ESTABLISHED 1879 | COLUMBUS, MISSISSIPPI CDISPATCH.COM FREE! WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 21, 2018 Pride denied Aldermen shoot down LGBT parade request BY ALEX HOLLOWAY voted to deny the request. other housekeeping matters [email protected] INSIDE Ward 2 Alderman Sandra ■ OUR VIEW: Starkville Board of without discussion. However, Sistrunk, Ward 4 Alderman Perkins asked that the item be Starkville Aldermen voted Aldermen flunk Civics test. Page 6A Jason Walker and Ward 5 Al- removed from consent to allow Tuesday to deny a request from derman Patrick Miller voted in a separate vote. Starkville Pride to host the Little and Perkins did not support of the parade. city’s first Pride Parade. immediately respond to phone Starkville Pride, a lesbian, After the meeting, Carver, calls for comment after Tues- Citizen: ‘God made gay, bisexual and transgender Little and Perkins left from the day’s meeting. Adam and Eve’ (LGBT) support group, was municipal courtroom’s back None of the aldermen who More than a dozen people seeking to hold the parade on Spruill Perkins entrance. Vaughn declined to voted against the parade voiced spoke in favor of the Pride pa- March 24. The proposed route came on a motion from Ward comment on his vote. their opinions on the matter rade during Tuesday’s citizen would have started on Rus- 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins. Carver, reached later by during the board meeting. comment period, while two sell Street, and looped around Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver phone, said he had “been ad- The parade was originally spoke against it. downtown Starkville on Main seconded Perkins’ motion. Da- vised” not to comment on his on the consent agenda for Tues- Alexandra Hendon, one and Lampkin streets. vid Little and Henry Vaughn, of vote, and declined to elaborate day’s meeting, meaning it would of the Starkville Pride orga- The vote against the parade wards 3 and 7, respectively, also further. have been approved among See ALDERMEN, 7A GOING FAST ‘We’re not going away’ Pride organizers vow continued efforts after parade denial BY ALEX HOLLOWAY [email protected] Starkville Pride organizers left the courtroom — some in tears — after al- dermen voted 4-3 to deny their request to host a Pride parade in March. Bailey McDaniel, McDaniel an organizer who pleaded with al- dermen to support the decision, said the group will continue to press on with events in the commu- nity. “There’s no point in saying any- thing mean or saying anything ugly,” McDaniel said. “But I do want Starkville to know we’re not going away. This will not be the end of what you’re hearing from us — we are still having our pride events and I so terribly wished that the Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff Marvin Lathan Jr., 6, rides his miniature dirt bike around his neighborhood at Ferndale Manor Apartments Monday. Marvin is city of Starkville could have been a the son of Ebonee Harris and Marvin Lathan of Starkville. “When I’m not riding my bike I like to run, really fast, and race my part of it and the historical change friends,” he said. we could’ve made in Starkville.” Starkville Pride is a grassroots lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen- der (LGBT) support group. The Pride parade, which would have been the city’s first, would have offered a chance to celebrate the city’s LGBT community, according Attempted kidnapping suspect back in jail to organizers. McDaniel stopped short of say- back into the jail at about ing Starkville Pride planned to sue Man arrested Friday, has bond revoked on Tuesday 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, where the city, but said the group will BY ALEX HOLLOWAY from Starkville Municipal Court, Ar- he is currently being held reach out to the American Civil Lib- erties Union, Human Rights Cam- [email protected] nold attempted on Friday to take a without bond. paign and Southern Poverty Law male victim from Sudduth Elementary The details of what A Starkville man, arrested Friday for caused Arnold’s bond Center. School without permission being given attempted kidnapping, is back in jail af- revocation are unclear, On Tuesday, the board took the by the victim’s mother. It’s currently ter having his bond revoked. as police declined to unusual move, at Ward 2 Alderman According to a SPD press release, unclear what relation Arnold is to the Arnold Jr. comment, and further Sandra Sistrunk’s request, to go officers arrested 45-year-old John B. victim. information on the revocation was not into executive session at the be- Arnold Jr. for what they believe to be an Arnold was booked into Oktibbeha available at Starkville Municipal Court ginning of the meeting to discuss isolated incident. County Jail, and initially