Prentiss County Two face charges after shooting
Shiloh Park hosts living history
Tishomingo County Students earn degrees from Freed
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Wednesday June 8,
2016
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Daily Corinthian Vol. 120, No. 138
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 20 pages • Two sections
Verdung out as street commissioner BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Corinth Street Commissioner Philip Verdung told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Tuesday that he will resign. His last day with the city will
be July 19. Verdung said he is taking another job in the private sector that he cannot yet disclose. In executive session, the board voted to take resumes through June 20 in hopes of
having the replacement onboard for training with Verdung before his exit. Verdung served as street commissioner since early 2013 following the retirement of Jim Bynum. In February 2008, he
was hired as building inspector. “We have made great progress in the street department in the last three years, and I was honored to be a part of it, proud to be a part of it, and wish I could be here to see what’s yet
to come,” he said. “I’m sad to be leaving the street department and the City of Corinth. I did enjoy this job, but I’m also looking forward to these other Please see VERDUNG | 3A
Most brownfield targets free of contamination BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Photo by Tammy Johnson
More than 40 Alcorn School District teachers gathered last week for Conscious Discipline training from retired teacher Donna Porter and her former student DJ Batiste.
Teachers learn conscious discipline BY ZACK STEEN zsteen@dailycorinthian.com
A group of Alcorn County teachers heard a powerful story during a special training session held last week. Retired Picayune teacher Donna Porter has dedicated her life to the field of education, and has gained a breadth of wisdom and experience that she now pours into audiences across the
nation. She, along with former student DJ Batiste, spoke to 45 teachers from the Alcorn School District as part of Conscious Discipline training at the district’s central office last week. “Conscious Discipline trains teachers how to respond to conflict and integrate classroom management skills and student centered self-regulation tech-
niques,” said Tammy Johnson, curriculum director for the school district. “Mrs. Porter and Mr. Batiste provided 45 of our teachers a remarkable session and we are thankful they could fit us into their busy schedule.” Early in his life, Batiste was kicked out of head start. Some years later, he was in juvenile Please see TRAINING | 5A
9/11 survivor will speak Sunday at local church
Sites targeted for brownfield assessments in Corinth have thus far been found largely free of pollutants that could pose an obstacle to redevelopment. “The [former] Kroger property was clean,” said Norman Kennel of EarthCon Consultants. “At the Verandah House, the only issue was the fuel tank.” That tank was removed from the historic home property and no contamination found that would require remediation. The East Fifth Street property had some minor contamination that can be dealt with administratively, he said. It is land that was donated to the city and is near landfill property. “That is going to be an interesting redevelopment as far as reuse of land,” said Dave Huwe, the city’s director of community development and planning. “It will not only have the detention pond in that southern part which will help with our flooding issues,
Brandi Smith, Tishomingo Photo by Opal Lovelace
went down to the 43rd floor for breakfast. sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com Adam Staples survived the “By the grace of God, he is here today,” said David terrorist attack of 9/11. Staples will share what he Young, a Pickwick United went through in the Methodist Church World Trade Center member and friend of on September 11, 2001 Staples. American Airlines at Pickwick United Flight 11 hit the north Methodist Church on Sunday. tower at 8:46 a.m. ET. Staples is scheduled Staples, who owns to speak at 10 a.m. the State Farm Insurance Agency in WalStaples was in his nut Ridge, Ark., found second day of three weeks of training with Staples out the north tower Stanley and Morgan in had been hit on his the south tower of the way back to the 61st “Twin Towers.” The Arkansas floor. “He was headed down the State graduate, 22 at the time of the attack on New York, stairs when they were told the had finished a morning session on the 61st floor when he Please see STAPLES | 5A
AT THIS
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A recent Tishomingo County High School graduate, Brandi Smith knows where she’s going in life. “I want to study secondary English education at Mississippi State this fall,” she said. Until then the Tishomingo native will continue working as a lifeguard at the Tishomingo State Park. A life-long Girl Scout, she is quite famous in North Mississippi’s disabled community. “I installed a wheelchair accessible swing set at the Tishomingo State Park,” she said. “From this, I received my Girl Scout Gold Award, and in doing so, I created a nonprofit organization called ‘From Wheels to Thrills’.” Smith’s long term goal is to place handicap accessible playground equipment in parks throughout North Mississippi. She also loves history, and has participated in several local Civil War re-enactments.
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New contracts could bring new jobs to Corinth’s Cortelco plant. Contracts with Kenya, Indonesia and Hungary are expected to boost production and add new positions.
Don Rinehart is named to the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District board by county supervisors. Bonnard Eaton is reappointed to the local airport board and Gerald McLemore to the park commission.
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Please see BROWNFIELD | 5A
Peope of the Crossroads
BY STEVE BEAVERS
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but, on the northern side, once we cap that landfill, then we hope to have a walking trail or something like that so it will have some community use as well.” Some additional on-site testing is scheduled next week at a former gas station property at Tate and Fillmore and the former Wurlitzer industrial property, where the city hopes to secure another industry. The city and its partners in the brownfields program are seeking additional sites for study. The Environmental Protection Agency grant runs through September 2017. The program can help property owners looking to sell sites such as old gas station properties that may have a stigma attached. The sites are often in favorable locations within a city with good infrastructure available. “A lot of times we find the contamination is nowhere near what the perception is,” said Kennel. Only about one in four sites
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