Free Republic

PORTLAND - The city of Pascagoula in Mississippi has a world-famous shipyard, building vessels for the U.S. military and private companies alike. When the ships are launched, dignitaries of all kinds normally flock for the commissioning ceremonies, but the state's harsh new anti-gay laws may change that.

A man has said he is still haunted after being abducted and probed by aliens 40 years ago. Calvin Parker Jr said he encountered the UFO when he was 18 years old while fishing with his friend Chase Brandon. And he has spent the past four decades shunning the press attention that the incident attracted. He has moved jobs and home several times over decades to avoid being detected. When questioned he said: "This is something I really didn't want to happen.” Parker and Brandon, then 42, were on the banks of the Pascagoula river in Mississippi in October 1973....

Noble Corp. in January announced plans to move one of its deep-water drilling rigs out of the Gulf of Mexico amid a spill-related slowdown in activity. This week, the Swiss-based driller made good on its promise. It loaded the Noble Clyde Boudreaux, an ultra-deepwater semisubmersible, on a ship in Pascagoula, Miss., that will carry the rig 5,000 miles to Brazil, where it has a contract with Shell. That new contract, starting in April, will last for a year and is $290,000 per day less than the previous Gulf lease, Noble said. Noble, Diamond Offshore and other offshore drilling contractors have...

PASCAGOULA -- The Northrop Grumman-built amphibious transport dock ship Arlington will be christened on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the company’s shipyard in Pascagoula. The ship is named for the city of Arlington, Va., in honor of the 184 people who died when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The company said the ship also honors the military and civilian employees, emergency, fire and rescue personnel of Arlington County who provided assistance after the attack. The ship’s sponsor is Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Arlington County Fire Chief...

PASCAGOULA -- First lady Michelle Obama will sponsor the Coast Guard's third Legend-class national security cutter, which is about 25 percent complete at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Pascagoula yard, officials said Monday. In August 2007, the Coast Guard awarded Northrop Grumman a $285.5 million contract to construct the Stratton. The 418-foot cutter, WMSL 752, is named in honor of Dorothy C. Stratton, the first female commissioned officer in the Coast Guard. Stratton served as director of the SPARS, the Guard's women's reserve, during World War II.

PASCAGOULA -- Brandon Jones was 12 when Adrienne Klasky Graham's ex-husband gunned her down at a busy intersection in Pascagoula, but he remembers it and the effect it had on his community. His sister went to school with one of Adrienne's young sons. People he knew talked about it. "All of us living in Pascagoula in 1989 remember that day," said Jones, now a young attorney representing Pascagoula in the Legislature. "And to know that someone can shoot someone in the plain light of day and walk free less than 20 years later. The governor's action has broken open...

Whenever Tim Charlton pulls to the Chevron gas station in Moss Point, he says it's painful looking at the rising gas prices. "It's hurting at the pump. I've been offshore for 15 years, and I know there is plenty of oil out there. And it seems a shame they are not producing enough," Charlton said. Because of the demand for gas in the United States, the Chevron Pascagoula Refinery is getting ready to pump out more gasoline to consumers. "We will start construction on the new facility in the early part of 2008, and we are going to invest half...

PASCAGOULA - Unlike many other Coast cities, Pascagoula is moving ahead with plans developed through the renewal and recovery sessions sponsored by the governor's office and community leaders. The city is partnering with developers to build new homes that draw on the vision New Urbanists have for rebuilding the Coast. In addition, the city is putting an emphasis on its long-term plans for recreation, and is entering into a lease-purchase agreement to buy government-subsidized property for a new community center and retail shops. Pascagoula was among the first South Mississippi cities to adopt FEMA's new elevation requirements, and its residents...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy christened the amphibious assault ship Makin Island (LHD 8) in a ceremony Aug. 19 at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss. Silke Hagee, wife of Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee, served as the ship’s sponsor. This is the first christening to be held at the Pascagoula facility since the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Makin Island, like other ships under construction in the Gulf Coast last year, was significantly impacted by Katrina, which ravaged the area. Through the efforts of the Post-Katrina Clean-up Team, removing debris and identifying...

GULFPORT - U.S. Sen. Trent Lott and wife Tricia are suing State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. over its refusal to cover the loss of their Pascagoula home to Hurricane Katrina. The Lotts' suit, filed today in U.S. District Court, accuses the insurance company of fraud for denying coverage based on a "flood" exemption and asks that the court order the claim paid. It further asks that the insurance company be prohibited from using the flood exemption to deny coverage. Attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs is representing his sister and brother-in-law in the lawsuit. The Lotts paid insurance premiums for more...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (NNS) -- Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202 based in Little Creek, Va., are clearing debris and performing repairs in local areas here affected by Hurricane Katrina. Water moccasins, metal rods, giant wood beams and mounds of debris were some of the challenges faced by CBMU 202 when they arrived on board Naval Station (NS) Pascagoula to help clear and repair damage caused by the hurricane. The Seabees involved in the Pascagoula operation include members of CBMU-202 from Little Creek, Va. and members of the CBMU-202 Detachment from Kings Bay, Ga. One of the priority projects...

