Legislators Take First Step To Renaming AmeriCorps center

    Legislators have taken the first step toward naming an AmeriCorps regional center in Vicksburg for the late Sen. Grey Ferris. The Mississippi House voted 121-0 Thursday to make the designation. The bill moves to the Senate.
    Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said Ferris was “a kind, gentle soul who had a New Testament heart about every issue.“
    AmeriCorps will lease 75 percent of the former All-Saints Episcopal School campus for a volunteer service center. The center would house up to 80 volunteers from around the nation by July if
plans stay on schedule.
    Ferris, a Democrat from Vicksburg, served in the state Senate from 1992-2000 and was chairman of the Education Committee. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1999.
    He died June 13, 2008.