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141st Year, No. 59

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FIVE QUESTIONS1 What famed mountain do trekkers typically climb by routes named Machame, Marangu or Umbwe?2 What 1990s TV show had characters who liked to hang out at the Peach Pit?3 What type of vessel was powered by a hand-cranked propeller when first used in combat in 1776?4 What “Joy of Painting” painter was known for his “happy little trees”?5 Where in the human skeleton would you find the atlas bone — foot, pelvis or spine?

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Megen Reed of Hamilton attends Mississippi University for Women. Reed is a senior majoring in English.

PUBLIC MEETINGSToday: Columbus City Council, Mu-nicipal Complex, 5 p.m., stream live at facebook.com/City-ofColumbusMS/June 1: Lowndes County Board of Su-pervisors, 9 a.m., County CourthouseJune 2: Columbus City Council, 5 p.m., Municipal Complex, stream live at facebook.com/City-ofColumbusMS/June 12: Lowndes County School Dis-trict, 12:30 p.m., Central Office

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES

Birney Imes/Dispatch StaffJimmy Valentine Sr. stands next to a climbing rose Wednesday afternoon he says has been growing in the front yard of his home on Apple Street for at least 10 years. Awhile back Valentine was considering pruning part of the rose that was growing along the roofline of his front porch, until his mother Ada, who is 95, advised him not to. He followed his mother’s advice. Valentine says his parents imparted in him a love for gardening.

BY ISABELLE ALTMANialtman@cdispatch.com

A former investigator with Columbus Police Department has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, among other council members, claiming the council fired him

unjustly last year.Reginald Adams, who the

city council terminated from his position during an executive session of a council meeting on March 5, 2019, filed the suit in federal court in Aberdeen on Friday. In the complaint, he al-leges Mickens and two other council members — who are

listed as “Councilmen A-D” — violated his privacy and breached an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by telling The Dispatch Adams would be disciplined for taking

a police vehicle and driving to Moorhead while on duty and without authorization to apply for a job.

Adams also argues that be-cause the council members talked to The Dispatch before the March 2019 meeting, they could not have been impartial when they took up the matter on March 5 and therefore violated due process. He claims too that he was fired because of his race — Adams is African-American — and because of his good re-lationship with “some council-

men” and Mayor Robert Smith, who he claims Mickens and the other two council members op-pose politically.

“As a proximate consequence of the actions of Defendants, Plaintiff Adams suffered and continues to suffer lost earn-ings and benefits, emotional pain and suffering, professional and personal embarrassment, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, and oth-er consequential damages,” the complaint says.

Former officer who drove patrol car to apply for out-of-town job sues city, councilmenReginald Adams, who drove to Moorhead while on duty, claims councilmen should never have reported his offense to The Dispatch

Church leaders in Columbus concerned about reopening too soonMayor: City, state governments will not infringe on church rights to gather; recommends ‘having a game plan’BY YUE STELLA YUsyu@cdispatch.com

Roughly a dozen church leaders who sit on a city-formed committee on re-opening Columbus expressed reluctance to open their doors too soon amid the COVID-19 pandemic at a meeting with city leaders Mon-day.

The pastors, members of the Churches and Funeral Homes Sub-committee of Restart Columbus, had a roughly two-hour meeting with Mayor Robert Smith, City At-torney Jeff Turnage and several other public officials. Directors of funeral homes will meet with city officials at a later date.

Smith, who hosted the meeting, assured church leaders no govern-ment authority would infringe upon church activities out of respect for religious freedom. The city’s police department will not issue citations to large church gatherings if that were to happen, he said, and Gov. Tate Reeves also announced on sev-eral occasions the state government would not dictate the reopening or shutdown of church events.

“When you decide to open up, that’s on you,” Smith said.

But faced with the rising num-ber of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, Smith said he strongly recommended the churches refrain from reopening until June.

“It’s optional. I’m only asking you

BY TESS VRBINtvrbin@cdispatch.com

Oktibbeha supervisors voted 3-2 Monday to join the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District after reviving a debate from last year over the pros and cons of becoming a member of the Tupelo-based state agency.

District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard suggested the county join the district after the supervisors voted unanimously to authorize an assessment of Hollis Creek, which has flooded residential areas in southern Starkville and Oktibbeha County re-cently due to the buildup of debris.

“I think it’s time, I think

it’s of value and it’s not an outrageous cost,” Howard said.

District 1 Supervisor and Board President John Mont-

gomery disagreed, saying it did not make sense for the county to pay $133,000 per year to an agency that was not guaranteed or required to complete any projects in the county.

Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller were the dissenting votes. Howard, District 2 Super-visor Orlando Trainer and District 5 Supervisor Joe Wil-

Oktibbeha County to pay $133K annually for flood control association membershipCounty lifts pandemic-related curfew

MickensAdams

See LAWSUIT, 3A

Smith

See CHURCHES, 6A

Howard Montgomery

See OKTIBBEHA, 3A

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com2A TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Federal author-ities are urging governors to use “extreme caution” in deciding when to resume visits at nursing homes, saying it shouldn’t come before all residents and staff have tested neg-ative for the coronavirus for at least 28 days.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ criteria for re-laxing restrictions at nursing homes come more than two months after the agency ordered homes to ban visitors. Instead of firm dates, it lists a variety of factors state and local officials should consider, such as ad-equate staffing levels at homes and

the ability to regularly test all resi-dents and workers.

“We’re urging governors to pro-ceed with extreme caution because these are the most vulnerable citi-zens. We know that nursing homes have struggled,” Seema Verma, head of CMS, told The Associated Press.

Already, outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities have claimed more than 33,000 lives, more than a third of all coronavirus deaths in the U.S., according to a count by the AP.

The recommendations bolster the Trump administration’s broader guidelines that say senior care fa-cilities should be among the last in a community to reopen, given the

vulnerability of their elderly resi-dents. And they noted that some homes may have to wait even longer than 28 days from the last negative test if they have had problems with infection controls, staffing or other issues.

Once visits resume, family mem-bers and others should still wear face coverings and practice social distancing, CMS said.

Although the ban on visitors is in-tended to keep residents safe, Toby Edelman of the Center for Medi-care Advocacy said the prolonged isolation could have negative con-sequences, since family members often act as an extra set of eyes to ensure their loved ones are being properly cared for.

“It’s been necessary but it takes its toll on residents and family mem-bers, psychologically, mentally, physically — in every conceivable way,” Edelman said.

Feds urge ‘extreme caution’ for reopening nursing homesAuthorities: Visits shouldn’t happen before all residents and staff have tested negative for the coronavirus for at least 28 days

BY MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON — Congressional Demo-crats say the State De-partment watchdog fired by President Donald Trump last week was in-vestigating possible im-propriety in a massive arms sale to Saudi Ara-bia last year, adding new questions to the watch-dog’s abrupt dismissal.

Democrats said Mon-day that ousted Inspector General Steve Linick was probing how the State Department pushed through a $7 billion Saudi

arms sale over congres-sional objections. Demo-crats previously suggest-ed the dismissal might have been tied to Linick’s investigation of allega-tions that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may have improperly ordered staff to run personal er-rands for him.

Linick’s dismissal late Friday comes amid broader concerns over Trump’s removal of in-spectors general at vari-ous departments. Trump has said he had lost con-fidence in those fired but has not given specific

reasons, which lawmak-ers from both parties have criticized.

Pompeo told The Washington Post on Mon-day that he had recom-mended to Trump that Li-nick be removed because he was “undermining” the State Department’s mission. He would not address specifics except to say it was not in retalia-tion for any investigation.

“It is not possible that this decision, or my rec-ommendation rather, to the president rather, was based on any effort to retaliate for any investi-gation that was going on, or is currently going on,” Pompeo told the Post, adding that he did not know if Linick’s office had been looking into possible impropriety on his part.

Democrats: Fired watchdog was looking into Saudi arms saleSecretary of State Pompeo said he recommended inspector be removed because he was ‘undermining’ the State Department’s mission

BY ERIC TUCKER The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — At-torney General William Barr said Monday that he did not expect an investi-gation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investi-gation to lead to criminal probes of either President Donald Trump’s Dem-ocratic opponent, Joe Biden, or former Presi-dent Barack Obama.

Trump has stated without evidence that he believes Obama

committed unspecified crimes as president, repeatedly tweeting, “OBAMAGATE!” The claims have become a ral-lying cry among Trump supporters, while Demo-crats view it as a desper-ate attempt to shift the focus from the president’s handling of the coronavi-rus outbreak and the na-tion’s soaring unemploy-ment.

Barr, speaking Mon-day at an unrelated news conference and respond-ing to a question about

Trump’s allegations, in-sisted that the Justice Department would not be swayed by political pressure to investigate the president’s opponents and that the “criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends.”

Barr’s comments come as Democrats and some former law enforcement officials have accused the attorney general of politicizing decisions and doing Trump’s bidding at the Justice Department.

Barr says he doesn’t envision investigations of Biden, Obama

SOLUNAR TABLEThe solunar period indicates peak-feeding times for fish and game.

Courtesy of Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

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The DispaTch

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 3A

BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS The Associated Press

JACKSON — Mississip-pi Gov. Tate Reeves’ “safer at home” order to slow the spread of the new coronavirus is enter-ing its final week.

Some restaurants and other businesses have been easing into reopening with sanitation and social distancing restric-tions in place. Tattoo parlors were allowed to reopen during the weekend, and casinos are preparing to start reopening Thursday.

Many high schools have

been holding commencement ceremonies with videos of indi-vidual students receiving their diplomas, often edited together to show the entire graduating class. Other high schools are planning ceremonies in a few weeks.

The “safer at home” order, which expires May 25, is meant to limit people’s physical in-teractions. Republican Reeves said last week that he believes the order is accomplishing its goal of limiting the spread of the virus enough to prevent the health care system from

being overwhelmed. He is still suggesting that people who are medically vulnerable should re-main home.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a statement Monday that his of-fice is starting to make plans for handling the November general election with coronavirus safety precautions. Watson, a Republi-can, said he will ask the Legis-lature to authorize in-person absentee voting during a state of emergency. Mississippi’s cur-rent law says absentee voting is limited to people who will be

out of town on Election Day or to people who are 65 or older.

“I want Mississippians to un-derstand this is not a ploy to im-plement early voting, but a tem-porary way to permit those who are most at risk of contracting COVID-19 a safe opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” Watson said.

