Billy Anders

BACK HOME in Amite County, Mississippi Billy Anders

Give me Liberty! ... Liberty, Mississippi, county seat of Amite County - my hometown and home county - or Gloster or Centreville or Crosby or Gillsburg or other people places in our locale...the stories compiled for this work were written over a two year period and published individually in a column as I owned the Wilk-Amite Record weekly newspaper of Gloster, Mississippi, in business since 1892! WARNING! Expecting an exciting adventure book? Read no further. Thanks for your purchase but consign this work to the bathroom for rainy day reading and purchase something by fellow Mississippian John Grisham, or Clive Cussler. The only way this will keep you glued to your seat will be if you're already sweaty when you go in there. This is mostly a simple book of nostalgia, what it's like for a country boy to grow up at least partially in Amite County, Mississippi - venture out into the big, cold world over more than 50 years - never losing sight of where home is - and return in some fashion after all that time. While it's a collection of stories, I suppose it's mostly a memoir. While "gone" I worked as a law enforcement officer for 31 years - a military officer for 28 years - flew airplanes and helicopters as a commercial pilot - earned a bachelor's and master's degree - while traveling the U. S. and a dozen other countries - among other activities. Many "knocks" on Mississippi were encountered during my worldly walkabout, and I am puzzled by that. Yes, those days of the 1940s and 1950s when I was a child and young student were probably poor in some respects with regard to money or fancy facilities. But I never felt disadvantaged. We had good families, good teachers who cared, good food, and a good God who gave us the capability to do anything we set our minds to. I believe that so strongly that my coming Back Home to purchase and publish the newspaper and invest in our community was because I felt I owed my "homefolks" something fo