Jackson Free Press

Verbatim statement from the US DOJ:

MISSISSIPPI CORPORATION PLEADS GUILTY AND AGREES TO $ 1 MILLION FINE FOR ILLEGALLY FILLING PROTECTED WETLANDS

WASHINGTON – Mississippi-based Hancock County Land LLC (HCL) pleaded guilty today to the unpermitted filling of wetlands near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and agreed to pay a $1 million fine and take remedial measures for two felony violations of the Clean Water Act, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Gregory K. Davis. HCL admitted causing the unauthorized excavation and filling of wetlands on a 1,710 acre parcel of undeveloped property in Hancock County, west of the intersection of Route 603 and Interstate 10.

According to the charges filed in federal court in Jackson, Miss., when HCL purchased the property, it had been informed by a wetland expert that as much as 80 percent of its land was federally protected wetland connected by streams and bayous to the Gulf of Mexico and, therefore, that the property could not be developed without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Such permits typically require that developers protect and preserve other wetlands to compensate for those they are permitted to fill and destroy.

The charges allege that in spite of additional notice of the prohibition against filling and draining wetlands without authorization, HCL, principally through its minority owner /general contractor, hired an excavation contractor to trench, drain and fill large portions of the property to lower the water table and thus to destroy the wetland that would otherwise have been an impediment to commercial development. In pleading guilty, HCL admitted that it knowingly ditched, drained and filled wetlands at multiple locations on the Hancock County property without having obtained a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers as required under the Clean Water Act.

It is a felony under the Clean Water Act for any person knowingly to discharge pollutants into waters of the United States, including wetlands, without a permit. A corporation convicted of this offense is subject to a penalty of not more than $500,000 per count.

HCL agreed and was ordered to pay to the federal government a total penalty of $1 million ($500,000 for each of the two counts). HCL also agreed and was ordered by the court to restore and preserve the damaged wetlands as provided in separate agreements HCL reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a citizen group, the Gulf Restoration Network. The agreements require HCL to re-grade and then re-plant, with appropriate native vegetation, the wetland area it excavated and filled and donate approximately 272 acres of the southwest quadrant of its property to the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain to be preserved in perpetuity. HCL is also required to fund its management and maintenance, to pay $100,000 toward the litigation costs of the Gulf Restoratio

If you are missing football and wishing for NFL training camps to open, there is something you can do for your football fix. The Canadian Football League will be on ESPN networks the next three nights.

Two of those three games feature players with ties to Mississippi.

Tonight, June 23, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN News, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hit the road to take on the Toronto Argonauts. The Tiger-Cats have former University of Mississippi player Jeremiah Masoli as their starting quarterback. This is also the opening of the 2016 Canadian Football League season.

The Montreal Alouettes take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Friday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, but neither team features a player from Mississippi. The Blue Bombers have held a tryout in Jackson the last two years, though.

On Saturday night, the British Columbia Lions host the Calgary Stampeders at 9 p.m. on ESPN2. The Lions have former Alcorn State University wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux, and the Stampeders have former University of Southern Mississippi running back Tory Harrison.

Those aren’t the only players with Mississippi ties on CFL rosters.

The Tiger-Cats have former University of Mississippi defensive tackle Ted Laurent. Currently, Laurent is on the British Columbia one-game injury list. He is a national player since he was born in Montreal, Quebec. Players born outside of Canada are listed as international players.

Former Jackson State University defensive back Marcell Young is an Edmonton Eskimos defensive player. He also played at Hinds Community College before heading to JSU to finish his college career.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signed former Mississippi State University defensive back Justin Cox this spring. He not only played at MSU but also at East Mississippi Community College.

Joining Cox on the Roughriders is former Pearl River Community College defensive back Johnnie Dixon. He also signed with Saskatchewan with spring.

The CFL offers a chance for players who don’t latch on with an NFL team to continue their football careers. Some players head north if they don’t sign an undrafted free agent contract with an NFL team.

However, playing in the CFL doesn’t mean an athlete won’t get a shot at the NFL. There have been several players who have made an impact on the league who NFL teams signed out of the CFL.

It would seem unlikely that any of the players on this list will sign with the NFL. Most are in their late 20s, except for former MSU player Cox who is 23 years old, and the NFL has trended in the direction of younger players in recent years.

After a less-than-stellar freshman season at Mississippi State University, guard Malik Newman decided to test the NBA waters. Newman chose to return to school once it was certain that he wouldn’t get drafted late in the first round or early in the second.

Signs showed that Newman might not have heard his named called on draft night in either round.

As one of the top recruits in the nation and the top recruit in Mississippi, it was expected that the star guard would spend one season in college. Instead, he averaged just 11.3 points per game and only shot 39 percent from the field.

After withdrawing from the draft, Newman has ultimately decided to leave MSU. Newman informed ESPN that he will be transferring to the University of Kansas.

The Jayhawks, along with Kentucky, were one of several schools vying for Newman’s college commitment. The six-foot, three-inch playmaker decided on Kansas after trips to North Carolina State University, Western Kentucky University and the University of Oregon.

Currently, the starting Jayhawks guards are senior Frank Mason and junior Devonte’ Graham. Newman will have to sit out next season under the NCAA transfer rules.

