Holidays are times often marked by family togetherness. Butaccording to Lincoln County Justice Court officials, family timecan turn violent, especially around the holidays.

“Next to speeding violations, domestic violence is thesecond-highest number of cases we get,” said Justice Court ClerkJan Oster.

Out of 55 cases to be presented in justice court this month, 14deal with traffic violations, 11 domestic violence and eight fordriving under the influence, which shows a slight difference fromcases seen this time last year.

“We are down on our DUIs this year, and we don’t have quite asmany traffic violations, but the domestic violence in LincolnCounty has picked up a lot,” Oster pointed out.

Domestic violence cases can involve a variety of charges,including assault, stalking, harassment and trespassing.

Justice Court officials say an increase in traffic violationsduring December is common because of busy holiday shoppers, but therise in domestic violence has them alarmed.

“I wonder if it’s financial pressures and maybe not being ableto provide what they want for their families,” said Judge Judy CaseMartin. “It makes me sad to see families breaking up.”

Local law enforcement officials are thankful the recent holidayweekend was peaceful, with few cases being added to justice courtand city court dockets.

“We were fortunate in that we pretty much had a safe holiday,”said Brookhaven Police Chief Fred McKee.

The majority of the activity in the city limits included severalcomplaints about fireworks and a few disturbances, he said. McKeealso mentioned a vehicle burglary at King’s Daughters MedicalCenter, but no arrests were made in that incident.

Activity outside the city limits proved to be a little morerowdy over the weekend with at least two burglaries being reported,including a church and a community store in the Hickory Hillarea.

Two Brookhaven men were arrested in connection with the churchburglary. Other information was unavailable pending furtherinvestigation.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol reported a fairly uneventfulholiday weekend in Lincoln County, with only a few accidentsreported. In the nine county area covered by the local office, 630citations were issued and 15 people were arrested on DUI charges,according to a MHP spokesman.