Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 16

OB The Clarion-Ledger Wednesday, January 1, 1997 AKOUi '9 MISSISSIPPI TT Killer Beaz' comic style result of funeral biz Comedian's father worked at two Mississippi funeral homes. on Barrett Road. Wilburn had worked for Hood And her husband Lewis Hood at Michael Wayne Wilburn escaped Aug. 15 from the Itawamba County Jail. Tha Associated Prssa 7 It The Associated Press FULTON An Itawamba County capital murder suspect who escaped in August has been captured in a small Tennessee town.

Michael Wayne Wilburn, 31, who escaped from the Itawamba County Jail on Aug. 15, was arrested Monday in Eva, Tenn. The FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Investigations made the arrest near Jackson, said Itawamba County Sheriff Leon Hayes. Wilburn is charged in the February shooting death and robbery of Lila Jean Hood of the Ratliff community. Hood had been missing for two days Feb.

14 when her body was found with multiple gunshot wounds in a wooded area in the southern part of Itawamba County A lJ.l rcaicnez i race program draws several volunteers 7 MOBILE Truett Beasley Jr. 6pent the first five years of his life in a funeral home. It wasn't exactly a jolly place, but it shaped his career as the comedian known as Killer Beaz. "The funeral home prompted me be funny," he said. "I'd rather see people happy." His father, Truett was an embalmer and ran an ambulance service from Jordan Funeral Home in Kosciusko, Miss.

"It didn't scare me until my cousin, Don, came to visit from Baton Beasley Rouge," Beasley recalled "He told me dead people would come up-'stairs and make me eat blood off their necks. Then it was back to bed-wetting time." Luckily, he recovered enough by his teen years to work at another funeral parlor in the family's new hometown of Jackson, where Jiis father joined the police force. "I picked up flower petals, embalmed bodies, dusted caskets and escorted survivors to see their loved ones' remains," he recalled. "It was 'more exciting than bagging groceries." The job also prepared young iTruett for his future calling. "I learned to handle trauma and to focus," he said.

"It gave me confidence." The 43-year-old Beasley lives in Mobile with his wife, Terri, and itheir two sons, Truett III, 6V2, and 2. The couple met in a Mobile comedy club where Beasley's future wife was a hostess. He signed with Starstruck Entertainment, the Nashville publishing and management company owned by Reba McEntire and her husband, arvel Blackstock. In the new year, he will release a video spoof of racing called The Beaz World 500, a comedy album for Columbia called Save Up, and a book titled A Beaz Eye View. The album will be a blend of comic bits and songs.

One of Beaz's favorites is If Rap Was For Country Boys, a fantasy about a world where the only carjackings would be to fix a flat tire, "hos" would be garden taols, and crime would be limited to "drive-by milkings. "It pokes fun at gangsta rap all that stuff about killing people and disrespecting women," Beaz said. J'lt's an unwholesome, weak message io kids and families. I want to cure ills of the world I can." STATE REPORT I Sad and socked in Devon Boss was one of hundreds of passengers stranded at the Oklahoma City airport Monday after many flights were canceled due to fog. Devon and her mother were trying to return to Jackson.

Auditor finds problem at Itawamba tax office With federal budgets getting smaller, many retirees filling in for free. By Marty Russell Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal TUPELO Max and Shirley Tieman of Oregon, 111., arrived at the Natchez Trace Parkway's Visitors Center in Tupelo last January to offer their services as volunteers only to find the parkway closed due to a government shutdown. That didn't stop parkway employees from coming to their rescue. "We made one phone call and got five people down here," said Max Tie-man, a retired state park employee. Soon, parkway employees had fashioned a makeshift pad for the Tiemans' recreational vehicle near the Visitors Center and, when the shutdown ended, Shirley Tieman went to work at the center while her husband helped out maintaining trails and interpretive exhibits along the Trace.

It was the first time volunteers had been used for such purposes on the federal parkway and it gave parkway officials an idea: If the Tie-mans were willing to drive a thousand miles and essentially camp out while volunteering, maybe the parkway could find some more volunteers closer to home and free up some employees for other duties. The idea worked. After putting out a call for volunteers to man the Visitors Center earlier this year, eight people have joined the Tie-mans now back for their second Parkway Building System. He had left that job at the end ot 1995. tk.

if wamba County Jail, Hayes said. He is npinir nam or maximum smini lacuity in Mississippi wnue ne awaits trial to avoid any future escape attempts. Hayes would not noma iha fanitf firirtfr Qoniritv UV JUW.V,, reasons. investigators nuns, nut ttna onnnlu 10 1 1 nn a ie i-1 i Icatrinn frtv rs nram aooiffn. ments.

Wilburn had apparently been living in Jackson, and working for a small construction company building houses, Hayes said. No local residents are susnected of aidins urMi i vv iiDum in ins uignu vv liuurn nau ueen leaiureu uii me Unsolved Mysteries television program in November. winter as Trace volunteers. "It's been working out really well," said Cheri Anderson, a parkway interpreter who helped organize the program. "Everybody gets along well and it helps us out There have been times when I don't know how we would have run the Visitors Center without them.

