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THE PANOLIAN / BATESVILLE, MS
FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015 A3
Eclectic store’s traffic reflects retail uptick in Pope
By John Howell
Shortly after 7 a.m. on a
fine June Saturday morning,
Chuck Spriggs had sold out
of almost every kind of biscuit he offers in his store at
the intersection of Mimosa
Street/Pope-Water Valley
Road and Highway 51 in
Pope.
The steady trickle of
customers that started as
early as he did about 5 a.m.
had depleted his supply.
They had purchased gas,
minnows, coffee, milk,
bread, coffee, canned goods,
earthworms, lunchmeat or
crickets.
And almost every one
of them left with a biscuit
wrapped around a sausage,
egg, cheese, smoked sausage, bacon or some combination.
Spriggs greeted most by
name and they returned his
salutation. One well-dressed
lady — someone who Chuck
later said he did not know
— paused in the middle of
When Dean Hall (right) stopped by to purchase bait from
Chuck Spriggs at the Chuck Stop on a recent Saturday
morning, the numbers of minnows and crickets he bought
sounded overly ambitious. Then Hall explained that he was
buying bait for four fishermen.
When Quinterious Wright (right) stopped at the Chuck Stop to buy worms for fishing, he
also bought the next-to-last biscuit from Chuck Spriggs (left).
The Panolian photos by John Howell
Obituaries
Hattie Lyons Dishmon
COMO––Hattie Lyons
Dishmon, 70, died Thursday,
June 11, 2015 at Baptist
Memorial Hospital-Desoto.
Services will be held
Saturday, June 20, at 1:00
p.m. at West Como Church
of Christ. Burial will follow
in Liberty Hill CME Church
Cemetery. Visitation will be
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1
p.m. at the church. PateJones Funeral Home in
Senatobia had charge of the
arrangements.
She was a member of
Percyville Church of Christ
Survivors include: sons,
Zernell Lyons of Edna, Texas
and Marius Lyons of Como;
her father, Johnnie Lyons of
Como; sisters, Irene Roach
of Holly Springs, Bernice
Lyons of Como, Gloria
Lyons Watson of Memphis
and Vinici Wright of
Memphis; brothers, Willie
Lyons of Holly Springs,
William Lyons Jessie Lyons,
Leroy Lyons, David Lyons
and Kenneth Lyons all of
Como and seven grandchildren.
Christopher Dye
HORN LAKE––
Christopher “Chris” Dye,
33, died Saturday, June 13,
2015 at his residence. He
attended Crenshaw United
Methodist Church.
Services were held
Tuesday at Pate-Jones
Funeral Home in Senatobia.
Burial was in Longtown
Cemetery.
He was preceded in death
by his grandparents, Jewel
Wright, Glenn Dye Sr. and
Mildred Dye.
Velma Smith
SENATOBIA––Velma
Smith, 72, died Sunday, June
14, 2015, in Memphis. She
was the sister of Geraldine
Jones of Como.
Services will be held
Saturday at noon at Gospel
Temple C.O.G.I.C. Visitation
will be held Friday 4 p.m. 7 p.m. at Felix Cauthen
Funeral Home. Burial will
be in Senatobia Memorial
Cemetery.
She was a factory worker.
Survivors along with her
sister include: her husband,
Joe Willie Smith; two daughters, Vickie Smith of
Senatobia and Jacqueline
Smith of Memphis; sister,
Sara Lee of Southaven; six
grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.
Survivors include: his
wife, Jamie Dye; daughters,
Mariska Smith, Alexis Dye
and Trinity Dye all of Horn
Lake; his parents Cynthia
W. Dye of Horn Lake and
Glenn Dye Jr (Marinda) of
Grenada.; his grandfather
James Wright (Rita) of
Crenshaw; one sister, Celine
Thackston (Matt) of
Nashville: and brothers,
Micheal Dye (Katie) of
Marion Ark.; John
Pendergrast (Jen) of Tampa,
Fla. and Alex Pendergrast
(Alyssa) of Southaven.
Memorials may be made
to St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital.
Dickins Funeral Home
Ray-Nowell Funeral Home
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her shopping and commented, “I may as well make one
stop do.”
Then she asked him for
a dozen eggs. He did not
have the dozen but quickly
cut down a cardboard flat
to enclose six eggs from his
kitchen supply to make sure
her one stop would indeed
do.
Such is life at a crossroads
in Pope where the retail
activity is so eclectic that
Spriggs did well to give
the business his name: The
Chuck Stop.
Further north at the intersections of Green Road/
Main Street with Highway
5, Tina and David Redwine
have opened the Pope
Country Cafe where diners
are generating more economic activity.
Just down the hill on
Main Street next to the
railroad tracks where The
Place has captured the
history of the store building that has occupied that
space since 1865, Gwen
Montgomery, Pat Powell
and staff host even more
diners.
Two restaurants in a
town where the population
hovers not far above 200
might suffer for patronage
if their respective cuisines
had not turned Pope into a
dining destination.
During a given visit to
either restaurant a visitor
can usually find a cadre
of regulars in their usual
places plus dining guests
from throughout Panola
and surrounding counties.
Out on Hentz Road,
Dollar General has joined
Magnolia Sales and Lipe
Well Supply to create a
commercial corridor leading from the Pope/Courtland exit from Interstate 55.
Back at the corner of
Mimosa and Highway 51,
Chuck managed his conversation between the continued relay of customers.
“We try to do a little bit of
it all,” he said.
He bought the store last
September and “worked really hard to clean it up,” he
said. His stint as an entrepreneur followed retirement
from the Mississippi National Guard as a full-time
recruiter.
He added 1,000 square
feet his building, expanding
the liquor store that came
with the existing business.
He opened the addition
as the Liquor Lodge in February. Spriggs employs five
or six people to staff the two
enterprises, he said.
Chuck and his wife,
Aimee, built their house in
Pope in 2007, moving from
DeSoto County. She has
has been rehab director at
Golden Living in Batesville
since 2003.
The Spriggs are parents
of two daughters. Shelby, 14,
will enter South Panola as a
freshman in August. Taylor, 11, is a student at Pope
School.
“I’m here to make money,
obviously,” the Chuck Stop’s
owner said. “But I’m here to
support the community, too,
because I live here.”
IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATION
TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES:
We would like to take this opportunity to thank each
and every one for the many, many acts of kindness
that were extended to us during the recent demise
of our daughter, Vernasia Renae Frost. Your phone
calls, visits, benevolent offerings, donations of food,
cards, prayers, and kind thoughts have not gone
un-noticed. From the depths of our hearts, we
thank you. It is our fervent prayer that the Lord will
continue to bless and keep each of you and your
families. Again, thank you, and we love you all.
Rev. Willie & Barbara Frost