The warm, sunny weather that began the week gave way to showers at the end as a cool front began making its way across the area Friday. Skies were expected to clear by Sunday, and highs were forecast to continue in the 80s with lows in the 50s and 60s.
The Mississippi River was at 27.1 feet on May 3. It was at 32.88 feet Friday. Flood stage is 43 feet.
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Warren County sheriff’s deputies arrested a Vicksburg woman on charges of home invasion, burglary, robbery and attempted murder in the May 4 break-in of a home in the 3600 block of Warriors Trail in which a 70-year-old woman was assaulted and injured. Deputies arrested Kimberly Nicole Chatman, 23, of National Street, on the charges Tuesday. She was being held in the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
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Warren County Circuit Clerk Shelly Ashley-Palmertree was accused of not turning over the logs of her office’s financial activity for 2013 to the State Auditor’s office for audits on time. Board attorney Marcie Southerland told the Board of Supervisors that Palmertree filed her annual report by the state’s April 15 deadline, but not her books.
In other county-related news, state officials gave their approval to the Board of Supervisors to move $500,000 in grant money initially earmarked for drainage improvements on county bayous to a project to shore up Haining Road, the main road into the Port of Vicksburg. Work is expected to begin Dec. 31 to rebuild the ridge on which the road runs. The ridge is being threatened by washouts under the road.
County officials also learned a Colorado-based lubricant maker plans to move its corporate headquarters and establish a regional base at the port. CAM2 International LLC, the largest independent bulk lubricant supplier in the U.S. issued a release that it had bought the former Shell Lubricants oil-blending plant at 685 Haining Road.
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The City of Vicksburg is seeking a Public Facilities Community Development Block Grant to help cover the costs of a $1.2 million project to replace a 41-year-old clarifier at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The grant is expected to cover one-third — about $400,000 — of the project’s cost.
In other city news, Halls Ferry Park was closed until further notice pending an inspection by adjustors for the city’s insurance carrier. Recreation and parks director Joe Graves said the park received extensive damage from an EF-1 tornado that moved through the city April 28 as part of a series of storms that hit Mississippi. Graves said fences and light poles were knocked down at ball fields and the tennis courts. He said nearby Bazinsky Park was not hit by the twister.
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Trials were set in Warren County Circuit Court for two men accused in separate murder cases. Jamaro South, 24, who is accused of shaking his son to death, will go to trial Sept. 2, while a Dec. 1 court date was set for Caleb Erves, 55, who is accused of killing 70-year-old Emmanuel Erves by pushing him down the stairs of a boarding house on Walnut Street.
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An appeal by Ameristar Casino of its 2013 property tax goes to trial July 8, while a similar appeal by Riverwalk Casino will go to trial in 2015. Both casinos claim county officials overestimated their true value on the 2013 tax bills.
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Local deaths included Walter F. Bliss Sr., Wanda Joy Pitcher, Horace W. Newman Sr., W. E. Johnson Sr., Birta Mae Sanders, Ida Mae Peavey Humphrey, Pearl Jackson Jr., Virginia Maud Stanley, Patrick William Tompkins III, and Daylon Carter.