Saturday July 14,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 169
T-storms Today
Tonight
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • 1 section
Slugburger pizza? It’s true!
Blue Springs man dies in shooting BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
A shooting late Thursday left one man dead in Tishomingo County. Kevin Douglas Long Jr., 28, of Blue Springs, was killed about 9:20 p.m. The cause of death was a shotgun wound, according to Tishomingo County Coroner Mack Wilemon. The shooting occurred on
County Road 116, just west of Tishomingo. Suspects in the shooting have been taken into custody for interrogation, according to Assistant Chief Deputy Jeff Palmer. Palmer said charges would soon be filed in the shooting, and the sheriff’s office would soon release more information. Long’s body has been taken to Jackson for autopsy.
Counce man arrested for alleged burglaries Suspect made purchases in Corinth businesses with stolen credit cards Special for the Daily Corinthian
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Slugburger pizza is the creation of Pizza Inn owner Steve Henson. It has the slugburger meat mixture, onions, dill pickles and mustard. Additional photos, page 2.
Pizza Inn owner serves up famous culinary creation BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Steve Henson was craving a slugburger. The Pizza Inn owner turned the desire into a pizza creation. “It’s not anything elaborate or drawn out,” said Henson. “It’s something I started running through my head on how to make it work.” Henson wanted to come with a different style of pizza after tiring of eating the same kinds. “After a while you want something different,” he said. “It’s hard to go anywhere else to eat, so I wanted to come up with something different.” The slugburger pizza idea — put into place two years ago —
has worked just fine, according to customers. Just like a slugburger, the pizza is made with the slugburger meat mixture, dill pickles, white onion and mustard. “Several people have told me they like it better than slugburgers,” said the owner. Henson’s youngest daughter, Chloe, thought he was kidding when he told the family of the idea. “I laughed at him because it didn’t make any sense,” she said. Her reaction changed after tasting the new kind of pizza. “I love it,” said Chloe, who also works at Pizza Inn. “I think the slugburger meat
tastes better the way we do it here.” Steve Henson says it took some experimenting to get the pizza the way he wanted. “Originally it was just for myself and the employees,” said the pizza business veteran of 25 years. “I tried so many ways of making it until I found what I was looking for.” Slugburger pizza is part of daily buffet rotation at the Southgate Shopping Center business. “The pizza tastes so much like a slugburger that it is scary,” said the owner. “As far as I know, no one else makes it ... I never heard of it myself until it popped in my head.”
A 36-year-old Counce, Tenn., man has been arrested after a rash of burglaries in McNairy and Hardin counties when the suspect used stolen credit cards to make purchases in Corinth. Authorities arrested the suspect Thursday after he allegedly committed eight burglaries in the two counties this week. Officials identified the suspect as Christopher Davis, who was arrested near his home in Counce. He is being held in the Hardin County Jail and will be transferred to McNairy County later to face a preliminary hearing. McNairy County Sheriff Guy Buck said three burglaries occurred in McNairy County, two were in Selmer and three more happened in Hardin County. The McNairy County businesses affected were Littlejohn Signs, Reaves Construction, Elam’s Mattress, Gray Bro. Tires and Selmer Hardware. Buck said the investigators
checked the activity of stolen credit cards to find out where they had been used and that led them to three stores in Corinth. The suspect was seen on one store’s video camera using the stolen cards. Officers sent the video to Jackson’s WBBJ-TV and an anonymous tip after the tape was played led to the eventual arrest of Davis, noted Buck. “This was good, old-fashioned police work,” said Buck. “Our two departments worked well together to arrest the suspect.” The sheriff said many of the stolen items were recovered following the arrest of Davis. He said some items included guns and a computer, plus several hundred dollars worth of merchandise spent with the credit cards in Corinth. Davis was on searchable probation because he had been arrested for several burglaries in the past. That made it easier on the officers to search his home when they arrested him, said the sheriff.
Quality entertainment takes stage tonight at festival BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
The 25th Annual Slugburger Festival continues today in downtown Corinth. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. with a meet-and-greet with Slugburger Fest entertainers at Papa John’s Pizza, located at 2019 U.S. 72 West. “We are very excited to have our main sponsor, Papa John’s, host a meet and greet this Saturday at their restaurant,” said Montana Hill, director of Main Street Corinth. “I hope everyone will come out and meet our amazing entertainment and get an autograph and picture taken.” Country singer Karen Waldrup and Corinth’s own Ben Mathis will be available for autographs and photos until 1 p.m. The Major League Eating (MLE) World Slugburger Eating Championship will begin at 2 p.m. next to the festival site. Some of the best competitive eaters in the country and local slugburger eating champion Jeremy Smith will see who can put down the most slugs in 10 minutes for a top cash prize of $1,500. The top competitive eaters in the contest include Matt “Megatoad” Stonie and Adrian
“The Rabbit” Morgan. Stonie and Morgan are ranked 6th and 7th, respectively, in the MLE standings. Corinth native Ben Mathis will open the night’s musical entertainment at 6:30 p.m. Mathis is the 2009 Slug Idol champion and was a member of the Starkville-based Grassroots Country band Nash Street. Country songstress Karen Waldrup takes the stage from 8:15 to 9:45 p.m. Acclaimed as one of Nashville’s newest and brightest stars, Waldrup has been named one of Great American Country’s Top 25 songwriters. Her fourth studio album, “The Beginning,” was released in May. Tonight’s headliners, Nashville country music duo Love and Theft, will begin their set at 10 p.m. Comprised of Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson, both on vocals and rhythm guitar, Love and Theft were signed to Lyric Street Records in 2009. They have seen success with their chart debut track, “Runaway,” and their first album, “World Wide Open,” all from 2009. Love and Theft’s current hit single, “Angel Eyes,” recently moved into the top 10 on the Billboard country music
Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
Tourism Program Director Karen Beth Martin and Visitor’s Services Ada Brinker show off the 2012 Slugburger Festival T-shirts, which will be available at the entertainment and carnival areas today. Prices are $20 — tie-dyed; $15 — white; and $10 — kids. charts. “We’re happy to have Love and Theft coming to Slugburger,” said Entertainment Chairman Steve Knight. “It’s been
Index Stocks........7 Classified......14 Comics...... 13 Wisdom...... 12
Weather........5 Obituaries........ 3 Opinion........4 Sports...... 10
some time — if ever — since somebody that was that far up on the charts has played in Corinth.” Admission to the entertain-
ment area will be $10 tonight. For more information visit www.mainstreetcorinth.com or look for the Slugburger Festival’s page on Facebook.
On this day in history 150 years ago Gen. John Pope, commanding the Federal Army of Virginia, boasts, “I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies.” He has placed his army between the Confederates and Washington, D.C., to draw attention from Gen. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.