111413 daily corinthian

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Thursday Nov. 14,

2013

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Daily Corinthian Vol. 117, No. 271

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• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • One section

Sheriff violates inmate pass policy Alcorn County’s receiving state prisoners remains in jeopardy BY MARK BOEHLER editor@dailycorinthian.com

The Alcorn County Regional Correctional Facility will no longer be sent state inmates due to repeated violations of the Offender Leave Program by Alcorn County Sheriff Charles Rinehart. The Daily Corinthian obtained a letter Wednesday from Mississippi Corrections Commissioner

Christopher Epps to Rinehart, stating the local facility would receive no more prisoners until the sheriff can demonstrate he can follow proper procedure and enter a plan of action to discontinue unauthorized offender leaves. The letter is dated Nov. 7 and gives the sheriff until Nov. 29 to respond.

“...Your actions blatantly circumvent MDOC Police and Procedures,” wrote Epps to the sheriff. “The actions exhibited by you and your staff have jeopardized public safety for citizens of Alcorn County...” Rinehart said Wednesday he had not seen the letter, but noted he saw a copy in an e-mail. He said some of the mail still goes to the old jail. He requested a copy of the letter from the Daily Corinthian. The sheriff said he would respond with a written response to

Epps and “let him know we will go by MDOC policy.” “I will assure him this will be taken care of,” said Rinehart. Violations of the Offender Leave Program came to light recently when inmate William “Danny” Whitaker was issued a weekend pass and was found dead on Oct. 26 at his mother’s house in Corinth. Whitaker, 56, was serving time for robbery, burglary and aggravated assault and was not eligible for leave, according to Epps.

The MDOC commissioner noted five other inmates who were granted leave by the sheriff violated the leave program, including Pierre Newman, Bobby Page and Eric Roach, all serving time for armed robbery; Christopher Booker, serving time for manslaughter; and Kelly Smith, serving time for sale of a controlled substance. “You have implemented a system that allows MDOC offenders passes who were ineligible,” Please see SHERIFF | 2

School board narrowly passes amended budget BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com

Those honored included (from left) Reece Terry, CEO Award of Excellence; Christy Burns, Jack Hora Award; Savannah Smith, Youth Leadership Award; Tom Chartres, Spirit of Service Award; Greg Kiddy, Alliance Ambassador Award; and Lamar Keith, Spirit of Service Award.

Alliance holds annual awards ceremony BY JOSEPH MILLER jmiller@dailycorinthian.com

Plenty of folks packed the convention center on Tuesday night for the 19th Annual Meeting of The Alliance. The Crossroads Arena Convention Center was the place to be as The Alliance officials were all on hand for the 2013 awards ceremony and dinner. Brett Marlar, the 2012-13 chief executive officer (CEO) for The Alliance, called the ceremony to order at 6 p.m. in preparation of honoring several award winners. After an invocation by Rev. Seth Kirkland, the National Anthem was sung by Mrs. Beth Mitchell.

“Beth did a great job with the anthem and we have many people here this year, “said Andrea Rose, community development director of The Alliance. “This is always a fun time to fellowship with everyone and to applaud all these award winners for a job well done.” The first award presented on the evening was by Brent Lipford. Lipford is the 201214 President of Main Street Corinth, and he announced the Main Street Corinth award would go to Christy Burns. Next up to the podium was Jason Marler, 2013-14 chairperson of Finance & Membership Council. He presented the Ambassador of

the Year award to Greg Kiddy. In between the awards presentation, Main Street Corinth Director Taylor Coombs presented a video presentation to the audience about the C-Spire initiative. Much to the delight of the crowd, who all applauded the effort made with the production of the video and all those who were responsible. Amanda Johnson, the 2012-13 Chairperson of Community Development Council, announced the Alliance service awards immediately following the video presentation. The Youth Leadership Award went to SavanPlease see ALLIANCE | 2

The 2012-13 amended budget of the Alcorn School District passed by a 3-2 vote in the October meeting of the school board. Some members of the fiveperson board expressed displeasure with the close vote on the amended item in discussion prior to the approval of the minutes during November’s regular meeting on Tuesday night. “It bothers me a little that the minutes show we were one vote from not passing the budget,” said board vice president Mary Kathryn Coleman. Coleman, board president Russ Nash and District 2 board

member James Voyles each voted to approve the amended combined budget in October’s meeting. District 3 member Carroll Morton and District 5’s Randy Wilbanks cast the two nay votes. According to board attorney James Price, if the budget had not been approved, the district would have shut down since there would be no budget. “How can we support a budget that is $1 million under budget?” asked Wilbanks. “It bothers me a lot when we pass a budget like this.” Morton expressed his reaPlease see BOARD | 2

Journalist Salter speaks at meeting of Alliance BY JOSEPH MILLER jmiller@dailycorinthian.com

Mississippi State University’s director of the Office of University Relations stopped by Corinth on Tuesday night. Philadelphia native Sidney L. “Sid” Salter was the guest speaker at this year’s 19th annual Meeting of The Alliance. Salter has over 37 years of experience in journalism and media management to the task in addition to significant experience in marketing, public affairs

and corporate governance. He served as MSU’s journalist-inresidence at the MSU Libraries since March 2011, before his recent promotion. “It is so great to be here in Corinth,” Salter said. “I have been through here before while doing radio and other assignments but, it has been a while. I enjoyed my tour of the area today and its good to be back.” Please see SALTER | 6

Orphanage founded by locals battered by Typhoon Haiyan BY BRANT SAPPINGTON bsappington@dailycorinthian.com

As an immense storm battered the island nation of the Philippines half a world away a Marietta pastor and his congregation prayed for the orphanage and school they founded there nearly two years ago. Early Monday morning Pastor Ray Hall of East Marietta Baptist Church got the news he was waiting for from Rosemary’s Home of Hope – everyone was safe but much of the facility in the rugged mountains had been destroyed or severely damaged as Typhoon Haiyan battered the country. The latest figures put the death toll from the intense storm that struck the coun-

try in the Pacific Ocean over the weekend at around 2,500 with some estimates placing the number killed as high as 10,000. Hall said he’s had contact twice with personnel on the ground in the country and has learned all of the students and workers at the home and school are safe. However, the storm ravaged the structures there, demolishing the church and taking the roofs entirely off the dining hall and the boys’ dormitory and half off the administration building, leaving only the girls’ dormitory building unscathed. The pastor said the most immediate needs are for food and Please see HAIYAN | 2

Taking out the trash

Alcorn Central High School students Kameron Wood (from left) and Anilece Smith help senior Dillon Bowden bag up an old computer monitor. AC students are selling garbage bags in raise money for a new technology center at the school. The deadline to place an order is Tuesday, Nov. 19. To place an order for the garbage bags, contact the school.

Index Stocks........8 Classified......14 Comics........ 9 State........ 5

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Staff photo by Steve Beavers

On this day in history 150 years ago Gen. Nathan B. Forrest is sent west to command cavalry in West Tennessee and North Mississippi. After he threatened the life of Gen. Bragg, he is sent with only a fraction of his men and ordered to recruit a new force.

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