Hedgecock: Democrats Want to Destroy Fiorina and Angle

by Roger Hedgecock

This much we know.

Carly Fiorina overcame a competitive field to decisively win the California Republican Senate primary election, earning the right to compete against incumbent Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer in the November election.

Sharron Angle came from way behind to win decisively in the Nevada Republican primary election, earning the right to compete against incumbent Democrat Sen. Harry Reid in November.

What is not yet publicly known is the scorched-earth negative campaigns already beginning against both of these Republican women.

Hints in recent weeks have made it clear that the Democrats will not only campaign to retain these Senate seats, they will launch an immediate, relentless personal assault designed to destroy both women's reputations personally and politically.

What the liberal elites cannot stand about both women goes far beyond disagreement over their political views.

Both women were endorsed by Sarah Palin. Palin's endorsement in these races and others (notably Nikki Haley) made a positive difference. By contrast, Obama's endorsement didn't help Arlen Specter, or John Corzine, Creigh Deeds or Martha Coakley and only Bill Clinton saved Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas.

Why does Palin and everything she says and does provoke such a torrent of bile and abuse from the left? It’s because she is a successful, powerful woman who is definitely not a liberal feminist, and because she is an authentic American women of her time.

Palin is a success in her career, while she is also a mother facing the kind of difficulties in her family that sound all too real to many American families. She lives the daily juggling act that liberal feminists only write about.

Worse yet for the liberal elites in government, academia, and the media, she is politically powerful because she is authentic.

I witnessed Palin's appeal firsthand at the Tea Party Express rally in Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nev. On a cold, wind-swept day in the high desert before a crowd of nearly 30,000, Sarah Palin was introduced to a standing ovation.

But then something extraordinary happened. Women in the audience rushed the stage, many holding up Palin's book and all chanting "Sarah, Sarah." When was Nancy Pelosi last (or ever) greeted this way?

The gap between arrogant ruling liberal elites and "We the People," which fueled the Tea Party movement in the first place, has never been more apparent than when comparing the Botox phony feminist with a real accomplished American woman.

So get ready Carly and Sharron. The tornado of bitter, mean, false labels and charges is just beginning.

In Fiorina's case, Boxer has already previewed the witch's brew. According to Senator (don't call me ma'am) Boxer, Fiorina, as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, deliberately outsourced American jobs overseas, violated environmental standards and gouged her employees and the consuming public in a greedy drive to amass an obscene fortune while she, Barbara Boxer, by contrast has devoted her life to public service and the public good. Translation: Carly has actually created thousands of private sector jobs.

As for Sharron Angle, if you listen to Reid's paid shills in Nevada, she's a right-wing nut who would dismantle all the successful, necessary agencies of government and is backed by gun-toting militias full of Timothy McVeigh wannabes.

Apparently, Angle has the temerity to question the effectiveness of the federal Department of Education, and other monuments to wasteful, failed (and unconstitutional) liberal programs. And Americans who understand the importance of the 2nd Amendment do support her. Reid will soon find out that those supporters include the majority of Nevadans.

But beyond being prepared for the liberal smear machine, both Fiorina and Angle have a golden opportunity to unleash a secret weapon—the truth.

The truth is the U.S. cannot borrow its way to prosperity, our indebtedness to China is not an asset, and government "stimulus" is not creating good jobs. In short, Obama's campaign of HOPE has produced anxiety and despair and the CHANGE is widely seen as destroying jobs.

Hard times caused by failing Obama policies championed by Boxer and Reid cannot be forever masked by extending unemployment benefits.

Beyond telling the truth (You know, folks, the Emperor has no clothes), these candidates—and all who would win in November—need to tell us what needs to be done. What would they propose as an alternate to the failing policies now in place?

What real reforms would actually make the American healthcare system work better at a lower cost to more people? Could putting more power in the hands of patients be the beginning of a better plan than Obamacare, which starts by putting all power and choice in the hands of the government?

What is the proper role of government regulation now that the most regulated parts of the economy (banks, insurance and oil companies, for example) have experienced the most failure while the least regulated parts of the economy (Apple, for example) are the only good news we have.

Now that we know that the open border policy pursued by George Bush is also the policy of President Obama—and with equally disastrous results—what would these two candidates, if elected to the U.S. Senate, offer as an alternative? Our national security as well as the nation’s sovereignty hangs in the balance on this issue.

In foreign policy, now that bowing to foreign despots and apologizing for America has not brought greater security but rather emboldened America's enemies to new levels of atrocity, is “Peace Through Strength” an idea whose time has come again ?

Nikki Haley has shown that personal attacks can be turned to an advantage, and I wish Carly and Sharron the same success in the coming mud-slinging season,

More importantly these women have the opportunity to re-state the vision that inspired generations of Americans: Liberty guarded by a limited government, low taxes, an opportunity society anchored in personal responsibility, a free-market economy spreading the wealth to all who choose to earn it.

With this vision, the candidates win and the country wins too.

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Roger Hedgecock is a nationally-syndicated radio talk host. Visit http://www.rogerhedgecock.com/ . The Roger Hedgecock Show is syndicated on the Radio America network.

Water running in West Madison, but questions remain.

According to a late Thursday afternoon report water began running about 5:30 p.m. Thursday for customers of the West Madison Utility District.

The district tapped into a back-up well for Flora which is being purchased by the Madison County Economic Development Authority for the utility district’s use after its own well collapsed, shutting off water for the Kearney Park and Magnolia Heights areas Sept. 12.

About a mile of pipe was laid to reach the well, which will also be used by Flora if a back-up well is needed.

This is great news for many out in the Kearney Park area. But, some questions remain.

Is this now going to be forgotten again? This problem has been ongoing for more than 25 years, and officials have known it.

Is this band-aid fix going to be the only thing that happens until another crash of the system? Over the years, small fixes have held the system together, oftentimes after residents have gone days or weeks without safe water. When the water would begin to flow again, West Madison and Madison County officials would fall back into business as usual.

Will the West Madison Utility District and Supervisor Karl Banks attempt to blame the residents when nothing is done again? Residents have been blamed for not signing a survey so that a grant could be obtained to help. But, there are a wide range of funding options throug a variety of agencies if officials really wanted to do something. Furthermore, residents and stakeholders were often turned away from board meetings, or the West Madison Utilities Board would go into Executive Session when they didn't want to answer tough questions. In one instance, a resident refused to leave and was threatened with arrest. That officials refuse to allow stakeholders to participate in solutions, yet blame them for not signing on to the only solution offered is arrogant and protectionist. People that would rather do a poor job than allow other solutions to be considered should be removed from the equation.

Will the West Madison Utility District find a way to blame the Town of Flora again for the problems that is the responsibility of West Madison? Flora residents and officials have come to the aid of Kearney Park and the West Madison Utility District countless times. Yet, when there is no easy excuse for their ineptitude they blame the Town of Flora for not pushing through "paperwork".

Or . . .

