by “Stretch” DeTrooth

Six Town Hollow High football has been an afterthought for years now. They have made the playoffs only once in the past 10 years, and it’s been 22 years since they last won a playoff game. The small 1A school plays second fiddle to other schools in The Valley like Valley City, Strong River Bend, and Valley Prep. We didn’t even include them in our Valley football preview, but I guess we should have. They have gotten off to a hot 5-0 start, their best since 2007.

Six Town Hollow is coached by Steve Dundee. Dundee is in his first year as a head coach at any level. Dundee is from Melbourne, Australia, and he came to the U.S. 7 years ago to punt at Central MS Tech (CMT). After graduating from CMT, he was a backup punter in the Canadian Football League for 2 years. Dundee married Mary Jane Jones, who hails from The Valley, and they moved back to Six Town Hollow a few years ago. Dundee got into teaching and coaching at Six Town Hollow last year as assistant coach, and he was promoted to head coach this year after their previous coach was let go.

Dundee said, “The administration offered me the job in May, and I had a weak moment and said yes. That night I started thinking that I’d lost my mind. I have no idea what I’m doing, and we just came off a 1-9 season. I started thinking that we had to do something unique and out of the box to gain an advantage on our opponents. I played Australian Rules Football (rugby) growing up, and I started thinking about ways to incorporate rugby into our offense. Well, ChatGPT and I started a dialogue, and I’d created the Aus Toss offense within 30 minutes. It’s crazy when you think about it.”

At first glance, the Aus Toss looks like other modern offenses. They’ll sometimes go empty with 5 wide; at other times, they’ll go 4 wide with one back. On occasion, they’ll even use two back sets. Things start to look differently after the ball is snapped. Dundee said, “We will have at least 2 pitch men on every play to lateral the ball to. Generally, we’ll have one on the left and one the right, but if the play is ran to the sideline, we’ll have two pitch men on either the left or right of the ball carrier depending on which sideline the play is ran toward. If our ball carrier or receiver is getting tackled or about to get tackled, they’re taught to pitch the ball to the nearest pitch man. It took me a while to teach rugby style pitches with spin, but the guys have it down now. Coaches have never seen anything like it before, so it’s been very difficult to stop.”

The Aus Toss even gets the linemen involved in the pitch game. On certain plays, offensive linemen are pitch men and get an opportunity to carry the ball. It’s interesting to see Six Town Hollow’s linemen doing pitch drills in practice; you definitely won’t see that anywhere else. Dundee added, “We’ve gotten a lot of buy-in from our offensive linemen. They love being able to carry the ball and get involved besides just blocking. We work really hard on our conditioning; you have to be in great shape to run this offense. So, we like to reward our big guys when we get a chance.”

Six Town Hollow has won every game this season by at least 21 points, and they wear opponents down in the second half of games. It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinators adjust to the Aus Toss going forward, but up to this point, they’ve had no answers. Some think the Aus Toss will eventually be mentioned among other iconic offenses such as the Wing T, Wishbone, Air Raid, and more. We’ve got a long way to go before that happens, but I bet you’ll see more coaches studying and copying the Aus Toss.

by Ima Phibber

Fall is here! In my humble opinion, it’s the best time of the year. Football, cooler weather, pumpkin spice, and of course mums. Chrysanthemums or mums are a staple flower and decoration in the South and in The Valley during the fall. They are beautiful flowers, but there’s one major issue with mums. They only live for about 3 days. People with the greenest of thumbs have difficulties keeping mums alive. But, a Valley botanist has hopefully solved this issue.

The Verdant Valley Nursery has been a fixture in The Valley for years. People flock to their nursery on Hwy. 81 every spring and fall to buy flowers and plants. The Mumford family established the nursery in 1952, and at least one Mumford has ran it since day one. It is now owned and operated by Bud and Daisy Mumford. Their young daughter, Rose, also works in the business as a botanist. Rose graduated with a degree in botany from MSU 3 years ago.

