| It’s a Wonderful Life |
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| At a dress rehearsal Wednesday night for the Panola Playhouse’s production of "It’s A Wonderful Life," the people of Bedford Falls pray for George Bailey. Among those singing a prayer for George were Mary Bailey (Lane Dye), Zuzu (Sloan Garner) and Ma Bailey (Deby Klyce). The play opened last night and will run tonight and tomorrow beginning at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee beginning at 2:30 p.m. |
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| Aldermen mull yard sale rules |
By Jason C. Mattox
Yard sales in Batesville could soon require a small fee and a little paperwork at city hall if the town’s board of mayor and aldermen adopt a proposed ordinance designed to regulate the activity.
Aldermen and the mayor took no action during the board’s meeting Tuesday, instead tweaking a proposed ordinance presented by assistant city attorney Parker Still, who filled in for Colmon Mitchell.
After examining the ordinance, aldermen asked for input from Police Chief Gerald Legge.
The chief presented board members with a list of issues that his department has been faced with in recent years regarding yard sales.
Those concerns included:
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Frequency of yard sales |
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Selling of new merchandise |
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Yard sales held on commercial property |
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Exemptions for religious, civic and non-profit organizations |
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Non-residents having sales in a friend or relative’s yard |
"Probably the biggest problem is the people who are wanting to have a yard sale every weekend," Legge said. "They are disturbing their neighbors who might not want to hear or see that every weekend."
Legge said he looked at ordinances regulating yard sales in Southaven and Senatobia.
"They both require a permit," he said. "Southaven allows two per month while Senatobia only allows a person to hold two per year."
Ward 4 Alderman Bobbie Jean Pounders suggested two yard sales per month was an agreeable number.
Ward 1 Alderman Bill Dugger asked if hours of operation would be regulated by the ordinance.
"You have some people that will go from daylight to dark," he said. "We might need to look at setting some hours."
After a brief discussion, aldermen instructed Still to include 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. as hours acceptable for a yard sale.
Aldermen instructed Still to revise the proposed ordinance to include a $1 permit that would be good for two days, a limit on yard sales to two per month, and the hours of operation, and requested him to present the ordinance with those changes to the board.
Once the ordinance is adopted by the board, it will go in effect 30 days later.
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| Death of child ruled accident |
| By Billy Davis
A TV toppled onto a three-year-old child Tuesday evening, killing her.
Kandace Grace Jones was killed instantly at her home in the Cole’s Point community when the TV struck her in the head, said Panola County coroner Gracie Grant-Gulledge.
The child was transported by ambulance to Tri-Lakes Medical Center, where she was declared dead.
Panola County Sheriff Hugh "Shot" Bright said the death was ruled an accident following a standard investigation by the sheriff’s department.
"The TV was on a stand and fell on her," Bright said.
The accident occurred at 396 South Pine Lake Drive, where the child lived with her mother, Tammy Jones, and her grandparents, Larry and Peggy Jones.
Kandace Jones was the daughter of Nathaniel Kane and Tammy Jones.
Funeral services are set for today at 1 p.m. in Ripley at McBride Funeral Home. Burial will be in Friendship Cemetery in Benton County.
Child deaths from falling televisions are rare but spiked during the year. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), falling televisions killed 10 children in the United States in the first seven months of 2006, double the number during 2005.
According to the agency, last year more than 3,000 children under age five were hurt by falling televisions. |
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| Crenshaw alderman: ‘Can we see copy of $500 phone bill?’ |
By John Howell Sr.
Panola County Board of Supervisors’ President Robert Avant paid a visit to the Crenshaw mayor and aldermen Tuesday, Dec. 5, to admonish them to work together.
"I am disappointed in the mayor and the board the way we seem to be fighting among our ourselves," Avant told the town officials at the monthly meeting.
"I would like for y’all to work together; change the perception," he added.
Avant’s visit to the meeting was prompted by sewer problems in the Renaissance subdivision of homes for low-income families built in Panola County. The developers installed sewer infrastructure including a lift station and pumps which were turned over to the Town of Crenshaw with the agreement that the town maintain the sewerage.