Watson said training for poll workers could be conducted online and will include infor-mation about social distancing and sanitizing polling stations. He said his office might allow some voting to be conducted in

outdoor settings.The state Health Depart-

ment said Monday that Mis-sissippi — with a population of about 3 million — had at least 11,432 confirmed cases and 528 deaths from the coronavirus as of Sunday evening. That was an increase of 136 cases and sev-en deaths from the numbers reported a day earlier; two of the seven deaths occurred be-fore Sunday but were in the new report because of a delay in the Health Department receiving information from death certifi-cates.

Gov. Reeves’ ‘safer at home’ order enters final week

LawsuitContinued from Page 1A

In February 2019, mul-tiple city sources told The Dispatch Adams drove a city police vehicle to Moorhead in Sunflower County — about a two-hour, nine-minute drive from Columbus — to ap-ply for the town’s police chief position, while on duty and without authori-zation. While those sourc-es said CPD Chief Fred Shelton planned to recom-mend a 10-day suspension for Adams, Mickens and two other council mem-bers, who spoke to The Dispatch on the condition that their names not be printed, said the recom-mendation was not severe enough. Mickens was quoted in the Feb. 21, 2019 edition of The Dispatch as saying Adams would like-ly be terminated if the is-sue came to a vote.

“Adams put a stain on the city,” Mickens said at the time. “He stole from the city because he took money for work he didn’t do (since he was on duty at the time), on top of tak-ing the car out of town

without authorization.”The other two council

members who spoke to The Dispatch are listed in the lawsuit, though the suit says Adams doesn’t know their identities and that they will be added to the complaint “upon their identification in this cause.”

Adams also argues termination was a harsh-er penalty than what the council has approved for white officers disciplined for “more serious offens-es,” though the suit did not identify the officers or their offenses. (Mick-ens is also African-Amer-ican.)

Following his termi-nation, the Civil Service Commission unanimously upheld Adams’ termina-tion.

In the lawsuit, Adams asks for a jury trial to de-termine damages, includ-ing back-pay, compensato-ry damages and damages for mental pain and men-tal anguish, among oth-ers.

Adams’ attorney, Car-

los D. Palmer of Grenada, did not return a call or email from The Dispatch by press time.

Mickens declined to comment when reached by The Dispatch on Mon-day.

City Attorney Jeff T u r n a g e , emphas i z -ing he was s p e a k i n g for himself and not on behalf of the city, said he is not worried about an “adverse out-come” for the city.

“I don’t normally like to comment on pending litigation, but he got all the process he was due in front of the city and in front of the civil service commission in a public hearing,” Turnage said.

“It was proved quite clearly what he did led to his termination,” he add-ed.

Dispatch reporter Yue Stella Yu contributed to this report.

Turnage

OktibbehaContinued from Page 1A

liams voted in favor.The water manage-

ment district does flood control, cleanup and re-pair projects on water-ways of all sizes in 12 northeast Mississippi counties, with Oktibbe-ha soon to be the 13th. The agency can go on private property to clean up creeks, something the county cannot do without previous consent from property owners.

The board unanimous-ly agreed in September that the county would ben-efit from joining the agen-cy and decided in Novem-ber to do further research before choosing whether to join. At that time, both Howard and Montgomery said they had heard that the agency did not allow counties to leave if super-visors decide to do so.

The board has since learned that counties with no debt incurred from wa-ter management projects can leave the agency if the remaining member coun-ties agree to it.

Williams proposed the county join the water management district in January, and the board voted down the proposal 3-2. Howard was the one who flipped his vote Mon-day, and he said he fully changed his mind after some additional research on the agency.

“We’ve got so many drainage issues, and there are so many steps and regulations that you have to adhere to when you get ready to do a drainage project,” Howard told The Dispatch. “The water dis-trict is already equipped, they already know the process and they can han-dle all that up front.”

Montgomery and Mill-er both said they did not want to join an agency that could take years to turn its attention to the newest of 13 counties. Miller said the county should use the agency membership money to tackle projects

with county employees “instead of putting that money into a wishlist basket.”

H o w a r d said the county’s desired projects were not guaranteed to be “at the back of the line,” and assigning coun-ty workers to drainage projects instead of road projects could become a “slippery slope.”

“Instead of being so re-active, we need to be more proactive,” he said.

The board and the gov-ernor will each appoint a member representing Oktibbeha County to the water management dis-trict board. Property tax-es fund the services, and Oktibbeha County does not need to increase mill-age rates in order to re-ceive them.

Other businessThe county’s 10 p.m. to

5 a.m. curfew since April 6 expired Monday morning, and the board chose not to extend it. Most business-es statewide are gradually reopening after Gov. Tate Reeves limited their abil-ity to operate throughout March and April due to the COVID-19 coronavi-rus pandemic.

Board attorney Rob Roberson said young peo-ple and African Ameri-cans are most likely to be suspected and held to account for violating cur-fews, and while the cur-few is not meant to target any particular group, “it has a targeted effect.” He also said it might eventu-ally violate the constitu-tional right to assemble.

“At some point, when does this become too much?” Roberson said. “If we can make this excuse today, could we make it a year from now? This virus is not going away, and I hate to say it that

way, but at some point we’re going to have to decide how we’re going to approach this. I do believe we have a sheriff and police department that would be very careful in how they approach this, but this could have some far-reaching effects for our community.”

Reeves’ latest exec-utive order requires a maximum of 10 people at indoor gatherings and 20 people at outdoor gath-erings. He also allowed restaurants to serve 50 percent of their indoor seating capacity, and Rob-erson pointed out that more than 10 people could meet that requirement.

“We’re telling our citizenry to do so many things, and it’s really con-fusing as to what you can do and what you can’t do,” he said.

After almost an hour of executive session, the board also unanimously voted to send a letter to the ethics department of the state attorney gener-al’s office to ask if a coun-ty engineer can do work for the county on a project he or she is overseeing.

The goal is to deter-mine the scope of the b u s i n e s s a private c o m p a n y can do for the county, R o b e r s o n said. Some officials and citizens have suggested that county engineer Clyde Pritchard might have a conflict of interest by drawing up plans to replace the coun-ty lake dam, a project his firm, Pritchard Engineer-ing, would carry out.

A county engineer in Mississippi “cannot re-view, approve or recom-

mend approval of his own plans or documents, or plans or documents pre-pared by any member of the firm of which he is a member,” according to the rules and regulations for the state Board of Li-censure for Professional Engineers and Land Sur-veyors.

However, Pritchard’s job involves drawing up plans for county projects that Pritchard Engineer-ing completes regularly, so if a conflict of interest exists for the dam project, it does for several past projects as well, Roberson said.

“This is the way things have been done as far as I know,” he said. “Of course we’ve used outside engineers and architects for other professional services, but we’ve used (Pritchard Engineering) quite a bit.”

He also said he did not remember any previous county engineering proj-ects needing review and approval before Pritchard could follow through with them.

The board also voted unanimously to accept the lowest bid for the elevated water tank to be built at the North Star Industrial Park under construction in northern Starkville. Indiana-based Phoenix Fabricators and Erectors bid $2,468,300, higher than expected, said John Cunningham, Engineer Manager for Starkville’s Neel-Schaffer Engineer-ing office.

“There aren’t many tank erectors out there in the world,” said Phyllis Benson, project analyst for the Golden Triangle Planning and Develop-ment District. “It’s not like the guys who go out there and install water and sewer lines. There are very few contractors

of this nature.”The Appalachian Re-

gional Commission pro-vided $1 million in grant funding for the construc-tion of the tank. Mont-

gomery said the board’s vote brought the area “one step further along in the process” of completing the long-awaited industri-al park.

Tess Vrbin/Dispatch StaffPhyllis Benson, left, project analyst for the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, and John Cunningham, Engineer Manager for Starkville’s Neel-Schaffer Engineering office, present the lowest bid for the construction of an elevated water tank at North Star Industrial Park. The board unanimously voted to accept the bid of $2,468,300 from Indiana-based Phoenix Fabricators and Erectors.

Miller Roberson

Pritchard

4A TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

OpinionPETER BIRNEY IMES Editor/PublisherBIRNEY IMES III Editor/Publisher 1998-2018BIRNEY IMES JR. Editor/Publisher 1947-2003BIRNEY IMES SR. Editor/Publisher 1922-1947

ZACK PLAIR, Managing EditorBETH PROFFITT Advertising DirectorMICHAEL FLOYD Circulation/Production ManagerMARY ANN HARDY ControllerDispatch

the

HEALTH CARE

OUR VIEW

State health dept. should release names of LTCsA ccess to quality data

has been essential in every phase of the

COVID-19 pandemic. The re-lationship between the public and those who provide that data is one built on mutual trust: We trust our experts to give us accurate, actionable information, and they trust us to follow their recommenda-tions.

Unfortunately, in Missis-sippi there has been a breach of trust in the relationship that endangers public health and seriously undermines the credibility of our state’s health experts.

The elderly residing in long-term care facilities (LTCs) are particularly vulnerable to the virus.

According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, as of Monday, nearly half the COVID-19 deaths state-wide were linked to LTCs.

In light of this, newspapers have repeatedly asked MSDH to provide the names of the LTCs where deaths have oc-curred. The Pine Belt News in Hattiesburg, The Clarion-Led-ger in Jackson and The Me-ridian Star has all asked for this information to no avail. The Pine Belt News filed suit to demand the MSDH release the names of these facilities. The Clarion-Ledger has filed a complaint with the state’s Ethics Commission.

The Mississippi Press Association, which represents member newspapers through-

out the state, has written a letter to MSDH supporting these efforts. The Dispatch also supports them.

MSDH has refused to release the names, saying they will not release the in-formation until the crisis has passed. One of the reasons? They’re too busy, they say.

The state’s leading health expert, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said MSDH has a list of those facilities, so we cannot imagine that MSDH does not have the manpower and time required to scan and email a single-page document.

This is not a matter of pro-tecting personal information under HIPPA law. None of the requests seek the names of any LTC residents. It is

instead, a request for infor-mation crucial to the health of many including those who have family members or staff in LTCs, families who are considering placement of a family member in an LTC, vendors and others who may come into regular contact with those at the LTCs.

MSDH says it doesn’t want to release the names of the facilities for fear they will be stigmatized. To the degree that is true, there is an even greater interest at stake here: The right of people to have facts that inform their deci-sion.

MSDH simply doesn’t trust us enough to provide that information.

