Mississippi
All-Star notes: Clemson commit Peter Woods is ‘practice killer’
![All-Star notes: Clemson commit Peter Woods is ‘practice killer’ All-Star notes: Clemson commit Peter Woods is ‘practice killer’](https://www.al.com/resizer/XaWyh-XHiP68lykA8vWEovh4P6c=/1280x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/LH6J6AHCQVHP5MJNVNJF254LAY.jpg)
Murphy’s John McKenzie, who’s teaching the Alabama working backs this week for Saturday’s All-Star Basic towards Mississippi, may consider just one option to describe Thompson 5-star defensive lineman.
“He’s a observe killer,” McKenzie joked.
He meant it in the absolute best means. The Alabama offense had a troublesome time training any performs this week with out dodging the Clemson commit within the offensive backfield.
Woods led Thompson to a fourth straight Class 7A title per week in the past. This week, he was named the MaxPreps Alabama Participant of the Yr.
He completed his senior season with 83 tackles, 21 tackles for a loss, 8 sacks and 14 QB hurries.
“He’s actually, actually good,” mentioned Alabama head coach Keith Etheredge, who led his Auburn workforce towards Woods and firm within the Class 7A title sport.
Regardless of being among the best gamers in Alabama, Woods opted to go away the state to play school soccer when he dedicated to Dabo Swinney’s Tigers. He hasn’t wavered in that call.
“I’m a person of my phrase,” Woods mentioned this week. “Once I say one thing, I imply it. That’s how my dad and mom raised me. If I didn’t really feel like I needed to go there and be there 100%, I wouldn’t have dedicated.”
Theodore’s William James runs in for a landing towards St. Paul’s within the first half of a prep soccer playoff sport Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Theodore, Ala. (Mike Kittrell | preps@al.com)
Massive alternative for native participant
Theodore standout and Southern Miss commit Will James was added to the Alabama roster earlier this week when a number of gamers dropped out.
James missed many of the common season with a collarbone harm earlier than returning in Week 9 towards Saraland.
“He’s very athletic, very fast twitch,” Etheredge mentioned. “He broke up yesterday and picked one off. He’s actually explosive. They mentioned he’s a very good working again, too. I may see that. He performs bodily. He’s going to be a very good school soccer participant. He’ll be a child that performs proper means.”
James ought to get an opportunity to play a giant position in a secondary that additionally consists of Munford’s Sylvester Smith, Pinson Valley’s TJ Metcalf, Loachapoka’s J.C. Hart, Montgomery Catholic’s Johntarious Inexperienced, Gardendale’s Dallas Younger and Selma’s Dakaari Nelson.
“I’ve at all times acquired one thing to show,” James mentioned. “That’s the way it has been all my life. It’s particular to be on this sport being from Cell. God at all times has a plan.”
Refreshing end
Clay-Chalkville head coach Drew Gilmer has loved his time in Cell. Gilmer is the offensive coordinator for the Alabama All-Stars.
“It’s refreshing,” he mentioned. “You get to come back down right here with good pals and develop good relationships. You get to teach children you don’t usually get to teach, and that’s refreshing, too.
“It’s neat to kind these relationships. We’re simply sitting again within the room watching some movie and making an attempt to study from them. They’re making an attempt to select our brains. I study simply as a lot from them as they in all probability do from us. It’s an thrilling week. The AHSAA does a fantastic job with it.”
![Mississippi All-Star football practice](https://www.al.com/resizer/6TndYgFzIgxvR_cpZNHsxYGQgH0=/1280x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/7OUMPQ7COBBOBCWTRQI4ZQU4SA.jpg)
Oxford head coach Chris Cutcliffe instructs Mack Howard, Oxford, QB (Utah) throughout observe for the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Basic on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, in Cell, Ala. (Mike Kittrell | preps@al.com)
The Mississippi aspect
Mississippi head coach Chris Cutcliffe additionally mentioned it has been an pleasing week for his workforce.
“Our gamers have achieved an superior job with their observe habits,” he mentioned. “They’ve had a fantastic angle. That’s one thing we inform them that we anticipate them to be nice teammates with a gaggle of fellows they don’t know, they usually’ve achieved an superior of that. Our workers has been super. The Alabama affiliation has been superior. They’ve achieved a fantastic job setting the whole lot up for us, and it’s been clean.”
Cutcliffe mentioned it’s been onerous to single out one unit on his aspect that has been notably sturdy.
“There are a number of gifted gamers,” he mentioned. “The hot button is simply discovering methods throughout the guidelines of this sport to place the blokes on either side of the ball in place to achieve success. We’ve been happy with the blokes we’ve introduced over.”
Cutcliffe was the scout coach for Mississippi a 12 months in the past and in addition was an assistant within the sport in 2019. He mentioned there isn’t any doubt that, although it’s an all-star sport, each groups are enjoying to win. He additionally mentioned, like most soccer video games, this one possible will boil all the way down to who wins the road of scrimmage.
