Kermit – Page 32 – The Mississippi Link

Woman found shot to death in Duck Hill home

Residents of Duck Hill were shaken Friday night when a young woman was found shot to death in her home in the 700 block of Melissa Circle. Shayla Miers, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene by Montgomery County Assistant Coroner James Wagner.

Montgomery County Sheriff Jerry “Bubba” Nix said Miers had been shot multiple times.

Nix said the Miers’ mother made the grim discovery.

“Her mother came in the house and found her around 6:30 on the living room floor,” he said.

Nix said Miers lived in the home with her parents and her 5-year-old daughter. […]

Annette Funicello, Mouseketeer and film star, dies

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Annette Funicello, who became a child star as a perky, cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, then teamed up with Frankie Avalon on a string of `60s fun-in-the-sun movies with names like “Beach Blanket Bingo” and “Bikini Beach,” died Monday. She was 70.

She died at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California, of complications from multiple sclerosis, the Walt Disney Co. said.

Funicello stunned fans and friends in 1992 with the announcement about her ailment. Yet she was cheerful and upbeat, grappling with the disease with a courage that contrasted with her lightweight teen image of old. […]

Widow of critic Roger Ebert said she is ‘devastated’

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In a blog post, the widow of famed film critic Roger Ebert said she was devastated by the loss of her love.

Chaz Ebert posted her thoughts on Ebert’s blog hours after her husband died Thursday, April 4, after a long battle with cancer.

Funeral services for 70-year-old Ebert were held Monday at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. His wife spoke fondly of their relationship to the crowd in attendance.

Just after his death, Chaz wrote she had lost the love of her life and the world has lost a visionary, creative and generous spirit. Chaz, an attorney, and Ebert were married in 1992. […]

SMCC seeks edge to lure honor students

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Southwest Mississippi Community College will offer students scoring 27 or 28 on the ACT full tuition and a $500 bookstore voucher beginning this fall.

The students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average to continue to receive free tuition.

SMCC President Steve Bishop told the Enterprise-Journal that the change was recently approved by the school’s board of trustees as a means of attracting honor students to the two-year school in Summit.

Bishop says students who score 29 and above will receive full tuition, room, meals and a $500 bookstore voucher, provided they maintain a 3.0 GPA. […]

Civil rights activist, Euvester Simpson, among those to get Hamer Award

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Civil rights activist, Euvester Simpson, who was just a teenager when she was jailed with Fannie Lou Hamer in Winona, Miss. in 1963, is one of five people who will be honored by The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute on April 19 at Jackson State University.

The four other humanitarian award recipients are:

Rev. John Earl Cameron of Jackson, a civil rights activist who ran for Congress in 1963; Alvin O. Chambliss, an attorney who represented Jake Ayer Sr. in the landmark lawsuit over desegregation in Mississippi’s higher education system; Jackson attorney Robert McDuff, whose work has include voting rights issues, civil rights and criminal law; and Nsombi Lambright, director of Resource Development and Communications for One Voice and former director of the Mississippi ACLU. […]

Death row inmate opposes setting execution date

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Death row inmate Willie Jerome Manning has told the Mississippi Supreme Court that he has more arguments to make, meaning now is not the time to be setting an execution date sought by the attorney general’s office.

Manning was recently denied an appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court in the deaths of two college students. The attorney general’s office asked the Mississippi court to schedule the execution for April 24.

In a brief filed on April 1, Manning’s attorney said there are issues pending before the state high court. Manning is seeking a new trial, arguing that a jailhouse informant had recanted his testimony; that Manning’s trial attorney was ineffective; and that blacks were improperly kept off his trial jury. […]

New 'personhood' initiative proposed in Miss.

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Abortion opponents are pushing for another Mississippi ballot initiative that would define life as beginning at conception, coming less than two years after 58 percent of voters in the conservative state rejected a nearly identical proposal.

Sponsors who filed paperwork for a new initiative said they believe people were misled about the measure that was defeated in November 2011.

Opponents call the move a waste of time.
[…]

State auditor recovers $19k for Vicksburg

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State Auditor Stacey Pickering presented a check for $19,416.10 to officials with the City of Vicksburg. This recovery follows an investigation into embezzlement of public funds by former Assistant City Clerk, Katrina McCloud. The amount recovered includes $18,842.53 in total funds embezzled and $573.57 in interest expense.

“In light of the recent headlines in Warren County, I am pleased that the Office of the State Auditor can provide some positive news to the City of Vicksburg,” said State Auditor Stacey Pickering. “The money returned…should restore funds that the City can use for the betterment of its future.” […]

Saturday mail cutback still being debated

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The new spending bill passed by Congress in March appears to continue the requirement for six-day mail delivery, but some lawmakers and postal officials say plans to cut Saturday service should proceed.

The financially troubled Postal Service announced that it would switch in August to five-day service for first-class mail and continue six-day package delivery. The government at the time was running on a temporary spending measure and postal officials invited lawmakers to spell out the way ahead in the 2013 spending bill. That sweeping funding bill was approved Thursday without new language.

Some lawmakers say a long-standing provision in the bill mandates six-day delivery. Postal authorities argue they still will have delivery over six days, just that not all mail will be delivered all six days. […]

George Co. site for new wood pellet plant

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Gulf Coast Renewable Energy will locate a $25 million wood pellet plant in the industrial park in George County.

Company officials met with the board of supervisors to request help with construction of an access road to the site on 40 acres just outside the Lucedale city limits.

The project will create about 30 new jobs, said company vice president for engineering Gary Ogle.

It will produce about 160,000 metric tons of pellets per year, Ogle said, and the company also plans to double production within the next 3 years. […]