If a restaurant were found

to have an outbreak of salmo-nella poisoning there would be no hesitation in providing the name of the restaurant.

The stakes are infinitely higher here. With a public health crisis that has already cost the lives of 528 Mississip-pians — almost half of them in LTCs whose names haven’t been revealed to the public - it is inconceivable that MSDH would deliberately, cynically, conceal this information.

Such obstinance not only damages the department’s credibility, it jeopardizes lives.

If we cannot trust our state health experts in this time of crisis to provide such relevant information, where are we supposed to turn?

Pandemic makes end-of-life care harderI just lost a dear elder-

ly friend to cancer. Home hospice workers

kept him comfortable. He spent his final weeks watching spring unfold in the outdoor Eden he had nurtured for decades. He died peacefully at night with me present.

My friend’s death had little to do with COVID-19. One can say that he was spared the trauma of get-ting hit by that deadly vi-rus in the jaws of a pandemic. He wasn’t among the tragic thousands who died at home without medical attention. Nor did he pass away alone in a hospital that wouldn’t let loved ones in for fear of spreading the virus. His nurses didn’t have to FaceTime with loved ones to help them say goodbye.

But even so-called good deaths have been harder to achieve in the age of the coronavirus. When my friend exhibited signs of a stroke, I had to weigh the dangers of sending him to a hospital, where he might have gotten infected, over not attending to a possible health crisis.

I did call 911. As it turned out, he hadn’t had a stroke (or COVID). Tests found evidence that the cancer’s return affected speech. Reducing his calci-um levels cleared up much of the immediate prob-lem.

But during his three days in the hospital, neither I nor other caregivers were allowed to visit. The busy doctors offered us disjointed reports of what was go-ing on -- when they bothered (or had the minutes) to call at all.

Upon his return, we immediately signed up for services provided by Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Fairfield County in Connecticut. When you do that, emergency calls no longer go to 911 but to a number answered 24 hours a day by a hospice nurse.

When patients are nearing the end, hospice care emphasizes comfort and quality of life over harsh medical interventions. People in hospice often live longer than those undergoing radical treatments that weaken the body.

It may sound as though home hospice provided an island of calm far from the COVID front lines. It was far preferable to the harried and largely impersonal treatment in a hospital that focuses on keeping peo-ple alive at all costs.

But the virus made even home care with superb help complicated. Two appointments with his palli-ative care doctor had to be done via video calls. She did her best to assess what he needed but could not obtain important information only observable in a face-to-face consultation -- things like checking the heart and weakness in the legs.

The hospice workers themselves face new chal-lenges. Some family members are afraid to even have them in the house.

“I have one couple, both elderly,” Jennifer Pool, a social worker with Visiting Nurse told me. “The wife is the caregiver right now.” The woman asked her, “Should I have the aide come? I don’t want to be the one to be responsible” for letting in the virus. And many such spouses are themselves older and medi-cally vulnerable.

Frail elderly people may also fear allowing family to visit. And family members may share their con-cern.

Social distancing has forced hospices to cancel some of their services. They don’t do massages these days, and it’s difficult to offer spiritual guidance.

When the person dies, one can’t safely hold a fu-neral if it draws a large crowd. A funeral home direc-tor told me that many families are announcing that a service will be held at some future date.

Those left behind may have to mourn their loss in isolation. Bereavement groups can’t meet in person.

Caring and grieving have always been arduous work. As with so many other life events, the pandem-ic has made it all that much harder.

Froma Harrop, a syndicated columnist, writes for the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal. Her e-mail address is fharrop@gmail.com.

Froma Harrop

STATE OF THE NATION

Fauci vs. Trump — Who’s right?W e have

met the moment

and we have prevailed,” said President Donald Trump Monday, as he supported the opening of the U.S. economy before the shutdown plunges us into a deep and lasting depression.

Tuesday, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, made clear to a Senate committee his contradictory views.

“If states reopen their econo-mies too soon, there is a real risk that you may trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,” said Fauci. “My concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks of the disease (and) the inevitable return of infections.”

Fauci is talking of the real possibility of a second and even more severe wave of the pandemic this summer and fall, if we open too soon.

There is evidence to justify the fears of Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield of the Centers for Disease Control, who told the same Senate committee, “We are not out of the woods yet.”

Yet, there is a case to be made for the risks that Trump and red state governors are taking in open-ing up sooner.

The Washington Post daily graph of new deaths nationally has been showing a curve sloping downward for a month from April’s more than 2,000 a day. On no day yet this week did the U.S. record 2,000 dead from the virus. On some days, there were fewer than 1,000.

The graph for new coronavirus cases, which was showing more than 30,000 a day in April, is now closer to 25,000.

Also, hospitalizations and ICU occupancies are not as high as they were. Hospitals put up in Central

Park and the Javits Center seem not to have been needed. There was and is no shortage of ventilators. The Navy hospital ships Comfort and Mercy are return-ing to their home ports.

Also, not all states are suffering equally, nor are all communi-ties in the hardest-hit states. There have been three times as many

COVID-19 cases in New Jersey as in Texas, though New Jersey is a fraction of the size and has a frac-tion of the population of Texas.

There are twice as many cases in Massachusetts as in Florida, the nation’s third-most populous state with one of its highest percentages of retirees and elderly. There have been five times as many cases in New York as in California.

It is the nursing homes filled with the elderly and ill that have proven to be the real killing fields of this virus. According to The New York Times, one-third of all deaths from COVID-19 have come among residents and staff of nurs-ing homes. Beyond these are the meatpacking plants and the prisons where social distancing is almost nonexistent.

Moreover, while Fauci and Red-field are specialists in epidemics, Trump’s portfolio goes far beyond that.

He is chief of state, head of gov-ernment and commander in chief, responsible for the security and defense of the nation. His portfolio is broader and deeper than those of Fauci and Redfield.

In the first hours of the Norman-dy invasion, General Eisenhower must have been rightly alarmed about the high U.S. casualties on Omaha Beach. But he also had to concern himself with the failure to capture the Port of Caen to bring ashore the armor to stop any Ger-man counterattack that might turn D-Day into another Anzio.

Ike could not worry about casual-ties alone.

According to The Washington Post, economists already project that 100,000 small businesses have shuttered, never to reopen.

“(D)eeper and longer recessions can leave behind lasting damage to the productive capacity of the economy,” warned Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday. “Avoidable household and business insolvencies can weigh on growth for years to come.”

Ultimately, Fauci is not “The Decider” here. Trump is.

It is he who is accountable to the nation for weighing the losses, both human and material, due to his decisions.

Fauci may be the best at what he does, but he is still only an adviser. As John F. Kennedy said after the Bay of Pigs, it is the president who ultimately bears responsibility for what he does and fails to do, while “the advisers may move on to new advice.”

Believing he can do no more than his White House is now doing to contain the incidence of cas-es, hospitalizations and deaths, Trump has decided his primary job is to prevent the nation from a catastrophic economic collapse from which it might take years to recover.

The country is slowly moving in Trump’s direction, slowly opening. And he will be responsible for whether the policy succeeds or opens the floodgates to a second and worse wave, should it come.

As Abraham Lincoln put his situation: “I mean to keep going. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If I’m wrong, ten angels swearing I was right won’t make a difference.”

Patrick J. Buchanan, a nationally syndicated columnist, was a senior advisor to presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. His website is http://buchanan.org/blog.

Patrick Buchanan

“

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 5A

BY RUSS BYNUM The Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A judge from outside the coastal Georgia community where Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot has been appointed to preside over trial proceedings of the two men charged with Arbery’s murder, including one de-fendant with close ties to law enforcement.

Court documents filed in Glynn County show that Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley was appointed to the case after all five judges in the legal circuit where Arbery was killed recused themselves. Walmsley is based in Savannah, about 70 miles north of where the slaying occurred just outside the port city of Brunswick.

Arbery was killed Feb. 23 after a pursuit by a white father and son who armed themselves and gave chase after seeing the 25-year-old black man running in their subdivision. More than two months passed before Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.

Outside judge named to preside over cases in Arbery slaying

BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Chief Medical Writer

An experimental vac-cine against the coronavirus showed encouraging results in very early testing, triggering hoped-for immune responses in eight healthy, middle-aged volunteers, its maker an-

nounced Monday. Study volunteers given ei-

ther a low or medium dose of the vaccine by Cambridge, Massa-chusetts-based Moderna Inc. had antibodies similar to those seen in people who have recov-ered from COVID-19.

In the next phase of the study, led by the U.S. National

Institutes of Health, research-ers will try to determine which dose is best for a definitive ex-periment that they aim to start in July.

In all, 45 people have re-ceived one or two shots of the vaccine, which was being test-ed at three different doses. The kind of detailed antibody results needed to assess re-sponses are only available on eight volunteers so far.

The vaccine seems safe, the company said, but much more extensive testing is needed to

see if it remains so. A high dose version is being dropped after spurring some short-term side effects.

The results have not been published and are only from the first of three stages of test-ing that vaccines and drugs normally undergo. U.S. govern-ment officials have launched a project called “Operation Warp Speed” to develop a vaccine and hopefully have 300 million doses by January.

Worldwide, about a dozen vaccine candidates are in the

first stages of testing or near-ing it. Health officials have said that if all goes well, studies of a potential vaccine might wrap up by very late this year or ear-ly next year.

More than 4.7 million infec-tions and 315,000 deaths from the coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide since it emerged in China late last year. There are no specific approved treatments, although several are being used on an emergen-cy basis after showing some promise in preliminary testing.

Moderna: Early coronavirus vaccine results are encouragingIn next phase of study, NIH researchers will try to determine which dose is best for a definitive experiment they aim to start in July

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Public health officials in at least two-thirds of U.S. states are sharing the addresses of people who have the coronavirus with first responders. Sup-porters say the measure is designed to protect those on the front line, but it’s sparked concerns of pro-filing in minority commu-nities already mistrustful of law enforcement.

An Associated Press re-view of those states found that at least 10 states also share the names of every-one who tests positive.

Sharing the infor-mation does not violate medical privacy laws, un-der guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-vices. Law enforcement

officials say the informa-tion helps them take extra precautions to avoid con-tracting and spreading the coronavirus.

But civil liberty and community activists have expressed concerns of potential profiling in Af-rican-American and His-panic communities that already have an uneasy relationship with law en-forcement. Some envision the data being forwarded to immigration officials.

In Tennessee, the is-sue has sparked criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who only became aware of the data sharing earlier this month.

