Local Headlines

Alcorn State falls again to North Carolina A&T in Celebration Bowl

By Trey Mongrue | December 21, 2019 at 5:03 PM CST – Updated December 22 at 12:47 AM

ATLANTA, Ga. (WLBT) – After combining for 46 points in the Celebration Bowl last season, North Carolina A&T and Alcorn State eclipsed that mark in the third quarter alone,

The two teams turned a football game into a track meet Saturday Morning at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but while it was brand new era in offense, the end result stayed the same as the Braves fell 64-44 for their third Celebration Bowl loss to the Aggies in five seasons.

“Too many mistakes,” said ASU coach Fred McNair. “We didn’t play that perfect game that we were looking for. Too many points given up and we just didn’t get it done.”

The 108 total points scored is a Celebration Bowl record, as is the 64 points scored by NC A&T and the 49 combined points in third quarter.

ASU twice had a lead in the game, starting with Corey McCullough field goal to open up the scoring in the first quarter. After an Aggie touchdown, the Braves retook the lead in with 10:16 left in the second when Felix Harper hit Chris Blair for a 36 yard touchdown pass to go up 10-7.

After that, the Aggie offense took control with 17 unanswered points to go into the half with a 24-10 lead. NC A&T quarterback Kylil Carter was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after he tossed six touchdowns and 364 yards.

The second half began with fireworks with all seven possessions ending with a touchdown with four of them totaling over 40 yards.

Harper finished the game with three touchdown passes and 341 passing yards. Aggie running back Jah-Main Martin led all rushers with 110 yards and two touchdowns.

With the win, NC A&T clinches the HBCU national title for a third straight year and fourth time in the Celebration Bowl era. The SWAC’s record in the bowl drops to 1-4 with the only win coming in 2016 when Grambling beat North Carolina Central.

Stores full of shoppers on final weekend before Christmas

By Chelsey Sellars | December 21, 2019 at 10:38 PM CST – Updated December 21 at 10:53 PM

RIDGELAND, Miss. (WLBT) – With a packed parking lot outside of Northpark Mall, it’s no surprise that the inside was bustling with people.

Shoppers coming in by the thousands and marketing manager Christy Pender said it’s been like this all week.

“Estimate, oh goodness gracious. In the high 5 digits. Definitely, definitely. I mean gosh, you never know. It could fall between 50 and 80, you never know,” She said.

On the final Saturday before Christmas, shoppers like Mary Jane Kubiak and her daughter were getting goods for themselves —

“Hot topic. Um, where did we go? 21! For 21. Pretty much all the girl stuff,” she said; “we got a lot of shopping to do though for dad, and brothers, and grand babies. Oh yeah.”

From jewelry to fancy fragrances, almost every store was ringing up sales. Even Sweet Taste’n candy store owner Jeff Washington was excited to see the foot traffic.

“I’ll tell you what, in the case of apples. There’s 88 apples in the case. And we’ve been going through anywhere between 2 and 3 cases of apples a day. So the blessing is rolling,” he said.

The closer we get to Christmas, Penders expects to see even more shoppers.

Home for the Holidays: MHP set to kick off Christmas travel enforcement period

By ShaCamree Gowdy | December 20, 2019 at 9:13 AM CST – Updated December 20 at 11:24 AM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi Highway Patrol will kick off the 2019 Christmas Travel Enforcement Period with the annual safety awareness initiative titled “Home for the Holidays.”

The initiative, designed to ensure safe travel for motorists during the busy holiday season, will run through the end of the year.

The 2019 Christmas Travel Enforcement Period begins Monday, December 23, at 12:01 a.m. and will end Wednesday, December 25, at midnight.

All available troopers will be utilized on all state, federal, and interstate systems to combat reckless driving along with speeding and distracted driving issues. Safety checkpoints will also be conducted throughout the period to enforce child restraint and seatbelt laws while also removing impaired drivers.

MHP is reminding motorists that if alcohol is included in celebrations, it’s best to designate a sober driver or have other means of safe transportation.

Canton man charged with shooting store clerk in face also suspect in murder of missing Domino’s employee

By ShaCamree Gowdy | December 20, 2019 at 9:43 AM CST – Updated December 20 at 11:24 AM

CANTON, Miss. (WLBT) – A 25-year-old Canton man has been arrested and charged with multiple crimes, according to Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker.

Terrance J. Caldwell was arrested by the Madison County Sheriff’s Department around 9:45 p.m. Thursday, with help from U.S. Marshals, the Lexington Police Department and the Holmes County Sheriff Department.

