Warren County Constables celebrate their 40th by giving back

Southern District Constable John Heggins and Northern District Constable Glenn McKay raised around $1,700 and a donation of nearly 200 pounds of pet food for the benefit of animals in honor of celebrating their upcoming 40th year as constables for Warren County.

According to Heggins, the donations were split between the City of Vicksburg Animal Shelter, the Warren County Humane Society and Paws Rescue. “We didn’t want any presents, we just wanted any gifts to deal with helping our fur babies.” Heggins and McKay are both big animal lovers. They both have dogs of their own and wanted their celebration to include a way to give back to the animal community.

Heggins is a supporter of Blair E. Batson and likes to donate to them when possible. This time around, he wanted to find a way to help man’s best friend, though he admitted that the outcome was unexpected. When a celebration was coordinated, they asked that any contributions be made to their favorite rescue, Paws Rescue.

Cst. John Heggins (left) and Cst. Glenn McKay (right) present Leigh Conerly of Paws Rescue with funds and supplies raised in their honor.

“We don’t need gifts,” said Heggins. “We are all animal people. In the last two weeks this became a bigger deal than expected and 175 people ended up attending the party.”

People surprised Heggins and McKay by traveling from as far as Oxford and Shreveport to celebrate and bring donations. Some people just brought dog food and others brought financial aid for the animals. Afterwards, the constables ended up writing checks, which they rounded up to $825 apiece, and they took them to the three different facilities. Michael Mayfield ended up taking a portion of the funds to the City Shelter, according to Heggins.

McKay and Heggins at their 60th birthday celebration. Photo by David Day

Heggins and McKay have worked together as constables for many years and were very pleased with the outcome of this unexpected event in their honor. Heggins said he hopes to celebrate year 60 with McKay and even a year 80, god-willing. He was in bright spirits as he recalled the success of such an event and says he hopes that the donations will be a big help for the animals in the community who are in need.