Tuesday May 1,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 105
Partly Sunny Today
Tonight
88
66
• Corinth, Mississippi • 16 pages • 1 Section
Warrant leads to drug bust BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
garten through sixth grade at the school auditorium on May 11. A huge yard sale and car wash is planned for July 7 at the Corinth Flea Market. All money earned through the fund-raisers will help the squad pay for camp in June along with a trip to nationals. “Cost for hotels to the nationals is $5,000 alone,” said new squad coach Rebecca Lewis. “This group definitely has one of the best work ethics I have seen and I promised them if they earned a bid to nationals
Staff photos by Steve Beavers
The serving of an arrest warrant led to a marijuana bust on Friday. The Alcorn County Sheriff’s Department arrested Lawrence Lloyd Meeks, 30, of County Road 332, Corinth, and charged him with felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell. As the deputy arrived at a residence on County Road 306 to serve a warrant, he encountered Meeks in a vehicle at the residence. While speaking to him, the deputy observed a bag of marijuana in the seat of the vehicle, according to Narcotics Officer Darrell Hopkins. A search of the vehicle and of Meeks revealed six additional bags of marijuana. Bond was set at $5,000. In other news, the sheriff’s department reported a good response to the drug take back event held Saturday to allow people to dispose of medications with no questions asked. “It took a lot of prescription drugs out of residences and possibly off the street,” said Sheriff Charles Rinehart. “We plan on working closely with the DEA and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics with this program. We know as law enforcement that burglaries, murders and homicides are a result mainly due to some kind of drug addiction.”
Please see DANCE | 2
Alcorn Central has won back-to-back Class 3A state titles in the Hip Hop division.
Please see DRUGS |2
Staff photos by Steve Beavers
Lakin Little (from left), Taylor Bordeleau and Erica Doran have been part of two Class 3A State Championship Dance Teams at Alcorn Central.
Hip Hop champions raising funds to attend nationals BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
GLEN — The Alcorn Central dance team is prepared to do all it can to reach nationals. All the Lady Bears need is some funding help to get there. The back-to-back Class 3A Hip Hop champions are set to get started on the money raising circuit Thursday at Pizza Inn. The 14-member team will receive 10 percent of what is taken in along with all tips during the hours of 5-8 p.m. The two-time champs are also slated to host a Girls Night Out for elementary girls kinder-
Freedom Rally brings youth together for prayer day BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Freedom Rally — a prayer meeting for youth on the night before the National Day of Prayer — will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alcorn County Courthouse. “This is the youth version of the National Day of Prayer,” explained event organizer Jonathan Marsh. The event will mark the fifth year for the Freedom Rally. Approximately 1,000 local youth attended the 2011 Freedom Rally, said Marsh. Local Christian praise band
Maul 42 will open the service with a half-hour set of music. The band is comprised of: Andy Reeves (vocals, acoustic guitar), Dylan Adams (drums), Kyle Gunn (bass), Nancy King Reeves (vocals), Ashley Morelock (keyboard) and Bubba Rory Dale Young II (saxophone). After the musical opening, students from area schools will lead prayers on several themes and encourage other students to offer up prayers. “One student will pray for the schools, one student will pray for temptation and another stu-
dent will pray for government,” Marsh said. Following the prayers on different themes, another student will bring the service to an end with a closing prayer. The adult National Day of Prayer event will be held at noon on Thursday at the Alcorn County Courthouse. Held every year on the first Thursday in May, the National Day of Prayer is an event that invites people of all faiths to pray for America. It was created in 1952 by a joint congressional
Submitted photo
Please see RALLY | 2
An evening prayer for youth will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the courthouse.
Book ponders common man reason for fighting during Civil War BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Staff photo by Jebb Johnston
Lee Wilson of Memphis shows a vintage firearm from his collection at the recent Heritage Day held at the depot by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
A Civil War buff who has traced his great-grandfather’s steps in the battle at Shiloh, Lee Wilson often wonders what kept his ancestor — and the common man — motivated to keep fighting in a long, grueling war. His great-grandfather, William Daniel Ayer, is the protagonist in the Memphis dentist’s historical fiction novel, “Once a Southern Soldier.” The story will soon continue in “Always a Southern Soldier.” At Shiloh, where Ayer witnessed the death of Albert Sidney Johnston, his head was nearly taken off by a cannonball, but still he soldiered on.
“That’s a question that has kind of haunted me and a lot of people don’t even address,” said Wilson during a visit to the recent SCV Heritage Day in Corinth. “Why would Bill Ayer, who was dirt poor, why would he keep fighting?” Many of the common people, he believes, had little personal investment in the conflict. “I try to get into Bill’s head and explain what he was thinking because I really think that a lot of historians miss the point,” said Wilson. “Most of the people that I talk about are not the Southern planters and the people that actually owned slaves and had money involved. I think the common man back
Index Stocks........7 Classified......14 Comics...... 11 Wisdom...... 10
Weather........5 Obituaries........ 2 Opinion........4 Sports........7
then just didn’t like to be told what to do. We’re down here in the South, and we really didn’t want to have Washington telling us what we were supposed to do.” Ayer came from a small farm with no slaves. His diary and other papers were lost in a house fire, so Wilson has relied on family storytelling of his great-grandfather’s adventures in war to construct his story, which follows the newly married young farmer from the cotton junction of Duck Hill into battle at Shiloh. Serving in the third brigade under Breckenridge, Ayer was severely injured during fighting that saw the men pushed back
from the Indian mounds to the Hornet’s Nest. “They made a stand there at about 10 o’clock in the morning, then got pushed back again,” said Wilson. “Beauregard wanted Breckenridge’s corps to cover, and so they pulled them over in front of Shiloh church and formed a line there. A cannonball went off in the tree above him and shrapnel hit him and scalped him, knocked him cold, and he woke up on the battlefield that night.” He hid in the woods to escape the burial detail and was found by a friend that night. Despite the brush with death, Ayer continued to serve.
On this day in history 150 years ago May 1 — General Beauregard sends a letter of protest to Richmond over a decrease in the amount of the food ration for his soldiers in Corinth. He cites sugar as being a “cheap and healthy nutritious addition to the diet of the soldiers in this climate.”
Please see BOOK | 2