The Charleston Sun-Sentinel from Charleston, Mississippi • 1

nm ism ma mm te stm? Pray for oar troops and nation. Sottitf Ising in today society. School event to raise cancer fands. See Tallahatchie Notes, page 12. See Danagin, page 4.

1 The Charleston "Serving Tallahatchie County" Charleston, Thursday, April 22, 2004 Volume 81 Number 17 50 cents SynS(SGifflGi)(i Man who killed student gets life without parole Locals indicted for vote fraud Ray C. Lattimore's second life stint is for murder of Tyler Prahl By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor SUMNER Ray Charles Lattimore recently pleaded guilty to the September 2002 capital murder of 18-year-old college student Tyler Prahl of Marks and was sentenced to serve life without the possibility of parole, according to records on file Monday in the circuit clerk's office. Circuit Judge Ann H. Lamar also ordered Lattimore, 43, to pay court costs of $287 during the March 3 1 sentencing in the Second Judicial District of Tallahatchie County Circuit Court. Lattimore's admission of guilt last month followed a roughly year-and-a-half period of denial.

He was arrested for Prahl's death on Sept. 27, 2002, just one week after the gun crime took place at Lattimore's residence at 149 Friendship Road near Sumner. Lattimore was indicted April 15, 2003. Prahl, a first-year student at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead, was reported missing by family in Quitman County Sept. 21, 2002, when he did not return to his home there following a visit at a relative's house in Greenwood the afternoon before.

The teen's last known contact with someone he knew reportedly occurred when he called a friend on a cellular telephone Sept. 20 to report that he was experiencing car trouble along a stretch of Highway 49 near Webb. After he was reported missing, officials concentrated their search in the Webb-Sumner area. Tips led lawmen to Lattimore's (Please see COURT, page 8) TV Above, local government and ICS Head Start officials join with students from the Charleston Head Start Center Monday afternoon for ceremonial groundbreaking festivities near the site of a new Charleston Head Start facility on Teasdale Road that is scheduled to be open this fall. At left, Head Start students sing and wave banners during an enter- tainnicnt segment Monday.

(Photos by Clay McFerrin) Webb bank again faces probable sale 9,, Ground broken for ICS center By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor SUMNER A Tallahatchie County grand jury has named a Tutwiler man and a Webb woman in a joint 15-count indictment charging the two with conspiracy and vote fraud in connection with last year's District 5 supervisor race, according to records on file here in the circuit clerk's office Monday. William Greg Eason, age unavailable, of Route 1, Tutwiler, and Minnie H. Saulsberry, 5 1 of Webb, offered 14 individuals cash payments of between $5 and $10, and, in some cases, a six-pack of beer, in exchange for their absentee votes for incumbent District 5 Supervisor Jerome Little, the indictment alleges. The one count of conspiracy to commit vote fraud and 14 counts of vote fraud stem from alleged efforts by Eason and Saulsberry, between Aug. 18 and Aug.

23, 2003, to sway votes in Little's favor for the Aug. 26 runoff election between Little and former Second District Justice Court Judge Eddie Meeks, Little, president of the Tallahatchie County Board of Supervisors, won that runoff, and a fourth term on the board, with about 56 percent of the vote. The indictment charges that some of the 14 named individuals were encouraged and assisted by Eason and Saulsberry in filing fraudulent applications for absentee ballots with the local circuit clerk's office. Under the law, only persons who meet certain eligibility criteria may vote by absentee ballot. The indictment charges that several of the people approached by Eason and Saulsberry declared on their applications that they were eligible to vote an absentee ballot because they planned to be outside the county on election day a qualifying reason when, in fact, they had no such intentions.

Under state law, if convicted, the two could be fined up to $5,000 per count andor sentenced to serve up to five years per count in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. When contacted Tuesday, Little declined to comment on the indictments of Eason and Saulsberry. In related news: Montrell Wells, 18, address unavailable, was indicted for conspiracy and taking away a motor vehicle in connection with the Oct. 6, 2003, theft of a one-ton truck belonging to Wade Inc. in Webb.

Some recent indictments have not been served on the indicted individuals and, therefore, had not been made part of the public record as of Monday, noted Deputy Circuit Clerk Mona Herring. By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor Starting this fall, students at the Charleston Head Start Center will have spanking new facilities that are much more spacious and, officials contend, more conducive to learning. Although construction on the center's new home is well underway at 145 Teasdale Road, the ceremonial groundbreaking was held just this Monday afternoon. Local elected officials, public school leaders and other interested parties were among the several dozen people joining Head Start administrators, staff and students for Monday's festivities. Arvern Moore, executive direc CDFIs are specialized financial institutions that work to expand the availability of credit, investment capital and financial services in distressed urban and rural communities.

Delta Southern, a subsidiary of Southern Development Bancorpo-ration, has assets of $56 million and presently operates branch offices in Drew, Friars Point, Lambert, Lula and Sledge. Southern Development Bancorpo-ration has $400 million in assets and offers financial and economic development services to residents in rural Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta. The Bank of Webb, founded in 1902, was purchased by the Greenwood-based The Valley Bank in 1995. The Valley Bank subsequently merged with State Bank and Trust in August 2000, maintaining corporate offices in Greenwood. Last year, the Webb bank moved from its long-time location on Webb's Main Street into a modern new facility on Highway 49.

Patsy Willingham, senior vice president of Delta Southern, said there are no plans to change staff at any of the State Bank locations. "The present staff will be retained," she noted. State Bank and Trust, with assets approaching $650 million, will continue to operate its remaining 24 locations serving the western half of the state. By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor WEBB Look for another name change at the only bank in town. In the past nine years, it has been known as Bank of Webb, The Valley Bank and, most recently, State Bank and Trust Co.

