October 5, 2008

Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 5, 2008

A second week of ideal weather was a treat for area residents. No rain fell. Highs were in the mid-80s most days and lows were in the lower 50s.

The Mississippi River rose for the first part of the week, then started to fall. The week started at 28.5 feet on the Vicksburg gauge and ended at 22.4 feet. The forecast was for a reading of 20 feet today.

Laura Blackledge and Colin Reid, students from Vicksburg at the University of Mississippi, were selected to be among 150 students watching the first presidential debate of the season in person.

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Year-to-year comparisons are not valid due to revisions in Mississippi’s testing methods, but local school officials said Vicksburg Warren School District students performed on par with state averages.

A four-day revival by Nazarenes here helped mark the 100th year of the denomination.

A 16-13 victory sealed yet another win for the St. Aloysius Flashes. Also having a good season is Porters Chapel Academy, which defeated University Christian 41-7. Public schools struggled for the week as Vicksburg High fell to Pearl and Warren Central lost to Northwest Rankin.

Many stopped by City Front to see a flatboat built and sailed downstream to re-create an 1828 trip by a then-youthful Abraham Lincoln.

Dessie Moffett and Vicki Shorter, both on the Shady Lawn staff, were named first- and second-place winners of caregiver awards.

Vicksburg National Military Park Superintendent Monika Mayr was one of three winners of a top award presented by the National Park Service.

Several large alligators were harvested from area waters when the state conducted its first weeklong season in which private landowners could apply to participate.

Three men were transferred to a burn center in Georgia after showing up for treatment at River Region Medical Center. Sheriff Martin Pace said he suspects all three were injured while illegally making methamphetamine. No charges were immediately filed.

State officials said the new bridge over the Yazoo River still needs a deck and approach work, but should be completed in a year.

The City of Vicksburg edged closer to throwing its support behind Vicksburg Municipal Airport. New fuel trucks were bought for the facility on U.S. 61 South and Mayor Laurence Leyens said the airport, given a $300,000 budget for this year, will be made eligible for charter flights. Concurrently, the city gave Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport notice it won’t sign a renewal deal with its partners in that venture for more than 10 years, which could put future allocations of federal funds in jeopardy.

Yorozu Automotive Mississippi announced it was laying off its final 73 employees and closing its plant in eastern Warren County, at least temporarily. The announcement means that the nearly 600 jobs in auto manufacturing that came to the area over the past six years have all been terminated.

River Region Medical Center sued Louisiana over Medicaid reimbursements and said no non-emergency Medicaid clients from that state would be treated at the hospital after Dec. 1.

Jim Stirgus Jr. said he would challenge Betty Tolliver for her District 3 seat on the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees, In District 4, where Jan Daigre will not seek re-election, the candidates will be Joe Loviza and Katrina Johnson.

After completing an $8 million expansion at its other Vicksburg facilities, Anderson-Tully Company announced Mill D on Levee Street would be closed and the local 358-person job force would be cut by 55 people.

Deaths during the week included Willie C. Trentacosta, Annie Redditt Quidor Reed, Bailey Stanton, Virginia Ann Moore, James Donald Westcott, Irene Celeste Watts, Oscar Eugene Blackledge, L.J. Dillon and Walter Jones Jr.