“The information could actually have a ‘chilling effect’ that keeps those already distrustful of the government from taking the COVID-19 test and

possibly accelerate the spread of the disease,” the Tennessee Black Caucus said in a statement earlier this month.

Many members of mi-nority communities are employed in industries that require them to show up to work every day, mak-ing them more susceptible to the virus — and most in need of the test.

The AP review shows that public health officials in at least 35 states share the addresses of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus — provided by the state or local health departments to first responders who request it. In at least 10 of those states, health agencies also share their names: Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Ten-nessee. Wisconsin did so briefly but stopped earlier this month.

Thomas Saenz, presi-dent of the Mexican Amer-ican Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said law enforcement agencies should explain why they are collecting names or addresses and assure mi-nority communities that the information won’t be turned over to the federal government. He noted the Trump administration’s demands that local gov-ernments cooperate with immigration authorities as a concern.

“We should question why the information needs to be provided to law enforcement, wheth-er there is that danger of misuse,” Saenz said.

Law enforcement of-ficials note they have long been entrusted with confidential information — such as social securi-ty numbers and criminal history. The COVID-19 information is just a con-tinuation of that trend.

COVID-19 data sharing with law enforcement sparks concernSupporters say measure is designed to protect those on the front line

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he is taking a malar-ia drug to protect against the coronavirus, despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects.

Trump told reporters Monday he has been tak-ing the drug, hydroxy-chloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily “for about a week and a half now.”

Trump has spent

weeks pushing hydroxy-chloroquine as a poten-tial cure or prophylaxis for COVID-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals. The drug has the poten-tial to cause significant side effects in some pa-tients and has not been shown to combat the new coronavirus.

Later, in a move that could have far-reaching medical impact during the pandemic, Trump tweeted a letter he had sent to the World Health Organization threaten-ing to permanently drop U.S. funding unless WHO

commits to “substantive improvements” over the next 30 days. The U.S. provides $450 million a year to the organization.

Trump has accused WHO of giving “bad ad-vice, terrible advice” and favoring China. In the let-ter to WHO Director-Gen-eral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump said “the only way forward” is if WHO can “demonstrate independence from Chi-na.” Before releasing the letter Trump had said he was considering cutting U.S. funding by more than 90 percent.

WHO announced Mon-day it would launch an

independent probe into how it managed the inter-national response to the coronavirus, as most of its member states have re-quested. It did not commit to investigating the ori-gins of the virus, another point of contention be-tween Trump and China.

At the White House, Trump said his doctor did not recommend hydroxy-chloroquine to him, but that he requested it from the White House physi-cian.

“I started taking it, be-cause I think it’s good,” Trump said. “I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”

Despite risks, Trump says he’s taking hydroxychloroquine

If you don’t read The Dispatch, how are you gonna know?

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com6A TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

Health tips from Dr. Oz and Dr. RoizenHealth

HEALTH TIPn ‘Organic’ or ‘gluten-free’ doesn’t mean healthy: You can make junk foods from organic ingredients just as well as non-organic ones. Foods that are naturally gluten-free are fine, but gluten-free processed foods are often made with unhealthy ingredients that may even be worse than their gluten-containing counterparts.

Source: healthline.com

Members from the church placed on the Church and Funeral Homes Subcommittee

n Nathaniel Houston, Sr. Miller’s Chapel Church, President of the Northeast Mississip-pi Baptist State Conventionn Charles Whitney, Grace Baptist Churchn Sandra DePriest, Good Shepherd Episcopaln Jason Delgado, Vibrant Churchn Therman Cunningham Sr., Oak Grove MB Churchn Joe L. Peoples, Stephen Chapel MB Churchn Willie Gardner, Bethlehem MB Churchn Bobby Sanderson, First Baptist Churchn Bobby McCarter, Sr., Charity Mission FGBC

n James A Boyd, Zion Gate MB Churchn Maxine Hall, Full Gospel Ministryn Timothy Bailey, A Prepared Table Ministryn Breck Ladd, Fairview Baptist Churchn Rayfield Evins, Jr. Southside MB Churchn Steven L. James, United Christiann Russell Mord, Golden Triangle Baptist Association

(Note: Not everyone is in attendance at the Mon-day meeting after the mayor limited the number

of attendees to 20. Source: City of Columbus)

COVID-19 fears are keeping heart attack patients out of the ER

In 1974, President Richard Nix-on delayed a visit to the hospital for phlebitis (blood clots in his left leg) because he had nosocomephobia, an exaggerated fear of hospitals. He worried that if he went in, he’d never come out alive. It’s a pretty common phobia, especially now that the global pandemic has turned hospitals in many locations into M*A*S*H units and filled them to capacity with potentially lethal, infected patients.

It’s especially evident among people suffering from life-threat-ening cardiovascular conditions. A recent Gallup poll found that 86 percent of people with heart disease said they would be either “very concerned” or “moderately concerned” about contracting the virus from a hospital visit. An infor-

mal Twitter poll by an online commu-nity of cardiolo-gists found almost half reported a 40 percent to 60 percent reduction in admissions for heart attacks; 20 percent reported greater than a 60 percent reduction. That is scary, since it means that people are not getting early intervention that can save their lives and may be dying at home.

If you have symptoms that could signal a heart attack — tightness and pain in the chest, lighthead-edness, clammy skin, sweating, heartburn or (often in women) discomfort in the neck, jaw, shoul-

der, upper back or abdomen, short-ness of breath or nausea — call 911. EMTs and ERs are eager and prepared to help you with a cardiovascular emergency. Your risk of catching COVID-19 in the ER is not great if recommended precautions are in

place (protective gear, distance between patients, no visitors, etc.). Let them help.

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleve-land Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.

Drs. Oz and Roizen

ChurchesContinued from Page 1A

to have a game plan,” he said. “The death toll has moved up. Numbers are increasing daily. The cri-sis is definitely not over.”

County Emergency Services Director Cindy Lawrence, who gave an update on the number of cases in the county during the meeting, said federal guidelines still recom-mend against church gatherings. The county had seen 126 confirmed cases with six deaths as of press time, according to Mississippi State Depart-ment of Health’s website.

“Churches could be the d e a d l i e s t place in the C OV I D -1 9 pandemic,” L a w r e n c e said. “The s i n g i n g of church choirs may be the worst practice one’s participat-ing (in).”

Many pastors said at the meeting they were hesitant to reopen for worship services due to the number of cases and deaths.

Nathaniel Houston, president of the Northeast Mississippi Baptist State Convention, said during the meeting many con-gregants are afraid of the virus.

“It has been said many times that people are fear-ful, and they are,” he said.

“Attending churches, weddings, funerals is not recommended (by Missis-sippi State Department of Health),” he added, “and it’s leading to COVID-19 transmission to others.”

There seems to be a consensus among most pastors it may be risky to reopen too soon, Turnage told The Dispatch Mon-day afternoon. Some said it was “foolish” to gather people under the current circumstance, he said.

“Some others said, ‘I’ve changed my mind about it,’” Turnage said. “‘I was thinking we ought to go ahead and open the churches, but having heard from Cindy Law-rence and (Amy Bogue, vice president of) Allegro Clinic, I think it might be wise to continue to

get people to attend via streaming services or re-motely.’”

Statewide, there have been 11,432 cases and 528 deaths, according to Mis-sissippi State Department of Health’s website this morning.

The city has yet to ap-point a committee chair, city spokesperson Joe Dillon told The Dispatch. No committee members could be reached for com-ment by press time.

Precautionary measures

If churches were to re-open, Lawrence said they should strongly consider providing masks and oth-er protective gear to all the attendees and imple-ment precautionary mea-sures such as deep clean-ing and social distancing.

“You really need to con-sider providing masks for all your members,” she said. “They need some type of protection.”

During the meeting, Smith posed several ques-tions for churches to take into consideration, includ-ing procedures for collect-ing offerings, conducting communion services and cleaning high-contact ar-eas before, between and after services, Turnage told The Dispatch.

Some church leaders are not in a rush to re-open, Turnage said, be-cause they have more peo-ple participating online through live-streamed services than normal.

Other churches have designed phased-out plans to adjust to a new normal.

Todd Stevens, lead pastor at Mt. Vernon Church and who does not sit on the commit-tee, told The D i s p a t c h the church is now in the second phase of a three-step plan to slowly reopen for services, but without a set date. The church is not offering in-person ser-vices now, he said, but has loosened some restric-tions.

Some staff have re-

turned to work on-site, and encouraged Face-book watch parties of ser-vices in small in-person groups following the state guidelines, which allow up to 10 people indoors and up to 20 for outdoor gatherings, according to a video Stevens posted last week. Child ministry and in-person activities for the elderly are still canceled.

“Preschoolers won’t so-cial distance themselves,” he said. “We just don’t want to take chances for getting anybody sick.”

Like church leaders on the committee, Stevens said he hopes the state does not recommend re-opening too quickly. The church chose to remain closed and has been streaming its services on-line, he said, even though the governor has left the decision-making to pas-tors.

“We are voluntarily fol-lowing all recommenda-tions,” Stevens said.

But the future is large-ly uncertain, he said, due to the ever-changing state guidelines. Some busi-nesses are allowed a fixed number of people gather-ing, whereas others are capped at a certain per-centage of their capacity.

“Not knowing which direction they are going to go makes it really chal-lenging to plan,” he said. “We are totally in a guess-ing game. We are making plans for what the service would look like, but we don’t know when we can pull the trigger.”

Stevens

Courtesy photo/City of ColumbusMore than a dozen pastors from churches in Colum-bus met with city leaders during a Monday meeting at the Trotter Convention Center to discuss possibilities and plans to reopen the churches in the near future. Many expressed fear of spreading the virus further by doing so, citing the most recent numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the state.

Lawrence

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Joe Burrow was a com-petent if unspectacular quarterback as a backup at Ohio State and during his first post-transfer season at LSU. In 2019, he transformed into Su-per Joe.

Imagine if a pandemic had shortened or wiped out that last, golden sea-son for Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy and led LSU to the national championship. Would he still have emerged as the first overall NFL draft pick who is now be-ing hailed as the savior of the woeful Cincinnati Bengals?

These times have brought an extra level of anxiety for current col-lege players hoping for a Burrow-like season or at

least one that will raise their profile with NFL scouts. The virus threat did away with spring football and in-person workouts on campus. And no-body can say yet what the 2020 season will look like, or if there will be one at all.

