DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471
E
STABLISHED
1879 | C
OLUMBUS
, M
ISSISSIPPI
CDISPATCH.COM75 ¢ N
EWSSTAND
| 40 ¢ H
OME
D
ELIVERY
T
HURSDAY
| M
ARCH
18, 2021
NEW HOPE MURDER
141
ST
Y
EAR
, N
O
. 314
High
55
Low
43
Mostly cloudy, breezy
Full forecast on page 3A.
FIVE QUESTIONS
1
What shape is a symphony orchestra usually arranged in — circle, semicircle or square?
2
Bats are members of the bird family. True or false?
3
Which is not a color of card shown by the referee during a soccer game — red, yellow or black?
4
What do the letters TMZ stand for, in the name of the gossip website?
5
In which city is Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport located?
Answers, 6B
INSIDE
Business
5B
Classifieds
6B
Comics
4B
Crossword
6B
Dear Abby
4B
Obituaries
5A
Opinions
4A
LOCAL FOLKS
Owen Byrd,
12, plays baseball for Caledonia.
CALENDAR
Thursday, March 25
■
Candidate forum:
Hear Columbus municipal candidates at the 2021 Candi-date Forum at the Lyceum at Lee (former Lee High School). The event is co-spon-sored by The Dispatch and WCBI and will follow a Q&A format with a moderator. COVID precautions will be taken for a limited live audience and the event will be livestreamed online by WCBI. Reserve free tickets online at cdispatch.com/forum
Friday, March 26
■
Tennessee Williams 110th birthday celebration:
Visit the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center, 300 Main St., Columbus, at 10 a.m. for birthday cake, photos with “Tennessee” and his “moth-er,” Edwina Dakin Williams, and register to win dinner at Galatoire’s in New Orleans.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
April 5:
Lowndes County Super-visors, 9 a.m., Courthouse
April 6:
Columbus City Council, 5 p.m., livestreamed on City of Colum-bus, MS — Mayor’s Office Facebook page
April 12:
Columbus Municipal School District Board, 6 p.m., Brandon Central Services
April 15:
Lowndes County Super-visors, 9 a.m., Courthouse
WEATHER
SPIDER-MAN RIDE
Deanna Robinson/Dispatch Staff
Ridge Swain, 5, rides in his Spider-Man car at his home in Caledonia Tuesday afternoon. “I like Spider-Man because he has webs,” Ridge said. He is the son of Mary Margaret Swain.
BUSINESS MOVES WITH MARY
BY SLIM SMITH
ssmith@cdispatch.com
STARKVILLE — During Wednesday’s abbreviated ses-sion of the Lydia Martinez murder trial, the prosecution focused heavily on the events of uly 22, 2015, when authorities found what was described as a suicide note/confession in the defendant’s bedroom, and when Martinez allegedly admitted her guilt to a paramedic as she was being taken to the hospital. The prosecution also intro-duced forensic evidence found at the home Martinez shared with her family — the victim Manuel Vasquez, daughter Christina Marti-nez and her three grandchildren.Martinez, 61, is accused of first-degree mur-der in the killing of her son-in-law, Manuel Vasquez, in the early-morning hours of June 24, 2015. Christina Marti-nez pleaded guilty to second-de-gree murder in the case in 2019 and is awaiting sentencing. Wednesday’s testimony began with defense attorney Arthur Calderón’s cross-exam-ination of Lt. Tony Cooper of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, who testified Tuesday about arriving at the Vasquez home on July 22 with a sub-poena to search the home and take Christina Martinez to the sheriff’s office for further ques-tioning.Cooper said Christina an-swered the door and went up-stairs to the defendant’s bed-room to tell her she needed her mother to watch the children while she was at the sheriff’s office.Cooper said Christina was gone less than a minute.“When she came back, she was saying, ‘Help. My mom’shurt,’” he said.Cooper said he and two oth-er deputies arrived in the de-fendant’s bedroom, where they found Martinez lying on thebed with blood on her face andarms. Cooper said he noticed a jar with a small amount of liq-uid on the nightstand. Another detective discovered a letter, which Cooper said he read,describing it as a suicide note/confession letter.
