The Daily Mississippian - June 16, 2010

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16, 2010 | V

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D A I L Y

MISSISSIPPIAN The Student Newspaper

of

The University

of

M i ss i ss i p p i | S e r v i n g O l e M i ss

and

Oxford

since

1911 |

www.thedmonline.com

OXFORD AWAITS NEW HOTEL OPENINGS BY LANCE INGRAM News Editor

The Oxford Planning Commission approved three new hotels, including a Hampton Inn East Conference Center during a meeting Monday. The hotels are planned to begin construction within the year. The Hampton Inn East Conference Center will be built next to the Oxford Conference Center. Construction for the hotel is expected to begin within the next 30 days, and hotel officials hope to open within one year of starting construction according to Chan Patel, director of operations for the hotel. Two boutique hotels were

also approved at the Monday night meeting. One hotel will be located on Jefferson Avenue, and the other on University Avenue, Katrina Hourin, Oxford city planner, said. The boutique on Jefferson Avenue does not have a formal name yet, but should begin construction within the next six months, said Stefano Capomazza, owner of the project. He estimated the cost of the project to range between $6 million and $9 million. “We’re still in the planning stages, and we don’t have anything formal because we have to get all of our approvals before we put a bunch of formalities together,” Capomazza said.

FILE PHOTO | The Daily Mississippian

Construction on the University Avenue hotel will begin in mid-August and has plans to

A further look at the water main burst

open in early March, according to Cory Alger, the building’s architect.

EVENTS

NORTH MISSISSIPPI HILL COUNTRY PICNIC OFFERS MUSICIAN’S WORKSHOP

this week TA D S M I T H C O L I S E U M

BASKETBALL TEAM CAMP 1 Varsity, Junior Varsity and AAU teams Price: overnight $95 per player| commuter $60 per player Registration: June 14 or June 24, 8-10 a.m. ; checkout: June 15 or June 25, 3 p.m. Each team plays at least six games against teams of similar ability. Teams are divided into leagues based on coaches’ choice. Leagues include: Varsity, Junior Varsity and AAU. Each camper receives an Ole Miss T-shirt. Camp cost covers instruction, officiating, facilities, and secondary camp insurance. Instruction includes strength and conditioning, study skills, nutrition, team building and NCAA rules. Teams play in Tad Smith Coliseum, Turner Center and Gillom Center. Camp application and deposit must be received by June 4 to prepare bracket.

inside OPINION

BUILDING OIL CASTLES

BY STU KELLY The Daily Mississippian

ERIC BESSON | The Daily Mississippian

BY BRITTANY STACK The Daily Mississippian

Only a few water lines may rupture in Oxford city limits during a year, but they are not uncommon. The city currently has a plan in place to replace some of the older and thinner pipes around the city. The current water line plan, found on the City’s website, states the City will do work needed for health and safety reasons, including the placing of fire hydrants in new housing areas. However, any service lines off the main ones that currently serve the City are to be owned, maintained by and extended at the expense of the individual property owners to rightsof-way or easements owned by the City of Oxford, Bart Robinson, engineer for the city of Oxford, said. Robinson said that the funds aren’t available to completely replace the piping, even in the Square area. This is because large breaks are uncommon. “You’re talking about a huge project that there’s never really a good time to do,” Robinson said. “But sometime in the future it will have to be done.” Even so, the City is constantly monitoring the pipes.

“If we started having a break every six months on it, then we’d be ready to replace it,” Robinson said. “But if we only have one on it every couple of years, it’s not feasible for us to do that much work on it.” The ruptured water line Saturday afternoon is just one of many that occur every few years. The City is waiting for the ground to dry and dirt to settle before repaving the street, which is currently covered in gravel and dirt. Robinson said the labor and materials for replacing the pipe as well as repaving the road will cost between $15,000 and $20,000 for the 15 feet of work. However, if the city was to replace all the pipes, the price for the same amount of work would go down, because the number of workers and the amount of time they spent on the project would be controlled. Between 12 and 15 feet of pipe had to be replaced on South Lamar beside Square Books, according to Robinson. The sudden breakage was partially due to age and ground shift. The shift of the ground against the brittle pipe would cause it to either crack or break. See WATER, PAGE 4

The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic will offer a musician’s workshop Thursday, June 24. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the day before the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic. The purpose of the workshop is to develop participants’ musical skills, as well as broaden their knowledge of roots music. The workshop will feature individualized instruction from some of blues music’s master performers, including Kenny Brown, Alvin Youngblood Hart, DuWayne Burnside and Gary Burnside. Pre-registration for the workshop is required before June 18 and can be completed on the Picnic’s website at www.nmshillcountrypicnic.com, along with complete information regarding the festival and workshop. The two-day festival takes place on an 1,100-acre site in the hills of Potts Camp, and runs from noon until after midnight both days. The music festival was inspired by Potts Camp resident and acclaimed bluesman Kenny Brown, who has witnessed firsthand the worldwide appeal and influence of Hill Country Blues through his long tenure with R.L. Burnside and his travels with his own band. “I got to thinking about how much the music from this area has influenced so many, and although there are a lot of festivals around, no one was focusing on real Hill Country Blues,” Brown said in a press release. “Everyone I mentioned it to thought it should be done. So this will be our fifth year; we’ve got a great lineup, and we hope people will come out to enjoy the music, food, camping and workshop.” The fifth annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic will take place June 25-26, 2010, off of Highway 349 in Potts Camp. This year’s lineup features The North Mississippi Allstars, Kenny Brown, DuWayne Burnside, Jimbo Mathis and many more. No prior experience is required for participation in the workshop. There is a $100 fee for the workshop, which is open to anyone interested. Rebel Taxi will provide a shuttle from Oxford to the Picnic the Friday and Saturday of the festival. To reserve a spot on the shuttle, call 832-7433.

LIFESTYLES

YOUR BEST SUMMER BEAUTY TOOLS

SPORTS

THE LONE SENIOR EMBRACES LEADERSHIP


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