“That’s at all times one of many largest challenges in an All-Star sport,” he mentioned. “You already know Alabama on either side of the ball goes to be extraordinarily gifted up entrance, so we’ve to do a fantastic job of making ready and training and studying the right way to work collectively. Once I’ve been part of this, I really feel just like the workforce that has gained the road of scrimmage has usually gained the sport.”
Honorary captain
It appears particularly acceptable that Alabama’s All-Star honorary caption for the 2022 sport is former Blount Excessive Faculty standout Demarco McNeil.
He earned Mr. Soccer honors his senior season (1998) and performed in Alabama’s 28-24 win over Mississippi within the 1999 All-Star Basic the subsequent summer season earlier than heading to Auburn College the place he was a four-year starter on the defensive position and earned All-SEC honors.
On Radio, Tv
Announcers James Verrett and Duwan Walker will function the Alabama broadcast workforce for Saturday’s Alabama-Mississippi Basic. WOTM TV will produce the sport, which shall be reside streamed over the NFHS Community, proven reside over WOTM TV.
The published workforce of Randy Burgan and Barry Gibson shall be within the sales space for the AHSAA Radio Community, which is able to broadcast the sport over its community of stations and over the web. Go to https://www.ahsaa.com/Media/AHSAA-Radio-Community Saturday to select up the reside feed over the web.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Mississippi
Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies?
![Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies? Mississippi votes conservative. Are we going to see more conservative policies?](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/07/15/PJAM/89169fbe-3f64-4f81-81fd-727f995bada2-Douglas_Carswell.jpg?auto=webp&crop=554,312,x3,y96&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Waiting for my suitcase in the arrivals hall at Jackson airport the other evening, it occurred to me that the luggage carrousel was a pretty good metaphor for Mississippi politics.
Like suitcases on a carrousel, many leaders simply sit on the conveyor belt of state politics, waiting their turn to get moved along to the next role.
Too often leaders are carried along by time and process, rarely offering any vision as to what our state should do differently. That explains why Mississippi conservatives have achieved less in 12 years than Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama have accomplished in the past 12 months. Louisiana did not even have a Republican governor this time last year, yet they’ve already passed universal school choice.
Things could be about to change if House Speaker Jason White has his way. This week, White announced that he will be hosting a Tax Policy Summit on Sept. 24 to take a deep dive into the prospects for tax reform.
My friend, Grover Norquist, will be speaking, as will Gov Reeves, as well as leading conservative figures from the state Legislature.
Having a conversation in public matters because in the past the leadership in our state Senate has done what it can to head off tax cuts. Bringing the facts of what can and cannot be done into the open makes it far harder for anyone to keep finding new excuses to oppose actual conservative policy.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant against the putrid politics of backroom deals. We have seen far too many backroom maneuvers used to kill off good conservative policy in this state. Back in 2022, Mississippi passed a law to cut the state income tax to a flat 4 percent. This $525 million tax cut, driven forward by Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov Reeves, benefited 1.2 million taxpayers and their families. But we must not forget how some in the Senate fought against it — not in the open, of course.
Weak Senate leadership has a history of opposing conservative proposals in our state. Seldom do they have the courage to come out and explicitly kill off conservative measures. Instead, they do it on the sly. The Senate leadership maneuvered to stop anti-DEI legislation in 2024. I don’t recall anyone coming out and explaining why they opposed anti-DEI law. They just killed it in committee with a nudge and wink.
For three years in a row, the Senate leadership has killed off attempts to restore the ballot initiative. Again, those against resorting the ballot lack the courage to say they are against it. They killed that, too, on the sly.
Rep Rob Roberson’s excellent school funding reform bill, perhaps the only big strategic achievement of this year’s session, passed despite attempts to scupper it by some in the Senate. (Part of the backroom deal to get the bill passed was to change its name. It really was that petty.) When the Senate leadership wants to oppose an authentically conservative policy, they follow a now familiar pattern.
A reason is cited as to why what is being proposed can’t be done. School choice, we were once told, would be unconstitutional. An anti-DEI law, it was implied, was unnecessary because there was no DEI on campus.
Once that excuse is shown to be nonsense (there is no constitutional bar to school choice, DEI is rampant on campus), another excuse is promptly conjured up. And on it goes.
Each time the Senate leadership opposes conservative policy this way, I wonder what their alternatives are. The answer is that most of the time there are none. It is pretty low grade to oppose ideas simply because they are not your own. Eventually, of course, a suitcase that sits on the carousel for too long ends up in lost luggage.
As a direct consequence of the 2022 Reeves-Gunn tax cuts, Mississippi is now starting to see a flood of inward investment into the state.
Every time you hear about a new factory opening up in our state, remember who and what helped make it happen. I am very optimistic that this tax summit could see further progress to make our state more competitive.
