Archives for December 2015

In an emergency meeting this week, the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks voted unanimously to close hunting seasons in areas along the Mississippi River because of anticipated flooding.

According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, rising water in the Mississippi River is forcing animals out of their natural habitat. The river is expected to reach flood stage at key points in Mississippi this weekend. Hunting seasons will be closed as areas reach specified levels.
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A Medal of Honor recipient and a Mississippi native who lost an eye while taking a grenade blast to save a fellow Marine now faces a hit-and-run charge in South Carolina, police say.
Retired Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, 26, turned himself in and appeared in court Thursday with an attorney on misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run and making an improper left turn, police said. Carpenter was released on bond.
Police say he hit a pedestrian Dec. 8th.
The pedestrial declined to go to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, police said.

It was a good year for people who give to the needy. The Greenwood Salvation Army not only met it’s donation goal for this year’s kettle campaign, it exceeded it by twenty five percent.
The Greenwood Commonwealth reports that the Salvation Army collected just under $62,500. the goal was $50,000.
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Gov. Phil Bryant issued a State of Emergency in light of the threat of major floods in the Mississippi River area.
All counties along the Mississippi River and its tributaries are included in the State of Emergency. Local governments in affected areas can request state assistance to deal with response and recovery related to flooding.
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A week after at least a dozen tornadoes, including an EF3, ripped a path of destruction through northern Mississippi, the Mississippi Emergency Management agency raised the death toll to 11. In a news release, MEMA said the victim, who suffered injuries in Coahoma County, died in a Memphis hospital.

Five people died in Mississippi car crashes over Christmas including Leflore County women.
The Highway patrol says 62-year-old Linda Hull Arant and her 91-year-old Joyce Hull, both died on Saturday when their car was broadsided by another car crossing U.S. 82 in Leflore County. The Mississippi Highway Patrol is investigating.
Linda Hull Arant is a longtime Indianola Academy music teacher.
In other statewide accidents, in Lee County, a 19-year-old Boonville woman Chaniqua Pierce died Wednesday on Mississippi 6 when her car hit a tree.
In Covington County, 27-year-old Osmar Garcia Vasquez of Collins was hit while walking in the northbound lane of U.S. 49 on Christmas night.
Another pedestrian, 40-year-old Anthony Tippen of Walnut, died Saturday in Alcorn County when he was hit by a vehicle on U.S. 72.
The Highway Patrol says it investigated 250 wrecks overall, with 81 injuries in addition to the five deaths.
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The Greenwood Commonwealth’s reporting that former Central Mississippi Incorporated workers are publicly alleging misconduct led to the CMI being dropped from the Head Start program in six counties.

Mississipi Valley State University just got bigger by one house.
Claude Perkins an alumnus of Mississippi Valley State University has donated his house to the university.
According to the Greenwood Commonwealth, Perkins donated the home in honor of his former mentor and choir director Olympia P. Lowe.
The house is in Itta Bena on Delta Drive.
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A Mississippi man and his young son are dead after an apparent murder suicide in Vicksburg Christmas night
The bodies of thirty nine year old Jarrod Wasson and his nine year old son Jim were found outside of a burning home when Vicksburg police responded to a domestic disturbance according to a news release from the city police department.
Police believe the father died of an apparent self-inflicted injury. Both have been sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for autopsy for an exact cause of death. Wasson’s wife and another child were able escape to a nearby residence during the altercation between Jarrod Wasson and his wife, according to police.

The cleanup begins and the damage estimates start after Wednesday night’s deadly tornadoes tore through Missississippi and Tennessee.
Seven people died in Mississippi, four in Benton County and two more in Marshall County and another in Tippah county. One is still missing in Benton.
One of the dead is a 7-year-old boy who was found dead in a van on Highway 7 outside Holly Springs in Marshall County. The boy’s family was taken in to a nearby hospital. They condition is not known.
At least 40 people across six Mississippi counties were injured in severe storms, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
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Governor Phil Bryant has appointed Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge James D. Maxwell II to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Maxwell’s appointment is effective Jan. 1. He replaces former Justice David Chandler, who Governor Bryant recently appointed Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Family and Children’s Services.
Maxwell, who lives in Oxford, has served on the Court of Appeals since 2009. Initially appointed by Governor Haley Barbour on February 2, 2009, Maxwell was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.

