By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – A foundation formed by a man calling himself a “disbarred and disgraced trial lawyer” is helping cover education expenses for 100 Mississippi adults who dropped out before earning a high school diploma.
Richard “Dickie” Scruggs of Oxford says Monday that the nonprofit group, 2nd Chance MS, is paying $250 tuition and $20 a week for gasoline or other expenses for 50 students at Northeast Mississippi Community College and 50 at Itawamba Community College.
If they complete a 25-week course, each will earn a high school equivalency diploma and become certified in six job skills.
Scruggs became a multimillionaire with asbestos and tobacco litigation, but pleaded guilty in 2008 in a Mississippi judicial bribery scheme. During six years in federal prison, he taught fellow inmates earning their high school equivalency diploma.
Be the first to comment