COOK OF THE WEEK Mantachie girl into baking cookies, cakes ...€¦ · Mantachie girl into baking...
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Thursday, 8/15/19 8am-6pm Friday, 8/16/19 8am-6pm Saturday, 8/17/19 8am-6pm Sunday, 8/18/19 8am - 5pm Open to the Public FLEA MARKET BUILDING 1 ONLY Wednesday, August 14, 2019 VOLUME 146 | ISSUE 136 BUSINESS » 6A CLASSIFIEDS » 5B CROSSWORD » 13A OPINION » 7A OBITUARIES » 4A SPORTS » 1B TV GRID » 12A WEATHER » 2A » Visit djournal.com for more stories, photos and videos. Follow the Daily Journal on social media @djournalnow to see the latest news about Northeast Mississippi. [ DJOURNAL.COM ] TUPELO, MS • 75 CENTS WEdNESday, aUgUST 14, 2019 a LOCaLLy OWNEd NEWSPaPER dEdICaTEd TO THE SERVICE OF gOd aNd MaNKINd. 6 1 05282 89922 » COOK OF THE WEEK Mantachie girl into baking cookies, cakes and muffns. Food, 9A. By CALEB BEDILLION Daily Journal TUPELO • In a racist comment discovered through a public records request, Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson described a local legislator as “worse than a black person” in a text message. In a series of messages John- son sent Lee County District 1 Supervisor Phil Morgan in Au- gust 2017, Johnson complained about Tupelo state Rep. Shane Aguirre’s involvement in then-current debates about Lee County’s jail. Johnson wrote the following words about Aguirre, repro- duced here exactly as written: “He’s worse than a black per- son, your not going to please him.” Johnson and Morgan are white. Aguirre is of Hispanic descent. In a recent interview with the Daily Journal, the sheriff sought to explain his re- mark about black people by point- ing to Aguirre’s stance on jail legislation. Agu- irre, a frst-term Republican rep- resentative, had opposed a bill that would have allowed the construction of a county jail outside Tupelo. “I was aggravated at him,” Johnson said of Aguirre. The sheriff did not outright repudiate his remarks, but he did express some regret. “There was probably no call for mentioning anything of race,” Johnson said. The Daily Journal asked Johnson if he believes the racist idea that black people are diff- cult to please. Johnson was evasive in his re- sponse. “I think when you play the race card, yes, it’s diffcult to please some people,” Johnson said. Johnson insisted that he does not hold racist or prejudiced beliefs. “God made us all the same,” Johnson said. “I don’t treat any- body any different.” In more recent text messag- es obtained by the Daily Jour- nal through a public records Lee County sheriff sent racially incendiary text messages Johnson TURN TO TEXTS, 2A By TAYLOR VANCE Daily Journal BALDWYN • County offcials are moving for- ward with plans to replace a county-owned timber bridge with assistance from the state and federal government. The Lee County Board of Supervisors voted to award a $1.1 million bid to Phillips Contract- ing Co. to replace the timber bridge located on County Road 921 between Guntown and Bald- wyn in the Pratts community with a concrete bridge. Carson Neal, the county’s engineer, said this bridge is funded through the frst phase of the state’s emergency road and bridge repair pro- gram. “There will not be any more (funds) for the next three years,” Neal said. “Now, at the end of this three-year cycle, they’ll go to a re-evalu- ation, and Lee County could get some of those projects approved we’ve already submitted.” The U.S. Department of Transportation is paying for 80% of the project and the Missis- sippi Department of Transportation’s Offce of State Aid Road Construction is paying for 20% of the project, which would total at no cost to county taxpayers. Phil Morgan, the Lee County District 1 super- visor, said the bridge is in his district and had a low weight limit and wasn’t being traveled on a lot. “This is the only bridge in Lee County that qualifed for this type of assistance,” Morgan said. Tim Allred, the county’s road manager, said Lee looks to replace county-owned rural timber bridge By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON • The candidate eliminat- ed from the Republican primary for Mississippi governor is endorsing former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. for the party nomination. State Rep. Robert Foster on Tues- day announced his support of Waller, who’s competing with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in an Aug. 27 run- off. In the frst round of voting Aug. 6, Reeves received 49%, Waller re- ceived 33% and Foster received 18%. “There are obviously some sup- porters of mine who had their mind made up to go one way for their sec- ond choice already,” Foster said in an announcement in his hometown of Hernando, joined by Waller. “But there are a lot of people