"I came to see what the problem was," after raw sewage backed into yards and inside homes, Avant said.
The sewage problems at the housing development come in addition to problems with the town’s municipal system that surfaced last month. Two lift station pumps failed, creating an emergency which required renting replacement pumps for temporary use. An emergency meeting November 17 authorized the purchase of replacement pumps.
"How long will it be before we get those in?" Alderman David Whitsell asked.
"We are waiting on Gulf States; they are the ones who are going to set them in," Mayor Reed said.
The mayor attributed the sewer problems to a grease buildup in the lines and to foreign objects being flushed down toilets.
In other Crenshaw business:
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Mayor Reed told aldermen that he vetoed a resolution passed last month requiring that reports of town department heads be included for aldermen in their information packet each month.
"We’ve always gotten the reports," Alderman Alberta Bradley said.
"That was something I started and I cut it out," the mayor replied. "I do have a right to veto and I did."
The discussion of department head reports came early in the meeting while aldermen were reviewing the mayor’s proposed agenda.
Bradley also asked for an inventory of the town’s equipment and assets and for a list of the number of municipal water customers who have had their service cut off for nonpayment.
When aldermen voted on approval of the agenda, Bradley voted against it. "I oppose because I want the reports," she said. Whitsell joined her in a "nay" vote. Aldermen Shirley Morgan, Keith Pride and Milton Phipps voted to approve the agenda, passing it three to two.
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Aldermen voted similarly in the approval of the town’s claims. Bradley questioned a charge to the town of over $500 for its two cell phones. The mayor said that extensive calling during the sewer emergency had increased the monthly charge from its usual $90 to $100.
"Would there be any way we could see the bill?" Bradley asked.
"We don’t have it with us," the mayor said.
"I don’t want to pay the phone bill until we see the record," Bradley said. |
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| Construction foreman helps beat back fire |
| By Billy Davis
Batesville firefighters and construction workers beat back a fire Tuesday that threatened a yet-to-open multi-purpose building at Batesville’s First United Methodist Church.
The church is located at 119 Panola Avenue in west Batesville.
The facility is set to open by February and is still on schedule, said First United pastor Pat Ludlam.
"I’ve heard mixed reports about whether there will be a delay, but they’re already working on (the roof) this morning," Ludlam told The Panolian Wednesday.
A fire department spokesman said the fire was likely caused by a construction worker using a cutting torch.
The fire was contained to the building’s portico, where firefighters and construction foreman Raymond Ladd stripped away a layer of foam insulation and plywood to douse flames underneath.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, Ladd was attacking hot spots along the roof, yanking away roofing materials with his bare hands and soaking flames with a water hose. He did not stop to put on a pair of thick gloves, which a co-worker threw to him on the roof.
Firefighters and a church member were concerned about Ladd’s bare hands, which were blackened from the fire, but he insisted he was not hurt.
"I’m alright," he told them as he smoked a cigarette after finally climbing down from the roof.
"The firefighters and construction people did a very good job," Ludlam said. "Everybody took care of us." |
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| County: bore under roads, please |
| By Billy Davis
A heads-up announcement Monday morning that a gas company has plans to rip up a roadway to lay pipe jumpstarted a discussion on the topic among county supervisors.
Panola County engineer Larry Britt started the discussion when he told supervisors that he planned to meet with a Tennessee Gas official about the work plans on Pleasant Grove Road.
"My opinion is they can bore under the road like everybody else," Britt said. "I’m not too keen on tearing up paved roads."
The topic drifted from the gas company’s plans to the county’s water associations, which supervisors agreed sometimes drill through a road instead of boring underneath it.
When the table talk had ended, Britt had agreed to write a letter to the county’s water associations to warn them against tearing up county roads to lay water lines.
"The letter will tell them there’s a permit process," Britt told supervisors.
"It wouldn’t be so bad if we knew what road they’re tearing up so we could at least go back and fix it," added county road manager Lygunnah Bean. |
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