They've just been wonderful." The volunteers man cash regis-. ters in the gift shop, greet travelers and answer their questions and perform other tasks around the Visitors Center. Each volunteer works about four hours a week for a total of about 30 hours of free labor each week, although volunteer Jerry Sparks of Tupelo, a retired general manager of the local Barbers Milk plant, said when the time comes to leave, he and the other volunteers often can be found still hanging around. "We just don't worry about the time," Sparks said. Patsy Thomas of Fulton is unique among the volunteers in that she has a full-time job elsewhere but still finds time to put in a few hours each week at the Visitors Center.

She said she does it because she enjoys meeting people like the man from Michigan making his first trek down the Trace. "He came in and spoke and said how nice it was to see a smiling face," Thomas said. "I told him I'd been trying to give that smile away all day and it's always returned." About 13 million visitors traveled the Trace last year making it one of the top five most-visited national parks in the country. From Staff and Wire Reports El Funds are missing from vehicle tag receipts, officials say. By Deborah Skipper Clarion-Ledger Assistant Metro Editor FULTON An investigation continues into allegations an employee took vehicle tag money from the Itawamba County Tax AssessorCollector's office, officials say.

A state auditor, who has spent more than a month working on the case, said only one employee had discrepancies in funds. That employee has resigned, but no charges have been filed, said Tax Assessor-Collector Johnny Riley. Riley would not release the name of the employee pending the cpm- The investigation began earlier in the fall when a customer brought the discrepancy to Riley's attention. The customer paid $852 for a tag for his truck. But the driver later called and said he never received the tag.

pletion of the investigation. "It (the investigation) is a slow process," Riley said. The auditor is looking into all records of the department, including comparing checks with receipts, he said. The investigation began earlier J. Pat CarterThe Associated Press in the fall when a customer brought the discrepancy to Riley's attention.

The customer paid $852 for a tag for his truck. But the driver later called and said he never received the tag. An internal investigation found that the money never got to the bookkeeper and the receipt was run through the computer then deleted, he said. Riley said additional discrepancies by the employee have been discovered, but the auditor would not reveal what they were until the investigation is complete. Because the tags are part of a state program and the tax assessor-collector's office acts only as an agent for the state, it was difficult for the local office to do an in-depth investigation, Riley said.

its Pat to Aldermen to consider annexation plan at next meeting The Bruce Board of Aldermen will consider adopting an annexation plan at first meeting of 1997. The annexation would add 5.7 square miles to the 2.6-square-mile city. "We've had the facts and figures of what it's going to involve," said Mayor Hendrix, who expects the board to adopt the plan at the Jan. 7 meeting. If the board accepts the proposal, the city would then present a five-year plan the Chancery Court detailing what services the city would provide to 453 residents of the target area.

$500,000 grant will help fight domestic violence The Greenville Police Department will receive a $500,000 grant from the Violence Against Women Grants Office of the U.S. Department of Justice. The funding will be used to establish a domestic violence unit, a domestic violence work group and an evaluation plan to assess police department programs, according to U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who announced the grant.

The funds awarded to the department are a part of $46 million allocated to state and local law enforcement agencies to help stop domestic violence as authorized through the Violence Against Women Act. Homicide ruled after autopsy in Yazoo County Homicide has been ruled after an autopsy was performed on a body found Monday night beside a Pickens pond. The autopsy also revealed that the body was that of an Asian male in his mid-40s, said Ricky Shivers, coronerchief medical examiner-investigator for Yazoo County. Shivers would not release the cause of death. Yazoo County sheriffs authorities pulled the body, wrapped in a tarp, from an embankment along Mississippi 51.

Sheriff Buddy Passons said the body had been in the water about a week. The victim was unidentifiable. Varsity cheerleaders score points in their own game The Starkville High varsity cheerleaders cheered their way to 20th place in the just-ended National Cheerleader Association annual competition in Dallas. Teacher Brenda ackson, who serves as cheerleader sponsor, said the squad received an invitation to the three-day competition while participating in a NCA cheerleading camp at Mississippi State University. The competition at the Dallas Convention Center ended Monday.

"The girls have really worked. They put their heart and soul into it," Jackson said. kr- I 36 MILES hf I 12 face drug, alcohol charges in Walthall raid A dozen Walthall County residents face charges that include drug dealing and alcohol possession following raids by state and area law enforcement agencies. Walthall, Lincoln and Pike county deputies, Brookhaven police and agents of the state Narcotics Bureau and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division of the State Tax Commission joined in making Monday's arrests. Many of those arrested were charged with sale of crack.

Bonds ranged up to $150,000. Walthall County Sheriff Warren Slater said he plans similar raids to deal with the county's drug problems. Board denies parole for convicted murderer The State Parole Board has denied parole for convicted murderer Douglas Hodgkin. Hodgkin would have been eligible for parole consideration on Feb. 28.

Under state law, inmates serving life sentences can be considered for parole after serving 10 years. Hodgkin was a 21 -year-old junior majoring in business at the University of Mississippi at the time of the May 2, 1986, slaying of Jean Elizabeth Gillies. Gillies, 24, from Magnolia, was a graduate student in speech pathology. $2M in grants awarded to upgrade airports Airports in Picayune, Gulfport, Pascagoula and Hancock County will receive nearly $2 million in grants for upgrades, according to U.S. Rep.

Gene Taylor. The funding includes $938,188 for construction of a new airport in Picayune, $563,000 for taxiway improvements at Stennis International Airport in Hancock County, $292,500 for runway design reconstruction at Gulfport Biloxi Regional Airport and $124,920 for runway seal coating at Trent Lott International Airport in Pascagoula. A.