Latest news with #MamaJustice
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Beginner skateboarding obstacles await instillation years after donation
TUPELO — Tupelo officials are still considering what to do with skateboarding obstacles donated to the city over two years ago. Built by local welder Welding Willie's, the obstacles include two quarter pipes, two pyramids and two boxes. The equipment, designed to be set up as a beginner-level skatepark, were purchased with prize money a group of Tupelo skateboarders earned by winning the 2023 Red Bull Terminal Takeover for best video, beating out teams from much larger cities, including Houston, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Pensacola, Florida, among others. The win netted the Tupelo team $5,000 in winnings. The team raised another $5,000 from local law firm Mama Justice through its Macon a Difference Foundation and an additional $1,000 from Corey Seawright, owner of Mississippi Premier Inspections, and his brother Jonathan Seawright. Cody Floyd, who is the head instructor at Tupelo Jiu-Jitsu Academy, also donated. The proceeds were used to jumpstart a batch of obstacles for a second, beginner-friendly skatepark for the city. Since their donation, however, the ramps have remained in storage inside the city's former police station. 'What's important is how meaningful it still is to see the community come together like that,' said Matt Robinson, owner of local skateboard shop, CHANGE, and the organizer of Tupelo's annual skateboarding festival, CHANGE Fest. Robinson said it's disappointing the city hasn't installed the obstacles for young and beginning riders to use, especially after so many people contributed to its purchase. 'CHANGE Fest people raised the money, built the stuff and gave it to the city and then the city is doing their thing,' Robinson said. Robinson said following the 2023 CHANGE Fest, he and city officials began working on ideas of where to place the obstacles. The original plan, he said, was to place the ramps at the old farmer's depot downtown. Those plans fell through, however, and city officials have yet to land on a new location to set up the equipment. Tupelo Parks and Recreation Director Alex Farned said the city is still considering multiple locations for the equipment's installation, but there is nothing concrete. He said the city plans to look at its options again during the upcoming budgeting season. While the other wooden obstacles stores in that area are subject to weathering deterioration, Robinson noted that the donated ramps are made with gator skin, a composite wood designed for skating in outdoor ramps. Robinson said he saw the community do-it-yourself attitude toward building beginner-level parks in every ward as refreshing, noting that he and others involved in the festival planned to build more obstacles every year and donate them to the city for different wards. Robison said he'd like to install small skate parks in every ward, one following each iteration of CHANGE Fest. Though he said he felt the delay in installing the obstacles has 'put a wet blanket' on building community-funded parks, he does not see this as the fault of the administration, noting that as president of the skatepark association, it was up to him to help facilitate the projects. 'I actually understand and appreciate that (the city) has a process that they have to go through,' he said. 'In the meantime, we don't need a park built for that. All we need is a flat piece of concrete in the city and to not be arrested in the city.' To Robinson, the need for beginner obstacles is higher than ever with the renovation and complete reconstruction of the Boerner skatepark at Ballard Park, which opened in 2023. The $572,000 park is built to tournament specifications and isn't suited toward smaller or beginning riders.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mama Justice wins Golden Gavel award for 'emotional' commercial
TUPELO – You've probably seen the commercials, from kids encouraging people to 'call their mama and then call Mama Justice,' to attorney Melissa "Missy" Wigginton – Mama Justice herself – talking about her real-life experiences before becoming an attorney. Wigginton At the recent Trial Lawyers Summit in Miami, the MW Law Firm won the coveted Golden Gavel Award for its 60-second version of "The Letter." "The commercial competed against all the law firms in the nation at the summit, and I didn't even know the commercial had been nominated," Wigginton said. "One of our lawyers had sent it in. Three law firms were picked, and we were competing with firms like Morgan and Morgan, a huge law firm, that won it last year." Wigginton said she and her team that traveled to the summit were both shocked and thrilled to hear their name called. The Golden Gavel Awards, presented by the National Trial Lawyers' A-List, celebrates "the pinnacle of legal marketing and advertising," and recognizes law firms that "excel in delivering outstanding legal services while maintaining an exceptional advertising presence." The A-List features the Top 100 law firms excelling in national advertising. It recognizes their influence and success in legal marketing. The MW Law Firm won its award for Film, Video and Sound – Best Regional/National TV Ad 60 Seconds. The ad was produced in-house. "My husband is in charge of all of our marketing, and he worked with a producer out of Texas, and they wrote the script. We used our own client in the testimonials," Wigginton said, noting that this commercial was different that the rest of the others made for Mama Justice. "It focused on emotions and the injury and pain many of our clients face, rather than 'Pay me big money.'" Her husband, Jerry Wigginton, is the idea generator, she said. In fact, he was the one who came up with the idea of the "Mama Justice" name when the law firm opened six years ago. A Union County native, Wigginton was the first in her family to attend college and the first to go to law school. But she didn't immediately pursue a law degree. "After I graduated, I was working for a large bank in town, and I was writing some large documents, and one of the lawyers for the bank said I should be a lawyer," she said. "I was older – I was 32 at the time – when I went to law school, and 35 when I got out." She went back to the bank for 10 years following law school, but left to begin practicing law. However, she didn't have her own firm until she met and then married her husband. "He said, 'You need your own business,' but I didn't want to do taxes or payroll," she said with a laugh. 'But he said, 'We'll take care of all that.' And so, when my kids were little and their friends came over to play, they called me Mama Missy because our house was the house they'd always hang out at. That's how Mama Justice evolved." The brand, and the dedication of its employees, has driven the firm, Wigginton said. "I can't take all he credit because we have a staff who embody our core values that we live by. We know if we take care of our clients, everything else will fall I place. That's what mamas do." MW Law has 45 employees and nine attorneys in offices in Tupelo, Jackson, Southaven and Columbus.
