Former Natchez Mayor Phillip West has qualified as a Democrat to run for mayor this year, challenging incumbent Jake Middleton. Former MDOT boss Butch Brown and businessman Bill Furlow are also expected to qualify soon. Many of city hall’s officeholders have qualified for re-election, including City Clerk Donnie Holloway, Municipal Judge Jim Blough, and Aldermen Rickey Gray, Bob Pollard, Mark Fortenbery, Tony Fields and Dan Dillard. All except Pollard are Democrats. Pollard is a Republican. Only one aldermanic challenger has qualified so far. Billy Joe Frazier has signed up to battle Ward 2’s Rickey Gray.  The city’s Democratic and Republican primaries will be held Tuesday, May 1.

    Local unemployment rates have declined slightly as the labor force has shrunk, at least temporarily. Adams County reports 9.5% unemployed and Concordia Parish 9.4%. But the actual number of people working has dropped significantly compared to a year ago. Adams now employs 11,860 people and Concordia 6,293, down 584 jobs from last year. Late holiday and New Year hiring might improve the picture somewhat. Brookhaven-Lincoln County and McComb-Pike County’s job outlooks are much better than ours. Lincoln employs 12,290 and Pike 13,700.
   
    A Franklin County grand jury did its required annual inspection of county facilities and reported to Circuit Judge Al Johnson that some repairs should be made. The jury said restrooms at both Franklin County High and Junior High are substandard and need to be renovated. The jury took special exception to the condition of the 7^th and 8^th grade building, saying it is in very poor condition. The ceiling is about to fall in. And in the jury’s opinion, the building should be closed.

    Scott Slover of Natchez is the new County Attorney for the Adams County Board of Supervisors. Darryl Grennell continues to serve as board president and Mike Lazarus is now vice-president. Sammy Lee Gaines is the new road manager, as “Curly” Jones retired last fall. Supervisors chose Shemika Ware to be their administrative assistant and inventory clerk.

 
    Increases in assessments and new properties coming on line helped boost Concordia Parish’s 2011 property tax collections to $13.4 million, up from $12.8 million in 2010. The parish’s biggest taxpayer is Martin Mills (formerly Fruit-of-the-Loom/Vidalia Apparel), which paid $506,000 in property tax.

 
    A TV production crew traveled to Woodville to recreate the events that led up to the disappearance of two three-year old children, Kreneice and LaMoine Allen in 1992. The children from St. James Parish were visiting relatives and last seen at Jackson’s Grocery on Hwy. 24 in Wilkinson County. Subsequent searches did not find evidence of the missing children. The case remains open today. The youngsters would be now 22 years old. The film crew will air the new program on independent educational system Channel 1 in the near future.  If you have any info about the Allen kids, call the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Department, 601-888-3511.

    The Mississippi River at Natchez-Vidalia, now at just over 44 feet, will continue to drop, reaching 26.1 feet by Feb. 1.

    The CPA firm of Silas Simmons of Natchez audited the Town of Clayton and found that 2011 jury road tax funds, allocated to Clayton, were misspent on drainage work. Silas Simmons said that the road monies can only be incidentally to assist in drainage while repairing roads. But Mayor Rydell Turner said the monies were reallocated from roads to drainage because people’s homes were flooding due to high water. The State Auditor has already said some a reallocation would not be legal. Also, the mayor was cited for spending $2,280 on gas for his personal vehicle. While Rydell says the gas money was used for town purposes, it’s not legal to put public gas into a private vehicle. The mayor admitted he had used public gas in his private vehicle in 2011 and prior years. The state will require Rydell to repay the money.

    Improved training and testing of Monterey firemen helped lower the community’s fire protection rating. Monterey Fire Dist. No. 1 was rated a 7. Now it’s a 5, which means residents will save as much as 30% on the homeowner’s insurance over the next year. The district’s capabilities will be measured again in February. If the testing results are as good, then the district will keep its 5-rating for a five-year period.

    Natchez Aldermen borrowed $350,000 to cover a payroll shortfall. The short term loan will be repaid as property taxes come in. City Clerk Donnie Holloway said the city spends about $510,000 a month for employee wages.

    Premier Gaming and Natchez Enterprises have revised its Roth Hill casino plans.  The new design call for a $25.6 million investment resulting in 300 permanent jobs, according to Premier’s Kevin Preston.