ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI CDISPATCH.COM FREE! SUNDAY | APRIL 26, 2015 SPD increasing community Gender gap in the pews relations with residents’ academy Course will graduate first class in August BY CARL SMITH [email protected] The Starkville Police Department will hold its first ever police acad- emy, a 10-week class aimed at increasing community relations and transparency, for residents this summer. The class will meet Nichols Thursdays beginning in June and graduate participants early August. A $50 fee is expected for at- tendees, and residents must be at least 21 years old and pass a background check before they’re admitted. Con- victed felons will not be accepted. Mark Wilson/Dispatch Staff SPD Chief Frank Nichols expects Parishioners file into Temple B’Nai Israel on Saturday. Pew Research Center statistics show that across the country the inaugural class to have 20 people. women attend religious services more often than men. Golden Triangle area churches report the same. Aldermen approved the police academy Tuesday on consent, with the stipulation that enrollees sign hold-harmless and indemnification agreements with the city. In the Golden Triangle, the numbers are Before the board approved the mat- ter, Nichols clarified how the training will not allow residents to have any clear: Women go to church more than men policing capabilities or certifications. “Their role will be a normal citizen after they get out of here. They won’t BY ISABELLE ALTMAN But a closer look reveals some- members and only 787 male mem- be certified to carry guns, they won’t [email protected] thing so common that it’s almost bers, according to Kelly Ward, the be allowed to patrol,” he said. “They not startling anymore: Most adults church’s secretary. First Baptist unday mornings in America might get the chance to ride along in the sanctuary are women. Church has 545 female members see thousands flock to church See ACADEMY, 8A Studies show that in America to 490 male members, according to Sand Sunday school. As the today churches are filled with far Amy Perkins, the church’s secre- preacher reviews his sermon’s more women than men. And while tary. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church notes, congregation members fill there are exceptions, the Golden has 166 female members and 137 pews, mothers settle children, Triangle is not one of them. INSIDE friends greet each other and choir Fairview Baptist Church, one of male members, according to Becky NEW MAN ON CAM- members fan themselves with pro- the largest churches in the Colum- Brett, parish administrator. PUS: Basketball recruit grams. bus area, has more than 900 female See CHURCH, 6A Malik Newman picks MSU. See story, 3A. WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC MEETINGS 1 What was the song the basketball May 4: Columbus-Lowndes Monday, April 27 Recreation Authority Board, team warmed up to in the 1951 mo- ■ MSU Philharmonia: This tion picture “Harlem Globetrotter”? CLRA Administration Build- 2 What did Henry F. Phillip introduce free concert begins at 7:30 ing, 6 p.m. for carpenters? p.m. in McComas Theater May 5: Columbus City 3 What English actress did Rex Harri- on the Mississippi State Council, Municipal Com- son want as his movie Eliza Doolittle campus. plex, 5 p.m. Rhianna Jackson because she’d played the role oppo- May 11: Columbus Munic- site him on Broadway? ipal School District Board Second grade, Franklin Aca. 4 What name was given to the defen- sive mission launched to prevent Iraq TOP OF PAGE: Trinity meeting, Brandon Central from invading Saudi Arabia prior to the Miller, 3, runs around Office, 6 p.m. High 83 Low 53 May 19: Columbus City Sunny 1991 Gulf War? the vendors with a 5 Which European country’s capital Council, Municipal Com- Full forecast on purple balloon and has two halves, Buda and Pest, linked plex, 5 p.m. page 2A. purple Ninja Turtle gear by nine bridges across a river? June 9: Columbus Munic- Answers, 6D on during the Relay for Life event at the soccer ipal School District Board complex Saturday. meeting, Brandon Central INSIDE Trinity is the daughter Office, 6 p.m. of Stephanie Miller, of Classifieds5D Obituaries 7B Columbus. Photo by Luisa Porter/ Comics Insert Opinions 4,5A Maria Lytle lives in Columbus. Dispatch Staff DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SAY WHAT? DID YOU HEAR? “Pearl is going to present a tremendous challenge for us. I don’t know if we can get by them or not. If we pitch it and defend it though, we have a chance against anybody.” New Hope baseball coach Lee Boyd on his team’s first-round Sunday playoff series with Pearl, Page 1B. ASK RUFUS Art, lost