Will resident's come together and make some demands of Madison County to clean up the real problem? That problem is in the makeup of the utility district leadership itself, and how it has been politicized by the current Supervisor in order to protect his turf come election time. The underlying current here is race and socioeconomics. There have been many times that white and black residents have tried to come together to affect some change. There have also been a few times where there have been some investors interested in revitalizing the old Industrial area, a move that would benefit residents and businesses immensely. But, changes to the social and economic order mean those in power who mismanage, would begin to lose that power. No real infrastructure improvement, means no change to the status quo, and those in office stay in office. Resident's must come together and force the change.

West Madison Commissioner Lawrence Morris said, "That Flora well can supply us with water until we dig a new well.” Yet, there is no timetable for digging a new well.

If residents strike now, they can demand a plan be put together that will finally get this problem under control. It took an emergency for everyone to work together. But, it will take some changes in leadership to get it to stay that way.

Related Post: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.

Related Post: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage
Related Post: Madison Co. residents without water get relief
Related Post: Biting the hand the quenches? West Madison Utilities' Morris blames Kearney Park water problems on Town of Flora


West Madison Utilities/Kearney Park

MDEQ Promotes Drug Take Back Events

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is encouraging Mississippians to participate in the upcoming drug take back events sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) this Saturday, September 25 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. People may bring unwanted solid prescription and overthe-counter medicines so they may be disposed of safely. Liquid medications, such as cough syrup will not be accepted.

Law enforcement agencies in Mississippi that are participating in the event and the addresses of the drop-off locations are as follows:

Brandon Police Department
1455 West Government Street
Brandon, Ms 39042

Gulfport Police Dept. Operations Bldg.
2810 34th Avenue
Gulfport, Ms 39501

12th Circuit Court Narcotics Enforcement Team
Forrest Countyn Multi-purpose Bldg.
962 Sullivan Drive
Hattiesburg, Ms 39401

Olive Branch Police Department
First Baptist Church 9235 Pigeon Roost Road
Olive Branch, Ms 38654

Pascagoula PoliceDepartment
Jackson County Civic Center
2902 Shortcut Road
Pascagoula, Ms 39567

Pass Christian Police Department
Pass Christian Public Library
111 Hiern Avenue
Pass Christian, Ms 39571

Pearl Police Department
Pearl Police Department Lobby
2422 Old Brandon Road
Pearl, Ms 39208

Terry Police Department
Terry Community Center (on side of Post Office)
104 Madison Street
Terry, Ms 39170

Warren County Sheriff’s Office
1000 Grove Street
Vicksburg, Ms 39183

Warren County Sheriff’s Office
Vicksburg Factory Outlet Mall
4000 S. Frontage Road
Vicksburg, Ms 39183

The event does not restrict drop off to only residents of the sponsoring community; therefore, residents may drop off unused medications at any nearby event site.

Unused drugs that are stored around the home may present a danger to people as well as to the environment when disposed of. Removing unused medications from the home can help prevent intentional misuse and unintentional poisonings of children and pets. However, dumping the medication down the drain or flushing it down the toilet can become a source of water contamination. Research is continuing into whether such water contamination adversely impacts human health or aquatic life.

Additional information on the take back events nationwide is available on the DEA’s website: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/takeback, and information on pharmaceuticals as pollutants can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ppcp/

Gluckstadt GermanFest 2010 set for September 26

The 24th annual Gluckstadt GermanFest is scheduled for Sunday, September 26, 11 am - 5pm at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Gluckstadt.

The family-oriented festival is best known for its food and music. Free music will be provided by Die Mitternachters, an authentic German folk band. The band, which has entertained at GermanFests since the first festival 24 years ago, is a crowd pleaser. People who have never experienced a polka will tap their toes and maybe even get up and dance. And then there is the Chicken Dance, a favorite of young and old which truly has to be seen and heard to be fully appreciated.

Sizzling shish kabobs, bratwurst slathered in sauerkraut and authentic German desserts as well as pies, ice cream and other home-made favorites aplenty will be dished out all day. The menu also includes giant fresh oven-baked pretzels, hot dogs, and rippchenkraut, which is pork chops with homemade sauerkraut. Dark and light beer will be on tap, along with Pepsi products and bottled water. A special treat this year will be a German wine tasting booth.

Meal tickets cost $5 in advance, and will be $6 on the day of the festival. Advance meal tickets are available from parishioners of St. Joseph Catholic Church. Ticket information is also available by calling the parish office at 601-856-2054.

Horse drawn wagon rides, a climbing tower and an assortment of childrens games will provide hours of entertainment. A stroll about the grounds to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells is an experience to be savored.

For those who want to take home something to enjoy, the Country Store will be in business with an assortment of commemorative items, t-shirts, home made breads, desserts, jellies and canned goods. The hottest seller usually is the sauerkraut. Church members make hundreds of quarts of the salty cabbage delicacy using a recipe handed down through generations of German descendants living in Gluckstadt. Gifted church folk also have their creative energies in overdrive to produce fun craft items for sale.

The Gluckstadt community was founded in 1905 by families of German descent. Many of the descendants of the original families still attend St. Joseph. Each year St. Joseph Catholic Church hosts the GermanFest the last Sunday in September. GermanFest is the annual fund raising event for the church.

No coolers or solicitors will be allowed on the grounds. Festival goers are also asked to refrain from bringing pets.

The festival is held on the grounds of St. Joseph Catholic Church, which is located off Interstate 55 north of Madison. Take Exit 112 at Gluckstadt and go west three-tenths of a mile on Gluckstadt Road to Church Road. Or just follow the crowd from the Interstate.

Admission and parking are free. Festival goers may wish to bring a lawn chair. There usually aren't enough hay bales to go around.

For more information, call Pam Minninger, St. Joseph Catholic Church, 601.856.2054.

Yazoo bullying problems persist

Accusations of bullying have landed some Yazoo County high students in hot water. The school district is not commenting, but several parents are.

WLBT first began getting calls about bullying at the Yazoo County high school last Friday.

Monday we interviewed one parent of a student who was accused of being a bully. Jeanetta March says her son was sent home from school after she attended a meeting at the high school Monday morning.

March says her son was not involved, but was blamed for participating in a bullying incident where 13 students surrounded another student and harassed them.

March says the incident happened over two weeks ago, and that school officials were warned by students claiming to be victims, but nothing was ever done to prevent it.

March said, "The principals were advised as to what was going on before it got to that level and before it came to the point where the parents now are having to be called in for meetings and get involved in something that should have been squashed. Should have been handled on their level a long time ago when it was first addressed to them."

Just last year, an incident resulting from bullying was caught on a school bus camera in the same school district.

A 14-year-old was seen waving a gun at other students on her bus, after she claimed she was the victim of bullying.

The gun was eventually wrestled away from her by a football player, and no one was hurt.

Yazoo county officials would only say the incident is under investigation.

WLBT

This woman really has a screw loose.

Pelosi thinks Dems are headed for a victory in the House.

There is a joke here. I'm just undecided as to what it is, exactly.

Clinton helps launch clean cook stove initiative

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has announced a new program to introduce cleaner cook stoves around the world.

2 percent of Miss. teacher contracts not renewed

The state Department of Education says Mississippi schools cut about 2 percent of the jobs for certified teachers this academic year because of tight budgets.
That's a loss of about 705 jobs among the roughly 33,000 teaching positions.

