5 children hurt in hayride accident

News Briefs From Across The State

By Monica Land

Students were at year-end celebration

Five children at Lake Cormorant Elementary School received minor cuts and bruises in a hayride accident during an end-of-the-year celebration at the school.

The Commercial Appeal reports the accident occurred in the school’s parking lot about 9:45 a.m. Thursday. The school is near Walls in western DeSoto County.

Authorities say there were 12 children and three teachers sitting inside the last of three carts being pulled by a tractor. As the hayride rounded a curve in the parking lot, the final cart lurched to one side, causing several occupants to grab the guardrail, which broke, and the children fell to the ground.

DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Dick Hackett said no charges will be filed against the driver because it was a private lot accident involving a tractor.

Man shot in both feet in Clarksdale

Captain Robbie Linley said Clarksdale police are investigating an aggravated assault that occurred last week where a man was shot twice, once in each foot.

Linley, who did not identify the victim, said he was walking in the 300 block of South State Street about 6:51 p.m., on May 16. The victim told police he was approached by an unknown subject and shot.

No suspects are in custody.

Miss. high court to review sexual battery case

The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a conviction and life sentence handed down in a sexual battery case in Union County.

Johnny Young Jr. was found guilty of three counts of sexual battery by a Union County Circuit Court jury in 2009. He was sentenced to serve three life sentences.

The state Court of Appeals upheld Young’s conviction last year. The Supreme Court agreed last week to hear the case.

Prosecutors say the victim was under 14 years of age.

Young had claimed the trial judge was wrong to allow certain evidence to be used at trial. He says also claimed prosecutors didn’t prove his guilt.

Leflore Co. to track vehicles with GPS

Leflore County will start tracking vehicle use with GPS devices.

The board of supervisors have signed a contract with a company has provided the service to the city of Greenwood since November 2010.

The Greenwood Commonwealth reports they will pay Fleetmatics $40 per unit per month.

The satellite devices allow monitoring from any computer of where a vehicle is, how fast it’s going and how long it has been operating. County Administrator Sam Abraham says department heads and supervisors will be able to see how vehicles are being used. He says most of the county’s vehicles, about 100, will have GPS.

Abraham says employees will be notified that GPS is being installed but won’t know which vehicles have them and which ones don’t.

Bolivar County gets $700k grant for courthouse repairs

Trina George, State Director for the USDA, said Bolivar County received more than $700,000 in grant funds to make major improvements to the Rosedale Courthouse.

George said the project was funded by a Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) grant for $300,000, a HUD grant for $350,000 and $350,000 from USDA Rural Development. The Bolivar County Board of Supervisors also contributed $10,000 to the project.

High school statue vandalized

Lamar County School District police are investigating the vandalism of a swan statue at Oak Grove High School.

Principal Wayne Folkes told the Hattiesburg American earlier this month, the swan was painted red during the early morning hours.

Folkes says activity was picked up by security cameras at the school. He said no person was seen on the video, just light from a flashlight.

Folkes says damage to the swan was minimal and involved only the spray paint.

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