TIM PRATT

A West Point woman on the run from law enforcement for cashing nearly a dozen bad checks in the Starkville area turned herself in to the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday, according to an OCSD news release.

Bond for Keisha Carothers, 32, of 403 Crowell St., West Point, has been set at $50,000.

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TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — As images of mangled vehicles and car accident victims flashed on the Greensboro Center auditorium screen Tuesday night, many of the 40 or 50 Starkville School District students in attendance had to avert their eyes.

For many, the images shown in the California Highway Patrol’s “Red Asphalt” driver education video were just too graphic.

But that was the point, said Mississippi Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Brian Mobley, who showed the video about the consequences of irresponsible driving as part of the Project Pass town hall meeting at the Greensboro Center. Project Pass is a U.S. Department of Education alcohol-prevention program under way at Starkville High School and in other school districts around the country.

The town hall meeting Tuesday featured performances by Starkville High School’s Project Pass dance team, dubbed “H.Y.P.E.,” or Helping Youth Through Prevention and Entertainment, but it also allowed students and their parents to see firsthand what has happened to drivers who operated vehicles while under the influence or drove in an unsafe manner.

“The thing I really wanted y’all to get out of that is this is not something you hear about, this is not something you talk about, this is not something you see on TV in another city or another town,” Mobley said. “Stuff like that happens right here in Oktibbeha County and I know a lot of you don’t really realize how precious life is … you don’t realize how precious you are to your parents.”

The video had the desired effect on Henderson Intermediate School sixth-grader Treyvez Johnson, 12, and his mother, Donna Johnson, who were in attendance to support Donna Johnson’s niece on the H.Y.P.E. dance team, Shanquella Roberts.

“I was glad that there was somebody to bring something, some real pictures, so the children could really see what happens in these wrecks,” Donna Johnson said. “They could see it with their eyes and not just go by hearsay.”

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TIM PRATT

The city of Starkville is joining a global environmental initiative this weekend by turning off all non-essential lights in city buildings and encouraging citizens to do the same at home.

The city plans to take part in Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund in 2007, which takes place Saturday from 8:30-9:30 p.m. City employees will turn off all non-essential lights in city buildings and adjust heating or air conditioning units to conserve energy, though they will do it at the end of the work day on Friday afternoon, Starkville Electric Department Manager Edd Hattaway said.

Cities, businesses and citizens all over the world will take part in the Earth Hour event. This is the first year the city of Starkville has officially participated, but a handful of businesses and about 100 Mississippi State University students turned off their lights last year, Green Starkville co-founder Nisreen Cain said.

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights to make a stand against climate change. In 2008, Earth Hour became a global sustainability movement, with more than 50 million people in 35 countries participating. In 2009, more than 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off their lights.

Cain approached the Starkville Board of Aldermen earlier this month and asked for city officials to support the Earth Hour initiative. The board unanimously approved the city’s participation.

“Our city has been making great improvements towards sustainability over the past few years and this event puts us on the global map of cities making the switch into a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle,” Cain said. “We are asking people to switch off our lights to show their support and awareness of the significance and importance of the energy crisis and our dependence on non-renewable energy. It is a small action that is easy to do to show that each one of us is making a difference and that all of us together make a large impact.”

Hattaway said it is hard to tell how much energy will be saved when the city, local residents and businesses turn off their lights until he can compare the energy consumption this Saturday with the same date in previous years. Even then, it is unclear because weather conditions and, subsequently, heating and air conditioning use, vary from year to year.

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TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — When the Starkville Board of Aldermen finally appoints the next member of the Starkville School District board of trustees, as few as five of the city’s seven aldermen could be a part of the process.

Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas said Wednesday he plans to recuse himself from actions related to the appointment of the next school board member. His decision is based on a state Ethics Commission opinion which interprets state law as forbidding any alderman or mayor from appointing someone to a municipal separate school board if it results in a monetary benefit for himself, his relative or his business. Dumas’ wife, Hope, teaches third grade at Overstreet Elementary School in the Starkville School District.

The commission has advised aldermen and other public servants in Dumas’ position to recuse themselves from voting on appointments to the school board to avoid any appearance of impropriety. School board members can vote on pay raises for district employees.

Another conflict of interest?

Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn is in a similar situation. His daughter, Jessica Vaughn, is a teacher assistant at Sudduth Elementary School.

Vaughn on Wednesday said he is still undecided whether or not to recuse himself from the school board appointment process.

“I sure am thinking about it,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know for sure.”

With a 5-2 vote, aldermen appointed Susan Tomlinson to the school board on March 16, but Mayor Parker Wiseman vetoed her appointment two days later, saying the board should be representative of the district itself.

The SSD is 64 percent black, 32 percent white, 2 percent Asian, 1 percent Native American and 1 percent Hispanic. If Tomlinson, who is white, were to serve on the school board, the board would become 80 percent white and 20 percent black.

Aldermen have the power to override Wiseman’s veto, but it would take five aldermen to vote in favor of an override, regardless of how many members recuse themselves, City Attorney Chris Latimer said.

Dumas was one of the five aldermen who voted in favor of Tomlinson’s appointment, so his recusal would leave only four aldermen who voted for her to attempt to override Wiseman. Vaughn and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins voted against Tomlinson’s appointment.

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