Week of August 14, 2000

Severe conditions continued with no rain, highs up to 102 degrees and, despite one night when 60 degrees was recorded, most lows about 75.

The Mississippi River rose from a reading of 10.6 feet on the Vicksburg gauge to 13.5 feet by week’s end. Forecasters predicted 13.4 feet for today.

Gov. Ronnie Musgrove made a stop in Vicksburg to promote the economic development plan he plans to put before a special session of the Legislature. He said there’s nothing basically wrong with the plan the Fordice administration used, but it does need to be updated.

Owners of River Region Health System, Vicksburg’s dominant health-care provider, said a financial advisor has been hired. A spokesman for Quorum Health Group Inc. said the company is looking into a possible buyout or merger.

Much of the front balcony on the McDermott House on South Street collapsed onto the front porch. The Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation is trying to figure a way for the owner, First Presbyterian Church, to use the property without demolishing the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Beulah Cemetery Restoration Committee voted to ask city officials to readvertise for bids on cleaning up the cemetery where generations of black people are buried. The city received no bids when they advertised for the cleanup the first time.

While preparing for an exhibit on the artists who sculpted the Vicksburg National Military Park’s bronzes and statues, park historian Terry Winschel found that 34 of the pieces were cast by the famous Tiffany Studios. The collection is unique in the National Park System’s military parks because none of the others have any Tiffany pieces.

The Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District presented awards at its annual banquet. Among those honored were Scott Baker, David Daniels and Henry Gaddis.

Officials of Valley Bank, which opened a Vicksburg office in 1999, announced a merger with State Bank and Trust Co. of Brookhaven.

Deputy Coroner Ronald C. Regan was appointed by Warren County Supervisors to be coroner until a special election Nov. 7. The vacancy was created when L.W. Callaway III resigned to become head of the local emergency management office.

Vicksburg officials said a request for water customers to conserve water will remain in effect. Also, burn permits are not being issued.

Four teens were arrested after an attempt to rop the Mutual Credit Union branch office at Waterways Experiment Station. They were foiled when an employee spotted one of the men pulling a ski mask over his face as they approached the credit union about a half hour before it opened.

The day city officials announced plans to plant trees on Clay Street, vandals smashed a couple of planters and shrubs the owner of Jabour’s Upholstery shop had placed in front of his store.

Officials of the Heilig-Meyers furniture stores announced the company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and that 302 stores would be closed. The store in Vicksburg is one of those the company plans to shut down.

A single vehicle wreck on Mississippi 27 killed Daniel Yates, 15, a sophomore at Warren Central High School. He was riding in a Nissan Pathfinder driven by his brother Stephen Yates on their way to school when, an eyewitness said, a Firestone Wilderness AT tire blew throwing the vehicle out of control.

Dick Hall, the Central District Transportation Commissioner, said heavy trucks may be banned on Mississippi 27 during a speech at the Port City Kiwanis Club. He cited the number of fatal wrecks on the highway and a financial situation that will keep the MDOT from adding two more lanes to the road before 2008.

The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Vicksburg showed up at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Vicksburg Warren School District to present a $76,683 gas bill in person. The elected officials said meter readers made errors in reading the meters at the Dana Road and Sherman Avenue schools.

Thirteen companies submitted bids to construct a proposed youth center on Jackson Street. All of them were lower than the $1.9 million the city has set aside for the project.

The fourth suspect in the attempted robbery of the Mutual Credit Union branch at the Waterways Experiment Station was charged. Federal authorities took custody of the teens for prosecution.

Local deaths included Clifton Francis Rawlings, Albert Short, J. Ross Ables Sr., Lottie Hough Burleson, Ruth Mae Guy Richardson, Frank Ward Jr., Horatio Erwin Jones Sr. and Dorothy House Foster.