News Briefs From Across the State
Charged with filing fraudulent tax returns
A Tupelo woman is going to federal prison for preparing and transmitting fraudulent income tax returns. Irma Santacruze was sentenced to one year and a day in prison and she was ordered to repay the IRS $33,166. Once she is released from prison, she will serve a three-year probation.
Santacruze was found guilty in U.S. Federal Court in Oxford and Judge Neal Biggers presided over the matter.
Santacruze will report to prison on April 5.
Man killed on the Trace
Authorities said a French Camp man was killed when his truck left the roadway and hit a tree on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Fifty-one year old Eddie Cork died at a local hospital and his passenger was airlifted to UMC in Jackson, after the incident near Berry Church, last Sunday night.
No other vehicles were reportedly involved in the accident and the Natchez Trace Rangers are handing the investigation.
Hundreds march to protest school board budget cuts
WABG reported that several hundred people marched in Cleveland last month to protest several decisions made by the Cleveland School Board.
The march was made up of students, parents and teachers, and began at Nailor Elementary School and ended at the Central Building of the Cleveland School District, several blocks away.
Within an hour before the 6 p.m. board meeting, supporters packed the board room and confronted school board president Dr. Harvey Jackson, WABG said.
Supporters were angry that Jackson approved the changes by the board which included merging the 7th and 8th grade students from Smith Middle School into East Side High School, and closing the old part of Nailor Elementary.
WABG reported that the changes have already been approved and the board maintained their position, despite the massive crown in attendance.
The Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce sponsored a public forum the following week wherein school superintendent, Dr. Florence Thigpen, told the audience that the district will still have to trim the budget by at least $3 million due to state cuts to education.
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