Businessmen named to Miss. gaming board

Lynda Edwards

Monday, May 24, 2004 | 12:52 p.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Former Gulf Coast shipyard president Jerry St. Pe' and Tunica farmer-businessman Nolen Canon were named to the Mississippi Gaming Commission, which regulates the state's casino industry.

Gov. Haley Barbour announced the appointments at a news conference in Jackson last week.

St. Pe' will replace Len Blackwell II of Gulfport on the regulatory board. Blackwell's term ends Oct. 1. The term of St. Pe's will run through September 2008.

Canon immediately replaces Robin Robinson of Laurel, now a member of the State College Board. Canon will complete the remainder of Robinson's term which runs through September 2007.

The two new appointees will join Howard Sanders of Hollandale on the three-member commission. Sanders joined the board in March 2003 and his term runs through September 2005.

The commission oversees 30 state-regulated casinos, which employ more than 35,000 people. The industry has gross revenue of almost $3 billion.

The appointments require Senate confirmation.

St. Pe' retired in 2001 as president of Northrop Grumman Ingalls Shipbuilding on the coast. He continues to be active in economic development in Jackson County.

Two years ago, the state Legislature named the access road to the sprawling Pascagoula shipyard in honor of St. Pe'.

Canon is owner and operator of Canon Farms, which grows a variety of crops, including rice, cotton soybeans and grains, on 7,000 acres in the Mississippi Delta.