The Year in Review for 2013, first published on January 3, 2014, is a good recap of events.

If you believe that 13 is an unlucky number, then the year 2013 certainly bolstered that belief. Although the past year had some bright spots, for the most part those high notes were overshadowed by the declining fortunes of the area’s resort industry, as reflected in decreases in gaming tax revenues collected by the county.

For the sake of trying to look on the bright side, let’s start with the positives. The brightest note of 2013 has to be the announcement in September that a $140 million German automotive parts manufacturer, Feuer Powertrain, planned to build its first U.S. plant near Robinsonville. The announcement, held at the Tunica RiverPark, drew state and local economic development officials. The company plans to begin construction early in 2013 and will ultimately create 300 jobs.

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Reprinted with permission from

The Lancaster News in Lancaster, SC

Seventy-one years after earning the Bronze Star for his service in World War II, Buddy Hungerford was presented the medal Thursday by Rep. Mick Mulvaney in a brief ceremony at the Springs House.

“Mr. Hungerford,” Mulvaney said, formally addressing the 91-year-old veteran at the base of the grand staircase. A crowd of more than 50 Rotarians and guests looked on.

“Yes, sir,” Hungerford said, snapping the words off sharply.

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Nearly 50 years ago, Nancy Williams started work at Planters Bank in Tunica. Votie Holmes was president then, and Williams remembers Holmes’s grandfather Abe Burrows still coming in the bank regularly.

Since those first days, she has worked at a variety of positions and seen the bank through two changes in ownership, to First Tennessee in 1994, then to First Security in the late 1990s.

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The year 2011 was a turning point for Tunica County just as surely as 9-11 was a watershed moment in U.S. history.

There was no indication in January that the county was on the precipice of “an economic disaster unlike anything we’ve ever seen in North Mississippi,” as Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Webster Franklin said in mid-May.

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