Archives December 2025

by Offe Hisczrocher

The Valley County Baptist Association (VCBA) hosts a Christmas open house each year. They use it as a way to bring awareness to their various mission projects, and they also use it as a fundraiser for less fortunate families for Christmas. Attendance has been dropping the past few years, so they decided to spice things up this year to hopefully bring in more Valleyans. They decided to do a Little Debbie Christmas tree cake eating contest with the pastors of the county this Tuesday night.

They did a good job of promoting the event and especially the Christmas tree cake eating contest. They ended up having a huge crowd. There were 7 pastors that competed in the contest, and each pastor had a contingent from his church there cheering him on. So, it was a fun and exciting atmosphere similar to a ball game. The VCBA building was jam packed, and many people had to stand to watch the contest.

VCBA Missions Director Chuck Spurgeon said, “This idea was raised by one of our pastors, and I thought he was crazy. A few other pastors thought it was a good idea, so I agreed to give it a try. We didn’t charge an admission fee, but we encouraged donations. I’m glad we did it, because we raised more money than any of our previous open houses. It was a big hit. I guess we’ll make it an annual event.”

The rules for the contest were simple- eat as many Christmas tree cakes as possible in 15 minutes. They could also use as much liquid as needed. There was a timer in front of the pastors, and there was a timer behind the pastors for the crowd to see. As a precaution, medical personnel were on site in case of a choking, blood sugar, or other medical emergency.

Most people in attendance thought Bro. Jim Swaggart from Riverbend Baptist Church would win the contest. He’s a big burly guy that is a few pounds overweight. He got off to a hot start, and he had downed 10 cakes before you could blink. He ended up hitting a wall around the 5 minute mark though. Bro. Bill Graham with 2nd Baptist Church of Valley City started out strong as well, and he had a big cheering section there cheering him on. Bro. Graham is a diabetic, and he could be seen messing with his insulin pump during the contest.

No one would’ve picked Bro. Stevie Fertick with Ascent Church to win the contest. He’s in shape and looks like a personal trainer or model. He has a fade haircut and a perfectly groomed beard, and he wears nice stylish clothes with sneakers. Bro. Fertick had the best strategy. He had a steady deliberate pace from the jump, and it paid off. He ended up winning the contest by eating 49 Christmas tree cakes in 15 minutes. Bro. Ricky Warren finished 2nd with 42, and Bro. Kenny Copeland finished 3rd with 41.

Missions Director Spurgeon said, “This ended up being a great event for us. We ended up raising over $5,000 to help with local families for Christmas. That’s the most we’ve ever raised by far, so we’ll definitely be doing the Christmas tree eating contest going forward. We plan to livestream it next year. Hopefully, the pastors will be doing a detox over the next few days. God is good!”

by Heeza De Seaver

If you’ve been around kids lately, especially boys, then you’ve heard them say 6-7.  I hear it every day from my 9 year old son. 6-7 became a viral meme on TikTok, and it originated from a rap song by Skrilla.  Now, kids say it all the time for no reason at all, and it’s gotten to be a little ridiculous.  God forbid, you have to say the numbers 6 and 7 together, or if you just say 6.  If you’re around young boys, you know what’s coming next, 6-7.  This incessant 6-7ing contributed to an unfortunate incident this week in Valley City.

The Six Oaks subdivision in Valley City is a nice quiet neighborhood.  It was developed about 3 years ago, and it’s probably the nicest neighborhood in Valley City.  It’s full of young couples with young kids.  You’ll see kids playing outside and riding their bikes around the neighborhood like the good ole days.  Things got interesting Tuesday night in Six Oaks though, and the police were called to the neighborhood around 7:00 pm.  Multiple people called the police after hearing yelling and cursing at 67 Six Oaks Dr.  A large fire in the backyard of the residence was also reported to the police.

A police spokesperson said, “A couple of our officers arrived on the scene around 7:05 pm.  The homeowner, a male in his late 30s, was outside the home when the officers arrived.  The homeowner informed the officers about what happened, and he apologized for losing his cool.  The officers checked on all the residents in the home, and they briefly questioned the wife.  Everyone was fine.  The officers asked him to extinguish the fire in the backyard, and he agreed to do so.  No charges were filed.”

