Biggersville advances to state title game — page 12 Saturday March 2,
2013
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Daily Corinthian Vol. 117, No. 53
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• Corinth, Mississippi • 18 pages • One Section
Feds hold man making killing spree threats BY BRANT SAPPINGTON bsappington@dailycorinthian.com
A New Site man is being held in federal custody after being accused ofthreatening a killing spree at the Booneville library prompted by voices in his head. Robert Scott Goodin, 19, was arrested early Thursday by members of the Booneville Police Department and the FBI’s
Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was ordered held without bond Thursday pending action by a federal grand jury. A hearing is set for Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Oxford regarding his continued detention. Booneville Police Chief Michael Ramey contacted the FBI on Feb. 4 after receiving a complaint from an employee
of the George E. Allen Library in Booneville stating Goodin had made threats against the library during instant messaging conversations between Nov. 22, and Jan. 14. The unidentified complainant told authorities Goodin had made repeated threats to kill people at the library where she worked and discussed other acts of violence and she said
she feared for her life. Goodin confessed to making the threats in an interview with FBI Task Force Officer Jackie Gilbert and Booneville Police Department Investigator Greg Mitchell. In an affidavit filed in federal court as part of the criminal case, Gilbert states Goodin told him there was a “demon inside him that thirsts for
blood.” He told the FBI agent the demon wants him to kill and he doesn’t know how much longer he can control it. “When his demon gets out he is going to kill people. Goodin said when the demon does come out he will not use a gun to kill people, he will use a sword and knives,” stated Gilbert in his affidavit.
Tourism, arena boards chart future Two-hour session begins first step in shifting requested dollars to arena BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
The Crossroads Arena and the Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau boards took the first step of working together with an over twohour meeting Friday. With both boards in unchartered water following the decision of city and county leaders to shift $250,000 from the tourism budget to the arena, the informal gathering was held to better understand how the money will be transferred and the criteria for approving funding requests. “We have a new board of talented people who want to work with you to build our city,” tourism board chairman Luke Doehner told the group of 25, who consisted of city and county leaders along with members of both boards. “We are eager to work with you all,” added Arena General Manager Tammy Genovese. County attorney Bill Davis and city attorney Wendell Trapp gave both boards an overview of how money could be moved from tourism to the arena. Davis explained the legislation stated in the statue that the money can be used for capital projects, events, marketing and tourism promotions. Davis noted both attorneys “want to stay in the middle of road” and away from the gray areas when it comes to the statue. “The way we see this working is the Crossroads Arena makes a request to tourism
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
Tourism board member Danny Timmons speaks to a group of city and county leaders during an informal meeting of the Crossroads Arena and Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau boards. when things come up … we feel this is the safest way to make things happen,” said Davis. That would mean there could be no monthly draws to the arena. “You’ve got to understand that neither the city or county wants to do your job,” added Trapp. “Hopefully, both parties can work together.” Tourism board member Danny Timmons said tourism has no problem with approving requests to the arena.
“A majority of the board understands what the aldermen and supervisors are doing, and we want to do that,” he said. “Our question is who is liable if they don’t spend the money in a appropriate way? … we are not saying they will. We just need a legal answer on the right or wrong way.” Trapp said the board “must look at the legislation” in his answer to Timmons. “The arena’s request needs to fall under the statute,” he
said. All arena’s requests would appear to fall under the event part of the statute. “An event is anything the arena does out here, but it is not defined in the statute,” said Davis. “How the money is spent, requested or approved is not spelled out in the statute … it is a little difficult to give answers on legal questions. The law was written for only Alcorn County and there is no specified target to draw from.”
Both attorneys agreed the money should be spent in the context of what the statute states. “The arena shouldn’t submit an application that doesn’t fall under the amendment,” said Trapp. “We have never requested anything from tourism that wasn’t an event,” said arena board vice chairman Alva Dalton. “We are depending on that $250,000 for our existence.” Tourism interim administrator Ann Thompson told the group the office would like to either have the bill for an event to pay it directly or a receipt for the office’s records. “What has been done in the past is in the past,” she said. “We need to start with a clean slate so we can work together … it’s not us against them … we trust you and your success is our success, we just need receipts or invoices on how money is spent.” “We don’t want to be a bookkeeper for the arena,” added Doehner. Arena officials agreed to also work on getting requests to the tourism board far enough in advance that it wouldn’t affect tourism’s other budgeted items. “I think things are going to go smoothly once we get things worked out,” said Trapp. “Now we have some guidelines that are going to put us on the same page,” added tourism’s Billy Taylor. Supervisor Jimmy Tate WalPlease see FUTURE | 2
Corinth Kiwanis ‘Gee’s Bend’ recalls civil rights helps Excel By 5 movement in small town Alabama BY BOBBY J. SMITH
bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
An organization that helps kids recently got some big help from the Corinth Kiwanis. The Corinth/Alcorn County Excel By 5 Coalition strives to support families of children in their most formative years — birth to 5 — through family service agencies, available parenting resources, workshops and community events. Following the Kiwanis of Corinth’s successful Second
Annual Father-Daughter Ball in February, the Kiwanis made a donation of $3,000 to the Corinth/Alcorn County Excel By 5 Coalition. “The Kiwanis Club deserves a big thank you for what they did for the fathers and young girls of Alcorn County with the Father-Daughter Ball,” said Susan O’Connell, the Corinth/ Alcorn Excel By 5 certification manager. “Their efforts Please see EXCEL | 2
Corinth Theatre-Arts will celebrate black history with a special performance of “Gee’s Bend,” beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Written by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder, “Gee’s Bend” is a story of civil rights told through the viewpoints of two sisters who live in tiny Gee’s Bend, Ala., an isolated all-black community hemmed in on three sides by the Alabama River. The ladies of Gee’s Bend eventually became lauded
Index Stocks........8 Classified...... 16 Comics........ 7 State........ 5
Weather........9 Obituaries........ 6 Opinion........4 Sports...... 12
around the globe for their bold and distinctive quilt styles that blended traditional American and African American styles. Show Producer Sonny Boatman first became acquainted with the story of the ladies of Gee’s Bend through a museum exhibit of their quilts in a Memphis museum. “A couple of years ago I went to an exhibit at the Brooks Museum and they were featuring the quilts of Gee’s Bend. Then recently, our new artistic director Cristina Skinner came up with this play called ‘Gee’s
Bend.’ It happens to be about all the people who produced those quilts I’d seen in the exhibit,” said Boatman. After the art world’s discovery of the quilts, the lives of the Gee’s Bend ladies would never be the same. “They deemed the quilts produced by these people in this small, obscure community were not just quilts to keep people warm. They deemed they were art,” Boatman explained. Please see QUILTS | 2
On this day in history 150 years ago The U.S. Congress authorizes 4 major generals and 9 brigadier generals in the Regular Army with an additional 40 major generals and 200 brigadiers in the volunteer army. Aside from all the promotions, 33 high ranking officers were dismissed from the service on a number of different charges.
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