The Greenwood Commonwealth from Greenwood, Mississippi • Page A010

The Greenwood Commonwealth Thursday, December 24, 2015 PagelO ELECTIONS 2016: PRESIDENT Cruz blasts newspaper for cartoon of daughters TULSA, Okla. (AP) A Washington Post editorial cartoon depicting Ted Cruz's 5- A fallen tree rests atop a pickup truck in Holly Springs after a storm struck the town on Wednesday. The storm was blamed for one death in the town. Storms and 7-year old daughters as monkeys is inap-propriate, and the children of can-d i a should be off-limits in Cruz showed that they were close to the path if the tornado. I told them to leave because if I was there as a storm chaser, it wasn't safe," he said.

In Benton County, whereat least two deaths occurred and at least two people were missing, crews were searching house-by-house to make sure residents were accounted for. Pope County, Arkansas, Sheriff Shane Jones said 18-year-old Michaela Remus was killed when a tree crashed into her bedroom Wednesday. The woman and her 1 V-year-old sister were sleeping in a bedroom of the house near Atkins, about 65 miles northwest of Little Rock, when winds uprooted the tree that crashed through the roof. Rescuers pulled the toddler safely from the home. "It's terrible that this happened, especially at Christmas," Jones said.

The threat of severe weather just before Christmas is unusual, but not unprecedented, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the national Storm Prediction Center. Exactly a year ago, twisters hit southeast Mississippi, killing five people and injuring dozens of others. airport overturned and an unknown number of people were injured. "Fm looking at some horrific damage right now," Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett said Wednesday. "Sheet metal is wrapped around trees; there are overturned airplanes; a building is just destroyed." Sean Wagner, an amateur storm chaser, shot video of a tornado in Holly Springs and said he had to warn two families that had stopped under an overpass.

"I got out of my car and told the families they weren't safe. I showed them my radar; it Continued from Page 1 the car he was riding in, officials said. Three were killed in Tennessee and one in Arkansas. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said they had at least 40 injuries, "and some of those are quite serious." A tornado damaged or destroyed at least 20 homes in Clarksdale. Planes at a small mess with anybody's kids." He said he appreciated the newspaper pulling the cartoon.

"That was the right thing to do," he said. Cruz is wrapping up a tour through several Southern states, with stops in Tulsa and Oklahoma City a part of his strategy of focusing on Super Tuesday states holding primaries March 1. "It's the single largest collection of delegates awarded in one day," Cruz said. More than 2,000 people packed the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa for his morning stop, while close to 1,000 filled the student union at Oklahoma City Community College later Wednesday. "The grassroots are on fire, and what we're seeing all across the country is conservatives are uniting behind this campaign," Cruz said.

Cruz's father Rafael Cruz, a preacher, attended both Oklahoma rallies. U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, a two-term Republican congressman and tea party favorite, introduced Cruz at both events. Cruz also campaigned in Oklahoma City and Tulsa in August.

campaigns, Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz said Wednesday The cartoon, which criticized Cruz for using his children in a TV ad, depicted the candidate as an organ grinder dressed as Santa and his daughters as dancing monkeys. The newspaper pulled the cartoon Tuesday from its website, saying "it's generally the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it." Speaking to reporters in Tulsa, the U.S. senator from Texas said he generally has thick skin but was irritated after seeing the cartoon. "Not much ticks me off, but making fun of my girls? That will do it," Cruz said. "Don't mess with my kids.

Don't mess with Marco's kids. Don't mess with Hillary's kids. Don't Inmates Continued from Page 1 age daily incarcerated population was in the mid-60s from 1970 until 1992. That figure jumped to 103 between 1992 and 1993 and stayed above 100 every year thereafter until at least 2005. Leflore County Sheriff of incarceration went from less than 0.2 percent in 1993 to over 4 percent by 1999 and was just over 5 percent as of 2014.

In raw numbers, thatfs a leap from fewer than 20 inmates on a given day in the early 1990s to more than 300 by the decade's end. Incarceration rates in Mississippi also grew over that time but not nearly as quickly. Since 1999, Carroll County has been home to a regional jail, which houses offenders from Carroll and Montgomery counties as well as the rest of the state. Sheriff Jerry Carver said this change accounts for Carson poised to shake up campaign partly due to the state opting to extend parole to more people and partly due to declining populations in state penitentiaries. MDOC are trying to keep its own population numbers up by transferring inmates from county jails to state penitentiaries more quickly.

