Week of November 25, 2002

The weather during Thanksgiving week tended toward the cool side. Highs ranged from 44 to 70 degrees. Lows ranged from 28 degrees to 42. Rainfall was reported one day and amounted to .8 inch.

The Mississippi River continued to fall, dropping from a reading of 20 feet on the Vicksburg gauge to 16.4 by week’s end. Forecasters said the fall should continue and the Mississippi should be about 15.4 feet by today.

The Mississippi Supreme Court granted an extension of the time during which the 16 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the City of Vicksburg can ask for a rehearing of their case. The state Supreme Court ruled in October the city could close the Vicksburg Municipal Airport over the objections of those who filed the suit.

Vicksburg officials said they are considering applying for a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to clean up the site of the old Ludke Electric on Grove Street. They said chemicals remaining from work the firm did could be a hazard to those who live and work nearby.

Vicksburg police picked the intersection of U.S. 61 South and Warrenton Road as the worst intersection for wrecks in the city. They said other intersections may have more wrecks, but the ones there are more serious because of the speed involved.

Six prisoners broke out of the Warren County Jail after beating a jailer. Two were recaptured quickly but the search for the other four lasted several days.

Two black soldiers and a black civilian will be the subjects of a statue that will be placed in the Vicksburg National Military Park in 2003. The statue will recall the Battle of Millikin’s Bend during the Campaign for Vicksburg during the Civil War.

Vicksburg water customers were asked to boil their drinking water after an electrical malfunction caused the whole system to lose pressure. James T. “Bubba” Rainer said, however, his experience is that such pressure losses rarely result in contamination of the water supply.

With the beginning of December, Vicksburg officials will begin handing out citations for violations of the rules dealing with garbage collection. If found guilty in Community Court they could be made to pay fines up to $1,000.

Rouse Polymerics International and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration reached a compromise on the penalties and citations in the wake of a May 16 fire at Rouse. The agency agreed to accept $187,680 in penalties and to remove the “willful” characterization from two violations.

Just before Thanksgiving Day, local law enforcement officers recaptured Michael Jerome Woods who had escaped from the Warren County Jail with five others. Jamie Maurice Woods, Louis Gaskin, Randy Morrison and Christopher Palmer were recaptured earlier leaving only Reginald Sims at large.

Gary Stavely and his family really has something to be thankful for as they celebrated Thanksgiving. Stavely suffered a serious head injury on Labor Day, has recovered in spite of doctors’ predictions and plans to return to work as an emergency room nurse.

Hemphill Construction Co. won the bidding for the contract to restore two blocks of Washington Street so it can handle two-way traffic by offering to do the work for $2.6 million. Officials specified the work is to begin in January so work won’t interfere with Christmas shopping.

The former commander of the Vicksburg District Robert Crear was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army. The Vicksburg native elected to return home to receive his stars in a ceremony at the George Morris Reserve Center.

Clyde Keathley of Vicksburg was one of the members of the 114th Military Police Company of the Mississippi National Guard to return home from an active duty deployment. In addition to spending time at Fort Campell, Ky., the Guardsmen were sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to help guard prisoners captured in Afghanistan.

Holiday shoppers were out early the day after Thanksgiving which is the busiest day of the year for merchants. In Vicksburg they were out before daylight to hit such stores as McRae’s and the Wal-Mart SuperCenter for special bargains on Christmas gifts.

The first Festival of Trees opened at the Vicksburg Convention Center for what center operators hoped would be a new tradition. Proceeds from the shows and entertainments went to the Community Storehouse Food Pantry.

The Vicksburg Warren School District board of trustees voted to reinstate in-school detention at the local high schools beginning in December. Vicksburg High School Principal Charlie Tolliver said the reason was to avoid sending students home as often as they had in the past.

Local deaths during the week were Albert Harris, Beatrice Turner Green, W.T. “Bill” Griffing, Cecil H. Crosby, Willie Lee Butler, Elizabeth M. “Bessie” Larr, Claudia Winslow Nelson, Willa A. Robertson, Nelson Anderson, Jennie G. Akers, Gladys Outlaw, Mattie Lee Howe and Willie R. Thornton.