Dortch was last seen wearing her Domino’s attire in Canton on Friday, Dec. 13. Her body was found around 11 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Old Yazoo City and Heindle roads in Madison County.

Deer hunters help feed the hungry by donating meat to Hunters Harvest Program

By Summer Tadlock | December 19, 2019 at 11:18 PM CST – Updated December 20 at 11:39 AM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Your next deer hunt can now be donated towards a good cause.

Through the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, the Hunters Harvest Program aims toward helping the hungry one donation at a time.

“It’s a great organization. It’s great to be able to feed the hungry.”

It all started back in 2011 and provides more than 10,000 pounds of venison a year to those in need.

All across the Magnolia state homeless shelters, soup kitchens, churches, and food pantries are eating a good meal… all thanks to a hunters donations.

The buck shop is just one of the 30 processors participating in the Hunter’s Harvest program benefiting 33 charities and other organizations statewide.

“I like helping the people of Mississippi in the best way I can, and this is one way I can.”

This is Mike Triplett, the owner of The Buck Shop, and one of the first processors to participate in the program.

Triplett say’s he has always had a heart eager to serve.

“We donate the meat to the hungry, soup kitchen and things like that. They come pick it up when we call and tell them we have a load and they take it with them.”

Here’s how it works, when a hunter comes in to donate their deer,“we package it up in two pound packs, grind up the meat, no fat, and ship it out!”

Triplett say’s it’s important no parts of the deer goes to waste.

“A lot of deer that would go to waste normally… people say, ‘Well, I wanna kill more deer but nothing to do with them…’ So I tell them bring them to Hunters Harvest!”

Visit the Mississippi Federation website for everything you need to know to get involved in feeding the hungry this holiday season.

Community meeting discusses future of Jackson Public Schools

By Summer Tadlock | December 18, 2019 at 10:59 PM CST – Updated December 19 at 10:06 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Big changes are coming to the Jackson Public School District.

A few weeks ago, the JPS Superintendent released a three-year-plan for school redesign. This means closing some schools, and transitioning students to others.

“For the middle school, one of the primary reasons is to expand elective offerings for students. We see this as an opportunity to provide additional offerings in courses like Art, Spanish, Health. These are courses that may not be offered at other schools,” said Freddrick Murray.

Wednesday, another community meeting was held at Blackburn Middle School. Right now there are only 370 students, but by the time students from Hardy Middle move through, 750 students will walk the halls.

“Why would they want to overcrowd like that? Why would they want to move so many students? Why couldn’t they just take the initiative to fix Hardy?”

These are the sort of questions parents like Patricia Stamps want answers too.

“I love Blackburn. They have excellent teachers, they have a great principal, it is a great school. But by them intertwining Hardy with other students who don’t want to learn, they want to be in gang activities, it will bring bad to Blackburn. It will happen.”

Other changes coming included in the school redesign include: shutting down Siwell Middle School with other students transitioning to Cardoza, Barr Elementary closing with students moving to Pecan Park, and restarting Vanwinkle Elementary as a pre-k.

Van Winkle students will attend Bates and Clausell.

But above all else, the JPS Assistant Superintendent for Middle Schools Freddrick Murray says they want to reassure parents that the redesign will only further improve opportunities for their children.

“We feel confident that this is a solid proposal, we hope it is approved and then we can move forward.”

The redesign plan was presented to the school board Monday night. The final decision will be made in January.

JPD investigating robbery at Ellis Ave. Walgreens

By WLBT Digital | December 19, 2019 at 9:32 PM CST – Updated December 19 at 9:32 PM

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Police say a robbery took place Thursday night at the Walgreens on Ellis Avenue.

Officers were called out sometime around 8:30 p.m., and were still searching the area at about 9 p.m. as detectives interviewed witnesses at the store.

There were shoppers in the store at the time of the incident.

Jackson Police Department has not yet returned messages seeking more detailed information.

Homeless Natchez man admits to breaking courthouse windows to get arrested and out of the cold

By Roslyn Anderson | December 19, 2019 at 8:14 PM CST – Updated December 19 at 9:13 PM

NATCHEZ, Miss. (WLBT) – Most people aren’t trying to spend anytime in jail, but for one Natchez man, it’s exactly where he wanted to be Thursday morning.

When temperatures hovered around freezing, the homeless man turned to crime to get off the streets.

The weather was frigid in Natchez when Clamekus DeNorris Johnson went to the Adams county sheriff’s Department where he asked staff if he could stay.

