(Photo by Katie Furr Mobley)

Every week, Cliff Furr is Talking Ball, Y’all with a new weekly column that’s presented by our partners at Toyota of Brookhaven.

Last weekend was a truly awful one for Mississippians around the Magnolia State.

Three people died due to injuries received at Heidelberg High School in Jasper County. It was homecoming for the Oilers football team, one of the best 2A programs in the state. Four suspects have been charged, all 18-19 years old.

Across the state, in Leland, there were a total of 16 people struck by gunfire at a homecoming block party, held after the Leland High homecoming game. Six of those victims have died and five arrests have been made. Those suspects were 25, 29 (two), 33, and 44-years old.

Forty miles south of Leland, in Rolling Fork, there was a shooting outside the homecoming game at South Delta. The suspect in that one was pursued and arrested that night.

Then, a day later, there were shootings near games played by Jackson State and Alcorn State on Saturday.

A death, whether it be by violence or accident, is like a stone, cast into the still waters of a pool.

The ripples that pulse out across the water after that stone breaks the surface represent all the people associated with the deceased.

Their family, their friends, and the people who will miss and mourn them.

It feels like a death by natural causes or accident splashes a different type of ripple than those caused by violence.

When I was child, one of my best friends had the railroad line running behind his house. We’d cut through the woods on some 16th Section Land, to a spot where a creek ran under the tracks. A tunnel had been built to allow the water to flow, and the creek was deep in that section.

We’d climb way up to the tracks and then take the huge pieces of grey railroad stone, known as riprap, and we’d throw them off, watching them tumble down and land in the water.

My best description of the sound made by the stones hitting the water is, “GADUSH!”

If you’ve lost someone you love to violence, then I imagine that’s a more apt description of the ripples it creates.

Not a stone tossed in a little pond, but a big chunk of rock thrown down from a height that sends water shooting 12-feet high when it makes impact.

I’ve had friends lose loved ones to violence. That’s a scar that never fades.

One can’t help but think about the people who witnessed those shootings last week, the witnesses who were running for their own lives, only to look back and see others fall.

I can’t talk about homecoming and football games without first acknowledging those tragedies.

After those shootings, the MHSAA (the governing body of high school athletics in Mississippi), suggested that schools cancel upcoming homecoming tailgates and some did.

There has been no official word issued, but it looks like the Brookhaven School District will continue with its plans to have homecoming as usual this upcoming week and for that, I am proud to be a Panther.

I’m not here to tell you that I have some type of answers to what’s happened in our state on Oct. 10-11. I’m sure if I asked Facebook for ideas, I’d get plenty of answers from the experts there.

I am here to tell you that I trust Brookhaven School District Superintendent Dr. Rod Henderson, Athletic Director Mandy Vinson, and BHS Principal Shonique McLaurin.

I trust our Mayor Larry Jointer. I trust our new police leadership, Chief Dustin Bairfield and Assistant Chief Willie Gayten.

I trust them to do everything in their power to create a safe environment on East Monticello Street this week.

I trust them because I know that’s something they’ve already been doing. BHS has had a clear bag policy in place and has had weapon detectors posted at the entrance of King Field. Alcohol is not allowed in Panther Park and there are rules in place to keep everyone safe and to keep the environment family friendly.

Which is what it is, at every BHS home game, not just homecoming.

It’s kids playing football and parents hanging out as the cheerleaders cheer and the band plays and the Panthers make their pregame walkthrough to King Field.

There are plenty of times that my kids are there and I’m not, because I’m watching some other game.

Do you think I’d put the two greatest joys of my life in danger at any time?

The Brookhaven School District says nobody does homecoming like Ole Brook, and it’s true.

The annual homecoming production is the testament to hours and hours of work done by students and staff.

It’s a love letter every year to the traditions of homecoming at a school that’s been playing football since 1911.

The Friday performance is packed with alums who sing along to songs from their high school days and shout for joy when they hear the names of their friends mentioned in the performance.

It’s a showcase of the best of what the Brookhaven School District has to offer, a bunch of awesome kids.

One of those awesome kids is my daughter, Amelia, who’s a junior and part of the homecoming production like many of her friends.

Two days ago, when school got out on Friday, she came home and we were both running around, trying to get some things done before leaving to go watch BHS play at Sumrall.

“This week’s over,” she said. “It’s time for homecoming.”

There was a smile on her face with those words. There’ll be an even bigger smile on my face and her mama’s face when we see her performing in the show on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

There were recent homecoming celebrations at Crystal Springs, Hazlehurst, Lawrence County, McComb, South Pike, North Pike and other places all around Southwest Mississippi that drew really big crowds and ended with no disturbances and no violence, but that’s not anything the news is going to cover.

If you see something, say something, as my old BHS coworker Ronald Hines says.

And if you see someone that needs an attitude adjustment, tell my buddy Christen Benson, she’s not about to put up with any foolishness on her favorite Friday of the year.

Let’s have another awesome week of homecoming, Panthers, and let’s not live in fear of what bad can happen but show everyone all the good that does happen when we come together in celebration of our traditions.