Wednesday May 30,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 130
Partly sunny Today
Tonight
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 18 pages • 2 sections
Board sets thoroughfare election BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen is asking residents whether they want to pay for a thoroughfare and infrastructure program for a range of city improvements.
In a special meeting on Tuesday, the board set a special election for Aug. 21 on the proposed program. If approved by voters, the city would add a special ad valorem tax levy of 12 mills for a period of five years beginning with the fiscal year that starts
Oct. 1 of this year. The majority of the money generated by the tax increase would go toward street paving. Other possible projects include drainage work, improvements to corridor entrances, signage, handicap accessibility enhance-
ments and strategic planning. It could also be used for grant match funding for various projects. The tax levy is expected to generate about $1 million each year. Mayor Tommy Irwin said the
city is currently limited by its income. “What we presently have and what we will have for the near future is just not enough money to really get ahead or on top of Please see ELECTION | 2A
Arena ready for big crowd BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
The Crossroads Arena board of directors held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss plans for additional parking for Thursday’s Luke Bryan concert. Over 3,000 tickets were sold within the first hours of sales and the concert quickly sold out, prompting the necessity of designating new parking areas. “With over 7,000 tickets sold this is the biggest thing the building has ever had, as far as ticket sales,” said Operations Manager Greg Moss. Once the arena’s parking is filled, concertgoers will be directed to the two additional parking areas. The first will be the parking lot south and west of the QuadGraphics building on Harper Road. If the QuadGraphics parking area fills to capacity, the parking lot at Ayrshire Electronics (formerly ITT) Please see ARENA | 5A
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Bubble Boy Haydn Smith celebrates Memorial Day by trying to catch some bubbles at a family cookout. The youngster is the 1-year-old son of Brad and April Smith of Selmer, Tenn.
Farmers Market off to a strong start BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
Danny Johnson and Glenda Eaton grew this behemoth of a cabbage in Eaton’s garden in the Kendrick community. Eaton said they used common fertilizers like ammonium nitrate and Miracle-Gro. A big factor in the cabbage’s growth was the local soil. “We’ve got some fine dirt out there, sandy soil,” explained Eaton.
The Corinth Farmers Market is off to a good summer start. The open air market locations feature home grown produce in an open air environment. Produce currently available at the Farmers Market includes squash, greens, and hot house (or greenhouse) tomatoes. Strawberries are also starting to come in, said Patrick Poindexter, director of the MSU Extension Center. Poindexter said it’s been a good year for strawberry growers and that tomatoes are also doing really good this year. Field-grown tomatoes should start coming in within the week. The only challenge to the otherwise great tomato crop is a condition called catfacing, Poindexter said. Catfacing is caused by cold night
“In my opinion, the Farmers Markets are a tremendous tool for the farmers to market their produce locally.” Patrick Poindexter Director of MSU Extension Center temperatures during the plants’ pollination period that creates scarred, irregular-looking tomatoes. “But for the most part we’re having a really good year,” said Poindexter. “We’re seeing normal insect and disease pressure, but we’re seeing it earlier this year. We really dodged a bullet with the April frost. Most farmers’ vegetable crop sustained very well.
The year is seeing several exciting developments for the Farmers Market. One is the high level of interest in the local produce markets. More than 20 people have already purchased permits to sell their goods at the Shiloh Road and Fulton Drive Farmers Markets. District 1 Supervisor Lowell Hinton said that there is currently an effort to obtain a lease from the city that will allow the construction of a 40 by 100 foot vegetable shed at the Fulton Drive Farmers Market. “In my opinion, the Farmers Markets are a tremendous tool for the farmers to market their produce locally,” said Poindexter. The Farmers Markets are open from May to November, Monday through Saturday, from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information call 286-7755.
Creek sprayed to slow vegetation growth BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District is spraying herbicide along the Elam Canal to help slow the return of vegetation that contributed to flooding. Spraying began May 22 and was expected to wrap up this week on the segment of Elam Creek from U.S. Highway 72 to Bridge Creek at the junction of the two creeks near the sewer treatment plant. Drainage Commissioner Milton Sandy Jr. explained that this demonstration spraying project is being done in lieu of
the physical clearing project which the City of Corinth had already completed before the TRVWMD paperwork to do the clearing was in hand. “The TRVWMD brought a 12foot bush-hog to first clear the banks on either side of Elam,” said Sandy. “A tractor pump rig with a working cage on an extendable boom and 300-gallon spray tank does the actual spraying work with a man operating the spray rig suspended over the ditch banks.” The question of how to maintain the creeks on an ongoing basis is one that concerns the drainage commissioner, be-
cause the mulching and clearing work that has been done along the several creek banks is essentially a “giant pruning job” that will stimulate growth. The herbicide sprayed on Elam Canal is Rodeo, which is EPA approved for contact with water, Sandy said. In other drainage developments, a visit by project division representatives of the United States Army Corps of Engineers is expected June 5 in response to a local delegation’s visit to a meeting of the USACE Mississippi River Commission
Index Stocks...... 7A Classified......5B Comics......3B Wisdom......2B
Weather......5A Obituaries......3A Opinion......4A Sports......8A
Please see SPRAY | 5A
Photo by Milton Sandy Jr.
An employee of the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District sprays herbicide while suspended over the Elam Canal last week.
On this day in history 150 years ago The Union army enters the abandoned city of Corinth and begins a 19-month occupation. Several burning homes and the railroad depot are extinguished. Warehouses and other buildings filled with supplies have been reduced to ashes.