MCCOMB, Miss. (AP) — Over the course of a steaming-hot Southern lunch, served family-style on a giant lazy Susan, restaurant owner Andre Davis has watched people go from perfect strangers to lifelong friends.
His restaurant, The Dinner Bell in McComb, Mississippi, consists of just four tables. Large and circular, they seat upward of 15 people. In the center of each is a lazy Susan dotted with heaping platters of food, spinning back and forth as customers pile up their plates.
On any given day, anyone could be sitting around the table. Davis' customer base ranges from European tourists to locals. The tables have hosted water treatment plant workers, church groups and once, according to Davis, British actor Hugh Bonneville.
“We’ve had people sitting together that had nothing in common but the table they were sitting at,” Davis said.
For restaurant goers, the rotating tables provide a unique opportunity to meet new people, hear different perspectives and bond over a shared enjoyment of classic Southern food and the restaurant’s famed fried eggplant.
“We've met doctors, lawyers, teachers," said Wayne Dyson, a regular customer. "And find out that most people are all good people."
“Especially if they're eating,” he added.
Dyson and his wife have met countless people from all over the country in the 40 years they have been frequenting the restaurant. Over lunch earlier this month, the couple quickly bonded with a group of strangers, laughing like they had known each other for years.
Justin Monistere and his family stopped for lunch to celebrate his sister's graduation from nursing school. By the time he left, he was referring to the Dysons as “mom” and “pop.”
“Today in time we don't talk as people. It's either through a message or phone,” he said, adding this is the first meal he has had since he was a kid where no one pulled out a cellphone. “I think that's a great thing that they're doing here.”
The unique dining style, which is also associated with Chinese restaurants, dates back to the early 20th century in Mississippi.
The family-style restaurants evolved along railroad tracks to more easily serve large numbers of people coming on and off trains, according to Charles Morgan, who owns the now-closed Revolving Tables Restaurant in Mendenhall.
The restaurant has been in Morgan's family since it opened in 1915. He grew up listening to people talk politics and college football around an 18-seater table.
Both Morgan and Davis have watched similar restaurants close over the years, but a smattering remain across parts of the country.
“You sure don't see too many of those anymore,” said Morgan, whose own restaurant closed when his father retired in 2001. He and his sister hope to reopen.
This type of dining, Davis said, isn't for everyone. Some people retreat into their social shells, while others blossom.
Some days are quiet, with just a few regulars gathered around the table swapping farming tips. Other times, the restaurant is raucous as tour groups and families chatter with the courageous folks willing to spin the roulette wheel on who they would be sitting with that afternoon.
Davis said he has seen people from all walks of life conversing. Some form friendships, others a simple sense of respect. One couple, a widower and widow, met at the restaurant and later got married.
“It's been hilarious, some of the people that have ended up sitting beside each other," Davis said. "You couldn't do it on purpose, you couldn't plan it, and you couldn't make it up.”
Lilli Johnson, a server at The Dinner Bell rotates a lazy Susan on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 in McComb, Miss. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused an Amazon cargo jet to overshoot a runway in Miami and plow into two vehicles, killing five people on the ground.
The Boeing 767 hit a van on Miami International Airport property on Sunday before ramming through a fence and hitting an SUV on a public street. Five people who were a part of a cleaning crew in the van died while two survived. The pilot and co-pilot also lived.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the scene at the airport “utter devastation.”
The crash closed the Miami airport for hours Sunday and two of the four runways remained shutdown through late Tuesday evening as NTSB investigators gathered evidence. More than 225 flights were canceled and hundreds more were delayed, officials said.
Here's what to know about the crash.
The NTSB said the plane barreled roughly 1,300 feet (396 meters) past the end of the runway.
It was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms brewed around the Miami airport.
Homendy called the scene “utter devastation,” with pieces of the vehicles, air bags, destroyed navigational equipment and fencing along the plane’s route. She said she had to be careful because jet fuel was still all around 24 hours after the crash.
Strong winds over 25 knots were reported Sunday afternoon. Experts who viewed video of the landing said it appears that a strong tail wind propelled the plane far down the runway past the point where it was supposed to land. The plane remained airborne without flaring the nose to force the wheels onto the ground.
It is not immediately clear why the pilot didn’t abort landing and go around to try again.
Air traffic controllers also had not changed the approach to the runway to allow the plane to land into a headwind. Airports routinely change which direction planes land on a runway when the winds shift.
Amazon said in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation and the company’s deepest sympathies go to the victims and their families.
The five people killed were all in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a company that cleans planes. The company said it wouldn’t comment on the crash out of respect for the families who lost loved ones.
“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved. Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
The Miami-Dade sheriff identified the deceased as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines in foreign countries for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.
The final flight was operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.
Homendy said the jet's ownership history, maintenance records and operations by 21 Air would all be reviewed by NTSB investigators.
It's the second crash of a cargo jet in the U.S. in less than a year. A UPS plane crashed after losing its engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport in October. The crash killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground. Twenty-three more were injured.
One focus of the NTSB investigation will be on the lack of a system to slow and stop speeding jets at the end of runways.
About 120 airports in the U.S. have the lightweight, crushable material that the Federal Aviation Administration says has saved around 500 lives. Miami does not.
Even without a runway excursion system, Miami’s airport appears to be compliant with federal rules because it has a 1,000-foot (305-meter) safety buffer at the end of its runways, experts said.
Homendy said her agency’s goal is to prevent tragedies, but runway excursions continue to happen even after the board has suggested installing the systems in the past.
“Our recommendations must be implemented or we’re going to be here again,” she said.
Workers inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami Dade Fire Rescue officials inspect a damaged vehicle two days after an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Law enforcement officers walk in front of a destroyed engine as they inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Workers inspect an Amazon cargo plane two days after it overshot a runway at Miami International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
