Hughes church being rebuilt after fire is vandalized
HUGHES — An investigation is underway in Hughes after a church was vandalized over the weekend.
Police got a call around 8 a.m. Saturday morning that someone broke into St. Mary Baptist Church and vandalized the building, even leaving racial slurs on the wall.
Only a few months ago, the Hughes church was set on fire, and the entire building was destroyed. The assistant pastor said they’ve been diligently working to rebuild the church since the fire, but the breakin will put repairs at a standstill.
The perpetrators ripped out a part of the ceiling and broke nearly every light bulb on the ceiling. Every wall was covered in slashes and holes, as well as more on the ceiling.
Covering the walls and doors, the vandals wrote “TRUMP 2020,” and on another wall, they left behind a racial slur.
Hughes mayor Lincoln Barnett called the vandalism a disgrace but said it does not represent the entire community.
“This reflects a person or individuals who have low self-worth and who have some insecurities and who are attention- seeking,” Barnett said.
Assistant pastor Leon Horton said this upcoming Sunday was supposed to be the first time having service in the remodeled building.
Horton said what makes the break-in unusual is the fact nothing was stolen.
“Nobody bothered or took out anything,” he said.
“Anybody that may have seen what happened or heard about it through the grapevine, the investigation is going to be ongoing,” Hughes Police Chief Justice Ferrell said.
“Sometimes these things are not what they seem.”
As of right now, Ferrell said it’s not been determined if the break-in is related to last year’s fire, and he also said at the moment, police are not treating this as a hate crime until they have all the evidence.
Anyone with any information should contact the Hughes Police Department at 870-339- 2332.
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PARCHMAN, Miss. — Mississippi authorities have launched a manhunt for two prisoners believed to have escaped Saturday. The state’s Department of Public Safety deployed state troopers and the highway patrol’s special operations group to help the Department of Corrections find the two inmates, and to help restore order at the troubled facility that they escaped from.
Gov. Phil Bryant said he has directed “the use of all necessary assets and personnel” to find the two inmates who escaped from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, one of several prisons rocked by violence that has left at least five inmates dead in the past week.
The Corrections Department said that David May, 42, and Dillion Williams, 27, were discovered missing from Parchman during an “emergency count” about 1:45 a.m. Saturday.
May is serving a life sentence for two aggravated assault convictions in Harrison County, and Williams is serving a 40-year sentence for residential burglary and aggravated assault in Marshall County.
All prisons statewide remained locked down Saturday, Bryant said, with inmates confined to cells and no visitors allowed.
Mississippi’s prison system has struggled to fill guard vacancies, with Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall saying it’s difficult to attract people with salaries that start below $25,000 a year.
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Couple gets married in Bass Pro Shop
SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. — An East Tennessee couple chose an unusual place to tie the knot over the weekend — the Bass Pro Shops in Kodak, Tennessee..
The store even posted the announcement and photos to its Facebook page, with the caption: “Here at Bass Pro — we will sell you a boat, a gun, even some clothes & shoot you might as well even get married here!!”
The post also included “Congratulations Pam & Lonnie!”
Over the course of a few days, the post had hundreds of likes, comments and shares, mostly from well-wishers.
No word on whether Bass Pro weddings will become a trend in 2020.
