Wednesday Nov. 14,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 274
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 22 pages • Two sections
City, Kroger seek to dismiss Kmart lawsuit BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The City of Corinth and The Kroger Company recently entered motions seeking dismissal in Kmart’s flooding lawsuit. The Federal Emergency Management Agency secured dismissal from the civil suit in June. Corinth’s motion to dismiss, entered Oct. 26 in U.S. District Court, argues the city can’t be sued in the matter for various
Green Market turns RED for holidays
reasons and includes an affidavit countering the claim that dirt dumped on the old fairgrounds property near the Kroger store at Fulton Crossing caused or exacerbated the flooding of May 2010. In the affidavit, David Huwe, director of community development and planning, states that he noticed several truckloads of dirt had been dumped on the property on or around April 1, 2010. The property is
in the Elam Creek floodway. He learned that approval had been given for the excavated dirt to be placed there because of a continuing issue with low areas that tend to stay wet and hinder the mowing of grass. It was placed by a contractor for Corinth Gas and Water who needed a place to put the dirt. The city then flagged the floodway boundary and moved the dirt west of the boundary into floodplain area. The affida-
vit states that no significant dirt remained at the time of the May 2010 flood, and fill within the floodplain is acceptable under the National Flood Insurance Act. The affidavit states the fill is located on an approximate 4.5-acre grass field behind the Kroger and Kmart building and “there is no prohibition under either the NFIP or the city’s flood zone ordinance on the placement of fill within the
floodplain.” Kmart submitted a consulting report by EFI Global that states, “Filling in the low area behind the Kmart and Kroger stores reduced the flood storage volume and increased the depth of flooding, causing increased damage to Kmart.” Kroger’s motion entered in September notes that the grocery store is a tenant in a buildPlease see LAWSUIT | 3A
Hope Dream Center seeks applicants
Silent auction items
BY BOBBY J. SMITH
BY STEVE BEAVERS
bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Sellers still have time to register for Saturday’s holiday-themed RED Green Market at the Corinth Depot. Registration for the RED Green Market will remain open until 10 a.m. Friday. The RED Green Market — the final Green Market event of the year — is the biggest market-day of the season, said Program Director Karen Beth Martin. “It’s going to be red hot for the RED Green Market,” said Martin. “We’ve got lots of really exciting stuff going on, lots of good sellers and we hope a lot of people will come out.” Activities for the kids will be available all day, from a decorate-your-own gingerbread man station to trackless train rides. Parents can bring cameras for photos with Santa Claus, who will be
The Hope Dream Center is taking another step in its effort to provide a place for homeless women and children. Applications for the center will be taken Saturday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. “We are going to start taking applications so we can do background checks and see what other ways we can help,” said Annie Saffore, president of the center board. “We are also hoping to have a pre-Christmas dinner for those eligible.” If applicants do not have a means to get to the center, they can call 662-808-1824,
Please see RED | 3A
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
SOUTHBank employees Emily Norton (from left), Dawn Carter and Liz Fields display some of the numerous items that will be part of the silent auction at the annual Celebrate Corinth event on Thursday night inside the bank. The Main Street Corinth event also includes food, drink and entertainment and will begin at 6 p.m. with all proceeds going directly to benefit and promote historic downtown Corinth.
Please see CENTER | 3A
Officers gather in Corinth for high-speed response training BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Social Security Corinth office reduces hours For the Daily Corinthian
The Corinth Social Security office will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – a reduction of 30 minutes each weekday — effective Nov. 19. In addition, beginning Jan. 2, the office will close to the public at noon every Wednesday. According to Social Security Administration District Manager Charolette Howie, while agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, this shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face interviews and process claims work without incurring the cost of overtime. The significantly reduced funding provided by Congress under the continuing resolution for the first six months of the fiscal year makes it impossible for the agency to provide the overtime needed to handle service to the public Please see HOURS | 3A
Law enforcement officers from northeast Mississippi and far beyond gathered in Corinth Tuesday for training in pursuit and high-speed response. Another session is being held today at the Northeast Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Center, which drew its biggest crowd ever with this training topic. Sixty-five officers registered for the event and came from as far as Vicksburg for the no-cost training. Instructor Aubrey Futrell, a retired Louisiana state trooper, said officers need to be aware of all of the consequences that could arise from a pursuit. “There’s a lot more to it than being able to just drive fast,” he said during a break in Tuesday’s six-hour session. Futrell said many who work in law enforcement have the mistaken impression that gunfire is the most common way an officer dies in the line of duty. “In the last 13 years, except last year, we had more police officers die in traffic-related incidents than were killed in the line of duty by gunfire,” he said. In 2010, 59 officer deaths resulted from gunfire while 72 were traffic-related. The number of officers killed in pursuits has held steady at about three to five per year. “Actually, we lose more officers in emergency response
Staff photo by Jebb Johnston
Retired Louisiana state trooper Aubrey Futrell (left) discusses pursuit policy with officers gathered at the Northeast Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Center on Tuesday. than we do in pursuits,” said Futrell. “In pursuits is where the third party is usually injured.” The training participants were asked to bring a copy of their agency’s pursuit policy. Futrell said there are 13 elements recommended to be included in the policies. In Mississippi, “Most agencies in the state have a policy,” he said, “but I have found over the last few years, they’ve got good policies, but some of these 13 elements are not in that pol-
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icy.” U.S. Supreme Court decisions, state-specific statutes, and state supreme court decisions all come into play. When engaging in a highspeed chase, officers have a range of factors to consider when determining to continue or call it off. “It could be the weather, the location, it could be church getting out on Sunday, coming up on school traffic, a hospital area, or it may be a situation where
there is no way that our unit can keep up with that vehicle,” said Futrell. It is a difficult choice to let the bad guy go. “We want to catch them because that’s our job, but we have to teach them there’s times when you need to get out of it and catch them later,” he said. A campaign has begun to reduce the number of officers killed in the line of duty each Please see TRAINING | 3A
On this day in history 150 years ago The arrival of Union troops in Tennessee confirms the rumors Gen. Grant has been hearing: Gen. McClernand will be given an independent command to move against Vicksburg. Grant, with the blessing of Gen.in-Chief Henry Halleck, makes plans to hijack the troops for his own use.
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