2017-01-01



Adam Robison | BUY AT PHOTOS.DJOURNAL.COM
Workers remove lumber that was used in framing the bridge at Mud Creek on East Main Street in Tupelo. The project to beautify East Main Street and to better connect downtown Tupelo to the Elvis Presley Birthplace was completed in 2016.

Daily Journal

Last year saw a great deal of change across Northeast Mississippi.

The region showed the nation some of its best and brightest stars but also had to deal with pressing issues and tragedy.

New leaders emerged both locally and nationally, and no doubt they will have unique opportunities to lead us into a positive new year.

As the calendar turns to 2017, the Daily Journal looks back on 10 of the most impactful stories in Northeast Mississippi in 2016.

Trump triumphs in election

This year’s top story traces back to the moment Donald Trump descended an escalator in Trump Tower, his bastion in New York City, to announce he would run for president.



Donald Trump gives his acceptance speech at an election-night rally in New York. (AP FILE PHOTO)

Widely viewed as a long shot, with an unconventional campaign featuring raucous rallies and pugnacious tweets, he outlasted 16 Republican rivals.

Among the Democrats, Hillary Clinton beat back an unexpectedly strong challenge from Bernie Sanders, and won the popular vote over Trump.

But Trump won key Rust Belt states to get the most electoral votes, and will enter the White House with Republicans maintaining control of both houses of Congress.

Mississippi strongly supported Trump, giving the Republican candidate all six of the state’s Electoral College votes.

The final results showed Trump getting nearly 60 percent of the Mississippi vote.

Other notable election results from 2016 in the region included U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly being elected to his first full term in office, as well as Circuit Judge Bobby Chamberlin winning a runoff for a state Supreme Court seat.

Shooting leads to local unrest

Four gunshots, fired in the dark on a hot June night, and nationwide tensions over the relationship between law enforcement and minority communities, led to unrest in Tupelo.

Late on June 18, local man Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert fled from a traffic stop in the Lee Acres neighborhood.



THOMAS WELLS | BUY AT PHOTOS.DJOURNAL.COM Several hundred protesters joined a rally and march in July in support of Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert who was shot and killed by a Tupelo police officer.

Minutes later, a Tupelo Police Department K9 handler found Shumpert hiding in the crawl space under a Harrison Street home.

An altercation ensued and the police officer, Tyler Cook, shot Shumpert. Shumpert was transported to North Mississippi Medical Center and died in the early morning hours of June 19.

Cook told authorities he fired his weapon in self-defense, but Shumpert’s family soon retained the services of Grenada attorney Carlos Moore.

Moore claimed Shum-pert tried to surrender but was brutally mauled by Cook’s police dog and shot to death without provocation.

Moore made some allegations later proved false by physical evidence. Other claims await the results of a civil suit, currently set to go to trial in December 2017.

In August, a Lee County grand jury found no cause to indict Cook of criminal conduct.

Moore described Shumpert’s shooting as the result of racial prejudice. Shumpert was black and Cook is white.

Black community leaders in Tupelo generally shied away from such rhetoric but many did press claims that the Tupelo Police Department practices racial profiling and uses excessive force.

At a July 30 protest, hundreds of marchers filled downtown, demanding civilian oversight of the police department.

Smaller-scale protests continued across the summer.

A Mississippi Bureau of Investigation report into the Shumpert shooting has never been released, and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department continues its own review of the MBI findings.

Jack Reed Sr. dies at 91

The All America City lost one of its shining stars in 2016 with the death of Jack Raymond Reed, Tupelo’s pre-eminent civic leader.

Reed was among the last of a Greatest Generation cadre of Tupelo’s business and professional leadership who, after World War II, transformed a pleasant county-seat town into a thriving city that became a regional magnet for economic growth, employment, strong public education and a vigorous arts and cultural community.

REED

He died in January at his residence in Tupelo at the age of 91.

Reed’s contributions in the realms of public education, economic and community development and race relations, among many others, spanned the entire region and state.

He was chairman of R.W. Reed Co., the retail store founded by his father in the early 20th century, and he led Reed Manufacturing, which was a major force among Mississippi garment industry employers in its time.

Reed earned a national reputation as an eloquent advocate for racial fairness and reconciliation in Mississippi.

While Jack Reed Sr. might not have invented the Tupelo Spirit, he lived it every day of his life.

His positive mark, as Gov. William Winter noted, will live forever in Mississippi.

State flag design sparks discussion

Amid cries that it indelibly symbolizes slavery and resistance to integration, the Mississippi state flag became the center of debate by the Tupelo City Council.

Demands came before the council to remove the state flag with its Confederate emblem from municipal property.

