Mississippi Teen Charged with Third Shooting in Less Than a Year

Mississippi Teen Charged with Third Shooting in Less Than a Year

TUPELO, Miss. — A Mississippi teen is jailed after officials arrested him for the drive-by shooting death of a 66-year-old woman.

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson tells news outlets 17-year-old Latavious Betts is charged as an adult with murder and aggravated assault in Annie Walton’s Dec. 7 death.

Johnson says Betts fired a dozen or more shots into a house near Verona, killing Walton and wounding four others.

Betts was earlier charged with first-degree murder for a March 22 shooting at a Verona car wash. He’s also charged with aggravated assault in a July 8 convenience store shooting that injured two.

The teen is jailed without bail because he’s accused of violating previous release terms. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer. Betts was captured Friday after a week on the run.

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Agricenter International

Adds Two Educators

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Agricenter International and University of Tennessee Extension have announced two additions to their joint education partnership. Laura Robertson and Michael Owen have joined the staff as Shelby County Extension Agents focusing on 4-H and Youth Education. Since 2003, Agricenter has provided educational opportunities for schools from pre-K to college that are offered at no cost to schools.

Laura Robertson holds a B.S. in Family, Child, and Consumer Sciences and a Masters from Louisiana State University. She focuses on youth development in healthy living, leadership, service-learning, and curriculum development. Michael Owen holds a B.S. in Agriculture from Auburn University. He has worked as a county agent and public- school teacher for many years. Both Laura and Michael will be serving as an Extension agent for Shelby County in 4-H and other youth development areas.

John Butler, President of Agricenter, said, “I look forward to working with Laura and Michael and am extremely excited about how their addition can impact youth education programs for the Memphis-Shelby County community. They are excellent educators and are dedicated to our mission.”

Tim Roberts, Agricenter Director of Education and Shelby County Extension Agent, stated, “This is a great opportunity to expand the agriculture, forestry, and other natural resources program at Agricenter as well as increasing the many opportunities of 4-H in Shelby County.”

Jim Todd, Shelby County Extension Director, said, “The unique partnership with Agricenter and UTTSU Extension allows us to grow the 4-H program with excellent educators and reach more students.”

Agricenter International, a 1,000 acre farm, is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the knowledge and understanding of agriculture. It has a $524 million annual economic impact on the region, hosts over 1.3 million visitors annually, and educates 10,000 students a year. For more information visit www.agricenter.org or call 901-757-7777.

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Highway Fatalities up for the Year in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee has surpassed 1,000 traffic fatalities across the state for 2018.

Through Monday, 1,014 people have died in traffic incidents in Tennessee, an increase of 30 deaths from 2017 or three percent.

The increase in deaths came in the second-half of the year as fatalities were down in four of the first five months of 2018.

Deaths rose in August, November and December compared to 2017. In the Middle Tennessee area, Robertson County has seen the biggest increase, year-to-year. The Tennessee Department of Transportation has intiated a statewide campaign to urge driver safety through its network of message boards along state highways stressing seat-belt use and doscouraging distracted driving via cell phone use while at the wheel.

In Arkansas, the total is down slightly over last year’s figures. Through December 17, there have been 469 highway fatalities. There were 475 deaths on Arkansas roadways at the same point in 2017.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation has suggested that fewer incidents of icy roads and fewer longterm construction projects may have contributed to the lower number of fatalities. In 2016, the number of highway fatalities was an alltime high ay 583.