Archive - 2012
January 7th
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – 
It's something that many athletes go through at certain times of their careers.
They struggle, search, question, and pick a part each and every aspect of their game trying to get rid of it. Baseball players deal with it. Receivers experience it.
On Saturday night, Mississippi State point guard Dee Bost broke out of his slump.
Entering the matchup with Arkansas, Bost was not playing up to his usual standards, averaging 7.3 points over the past three games while shooting just 21.5 percent. He struggled with few assists and simply wasn’t getting to the foul line with just four attempts.
Mississippi State's Diamber Johnson was feeling "the pain of regret" after Thursday night's 53-48 loss to LSU.
The senior point guard of the Lady Bulldogs had scored a season-low six points in that game and knew it wasn't good enough to be able to compete in the Southeastern Conference.
MSU, which stands 10-4 overall after dropping its first league outing, gets another chance today at 11th-ranked Kentucky. The tip is set for 2:30 p.m. and will be televised by SportSouth.
"Sometimes it takes losses like (LSU) to make you realize how badly you need to work on things," Johnson said.
It will be a show of unity today as the Starkville High School football team attends the funeral of teammate Devin Mitchell.
The service for Mitchell will be held at Calvary Baptist Church this afternoon in Starkville and SHS football coach Jamie Mitchell said the team will honor the families wishes and come as a team.
The Yellowjackets will also be wearing black jerseys at the request of Devin's mother because that's what he will be buried in.
Jamie Mitchell said the team will bus from the SHS athletic complex to the service because it's important for them to be together during this time.
The offensive woes of the Starkville Academy boys' basketball team continued Saturday night.
Lamar School out-dueled the Volunteers 41-33 at the Starkville Academy Gymnasium.
The Volunteers were coming off a 19-point performance against Hilcrest on Friday night.
SA boys coach Mark Alexander wishes his offense stepped up a bit more.
"We played OK," Alexander said. "We were dismal on offense and just dismal. We couldn't hit a shot. Same thing last night. We had 19 points last night and (33) tonight. You do the math. Eight quarters of basketball and you add that up that's not very good. We can't buy a basket."
Starkville and Oktibbeha County residents will soon have an opportunity to sign up for the Yellow Dot program, an initiative designed to immediately provide emergency responders with medical information in the case of an accident.
Participants in the program would receive a yellow sticker to place on the rear windshields of their vehicles as well as forms to fill out with their medical information. The information, with a picture for proper identification, would be placed in a marked folder inside the glove compartments of their automobiles.
Starkville Parks and Recreation Director Matthew Rye said all the pieces are in place for the program to be enacted in the coming months.
“The materials are ordered, and we expect them to be in any day now,” Rye said. “We’re putting the finishing touches on a brochure, and as soon as all that comes together, I’d imagine in the spring we’d be able to roll the program out to the public.”
As a sales associate at the Sears Hometown Store at Starkville’s University Square Shopping Center, Jimmy Glenn would like to set the record straight.
On Dec. 27, Sears Holdings announced the closings of 100 to 120 Sears stores, including the Sears at Columbus’ Leigh Mall, as well as Kmarts, which are owned by Sears Holdings. As a result, Glenn said customer after customer has come into his store asking the same question.
“At least every other person, I would say one out of three people, is asking if we’re closing too,” Glenn said.
His answer is always “no.”
The students of Starkville High School have taken to Twitter to remember their friend and classmate.
Shortly after Devin Mitchell’s death on New Year’s Day, the hashtag “#32forever” — representing the high school football player’s number — began appearing on the social networking site.
Mitchell was murdered in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day while he was visiting family in West Point. Police officials said Tavaris Collins, 31, of West Point allegedly started shooting into the dark when he heard the sounds of fireworks and thought someone was shooting at him. Collins fired multiple rounds and one struck Mitchell in the head. Mitchell was pronounced dead at North Mississippi Medical Center. Collins was arrested and charged with murder.
January 6th
Starkville Police Officer Derek Nelson was placed in critical care following an automobile wreck Thursday.
Nelson was injured when his car hit a telephone pole and ran off an embankment, causing the vehicle to roll over and flip, SPD Chief David Lindley said. The accident occurred while Nelson was believed to be attempting a traffic stop, Lindley said.
Lindley first said Thursday he believed Nelson suffered a concussion and no serious injuries, but the police chief said he learned the injuries were worse than expected Friday.
“He has a cracked vertebrae in his neck and a broken wrist,” Lindley said. “He also has a cracked orbital bone in his face in addition to the concussion he suffered.”
Oktibbeha County Democratic Party Chairman Albert N. Gore Jr. says America’s political system is broken and he aims to do something about it.
On Tuesday, Gore qualified to run for incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Wicker’s U.S. Senate seat. Wicker, who has yet to qualify, is expected to do so in seeking his first full term as Mississippi’s junior senator. Wicker was appointed to Sen. Trent Lott’s seat in 2007 when he retired.
Gore, 81, is originally from Webster County and has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Millsaps College and a master’s degree in divinity from Duke University. He joined the U.S. Army, served in Vietnam and retired as a colonel in 1988. For his service, Gore received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Gore was wounded by enemy mortar fire in Vietnam on July 4, 1967.
New Oktibbeha County Chief Deputy Chadd Garnett said he feels honored and lucky to serve in his new role.
“I consider it a privilege to be able to serve the citizens of Oktibbeha County,” he said. “I want all of them to know everybody at the sheriff’s department is out there working hard and making sure their community is a safe place to live and raise their kids.”
Garnett is no stranger to Starkville and Oktibbeha County. Before beginning work at his current position this week he served in multiple positions at Starkville Police Department for a decade.
“I’m a Golden Triangle boy,” he said. “I was born in Starkville, grew up in West Point, lived in Columbus and now I’m back here.”
