Locals leave for mission to devastated Haiti

The mood inside New Horizons Christian Fellowship Monday afternoon was one of excitement, hope and a little apprehension.

Eleven volunteers and their loved ones rushed around the church at Highway 12 and Spring Street, organized boxes of medical supplies and received last-minute Tetanus shots. The group then left the church bound for the rescue effort in Haiti, where an earthquake last week killed thousands and left the country in ruins.

MSU, local bars to combat underage drinking

Mississippi State University is spearheading a campaign to combat underage drinking in Starkville.

Family mourns loss of longtime carrier

STARKVILLE — As Ingrid Minor sat in her kitchen Thursday morning and flipped through a photo album with pictures of her late husband, Winston, a warm, yet somber, smile spread across her face. She had come across a photo of Winston from 1964, the year after the couple met, when Ingrid was a young German woman living near Munich and Winston was stationed in country with the U.S. Army.

CEO: ‘Cadence moves on’ after board resignations

Cadence Bank CEO Lewis Mallory this week acknowledged the bank went through a “challenging” 2009, but said the institution’s financial situation isn’t as bleak as some media reports suggest.

Academy Crossing fire started in living room; wiring being investigated

STARKVILLE — Fire investigators met Wednesday in Starkville to try to determine what caused the deadly Dec. 28 blaze at Academy Crossing Apartments, but the gathering yielded no definitive results.

Cold weather fuels concern for gators

STARKVILLE — The normally choppy waters of Bluff Lake were frozen Tuesday morning as Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge Manager Henry Sansing took a stroll along a recently completed pier and gazed through the icy patchwork of trees and downed branches. A small area in the center of the 1,200-acre lake was thawed and the nearby spillways flowed freely, but most of the surface was covered by a thin layer of ice. 

School-uniform decision draws heated reaction

STARKVILLE — A day after the Starkville School District board of trustees voted to implement a dress code for students and staff beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, parents polled at Overstreet Elementary School Tuesday had mixed feelings about the issue.

Another apartment fire in Starkville

No one was injured Tuesday night when fire broke out in an apartment on Lynn Lane, about a half-mile from the scene of the Academy Crossing Apartments blaze that killed nine people in late December.

Fire investigators eye cigarette, wiring

STARKVILLE — Investigators still haven’t determined a cause of the Dec. 28 blaze that killed nine people at Academy Crossing Apartments, but a Wednesday meeting among fire officials, electrical engineers and others could change that.

Dispatch carrier dies in hospital from Dec. wreck

STARKVILLE — A Dispatch newspaper carrier who was seriously injured in an early December accident died this weekend in Jackson, according to a long-time friend and fellow carrier. 

Restaurants back to business after alcohol license suspension

Two Starkville restaurants are now serving alcohol again after the State Tax Commission’s Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended their liquor license last week.

Starkville restaurants back to business after alcohol license suspension

Two Starkville restaurants are now serving alcohol again after the State Tax Commission’s Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended their liquor license last week.

Final victims of Academy Crossing fire laid to rest

The final four victims of the Academy Crossing Apartments fire were laid to rest Wednesday, but not before a crowd of around 800 people packed into their funeral service at the Starkville Sportsplex.

Columbus woman dies in single-car accident

A Columbus woman died Tuesday night in a single-car wreck east of Starkville.

City to fix problem with wastewater

The city of Starkville’s wastewater treatment plant on Sand Road soon will receive some much-needed improvements.

A kiss goodbye: Lakesha Gillespie, victim of Academy Crossing fire, remembered as a fun-loving, artistic woman

As the family of 20-year-old Lakesha Gillespie approached her casket Tuesday inside Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church, her mother, Bessie, and sisters, Shonta and Adrian, couldn’t hold back tears. Gillespie’s father, Joe Henry, and brother, Joe, also fought to hold back their emotions as each walked to the casket and gave Lakesha one last kiss goodbye.

Supervisors vote to hire road manager

Over the past two years, Don Posey has worked two full-time jobs in Oktibbeha County: One as County Administrator and another as the county’s interim road manager.

Rejoicing amid sorrow: Castella Maria Bell remembered as young mother trying to turn her life around

A row of hearses sat in the parking lot outside Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church Monday, one for each of the four caskets inside.

The first cries rang out inside the church at around 12:45 p.m., shortly after the organ player began a slow, somber hymn.

Getting Starkville fit

Taking a walk through the gymnasium at Oktibbeha County Hospital’s Wellness Connection Center, Elaine Schimpf smiles from ear to ear.

Academy Crossing residents struggle to cope

Kashonda Elliott was awake Thursday at about 4:30 a.m. when she heard an eerie noise. It sounded like a smoke detector going off in the building across from hers in the Academy Crossing apartment complex, where fire tore through a second-floor apartment days earlier.