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141st Year, No. 87

Barrett SpearsSecond grade, Heritage

High 90 Low 70Chance of t’storms

Full forecast on page 3A.

FIVE QUESTIONS1 What baseball slugger, known as Mr. October, hit three home runs in the same 1977 championship game, off of three different pitchers?2 Which independent European country is located between Spain and France?3 In the TV show Mr. Robot, Coney Island is the headquarters for which revolutionary hacker group?4 Which historical figure is sometimes called the Maid of Orléans?5 Which former Saturday Night Live writer and cast member published an autobiography titled “The Bedwetter”?

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Katharine Yingst of Columbus, a civilian employee at Columbus Air Force Base, enjoys gardening. Her favorite flower is the hydrangea.

PUBLIC MEETINGSJune 25: Clay County Board of Supervisors, 9 a.m. CourthouseJune 30: Lowndes County Board of Su-pervisors meeting, 9 a.m., Lowndes County CourthouseJuly 6: Lowndes County Board of Su-pervisors meeting, 9 a.m., Lowndes County CourthouseJuly 7: Colum-bus City Council, Municipal Complex, 5 p.m. facebook.com/CityofColum-busMS/

UNDER THE CAPITOL DOME

BY THEO DEROSAtderosa@cdispatch.com

Sales tax revenue collect-ed in Starkville this March was down 10.8 percent from March 2019 totals, and April 2020 produced 13.4 percent less than April 2019.

While that’s not the 30-per-cent drop Mayor Lynn Spruill and the city’s board of alder-men braced for in the wake

of the restrictions they imple-mented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic — including limiting social and business gatherings and man-dating restaurants only serve customers via drive-through, takeout and delivery — it still comes out to nearly $1 million lost if the trend holds for the rest of the fiscal year.

For a city with a budget of about $23 million — $7 million

of which comes from sales tax revenue — that’s no small loss.

“That’s a significant chunk of change for any city, espe-cially Starkville,” Spruill said.

Columbus is in a simi-lar situation to Starkville. The city received more than $118,000 more tax revenue in April 2019 than it did in April 2020, a decrease of 14.4 per-cent.

The decreases have led to staffing cuts in both cit-ies. In late April, Starkville furloughed 15 percent of its employees and approved a 20

percent pay cut for Spruill, city aldermen and depart-ment heads. Columbus re-duced city employees’ hours to 30 hours per week and in-stituted a hiring freeze.

Columbus Ward 6 Coun-cilman and Vice Mayor Bill Gavin acknowledged the im-portance of the city’s strin-gent restrictions for the health of its citizens, but he said the shortfall will pose problems down the line when

West Point cuts costs even as sales tax numbers improve

March sales tax revenue down 10%+ in Columbus, Starkville

See SALES TAX, 3A

Analysis: Doctor calls Parchman conditions ‘deplorable’THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON — Living conditions in the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parch-man are “are sub-human and deplorable in a civilized society,” according to a phy-sician who has evaluated the prison on behalf of inmates who are suing the state.

Dr. Marc Stern specializes in correc-tional health care and has evaluated doz-ens of jails, prisons and immigration de-tention facilities in the United States.

Conditions at Parchman “are the worst conditions I have observed in any U.S. jail, prison or immigrat ion detention fa-cility in my 20 years working in this field,” Stern wrote in papers that at-torneys filed June 8 in fed-eral court.

“To say that the Mis-sissippi De-partment of C or rec t ions w a rehous e s human be-ings at Parch-man would be insulting to proper warehouses,” wrote Stern, who is a pro-fessor at the University of Washington School of Public Health and was previous-ly the lead physician for the Washington State Department of Corrections.

As of Friday, attorneys for the state of Mississippi had not yet responded to the plaintiffs’ June 8 filing. But the state’s new corrections commissioner, Burl Cain, told lawmakers Tuesday: “We’re going to fix Parchman.”

The inmates’ lawsuit was filed in Jan-uary, after outbursts of violence in multi-ple Mississippi prisons left some inmates dead and others injured. Attorneys are being paid by entertainment mogul Jay-Z, rapper Yo Gotti and Team Roc, the philan-thropic arm of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

The lawsuit was filed weeks before the U.S. Justice Department announced in February that it is investigating Missis-sippi’s prison system. The civil suit and the federal investigation are separate

‘To say that the Mississippi Department of Corrections warehouses human beings at Parchman would be insulting to proper warehouses.’

Dr. Marc Stern, professor at University of Washington School

of Public Health

MONDAY PROFILE

See PARCHMAN, 3A

TOP PHOTO: Keegan Jones, a rising second-year veterinary student at Mississippi State University, helped the two LGBTQ student organizations merge into one with a common goal when he was an undergraduate. He said he is fortunate that his family knows he is transgender and supports him, so he wanted to make sure his less fortunate peers have the support they need. Pictured at McKee Park in Starkville on Sunday, Jones recognized a woodpecker on a tree. He studied wildlife as an undergraduate and plans to get a second post-graduate degree, specifically in wildlife veterinary medicine, after veterinary school. Photo by Tess Vrbin/Dispatch Staff...

Veterinary student helps bolster MSU’s LGBTQ community

BY TESS VRBINtvrbin@cdispatch.com

K eegan Jones changed his name about a year ago, between finishing his bache-lor’s degree at Mississippi State Univer-

sity and starting veterinary school.A lot had changed since he started college

four years earlier. Jones is transgender and had recently started hormone therapy when he arrived at MSU as a freshman.

In the time between, he helped MSU’s two LGBTQ student organizations merge into one and worked on making resources for LGBTQ students more “concrete” and not something they had to “dig and ask” for.

“There were the general crisis resources provided to all freshman students at MSU, and then if you dig through here, you can find a list of (gender-inclusive) bathrooms,” Jones said. “That was about what was available when I first started.”

The LGBTQ+ Union was an advocacy group, while Spectrum “was more focused on giving people, closeted or not, somewhere to be,” Jones said. He was on Spectrum’s leader-ship council for three and a half years.

“We had always had this issue of competing for membership, which wasn’t necessarily in-tended, but was the result of people not having time to go to every meeting they want to,” he said.

Months of discussions between the two groups led to the formation of Fostering LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Resources, and Environ-ments — F.L.A.R.E., which Jones said meets both the advocacy and social support needs of LGBTQ students at MSU. The leaders of both organizations worked hard to find the balance between the two goals, he said.

“You don’t want to compromise the ability

Jones joins advocacy groups into one organization to address needs of students, allies

See JONES, 6A

Spruill Gavin

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com2A MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Black candidates tap protest energy to challenge DemocratsTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Amy McGrath and Eliot Engel live hundreds of miles apart in states with dramati-cally different politics.

Yet they’re the preferred can-didates of the Democratic Party’s Washington establishment as vot-ers in Kentucky and New York de-cide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday. And both may be in trouble.

On the eve of their elections, Engel, a 16-term House incumbent who represents parts of the Bronx and New York City’s wealthy sub-urbs, and McGrath, a former mili-tary officer and fundraising jugger-naut running in her first Kentucky Senate campaign, are facing strong challenges from lower-profile Black candidates. The challengers have tapped into the wounded progres-sive movement’s desire for transfor-mational change suddenly animat-ed by sweeping civil rights protests across America.

Engel’s challenger, 45-year-old former public school principal Jamaal Bowman, and McGrath’s opponent, 35-year-old state Rep. Charles Booker, speak openly about their personal experience with po-lice brutality and racism as they promote progressive plans to trans-form the nation’s health care sys-tem and economy. And both accuse their white opponents of being ab-sent from the front lines of the civil rights debate.

Bowman and Booker have also won the endorsement of Bernie Sanders, among a growing list of progressive leaders trying to in-fluence the races from afar. The Vermont senator failed to win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but he continues to shape congressional primaries — even if it puts him at odds with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’s backing Engel, and Senate Minori-ty Leader Chuck Schumer, who helped recruit McGrath.

“There is no question the mo-mentum is with us,” Sanders said in an interview.

But the story of Bowman and Booker’s rise extends well beyond

the yearslong tug-of-war between the progressive and pragmatic wings of the Democratic Party. They didn’t gain traction until after George Floyd’s death last month triggered nationwide outrage about racial inequality.

Hours before polls open, howev-er, it’s far from certain their bids will be successful.

In New York, the progressive pushback against Engel’s reelection was somewhat surprising given his status as one of the Democratic Par-ty’s most liberal members. He has also drawn overwhelming support from African Americans in Con-gress and establishment leaders such as Hillary Clinton.

In an interview, he noted he was a founding member of the House Medicare for All Caucus, an orig-inal co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and the endorsed candidate of the congressional Black and His-panic caucuses.

“I’ve always believed that Black lives matter. I didn’t have to see a tragedy to know that,” said Engel, 73. “All I can do for people is say, ‘Here’s my record.’ I can’t control outside events.”

Engel admits regret over an un-forced error of sorts earlier in the month when he was caught on a hot microphone telling a New York col-league at a news conference about the civil unrest: “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t be here.”

He says the comments were tak-en out of context, but he also under-stands why some people would be upset.

“Do I wish the whole event hadn’t happened? Sure. But it doesn’t change my record,” Engel said.

Bowman seized on the comment and the perception that Engel has lost touch with the entirety of his di-verse district, which features West-chester County’s multimillion-dol-lar homes and the Bronx’s housing projects. In both communities, Bow-man said, there’s a growing sense of unity around racial justice.

“We’re seeing protests and upris-ings in communities that are white and wealthy and stereotypically don’t care about racial justice,” he said in an interview. “That’s inspir-

ing and it’s helpful to us because everyone knows we were talking about police brutality. I was sharing my personal story, and we were go-ing after institutional racism from the very beginning of our cam-paign.”

The winner of the New York House primary Tuesday is expected to win the general election easily given the district’s strong Demo-cratic tilt. Kentucky’s Senate prima-ry will determine which Democrat runs against Senate Majority Lead-er Mitch McConnell, who’s unpop-ular but a proven political force in a deep-red state.

Washington Democrats helped recruit McGrath, thinking her mil-itary history and centrist approach would play well, even in a state that backed Trump by 30 percent-age points four years ago. The for-mer Marine fighter pilot reported an eye-popping $19 million in the bank at the beginning of the month. Booker reported just $285,000 then, although his campaign told The Associated Press he raised at least $2.4 million more this month.

Booker’s recent fundraising surge coincides with the protests, although it’s unclear whether the focus on racial inequality will reso-nate to the same degree in a state where just 8% of residents are Black and 3 out of 4 don’t have a bachelor’s degree, according to the Census Bureau.

“It is real,” Booker said of rac-ism in his state. “I’ve had ancestors lynched in Kentucky.”

Just this month, he says he was tear-gassed by police in the Louis-ville district he represents while at-tending a peaceful rally.