released on on Tuesday. potential litigation related to the The department has not yet released $100,000 bond. Arnold was originally scheduled to parade. details of the incident, and said circum- However, on Tuesday, police arrest- appear in Starkville Municipal court at Mayor Lynn Spruill, speaking to stances surrounding it remain under ed him again for violating the terms of 6 p.m. on March 19. With his bond revo- The Dispatch after Tuesday’s meet- active investigation. his bond. Jail personnel confirmed to cation, his court date has been moved ing adjourned, said the executive According to an affidavit obtained The Dispatch that Arnold was booked up to 2 p.m. today. See ORGANIZERS, 4A WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS CALENDAR LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC 1 According to the classic margarine ad, “It’s MEETINGS Thursday March 5: Board not nice to fool” whom? ■ Film screening: The Colum- 2 The Society of Righteous and Harmonious of Supervisors, 9 bus-Lowndes Public Library screens Fists, who rebelled in China in 1898, are a.m., Oktibbeha the film “I Am Not Your Negro” better known as what? County Court- (PG-13) at 4:30 p.m. at the library 3 In John Steinbeck’s “Travels With Charley,” house which chronicles his journey across the Unit- at 314 Seventh St. N., part of a March 6: Board ed States, who is Charley? Black History Month series. Free. Bishop Porter of Aldermen, 5:30 4 What are the chewy pearls in bubble tea For more information, call 662-329- Second grade, Heritage made from? p.m., City Hall 5300. 5 What number was worn by “The Great March 13: Plan- High Low One,” Wayne Gretzky? ning and Zoning 77 66 Answers, 8B T-storms likely Friday Commission, Full forecast on ■ Pioneers Plaza dedication: A 5:30 p.m., City page 2A. 10:30 a.m. ribbon cutting dedi- Hall cates Pioneers Plaza at Missis- March 13: INSIDE sippi University for Women, a new Starkville-Ok- Classifieds7B Obituaries 4A campus space honoring the history tibbeha Consol- Comics 4B Opinions 6A of The W, including the first six Afri- idated School Crossword 6B Scene & Seen 2A can-American students who enrolled District Board, 6 Dear Abby 4B NATS 5A in 1966. The Plaza is next to Welty Scott Thomas is the owner of p.m., Greensboro Food 5,6B Hall. (Rain location: Cochran Hall). Scooter’s Records. Center DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471 2A WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018 THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com DID YOU HEAR? School shooting videos could scar kids — or galvanize them Wednesday Florida tragedy appears to be the A NEW ERA first major school shooting of the Mississippi University for Women’s Owls softball team took the field for the first time in 15 years Feb. 11 in Columbus, social media age in which students Scene&Seen splitting a doubleheader with Millsaps College. shared images in near-real time THE ASSOCIatED PRESS appears to be the first ma- jor school shooting of the PARKLAND, Fla. — social media age in which When two teenagers students shared the shock- slaughtered 12 students ing images in near-real and a teacher at Columbine time with young people High School in Colorado elsewhere. 19 years ago, young people Experts say the imag- across the country learned es have the potential to the news the old-fashioned scar kids watching from way: largely on television afar, potentially triggering and in newspapers. It took post-traumatic stress and days, if not weeks, to pro- perhaps numbing them to cess the information and the violence and causing discover the full, horrific them to fall into apathy. story. But the scenes might also When a gunman killed galvanize a generation and 17 people at a Florida high lead young people to press school last week, young- for change on the political sters around the globe level. watched the terrifying im- Amy Kohli, a junior ages and accounts unfold at South Broward High almost in real time. By the School who watched the end of the day on Feb. 14, videos posted from inside children with social media Stoneman Douglas, said knew the name of the sus- she believes they helped pect, learned which class- bring urgency and perspec- rooms the students were tive. in and, in some cases, saw “It becomes so person- videos of the dead. al because you think ‘It “My school is being shot could’ve been me,’” the up and I am locked inside. 16-year-old said, standing I’m f------ scared right now,” amid other gun safety dem- Zachary, Brianna and Renardo Harper wrote one teen on Twitter. onstrators in front of the The tragedy at Marjory federal courthouse in Fort Stoneman Douglas High Lauderdale. CONTACTING THE DISPATCH Office hours: Main line: n 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri n 662-328-2424 HOW DO I ..