ABOARD THE USNS COMFORT - Most of this hospital ship's crew bunked down Thursday night thinking they were headed for New Orleans. They didn't know that Trent Lott had other thoughts. As the ship approached the mouth of the Mississippi River, it was turned around. Yesterday afternoon, the crew docked at Pascagoula, in the Republican senator's home state of Mississippi, waiting to receive victims of Hurricane Katrina. The former Senate majority leader had pressed leaders of the relief effort late Thursday night to have the ship go to his state, saying three naval vessels were already in New Orleans and...

Community News: Pascagoula, Mississippi Area Destruction by Pat King Posted on Wednesday, September 07 @ 20:01:18 CDT Topic: Community News Pascagoula, Mississippi Area Destruction Article by Pat King Photos By: Brenda Davis and Brenda King The attached photos of the devastation of Pascagoula show the effects of Katrina’s power. Brenda Davis and Brenda King took these photos during their 1st trip down on Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 to carry food. In some of the photos you will see remains of where homes were, and also some of the frames of the homes that remain. Even though you don’t see the...

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Donald Ashford can't go home, but he can still go to work. Hurricane Katrina saw to that when it forced his family from their Moss Point, Miss., house 10 days ago. "I'm bringing home the bacon, but I got nowhere to bring it to," said the 30-year worker for Northrop Grumman Corp.'s shipyard. He's part of the state's largest work force, a man whose only sense of place for now is a shipyard undergoing a massive restoration and cleanup from debris strewn across the port. A feeling of urgency grows each day as crews fill trash bins...

An oak tree may be the only remains of the home where Sen. Trent Lott raised his family and joined other political leaders for a rocking chair view of the sea. Lott, R-Miss., learned from neighbors and relatives that the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina, rising as high as 30 feet, leveled his Pascagoula home along the Gulf coast of Mississippi near the Alabama border. Lott's press secretary, Susan Irby, said Lott and his wife were driving to Pascagoula Wednesday to search for personal effects that may have survived the storm. "He's among the many who have losses and it...

hey does anyone have any news on the effects of Katrina on Pascagoula? or the Lodge apartments in Pascagoula?

When then-House Republican backbencher Dick Armey came up with the concept of an independent base-closing commission in the mid-1980s, the idea was to make it easier for the political system to do the right thing... As we're seeing in the current round of base closings, even the Armey method is having a hard time surviving the ability of Members to sabotage the process.... The Pentagon has proposed closing a record 62 major bases and 775 small installations to save $48.8 billion over 20 years and reposition the armed forces to face current threats.... Before the Brac Commission was even in...

WASHINGTON — The powerful DDX Destroyer is nicknamed the "stealth" warship for its design that has several flat surfaces above the water to make it more difficult for the enemy to detect. The Navy wants to buy one DDX per year, paying about $3 billion per ship, but the place where the ships will be built is a point of disagreement between the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. The Pentagon wants the two shipyards that build the Navy's destroyers to compete, meaning only one would get the whole DDX contract. The two sites are Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., run by...

Northrop officials say destroyer program changes ahead PASCAGOULA, Miss.—A Northrop Grumman Ships Systems official says changes in the Navy's shipbuilding program could force the defense giant into direct competition with Bath Iron Works. Ship Systems President Phil Dur, speaking Tuesday to a business group in Pascagoula, said depending on how the Navy changes its DD(X) destroyer program, Northrop could go from building three of the next generation warships to building all or none. Ship Systems is scheduled to build the first three ships of the cutting-edge class in Pascagoula, with the Bath, Maine, shipyard building two. Recent changes in the...

Story Number: NNS040310-02 Release Date: 3/10/2004 8:26:00 AM By Stacey Byington, Naval Station Pascagoula Public Affairs PASCAGOULA, Miss. (NNS) -- USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51) will leave its homeport at Naval Station Pascagoula, Pascagoula, Miss., for a five-month deployment March 10. The deployment will cover a variety of missions, including a circumnavigation of the South American continent. Gates’ deployment will include counter-drug operations, high-profile port visits along the eastern Atlantic seaboard; escorting the nation’s newest carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), to her new homeport in San Diego; and international exercises with South American navy ships. “This is an...