Now, Delta Southern Bank has reached a definitive agreement to purchase the Webb branch of State Bank and Trust, along with four others in the Delta. The sale, for an undisclosed amount of cash, is subject to federal regulatory approval. Also being acquired under terms of the agreement are two State Bank branches in Greenville and one each in Clarksdale and Shelby. State Bank employees in the affected branches were notified personally by senior management Friday, said John B. Neville, the company's chief executive officer.

"This is a great deal for all concerned," Neville noted. "Our customers in those communities will benefit from the unique capabilities Delta Southern possesses as a Community Development Financial Institution. To be quite honest, they should be more effective going forth in those markets than anyone." The Ruleville-based Delta Southern was awarded certification as a CDFI by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2002. tor of the Holly Springs-based Institute for Community Services (ICS), which owns and operates 19 Head Start facilities serving about 3,600 pre-school students ages 3-5 in northern Mississippi, said the new Charleston building is part of a major ICS strategy.

"A good learning environment is extremely important, and we needed a more conducive environment here," he noted. "We also decided about two years ago that we needed to get out of portable pre-fab buildings and trailers because they are not safe in storms and bad weather." The present ICS Head Start facility in Charleston is a conglomeration of three 30x60 mobile homes as well as another tracts with the prison will be extended past the present deadline of Saturday, April 24. Two weeks ago, Corrections Corporation of America, which owns the facility, granted the workers a third two-week extension of their employment contract with the company, hopeful that pending negotiations for a new prisoner contract for the lockup would pay off. As of Tuesday, Steve Owen, CCA public information officer, said he had nothing definitive to report about either a possible new contract or worker extensions. He said talks between CCA exec As deadline nears, Tutwiler prison employees await news of job status portable building all owned by ICS which are situated on an acre of leased land on Eskridge Street in northeastern Charleston.

The buildings provide about 6,100 square feet of space and accommodate 80 students. When the new center is completed some time this summer, it will feature 13,000 square feet in a modern, permanent block building on three acres of land owned by ICS, explained Clen Moore, director of ICS field operations. He said the $1 million building, being built by Buildings of Southaven, will provide space for eight classrooms and up to 160 students (at the Head Start allow-please see ICS, page 8) utives and the Hawaii Department of Corrections, which has shown interest in the Tutwiler prison, continue. "The discussions are ongoing and the consideration by Hawaii is ongoing, but there is still no news yet," Owen noted. While saying no official decision has been made on employees at Tutwiler, Owen said, "We very much want to keep those folks at work.

We value them, and we recognize what the economic impact of the loss of those jobs would be, so we're just going to keep pressing. Hopefully, we will have good news to report soon." Patriotic music will be served up beginning at 12:30 by singers from local schools and churches. The name of Spc. Raphael S. Davis of Tutwiler, a member of Company who died Dec.

2 in Iraq, will be added to a county war memorial on the courthouse lawn. The two-hour program will conclude with a fly-over by military aircraft as well as a motorcycle "ride for freedom." Watch for full details next week. Calf bandits hit locally Republicans set caucuses, convention for Saturday By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor TUTWILER The drill is all too familiar for workers at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility here, who are awaiting word on whether their employment con- to it not being open for the caucus, to attend the county convention planned for later in the day Tallahatchie County's Republican Convention will get undci-way at 3 p.m. Saturday at the courthouse in Charleston, he noted. "The purpose is to select local Republican committee members and officers for the next four years and to select delegates and alternates to the Republican state convention," Bailey said.

He explained that each precinct will send one delegate and one alternate. Guard celebration May 1 Farm. Weighing in at 400-450 pounds, the calves were worth about $550 to $575 apiece and were being vaccinated and cared for by Mabus, Brewer explained. Each calf is branded on the left hip with on the top and on the bottom markings "recognizable to every cowman in the state of Mississippi," said Brewer, who added that each calf also bears a blue tag in its right ear. Brewer said Sparks Farm has offered a $500 reward for information leading to the calves' location.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Tallahatchie County Sheriff's Department at (662) 647-5511 or the state Department of Agriculture Theft toll-free at 1-800-678-2660. "If anybody saw anything suspicious, they don't have to give their name, but we'd appreciate it if they'd give us a call," Brewer said. By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor The Tallahatchie County Sheriffs Department and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture Theft are seeking leads in the recent theft of 14 calves from a farm south of Charleston. "As far as I know and can remember, we've never had that many stolen in Tallahatchie County at one time," noted Sheriff William Brewer, himself a cattleman. Brewer said the calves, all males, were taken from the David Mabus farm in the Murphreesboro community sometime during the night or early-morning hours of April 15-16.

They, along with a 14-foot white stock trailer, were reported missing by Mabus at about 7 a.m. Friday. He said each of the steer, representing a variety of breeds, belonged to Memphis-based Sparks By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor Tallahatchie County Republicans will conduct precinct caucuses and the party's county convention Saturday, local Republican Party Chairman Bob Bailey of Sumner announced Monday. Caucuses will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at local precincts in the county.

Bailey said securing workers for some of the precincts could be problematic and urged anyone who is unable to participate in the caucus at their local precinct due By CLAY McFERRIN Sun-Sentinel Editor Plans are being finalized for a Saturday, May 1, patriotic celebration to honor members of the Mississippi Army National Guard's 223rd Engineer Battalion, Company based in Charleston and Webb. Festivities, which will be centered on the west side of the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Charleston, will begin at noon and end at 2..