Saturday March 3,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 54
Cooler Today
Tonight
57
33
• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • 1 section
14 face drug charges after investigation BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photos by Bobby J. Smith
Alan Wandling, the collector from St. Louis who discovered the officer’s sword and scabbard belonging to Col. William P. Rogers, met Friday at the Rogers Monument with Leslie Eckert, a descendant of the Confederate hero of the Battle of Corinth.
Battle of Corinth descendants gather at site with famous sword BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Friday was a day of reunion — in more ways than one. As the clock struck noon on a windy and cloudy day, two strangers came together at the grave of William P. Rogers, colonel of the 2nd Texas Infantry regiment and Confederate hero of the Battle of Corinth. They met at the Rogers Monument by the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, where once stood Battery Robinett, scene of the battle’s defining moment.
Leslie Eckert is a native Texan and direct descendant of Col. Rogers. Alan Wandling is a collector from St. Louis who recently discovered Rogers’ long-lost officers sword and scabbard. Two of his great-uncles, John W. and Adam Moses Wandling, served on the Union side, in the 63rd Ohio, the regiment that held Battery Robinett against Rogers and his Texas infantrymen. They came together at the foot of the marble obelisk marking where Rogers was killed during the battle’s climactic charge and
buried shortly thereafter. The collector handed the sword to the descendant. As Eckert held the sword only a few feet from where it was stripped from the body of its owner and taken by the victorious Federals as a war trophy, the two shook hands. A daughter of Johnny Reb and a son of Billy Yank were meeting to honor their forefathers at the site of their bloody fight almost 150 years ago. The meeting was prompted Please see SWORD | 2
The Alcorn Narcotics Unit has charged 14 people in the last couple of weeks stemming from investigations of complaints of sale of narcotics. Narcotics Officer Darrell Hopkins said the narcotics unit and deputies have been working the cases day and night, and more arrests are coming. “The drugs range from methamphetamine to Adderall pills and also marijuana and cocaine,” said Hopkins. “Officers are working closely with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and other law enforcement agencies to find some of the violators.”
Those arrested are: Heather Elizabeth Dial, 33, of Miller Road, Corinth, charged with one count of sale of cocaine. ■ Anthony Ryan Massengill, 36, of Miller Road, Corinth, charged with one count of conspiracy to sell Adderall. ■ Michael Kayle Decker, 18, of Wenasoga Road, Corinth, charged with one count of sale of marijuana. ■ Robert Christopher McEntire, 44, of Bridle Path, Corinth, charged with two counts of sale of marijuana. ■ Calvin Jerome Curlee, 38, of East Clover Lane, Corinth, ■
Please see ARRESTS | 2
Tax time means it’s scam season BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Tax season is in full swing, and scammers have gone phishing. Numerous local residents are getting emails posing as official communications from the Internal Revenue Service. Corinth tax preparer John Tomlinson forwarded to the newspaper an email that uses an official looking IRS logo as
it entices people to take the bait and reveal personal information. The message’s subject says, “Your tax return appeal is rejected.” Dee Harris Stepter, IRS spokeswoman for the Mississippi and Louisiana region, said phishing scams that pose as IRS communications Please see SCAM | 2
Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
Alabama native Pat Schumacher, 45, passed through Corinth this week. Astride his horse Dillon and accompanied by his dog Buford, Schumacher expects to make it to his destination — a small town in Nebraska — midway through next month.
Staff photo by Jebb Johnston
Crossroads Museum Executive Director Brandy Steen shows some of the artifacts featured in a new exhibit of Civil War artifacts, including a firearm believed to have been used at Battery Robinett.
Alabama man, dog make slow trip to Nebraska via horseback Museum opens Mondays through BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
A wayfaring horseman on a cross country trek stopped by the Corinth Welcome Center earlier this week. Pat Schumacher, 45, is riding his horse, Dillon — named after Marshal Matt Dillon from the TV show “Gunsmoke” — on a trip from Billingsley, Ala., to Urling, Neb., where a friend has promised to give him a 25-foot recreational vehicle.
Schumacher hitched Dillon to a tree at the Corinth Welcome Center on Monday and was given a travel map to help him on the next leg of his journey, as well as some Southern hospitality from the Welcome Center’s travel counselors, Brenda Null and Nancy Carter. Sharing the saddle with Schumacher is Buford, an 11-year-old “spoiled rotten” Pug that Schumacher carries in Please see HORSE | 2
Index Stocks........7 Classified......14 Comics...... 13 Wisdom...... 12
Weather........5 Obituaries........ 3 Opinion........4 Sports...... 10
April, adds new Civil War exhibit BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Crossroads Museum is expanding its hours of operation to seven days a week for a limited time to coincide with increased Civil War Sesquicentennial activities during the next couple of months. The museum is normally closed on Mondays, but that will change this coming Monday as the museum opens from
10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The museum will open on Mondays throughout March and April. “This will be a trial and if it’s really successful, we may take it on through the summer,” said Museum Director Brandy Steen. “If you want to come and have more of a personal tour of the muPlease see MUSEUM | 3
On this day in history 150 years ago Robert E. Lee appointed military advisor to President Davis. Resentful over the success at Forts Henry and Donelson, Gen. Henry Halleck unjustly accuses Gen. Grant of poor administration and removes him from command of the expeditionary force.