State/Nation
5A • Daily Corinthian
Nation Briefs Associated Press
Judge ends Katrina flooding lawsuits NEW ORLEANS — Dozens of lawsuits seeking damages from the federal government for Hurricane Katrinarelated levee failures and flooding in the New Orleans area are over. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. has dismissed the cases. The move comes more than a year after a federal appeals court overturned his ruling holding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable for flooding caused by lax maintenance of a shipping channel. Duval has also dismissed a parallel lawsuit against a contractor. It claimed excavation work weakened flood walls in New Orleans’ Industrial Canal. Duval entered the orders Dec. 20. More than 500,000 residents, businesses and governments filed claims against the Corps. But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Corps is immune from lawsuits when it made judgments in flood protection and navigation. Boy Scouts open ranks to gay youth on Jan. 1 The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications — ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades.
Yet despite their beprepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year’s Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digitalclock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded. “My hope is there will be the same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare,� said Brad Haddock, a BSA national executive board member who chairs the policy implementation committee. “It’s business as usual, nothing happens and we move forward.� Some churches are dropping their sponsorship of Scout units because of the new policy and some families are switching to a new conservative alternative called Trail Life USA. But massive defections haven’t materialized and most major sponsors, including the Roman Catholic and Mormon churches, are maintaining ties. “There hasn’t been a whole lot of fallout,� said Haddock, a lawyer from Wichita, Kan. “If a church said they wouldn’t work with us, we’d have a church right down the street say, ‘We’ll take the troop.’� The new policy was approved in May, with support from 60 percent of the 1,400 voting members of the BSA’s National Council. The vote followed bitter nationwide debate, and was accompanied by an announcement that the BSA would continue to exclude openly gay adults from leadership positions.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
State Briefs
Hawaii is underdog for Obama library
Associated Press
Ex-Vicksburg mayor to report to prison
HONOLULU — On these sun-bathed shores, Barack Obama was born and spent his formative years, soaking in an island sensibility that his wife and friends say is indispensable to understanding who he is as president. Yet in the search for a home for his future presidential library, Hawaii has become the underdog, stuck in Chicago’s perpetual shadow. It’s not for lack of trying. A high-level campaign has been underway here since Obama won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 — before it was even clear he’d win his party’s nomination, much less the presidency. From the governor to the state’s congressional delegation and local university leaders, Hawaii has spared no effort in laying the groundwork for a potential library, gently pressing Obama’s sister and close friends, and setting aside prime oceanfront real estate just in case Hawaii’s favorite son chooses Oahu to host the monument to his legacy. But as the gears start to turn in the Obama machinery that will eventually develop the library, the focus has increasingly turned to Chicago, where Obama was first elected and came into his own as a national political figure. It is a place many of his advisers and staunchest supporters call home.
JACKSON — Paul Winfield seemed like a man on the rise, a young attorney who unseated a two-term incumbent when he was elected in 2009 as mayor of Vicksburg, the site of a pivotal Civil War battle. The Democrat said the people wanted change, and he was the man to give it to them. But before his first term was up, Winfield was arrested and indicted on a federal bribery charge. By Jan. 6, he must report to prison to begin serving a sentence of just over two years for seeking a $10,000 bribe in exchange for a city contract. His attorney, Terris Harris, had no comment when contacted by The Associated Press. Winfield was arrested by the FBI at his house on Feb. 20. He pleaded guilty in September. U.S. District Judge David Bramlette in Natchez sentenced Winfield in November to 25 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years on supervised release. He was allowed to remain free on bond and self-report to prison. Winfield had already been indicted by the time he came up for re-election and lost the Democratic primary in May. As part of his plea agreement in the bribery case, he agreed to never again seek public office. Court records say a confidential FBI informant called Winfield on July 17, 2012, to discuss “pre-event disaster con-
tracts� with the city. The two met at a Jackson restaurant the next day, and the informant asked Winfield what it would take to get the contract. “Winfield responded ‘Ten’ and held up 10 fingers, signifying $10,000,� according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors say Winfield agreed to take half the money up front and the rest after the contract was awarded. The informant paid Winfield $5,000 in $100 bills that had been provided by the FBI, according to court records.
McComb continues cemetery acquisition MCCOMB — City officials have the process to acquire the Burglund neighborhood’s Greenwood Cemetery, which has no apparent owner and is seldom maintained. The Enterprise-Journal reported McComb selectmen voted this past week to allow board attorney Wayne Dowdy to apply for a title to the cemetery by eminent domain to maintain, repair and improve its common property. City Administrator Quordiniah Lockley has worked with city and Pike County officials on who owns the cemetery. He said there is no record of ownership filed at the courthouse. An association involved with maintenance of the property no longer operates. “Because there is no ownership of the property, the only way the city of McComb can take ownership of that property is through eminent
domain procedures,� Lockley said. The cemetery has only a handful of available gravesites left, and the city will have to work with the few remaining plot owners. Resident Ron Gibson has been pushing for a city takeover for months. He told selectmen he knew of volunteers and organizations willing to work with the city to handle maintenance and repairs. Since deeds are bought for each grave plot, the city would not own the graves or be responsible for work done to individual graves.
DeSoto sees drop in tourism tax HERNANDO — DeSoto County officials are asking the Mississippi Department of Revenue for help in determining why there’s been a drop in tourism tax collections at the height of the holiday season. County Administrator Vanessa Lynchard says revenue generated from the 2 percent tourism tax on restaurant meals was down between $70,000 and $100,000. Lynchard said tourism tax collections have been down for two months now. Board of Supervisors President Mark Gardner said that is out of character for a normally bustling two months before the busy Christmas traveling season. Lynchard says the threshold for restaurants having to pay the tourism tax is $100,000 generated through the sale of hot food.
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