Free Republic

DeSoto Schools face new protest Atheists allege Bible distribution by Gideons The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, fresh off a successful request that DeSoto County Schools stop allowing prayers before football games over the public address system, is now asking Mississippi's largest public school district to halt distribution of Bibles on school property. In a new letter from the group to school officials, the group cites instances of Gideons International distributing materials to fifth-graders at Oak Grove Central Elementary in Hernando and DeSoto Central Elementary in Southaven. "It's our information and understanding that DeSoto County school officials have been allowing...

DeSoto County Schools will abide by an existing policy that prohibits broadcasting prayers over the public address system at football games, but school board attorney Keith Treadway did not elaborate further Monday on the demands of a Wisconsin group that prayer be halted at athletic events and graduation ceremonies. Treadway's statement, after a private executive session of school board members at a regularly scheduled board meeting, was in response to a recent letter to school officials from the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding that the school follow a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring it unconstitutional for public schools to organize,...

DeSoto County schools to make 'drastic cuts' District will trim salaries; 40 fewer teachers in class DeSoto County Schools employees will see smaller paychecks next year, and 40 fewer teachers will fill classrooms under sweeping cutbacks announced Monday by the state's largest public school system. "These are tough times for DeSoto County schools," Supt. Milton Kuykendall said in an afternoon news conference. "We're having to make some drastic cuts." Altogether, the plan will trim about $17.7 million from the fiscal 2011 budget to offset a reduction from $133 million to $122 million in Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding from the...

• ACLU Working to Chip Away Code of Discipline with DeSoto County Schools Editorial by Milton Kuykendall, Superintendent, DeSoto County Schools The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is attacking the Code of Discipline in DeSoto County Schools. The ACLU has just filed the 3rd lawsuit against our school district. What some may not realize is that they are challenging our safe and orderly environment--the one characteristic that separates our school district from districts near us. The ACLU can make charges against the school district saying we have done something to a student. We cannot respond because of privacy issues. In...

Please join us Wed., April 15, 2009 at 4:00 pm at the DeSoto County, MS Courthouse. If you are against the runaway wasteful government spending of trillions of dollars and BIG GOVERNMENT getting bigger, join the protest This event is being organized by Danny Williams, CPA - Williams, Pitts and Beard CPA firm is a non-partisan protest against wasteful government spending.

Horn Lake, MS -- The black bear spotted in the Horn Lake, Mississippi area is still out there somewhere. It was last seen in a wooded area behind the Apple Creek Subdivision. Jimmy Massey was one of the last people to see the bear. "I saw something move in the trees, and there it was about 60 yards from me. It just stopped and stood there for about 30 seconds," Massey said. Mississippi Wildlife Officials believe the bear may be lost or looking for a mate. They tried to pick up a signal from a tracking collar the bear may...

'Whorehouse' comment surprises GOP's Barbour pledges support for The Med By James Dowd dowd@desotoappeal.com May 13, 2003 Mississippi gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour scored points in DeSoto County on Monday regarding support for The Med but raised eyebrows with a comment about Head Start during a tour of Sacred Heart School in Southaven. "Head Start is a godsend for Mississippi," the Republican told Sacred Heart principal Laura Clark. "Some of those kids in it would be better off sitting up on a piano bench at a whorehouse than where they are now." Clark said she understood the context of the remark,...