Bud Mumford said, “We were so glad Rose decided to get a degree in botany and come back and work for us. She’s very sharp. Some say she’s like a mad scientist. She spends a lot of time after work hours working with flowers doing some crazy stuff. She’s been working with mums for months now, and she finally had a breakthrough. We’re so proud of her and what’s she’s accomplished.”

Rose said, “We love our mums in the South, but they just don’t live very long. I set out months ago to solve that problem. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but I’ve created some genetically modified mums that will live much longer than typical mums. My mums are hearty and should live at least 90 days with proper care and in normal conditions. So, if you water them too much, no worries. If you get them too much sun, don’t worry. They should still last at least 30 days with little to no water and/or sunlight.”

People are flocking to the Verdant Valley Nursery to buy Rose’s mums. They thought they would be big sellers, so Rose and the team was able to plant and grow a massive supply. They are also wholesaling the mums to other nurseries and retailers, and that business should boom in the coming years.

One shopper said, “I’ve bought mums for years, but I’d decided this year that I wasn’t going to buy them anymore. I swear they’d be dead by the time I got them home. But, I’m so glad Rose has created these mums, and I bought a slew of them. I’ll be able to enjoy them for at least a month.”

Rose’s mums have been a hit. Her hours of hard work in the lab have paid off for her and the Mumfords. Look for Verdant Valley Nursery to really grow and expand in the coming years because of Rose’s mums which is positive for jobs in The Valley.

by Heeza de Seaver

The Hideaway Eatery is scheduled to open next week in Valley City. Valleyans are excited about the new restaurant. It will have a rustic feel, and it’s something new, fresh, and unique. We don’t have a ton of culinary options around here you know. Not only is the restaurant opening making news, a hiring practice for potential employees is also getting a lot of attention.

All servers and cooks will have to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu in order to get hired. Owner Paula Stewart said, “We will have a varied and eclectic menu, and our servers and cooks will need to know it like the back of their hand. I occasionally eat at a Cheesecake Factory when I’m out of town, and they’re known for having a large and extensive menu. I recently thought that requiring my servers and cooks to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu would be a great way to test potential servers and cooks’ ability to memorize and recall information. Our menu will be much smaller than the Cheesecake Factory, but our menu will change pretty often. Some say it’s too tough, but I think it’s a smart business practice.”

Stewart will give her potential servers and cooks 2 days to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu. She thinks it will eliminate many potential hires that wouldn’t be good workers, and she thinks it show who really wants a job. Stewart said, “We’ll know pretty quick who really wants the job. I’ve had a lot of people just hand the Cheesecake Factory menu back to me when I told them to memorize it and come back to me in a couple days for a quiz. It culls a lot real quick!”

Stewart added, “I’ve even had a couple applicants come back with a parent to try to talk me into them not having to memorize the menu. One mom got irate with me telling me it was an unrealistic ask for their 18 year old to memorize the Cheesecake Factory menu. Needless to say, neither of these applicants were hired. These helicopter parents gotta chill out; your kids gotta grow up.”

There are mixed feelings about the Hideaway Eatery’s hiring practice. One young man said, “I’ve been out of work for a month, and I really need a job. But, there ain’t no way I can memorize that menu. I could probably memorize the Gospel of John before I memorize that thing. Are they gonna ask for our ACT score too? I think it’s so stupid and unnecessary. I guess I’ll move on to the next option.”

A teenage female said, “I memorized the Cheesecake Factory menu in about half a day. It was a piece of cake! I just memorize everything for my tests in school, so it wasn’t that difficult. I was hoping my best friend could get a job here as a server too, but she’s a blonde and she couldn’t memorize the menu. I guess she can be a hostess or dishwasher.”

Valleyans are very excited about new dining option opening next week, and I’m sure they’ll be glad to know their servers and cooks have very good memorization skills. We hope the hiring practice will allow them to hire good quality employees, because we want the Hideaway Eatery to be around for a long time.

by B. S. Ryter

Select or travel sports has taken off over the past 10 years. Select soccer, baseball, and softball have been popular for years, but select volleyball has really grown in the past few years in The Valley and surrounding areas as well. Many kids are involved in tournaments every weekend, and the first place and second place teams’ players are normally awarded with rings, especially in baseball and softball. So, thousands of rings are being awarded each year, and most of these rings end up collecting dust as time passes. Mom gets tired of these rings over time, and she really doesn’t want to to throw them away. Now, she has something to do with those rings.