“It’s a nightmare, to be hon-est with you,” said Ohio State’s Josh Myers, a second-team All-Big Ten center last year and an NFL prospect. “That’s time we can never get back.”

“It’s a critical (year) for development, getting that much more experi-ence and elevating our games to an even high-

er level,” said Myers, a fourth-year junior. “So even the thought of not playing this season is terrifying and absolute worst-case scenario.”

There are examples all over the NFL of how important one college season can be. Dwayne Haskins Jr. — who beat out Burrow as the start-er at Ohio State, lead-ing Burrow to transfer — went from backup to one-year superstar in 2018. He threw for 50 touchdowns and led the Buckeyes to a 13-1 record and Rose Bowl victory. The 15th overall pick in the 2019 draft, he is now the presumptive starter for the Washing-ton Redskins.

For Burrow’s part, he acknowledged becoming a different and far better player in one year.

“I wasn’t very good my junior year,” he said. “You know, it’s pretty simple. I worked really hard to get better.”

Burrow didn’t have the challenge of being sheltered at home for a long stretch, missing spring practice and be-ing left to his own devic-es to work out, eat right and study film in prepa-ration for a season that might not happen.

Penn State tackle Will Fries announced in December he would re-turn for a fifth year, long before the pandemic changed everything. He insisted he doesn’t regret the decision.

“I mean, there’s noth-ing I can do about it,” said Fries, who was All-Big Ten honorable men-tion in 2019. “At the end

SECTION

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THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

Myers

‘HE KNOWS HE’S A GOOD PLAYER’

MSU target Jadarrius Perkins not lacking size or confidence

Photos courtesy of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community CollegeMississippi State target Jadarrius Perkins, left, has seen a large amount of recruiting interest, picking up 17 offers from schools since March 22. Mississippi State has steadily remained in the mix for his services.

BY BEN PORTNOYbportnoy@cdispatch.com

STARKVILLE — While the spring football season was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, recruiting inter-est in Mississippi Gulf Coast Commu-nity College defensive back Jadarrius Perkins has persisted in bulk.

Since March 22, Perkins has picked up 17 offers from schools ranging from Texas A&M, Oregon and Ole Miss to Texas Tech, Louisville and Oklahoma according to 247sports. Mississippi State has also steadily remained in the mix for his services.

And while Perkins told The Dis-patch he doesn’t have an exact time-table for when he hopes to make a col-lege decision, he’d fit what coach Mike Leach and defensive coordinator Zach Arnett are building in the secondary

in Starkville should he pick the Bull-dogs.

At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Perkins mimics the length and strength of previous MSU commits in the class of 2020 and 2021. MGCCC teammate Cortez Eatmon, who spent his fresh-man season at Independence Commu-nity College in Kansas and committed to MSU earlier this month, stands at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds. Emmanuel Forbes — the second-highest rated player in MSU’s 2020 class — and De-camerion Richardson stand 6-foot-1, 171 pounds and 6-foot-2, 176 pounds, respectively.

Given his size, Perkins excels in coverage against the exceedingly larg-er wide receivers that have begun infil-trating the college game. His 4.42 40-yard dash time also offers a glimpse at the elite level speed he possesses.

“He’s just a bigger body, bigger shoulders, bigger legs,” MGCCC coach Jack Wright said. “He’s the type of corner now that all the big time pro-grams want, because at some point they’re going to try a big athlete out there and try to get you one-on-one, man (coverage) and he’s the type with his body type that really can match up with that.”

Beyond the physical attributes, Perkins boasts a confident persona that gives him a certain edge when lined up along the line of scrimmage. As an ode to this mantra, the message “#COCKY” is conveniently nestled at the back end of his Twitter biography.

“That’s just saying I’m fearless; I have the confidence that I will dom-inate anybody that steps in front of me,” he explained in a text message Monday. “It’s more like a mentality

that I feel is something you need to play this position.”

Though offseason work and spring ball were slowed or entirely canceled due to the coronavirus, Perkins has continued to put in time honing his craft. As recently as Sunday, he was running through cone drills in which he’d chop his feet, hit a certain spot and swat a tennis ball thrown his way. Upon reaching the final cone, he turned, backpedaled and leaped into the air to catch a football tossed over his shoulder to simulate coverage.

Performing the drill along a set of railroad tracks, Perkins conceded he’s had to get creative in where he can work out. Most days he bounces between his front yard and the prac-tice field at Hattiesburg High School — where he helped the Tigers to a

Virus has NFL prospects pondering threat of a lost season Column: NASCAR managed small miracle in problem-free returnTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

D A R L I N G T O N , S.C. — The odds were against NASCAR flaw-lessly executing its re-opening plan, which was a potential standard-set-ting moment for other professional leagues to follow in this new nor-mal of sports.

No plan is ever per-fect and all the assis-tance from outside health officials couldn’t protect NASCAR from the obvious flaw in its procedures: The system in large part is based on the honor code.

A sport with a sto-ried history of cheating, lying and sometimes stealing in the name of

winning expects its par-ticipants to tell the truth if they aren’t feeling well, practice social dis-tancing at the track and at the shop, and wear face masks.

Cloth over your face for 12 hours under the South Carolina sun is not ideal. Yet everyone complied Sunday at Dar-lington Raceway and NASCAR — a series of-ten criticized for being consistently inconsistent and making up rules on the fly — successfully staged a spectator-free event.

“They pulled this thing off and it feels a little like a Christmas

See NFL, 2B See NASCAR, 2B

See PERKINS, 2B

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com2B TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

of the day, I can’t worry about it. All I can do is just get myself better ev-ery day.”

Myers and fellow Ohio State lineman Wyatt Da-vis, an All-American who passed up the draft to come back for a fourth year, are unequivocal about their need for a 2020 season, whether it involves playing in empty stadiums, extreme quar-

antining and even sign-ing a waiver of liability.

“I was looking so forward to this season, because I felt like last season I was just barely breaching the surface,” said Davis, the grandson of late Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis of the Green Bay Packers. “I know this is a very big year for me.”

Since shutdowns in-

terrupted spring foot-ball practices in March, coaches around the coun-try are trying to stay on top of their squads with video meetings and calls. Still, it’s mostly left to players who are 18, 19 and 20 years old to keep themselves in game shape and act right.

That thought worries Mickey Marotti, the Ohio State strength and condi-

tioning guru who usually oversees offseason work-outs.

“When you lay in bed (at night), you’re just like, oh I hope everyone is doing what they’re sup-posed to do,” he said.

College football teams typically start preseason workouts in early Au-gust. Some Power Five schools, including LSU, are making plans to re-

open their on-campus facilities to players next month without a firm plan in place to bring students back to campus this fall. The NCAA says campuses will have to be open before fall sports can commence.

Mike Hart, Michigan’s all-time leading rusher who now coaches run-ning backs at Indiana, thinks players who ulti-

mately have the mental toughness to play beyond college will get there and be ready to play whenev-er the opportunity arises.

“If you want to play in the NFL, this is really an NFL schedule,” said Hart, who spent three seasons with the India-napolis Colts. “This is what it’s like. You train on your own. You have to be on your own.”

NFLContinued from Page 1B

miracle,” said driver Brad Keselowski.

Things could have gone awry starting at sunrise when crews pulled off through an obscure entrance and into a gravel lot. Offi-cials with clipboards and thermometers wait-ed ahead.

If NASCAR had not set staggered arrival times, the system could have broken right there with 900 -something ve-hicles trying to enter at the same time. Instead, every entrant had their forehead scanned, tem-perature logged on a list and not a single person was turned away.

NASCAR is not test-ing for COVID-19 but believes its social-dis-tancing protocols ease the risks.

“I think everybody found their groove,” said NASCAR execu-tive vice president Steve O’Donnell. “Didn’t have to tell anyone or remind anyone to wear a mask. I think the industry re-ally came together and did a tremendous job to enable us to get to the race.”

There was no other choice for NASCAR, now in a survival mode approach to get cars back on the track. Mon-ey can’t be made if races

aren’t run and a shut-down since March 13 wounded every area of the industry.

Team owners stopped receiving sponsorship checks, promoters had nothing to promote and crew members took pay cuts, lost bonuses or were furloughed.

Wallets already hit, few seemed daring enough to mess this up for themselves or the sport.

Kevin Harvick had no true victory celebration for his 50th career win. On the desolate front-stretch, he noted the ee-rie silence of the empty grandstands in an “awk-

ward” post-race session with Regan Smith, the only Fox Sports reporter sent to the track.

“Usually you get out of the car and the crowd is screaming and yell-ing,” said Harvick, add-ing he was unsure what to do. “You’ve got Regan from Fox six feet away, a masked man, I didn’t know if I was supposed to put a mask on and talk to him.”

Harvick noted his team didn’t get a chance to celebrate with the car, but “in the big picture of things, being able to do what we did — and that ’s race — is what ev-erybody wants to do.”

The effort must con-tinue to keep the en-gines running. NASCAR has eight more Cup Se-ries races scheduled over the next 35 days and it includes three Wednesday night races. The Cup cars last ran on a Wednesday in 1984, Richard Petty’s 200th and final victory.

It ’s a heavy work-load for race teams and stamina will be tested for drivers now running multiple times a week. But in getting past the first test, there is hope.

“This was a really big moment for the sport to be able to pull this off,” said Keselowski.

“Up until probably two or three hours before the race I was ready for something to go wrong. Like, alright, what is it going to be? Is some-one going to be sick? Is there going to be some-body boycotting outside the race track? Nobody did. Nothing bad hap-pened.

“It would have been really, really easy to just say, ‘We will wait for the NHL, NFL or NBA to be the guinea pigs.’ (NA-SCAR) didn’t take that attitude and I have a lot of respect for them mak-ing that decision.”

NASCARContinued from Page 1B

13-1 record and a second round appearance in the MHSAA 5A Playoffs as a senior in 2018.

Now two years on from that final season, Perkins stands as one of the more sought after junior college defensive

backs in the country af-ter previously being rat-ed a two-star recruit by Rivals out of high school.

As far as MSU is concerned, he told The Dispatch he’s heard fre-quently from the Bulldog coaching staff — most

notably safeties coach Jason Washington and head coach Mike Leach.

That said, wheth-er Perkins ends up in Starkville remains to be seen. Recent offers from Oregon and Texas A&M have caught his atten-

tion. Arkansas should also factor into his re-cruitment as it hits the home stretch.

