TUESDAY, m arch 23, 2010 • 50¢
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County begins talk of furloughs, more cuts By Danny Barrett Jr. dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com
hornets win All-Star Chris Paul returns B1
Budget overruns and new projections showing dwindling collections of court fines had Warren County officials Monday discussing employee furloughs and more cuts to departments and services. The gap between spending and revenue is on track to be $415,000 beyond last sum-
mer’s projections, County Administrator John Smith said during a budget update. Much of the total can be traced to the justice system, where indigent defense costs are much lower this year, but still more than allocated. Expenses in felony cases where defendants told circuit judges they couldn’t afford an attorney are on pace to See Budget, Page A2.
County money Revenue collections 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 (estimated) Circuit Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $189,565.17 . . . . . . $193,545.74 . . . . . . $114,566.75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $83,511 Justice Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $406,042.02 . . . . . . $343,368.19 . . . . . . $329,364.13 . . . . . . . . . . . $249,696.22 Youth Court/County Court . . . . . . $39,400 . . . . . . . . . . . $39,500 . . . . . . . . . . $25,100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,000 Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $635,007.19 . . . . $576,413.93 . . . . $469,030.88 . . . . . . . . . $339,207.22 Indigent defense 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 (estimated) Circuit Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $308,916.14 . . . . . $392.515.96 . . . . . $508,086.29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . $387,320.06 Justice Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,525 . . . . . . . . . . . $14,795 . . . . . . . . . . $15,900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,625 Youth Court/County Court . . . $106,331.71 . . . . . . . . . . $78,901 . . . . . . . $76,533.15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $90,950.16 Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $425,772.85 . . . . $486,211.96 . . . . . $600,519.44 . . . . . . . . . . $497,895.22
Ceres building mentioned as spot for jail
WHAT’S THE BUZZ?
WEATHER Tonight: Partly cloudy; low near 45 Wednesday: Partly cloudy; high near 78 Mississippi River:
33.8 feet Rose: 1.3 foot Flood stage: 43 feet
By Danny Barrett Jr. dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com
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DEATHS • Jean H. Antoine • Lucy Estelle Bagley • John Preston Barrett • Mary Evans • Ruth Adele Mannheimer
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TODAY IN HISTORY 1775: Patrick Henry delivers an address to the Virginia Provincial Convention in which he is said to have declared, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” 1806: Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, begin their journey back east. 1965: America’s first twoperson space flight begins as Gemini 3 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly 5-hour flight. 1983: President Ronald Reagan first proposes developing technology to intercept incoming enemy missiles — an idea that came to be known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. 1983: Dr. Barney Clark, recipient of a Jarvik permanent artificial heart, dies at the University of Utah Medical Center after 112 days with the device. 2009: The Obama administration unveils a plan to take over up to $1 trillion in sour mortgage securities with the help of private investors; Wall Street responded by hurtling the Dow Jones industrials upward nearly 500 points.
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meredith spencer•The Vicksburg Post
A bee hovers in the breeze while checking out blooming Camellias on the lawn of the Old Court House Museum Monday. Despite cooler tempera-
tures on Sunday the high for today was expected to be in the 70s, and rain is forecast for Thursday — before skies clear for the weekend.
A draft of a consultant’s final report contained the foregone conclusion that action is needed toward a new Warren County detention facility and for the first time discussion turned to a possible site — an existing shell building at the Ceres Industrial Interplex at Flowers. “It’s a decision to do nothing or build a jail,” consultant Dave Voorhis told supervisors Monday. “I think you’ve got to do something.” Though a final report is due next month from Colorado-based Voorhis/ Robertson Justice Services Inc., much of what appears in the 94-page draft and a 46-page index of statistics and diagrams released Monday mirrors previous discusssions — a 134,000-square-foot facility with 350 beds and enough room to expand to 650 beds, a tripling of jail staff to 63 by the time a new jail is open, a revamped system of processing crimiSee Jail, Page A9.
President Obama signs historic health care bill Legislation sets coverage for 32 million
Barbour, Bryant want suit filed over legality By Emily Wagster Pettus The Associated Press
By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — A broadly smiling President Barack Obama this morning signed a historic $938 billion health care overhaul that guarantees coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans and will touch nearly every citizen’s life, presiding over the biggest shift in U.S. domestic policy since the 1960s and capping a divisive, yearlong debate that could define the November elections. Celebrating “a new season in America” — the biggest accomplishment of his White House and one denied to a line of presidents before him — Obama made the massive bill law with an East Room signing ceremony. He was joined by jubilant House and Senate The associated press
See Health care, Page A9.
President Barack Obama signs the health care bill.
JACKSON — Mississippi’s Republican governor and lieutenant governor are asking the state’s Democratic attorney general to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a sweeping federal health care bill. The legislation passed Sunday, Gov. Haley and PresiBarbour dent Barack Obama signed it into law today. Gov. Haley Barbour said he will file a lawsuit himself if Attorney General Jim Hood does not make a decision by noon Thursday. “A physician’s creed is to ‘First, do no harm,”’ Barbour, who’s head of the RepubliSee State, Page A9.
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Lawmakers flirt with idea of extending session
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By The Associated Press
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www.vicksburgpost.com VOLUME 128 NUMBER 82 2 SECTIONS
JACKSON — Some Mississippi lawmakers want more time to finish the budget, but it’s unclear whether they’ll get it. Negotiators face a Wednesday deadline to file final versions of more than 100 bills setting government spending, and the House and
Senate must pass the bills by Friday. The fiscal year begins July 1. On Monday, House Democrats tried to pass a resolution that would extend the budget-writing deadlines until late April, when they believe more federal money might be available. Under the plan, lawmakers
would leave the Capitol late this week and return April 20. The extension resolution, however, died on a 5-5 vote in the House Rules Committee when Republicans opposed it. Democrats said they might try again to pass it. The three-month session is set to end April 3. House Appropriations
Chairman Johnny Stringer, D-Montrose, said he doubts legislators can finish their work by the Friday deadline. “Some people want the process to crash,” Stringer said. Another sticking point for lawmakers is they can’t agree on whether to set aside 2 percent of projected revenues as a cushion or to use that money up front to soften
budget cuts. Still hanging is a fight between House Democrats and Republican Gov. Haley Barbour over lawmakers’ desires to expand the unemployment rolls using federal stimulus funds. Caught in the middle is reauthorization of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.