out there, there are thousands and thousands of people out there in the state of Mississippi right now trying to make a decision on this election that sup- ported me.” Foster and Waller have both said Mississippi should consider paying for highway improvements by in- creasing the gasoline tax and reduc- ing other taxes. Both also said the state should allow the working poor to purchase Medicaid coverage, which would require federal approv- al. Reeves opposes those ideas. “We are not last place for no rea- son at all,” Foster said. “We have pol- icies in Jackson that keep us in last place, and there are some things that we can change in Mississippi.” Waller said he would welcome Foster as an adviser. “He and I agree on a lot of things,” Waller said in Hernando. “He and I agree that Mississippi needs to do better.” In the Nov. 5 general election for governor, the Republican nominee will face Democratic Attorney Gen- eral Jim Hood, Constitution Party candidate Bob Hickingbottom and independent candidate David Sin- gletary. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant could not seek a third term, and he is sup- porting Reeves. Foster last week won his home county of DeSoto, just south of Memphis, Tennessee, which is a Re- publican stronghold and for years has been the state’s fastest-growing county. Foster also won Tate Coun- ty, just south of DeSoto. Waller prevailed in Lafayette County in north Mississippi, Lefo- re and Sharkey counties in the Delta and the three counties in the metro Jackson area: Hinds, Madison and Rankin. Reeves had strong showings in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, and also won in some oth- ers. Waller lives in Hinds County and Reeves lives in Rankin County. Hood easily won the Democratic nomination last week. He received about 69% of the primary vote, elim- inating seven candidates who ran low-budget campaigns. Mississippi, Louisiana and Ken- tucky are the only states electing governors this year. Republicans have held the governorship in Mis- sissippi for 24 of the past 28 years. Foster throws support to Waller » GOP RUNOFF FOR GOVERNOR ROBERT FOSTER CAMPAIGN State Rep. Robert Foster, right, on Tuesday announced his support of former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr.,left, who’s competing with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in an Aug. 27 runof. THOMAS WELLS | BUY AT PHOTOS.DJOURNAL.COM An old bridge along County Road 491 near Pratts will soon be replaced. The timber bridge has fallen into disrepair and is seldom used, according to Lee County ofcials. TURN TO BRIDGE, 2A
Transcript of COOK OF THE WEEK Mantachie girl into baking cookies, cakes ...€¦ · Mantachie girl into baking...
Thursday, 8/15/19 8am-6pm
Friday, 8/16/19 8am-6pm
Saturday, 8/17/19 8am-6pm
Sunday, 8/18/19 8am - 5pm
Open to the PublicFLEAMARKET BUILDING 1ONLY
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
VOLUME 146 | ISSUE 136BUSINESS » 6A CLASSIFIEDS » 5B CROSSWORD » 13A OPINION » 7A OBITUARIES » 4A SPORTS » 1B TV GRID » 12A WEATHER » 2A
» Visit djournal.com for more stories, photos and videos. Follow the Daily Journal on social media @djournalnow to see the latest news about Northeast Mississippi.
[ DJOURNAL.COM ]TUPELO, MS • 75 CENTS WEdNESday, aUgUST 14, 2019
a LOCaLLy OWNEd NEWSPaPER dEdICaTEd TO THE SERVICE OF gOd aNd MaNKINd.
6 105282 89922
» COOK OF THE WEEK
Mantachie girl into baking cookies, cakes and muffins. Food, 9A.
By CALEB BEDILLIONDaily Journal
TUPELO • In a racist comment discovered through a public records request, Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson described a local legislator as “worse than a black person” in a text message.
In a series of messages John-son sent Lee County District 1 Supervisor Phil Morgan in Au-gust 2017, Johnson complained about Tupelo state Rep. Shane
Aguirre’s involvement in then-current debates about Lee County’s jail.
Johnson wrote the following words about Aguirre, repro-duced here exactly as written: “He’s worse than a black per-son, your not going to please him.”
Johnson and Morgan are white. Aguirre is of Hispanic descent.
In a recent interview with the Daily Journal, the sheriff sought
to explain his re-mark about black people by point-ing to Aguirre’s stance on jail legislation. Agu-irre, a first-term Republican rep-resentative, had opposed a bill that would have
allowed the construction of a county jail outside Tupelo.
“I was aggravated at him,”
Johnson said of Aguirre.The sheriff did not outright
repudiate his remarks, but he did express some regret.
“There was probably no call for mentioning anything of race,” Johnson said.
The Daily Journal asked Johnson if he believes the racist idea that black people are diffi-cult to please.
