News

By David Johnson
The Leader

Charges are pending against a Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks law enforcement officer and a Cleveland attorney for trespassing with intent to hunt, according to documents obtained by the Sunday Leader.

Affidavits filed by a private landowner obtained by the newspaper were filed Wednesday in Bolivar County Justice Court alleging that MDWFP game enforcement officer Jimmy Russell and Cleveland attorney James Walker trespassed with intent to hunt on posted property at Donaldson Point near the town of Gunnison in western Bolivar County.

Donaldson Point is home to one of the most exclusive hunting clubs on the Mississippi River. The property on which the twosome have been accused of trespassing, however, is an 80-acre parcel that is not part of the hunting club.

The affidavit states that Jimmy Russel and James Walker “did willfully and knowingly enter upon the lands” of the private land owner without permission “with intent to hunt without permission.”

By David Johnson
The Leader

At least three candidates for city office have declared their intent to not attend the municipal political forum scheduled for April 14.

Alderman-at large candidate Debbie Holder, who will face incumbent Gary Gainspoletti in the May 5 Democratic primary, says she will skip the forum out of principal. Ward 5 aldermanic candidate Danny Barfield, who will contest incumbent Paul Janoush in the May 5 election, says he has a scheduling conflict. Incumbent alderman Ted Campbell of Ward 6 has also confirmed he will not attend the forum.

Holder, as have other candidates in recent weeks, expressed her concern over Cleveland/Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce executive director Judson Thigpen's role in the event. While the forum is sponsored by the Friends of the Bolivar County Library organization, library director Lynn Shurden has chosen Thigpen to moderate the evening.

By Ryan Fulgham
The Leader

A memorial for JoEllen Lambert Ferguson was held on the campus grounds of North Sunflower Medical Center in Ruleville, Friday.

Relatives, coworkers, and friends of Ferguson watched Stephanie and Rebecca, her daughters, start the ceremony by lighting a large, purple candle, front-and-center, at the base of a flagpole. Kimberly Eastland and Rodger McClain then began their rendition of “Amazing Grace”.

Like Ferguson’s life and now her memory, the memorial candle refused to succumb to the gusty winds’ challenges. The hymn ambled on, and the crowd in mostly purple shirts and scrubs could look past that sturdy pole to see a wellspring of new life: a flowerbed growing in front of a stately hedgerow. The campus grounds were ripe with metaphors.

Candi Parrent has joined the staff of The Sunday Leader.

Parrent, a native of Rives, Missouri, has been hired by NextEd Media as a marketing representative for the newspaper.

“I’m very proud and excited to take on this new challenge,” Parrent said. “I have enjoyed making the many new friends I have found in the Cleveland community."

Parrent's responsibilities include building relationships with the businessmen and women of Cleveland and coordinating advertising in the Sunday Leader.

NextEd Media, the parent company of the Sunday Leader, has announced it will begin publishing a newspaper in Clarksdale next month.

The newspaper, The Clarksdale Blues-Star, will begin publishing on Sunday, April 12. The weekly paper is the first of three scheduled market expansions for NextEd Media this year.

"Just as we feel in Cleveland, we think there is a need for a quality, local Sunday morning newspaper in Clarksdale," said Van Colotta, chief operations officer for the company. "We're excited about bringing quality news coverage to the people of Coahoma County."

The Clarksdale Blues-Star will have circulation in Coahoma, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Bolivar and Tunica counties in Mississippi and in Phillips County, Ark.

By David Johnson
The Leader

Rosedale awoke Saturday morning to its first homicide since October of 2006.

Eighteen-year-old Travis Horsley died of a gunshot wound to the chest, en route to the Bolivar Medical Center in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday.

Law enforcement officials say that Brian Bean, exact age unknown, has been charged with murder in Horsley's death and is currently behind bars at the Bolivar County Regional Correctional facility in Pace.

By Ryan Fulgham
The Leader

Screaming along at speeds of over one hundred fifty miles per hour merely ten feet off of the ground is not a place many people like to picture themselves.

In fact, a very small percentage of pilots have ever flown such stunts.

American crop dusters have combined art and science to create a thrilling agricultural vocation that has spanned nearly a century.

By Ryan Fulgham
The Leader

Homicide tainted the streets of Cleveland late last Saturday night.

It was the city's first murder in nearly three years.

“At 11:09 PM on the night of March 14, police dispatchers received a call that a shooting had occurred on Johnson Street,” according to a Cleveland Police Department press release.

Cleveland Police Chief, Buster Bingham, told the Sunday leader that officers reported to the scene and found “Zenkendrick Johnson, age 30, lying facedown in the front yard of 1141 Johnson Street with what appeared to be two gunshot wounds to the chest.”

Emergency Medical Services rushed Johnson to the Bolivar County Medical Center where he later died.

By Ryan Fulgham
The Leader

Construction has begun on the interior of what will be Cleveland’s new city court building on South Sharpe Street.

“The new court building will be something citizens will be proud to have,” Cleveland Police Chief Buster Bingham told the Sunday Leader on Friday. “I think everyone will be pleased,” Chief Bingham added.

The old city court facilities have been used since the late eighties when the police department moved from the current location of the county courthouse.

Quotes for construction were taken this January, and construction began the first of March. “We project completion of construction by mid April,” Chief Bingham said. “We are also trying to keep costs down as low as possible,” the chief commented when asked about money for the new courthouse.

By David Johnson
The Leader

Despite a chorus of protests from several candidates, Bolivar County Library System executive director Lynn Shurden is standing steady with her decision to have Judson Thigpen moderate a political forum for Cleveland municpal candidates scheduled for April 14.

Thigpen, is the executive director of the Cleveland/Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce.

Some candidates have expressed their concern over Thigpen serving as the moderator for the forum due to the fact his organization receives approximately $250,000 annually in taxpayer funding fron the City of Cleveland. That funding, which comes from the city's tourism tax coffer, is part of several candidates campaign platforms. Some candidates have said they would like to look into the funding the city provides the chamber to see if the citizens are receiving the best benefit from their tax dollars.