Good morning, I’m Ron Brown
About 90 area kids are getting a special Christmas thanks to Santa’s helpers at
Batesville GE Aviation.
They gave a variety of gifts including toys to kids in Panola and some of the surrounding counties.
They say they helped almost three times as many kids this year as they helped last year. Social workers in five counties gave the presents away to the most needy families and to children in foster care.
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A Greenwood man has been charged with drug possession.
Police say they arrested thirty six year old Jerrance Jones after running him down on foot.
They say he had a drug called crystal meth on him when they arrestd him.
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Anyone needing a free pre-Christmas dinner is invited to come in between 11 this morning and 2 in the afternoon at Booker’s Place in Greenwood.
The meal’s provided by the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church’s Youth Department.
This is the third year they’ve provided a free meal around Christmas time.
Now you’re up to date in B100 Country, I’m Ron Brown

Good morning, I’m Ron Brown
Donations are needed for a family of six who lost their home and everything had to fire Monday morning, just days before Christmas.
The home was on Highway 51 in Courtland.
No one was injured.
The children are two boys ages 13 and 11 and a eight year old girl.
Investigators are still trying to find the cause of the fire.
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The Leflore County School District has a new conservator.
The state Department of Education named Dr. Ilean Richard to oversee the district with twent five hundred students.
Richards appointment begins right after the beginning of the new year.
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Good news on the ecnomic front.
Leflore County’s unemployment rate’s fallen to under ten percent.
The latest numbers released byt he Mississippi Department of Employment Security show that the jobless rate in November was at nine point nine percent.
In November of last year the unemployment rate was over eleven percent.
Now you’re up to date in B100 Country, I’m Ron Brown

Good morning, I’m Ron Brown
The new year begins with new questions about when a new agency will open the Head Start and Early Head Start programs in six Mississippi counties.
The Head Start schools closed November 17th in Montgomery, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Holmes and Webster Counties.
Oversight of Head Start in the counties has been transferred to a new agency, Central Development Institute Head Start.
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Governor Phil Bryant is name a Eupora lawyer to replace retiring circuit judge Clarence Morgan the third. It’s effective January first. A special election will be held in November.
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Mississippi state troopers are beefing up patrols for the high travel Christmas and New Year holiday travel period starting Wednesday at 6 p.m. through Sunday at midnight.
Troopers will be conducting safety checkpoints to make sure everyone’s using child restraint and seat belt laws and keep drinking drivers off the roads.
Extra troopers will be on the roads to combat careless and reckless driving, speeding and distracted driving.
Last year, troopers investigated 148 crashes. None of them were fatal.
Now you’re up to date in B100 Country, I’m Ron Brown

Good morning, I’m Ron Brown
A Batesville man faces a murder charge.
The victim is his brother.
Police say Eric Love is in the Panola County jail on a $2 million bond.
He’s accused of shooting his brother Archie Marquis Love to death Friday night.
Police said alcohol was involved. It is the first homicide in Batesville this year.
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Crime is going down in Greenwood, according to new numbers released by the city police department.
The department says the number of burglaries is about the same as last year but might be on the decline.
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Health Care costs for Carroll County employees are going up by 35 per cent next year.
According to a report in the Greenwood Commonwealth, there was a 140 per cent loss between claims and premimums paid.
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And Mississippi is hireing hundreds of teachers from the Philippines and India to take hard to fill jobs in area schools. There are 451 teachers in the state with degrees from outside the country.
Now you’re up to date in B100 Country, I’m Ron Brown

Good morning, I’m Ron Brown
Students in Greenwood and Leflore County elementary and middle schools aren’t doing very well in English or Math compared to the rest of the state.
The Mississippi Department of Education has released the results of state tests taken by third- to eighth-grade students in math and language last year.
It’s the first time the kids took on the new, more difficult Mississippi College and Career Ready Standards.
And it may be the last time. this year, Mississippi students will switch to the Mississippi Assessment Program (MAP) tests.
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The Greenwood police department is ready to get wired up for video and audio.
The department now has it’s first 10 body cameras for the police force.
The cameras will record the officer’s actions on the job during arrests.
It’s digital and records on a loop, so it saves data with the press of a button on the officer’s uniform.
Ten more cameras on the way. And they’ll become a part of the officers’ uniform when the next shipment comes in.
That’s expected to be in just a few weeks.
Now you’re up to date in B100 Country, I’m Ron Brown