ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI FREE! C DISPATCH.HECOM TARKVILLE ISPATCH T S RIDAY eceMBER D F | D 8, 2017 City moves ahead with bollard installation plan ONLINE City staff is finalizing the New traffic control devices to be installed next year ■ MAPS: View maps of proposed number of bollards, but city en- bollard locations at cdispatch.com BY ALEX HOLLOWAY trol options for festivals and oth- The Dispatch. “If gineer Edward Kemp said the [email protected] er events, at Tuesday’s meeting. you’ve been to city will purchase more than Bollards are metal posts that our events, you’ll assets because we can use the 200. The city of Starkville will can be inserted into the ground notice that we bollards to close off the streets.” It’s not yet certain how long it soon start reviewing plans to in- to prevent or direct traffic flow. have cars parked The project is estimated to will take to install the bollards. stall bollard locations in a swath The bollard posts them- to do the block- Spruill cost around $50,000 and will be Spruill said that depends, in that stretches from downtown selves are portable and are not ing. If we have funded as part of a $7.5 million part, on when the city receives to the Cotton District. permanent structures. bollards, those become unnec- bond issue aldermen approved its bond money. However, she Aldermen approved the proj- “One of the things this does essary and we can have a wid- last month for road, sidewalk, said she hopes for visible signs ect, which aims to provide the is free up more of our police of- er spread and less use of those drainage and traffic control im- of progress by the spring. city more effective traffic con- ficers,” Mayor Lynn Spruill told kinds of personnel and vehicle provements. See BOLLARD, 3A R ESTAURANT TAX Contentious city-county meeting yields few results Impasse remains over money, CVB board make-up BY ZACK PLAIR [email protected] A frustrated Le- roy Brooks stood up, put on his jacket and started gathering his belongings from the table in the Trot- ter Convention Cen- ter meeting room at which he had been Brooks seated for about two hours Thurs- day morning. The Lowndes County District Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff 5 supervisor, who had cast him- The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and Columbus City Council met Thursday morning at Trotter Convention Center to dis- self throughout the morning as a cuss the terms of a potential joint resolution to renew the 2-percent restaurant tax. When it was over, very little had been resolved. fair-minded voice of compromise, had heard enough. “We haven’t resolved anything,” C hism open to he said. “Where are we going from here? When we leave here, we’re no removing tax floor better off than we came. … We’re BY ZACK PLAIR stuck.” [email protected] His gesture served as a threat to walk out early from a meeting of District 37 Rep. the Columbus mayor, city council Gary Chism offered and county supervisors aimed to mixed reviews to The identify terms for a joint resolution Dispatch Thursday to renew a countywide 2-percent on suggestions that restaurant sales tax. Ultimately, came out of a joint though, he sat down again and wait- meeting of Columbus ed for the often contentious meet- and Lowndes Coun- ing, which highlighted more dis- ty leaders at Trotter Chism agreement among city and county Convention Center to discuss re- officials than it rectified, to adjourn newing the 2-percent restaurant tax. moments later. Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff Chism, a Republican from Lown- City councilmen had requested LEFT: District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders opposes either the city or county directly receiv- des County, sits on the Mississippi the meeting where the two bodies ing restaurant tax revenue for recreation. RIGHT: Mayor Robert Smith is proposing the city House Local and Private Legislation See RESTAURANT TAX, 8A receive about $400,000 annually from the tax to renovate Propst Park. See CHISM, 3A WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS C ALENDAR COMING SUNDAY PUBLIC 1 What “Gilligan’s Island” character Today through Sunday MEETINGS also goes by the name Jonas Grumby? ■ First Christmas: Visit a recreation of Dec. 12: Planning 2 What cable TV show follows the Bethlehem from 6-8 p.m. next to the Shops and Zoning Com- exploits of Henry VIII? at Brickerton on Military Road in Columbus. mission, 5:30 3 What author coined the Dollar Baby Interact with marketplace merchants and p.m., City Hall deal, letting student filmmakers adapt soldiers and visit the stable. Live music and Dec. 12: his short stories for one dollar? refreshments. For more information, contact Starkville-Oktibbe- Sarah