But wherever Per-kins does end up, he’ll carry the physical traits of dominant defensive backs before him and a

confidence he’ll succeed at any level.

“I mean, he knows he’s a good player,” Wright said. “And I think if you look at the best players at (defensive back), they have a lot of confidence. If they do

give up a ball, in their mind, it ’s because they made a mistake or some-body got lucky, so it ’s on to the next play. I think he brings that attitude to the secondary that, I think, you’ve got to have to be successful there.”

PerkinsContinued from Page 1B

Chiefs’ Hill completes year-long reclamation of himselfTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The steady stream of nurses filing out of St. Luke’s Hospital for close to an hour was finally slowing down, which was altogether fortu-nate, because the young man with thighs like tree trunks was running out of food to give them.

It may have been the most impressive thing Tyreek Hill had done since running 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp.

The Pro Bowl wide re-ceiver, who caught a 44-yard pass at the end of that route the first week of February to spur a Su-per Bowl comeback for the Kansas City Chiefs, had been talking to his mother about how much the world had changed. Hill had not run anoth-er route since that night in Miami, or caught an-other pass from Patrick Mahomes, after the out-break of the coronavirus changed the daily life of pro football players and nurses, and everyone in between.

“My mom, she’s ac-tually a nurse,” Hill ex-plained, “and she always comes home and talks about how some people don’t care about them risking their lives ev-ery day. So I was like, ‘Mom, maybe there’s something I can do here in Kansas City for the health care workers, you know?’ It can be small. It can be big.”

So, they came up with the idea of delivering food to St. Luke’s last week. The little boxes of sandwiches were a welcome improvement from their usual fare, but it was the delivery guy behind the white mask that made the moment so special.

It was special for Hill, too.

Just over a year ago, the record setter was a league-wide pariah. He had been suspended by the Chiefs and the NFL

after audio surfaced on the night of the draft in which his then-fiancee accused him of hurt-ing his 3-year-old son. The district attorney launched an investiga-tion, the Kansas De-partment for Children and Families became involved, and the odds appeared no better than 50-50 that Hill would ever step foot on an NFL field again.

“It was hard,” Hill said the week before the Super Bowl. “I’m not go-ing to lie.”

The churlish night-mare eventually turned

into a positive outcome.First, the district at-

torney declined to press charges after he was un-able to determine who caused injuries to the child. Then the league lifted its suspension and the team followed suit — not only welcoming Hill back for training camp but tying up the details of a $54 million, three-year contract extension.

Hill proceeded to break his collarbone in Week 1 against Jackson-ville, but that was merely a four-game sidetrack on what turned out to be an-other sublime season. He

caught 58 passes for 860 yards and seven scores. He helped lead dramatic comebacks each round of the playoffs. And ulti-mately, he caught a pass at the end of the now-fa-mous 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp to help the long-suffer-ing Chiefs win their first Super Bowl champion-ship in five decades.

“I mean, I just feel like I’m blessed with being able to play the game of football,” Hill said. “My job is just to win. I want to win. I’ve always been part of a winning culture. I’ve always been taught team is first. There is no

‘I’ in team.”That’s another rea-

son he was so keen to deliver food to front-line workers: For one day, Hill wanted to join their team.

“Me and my mom talk a lot about giving back,” he said. “That’s the way I was raised.”

With the world gripped by the worst pandemic in genera-tions, it is exceedingly ironic that Hill seems at such peace.

He’s spent more time than he thought possible with his four kids: baby twins, a 1-year-old and

his 5-year-old son. He’s getting a room added onto his house, the ham-mering providing the staccato-like soundtrack to a Zoom call last week. He’s financially secure — his whole family is, for that matter — and he’s a Super Bowl champion.

“It ’s been great. I’ve had a chance to have all four of my kids, which is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Hill said. “It is fun. It ’s challenging. But it ’s also like, a process of me bettering myself, so I’m enjoying it. Every step of it.”

Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates with his son Zev after a victory against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium.

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 3B

Comics & PuzzlesDear AbbyDILBERT

ZITS

GARFIELD

CANDORVILLE

BABY BLUES

BEETLE BAILEY

MALLARD FILLMORE

HoroscopesTODAY’S BIRTHDAY (May

19). When your choices were few, it was easier to make them. This year, the cosmic array widens delightfully, making it both harder and more fun to choose! You’ll grow in confi-dence. Your purposefulness will lead to lucrative alliances. For weeks at a time, you’ll have control over your mind and will obey your highest wishes. Libra and Cancer adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 30, 11, 2 and 17.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Whatever emotion you’re experi-encing, assume that it is valid. You don’t have to know why it’s showing up. Sometimes, it’s enough to let a feeling run its

course. TAURUS (April 20-May 20).

Reflect on recent visits and settle on a way of seeing things that helps you understand the benefit of the interaction. Soli-tude gives meaning to your time with others.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’re not sure exactly what led you to this place. Maybe you didn’t come here on purpose, but you’re here nonetheless. Assume you belong and take advantage of the opportunities around you.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). Production swings into high gear. You’ll have checked a dozen items off of your list by lunchtime. It’s not too early to

feel proud and accomplished.LEO (July 23-Aug. 22).

What’s worth fighting for? Play-fulness itself. You’ll enjoy peo-ple who bring out your feistiness and have a stellar time sparring with a well-matched opponent.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You may not be ready to make changes just yet, but think about your options. This is the fun part. It’s like you’re shopping for your future. Don’t be too quick to invest. Try it on first.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Don’t get roped into thinking about the time periods over which you have no control, e.g., “back then” or “someday.” When you concentrate on the here and now, your timing is sublime.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You speculate about experiences you want and don’t want but stay open-minded. The reality is that you never know how a thing will feel or how you’ll react until you are actually in the situation.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Because of your wonder-fully ambitious mind and elastic imagination, it’s easy to get carried away with your own expectations. Say what you’re going to do, and then cut that in half. Small goals are more motivating.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your sense of humor has you examining certain past decisions with an element of self-mockery. Luckily, this won’t prevent you from flinging yourself fully into a present extravagance.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Feelings are signals. They’re like the teapot whistle that tells you the water is boil-ing. The signal itself isn’t bad or good; it’s your reaction to it that defines the feeling one way or the other.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). It is said that Brazil got its name from the nut and not the other way around. Similarly, you will relate a big event of your life after something small, thus mentally keeping it at level of significance that feels manageable.

SOLUTION:Button-down collar

FAMILY CIRCUS

DEAR ABBY: I’m currently waiting to

donate my kidney to my sister, who is a year older than I am. My husband and I traveled many hours to get evalu-ated and tested at her clinic, so the insurance would cover the cost.

Before head-ing back to our home state, we decided to stop by to pay her a surprise visit and, honestly, she did something that’s making me rethink my decision. She was eating pizza and drinking a can of soda. Abby, my sister is on dialysis and supposed to be following a strict diet. It upset my husband, but he didn’t say anything to her because we had just had an argument in the car about my decision to donate to her. It upset me, too, but I didn’t speak up either.

I have been disciplined all my adult life, living a healthy life and making smart choices to benefit my body. Now that my sister needs a kidney, I feel this may have been the reason for my good habits. How can I stress to her how important it is to me that she adopt better eating habits if she is to get my kidney? I don’t have another

one to donate if she ruins this one. My husband and I will also be sacrificing time away from our four kids (ages 1-15) for the surgery and recovery. — SEC-OND THOUGHTS IN TEXAS

DEAR SEC-OND THOUGHTS: Your concerns are valid. Donating a kidney is a decision that needs to be well

thought out. It is also a decision that is ultimately up to only you. It shouldn’t be made because you feel pressure based on who you’re donating to, in your case, your sister. Keep in mind, it’s impossible to control another person’s behavior. Once this precious gift is given, there’s no going back. Speak up now and let her know how you felt about what you saw, but understand it won’t necessarily guarantee that she will make any changes.

My suggestion is to contin-ue this conversation with your living donor social worker or ILDA (independent living donor advocate) at the transplant cen-ter where you were evaluated. These professionals can help to guide you toward making the best decision by further explor-ing your concerns, not only for

you, but also your family.While being a living kidney

donor can be a positive and beautiful experience, it is equally important to make sure that it’s the right decision for you. The same is true for anyone considering donating. For those who are interested in being a potential kidney donor and would like to confidentially connect with someone who has already donated, contact the Patient Information Help Line of the National Kidney Foundation ((855) 653-2273). However: THIS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR SPEAKING WITH A LIVING DONOR SOCIAL WORKER OR ILDA.

DEAR ABBY: I understand that nonbinary folks prefer the pronoun “they” instead of “she” or “he.” It’s going to take some getting used to, but that’s OK. My question is, when using “they” but referring to one person, do you use a singular or plural verb? Singular sounds weird, but plural is confusing. — THE GRAMMAR NERD

DEAR GRAMMAR: I agree that the usage will take some people a while to get used to, but language is constantly changing. Use the plural form of the verb when speaking about a nonbinary or gender-fluid per-son who prefers “they.” Exam-ple: “They are a new member of our company.” Or, “I love singer Sam Smith. They have won four Grammy Awards.”

Dear Abby

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MANCHESTER, En-gland — The Premier League has been told by government experts that coronavirus restrictions could endure for at least a year across English foot-ball, with players allowed to resume only non-contact training from Tuesday.

England’s top division has been studying how the Bundesliga was able to re-sume at the weekend while being realistic about miss-ing its aspiration of getting back underway by June 12.

“We have to be flexible about it,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a media call on Monday. “The Ger-mans are a couple of steps

ahead of us obviously and we can learn from them and watch them and take confidence from their suc-cess.”

Team executives will hold talks next Tuesday to discuss protocols for allow-ing players to take part in contact training, but it is dependent on government approval and there being no new spike in COVID-19 cases after an easing of lockdown restrictions.

“(Once) we have had a proper discussion with clubs about how much is required to create the fit-ness levels before they can start playing, we are then in a position to be able to confirm when the season start is,” Masters said.

The 20 clubs on Mon-

day agreed to protocols for small groups of players to train while maintaining so-cial distancing that exists in wider society. Inspec-tors will drop into training complexes to check the rules are being followed.

“That will enable us to give everyone confidence that the protocols are be-ing complied with, and give the public confidence that we are trying to create a very safe working envi-ronment,” said Richard Garlick, the league’s direc-tor of football.

“We can request infor-mation from videoing of the sessions and GPS data, too.”

