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People Faces from the Corinth Christmas Parade.
The 26th Mississippi Soldiers from the Crossroads battled throughout the South. Page 1B
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Daily Corinthian Vol. 117, No. 297
2013 Christmas Basket Fund “A Community Tradition”
Basket fund tops $11,000 The spirit of giving is alive and well in the Crossroads area as generous donations are arriving daily for the 18th Annual Corinth Rotary Club/Daily Corinthian 2013 Christmas Basket Fund. The civic club and newspaper have set a $25,000 community fundraising goal this year so 1,000 food baskets could be given away to local families on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Crossroads Arena. Baskets were given on faith and hope the goal will be reached. The total increased to $11,370 after the most recent donations arrived. They are $100 from Mr. & Mrs. James L. Jones; $50 from the Christian Crusaders Sunday School class at Waldron Street Christian Church; $200 from Peggy Gardner in memory of Jimmy Gardner; $100 from Handy-Man Rentals; $100 from Winston and Genida Whitfield in memory of Please see BASKET | 3A
Adopt-a-Truck fees increased BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The city is raising its fee for the Adopt-a-Truck program, which makes a truck available to residents for discarding large amounts of trash and debris. A 2-ton truck will be available for $75. One-ton trucks will no longer be offered. The Board of Aldermen approved the new fee on Dec. 3, and it becomes effective 30 days later because it is part of an ordinance that must be published. The old fees were $30 for a 1-ton truck and $40 for a 2-ton truck. Street Commissioner Philip Verdung said the increase is a result of changes at the county transfer station, which is now managed by Waste Connections. “The tipping fees have gone up significantly,” he said. “We need to increase our fees to cover our costs.” The 1-ton rental is being discontinued because citizens rarely requested the smaller truck. Verdung couldn’t recall a 1-ton truck being used through the program in the past year. The program is intended to help citizens tackle large cleanup projects, such as working on Please see ADOPT | 3A
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18 pages • Three sections
Hearing set on ward changes BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Citizens will have an opportunity to comment on Corinth’s ward redistricting this week. The public hearing on the proposed new boundaries of the five wards is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday during a regular
meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Census 2010 results showed a 13.7 percent population variance between the most and least populous wards. The proposal reduces the difference to 7.8 percent with some boundary shifts that the city has de-
scribed as minimal. The largest proposed shift will move the boundary between wards 2 and 5 west from Highway 45 to Forest School Road, with ward 5 taking in the 84 residents between those roads. Ward 5 also would take 21 from Ward 2 with the ward
line moving east from Maple Road to Willow Road south of Magnolia. Ward 5 would go from a population of 2,760 to 2,973. Ward 2 would go from 3,160 to 3,088. Ward 1, at 2,862, and Please see HEARING | 2A
Living Free returns ‘Crossroads Christmas’ BY JEFF YORK For the Daily Corinthian
An old-fashioned “Crossroads Christmas” will be held on Christmas Day at the Living Free Ministries building in Corinth. Marea and Tommy Wilson will host the family celebration with everyone invited
to join them. The day will begin at 11 a.m. and will end at 4 p.m. There will be a traditional holiday meal with turkey, dressing and home-cooked desserts. “We had such a great time with this last year and we wanted to share Christmas Day with
everyone again this year,” said Marea Wilson. “Tommy and I really did not know how many people to expect last year and we were pleasantly surprised to have over 300 come to eat Christmas lunch with us.” Wilson said there were people in line to get into the Living
Free building last year prior to 11 a.m. and some stayed all day to visit with the others at the lunch. The meal is free. “I remember one man brought his newspaper at 10:30 a.m. and he spent the Please see MINISTRY | 2A
Santa Claus brings smiles to ACHS BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
GLEN — Laughter and children chewing on candy canes filled the lobby at Alcorn Central High School. Christmas is only two weeks away and Santa Claus was at the school to talk with children of all ages before making his annual trip on Dec. 24. St. Nick, who also brought along Mrs. Claus, also took time out for a photo shoot with students and others in the community. For a second straight year, Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsors are using proceeds from their “Pictures with Santa” to help with the Toy Store of the Lighthouse Foundation. A portion of what is taken in will also be put in a club scholarship fund.
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Alcorn Central High School FCA sponsor Charlette Foster goes over a list with Santa Claus during the stop of St. Nick at the school on Wednesday. “At Christmas, we are all kids,” said FCA sponsor Charlette Foster as she watched a group of high school students
have their photos taken with Santa Claus. “You never forget days like this.” Students received a print of
their photo with Santa for only $5. Please see SANTA | 2A
Corinth artist takes leap into children’s books BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
“Cartoonish” is not a word that springs to mind when looking at the detailed historical paintings of Corinth artist Tony Bullard. But his latest work is something from the lighter side. He will sign copies of “Froggy the Froggy Gets Lost” — a children’s book first begun 16 years ago — on Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Taylor’s Escape. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Corinth-Alcorn County Special Needs Group’s next trip to Disney World. Pictures with Santa will also be part of the event at a cost of $10, also benefiting the trip. In contrast to the scenes of old Corinth he is known for today, “Back in the ‘80s, I had a
passion for wanting to do cartoon work,” said Bullard. “I’ve come up with a lot of characters over the years.” At a time when he was conceiving ideas for board games
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and other toys, Bullard’s new “Bedtime Pals” series was inspired by a trip to Las Vegas in 1997 to attend the Toy and Game Inventor’s Forum sponsored by Rhetmeyer Toy Design and Licensing. “Back in ’93, I was doing all these oil paintings and got literally burnt out,” he said. “I just didn’t want to paint, and I totally changed my focus. I started writing songs and tried to come up with original toys and games. When I got off work, in my spare time, I worked on these and sent them to toy agencies.” After rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers of the industry in Las Vegas, he started on the Bedtime Pals concept. “The idea was to have a
stuffed animal character in each one, and the storybook would be included with the animal,” said Bullard. After losing patience with efforts to break into the toy industry, he stopped work on the idea, which he recently resurrected. He touched up and enhanced the artwork and already has the character for book two — a bear — drawn and ready to go. The first story focuses on Froggy and Starbright the firefly helping each other. “I wanted to do something very clean that would have a moral message to it for kids,” said Bullard. “There’s so much junk in the cartoons now.” His most recent oil paintings Please see BULLARD | 3A
On this day in history 150 years ago President Jefferson Davis finally decided on a commander to replace Braxton Bragg as the head of the Army of Tennessee. Setting aside his personal feelings, he selects Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He will make the announcement tomorrow morning.