Jackson. The merit awards honor contractors “whose work exemplifies the high degree of quality that is common within ABC membership,” according to the association. The $300,000 FEMA-funded project involved a 40,000 square-foot beachfront section of the cemetery, the most storm-ravaged part of the burial grounds. Some gravesites in that area date back to the early 1800s. The restoration included repairs to more than 200 headstones and 10 tombs, and installation of a new brick and wrought iron fence facing the beachfront. “We knew going in that Mr. Thompson had experience in restoration projects,” Mayor A.J. Holloway said. “This project presented him a number of unique challenges, from locating and re-connecting pieces of dozens of broken headstones, to finding the correct material to rebuild them, and doing it all without desecrating nearby gravesites. He and his team did excellent work on this important job, and this statewide recognition from his peers is much deserved.”