CD: Oktibbeha supes plan work session on roads

TIM PRATT

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors will hold a work session later this month to discuss how to improve the county’s roads.

The board Monday scheduled the session for March 16 after hearing complaints from New Light Road residents Fred and Tamara Allen, who were upset the New Light Road paving project has been delayed until 2012.

According to the county’s Four Year Road and Bridge Plan, two miles of New Light Road was scheduled to be built in 2010 and paved in 2011. However, the schedule was delayed and the revised plans called for the county to build and pave two miles in 2011 instead of 2010.

The most recent plan, adopted by supervisors in February, calls for the county to build 1.2 miles of New Light Road in 2011, then pave those 1.2 miles in 2012. District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy said unusually wet weather over the past year caused the delay. The Allens, who attend board meetings regularly in shirts and hats reading “Pave New Light Road,” still were disappointed by the delay and encouraged the county to look into hiring independent contractors to perform road work instead of county road crews. The delays end up costing the county more money than paving the road would, said Fred Allen, a retired Certified Public Accountant.

“When I came here six years ago … it was $40,000 (to pave a mile of road),” Fred Allen said. “Now it’s up to $200,000. So, whenever you defer these projects, you’re costing the taxpayers money. If you stay on schedule and accelerate the project (with independent contractors), you save money.”

“The other reason you want to use independent contractors is because they specialize,” he continued. “They’re efficient at paving roads. The government does not have a road construction division. They pay people to pave roads. The state pays people to pave roads. Paving roads is a specialization that we can incorporate and help accelerate our projects.”

Fred Allen also felt private contractors could perform the work at a lower cost than county crews.

District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, a long-time proponent of road improvements in the county, said the county should look into another bond issue to help pay for road work. He suggested a vote by county residents in a referendum.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Oktibbeha County’s WWII vets honored

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — Andrew Lee Smith can still remember the bombing runs.

Flying over enemy territory during the height of World War II, Smith was a fresh-faced 22-year-old from Mantee, serving as an Army Air Force navigator on a B-24 bomber. His job, along with the rest of the B-24 crew, was to “uproot everything we could,” he said Tuesday evening from his table at Starkville Cafe, whether it meant bombing rail lines in Italy and Germany, enemy fuel supplies in Romania, or any number of other targets.

Now 88 years old, Smith moves a bit slower than he once did and his hearing has deteriorated a bit, but his eyes still light up when he recalls his time overseas, sometimes returning to base with his plane riddled in bullet holes.

“There was fear and all, but that was part of being in the service,” he said with a smile.

Smith was one of about 30 veterans who congregated Tuesday at Starkville Cafe for a ceremony to honor those who served in World War II. The celebration came on the 65th anniversary of the day U.S. soldiers erected an American flag at Iwo Jima — an action photographer Joe Rosenthal depicted in the photo that has become an iconic image of World War II.

“A moment like this, when you’re in a room full of World War II veterans, is the type of moment that gives you chills,” Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said from the packed dining room in Starkville Cafe. “You realize all of the wonderful things we enjoy about this country and the world today were made possible by the tremendous sacrifices of their generation.”

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Gone fishin’: Motorists scoop up catfish from overturned truck on Highway 82

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — Dozens of Oktibbeha County residents gathered Tuesday morning at the intersection of Highway 82 and Douglastown Road with their coolers in tow as work crews cleaned up the remains of an overturned catfish truck in the median.

Bill Baker, of Eupora, was driving the B&B Farms truck westbound on Highway 82 shortly after 6 a.m. when he lost control, went into the median and hit a culvert. The overturned truck spilled thousands of catfish throughout the muddy area between the eastbound and westbound lanes.

Residents from nearby homes showed up with their coolers while police and emergency personnel responded to the scene. Dozens of people left with coolers full of fish before Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers made residents leave the median so workers from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Starkville-based Bulldog Towing could clear the scene.

Baker suffered a contusion to his head and a cut to his back, was treated at North Mississippi Medical Center in Eupora, and returned to the site a short time later. He said he wasn’t sure what caused him to veer off the highway, but does remember feeling alarmed as his truck headed into the median.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Planning the future of Oktibbeha County

TIM PRATT

Don Posey has been serving as Oktibbeha County Administrator for nearly 15 years and, in that time, has seen administrations come and go, whether it’s in the city of Starkville, at Mississippi State University or on the county’s Board of Supervisors.

One thing that’s always been lacking, however, is a willingness to work together for the good of the city, county and university, Posey said.

With the installment of new Mississippi State President Mark Keenum last year and a mostly new cast on the Starkville Board of Aldermen, Posey said Monday he feels the region finally has a group of people that is willing to work together.

