New job: Kasey Perry, an official with the Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, has been named as the executive director of the Madison County (Miss.) Chamber of Commerce, reports the (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. Perry had been senior sales manager of tourism development for the CVB. Madison County is next to Jackson and is home to a Nissan auto plant. Katie Guasco, who has been with the Baton Rouge CVB for three years, will replace Perry as senior sales manager.
Ready to run: Good sports who brave wintry weather Friday and Saturday can help local charities by participating in the 2009 Reindeer Run and the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. Registration for the Reindeer Run, presented by Forum 35 to benefit Toys for Tots, starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Fourth Street and North Boulevard. From there, the 5K race heads north, circles through Arsenal Park and returns to the starting point. The Beach Marathon, presented by the Running Chicken Track Club, starts at 7 a.m. Saturday at the Wampold Memorial Park beach on Stanford Avenue. The Boston Marathon-qualifying course, two 13-mile loops, winds through the LSU campus and around the lakes, through Midtown and the Perkins Road overpass area and back to the start. Past charitable recipients include Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge and the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.
Time for tension: A new survey finds that 38% percent of people expect to feel more stress and anxiety over the holiday season because of the recession. The survey, which was commissioned by Breakthrough at Caron, a Pennsylvania addiction treatment center, found that 90% of people experience stress over the holidays. Fifty-six percent of people polled say they’re concerned about being strapped for money to buy presents, while 41% are anxious over not being able to purchase gifts for everyone to whom they want to give.