Witnesses: Mother-in-law admitted to 2015 killing
Defense attorney questions accuracy of alleged confessions on second day of Lydia Martinez murder trial
Waffle House employee who allegedly stabbed customer charged with murder
Authorities identify suspect, victim in Wednesday morning stabbing
DISPATCH STAFF REPORT
Authorities have charged a Waffle House employee ac-cused of stabbing a customer to death with murder.Hezekiah Manigo, 22, of Columbus, was arrested Wednesday morning for the death of Davartex Artez Fisher, 28. Fisher was at the Waffle Houselocation near the intersection of Highway 45 North and Highway 82at about 2 a.m. Wednesday whenhe and Manigo apparently got intoan argument over a food order,according to a Columbus PoliceDepartment press release. The re-
Coffee and ice cream shop coming to Caledonia
B
y mid April, folks leaving Ola J. Pickett Park can stop for an afternoon treat.Sonya Maclean is opening Sweetie’s Café at 9641 Old Wolf Road, across from the Caledonia park. The new café will start serving customers ice cream, coffee, snowballs and various desserts.She added the new café will continually offer specials and seasonal treats.“We’re going to keep things changing, add items and keep customers on their toes,” Ma-clean said.Once open, Maclean said customers can stop by Tuesday through Sunday 1-6 p.m.“We wanted to do something close to home,” Maclean said. “We’re excited about being there. I grew up in Caledo-nia, we’re building a house in Caledonia, so we’re ready and excited to open up.” Moving on, we’ve got a new kind of kid’s sleepover.Kasey Duke opened Local Little Teepee this month, bringing kids’ sleepovers to “the next level.”“We offer full service party pack-ages that includes teepees, mattress-es, linens, pillows and the party décor of your choice from our themes,” Duke said. “Our packages include delivery, set up and pick up to the location of your choice in the Golden Triangle.”Local Little Teepees has various themes including camouflage, sports themed, rainbow and unicorns and more.“We wanted to bring some creativ -ity and versatility to the party options offered in our com-munity,” Duke said.Check out Local Little Teepee’s Facebook page for pricing, scheduling and vari-ous specials to make your kid’s sleepover the talk of the school.Over in Starkville, we have a new bakery in town — well, in home.Shae McGee opened Shae’s Treats this year from her own kitchen.For now, McGee is baking out of her kitchen, but hopes to expand to a brick and mortar shop.“I bake a lot,” McGee said. “More than an average person by far. My friends and family always get me to make treats for events. … Lately it’s been weekly that I get asked to, so I prayed about it and decided I
PLUS: In-home bakery opens in Starkville
Mary Pollitz
See
BUSINESS
, 6A
ManigoMartinez
See
MARTINEZ
, 6ASee
MANIGO
, 6A
T
HE
D
ISPATCH
• www.cdispatch.com
2A
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
BY JILL COLVIN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Delegation trips to the border. Apocalyptic warn-ings. A flurry of new conferences. Republicans still divided over former President Donald Trump’s legacy are seizing on his signature campaign issue, turning their focus to immigration as they try to regain the political upper hand. Faced with President Joe Biden’s early popularity, good news about vaccinations, and Americans’ em-brace of the COVID-19 relief bill Washington Republicans opposed, the GOP is leaning in on the highly charged issue amid a spike in border crossings. They hope immigration can unite the party heading into next year’s elections, when control of Con-gress is at stake.“Heading into the midterms, I think that Republicans are increas-ingly realizing that this can be one of the most potent issues, both to motivate our voters, but equally as important, to appeal to” swing vot-ers — especially in suburban swing districts — who voted for Democrats in 2020, said former Trump aide Ste-phen Miller, the architect of his im-migration policies. He said the issue has been a subject of discussion in his recent conversations with law-makers as child border crossings have surged, straining U.S. facilities. The situation at the southern bor-der is complex. Since Biden’s inau-guration, the country has seen a dra-matic spike in the number of people encountered by border officials, with 18,945 family members and 9,297 unaccompanied children encoun-tered in February — an increase of 168 percent and 63 percent from the month before, according to the Pew Research Center. That creates an enormous logistical challenge, since children, in particular, require high-er standards of care and coordina-tion across agencies.Still, the encounters of both un-accompanied minors and families remain lower than at various points during the Trump administration, including in spring 2019. That May, authorities encountered more than 55,000 migrant children, including 11,500 unaccompanied minors, and around 84,500 migrants traveling in family units.But that hasn’t stopped Repub-licans from seizing on the issue, led by Trump himself. They blame Biden, who has been deeply critical of Trump’s approach, for rolling back many of the former president’s hard-line deterrence policies. And they lik-en Biden’s new, kinder tone to an in- vitation to would-be border crossers.
