FREE HEALTH FAIR COMING TO SELMER COMMUNITY CENTER MAY 23, 3A
Independent Appeal
Bufford Pusser Festival
May 15-18 - Adamsville, TN
Making McNairy County headlines for more than 110 years
See page 4A for festival schedule
Volume 110, Number 52, Wednesday, May 15, 2013
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Smash and Grab
ROCKABILLY FEST KICKS OFF EARLY
Thieves drive through front wall of Michie Pharmacy By Christen Coulon Managing Editor
Two men, who were allegedly looking for pills, crashed a stolen vehicle through the front doors of the Michie Pharmacy last Thursday morning causing an estimated $20,000 in damage. Dustin N. Stricklin and Cody A. McEwin, both of Michie, are accused of crashing a Black Ford Explorer through the front wall of the pharmacy causing extensive damage to the front wall, doors, windows and counters of the building. The apparent motive in the case was drugs and the store’s owner, Johnny Odom, said that the thieves made off with two bottles of hydrocodone, a large bottle of generic Xanax, and a few other items with a total value of about $3,000. “I have been in pharmacy business for many years and I have yet to see anything like this,” Odom said. “The sheriff’s department got all over this thing really quick. They had these guys behind bars within 24 to 48 hours.” Both suspects were taken into custody last Friday. Stricklin was captured Friday morning in McNairy County and McEwen was captured Friday afternoon in Alcorn County, Miss. Both are currently incarcerated at the respective location of capture. “We had nearly everybody working on this case,” said McNairy County Sheriff Guy Buck. Buck added that both men were suspects in a similar case in Mississippi. Lead Investigator on the case, Robert Hitchborn of the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department said that investigators were able to identify the make and model of the vehicle in the case from parts left at the
Courtesy of Tony Bullard
An exclusive glimpse of Tony Bullard painting “American Graffiti in Selmer” Pat and Harold Knight of Pat’s Cafe in Selmer will be hosting the unveiling of two of Bullard paintings this Thursday at 6 p.m. at their restaurant with live music to follow. The event is staged as an early kickoff to this year’s Rockabilly Festival which will take place in Selmer on June 8. Both paintings were taken from scenes at the Rockabilly Festival.
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Staff Photo by Stephanie Parsons
This photo showing damage to the front wall of the Michie Pharmacy where thieves crashed a Ford Explorer through to get inside early last Thursday morning. Local residents, contractors and pharmacy staff members came together following the burglary to help get it up and running just hours after the incident.
CAPTURED
scene. He said that they learned from Alcorn County officials that a vehicle fitting that description was stolen in Mississippi the night before. He said that local officials then received a tip identifying the driver of the vehicle. “Everyone here did a real good job,” Hitchborn said. Hitchborn also praised Alcorn County officials for their help in cracking the case. “It’s just sad that drugs are doing this to the country,” Hitchborn said.
See PHARMACY BREAK-IN, 3A
MCEWEN
STRICKLIN
Who Killed Adult Education? By Jeff Whitten
“I have enjoyed serving in this capacity for the past nine years. I am happy with what we have done,” Pearson said. The changes will begin July 1, with the new fiscal year. “It hurts my heart and I get emotional when I think about the lack of services that will be provided in the county, but that is beyond my control,” Pearson said. The program has served over 2,250 people since 2004 and 650 people have earned General Education Degrees. More than190 participants qualified for Lottery Scholarships, Pearson said. More than 400 participants have obtained employment and more than 200 have entered post-secondary education or training. Pearson hopes that more than 60 people will get GEDs this year. “We have many people going to college that couldn’t do that if they didn’t have that second chance,” Pearson said.
Head News writer
CONGIARDO FALLS IN REGIONAL FINAL Strong finish for AHS tennis star in final match PAGE 1B
Adult Education Director Patsy Pearson told the McNairy County Board of Education at it’s meeting last Thursday that the reorganization of adult education is going to go through. Pearson said that St. Sen. Dolores Gresham told her she will be unable to stop the changes. “I am afraid we have lost our battle,” Pearson said. Under the proposal, one county would have to run the adult education program of three counties in our area: McNairy, Hardin and Wayne, with greatly reduced funding from present levels. The Wayne County office is apparently going to receive the grant and run the programs in the three counties. “Adult Ed. as we know it now won’t happen next year, beginning in July,” Pearson said. More than 31 percent of county adults do not have a high school education.
See WHO KILLED ADULT ED, 2A
Commissioners vote NO on proposed wheel tax Funding compromise reached to address repairs By Jeff Whitten Head News Writer
RETIREMENT ROAST HONORS ‘PEE-WEE’ State’s oldest certified officer remembered PAGE 2A MEMORIAL DAY HOURS The Independent Appeal offices will be closed May 24 in celebration of the Memorial Day holiday. Our offices will be open during our regularly scheduled hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday, May 27, with a noon deadline.
Staff Photo by Christen Coulon
A muted response from audience members at last Monday’s county commission meeting after commissioners failed to approve the proposed $50 wheel tax. Commissioners approved $1.7 million in stop-gap funding to repair county’s aging schools.
The McNairy County Commission voted to fund a $1.7 million school repair program at its meeting last Monday. Prior to this vote, the proposed $50 wheel tax failed to garner the two-thirds vote required for passage. The commission voted unanimously to take the wheel tax proposal off the table in order to discuss it. The repair program includes fixing the roofs at McNairy Central High School and other schools, air conditioning the Adamsville Jr./Sr. High School gym, repairing the Adamsville Elementary School heating system and new bleachers for AJSHS and Selmer Middle School. The repairs will be paid for by a
capital outlay note, which is borrowed money. The payments on the note will be made from the $3 million fund balance in the debt service budget. A fund balance is the sum of all past budget surpluses from prior years. The vote for school repairs passed by a vote of 19-2, with Commissioner Jeff Lipford passing. Commissioners Stan Wheeler and Anthony Smith were the only commissioners voting no. Ashe said that this was a good but not a perfect proposal, a compromise. “The school has got to find funds to fix the roof,” Ashe said. The wheel tax only attained 12 of the 14 votes required for passage.
See COMMISSION, 3A
z Opinion 6A z Obituaries 7A z Lifestyles 8A z Events 9A z Community 10 A z Courtroom 11A z Sports 1B z Campus 6B z Classifieds 7B Wed - 82/60 Partly Cloudy
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