Wednesday June 27,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 154
Mostly sunny Today
Tonight
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 20 pages • 2 sections
Easom supporters will show progress BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The former Easom High School is opening its doors this weekend as school supporters show off recent progress and continue planning for the building’s future.
The Easom Alumni 2nd Annual Affair sponsored by the Easom Outreach Foundation is at the school Friday night from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and the foundation will have its annual meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday followed by lunch at 11:30
a.m. and a guest presentation by educator Michelle Lyons of Memphis, Tenn., at noon. All events are open to the entire community. The Friday evening event includes music by Honey Boy, refreshments and cash prizes. It is
a business-casual attire event. “This will be a time to bring people back together to see the building and all of the work that has been done,” said Samuel Crayton, Easom Outreach chairman. The group is pleased with
its progress thus far, including improvements to the kitchen, painting of about six classrooms and improvements to the detached building. As a participating site in the SumPlease see EASOM | 2A
Farmers Market tomatoes grow high demand BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Tomatoes are the desired vegetable at the Farmers Market. Only two venders at the Fulton Drive location were able to help those looking for the ripe variety over the weekend. “I have some absolutely gorgeous tomatoes, but they’re not ripe yet,” said Kossuth gardner Sandra Gurley. Gurley said she and husband, Norman, “are hoping to have some this week.” Jacinto growers Rufus and
Roberta Duncan are expecting a ripe crop in about two weeks. “That’s what people are wanting right now,” said Roberta who sold over 20 pounds of pepper earlier in the day. “It comes in spurts,” said vendor Dee Suitor of the request for tomatoes. “You just have to have it all.” Suitor, a Kossuth gardner, was one of two sellers at the market to have tomatoes on Saturday. “Mine have been in about a
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Please see MARKET | 2A
Gary and Charlette Adkins were part of only two vendors with ripe tomatoes to purchase at the Farmers Market on Fulton Drive.
Weather forecasters call for hotter temperatures Heat to aggravate dry conditions BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Forecasters say very hot weather is settling in across the region and is unlikely to let up before the July 4 holiday. The extreme heat is expected to aggravate dry conditions and prompt heat advisories later in
the week. “We’ve got this very hot ridge settling in over the Mid-South for the next week to 10 days,” said Bill Borghoff, a forecaster with the National Weather Service Memphis Forecast Office. “Beginning Thursday and through the following Tuesday and Wednesday, we will see temperatures of probably 100 to 105.” While humidity will increase
some, Borghoff said it will not be extreme and will not be as oppressive as the Mid-South experienced during the heat waves of recent years. Still, heat advisories are possible by Friday. After a high temperature around 96 today, the weather service is forecasting 101 for Thursday and Friday and 102 for Saturday in Corinth. The triple-digit highs will be close to
records each day. Tropical Storm Debbie is moving away from the MidSouth, and no fronts are taking aim on the region, which is in need of rain. “There basically is no chance of rain for the next 7 to 10 days,” said Borghoff. “We are significantly below average in rainfall, particularly north of I-40. It looks like the dry area will expand a bit to the southeast, es-
Veterans host Heroes Wall
Family band to perform initial show
BY BRANT SAPPINGTON bsappington@dailycorinthian.com
BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
The local band Grace Under Fire — featuring the vocal talents of Shelby Pratt, Jonathan Shaw and Mandy Shaw — will play their first show Friday night at KC’s Espresso. The band is largely a family affair. The three vocalists are cousins. Shelby’s younger brother, Brooks, plays lead guitar. The group is rounded out with Blake Brady on the drums and Conner Wroten playing bass. Shelby and the Shaw siblings first made music together at a family gathering. Although they bring different musical styles to the table, Shelby said they mix in a way that is uniquely their own. “We actually got started in my backyard at a family get together, and we’ve been singing together pretty regularly since then,” Shelby said. “The three of us have pretty different voices and styles of singing, but when we sing together it doesn’t seem that way. The group will play outside of the downtown Corinth coffeehouse, located at the cor-
pecially during this next week.” The weather service said the heat wave will increase fire danger across the region and aggravate drought stress with increased soil drying rates of a third of an inch daily. The one-month and threemonth outlooks indicate abovenormal temperatures will continue with equal chances of above or below normal rainfall. Odds favor a hot, dry summer.
Submitted photo
Friday night’s Grace Under Fire concert at KC’s Espresso features vocalists (from left) Shelby Pratt, Jonathan Shaw and Mandy Shaw. ner of Waldron and Fillmore Streets. Their material will be a mixture of country, pop and original songs, with heavy emphasis of vocal harmonies. “We mostly sing country, but we also have some original songs we will perform individually as well,” Shelby explained. “We will do some other covers of Journey, Adele, Little Big Town, the Beatles and more.” Shelby was born in Izmir, Turkey, to military parents
during the Gulf War and raised in Corinth. The daughter of Dr. Leonard and Anita Pratt, Shelby had her first solo in a church play at the age of six and has loved music ever since. Her strong background in musical theatre includes roles including Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” and Daisy Mae in “Lil Abner” in local theaters. Over the last nine years Shelby has trained with vo-
Index Stocks...... 7A Classified......5B Comics......3B Wisdom......2B
Weather......5A Obituaries......3A Opinion......4A Sports......8A
cal coaches Renee Grant Williams, Bob Westbrook and Dr. Connie Roberts. Two years ago she auditioned for “The Voice” and “American Idol.” Her cousins, Jonathan and Mandy, tried out for “The Voice” this year. Their parents are Larry and Margie Shaw. The group’s name, Grace Under Fire, represents a determination to make it through even when times are hard, Shelby said. The show begins Friday at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
A local veterans organization will mark Independence Day by honoring those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. The Corinth Marine Corps League, in conjunction with the state level of the organization, will host the Mississippi Fallen Heroes Wall at Central Pentecostal Church on Central School Road in Alcorn County on Wednesday, July 4. The wall was created to honor the memory of Mississippians who have lost their lives in the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and includes photos and information about each fallen servicemember. Local heroes whose images are included on the wall are William “Seth” Ricketts of Glen, Jonathan W. Lambert of New Site, Jason W. Vaughn of Iuka and Marc L. Tucker of Pontotoc. Ralph Gilliam with the Marine Corps League said activities will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Along with the display of the wall, the day will include living history exhibits telling the stories of America’s conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the
On this day in history 150 years ago Second day of the Seven Days Campaign. Battle of Gaines’ Mill, Va. Union Gen. George McClellan suspends his advance on Richmond and begins a withdrawal to Harrison’s Landing on the James River.
Please see WALL | 2A