Archive - Jan 2012
January 11th
At a meeting of the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau board Tuesday, Jennifer Gregory, vice president for tourism development with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, announced the money visitors spend on tourism in Oktibbeha County annually has increased nearly 25 percent over the last two years.
From 2009-2010, Gregory said, the Mississippi Development Authorityâs tourism division reported an increase of nearly 10 percent, reaching about $65.2 million. She said such reports primarily account for money tourists spend on gas, food and hotels.
In 2011, Gregory said, tourism revenue reached about $74.9 million, an increase of about 14.8 percent. When the two consecutive increases are added together, she said, they approach a 25 percent increase over two years. She said this is a testament to the success of all the CVBâs tourism partners, including Mississippi State University athletics, the Mississippi Horse Park, the Starkville Area Arts Council and others.
Starkvilleâs Friends of the Library will present its ongoing series, Books and Authors, at noon today at the Starkville Public Library. The program is free and open to the public.
This month features Suzanne Marrsâ âWhat There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell,â chronicling the friendship between Pulitzer Prize-winning author Welty and Maxwell, her editor at âThe New Yorkerâ magazine through 50 years of correspondence.
Welty herself wrote, âAll letters, old and new, are the still-existing parts of a life.â
Reading the letters between these two friends and remarkable fiction writers brings Welty and Maxwell to life for readers.
By NATHAN GREGORY
Mississippi State University junior business management major Parker Stewart said he has always had business ideas, but he wanted to make one of them work.
EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
January 10th
Starkville Community Theatre will perform its production of âCabin 12â Thursday at McComas Hall on the campus of Mississippi State University. The play begins at 7:30 p.m., and admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. SCT members said this play contains language and situations some may find offensive and is not appropriate for children.
âCabin 12,â a one-act play written by John Bishop, is SCTâs submission to this weekendâs Mississippi Theatre Association Festival in Gulfport. The play is directed by Kris Lee and features cast members Paul Ruff, Ben Lang, Rick Jordan and Jessica Taylor.
Matt Crane, MTA public relations director for Starkville, said the competition challenges the community theatreâs ability to put on a one-act show within the confines an hour.
A suspect allegedly involved in a Monday shooting death at 1816 Stowood Road has been charged with murder, Oktibbeha County Deputy Sheriff Chadd Garnett said.
Bail for Kewon Delarryous Doss, 19, of 1816 Stowood Road, will be set today. The time he will appear before the Oktibbeha County Justice Court is unknown. Doss is charged with killing 38-year old Larry Davis, his uncle, with what authorities say is a medium caliber handgun.
The pursuit for Doss, which Garnett said lasted approximately five hours, ultimately took officers to a pasture in the Rock Hill Road area in eastern Oktibbeha County. When the main officers returned to the sheriffâs office to determine a new plan for finding him, Doss, with assistance from family members, turned himself in at approximately 9:45 p.m.
The Starkville School District should have a list of semi-finalists â possibly even finalists â for the superintendent position sometime next week, school board President Keith Coble said Tuesday.
The school board narrowed down the list of 22 candidates during an executive session Tuesday night, though Coble could not confirm an exact number. The board president will submit the names to the Mississippi School Board Association today.
MSBA will handle contacting the candidates to confirm their spot as a semifinalist and perform the background checks. Once the candidates are confirmed and their background checks are cleared, the board will release a final number and a list of names to the public. Depending on the number, those candidates may be confirmed as finalists.
Officials with West Pointâs Navistar Defense, LLC announced the company received an $880 million order to upgrade Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps Tuesday.
An Associated Press report on the contract said the work force of about 100 at the Navistar plant will begin upgrading 2,717 MaxxPro MRAP vehicles in January and finish in October 2013. The report also says the upgrade entails removing the body from each vehicle and installing a new rolling chassis system, which will improve off-road performance.
West Point Chief Administrative Officer Randy Jones said the order was wonderful news for the city.
âAny time you get a contract that large, itâs good news,â Jones said.
This order shows why Navistar is crucial to West Pointâs economic well-being, Jones said. The city benefits from both the sales tax employees generate and the taxes Navistar pays on personal property and inventory, he said.
Mississippi State fans must be prepared to make a difficult decision come Saturday afternoon. The beloved New Orleans Saints travel west to take on the San Francisco 49ers.
It just so happens that one of the most praised Bulldogs to those who bleed maroon, Anthony Dixon, plays for San Francisco, leaving the choice, who to cheer for?
The beloved former Bulldog will take the field with the 49ers in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. In doing so Dixon, who is in his second NFL season, will take the field in the postseason for the first time.
âMan, Iâm excited. You know, coming up as a youngâun this is what you dream of,â said Dixon, who has four career touchdowns in the NFL. âI watched all those games on NFL Saturday and NFL Sunday. I know me personally I always said, âman Iâd love to be a part of that action. Iâd like to see what that whole ride is about.â To do this is really going to be a dream come true, you know.â
Starkville's Jacolby Mobley stole the show in the Beehive Tuesday evening.
Mobley stung the Aberdeen Bulldogs for 35 points in route to the Yellowjacketsâ 94â61 win.
Starkville (14-2) entered the showdown with the top team in 3A basketball without Gavin Ware, who did not play due to a coaching decision, leaving the Jackets searching for players to step up in his absence.
âI knew everybody was going to need to step up and do a little bit more of everything,â said Starkville boys coach Greg Carter. âI needed them to step up and help with not just scoring but rebounding, defending, helping in the post, helping on drivesâŠjust a little bit of everything. I thought everybody did that tonight. It was a total team effort defensively.â
