Weekend preview: Boats, bocce ball, Beauvoir, and plenty more

You’ll find Smokin’ the Sound powerboat racing this weekend along the waterfront from Point Cadet to the Biloxi Lighthouse, along with benefit bocce ball competition on the Town Green, free admission at Beauvoir Saturday for Confederate Memorial Day, and the final weekend of the Coliseum’s Crawfish Music Festival.

Meantime, on Saturday night, the Biloxi Civic Center hosts its first sporting event Saturday with “Blood & Sand XI,” an ultimate fighting challenge-style event. Nearly 20 fights are scheduled. Tickets, which are expected to be available at the door, range from $35 to $60, depending on how close to the action you want to be.

For details on these events and others, courtesy of online listings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau,
click here.

Police expect to see large turnout for pill program

If the past is any indication, Biloxi Police will see thousands of pills turned in for Saturday’s
drug take-back program.

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., residents are being asked to drop off any unneeded or expired prescription drugs at the Lopez-Quave Public Safety Center on Porter Avenue, two blocks north of the Biloxi Lighthouse.

As many as 10,000 pills have been turned in to programs in past years.

The take-back program is a project originated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which hopes to avoid the risks of drug abuse and environmental damage caused by flushing controlled substances down the toilet or throwing them away.

News and notes

Hoosier Buddy? The Biloxi Police Department, following up on this week’s hugely successful red beans and rice luncheon, will repeat the event Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the green space across from City Hall. This week’s event, which raises money for Indiana State Police officers who lost their homes and belongings to this summer’s tornadoes, sold out in less than an hour. On Tuesday, police will be back with plenty more $5 plates and will be raffling a 12-gauge Mossburg 500 shotgun. To print a flyer about the event, click here.

Mary’s Mahoney’s in USA Today: Mary Mahoney’s Old French House Restaurant, which many would say is Biloxi’s best-known restaurant, was the subject of USA Today’s “Great American Bites” series this week. To read the story, click here.

Youth in government: Youth from Biloxi and St. Patrick high schools will be shadowing city staffers on Tuesday in the Biloxi Elks Lodge 606’s annual Students in Government Day. The students also will sit alongside city leaders during the council’s meeting that afternoon. The council agenda will be posted by mid-afternoon Friday.

Free Town Green concert: The Oklahoma Christian University Bands will present a free concert Monday at 7 p.m. on the Town Green. To read about the affair,
click here.

Pass Road work: The city this week awarded an $860,000 contract to Gulf Equipment Co. to oversee improvements to Pass Road intersections at Eisenhower Drive, Big Lake Road and Stennis Drive. The work is expectd to be completed in January 2013. Meantime, Restore Biloxi infrastructure repair and repalcement continues off Old Bay Road, in Sunkist and Ancient Oaks subdivisions, and at Hollywood Hills and nearby subdivisions.