Suspect arrested in drive-by shooting

The Columbus Police Department is investigating an early-morning drive-by shooting in the northside of downtown Columbus.

At about 1:11 a.m. Saturday, CPD officers were sent to 1110 7th Ave. N. regarding a drive-by shooting, said CPD Public Relations Officer Terrie Songer.

Group to hold meetings on possible MUW consolidation

An independent group that has advocated in the past against a name change for Mississippi University for Women is hosting a series of informational meetings regarding the possibility of a merger of the school with Mississippi State University.

Crime Report 11-13-09

The following people were arrested on felony charges, according to reports released from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office:

‘Open House Extravaganza’ in West Point

WEST POINT — It’s that time of year again. And the holiday shopping season is getting a kick start in West Point with the Christmas Open House Extravaganza, Sunday. From 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., 22 stores will open for business in the Mossy Oak Outlet, around town and in historic downtown.

Davidson awarded 2010 Top 10 finalist

The American Business Women’s Association named its 2010 Top 10 Business Women, Sept. 25 during its annual awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Crowne Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Lamar County, Pickens County will try to reach third round

A year ago, the Tanner High School football team knocked the Lamar County Bulldogs out of the state playoffs.

Lamar County will get a chance to avenge that setback Friday when it meets Tanner in a playoff rematch.

Lowndes NAACP continues to raise money for scholarship fund

As the NAACP celebrates 100 years of the “advancement of colored people,” the Columbus-Lowndes County chapter is continuing its efforts to provide scholarships for local students.

Officers in Vicksburg incident to have day in court

Sixteenth Circuit Judge Lee Howard is scheduled to hear arguments Nov. 20 on behalf of four Columbus police officers who lost a month’s salary after a May 5 incident at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

Jackson returns to hardwood at East Central CC

Kendall Jackson is getting a second chance to play basketball. .

Jackson is a freshman on the men’s basketball team at East Central Community College in Decatur after missing his senior season at Columbus High School due to an injury.

Jackson suffered a stress fracture in his leg while competing in the triple jump at the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State Track Meet as a junior at Columbus High.

He vividly remembers suffering the injury Sept. 25, 2008, because it was his mother’s birthday.

Rob Hardy: A hedgehog obsession

You may spout any praise of America, but you cannot conceal the fact: America has no hedgehogs. Not native ones, anyway. Oh, we have hedgehog hobbyists who enjoy having imported hedgehogs as pets, and even have them compete in the International Hedgehog Olympic Games (the Olympic Committee who runs the human version wants you to be sure they do not themselves sponsor or endorse the hedgehog version).

Rob Hardy: Darwin and earthworms

Charles Darwin’s name is so firmly linked with evolution that it is often forgotten that he was interested in specifics of biology. For instance, while he was fretting for 17 years over whether to publish about evolution, he was busy investigating barnacles. He was to publish an authoritative work on them. He also wrote about the geology he had seen on his travels in the “Beagle,” and did experiments on whether eggs or seeds could travel the oceans to get to new lands. He was constantly busy on other projects, constantly enquiring and doing his own research simply because he had an exemplary curiosity.

New day care approved

The Columbus Planning Commission Monday unanimously approved a request from Lucille A. Phillips, on behalf of Deletha Stevenson, to allow a children’s day care center at 1605 Gardner Blvd.

Mississippi coastal areas warned of flooding

PASCAGOULA — Coastal areas of Mississippi were under a tropical storm warning Monday after Ida lost strength over the water on its way to a landfall sometime early Tuesday.

Hurricane warnings were dropped along the Gulf Coast and replaced with tropical storm warnings that stretch from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

In Gulfport, 17-year-old Blaise Gargiulo, who was let out of school early because of the storm, went to retrieve his catamaran from its mooring in front of his beach front home.

Gargiulo said he learned an expensive lesson last year with the storm surge from Hurricane Gustav. He said the surge crushed the hulls on each side of this boat cost $1,000 dollars in repairs.

Fighting obesity

A poster to your Web site expressed concern for people that are “slightly obese.” We have to be politically correct and not call people “fat;” also, we have to use polite words like “high sugar” or “high blood.” You speak of education. Have you ever tried to educate a person addicted to cigarettes or alcohol to quit? If so, it is like talking to a brick wall.

Honor Christian heritage

On Nov. 11, we as a nation will pause to honor those who fought to protect our country and especially its Christian heritage.

Hooray for Maine

Hooray for pro-life and traditional family values!

I wish to congratulate the voters of Maine — one of the most liberal states in the Union — for rejecting the counterfeit and oxymoronic notion “same-sex marriage.”

CHAMPS to host Super Saturday Workshop for area teachers

Mississippi University for Women’s Creating High Achievement in Mathematics and Problem Solving project will host a Super Saturday Workshop for Teachers, this Saturday.

Christopher Otis

Christopher Arden Otis went to be with the Lord on Saturday, October 31, 2009, at the Park Plaza Medical Center, Houston, TX, after a brief

Betty Stone: Veterans’ Day

When I moved to Columbus from Washington, D.C., I was in Miss Emily Potts’s fifth-grade class at Franklin Academy. In Washington people had teased me about my “southern drawl.” In Mississippi they called me a “d—- yankee.” My defense was to try to talk like whoever was talking to me. (I have even caught myself lisping back at someone who lisped!)

Lamar County isn’t satisfied with perfect regular-season record

Lamar County High School football coach Ken Adams thinks it’s an accomplishment that his team made it through the regular season with an undefeated record.

But Adams and the Bulldogs want more.