Ross Latimer 4 What aquatic animal can literally spill its guts when frightened? First Baptist Church, 662-328-3915. ha Consolidated Second grade, Annunciation 5 A silhouette of what player is pic- School District tured in the NBA logo? Board, 6 p.m., Greensboro High 40 Low 28 Answers, 8B Mostly cloudy T OP OF PAGE Center Full forecast on ■ Fred Gandy, right, tosses snow off his Dec. 15: Board page 2A. car onto his daughter, Ebony Gandy, as she of Aldermen work piles up more snow on the hood this morn- session, 1 p.m., ing. “We weren’t expecting this snow at all,” ■ We take an in depth look at where City Hall INSIDE Ebony said. Ebony works at OCH Regional Columbus Municipal School District is Dec. 18: Board Classifieds8B Obituaries 4A Medical Center as a nurse tech and is grad- now and how other districts have become of Supervisors, 9 Comics 7B Opinions 6A uating from Mississippi University for Wom- successful. a.m., Oktibbeha Crossword 8B Religion 7B en Friday with a major in health education. County Court- Dear Abby 6B — Photo by Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff house DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2017 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SAY WHAT? DID YOU HEAR? “I think about my shipmates and how they were killed. It reminds me that we’re lucky we got off and we’ve made a good country for them.” Keillor: Radio station fired 94-year-old Gilbert Meyer, who lived through the Dec. 7, 1941 attack me without full investigation Friday on Pearl Harbor. Story, 4A. Keillor retired as In a statement Thurs- day morning, MPR insist- host of ‘A Prairie ed it conducted a proper review. The statement Like Trump, Moore breaking Home Companion’ said two people formerly associated with the show in 2016 alleged “multiple incidents the rules of modern-day politics of inappropriate behavior” BY JEFF BAENEN by Keillor, though only ‘Trump was a rejection of the elite, and I think Just 32 days before the 2016 The Associated Press one claimed the behavior election, The Washington Post pub- was directed at her. The lished the “Access Hollywood” vid- MINNEAPOLIS — a lot of folks were hopeful that was a one-time station said it hasn’t made eo in which Trump admits to sexual Garrison Keillor says additional details public predatory behavior. Several women Minnesota Public Radio glitch in the system’ because the two want pri- came forward in the following days was wrong to fire him vacy. BY STEVE PEOPLES hopeful that was a one-time glitch with detailed accusations of sexual last week without fully in- “The allegations were AND KIM CHANDLER in the system,” said Republican op- misconduct dating back decades in vestigating what a senior The Associated Press carefully investigated be- erative Andy Surabian, who worked some cases. executive has described fore MPR made the deci- for the Trump campaign last year And 33 days before Alabama’s as “multiple allegations” BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — He has sion to terminate contracts and now advises a super PAC work- 2017 election, The Washington spanning an extended pe- ignored all the rules of modern-day with Mr. Keillor,” the state- ing to elect Moore. “But it was real- Post published its first story about riod against the former “A politics. ment said. ly an indicator of a long-term trend Moore’s accusers, including one Prairie Home Companion” He speaks unscripted. He Keillor announced Nov. that’s playing out now in Alabama.” woman who said she was 14 when host. skimps on fundraising. He under- 30 that MPR had terminat- Whether by design or coinci- Moore, then a 30-something deputy Jon McTaggart, CEO values get-out-the-vote efforts. And ed his contracts after four dence, Moore’s candidacy has district attorney, took off her shirt of MPR’s parent company decades of entertaining he attacks the leaders of his own political party without mercy. tracked Trump’s in more ways than and pants and touched her over her American Public Media public radio listeners with A year ago, that was presidential one. underwear. Several more women Group, addressed the is- tales of small-town charac- nominee Donald Trump. This year, Both men were badly outspent came forward in subsequent days sue at an employee meet- ters. He said he was fired it’s Senate candidate Roy Moore. by the competition. Hillary Clinton with detailed accusations of sexual ing Wednesday. McTag- over “a story that I think is On the ground in Alabama, some and her Democratic allies doubled misconduct. gart didn’t provide details more interesting and more believe the Republican Moore is the spending by Trump and his In both cases, a chorus of Wash- of the allegations against complicated than the ver- poised to win the state’s special Republican team.