State Board of Education member Claude Hartley told legislative budget writers Tuesday that losing teachers can mean larger class sizes, which can affect the quality of education.

The 705 job losses are for teachers whose contracts were not renewed.

The numbers don't include teaching jobs that are open because someone retired and a position wasn't filled.

The state Department of Education says 150 of the 152 school districts responded to its survey about employment levels. Agricultural high schools in Hinds and Coahoma counties did not respond.

SH

AP: Tea party group announces $1 million donation

A tea party group announced a $1 million donation from an anonymous donor Tuesday, a shot of cash to be spent before the election by a movement that has relied on grassroots outreach to fiscally conservative voters.

The nonprofit Tea Party Patriots said it had received the donation from a single contributor who wants it divided up and given to local coordinators by Oct. 4. The group's spokesman told reporters that recipients of the money must spend it by Nov. 2, but they are barred from using it for ads or fliers that mention a specific candidate.

Organizers said the donor wished to remain anonymous.

The Tea Party Patriots is one of several groups that have capitalized on a wave of voter anger and their message of fiscal prudence and smaller government. Candidates backed by tea party groups defeated Republican Party backed candidates in a number of Senate primary races.

Read the entire article: AP

Miss. jobless rate falls to 10 percent in August

Mississippi's unemployment rate dipped to 10 percent in August from 10.8 percent in July.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says that Mississippi was one of 13 states that recorded a decrease last month, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The agency says there were 11,100 fewer people listed as unemployed last month in the state, while the civilian labor force dropped by 3,000. There were 800 more workers on non-farm payrolls, compared with July.

Mississippi's unemployment rate in August 2009 was 9.8 percent.

The national unemployment rate for August was unchanged from July at 9.6 percent. That rate was 9.7 percent in August 2009.

SH

Suspect convicted on bribery charge

A suspect on a drug charge in Madison County was convicted of trying to bribe a Madison County sheriff's deputy.

Dennis Jerome Beal was arrested on the bribery charge Feb. 5 after he delivered $4,000 to a deputy, expecting to have the drug charges pending against him dismissed, a sheriff's statement said.

Beal was given the maximum sentence of 10 years as a habitual offender, and the eight years of probation he was serving for a previous conviction was revoked.

He is facing trial on a sale of cocaine charge. If convicted, he will face a potential 120 additional years.

CL

Biting the hand the quenches? West Madison Utilities' Morris blames Kearney Park water problems on Town of Flora

As the Town of Flora officials and residents pitch in yet again to help out the people in Kearney Park with their water woes, Lawrence Morris with West Madison Utilities decided to blame Flora and the "paperwork" for the decades old problem. Morris told WAPT that it's taken so long because of the paperwork between West Madison Utilities and the Town of Flora.

"We finally got it together. You know, the paperwork can sometimes burn you out and delay some things," Morris said.

This statement comes despite the fact that Flora officials continue to work diligently to help West Madison Utilities connect the pipes that will run for more than a mile and tie into the main water line in Kearney Park. Flora Mayor Leslie Childress is working with the West Madison Utility District to hook up an emergency water line to the town's well.

There's also this: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage


West Madison Utilities still has no backup water system as required by health department regulation. But, that one is easily blamed on someone else, too.

County leaders said the community has been denied grants in the past to update the water system because of a failure by residents to fill out the required surveys. Officials said they are hoping residents will now be more motivated to get a new water system flowing.

There's more on the "survey" and grant denials HERE.

It would seem that many of the people of Kearney Park are having a hard time seeing they are being used by their "leaders" who don't care about doing anything but applying a bandaid to the problem. Maybe this time they will awaken to the reality of the situation.

Related Post: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.
Related Post: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage
Related Post: Madison Co. residents without water get relief


Urtak 3355

A Sad Ending To The Story

Ethel Simpson

Authorities await positive ID on body found at Edwards hog farm


Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin was tight-lipped today on details of the investigation into the killing of a woman believed to be 81-year-old Ethel Winstead Simpson of Clinton.

“I’m not going to comment on any aspects of the investigation,” he said, citing concerns that what he might say would adversely influence a future grand jury or trial jury considering charges against 39-year-old James Cobb Hutto of Jasper, Ala.

Law officers believe Hutto killed Simpson late Sept. 13 or early Sept. 14. Simpson was last seen the night Sept. 13 at Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg wearing a red shirt and khaki pants. She was with Hutto, a convicted sex offender and kidnapper.

An examination of dental records today will provide information needed to positively identify the body.

Read the entire article at the Clarion Ledger Online

Related Posts: Clinton PD asks for help finding missing Clinton woman last seen with sex offender

Madison Co. residents without water get relief

One week without water. That's what nearly 500 households and businesses in west Madison County are dealing with.

Four hundred eighty-four West Madison Utility District customers have had little to no water pressure since last Sunday. They are all located in the Kearney Park area just north of Flora.

Utility Commissioner Nathaniel Johnson tells WLBT an old well collapsed and was shut down.

Sunday night a resident living near the area has running water and decided to share it.

"Friends of mine came by and said Erik we don't have any water to even flush out toilets. The little water that we have we have to wait until tomorrow to flush our toilets so I said no. It's time for me to do something so I went out, got a couple guys and girls together and we decided to do this and we decided we was not going to stop until we get the job completed," Erik Battle said.

Battle went door to door, helping his neighbors. The county is supplying bottled water to drink and residents have been instructed to boil any water available from the tap.

Flora Mayor Leslie Childress is working with the West Madison Utility District to hook up an emergency water line to the town's well.

No word on when water will begin flowing normally.

WLBT

Related Post: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.
Related Post: Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage

UK Proposes All Paychecks Go to the State First

The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid.

Currently employers withhold tax and pay the government, providing information at the end of the year, a system know as Pay as You Earn (PAYE). There is no option for those employees to refuse withholding and individually file a tax return at the end of the year.

If the real-time information plan works, it further proposes that employers hand over employee salaries to the government first.

"The next step could be to use (real-time) information as the basis for centralizing the calculation and deduction of tax," HMRC said in a July discussion paper.

HMRC described the plan as "radical" as it would be a huge change from the current system that has been largely unchanged for 66 years.

Even though the centralized deductions proposal would provide much-needed oversight, there are some major concerns, George Bull, head of Tax at Baker Tilly, told CNBC.com.

"If HMRC has direct access to employees' bank accounts and makes a mistake, people are going to feel very exposed and vulnerable," Bull said.

And the chance of widespread mistakes could be high, according to Bull. HMRC does not have a good track record of handling large computer systems and has suffered high-profile errors with data, he said.

The system would be massive in terms of data management, larger than a recent attempt to centralize the National Health Service's data, which was later scrapped, Bull said.

If there's a mistake and the HMRC collects too much money, the difficulty of getting it back could be high with repayments of tax taking weeks or months, he said.

"There has to be some very clear understanding of how quickly repayments were made if there was a mistake," Bull said.

HMRC estimated the potential savings to employers from the introduction of the concept would be about £500 million ($780 million).

But the cost of implementing the new system would be "phenomenal," Bull pointed out.

"It's very clear that the system does need to be modernized… It's outdated, it's outmoded," Emma Boon, campaigner manager at the Tax Payers' Alliance, told CNBC.com.

