Are you familiar with Internet Purchase Safe Zones?

Here’s a genius idea catching on in Harrison County…the Internet Purchase Exchange Zone.It’s a safe place where you can go to exchange things you either buy or sell on the internet.There’s 24 hour surveillance, and every exchange is on video.12 of these locations have been operating for over a week.And some people have been using it for child custody exchanges, as well.

They’re set up at local businesses, and since the equipment isn’t owned or operated by the Sheriff’s Office, none of it was purchased with taxpayer money.

The twelve locations where the exchange zones exist are as follows:

A Royal Flush Plumbing at 12465 Canal Road, Gulfport

Clarks at 10006 Canal Road, Gulfport

First Place at 19485 Highway 67, Saucier

Highway 53 Quickstop at 26333 Highway 53, Saucier

Kountry Colors and Subway at 23379 Highway 53, Saucier

Menge Mart, Interstate fuels at 8045 Menge Avenue, Pass Christian

Neco’s Market Place at 12342 Cable Bridge Road, Pass Christian

Pure Country at 9620 Canal Road, Gulfport

Pure Country at 10166 Lorraine Road, Gulfport

Robinwood One Stop at 18447 Highway 49, Saucier

The Smoke Stop at 8441 Kiln Delisle Road, Pass Christian

The Stop and Geaux at 16303 Highway 53, Gulfport

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Some of the other top stories discussed this April 23 on "Gulf Coast Mornings with Kelly Bennett and Uncle Henry":

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With enrollment down to 230 students at Gaston Point Elementary in Gulfport, the school board is considering closing the school down for good. If they do, the students will move to West Elementary, and they say no teachers will lose their jobs. They'll make a decision when school board members meet in May.

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Thousands of teachers in Mississippi are in favor of a one-day sickout versus an indefinite walkout to show their dissatisfaction with recent actions of state lawmakers, including a paltry 15-hundred-dollar pay raise. That's according to polling results released yesterday by the Mississippi Association of Educators, the state's largest teachers' union. The MAE boasts a membership of seven thousand, but fewer than 18-hundred members responded to the survey. Only 31 percent favored going on strike indefinitely, while twice that many favored a single-day sickout.

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Authorities are confirming that a body found in a wooded area of Moss Point is that of a Pascagoula man who went missing while en route to Atlanta. The coroner's office says dental records and other information were used to confirm that the decomposed remains discovered April 13th were those of 26-year-old Shawn Martin who was last heard from on March 21st. His cause and manner of death remain under investigation. Family and friends will take part in a vigil tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Pascagoula Beach Park.

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More tornadoes are said to have been responsible for damage caused last Thursday across more than a dozen Mississippi counties. Officials with the state's Emergency Management Agency announced yesterday that ongoing damage assessments confirm that at least 19 tornadoes ranging in power from EF-0 to EF-2 touched down. The death toll related to the violent weather remains at three. 

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A just-released report indicates that more people in Harrison County are taking part in recycling efforts than ever before. The county's Utility Authority made the announcement Monday as folks around the world celebrated Earth Day. The agency noted that during the first six months of the current fiscal year the tonnage of recycled materials increased 18 percent over the same period a year earlier to just over two-thousand-tons. The authority is challenging residents to increase the recycling tonnage by ten percent next month.

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The head of a militia accused of detaining migrants along the border at gunpoint is no stranger to the FBI. Larry Mitchell Hopkins made his first appearance in a federal courtroom in New Mexico Monday on charges of being a felon in possession of firearms. Hopkins, who also goes by the name Johnny Horton Jr., popped up on the feds' radar two years ago for allegedly making threats again Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and philanthropist investor George Soros. 

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The U.S. Supreme Court will listen to arguments today in a case about a proposed citizenship question on the 2020 census. The White House says the question will give the government information that will allow federal voting rights laws to be enforced more effectively. Critics think it will discourage participation by illegal immigrants, which in turn will hurt states with high immigrant populations.

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A man in Illinois is starting a new job this week after getting a ride to his interview from a police officer. Ka'Shawn Baldwin initially thought he was in big trouble when he got pulled over last week while driving without a valid driver's license and having expired plates. While speaking to East St. Louis officer Roger Gemousles, he mentioned that he was going to a job interview at a FedEx facility and had no other way to get there but to drive. The 22-year-old asked Officer Gemousles if he could take him to his interview. Instead of slamming Baldwin with tickets or taking him into custody, Gemousles drove him to the interview and this weekend Baldwin found out he landed the new job.


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