Republicans seize on immigration as border crossings surge
GOP hoping issue can unite party heading into next year’s elections
BY TERRY TANG
The Associated Press
Asian Americans were already worn down by a year of pandemic-fu-eled racist attacks when a white gunman was charged with attacking three Atlanta-area mas-sage parlors and killing eight people, most of them Asian women.Hundreds of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear and hope-lessness. The hashtag #StopAsianHate was a top trending topic on Twitter hours after the shootings that happened Tuesday evening.“I think the reason why people are feeling so hopeless is because Asian Americans have been ringing the bell on this issue for so long ... We’ve been raising the red flag,” said Aisha Yaqoob Mah-mood, executive direc-tor of the Atlanta-based Asian American Advoca-cy Fund, which does po-litical and advocacy work across Georgia.Many were also out-raged that the suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was not immedi-ately charged with hate crimes. Authorities said Long told police the attack was not racially motivat-ed, and he claimed that he targeted the spas because of a “sex addiction.” Six of the seven slain women were identified as Asian.Law enforcement needs “some training understanding what a hate crime is. This man identified targets owned by Asians,” said Marga-ret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Pov-erty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. The gunman “was very clear -ly going after a targeted group of people.”Being Asian American herself, Huang said the shootings felt personal. She is worried that not classifying the attack as a hate crime will “absolute-ly discourage others from coming forward and seek-ing help.”
Asian Americans grieve, organize in wake of Atlanta attacks
BY SARAH SKIDMORE SELL
P Business Writer
Americans will be get-ting extra time to prepare their taxes. The Internal Revenue Service says it’s delaying the traditional tax filing deadline from April 15 until May 17. The IRS announced the decision Wednesday and said it would provide further guidance in the coming days. The move provides more breathing room for taxpayers and the IRS alike to cope with changes brought on by the pandemic. “The IRS wants to con-tinue to do everything possible to help taxpay-ers navigate the unusual circumstances related to the pandemic, while also working on important tax administration responsi-bilities,” IRS Commission-er Chuck Rettig said in a statement. The decision postpones when individual taxpayers must file their return and when their payment is due. The IRS said taxpayers who owe money would not face any further penalties or interest if they pay by May 17.
IRS will delay tax filing due date until May 17
Despite headwinds, House set to OK Democrats’ immigration bills
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Democrats seem poised to claim victory in the House’s first votes this year on immigration, but moving legislation on the divisive issue all the way through Congress to President Joe Biden is an uphill fight. The House was set to vote Thursday on one bill giving over 2 million young Dreamer immigrants and others full legal status and a chance for citizenship. A second measure would do the same for around 1 million immigrant farm workers. Both seemed certain to pass.But party divisions and solid Republican opposition mean pushing legislation through the Senate on immigration remains difficult, es-pecially for Biden’s goal of a sweeping measure helping all 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally become citizens. The partisan battle shows little promise of easing before next year’s elections, when Repub-licans could use it in their effort to regain House and Senate control.
T
HE
D
ISPATCH
• www.cdispatch.com
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
3A
SOLUNAR TABLE
The solunar period indicates peak-feeding times for fish and game.Courtesy of Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
Thurs. Fri.
MajorMinorMajorMinor
4:45a10:35a5:08p—5:31a11:11a5:54p12:44a
The Commercial Dispatch (USPS 142-320)Published daily except Saturday.Entered at the post office at Columbus, Mississippi. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, MSPOSTMASTER, Send address changes to: The Commercial Dispatch, P.O. Box 511, Columbus, MS 39703Published by Commercial Dispatch Publishing Company Inc., 516 Main St., Columbus, MS 39703
Answers to common questions:Phone:
662-328-2424
Website:
cdispatch.com/help
Report a news tip:
news@cdispatch.com
T
HE
D
ISPATCH
Warnock: GOP voting restrictions resurrect‘Jim Crow era’
‘One person, one vote is being threatened right now’
BY BILL BARROW
The Associated Press
Sen. Raphael Warnock, whose election as Georgia’s first Black senator gave control of the cham-ber to Democrats, used his first floor speech on Capitol Hill to blast a wave of Republican-backed mea-sures that would make it harder to cast ballots in states around the country. Warnock noted Georgia’s and the country’s history of allowing voter suppression against mi-norities and the poor, and he warned that someRepublican lawmakers are trying to reopen thosechapters with “draconian” restrictions he cast as a reaction against Democratic victories like his.“We are witnessing right now a massive and un-abashed assault on voting rights and voter access unlike anything we have seen since the Jim Crow era,” Warnock said Wednesday. “One person, one vote is being threatened right now. Politicians inmy home state and all across America, in their cra- ven lust for power, have launched a full-fledged as-sault on voting rights” and on “democracy itself.” The first-term senator’s speech followed Sen-ate Democrats’ introduction of a sweeping elec-tion law overhaul, called the “For the People Act,” that could override many of the restrictive mea-sures that Republicans are pushing at the state level. Warnock is the Senate bill’s lead sponsor. The House passed its version in the previous Con-gress and again last month on a 220-210 vote that fell along party lines.Democrats cast their legislation as a way torender most of the state GOP moves moot. Repub-lican leaders insist their approach, which followsformer President Donald Trump’s false assertions that the 2020 elections were “rigged,” is needed toprevent voter fraud and reassure voters that U.S.elections are legitimate. Warnock blasted that reasoning Wednesday aspart of a “big lie of voter fraud as a pretext for vot-er suppression.” He added that “the same big lieled to a violent insurrection on this very Capitol,”as Congress met Jan. 6 to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Republican lawmakers in Georgia and other states are considering severely curtailing absen-tee voting; eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration; and cutting back on early vot-ing opportunities, including Sunday “souls to the polls” voting days that are especially important to Black churches where parishioners lean over- whelmingly Democratic.