Boon said that the Tax Payers' Alliance was in favor of simplifying tax collection, but stressed that a new complex computer system would add infrastructure and administration costs at a time when the government is trying to reduce spending.

There is a further concern, according to Bull. The centralized storage of so much data poises a security risk as the system may be open to cyber crime.

As well as security issues, there's a huge issue of transparency, according to Boon.

Boon also questioned HMCR's ability to handle to the role effectively.

The Institute of Directors (IoD), a UK organization created to promote the business agenda of directors and entreprenuers, said in a press release it had major concerns about the proposal to allow employees' pay to be paid directly to HMRC.

CNBC

Candidate, Election Workers Kidnapped on Eve of Afghan Poll

Afghan officials say the Taliban has kidnapped 19 people, including a candidate and several campaign workers, on Frifay, the eve of nationwide parliamentary elections.

An Independent Election Commission spokesman confirmed Friday that a candidate had been kidnapped in eastern Laghman province. Eight election officials and 10 campaign workers were also reported kidnapped in northwestern Badghis province

Taliban militants have already killed at least three candidates and several campaign workers in the run-up to Saturday's vote. The group is threatening to stage countrywide attacks, as it did during last year's presidential elections in an effort to intimidate voters.

Read more at VOA

Clinton PD asks for help finding missing Clinton woman last seen with sex offender

Ethel Simpson

Clinton police and family members of an 81 year old Clinton resident are fearing the worst. This after she was last seen with a violent offender.

Ethel Simpson visits the Baptist Healthplex Center on the Mississippi College campus every day. Monday she had a fender bender in the parking lot. She went back inside and was approached by a stranger who had signed in using a guest pass. 39 year old James Cobb Hutto.

WLBT obtained pictures of the wanted man. He is wearing a black T-shirt and signing in for a guest pass. We ask if she was targeted? "It's difficult to say but a good strong possibility," replied Chief Don Byington during a Thursday morning news conference.

Police say Hutto befriended the woman. He and Mrs. Simpson are seen leaving the healthplex together, with Hutto behind the wheel of her Mercedes. That sent up a red flag. An employee was on the last people to talk to her around 4:30 Monday afternoon. "She said she felt sorry for him. She said I really think he's on the up and up," according to Jan Cossitt.

James Hutto

But was James Hutto truthful? We have learned they went to lunch, then she dropped him off at a Clinton hotel. "He said to Simpson, that he had not told anybody but he had cancer and he had no family," according to Chief Byington.

Despite warnings, the elderly woman winds up with Hutto at a Vicksburg casino Monday night. They were last seen leaving the casino together around 11;40 p.m. What she didn't know was, this man has a violent criminal history.

"At present he is wanted for not registering as a sex offender." The Alabama man's rap sheet reveals a troubling history. Criminal trespassing, domestic violence, 1st degree kidnapping and felony sexual abuse. According to Jan Cossitt, "He just prayed on a big hearted elderly lady, he is an excellent con man apparently."

The last known sighting was at 3:00 in the morning. The Mercedes was seen traveling east on I-20. No one knows if Ethel Simpson was in the car.

Simpson's Mercedes is a silver C 240 4-door model, with a broken rear tail light on the driver's side. The tag number is HXH 426.

Anyone with information about Ethel Simpson or James Cobb Hutto's whereabouts should contact the Clinton Police Department 601-924-5252.

UPDATE: James Cobb Hutto, the man sought in connection with the disappearance of an elderly Clinton woman, has been arrested in Alabama. There is still no sign of the missing woman, Ethel Simpson. Hutto was driving her car when he was found.


WLBT

Have Democrats become this blatant because they have no fear of prosecution, or is it just ignorance?

Eleanor Holmes Norton

The title of the post on Big Government says Shock Audio. I know when your given the word "Shock" these days its usually just to get your attention and very seldom is it truly shocking. This, however, truly is shocking.

I kept listening for the end when some voiceover would say, "GOTCHA!" But, it didn't happen. Go to the link below and scroll down and listen to House Member Eleanor Holmes Norton make a fundraising call to a lobbyist. What's worse than the call is the fact that she was ignorant enough to leave such a detailed and incriminating voicemail.

Shock Audio: Facing ‘Obligations’ From Leadership, Democrat Congresswoman Leaves Voicemail for Lobbyist Cash

MCJ: Supervisor wants more time to look at budget

Supervisor D.I. Smith

Madison County approved a $70.9 million budget without a tax increase, but at least one supervisor complained that he and the public didn't have a chance to see the numbers far enough in advance.

Overall, the budget is up slightly over last year, but $20 million in one-time bond monies helped inflate the 2009-2010 numbers and forced some department heads to make cuts this year.

District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson touted the budget, thanking Comptroller Quandice Green and others for their had work balancing the budget and avoiding a tax increase in a hard economic year.

Supervisor Tim Johnson

"It was a tough budget, but we're going to move forward with no tax increase," Johnson said. "There's only one county that has lower taxes than Madison County and that's Tunica. And not that I'm advocating it, but if they allowed us to open a casino on the Pearl River we could probably beat Tunica County too."

The board voted 3-2 to approve the proposed budget with District 1's John Bell Crosby and District 3's D.I. Smith voting against.

Smith said that he was disappointed that he didn't get a copy of the budget until last week and felt the public had no information ahead of time.

"To me it's unconscionable to hold a public hearing when the public hasn't even been given anything to look at," Smith said. "We should be giving an overview of what we're getting in this budget and what we're losing."

Read the entire article at The Madison County Journal

Madison Co. Routes Water From Flora To Help Cover Outage

Water Brought In For Residents

Madison County has restored water to about 250 residents, but another 250 are still without, officials said.

On Tuesday, officials with the Madison County Utilities Board attributed the outage to a pump that stopped in the Kearney Park community. Residents there have been without water for about three days.

The county has also brought in a 6,000 gallon tanker to provide water to residents to use for household purposes. Bottled drinking water has also been distributed to residents, county officials said.

County officials said the faulty pump should be fixed by the end of the week.

WAPT

Related Posts: Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.

Does it really matter that they were stupid?

Jamie and Gladys Scott

200 protesters marched in support of the release of sisters, Jamie and Gladys Scott, who have spent 16 years in prison for a robbery. Apparently it's supposed to matter that they only managed to get 11 bucks for the effort. Does being a stupid criminal mean it's somehow less of a crime?



Chokwe Lumumba

 How stupid? Well they've hired attorney, New Afrikan, and Jackson Councilman Chokwe Lumumba to represent them. So, they've definitely not gained a great deal of intelligence in the past 16 years.

Hundreds Rally For Release of Miss. Women,


Nearly 200 protesters marched to the governor's mansion and the Mississippi Capitol to call for the release of two sisters who are serving life sentences for a robbery that netted $11.

Representatives of the Mississippi ACLU and several other groups joined civil rights veterans in the effort to get a pardon for Jamie and Gladys Scott, who have served nearly 16 years in prison for the 1993 crime in Scott County.

The sisters' attorney Chokwe Lumumba met Wednesday with one of Gov. Haley Barbour's staff attorneys about their petition for a pardon or a reduced sentence. Barbour's office has said the governor is waiting to receive a recommendation from the state Parole Board.

