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CRIME REPORT
Obama budget targets deficit, economy
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By The Associated Press
B1 WEATHER Tonight: rain, lows in the mid-40s Tuesday: partly sunny, slight chance of rain, highs in the lower 60s Mississippi River:
36.5 feet Fell: 0.3 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
A7
DEATHS • Lee G. Brown Jr. • Samuel Leon Clark Jr.
A7
TODAY IN HISTORY 1920: The League of Nations recognizes the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland. 1945: Allied planes begin bombing the German city of Dresden. The Soviets capture Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans. 1991: During Operation Desert Storm, allied warplanes destroy an underground shelter in Baghdad that had been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500 civilians were killed. 2002: Country singer Waylon JenWaylon Jennings nings dies in Chandler, Ariz., at age 64.
INDEX Classifieds............................. B6 Comics...................................A6 Puzzles................................... B5 Dear Abby............................ B5 Editorial.................................A4 People/TV............................. B4
Homicides up, many categories fall in ’11 By Pamela Hitchins phitchins@vicksburgpost.com
reported, one each in 2009 and 2008 and none in 2007. All four 2011 homicides in the county involved family members or people living together. “Probably the most difficult homicide to prevent is the domestic,” said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace. “Many times no one, including law enforcement, is aware that there is a problem until it’s too late.” VPD ended 2011 with three deaths that were ruled homicide, an increase from 2010, the same number reported in 2006. The deadliest year in Vicksburg in recent years remains
Homicides dominated the crime reports for Vicksburg and Warren County in 2011. Including two that were later ruled accidental, the city and county investigated nine shooting deaths last year. Five were investigated by the Vicksburg Police Department and four by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. The county’s four matched the number the department investigated five years ago. In 2010, none was
2007, which saw seven homicides, an accidental shooting death and two DUI-related vehicular homicides. Seven homicides were also recorded in the city in 2008, five of them in one week in June. Arrests were reported in all 2011 city and county homicide cases. Domestic violence reports, both misdemeanor and felony, have risen in both county and city, statistics show. Vicksburg police say the figures might reflect better reporting rather than a true increase in See Crime, Page A7.
City and County Crime Statistics Vicksburg Police Department
2006
2010
2011
Homicide Rape Robbery Aggravated assault Total
2 14 49 53 124
2 28 29 132 227
3 25 21 96 171
466 911 75 1,466
560 1,149 64 1,773
505 1,181 57 1,743
n/a
572
589
Marijuana Cocaine Other drugs Total
n/a n/a n/a n/a
123 84 51 258
139 99 41 279
Juvenile arrests
398
467
484
Crimes against people
Property crimes Burglary Larceny Auto theft Total
Domestic violence Drug Crimes
Warren County Sheriff’s Department
2006
Crimes against people Homicide Rape Robbery Aggravated Assault Total
2010
2011
4 2 1 10 17
0 7 5 12 24
4 5 1 6 16
Burglary Larceny Auto Theft Total
131 190 40 361
261 190 44 495
129 261 18 408
Domestic violence Drug Crimes
115
123
139
Marijuana Cocaine Other drugs Total
79 27 36 142
52 6 29 87
Juvenile arrests
164
106
Property crimes
45 8 28 81
122
Statistics provided by the Vicksburg Police Department and the Warren County Sheriffs’ Department.
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www.vicksburgpost.com VOLUME 130 NUMBER 44 2 SECTIONS
secrecy
‘Work sessions’ sometimes close doors to openness By Michael Newsom The Sun Herald GULFPORT — The Grenada Star newspaper recently uncovered a plan by city and county officials to charter a bus and head 60 miles to Oxford to spend the day discussing business at a club near the town square. The newspaper in the northwest Mississippi town began asking questions and ran an editorial about the retreat involving the Grenada City Council, Grenada County Board of Supervisors and others. Officials denied the planned meeting at the Oxford University Club, but the paper con-
Mississippi secrets: This is the first in a four-part series written by The Associated Press and the Mississippi Center of Freedom of Information. firmed reservations had been made for the meeting space and obtained a city letter outlining the plans. In an editorial two days before the planned meeting, the newspaper contended that if it was public, adequate notice had not been given, and encouraged “responsible elected See Secrecy, Page A7.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama today sent Congress a new budget that seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade while at the same time showering billions of dollars of increased spending on President Barack Obama areas aimed at giving the economy a quick boost. The submission was immediately attacked by Republicans as a retread of ideas Congress has already rejected. The battle is likely to extend all the way to the November elections. In a fact sheet previewing the budget, the administration sought to cast the debate as a fight to protect the middle class following decades of eroding security and a deep recession. “We must transform our budget from one focused on speculating, spending and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating and building,” the administration said. Obama was scheduled to speak later today to students at Northern Virginia Community College to highlight a new $8 billion proposal that aims at boosting the ability of the nation’s community colleges to train students for the jobs of the future. While administration officials defended the plan as a balanced approach, Republicans attacked the effort for failing to do more to restrain the deficit, which Obama had promised in 2009 to cut in half by the end of his first term. “It seems like the president has decided again to campaign instead of govern,” Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said in an interview.
Meeting on sports complex delayed third time in weeks From staff reports A special meeting of the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen scheduled for today to discuss a proposed recreation complex that will cost about $20 million has been delayed, Mayor Paul Winfield said this morning. He said the board will discuss the proposed bill at its regular meeting on Tuesday. Today’s meeting was to have dealt with a proposal to ask the Mississippi Legislature for approval to increase hotel and food and
beverage taxes to fund the sports park at an undisclosed location. Winfield wants to borrow about $20 million to buy land and develop the park. He wants to increase the city’s 2 percent hotel tax by an additional 2 percent and add a 1.5 percent tax on food and beverages to fund the proposed sports park. It was the third time Winfield has postponed discussion on the bill and the sports complex. He initially planned to discuss the bill at the board’s Feb. 6 meetSee Meeting, Page A7.