Saturday Dec. 21,
2013
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 117, No. 302
2013 Christmas Basket Fund “A Community Tradition”
Basket fund tops $16,000 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 Dec. 7 at the Crossroads Arena. Baskets were given on faith and hope the goal will be reached. The total increased to $16,366 after the most recent donations arrived. They are $200 from the family of George Coleman Sr. in memory of George E. Coleman Sr.; $100 from Bill Dalton; $100 from Mrs. and Mrs. Lester Strickland; $100 from William and Evelyn Farrior; and $200 from O.W. and W.J. Thornton. Donations can be the perfect time to make a holiday tribute to a special person. Contributions can be made “in honor of” someone living or “in memory of” someone who has passed. They can be family or friends, co-workers, employees, bosses or even groups who have made an impact on a person’s life. All tributes will be published in the Daily Corinthian until Dec. 26. Donations can be brought to the newspaper office at 1607 Harper Road or mailed to the Daily Corinthian, Attn: Christmas Basket Fund, P.O. Box 1800, Corinth, Miss. 38835.
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 18 pages • 1 section
Several streets get new look BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Corinth saw a taste of street paving with bond issue funds this week ahead of the bulk of the work coming in the spring. APAC was in town milling and laying asphalt on several streets, including Fourth Street from Fillmore to Madison and, in the area between Cass and
Fillmore, the short streets of Davis, Grant and Reynolds. Those are among projects designated by Mayor Tommy Irwin with $100,000 out of the $1.6 million bond. Each of the five aldermen also have $100,000 to spend. “We’re still in the planning process working out what everybody wants to do and try-
ing to prioritize,” said Street Commissioner Philip Verdung. “It’s hard sometimes to make a decision what gets it and what doesn’t. we’re trying to address the worst issues first.” The Pine Lake area in ward 5 is also getting some repairs in areas that have had base failures in the last couple of years. “We’re going in and fixing
some of those individual spots during this round of paving,” said Verdung. “We’ll have quite a bit more work to come there in the spring.” On the recent paving, “We went in prior to the work and did all of the repairs that we saw at the time that are necesPlease see STREETS | 2
Officials encourage fiber signups BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Joe Reardon, former mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, has successfully stared down the challenge that Corinth leaders face now. As mayor, he helped rally citizens behind cutting-edge technology and made Kansas City the first Google Fiber city. “And now a city like yours, excitingly enough, has a chance to have bandwidth that nearly no one has right now,” he told a group of Corinthians gathered at City Hall on Friday. Mayor Tommy Irwin, several aldermen and supporters of the effort to secure C Spire’s gigabit-per-second fiber Internet service in the city met with Reardon and Jared Baumann, manager brand products - fiber for C Spire. The group also spent some time planning the next steps in its effort. With sign-ups in progress for the past few weeks, Corinth’s rates in the three “fiberhoods” currently are 4 percent in the north section, 2 percent in the central section and zero percent in the south section. They need to hit 45 percent, 35 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Reardon said grassroots efforts worked best in helping
Staff photo by Jebb Johnston
Alderman Michael McFall (left) and Main Street Corinth Director Andrea Rose listen as Joe Reardon, the former mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, makes a point about the campaign for gigabit-per-second Internet service at Corinth City Hall. his city beat out 1,100 others. While some people quickly get excited about ultra-fast Internet speeds, he found that many need convincing. “There was a large chunk of citizens in our community that had heard about it but didn’t really know what its implications were and why the city was involved,” he said. “So, I went out and had about 100 neighborhood and community meetings and talked about the public policy reasons for mov-
ing forward with this project. What I realized was that the things that were important about this, you had to relate to citizens where they were.” The effort included signing up people at all kinds of community events. “Think about what the implications of the infrastructure is to the community — that was the message I felt was important for me to deliver,” he said. Now that it has been in place for a year, the community has
Crossroads blood donors showing support BY JOSEPH MILLER jmiller@dailycorinthian.com
Donating blood is a priceless Christmas gift. Blood donors in the Crossroads area continued to show their support for such a worthy cause again this holiday season. By supporting this years Sixth Annual “Battle of the Banks,” local residents are part of the reason lives were saved again this year. “Area residents supported their local banks, and in turn, answered the call to help supply the blood bank for patients in our hospitals,” said Toni Gough, Donor Recruitment Representative for United Blood Services. “All the bank employees worked really hard this year and the competition was fierce. Each bank wanted the trophy to be in their lobby for the next year. Most of all, each bank wanted to do good for their community.” Gough said all the banks gave a valiant effort, but this year’s bragging rights went to Renasant Bank. “Renasant recruited the most successful donors this time,” said Gough. “They will get to show off the ‘TRAVELIN’ Trophy in their lobby for the next year, and of course, have the bragging rights and the choice of where they want to park the bloodmobile for the next drive.” Participating banks in this years battle included BancorpSouth, CB&S, Commerce National, Regions, Renasant and Trustmark who all participated
Cloudy, warm
seen property values increase, and consumers are benefiting. “Not everybody is signing up for Google Fiber,” said Reardon, “but I can tell you that if you’re on another provider, faster speeds are now available to you on their system. Lower prices are now available to you on their system. Competition is good.” The first fiberhood to go green was one described as a Please see FIBER | 2
Bill expands Shiloh park boundaries BY JEFF YORK For the Daily Corinthian
Pam Gann (left) and Becky Faulkner of Renasant Bank and Toni Gough of United Blood Services are all smiles after Gough presents the Sixth Annual “Battle of the Banks” award trophy to the two bank representatives Thursday afternoon. by recruiting their customers, friends and family to come and donate blood for their bank. “Even though this year’s battle is over, I have already heard the battle is on for next year,” added Gough. “A fun, friendly competition never hurt anyone, and I know these other banks who joined in this year will work hard to get the tro-
phy from Renasant at the next annual Battle of the Banks.” Gough said she appreciates everyone who participated in the event this year for all their hard work and dedication. “Those who helped in any capacity, from the ones recruiting the donors, to the employers who allowed their donors time away from their job
Index Stocks........8 Classified...... 15 Comics........ 7 State........ 5
Weather........9 Obituaries........ 6 Opinion........4 Sports...... 12
to come and donate, and especially the actual donors themselves, I say thank you. The donations at this drive has saved and/or touched the lives of 57 patients in our local hospitals.” (Anyone interested in hosting a drive, or needing more information about blood donations, can contact Gough at 662-842-8871.)
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has introduced legislation that would expand the boundary of Shiloh National Military Park to include three Civil War battlefields in Tennessee and designate Parker’s Crossroads as an affiliated area of the National Park System. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (RBrentwood) introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year. Area Civil War battlefields at Davis Bridge and Fallen Timbers were two of the places in the legislation that would increase the boundary of Shiloh National Military Park. Russell House (which is in Tennessee and Mississippi) would also be considered part of Shiloh Park. “As Americans, we have a special obligation to preserve and protect our heritage,” Alexander said. “Including these Civil War battlefields in the National Park System will honor that commitment, while providing an opportunity to attract more visitors to Tennessee and encourage the local economies.” “I am pleased to be working with Sen. Alexander in preserving this important piece of our national history,” Blackburn said. “Tennessee played a vital role in the Civil War and it’s important we remember those
On this day in history 150 years ago Union cavalry left Corinth for Purdy, Tenn. A “rebel” dance in a nearby farmhouse was discovered and a detachment was sent to break it up. “On their approach the rebels reached out with a volley of musketry and saluted them, but were soon put to flight.”
Please see PARK | 2