THE DAILY
M O N DAY, JA N UA RY 2 8 , 2 0 1 9 | VO LU M E 1 07, N O. 5 9
MISSISSIPPIAN
T H E S T U DE N T N E W S PA P E R O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S I S S I P P I | S E R V I N G O L E M I S S A N D OX F O R D S I N C E 1 9 1 1
REVIEW: POP ROOKIE FINALLY RELEASES FRESHMAN ALBUM
OLE MISS
Almost three years after her chance run-in with producer Pharrell Williams, indie singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers released her first album “Heard It in a Past Life.” How far will it take her?
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REBELS LOSE ON THE ROAD
MS STATE
See page 6 for full coverage of yesterday’s women’s basketball game in Starkville. The Rebels will host Auburn on Thursday.
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OPD opts for vouchers, not tickets
Instead of ticketing violators with broken tail lights or headlights, Oxford Police Department now provides vouchers that cover up to $25 in repairs. JORDAN HOLMAN
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he Oxford Police Department has teamed up with various auto shops – including Southland Body & Paint Shop, Neal Hodge Automotive Innovations, Oxford Auto Care and Deal’s Auto Repair – to offer vouchers in lieu of tickets for equipment violations through its new “We Care Program.” Instead of ticketing violators with broken tail lights or headlights, OPD now issues vouchers covering up to $25 in repairs to offenders. “We have never really tried to punish someone who has a broken tail light or headlight,” OPD Chief Joey East said. “In the past, if people got their problem fixed in a day or two, we’d do our best to drop the court charges, which is why we liked this idea when Ronnie Harwell approached us.” Harwell of Southland Body approached OPD with the idea and did much of the heavylifting, including talking to and convincing the city attorney and city CEO to get it off the ground. “I saw a program where other small towns had a similar program and thought that it
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would be a good project for Oxford,” Harwell said. “So, I contacted some of the other shops I know and OPD, and we set about starting the program.” Harwell said he reached out to the shops because he had previously worked with them before. “We had to limit it a bit because some headlights can come in around $300 to $400, and we can’t afford to put many of those in for free,” Harwell said. Although some lights can be expensive, shop owners said the bulbs typically cost around eight to 10 dollars plus labor, so the vouchers usually cover the cost of getting the bulbs replaced. Since the inception of the program, OPD has distributed between 30 and 40 of the 500 vouchers, according to East. However, when stock runs out, OPD plans on asking businesses for more vouchers rather than ending the program altogether. “We’ve had other businesses contacting us that want to be involved as well, so we plan to renew it and don’t see it going away,” Chief East said. The current businesses involved seem to have fluctuating amounts of
customers redeeming vouchers. Businesses located centrally in Oxford, such as Southland Body, have reported several customers coming in with vouchers. Meanwhile, more out-of-the-way shops, like Neal Hodge Automotive, have not yet had any customers come in with a voucher. “We’re a bit off the beaten path, in the southern county area, so we knew we wouldn’t get as many vouchers,” Neal Hodge said. “We’re still willing to work with anybody that comes in.” When citizens and students in Oxford with broken tail lights or headlights are pulled over by an officer, they will be made aware of their equipment violations and asked for their driver’s licenses and insurance. Upon proving they have both of those documents and no other outstanding violations, the officer will provide them with a voucher to be used at any of the previously listed locations. Violators will still receive a warning, according to East, and they will be logged in OPD’s database. “We were already trying to help people when we gave them tickets for headlights,” East said. “This is just a continuation of that.”
“We were already trying to help people when we gave them tickets for headlights. This is just a continuation of that.” Joey East OPD Chief
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION: ELISE BRANDWEIN
City appeals for extended drinking hours on Square HADLEY HITSON
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The Oxford Police Department, Mayor Robyn Tannehill and the Board of Aldermen are all supporting proposed legislation that would extend bar hours to 2 a.m, while the sale of alcohol would still end at 1 a.m. State law currently does not differentiate between the sale and consumption
of alcohol. The city is advocating for the law to be changed so that customers could order alcohol until 1 a.m. and remain in the bars drinking until 2 a.m. “Something we’ve always tried to push was extending bar hours because this would just allow folks more time to leave downtown safely,” OPD Captain Hildon Sessums said. “We want to get the state legislature to allow us to let someone order a drink 15 minutes
before the sale of alcohol ends but then have a safe amount of time to finish it.” The Board of Aldermen recently adopted a resolution asking the state to consider legislation to differentiate between the sale and consumption of alcohol. Should the state pass said legislation, the City of Oxford will subsequently extend the hours for alcohol
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FILE PHOTO: HALEIGH MCNABB
Crowds gather on the Square after the Ole Miss football game against Alabama in September.