Jackson Free Press

Play has been suspended in the True South Classic with round two still under way. Round one was delayed by rain on Thursday and a brief bit of rain slowed play on Friday making it harder to finish the first round and get the full second round done in the same day.

Leading the tournament before play was suspended is Billy Horschel who posted a 9-under 63 and 13-under for the tournament. His second round was highlighted by eagles on the par five fifth hole and par five 18th hole.

Horschel shot a 68 in round one to finish the round at 4-under. Day one leader Jason Bohn completed just nine holes in his second round and was at 4-under before play was suspended.

Bohn is tied for second place with Matt Bettencourt at 12-under, with both players still needing to finish their second round. Bettencourt finished his second round at 6-under and shot a 66 in both rounds of play.

Defending champion Chris Kirk finished his second round shooting a 68 for 4-under. Kirk is 9-under for the tournament heading into round three.

Brandon native Jonathan Randolph was unable to finish his second round and was even through four holes. Randolph currently is at 5-under for the tournament.

Australia’s Steve Bowditch is fourth at 11-under after carding a 66 in round one and a 67 in round two. J.J. Killeen is the only other player currently double digits under par at 10-under and is currently in fifth place but has not finished his second round.

When play was suspended the projected cut line was at 3-under. Play will continue at 7:30am with players finishing round two and starting round three, if there are no more weather delays.

We just received this release from Attorney General Jim Hood's office:

An undercover operation has resulted in several arrests and numerous businesses facing allegations of unauthorized dispensing of contact lenses, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Investigators with the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Public Integrity Divisions, working with the Mississippi Optometry Board, conducted a two-month undercover investigation which resulted this week in seven arrests involving the owners and operators of S & K Fashion & Beauty Supply (Indianola), Fantasy City (Vicksburg) , Fantasy City #2 (Vicksburg), and Underground (Ridgeland). The defendants are accused of selling contact lenses to the public without licenses. Approximately 870 pairs of cosmetic contact lenses and over $1,000 were seized.

“This practice is particularly dangerous because contact lenses must fit properly,” said Attorney General Hood. “Without proper fitting by a licensed optometrist orophthalmologist, a number of eye issues may arise. Those issues could range from minor eye damage to a total loss of vision. Also, the quality of contact lenses may vary drastically and be unsafe for wearing. This is particularly a problem this time of year when people are wanting to enhance their costumes with a change in eye color.”

Those arrested and charged with the illegal sale of contact lenses without a license are:

Jeong Hyun, 42, Indianola , (Owner, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply) two counts of facilitation sale, 10/30/2013

Margaret Turner, 57, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count, 10/30/2013

Elle Turner, 42, Indianola, (Operator, S & K Fashion and Beauty Supply), one sale count , 10/30/2013

Chong Heard, 65, Vicksburg, (Owner/operator Fantasy City #1, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13 Suncha Beech, 61, Vicksburg, (Operator, Fantasy City #2, Vicksburg), two sale counts, 10/29/13

Michael Kang, 49, Ridgeland, (Owner/operator Underground #10, Ridgeland), one sale count, 10/29/13

If convicted each defendant faces up to one year behind bars and $1,000 in fines per count. As with all cases, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division and will be prosecuted by Special Assistant Attorney General Patrick Beasley.

The world’s biggest sport is expanding its biggest event. In 2026, the World Cup will move from 32 teams to 48. While some might cry that expansion will ruin the tournament, it could, in reality, be a great move.

Here are how the current 32 teams are chosen: Europe gets 13, Africa gets five, South America and Asia get 4.5, North and Central America, and the Caribbean gets 3.5, the host gets an automatic bid, and Oceania gets a .5 bid.

Playoffs between other conferences decide those half bids.That means South America could get five teams instead of four if it wins a playoff for an extra team.

More bids means more teams from other places besides just Europe. Africa is a huge continent but only gets five teams into the World Cup. The African nations deserve more bids, and so do the Asian countries, North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

Europe is where some of the best national soccer teams in the world are located, but so is South America. Adding a team or two from South America could enhance the tournament.

It seems stupid to slam the idea of expansion until seeing how the 16 added teams are distributed across the confederations. If Africa gets four or five, Oceania gets one, North and Central America get two or three, South America gets three or four, Asia gets two or three, and Europe gets four to one, that would be a nice mix.

The main thing is not to give Europe a bunch more teams. The other confederations should get the bulk of the new bids, and Europe gets the leftovers, if there are any.

There are other details to be worked out since the group stage would go from four to three teams per group. The top two from each would advance to the knockout stage of 32.

One major problem would be stopping teams from colluding with each other to fix the outcomes of which ones advance. There are a couple of ways to fix this problem.

FIFA floated the idea of having penalty shootouts for group games that end in a draw. Personally, I think this is a great idea.

The NHL does something similar in the regular season when games are tied at regulation and have played a five-minute overtime. If a NHL game is tied after regulation, the game goes to a shootout. The team that wins the shootout gets two points, and the losing team gets one point.

Teams that win the shootout could earn three points, and reaching it would earn a team one point. Teams that lose in regulation would get no points, of course.

Adding a shootout is good because overtime in group-stage games could add too much extra wear on players’ legs. Going straight to a shootout saves players if they are level after 90 minutes of play.

A shootout would change …

Despite submitting paperwork to run in the city of Jackson's special election for mayor, two individuals have been removed for not meeting requirements to seek the office.

They are:

Tonya Brooks of Valley North Boulevard

Tammie Patterson of Carleton Street.

That shaves the number of people seeking the office down to 13.

The election is April 8.

A runoff, which is expected, between the top votegetters would be on April 22.