By John HowellShortly after 7 a.m. on a

fi ne June Saturday morning, Chuck Spriggs had sold out of almost every kind of bis-cuit 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 sau-sage, bacon or some combi-nation.

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

her shopping and comment-ed, “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 fl at 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 in-tersections of Green Road/Main Street with Highway 5, Tina and David Redwine have opened the Pope Country Cafe where diners are generating more eco-nomic activity.

Just down the hill on Main Street next to the railroad tracks where The Place has captured the history of the store build-ing 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 fi nd 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 lead-ing from the Pope/Court-land exit from Interstate 55.

Back at the corner of Mimosa and Highway 51,

Chuck managed his conver-sation between the contin-ued relay of customers.

“We try to do a little bit of it all,” he said.

He bought the store last September and “worked re-ally hard to clean it up,” he said. His stint as an entre-preneur followed retirement from the Mississippi Na-tional 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 Feb-ruary. Spriggs employs fi ve

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. Tay-lor, 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.”

THE PANOLIAN / BATESVILLE, MS FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015 A3

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.

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.

Obituaries

Christopher Dye

Terrell W. DavisManaging Funeral Director, Embalmer

Sherry AndersonFuneral Director

We honor all insurance policies and pre-arrangements from any other funeral home.

www.raynowellfuneralhome.com

Insurance • Pre-Arrangements • MonumentsMemorialization • Aftercare • Grief Resources

Proudly serving families of Batesville & the surrounding areas since 1910.

99 Public SquareBatesville, MS 38606

662-563-7638

232 South Main St.Sardis, MS 38666662-487-1234

P dl i f ili f B ill

Dickins Funeral HomeRay-Nowell Funeral Home

IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATIONIN GRATEFUL APPRECIATIONTO 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

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. Pate-Jones 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 grandchil-dren.

Hattie Lyons Dishmon

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 daugh-ters, Vickie Smith of Senatobia and Jacqueline Smith of Memphis; sister, Sara Lee of Southaven; six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Velma Smith

Eclectic store’s traffi c refl ects retail uptick in Pope

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

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.