“I’m there to make sure people are safe, make sure nothing goes wrong and that people’s voices are heard. And we look up and three canisters are thrown within 10 feet of me,” Booker told the AP. “Ev-eryone starts running. And I just stood there in disbelief — that even though I have done all this work across Kentucky, even though I’m an elected official, they still saw me as a young Black man, and they still felt like it was justified to throw tear gas at me. It hurt.”

Trump rally highlights his vulnerabilities heading into electionTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail was designed to show strength and enthusi-asm heading into the critical final months before an election that will decide wheth-er he remains in the White House.

Instead, his weekend rally in Oklaho-ma highlighted growing vulnerabilities and crystallized a divisive reelection mes-sage that largely ignores broad swaths of voters — independents, suburban women and people of color — who could play a crucial role in choosing Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

The lower-than-ex-pected turnout at the comeback rally, in par-ticular, left Trump fum-ing.

“There’s really only one strategy left for him, and that is to propel that rage and anger and try to split the society and see if he can have a tribal leadership win here,” former Trump adviser-turned-critic An-thony Scaramucci said on CNN’s “Reli-able Sources.”

The Republican president did not offer even a token reference to national unity in remarks that spanned more than an hour and 40 minutes at his self-described campaign relaunch as the nation grap-pled with surging coronavirus infections, the worst unemployment since the Great Depression and sweeping civil unrest.

Nor did Trump mention George Floyd, the African American man whose death at the hands of Minnesota police late last month sparked a national uprising over police brutality. But he did add new fuel to the nation’s culture wars, defending Confederate statues while making rac-ist references to the coronavirus, which originated in China and which he called “kung flu.” He also said Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who came to the U.S. as a refugee, “would like to make the govern-ment of our country just like the country from where she came, Somalia.”

Trump won the presidency in 2016 with a similar red-meat message aimed largely at energizing conservatives and white working-class men. But less than four months before early voting begins in

some states, there are signs that indepen-dents and educated voters — particularly suburban women — have turned against him. Republican strategists increasingly believe that only a dramatic turnaround in the economy can revive his reelection aspirations.

“It’s bad,” said Republican opera-tive Rick Tyler, a frequent Trump critic. “There’s literally nothing to run on. The only thing he can say is that Biden is worse.”

But the day after Trump’s Tulsa rally, the president’s message was almost an afterthought as aides tried to explain away a smaller-than-expected crowd that left the president outraged.

The campaign had been betting big on Tulsa.

Trump’s political team spent days pro-claiming that more than 1 million people had requested tickets. They also ignored health warnings from the White House coronavirus task force and Oklahoma of-ficials, eager to host an event that would help him move past the civil rights pro-tests and the coronavirus itself.

His first rally in 110 days was meant to be a defiant display of political force to help energize Trump’s spirits, try out some attacks on Biden and serve as a powerful symbol of American’s reopen-ing.

Instead, the city fire marshal’s office reported a crowd of just less than 6,200 in the 19,000-seat BOK Center, and at least six staff members who helped set up the event tested positive for the coronavirus. The vast majority of the attendees, in-cluding Trump, did not wear face masks as recommended by the Trump adminis-tration’s health experts.

After the rally, the president berated aides over the turnout. He fumed that he had been led to believe he would see huge crowds in deep-red Oklahoma, according to two White House and campaign offi-cials who spoke on the condition of ano-nymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversa-tions.

‘There’s really only one strategy left for him, and that is to propel that rage and anger and try to split the society and see if he can have a tribal leadership win here.’

Former Trump adviser-turned-critic Anthony Scaramucci on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

n The Sunday edition of The Dispatch incorrectly identified an individual who protesters at a Black Lives Matter demonstration Saturday claimed rapped on a near-by vehicle with his guns. The man who allegedly tapped his guns on the vehicle was not arrested. We regret the error.

The Commercial Dispatch strives to report the news accurately. When we print an error, we will correct it. To report an error, call the newsroom at 662-328-2424, or email news@cdispatch.com.

CORRECTION

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The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 3A

STARKVILLE ACADEMY GRADUATION

Tess Vrbin/Dispatch StaffAnna Rae Taylor, left, stands onstage on Starkville Academy’s football field during commencement Friday evening. Taylor is a member of Girl Scouts of America and will attend Mississippi State University on a GSA scholarship. SA Headmaster Jeremy Nicholas, second from left, told the 46 graduates in his address that the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic threw at them during the last nine weeks of senior year should give them a lasting sense of perspective and show them “just how blessed we really are.”

Sales taxContinued from Page 1A

budgets need to be bal-anced and projects need to be completed.

“You have to find the money somewhere, and it’s just not there in sales tax dollars,” Gavin said.

Spruill and Ward 2 Al-derman Sandra Sistrunk said in late April that Starkville is in solid finan-cial position to pay for its Cornerstone Park project — which is a special sales tax-backed plan voters ap-proved in summer 2019 to build a tournament-ready ball field complex off Highway 25. As of May 1, $14 million of a possible $25 million in bonds had already been issued.

But the mayor said the city must be careful in how it plans for, and whether it can afford, similar projects, which often depend on sales tax revenue.

Spruill said that hy-per-cautious attitude will be the norm for at least the next year or so, as city leaders know they must be more frugal.

“It certainly creates a situation where we are going to have to at least downsize to a certain ex-tent,” Spruill said.

West Point’s sales tax revenue increases

West Point Mayor Rob-bie Robin-son and the city’s board of selectmen have already done that. The city has asked department heads to cut 10 per-cent of their budgets for Fiscal Year 2021, which starts there July 1 (In C o l u m b u s and Starkville, fiscal years begin Oct. 1).

Ward 5 Selectman Jas-per Pittman said some had already slashed that amount over the course of Fiscal Year 2020.

“We’re in line to have a

healthy budget given the circumstances,” Pittman said.

Robinson also institut-ed a policy where any pur-chase more than $500 by the mayor’s office must be reviewed by the board.

Pittman said the chang-es align with the “frugal” nature of city government to begin with.

“You can’t spend what you ain’t got,” he said. “Did we see this pandem-ic coming? No. But at the same time, it wasn’t really alarming because we’re well below our means any-way.”

By all accounts, West Point has done well. Though the city’s “tour-ism tax” — a 1-percent sales tax at restaurants and hotels — was down roughly 30 percent for March and April, sales tax revenue increased 27.9 percent from April 2019 to April 2020. March produced a 15.2 percent year-over-year jump.

Partly because of that, West Point has so far avoided staff furloughs and layoffs.

“It really surprised me that we went up like that,” Robinson said.

Robinson said a pos-sible reason sales tax revenue in West Point increased was because residents stayed in town to shop at local grocery stores rather than going on vacation or traveling to Columbus or Tupelo for things they needed.

He said the city is budgeting a 10-percent decrease in sales tax rev-enue for Fiscal Year 2021, looking forward to a “con-servatively good” year, though not a strong one.

If the city makes it through FY 2021 in good shape, Pittman said, a promising 2022 could be on the way.

“West Point, we’re al-right,” Pittman said.

‘Slow return’ likely

On Wednesday night, Gavin went out to eat at a restaurant in Columbus. Even with a 50-percent capacity limit, the coun-cilman said the place was nowhere near full.

It’s part of what he called a “slow return” to consumer confidence in the area. According to Opportunity Insights’ Economic Tracker, total spending by all consum-ers in Lowndes Coun-ty as of June 10 is down 32.7 percent from what it was this January — the lowest mark among the 17 Mississippi counties showing data. At its low-est point, March 29, it was down 58.9 percent.

Statewide consumer spending is down 6.6 percent as of June 10, according to the tracker. Nationally, it is down 11.3 percent.

Spruill said May sales tax revenue — which will be distributed by the Mis-sissippi Department of Revenue to cities in July — will be pivotal in deter-mining if the rebound af-ter the late March nadir will continue.

Still, she said, things won’t be back to normal just yet.

“I think there’s still a whole lot of people who are not going to come out,” Spruill said.

For Starkville, at least, Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver said he hopes the football season at Mis-sissippi State will help. A key financial factor for the city, the sport drew an average of 56,190 fans to Davis Wade Stadium for home games last fall.

But M. K a t h l e e n T h o m a s , professor of economics and head of the fi-nance and economics department at Mississippi State, cit-ed positive COVID-19 tests for football players at MSU and Alabama as reasons that practice — let alone game play — is still up in the air. Atten-dance restrictions likely to limit capacity to 50 percent or less are also a factor.

“If half the people who came last year to the opening football game show up now, that’s defi-

nitely going to lead to a downturn,” Thomas said.

Thomas, who said she and her family have been staying at home in Co-lumbus barring essential trips, noted consumer demand will be hard to predict. Mostly, it will come down to how much risk people are willing to assume — and tailgat-ing, sitting in the bleach-ers and eating at a down-town restaurant could be too much for some.

“If people are still wor-ried about being in con-tact with asymptomatic individuals who might be carrying COVID and getting sick, it doesn’t matter that officially the economy is open,” Thom-as said. “You’re gonna stay home and not spend money.”

Consequently, Thom-as said, the economy and the public health crisis of COVID-19 are “inextri-cably linked,” and a slow recovery is likely.

But she can’t be sure. Thomas said the pan-demic is like nothing she’s seen in her life-time, and its future ef-fects on Starkville, Co-lumbus, West Point and cities nationwide are just as unclear.

“I think we are still just kind of holding our breath to see what this is going to be for state and local governments,” Thomas said.

Robinson

Pittman

Thomas

ParchmanContinued from Page 1A

from each other and are moving forward on paral-lel tracks.

The inmates’ lawsuit is asking a federal judge to mandate that the state improve living conditions in Parchman, where state Health Department inspec-tions have previously shown longstanding prob-lems with clogged toilets, broken windows and moldy showers.

The lawsuit lists 33 inmates as plaintiffs, though it seeks improvements for all inmates in Parchman. In the June 8 filing, attorney Marcy B. Croft wrote that 24 of the 33 plaintiffs have been transferred out of Parchman since the suit was filed.

“Violence is a part of everyday life at Parchman,” Croft wrote.

The June 8 filing includes sworn statements by inmates who said that they saw guards ignore or encourage violence. One said that in December, a guard let a gang-affiliated inmate open another inmate’s cell and stab that man. In a separate in-cident, another plaintiff said that multiple inmates stabbed him about 10 times, guards did nothing to stop the assault and he had to wait hours to receive medical care.

Stern wrote that he saw exposed electrical wir-ing inside Parchman, some of it near standing wa-ter.

“Extension cords are strung from the center tower on the first floor to the second floor where in two units, they are secured by wrapping around a railing banister, then lose their outer protective sheathes, and run, unprotected, across the hall-way floor, into a resident’s cell,” Stern wrote. “The risk of a serious electricity-induced injury (burn or death) is a constant risk.”

