Gallery: Delta Council's 2012 annual meeting

RICE FARMER Gibb Steele, left, Hollandale, Miss., and new Delta Council President Bill Litton of Greenwood, Miss., visit prior to the Council’s annual meeting at Delta State University. Litton was introduced as the 77th president of the Delta’s “Chamber of Commerce” during the meeting at DSU’s Bologna Performing Arts Center.

FORMER DELTA COUNCIL presidents Dan Branton, left, Leland, Miss., and Tom Robertson, center, Holly Ridge, Miss., talked with former United Soybean Board Chairman Jerry Slocum of Coldwater, Miss., at the Delta Council annual meeting.

CONGRESSMAN TOM DAVIS, left, and former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy say hello prior to Davis’ speech to the Delta 1000, a group of supporters of the Delta Council prior to its annual meeting. Davis, who left Congress voluntarily after serving seven terms, spoke on the current political outlook in Washington. Davis and Espy served in Congress together (Espy represented the Mississippi Delta) before Espy became agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration.

MEMBERS OF THE KINDERGARTEN CHOIR at Presbyterian Day School in Clarksdale lead the pledge of allegiance at the annual meeting of the Delta Council at Delta State University.

EACH YEAR THE DELTA COUNCIL recognizes honor graduates from across the Delta and part-Delta counties of Mississippi at its annual meeting. This year’s $2,500 scholarship for the highest ranking student was presented to Andy Bell, a student from St. Aloysius High School in Vicksburg, Miss., who plans to attend Mississippi State University. With Bell on stage at the annual meeting were, from left, Delta Council President Bowen Flowers, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Bell and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.

DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY President Dr. John Hilpert, right, presents a DSU football helmet to Gov. Phil Bryant at the Delta Council annual meeting. Hilford presented the helmet, a baseball signed by Delta State legend Boo Ferris, and a Delta State pennant after noting that Bryant did not have any Delta State memorabilia in his office in the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson.

THIS YEAR’s Delta Council Good Middling Lady, Lanny Kennedy, holds one of her twin granddaughters, Simmons Kennedy, while Brenda Yant looks on following the Delta Council annual meeting. Kennedy, a special needs teacher in Inverness, Miss., was honored for her 35 years of service to the Delta. “When it comes to the word ‘giving,’ there is no individual in the Delta who surpasses Lanny,” said Delta Council President Bowen Flowers.

CATCHING UP AT the Delta Council annual meeting were friends Brenda Aguzzi, left, Lee Aylward, Don Aylward and Ronnie Aguzzi, all of Bolivar County, Miss., and Joe Street, associate director and state program leader of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service.

TURNER ARANT, farmer and businessman from Sunflower, Miss., visits with Virginia Terry, left, Greenwood, Miss., and Bobbie Jean Hill, Indianola, Miss., during the traditional catfish lunch at the Delta Council annual meeting.