02.05.19

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When Life gives you Page 4

LIMES

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no CURVEBALLS this season

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2019

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134th YEAR ISSUE 30

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884

State Trooper indicted for manslaughter in wreck that killed MSU graduate Lee reportedly topped 99 miles per hour without lights or siren COURTNEY CARVER PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Following a fatal vehicle accident in 2017 which left a Mississippi State University athlete dead and two others injured, a state trooper involved in the crash was indicted for manslaughter. An Oktibbeha County grand jury filed a single-count indictment on Kyle M. Lee for manslaughter/culpable negligence on Jan. 10. Around 1:25 a.m. May 7, 2017, MSU track team member Kaelin Kersh and two of her friends, Tanequa Alexander and Noel Collier, were driving near MSU’s campus when Collier’s 2002 Toyota Corolla was crashed into by Lee in his Mississippi Highway Patrol 2016 Ford Explorer. According to the indictment, Lee had been speeding, topping out at 99 miles per hour without his emergency lights or emergency sirens on. According to court documentation, Collier allegedly was getting on Highway 182 after merging off of Highway 12. As Collier entered onto Highway 182, Lee allegedly then crashed into Collier’s Corolla on the driver’s side. Kersh was pronounced dead at the scene, and Alexander and Collier both faced injuries. According to the ruling,

Courtesy Photo | MSU Special Collections

The Old Main Dormitory caught on fire in 1959, leaving behind a crumbling skeleton of bricks. It was located off the Drill Field, and housed thousands of students. Kyle Lee

Lee’s bond was set for $5,000. Lee was released on bond from the Oktibbeha County Jail Thursday. Oktibbeha County Circuit Court Judge Lee Coleman ordered $500,000 should be payed to Kersh’s estate and the survivors from the accident by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Alexander filed the complaint that led to this repayment. The complaint states Lee was responsible for the injuries and damages caused during the wreck while Lee was operating his patrol vehicle. Rep. Gary Chism produced a legislative act as a result of the accident to prevent any future accidents involving an emergency vehicle that speeds and does not use emergency lights or sirens. This bill became effective on July 1, 2018.

Sixty years later: remembering the Old Main Dormitory HUNTER CLOUD SPORTS EDITOR

The fire illuminated the sky, a glow visible from Oktoc, leaving behind the smoldering skeleton of the original Old Main Dormitory 60 years ago. At that time, Mississippi State University President Ben Hilbun said in its final moments the dormitory claimed a sacrifice of one of its residents, Henry Williamson. “When it came time for Old Main to go, it made its exit in a spectacle of awesome beauty,” Hilbun stated. “It etched its outline in flame against the night skies and

sat itself down in massive rubble upon its own foundation.” In a letter sent by Malcolm Gray, the director of housing at the time, to Joseph P. Nye of Columbia University, Gray said there was mystery as to how Henry Williamson died in the blaze. There were an estimated 700 students in the building the night of the fire. “We were very fortunate in losing only one student,” Gray wrote in the letter. “He (Williamson) had been out of the building and attempted to return to his room about 40 minutes after the fire started and was trapped in some way, just how we will never know.”

The Old Main housed about 40,000 students in its time as a dormitory from 1881 to 1959. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but many leading theories are that it was caused by a knocked over candelabra or faulty wiring, as Gray mentioned in his letter. According to Gray, the fire started on the third floor and spread to the attic, leaving 250 to 300 students with loss of their personal property. Gray’s estimate for the replacement of the building was $3 million. In the end of the letter, Gray listed five things or lessons he learned from the fire, and here are the two tips, number one and four, he gave that stood out the most.

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New Lime scooters hit the streets of Starkville New bill may assist

MSU official says scooters not permitted on campus co-ops in providing

internet to rural areas

GRACIE BYRNE STAFF WRITER

Noah Siano | The Reflector

Lime-S electric scooters are sprinkled throughout Starkville after the city introduced this new mode of transportation.

TUESDAY HI: 75 LO: 63 SKY: Mostly Cloudy POP: 40

WEDNESDAY HI: 76 LO: 63 SKY: Mostly Cloudy POP: 40

THURSDAY HI: 76 LO: 39 SKY: Mostly Cloudy POP: 30

At the beginning of this year, Lime, a transportation company known in the community, introduced a new service: the Lime-S electric scooters are now available for use to the citizens of Starkville. The scooters were introduced in January with a trial test. Lime reached out to the city of Starkville in early January and requested a test project for the scooters. This led to 25 Lime scooters placed in certain areas of the city. “I really appreciate that we have a bike program like that in town,” Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said. “It gives multiple ways for people to get around town.”

FORECAST: Wet and dreary weather for the week ahead. Expect a chance to see scattered showers throughout the week, otherwise mostly cloudy skies. Temperatures will be well above average, in the mid to upper 70s for the week until a cold front comes Thursday night to drop temperatures back into the upper 40s.

Campus Connect Meteorologist, Emily Owen

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NICOLE RIGSBY

country, including in all of the states bordering Mississippi. According to those interviewed for this story, big companies like C-Spire and AT&T do not want to go out in the rural parts of the state to provide internet because there are not enough customers in rural communities. Providing internet in those areas would cost too much to install, considering the low profits they would receive. Also, those companies would have to charge higher rates, which would result in homeowners refusing to buy an internet package. Randy Loper, head of the Mississippi State University Extension Center for Technology Outreach, said there is a large part of the residential population with no BILL, 2 internet access.

STAFF WRITER

The MS House legislature has created a bill that gives rural communities the option to obtain high-speed internet. This bill allows electric co-ops to provide broadband internet to houses in the deepest part of the rural community. Almost every member of the state legislature was in agreement, with the Senate passing the bill unanimously. “Current state law prohibits rural electric cooperatives from providing internet service, although no such law exists anywhere else in America,” the Mississippi Public Service Commission stated in a press release. “Currently, 107 rural electric cooperatives are providing internet service across the

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