The lawsuit also says the food at Parchman is often “inedible.”

“This does not mean the food is merely unpalat-able, but rather it is contaminated with animal or insect feces or it is raw and therefore unsafe to eat,” Croft wrote.

The state Senate last week confirmed Repub-lican Gov. Tate Reeves’ nomination of Cain as the new corrections commissioner, to oversee Missis-sippi’s entire state prison system. Cain was a long-time warden of Angola prison in Louisiana and told Mississippi lawmakers that he took the new job be-cause it’s a challenge.

During Cain’s confirmation hearing, Senate Corrections Committee members asked some questions about Parchman but did not drill down for details about inmates’ living conditions.

Cain said the prison system will focus on improv-ing food and ensuring that inmates get job training, recreation and access to religious services.

Today is Monday, June 22, the 174th day of 2020. There are 192 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On June 22, 1940, during World War II, Ad-

olf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after Ger-man forces overran Paris.

On this date: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for a

second time as Emperor of the French. In 1911, Britain’s King George V was crowned

at Westminster Abbey. In 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation

Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt

signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights.”

In 1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa ended with an Allied victory.

In 1969, singer-actress Judy Garland died in London at age 47.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that low-ered the minimum voting age to 18.

SOURCE: The Associated Press

Visit us on the webcdispatch.com

4A MONDAY, JUNE 22, 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

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Points to documents indicating Oktibbeha dam not at risk

On June 4 The Dispatch published an article with the headline, “Engineers: No conflict of interest for Pritchard on county lake dam project”. As a concerned citizen and tax payer that has been following this project since the “scare of the failing dam” was first mentioned, I decided that I would do a little research of my own.

In 1979, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) inspected the dam and found that the slopes needed flattening and the spillway capacity was inadequate.

In 2016, a MS Department of Environ-mental Quality (MDEQ) Inspection found the same deficiencies. On January 7, 2020, MEDQ reminded the County that nothing had been done to correct the dam issues that would meet the required criteria.

January 14, 2020, a slide occurs on a downstream slope. On January 15, 2020, USACE dam expert inspects the dam and determines that the slide is “Surficial and not indicative of a breach in progress”. On January 16, 2020, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) voted to start pumping water from the Lake. They assumed there was an emergen-cy situation. However, the day before they were told that it was NOT an emergency.

During the February 24 public hearing Supervisor Howard mislead the public by stating the dam had been deemed “Unsafe” by USACE and MDEQ. Reality was that the dam was “Unsatisfactory” as indicated by the previous inspections and no corrective action. The Supervisors and Engineer were asked what was wrong with the dam, said don’t know. I spoke, I asked if they were concerned about dam safety they should do a Failure Mode Analysis. Don’t think they had never heard of this type of analysis. The May 4, 2020 MDEQ letter, told them that a Failure Mode Analysis should be done on the dam. The BOS and the County Engineer have indicated that the solution was to tear the existing dam down and rebuild a new dam. The BOS voted 3-2 for the County Engineer to draw up the Plans and Specifica-tions (P&S) for the removal and rebuilding of the dam. Remember they do not specifi-cally know what is wrong with the dam.

On March 2 and 3, 2020, USACE and MDEQ came to re-evaluate the dam. Again, their inspection did not reveal a reason to believe the Dam was about to fail. All during this time, the County continued to waste money draining water from the Lake (over $150,000), warning public that homes could be in danger and causing residents to have to detour miles due to the road closure. Supervisors have stated that they could have cut the riser off during the summer, but did nothing until the rainy season started filling the Lake again.

It makes one wonder if the scare tactics used were just a way to get the public to support a massive construction project when a much more cost effective and less disrup-tive method is the better answer. When you see your supervisor ask them, with USACE and MDEQ saying the dam isn’t about to fail, why are they wasting precious tax dollars? If I can read the letters sent from USACE/MDEQ and hear the meetings briefings and understand the dam isn’t about to fail, why can’t they?

Huel SillsStarkville

Feels removal of monument isn’t removal of history

Whenever there’s talk of removing confederate monuments, people fight their removal by arguing that it’s an erasure of history. As Harry Sanders put it, “I think that we don’t want to do away with history, and we need to be reminded of some atroc-ity that happened. If we are not reminded about it, we are going to have a tendency to forget it and (the history) is going to repeat itself.” This argument uses a slippery slope fallacy. Removing monuments will not erase history, nor cause us to repeat it. People will still learn about the Civil War in classrooms, museums, and books. Using this type of ar-gument here is a distraction from the actual issue at hand and should be recognized as such.

The monument should be removed be-cause it honors the soldiers who committed treason fighting for a cause that supported the subjugation and enslavement of people. It honors those soldiers by calling them “he-roes” who fought “nobly.” Taking down this monument isn’t a removal of history; it’s a removal of a glorification of the confederacy and all that it stood for.

Ryan AdairColumbus

A letter to the editor is an excellent way to participate in your community. We request the tone of your letters be constructive and respect-ful and the length be limited to 450 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, grammar and length. While commentary on national issues is always welcome, we limit candidate endorsements to one per letter-writ-er. We welcome all letters emailed to voice@cdispatch.com or mailed to The Dispatch, Attn: Letters to the Editor, PO Box 511, Columbus, MS 39703-0511.

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Harry Sanders’ legacy and how we can define its impactMy father has

always been a walking

repository of profound colloquialisms. Each were either passed down to him directly from generations of our family or by cultural os-mosis from his nearly 70 years living in Southeast Arkansas.

Probably his favorite parenting practice — when I was a child and, frankly, now — is offering me these nuggets of wisdom at the appro-priate time with little explanation, trusting I’ll accurately interpret the context on my own.

One that has always stuck out: “People may not remember much else, but they always remember the last thing they see.”

Said another way, “You can pitch eight perfect innings, but if you give up the game-winning homer in the ninth, that’s what people will remember most.”

For Harry Sanders, the “first eight innings” of his political career on the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors have been far from perfect. But warts and all, they have been effective.

His leadership played a key role in building the county tax base to more than $1 billion and establishing a trust fund for the county, which will provide riches for Lowndes County for genera-tions to come. Despite his penchant for speaking out of turn and off-the-cuff, his contributions to the county conversation were arguably more positive than negative. Many have long regarded Sanders a little crude, a little brash and at least “a little bit racist,” but they’ve often followed that up with “but he gets things done.” Sanders’ personal shortcomings, by virtue of his political savvy, have routinely been dismissed with, “That’s just Harry.”

Until Monday.His comments to one of our

reporters about slaves being given everything before they were freed and that blacks are still “depen-dent” in American society today be-cause of it, shows an ugly and raw underbelly to Mr. Sanders’ ethos

that bring unequivo-cally to light his view of certain minorities as “less.” This also under-scores that every time we laughed off his less egregious statements of the like because we thought he was surely joking — he wasn’t.

If Monday had never happened, it would be fair to say the septua-genarian Sanders had already entered the twi-

light of his political career. What-ever his “legacy” would have been before, it now will be defined by those racist remarks. Whether he resigns, as so many including this newspaper have called on him to do, or if he stubbornly sticks it out through his term, those comments will follow him out the courthouse door. They will continue to speak to the legend of who Harry is as a leader and a man long after he is gone from this Earth.

And regardless of his excuses, or his attempts to disparage a Dispatch reporter in other media by falsely claiming his statements were made “off the record,” the voice on the damning audio record-ing of the interview is his. He did all this to himself.

Even with the pain caused by his statements, what happened next has lent a silver lining that could prove a most positive, albeit unintentional, attribution to Harry Sanders’ legacy. By him speaking “his truth,” this moment may make him the unwitting catalyst to some much-needed understanding and changes in Golden Triangle race relations.

The groundswell of anger, dis-gust and condemnation for Sand-ers’ statements has transcended race and political party. More to the point — contrary to so many stories we learn in history about change in the South being achieved from “outside agitation” — this out-right rejection of the supervisor’s world view has been local.

Those 150-plus who gathered at the Lowndes County Courthouse Wednesday morning to call for Harry’s resignation weren’t “Hol-lywood liberals” mad about our

license plates. They weren’t just African Americans, either. They represented on a greater scale than I had even expected, the general local citizenry.

Beyond that, local business and industry leaders — usually the very wagons that circle Harry when he “misspeaks” — have come out in force to condemn these words. Then there’s Trip Hairston, a white Republican supervisor who voted with Sanders Monday to keep a Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn. Now, not only has he called for Sanders to relin-quish his title as board president (although he so far has not called on him to resign), Hairston has done an about-face on whether to relocate the monument and is even willing to re-examine whether he believes the state flag should be changed to not include the Confed-erate battle emblem.

That statue is all but relocated at this point. You could conceivably see supervisors pass a resolution asking the Legislature to change the flag. As recently as Monday morning, that was considered impossible.

In less than 48 hours, a long recalcitrant, conservative grip on Lowndes County politics has soft-ened because, at long last, Harry Sanders forced its perpetrators to look in the mirror. And the public is now holding the mirror in front of them so they cannot look away.

Here again, in what is sure to be his last gasp of political relevancy, Harry Sanders “got things done,” in a way. He’s certainly no hero for this, of course. That designation is for the people who, when faced with yet another chance to say, “That’s just Harry,” instead have cried, “Enough.” He said words. We define their impact.

For me, that’s been the most pleasant surprise of all this. And this whole ordeal has reminded me of something else my father likes to tell me.

“People might fool you for a while. But given enough time and opportunity, they’ll show you exact-ly who they are.”

Zack Plair is managing editor of The Dispatch. His email address is zplair@cdispatch.com.

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CARTOONIST VIEW

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 5A

Virus cases surge in US, India, but slow in China, KoreaTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW DELHI — The world saw the largest daily increases yet in coronavirus cases, with infections soaring in India’s rural villages after migrant workers fled major cities.

India’s coronavirus caseload climbed by nearly 15,000 as of Monday to 425,282, with more than 13,000 deaths, the health ministry reported.

After easing the nationwide lock-down, the Indian government has run special trains to return thou-sands of migrant workers to their natal villages in recent weeks. Near-ly 90% of India’s poorest districts have cases, though the outbreak remains centered in Delhi, Ma-harashtra and Tamil Nadu states, which are home to major cities.

Infections slowed in China and South Korea, suggesting some progress in stemming their new-est outbreaks. But despite clear headway in containing the virus in regions that suffered early out-breaks, globally the number of new virus cases has soared in recent days. In Brazil, Iraq, India and the United States, hospitals are scram-bling to cope.

Nearly 9 million people have been infected by the new coronavi-rus and more than 468,000 people have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins Univer-sity. Experts say the actual num-bers are much higher, given limits to testing and the presumed large share of asymptomatic cases.

