Thursday Dec. 22,
2011
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 115, No. 304
2011 Christmas Basket Fund ‘A Community Tradition’
Basket fund donations still accepted The spirit of giving this Christmas season is alive and well in the Alcorn County area. Donations continue to arrive for the 16th annual Corinth Rotary Club/Daily Corinthian Christmas Basket Fund. A $25,000 fundraising goal was set so 1,100 food baskets could be given to local families on Saturday, Dec. 10. It was a record number of baskets and the community has responded in a big way. Baskets were given away based upon the faith the goal would be reached and the faith has now turned into fact with the goal not only being reached, but surpassed. So far $26,780 has been raised. Donations include $25 from the Pauline Missionary Society of Waldron Street Christian Church. Donations will continue to be accepted through Christmas Day and are a perfect time to make a tribute to a loved one. Contributions to the Christmas Basket Fund can be made “in honor of� or “in memory of� a special person or persons. The tribute will be published in the Daily Corinthian. Donations can be brought by the newspaper office or mailed to: Daily Corinthian, Attn.: Christmas Basket Fund, P.O. Box 1800, Corinth, MS 38835.
Sales/tourism tax receipts fall for October BY JEBB JOHNSTON
jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The sales and tourism taxes took a backward step in the third monthly deposit of the new fiscal year. Although sales tax collections were up across the state by 3 percent with $30.8 million returned to municipalities, both local taxes were in the red for the month. The city’s sales tax deposit for mid-December was $419,640.23, down almost 6 percent, or about $26,000, from the same month a year earlier. The prior two deposits had left the city even with the previous fiscal year, but the year-to-date total of $1,275,904.62 is now 2 percent behind the same point in fiscal 2011. The funds received this month reflect sales activity in local businesses during the month of October. City Clerk Vickie Roach said the latest numbers are the type of results the city feared heading into the new fiscal year. She’ll be Please see TAX | 2
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 18 pages • 1 section
Downtown fire’s cause undetermined BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Investigation of the Dec. 4 fire that destroyed Crossroads Dry Cleaners has ended with no determination of the cause. Corinth Fire Chief Rob Price said his department has concluded its investigation. The fire scene has also been examined by the state fire marshal’s office and an investigator for
the insurance company. “Nothing was found to make us suspect any foul play,� said Price. “We could not find a definite cause, but we did find a suspected area of origin. It was up high and in what we called the office area toward the back of the building.� Price combed through the scene with both investigators on separate days. “Without consulting with
each other, they both came to the same conclusion,� he said. The fire at 712 Cruise St. was reported at 11:18 p.m on Dec. 4, a Sunday night. Residents of apartments at the adjacent BelHaven building were evacuated. The owner of the dry cleaning business, Kevin Harvell, has said he will be looking to rebuild. The business employed eight.
The BelHaven, which has eight tenants, had some smoke and water damage. The fire chief has said the city narrowly avoided a disaster as firemen were able to stop the blaze from getting to other buildings. “It could have gotten that whole block where Martha’s Menu, JB Outdoors, all of that is,� he said.
Not yet goodbye Outgoing tax collector reflects on past, looks ahead BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Don’t say “goodbye� to Greg Younger just yet. Although his time as tax collector is ending this month, he will continue working in the office until about mid-April to help his successor, Larry Ross, have a smooth transition to the post that Younger has held since Jan. 3, 1988. For his next endeavor, Younger is planning a consulting business that would offer services to local governments, and he is also keeping his options open in the political arena. “I’m too young to quit working altogether,� said Younger, who is wrapping up his sixth term. “Unless something changes, I’m going to form a consulting company, and I’m hoping to work with several different counties, not just Alcorn.� A narrow election loss for the office of chancery clerk this year has not diminished his interest in elective office. Younger said he would not shut the door on a run for another office, whether it be chancery clerk or another position. He has considered running for mayor at times in the past, including in Corinth’s 2010 election. His path to elective office began in late 1986 when he read about the split of the assessor
Staff photo by Jebb Johnston
Greg Younger, ending a long run as tax collector, is looking forward to beginning a consulting business and another possible bid for elective office. and collector offices. At the time, he was a salesman of office machines. “I was at a point in my life where I needed to do some-
thing,� said Younger. “I look back on it now, and I don’t know how I ever thought I could have gotten elected in the first place.�
Trading cards will tell story of war BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
In early 2012, a set of trading cards depicting events, places and people from Civil War events at Shiloh and Corinth will be available from the National Park Service. The program started in the northeastern states earlier this year. The first five cards in the local series will probably be released in February, said NPS Supervisory Park Ranger Ashley Berry, of Shiloh National Military Park. Three of the upcoming first set of five trading cards will be centered on Corinth and share the theme of “Civil War to Civil Rights,� with two focusing on the Corinth Contraband Camp; one about Kate Cumming (1828-1909), a Civil War nurse who braved Corinth’s dismal wartime conditions to treat wounded Confederates following the Battle of Shiloh. The remaining two in this initial set will focus on the Bat-
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Richard Bowen to join district attorney’s office BY BRANT SAPPINGTON bsappington@dailycorinthian.com
soldier who served in the 55th
The Prentiss County School Board will begin the new year considering options for replacing its attorney. Board attorney Richard Bowen announced at last Thursday’s regular meeting he has accepted a position as an assistant district attorney and will be winding down his private practice during the first half of the year. Bowen will fill a soon-to-be vacant position in the district attorney’s Corinth office. Trent Kelly will begin serving as district attorney in January after defeating longtime district attorney John R. Young in the November general election. Bowen told school board members he’s grateful for the oppor-
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Staff photo by Bobby J. Smith
Park Ranger Ashley Berry shows off some of the NPS Civil War Trading Cards from battlefields in the northeastern part of the country. A set of about 10 trading cards related to Civil War events, places and people in Corinth and Shiloh is planned for release by the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh in April 2012. tle of Shiloh. The first will be about Andrew Jackson Smith (1843-1932), a slave-turned-
Index Stocks........ 7 Classified......15 Comics...... 12 Wisdom...... 11
At the youthful age of 25, he was one of five people who sought the post. Former su-
Weather........ 5 Obituaries........ 3 Opinion........ 4 Sports... 8-10
On this day in history 150 years ago In Missouri, Gen. Henry Halleck repeats the warning that any person engaged in burning bridges or destroying the telegraph would be immediately shot. By Tom Parsons, NPS Ranger
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Quinisha Logan, M.D. | Jason Cesario, M.D. | Diane Evans, D.O., M.S.