HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tuesday Jan. 1,
2013
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 117, No. 1
2012 Christmas Basket Fund “A Community Tradition”
Basket fund surpasses goal, ends at $20,226 The spirit of giving is alive and well in the Crossroads area as the goal was surpassed during the 17th Annual Corinth Rotary Club/Daily Corinthian 2012 Christmas Basket Fund. The 2012 food basket fund ends at $20,226, thanks to hundreds of giving individuals, civic and community groups, businesses, professionals, industries, churches and Sunday School classes. Donations received ranged from $5 to $1,000 to all points in between, but with the common goal — to make sure local families had a good meal at Christmas. It marked the first year in many there was no corporate match, but the $20,226 total is one of the most successful years in terms of community giving in the 17-year history of the local holiday food program. The civic club and newspaper set the $20,000 community fundraising goal this year Please see BASKET | 2
Auction owner vows good sale at event BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Jeff DeWitt isn’t just bringing things in which to look. The owner of DeWitt Auction Company is out to help farmers at the Alcorn Farm MachineryHome & Outdoor Show. DeWitt, of Sikeston, Mo., is considered a premier auction company. Last year, the company helped the Crossroads Arena collect $2.2 million in sales at the used-machinery auction. “It will be a good sale,” said Jeff DeWitt. “We have a good consignment of small equipment for the part-time farmer and we also have some big equipment … we take care of Please see SHOW | 2
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 14 pages • 1 section
City to discuss liquor sales BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
More discussion of the city ordinance regulating liquor sales is on the agenda Wednesday for the Corinth Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Because the regular meeting date fell on the holiday, the board will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday. In its prior meeting, the board requested a second draft of the proposed ordinance for the legal sale of alcoholic beverages in the city. The second draft is to include both package stores and by-the-drink sales in restaurants. It will also specify hours of sale of 10 a.m.
Regular meeting date falls on holiday, so board will meet on Wednesday to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday in package stores. Restaurant by-the-drink hours are proposed to be 10 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. The ordinance almost went to a vote in the last meeting, but some aldermen said they were not ready. Also coming back to the board on Wednesday is a continued public hearing on the
rezoning of Sawyer Road property from I-2 industrial to R-3 multi-family residential for the purpose of apartment construction. The change has the recommendation of the planning commission/board of adjustment, but a couple of neighbors spoke against the rezoning in the board’s Dec. 18 meeting. Another item returning to the agenda is a continued pub-
lic hearing for property cleanup at an apartment building at North Polk Street and Little Zion Road. Other agenda items: ■ Continued public hearing on Alva Dalton rezoning. ■ Street department surplus equipment resolution. ■ Street closure request. ■ Intent to apply for Corinth Opportunity Redevelopment District exemption. ■ Board of adjustment and planning commission matters, if any. ■ Application for electrician license from Joe Crump. ■ Minutes from the Nov. 6 and Nov. 20 board meetings.
City, county request tourism meeting Director: SVB board can’t meet, wants later joint meeting BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Corinth Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Alcorn County Board of Supervisors have called a joint meeting for Wednesday morning to discuss concerns about the budget of the tourism office. The boards requested the Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors attend the joint session for a discussion. However, the majority of the CVB board is not available to attend at 9
a.m. Wednesday, and Tourism Director Kristy White said she will request an alternate meeting date. The requested date will likely be after the CVB’s next board meeting on Jan. 15. City and county leaders have expressed concern that the CVB is not adhering to the fiscal 2013 budget as it was rewritten by the city and county after the two boards rejected the CVB’s proposed budget. The new budget became effective Oct. 1.
The city and county are now suggesting that CVB board members could face personal liability for spending beyond the rewritten budget. White said the CVB is preparing to submit another revised budget that will make $250,000 available to Crossroads Arena, as the city and county demanded, but will also meet prior contractual obligations that were not accommodated by the city-county revision. The CVB’s prior compromise offer had penciled in
$150,000 for Crossroads Arena in the $583,700 budget. The last joint city-county meeting in September resulted in an 8-3 vote to adopt the citycounty rewrite of the budget with $250,000 for the arena. The CVB chairman sought an attorney general’s opinion on whether the city and county’s line-by-line rewrite of the CVB budget is permissible. The AG’s office declined to answer the question because it can only issue official opinions on matters involving prospective actions.
Party supply store hopes for late festive rush BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Most of the area wasn’t in a festive mood when it came to ringing in the new year. Business for those wanting to purchase 2013 New Year’s party supplies was slow on Monday. “People like to rush in at the last minute,” said The Party Store owner Marsha Harrison. “But business has been slow when it comes to getting ready for New Year’s the last couple of months.” Harrison, usually closed on Monday, and her granddaughter, Brittany Patton, decided to come in for possible last-minute shoppers. “I don’t know what people are doing this year, so I came in and am playing it by ear,” said the owner. Party hats, noise makers, beads, tiaras and leis are party favorites for New Year’s, according to Harrison. “People want things like
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Brittany Patton was ready to ring in New Year’s with party favors from The Party Store. beads, which are cheap and you get plenty of,” said Harrison. Harrison said in the past many businesses would use the
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Weather........5 Obituaries........ 3 Opinion........4 Sports........7
party favors to decorate their places or allow employees to dress up for the occasion. “Things are hard now and
that might have something to do with things being slow,” said Harrison, the store owner since 2005.
On this day in history 150 years ago President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation becomes law. No slaves were immediately freed as the document applied only to those in bondage in Confederacy-controlled areas. The law opened led to the ultimate abolishment of slavery in the U.S.