Hickman Texts Man Claims Sexually Explicit Texts with Superintendent Are Real Lashley, in the INSIDE Recording, De- N OUR VIEW: Hickman Must Go
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ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI C DISPATCH.COM FREE! FRIDAY | JULY 8, 2016 Questions resurface about Hickman texts Man claims sexually explicit texts with superintendent are real Lashley, in the INSIDE recording, de- ■ OUR VIEW: Hickman must go. BY ZACK PLAIR past. In a phone interview with a former reporter, who said nies the man’s PAGE 6A [email protected] The Dispatch earlier in the day, she received it Thursday from accusations that ONLINE Lashley said he and Hickman Lashley’s email address. Lash- he was seeking ■ AUDIO: Listen to the alleged A former Columbus resident media attention, phone conversation between Hick- had exchanged the text mes- ley is a 2005 Columbus High man and Lashley at cdispatch.com. is claiming that sexual text sages that Hickman has public- School graduate, who works as citing that he messages Columbus Municipal specifically re- ly called phony. a hair stylist in Atlanta accord- Hickman School District Superintendent The Dispatch reached out ing to his Facebook page. buffed previous High School boys’ basketball Philip Hickman once decried to Lashley after an audio re- In the recording, which requests from The Dispatch for coach Luther Riley. as fake are actually real. cording surfaced of two men Lashley told The Dispatch doc- an interview. “I don’t want people looking A man identifying himself as discussing issues presumably uments a phone conversation Lashley did allude to copies at me like I’m trying to break LaVuntae’ Lashley said in a text related to previous media cov- between him and Hickman, of the text messages being sent up folks’ homes and stuff, when to The Dispatch Thursday that erage of the text exchanges. a man is confronting Lashley after someone started a rumor you know what it was,” Lashley he and Hickman had engaged The Dispatch obtained a copy about why he attempted to about a relationship between told the other man in the record- in a sexual relationship in the of the audio recording from make their relationship public. Lashley and former Columbus See HICKMAN, 8A Columbus landfill near capacity Colom eyes Aug. move-in date to new office space Four counties agree to fund lease, utilities BY CARL SMITH [email protected] District Attorney Scott Colom is hope- ful he and his staff can move into new Co- lumbus office space in August after Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Noxubee coun- Colom ties agreed to split the Mary Alice Truitt/Dispatch Staff costs of a new lease and utility bills. Public works crews relocate piles of waste at the Columbus landfill Thursday afternoon. Colom said he expects the Lown- des County Board of Supervisors to Rubbish deposited out of bounds being returned to site tate. Bush said the out- execute the lease for office space of-bounds rubbish was located at 522 2nd Ave. North next week. His staff, he said, could then BY ALEX HOLLOWAY ed across a 4.2-acre area near the land- all deposited on land the city leases from the same move out of its current 220 5th St. [email protected] fill’s southeast side, and a 1.1-acre area owner that the Missis- North location on Aug. 1. on the facility’s northeast side. Rubbish A boundary-marking error has left sippi Department of En- The lease will cost $2,500 per in the northeast area has already been more than five acres of rubbish outside vironmental Quality had month, plus utilities, and run the permitted area at the Columbus moved back into the landfill proper, he not certified for dumping. through 2019 — the end of Colom’s landfill. said, and crews are working to remove Bush Bush said the land- term. His letter of request did not in- Now, Public Works Director Casey material from the southeast area. fill probably exceeded the proper area clude a projection for utilities since Bush says the error is cutting the land- Bush said rubbish has been placed due to an error from when boundaries the office space, owned by the estate fill’s remaining expected lifetime in in the areas for at least eight years. were being set. He said MDEQ sets the of Frank Lee, has sat unoccupied for half. The landfill sits on land the city boundaries for the landfill, with survey- a significant amount of time. Bush said rubbish has been deposit- leases from the Moorehead Will Es- See LANDFILL, 8A See COLOM, 8A CPD searching for United Way director addresses Exchange Club Organization partnering possible theft suspect Danny Avery, with schools, Salvation Army Executive DISPATCH STAFF REPORT Director of BY INDIA YARBOROUGH United Way Columbus Police Depart- [email