F riDAY, mArch 5, 2010 • 50¢
SpOrTS
ON ThE DiAmONDS WC, VHS win in softball, baseball B1
WEAThEr Tonight: Clear; low near 32 Saturday: Sunny; high near 61
Robber’s body discovered under bridge at highways By Steve Sanoski ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com The body of one of two men chased after a violent robbery at a small grocery Thursday night was found this morning at the Interstate 20-U.S. 61 interchange and authorities were trying to determine whether he was
shot, jumped or fell from an overpass. A second suspect, described, like the dead man, as Hispanic, was being sought by police in the robbery and assault at La Chiquita grocery store, 4002 U.S. 61 South, which triggered the chase and shootout. Police received a call about
the armed robbery at 8:41, said Sgt. Sandra Williams. “The caller reported two Hispanic males entered the business wearing ski masks. One was carrying an SKS assault rifle, and the other had a handgun,” Williams said. After taking an undisclosed See Body, Page A7.
KATIE CARTER•The Vicksburg PosT
Vicksburg Police Department Lt. Bobby Stewart, from left, Investigator Michael Wallace, Sgt. Sandra Williams and Assistant Police Chief Jeffery Scott discuss this morning’s case.
Davenport could learn fate today
A PERFECT DAY
Mississippi River:
31.1 feet Fell: 0.2 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
A7
DEAThS • Mary Louise Fant Carlson • Ollie Christmas Sr. • Florence Cameron Davis • Mamie Diggs • Alma Smith Duffin • Betty McDaniels • Robert Earl Stewart Jr.
By Pamela Hitchins phitchins@vicksburgpost.com
A7
TODAY iN hiSTOrY 1770: The Boston Massacre takes place as British soldiers who’d been taunted by a crowd of colonists open fire, killing five people. 1868: The Senate is organized into a Court of Impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson, who is later acquitted. 1946: Winston Churchill delivers his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. 1953: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin dies after three decades in power. 1963: Country music performers Patsy Cline, “Cowboy” Copas and “Hawkshaw” Hawkins die in a plane crash near Camden, Tenn., that also claimed the life of pilot Randy Hughes (Cline’s manager). 1970: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after 43 nations ratify it. 1982: Comedian John Belushi is found dead of a drug overdose in a rented bungalow in Hollywood; he was 33. 2000: Israel’s Cabinet votes unanimously to withdraw its troops from south Lebanon by the following July.
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mEREdITh SpEnCER•The Vicksburg PosT
Four-year-old Odalis Dela Cruz, the daughter of Maria Avila, catches a ball while playing with her brother, Alexis Avila, near their apartment on Belva Drive Thursday. At right, Greg Nasif, owner of Dependable Painters, touches up the trim on his parents’ Short Cherry Street home. Temperatures Thursday were just about perfect for being outside, a high of 58 and a low of 30. The even better news is the National Weather Service was predicting more of the same throughout the weekend, temps in the mid-60s and only partly cloudy skies.
Master Sgt. Dane Davenport might learn today if he will go to prison or remain free as jurors could begin deliberating the child molestation charges for which the state trooper has been on trial all week. As he has before, Davenport, 47, testified in his own defense. “I have not touched those kids,” Davenport told jurors Thursday. “I have not hurt those kids. I have not done any sexual things with those kids.” Davenport was indicted more than two years ago on the four counts of sexual battery and five counts Dane of fondling he faces in Davenport Warren County Circuit Court. An earlier trial here resulted in a jury unable to reach a verdict. He was acquitted of charges he had molested one of the two in Oktibbeha County by a jury there. Davenport said the teens’ mother misinterpreted an incident of “wrestling around,” convinced herself that “something happened” and kept after the boys until they agreed with her just to quiet her. She’s “always been hyper-sensitive about this stuff,” said Davenport, who has known the mother since high school. He said that the mother had also accused the boys’ father of sexual abuse. He said he believes the teens thought the matter would end if they just agreed with her. “I don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into.” The youths, both now teenagers, spent a total of almost six hours testifying separately Tuesday and Wednesday, describing incidents and specifically accusing Davenport of rape. In his testimony, Davenport also detailed financial interests he shares with the boys’ mother, suggesting she was trying to protect her stake by pushing the boys to make the accusations, and the head of his defense team, John Zelbst, introduced a document and photographs that contradicted the timing of several of the boys’ specific allegations that are the source of some counts in the
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House passes bill to beef up open meetings laws
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By Emily Wagster Pettus The Associated Press
ONLiNE
JACKSON — The Mississippi House on Thursday passed a bill originally designed to strengthen the open meetings laws, but the state Ethics Commis-
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sion director said the bill has been watered down. “If a board goes into an illegal secret meeting and does something sneaky, somebody needs to be able to undo that. That’s not possible under current law, and it’s not possible under the House ver-
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sion,” ethics director Tom Hood said Thursday. House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, said his committee made the bill stronger, not weaker. “I believe in doing what’s reasonable and what’s right
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and in the public’s best interests. And I think that what we did was certainly that,” Blackmon said in a separate interview. When the bill passed the Senate last month, it would’ve required elected officials to use their own
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money to pay fines for illegally closing meetings. Under current law, fines are paid by tax dollars — not by the individual violators. The House committee voted early this week to See Open, Page A7.