Family needs help escaping neighbor's home after Biloxi River flood - The Republic

GULFPORT, Mississippi — A family of three and their three dogs needed help from Gulfport rescue teams to get out of a neighbor's home where they were stranded due to heavy rains.

Gulfport Battalion Chief Chris Henderson told The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/1hlP5dm ) that the Fire Department received a call about 5:30 a.m. Saturday about a north Gulfport family stranded at a neighbor's home on the Biloxi River.

It took the department's Swift Water Rescue Team until about 7 a.m. to free the family members, who had taken refuge on a second-floor deck on their neighbor's home after the river overflowed its banks.

Officials in south Mississippi said Saturday that they don't anticipate more precipitation for several days, but the Coast is expected to experience a ripple effect from two days of heavy rainfall. Officials and people living along or near area rivers should watch for flooding.

As of 10 a.m., the Biloxi River had crested at 14.5 feet, 2.5 feet above its flood stage, and the water level was beginning to decrease.

The Wolf and Tchoutacabouffa rivers are expected to continue to rise.

Meteorologist Shawn O'Neil with the National Weather Service in Slidell, Louisiana, said the Wolf River — with an 8-foot flood stage — was at 10.6 feet and should continue to rise to about 12 feet by midnight and should be flooded until Monday evening.

The Tchoutacabouffa River has a flood stage of 8-feet and is expected to crest around 7.7 feet by midnight.

Harrison County Director of Emergency Management Rupert Lacy said he wasn't anticipating a high number of issues resulting from rivers flooding.

"Our people who live on the rivers love it and they understand that this time of the year we have floods and they have to pay attention," he said. "Once warnings or watches come out, you need to heed those so that you don't get caught off guard."

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Information from: The Sun Herald, http://ift.tt/12vv2Uy

Planners identify Camp Shelby as critical part of strategic military ... - The Republic

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — The Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center is being considered as a depot for the return, redeployment and disposal of military equipment now in Afghanistan.

Camp Shelby is one of several sites in the South Mississippi Defense Corridor under consideration. Others are Keesler Air Force Base, Stennis Space Center in Hancock County and Combat Readiness Training Center-Gulfport.

"We have a port expansion (in Gulfport), a military base that is one of the largest mobilization platforms in the United States, and other military installations including Army, Navy and Air Force. I don't believe you could find that type of joint interaction anywhere else," Maj. Craig Sumrall, mobilization officer at Camp Shelby, told The Hattiesburg American reports (http://hatne.ws/QmDmld ).

Camp Shelby officials have signed an agreement with the National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The agreement allows military planners to determine whether Camp Shelby will be designated a strategic military intermodal logistics hub.

"Based on our knowledge of locating freight facilities, we thought this was actually something worth looking at," CFIRE Executive Director Teresa M. Adams said. "There's already a lot of military activity going on (in that area), so the community is already welcoming to that, and it seems like a good site."

The Department of Defense will spend $7 billion to ship nearly 750,000 pieces of equipment worth $36 billion as combat operations come to an end this year. Officials from Camp Shelby and CFIRE believe the agreement could save the DOD millions of dollars as military equipment begins to make its way back to the United States from Afghanistan.

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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, http://ift.tt/1dH8XXX

Former Navy workers sentenced in fraud scheme in Gulfport, Miss. - Daily Journal

GULFPORT, Mississippi — Two former Navy workers have been ordered to make restitution for their roles in a false travel-claim scheme that federal prosecutors said involved tens of thousands of dollars.

Richard Stephen Bellock, 43, of Alquippa, Pennsylvania, received a prison term of 70 months and three years' probation at his sentencing in federal court Tuesday.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1frh5Z1) U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden also ordered Bellock to help others repay $163,749.25.

Bellock also was indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft involving a travel voucher filed in another person's name and paid to his account. Those charges were dismissed in exchange for his plea.

The judge sentenced Iralen Jewell, 33, of Grand Junction, Colorado, to help others repay $10,196.89. The judge fined Jewell $500 and ordered three years of probation.

Court papers show Jewell repaid more than $500 in 2010.

A federal grand jury indicted Bellock, Jewell and two others in June.

Bellock and Jewell had a rank of logistics specialist 1st class when they were stationed at the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport.

They were among at least nine servicemen prosecuted in related cases involving illegal payments while they were assigned to NMCB 74 between October 2006 and August 2011.

Mississippi House and Senate could try to work out difference on religious ... - Daily Journal

JACKSON, Mississippi — Mississippi lawmakers could try to write a final version of a religious-practices bill that has sparked concerns about anti-gay discrimination.

The Senate on Thursday voted to send Senate Bill 2681 into negotiations with the House.

The two sides face a Monday deadline to file a final version of the bill, known as the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act. If they don't meet that deadline, the bill will die. If they do reach a compromise, it would be sent to both chambers for a vote by the middle of next week.

The original version passed the Senate 48-0 on Jan. 31. It said government cannot put a substantial burden on religious practice without a compelling reason. The Senate debate that day focused primarily on a provision Republican Gov. Phil Bryant had requested, to add "In God We Trust" to the state seal.

There was nothing said during that debate about the bill's similarities to an Arizona proposal that, at the time, was being broadly criticized as a way to let people cite religious beliefs in refusing service to gay people, such as not baking a cake for a wedding or commitment ceremony. Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, eventually vetoed that bill after business groups said it could hurt the state's economy.

After the Mississippi bill passed the Senate, the American Civil Liberties Union and other critics started calling on the House to kill the bill.

On March 12, the House diluted the religious-practices provisions by turning those parts of the bill into a study group, but kept the part about changing the state seal. That version of the bill passed the House 82-35.

