Work has resumed on the highway intersection near Natchez Regional Medical Center and Tracetown Shopping. Contractors will finish the approaches and paving sometime this spring. MDOT will have spent $8 million on the project when completed.

 

    The Catahoula Parish Narcotics Task Force with assistance from the Jonesville Police Department made 11 drug-related arrests. Sheriff James Kelly said his department received tips from concerned citizens regarding drug activities. “These citizens are tired of what they see going on in their communities and are not afraid to get involved in helping to make their neighborhood the kind of place it should be. We will continue to work in conjunction with JPD and other agencies to check out every tip we receive."

 

    Natchez Public Schools will adjust their grading systems for students. Currently, students that earn a 93-100 average receive an A, but a student with a 92 average gets a B+. Under the new system, students earning 90-100 will get an A, 80-80 a B, etc. The district feels that the new grading arrangement will help students going to college.

 

    Vicki Lorio of Baton Rouge, who was illegally keeping monkeys in her house in Amite County, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and $18,000 in fines and court costs. The judge said she may serve her sentence on weekends. Lorio’s attorney said he was shocked that Justice Court Judge Roger Arnold handed down such a tough sentence. He will appeal. Lorio pled no contest to six counts of having macaque monkeys without the proper state permits.  Lorio remains free on bond pending that appeal.

 

    Natchez Pilgrimage Tours is expecting a better spring tour season this year than last, as tourists from a 500-mile area visit Natchez to view antebellum homes, Mar. 6-Apr. 10. Morning and afternoon tours of 25 antebellum homes are provided. The homes feature prized antiques and furnishings and guides provide a talk and tour of each home. Evening entertainment includes the Historic Natchez Pageant, Southern Road to Freedom (gospel performance), Southern Exposure (theater comedy), and Songs of the South (spirituals, Stephen Foster, Gershwin). For information and tickets, call 800-647-6742 or log on to natchezpilgrimage.com.

 

    Natchez Regional Medical Center trustees are expected to hire a new administrator, Bill Heburn, who formerly worked with Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham. Trustee attorney Walter Brown has recommended him as a replacement for interim administrator Lana Morgan. Hearing that Morgan might be replaced, hospital employees circulated petitions asking her job to be saved. Trustees would pay Heburn $250,000-$300,000 a year and are likely to keep Morgan in a more subordinate administrative position at her current salary of $185,000 a year.

           

    Some sections of Vidalia are experiencing storm sewer back-up, since river levels have been high and rains heavier than usual. The city has created a temporary, above-ground main connected to a temporary sewer lift station to combat the problem. Aldermen have applied for community block grant funds to install a new liner on some sewer lines, which should prevent seepage once installed.

           

    A single vehicle accident results in the death of a man and child and the injury of three others. Bretton Dickson, 32, of Shelbyville, Tenn., was driving a 1999 Chevy Suburban when he lost control of the vehicle on Hwy. 84 hear the old Red Top Restaurant in Concordia Parish, exited the roadway and enter Cross Bayou, completely submerging the SUV. Dickson was not injured. But Bradley Dickson, 4, and Ronald Dickson, 58, were killed. None of the occupants worse seat belts. In a second accident, Sandon Kemp, 53, of Monterey drove a 1994 Pontiac Bonneville on La. Hwy. 129, when he lost control of the vehicle and exited the roadway, striking a mailbox. Kemp overcorrected the crossed the road to the left, colliding with a tree and embankment. He was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.

 

    Adams County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested two people for selling crack cocaine in a church zone. Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said Jeff Holmes III, 36, and his girlfriend, Brinza Sproulls, 38, both of Adams County, operated the New Midway Lounge, across the street from a church, and used it to sell crack cocaine. Mayfield said undercover metro narcotics deputies made five separate purchases from the couple and then arrested them. The sheriff said Holmes and Sproulls were major drug dealers for the Cranfield and Fenwick areas of Adams County.