Two Electric Car Charging Stations Come to Starkville out North Columbus Over the Past Few Weeks
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ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI CDISPATCH.COM 75 ¢ NEWSSTAND | 40 ¢ HOME DELIVERY FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 City council UNDER THE BIG TOP recognizes CPD officers for response to burglary ring Shelton highlights role of community in working with police, reporting suspicious activity BY ISABELLE ALTMAN [email protected] Columbus Police Department Officer Melvin Shirley did not expect to be rec- ognized by the city council for his first ever foot chase. The patrol officer, Jennifer Mosbrucker/Dispatch Staff who just graduated Shirley Stephanie Luna, 14, prepares for a Luna Bros. Circus Tuesday evening along Highway 45 in Macon. The show is family owned and operated by Luna’s parents, Antonio and Erendira Luna. Stephanie runs a YouTube channel called “Teenage Circus” that from the police acad- documents life in the circus. emy and began pa- trolling with CPD in June, was one of sev- eral officers involved in the capture of a handful of juveniles accused of burglariz- ing homes through- Shelton Two electric car charging stations come to Starkville out north Columbus over the past few weeks. When Shirley responded to a call about Spruill: Stations fill a three suspicious young men in the Ridge Road area on Sept. 4, he demand that is ‘growing ended the call in about a 10-minute chase through the woods near Lion rapidly’ in Mississippi Hills Golf Course, ducking and BY TESS VRBIN dodging limbs and finally catching [email protected] See CPD, 7A Starkville Utilities in- stalled two charging sta- tions for drivers of plug- in electric cars Thursday in areas of the city that receive a great deal of traffic. CMSD to host One ChargePoint charging station is Kemp downtown near the stakeholders intersection of Jackson and Jefferson streets, behind Starkville Cafe meeting Tuesday Tess Vrbin/Dispatch Staff and Hotel Chester, and One of two ChargePoint chargers, which power electric vehicles, sits in the parking the other is outside the lot outside the Starkville Sportsplex. Mississippi has 168 public charging outlets, Town hall style meeting Starkville Sportsplex. including one in downtown Columbus, according to data from the U.S. Department The city leased the of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. will let parents, chargers from the Spruill Tennessee Valley Public Power and we hadn’t even publicized it,” tegically place the chargers, Kemp community members Association. Both can service any Starkville Utilities general manager said. The board of aldermen approved electric vehicle (EV) regardless of Terry Kemp said. a three-year lease agreement with the ask questions make and model. The city conducted an analysis with nonprofit on July 2 to install the char- “We had just barely gotten done Seven States Power Corporation, a gers. The lease costs $500 per month of district officials when we already had one person come Chattanooga-based nonprofit energy for both charging stations. BY ZacK Plair by to see if they could start charging, distributor, to decide where to stra- See CHARGERS, 7A [email protected] Columbus Munic- ipal School District leaders will host a stakeholders meet- ing at 6 p.m. Tuesday State tourism leaders converge in Columbus in Cook Elementary School Auditorium. DISPATCH STAFF REPORT It is the first executive di- and marketing specialists Superintendent time Colum- rector Nancy from all over the country to Cherie Labat and Labat More than 250 tourism bus has been Carpenter, and meet with the exhibitors, the CMSD’s board of trustees will industry professionals, as the site of features events said Rochelle Hicks, execu- be on-hand to field questions from well as media and marketing the three-day and speakers tive director of Mississippi any audience members wishing to specialists from around the event, which all around Co- Tourism Association, which express concerns about the district country, will be in Columbus runs Sunday lumbus. puts on the conference every and its future. The town hall style this weekend for the annual through Tues- In addition year. That gives individual Carpenter Hicks meeting is expected to last 60 to 90 Mississippi Tourism Asso- day, said Co- to serving as bureaus the opportunity to minutes. ciation’s Governor’s Confer- lumbus Lowndes Conven- a networking event, the promote events and tourist See CMSD, 3A ence on Tourism. tion and Visitors Bureau conference brings in media See CONFERENCE, 3A WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR COMING SUNDAY PUBLIC 1 What movie star is depicted in MEETINGS Today Sept. 24: CMSD a nine-foot-tall bronze statue at an ■ Bulldog Bash: Rapper T-Pain headlines Orange County, California airport? Community-Wide this annual event in Starkville that