WJTV

Opinion: Evil Islam Cannot Be Tolerated

BY: Steve Casey

On 9/11, this year, I received two email videos that reveal the reality of the depth of the propaganda and lies we are hearing about the "peaceful religion" of which we should "be more tolerant."


The first video was of Muslims burning Christians – not books – they were burning people alive. They threw them into a shallow ditch and set leafy branches on fire on and around them. If they tried to escape they were beaten and pushed or dragged back into the fire. An old lady trying to escape was brutally knocked down and pushed back in the fire. All while others stood around and watched. How evil can humans get?!

The second video was of a young Muslim woman being beaten and kicked as punishment for her crime. What crime? Refusing to marry the old man that had been picked to be her husband/master. The judge ordered that she be killed. She was dragged into the street and executed by a mob of men and boys in compliance with Islamic Sharia Law. Her life ended as a man took a cinder block and mashed her head twice. The video was filmed on a cell phone as young boys took pictures with their cell phones.

This is the Islamic Sharia Law of which we are being asked to be more compliant and honor within our courts.

Evil of this nature cannot be tolerated by a civilized people. Sure there are peaceful Muslims around, but we don’t hear any outcry from them against this evil brutality. These radicals rule Muslim countries and they will not be content until they rule everyone.

We need to face the truth about these radicals we are dealing with. The truth may not be politically correct. But then the politically correct is seldom true.

Memorial Fund set up for Blake Walley

Daniel Blake Walley

The Bank of Yazoo has set up a memorial fund for Blake Walley. Walley was killed in a one vehicle accident in Louisiana on Sunday. Blake, reffered to by many as just "Walley", was a great guy, a good friend to many and always greeted people with a smile and a handshake. He was the type of person the world needs more of.

Troopers say the 26-year-old Walley of Flora was eastbound on Interstate 12 Sunday when he ran off the road and hit a tree. A medic from the U.S. Navy travelling with his wife witnessed the wreck, and pulled over to help until emergency officials could make it to the scene. Walley was taken to the Ochsner Medical Center in Slidell where he was later pronounced dead.


Checks should be made payable and mailed to:

Blake Walley Memorial Fund


Bank of Yazoo
P.O. Box 360
Flora, MS 39071


Or call the Flora Branch of the Bank of Yazoo at 601.879.0060

Obituary

Funeral services are scheduled for today at 6 PM at First Baptist Church of Flora. Visitation will begin at 3 PM also at the church. Interment will follow in the Flora Cemetery.


Walley as he was known to his friends, which was everyone because he never met a stranger, was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on June 30th 1984. Walley was a Cowboy's Cowboy, that was actually born a 100 years after his time, loved horses, cattle and the wide open range.

Walley would have given John Wayne a run for his money. He loved his friends and family. Walley would jump from the cowboy range to the sands of a beach sipping a cool drink and listening to Jimmy Buffet wide open before you could say "Hey Walley want to go to the beach?"

Blake would help anyone from an elderly woman on the side of the road with a flat tire to perfectly healthy grown man. "No" was a word that didn't exist in Walley's heart or mind, he was a joy, a bright light that shone on everyone he was near. Kind words, funny words, always full of words that kept you on your toes and in stitches.

"Wallyisms" are what his best friends called them, the beautiful, witty words of wisdom that always flowed from his sweet mind and lips. I am sure we can all recall many "Wallyisms". He was our McClintock, our comedian, our star of stage and screen, he was our Star.

Julia and I thank God for the gift of Blake and the 26 wonderful years we were given. We know you all loved him dearly and we wish for you the same joy he had, as Blake would say "Everyday is a Holiday".

He is preceded in death by his grandfather, Lt. Col. D.R. Walley, Sr.

He is survived by his parents, Dan Walley and Julia Childress Walley; his maternal grandparents, William Lee and Mary Nell Childress; and his paternal grandmother, Jo Nell Walley.


Related Posts: Flora Man Dies After Vehicle Hits Tree

Here we go again! Decades old problems with West Madison Water District again rears it's ugly head.

The issue of bad pipes, pumps, and a poorly managed Water District in Kearney Park and Magnolia Heights is decades old. For years Supervisor Karl Banks has used West Madison Water District to his benefit to keep poor and underpriviledged people in his pocket when he needed their votes. Banks has promised grant money and improvements so many times over the past 25 years that most of the residents have lost count. Yet somehow he has a new solution just in time for his reelection every 4 years. If only those voters put him back into office, he'll get it done for them. When he needs a scapegoat, he blames the whole problem on residents that refuse to sign a survey for the grant.

Watch the Water Board Commissioner at 1:01 of THIS VIDEO FROM WAPT trumpet yet another call for the illusory grant that never materializes. They have been in the "process" of getting this grant for years. Also, watch around 1:33 when the report quotes Banks using the survey excuse. Also, note that Mr. Banks doens't bother to provide a statement on camera.

During the last election cycle, I and the now Flora Mayor Leslie Childress were walking the streets of Magnolia Heights talking to folks. Childress was challenging Banks for Supervisor, and I was writing an article on the water problems in Kearney Park and how residents have had to deal with it for decades. One of my interviews was with Evelyn Brown, seen in the video above. She's been fighting this fight a long time. At the time of our visit, the residents were going through yet another water problem, with pipes busting and water heaters exploding in homes. Within 45 minutes of our first visits with residents, a car drove up full of Banks supporters to argue with us in the street about what a good job Mr. Banks was doing, and how a grant was available if he was re-elected. It became obvious that residents are being watched to ensure their compliance in the ongoing charade.

Same Old Story.

It's right out of the Bennie Thompson playbook. Keeping his district poor and black means Ole Karl stays in power. Too much infrastructure improvement might lead to investment from people with money and resources; people who wouldn't put up with this crap. Of course, in his bid to remain in power, ethics or the appearance of impropriety have never really concerned the longest seated Supervisor in Madison County.

Concerned citizens have tried to attend board meetings to see how they could help, and local contractors have offered assistance. But the West Madison Water District Board wouldn't know an Open Meetings Law if someone hit them in the head with it. When confronted with the fact that they haven't been doing their job, they simply go into executive session, and have even called the cops on residents who refused to leave the meeting.



Report from WJTV:




And from the CL

Flora water system to be out for days

Madison County is supplying water to residents around Flora who normally get their supply from the West Madison water district.

The 500 or so residents in the Magnolia Heights and Kearney Park areas went under a boil water notice Friday and the water system failed on Sunday, Butch Hammack, the county's emergency operations director said.

Repairs are being made to the system, but the well could be out of working order anywhere from three to 10 days, Hammack said.

The county has taken a 6,000-gallon tanker to the area for residents to use for household purposes and cases of bottled water for drinking, he said

This problem won't be fixed until people in Kearney Park come together and decide that Mr. Banks politics is not worth the price they are paying.