It’s not permitted because of liability.

But Johnson wasn’t taking no for an answer and made sure he was going to be behind bars and not on the cold city streets.

“He walked out of the jail behind me here. He walked over to the courthouse and he took his elbow, and he elbowed out several of the windows that you see broken over there now,” said Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten. “He walked back into the lobby and picked up a plant. Threw it on the floor and the table that it was sitting on, he used that table to smash out both windows that you see behind me here.”

The 43-year-old was taken into custody by deputies and Natchez Police.

Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten sympathizes with Johnson’s plight but doesn’t condone his behavior.

The sheriff said Johnson doesn’t have mental issues and was taken into custody without incident.

It was all an effort to stay warm and get a meal.

Some in Natchez find the situation sad and disturbing.

“It’s extremely shocking to know that he had to use his elbow to burst windows and then throw a table through the window,” said Amber Ables who works in Natchez. “That’s insane, but I understand this could weather is also insane”.

Natchez resident LaShonda Butler said it’s sad there is no place for the homeless in the county.

“I really just felt sorry for the man. I wish we did have more to offer,” said Butler. “Maybe the city will get some kind of grants or something, some kind of funding to where you know we could help the homeless”.

There is no homeless shelter in the county although Stewpot feeds daily.

The county sometimes opens its safe room when temperatures drop.

“This time it was the sheriff’s office, and the county courthouse getting torn up,” said Sheriff Patten. “The next time it could be your home. Now am I condoning him tearing up county property, absolutely not. But when you put people in desperate situations, during desperate times they do desperate things”.

Johnson is now out of the cold but behind bars without bond.

The damages totaled more than $1,000 resulting in felony charges.

He is charged with destroying government property.

Anonymous donor pays off student lunch debt at Germantown Middle School

By Chelsey Sellars | December 19, 2019 at 8:02 PM CST – Updated December 19 at 8:02 PM

MADISON, Miss. (WLBT) – Alma Shaffer, a cafeteria manager, serves hot lunches at Germantown Middle School that cost about $3.75.

But sometimes some kids are short on cash, which leads to unpaid debt; “Sometimes the students charge more than the parents have adjusted to with their budget. Sometimes don’t get to notify their parents about it,” said Principal Chris Perritt.

However, on Wednesday, someone decided to bring Christmas early to these students.

“One of our long time parents who’s had a couple kids come through our schools came by, asked if he can pay of all the cafeteria debt that we had,” said Perritt.

“That was the best Christmas gift ever,” said Shaffer, “because a lot of children’s parents forget to put the money into the account or they have trouble with the PinPass pay system. So that was a tremendous gift so everybody can come back to school with a clean slate. No one owes anything.”

The debt was about 300 dollars and occasionally, a staff member will help a student pay. Regardless of the money, Shaffer wants her students to eat.

“The child cannot focus if they are hungry and basically, to some children, this is their only source of a good meal because they eat out. Don’t be scared to come to the cafeteria just because I don’t have money to eat. Because we’re going to feed you regardless,” said Shaffer.

School lunch debt is a common issue across the country and the average amount continues to increase.

Canton Domino’s releases statement after death of employee

By China Lee | December 19, 2019 at 7:44 PM CST – Updated December 19 at 7:44 PM

MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) – Domino’s Pizza in Canton has released a statement after on one of their workers who was found dead earlier this week in Madison County.

Franchisee Molly Yildirim said in the statement:

“We are incredibly shocked and saddened by this terrible crime. Hilerica “Latrice” [Dortch] was a kind, dedicated team member and a friend. Our hearts are breaking for her family and friends. We are fully cooperating with local law enforcement and are offering a reward in addition to what is being offered by Crime Stoppers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for her death.

We have had Domino’s corporate security personnel and a grief counselor at our store to help our team members with Latrice’s passing. We have been in contact with Latrice’s family. For the next three days, (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) we will be donating 25% of our sales to Latrice’s family and her 8-year-old son. Any additional donations can be made at our local store in Canton. We hope to get justice for Latrice in the coming days. Our prayers are with her, her family and friends.

Please refer any additional questions to local law enforcement, as this is an open and ongoing investigation.”

Dorth was found around 11 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Old Yazoo City and Heindle roads in Madison County.

She was last seen wearing her Domino’s attire in Canton on Friday, Dec. 13. Her car was found abandoned shortly after she was reported missing.

So far, a cause of death has not been released and there have been no arrests.

This is an ongoing investigation and authorities say updates will be provided as they become available.

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