Page 35 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2020

JACKSON COUNTY
PLAY BALL!
story by Paige Roberts
Pascagoula City Councilman Scott Tipton remembers sitting on the city’s recreation commission more than 10 years ago discussing the need for new ball elds. Soon, Tipton will help cut the ribbon on those very elds.
“I’m excited! A lot of people have worked
hard, and a lot of input went into this project.
We wanted to build something nice for our kids, and we’ve done it.”
The $12 million project includes four baseball elds, one of which is a tournament eld, and three softball elds. There are two batting cages and two concession areas. One of the concession areas includes a meeting room.
JACKSON COUNTY’S JAM — JOBS! story by Paige Roberts photo courtesy of MGCCC
The tournament eld boasts arti cial turf with stadium seating and netting fence. The other elds are home to Pascagoula Youth Baseball and Softball, but Tipton said the sportsplex will be used year-round. There also are shade structures atop the bleachers, which is a welcome feature for spectators.
The diamonds of America’s pastime will be sparkling in Pascagoula for years to come.
DR. MARY S. GRAHAM, president of MGCCC, and Ron Baczkowski, Halter Marine president and CEO, sign the paperwork in March to create a ship builder apprenticeship program.
Led by the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, Jackson County celebrated the creation of more than 2,000 jobs in 2019. Now the time has come to ll some of those jobs.
VT Halter Marine is one of the companies on the hunt for hires. The shipbuilder is looking for professionals, such as engineering, IT, accounting, and human resources, and craft laborers, such as welders, electricians, ship tters, and pipe tters.
Training is key, and partnerships are critical. One such partnership
is kicking o this August: the Halter Marine – Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Apprenticeship Program, approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. The program consists of three modules: on-the-job training, classroom training, and a progressive wage increase as participants reach set milestones.
“We have calculated every job we create generates four more jobs outside our gates,” Halter Marine President and CEO Ron Baczkowski said. “Jobs here help ensure other companies employ workers who can supply the equipment we need. We add to the local economy, and we are proud of that.”
People interested in professional positions at VT Halter Marine should go
to www.vthm.com/join-us and submit their resume to hr@vthm.com. Craft laborers are hired through these contract agencies: Alliance Mechanical Solutions, Ameri-Force, B&D Contracting, Craft and Technical Solutions, Hutco, Knights Marine, and Masse Contracting.
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