Today: 38-page Special Section Slugburgers remain culinary king in Corinth — Page 1C
The Barn provides unique shopping experience — Page 1B
Tuesday June 19,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 147
Partly sunny Today
Tonight
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 38 pages • 3 sections
City plans Future Fare public hearing BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
While police dealt with a dangerous situation at a U.S. 72 shopping center, a large crowd formed adjacent to the site and across the street.
Today’s social network: Is it accurate reporting? BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Reporter’s note: I was finishing up in the office, about 10 minutes away from clocking out for the night, when I got a call from a friend who was driving down U.S. 72 in Corinth. She told me the police had surrounded the shopping center next to O’Reilly Auto Parts and she could see machine guns and body bags. It sounded like a massacre was in progress. Quitting time and the rest of my weekend would have to wait. ••• Late Saturday afternoon
the Corinth Police responded to a call about a suicidal man who’d barricaded himself inside a business on U.S. 72 East and was threatening to burn the place to the ground. The police soon surrounded the store. The situation was tense. An hour after the incident began, a large crowd had assembled next to the standoff site at a shopping center on the highway’s north side. They milled around and watched from the O’Reilly Auto Parts parking lot and in the parking area of a shopping center across the highway. Some of the spectators had
simply caught a glimpse of the action when driving by, and decided to stop and watch the show. But there were many who’d found out about it through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Within minutes, the message board site Topix exploded with rumors. The internet brought the news from a few passerby to the whole county in a matter of minutes. People were intrigued. With nothing else going on, they went out to catch the show live. And they called Please see NETWORK | 2A
If Future Fare is approved by Corinth voters, the first city tax increase in 11 years would fund almost 60 different paving projects. Those projects range in size from part of an intersection to large stretches of major thoroughfares such as Shiloh Road and Harper Road (see complete list below). The last tax increase of 5.5 mills came in 2001 with 4 mills going to fund a bond issue for a paving program and the South Harper Road fire station. Also, the school district had a 1.5 mill increase. Now, the city seeks a fiveyear, 12 mill increase for paving and various other projects. Ward 4 Alderman J.C. Hill said he is tremendously excited about the program and believes supporting it ought to be an easy decision for voters to make. “People are invested in the community by living here,” he said. “Why would you not want to make that place look so much better?” While the tax burden will be more for some than others, he believes it is not too much to bear. “It’s the cost of taking the family out on the town for one night a year,” he said. Hill also welcomes citizen input. A public hearing on Future Fare coincides with today’s
regular board meeting at 5 p.m. Ward 3 Alderman Chip Wood said the board members drove the streets in their wards and provided input to shape the paving list. The board is looking to include some areas that haven’t seen new pavement in decades. An example of that in ward 3, he said, is East Clover Lane. The board is also looking forward to a beefed up property cleanup effort. With the small existing budget for cleanup, Wood said the city mostly acts in response to public complaints about specific properties. “Property cleanup is a biggie,” agreed Hill. “We usually work on 10 at a time to make sure that we don’t exceed the budget for that. We can speed that process up. I can see that really being an active endeavor.” Paving makes up $3.636 million of the $5 million program. The proposed street paving list and costs appear below. (Note: An asterisk next to the cost indicates the cost is split among multiple wards because the street lies within different wards.)
Ward 1 ■ 4th Street from Buchanan to North Parkway - $26,000* ■ 5th Street from Buchanan to North Parkway - $26,000*
Please see HEARING | 3A
After six months in office, supervisors talk pros, cons BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Now on the job for nearly six months, Alcorn County’s new supervisors are learning the ins and outs of government, maintaining roads and answering to constituents. Second District Supervisor Dal Nelms, one of three newcomers to the board this term, said he is finding every day to be a new challenge, “ranging from something as simple as cleaning out a road ditch to talking with an executive about new industry for Alcorn County.” Helping residents with vari-
ous issues is one of the biggest challenges. “Some of the problems we solve on the phone, while others I’ve been working on for six months,” he said. Road conditions is one of the top concerns he hears about from residents. “Not only the conditions of the surface of the road, but also visual problems at intersections, erosion of road shoulders and litter, all of which are directly related to our roads,” said Nelms. He wants to see the county continue to work to improve roads and bridges while purs-
“Some of the problems we solve on the phone, while others I’ve been working on for six months.” Dal Nelms Second District Supervisor ing industry and job growth. Third District Supervisor Tim Mitchell said he is enjoying the job but wishes government could move faster.
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“In business, I was used to making my own decisions,” he said. “That has been one of my holdbacks is it takes so long to get things accomplished.” While industrial recruitment remains his top priority, “I would like to see us developing the park system and working with the arena to promote Corinth and Alcorn County as a whole,” he said. First District Supervisor Lowell Hinton said one of the biggest challenges for the new board is choosing where to spend a limited pot of funds. “With the economy being
slow, the money that you have to work on roads is limited, and the cost of materials to rebuild these roads is high,” he said. Industrial recruitment is also one of his priorities. “We’re moving forward with that, and Caterpillar coming in with a new facility was a big boost,” he said. “We’re working hard along with The Alliance and the city trying to meet as many industries as we can.” He said the board will be looking for funds for an upgrade to the park system. Please see SUPERVISORS | 11A
On this day in history 150 years ago Union troops under William T. Sherman have repaired the Memphis & Charleston Railroad as far as Moscow, Tenn. The tracks are being placed back in working order at the rate of 10 miles a day