The protocols have been formed in conjunc-tion with the government,

which has cautioned a COVID-19 vaccine may not be developed at all, despite the huge global effort to produce one.

“They’ve made it very clear that the social situa-tion, the public health situ-ation is not going to change over the next six to 12 months,” Premier League medical adviser Mark Gil-lett said. “We’re going to be looking to make the same kind of cultural changes at training grounds and in footballers’ behaviours whether we have this con-versation now or at any point this year. It is import-ant that people understand that.”

Regular testing of play-ers, coaches and support staff is the league’s way

of trying to quickly detect any infections and stop the virus spreading at clubs. Testing is due to take place twice weekly at clubs on up to 40 people.

Training will be allowed to begin on Tuesday once the results of the first set of results are delivered on Tuesday.

Players will have to ar-rive at the training ground on their own — already in their kit — and leave at least three spaces between each car in the parking area.

“We strongly discour-age tactical meetings on site so that social distanc-ing is maintained at all times,” Gillett said. “They have 15 minutes in which to prepare themselves in

terms of treatment prior to training. But they can use the gym as long as they so-cially distance themselves from another athlete and they clean the equipment after every use.”

Up to five players will be allowed on training pitch-es only for a maximum 75 minutes for now.

“A player has a quarter of a pitch to work within, so social distancing is not a problem,” Newcastle manager Steve Bruce said. “We’ll train with eight to 10 at a time on two separate pitches. Everything is in place in the safety aspect. I’ve got no issues and I can tell the supporters the players and the staff are as safe as we possibly can be.

EPL players face year of coronavirus restrictions

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com4B TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

T O G E T H E R , W E C A N H E L P S L O W T H E S P R E A D .

There’sno placelike home

Social distancing is the most e� ective tool we

have for slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

And that means staying home, if you can.

Work from home. Play at home. Stay at home.

If you must go out, keep your social distance—

six feet, or two arm-lengths apart. Young.

Elderly. In between. It’s going to take every one

of us. If home really is where the heart is, listen

to yours and do the life-saving thing.

Visit Coronavirus.gov for the latest tips and

information from the CDC.

to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

#AloneTogether

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 5B

Lucy CowleyMemorial Services:

Held At A Late Date. 2nd Ave. North Location

Walters NettlesMemorial Services:

Held At A Late Date.College Street Location

Sue McKissackGraveside Services:

Wednesday, May 20 • 3 PMLee Memorial Park

2nd Ave. North Location

Leonor SloanGraveside Services:

Tuesday, May 19 • 11 AMFriendship Cemetery

BurialFriendship Cemetery

College Street Location

memorialgunterpeel.com

Leonor Lopez SloanLeonor Lopez Sloan, age 95, of Columbus, MS,

formerly of Vicksburg, MS, died May 16, 2020, at Trinity Personal Care.

A graveside service will be Tuesday, May 19, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. at Friendship Cemetery with Father Jeffrey Waldrep and Father Gerard Hurley officiating. Memorial Gunter & Peel Funeral Home College Street, is in charge of arrangements.

Leonor was born on March 16, 1925, in San Antonio, Texas to the late Frank and Leonor Lopez. On January 14, 1957, she married Brodie Coy Sloan and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where he was stationed at Lincoln Air Force Base. Upon Brodie’s retirement from the Air Force, they moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi where they lived for 43 years until they moved to Columbus in 2006. While in Vicksburg, Leonor worked as the church secretary at St. Paul Catholic Church for almost 20 years and was an active member of St. Michael Catholic Church. She volunteered for many years at Mercy Hospital as a “Pink Lady” and was active in the Catholic Women’s Auxiliary and the American Business Women’s Association, serving as President. After moving to Columbus, she was a member of Annunciation Catholic Church.

In addition to her parents, Leonor was preceded in death by her husband, Brodie; and her brothers Frank Diaz Lopez and Joseph Anthony Lopez.

Survivors include her daughter, Wanda Sloan Holley of Columbus, MS and her husband, James L. Stafford; grandchildren, Hope Holley Durst and her husband Don, Daniel Sloan Holley and John Hampton Holley and his wife Emily. She is also survived by great grandchildren, Mary Hampton Durst, Margaret Sloan Durst, Daniel Coy Durst and Hope Douglass Holley.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Annunciation Catholic School, 223 North Browder St., Columbus, MS 39702 or Saint Aloysius High School, 1900 Grove St., Vicksburg, MS 39183.

Sign the online guest book at www.memorialgunterpeel.com College Street • Columbus, MS

Lucy CowleyLucy Lindamood Cowley age

97, died Sunday, May 17, 2020, at her residence in Columbus. Memorial Services will be held at a later date.

Mrs. Cowley was born on Thursday, November 16, 1922 in Pascagoula, MS, to the late Garland Ribble and Cora Sue Reeves Lindamood. She was a 1941 graduate of S.D. Lee High School, and attended the Vo- Tech Center. In 1983 and after 37 years of service she retired from South Central Bell. She was a lifetime member of the AT&T Pioneers, as well as a lifetime member of Mt. Zion Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and past member of the V.F. W. Ladies Auxiliary. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas L. Cowley; her sister, Laura Jean Wiggins; her brother, Henry Lindamood; and her grandson, David Enterkin.

Survivors include her daughters, Linda Butler Reid (Austin), Columbus, MS and Bonny Cowley Kefauver (Robert), Sinking Spring, PA; son, Robert E. Butler, Jr., Columbus, MS; three grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society, P.O. Box 85 Columbus, MS 39703.

Sign the online guest book at www.memorialgunterpeel.com

716 Second Avenue North • Columbus, MS

Sue McKissackSue Brooks McKissack, age 90, of Columbus,

MS, passed away May 17, 2020, at The Arrington. Graveside services will be Wednesday, May 20, 2020, at 3:00 PM at Lee Memorial Park of Verona, MS, with Rev. Charlie Whitney officiating. Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home & Crematory 716 2nd Ave. North location is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. McKissack was born July 28, 1929, in Tupelo, MS, to the late William and Pauline Grissom Brooks. She owned and operated the Plaza Beauty Shop for 50 years and was a member of East End Baptist Church.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. McKissack was preceded in death by her husband, Billy McKissack; one brother; and two sisters.

Survivors include her sons, Mike McKissack and his wife Debi of Olive Branch, MS and Steve McKissack and his wife Carol of Columbus, MS; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be grandsons.Memorials may be made to East End Baptist

Church, P.O. Box 8480, Columbus, MS, 39705, or the donor’s favorite charity.

Sign the online guest book at www.memorialgunterpeel.com

716 Second Avenue North • Columbus, MS

Hilda MatthewsHilda Darnell Matthews, age 91, passed away

on May 15, 2020, in Columbus, MS. Mrs. Matthews was born in Columbia, TN, on

July 2, 1928, to the late John Darnell and Lillian Moore Darnell.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her brother, John Wilson “Jay” Darnell; sisters, Dorothy Darnell Porter and Ethel “Polly” Darnell Ferguson; and husband, Doyle Matthews.

She is survived by nieces, Joy Porter Nichols and husband Aubrey of Columbus, MS and June Ferguson Smith and husband Bruce of Birmingham, AL; nephew, James Michael “Jim” Porter and wife Wanda of Como,MS; and a host of great-nieces and great-nephews.

A private graveside funeral service for family members will be conducted by Nelson Funeral Home of Fayette, AL, on May 19, 2020.

Paid Obituary - Nelson Funeral Home

AREA OBITUARIESCOMMERCIAL DISPATCH OBITUARY POLICYObituaries with basic informa-tion including visitation and service times, are provided free of charge. Extended obituaries with a photograph, detailed biographical informa-tion and other details families may wish to include, are avail-able for a fee. Obituaries must be submitted through funeral homes unless the deceased’s body has been donated to science. If the deceased’s body was donated to science, the family must provide official proof of death. Please submit all obituaries on the form provided by The Commercial Dispatch. Free notices must be submitted to the newspaper no later than 3 p.m. the day prior for publication Tuesday through Friday; no later than 4 p.m. Saturday for the Sunday edition; and no later than 7:30 a.m. for the Monday edition. Incomplete notices must be re-ceived no later than 7:30 a.m. for the Monday through Friday editions. Paid notices must be finalized by 3 p.m. for inclusion the next day Monday through Thursday; and on Friday by 3 p.m. for Sunday and Monday publication. For more informa-tion, call 662-328-2471.

Walter NettlesCOLUMBUS — Wal-

ter Cornelius “W.C.” Nettles, 75, died May 17, 2020, at Baptist Me-morial Hospital-Golden Triangle.

A private family memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home and Cre-matory College Street location is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Nettles was born Nov. 24, 1944, in Charleston, South Carolina, to the late Walter C. and Lillian Strickland Nettles. He was formerly employed in construction.

In addition to his parents, he was pre-ceded in death by his wife, Letha B. Nettles; son Walter “Little Walt” Nettles; and sister, Faye Williams.

He is survived by his son, Larry “Harlow” Nettles of Columbus.

Shannon McMinnSTARKVILLE —

Shannon Kenneth “KS” McMinn, 92, died, May 15, 2020, at The Car-rington Nursing Center.

A private family graveside service is at 10:30 a.m. today, in Clear Springs Prim-itive Baptist Church Cemetery in Maben. Welch Funeral Home of Starkville is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. McMinn was born to the late Tan-dy and Adele Gregg McMinn. He was formerly employed as a carpenter with McMinn Construction Company.

In addition to his parents, he was pre-ceded in death by his brothers, Roy McMinn, Greg McMinn and R.P. McMinn.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Elaine Norwood McMinn of St-urgis; children, Jennifer Kilpatrick of Crawford, Michael McMinn of Ma-ben and Paul McMinn of Greensboro, North Carolina; 11 grandchil-dren; 16 great-grand-children; and seven great-great-grandchil-dren.

Memorials may be made to Lake Forest Ranch, 5326 Lake Forest Rd., Macon, MS 39341.

George WilliamsCOLUMBUS —

George Edward Wil-liams, 80, died May 16, 2020, at Baptist Memo-rial Hospital-Golden Triangle.

A family graveside service is at 2 p.m. to-day, at Murrah’s Chapel Cemetery, with Jack Taylor officiating.

Lowndes Funeral Home of Columbus is in charge of arrange-ments.

Mr. Williams was born Nov. 16, 1939, in Crowville, Louisiana, to the late James Lamar and Marjorie Scoggins Williams. He was a veteran of the United States Navy and was formerly employed as a bi-winder operator with Weyerhaeuser/Bastrop Papermill. He was a member of Life Fellow-ship.