In a grim reminder of the pandemic’s ubiquitous reach, Philippine officials said Saudi Arabia’s king had asked that the remains of 282 Filipino workers who perished in recent months in the oil-rich kingdom be repatriated within three days. They died of varied causes, but virus restrictions delayed repatriations.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Philippine government asked that the deadline be extend-ed and that the bodies of about 50 Filipinos who died of COVID-19 be buried in Saudi Arabia.

The Philippines has reported

more than 30,000 infections and 1,169 deaths, among the highest in Southeast Asia. It is struggling to help bring home tens of thousands of Filipinos who have lost their work abroad.

In Pakistan, infections are accel-erating and hospitals are having to turn away patients, with new cases up to 6,800 a day in mid-June. The government has relaxed pandemic restrictions, hoping to salvage a near-collapsed economy as the number of people living in poverty has risen to 40%, up from 30% of the population of 220 million people.

In Iraq, masked workers were setting up makeshift coronavirus wards in Baghdad’s vast exhibition

grounds as a long-dreaded spike in infections strained its overstretched hospitals, battered by years of con-flict and poor infrastructure.

Late Sunday, the World Health Organization reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours. Brazil tallied 54,771 and the U.S. was next at 36,617, the UN health agency said. India reported more than 15,400.

Experts say rising case counts reflect multiple factors including more testing and spreading infec-tions. More than two-thirds of the new deaths were reported in the Americas.

Virus outbreak could spin ‘out of control’ in South SudanTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JUBA, South Sudan — It be-gan with a dry cough, weakness and back pain. For Reagan Taban Augustino, part of South Sudan’s small corps of health workers trained in treating COVID-19 pa-tients, there was little doubt what he had.

Days later, hardly able to breathe, the 33-year-old doc-tor discovered just how poorly equipped his country is for the coronavirus pandemic: None of the public facilities he tried in the capital, Juba, had oxygen supplies available until he reached South Sudan’s only permanent infectious disease unit, which has fewer than 100 beds for a country of 12 mil-lion people.

It took more than an hour to admit him. “I was almost dying at the gate,” he told The Associated Press from the unit last week.

The pandemic is now acceler-ating in Africa, the World Health Organization says. While the con-tinent had more time than Europe and the United States to prepare before its first case was confirmed

on Feb. 14, experts feared many of its health systems would eventual-ly become overwhelmed.

South Sudan, a nation with more military generals than doc-tors, never had a fighting chance. Five years of civil war and cor-ruption stripped away much of its health system, and today nongov-ernmental organizations provide the majority of care. Nearly half of the population was hungry before the pandemic. Deadly insecurity continues, and a locust outbreak arrived just weeks before the vi-rus.

When world leaders talk about the pandemic not being over un-til it’s over everywhere, they are talking about places like South Sudan.

The United Nations says the country’s outbreak is growing rap-idly, with nearly 1,900 cases, in-cluding more than 50 health work-ers infected, more than 30 deaths and no way to know the true num-ber of infections. At one point sev-eral members of the COVID-19 task force tested positive, includ-ing Vice President Riek Machar.

S Korea urges North not to send leaflets amid high tensions THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Monday urged North Korea to scrap a plan to launch propaganda leaflets across the border, after the North said it’s ready to float 12 million leaflets in what would be the largest such psycho-logical campaign against its southern rival.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsu-la rose sharply last week, after North Korea destroyed an inter-Korean liai-son office on its territory in anger over South Korean civilian leafleting against it. North Korea said it will fly propagan-da leaflets and take other steps to nullify 2018 deals to ease tensions at the border.

Yoh Sangkey, a spokesman at Seoul’s Unification Ministry, told reporters that North Korea must suspend its plan to send anti-Seoul leaflets that “are not helpful to South-North (Korea) relations at all.”

Earlier Monday, North Korea said it had manufactured 12 million propagan-da leaflets to be floated toward South Korea aboard 3,000 balloons and other unspecified delivery equipment.

“Our plan of distributing the leaflets against the enemy is an eruption of the unquenchable anger of all the people

and the whole society,” the North’s offi-cial Korean Central News Agency said. “The time for retaliatory punishment is drawing near.”

Some observers say ongoing weath-er conditions aren’t favorable for North Korea to fly propaganda balloons to South Korea so that it may use drones to launch them. They say this could trig-ger clashes between the Koreas because South Korea must respond to incoming drones to its territory.

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo told lawmakers Mon-day that how his military responds to po-tential North Korean leafleting depends on what delivery equipment the North would use.

A South Korean activist recently said he would also drop about a million leaf-lets over the borer around Thursday, the 70th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korean officials have said they’ll ban civilian activists from launching balloons toward North Korea.

Experts say North Korea is likely us-ing the South Korean civilian leafleting as a chance to boost its internal unity and apply more pressures on Seoul and Washington amid stalled nuclear diplo-macy.

Serbian populist wins landslide as many parties boycott

BELGRADE, Serbia — A preliminary official vote count Monday of Serbia’s parliamentary election con-firmed an overwhelming victory for populist Pres-ident Aleksandar Vucic’s right-wing governing par-ty, the state RTS television said.

Election authorities said, after counting more than 60% of the ballots, that Vucic’s Serbian Progres-sive Party won around 61% of the vote, followed by his ally, the Socialists, with

around 10%, the report said.A partial boycott of the

vote, by the main opposition parties who said Vucic un-fairly dominated the state-run media, paved the way for Vucic’s Progressives to control about 190 seats in the 250-member assembly. Vucic declared the party’s victory as “historic.”

The autocratic Serbian president had called on supporters to vote in large numbers to get a strong mandate for internation-ally mediated peace ne-gotiations on the future of Serbia’s former province of Kosovo. Serbia has rejected Kosovo’s declaration of in-

dependence in 2008.The European Union’s

envoy for Kosovo, Miroslav Lajcak, is expected in Bel-grade later Monday to meet Vucic. The president travels next to Moscow, a key ally, and a U.S.-brokered Ser-bia-Kosovo meeting is set for June 27 in Washington.

Sunday’s vote in Serbia was the first national elec-tion in Europe since the coronavirus lockdowns be-gan. The voting — initially planned for April but post-poned because of the pan-demic — was held as Serbia still is reporting dozens of new cases daily.

SOURCE: AP

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com6A MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

FOOD DRIVE

Claire Hassler/Dispatch StaffEdmond McDavis watches as Keontae Lashley places a bag of food in his back seat on Friday outside Prairie Opportunity Inc., which provides food and other resources for those in need in Columbus. McDavis picked up the food donation for his mother.

JonesContinued from Page 1A

for people to stay private, or the ability of the group to explicitly support people and protect and try to bring them what they need on campus,” Jones said. “That was something that was really difficult to find.”

The merger happened right be-fore Jones graduated from MSU’s wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture program, so he was no longer on the leadership team during F.L.A.R.E.’s first year of existence. Still, he said the group has de-veloped into the support system LGBTQ students on campus need.

“It’s better tailored to serving everyone F.L.A.R.E. was intended to serve than what we gave them in May (2019),” he said.

Jones grew up in Huntsville, Ala-bama, which he said is “not quite as conservative” as other parts of the state. His mother is a veter-inarian, so he grew up learning “how you hunt down a diagnosis” in animals and found it fascinating,

he said.He wanted to provide support to

his fellow LGBTQ students as soon as he arrived at MSU. He is out to his parents and they are support-ive, he said. Other LGBTQ youth are not as fortunate, especially in the Southeast.

“It was very important to me, since I have that stability, to get involved as quickly as possible so I could give that stability to some-one else,” Jones said. “I’ve heard the horror stories. My first year, there were a couple people who got pulled from school because their parents found out (they were LGBTQ), and I don’t know what happened to everyone that hap-pened to.”

But people’s life stories are only one part of the camaraderie in MSU’s LGBTQ community, he said. F.L.A.R.E. holds multiple social events per year and also provides educational resources, such as allyship training, for non-

LGBTQ students.His first year of veterinary

school ended in a completely on-line learning environment, which he called “an adventure,” due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. He said he was grateful that much of the lab work for the year was already done and that first-year stu-dents do not have to learn surgical procedures yet.

After he finishes veterinary school, Jones plans to get a second post-graduate degree — specifical-ly in wildlife veterinary medicine, so he joked that he will “be here forever.” He said he wishes he had as much time to support his cohorts as he did when he was an undergraduate, but he knows they are in good hands.

“Thankfully F.L.A.R.E. is getting out there and making sure they are present for freshmen as soon as possible,” Jones said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR has launched an investigation after a noose was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wal-lace, the only Black driv-er in the elite Cup Series who just two weeks ago successfully pushed the stock car series to ban the Confederate flag at its venues.

NASCAR said the noose was found on Sun-day afternoon and vowed to do everything possible to find who was responsi-ble and “eliminate them from the sport.”

“We are angry and out-raged, and cannot state strongly enough how

seriously we take this heinous act,” the series said in a statement. “As we have stated unequivo-cally, there is no place for racism in NASCAR, and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcom-ing to all.”

On Twitter, Wallace said “the despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how per-sistent we must be in the fight against racism.”

“As my mother told me today, ‘They are just trying to scare you,’” he wrote. “ This will not

break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.”

The noose was dis-covered on the same day NASCAR’s fledgling flag ban faced its biggest chal-lenge. The ban took effect before last week’s race near Miami, but there were only about 1,000 mil-itary members admitted into that race.

At Talladega, in the heart of the South, as many as 5,000 fans were allowed in, even though rain postponed the race until Monday and visi-tors were barred from the infield. No flags were spotted Sunday, but cars and pickup trucks driv-

ing along nearby roads were flying the flag and parading past the en-trance to the superspeed-way over the weekend. A small plane flew over the track Sunday pulling a banner with the flag and the words “Defund NA-SCAR.”

Wallace’s 2013 victory in a Truck Series race was only the second in a NA-SCAR national series by an Black driver (Wendell Scott, 1963) and helped push him into the Cup Series, where he drives the No. 43 for Hall of Famer Richard Petty and is forced to scramble for sponsorship dollars.

Noose found in Bubba Wallace garage at Alabama race

SECTION

BSPORTS LINE662-241-5000Sports

THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

OWENS WINS GENERAL TIRE CLASH AT THE MAGBY THEO DEROSAtderosa@cdispatch.com

Jimmy Owens knows no two races at Magnolia Motor Speedway are ever the same.

Track conditions and preparation vary from event to event and night to night, and The Mag’s famed “black ice” surface throws a lot of unpredict-ability into the mix.

But the veteran driver from Newport, Tennes-see, didn’t have much trouble at the raceway this weekend.

Owens started on the pole, led 93 of 100 laps and won $15,000 with a first-place finish in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series/COMP Cams feature race at the Gener-al Tire Clash at The Mag on Saturday night.

Combined with a win in Friday night’s main event and a second-place finish Thursday, and Ow-ens walked away from the raceway’s headline week-end with $23,000 cash and some more momen-tum.