The Harsh Bigotry of Their Expectations

by Debra Saunders

Why did Florida pastor Terry Jones garner all that media attention last week for threatening to burn Qurans on Saturday's 9/11 anniversary? I believe it's because network swells had spent weeks trying to frame opponents of the ground zero mosque -- also known as the Lower Manhattan

Islamic community center -- as stupid anti-Islam bigots, but that story line wasn't sticking. So networks found a stupid anti-Islam bigot in Florida who had nothing to do with the mosque, but who reinforced their political view.

Two people died in protests in Kabul. If Jones had gone ahead with his stunt, pundits would have blamed him -- not themselves, not those who committed acts of violence -- for any bloodshed. It is a sad day in journalism when a huckster Holy Roller with a 50-person parish exhibits better judgment than many in media.

The Sunday talk-show types still don't get it. "Meet the Press" host David Gregory lamented "the demonization of the other." Said guest Reza Aslan, "Anti-Muslim sentiment in this country is at unprecedented levels. We all know this. ... Let's call a spade a spade for a moment. If you are painting 1.5 billion people with the same brush of violence and extremism, you're a bigot."

Last week, Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent announced that he had found "clear evidence that there's a direct link between public anti-Islam sentiment and public opposition" to the ground zero mosque. A Washington Post poll reported that 49 percent of Americans have generally unfavorable views of Islam and 66 percent oppose the Islamic center. His smoking gun: Two-thirds of those 66 percent have generally unfavorable views of Islam.

Funny. In 2002, after the priest-child sex abuse scandal erupted, an ABCNews/Washington Post poll found that 52 percent of Americans -- including three in 10 Catholics -- expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Roman Catholic Church. Now, I don't recall pundits referring to the majority of Americans as anti-Catholic bigots who are too stupid to know that most priests are not pedophiles. They likely figured, negative stories yield negative poll numbers.

Consider Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who shot to death 12 soldiers and one civilian in 2009. Ditto Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian arrested for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas. Add the attempted Times Square and New York subway bombings. Islamic extremism was the common thread in those stories -- which makes it amazing that Islam polls better today than the Catholic Church in 2002.

At Friday's news conference, President Obama was righteous when he said, "We are not at war against Islam. We are at war against terrorist organizations that have distorted Islam or falsely used the banner of Islam to engage in their destructive acts." He then talked about the millions of Muslim Americans who are "fellow citizens," neighbors and friends. "And when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them?"

It's a true shame that Obama fails to exhibit such understanding toward, say, people in Arizona who support federal immigration law, or oppose putting a mosque near Islamic extremism's great crime. For such people, Obama has no problem with odious stereotypes.

As attendance and betting continue to fall at U.S. Racetracks, Churchill Downs looks to Mississippi Delta.

Harlow's Casino Resort and Hotel

The total betting on racing in the United States last year fell 10% to $12 billion, its lowest level in more than a decade. Some of that can be attributed to the economic downturn and fewer racing days, but the sport has been in decline for years, thanks to the expansion of casino gambling across the country.

Apparently, Churchill downs is deciding that 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'


Churchill has long been trying to get slot machines legalized at its namesake track in Kentucky, but has been repeatedly denied by legislators.

CEO Robert L. Evans said: “We are continuing to diversify across racing, gaming and other business units”. He also confirmed that all of the 400 Harlow Resort’s staff would keep their jobs and that Churchill Downs Inc. hope to build upon the success already achieved by the hotel and casino.

Churchill Downs buying Delta casino



GREENVILLE — The parent of Churchill Downs race track is getting into the full-fledged casino business.

Churchill Downs Inc. said it has agreed to acquire Harlow’s Casino Resort & Hotel in Greenville for about $138 million.

Churchill said the cash deal is subject to regulatory approval but is expected to be completed in the next three to six months.

Harlow’s opened in late 2007 near the Mississippi River and features a 33,000-square-foot gaming floor.

Churchill Downs president and CEO Robert L. Evans said the addition of Harlow’s continues the Louisville, Ky.–based company’s strategy of diversifying its business across its racing, gaming and online units.

Churchill owns and operates race tracks in Illinois, Florida and Louisiana as well as its namesake track in Louisville, which is home to the Kentucky Derby.

AP

Justice IG probing Black Panther case (Video)

Civil Rights Division the target in suspected worker harassment
 
Christopher Coates, the veteran Justice Department voting section chief who recommended going forward on the civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party, was removed from his post and transferred to the U.S. attorney's office in South Carolina. New Black Panther Party members had disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections, one of whom intimidated would-be voters with a nightstick.
 




J. Christian Adams, the lead attorney in the case, resigned, citing what he called concerns about the Justice Department's refusal to prosecute the New Black Panther Party case after a federal judge in Philadelphia had ruled in favor of the government's case.


Mr. Adams accused Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. of dropping the charges for racially motivated reasons, saying that he and other Justice Department lawyers working on the case were ordered to dismiss it.

Read the entire article at the Washington Times

The 1099 Insurrection

The White House fights an effort to ease a burden on small business

You might not have seen it reported, but the Senate will vote this morning on whether to repeal part of ObamaCare that it passed only months ago. The White House is opposed, but this fight is likely to be the first of many as Americans discover—as Nancy Pelosi once famously predicted—what's in the bill.

The Senate will vote on amendments to the White House small business bill that would rescind an ObamaCare mandate that companies track and submit to the IRS all business-to-business transactions over $600 annually. Democrats tucked the 1099 reporting footnote into the bill to raise an estimated $17.1 billion, part of the effort to claim that ObamaCare reduces the deficit by $100 billion or so.

But this "tax gap" of unreported business income is largely a Beltway myth, and no less than the Treasury Department's National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says the costs will be "disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvements in tax compliance."

Meanwhile, small businesses are staring in horror toward 2013, when the 1099 mandate will hit more than 30 million of them. Currently businesses only have to tell the IRS the value of services they purchase from vendors and the like. Under the new rules, they'll have to report the value of goods and merchandise they purchase as well, adding vast accounting and paperwork costs.

Think about a midsized trucking company. The back office would have to collect hundreds of thousands of receipts from every gas station where its drivers filled up and figure out where it spent more than $600 that year. Then it would also need to match those payments to the stations' corporate parents.

Most Democrats now claim they were blindsided and didn't understand the implications of the 1099 provision—which is typical of the slapdash, destructive way the bill was written and passed. As the critics claimed, most Members had no idea what they were voting on. Some 239 House Democrats voted to dump the 1099 provision in August, and the repeal would have passed except Speaker Pelosi rigged the vote procedurally so it needed a two-thirds majority. She thus gave Democrats the cover of a repeal vote without actually repealing it.

In the Senate today, Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns will offer his amendment to scrap the new 1099 rules altogether. But the White House is opposing this because it fears it would set a precedent for repealing the larger health bill. Over the weekend the Treasury Department pronounced the Johanns amendment "not acceptable in its current form."

Yesterday the White House endorsed a competing proposal from Florida Democrat Bill Nelson that would increase the 1099 threshold to $5,000 and exempt businesses with fewer than 25 workers. Yet this is little more than a rearguard action in favor of the status quo; the Nelson amendment leaves the basic architecture unchanged while making the problem more complex.

Businesses would still have to track all purchases, not knowing in advance which contractors will exceed $5,000 at the end of the year. It also creates a marginal barrier to job creation—for a smaller firm, hiring a 26th employee would be extremely costly. The Nelson amendment also includes new taxes on domestic oil production, as every Democratic bill now seems to do.

