News and information about Starkville and Oktibbeha County
JULY 21, 2009 10:57:00 AM
DISPATCH STAFF REPORT
Ongoing construction at Mississippi State University has led to the closings of two sections of road on campus.
A section of Creelman Street, at the intersection with President’s Circle, has been closed since Friday and is scheduled to reopen July 31, according to a Mississippi State news release. Darden Avenue is open for the detour.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
The SDN’s story on Monday’s Board of Supervisors contains an interesting quote:
“Scared to death,” District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy said he does not want to put a tax burden on the people. “I want to stay on for another term,” he said. “If the taxpayer votes us out, I’d be in trouble.”
That sums up the Supes in a sentence or two. Forget vision or leadership. Gotta stay elected or “I’d be in trouble.”
Board President John L. Young’s assertion that they wait until October to see how the OCH tax is going to affect residents is interesting as well. Shouldn’t they have thought about that BEFORE passing it?
BOA happens today at 1:00 in the City Hall in the courtroom. (The first few hours will be spent in executive session to discuss hiring a new board attorney. The “real” meeting should start close to the regular 5:30PM time.) The agenda can be found here along with the e-packet.
The SDN’s article examines Ward 3 opposition reaction.
Some items of note:
Under “Section X. Board Business,” there is this:
D. CONSIDERATION OF CALLING FOR A PUBLIC HEARING ON AMENDING THE CITY OF STARKVILLE CODE OF ORDINANCES, CHAPTER 10, ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.
Two words: Sunday Sales.
The next is few lines down under “Department Business.”
1. CONSIDERATION TO APPROVE P&Z ITEM #RZ 09-
02: A REQUEST BY B&P DEVELOPERS OF MS, LLC FOR A ZONING CHANGE FROM C-2 (GENERAL BUSINESS) TO R-3A (SINGLE-FAMILY, MEDIUM DENSITY) LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF ACADEMY ROAD, EAST OF HUMMINGBIRD LANE IN WARD 3.
A. CALL FOR A PUBLIC HEARING
Will newly-elected Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker recuse himself because of his former business relationship with Brewer? How crowded will the room be?
The third item is under “Engineering and Streets”:
1. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE MAYOR TO SIGN A LETTER NOTIFYING MDOT THAT THE CITY OF STARKVILLE INTENDS TO RETURN THE FUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LYNN LANE MULTI USE PATH.
The mayor is taking the best option– punting on the funding with hopes that it can be secured in 2010. Here is Wiseman’s letter to MDOT:
July 22, 2009
Mr. Larry L. “Butch” Brown
Executive Director
Mississippi Department of Transportation
P.O. Box 1850
Jackson, MS 39215-1850
RE: Lynn Lane Multi-Use Path (Starkville, MS) – Project Update
MDOT No. STP-0420-00(016)/LPA 105527-701000
Dear Mr. Brown:
The City of Starkville greatly appreciates the 2006 Transportation Enhancement Grant for the Lynn Lane Multi-Use Path. The City remains committed to this project, and it is a high priority for our community. Unfortunately, this project has several unforeseen right-of-way, utility, and environmental concerns that need to be addressed prior to funding obligation; and therefore, we cannot meet the September 30, 2009 obligation deadline. In addition, construction costs have greatly increased since the grant was prepared in 2005 and has caused this project’s original scope to be reduced to fit available funding, yet the City would like to support this project to accomplish the original full scope.
The City would appreciate the opportunity to continue this project in accordance with the LPA process and anticipates being complete in 2010. If it is within MDOT’s authority, we would like the $1,262,372 to remain available for this project with the option of applying for additional future funding. If the funds are rescinded, we would like to be highly considered when we reapply for enhancement funding with a shovel ready project for the full scope.
Again, we appreciate your consideration in this matter and thank you for your understanding. Please feel free to contact myself or our City Engineer (Edward Kemp) if you have any questions or wish to discuss the matter in more detail.
Sincerely,
Parker Wiseman
Mayor of Starkville, MS
JULY 20, 2009
JORDAN NOVET
Thirty years of acting on behalf of children has paid off for Cathy Grace.
