News Briefs From Across The State
Driver admits he had taken drugs
A trucker who hit four motorists and a police cruiser during a drug-fueled chase on Interstate 81 near Hagerstown, Maryland has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Forty-three-year-old Thomas McNeel of Pontotoc, apologized in court Monday and thanked police for getting him off the road.
McNeel was convicted in December of four counts of second-degree assault and seven other offenses for the December 2010 rampage.
The judge ordered McNeel to make restitution of more than $11,000 to two of the drivers he hit along a 12-mile stretch in Maryland.
The chase began in West Virginia and ended near Greencastle, Pa.
McNeel testified at his trial that he had used methamphetamine and a synthetic drug known as “bath salts” that morning.
He claimed he couldn’t remember the incident.
The city of Rosedale is looking for a new police chief after the board of aldermen decided this past week to replace David James.
Mayor Carey Estes tells the Bolivar Commercial that the city wanted to move its police department in a new direction. Estes says that the search for James’ replacement has already begun. Estes says interviews will begin this week.
James became police chief in 2010
More than 300 warrants out
There are more than 300 warrants out for people’s arrest in Monroe County.
Sheriff Cecil Cantrell says if anyone knows someone who has a warrant out and has not turned themselves in, they need to come to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office immediately.
Deputies are going door to door this week to the homes and businesses of those who may have committed crimes and not served jail time.
Most of the warrants are felony charges ranging from bad checks to drug charges.
Dr. A. Wallace Conerly, vice chancellor emeritus for health affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and dean emeritus of the School of Medicine, died Tuesday. He was 76.
UMMC says Conerly died at the facility that bears his name, the medical center’s Wallace Conerly Critical Care Hospital.
Conerly, a Tylertown native, led UMMC from 1994 to 2003. He was hospitalized early Tuesday for complications related to Parkinson’s disease.
Plans for a memorial service are pending.
Conerly’s tenure at UMMC was marked by extensive construction on campus, expanded research and an increased endowment.
University of Mississippi Chancellor Dan Jones said Conerly used his medical, business, and political skills to help all Mississippians. Before becoming Ole Miss chancellor, Jones was vice chancellor for health affairs after Conerly’s retirement.
Jackson couple awarded $600K in abortion lawsuit
A Hinds County judge has awarded a Jackson woman and her husband over $600,000 in a lawsuit arising from an abortion the woman received in 2003.
The Clarion-Ledger reports Judge Bill Gowan awarded the money Tuesday after issuing a default judgment for Daschica Thomas and her husband, Christopher Thomas, after no one showed for the scheduled Nov. 29 trial of the lawsuit.
The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 2005 against Dr. Joseph Booker, the then-Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion clinic, the National Women’s Health Organization of Jackson and others.
The suit claimed Thomas ended up in a coma for a week from infection because of a botched abortion.
Fight on school bus distracts driver, hits pole
A Jackson school bus driver, distracted by a fight, loses control of the bus and hit a utility pole. The accident happened around 3:15 p.m. Monday afternoon on Cooper Road in South Jackson.
The driver was trying to get the students under control when he hit the curb, ran off the pavement and swiped the pole.
One of the rearview mirrors sheared off against the pole. Another school bus was brought in to carry the students home. No one was injured.
Patriot Rail Corp. has given the Mississippi & Skuna Valley Railroad to Calhoun and Yalobusha counties.
On Monday, the company announced the donation of the 21-mile branch line, which runs from a point near Coffeeville on the Canadian National Railway to Bruce.
Patriot, based in Boca Raton, Fla., acquired the railroad in 2010 from Weyerhaeuser Co. Patriot says the railroad has been out of service since 2008, because of a deteriorated bridge.
County officials plan a recreational trail, similar to the Longleaf Trace in Hattiesburg. A trail conversion is also ongoing between the north Mississippi towns of Houston and New Albany.
Patriot will remove the rails to sell for scrap, but leave bridges for the trail. Patriot also owns the Golden Triangle Railroad, serving a Weyerhaeuser mill near Columbus.
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