Brandon Middle School teacher suspended

News Briefs From Across The State

By Monica Land

Teacher allegedly shoved student

A Brandon Middle School teacher is on suspension after what school district officials are referring to as a “disciplinary issue.”

Angela Smith told The Clarion-Ledger her eighth grade son was shoved on March 19 by information and communication technology teacher Terry Williams after he was caught tossing a piece of candy across the room.

Smith said Williams told her son to go to the principal’s office. She said her son stopped at the water fountain on the way to the principal’s office, and the teacher came out and started yelling at him. The teacher then grabbed him by the shirt and bumped

him with his chest.

The Rankin County School District said appropriate disciplinary actions had been taken.

The newspaper reports Williams could not be reached for comment.

Investigation continues into trooper beatings case

Mississippi’s top law enforcement officials say federal investigators are now looking at supervisors of a former trooper who admitted slamming a woman to the floor and stamping on her in the Lee County Jail.

Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz tells The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the Mississippi Highway Patrol called the FBI.

He said public complaints about troopers usually go through a series of internal reviews. But he says that didn’t happen in the case of Chris Hughes, a former Biloxi-area trooper who pleaded guilty recently to depriving the woman of her civil rights.

The newspaper said an official response to its queries about Hughes’ supervisors said they were a personnel matter not likely to be answered soon because of a federal investigation.

Another Dem asks to get back on mayoral ballot

The Vicksburg Municipal Democratic Executive Committee has not yet ruled on whether to keep Linda Fondren out of the Democratic primary for mayor, but she’s already gone to court to get back on the ballot.

The Vicksburg Post reported that the committee was scheduled to meet Monday to discuss Fondren’s residency. She asked Warren County Circuit Court last Friday to order her reinstatement.

The committee struck her from the ballot because her four vehicles are registered outside the city.

At a hearing this month, attorney Willie Griffin argued that property records show she lives in Vicksburg.

During that hearing, the committee reinstated David Day but ruled that Lester Smith remains disqualified as a convicted felon.

Four other candidates are on the ballot. The winner will face Independent Daryl Hollingsworth on June 4.

Waveland mayor, ex-chief dismissed from suit

A federal judge has dismissed an excessive-force lawsuit against Waveland’s mayor and former police chief, but will allow claims to move forward against two officers.

The Sun Herald reports that the decision was made in a partial summary judgment last week by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr.

The judge dismissed Earl Seymour’s complaints against Mayor David Garcia and former Police Chief Jimmy Varnell.

The judge also dismissed most of the complaints against the two officers who arrested Seymour before a Mardi Gras parade on Feb. 7, 2010.

The judge says Garcia and Varnell cannot be held liable for Seymour’s alleged treatment because they were not present when he was arrested.

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