Grace, the founding director of the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University, has won this year’s Winter-Reed Partnership Award, a statewide honor from the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education.
The award is named after former Mississippi Gov. William Winter and Jack Reed Sr. of Tupelo, whose support of the Education Reform Act of 1982 “helped improve and advance public education for children throughout Mississippi,” according to an association newsletter.
“To receive an award named for two of my heroes is amazing,” said Grace, who has worked with Winter and Reed since the 1980s.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
JULY 20, 2009
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans a public meeting in Starkville to help establish its goals for the next 20 years — goals that are likely to include more nuclear power generation and more energy conservation by consumers.
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the TVA congressional caucus, offered a vision of the future for the TVA on Friday that includes nuclear replacing coal as TVA’s major source of electric generation over the next 20 years, calling atomic power TVA’s best option for “pollution-free, carbon-free,” reliable generation.
The Senate’s third-ranking Republican, in a speech to a Tennessee municipal distributors group in Memphis, also said TVA, the nation’s largest public utility, should do more to encourage energy conservation. Tennessee has the highest per capita use of electricity in the country.
Alexander offered his suggestions as the federal power agency begins a series of public hearings next week to develop a new Integrated Resource Plan to chart the agency’s goals for the next two decades. The last plan was done in 1995. A draft for the new one is due next spring and a final version by early 2011.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
Mr. Alabama Sportsman chimes in with his view on the Rebel’s upcoming season. Ouch.
Starkville Heritage Museum volunteer, Maria Housinger, points out antiques of the game of tee ball; Photo by: Luisa Porter, Commercial Dispatch
July 18, 2009
Jordan Novet
STARKVILLE — Jim McKell stood in one corner of the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum Thursday and surveyed remnants of the days when tee ball became king.
On display were a bat, two balls, a worn red, white and blue Goodman Engineers jersey, a page from a 1978 edition of the Starkville Daily News featuring the year’s tee ball teams, and, of course, tees.
McKell crossed his arms and found himself remembering how he’d gotten involved.
In the summer of 1970, McKell said, he went out to Moncrief Park whenever his son, Tut, played. McKell was talked into becoming a coach in the fledgling Starkville Junior Baseball Association.
“It’s just like baseball, you know, (but) the umpire puts the ball on the tube there and backs up and lets a kid swing at it,” McKell, of Starkville, said. “Sometimes they hit, and sometimes they don’t. These were young kids — 9, 8 years old. They were sorta pre-little league. This sort of gave them a chance to learn before then.
“… To give all the kids a chance, you would have maybe 12 on a team, and they would all play in the field. It wasn’t real serious. There wasn’t too much emphasis on winning.”
He coached in the sport’s early heyday in Starkville. “It was tee ball — this was what little kids do,” recalled Dean Thorne, 39, of Brandon, who played in the ’70s.
It had been a decade since W.W. Littlejohn, a Mississippi State University accounting professor, said to the baseball association’s director, Clyde Muse, in 1960, “You know, Clyde, we’ve got a good program for 10-year-olds and up, and we need something for 8- and 9-year-olds.”
Muse went to Western Auto and bought a piece of stiff black radiator hose. He clamped it onto a 2-inch galvanized plumber’s pipe, which he screwed into a 12-square-inch, 2-inch-thick piece of wood he bought from VanLandingham Lumber Co. The contraption could be adjusted to fit the height of the young batter.
A few weeks before schools let out for the summer in 1961, a flyer promoting the new sport was circulated to students in Starkville public schools, Dora Herring, chairman of Starkville’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said. Parents had to pay $5 for a child to play tee ball in the association, and if they wanted their children to practice on their own with the tee, they could buy build-it-yourself kits from the lumber store, the sheet stated, according to Herring.
Once the summer came around, tee ball games began.
Several people around Starkville, especially those who belong to its Rotary Club, like to boast the game originated in the city, but other cities, including Dothan, Ala., and Albion, Mich., make the same claim.