Ray’s Ring Recycling (Triple R) can now help Mom out. Ray Ripowski started Triple R four months ago, and his business is doing very well. Ray’s wife, Ramona, got tired of their sons’ rings just sitting around everywhere in their rooms, and she threatened to throw them all away. Ripowski said, “When Ramona said that, a light bulb came on in my head. These rings are everywhere now, and I could start recycling these rings for people. I knew I could create something neat to sell back to the ring owners, and I’m still coming up with ideas for that. But, business is booming. Moms are glad to get rid of the rings.”

Ripowski works as a metal fabricator, and he’s doing the ring recycling on the side right now. But, he eventually hopes to do it full time. Ripowski gets the ring owners to mail or hand deliver the rings to him. After he receives them, he melts them down, and then creates a new customized metal piece for the customers. Currently, he offers just a handful of options including metal name plates, metal pictures, and engraved metal baseballs or softballs. His customers love the metal balls; many parents put their kids’ stats on the balls for keepsakes.

I was able to catch up with some of Triple R’s customers. One mom said, “I was fed up with all my sons’ rings. They kept accumulating, and I was about to throw them away. A friend told me about Triple R, and Ray created really nice engrave metals balls for my boys. I’d recommend Triple R to everybody.”

One dad said, “Look, it’s crazy that a business like Triple R even exists. I still can’t get over all these tournaments handing out second place rings. That wouldn’t have happened back in my day. I make my kids throw their second place rings away. We’ll keep the first place rings, but not the second place rings. But, Ray made some really nice name plates for my kids, and they really like them. If they keep winning rings, we’ll get some engraved balls done too. Ray does great work.”

Triple R has already garnered a reputation for doing great work. With the continued growth of select sports, their business should continue to grow. Ripowski said, “I hope they start handing out third and fourth place rings too. I’m for everyone getting a ring! That’s good for business.”

by Ben BeEssen

The two most used letters in the English language right now are AI. The artificial intelligence (AI) boom, revolution, or whatever you want to call it, is in full swing. AI is becoming a part of the lexicon more and more everyday, and more and more people are using it everyday. Most people are being exposed to AI by using large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s CoPilot, and more.

These LLMs are making many everyday tasks much easier. You need to write an important email to coworkers- run it through ChatGPT. You need an outline for a Sunday school lesson- just tell CoPilot what you need. You need a 3 day trip itinerary for Atlanta- enter the prompt in Grok. These LLMS are also affecting the journalism field. Many writers and “journalists” are using LLMs to write their stories for them, and it’s very difficult if not impossible to know if AI is used.

Some have accused the SRVO and its writers of using AI to write our stories/articles. We have some of the best writers in the business, and our writers have a ton of journalistic integrity. I have never used AI to write a story, and as far as I know, none of our writers have used it. This is going to be a bigger issue going forward, so the SRVO wanted to get out in front of the issue and let The Valley know our stance on the issue.

All of the SRVO writers have signed a pledge to never use AI to write our stories/articles. Not only have we signed a no AI pledge, our IT department has even blocked access to the LLMs on our network and wifi. So, SRVO readers, you can rest assured our coverage of The Valley’s news will always be authentic and organic.

I was able to get a couple quotes from a couple other SRVO writers. Ima Phibber said, “I’m old, so I don’t even know how to use AI. But, it’s sad these young journalists can’t think for themselves. No one is going to know how to think in the future. What if the internet goes down? People will lose their minds.”

I. B. Lyon said, “I’m so glad we all signed this pledge. I have a couple writer friends at other organizations, and I know they use ChatGPT to write their stories. They have gotten accolades for their work, and it’s a bunch of crap. I work hard on my articles, and I work hard to get good reliable sources. I hope other news organizations will follow our lead.”