“It’s great to get a field of cars with a lot of tough competition, and to be consistently fast all weekend is definitely a big help,” Owens said. “It’s great morale for the team.”

Owens won his eighth race this year and his third on the Lucas Oil cir-cuit, extending his lead in championship points over Tim McCreadie to 160. McCreadie finished 10th on Saturday night.

The race continued a streak of strong showings for the “O Show” dating back to the end of the 2019 circuit.

“We ended the season great and have come out stronger this year,” Ow-ens said. “2020 is a good year for us.”

Shane Clanton of Ze-bulon, Georgia, finished second in Saturday’s fea-ture, 0.57 seconds behind Owens. Clanton led from the 18th to 23rd lap before

Owens overtook him, and a Clanton surge on Lap 81 nearly got him the lead back.

“It got cleaned up there off Turn 2, and I think I found it before he did,” Clanton said of Owens. “He was trying to pass some lapped cars and go to the outside. I got a good run and got beside him there, but it was so slick in 3 and 4, and he got back in front of me.”

Owens, too, said the track conditions were rough toward the end of the race, making him un-sure whether going high to low was his best option.

“We had a great track to race on for the first 70 laps or something like that,” he said.

Still, Owens’ green and white No. 20 car navigat-ed the ⅜-mile oval track as well Saturday as it did Fri-day, with the same result both times.

“We were good when the track was slick like this,” Owens said. “We were fast all weekend no matter what the condi-

tions have been. Just the hard work of the crew and all that stuff, it all pays off in the end.”

After losing the lead to Tyler Erb on the 16th lap, Owens regained it from Clanton seven laps later and soon began lapping cars. That posed a prob-lem, though, when they got in his way.

“It was really tough to do anything with lap traf-fic and stuff,” Owens said. “You don’t know where to go, and you just basically have to stay in line and hope the cautions play out your way.”

The yellow flag waved on the 21st, 46th, 63rd, 66th and 82nd laps, but Owens was able to shoot off restarts well despite having to slow down to avoid contact with the cars he had already lapped.

Behind Owens and Clanton, Josh Richards, Bobby Pierce and Erb rounded out the top five. Richards, who started fifth, made a late surge to come up third, though he

hoped for more.“Jimmy’s been really

tough,” Richards said. “I feel like if we had a car just a little bit better, we might have had some-thing for him. But hats off to those guys.”

Richards, the 2017 LOLMDS champion, felt foiled again.

“I honestly feel like we’ve had a solid car the entire year,” Richards said. “I really don’t feel like we should have been outside the top five. I feel like we should have a few more wins than we have, but a lot of crazy stuff happens.”

Pierce led wire to wire to win Thursday night’s race, with Owens coming in second. Ross Bailes was third, and Clanton and Erb completed the top five.

On Friday, Richards was second to Owens, while Erb was third. Frank Heckenast Jr. was fourth, and Michael Page was fifth.

Columbus driver Neil Baggett, the only local driver in Saturday’s race, finished 20th.

Late ModelsJeremy Shaw won two

more Crate Racin’ USA Late Models races to ex-tend his streak to four at The Mag and bring home $1,700 dollars in the pro-cess.

Shaw won $1,000 by besting Evan Ellis in Sat-urday’s race, while Monte Skinner, Randall Beck-with and Jamie Tollison rounded out the top five.

Hunter Carroll of Co-lumbus was sixth, and Shay Knight of Steens was 10th.

Shaw also captured first place in Friday’s fea-ture, taking home $700.

Beckwith, Skinner, Bryant Marsh and Car-roll rounded out the top five.

Mike Pickard of Steens and Knight were 18th and 19th.

Claire Hassler/Dispatch StaffJimmy Owens stands on top of his car after placing first during the General Tire Clash at The Mag on Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus. This win marked Owens’ 67th career series victory. See THE MAG, 2B

NASCAR

Talladega race postponed by rainTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Thunderstorms Sunday forced NASCAR to post-pone the Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeed-way that was to mark the return of more fans to the track.

The race, which was pushed back to 2 p.m. CDT on Monday, is the first amid the coronavi-rus pandemic in which NASCAR opened the gates for up to 5,000 fans. Those in the grandstands were urged to seek shel-ter roughly 30 minutes before the scheduled start, leading to a two-plus hour wait.

The addition of fans and the ban of Confeder-ate flags weren’t the only changes set to be on dis-play in the race.

NASCAR implement-ed new rules in response to Ryan Newman’s har-rowing accident when racing for the win on the final lap at Daytona in February.

The changes include the elimination of aero ducts at superspeedway tracks, a reduction in size of throttle body and requiring slip tape to be applied along the entire length of the lower rear-

ward facing surfaces of the rear bumper cover.

Teams headed to Talladega without any practical knowledge of their effect. Then there’s the still-minimal but in-creased fan presence.

NASCAR allowed 1,000 military members to attend last weekend’s rain-disrupted race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The event was stopped several times for more than three hours of total delays.

NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag from being displayed at its events but supporters of the symbol still man-aged to be seen Sunday. Vehicles lined the boule-vard outside the speed-way waving the flag and a plane flew above the track pulling a banner of the Confederate flag that said “Defund NASCAR.”

NASCAR has not stat-ed how exactly it plans to stop fans from displaying the flag on track property and none of the instances Sunday at Talladega were inside the facility.

Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing were set to run with an all-black paint scheme honoring the National Civil Rights Museum, with the muse-

um’s logo on the hood. Sponsor FedEx won’t be displayed on the car.

The flag ban is another statement for NASCAR.

Fan David Radvansky, who started coming to Talladega in the 1990s when his father parked cars at races, was among fans applauding NA-SCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flags.

“I don’t think there’s a place for it in NASCAR, to be honest with you,” the 32-year-old said. “That doesn’t sit well with all the good ole boys, but it is what it is.”

But the Confederate flags were still selling at Ed Sugg’s merchan-dise tent across from the track.

“They’re doing very well,” said the Helena, Alabama resident, who has been selling an ar-ray of wares at NASCAR races for 21 years. “Peo-ple are disappointed that NASCAR has taken that stance. It’s been around for as long as all of us have been. I don’t think anybody really connects it to any kind of racism or anything. It’s just a Southern thing. It’s trans-parent. It’s just a heritage thing.”

GOLF

Simpson celebrates Father’s Day win at Harbour TownTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HILTON HEAD IS-LAND, S.C. — Webb Simpson celebrated an-other victory on Father’s Day, this time with a tartan jacket instead of a U.S. Open trophy.

In a wild sprint to the finish after a three-hour storm delay, Simpson ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine at Harbour Town and closed with a 7-under

64 for a one-shot victory over Abraham Ancer.

Simpson won the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in 2012. The U.S. Open has been scheduled to end on Father’s Day every year since 1976, but it was moved to September this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The RBC Heritage filled the spot on the schedule and Simpson, now a father of five, be-came a winner for the

second time this year with a record score at Harbour Town.

He didn’t have much of a choice with so many low scores on a soft course with little wind. He finished at 22-under 262, breaking by two the tournament record set by Brian Gay in 2009.

“It was a crazy day,” Simpson said. “I didn’t get it going until 12 and then the putts started go-

See GOLF, 2B

Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY SportsWebb Simpson lines up his putt on the 18th green during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links on Saturday in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Claire Hassler/Dispatch StaffJimmy Owens makes a turn during the General Tire Clash at The Mag on Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus. Owens placed first and won $15,000. “It’s great morale for the team,” the Tennessee driver said.

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com2B MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

The MagContinued from Page 1B

SportsmanTyler Burgess of Quitman

won the Glenn’s BBQ and Fish Late Model Sportsman race Saturday night.

Burgess finished ahead of Brett White, Nick Thrash, Colby Ponds of Caledonia and Chance Inman to win the $500 prize.

Tony Shelton and Pickard, both of Steens, were seventh and eighth. Columbus drivers Jeremy Reedwood, Caleb Pick-ard and Lance Johnson finished 12th, 15th and 16th, respective-ly.

West Point drivers Jody Guest and Allen Simmons fin-ished 17th and 20th, and Jacob Wooten of Pheba was 23rd.

Street StocksChad Thrash won Saturday’s

Three Star Tire and Auto Street Stocks race to claim $1,000.

Thrash, who is from Merid-ian, beat Carl Kilgore and The Mag promoter Johnny Stokes. TJ Herndon and Heath Minor rounded out the top five.

Knight was seventh, Lee Ray of Columbus was 11th, and TK King of Columbus was 22nd.

On Friday, Hayden Matthew

Moran of Covington, Louisi-ana, won a $1,000 prize with a first-place finish.

Chad Winkles, Thrash, Herndon and Knight rounded out the top five.

Ray was sixth, Stokes was 11th, and King was 19th.

Factory StocksColumbus driver Aidan

Fletcher won $400 with a first-place finish in Friday’s Ranch House Diner Factory Stocks feature race.

Fletcher beat out Scooter Ware of West Point, who fin-ished second. Justin King was

third, John A. Beard Jr. of Co-lumbus was fourth, and John Johnson IV was fifth.

West Point’s Thomas Gable was 16th. Daniel Wiggins of Starkville was 21st, and Bobby Barksdale of Columbus was 23rd.

ModifiedsJason Byrd won Thursday’s

Crate Racin’ USA Modified Sportsman feature race to take home $500.

Byrd, of Carbon Hill, Ala-bama, held off Bryce Trull for the win. Michael Blakeney, Rusty Duncan and Luke Riddle

rounded out the top five.No local drivers competed in

the 13-car race.

Hot ShotsIsaac Gipson of Russellville,

Alabama, took first place in Thursday night’s Hot Shots fea-ture.

Gipson beat Jesse White for the $200 prize.

Dale Johnson, Les Sanford and Thomas Bynum rounded out the top five.

Ed Caulder and Judd Mur-phy of Columbus were 10th and 11th, respectively. Brandon Glenn of Steens was 15th.

ing in and I started getting confident. It’s amazing to be standing here right now.”

Simpson, who won the Phoenix Open in February, moved to No. 5 in the world. He also moved to the top of the FedEx Cup.

It was a tough runner-up finish for Ancer, trying to become the fifth straight winner of the RBC Heritage to capture his first PGA Tour victory at Harbour Town. He hit all 18 greens in regulation and tied for the lead with a bold fairway metal over the trees to the par-5 15th that set up a two-putt birdie. He also stayed in the game with a birdie on the 17th.

Ancer shot 65.There was just no catching Simpson,

whose only birdies were on the par 5s on the front nine until he couldn’t miss.

He rolled in birdie putts from 10 feet and 20 feet on the 12th and 13th, two-putted for birdie on the 15th and then sealed it with two more birdies from 15 feet and 18 feet.

