Saturday Jan. 21,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 18
T-storms Today
Tonight
51
43
• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • One section
November sales, tourism tax see gains Grand Illumination made positive impact BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Tax collections returned to Corinth at mid-January saw gains in results for both sales tax and the tourism tax. The results reflect sales ac-
tivity made during the month of November, and tourism can point to the Grand Illumination event as a possible factor in the positive numbers. The period also included the Black Friday shopping frenzy.
After a negative result in the prior month, the 2 percent tourism tax on prepared food and lodging yielded $81,735.74, a gain of 7 percent from the same month a year earlier. Four months into the fiscal year, the tax has generated $339,264.45, a 4 percent gain in year-to-year comparisons. Continuing its growth trend, the tax, which is split between tourism promotion efforts and the Crossroads Arena debt payments, for the first time has
generated at least $80,000 for each of the first four months of the fiscal year. Sales tax continues on a nearly flat trajectory, evenly split between gains and losses for the fiscal year. The latest month yielded $453,700.53, up almost 4 percent from a year earlier. The fiscal year-to-date tally of $1.73 million is down half of a percentage point from the same point in the prior fiscal year. Those numbers are on par
with expectations for 2012. The year’s budget was prepared with no anticipated bump in sales tax revenue. Municipalities receive 18.5 percent of sales tax proceeds collected within their boundaries. That money accounts for about 60 percent of Corinth’s operating revenue. The Mississippi Department of Revenue as of Friday had not yet released statewide sales tax results for funds distributed in January.
Farm show continues today at arena BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
The Crossroads Arena has planted the seed for farmers. The agriculture equipment needed to harvest the crop is also on hand. Individuals were busy browsing the numerous pieces of equipment on display during the second day of the Alcorn Farm & Machinery Show. The show continues through Peterson today, starting at 8 a.m. “About every piece of farm equipment you can think of is here,” said Arena Board Chairman Bill Strickland. Show goers converged on the Arena Thursday to see what the numerous machinery dealers and vendors had to offer. “We had equipment coming in for two weeks from everywhere from Wisconsin to Missouri and Arkansas,” said the Arena’s Cindy Davis. “There are vendors of every type on the floor.”
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Please see ARENA | 2
Kelvin Mullins (left) and his father Andy, both of Walnut, were part of a steady crowd at the Alcorn Farm & Machinery Show on Friday at the Crossroads Arena.
Seminar teaches Rat packs powerful message marketing plan for businesses BY STEVE BEAVERS
sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
business. Drewry said the program The Alliance is partnering will be appropriate for any with the University of Missis- small business owner, but will sippi’s Small Business Devel- be especially targeted to peoopment Center to help small ple who are planning to start businesses get a leg up on a new business or who are just starting out. She said there is marketing. The organization will host so much more to marketing a seminar on Creating a Mar- than just advertising and she hopes to give keting Plan those attendfor Small ing a look at Businesses on Wednesday, the big picture and how Feb. 1 from 1 all aspects of p.m. to 2 p.m. marketing at Northeast work together at Corinth on to present the Harper Road. business to The propotential cusgram will be tomers. led by KaThe countie Drewry, Katie Drewry selor said a business Business counselor, Small Business Development she will walk counselor Center the group with the Small through the Business Development Center, who will process of creating a marketlead participants through an ing plan from the ground up overview of the marketing including targeting marketprocess and help them under- ing, branding, creating a logo stand how best to use a wide and signage, choosing where variety of avenues to get their message out and boost their Please see SEMINAR | 2 BY BRANT SAPPINGTON
bsappington@dailycorinthian.com
“Our main objective is to just plant an understanding of the process and help them see the big picture.”
Famous entertainers Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were not on site. Terrance was the leader of this Rat Pack. The animated rat and his eight-member pack had an important message this week for students at Alcorn Central Elementary. Their advice was to reject all tobacco! “They have a really good message,” said ACES Principal Tonya Farris. RAT or Reject All Tobacco is the only tobacco-free campaign in the country created especially for children in grades K-3. RAT is geared toward giving them all the facts about big bad tobacco. RAT also aims to change children’s attitudes about tobacco before they reach the age of experimenting with cigarettes and chewing tobacco. The objective of the Rat Pack, comprised of students in grades 6-12, is to reduce the number of children in the state who try tobacco by teaching them about the dangers involved. There are five teams of Rat Packers — a live band of singing, dancing kids led by the animated Terrance — which do 80 shows per year. Audiences get to rap along with Terrance and his crew as they learn about all the harm tobacco can do. In Mississippi, smoking has caused 4,700 deaths with 280 children dying nationally from breathing secondhand smoke.
Index Stocks........7 Classified......14 Comics...... 13 Wisdom...... 12
Weather........5 Obituaries........ 3 Opinion........4 Sports...... 10
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Rat Packer Sarah Beth Childers helps Alcorn Central fourth grader Kaylee Wigginton dance during a Rat Pack skit at the school. Around 50,000 die nationally each year from the exposure of secondhand smoke. According to the Rat Pack, tobacco kills more people each year than suicides, murders, AIDS, alcohol, drugs and fires combined. “Tobacco is addictive. Once you start, it is very hard to stop,” said Terrance to the group of
students. “Young smokers suffer from shortness of breath almost three times as much as those who don’t smoke and is also at greater risk to have lung cancer later in life.” The rat also shared that smokers lose an average of 12 years of life due to their addiction of nicotine — the addictive drug in cigarettes.
On this day in history 150 years ago The Federal reconnaissance of about 5,000 men from General Grant’s command in Cairo, Illinois, returns after a feint against Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi River. There was no fighting, but reveals a threat to the Confederate stronghold.