protected] of Lowndes ment is searching for Colum- County, cen- bus resident Darius Dunlap, Danny Avery has been hard at work ter, speaks 25, in connection to a theft during his three months at the helm for with Judge Jim last month. the local United Way. Davis, left and Dunlap’s last known ad- New executive director for the United David Vega dress is near 8th Avenue Way of Lowndes County and Columbus after his talk North, according to a press native Danny Avery spoke to Columbus at the Colum- release from the CPD. Dunlap Exchange Club members Thursday af- bus Exchange Club meeting The theft occurred at Thorne Refriger- ternoon at Lion Hills Center, highlighting at Lion Hills ation on Shepherd Drive on June 22. The United Way’s efforts and inciting a com- Center on CPD previously released a video that seems mitment to local service. Thursday. See SUSPECT, 8A See EXCHANGE, 8A Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC MEETINGS 1 What extinct bird was native to the Today island of Mauritius? ■ Mother Goose Rhyme Time: In honor of Edwina “Mother July 11: Oktibbe- 2 What was the first Pixar movie to be ha County Board rated PG? Goose” Williams’ 30th year with the Columbus-Lowndes Li- brary and as part of the Friends of the Library’s “Year of the of Supervisors, 3 What actor died during the filming of county court- “The Crow”? Goose,” Columbus Community Theatre and the Columbus 4 What is the only U.S. city in which Arts Council present a young readers’ theater performance house, 9 a.m. July 12: Alvin Jackson all the major sports teams wear the at 6 p.m. at the Rosenzweig Arts Center. $5; half benefits same colors? Starkville-Oktibbe- Third grade, West Lowndes the Mother Goose Endowment Fund. Call 662-328-2787. 5 What is golfer Tiger Woods’ first ha Consolidated name? School District, High Low Today through Saturday Greensboro Cen- 95 77 Answers, 8B ■ Cotton Boll Festival: The town of Crawford hosts Mostly sunny ter, 6 p.m. this festival that features live entertainment, speakers, a Full forecast on July 14: SOCSD step show and more. This year’s event honors late blues page 2A. budget hearing, musician and Crawford native Big Joe Williams. For more Greensboro Cen- information, call 662-272-5164. ter, 6 p.m. July 18: Oktibbe- INSIDE Saturday ha County Board ■ Open House: An Open House will be held from 10 a.m. of Supervisors, Classifieds7B Obituaries 4A until noon to celebrate the opening on the new Fire Station J.C. Brooks works at county court- Comics 5B Opinions 6A located at 755 MLK Street in Crawford. Brickerton Brickyard. house, 9 a.m. DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SAY WHAT? DID YOU HEAR? “Michael Brown has one of the great young baseball minds in the country.” Judge: Cosby’s accuser doesn’t Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen, talking about Michael Brown, the latest addi- have to testify before trial Friday tion to his coaching staff. Story, 1B. Lawyers: 78-year- that they had a right to confront the victim at this old comedian’s stage,” District Attorney Kevin Steele told reporters A THOUSAND WORDS constitutional afterward. “They do not.” Cosby’s lawyers said rights ‘trampled they’d appeal to the state Supreme Court, which is upon once again’ considering another case involving preliminary THE ASSOCIATED PRESS hearing testimony. They said the 78-year-old Cos- NORRISTOWN, Pa. by’s constitutional rights — A judge on Thursday had been “trampled upon denied Bill Cosby’s bid once again.” to force his sex-assault The judge, as he ruled, accuser to testify before said, “One side sees this as trial, ruling prosecutors an efficient way to handle worked within the law by cases. The other sees it as using police statements as a violation of due process.” a stand-in for her at his pre- He seconded the find- liminary hearing. ings of the judge in Cosby’s Cosby’s lawyers ar- preliminary hearing, say- gued they should’ve been ing prosecutors had pre- allowed to cross-examine sented enough evidence to accuser Andrea Constand send the case to trial. at the May 24 hearing Cosby is charged with because her decade-old felony indecent assault statements about the 2004 and accused of drugging encounter raised more and molesting Constand at questions than it answered. his suburban Philadelphia But Judge Steven T. home. O’Neill said that a 2013 Authorities reopened change in state court rules the case last year after cleared the way for prose- learning he had acknowl- cutors to use those state- edged in a deposition that ments and other evidence he had given Constand in lieu of forcing Constand pills and then engaged in to take the witness stand sex acts with her. They Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff before trial.