— Douglas Carswell is the president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
Mississippi
Ex-official in Mississippi is treated for gambling addiction amid embezzlement charge, lawyer says
![Ex-official in Mississippi is treated for gambling addiction amid embezzlement charge, lawyer says Ex-official in Mississippi is treated for gambling addiction amid embezzlement charge, lawyer says](https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/dcac1a4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/700x394+0+28/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F90%2F29%2F4e3c1cc7446089a9101a7bdff4c8%2Fdefaultshareimage-copy.png)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former tax assessor and collector in north Mississippi checked into a residential treatment center for a gambling addiction after he called the state auditor’s office and confessed to misusing more than $300,000 in public money, his attorney said Tuesday.
Shannon Wilburn, 49, resigned in April from the elected office he had held in Benton County since 2016, and he began the 12-week addiction treatment in late July, his attorney Tony Farese told The Associated Press.
“I’ve known Shannon all of his life,” Farese said. “We are shocked that he finds himself in this situation.”
Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced Tuesday that Wilburn has been charged with one count of embezzlement. The announcement came days after Wilburn was indicted. Farese said Wilburn turned himself in to the sheriff’s office Friday, then posted bond and returned to the treatment program.
Wilburn is accused of taking $327,055 paid to the Benton County Tax Collector’s office and using the money for personal expenses, Farese said. He said Wilburn confessed to the auditor’s office before hiring legal representation and has continued to cooperate with investigators.
“He apologizes for disappointing the citizens of Benton County and the state of Mississippi,” Farese said.
If convicted, Wilburn would face up to $5,000 in fines and 20 years in prison.
White said Wilburn’s employment as a Benton County elected official was covered by $200,000 in surety bonds to protect taxpayers from losses from corruption. The county also has an insurance policy that covers theft.
“The dedicated team at the State Auditor’s Office will continue to work closely with prosecutors to get record results, one case at a time,” White said in a statement.
Mississippi
Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post
![Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame – The Vicksburg Post](https://www.vicksburgpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2024/09/090424-Disc-Golf-Elledge-14-WEB.jpg)
Vicksburg’s Raymond Elledge set to enter Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame
Published 4:30 pm Tuesday, September 3, 2024
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During two decades of playing disc golf, Raymond Elledge has only won one big tournament.
“I don’t even remember what year it was,” he said.
Nonetheless, Elledge is a legend in the sport in Mississippi. He’s worked tirelessly to maintain courses, been a member of several local and state players associations, and taught people young and old the joys of it. That level of dedication led to Elledge’s recent election to the Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame. He’ll officially be inducted Oct. 12 in Starkville.
“When he first told me last year I was nominated, I told him, ‘Man, you’re making my heart hurt.’ You don’t realize the emotions you can get. Stuff can just tear you up, and it did because I was just so excited,” the 62-year-old Vicksburg resident said. “You go years and years, and you’re out here busting your butt trying to maintain the course and showing everybody what you can.”
Disc golf is played the same as traditional golf, except with plastic discs that resemble frisbees. Players take aim at a steel basket several hundred yards away, with the goal of getting it in there in as few throws as possible.
Elledge first played disc golf in 2002, on a private course built in the backyard of Vicksburg resident Herman Cochran. One of the people playing with Elledge made a hole-in-one, and the excitement over the feat hooked him instantly.
“I seen this little old fella, he was 21 or 22 but he looked like he was 12, and he made an ace. I was hooked. I’ve got to do it,” Elledge said. “I don’t go anywhere on vacation without taking my disc golf bag. I just love the game.”
Elledge added that the simplicity of the sport is something he enjoys. A starter kit of three discs — a driver, mid-range disc and putter, all of which have different densities and flight characteristics — can be purchased for about $25.
The courses are easily found at many parks in Mississippi. There is an 18-hole course at Halls Ferry Park. Players of all ages and shapes can play it as long as they can walk the course. Elledge had quadruple bypass heart surgery eight years ago and playing disc golf helps him stay in shape.
“It’s something anybody can do,” he said. “I’ve trained kids from 5 to 50, and the oldest one I’ve helped train to play this game is 71 years old now. He still comes out and plays. This is a sport that any age can play.“
With his passion for disc golf comes a sense of responsibility. He’s helped clear brush around parts of the Halls Ferry Park course to keep it playable, and done the same while working with associations like the Vicksburg Disc Golf Association and Jackson Union of Disc Golf Enthusiasts.
He’s also eager to teach the game to newcomers.
“I’ve never quit teaching how to play the game,” he said. “They used to have something called the World’s Biggest Disc Golf Weekend and I won it three years in a row. What it is, is whoever takes the most players out to a certain disc golf course gets the T-shirt and a disc.”
His service to the sport led to a nomination for the Mississippi Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 2023, but he didn’t make the final cut. This year he did, and he said it was better than winning any tournament.
“You play a lot of tournaments. You do a whole lot for the sport itself, such as numerous work days working on the course to maintain it. Teaching the kids and when we have tournaments helping move baskets around to new spots,” Elledge said. “Then somebody will nominate you and there’s a lot of votes from the clubs. If you get enough votes from everybody you’re in. You find out how much you’re appreciated by everybody for all that you’ve done.”
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