1998

roun breaking for dorm at ECCC As heavy maChinery growled in the background. l <:t dignitaries scooped up shove]sful of dirt en the South Campus at East Central Com– munity College to celebrate th,e construction of a ne\\ w amen=> dormitorv. The ne~v dorm will be named Erma Lee Barber Hall to honor Miss Barber, a long-tune em- p loyee of ECCC. At 92, the re- T tired Dean of Women till ;ve 1

h t Dr Eddie M Smith (far right) and 13 other dig-

akin

op P o o: · nHadeo parHdpate hl a ground·bre ·

for the k

g ceremony

in Decatur. new women's donn m the ECCC South Campus last wee · "We've been looking forward Above right: Dr. Smith congratulates Miss Erma Lee B~ber to this event for a long time," 00 the beginning of the construction phase of t~e dormitory said Dr. Smith in his address. which. when completed<-will bear her name. tAnaJ we are very happy tna t The dorm construction project

although the official ground- w ill be funded by a $3 million breaking is today, MCO Con- loan from USDA Rural Devel– struction Company has already opment. The loan will be re– initiated work on the proJect " paid with support funding pro- ECCe has been in due need vided by tax levies in the five of expanded dornutol) faciJi- counties that make up ECCC's ties for many years espec1ally service district: Newton, for female students Smath Neshoba, Scott, Leake and said. "As our enrollmen has Wins ton counties. continued to g:ro•' o the The new donn will includ e years, the need for m 26,529 square feet of floor space tOl)' space, espeaall) and will be built and furnished female students has for a total cost of $3,086,715. plOre and more cnhcal The building will have 64 ~:~ rooms with d ouble occupancy, WINS T0 N C0 UNTY ' providing space for 128 s tudents CLARION. LEDGER_ plus ~e d orm supervisor. Whlle the new female donn

l'eaooay College in Nashville, Tennessee. She taught at schools in Smith County, Raleigh, Mad– den, Vicksburg and Leland be– fore accepting a position as a s– sistant state supervisor of home economics in 1946. In 1947 she went to Mississippi State Col– lege for Women to work as th e soc1al adviser. Barber was employed at ECCC in 1952 by Dr. L.O. Todd, the second president of the col– lege. "It is a matter of record that Miss Barber personally pro– vided fmancial help to a num– ber of 2irls ro that the\: could camp

that were in some instanc1 very d ifficult to enforce." Barber served as Dean ( Women a t Ecce from June 5 1952 until h er retirement on Ju l 1, 1971. Construction of the new fn cility is expected to be pleted in time for occupancy f the 1999-2000 school year Participants in the ground breaking mduded BJIJ; Nicholson, Jerry Nance, D Phil Sutphin, Randall Leu Laura Ming, Joe McDorman Jr. William Simpson, Freddie Ter rell, Mike Allen, Charle · Moulds, Steve Lee, Mike Pete1 ' O!"l a.'1d Wavne Barb<:>r

was in the planrung stages the ECCC Board of T ruste.:.-s ~otec oo Oct. 14, 1997 to name t he donn after Erma Lee R.:nhPr

un..._ I Ea:rt Centra~