032410 by The Vicksburg Post

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River Region hospitalist takes load off doctors

WE DN E SDAY, MA rch 24, 2010 • 50¢

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By The Associated Press

Mississippi State bounces second-seed Ohio State from NCAA Tournament D1

WEAThEr Tonight: Chance of thunderstorms; low near 55 Thursday: Chance of thunderstorms; high near 72 Mississippi River:

34.7 feet Rose: 0.9 foot Flood stage: 43 feet

DEAThS • Fannie G. Ledlow • David W. Lyons Sr. • Irene B. Miller • Mary E. Pruett • Marye Helen Warnock Webster

TODAY IN hISTOrY 1765: Britain enacts the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers. 1955: The Tennessee Williams play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opens on Broadway. 1958: Singer Elvis Presley is inducted into the Army in Memphis. 1989: The supertanker Exxon Valdez runs aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and begins leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil. 2000: Sig Mickelson, the first president of CBS News, dies in San Diego at age 86.

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ONLINE www.vicksburgpost.com VOLUME 128 NUMBER 83 4 SECTIONS

‘Bring it on,’ White House says to health care lawsuit TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The White House says it isn’t worried that 13 state attorneys general, including Louisiana’s, are suing to overturn the health care overhaul, and many legal experts agree the effort is futile. The lawsuit, filed in federal court • Senate Dem seven says GOP minutes can’t face after music/A5 President • Bill will Barack make caloObama rie counts signed the hard to ig10-year, nore/C3 $938 billion health care bill, underscores the divisiveness of the issue and the political rancor that has surrounded it. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum led the effort to file the suit that claims Congress doesn’t have the constitutional right to force people to get health coverage. It also says the federal government is violating the Constitution by forcing a mandate on the states without providing resources to pay for it. “To that I say, ‘Bring it on,”’ said White House domestic policy chief Melody Barnes, who cited similar suits filed over Social Security and the Voting Rights Act when those were passed. “If you want to look in the face of a parent whose child now has health care insurance and say we’re repealing that ... go right ahead.” A 14th state, Virginia, did not join the bigger lawsuit, but filed its own, which other states are also considering. McCollum, a Republican running for governor, has been talking about suing to overturn the bill since December. This month he invited other attorneys general to join him. So far South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylva-

Inside

merediTh spencer•The Vicksburg PosT

Robert Summers, an employee of Mississippi Rubber on Washington Street, talks about the dip in business the company has seen since the rail overpass at Clark Street was closed.

Businesses near closed bridge feeling pinch By Steve Sanoski ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com

In the 14 months since the Washington Street rail overpass at Clark Street has been closed, Al Sellers said business at his nearby convenience store is off by at least 40 percent. “It’s basically been devastated,” said Sellers, who has owned the Red Lion Food Store at 3600 Washington St. for five years. “Really, I’m just trying to hold on and pay the note. I’m not making any money.” Sellers said he has cut back hours and tried to adjust his inventory to keep overhead down. Across the street at Mississippi Rubber Company, owner Ronny Fleming said the situation is every bit as dire. “It’s just absolutely killing us,” said Fleming, who has operated at 3525 Washington St. for 20 years. “It’s cut off all of our cash business, and it’s gotten to the point where we’ve been trying to decide whether or not to close for the past two or three months.” On the north side of the closed bridge, traffic is detoured off Washington Street onto Lee Street about a quarter mile before the bridge. On the south side, traffic is diverted onto North Front-

Signs line the corner of North Frontage Road and Washington Street, telling drivers that businesses are open despite a detour around the closed rail overpass at Clark Street. age Road another quarter mile before the bridge. The entrance to DiamondJacks Casino and Hotel is also inside a stretch of the roadway posted closed except to local traffic. Although signs at the barricades make clear the casino, one of five in the city, is still open, the absence of through traffic has had an effect. “Our local customers, they know we’re open and they’re finding us. But the out-of-town visitors, they see the road closed signs

and they don’t know what to do; they’re not sure if they can go through or not — even though we’ve got our signs up,” said Felicia Gavin, DiamondJacks general manager. “We’re missing a segment of our business — our tourist segment. We’re entering our peak season for tourist visitors, and I think we’ll be impacted slightly this year because of it.” Mayor Paul Winfield inherited the challenge of finding funds to replace the overpass when he took office in July, and said he’s

now hoping to get traffic flowing on Washington Street perhaps by diverting funds from another project. Following several recent trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby local delegates, his administration’s latest effort was to file a formal request for the funds via a federal earmark. Regardless of whether the federal appropriation comes through, Winfield said he is working to get the project split into two phases to See Bridge, Page A9.

See Lawsuit, Page A5.

Tapestry sees more takers; organizers mull expansion By Steve Sanoski ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com Midway through the second season of Tapestry: The Pilgrimage to Vicksburg, organizers say the interpretive tour series is off to a much better start. “Tapestry is really starting to catch on,” Duff Green Mansion owner Harry Sharp told fellow Vicksburg Main

If you go Tapestry will run through April 5. Tickets are $10 for one home tour or $25 for three tours, and are available at any of the 16 participating venues or the VCVB visitors center at 3300 Clay St. Visit vicksburgbedandbreakfast.com/tapestry. Street board members Tuesday. “Attendance is far better this year than last year.” Tapestry kicked off March 11 and will run through April

5. What makes it different from daily tourism offerings is that each of the 16 tour homes and museums is offering guest speakers or other

presentations. Programs vary from demonstrations on quilt making and Civil Warera surgical techniques to presentations of jewelry collections and documents from the slave trade in Vicksburg. A total of 485 Tapestry tickets were sold during the inaugural run. Sales through the first two weekhave already matched sales during the entire four-week

series last year, said Carolyn Stephenson, Annabelle Bed and Breakfast owner. Bill Seratt, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau director, attributed the increase to a better regional advertising campaign. “The Tapestry program was put together much earlier this year, which allowed See Tapestry, Page A5.