Brookhaven was temporarily in line to triple in size during thesecond quarter of 2004 before an appeal blocked the city’sannexation efforts.

The appeal has yet to be resolved as the year comes to anend.

Other top stories in the second quarter included the call-up ofapproximately 3,500 Army National Guard soldiers for service inIraq, state legislators and educators grappling over a proposededucation budget cut that threatened jobs and the closure of theMississippi School of the Arts and progress on a proposedindustrial park.

April:

Schools grappled in March and April to meet the state educationbudget that education officials claimed was $43 million short ofwhat they needed to fund “necessary” programs. More than 50 localteachers appeared on the verge of losing their jobs. Several, infact, were notified they would not be rehired for the next schoolyear before the legislature eventually passed a compromise bill inMay that provided some funding but still did not fully fund theMississippi Adequate Education Program.

The smaller education budget also threatened the closure of theMississippi School of the Arts before its second year. With morestudents and its budget cut by nearly one-third, local and stateschool officials struggled to determine whether the school couldremain open.

Lincoln County supervisors passed a resolution supporting up to$2.2 million in bonds toward the purchase of a new industrial parkApril 5.

The Lawrence County Sportsplex opened in early April when agirls softball team opened its first season there. Although somework was yet to be completed at the Sportsplex, it opened withthree of four softball fields and two soccer fields. The Sportsplexwould became the center of a land-swap deal between the county andthe city later in the year.

The Lawrence County School District announced April 15 thatCrystal Springs High School Principal Daryl Scoggin would replaceDr. L.C. Firle as principal at Lawrence County High School.

The Brookhaven airport closed in early April in preparation fora runway paving project. The airport remained closed for about amonth before reopening with a repaved 5,000-foot long, 75-foot widerunway and a fence around the airport’s perimeter.

May:

A special chancellor approved Brookhaven’s annexation of most ofthe requested area May 5, although land west of Interstate 55 and aprivate landowner’s property elsewhere were excluded from theexpansion. Objectors to the annexation have appealed the decision,but that appeal has not yet been heard.

Ward Four Alderman Bob Massengill won election as mayor ofBrookhaven May 18 in a special election that also saw bookkeeperMike Jinks elected city clerk. Massengill was running to replaceBill Godbold, who resigned for medical reasons, while Jinks wascampaigning to replace Iris Rudman, who also resigned earlier inthe year.

Two Lawrence County teachers were suspended with pay May 18,pending the results of an investigation of state testingirregularities while administering the Mississippi Curriculum Test.The investigation and resulting internal hearing lasted throughmuch of the year when delays kept occurring during the hearing.Eventually, the decision of the board of trustees was to thesuspend the teachers without pay for one year.

The Brookhaven High School Panthers captured the Class 4A StateBaseball Championship May 22 at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson bydefeating the Pontotoc Warriors 10-1. It was the first statechampionship for the school’s baseball program, and the Panthersfinished the season with a 30-8 record.

June:

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department became a focal point ina controversy surrounding the state’s seizure laws in June. TheMarch seizure of $27,000 in cash under a money-laundering statutefrom the vehicle of three Middle Eastern immigrants sparked areview of the law. The sheriff’s department still had not returnedthe money by June, claiming the money was being investigated by theInternal Revenue Service. No controlled substances or illegalcontraband was found during a search of the vehicle, stopped forweaving in the road. The immigrants, who live in New Orleans,claimed the department was looking for ways to steal their money,which derived from the sale of a business. The money was returnedJune 9 when the IRS released it.

The Mississippi School of the Arts was approved for a secondyear and a junior class June 17 after an education budget shortfallbrought the school’s existence into question. Funding for theschool was cut by nearly one-third with a doubling class size, andofficials seriously questioned whether the school could continueunder those circumstances. Community and legislative support bylocal representatives and senators kept the school open, despitereservations among top education executives.

Mississippi Army National Guard units in Brookhaven, Monticello,McComb, Crystal Springs, Prentiss and Tylertown were part of amobilization of more than 3,500 soldiers of the 155th SeparateArmored Brigade June 28. The brigade deployed to Camp Shelby inmid-August to begin a cycle of training designed to give them theexperience they would need for missions in Iraq. The unit isscheduled to deploy to Iraq in early January.

A Monticello landmark was lost to fire June 30. The building wasconstructed in 1948 at the corner of Highway 84 and F.E. SellersHighway and held a number of businesses, mostly vehicledealerships, over the years. Firefighters determined the cause ofthe fire was electrical.