Nine die in Starkville apartment fire
DECEMBER 28, 2009 10:10:00 AM

TIM PRATT

A fire this morning at Academy Crossing Apartments on Louisville Street resulted in nine deaths, though officials released little other information as they worked the scene.

“All I can tell you is we had a fire in one of the older apartment buildings in Starkville on Louisville Street and there are multiple fatalities,” Starkville Fire Department Chief Rodger Mann said this morning. “That’s about all I can say. When a fatality is involved, things move a lot slower.”

State fire marshal Mike Chaney said at least six children were among the dead.

Mann did not confirm the identities of the fire victims.

Sharon Dent, a woman at the scene who said she was close friend of the families involved in the fire, identified one of the victims as Maria Castella, a mother of three children she also feared died in the fire.

Dent, who was overcome with emotion, said she occasionally watched the children, who she said were ages 4, 3 and six or seven months.

“Those kids were so sweet,” Dent said. “I loved those kids. It’s extremely hard for me right now.”

Dent said the other victims could include a woman that she said Castella recently took in to live with her. They were “hard-working people,” she said.

Mann said he planned to release additional information about the incident later today. The fire broke out at approximately 4:30 a.m., he said.

A crowd of people watched on at the apartment complex early Monday as fire officials worked the accident scene. Some gathered with Dent, weeping. Others — including residents who were not let back into their apartments until around 9:30 — chatted on their cell phones and watched as fire officials investigated.

The complex, on Louisville Street just south of Academy Road, is a large complex of six two-story buildings, each divided into eight apartments. The fire damaged Building E, with the heaviest damage to three apartments on the second floor.

Nine fatalities confirmed at a fire that broke at at Academy Crossing Apartments, Louisville Street in Starkville. Among the dead were six children. Trucks responded from three stations at 4:32 am this morning.

According to Starkville Fire Department Chief Rodger Mann, this was one of the largest fire fatalities in Starkville history and maybe one of the biggest in the state.

From WTVA.com:
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) – WTVA News continues to gather information Monday morning in a structure fire that has killed several people.

We understand that some of the fatalies are children. It happened at a residence on Louisville Street in Starkville south of Academy.

Firefighters reportedly got the call around 4 o’clock Monday morning.

We’ll continue to learn more details about this tragic incident and keep updated here at WTVA.com and on WTVA News.

From WCBI.com:

Multiple Fatalities in Fire at Starkville Complex

TIM PRATT

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors is considering whether or not to hire a collection agency to recover more than $1.1 million in unpaid taxes and fines from county residents.

As of September, the county was owed approximately $652,000 in unpaid mobile home property taxes and approximately $486,000 in Justice Court fines, County Administrator Don Posey said. The county has the authority to seize and resell a mobile home if taxes go unpaid, Posey said, but the county doesn’t typically take that route because it has nowhere to store the seized units and it would mean evicting residents.

“That’s why the county has never done it and that’s why (the amount of unpaid taxes) continues to get bigger,” Posey said.

Supervisors on Monday took under advisement a contract proposal from debt-collection agency Southern Financial Systems. Under the proposal, debtors would have to pay the amount owed to the county, plus an extra 25 percent, which would go to the collection agency.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — Oktibbeha County is on pace to receive more precipitation this year than any year on record and, as a result, planned improvements to the county’s roadways have fallen by the wayside.

As of Thursday afternoon, Starkville had received 83.73 inches of precipitation this year. The wettest year on record was 1983, when Starkville received 85.75 inches of precipitation, said Chad Entremont, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Jackson.

“And we’re not even finished the month yet,” Entremont said.

Heavy rainfalls have wreaked havoc on county road crews. The county planned to pave nearly 5 1/2 miles of roadway in 2009, according to the Board of Supervisors’ four-year road plan. Inclement weather, however, prevented any of those paving projects from happening.

“We didn’t pave anything this year,” County Administrator Don Posey said. “That’s never happened before.”

Still, road crews have stayed busy, Posey said.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

Attended the Starkville/Columbus Tea Party Town Meeting Saturday (as a paid professional taping it) and came away with a few impressions.

Big turnout for an event held the Saturday before Christmas. Both newspapers reported 400, but my estimate was closer to 500-525 in attendance. It was a mixture of middle class and blue collar from across the area, mostly an over 40 crowd.

It was pretty well organized for a first time event. It started on time, had enough chairs and ended when it should have. (The new Parks/Rec building is a great facility.)

The speakers were smooth and well received. They hammered on all the Tea party points- spending, health care, common sense leadership. While it appeared to be a mostly Republican crowd, I did see a few people who didn’t vote for McCain there.

It stuck me that this is a group of people that has been mostly quiet politically through their lives and feel unrepresented in Washington, regardless of who is in power. There seemed to be frustration with current Republican and Democrat leadership.

Will it last? Can they field a viable candidate locally or nationally? Will they criticize Republicans as well as Democrats? How will the Republicans react to part of their perceived base drifting away?

For their viewpoints, here are the stories from the SDN and Dispatch this weekend.

MS Business Journal article discusses the ranking of 27th.

NEWS RELEASE from the Starkville Tea Party

Public Townhall Meeting

Fox TV national news analyst, Angela McGlowan, will speak at the public townhall meeting of the Starkville and Columbus Tea Party groups Dec. 19 @ the Starkville Sportsplex. The meeting will educate concerned citizens on legislation and issues pertaining to health care, religious freedom, illegal aliens, voter fraud, excessive spending, national debt, and other issues threatening our nation today. It will be held from 10 to 11:30am at the Sportsplex on 405 Lynn Lane.

McGlowan will be joined by Dr Ken Ley, Surgical Oncologist, from Jackson, MS and Grant Sowell, with the Tupelo TEA Party, to address these issues. A Q/A session will follow.

The public is invited. For more information,
e-mail Starkville Tea Party starkvilleteaparty@gmail.com
or call (662) 418-8115

email Columbus Tea Party columbusteaparty@tsberry.com
or call (662)-327-1517