Wednesday May 2,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 106
Partly sunny Today
Tonight
88
65
• Corinth, Mississippi • 20 pages • 2 sections
‘Spammed & crammed’ PSC warns of text messages which lead to charge BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Some cell phone users are finding that it can be costly to simply ignore unwanted and unsolicited text messages, which are becoming a popular tool for scammers. It’s a case of spamming leading to “cramming” — the unwanted text messages are accompanied by third-party charges tacked onto the user’s cell phone bill. The increasing problem has not escaped the attention of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, which has been receiving complaints about such practices, said Brandon Presley, northern district commissioner. “As it stands today, they can tack charges onto the bill without permission,” he said. The PSC has pressed for changes in the law, although without success thus far. One example that has been reported by cell phone users in Corinth involves text messages from “Mobibro IQ.” The cell phone users’ phones receive a series of three text messages about a “Fun Facts” service for $9.99 monthly. Users’ phone bills are apparently
charged as soon as they receive the messages or shortly thereafter, even though they have not signed up for the subscription. Similar scams may offer horoscopes or other services. One of the messages reads, “MobibroIQ: Welcome to IQ! for HELP call 18888906150 $9.99/mo for 3 msgs/wk. Relpy HELP for help, Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply” Presley does not recommend responding with “STOP.” He said cell phone users who receive such a message should call the phone company to check if any charges were added to their account and have them removed. To prevent such charges from happening, he said customers can ask to have a purchase block put on their account to block third-party charges. Presley said many of these messages are sent randomly in hopes of hitting a working phone number. “We are regularly communicating with the FCC about these, and we have been able to help people get it taken off their bill,” he said. The commissioner said anyone
who wants assistance in getting a bogus charge removed from a bill or to have a purchase block added may contact the PSC for help. Purchase block is free. Some phone carriers will also provide a PIN to authorize purchases. “Cramming” — the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading or deceptive charges on a telephone bill — is a long-standing problem for land line phones that is now increasing in the mobile world. The charges are sometimes listed with vague descriptions such as “usage fee” or “service charge” that are designed to escape the attention of the account holder. The amounts may be small, such as $2 or $3, also to avoid attention. For that reason, Presley said it is important to always thoroughly examine a phone bill to make sure no third-party charges have been added. The FCC has found that much of cramming goes undetected, allowing scam artists to rake in money without the knowledge of consumers. Contact the PSC Northern District office at (662) 963-1471.
This cell phone screen capture shows spam text messages that led to a $9.99 charge added to a Corinth resident’s phone bill.
‘Films on Fillmore’ returns to downtown Corinth BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
There will be no need for running shoes Friday night in downtown Corinth. A blanket and some popcorn will do the trick as “Films on Fillmore” debuts its second season at the CARE Garden. The children’s movie “Puss in Boots” is set for the 12-foot by seven-foot inflatable screen at 8 p.m. Friday in the grassy area of The Depot. The free movie is the combined efforts of Main Street Corinth and the Crossroads Museum.
“This started out as really something for people coming in for the Coke race to do on Friday night,” said Main Street board president John Orman. “It’s something fun for the whole family to do and a way for us to give back.” Four movies were shown during the inaugural year of the event. “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was the first film to hit the big screen. “The Pink Panther” was played in June followed by “The Blind Side” and “Casper” for the quartet of
showings. “A lot of folks try to come down around 6:30 p.m. and treat the evening as a picnic,” added Orman. Concessions will be available with candy, popcorn and CocaCola products. In this Shrek 2 prequel, audiences meet “outlaw” cat Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas), who was once his small town’s hero but is branded a criminal after unwittingly participating in a heist with his orphanage bosom friend, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifi-
anakis). The two friends meet via Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), a cat burglar whom Puss is instantly attracted to, and team up to steal three magic beans from the scheming Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) in order to plant the tree and access the golden goose and her magical golden eggs. Once the goose is secured, Puss realizes Humpty has ulterior motives, and Kitty must choose between her agreedupon caper and her heart.
Student ambassador raising funds for trip BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Ten-year-old Leslie Miller Archie has founded a business to help pay for the trip she’ll take this summer as an ambassador to the Canadian West. The Corinth Middle School fifth-grader was recently named a student ambassador in the People to People Student Ambassador Program. She was nominated anonymously in the fall of 2011, and after several interviews, she was officially accepted. Each year 40 students in her age group are chosen to be ambassadors for Mississippi in the program. On the two-week trip this summer she will travel to western Canada to learn the region’s customs — and spread some of America’s customs, as well. Part of the trip will be a two-night stay with an Indian tribe, in which the student ambassador will learn about native culture by building her own tipi and eating the tribe’s traditional food. As part of the Student Ambassador Program, all the students in her delegation were asked to create a project to earn money for the trip. While the tuition is paid by her parents, Leslie Miller wanted to earn enough money herself to pay for a portion of her tuition as well as some spending money for her time in Canada. One day when she was sick and home from school, Leslie Miller and her mother, Shelley Archie, began discussing ideas
Submitted photo
Leslie Miller Archie, 10, is raising money for her trip as an ambassador to the Canadian West by selling handmade earrings and necklaces. She will be at the Green Market from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in downtown Corinth. for her project. “She really wanted to make some kind of jewelry,” said Shelley. “Ideas kept rolling and Initially Cute developed. Everything has thankfully just fallen into place like it was meant to be.” Leslie Miller’s venture, Initially Cute, is a project to sell wood-burned initial earrings
and necklaces that she creates with her family, including her father, Chad Archie, her eightyear-old sister, Mary Libbon, and her four-year-old brother, Chad. They also have some help from family friend Joan Rorie, an artist from Booneville who offered to help with the earrings. “We are very thankful for her
Index Stocks...... 7A Classified......5B Comics......3B Wisdom......2B
Weather......5A Obituaries......3A Opinion......4A Sports......8A
help,” said Shelley. Now, Leslie Miller is selling Initially Cute earrings for $8 a pair, and necklaces for $8 each. So far the response has been greater than they expected, her mother said. “We have had such a wonderful and tremendous response Please see TRIP | 5A
passes sewer rate hike Increase needed to pay for plant modification BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
The Corinth Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved a sewer rate increase that takes effect July 1. “Over the last 10 to 15 years, we have been working on a treatment plant modification plan mandated by EPA and DEQ,” explained Sewer Superintendent Billy Glover. “We took bids on it and now it is time to implement a rate adjustment.” The increase is base on numbers prepared by engineering firm Cook Coggin. “It’s going to be done on an incremental basis over five years at 20 cents per 100 cubic feet per year, which is going to be about $1.20 on the average sewer bill every month for a total after five years of about $6,” said Glover. The rate increase is necessary to pay for the mandated treatment plant modification and the sanitary sewer system evaluation and analysis that is also about to begin, he said. The city is also using a low-interest state loan for the treatment plant project. The board in April accepted Max Foote Construction’s bid of $16.944 million for the rehabilitation project on the treatment plant on South Harper Road. The project is set to begin in June and is expected to take 20 months to complete. The upgraded plant must be in service in 2013. The board also approved an engineering agreement with Cook Coggin for phase one of the sewer system evaluation. That project will take a thorough look at aging sewer pipes throughout the city.
On this day in history 150 years ago In a letter to his troops, Gen. Beauregard inspires his men for what he believed was the imminent Battle of Corinth: “Shall we not drive back into Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation?”