Colonial winner Daniel Berger also stayed in the mix by chipping in for birdie on the 17th and closing with a 65. Tyrrell Hatton, whose last tournament was his victory in the Arnold Palmer In-vitational, was leading until a poor tee shot led to bogey on the 13th, and bo-geys were hard to recover from on this day. He shot 66 and tied for third.

Dylan Frittelli had the low score of a tournament filled with them, a 62 that put him in the lead before the fi-nal groups even teed off. Justin Thom-as had a 63 and tied him. Both knew it wasn’t going to hold up, especially after returning from a storm delay to still

conditions and even softer conditions.But it led to a carousel of contenders,

and even Brooks Koepka got in the mix.Koepka hit driver on the 331-yard

ninth hole that hit on the slope above the bunker and settled 3 feet for his ea-gle. He birdied the next two to get with-in one of the lead, but his hopes ended with a 5-foot birdie putt he missed on the par-5 15th. Koepka missed a pair of 5-foot par putts on the front nine.

He closed with a 65 and finished seventh, his best result since the Tour Championship.

“Six months off — three with the lockdown and then three on my knee — so yeah, it feels like it’s been a real-ly long time since I’ve even felt some juices flowing,” Koepka said. “It just felt nice to be in contention.”

Rory McIlroy closed with a 70 and

tied for 41st, his second straight result out of the top 30 after going seven con-secutive events worldwide with no fin-ish worse than fifth.

The PGA Tour now heads to the Con-necticut for the Travelers Champion-ship, and it’s still to be determined who will be playing until coronavirus tests are released for those on the charter flight.

The uncertainty stems from the first positive test — Nick Watney on Friday — along with 11 tests for those who had been in close contact with Watney. Until the first tournament back at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, the area around Har-bour Town was crowded with the start of summer vacation.

Those not on the charter will be test-ed upon arrival in Connecticut. Any pos-itive test means a player must withdraw.

GolfContinued from Page 1B

Belmont winner Tiz the Law eyes ambitious summer scheduleTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tiz the Law has been good and lucky, two in-gredients essential to success in horse racing.

He’s been dominant, too.

He raced to a 3 3/4-length victory Satur-day in the Belmont Stakes to open the rescheduled Triple Crown. His five wins in six career starts have been by an average margin of 19 1/4 lengths. His only loss came at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last year, when he finished third on a sloppy track.

In 11 weeks, he’ll get a chance to avenge that de-feat over the same track in the Kentucky Derby.

Tiz the Law has an am-bitious summer and fall campaign ahead of him if all goes according to plan.

Next up is the Tra-vers on Aug. 8 at Sarato-ga, where Tiz the Law would be competing on his home turf in upstate New York. It’s where he won for the first time last August. As the first New York-bred Belmont winner since 1882, his following only figures to get bigger. However, it re-mains to be seen whether fans would be allowed to attend at any point in the

Saratoga meet, which opens July 16.

“I’ve never won the Travers and I want to win it,” trainer Barclay Tagg said.

Then comes the Ken-tucky Derby on Sept. 5 and the Preakness on Oct. 3 — no word yet on spectators at either race — to close out the Tri-ple Crown. The bay colt would finish the year in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable — com-prised of 34 partners who paid $110,000 for Tiz the Law — hasn’t been able to cheer his colt in person since Feb. 1 at Gulfstream in Florida. He watched Tiz the Law win the Flor-ida Derby on March 28 from his condo near the track and the Belmont at a restaurant in Sarato-ga Springs. The colt has earned over $1.5 million.

“I keep telling every-body Barclay doesn’t get a lot of big horses and big opportunities,” Knowlton said about his trainer of 25 years, “but when he gets them he knows what to do.”

Keeping Tiz the Law healthy and happy is key, and becomes even more of a challenge with this year’s extended Triple Crown schedule. Instead of three races over five

weeks, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the series to be run out of or-der over 15 weeks.

Instead of running in the Derby five weeks after his Florida Derby victory, Tiz the Law had to wait 12 weeks for the Belmont to open the Tri-ple Crown series. Now, the colt is facing 11 weeks between the Belmont and the Derby, with the Tra-vers as his only race in be-tween. That’s a long time to train and avoid injury and illness.

In 2003, Funny Cide got sick after losing the Haskell Invitational and didn’t compete in the Tra-vers. Tagg and Sackato-ga Stable teamed up that year to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Funny Cide — a geld-ing that cost $75,000 — before his Triple Crown hopes were dashed with a third-place finish in the Belmont.

“You have to pay at-tention to your horse. He tells you whether it’s too much or too little,” Tagg said. “He tells you all that stuff if you pay attention to it. You have to show up every day. You have to see if he eats every day and if he eats every night.”

Tagg is always a man with a plan. The 82-year-old trainer gets on a pony to accompany each of his

horses to the track in the mornings. He’s at the barn in the evenings, too, making sure each one empties their feed tub. Anyone that doesn’t is of-ten a sign that something isn’t right.

Tiz the Law’s immedi-ate schedule after a ma-jor race involves walking around the barn for a few days before jogging on the track, then galloping, followed by a workout at a moderate speed. It’s a tricky balance of not go-ing too fast or too slow but just right.

Injuries have already decimated the 3-year-old ranks. Charlatan and Na-dal, trainer Bob Baffert’s undefeated duo that each won a division of the Ar-kansas Derby, are out. Charlatan could return in time for the Preakness; Nadal was retired. Loui-siana Derby winner Wells Bayou won’t make the Derby. Maxfield is out un-til next year.

Tiz the Law is atop the leaderboard that deter-mines the 20-horse Ken-tucky Derby field with 272 points. Honor A. P., in second with 120, skipped the Belmont because it came just two weeks after he won the Santa Anita Derby. Authentic, second in the Santa Anita Derby, is third on the leader-board.

F1 star Hamilton to set up commission to increase diversityTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Six-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamil-ton is to set up a commis-sion to increase diversity in motorsport.

The Mercedes driver said the aim of the Ham-ilton Commission would be to make the sport “be-come as diverse as the complex and multicultur-al world we live in.”

Writing in British newspaper The Sunday Times, Hamilton said it would be a research part-nership dedicated to ex-ploring how motorsport can be used as a vehicle to “engage more young people from Black back-grounds with science, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics (STEM) subjects and, ultimately, employ them on our teams or in other engineering sectors.”

“I’ve been fighting the stigma of racism throughout my racing ca-reer — from kids throw-ing things at me while karting, to being taunted by fans in black face at

a 2007 grand prix, one of my first Formula One races,” he wrote.

“I’m used to being one of very few people of color on my teams and, more than that, I’m used to the idea that no one will speak up for me when I face racism, be-cause no one personally feels or understands my experience.”

Hamilton, who is the only Black world cham-pion in F1, has spoken widely about racism after saying he was left feeling “so much anger, sadness and disbelief” following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.

He wrote in the paper that the “institutional barriers that have kept F1 highly exclusive per-sist,” adding that the thousands of people em-ployed in motorsport need to be more repre-sentative of society.

“Winning champion-ships is great, but I want to be remembered for my work creating a more equal society through ed-ucation,” he added.

AUTO

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 3B

Comics & PuzzlesDear AbbyDILBERT

ZITS

GARFIELD

CANDORVILLE

BABY BLUES

BEETLE BAILEY

MALLARD FILLMORE

HoroscopesTODAY’S BIRTHDAY (June

22). This is the year in which you drop the demands of yourself, are less critical and give yourself plenty of slack. As you focus on enjoying yourself, learning more and getting out of your own way, life gets increas-ingly better. You’ll complete a project at the start of 2021 and be praised in a realm of excellence. Leo and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 10, 3, 33, 38 and 40.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Where is this relationship going? You have more control over this than you think. Your unyielding kindness and uncon-ditional love will guide all to a

stable place.TAURUS (April 20-May 20).

Suggestions come from all sides — bosses, mentors, part-ners and your own head. Weed out the unhelpful. Hone in on the best and brightest. Listen to the ones likely to do you the most good.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). The Greek word krisis means “decision.” You will not wait until a moment of despair to choose what’s right for you. Whatever compels you to make up your mind is a positive force.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). It’s hard to make another person understand what’s in your heart when you can’t quite

articulate it to yourself. Do try though. Writing about your feel-ings will help you understand them a little better.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). It’s not too much to ask that others get in tune with what you are feeling. Good friends will try to match your pace, slowing down or speeding up to be where you are, physically, emotionally and otherwise.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’re analytical and cautious enough, but when there’s a lot of gray area in a nuanced and complex situation, you’d rather err on the side of trust, which is what trustworthy people tend to do.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). True love is without expectation and does not try to change any-one. This is a paradox because true love changes people any-way, without trying, and usually for the better.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Because you avoid over-indulging in the rabbit hole of email, social media, games, television and other fascinating things that steal your attention and don’t give much back, this day will be extremely productive.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Being self-aware is the foundation of social and emo-tional intelligence. A lot of today, you’ll be managing different facets of that awareness. It will involve trying new things and choosing different emotions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). When you are with a certain person, you lose your sense of time and get very involved in the moment. Its cas-cade of subtly layered feelings will carry you both away.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Motivation can be very mysterious, but it doesn’t always have to be. Generally, motivation comes from action and not the other way around. Doing anything at all will change the situation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’ll be wrestling with something that’s just a little out of reach. You won’t be able to bring it closer, so you will just have to get up and move to where the thing is.

SOLUTION:A splitting headache

FAMILY CIRCUS

DEAR ABBY: My beautiful wife just

passed away from ovarian cancer. She was only 48. She was my perfect life partner for 28 years and everything in the world to me. We shared every day together. I didn’t have any hobbies or guy friends; all I ever wanted was to be with her.

I’m not asking for help with grief, as there is no getting over what happened. But I became so emotionally dependent on her that I find myself like an addict in withdrawal. Because of this, I’m afraid I will appear to be des-perate if I even talk to another woman. I need someone in my life. I just don’t know how to get from hollow to whole again.

Please help me figure out how to let someone know I would be a good and faithful partner without hanging a sign around my neck that says “Desperate!” — IN NEED OF SOMEONE

DEAR IN NEED: Allow me to offer my deepest sympathy for the loss of your beloved wife, but please don’t jump the gun.

Before searching for another wife, it’s important you figure out the boundary be-tween where you left off and your wife began.

While the closeness you shared was a special gift, I urge you to allow your-self time to heal from this great loss. By that, I am not implying that you should go into seclusion.

Quite the contrary. But instead of searching for someone to fill the hole in your life, it would be healthier to start by looking for friends. Friends are easy to talk to, and from friendships deeper relationships develop.

Explore activities that interest you, whether they be sports-related, continuing your education, the arts, volunteer work. If you get stuck, ask for a referral to a grief support group or a therapist. You WILL get through this, but it will take time for the ache to subside. Have faith, accept it, go slow and you won’t regret it.