The state's influential Southern Baptist lobbying group, Christian Action Commission, supports the original version.

The bill's main sponsor, Republican Sen. Phillip Gandy of Waynesboro, is a Baptist minister. He told The Associated Press on Thursday that if his bill becomes law, Mississippi residents could cite their religious beliefs just as Hobby Lobby is doing now in its court challenge of contraceptive coverage mandated by the federal health overhaul law.

"People of faith could use this as a shield to protect their constitutional rights, their religious rights," Gandy said.

Ryan Brans, a 22-year-old Gulfport resident, participated in a gay-rights rally Wednesday in Jackson. Brans said she and her girlfriend, Elizabeth Parker, intend to marry in 2017, although same-sex marriage is illegal in Mississippi. Brans also said she hopes lawmakers kill the religious-practices bill because she worries it will embolden people to refuse service to gay people in restaurants, hotels and other places. She also said minority religious groups could face discrimination.

"We don't want this bill. It's not fair," Brans said.

Similar religious-practices bills were filed this year in several states, including Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee. A bill was withdrawn in Ohio, and similar measures stalled in Idaho and Kansas.

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Online: Senate Bill 2681: http://bit.ly/1hheTXI

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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://ift.tt/12bO1i8

Family needs help escaping neighbor's home after Biloxi River flood - The Republic

GULFPORT, Mississippi — A family of three and their three dogs needed help from Gulfport rescue teams to get out of a neighbor's home where they were stranded due to heavy rains.

Gulfport Battalion Chief Chris Henderson told The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/1hlP5dm ) that the Fire Department received a call about 5:30 a.m. Saturday about a north Gulfport family stranded at a neighbor's home on the Biloxi River.

It took the department's Swift Water Rescue Team until about 7 a.m. to free the family members, who had taken refuge on a second-floor deck on their neighbor's home after the river overflowed its banks.

Officials in south Mississippi said Saturday that they don't anticipate more precipitation for several days, but the Coast is expected to experience a ripple effect from two days of heavy rainfall. Officials and people living along or near area rivers should watch for flooding.

As of 10 a.m., the Biloxi River had crested at 14.5 feet, 2.5 feet above its flood stage, and the water level was beginning to decrease.

The Wolf and Tchoutacabouffa rivers are expected to continue to rise.

Meteorologist Shawn O'Neil with the National Weather Service in Slidell, Louisiana, said the Wolf River — with an 8-foot flood stage — was at 10.6 feet and should continue to rise to about 12 feet by midnight and should be flooded until Monday evening.

The Tchoutacabouffa River has a flood stage of 8-feet and is expected to crest around 7.7 feet by midnight.

Harrison County Director of Emergency Management Rupert Lacy said he wasn't anticipating a high number of issues resulting from rivers flooding.

"Our people who live on the rivers love it and they understand that this time of the year we have floods and they have to pay attention," he said. "Once warnings or watches come out, you need to heed those so that you don't get caught off guard."

---

Information from: The Sun Herald, http://ift.tt/12vv2Uy

Planners identify Camp Shelby as critical part of strategic military ... - The Republic

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — The Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center is being considered as a depot for the return, redeployment and disposal of military equipment now in Afghanistan.

Camp Shelby is one of several sites in the South Mississippi Defense Corridor under consideration. Others are Keesler Air Force Base, Stennis Space Center in Hancock County and Combat Readiness Training Center-Gulfport.

"We have a port expansion (in Gulfport), a military base that is one of the largest mobilization platforms in the United States, and other military installations including Army, Navy and Air Force. I don't believe you could find that type of joint interaction anywhere else," Maj. Craig Sumrall, mobilization officer at Camp Shelby, told The Hattiesburg American reports (http://hatne.ws/QmDmld ).

Camp Shelby officials have signed an agreement with the National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The agreement allows military planners to determine whether Camp Shelby will be designated a strategic military intermodal logistics hub.

"Based on our knowledge of locating freight facilities, we thought this was actually something worth looking at," CFIRE Executive Director Teresa M. Adams said. "There's already a lot of military activity going on (in that area), so the community is already welcoming to that, and it seems like a good site."

The Department of Defense will spend $7 billion to ship nearly 750,000 pieces of equipment worth $36 billion as combat operations come to an end this year. Officials from Camp Shelby and CFIRE believe the agreement could save the DOD millions of dollars as military equipment begins to make its way back to the United States from Afghanistan.

---

Information from: The Hattiesburg American, http://ift.tt/1dH8XXX

Former Navy workers sentenced in fraud scheme in Gulfport, Miss. - Daily Journal

GULFPORT, Mississippi — Two former Navy workers have been ordered to make restitution for their roles in a false travel-claim scheme that federal prosecutors said involved tens of thousands of dollars.

Richard Stephen Bellock, 43, of Alquippa, Pennsylvania, received a prison term of 70 months and three years' probation at his sentencing in federal court Tuesday.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1frh5Z1) U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden also ordered Bellock to help others repay $163,749.25.

Bellock also was indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft involving a travel voucher filed in another person's name and paid to his account. Those charges were dismissed in exchange for his plea.

The judge sentenced Iralen Jewell, 33, of Grand Junction, Colorado, to help others repay $10,196.89. The judge fined Jewell $500 and ordered three years of probation.

Court papers show Jewell repaid more than $500 in 2010.

A federal grand jury indicted Bellock, Jewell and two others in June.

Bellock and Jewell had a rank of logistics specialist 1st class when they were stationed at the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport.

They were among at least nine servicemen prosecuted in related cases involving illegal payments while they were assigned to NMCB 74 between October 2006 and August 2011.