Friday Dec. 14,
2012
50 cents
Daily Corinthian Vol. 116, No. 301
2012 Christmas Basket Fund “A Community Tradition”
Basket fund tops $9,000
Tonight
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Holiday postal shipping deadline nears BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
Holiday shipping deadlines are near as Christmas looms on the calendar. The Corinth Post Office has seen steady traffic this month as people mail gift packages and Christmas cards. “It was really busy on Monday,” said Postmaster Kevin Byers. “We see a lot of people around the noon hour and from 4 to 5 in the afternoon.” The postal service expects this coming Monday to be the busi-
est day of the season at post offices across the country. Post offices in Corinth, Booneville and Ripley will offer extended hours for the last-minute customers on Saturday, Dec. 22, which will be the last chance to get a gift into the mail by Express Mail. Those post offices will stay open until 2 p.m. that day. Deadlines for other mailing services are coming up over the course of the next week. Byers said today is the last day for Parcel Post packages. First Class Mail deadline is Thursday, Dec.
20, and Priority Mail deadline is Friday, Dec. 21. “All of the military deadlines have passed,” said Byers. Priority Mail packaging is available at no charge, while bubble wrap and larger boxes are available to purchase. Byers said one of the most important things to do when sending a gift package is to include the address of the sender and recipient inside. That way it can still make it to the recipient if something happens to the package.
The postmaster said it’s important to use a complete address with ZIP code. The tollfree 1-800-ask-usps is available for ZIP code information. He said the post office is seeing a number of pieces of mail come through addressed to only a name and “Corinth, MS” with no street address. The post office will be open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This year’s Christmas stamps include the Santa and sleigh and the holy family, Byers said.
Christmas ALIVE!
Survey shows most voters have ID BY JEBB JOHNSTON jjohnston@dailycorinthian.com
urday showing is also slated for 5-8 p.m. The all-live scenes of 93 chil-
The largest election day survey of Mississippi voters found that most had what would be an acceptable form of voter identification as they went to the polls. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann discussed the results this week and detailed the administrative rules for the voter ID requirement, which is yet to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. The survey found that 98.3 percent of the almost 6,000 voters approached on Nov. 6 by Edison Research reported having at least one of the eight forms of photo ID that would be required. Respondents with none of those forms of ID were 0.8 percent. The remainder did not answer the question. “The survey helps us accurately gauge the number and profile of the voters we need to reach,” said Hosemann. “I am encouraged the survey found less than 1 percent of the voters did not have a photo ID. Less than 1 percent is a manageable number for implementing constitutional voter ID.” He said identification will be available at no charge to those who need it. Among those surveyed at 30 locations, 97 percent of white voters and 84 percent of black voters held a valid driver’s license. A state-issued photo i.d. card was the second most commonly held, at 45 percent. The Secretary of State’s Office has entered into an agreement with the Department of Vital Statistics to allow circuit clerks to verify birth records of voters who cannot provide these materials at no cost to
Please see ALIVE | 2A
Please see VOTERS | 2A
Please see BASKET | 2A
Funeral homes partner with Jingle Bell Ride BY BOBBY J. SMITH bjsmith@dailycorinthian.com
Please see RIDE | 2A
Today
• Corinth, Mississippi • 20 pages • Two sections
The spirit of giving is alive and well in the Crossroads area as donations continue to arrive daily for the 17th Annual Corinth Rotary Club/Daily Corinthian 2012 Christmas Basket Fund. The civic club and newspaper have set a $20,000 community fundraising goal this year so 1,000 food baskets can be given away to local families at 8 a.m.on Saturday, Dec. 15 at the Crossroads Arena. The total now stands at $9,430, meaning $10,570 still needs to be raised from the community as there will be no corporate match this year. Recent donations include $300 from Randall and Penny Long in memory of Velma Long; $250 from Roger Bain in memory of Peggy Bain and Bob Austin; $25 from Ladies 1A Shiloh Baptist Church in memory of Beverly Kennedy and
Two local funeral homes on Saturday are partnering with the American Legion Post 6 in an effort to provide food for hungry families this holiday season. The Jingle Bell Ride & Food Drive, a shared effort of McPeters and Magnolia funeral homes, will be held in conjunction with Saturday’s Wreaths Across America ceremony. “We are honored to partner with Wreaths Across America,” said Judy McPeters. “To sponsor this ride that benefits the needy is part of our community outreach and our support for those in our community less fortunate than we are.” All motorbike riders are welcome to join the Jingle Bell Ride. The fee for registration is at least three cans of food. The canned goods will be donated to a local food pantry. Registration for the ride begins at 10 a.m. at Corinth National Cemetery before the Wreaths Across America ceremony. It will begin immedi-
Partly sunny
Staff photo by Steve Beavers
An angel (Amy Waitman) appears to Joseph (Davis Brawner), telling him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
Live scenes portray Christmas story BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
A Corinth church is putting a Christmas experience in God's hands.
First Presbyterian Church's two nights of “Christmas ALIVE: A Living Christmas Experience” is scheduled for 5-8 p.m. tonight at the church on Shiloh Road. A Sat-
1,000 families will receive food boxes Saturday BY STEVE BEAVERS sbeavers@dailycorinthian.com
Christmas is about to become brighter for some local needy families. The Corinth Rotary Club is set to award 1,000 Christmas meals to families Saturday at the Crossroads Arena. The meals are part the Rotary
Club/Daily Corinthian Christmas Basket Drive done each year. Baskets of food will be awarded between 8-10 a.m. Those eligible for a basket were contacted and instructed on what to do prior to Saturday. “All they have to do is follow the instructions they were giv-
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en when contacted,” said drive chairman Steve Icardi. Cost of the drive is $20,000 with $9,430 collected as of Friday. This year is the first without a corporate sponsor match. “We are getting closer to our goal, and I believe we will get there,” added Icardi. High school volunteers along
with some Boy Scouts helped Rotary members assemble boxes on Thursday night. Financial contributions to the program can be made in memory or in honor of friends, co-workers or family members. Acknowledgments appear each Please see GIVEAWAY | 2A
On this day in history 150 years ago Col. Theophilus L. Dickie leads a Union cavalry force out from Spring Dale with orders to break the Mobile & Ohio Railroad in the vicinity of Tupelo. To the north, Forrest’s Confederate cavalry is poised to cross the Tennessee River at Clifton and then break the same railroad near Lexington.
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