Tuesday Aug. 12,
2014
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 118, No. 190
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 22 pages • 2 sections
Sides speak up on RR quiet zone BY ZACK STEEN zsteen@dailycorinthian.com
A number of downtown residents and business owners against the purposed railroad quiet zone were present Monday night at a special public hearing at city hall. The mayor and several city officials and representatives from
Norfolk Southern and MDOT were on hand to answer questions. “A quiet zone is something the Federal Railroad Administration oversees, but we try to work with communities to determine the best way to implement it,” said Norfolk Southern Grade Crossing Safety Manager
William Miller. “In Corinth, there are five crossings that would need upgrades to the warning device systems.” Each crossing would require a constant warning time device ,which would measure train speed and distance. Such a system predicts the arrival of a train at the crossing, providing
a relatively uniform warning time to public traffic. “I like to call it a quieter zone,” said Miller. “There will still be whistles and alarms at the crossings to help warn motorists.” If put into place, the quiet zone would eliminate trains from blowing their horns on
the Norfolk Southern line from the North Parkway crossing at the Crossroads Regional Park to the Linden Street crossing at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center. The quiet zone would stop approximately 22 trains from Please see NOISE | 2A
Answer in sheriff’s harassment case filed BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Zack Steen
Tony Austin of North Mississippi Roofing Company worked on resealing the gutter seams at the Verandah-Curlee House recently.
Verandah-Curlee House intended to support itself
A federal judge has lifted the stay in the sexual harassment lawsuit against the Alcorn County sheriff, and an answer to the complaint has been filed, according to court records. The answer denies all of the allegations without addressing the specific details in the civil action filed by former Sheriff’s Department employee Michelle Cohoon-Loyd. In addition to harassment, the suit claims Cohoon-Loyd suffered a sexually hostile work environment and retaliation. “Defendants’ alleged conduct was not malicious, wilful and wanton, or grossly negligent, and was neither objectively nor subjectively offensive, and was neither severe nor pervasive, and was not unwelcome,” states
Presley unveils major natural gas expansion For the Daily Corinthian
BY ZACK STEEN zsteen@dailycorinthian.com
Built in 1857, the historic Verandah-Curlee House has seen vast amounts of improvement over the past five years. Much of the work has been spearheaded by the Siege and Battle of Corinth Commission board and its chairman Rosemary Williams. “With help from federal and state funds, we have invested about $300,000 to restore the home with a new foundation, porch and roof,” said Williams. “The house is more than 150 years old and with all these new improvements, we except
it to last another 150 years.” Williams said crews are in the process of finishing the replacement of all plumbing and electrical in the house. “We’ve also begun working on the grounds,” she said. “We have started restoring the old brick walkways, improving the drainage and installing an irrigation system. Work on laying the sod and sod filler should begin soon.” The chairman said all grounds work is being done with private funds and will cost around $100,000 when complete. “We will also be working
with the Corinth Master Gardeners and other local garden clubs to create memorial flower gardens and an heirloom rose garden,” she said. The Verandah-Curlee House Friends group has organized and sponsored the Corinth Home & Garden Tour over the past few years. Money raised from the event was placed into a fund that will soon be used on the interior of the house. According to Williams, the interior is in relatively good shape, but has not been painted in more than 40 years. Please see HOUSE | 2A
the answer. “Furthermore, plaintiff was never subjected to an adverse employment action, as she voluntarily relinquished her employment from the Alcorn County Mississippi Sheriff’s Department.” Cohoon-Loyd worked directly for Sheriff Charles Rinehart. The suit, filed in February, names Rinehart, the county and the sheriff’s department as defendants. The suit was temporarily on hold because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a right to sue letter in error. A judge lifted the stay after a new letter was filed. The answer was filed on behalf of Rinehart and Alcorn County in U.S. District Court by the firm of Daniel Coker Horton & Bell of Jackson.
Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has announced the approval of a major natural gas expansion in rural Alcorn County. Presley, flanked by Corinth Gas and Water officials, made the announcement Monday at the Alcorn County Courthouse in Corinth. The expansion by Corinth Gas and Water, which Presley authorized last week, will bring natural gas service to 600 prospective customers in the Kendrick, Biggersville, Kossuth, Wenasoga and Glen areas. Of the 600 prospective customers, 200 should receive natural gas service before the
winter heating season. “Giving Mississippians more energy options like natural gas means giving them more chances to save Presley money. Rural Mississippi matters and state government should find ways to make sure rural communities have access to basic utility service just like metropolitan areas,” Presley Please see GAS | 2A
County budget plans no changes to property tax for fiscal year BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The proposed Alcorn County budget for the upcoming fiscal year makes no change to the property tax rate. The Board of Supervisors met in a work session Monday morning to continue finalizing the proposed budget for fiscal year 2015, which begins Oct. 1. A public hearing on the proposed budget is not yet scheduled. The board plans for the
county’s millage rate to hold at 53. Within that will be some minor shifting around of a few hundredths of a mill. The park, for example, will decrease from 1.57 to 1.55 mills, but that will still generate a budget increase for the park. With the Alcorn School District proposing no change to its rate, the total for residents who pay county school district taxes would hold at 105.76 mills. The general county portion
of the budget would be 27.53 mills. Board President Lowell Hinton said the current board has been able to hold taxes steady for the past three years, and he’s hopeful there could be a tax decrease in the future. This year’s budget challenges are similar to those the current board has faced in prior years, including the regional jail finances and declining 911 fees. The bottom line is gradually
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improving for the correctional facility, even though the state reimbursements for the housing of Mississippi Department of Corrections inmates continues to run several months behind. The same cannot be said for 911, which receives far less in fees than in years past because of the abandoning of land line telephones. The board remains interested in seeing the various agencies for which 911 dispatches to begin sharing in the
cost of operations. The Mississippi Legislature is expected to address the issue of 911 deficits in its next session. Alcorn 911 is in the proposed budget at $590,908, while fees collected from local phone users are expected to generate a little less than $400,000. “There’s no easy fix to this 911 problem because we’ve got to give the community the service,” said Supervisor Gary Ross.
On this day in history 150 years ago The Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee is shaking things up off the coast of New York. Six ships were taken and burned today to add to the six ships taken day before yesterday. All of this takes places within 60 miles of Sandy Hook, N.J.
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