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THE ITAWAMBA COUNTY TIMES 106 W. MAIN ST. FULTON, MS 38843
662-655-2141 DJOURNAL. COM / ITAWAMBA
Volume 124, No. 10
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© 2023 Itawamba County Times
Arvesta Troupe wins silver in high jump at SEC Championship
Page 10A
“ The Only Newspaper in The World That Cares Anything About Itawamba County!”
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Fire damages ICC administration building Saturday
By BEN SUTTON Itawamba County Times
A fire on the Fulton campus of Itawamba Community College on Saturday damaged the school’ s administration building.
The fire started in the breakroom of the building around 3 p. m. on Saturday, with initial reports indicating a Coca-Cola vending machine as the culprit.
“ Thankfully, the door to the room appears to have shut at the onset, helping suffocate some of the flames limiting the spread,” a statement from ICC said.
The room housing the campus WiFi equipment was adjacent to the room in which the fire began. In fact, the loss of WiFi service was the first clue that something was wrong.
“ Their IT department received a notification that the IT system was down, without power,” Itawamba Emergency Management Director Patrick Homan said.“ They contacted one of the maintenance guys on campus, who was also a volunteer fireman in one of the county fire departments. When he opened the door, it was full of smoke.”
Homan added that a chemical fire suppression system in the IT room deployed to contain the fire and helped limit the damage.
“ It could have been a whole lot worse,” he said.
The school was able to restore WiFi service to the Fulton campus Saturday night.
The majority of the building suffered significant smoke damage. All of the departments housed in the building were relocated across campus on Tuesday and were set to be fully operational Wednesday. The building will undergo approximately two months of cleaning and renovation to repair the fire and smoke damage.
“ We are thankful for the prompt response by the local fire departments, the ICC Physical Plant team and the ICC TIS team,” ICC’ s statement read.
ben. sutton @ djournal. com
‘ PICK A POCKET OR TWO’
THOMAS WELLS | DAILY JOURNAL This file photo from September 2023 shows the Itawamba Community College sign outside of the David C. Cole Student Services Building at the college’ s Fulton campus.
Murderer of
Fulton woman escapes from state penitentiary, again
By WILLIAM MOORE Daily Journal
PHOTOS BY BEN SUTTON The Itawamba Indian Players put on their production of“ Oliver! Jr.” last week. The musical is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel“ Oliver Twist.”
Itawamba Indian Players put on successful production of‘ Oliver! Jr.’
Inside: For more photos from the Itawamba Indian Players production of“ Oliver! Jr.,” See page 8A
PARCHMAN – A Tupelo man, serving a life sentence for the 1983 murder and rape of a Fulton woman, escaped from the Mississippi State Penitentiary Tuesday morning. This is the second time he has escaped from the state prison at Parchman.
Nevin Kerr Whetstone, 71, is currently being sought by the Mississippi Department of Corrections and other law enforcement agencies
Whetstone across the state. MDOC did not release how Whetstone escaped or if he had help.
Whetstone is serving a life sentence for the Aug. 30, 1983 murder of Loretta Darlene Steele, 27, of Fulton. She had been seen at two local night spots and was seen leaving with Whetstone. Her partially clothed body was found around 11:30 p. m. that Tuesday night behind a North Gloster motel. She had been beaten about the head and face.
Tupelo police arrested the then 30-year-old Whetstone the next day on charges of capital murder, rape and robbery.
He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life Dec. 14, 1983.
Whetstone appealed his conviction and life sentence several times. In a 2011 appeal forest-conviction relief, he admitted the he“ and the victim had argued on the night of the murder and that he had hit her to protect himself from her advances.” That appeal was denied.
In April 1988, Whetstone and a convicted bank robber scaled a fence on the north side of the sprawling prison farm and escaped. Officials noticed the men missing at the Sunday morning roll call. Both were later recaptured. Whetstone was convicted of escape and sentenced to an additional year in prison.
william. moore @ djournal. com
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