Another black bear has been sighted inside the Meridian city limits, according to wildlife officials.
On June 16, Joyce Bond arrived home about midnight from her late shift work at Wal Mart. She lives on State Boulevard Extension about a mile from Okatibbee Creek.
As Joyce turned her car around to back into her carport, she spotted a movement between her and State Boulevard. Driving closer to investigate, she encountered an adult black bear at a distance of 50 feet. “It was not wearing a collar,” she reported, being aware of the black bear that was trapped earlier this year near Key Field airport and fitted with a radio transmitting collar.
Bond watched the bear cross her driveway and her neighbor’s yard in plain view and is 100 percent certain the animal was a black bear.
“He was grown because he appeared to be as long as the width of my driveway,” Joyce said.
Brad Young, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Black Bear Program Leader, recorded the sighting and found it interesting that Meridian seems to be a hot spot for bears. Young also reported that an aircraft flight over Lauderdale and Clarke counties seeking a radio signal from the collar on the bear that was trapped near Key Field yielded no signal. Male bears can travel long distances in brief periods of time.
Residents should never attempt to feed a bear or put out feed or garbage in an attempt to attract one, officials said. A bear that finds feed will come back for more and if the feed is withheld the bear can become destructive of property in searching for it and possibly could become aggressive. An aggressive bear often must be trapped and moved and they nearly always return, which can lead to their having to be destroyed.
Sightings of bears should always be reported to local wildlife authorities. News of a bear sighting obtained by the Meridian Star will be passed on to MDWFP officials. Such sightings are valuable to Mississippi’s bear program.
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Another bear spotted in Meridian
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City cuts payment to Watkins
The Meridian City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to cut their monthly payment to David Watkins, project developer of Meridian's new police station, by $9,999 until work resumes on the project.
The order, made during the Meridian City Council meeting Tuesday morning, included a mutual agreement between the councilmen and Watkins to reduce the project developer's monthly consultant fee of $10,000 to $1, effective Tuesday. -
Crews work on gasoline pipeline
If you hear a loud, booming sound early today, between 4 a.m.-10 a.m., there is no cause for alarm.
Workers with Plantation Pipeline will be performing maintenance work on their 30-foot gasoline pipeline in the Meridian area to accommodate the widening of Highway 493. The location of the work activity will be at Highway 493 North and Oak Hill Baptist Church, just inside the city limits. -
Team Spirit
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High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
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Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. -
Inmate escapes custody
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Monday afternoon an inmate escaped from custody Friday and is still being sought.
Officials said Johnny Hall Jr. escaped from two Wilkinson County Correctional Facility officers’ custody while being escorted from his father’s wake at the Picayune Funeral Home in Picayune. Preliminary information indicates Hall left the officers and jumped into a waiting black vehicle with a white female driver. -
Citizen’s Police Academy begins today
The work law enforcement conducts on a daily basis is often misunderstood by the general public.
Officials at the Meridian Police Department developed a program to inform and educate citizens on what police do in serving and protecting the population. The program, The Citizen's Police Academy, has been gaining speed for a couple of years since it was first offered. Officials said it shows residents are interested in police work and how it is conducted. - Woman: decongestant brought meth charge in Alabama
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Star Of The Week: Dominique Goodwin-Jenkins
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City cuts payment to Watkins
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