DEAR ABBY: My fiance, “Jay,” has a 14-year-old daughter who has been home-schooling

during the quarantine, and she refuses to put pants on. When we ask her to, she gets upset. She isn’t built like the average teenager. Abby, she’s 5’10” and weighs 200 pounds, so it’s like seeing a grown woman in her underwear.

I think it’s inappropriate for a young woman her age to be unwilling to dress herself fully, and I don’t like seeing her like that every time I go to their house. Jay doesn’t notice. He says it doesn’t bother him, and he doesn’t mind when I ask her to put shorts on. I don’t feel it’s my place at this point to dictate what she wears, but I’m un-comfortable. I don’t know if I’m crossing a line or if it’s normal to feel this way. Help! — DIDN’T THINK I WAS A PRUDE

DEAR DIDN’T: Your fiance is OK with his daughter’s attire in their home. If your engagement to Jay leads to marriage, you will be living there permanently, so your opinion should be respect-ed. Someone has to have “the talk” with your fiance’s daughter about the fact she’s no longer a child; she has become a young woman. The person to do that is her father. The message would be better coming from him because you’re not her parent, and it may help you avoid being perceived as the “wicked step-mother-to-be.”

Dear Abby

Balk in baseball coronavirus talks as negotiations drag onTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — An email from baseball Com-missioner Rob Manfred to union head Tony Clark led to a balk in the drawn-out talks to start the pan-demic-delayed season.

The executive com-mittee of the players’ as-sociation was set to vote and reject Major League Baseball’s latest offer for a 60-game season on Sun-day.

Players want 70 games and $275 million more than teams are offering. They are worried that if a resurgence of the new coronavirus causes the 2020 season to be cut short, the deal being ne-gotiated would lock in innovations for 2021 and

lessen the union’s bar-gaining power.

Manfred wrote that if fewer than the agreed-up-on number of games are played this year, the 2021 changes would be voided in a manner that would leave them up for rene-gotiation, people familiar with the email told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because no statements were autho-rized.

Players didn’t take a vote and will consider their next move.

Among the items in the proposed deal for 2020 and 2021 are ex-panded playoffs, use of the designated hitter in games involving National League teams and allow-

ing advertisements on uniforms. The 2020 only items include starting ex-tra innings with runner on second and a discus-sion of whether to allow tie games after a speci-fied total of innings plus player re-entry in extra innings.

Some players would prefer there not be a deal and that Manfred unilat-erally order the schedule. Because players have insisted on full prorated pay, he has threatened a schedule of about 50 games.

The proposed deal would give Manfred the right to suspended or cancel play if “restric-tions on travel through-out the United States are imposed” or if he deter-

mines after consulting medical experts and the union that there has been a change in circumstanc-es posing “an unreason-able health and safety risk to players or staff to stage those games, even with-out fans in attendance.”

MLB’s proposal for 60 games includes $1.48 billion in salary plus a $25 million postseason players’ pool, while the union’s plan includes $1.73 billion in salary and a $50 million pool.

Absent an agreement, the union would file a grievance claiming MLB violated the provision in the March 26 agreement recognizing “that each of the parties shall work in good faith to as soon as is practicable commence,

play, and complete the fullest 2020 champion-ship season and post-sea-son that is economically feasible,” subject to sever-al provisions.

Those provisions say that without MLB’s con-sent, the season shall not start until there are no legal restrictions on play-ing in front of fans at the 30 regular-season ball-parks, no relevant travel restrictions and no health or safety risk to players, staff or spectators to playing in the 30 regular ballparks. The agreement also says the sides “will discuss in good faith the economic feasibility of playing games in the ab-sence of spectators or at appropriate substitute neutral sites.”

MLB had proposed having the season run from July 19 or 20 through Sept. 27, the shortest since the 1870s, while the union agreed to the start date and said it should end Sept. 30, or earlier us-ing doubleheaders. Both sides proposed pitchers and catchers report June 26, followed by position players two days later, but they are running out of time to finalize a schedule that would allow players time to meet those dates.

A rise in positive tests last week in Flori-da caused MLB to close all 30 training camps for deep cleaning and disin-fecting. Philadelphia an-nounced Friday that five players had tested posi-tive for COVID-19.

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com4B MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

2nd wave of virus cases? Experts say we’re still in the 1stTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

What’s all this talk about a “second wave” of U.S. coronavirus cases?

In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined “There Isn’t a Coronavi-rus ‘Second Wave’” that the nation is winning the fight against the virus.

Many public health ex-perts, however, suggest it’s no time to celebrate. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West.

But there is at least one point of agreement: “Sec-ond wave” is probably the wrong term to describe what’s happening.

“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We’re in the first wave. Let’s get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.”

Clearly there was an initial infection peak in April as cases exploded in New York City. After schools and businesses were closed across the country, the rate of new cases dropped somewhat.

But “it’s more of a pla-teau, or a mesa,” not the trough after a wave, said Caitlin Rivers, a disease researcher at Johns Hop-kins University’s Center for Health Security.

Scientists generally agree the nation is still in its first wave of coronavi-rus infections, albeit one that’s dipping in some parts of the country while rising in others.

“This virus is spread-

ing around the United States and hitting dif-ferent places with differ-ent intensity at different times,” said Dr. Richard Besser, chief executive of the Robert Wood John-son Foundation who was acting director of the Cen-ters for Disease Control and Prevention when a pandemic flu hit the U.S. in 2009.

Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert, echoed that senti-ment.

“What I would call this is continued transmission with flare-ups,” he said.

Flu seasons sometimes feature a second wave of infections. But in those cases, the second wave is a distinct new surge in cases from a strain of flu that is different than the strain that caused earlier illnesses.

That’s not the case in the coronavirus epidemic.

Monto doesn’t think “second wave” really de-scribes what’s happening now, calling it “totally se-mantics.”

“Second waves are ba-sically in the eye of the beholder,” he said.

But Besser said se-mantics matter, because saying a first wave has passed may give people a false sense that the worst is over.

Some worry a large wave of coronavirus might occur this fall or winter — after schools reopen, the weather turns colder and less humid, and people huddle inside more. That would follow seasonal patterns seen with flu and other respi-ratory viruses. And such a fall wave could be very bad, given that there’s no vaccine or experts think most Americans haven’t had the virus.

But the new coronavi-rus so far has been spread-ing more episodically and sporadically than flu, and it may not follow the same playbook.

“It’s very difficult to make a prediction,” Riv-ers said. “We don’t know the degree to which this virus is seasonal, if at all.”

AREA OBITUARIES

Rise in coronavirus cases brings new concerns in Alabama

M O N T G O M E R Y, Ala. — William Boyd was at the funeral Sat-urday morning for a relative who had died after contracting the new coronavirus when he got the call with the news. His brother had also passed away from COVID-19.

“The virus is real. It’s real. If they don’t know it’s real, they can come and walk with me to the cemetery,” said Boyd, the owner of a Montgom-ery car lot.

Alabama and much of the Deep South are

seeing a spike in corona-virus cases as some have stopped heeding warn-ings of the virus, alarm-ing public health officials and people who have lost loved ones because of COVID-19. Over the past two weeks, Alabama had the second highest num-ber of new cases per cap-ita in the nation. South Carolina was fourth. Louisiana and Mississip-pi were also in the top 10.

“We are extremely concerned about these numbers. We know if they continue, we will see more hospitaliza-tions and more deaths,” Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris said.

SOURCE: AP

COMMERCIAL DISPATCH OBITUARY POLICYObituaries with basic informa-tion including visitation and service times, are provided free of charge. Extended obituaries with a photograph, detailed biographical information and other details families may wish to include, are available for a fee. Obituaries must be sub-mitted 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 Com-mercial Dispatch. Free notices must be submitted to the news-paper 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 received 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.

Patsy McCloskeyCOLUMBUS — Pat-

sy Ann McClokey, 76, died June 18, 2020, at her residence.

A funeral service is at noon today, at An-tioch Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Memorial Gardens. Visitation is one hour prior to services. Lown-des Funeral Home of Columbus is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. McCloskey was born May 25, 1944, in Carbondale, Illinois, to the late Harold Hard-ing and Patricia Pearl Sills Holliday. She was formerly employed in childcare and was a member of Antioch Baptist Church.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Jerome McCloskey.

She is survived by her sister, Janet.

Pallbearers are Kye Van Someren, Kobe Van Someren, Wade Bouchard, Grant Bourchard, TJ Yates, Caleb Kincade, Grant Bouchard and Nathan Killen.

Jean HendersonCOLUMBUS — Jean

Carol Henderson, 60, died June 21, 2020, at her residence.

Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by Lown-des Funeral Home of Columbus.

Ruth TurnerVERNON, Ala. —

Ruth Turner, 95, died June 19, 2020, at Gener-ations of Vernon.

Funeral Services are at 2p.m. today, at First Free Will Bap-tist Church, with Joe Beckon officiating. Burial will follow in the Vernon City Cemetery. Visitation is one hour prior to services. Chan-dler Funeral Home of Vernon is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Turner was born May 11, 1925, in Suggsville, Alabama, to the late Marion E. Thomson Sr. and Arte-misa Thompson. She was formerly employed as a dental assistant and was a member of First Free Will Baptist Church.

In addition to her parents, she was pre-ceded in death by her husband, Zadus Turner

Sr., and siblings, Edwin Thompson, Ramon Thompson, Joe Banks Thompson, Robert Thompsson, Eddie Lily and Clara Gradick.

She is survived by her children, Zadus Turner Jr. and Joe Turner, both of Vernon; sister, Linda Leps of Midland, Texas; five grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers Jody Turner, Walt Turner, Turner Kilpatrick, Jon Kilpatrick, Cade Hatfield, Zane Turner, Nathan Kilpatrick, Trey Pinkerton, Landon Kil-patrick and Wit Turner.

Memorials may be made to the First Free Will Baptist Church, P.O. Box 546, Vernon, AL 35592.

Brad LamarVisitation:

Sunday, June 28 • 1 PM2nd Ave. North LocationMemorial Services:Sunday, June 28 • 2 PM2nd Ave. North Location

William PearmanMemorial Services:

To Be Held At A Later Date.College St. Location

memorialgunterpeel.com

The DispaTch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 5B

Classifieds THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020 n 6B

Ads AppeAr in The CommerCiAl dispATCh, The sTArkville dispATCh And online

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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.

Sunday’s answer

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40 Fills com-pletely41 Beholds

DOWN1 Make suitable2 Songs for one3 Two-time NBA MVP Curry4 Captain Queeg’s com-mand5 Some tires6 Pitcher’s place7 Spring mo.8 Was a replace-ment9 Estrogen, for one

12 Wallops16 Nashville’s Grand Ole —21 Readers of secret messages22 Prevents, legally23 Paints the town red24 Washington’s capital25 Sticky stuff27 Walter and Winfield29 Bender30 Sprite31 Steer clear of32 Titled women36 Small worker

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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.