"All the jails are going through the same thing," said Carver. "The population (of MDOC facilities) is dropping, so they want to house them in their facilities." The average length of jail stays in Carroll County, which peaked at 440 days in 2009, feU to 124 in 2014. Carver attributes that to the MDOC picking up inmates scheduled for transfer more quickly. Vera is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington and New Orleans. For more information on the study, or to view more incarceration statistics at the county level, visit www.vera.org.

Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or said. Banks said the increase in the jail population in the mid-1990s was probably due to the creation of the six-county North Central Narcotics Task Force, which made frequent arrests. The average length of a stay in the Leflore County Jail also increased from one week in 1988 to 71 days in 1993. It remained roughly constant for some six years thereafter. Banks recalls that during those years, inmates slated for transfer to Mississippi Department of Corrections facilities often were not picked up for long periods of time, sometimes waiting as long as six to 10 months between sentencing and transfer.

By 2005, the length of the average stay in Leflore County dropped to just over 22 days. Although more recent data is not available, Banks said he thinks it is probably about the same now. "A lot of them are not felons," said Banks of local inmates. "A lot of them serve weekend." In Carroll County, the rate Ricky Banks said that over the last few years the average daily population of the county jail has declined to "probably about 80 or Vr Campaign manager Barry Bennett was not aware of Carson's statements about potential changes until told by The Banks much of the increase. However, even in Carroll County, inmate populations have declined over the last few years.

Carver Associated Press. He later texted: "No staff shake-up." The apparent rift between Carson, Williams and the paid 85," largely because the facility no longer holds offenders from other municipalities or counties as frequently. People brought in by the Sheriffs Department, the Greenwood Police Department and the Mississippi Valley State University Police Department make up the bulk of the population, he In 2014, the average daily incarcerated population in Carroll County was 326 inmates. That figure had fallen to roughly 230 by October of this year. Carver said the decline is Carson ilil MKIIfSS UPPERCO, Md.

(AP) Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Wednesday morning he is moving toward a major shake-up of his struggling campaign, with less than six weeks to go until early voting begins to select party nominees. Yet by Wednesday evening, he tried to steer away from that message, announcing that all is well in the Carson camp. In a Wednesday morning interview with the Associated Press at his Maryland home conducted without the knowledge ofhis own campaign manager Carson said "personnel changes" could be coming, suggesting he would consider sidelining his top aides. 'Everything. Everything is on the table," he said of potential changes.

'Every single thing is on the table. Fm looking carefully." Carson's longtime business adviser Armstrong Williams put it more bluntly. "Dr. Carson is back in charge, and Fm so happy to see that," he said. Williams himself has publicly feuded with the paid political professionals brought in to run Carson's campaign Following an afternoon meeting with some ofhis paid advisers Wednesday agroup that did not include Williams Carson said in a statement that while he has 100 percent confidence in his campaign team, "we are refining some operational practices and streamlining some staff assignments to more aptly match the tasks ahead." The statement added that his senior team "remains in place with my full confidence, and they will continue to execute our campaign plan." sm Tvrwi to hftld B.B.

Kine Day IsSt) campaign staff comes after his weeks-long slide in polls. The political newcomer a celebrated pediatric neurosurgeon briefly surged to the top of the GOP field in October, riding public appeal for more anti-establishment candidates, while making headway with Christian and conservative voters. With the spotlight came scrutiny. Carson publicly lashed out at media reports questioning details ofhis celebrated autobiography. Terrorist attacks in Paris and California shifted the focus of the race to foreign policy and national security, sometimes highlighting Carson's lack of experience.

Another challenge: He is soft-spoken in a race dominated by media-sawy tough-talking figures including real estate mogul Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Then came the internal disarray Carson had raised $31 million by the end of September, more than any other Republican in the race, but he's out-paced the competition on spending mostly on fundraising costs rather than critical political infrastructure. "I recognize that nothing is perfect," Carson said. JjJ I I 'J JJJ The patrol began its campaign at 6 p.m.

Wednesday. It will conclude at midnight Sunday. Mississippi Highway Patrol Capt. Johnny Poulos told the Associated Press that troopers will be watching for speeding drivers and those driving while distracted. He also encouraged motorists and their passengers to buckle up while traveling this weekend.

Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden gwcomrnonwealth. com. Continued from Page 1 ment about it being a full moon is not a joke but is based upon his 30 years in law enforcement. "The myth about the full moon is not a myth," he said. In addition, the Mississippi Highway Patrol announced that patrols will be beefed up during the Christmas.