Will other news organizations sign a no AI pledge? We’ll see, but I’m not holding my breath.

by “Stretch” DeTrooth

Soccer is becoming more and more popular in the U.S. The game is continuing to grow at all levels: youth, high school, college, and professional. Youth and travel soccer is booming, and many small rural high schools are starting soccer teams. Our professional league (MLS) is doing very well, and it’s continuing to grow and gain more fans. Plus, the men’s 2026 World Cup will be played in the U.S., and soccer fans are excited about that. President Trump even talked about next year’s World Cup at a recent press conference.

Ronald O. Messye has been a lifelong soccer fan. He played high school and community college soccer, and he’s coached his sons in rec and travel soccer. Messye has formed The Valley Possums- a men’s semi-pro soccer team. Messye said, “I was a soccer fan and player before it was cool in The Valley. It’s good to see more people come around to this great sport. After all, it is the most popular sport in the world. I’ve been coaching my boys, and I haven’t played in years. I recently got the itch to play, so I started the Possums. I’m looking forward to getting a team together and playing.”

Messye recently held an interest meeting for the Possums, and he had 29 men show up to the meeting. Messye added, “I was glad to see a good turnout for the interest meeting. Unfortunately, only 14 had ever played soccer, and many of the guys looked out of shape. A few of the guys were even vaping. A positive was that we had 7 guys there that had Hispanic last names like Lopez and Hernandez. We’ll hold tryouts in a couple weeks, so we’ll see what happens. I plan to keep at least 16 for the team.”

I was able to attend the interest meeting, and I spoke with multiple people there. One potential player said, “I don’t know a whole lot about soccer. But, I played linebacker on the football team in high school, and I’m still in decent shape. I’m sure I can play some defense and put a hurtin on some people.”

One potential player’s wife said, “I really hope my husband makes the team, because I could use some good laughs. He played in high school, but that was 14 years ago and 50 pounds ago. Maybe, it’ll give him some initiative to get in shape and lose some weight. I have a feeling the Possums will be a fitting name, because some of the players will be probably have to rollover and play dead out there.”

The Possums will play their games on Valley City High School’s football field. There’s still a lot of work to be done to field a team, get a schedule together, and much more. Valleyans seem to be excited about the Possums, and the SRVO will be here covering the Possums along the way.

by Ima Phibber

In the South and in Mississippi, there are more Dollar General stores than you can shake a stick at. They are everywhere! In recent years, they have started popping up in rural areas in the middle of nowhere in some cases. They are very convenient, and they carry just about anything you need. However, many people and investors have complained that they cater to low-end consumers, and many have said they need to up their game and offer more items for high-end consumers. Dollar General has answered the bell.

Dollar General has created a new line of stores called Dollar General X or DGX, and Valley City will have one on Hwy. 31. The X stands for Extra. These news stores will help Dollar General attract more high-end consumers. The X stores will have a small coffee shop and sitting area very similar to Targets that have Starbucks inside them. The coffee shops will be called DG Drip. These X stores will even carry Dollar General branded coffee. They will also carry more upscale brands as well including Hey Dood, Lululime, Southern Tyde, and many more. A wine and cheese area will be in the new X stores as well.

Dollar General spokesperson Dee Gentral said, “We’re very excited about our new X stores, and we felt The Valley was a great place to put one of our new X stores because of the recent growth. Our aim is to attract more high-end consumers, and we also hope shoppers will come in and stay a while. We hope they’ll hang out, drink some coffee, and have a better shopping experience. Many people are in and out of our stores as quickly as possible, but we hope to change that with our X stores. The longer people stay, the more money they generally spend.”

In addition, the X stores should very clean. They will use robots to clean the stores, and they will also use robots to check inventory. They will also be fully staffed; each X store will have at least 3 employees present at all times. Additionally, each X store will have at least one fully functional self-checkout kiosk. I talked to multiple Dollar General shoppers, and I got mixed feelings about the new DGX stores.