Regardless of who was first to develop it, Herring, Muse and others stick to the story of its local creation in 1960. They are proud to have contributed to city history, if not sports history.
The game has changed in some ways. It is played around the world. And now both boys and girls play. And the not-for-profit T-Ball USA Association recommends the game for children as young as 4.
Read complete article from the Commercial Dispatch.
July 18, 2009
Neal Wagner
Visitors to the Golden Triangle Regional Airport during the next several months will notice several changes and construction areas throughout the terminal, as crews July 13 began work on the airport’s new terminal wing.
Once complete, the expansion will increase the terminal’s seating capacity from 58 to 150, and will include several visual enhancements across the airport facility.
“They started Monday morning, and they basically already have all of the dirt work done,” GTRA Executive Director Mike Hainsey said during a Friday airport board of directors meeting. “They are already way ahead of where we thought they would be. We are really pleased with the speed of their work.”
In addition to the new airport wing, crews also will be redoing the entrance to the terminal, Hainsey added.
“When you walk into the airport now, there’s just a stairway in front of you,” Hainsey said. “We are going to totally redo that section and put a wall there with a welcome sign.
“We will rebuild the stairway behind that wall,” Hainsey added, noting crews will install tile floors in place of the carpet currently lining the airport entrance. “The wall will have a sign that says, ‘Welcome to GTRA, Columbus, Starkville and West Point.”
The 6,000-square-foot terminal addition likely will be completed in seven to nine months, Hainsey explained.
“Our goal next meeting is to chose a color scheme for the terminal,” Hainsey said. “(JBHM architect) Bill Whittle will hopefully be here with an interior designer out of Jackson.”
Slightly up
In other business, the board announced June passenger loads were up 1 percent over June 2008, bringing the airport’s year-to-date passenger loads up 1 percent over the same time last year.
“Tuesday and Saturday afternoon flights are usually our lowest loads,” Hainsey said. “If you take those two flights out, our load factors last month were 74 percent.
“We’ve been in a lot of discussion with Delta. They are concerned about the load factors on the regional jets, which are the largest they fly out of here,” Hainsey added. “Last month, we were down double digits for our advance booking percentages.”
Read complete article from the Commercial Dispatch.
JULY 17, 2009
DISPATCH STAFF REPORT
STARKVILLE — A case of domestic violence between siblings appeared among the crimes on the books Thursday at the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheena Kelly, 24, of 2175 Walter Bell Road in Starkville, and Montez Ellis, 18, of 1858 Creekline Road in Starkville, were arrested, each receiving one charge of domestic violence/simple assault at 10:02 p.m. Wednesday. For both Kelly and Ellis, bond was set at $1,000.
“Basically they got into an argument at the house on Walter Bell Road, and she picked up a broom and hit him,” Chief Deputy George Carrithers said. “He took it away from her and hit her.”
Then each sibling broke a window of the other sibling’s car, Carrithers said.
Kelly called 911. Both were found with marks apparently obtained because of domestic violence.
“It’s a typical sibling fight that got out of hand,” Carrithers said.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
JORDAN NOVET
STARKVILLE — It made its grand appearance last Friday night.
As Lt. Bill Lott of the Starkville Police Department tells the story, “somebody was eating outside one of the restaurants (in the Cotton District) and was approached by two black males who sat down and started talking with the victim” between 10 and 10:20 p.m. on Friday, July 10.
Lott identified the restaurant as Shaherazad’s.
Then, Lott, said, “One of the guys asked the guy, the victim, if he could make him change” for a $100 bill. “And apparently he did, and after a little while, he realized the bill was fake. And he approached them somewhere on University Drive, in that area of the restaurants, and told them it was fake and he wanted to meet somewhere … later and settle up. And of course the guy didn’t.”
The passing of counterfeit bills is not a first for Starkville. The most recent case took place in the city in December, and in 2002, Nick Turner, then a first-year running back for the Mississippi State University football team, was caught using counterfeit $100 bills.
However, last week’s incident does stand out: “Usually it’s businesses, not individuals who’ve been approached,” Lott said.
Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.
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