As of yesterday, no one was sure if either amendment would get 60 votes, though Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas is cosponsoring the Johanns version. Enough Democrats may bend to White House wishes and produce a stalemate, but this issue won't go away. The President's opposition to a clean repeal shows the hollowness of his alleged support for small business, which he expresses at every campaign stop but is less a priority than preserving his health-care legacy.

The larger political story here is that ObamaCare is already under bipartisan siege—and in the same Congress that passed it. The 1099 provision is only one plank, but repealing the law plank by plank may be the right strategy. Sooner or later the whole thing becomes unworkable. Voters should watch this vote to see who's really on the side of small business.

WSJ

Judge to hear legal arguments of Obama health plan

The Obama administration is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by 20 states that claims the president's health care plan is unconstitutional.

Federal attorneys will tell a judge Tuesday that the lawsuit shouldn't go to trial because the states don't have standing to sue. They will argue in a Pensacola courtroom that the section of the overhaul requiring health insurance doesn't take affect until 2015 and it would be up to an individual taxpayer to challenge the law then.

The states argue they can sue because new law will require them to spend more money on Medicaid.

Mississippi Medicaid Director: Federal Health Care Will Cost State Millions

Dr. Robert L. Robinson

Expanded Federal Poverty Limit Would Add 400,000 More To Rolls

Basic requirements of federal health care reform could push as many as 400,000 new Mississippians onto Medicaid rolls in 2014 at an annual average cost of more than between $225 to $250 million to state taxpayers, Division of Medicaid officials stated today in a joint meeting of the state Senate and House public health committees. In 2020, if States pick up the full cost of the newly enrolled, the cost to Mississippi taxpayers will be $438 million per year.

The new law grants new categories of coverage to families and childless adults between 100 percent and 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Limit, Richard Roberson, Special Assistant to the Executive Director, told legislators. Compared to other states, Mississippi has one of the largest percentages of its population within these limits.

“We struggle to pay for the program that we have now, said Medicaid Executive Director Dr. Robert L. Robinson. “With federal health care reform we will soon need more than $1 billion from Mississippi taxpayers annually to pay for this program. In 2014, our Medicaid program will cover approximately one out of three Mississippians and consume 20 to 25 percent of our state budget.”

The law will also impact Mississippi hospitals by reducing the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program which provides supplemental payments to hospitals that serve a high volume of uninsured patients. Last year, Mississippi paid more than $200 million to Mississippi hospitals through its DSH program.

Related Posts: Judge to hear legal arguments of Obama health plan

Flora man dies after vehicle hits tree

Blake Walley

Louisiana State Police say a Mississippi man died in a one-vehicle crash on Interstate 12 just west of Slidell.

Troopers say 26-year-old Daniel B. Walley of Flora was eastbound Sunday when he ran of the road and hit a tree.

Trooper Nick Manale said Walley was taken to the Ochsner Medical Center in Slidell where he was later pronounced dead.

Mosquito-Eating Fish From Mississippi To Reach Haiti Today

Operating Blessing International, a humanitarian organization, is putting to use a brilliant natural method to cut down the excessive mosquito breeding in the earthquake struck Haiti. Around 2000 tiny mosquito-eating fishes named Gambusia is being been transported from a north Mississippi fish hatchery to Haiti with a hope to reduce mosquito breeding. The fishes will play a major role in Operation Blessing International relief project and are scheduled to reach Haiti today.

The Operation Blessing International along with the Haiti Department of Agriculture have planned to put the fishes into mosquito-infested water around the country. Gambusia, is known of having the capacity of eating in mosquito eggs and larvae many more times than its body weight. They have acted as natural mosquito “deterrents” in many other countries and this is not for the first time that the Operation Blessing International is using Gambusia to fight excessive mosquito breeding. The OBI officials used the minnows for the same purpose in New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The minnows were moved from Tchula’s Thompson Fish Hatchery to the Yazoo County airport near Yazoo City. From there the fishes were scheduled to be loaded into an Operation Blessing International plane and transported to Florida and then to Haiti on Saturday. The Operation Blessing International is hopeful that its present Haiti project will help the situation in Haiti where malaria still continues to reign as an epidemic. The organization has come forward with this long-term project to combat the problem. The unleashing of the mosquitoes is a part of the organization’s “Teach A Nation To Fish” project under which it also plans to run a micro-enterprise tilapia farming project.

Yazoo County Sheriff's Son Faces Pot Charge

Sheriff Vaughan Turns Case Over To MBN

The son of Yazoo County Sheriff Tommy Vaughan is facing charges after an undercover drug sting, county officials said.

Investigators with the Sheriff's Department recorded a marijuana buy on videotape as part of the undercover operation, District Attorney Steven Waldrop said. On Friday, Thomas E. Vaughan Jr., 26, was arrested and charged with the sale of marijuana, Waldrop said.

When Sheriff Vaughan was informed that his son had been arrested, he immediately ordered that the case be turned over to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, Waldrop said.

"He then called me and said that no one is above the law and he wanted his son and this case treated like any other case," Waldrop said. "He is devastated and going through a rough time, but he was resolute that his son gets no special treatment."

The younger Vaughan was transported to the Madison County Detention Center.

WAPT

Governor's Commission On Consolidation Muddles Out a Non-solution

As long as consolidation is voluntary we'll have 152 districts. What a waste of time this whole excercise was!

Commission nixes school consolidations

A commission reviewing Mississippi’s public school structure has proposed steps to smooth the way for school districts to consolidate, but doesn’t mandate any mergers.

The Governor’s Office released the report Friday.

Gov. Haley Barbour formed the Commission on Mississippi Educational Structure — a group of educators, business leaders and legislators — late last year after he proposed reducing the state’s 152 school districts by one-third as a way to save money.

As the commission did its work, talk of consolidation lost steam. Consultants hired by the commission on Barbour’s advice recommended the consolidation of about 20 districts instead of the 50 proposed by the governor.

The commission recommended that consolidation continue to be voluntary with the state providing some incentives to entice mergers.

The final report recommends that school districts within a county merge some administrative functions, such as the purchase of supplies. The commission also said the Legislature should provide some financial incentives to districts to consolidate.

The panel, headed by Tupelo banker Aubrey Patterson, said school districts that do consolidate should not be penalized for low achievement scores, and should be exempt from such standards for a while. The state Department of Education also would provide technical assistance to any newly consolidated districts.

“I believe these recommendations provide the Legislature with some excellent options for consideration,” Patterson said in a statement. “The commission examined the issue from every angle and developed recommendations that address the consolidation of both school districts and services.”

The panel also recommended that the state Board of Education be given authority to dissolve districts that are placed in conservatorship or the recovery programs and reconstitute them as a new district with new district lines and new leaders.

“These commonsense solutions are a good first step toward improving the educational and financial conditions of Mississippi schools,” Barbour said in a statement. “Through innovate approaches to education, we can improve the efficiency of our districts and quality of opportunities for Mississippi children.”

MBJ

Politicians, DON'T take notes.