Johnson was evasive in his re-sponse.
“I think when you play the
race card, yes, it’s difficult to please some people,” Johnson said.
Johnson insisted that he does not hold racist or prejudiced beliefs.
“God made us all the same,” Johnson said. “I don’t treat any-body any different.”
In more recent text messag-es obtained by the Daily Jour-nal through a public records
Lee County sheriff sent racially incendiary text messages
Johnson
TURN TO TEXTS, 2A
By TAYLOR VANCEDaily Journal
BALDWYN • County officials are moving for-ward with plans to replace a county-owned timber bridge with assistance from the state and federal government.
The Lee County Board of Supervisors voted to award a $1.1 million bid to Phillips Contract-ing Co. to replace the timber bridge located on County Road 921 between Guntown and Bald-wyn in the Pratts community with a concrete bridge.
Carson Neal, the county’s engineer, said this bridge is funded through the first phase of the state’s emergency road and bridge repair pro-gram.
“There will not be any more (funds) for the next three years,” Neal said. “Now, at the end of this three-year cycle, they’ll go to a re-evalu-ation, and Lee County could get some of those projects approved we’ve already submitted.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation is paying for 80% of the project and the Missis-sippi Department of Transportation’s Office of State Aid Road Construction is paying for 20% of the project, which would total at no cost to county taxpayers.
Phil Morgan, the Lee County District 1 super-visor, said the bridge is in his district and had a low weight limit and wasn’t being traveled on a lot.
“This is the only bridge in Lee County that qualified for this type of assistance,” Morgan said.
Tim Allred, the county’s road manager, said
Lee looks to replace county-ownedrural timber bridge
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUSAssociated Press
JACKSON • The candidate eliminat-ed from the Republican primary for Mississippi governor is endorsing former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. for the party nomination.
State Rep. Robert Foster on Tues-day announced his support of Waller, who’s competing with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in an Aug. 27 run-off.
In the first round of voting Aug. 6, Reeves received 49%, Waller re-ceived 33% and Foster received 18%.
“There are obviously some sup-porters of mine who had their mind made up to go one way for their sec-ond choice already,” Foster said in an announcement in his hometown of Hernando, joined by Waller. “But there are a lot of people out there, there are thousands and thousands of people out there in the state of Mississippi right now trying to make a decision on this election that sup-ported me.”
Foster and Waller have both said Mississippi should consider paying for highway improvements by in-creasing the gasoline tax and reduc-ing other taxes. Both also said the state should allow the working poor to purchase Medicaid coverage, which would require federal approv-al. Reeves opposes those ideas.
“We are not last place for no rea-son at all,” Foster said. “We have pol-icies in Jackson that keep us in last place, and there are some things that we can change in Mississippi.”
Waller said he would welcome Foster as an adviser.
“He and I agree on a lot of things,” Waller said in Hernando. “He and I agree that Mississippi needs to do better.”
In the Nov. 5 general election for governor, the Republican nominee will face Democratic Attorney Gen-eral Jim Hood, Constitution Party candidate Bob Hickingbottom and independent candidate David Sin-gletary.
Republican Gov. Phil Bryant could not seek a third term, and he is sup-
porting Reeves.Foster last week won his home
county of DeSoto, just south of Memphis, Tennessee, which is a Re-publican stronghold and for years has been the state’s fastest-growing county. Foster also won Tate Coun-ty, just south of DeSoto.
Waller prevailed in Lafayette County in north Mississippi, Leflo-re and Sharkey counties in the Delta and the three counties in the metro Jackson area: Hinds, Madison and Rankin. Reeves had strong showings in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, and also won in some oth-ers.
Waller lives in Hinds County and Reeves lives in Rankin County.
Hood easily won the Democratic nomination last week. He received about 69% of the primary vote, elim-inating seven candidates who ran low-budget campaigns.
Mississippi, Louisiana and Ken-tucky are the only states electing governors this year. Republicans have held the governorship in Mis-sissippi for 24 of the past 28 years.
Foster throws support to Waller
» GOP RUNOFF FOR GOVERNOR
ROBERT FOSTER CAMPAIGN
State Rep. Robert Foster, right, on Tuesday announced his support of former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr.,left, who’s competing with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves in an Aug. 27 runoff.
THOMAS WELLS | BUY AT PHOTOS.DJOURNAL.COM
An old bridge along County Road 491 near Pratts will soon be replaced. The timber bridge has fallen into disrepair and is seldom used, according to Lee County officials.
TURN TO BRIDGE, 2A