gold mines and Walt Disney AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File In this 2014 file photo, kidnapping survivors Gina DeJe- R sus, left, and Amanda Berry are honored at the annual ecently National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s there was Hope Awards dinner in Washington. a televi- sion se- ries about Women held captive in Ohio some treasure home for decade release memoir hunters out west BY DEEPTI HAJELA having DeJesus have written a Rufus Ward The Associated Press book about their experi- found ences. “We are free, we an old NEW YORK — When love life,” the women said map that they thought would lead Amanda Berry’s toddler in the note to readers at them to a long lost gold mine. The daughter had night terrors the beginning of “Hope: program featured them searching and started screaming and A Memoir of Survival in across rocky landscapes, seeking Courtesy photo running around the room, Cleveland,” which they the lost mine. The scenery where “Cloud Patterns” is a painting by Josh Meador of Walt Disney’s Smoke Berry couldn’t always get wrote with journalists the treasure hunters were ventur- Tree Ranch. It had been owned by Disney and hung in one of his homes. When Walt died the Disney family gave the painting to Mrs. Meador and to her — because she was Mary Jordan and Kevin ing looked much like some of the chained and couldn’t move the Meador family gave the painting to Columbus. It now hangs in the Sullivan. “Hope” is sched- scenes once painted by Columbus lobby of the CCVB. that far. uled to come out Monday. native and long time Disney anima- Big, heavy chains were The Associated Press pur- tion effects director, Josh Meador. first artists to use Smokey Bear to a regular part of Berry’s chased an early copy in The television images and story promote forest fire prevention. His life for years as she, Gina New York. brought to mind something Phil oil paintings of California scenes DeJesus and Michelle Berry kept journals and Meador, Josh’s son, once told me. won many awards and fifty of his Knight were held captive other writings during her Often, Josh would take his wife, works were included in Walt Dis- in a Cleveland home by captivity; the book shifts Elizabeth (Josh was married to ney’s personal collections. Ariel Castro before finally between her and DeJesus’ Elizabeth Alston, his high school In the late 1950s, Josh was an escaping in 2013. So were perspectives and recounts sweetheart from Columbus), effects animator working on the repeated rapes and other what their families went and Phil and the family dog on Disney feature, “Sleeping Beauty.” abuse. through and what Castro’s weekend trips in their station To publicize the upcoming release wagon with a teardrop trailer in Courtesy photo But the women sur- background and life were of the movie in 1959, Walt Disney Although Josh Meador is most vived, and now Berry and like. tow. Elizabeth and Phil would go devoted one of his weekly tele- noted as long time director of walking, while Josh, with the dog vision programs to “Adventures animation effects for Disney, he for company, would go into the in Art” with a segment titled “4 achieved national recognition as CONTACTING THE DISPATCH country side and paint or draw. Artist Paint 1 Tree,” It featured a landscape artist. This is “Edge Josh especially loved drawing or of the Dunes” and was painted by Office hours: Main line: four animators, one being Meador, painting the rugged beauty of Meador about 1947. n 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri n 662-328-2424 who were working on “Sleeping Nevada’s “Valley of Fire,” where Beauty.” Disney called them not hung in Walt Disney’s office. The Email a letter to the editor? he would sometimes even hunt for just Disney animators but artists HOW DO I ... painting even shows up hanging n [email protected] storied lost treasure. with “national reputations.” Disney in Disney’s office in last year’s Report a missing paper? From the late 1930s through described their work on “Sleeping Report a sports score? hit movie, “Saving Mr Banks.” n 662-328-2424 ext. 100 the 1950s animation experienced Beauty,” and then showed them n 662-241-5000 n Toll-free 877-328-2430 its golden age, with Walt Disney while describing their style of That painting is closely tied to a painting given to Columbus by the n Operators are on duty until Submit a calendar item? Studios its foremost practitioner. painting as they each painted the Meador family and which hangs 6 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and 6:30 - n Go to www.cdispatch.com/ At Disney, Columbus native same tree. in the lobby of the Columbus Con- 9:30 a.m.