2013 – Page 39 – The Mississippi Link

Shuqualak rebuilding after April tornado

Two months after a devastating tornado swept through Noxubee County, the residents of Shuqualak are rebuilding their homes and their lives.

Running Water Road received the brunt of the April 11 tornado, where nine mobile homes were destroyed, the winds seeming to pick up and drop the home as effortlessly as a child picking a dandelion. While residents were grateful that no lives were lost on that fateful day, they worried about whether they would have the money necessary to rebuild, fearful that federal assistance wouldn’t come. […]

DOJ to launch hate crime inquiry in case of George Zimmerman

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Although he is said to be in hiding after his acquittal in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, trouble for George Zimmerman appears to be far from over.

The Justice Department said Sunday that it was restarting its investigation into Martin’s death in 2012 to consider possible separate hate crime charges against Zimmerman.

Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Martin was acquitted of all charges by a jury late Saturday. […]

Elderly Morton woman killed in freak accident

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Reportedly, no charges have been filed in a freak accident last month that claimed the life of 73-year-old Morton woman. WLBT reported that Catherine Westman was coming out of a nail salon when she was run over by a forklift in the parking lot of the Fairway Grocery store during the afternoon hours of June 12.

The forklift was being used to remove boxes.

Scott County Coroner Joe Bradford said Westman was taken to UMC in Jackson where she died in surgery. […]

Police: UM’s Henderson appeared to have drugs; suspended indefinitely

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The Oxford police chief says Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson appeared to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana and cocaine during a traffic stop in May.

Henderson, a 6-foot-2 senior from Hurst, Texas, was suspended indefinitely by coach Andy Kennedy on Wednesday for “violation of team rules,” but no other reason was given.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the traffic stop, citing a police report. […]

Simpson County woman killed in accident

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A one car accident has claimed the life of a Simpson County woman.

Jefferson Davis County Deputy Coroner Kathy Stephens says the accident happened on Granby Road around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. That’s off Highways 84 and 35 near Prentiss.

The 24-year-old was driving a Ford Taurus when she lost control, left the roadway and hit a tree. […]

Economy impacts Natchez casino market

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Despite increased revenues since the city’s second casino opened in December, a Mississippi gambling expert says it could take several years for Natchez to see substantial growth to the local casino market.

Former University of Southern Mississippi professor, researcher and author Dr. Denise Runge said she would, of course, not have expected local gambling revenues to instantaneously double with the opening of a new casino.

“It’s so hard to draw real clear comparisons because (Magnolia Bluffs Casino) opened up on the tail end of a recession going into recovery,” she said. […]

Green Circle locating wood pellet operations to George County

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Officials from Green Circle Bio Energy said the company is locating an energy wood pellet manufacturing facility in the George County Industrial Park. The project represents a company investment of $115 million and will create 126 jobs with the potential of up to 141.

The majority of the project’s jobs will be at the George County facility with the remainder being at the Port of Pascagoula. Additional temporary jobs will also be created during plant construction.

The facility is expected to be operational by spring 2015 and will produce wood pellets for shipment from the Port of Pascagoula to European markets to be sold to electric generating facilities as a renewable alternative to coal. Initially, the plant will have the capacity to produce 500,000 tons of wood pellets per year. […]

Man out on bond for teen’s murder now faces drug charges

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WLBT reported that a man already facing a murder charge for killing a 15-year-old boy has now been arrested for drugs.

Jackson Police said Cedric Ratliff, 26, had almost half a pound of marijuana in his possession at a residence in the 1400 block of Cox Street.

The drugs have a street value of about $1,000. One thousand dollars in cash was also recovered from the residence, WLBT said. […]

Former asylum patients’ resting place unearthed on UMMC campus

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Mable Daniels’ great-grandmother was a patient in the State Insane Asylum about a century ago when she was laid to rest on the asylum grounds – before her family, who hails from Vaiden, knew she had died.

“Things were done different back then,” said Daniels, of Forest.

Apparently so; Daniels wonders if her ancestor’s remains could lie in one of the five dozen wooden coffins uncovered over the last several months beneath the former site of the vanished asylum – the campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. […]

Late Miss. cotton planting amplifies bug threat

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Farmers are finally catching up on cotton planting, but experts are worried that the late start could expose the crop to more insects than if wet weather hadn’t delayed planting.

Mississippi farmers had intended to plant corn on many acres in hopes of cashing in on high prices. But winter and spring rains left many fields waterlogged, making it hard for tractors to plant as early as required for corn.

Cotton and soybeans can be planted later, and farmers’ plans for cotton ballooned to 340,000 acres from what had been projected to be a historic low of about 200,000. Mississippi farmers planted 580,000 acres of cotton in 2012. […]