One shopper said, “I shop at Dollar General because it’s convenient, but I don’t see how these DGX stores are gonna do well. We don’t have a lot of high-end shoppers around here. Plus, who wants to drink coffee and hangout in DG? I don’t. I wanna get in and get out as soon as possible. Plus, the old guys will probably take over the coffee shop, and nobody is gonna wanna hang around those old farts. I hope it does well, but I doubt it.”

Another shopper said, “I’m so pumped about the new DGX store! My friends and I will have a place to hangout and drink coffee now. That’s so cool. My parents have been pushing me to get a job after dropping out of college, and I think I may apply to be a barista at the new store. It’s so exciting!”

Will the new DGX concept work in Valley City? We’ll see, but it is great that they picked The Valley and Valley City to put one of their new stores. We’ll be there for the grand opening in a few weeks.

by “Stretch” DeTrooth

Football season is here! The Super Bowl seems like eons ago. Talking season is over, and it’s time for games. Football season is the best time of year (especially in Oct. and Nov. when it’s not 100 degrees). The only negative about football season is that it doesn’t last long enough. lt’s also time for the SRVO’s annual Valley high school football preview.

Strong River Bend

Strong River Bend (SRB) High looks to improve upon a good season last year. They made it to the second round of the playoffs, and they’re hoping to make a deeper run this year. Coach Jackie Mullen took over in 2023, and he implemented his Bulldozer offense, and it’s has been difficult to stop. Coach Mullen said, “Well, you know, we have a senior laden team this year, and they’ve worked really hard in the offseason. I think this year is gonna be a big year for us. We are going to pound the rock; they’ll be some games that we won’t throw the ball once. If you wanna come watch pretty boy 7 on 7, you probably won’t enjoy watching us play. We’re gonna wear you down and demoralize you. Stack the box, that’s ok. We still gonna run it.”

The SRB faithful has really embraced Coach Mullen and his style. They have high hopes for the year. SRB’s defense, coached by Joe Lee Grantham, should be a really good unit as well. This is Coach Mullen’s third year there, and many coaches take a big jump in year 3. We’ll see if that happens with SRB this year.

Valley City

The Valley City High faithful is hopeful for a better year this year. They were 2-8 last year and missed the playoffs. They have a new coach- Jeff Fedora. Fedora was the offensive coordinator for West Madison the past 2 years, and he brings a fast paced, high-flying offense with him. Fedora said, “I’m working with a talent gap here at Valley City, but I think our offense will be the equalizer. We’re going to score a lot of points, and hopefully our defense can make some stops for us. We hope to get our fans to start staying for the second half of games and not leaving after our halftime shows.”

Coach Fedora brought Johnson Ellis with him to Valley City to coach the defense. Many fans were not happy with that decision after his defense gave up an average 40 points last season. Hopefully, Valley City can start winning games again and live up to their great history.

Valley Prep

The Valley Prep faithful have high hopes for this year after coming up short last year. Their Standard Collective has been active this offseason, and they have brought in 8 new players that should be major contributors this season. Quarterback Austin Dart was brought in from West Smith to run the offense. He has offers from multiple G-5 teams. Receiver Donte Metcalf will be his deep threat. Metcalf, with size and speed, is a nightmare for opposing defensive backs. He has offers from all the big boys including Ole Miss, Alabama, Ohio State, and more.

Coach Lane Freeze said, “We are excited about this season. Our portal guys should help us a lot. We’re going to score points, and even though we lost some guys on defense from last year, we’re still expecting big things from our defense. Our conference is going to be tough, but I feel good about our guys.” Valley Prep hopes to maintain their recent success, so it’ll be interesting to see if their new crop of players can keep the momentum going.

Valleyans love high school football, and the quality of football continues to improve in The Valley. There a lot of interesting story lines coming into the year, and the SRVO and yours truly will be here to cover it all.

by I. B. Lyon

Fashion is very interesting these days. People living during the Victorian Age would be appalled by our current fashion. Some would say it has become unattractive and downright sloppy. Plus, it changes each year. So, people that hold onto clothing items will be awarded, because they’ll probably come back into style in a year or two. One fashion item that many are not fond of is short shorts. A Valley clothing company has gone to war over short shorts, but their issue with short shorts is probably not what you think it is.