Officials from the city, county, Mississippi State and Greater Starkville Development Partnership gathered Monday at the city’s Sportsplex for a roundtable discussion on how to improve the region’s future. The goal is to come with a list of short-term and long-term projects or objectives which the entities would work together on to benefit the entire region.

“Together, we’re stronger than three separate entities,” Oktibbeha County District 4 Supervisor and Board President Marvell Howard said.

Each of the three entities, plus the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, will come up with a list of short-term projects, which they will discuss at a meeting later this month. The plan is to apply for state and federal moneys to complete those projects, though no specific projects were discussed Monday.

“That’s what we have to come up with now,” Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said of the list of potential projects.

The group also will try to come up with long-term projects and goals within 60 days. Those projects would help shape potential growth and development over the next 10 or 15 years.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Oktibbeha County still considering hospital construction bids

DISPATCH STARKVILLE BUREAU

STARKVILLE – The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Wednesday opened bids on the Oktibbeha County Hospital renovation project, but held off on picking a contractor.
The board took bids from 10 contractors under advisement. Those bids ranged from $22.36 million to $26.32 million.

According to Board President and District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, the county will consult with the project’s architect, Jackson-based Dean and Dean Architects, before selecting a contractor.

“We’re waiting to hear back from Dean and Dean now,” Howard said. “We’re hoping within a couple days we should know something.”

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Oktibbeha County leaders quarrel over hospital bond

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — After some heated discussion Thursday, the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors took a step toward increasing the county’s bonding capacity.

The county is allowed to borrow up to 15 percent of its total assessed value. With an assessed value of $307 million, the county can borrow approximately $46 million.

Supervisors on Thursday voted unanimously to petition the state Legislature to increase its bonding capacity from 15 percent to 20 percent. Twenty percent of $307 million would be more than $61 million.

Thursday’s vote came with less than two weeks remaining before the board opens bids for the Oktibbeha County Hospital construction project.

The county has approximately $22.1 million available in unused debt, which will go toward the hospital project. Supervisors are worried the cost of the hospital renovations will “wipe out” what’s left of the $22.1 million, which could leave the county in a perilous position if a natural disaster struck and the board needed to borrow money.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Supervisors vote to hire road manager

TIM PRATT

Over the past two years, Don Posey has worked two full-time jobs in Oktibbeha County: One as County Administrator and another as the county’s interim road manager.

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Monday decided to take some of the workload off Posey’s shoulders when it voted 4 to 1 to advertise for a new full-time road manager. Only District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson voted against the motion.

Specifics about the position, such as a salary and job description, still have yet to be determined by the board.

As County Administrator, Posey runs the county’s day-to-day operations. As interim road manager, he oversees 44 employees, including five foremen, three satellite shops around the county, and approximately 150 pieces of equipment.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Supes consider hiring agency to collect fines

TIM PRATT

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors is considering whether or not to hire a collection agency to recover more than $1.1 million in unpaid taxes and fines from county residents.

As of September, the county was owed approximately $652,000 in unpaid mobile home property taxes and approximately $486,000 in Justice Court fines, County Administrator Don Posey said. The county has the authority to seize and resell a mobile home if taxes go unpaid, Posey said, but the county doesn’t typically take that route because it has nowhere to store the seized units and it would mean evicting residents.

“That’s why the county has never done it and that’s why (the amount of unpaid taxes) continues to get bigger,” Posey said.

Supervisors on Monday took under advisement a contract proposal from debt-collection agency Southern Financial Systems. Under the proposal, debtors would have to pay the amount owed to the county, plus an extra 25 percent, which would go to the collection agency.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Wet year spoils Oktibbeha roads

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — Oktibbeha County is on pace to receive more precipitation this year than any year on record and, as a result, planned improvements to the county’s roadways have fallen by the wayside.

As of Thursday afternoon, Starkville had received 83.73 inches of precipitation this year. The wettest year on record was 1983, when Starkville received 85.75 inches of precipitation, said Chad Entremont, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Jackson.

“And we’re not even finished the month yet,” Entremont said.

Heavy rainfalls have wreaked havoc on county road crews. The county planned to pave nearly 5 1/2 miles of roadway in 2009, according to the Board of Supervisors’ four-year road plan. Inclement weather, however, prevented any of those paving projects from happening.

“We didn’t pave anything this year,” County Administrator Don Posey said. “That’s never happened before.”

Still, road crews have stayed busy, Posey said.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

CD: Sheriff: Man’s hunting death was murder; wife arrested

TIM PRATT

STARKVILLE — The wife of a hunter found dead Sunday morning in western Oktibbeha County was arrested Wednesday and charged with her husband’s murder.

Verina Marie Childs, 37, of 3875 Jeff Peay Rd., was arrested by the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department and was being held Wednesday afternoon at the Oktibbeha County Jail on a $125,000 bond. A preliminary hearing will be set at a later date.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.

Next Page »