The opening of a new police headquarters eventually forced the issue. On a divided 5-2 vote, the council ordered that the state flag must fly at municipal facilities with more than one flag pole.

Later, however, the council unanimously voted to fly at the new police headquarters a banner celebrating the state’s bicentennial in place of the official state flag, but only for one year.

Local acts hit national stage

It was a big year in an area already known for producing world-famous music.

Amory hometown hero Trent Harmon walked away with top honors after achieving status as the last- to-be-crowned “American Idol” in the final season of the popular FOX television series.

HARMON

The now-country music star has released his first EP, which is available at trentharmon.com.

“I don’t want to say I’m necessarily reinventing country music. Loosely, maybe,” Harmon said in an interview with the Daily Journal in April. “I think any time you can spin a new genre on its ear, if it’s good music, it doesn’t matter what genre it is.”

Much like Harmon, Tupelo-born brothers Khalif “Swae Lee” and Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown have gained musical notoriety in 2016, albeit in a different genre. Their second hip-hop album, “SremmLife 2,” was released and gave way to the single “Black Beatles,” which peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 while also charting in the top 10 across the globe.

The brothers’ second SremmFest concert, held at the BancorpSouth Arena on Dec. 23, saw more than 4,000 in attendance.

“We’ve gone to these overseas festivals with 10,000 people and saw how lit it was and how crazy it was,” Swae Lee told the Daily Journal. “We wanted to bring it to this city to give a little taste of our life.”

Super majority shapes 2016 agenda

The 2016 session of the Mississippi Legislature was historic in that it was the first in the modern era where Republicans held three-fifths super majorities in both chambers.

The super majorities allowed the Republicans to push through most of their agenda. That included passing the largest tax cut in the state’s history ($415 million in today’s dollars enacted over 12 years.) The tax cut will be directed primarily toward businesses and on personal income.

The session was at times contentious. Republicans were able to push through parts of their social agenda, including legislation that has been struck down by the courts, that among other things gave circuit clerks the right not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

At times, especially in the House, the minority Democratic Party slowed the process by exercising its right to have each bill read aloud before the final vote.

The session also was marked with cuts to state agencies because of revenue shortfalls.

Downtown Tupelo receives make-over

Extensive infrastructure upgrades designed to link the city’s most visible tourist attraction with a revitalized downtown reached completion in July.

Construction of the Elvis Presley Birthplace Trail enabled pedestrians to walk from the heart of downtown Tupelo to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s birthplace in east Tupelo.

The trail required the construction of new sidewalks, street lights and planter boxes.

Parts of Main Street, Veterans Boulevard and Reese Street were also repaved and restriped, and parts of East Main Street were widened to five lanes.

Project costs totaled about $12 million. A federal grant provided some money toward the cost, with the city of Tupelo and the Major Thoroughfare Program also contributing funds.

Vitter takes head post at UM

Jeffrey Vitter officially started work as the University of Mississippi’s 17th chancellor last Jan. 1.

His first year on the job saw the university finish several building projects, earn “R1” Carnegie Classification as a top research university and have its best fundraising year.

JEFFREY VITTER

It also had its share of challenges, including NCAA investigations into three athletic programs, controversies involving the state flag and use of the song “Dixie” and a large student sit-in at the administration building in response to a student who used racist language in a Facebook post.

The year also saw Vitter officially installed as chancellor during a November ceremony.

“There is nothing more important to the future of our society than higher education,” said the New Orleans native who came to Ole Miss after serving as provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas.

Region rocked by two plane crashes

Northeast Mississippi mourned the loss of 10 people in plane crashes three months apart.

On May 16, two Texas couples died when part of their plane’s exhaust system fell off as they took off from Tupelo. The pilot tried to return to the airport but the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in a wooded area about a half-mile north of the runway.

A group of six Oxford residents were returning from a dental convention in Florida when their plane crashed just east of the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport in Alabama on Aug. 16. Officials said the pilot of the Piper Navajo issued a distress signal and requested an emergency landing. The plane instead crashed into a wooded area short of the airport.

Tupelo police receive new headquarters

The Tupelo Police Department moved into its first new building in a half-century during the final week of 2016.

The city broke ground on the two-story, $10 million building at the corner of Front and Franklin streets in April 2015. Officials hoped to move into the new 34,000-square-foot building in August, but a series of delays pushed back the occupation date until late December.

The new building triples the previous space and allows all of the police divisions to be brought together under one roof. The first new police station since 1966, the building had been discussed for more than a decade.

The Associated Press and Daily Journal staffers Caleb Bedillion, Rod Guajardo, Chris Kieffer and William Moore contributed to this report.

Show more