Behind Smithville’s temporary school building, now stand 42 storm shelters as a safe place for just under 600 faculty and students.
It’s something many in the town of Smithville never thought they would need, but following April’s tornado storm shelters became an important topic around town.
Smithville High School principal Chad O’Brian tells WTVA-TV that students now have someplace safe to go if severe weather strikes.
The previous plan was to hop in school buses and go across town to what is considered a safe spot. Now, that safe zone will come just feet away from the classrooms.
O’Brian says the shelters are top of the line, state-of-the-art. Mostly, he says, they provide peace of mind.
Storm shelters were made available through a grant by FEMA.
Jackson police: 2-year-old killed, father wounded
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Police say a 2-year-old was killed and his father critically wounded in a drive-by shooting in Jackson.
Police say 27-year-old Christopher Bradley was charged Monday with murder and aggravated assault. He is being held without bond pending an initial court appearance.
Police said Romerion Rhodes was in his father’s vehicle when people in another car sprayed the car with bullets.
It happened around 1 p.m. Sunday as the father pulled into the driveway at his south Jackson residence. Police said one bullet hit Romerion in the head as he sat in the back seat.
Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said Romerion was pronounced dead at Central Mississippi Medical Center.
The father, Robert Magee, was in critical condition at another Jackson hospital.
Estate auction earns $24,000 for USM Foundation
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — An auction of an alumnus’s vintage knick-knacks — including a turn-of-the-century brass cash register and a 1955 Schwinn bicycle — grossed $24,000 for the University of Southern Mississippi.
But Jennings Gilmore of Columbia Auction Co. tells the Hattiesburg American he still has about two-thirds of the items James Wayne McWhorter left to the university, so there’ll be a second auction.
It will be at 11 a.m. Saturday. Southern Miss plays at home against Rice, and Gilmore hopes to attract alumni returning for the game.
The auction house is about 35 miles from Hattiesburg.
McWhorter died in March at age 73, leaving the USM Foundation three properties and everything in them.
Remaining items include another brass cash register and a collection of more than 800 license plates.
Ex-doctor sentenced in child porn case
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A former Tupelo radiologist has been sentenced to federal prison for violating child pornography laws.
U.S. District Court Judge Neal B. Biggers sentenced David Callahan Schaff on Monday to 72 months in prison and six years supervised released. Schaff, who gave up his medical license in three states, also must register as a sex offender.
The 60-year-old Schaff pleaded guilty on March 14 to one count of using a computer intentionally to transport images of child pornography across interstate and foreign lines.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports he will remain free on $5,000 bond until he reports to prison Nov. 1.
Man dies after fall from ladder
MADISON, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a 55-year-old Madison man died apparently after striking his head on the sidewalk when trimming tree limbs at his home.
The Clarion-Ledger reports Madison police were called Sunday to a home where they found Michael Sam Naples.
Police say Naples was cutting limbs at his residence while on an extension ladder and is thought to have lost his balance and hit his head on the sidewalk.
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