In Mississippi tennis news, Jackson State University won the 2016 SWAC Men’s Championship, but the actions of a former coach have put the program in hot water with the NCAA. The Division I Committee on Infractions placed the program on one-year probation from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017.

The violations occurred when former coach Scott Pennington used an ineligible student athlete under the name of a student who was eligible to play. The NCAA cited that the former coach failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and knew the student wasn’t eligible to practice or take place in competitions.

Still, Pennington allowed the player to practice and reimbursed the student for travel-related expenses on at least two occasions. The NCAA determined that the student received impermissible recruiting benefits.

The NCAA’s other penalties and corrective measures include a public reprimand and censure of the university, a two-year show-cause penalty for Pennington from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018, a $5,000 fine, and the forfeiture of any wins that the ineligible student athlete participated in.

Pennington committed these violations in 2015 before Lois Alexis replaced him. In her first season as the men’s and women’s coach, Alexis earned the honor of the SWAC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year after leading the JSU men to a title.

*CORRECTION: In a previous version of this story, Mississippi State was incorrectly named the University of Mississippi State. Also, Malik Newman committed to MSU after Rick Ray was fired, not before.

Media that covers Conference USA has made their preseason football predictions for order of finish in both the East Division and West Division. The predictions will keep expectations high on new University of Southern Mississippi coach Jay Hopson.

The Golden Eagles made one of the best turnarounds in college football, winning the West Division and earning their third appearance in the conference championship game last season. USM finished 9-5 before losing then head coach Todd Monken to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Monken will be offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers this season.

Hopson takes over after a highly successful tenure as head coach at Alcorn State University. He led the Braves to back-to-back SWAC Championships in his last two seasons in Lorman.

The media picked Southern Miss to top the West division for a second straight year, with Louisiana Tech University picked to finish second. Rice University was picked third, followed by the University of Texas at El Paso for fourth. The University of Texas at San Antonio was picked fifth and the University of North Texas was picked to finish last.

In the East Division, the media selected Middle Tennessee State University as the team to beat. Western Kentucky University, last year’s East winner, was picked to finish second, and Marshall University was picked third. Rounding out the rest of the East is Florida Atlantic University at No. 4, Florida International University at No. 5 and University of North Carolina at Charlotte was picked last.

The league coaches selected preseason awards and preseason All-USA team.

Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens was named preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Mullens returns for his senior season and will try to improve on last season when he threw for 300 or more yards in 10 games.

The coaches named Mullens to the preseason All-C-USA offense. Joining him is Southern Miss running back Ito Smith. The junior running back led the Golden Eagles in rushing last season and was a big play threat.

Senior center Cameron Tom was also named to the preseason All-C-USA team. He leads an offensive line that improved greatly over the last two seasons.

On defense, the Golden Eagles placed three players on the preseason All-C-USA defensive team. USM had a player named on each level of defense from the line to the secondary.

Those players named to the defensive team were senior defensive Dylan Bradley, senior linebacker D’Nerius Antoine and junior defensive back Picasso Nelson Jr.

C-USA media days are on Monday, July 24, and Tuesday, July 25, in Dallas. USM head coach Hopson will be on hand, along with Mullens and senior linebacker C.J. Perry.

While college football is just around the corner, let’s not forget that women’s soccer will begin this fall. The SWAC head coaches and sports information directors made their preseason predictions for the upcoming soccer season.

The team to beat and big winner of the awards is affiliate member Howard University, which was picked to win the conference with 170 points. Howard also swept all three preseason awards for Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year. The Bison also had eight players placed on either the first-team or second-team All-SWAC.

Mississippi Valley State University was picked to finish second in the conference with 146 points, closely followed by third-place pick Alabama State University with 145 points.

Jackson State University was picked to finish fourth with 126 points, with Prairie View A&M University in fifth place at 112 points. Arkansas-Pine Bluff University was picked to end up sixth with 102 points, and another close vote had Texas Southern University in seventh with 101 points.

Alabama A&M University ended up in eighth place with 74 points, and Southern University was picked to finish ninth with 58 points. Rounding out the bottom of the conference is Grambling State University, picked to finish 10th with 46 points and Alcorn State University picked to finish last with 42 points.

Jackson State placed three players on first-team All-SWAC in midfielder Jalana Ellis, defender Kyleigh Lo and goalie Faith Toennies. The Tigers placed two players on the second-team All-SWAC in midfielders Kalen Roberts and Sie’Yara Wells. The five players JSU placed on the preseason teams were second in the conference.

Mississippi Valley State finished 2015 as regular season champions and placed one player on the first-team All-SWAC in midfielder Laadi Issaka. The Delta Devils placed two players on the second-team: All-SWAC forward Heather Craddock and midfielder Marina Balboa.

Alcorn State didn’t place any players on either first or second teams. Alabama State was third in players selected to the preseason teams, with four players. Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern each placed one player on the preseason teams.

Last season, MVSU finished 8-1-1 in SWAC play and 13-7-2 overall. JSU finished with the same 8-1-1 record as the Delta Devils in conference play and the Tigers finished 11-7-2 overall. Alcorn State finished 0-10 in SWAC play and 0-13 overall.