News Briefs From Across The State
By Monica Land
Brian Hill dies at local hospital
An employee of Tombigbee Electric Power Association in Fulton has died after being hit by a falling tree.
Lee County's coroner said Brian Hill was pronounced dead at 2:43 p.m. Thursday, July 19, after being taken to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that Hill was injured while helping cut down a tree in Fulton. According to Itawamba County Sheriff's Department deputy Jason Dickinson, the tree was rotten and split apart while workers were cutting it. A portion of the tree landed on Hill.
Well leaking hydrogen sulfide in Wayne County
Emergency officials say a natural gas well is leaking hydrogen sulfide in Wayne County and officials have evacuated everyone within a mile radius and shut down the airspace in the area.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) says in a news release that the evacuation effected seven houses and 27 people. They were put up in hotels by the well operator Escambia Operating Co. LLC.
MEMA spokesman Jeff Rent says there was no explosion and workers are attempting to stop the leak.
MEMA says hydrogen sulfide is a poisonous, flammable gas which gives off the smell of rotten eggs. It can deaden a person's sense of smell so a potential victim may be unaware of its presence.
2 brothers arrested on drug charges
Two brothers are behind bars after an undercover drug investigation.
Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson tells WCBI 60-year-old Bryant Durdin and 65-year-old James Durdin are charged with the sale of hydrocodone. The arrests came after a search of their home in Mooreville.
According to investigators, the arrests are the result of an undercover operation conducted over the past several months. Bonds for both men are set at $10,000.
It's not clear whether the brothers have attorneys.
Camp Shelby to start effort to build new barracks
Camp Shelby officials will break ground Thursday on the first of a 12-phase program to build new barracks on the sprawling training post.
The $41.4 million first phase will build four barracks, each four stories high, that can hold a total of 1,344 service members. Construction on the complex is supposed to be complete in July 2014.
DCD Construction Inc. of Ocean Springs, Miss., and W.G. Yates & Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Miss. have won contracts to build the barracks.
Located just south of Hattiesburg, Camp Shelby is a major base for training and mobilizing troops. It is owned and operated by the Mississippi National Guard, but regular military units and guard units from other states routinely use its facilities.