kicks off 2 What British sitcom chronicled the Stakeholders adventures of the self-involved duo with Maroon Market at 3 p.m. with art, food, Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone? local music and family fun. Music beginning meeting, 6 p.m., 3 What did Ben Franklin call the only at 6 p.m. at the intersection of Jackson and Brandon Central Lillian Weeks sure thing besides death? Main Streets in downtown Starkville includes Services 4 Who was Scrooge’s dead partner in Kindergarten, New Hope a Battle of the Bands winner, country artist Sept. 30: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Lowndes County 5 How many baby teeth does a child Cale Dodds, The Beaches and T-Pain. Visit Supervisors, 9 High Low usually have — 15, 20 or 32? msubulldogbash.com, or contact the Center 87 62 for Student Activities, 662-325-2930. a.m., County Mostly sunny Answers, 8B Courthouse Full forecast on Sept. 30: page 2A. Sunday ■ Taste of Columbus: The newly-renovated Lowndes County Zachary’s at 205 Fifth St. N. hosts a Taste of School District INSIDE Columbus event featuring food from 12 partic- Board of Trust- ees special call Classifieds7B Obituaries 4A ipating restaurants, plus craft beer tastings, Comics 5B Opinions 6A from 1-5 p.m. to benefit Main Street Colum- meeting, 5:30 Crossword 8B Religion 6B bus’ beautification and revitalization efforts in Find out who was voted Best of the p.m., Central 140TH YEAR, NO. 164 Dear Abby 5B downtown Columbus. Donation is $10. Triangle in Sunday’s newspaper. Office DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SAY WHAT? DID YOU HEAR? “EMCC’s gonna go to 3-1, but this is one of those games that they’re not gonna be happy about.” Melania Trump cuts ribbon on EMCC radio play-by-play commentator Jason Crowder after the reopened Washington Monument Friday Lions defeated Mississippi Delta 41-23 on Thursday. Story, 1B. 555-foot stone obelisk closed in September 2016 to replace the aging elevator, upgrade security systems Trump says gun bill BY ASHRAF KHALIL the National Park Service. The Associated Press “So we really didn’t want negotiations going ‘very slowly’ to close it. We kept putting WASHINGTON — First Band-Aids on, but eventual- President: While he doesn’t want ‘bad people’ would require background checks lady Melania Trump cut ly we had no choice.” on all commercial gun sales, includ- the ribbon Thursday as the With the closure already to have weapons, he won’t allow any plan to move ing at gun shows. Washington Monument re- necessary, officials took The leaked proposal caused an opened to the public for the the opportunity to build a forward that takes guns away from law-abiding uproar on Capitol Hill as lawmak- first time in three years. completely new high-tech ers wondered whether Trump was The 555-foot stone obe- security screening facility. people or restricts Second Amendment rights poised to support expanded back- lisk closed in September All told the project cost $12 ground checks in the face of oppo- BY MATTHEW DALY said no deal is imminent, more than 2016 in order to replace the million — $3 million for the sition from fellow Republicans and AND ZEKE MILLER six weeks after mass shootings in aging elevator and upgrade elevator and the rest for the The Associated Press the National Rifle Association. security systems. security center. Texas and Ohio killed more than 30 But speaking to reporters on Air Accompanied by a group The new facility juts like WASHINGTON — President people. Force One as he returned home of local fourth graders, a gray cube from the base Donald Trump on Thursday “We’re going very slowly,” from California late Wednesday, Trump took the new high- of the marble obelisk. In- poured cold water on prospects for Trump said, adding that while he Trump said the plan was just one speed elevator to the obser- side, visitors find literally a bipartisan compromise on gun doesn’t want “bad people” to have of many ideas under consideration. vation floor near the top, gleaming new machinery legislation, even as Attorney Gen- weapons, he won’t allow any plan to “Those are ideas that we’re which offers a command- and automated bank-vault eral William Barr circulated a draft move forward that takes guns away talking to Republicans, Democrats, ing 360-degree view of the type doors blocking the plan on Capitol Hill to expand back- from law-abiding people or restricts everybody about. Some they like, entire District of Columbia. way to the elevator. ground checks for gun sales. Second Amendment rights. some they don’t like. Just a series The monument has NPS Spokesman Mike In a Fox News interview, Trump A proposal being floated by Barr of concepts,” Trump said. been closed off and on for Litterst said the previous most of the past eight years. security system was hastily An August 2011 earthquake arranged in the aftermath left cracks in the stones of the 9/11 attacks.