The first half of 2017 saw the city of Vicksburg go a week without water, Vicksburg’s own Anne Elizabeth Buys crowned Miss Mississippi and the city and county take a big step by merging their economic development efforts among the highlights from January through June.

The top story of the first half of 2017 was the water crisis that struck the city of Vicksburg May 17 when the 36-inch main line, leaving the water treatment facility on Haining Road ruptured.

The underground line was surrounded by backflow water from the Mississippi River forcing the city to build a dam to drain water from the area before fixing the leak. Water was restored four days later on May 21, but residents were still forced to boil their water for multiple days before the all clear was given.

In June, Vicksburg celebrated 60 years of hosting of the Miss Mississippi pageant and saw local contestant and the former Miss Vicksburg Anne Elizabeth Buys named the 2017 Miss Mississippi.

“I am so excited,” Buys said after the pageant. “God is so good. I owe all the glory to him. Without him, I would not be here. I am so excited to represent Mississippi and to be the 60th Miss Mississippi crowned in Vicksburg, my hometown, the place I call home.”

Buys is a true product of the Miss Mississippi Pageant organization, first serving as a Miss Mississippi Magnolia princess.

She then went on to win the crown of Miss Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen in 2013, and last year, she was named first-runner up to Miss Mississippi.

Also in 2017, a partnership was formed by the Warren County Port Commission, the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce and the Warren County Economic Development Foundation to combine all economic development in Warren County under one the management of one board.

The Partnership then hired Pablo Diaz, the former economic development director for the city of Granada, to lead all economic development in Warren County.

Other highlight from the first half of 2017 were:
January

• Jonathan Gardner, 20, was struck by lightning as he and three companions were duck hunting in the Mahanna Wildlife Management area. Gardner walked away from the even with nothing but a headache.

• A winter storm that hit Warren County forced businesses and schools to close and wrecked havoc on the roads.

• A couple was arrested on misdemeanor charges after causing a ruckus at the Vicksburg Police Department and earlier at a Vicksburg High School causing the school to go on lockdown.

• Former heavyweight champion boxers Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer and James Toney were guests in the MLK parade.
February

• Howard Jennings, 59, of Utica was taken to the hospital after crash landing his single engine Piper Supercub near where the Big Black River meets the Mississippi River.

• Two bomb threats — one to Vicksburg High School and another to District Attorney Ricky Smith’s office — forced authorities to evacuate the school and the Warren County Courthouse.

• Dr. Jeffery Holland retired as the director of the Corps’ Engineering Research and Development Center, ending a 37 1/2-year career

• An explosion rocked the Tyson Foods plant at 1725 Interplex Circle causing a fire and forcing evacuation of the plant’s Fulton Building.

• Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan visited Vicksburg.
March

• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Entergy’s Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station in Port Gibson through 2044.

• Whispering Woods is engulfed in flames for the third time in 13 months soon after the Board of Mayor and Aldermen rejected a redevelopment plan presented by the owners.

• March 29, the Mississippi Department of Transportation closed the Muddy Bayou Bridge on Mississippi 465 in the Eagle Lake community indefinitely after declaring it “structurally deficient.” The bridge reopened May 26.
April

• Ten inches of rain fell in an overnight period knocking out power for 5,000 resident, caused flooding in the area and caused the collapse of a retaining wall between St. Paul Catholic Church and the Trustmark Bank building

• A 10 feet long alligator was removed from one of the lakes in Warrenton Lakes Subdivision off U.S. 61 after it became a popular attraction on Facebook.
May

• A fourth fire in a 15-month period at Whispering Woods destroyed an apartment building.

• The Mississippi River reached a crest of nearly 49 feet causing flooding in low lying areas and hinder the city of Vicksburg’s ability to repair the water main break that left the city without water in mid-May.

• Nearly two years after closing its doors, officials with Vicksburg Hotel LLC announced in May that the Portofino Hotel will reopen in 2018 as a Margaritaville Resort. Work continues on the resort and the plan is to open the lower half of the resort containing the restaurants and the family entertainment center first, with the hotel and the pool area opening together in the summer.
June

• Father P.J. Curley retired after serving as the pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Vicksburg for 14 years.

• Republican candidate Alex Monsour was declared the winner in the race for South Ward Alderman, defeating Democratic candidate Willis Thompson by just eight votes. Northward Alderman Michael Mayfield was reelected defeating Troy Kimble by 150 votes. Mayor George Flaggs received, 3,076, or 78.81 percent of the vote to win re-election to a second term as mayor, which he said will be his last.

• Gloria Holsomback, 72,was injured when a falling tree crashed through her roof and into her bedroom, trapping her in bed.