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County board flip-flops top spots By Danny Barrett Jr. dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com Warren County has a new attorney, a not-so-new board president and new members of its parks and recreation and Vicksburg bridge commissions. In 18 minutes of rapid-fire votes Tuesday in their first meeting of the new four-year term, the Warren County supervisors also advertised for the top job in the Road Department and rescinded their choice to chair the Warren County Port Commission.
Marcie Southerland
Randy Sherard
Bill Lauderdale
Marcie Southerland was chosen unanimously to replace longtime board attorney Randy Sherard, while newly elected District 1 Supervisor John Arnold drove home crucial votes for Gerald Bailey as the district’s
Richard George
representative on the recreation board and Wesley B. Jones to replace Tom Hill as the district’s choice on the Vicksburg Bridge Commission more than three years before Hill’s term expires. Arnold, who spoke out in
December against supervisors appointing port commissioners before the start of a term, was a deciding vote to hire a new attorney to replace Sherard, whom former supervisor David McDonald had backed in several split votes in his three terms. Arnold defeated McDonald in the Republican primaries in August. Arnold limited his comments after Tuesday’s meeting, which also ended in his being named as supervisors’ representative on the See County, Page A6.
Ever y day Si nCE 1883
All seasoned employees in assessor’s office gone By Danny Barrett Jr.
dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com
Every employee in the Warren County Tax Assessor’s Office has quit, retired or been fired since the Nov. 8 election of Angela Brown. On Tuesday, Brown opened the doors of the office in the Warren County Courthouse with three new employees who have a combined nine years of experience in evaluating property for
taxes. Deputy tax assessors from Humphreys County are training the Angela new Brown employees to coordinate homestead filings and appraisals where more than 50 See Brown, Page A7.
Fatal wreck suspect Republicans take historic stand at Capitol released on bond MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
By Emily Wagster Pettus The Associated Press
By Pamela Hitchins
JACKSON — Mississippi lawmakers convened their 2012 session Tuesday with a history-making Republican majority, as the House elected Philip Gunn of Clinton as its new presiding officer. Republicans already controlled the 52-member Senate, and they took control of the 122-member House in the Nov. 8 elections. This is the first time since ReconRep. Greg struction Snowden that the GOP has held the majority in both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature, and Gunn, whose district includes Sen. Terry part of north Brown Warren County, is the first Republican House speaker since then. Republicans decided weeks ago that Gunn was their choice for speaker, and Democrats did not nominate a candidate Tuesday. Gunn, a 48-year-old attorney, was elected speaker with-
A Vicksburg man charged in a fatal DUI-related wreck was released from the Warren County Jail Tuesday, hours after a bond of $200,000 had been set in Vicksburg Municipal Court. Julius Hebron, 62, 104 Hillside Circle, paid the bond at about 9 p.m. for his release. The bond had been set by Municipal Court Judge Nancy Thomas earlier in the day. Hebron was charged with aggravated driving under the influence after the wreck that killed Andrea Eli Baylis•The Vicksburg Post Michelle “Shelly” Julius Hebron, 62, center, is escorted Guider, 105 by Vicksburg Police Chief Walter ArmGrey Oaks strong, right, and Cpl. Eric Paymon. Drive, Monday just before 11 to Hebron following the a.m. wreck. He had no prior conPolice said Hebron, drivvictions for DUI, she said. ing a pickup, was headed Hebron told Thomas he north on Halls Ferry Road has been employed for 15 and failed to stop at a 1/2 years at Cooper Lightred light at North Fronting and had one previous age Road, hitting Guider’s arrest, as a teenager in Toyota Camry broadside. Jackson. The charge was Guider was westbound not specified. He declined a on North Frontage turning court-appointed attorney. left onto Halls Ferry. The If convicted, Hebron impact pushed her car into could face a 25-year prison a third vehicle, a Honda sentence. Accord driven by Ann Funeral services for Elliot, 49, no address availGuider are scheduled for able, and caused Hebron’s Thursday at St. Michael truck to flip. Catholic Church. Warren County Coroner It was the first fatal wreck Doug Huskey pronounced in Vicksburg and Warren Guider dead at the scene County in 2012. from severe chest and Eight fatal wrecks were abdominal injuries. Hebron recorded in the county in and Elliot were treated and released from River Region 2011, and three in the city.
phitchins@vicksburgpost.com
The associated press
Rep. Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, recites the oath as speaker of the House, as he is sworn in by Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, while Gunn’s wife, Lisa, holds the Bible.
On A3 Barbours moving out; Thompson signs up to seek another term out opposition and received a standing ovation from members of both parties. He pledged to seek unity in the House. “I will do my best to serve you with honesty, fairness and dignity,” Gunn said. Gunn called for unity and
said the House has been divided for too long by opinion, age, race, region and party. He said he also has been guilty of engaging in some types of division, and he apologized for it. “Let us work together to make Mississippi better than it has ever been before,” Gunn said. Republican Tate Reeves of Flowood will be inaugurated Thursday as lieutenant governor, the Senate’s presiding officer. Republican Phil Bryant, who will be inaugu-
rated as governor Jan. 10, is in his final days as lieutenant governor and presided over the Senate on Tuesday. Both legislative chambers on Tuesday unanimously elected their second-highest officers. Republican Terry Brown of Columbus was chosen Senate president pro tempore, and Republican Greg Snowden of Meridian was chosen House speaker pro tempore. “We’ve got a lot of situSee Congress, Page A7.
Federal court sets date to return Yazoo pumps to fore By The Associated Press JACKSON — A federal appeals court has scheduled arguments for Feb. 9 in New Orleans on efforts by a Mississippi levee board to revive a long-debated federal pump project. The Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners appealed a Mississippi federal judge’s dismissal of its lawsuit against the U.S.
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Environmental Protection Agency. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Feb. 9. The levee board wants to move forward with the Yazoo Backwater Project, a proposed pump station to drain wetlands, farmland and forests north of Vicksburg when the Mississippi River is high. Congress authorized the
WEATHER
project in 1941 but didn’t fully fund it. The EPA vetoed the Yazoo pump aspect of the project in 2008, saying it would destroy wetlands, water quality and habitat for threatened species. The levee board sued in 2009 in U.S. District Court in Greenville, challenging the EPA’s veto authority. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in Aberdeen dis-
DEATHS
• Joel Dexter Allen • Andrea Michelle Thursday: Guider Mostly sunny, highs in the 60s Tonight:
Partly cloudy, lows in the 30s
Mississippi River:
35.5 feet Fell: 0.4 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
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missed the suit March 28. The levee board contends the proposed pump would lower a 100-year flood by 4 feet, and the project would remove about 60,000 acres from agricultural production so hardwood trees could be planted to increase wetlands. The levee board has said the environmental community has circulated a lot of See Pumps, Page A7.
TODAY IN HISTORY 1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, calls for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the handicapped. 1964: Pope Paul VI
begins a visit to the Holy Land. 1974: President Richard M. Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Vicksburg police Lt. Sandra Williams would not release the results of blood alcohol tests given
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