TK Duds, a Valley clothing company, has started an ad campaign making fun of short shorts for men/boys. Short shorts for males is the style now, and it’s difficult to find shorts for men that come down close to the knee. Many male shorts go about halfway down the thigh, and TK Duds has had enough.

TK Duds Founder and CEO Tommy Klein said, “I’ve had enough of the short shorts on guys. The fashion faux pas has lasted long enough. I’m tired of seeing young guys walking around in tight short shorts showing off their thighs. I just don’t get it, and I think many people are tired of it too. So, we started making longer shorts for guys, and we’ve started a fun ad campaign mocking the short shorts. I think it’ll help us sell longer shorts, and it’ll help society at large stop having to look at guys’ thighs all the time.”

TK Duds has created a simple line of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies that have short snarky statements about shorts for guys. You can buy them in their store in downtown Valley City, and you can buy them online. They’ve already started selling like hot cakes. They’ve also started making male shorts with 9″ and 11″ inseams which are a good bit longer than most male shorts on the market now. These shorts have started selling well also.

People have mixed feelings about the new shirts and shorts. One young male said, “I like my short shorts. It makes it easy to move, and they’re cool in this hot weather. Plus, they’re the style; I’m gonna do what I have to do to be in style. I’m not gonna wear the longer shorts.”

A young female said, “Look, it’s ok for me and my girl friends to wear short shorts. We’re girls, and we shave our legs. I don’t like all these guys wearing short shorts. I even see guys my dad’s age wearing them, and I don’t like it. I’ve already bought 2 of the t-shirts, and I’m going to buy a sweatshirt soon. Bring back long shorts for guys!”

TK Duds’ new shirts and shorts are flying off the shelves now. But, will it last? It’s hard to tell this day and time, but they have definitely touched a nerve. They’re getting a lot of publicity, and they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

by Ben BeEssen

We’ve all been inundated with back-to-school pictures on social media the past couple weeks. It’s neat to see kids holding signs or pieces of paper showing everyone what grade they’re entering, and it’s neat to see how the kids have grown over the years. Many younger kids are excited about the pictures, but it seems a lot of older kids aren’t so excited. Some moms (we know dads aren’t involved) go all out with nice signs, and some go with simple pieces of paper.

Munder Difflin, a Valley office supplies business, has decided to have a little fun and mimic the popular back-to-school pictures with work anniversary pictures. Munder Difflin has been a staple in The Valley for about 40 years, and they employ about 25 employees. Many office supplies businesses have shuttered over the past 10-15 years because of Amazon and other large stores, but Munder Difflin has hung in there. They take pride in their customer service, and they go above and beyond for their customers.

Manager Scott Michaels said, “I see all these back-to-school pics every year on Facebook, and I thought we could do something like that to have a little fun at Munder Difflin. Work anniversaries was the logical choice, so we started taking work anniversary pics for our employees. Some employees like it, and some think it’s stupid. But, I like it, so we’re going to keep doing it.”

I was able to talk with multiple employees, and I got mixed feelings about the work anniversary pictures. One employee said, “I love the work anniversary pics! I’ve been here for 12 years and 10 months, and I can’t wait for my 13 years pic. Scott will post it on our Facebook page, and I’ll share it so all my friends and family can see. My kids and husband think it’s lame, but I don’t care!”

Another employee said, “These anniversary pics are so stupid. I hate them. I might quit if Scott makes me do it again. It’s just another one of Scott’s ridiculous ideas. It’s just so silly and not serious, and it doesn’t help us do our job. I really hope Scott stops them sooner than later.”

It will interesting to see if any other businesses start work anniversary pictures for their employees as well. I have a feeling Munder Difflin is a one off and not many businesses will follow suit. You can follow Munder Difflin on Facebook and MySpace to see their employees’ photos.