Wednesday Nov. 16,
2011
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 115, No. 273
Rain Today
Tonight
61
35
• Corinth, Mississippi • 26 pages • 2 sections
City OKs bids on street projects BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
SouthBank employees Dawn Carter (left) and Emily Norton get ready to Celebrate Corinth with Main Street President Montana Hill (right). The event — an annual fundraiser for the preservation of historic downtown Corinth — begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at the downtown SouthBank.
Main Street celebrates Corinth BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
It’s time to celebrate. The community is invited to Celebrate Corinth at an annual fundraising event hosted by Main Street Corinth. “This is a great opportunity to preview some local businesses’ upcoming Christmas products and enjoy some local Corinth cooking,” said
A Green Egg Smoker and Grill will be raffled. Tickets are available at The Alliance office and SouthBank for $10. Food will be provided by Refreshment Inc., The Green Mango, Pizza Grocery, The Turn and Pizza Inn. A jazz trio will perform throughout the evening’s festivities. Main Street Corinth wishes to thank the people who made
Montana Hill, president of Main Street Corinth. Held in the historic lobby of SouthBank in downtown, the purpose of the event is to help fund the preservation of Corinth’s historic central business district. Celebrate Corinth will feature a silent auction with products from area merchants, door prizes and giveaways.
Celebrate Corinth possible. “Without our sponsors and local merchants this event wouldn’t be possible,” said Brian McCullen, a member of the Main Street board. The celebration begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. A limited number of tickets are available for $20 at the Main Street office at 810 Main Street. For information, call the Main Street office at 287-1550.
The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday accepted bids for paving on sections of Fillmore and Proper Street, setting the stage for work to begin in the first quarter of 2012. The projects involve federal dollars through the Local Surface Transportation Program, and the board had previously wavered on whether to keep them alive during the recently completed budget process. Contracts for construction must be executed by Dec. 31 or the city will lose access to the federal dollars available to the city for the two projects, which include milling and paving on Proper Street between Cruise and Young Street and milling and paving of Fillmore Street between Childs and Main Street. The Fillmore Street work is essentially a continuation of the prior Fillmore Street milling and paving project. The low bid for the Proper Street project came in under budget by about $36,000, while the Fillmore Street low bid is about $24,000 over budget. Prairie Construction of Tupelo is the low bidder on the Proper Street project at $241,431.80. Rutledge Contractors of Tupelo submitted a bid of $259,868.10. On the Fillmore Street project, Rutledge Contractors is the low bidder Please see BIDS | 5A
Between 2,000 Event highlights elementary honors to 2,500 vehicles view grand lights BY STEVE BEAVERS
sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
With a high level of attendance and community participation, the 5th Annual Grand Illumination was a success, according to event organizers. “It was a good weekend to be in Corinth,” said Tourism Director Kristy White. “The Grand Illumination continues to be a gift to the community from the tourism office, the Park Service and all the committees that participated.” White said the event is held to commemorate the casualties of the Civil War and to remember how important the Civil War is to the community. “It was very sobering to see so many candles and think that each was for a person killed or wounded in the area,” said Sean Marcum, who led several Civil War tours on Saturday and Sunday. “It must be remembered — that is what the weekend really was about.” Approximately 1,100 people attended the activities at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center on Saturday — up 300 from last year’s attendance numbers for the main day of Grand Illumination.
Visitors from all over the country and locals alike signed the Interpretive Center’s guest book. “A lot of folks turned out and we had good participation for all of our programs,” said Park Ranger Tom Parson. Volunteers set up the 6,000 luminaries around the Interpretive Center in record time, White said. “We really do appreciate all of the volunteers,” said White. “Everyone who said they’d turn out did.” Based on data collected from a traffic camera on Linden Street, between 2,000 and 2,500 vehicles traveled through the area where 12,000 luminaries — symbolizing the casualties of the Siege and Battle of Corinth — burned throughout Saturday evening. Civil War-era musician Bobby Horton played to a capacity crowd at the Interpretive Center on Saturday. Turnout was high for the Downtown and Corinth Battlefield walking tours offered by the Corinth Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, with about 40 people participating in
GLEN — Alcorn Central Elementary was ready to celebrate. The K-4 school had reason after increasing 36 points in the 2011 accountability results. ACES went from successful to high performing level with its 194 points, only six away from receiving Star status. Teachers and students took part in the celebration of presenting a banner to the school for the accomplishment. “We are here to celebrate all the hard work you do,” said ACES Principal Tonya Farris to a large group of students. “You believed you could do it and you did.” The school also collected two honors from Learning Forward Mississippi over the last week. Alcorn Central Elementary was one of three schools honored as a spotlight school for biggest growth. ACES was also the lone winner of the Ray Bishop Award -- an honor also based on growth -- at the ceremony in Raymond. “These awards show that the teachers care about Alcorn Central Elementary,” said Superintendent of Education Stacy Suggs. “What you have done is remarkable.” “The kids have bought into what we are doing,” added assistant principal Tammy Johnson. Central Elementary made the biggest gain in
Please see GRAND | 3A
Please see ACES | 5A
Index Stocks....12A Classified......6B Comics......5B Wisdom......3B
Weather......5A Obituaries......3A Opinion......4A Sports...8-9A
Staff photos by Steve Beavers
Alcorn Central Elementary Principal Tonya Farris congratulates students on their hard work, above. Alcorn Superintendent of Education Stacy Suggs presents Alcorn Central Elementary with a banner to commemorate the school’s high performing level. Student Hunter Walker (left), ACES Principal Tonya Farris and assistant principal Tammy Johnson (right) help Suggs display the banner to the rest of the students.
On this day in history 150 years ago William M. Inge of Corinth officially appointed to the Provisional Confederate Congress. Stephen R. Mallory, the Confederate Secretary of the Navy, accepted bids armored sea-going ironclads. By Tom Parson, NPS Ranger