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Mowing, cleanup,landscaping, sodding,

& tree cutting.662−356−6525

Lawn Care / Landscaping

Lawn CareMow, Trim, Edge and Blow.

Free Estimate.Call 662−574−1225.

If no answer please leavemessage.

Painting & Papering

QUALITY PAINTING.

Ext/Int Painting.Sheet Rock Hang, Finish &Repair. Pressure Washing.Free Estimates. Ask forspecials! Larry Webber,

662−242−4932.

SULLIVAN’S PAINT

SERVICE

Special Prices.Interior & Exterior Painting.

662−435−6528

Are you a painter? Advertise here!

General Help Wanted

COMPUTER and IT TRAINING PRO-GRAM! Train ONLINE to get the skills tobecome a Computer and Help DeskProfessional now! Now offering a$10,000 scholarship qualified applicants.Call CTI for details! 833-992-0228 (M-F8am-6pm ET)EARN YOUR HOSPITALITY DEGREEONLINE! Earn your Associates DegreeONLINE with CTI! Great career advance-ment with the right credentials! Learnwho's hiring! Call 833-992-0228. (M-F8am-6pm ET)PHARMACY TECHNICIAN TRAININGPROGRAMS From Ultimate MedicalAcademy Offer Quality HealthcareEducation to Students 100% online.-Ultimate Medical Academy: 1-866-664-4140TRAIN ONLINE TO DO MEDICALBILLING! Become a Medical OfficeProfessional online at CTI! Get Trained,Certified & ready to work in months! Call833-992-0228. (M-F 8am-6pm ET)

GOT LAND IN MISSISSIPPI? Ourhunters will pay TOP $$$ to hunt yourland. Call for a FREE info packet andquote. 1-866-309-1507.www.BaseCampLeasing.com

COW FEED. Damaged Corn, also dam-aged Soybean. Excellent cow feed. Cottongin trash - high protein. 5x5 Mixed GrassHay. Fertilized, net wrap. Delivery avail-able. 731-676-0857ENJOY 100% GUARANTEED, deliv-ered to-the-door Omaha Steaks! Get 4FREE Burgers Order The Griller's Bundle -ONLY $79.99. Call 1-855-398-5977mention code: 63281CMC or visitwww.omahasteaks.com/family230GENERAC STANDBY GENERATORS.The weather is increasingly unpredictable.Be prepared for power outages. FREE 7-year extended warranty ($695 value).Schedule your in-home assessment today.Call 1-844-316-8630. Special financingfor qualified customers.

DENTAL INSURANCE from PhysiciansMutual Insurance Company. Coveragefor (350) procedures. Real dental insur-ance - NOT just a discount plan. (Don’twait!) Call now! Get your FREE DentalInformation Kit with all the details!1 - 8 5 5 - 3 9 7 - 7 0 4 5www.dental50plus.com/mspress #6258UP TO $15,000.00 of GUARANTEEDLife Insurance! No medical exam orhealth questions. Cash to help pay funer-al and other final expenses.CallPhysicians Life Insurance Company- 844-439-8447 or visitwww.Life55plus.info/ms

ATTENTION DIABETICS! Save moneyon your diabetic supplies! Convenienthome shipping for monitors, test strips,insulin pumps, catheters and more! Tolearn more, call now! 877-368-0628VIAGRA and CIALIS USERS! 50 PillsSPECIAL $99.00 FREE Shipping! 100%guaranteed. CALL NOW! 844-821-3242

DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY.Receive maximum value of write off foryour taxes. Running or not! All condi-tions accepted. Free pickup. Call fordetails. 855-400-8263STATEWIDE CLASSIFIED ADVERTIS-ING available starting at $210 per week.Call 601-981-3060.

DIRECTV - Switch and Save!$39.99/month. Select All-IncludedPackage. 155 Channels. 1000s ofShows/Movies On Demand. FREE GenieHD DVR Upgrade. Premium movie chan-nels, FREE for 3 mos! Call 1-855-978-3110DISH NETWORK. $59.99 for 190Channels! Blazing Fast Internet,$19.99/mo. (where available.) Switch &Get a FREE $100 Visa Gift Card. FREEVoice Remote. FREE HD DVR. FREEStreaming on ALL Devices. Call today! 1-877-628-3143

DENIED SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILI-TY? Appeal! If you're 50+, filed for SSDand denied, our attorneys can help getyou approved! No money out of pocket!Call 601-203-3826

FREON WANTED: We pay $$$ forcylinders and cans. R12 R500 R11 R113R114. Convenient. CertifiedProfessionals. Call 312-779-0402 orvisit www.RefrigerantFinders.co

Week of June 21, 2020

M e d i c a l S u p p l i e s

S e r v i c e s - G e n e r a l

S e r v i c e s - L e g a l

M i s c e l l a n e o u s

I n s u r a n c eC l a s s e s / T r a i n i n g

F o r S a l e

F a r m E q u i p m e n t

Wa n t e d To B u y

Place Your Classified Ad

STATEWIDEIn 100 Newspapers!

STATEWIDE RATES:Up to 25 words...........$2101 col. x 2 inch.............$5251 col. x 3 inch.............$7851 col. x 4 inch...........$1050

Nationwide PlacementAvailable

Call MS Press Services 601-981-3060

emPloymentcall uS: 662-328-2424

General Help Wanted

WANTED: QualifiedAutomotive TechniciansCall for details.662-574-4221

AREA BUSINESSis seeking a mature,

motivated person whoenjoys interacting withpeople, being outdoorsand multitasking. Skillsrelated to maintaining

equipment and/or farmwork are desired but not

required. Person needs tobe flexible enough to pitchin where ever needed but

also keep their coreresponsibilities in mind.

If you enjoy a different ex-perience on the regular,meeting new people and

believe in customersatisfaction this job might

be for you.Please submit resume to:

Blind Box 675 c/o TheCommercial Dispatch

PO Box 511Columbus, MS 39703

CALEDONIA BUSINESSneeds General Laborer.Experienced weed-eater,$10-12/hour. Valid driver'slicense, transportation &experience helpful. CallJesse & Beverly's LawnService at 662-356-6525.

ORGANIST POSITION at St.David Anglican Church inMayhew, MS, to providemusic for Sunday service &occasional special ser-vices. Knowledge/experi-ence with Anglican Liturgyhelpful, but not necessary.The 1928 Book of Com-mon Pray & the 1940 Epis-copal Hymnal are used.(318)527-9213 for info.

THE COMMERCIALDISPATCH 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.

rentalSaDS Starting at $25

Apts For Rent: North

FOX RUN APARTMENTS

1 & 2 BR near hospital.$595−$645 monthly.Military discount, pet area,pet friendly, and furnishedcorporate apts.24−HOUR PROFESSIONALGYM. ON SITE SECURITY.ON SITE MAINTENANCE.ON SITE MANAGEMENT.24−HOUR CAMERASURVEILLANCE. Benji &Ashleigh, 662−386−4446.

Apts For Rent: West

VIPRentals

Apartments & Houses

viceinvestments.com327-8555

1 Bedrooms2 Bedroooms3 Bedrooms

1, 2, & 3 BathsLease, Deposit& Credit Check

Furnished & Unfurnished

Apts For Rent: Other

Apts For Rent: Other

COLEMANRENTALS

TOWNHOUSES & APARTMENTS

1 BEDROOM2 BEDROOMS3 BEDROOMS

LEASE,DEPOSIT

ANDCREDIT CHECK

662-329-23232411 HWY 45 N

COLUMBUS, MS

© Th

e Disp

atch

Houses For Rent: North

135 HORSESHOE LOOP,

COLUMBUS. 3BR/2BA,fenced yard, quiet & retiredarea. Storage building inback yard. $700/mo +dep. 901−314−3098.

HOUSE FOR RENT

2−3 Bedroom w/ 1.5 BathFenced in yard. $675.

662−549−9555.Ask for Glenn or text.

Mobile Homes for Rent

RENT A CAMPER!

CHEAPER THAN A MOTEL!

Utilities & cable included,from $145/wk − $535/moColumbus & County Schoollocations. 662−242−7653

or 205−442−2011.

real eStateaDS Starting at $25

Houses For Sale: New Hope

NEW CONSTRUCTION

NEW HOPE SCHOOLS

FOR SALE SOON

This 4 bedroom beauty isalmost ready. Take

advantage of historic lowinterest rates. Hardwood,granite, security and more.Call P & D Builders, Inc.@ 662−328−0770.

Builder/Broker/Owner.

Lots & Acreage

1.75 ACRE LOTS.

Good/Bad Credit Options.Good credit as low as 10%down, $299/mo. EatonLand, 662−361−7711.

Waterfront Property

NEWLY RENOVATED threebedroom, two 1/2 bathhome in private communitywith community boatlanding. Property sits onTibbee Creek and isconveniently located toWest Point, Columbus, andStarkville. Home has ascreened in back patio witha deck that overlooksTibbee Creek. $198,800.662−549−2768

garage SaleS two free SignS

Garage Sales: New Hope

2212 New Hope Rd.Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon, 6a−6p.

Womens/Mens/Kidsclothes.

662−370−9356.

merchanDiSeaDS Starting at $12

Bargain Column

FREE HORSE MANURE,

mixed with sawdust.By appointment. Will load.West Lowndes.662−364−6990.

General Merchandise

2018 40FT GooseneckTrailer w/ 5ft dovetail, 12ton axles, 10−4inch straps& tarps. $7,000.662−251−3001.

5X10 UTILITY TRAILER

Good condition, single axle.$500. 662−425−2454.

WHITE POSTER BOARD

$0.50 each − 24"x23"Visit 516 Main Streetor call 662−328−2424

Lawn & Garden

HAYES DAYLILIES

Open mornings. M−S.1069 New Hope Rd. Call

662−251−6665.

Wanted To Buy

USED COMPUTER. Mustwork good. 806 Shiloh Dr.662−889−6619.

vehicleSaDS Starting at $12

Autos For Sale

2004 FORD T−BIRD. Twotops, hard & soft. Littleover 100k mi. ExcellentCondition. Call Holly atEaton Motor Company inHouston, 662−705−1143.

Trucks, Vans & Buses

2009 Red, Extended cab,Chevrolet Silverado 1500,less than 78k mi. Can beseen @ Stokes on 82 onMonday, 6/22. Cashier’scheck only. $11,500.

662−327−7845.

communityaDS Starting at $12

Travel & Entertainment

PUBLIC CATFISH POND

@ 130 Hillcrest Drive.Open Tues−Sat, 7a−5p

662−386−8591Call for pricing.

Five Questions:1 Reggie Jackson2 Andorra3 fsociety

4 Joan of Arc5 Sarah Silverman

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