Folks are jockeying for position here in the great state of Mississippi for next years statewide races. For those who need a few pointers on how to properly deliver a speech announcing your candidacy, do the opposite of this guy!



This man wants YOUR SUPPORT, DAMNIT!!

Charges dropped against Canton alderman

All charges were dropped today against Canton Alderman Rodriquez Brown as well as against two other men involved in a dispute over a stolen television.

Brown and his uncle, Curtis Clark, faced simple assault charges against Levor Taylor, who the city charged with disorderly conduct after the three men got into the altercation April 9.

With both sides dropping the charges in Madison County Justice Court, the case was dismissed.

“It was what my client wanted to do,” said Kevin Broughton, Taylor’s attorney.

Judge Mamie Chinn signed an order for Canton Municipal Court to return a $255 cash bond to Taylor, Broughton said.

Canton Mayor William Truly, Police Chief Vickie McNeill and other city officials were seated in the courtroom.

Chinn scheduled the proceedings for today, at Broughton's behest, so the relatives’ assault case and Taylor’s disorderly conduct case could be dealt with together.

Taylor was the lone person in the dispute arrested by the Canton Police Department.

Photographs taken after the incident show Taylor with an injured lip and eye.

Brown, during his probable cause hearing in April, admitted he, Clark and other relatives confronted Taylor at a Dobson Street apartment to get information on who may have stolen Clark’s TV, but the alderman denied striking Taylor.

After the hearing, a judge issued arrest warrants for Brown and Clark. Each posted a $1,000 bond. Brown and Clark were represented by state Rep. Ed Blackmon, whose law firm also represents the city of Canton.

Brown has been serving as Ward 1 alderman since July 2009.

CL

Your government at work: Frog Census

Is That the Croak of the Pickerel? Frog Census Is a Tad Uncertain


David Dunn was standing utterly still near a dark pond, when a car pulled up. The driver asked what he was doing.

"I'm counting frogs for the government," Mr. Dunn said. The driver hit the gas. "Around here," says Mr. Dunn, a resident of rural Mississippi, "all you have to do is mention the government and people are gone."

Indeed, few people know about the late-night government project that Mr. Dunn and some 500 others have signed up for: America's annual frog-and-toad census, run by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Each spring, these volunteers stand quietly along stretches of the country's roads, listening to frogs. Their job is to estimate the abundance of the creatures by identifying each species' unique call. But now, scientists have devised a field experiment called "Ribbit Radio," which suggests the official frog-call count isn't all it's croaked up to be.

It can be harder counting frogs than people. Frogs are shy and nocturnal, with a preference for hiding in reeds or hovering under water. The best way to assess their populations isn't by seeing them, but by listening for their mating cries—from the chuckles and grunts of a wood frog to the cry of a pickerel frog, which sounds like a thumb riffling the teeth of a comb.

Volunteers of the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, as the census is known, endure everything from the distracting sounds of cars and barking dogs to mosquitoes and chiggers. Sometimes, homeowners get anxious when they see a stranger in the dark, staring into the woods in search of frogs.

"I've had friends who were shot at," says Alvin Braswell, deputy director for operations at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and a frog counter.

A good frog census is important. Frogs have sensitive skins, so their changing population helps scientists track pollution, disease and other ecological maladies. Other research has indicated a sharp and somewhat mysterious decline in amphibians around the world, which helped spur the American census.

Yet the science of counting frogs can be rather unscientific. The census comes up with a general rating of abundance on a scale of one to three, rather than an exact number. Three represents a full chorus of constant frog calls, for instance. Scientists plan to use changes in ranking to track population shifts over time.

Sometimes frogs that are present may not get counted, because they're not in a vocal mood, or their calls are drowned out. Dr. Braswell once stood knee-deep in a North Carolina pond, tallying frogs at midnight. He was hoping to hear gopher frogs, which he knew were native to the area, but the din from the spring peepers was too much. "Shut up!" he bellowed. The peepers shut up. But no gophers croaked. "It was disappointing," he says.

And sometimes, census takers, in their eagerness to log rarer creatures, may record that they've heard frogs that simply aren't there.

"People misidentify species. Or in their enthusiasm, they simply make them up," says Ted Simons, a biologist at North Carolina State University. He devised the experiment called Ribbit Radio to test the skills of some frog-calling champions. His findings appeared in the August issue of the journal Ecology.

On a recent afternoon, Dr. Simons demonstrated Ribbit Radio. He sat under a tree and used a computer to relay recorded frog calls to 10 speakers in a field. His test subjects were two amphibian specialists, Dr. Braswell and Jeff Humphries of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The two wrote down the frog species they thought they heard. Single frog calls were easy to identify. It got harder as calls from several species were played simultaneously and from varying distances.

The two herpetologists passed the demonstration easily enough, partly because they had done a similar test before, for the research in Ecology. But in that test, Dr. Simons included a trick to better mimic a real-world scenario, in which frog counters know all species that live in an area.

Hundreds of volunteers take part in the annual frog census. But are the counters getting it right? To test the accuracy of frog experts' skills in the field, Ted Simons developed Ribbit Radio. Gautam Naik reports.

He told the frog specialists to expect the calls of 10 species—but only played five. Several of the five experts wrote down names of "phantom" frogs whose calls weren't played.

The upshot, according to the Ecology study: Even when such phantom-call errors make up just 1% of detections, they can lead to a big overestimation of certain frog populations. Dr. Simons hopes the Ribbit Radio study will persuade the USGS to note such uncertainties in data, and offer more training.

Linda Weir, coordinator of the frog survey, was one of the participants in the Ecology study. She acknowledges the limitations of the census. "Ted's work has shown us that we need to look at" such errors more closely, she says.

Ribbit Radio was inspired by a similar experiment called Bird Radio, devised by Dr. Simons (who's also an ornithologist) and a friend, John Wettroth, who built the electronics for both projects. Bird Radio suggested identification errors also plague bird counts, which are also based on calls.

The USGS, which studies landscapes and natural resources, started the frog survey in 2001. The survey isn't a truly national sample. Twenty-two states in the eastern half of the country contribute data. Each volunteer is assigned a 15-mile route, with 10 sites, which have to be surveyed three times each year. At each site, the volunteer listens for five minutes.

Anyone can become a frog surveyor, provided they pass an online test to identify recorded frog calls. Two-thirds of testers succeed on the first go; the rest need two or more tries.

Last winter, Mr. Dunn, the Mississippi volunteer, bought a CD of frog sounds to practice. "I thought it would be a cakewalk," says Mr. Dunn, a retired history teacher, who scored only 35 out of 100 in his first attempt. He studied harder and passed the second time.

In 2006, another Mississippi frog counter, Nick Gault, heard an unusual sound on his first night out and feared he wasn't alone. "From my many zoo visits," he wrote in his account to the census, "I knew it was the low rumble of an African lion."

He crept back to his car. It took him a few minutes to realize the roar had erupted from a nearby animal sanctuary that housed large African cats.

In 2001, Ms. Weir was doing a survey in Maryland, when a police car rolled up. "I told the policeman I was listening to frogs, and he gave me a strange look," she recalls. "I was probably the talk of the station—the crazy lady who listens to frogs."

WSJ