a green space in front of the parking lot.

The Board also approved a contract for architecture and engineering services with Structural Design Solutions, of Biloxi, for the Fleitas Park football field, restrooms, press box and concession stand design.

The Board also:

– Appointed Cindy Cotlen as Municipal Election Commissioner and reappointed Bill Sullivan to the Park Commission.

– Authorized Public Works to secure and board up two homes on the 800 block of East Railroad Street and one home on the 200 block of East Railroad.

– Ratified a revised agreement to allow additional time to complete work on the East Second Street Elevated Water Tank and security fencing.

– Approved the Blessing of the Fleet and Pass Christian Po-Boy Festival on April 20 and April 21 and Pass Christian’s BBQ & Blues on June 1 and June 2.

As of Thursday, March 7, the following candidates had qualified to run for office in this year’s Pass Christian municipal elections:

Ward 1:
Buddy Clarke (R)
Robin Rafferty (R)*

Ward 2:
Amy Stewart Steiner (R)
Earl Washington (D)

Ward 3:
Anthony Hall (D)*
Eugene Russell (R)

Ward 4:
Victor Pickich (R)
Buddy Scarborough (R)
LyTanya Toomer (D)

At Large:
Anita Giani (I)
Tommy Piernas (D)
Kenny Torgeson (R)

Mayor:
Chipper McDermott (R)*
Joseph Piernas, Sr. (D)

R – Republican
D – Democrat
I – Independent
* – Incumbent

All elected city offices, including mayor and aldermen, will be on the ballot on Tuesday, June 4. The deadline to qualify is Friday, March 8. Primary elections, if needed, will be held on May 7.

To qualify for office, candidates should stop by the Pass Christian City Clerk’s office in City Hall, 200 West Scenic Drive, for an application form.

The Gazebo Gazette will publish the names of all candidates who have qualified in every issue until after the qualifying deadline, at which time we will publish an article on all the candidates. We will also publish a full election guide before the primary and general elections. For more information, please contact editor@gazebogazette.com or 228-363-1973.

For advertising information, please see our current advertising rates.

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The city’s ward lines will be different from the last election in 2009, due to population changes recorded in the 2010 Census. See below for a map showing the new ward lines. Also, candidates please click here to see the guidelines on submitting news.

 School Board Elections Moved to November

A new state law means that the local school district election originally slated for March will now be held in November.

A trustee election in the area outside the city limits was set for early March, but the Pass Christian School District learned this week that a bill changing the election date had received U.S. Department of Justice pre-clearance and was thus effective immediately.

During the 2012 legislative session, Senate Bill 2074 revised the qualifying deadline for candidates for the Board of Trustees of added territory in certain school districts, and provided that the election shall be conducted by the county election commissioners on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

This week, the Mississippi School Boards Association received word that the U.S. Department of Justice had pre-cleared the bill. The change goes into effect immediately. Board members whose terms expire in March will be held over until Jan. 1, 2014.

We just spoke with Police Chief Dubuisson for a Pass Parade day report. The chief said there were 10 arrests yesterday during the parade, including one juvenile. That is less than in many years past. However, there were some issues with rowdiness on some of the floats.

“The parade was great,” he said. “Some people on the floats were not that great.”

Later on Sunday, about 8:30 p.m., gun shots were fired on Davis Avenue, near Ladnier, apparently into the air, he said. An officer was on Davis on an unrelated matter, to shut down a party there. A witness in the area reported seeing two men running to the east, towards Grayson Avenue, but the men were never located.

Pass Christian police also went to Walmart yesterday after Long Beach police received a call that a man was going to the store to commit suicide, but the man had been stopped in Long Beach before he could get to the store.

The Nov. 23 2012 issue is online now!

Front page image:

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PDF of the entire newspaper (these are large files and may take a few minutes to download):

Pages 1-9 from Nov 23, 2012 issue

Pages 12-20 from Nov 23, 2012 issue

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