The homeowner and suspect was Will Wraige.  Wraige said, “Look, I just lost it.  I take my boys to school every morning, and they were 6-7ing the whole ride to school this morning.  I had a really bad day at work.  My wife and I got into an argument this afternoon too.  I picked my boys up from school, and they were still 6-7ing.  When I drove into our neighborhood, someone had spray painted a 7 next to Six on the neighborhood sign.  Next, I sat on the john when I got home, and we were out of toilet paper. Then, my wife burnt our supper.  The boys were still 6-7ing after supper, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Wraige began to gather his sons’ toys into a pile in the backyard.  He poured gas on the toys, and he set them on fire in his backyard.  His wife and kids were hysterical.  Will was yelling and cursing.  Neighbors heard the disturbance, and called the police.  Fortunately, no one was harmed during the ordeal.  

Wraige said, “I’m so sorry to my wife and kids, and I’m really embarrassed by my behavior.  It was on our neighborhood Facebook group, so everyone knows I went nuts.  It’s pretty embarrassing.  In addition to the police showing up, two fire trucks came too. Everyone in the neighborhood was outside to see what was going on. And, now I have to spend a lot more money on Christmas gifts this year because I lost my mind.  But, I scared my boys so bad that they haven’t said 6-7 around me since then.  I guess that’s one good thing that came from it.”

Hopefully, this 6-7 nonsense will stop soon.  I’m sure another annoying trend will take its place.  Maybe Trump should’ve banned Tiktok.  Maybe western civilization will survive.  We’ll see.

by Emma Embellischer

The Strong River Valley Technology Institute (SRVTI) had their first meeting last night, and they wasted no time getting to work. The SRVTI promised to improve the lives of Valleyans, and their first project will definitely do that. Also, it’s a very timely tool for the Christmas season.

Everyone loves Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes, but they can be very difficult to find. I’ve tried to buy them multiple times at Dollar General recently, but they’ve been sold out. Now, I’ll be able to find them anywhere in Mississippi. The SRVTI created a website to track inventory of Little Debbie Christmas tree cake boxes at stores across the state.

LITTLE DEBBIE CHRISTMAS TREE CAKE TRACKER SITE

Do you want to know if Kroger or Dollar General have any before you leave the house? Now, you can check on the website before leaving your house and wasting your time and gas.

A SRVTI spokesperson said, “A SRVTI member brought some Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes to our meeting last night. Another member complained that he could never find any at his local grocery store. So, we had a problem to solve right off the bat. We were done in less than an hour with this site. We hope it helps Valleyans find one of their favorite Christmas treats.”

by Emma Embellischer

The Strong River Valley is much different than Silicon Valley in California. Most people have never heard of the Strong River Valley, but I’ll take our catfish and sweet tea over Silicon Valley’s lattes and avocado toast any day of the week. We’re definitely not on the cutting edge of technology like they are in Silicon Valley. But, things are changing in The Valley and in Mississippi. Our governor and our legislature are determined to make Mississippi a tech hub. We’ve had multiple announcements lately about new data centers coming to our great state, and there are other exciting tech related things happening in the state as well.

The SRVO doesn’t want to sit idly by while all this tech innovation is happening in our state and region. So, we’ve created a tech incubator called the Strong River Valley Technology Institute (SRVTI) to encourage Valleyans to participate in the current AI tech revolution. The SRVTI will be a collaboration of software engineers, developers, coders, and more, and they’ll meet every Tuesday night in a vacant office at the SRVO’s headquarters.

The SRVTI’s goal is to create technology that improves the quality of the life of Valleyans. The SRVTI’s motto is simple: Collaborate, Innovate, and Create. Valley tech entrepreneur, Bill Ballmer, has been chosen to be the Director of the SRVTI, and the SRVTI’s initial meeting is tonight.

Ballmer said, “I’m so excited about the SRVTI. I’ve got 4 engineers and developers coming to the meeting tonight, and they’re ready to get after it. This is going to be something to benefit everyone in The Valley, and we plan to make some great stuff to help y’all. Keep an eye out for us! We’re gonna be creating some sweet stuff.”

The SRVTI plans to be coming out with at least one app or website by year end. They will be using AI, and they plan to do workshops to teach Valleyans how to use AI as well. Stay tuned! Ballmer and his guys have promised to do great things.