Week of January 12, 2003

Winter weather dominated with cold, windy days. Highs ranged from 38 degrees to 54 and lows from 45 degrees to 27. Precipitation measured 0.2 inch.

The Mississippi River continued a slow fall to 23.5 feet by week’s end. Forecasters said the level should be 20.7 feet today.

Vicksburg officials said they had reached a deal to buy the old Walnut Towers building at Walnut and South streets for $150,000 as part of the downtown revitalization project. They also contracted with Neel-Schaffer Inc. for plans to tear the building down.

Larry D. Ellis of Vicksburg was indicted for escape and for stealing two vehicles in Issaquena County. Vicksburg said Ellis is the main suspect in the beating death of Vicksburg resident Willie James Horton.

Shelly Palmertree and Mike Caruthers were the first candidates to file qualifying papers to run in this year’s elections, seeking the office of circuit clerk. Other candidates have until Feb. 28 to qualify to run in either the August party primaries or as independents in the general election.

LeTourneau Inc. began construction of the first of at least four rigs of the new Tarzan class with a brief keel-laying ceremony at the company’s construction yard on the Mississippi River. The new class of rigs will drill very deep holes in search of natural gas in shallow water.

The cheerleading squad at St. Aloysius High School earned the highest grade point average, 3.99, in a December competition among 76 squads. This is the second time in three years the St. Al cheerleaders has earned the honor.

Hinds County law enforcement officers announced the arrest of Barry Butler and Kendrick Brown on murder charges in the shooting death of Kerry Adrian Diggs of Vicksburg in November. Diggs was found shot to death in his van on Cannada Cross Road in Hinds County.

Sen. Mike Chaney of Vicksburg has filed a bill in the 2003 term of the Mississippi Legislature to suspend driving privileges of minors convicted of using fake identification to buy tobacco.

About 75 people showed up for the organizational meeting of Descendants of Southern Patriots. The organizers said they intend the group to focus on genealogical and historic matters and to make sure ancestors are remembered.

At a joint meeting of Warren County and Vicksburg officials, supervisors announced they were working on a contract with the local chapter of the Humane Society to handle animal control matters outside Vicksburg. They said they planned to pay the society $125,000 a year to perform the tasks involved.

District 2 Supervisor Michael Mayfield became the first incumbent supervisor to file qualifying papers to run for re-election this year. Joe Wooley also filed his paperwork to run as an independent for the District 5 seat held by Richard George.

At a joint meeting of Vicksburg and Warren County officials, supervisors agreed to consider a proposal to ask the Legislature for a local and private bill to raise the telephone surcharges by two-and-a-half times to completely fund the E-911 emergency dispatch system.

Dr. Clinton Bristow Jr., president of Alcorn State University, said the number of students taking ASU classes in Vicksburg jumped to 85.

Fire broke out at the Rouse Polymerics International building as workers from Dirtworks Inc. used cutting torches to dismantle a building damaged in a May explosion and fire.

Patricia Ruth Spencer of Vicksburg died in a one-vehicle wreck on Mississippi 547 in Claiborne County. Investigators said the sport utility vehicle Spencer was driving apparently left the road in fog and flipped, ejecting her.

Sen. Mike Chaney of Vicksburg claimed Attorney General Mike Moore’s stop-smoking programs have cost Mississippi $240 million in revenue at a local civic club meeting. Chaney said the money Moore spent on the programs could have been used to attract federal money for Medicaid.

Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Donald Oakes announced he planned to retire in June after an education career of 40 years. At the same meeting Jan Daigre and Betty Tolliver were sworn in as new board members.

Jim Belisle, the man who tried to put a casino and auto race track operation near Flowers on the Big Black River, said he wants to put in a hotel, casino and golf course in Warren County. He said he’s picked out 600 acres off U.S. 61 South for the $150 million to $180 million project.

Many of the 100 or so people who attended a hearing by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said they don’t want a sanitary landfill operating on land off Jeff Davis Road. The owners of the property have said they want to open the landfill and accept household garbage.

Local deaths during the week were Edward George Basel Jr., Agnes Logue Harper, Max Paul Eason, Jean S. Tacke, George Lyman Wilson, Rev. Henry Turner, Elizabeth Ann Williams, Charles Wright, William Dale Garner, Tommy John Jones Sr., Sam Brown, Freddie B. Porter Sr., Jo Ann Payne, Robert Michael Southall, Dr. A.S. Brunton and Jimmy Youmans.