By JAMIE PATTERSON
Managing Editor

The tenth annual support banquet for the Oakes African American Cultural Center will be held Saturday night in an effort to raise funds for the historical site.
H.A. Scott, member of the Oakes Advisory Committee, said he anticipates a successful banquet this year.
“I think we have progressed over the previous years, and we are looking for a success this year,” he said.
Scott said attendance and support for the annual banquet has grown over the last ten years.
Marcia Arp will serve as guest speaker for this year’s event. Arp began her career with the Bureau of Prisons as a correctional officer in 1986 and worked her way up through the ranks. A 26-year employee of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Yazoo City, she has extensive experience in the area of contracting and administration. She currently serves as Business Administrator at the facility.
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By JAMIE PATTERSON
Managing Editor

Tossing millage figures and utility options around, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen remained divided when it came to the city school district’s proposed budget.
An hour after a joint meeting between city and school officials, the city board voted to give the school district free utilities up to $200,000. At that time, the school district would assume responsibility for paying their own utility costs.
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Evelyn Spencer has been on the job here in Yazoo City for almost five months and remains very much in love with her job as “cut man.”By VERNON SIKES
Herald Correspondent

That's right. Your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That really was a lady lifting those ladders and sawing those timbers.
A female carpenter? In Yazoo City, Miss.? Can it be?
Evelyn Spencer, 36, defines herself as a “cut man” or “saw man,” forsaking the politically correct “cut or saw person” favored by some. The Gluckstadt resident has been in Yazoo City this summer working as an apprentice.
“Lead carpenter is what I'm going for, but I prefer to stay on the ground,” she said recently as she ate lunch at a Yazoo City construction site.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Spencer is one of a very small group of females comprising today's construction workforce. While the BLS reports that females make up 10 percent of the construction workforce, Spencer belongs to the much smaller segment – two or three percent – who actually work in the field. The other eight percent of females are generally those who work in the construction offices as support personnel.
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Yazoo City’s school children hit the books again Wednesday morning with new school jitters held to a minimum. County students reported Friday to begin the new school year. Pictured is teacher assistant Vicki Webster as she places identification material on a student at Webster Elementary School.