Top Stories – Page 97 – The Mississippi Link

Detention hearing June 19 in pipe bomb case

A detention hearing has been scheduled for June 19 for man arrested after authorities found a bomb in a car at a state prison in Leakesville. Federal court papers show John Harberson of Carriere was one of three people arrested after officers at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution found a pipe bomb in a vehicle earlier this month.

Harberson is charged in U.S. District Court in Gulfport with manufacturing a destructive device. […]

Parchman remains on lockdown after inmate murdered

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The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman remains on lockdown following a homicide and an altercation between inmates.

Kelvin Bowen was killed on Tuesday, June 11, and a disturbance occurred Wednesday, June 12, in separate locations in Unit 29.

Eleven inmates and five staff members were injured during the disturbance. Two inmates remain hospitalized.

Visitation has been canceled until further notice. […]

Man sentenced for stabbing, robbing shrimp lady

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A 61-year-old man has been ordered to serve 16 years in prison for stabbing and robbing a woman who was selling shrimp from the back of her van in Waveland. The Sun Herald reports Larry K. Hurt, of Waveland, was sentenced in Hancock County Circuit Court.

Hurt pleaded guilty to the armed robbery and aggravated assault of Ly Le, a woman known by locals as “the shrimp lady.” He stabbed her in the left shoulder and robbed her of $159 on Nov. 13, 2011. […]

Former McComb mayor dead at 96

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Former McComb Mayor Newton Haskin James, a white businessman who was among a bi-racial group of community leaders who worked to ease tensions during the civil rights movement in 1960s, has died at the age of 96.

Officials with Hartman-Sharkey Funeral Home say James died Thursday, June 13, at Beacham Memorial Hospital in Magnolia. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, June 17, at J. J. White Memorial Presbyterian Church in McComb. Burial will follow in Hollywood Cemetery. […]

Mississippi community college tuition increases

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Tuition will rise at 11 of Mississippi’s 15 public community colleges this fall, with average tuition for two semesters (fall and spring) rising about 6 percent to $2,376. Here are the rates that each college has approved or has projected to the state Community College Board, as well as the percentage change from the 2012-2013 academic year: […]

1 dead, 1 hurt in plane crash in east Mississippi

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Eleven years ago, Tommy Rose died in a plane crash at the National Championship Air Races in Reno, Nev.

On Wednesday, his son Tom Rose was an instructor when flying student Rodney Keith Usry crashed the single-engine plane both were aboard at a rural Mississippi airport.

Usry, a 57-year-old Hickory resident, died after the Cessna 172 clipped a power line as he tried to land at James H. Easom Field in Newton about 9:30 a.m., said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. The plane slammed into the ground upside down in a wooded area on a hill off the end of the runway, said Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Warren Strain. […]

Widow works to preserve Evers’ civil-rights legacy

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Myrlie Evers-Williams acknowledges it would be easy to remain mired in bitterness and anger, 50 years after a sniper’s bullet made her a widow.

Instead, she’s determined to celebrate the legacy of her first husband, Medgar Evers – a civil rights figure often overshadowed by peers such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Events including a black-tie gala are being held this week to remember Evers, the first Mississippi field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was 37 when he was assassinated on June 12, 1963. […]

Inmate stabbed to death at Parchman

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An inmate serving 14 years for several convictions including simple assault on a police officer was stabbed to death allegedly by a fellow inmate Tuesday afternoon at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

Inmate Kelvin Bowen, 35, was pronounced dead at the prison’s hospital at 1:04 p.m.

Officials with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) said Bowen was on his way to see a case manager when he was attacked with a sharp instrument in the hallway of Building 29, a maximum security unit, at the facility. […]

Mayor, police chief still feuding in Gloster

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The court case is over and the town elections are done, but Mayor Billy Johnson and Police Chief Danny Meaux continue to be at odds.

At the town’s board meeting this past week, Johnson criticized Meaux for rarely showing up to work since a judge ordered him reinstated as chief in March.

In turn, Meaux claimed the mayor has a grudge against him because Meaux arrested his son last year. […]

2 held in stabbing death of Brandon soldier

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Police say a soldier who had recently returned to Camp Shelby from Afghanistan was killed in a fight during the early morning hours of June 2 outside a Hattiesburg bar.

Lt. Jon Traxler tells The Hattiesburg American 23-year-old Holden Hughes was stabbed in an altercation at about 12:40 a.m., outside Benny’s Boom Boom Room.

Traxler identified the suspects as 23-year-old Aaron Dement and 31-yeaer-old Derrick Valdez, both of Columbia. Both were taken to the Forrest County Jail and charged with homicide. […]