Prentiss County City leaders have cemetery concerns
Tishomingo County Burnsville plans Waterway Festival
McNairy County Law agencies get $5,000 grants
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Tuesday Sept. 22,
2015
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Daily Corinthian Vol. 119, No. 227
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • One section
School board approves new pay scale BY ZACK STEEN zsteen@dailycorinthian.com
Custodial employees in the Alcorn School District will soon see a change to their pay. Set to go into effect next school year, board members approved the pay scale change earlier this month. “After research and consideration a recommendation was made to amend the pay scale to reflect yearly increases,” said
board clerk Ginger Mills. In August, board member Randy Wilbanks questioned the current pay scale used and asked for the change. “We decided not long ago that we would carry over years of experience for custodial staff from previous jobs,” said Wilbanks. “The problem now is we have a female custodial employee who has been with us forever and is topped out on pay. We’ve hired
in a new worker whose bought years with him from a previous job and he’s making as much as she is.” “That’s just not fair,” he added. The current pay scale tops out at 13 years with .20 cent raise increments per year, according to Director of Finance Kimberly Woodard. With the changes, the amount paid and raise increments will
remain the same. Pay scale caps will, however, increase to 20 years. Custodial staff members will continue to work 205 days per school year and be paid per hour. Those employees with 20 or more years experience will make $19,330 per year. Lead custodial staff members will continue to work 220 days and are salary based. The cap will give those employees an
opportunity to make $21,380 per year with 20 or more years experience.
In other business ■ The board approved 10 student release transfers to the Corinth School District. Board member Carroll Morton casted two “no” votes on
Please see BOARD | 3
County closes CR 300 for work BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Penny (Cassandra Evans) and Mrs. Thang (Jennifer McCoy) are two of the characters in the play “My Journey.” The play, performed last year at the Coliseum, is being staged in Tupelo on Oct. 3.
Motorists in the Second District of Alcorn County are encountering a detour because of a bridge replacement and a culvert replacement near Glen. While County Road 346 was already closed for a bridge replacement, there is also now a closure on the nearby County Road 300, where work began last week on the replacement of an old culvert with a concrete box culvert. This has made for a longer detour than would have been needed if the bridge project had been completed. “We had to go ahead and start the work on Road 300 before we got into bad weath-
er,” said Johnny Crotts of Cook Coggin Engineers. The Road 346 bridge project has seen a number of delays, and Crotts said every effort is being made to move things along. Interim Second District Supervisor Ralph Coln said he is sorry for the inconvenience the work has caused residents and commuters on the two roads. “I thank you for your patience and understanding,” said Coln. “I apologize for any problems and disruptions this caused anyone.” The Board of Supervisors in Monday’s meeting agreed to pay $3,226.60 — half the cost Please see COUNTY | 2
‘Our Journey’ continues awareness City school board BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
The journey isn’t over. At least not for gospel recording artist Monica Sorrell and her oldest daughter, Ebonee Sanders. Sorrell, of Corinth, is staging her play “My Journey” at the Link Centre in Tupelo on Saturday, Oct. 3. Tickets for the show, performed at the Corinth Coliseum Civic Center last August – went on sale Aug. 1. Sorrell, who wrote the play to draw attention to the multiple
sclerosis (MS) of Ebonee, is continuing to bring awareness to the disease. “My goal is for young people with disabilities to have a place to go that will stimulate their minds,” said Sorrell. “I would like to start some kind of center where people could be comfortable.” Sanders was diagnosed with a cognitive form of MS after disappearing in 2008. She was scheduled to do a gospel concert with her mother when she went missing in July. Despite
the constant efforts of many, Sanders went unfound for three weeks. A phone call from a woman named Linda near Paducah, Kentucky, began the process of reuniting Sanders with her family. Sanders was found to have multiple sclerosis (MS) after being examined by a doctor following her return home from Kentucky. MS is a disease that affects Please see JOURNEY | 2
talks testing data BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Corinth School District Board of Trustees heard a report last week on recent assessment data. The talk covered ACT, Cambridge International Exams and the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment. “The ACT and the Cam-
bridge exams are going to become even more important in the 2015-2016 school year,” said Superintendent Lee Childress, “because the state has decided to use those two measures in the accountability model in terms of determining a school’s accreditation Please see DATA | 2
Pink fire truck heats up cancer cause, provides fundraising vehicle BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Corinth Fire Department wants the community to think pink today. The pink firetruck of the Pink Heals Program will be at station 1 at City Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to bring awareness to
the cause and provide a fundraising vehicle for local groups. “We invite all cancer survivors to come and sign the truck,” said Fire Chief “Lucky” Briggs. Nonprofit groups are able to set up a booth in conjunction with the Pink Heals visit
to take donations and promote their organizations. Briggs said groups like the Boys & Girls Club and Havis’ Kids are expected to participate. The Pink Heals group emphasizes grassroots fundraising with all dollars staying local. Tour drivers volunteer up
to 21 days at a time to drive pink firetrucks and police cars across the country. The program was founded by retired firefighter and former professional athlete Dave Graybill. It has grown from a single truck driven by Graybill in
2007 to more than 150 trucks in three countries driven by hundreds of volunteers. The original focus of helping people, especially women, battle cancer, expanded to include community fundraising. The tour last visited Corinth in 2013 at Crossroads Arena.
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A team from the National Park Service’s Atlanta office arrives to survey local Civil War sites. The team is gathering data to establish Corinth as a National Historic Landmark, a first step toward federal recognition notes NPS Regional Director Paul Hartig.
Lightning is blamed for a fire that destroyed a Kossuth church. Lone Oak Baptist Church caught fire during a severe thunderstorm that passed through western Alcorn County.
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