From the City of Starkville Solid Waste and Recycling Committee
August 31, 2009 – The City of Starkville will start a free and voluntary curbside recycling program for its residents. Sign up for the program will start this Saturday at the Starkville Community Market on South Lafayette Street, Downtown Starkville from 8:00am till 11:00am.
“The long awaited program is finally here”, said Alderman Eric Park, “we are very excited to provide this service to our residents.”

The program targets single family dwelling residents who currently use the city’s curbside garbage pickup services. Citizens must sign up at the Starkville Sanitation Department Monday through Friday from 7:00AM till 4:00PM, and Saturdays from 8:00AM till 11:00AM at the Community Market. A photo Id and an electric or water bill are required to sign up.

Residents participating in the program will receive green translucent bags to collect recyclables. These bags will be collected bi-monthly on Wednesdays. Monday and Thursday residential routes will be picked up on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month; and Tuesday and Friday residential routes will be picked up on 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month.

“Our facilities and workers are ready for the job”, Stan Shurdan, of Starkville Recycling, said in Thursdays committee meeting, “we will accept cardboard, office paper, magazines, phone books, aluminum cans, scrap metal, all plastics, electronics and batteries”.

Residents will not need to separate recyclables. “All recyclables will go into one bag.” Sharon Boyd, Sanitation Department manager said “we are going to make it work. We want to see this program succeed.” The Sanitation Department will pick up the recyclables and deliver them to Starkville Recycling where they will be sorted.

“Working with a great group of people produces successful results” Ms. Boyd said. The curbside recycling program has been the product of the City Recycling Committee that was started in 2008. The City, especially the Sanitation Department wants to thank past and current committee members, Nisreen Cain, Sumner Davis, Sherrie Farrell, Charlotte Fuquay, Brad Mauck, P.C. McLaurin, Melanie Mullenax, and Eric Parker, for their time and continued effort in supporting this program.

The first curbside recycling pickup is scheduled to start on October 7th, 2009.

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For more details please contact:

Sharon Boyd, Sanitation Manager, at 662-617-3766

Alderman Eric Parker, Committee Chair, 662-312-0903

Nisreen Cain, Committee Member, at 662-312-8080

The Dispatch explores the possibility.

Level III has been pointed out by some, probably unfairly, as being a flashpoint. (Flashback from last fall.)

I sthis teh right dircetion?

AUGUST 26, 2009 10:58:00 AM

DISPATCH STAFF REPORT

As Travis Outlaw Day approaches, the day Outlaw celebrates and gives back to his own community with a day of free entertainment and events, the NBA player already is giving to his hometown.

The Starkville chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of the Golden Triangle Monday announced Outlaw donated $20,000 to support the organization.

“I am blessed with a God-given talent, and I feel privileged to be able to help area youth achieve their goals,” Outlaw said in a Boys and Girls Club press release.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

AUGUST 26, 2009 10:58:00 AM

TIM PRATT

During each of the past two Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festivals, the city of Starkville and Oktibbeha County have granted symbolic pardons to the family of Johnny Cash, who was arrested in Starkville in 1965 and later wrote a song about the ordeal: “Starkville City Jail.”

At this year’s event, set to take place Oct. 16-18 in downtown Starkville, festival organizers have a little something different in store. Cash’s family and friends will pardon the city.

“Before 2007, which was the first year of the festival, Johnny Cash’s family had only associated Starkville with the place that threw him in jail,” festival organizer Robbie Ward said. “His family associated Starkville as a place that incarcerated him and that was the largest frame of reference they had. This year, his family and friends will pardon the city as a way of saying how much they have embraced Starkville and its rich history with the ‘Man in Black.’”

“Forgiveness is a two-way street,” Ward added. “You have to ask for forgiveness, but you also have to forgive. We’re not making a statement that there’s anything wrong with the city. It’s tongue in cheek. We’re celebrating our relationship with Johnny Cash from a different perspective.”

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

AUGUST 26, 2009 10:58:00 AM

TIM PRATT

Two Columbus men who were arrested in December for their involvement in a shooting outside a Starkville McDonald’s are facing new charges this week related to an Aug. 15 purse snatching in downtown Starkville.

Christopher Easterwood, 19, of 1129 Seventh St. N. in Columbus, and Tony I. Marton, 17, of the same address, were arrested Monday on charges of accessory after the fact, according to a Starkville Police Department press release. The pair joined a juvenile who was arrested Aug. 19 on a robbery charge; he stands accused of snatching a Mississippi State University student’s purse Aug. 15 at the corner of Main and Lafayette streets, police said.

The juvenile’s name was not released by police because he was under the age of 17. Only the identities of suspects 17 and older who are arrested on felony charges can be released, Starkville police said.

A fourth suspect, 22-year-old Andrea Turner, of 1124 Sixth Ave. N. in Columbus, was arrested by the Columbus Police Department Monday on a warrant for armed robbery charges, which occurred in Columbus. Starkville police have placed a hold on Turner, so when he makes bond on the Columbus, charges he will go directly into the custody of Starkville police.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

AUGUST 26, 2009 10:58:00 AM

TIM PRATT

Golden Triangle residents who want to hang out with a professional basketball player will have the chance this weekend when the city of Starkville celebrates Travis Outlaw Day.

Outlaw is a Starkville High School graduate who averaged 12.8 points per game during the 2008-2009 season for the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA. He will be on hand Saturday at McKee Park for a day full of food, fun, prizes and more.

“This is Travis’ way of giving back to the community and letting the community know how much he appreciates all the support they have given him,” said Markeeta Outlaw, Travis’ mother and Starkville city clerk. “For us, it’s more of a way of letting the community come out and visit with Travis and talk with him so he can personally thank them. We invite the whole community to come out and have fun with us.”

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.