BY LEAH WILLINGHAM
The Associated Press/Report for America
JACKSON — After 30 days of boiling their water to get rid of con-taminants and sometimes no water at all, Jackson residents are finally able to drink the water from the tap after officials lifted a boil water ad-visory put in place in mid-February when a deep freeze wreaked havoc on their water infrastructure. The city’s 43,000 surface water connections were released Wednes-day from the boil advisory put in place on Feb. 16. A boil notice had previously been lifted for the city’s 16,000 well water connections on March 10. After officials said cold weather froze equipment at the city’s water treatment plant, thousands of wa-ter customers went weeks with low pressure or no pressure at all, col-lecting water in buckets from distri-bution sites throughout the city to flush toilets and clean themselves. National Guard members were called in to help distribute water. Volunteers loaded tanks of water on trucks to deliver to apartment com-plexes housing seniors and those without transportation.Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the crisis has been caused in part by decades of neglect of aging infrastructure. Parts of Jackson’s water system are a century old, he said. A major factor affecting the city’s ability to update its system has been a rapidly declining tax base because of “white flight.” Jackson’s tax base began crumbling decades ago, starting after the integration of public schools. Voters in 2014 overwhelmingly approved an extra 1 percent sales tax for infrastructure repairs, but the $15 million a year raised is only a fraction of what Jackson needs. Lumumba said close to $2 billion is required to modernize the water system and other infrastructure re-lated to sewer and roads. The Democratic mayor wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and other officials to re-quest $47 million in state and fed-eral funding to begin repairing the water system. Since then, the mayor and other city leaders have begun meeting with legislative leaders to discuss options.
Boil water advisory lifted for all of Jackson, one month later
Mayor said the crisis has been caused in part by decades of neglect of aging infrastructure
AREA ARRESTS
The following arrests were made by Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office:
n
Matthew Morrison, 29, was charged with sex offender registration fail-ure.
n
Reginald Bradley, 36, was charged with sexual battery, disorderly con-duct, open container law and malicious mischief.
n
Sean Dusenberry, 47, was charged with posses-sion of methamphetamine.
n
Adam Williston, 31, was charged with embez-zlement.
n
Brandy Andrews, 30, was charged with posses-sion of methamphetamine.
n
Caleb Gardner, 21, was charged with posses-sion with intent to distrib-ute.
n
Damion Davis, 34, was charged with felony taking of a motor vehicle and failure to appear.
n
Fitzgerald Pratt, 36, was charged with posses-sion of cocaine.
n
Jeremy Andrews, 30, was charged with posses-sion of methamphetamine.
n
Louis Warren, 51, was charged with felony burglary-breaking inner door of dwelling. The following arrests were made by the Oktib-beha County Sheriff’s Of-fice:
n
Sharon Jordan, 39, was charged with domes-tic violence-aggravated assault.
n
Ted Wells, 38, was charged with possession of a weapon by a felon, pos-session of a stolen firearm, possession of marijuana more than 30 grams, care-less driving and no drivers license.
n
Jamichael Hogan, 21, was charged with grand larceny, no insurance and hold for other agency.
n
Michael Spinks, 54, was charged with burglary other than a dwelling.
n
Elmer Norwood, 37, was charged with a circuit court order.
n
Lenquarius Ed- wards, 24, was charged with possession of a sto-len firearm, disregarding traffic signal, no drivers license and false informa-tion.
n
Samuel Vaughn, 23, was charged with posses-sion of a controlled sub-stance.
n
Jessie Jerrell, 24, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
GardnerB. AndrewsWillistonDusenberryBradleyMorrison
WellsJordanWarrenJ. AndrewsPrattDavis
JerrellVaughnEdwardsNorwoodSpinksHogan
Warnock
99.49%
T
HE
D
ISPATCH
of our customersreceive their paper on time.(Believe us. We track these things.)If you are unhappy with your delivery
please
let us know. Our goal is 100%customer satisfaction.Call customer support at:662-328-2424