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Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 206
• Corinth, Mississippi •
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22 pages • Two sections
City seeks budget cuts, employee raises BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Corinth Board of Aldermen spent a day last week combing through the budget, seeking cuts to bring the numbers within range of no tax increase. The proposed budget as it stands would leave the city with a $479,000 loss in fiscal 2013, said City Clerk Vickie Roach. While attempting to trim that sum from the budget, the board is also trying to find a way to put in a pay raise for employees. The proposed department bud-
get numbers in hand Thursday morning did not include the pay hike. “This will be the first time we give our employees a raise,” said Mayor Tommy Irwin. “When we came in here, the budget was already fixed in 2010 when we took office.” He told the board he thinks it’s possible without a tax increase. While he hopes employees get a pay boost, there needs to be some trimming of overtime labor, he said. After the board spent a cou-
ple of hours poring over the budget line by line and making little progress in finding cuts, the clerk recommended that department heads be directed to go back and make reductions in their budgets. For outside agencies that receive funding from the city, the preliminary numbers put their allocations “consistent with what we did last year,” said Roach. In the 2012 budget, the city took 1.5 mills, or about $127,500, from the Corinth Library millage, and that mill-
age is being fully restored to the library in the new budget. While that helped avoid a tax increase last year, it is one of several challenges in crafting the budget for FY 2013, which begins Oct. 1. Although sales tax proceeds have recovered some this year, Roach said she is reluctant to give that projection more than a small bump for FY 2013. The current tax rate, including the city school tax, is 95 mills. The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 5 p.m.
on Sept. 4 with the board considering adoption on Sept. 11. The board had considerable discussion of whether a municipal court employee should continue to be on call on the weekend to accept fine payments from individuals picked up by warrant for delinquent fines. Municipal Court Clerk Dianne Johnson said the practice began this year but the projected overtime labor expense is one that she would like to see cut. In the past, those arrested had to wait until Monday morning to pay up and get released.
Tour asks: Was Pusser a hero?
Officials keep eye on Isaac
BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Buford Pusser was an American hero. The legendary McNairy County sheriff who inspired the “Walking Tall” films single handedly cleaned up the Mississippi and Tennessee state line and vanquished the den of vipers known as the State Line Mob, a foul gang of murderers, thieves and bootleggers whose depredations knew no limit. He walked tall – even when his faithful wife Pauline was murdered in a cowardly ambush. He was a legend and a folk hero even before an early death on the highway spelled his final chapel. Pusser was a man of steely-eyed bravery and unimpeachable character. Or was he? That is the main question being asked by a group planning a Labor Day weekend tour of the sites associated with the legendary sheriff. The main organizer of the tour is Northwest Arkansas resident Mike Elam, a 61-year-old former law enforcement officer who became interested in Pusser like many others, through the “Walking Tall” movies. The movies made Elam want to learn more about the Tennessee sheriff, and Elam turned his investigator’s inPlease see PUSSER | 2A
BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
has increased to three more schools. Church members added Rienzi, Glen and Biggersville schools to their supply list. “A lot of kids go home on the weekend and don’t have food,” said R.M. Brooks, founder of the program. “We supply foods they can eat without much supervision since most of them are by themselves.”
Is Isaac headed this way? The path of the tropical storm has provided a waitand-see scenario for the Crossroads area. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency continues to track the storm as it heads for the Gulf of Mexico. Forecast models have changed with each update agreeing Isaac will reach the Gulf of Mexico by early this week. Beyond that, models go basically in several directions. “In terms of the timing of the arrival of Isaac, right now we expect it to continue on its general northwest path for the next couple of days,” said national hurricane meteorologist David Zelinsky. “Tropical storm conditions will reach South Florida sometime today.” Locally, officials are keeping an eye on the storm. “It's really too early to tell,” said Alcorn County Emergency Management Director Ricky Gibens after talking with the National Weather Service in Memphis, Tenn., after 3 p.m. Saturday. “They should have a better model in the next 24 hours.” Gibens said the area could see “rain, storms or noth-
Please see PINECREST | 2A
Please see ISAAC | 2A
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Pinecrest Baptist Church members June Scott (left) and Janie Kingen fill a snack pack bag to be delivered to needy children at six schools in Alcorn County.
Weekend kids’ food program grows BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
The name has changed but the giving continues to grow. Pinecrest Baptist’s Backpack Ministry has a new title as the church begins a fresh year of suppling bags of food to needy children. Over 20 workers arrived ready to fill bags for the Pinecrest Weekend Snack Packs for Kids on Friday, taking around 30 minutes getting over
200 bags ready. The number of bags has risen from 60 bags last year to 211 at the start of this year. “This is a program where you start with one number and it always goes up,” said church pastor Bro. Jeff Haney. “It has grown so much, we need outside help more than ever.” What started as filling backpacks full of weekend food for children at Alcorn Central, Corinth and Kossuth schools
English singer/songwriter donates song ‘Shiloh’ to national park BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
An English singer and songwriter has donated a song to Shiloh National Military Park. Manchester native Sean Martin donated his new song “Shiloh” to the park of the same name earlier this summer. The 43-year-old Martin recorded the song earlier this year at the famed Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., where legendary rock ’n roll, rockabilly
and blues artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis first captured their signature sounds. “I knew we had to do it here,” Martin said of recording his material in the Mid-South home of some of his musical heroes. “This has got to be the way we’ve going to do it.” The song is spare and elegant, with Martin’s rich baritone voice over a marching drumbeat, twangy twin Fender guitars and a gospel piano. In
the chorus he sings, “Shiloh, Shiloh. Will you help me find my brothers in Shiloh?” accompanied by a haunting, reverb-laden harmonica fill. “Shiloh” was recorded “live” in the studio with all instruments playing at the same time, the traditional way music was recorded before technology allowed artists to spend huge amounts of time recording one track at a time. Martin said he and the band played through the song about
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10 times to get it “exactly perfect.” “I’ve never written anything like ‘Shiloh’ before — and probably won’t again,” said Martin, who divides his time between England and small Tippah County community of Faulkner, where his wife lives. “It’s such a specific song.” Born in 1968, Martin said music would be bouncing off the walls in the home where he grew up, with the popular hits of the day coming from
his sisters’ rooms, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash playing in his brothers’ rooms and a little more Johnny Cash thrown into the mix if his father was home. It was like a contest to see who could play the loudest music in their rooms, he remembered. Growing up in a musical household it was only natural that Martin would turn to music at an early age. “I’ve been doing it for it Please see SHILOH | 2A
On this day in history 150 years ago Confederate forces storm into Manassas Junction, Va., and capture Gen. John Pope’s supply depot. Famished Rebel soldiers feast on hard tack and salt pork as well as delicacies such as canned oysters and peaches, fresh cheese, whisky, beef and fresh vegetables.
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