Vidalia — Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell thanked a room full of fellow Concordians Thursday night as he accepted the Concordian of the Year award during the annual Chamber of Commerce awards dinner and celebration.

“I want to accept this award on behalf of my staff,” Maxwell said. “We all know we’re no better than the people we surround ourselves with and who could have a better staff?”

Maxwell thanked the room full of business owners and community leaders and said the cooperation of the Miss-Lou will be the key to future development of both sides of the river.

“I’ve often said that if we’re ever going to make a difference in this community, and when I say this community I mean Natchez and the surrounding area, because we all reflect on each other, that it will be the people in this room that do it,” Maxwell said. “The only way we’ll ever move forward is together.”

Maxwell mentioned his future departure from the Sheriff’s Office in June, but said he had been blessed to have been surrounded by good people that made his time in office so great.

“It truly has been a wonderful time,” Maxwell said. “The people in this parish are absolutely fantastic.”

Also receiving awards were Rena Pitts for Chamber Volunteer of the Year, Bert and Bo Taunton of Tauntons in Vidalia for Business Person of the Year, The Concordia Sentinel for Business of the Year and Nancy Anders for Educator of the Year.

2009 New Orleans Saints’ Superbowl winner Deuce McAllister was the guest of honor and spoke about the relationships between sports and the business world.

“I want to commend you on the work that you’ve done up to this point, but I also want to challenge you,” McAllister said. “When you get a collective group of minds together, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.”