He is survived by his children, Wendy Williams Lowery, Angela Pennington and James Williams; sib-lings, Dorothy Page and Dennis Williams; 10

grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be James Bradley Wil-liams, Justin Flye, Tyler Shaw Elliott, Corey Pen-nington, Jeremy Harpol and Scotty Brackin.

Memorials may be made to St. Jude Chil-dren’s Research Hospi-tal, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Frances JohnsonBROOKSVILLE —

Frances Lillian Koehn Johnson, 96, died May 16, 2020, at Oakwood Manor.

A graveside service was held at 3 p.m. Sunday, at Southaven Mennonite Church. Cockrell Funeral Home

of Macon was in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Johnson was born Nov. 24, 1923, in Montezuma, Kansas, to the late Fred P. and Sarah Smith Koehn. She was a member of Church of God in Christ, Mennonite.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Willard Johnson; four sisters; one brother; and two grandchildren.

She is survived by her children, Joyce Ashworth, Joe, Caro-lyn, Camillia Smith, David, Susan, Isabelle, Richard and Lori; 30 grandchildren; and 71 great-grandchildren.

Classifieds THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 n 6B

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Legal Notices

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LEGALS

Legal Notices

The following vehicles havebeen abandoned at Atlas Re-covery & Towing, 4009 HWY373, Columbus, MS 39705:

2005 Ford FocusVIN# 3FAFP31NX5R141236

2009 Ford Crown VictoriaVIN# 2FAHP71V99X112964

2006 Ford F150VIN# 1FTRX12W26NB21568

IF THESE VEHICLES ARE NOTCLAIMED THEY WILL BE PUTUP FOR SALE ON THE 15THDAY OF MAY, 2020 AT 6:00A.M. AT ATLAS RECOVERY &TOWING, 4009 HWY 373,COLUMBUS, MS 39705.

Witnessed under my hand onthis the 15th day of May,2020.

/s/Frank Stump

PUBLISH: 5/19 & 5/26/2020

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OFLOWNDES COUNTY, MISSIS-SIPPI

IN THE MATTER OF THE ES-TATE OF CHARLIE W. MOSBY,DECEASED

CIVIL ACTION NO. 2020-0039S

LOLA MOSBY, PETITIONER

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Letters of Administration hav-ing been granted on the 14thday of May 2020, by the Chan-cery Court of Lowndes County,Mississippi, to the under-signed, upon the estate ofCharlie W. Mosby, deceased,notice is hereby given to allpersons having claims againstsaid estate to present thesame to the Clerk of said Courtfor probate and registration ac-cording to law, within ninety(90) days from this date, orthey will be forever barred.

WITNESS our signatures ONTHIS THE 14th day of May2020.

LOLA MOSBY,Executrix of the Estate ofCharlie W. Mosby, by andthrough Attorney Walter AlanDavis

Of Counsel:Dunbar Davis, PLLCAttorneys at Law324 Jackson Avenue EastOxford, MS 38655(662) 281-0001

PUBLISH: 5/19, 5/26,6/2/2020

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OFLOWNDES COUNTY, MISSIS-SIPPI

IN THE MATTER OF THE ES-TATE OF FAYE PROWELL MUL-LICAN, DECEASED

NO. 2020-0097-RPF

NETTIE MAE PROWELL LONG,EXECUTOR

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Letters Testamentary havebeen granted and issued toNettie Mae Prowell Long, Ex-ecutor of the Estate of FayeProwell Mullican, deceased, bythe Chancery Court of LowndesCounty, Mississippi, on the 14day of May, 2020. This is togive notice to all persons hav-ing claims against said estateto Probate and Register samewith the Chancery Clerk ofLowndes County, Mississippi,within ninety (90) days from thefirst publication of this Noticeto Creditors. A failure to so Pro-bate and Register said claimwill forever bar the same.

THIS the 14 day of May, 2020.

/s/ Nettie Mae Prowell LongNettie Mae Prowell Long

OF COUNSEL:William F. Gillis (MSB 4854)Crowell Gillis & Cooper, PLLCPost Office Box 1827Columbus, MS 39703PHONE: (662) 243-7329wgillis@cgclawpllc.com

PUBLISH: 5/19, 5/26, &6/2/2020

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OFLOWNDES COUNTY, MISSIS-SIPPI

IN THE MATTER OF THE ES-TATE OF JOHN DWAIN ACKER,DECEASED

CAUSE NO: 2020-0075-DE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPILOWNDES COUNTY

Letters of Testamentary havebeen granted and issued to theundersigned upon the Estate ofJohn Dwain Acker, deceased,by the Chancery Court ofLowndes County, Mississippi,on the 11th day of May, A. D.,2020. This is to give notice toall persons having claimsagainst said estate to Probateand Register same with theChancery Clerk of LowndesCounty, Mississippi, withinninety (90) days from the firstpublication date of this Noticeto Creditors. A failure to so Pro-bate and Register said claimwill forever bar the same.

This is the 13th day of May,2020.

/s/DWAIN K. ACKER

Steven R. McEwenMcEwen Law FirmP. O. Box 709Columbus, MS 39703

PUBLISH: 5/19, 5/26 &6/2/2020

Legal Notices

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OFLOWNDES COUNTY, MISSIS-SIPPI

IN THE MATTER OF THE ES-TATE OF KATHERINE MICHELLELANGFORD PHILLIPS, DE-CEASED

NO. 2020-0089-PDE

JOHN DOUGLASS PHILLIPS, EX-ECUTOR

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Letters Testamentary havebeen granted and issued toJohn Douglass Phillips, Execut-or of the Estate of KatherineMichelle Langford Phillips, de-ceased, by the Chancery Courtof Lowndes County, Missis-sippi, on the 8 day of May,2020. This is to give notice toall persons having claimsagainst said estate to Probateand Register same with theChancery Clerk of LowndesCounty, Mississippi, withinninety (90) days from this date.A failure to so Probate and Re-gister said claim will foreverbar the same.

THIS the 8 day of May, 2020.

/s/ John Douglass PhillipsJohn Douglass Phillips

OF COUNSEL:William T. Cooper, MBN 9588Crowell Gillis & Cooper, PLLCPost Office Box 1827Columbus, MS 39703PHONE: (662) 243-7334wcooper@cgclawpllc.com

PUBLISH: 5/12, 5/19, &5/26/2020

IN THE CHANCERY COURT OFLOWNDES COUNTY, MISSIS-SIPPI

IN THE MATTER OF THE ES-TATE OF SARAH ELIZABETHADKINS, DECEASED

MARY PRICE, ADMINISTRATRIX

CAUSE NO. 2020-0016

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

STATE OF MISSISSIPPICOUNTY OF LOWNDES

Letters Testamentary havebeen granted and issued to theundersigned upon the Estate ofSARAH ELIZABETH ADKINS, de-ceased, by the Chancery Courtof Lowndes County, Missis-sippi, on this the 29th day ofJanuary, A.D., 2020. This is togive notice to all persons hav-ing claims against said estateto Probate and Register samewith the Chancery Clerk ofLowndes County, Mississippi,within ninety (90) days from thedate of the first publication ofthis Notice. A failure to so Pro-bate and Register said claimwill forever bar the same.

This the 4th day of February,2020.

MARY PRICEAdministratrix

PUBLISH: 5/5, 5/12,5/19/2020

EMPLOYMENTCALL US: 662-328-2424

Accounting / Finance

WWAANNTTEEDD:: BBOOOOKKKKEEEEPPEERR.Call for details,662-574-4221

Customer Service

LLOOCCAALL LLAAWW FFIIRRMM is seek-ing Receptionist/Secretary.Previous experiencehelpful but not necessary.Computer skills a must.Email resume to:job109@cdispatch.com

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EEXXPPEERRIIEENNCCEEDD AAUUTTOO BodyRepair man & painter

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TTHHEE CCOOMMMMEERRCCIIAALLDDIISSPPAATTCCHH seeks a motiv-ated, contracted carrier forthe Brooksville & Maconarea. Excellent opportunityto earn money for college.Must have good transporta-tion, valid driver's license& insurance. Delivers onSunday morning and Mon-Fri afternoons. Apply at TheCommercial Dispatch, 516Main Street in Columbus.No phone calls please.

Real Estate

RREEAALL EESSTTAATTEE office needsAdministrative OfficeAssistant to work 35 hoursweekly, M-F. Must possess:organizational skills withattention to detail; com-puter skills includingMicrosoft office, Excel,Outlook & QuickBooks; pro-fessional and courteouscommunication skills withclients, public & co-work-ers. Send resume' toBlind Box 674 c/o TheCommercial Dispatch,P. O. Box 511,Columbus, MS 39703.

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Houses For Sale: New Hope

16 WIDNER IN NEW HOPE

Newly remodeled. 3BR/2BA home. Approx. 1,500sqft. Has 25’x30’ wiredmetal shop w/ roll−up front& side door. $158,500.662−549−9298.

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MERCHANDISEADS STARTING AT $12

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General Merchandise

2018 40FT Gooseneck

Trailer w/ 5ft dovetail, 12ton axles, 10−4inch straps& tarps. $8,500. 662−251−3001.

USED METAL Roofing. ForSale. $5−$10 per sheet.662−497−1388.

WANTED FREON R12.

We pay CA$H.R12 R500 R11.Convenient.

Certified professionals.312−291−9169

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Visit 516 Main Streetor call 662−328−2424

VEHICLESADS STARTING AT $12

Autos For Sale

1968 FORD FALCON

Some work needed. Goodrestoration project. $600OBO Call 662−364−1370.

Motorcycles & ATVs

1993 KAWASAKI

VOYAGER XII Only 25,500miles. Runs & looks good.No problems. $3000 OBO.

Can be seen local.501−545−7750.

COMMUNITYADS STARTING AT $12

Special Notices

Lady in Black & White

Striped Shirt Would thenice lady who waitedwith me and offered mea ride home after myaccident on Saturday,25 April, at about10:00am in themorning at theintersection of Bluecuttand Hwy 45 please callme? 662−328−1286

Travel & Entertainment

PUBLIC CATFISH POND

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SudokuSudoku is a num-ber-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty spaces so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level increases from Monday to Sunday.

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Sudoku YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty spaces so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level increases from Monday to Sunday.

Log cabinWHATZIT ANSWER