WCBI New at Six - 10/05/2020

WCBI New at Six - 10/05/2020

Welcome back to wcbi news.

You are watching a special broadcast of our 6:00 news.

Here's a story we have been following all day.

An arrest has been made in connection to a church fire early this morning in columbus.

Columbus fire and rescue responded to callof a fire at the first independent methodist church around 1:40am.

Firefighters battled the fire for more than three hours before they were able to put it out safely and prevent it from spreading..

Columbus police chief fred shelton says a juvenille male is in custody and has been charged.

Shelton says this same suspect may also be connected to two other church burglaries that took place over the weekend.

"the suspect is a juvenile so we will not be releasing his name at this time.

We are still in early parts of the investigation but we did have enough information to charge him.

He's going to be charged with arson and three counts of burglary.

Also, this weekend we had two other churches in the same area right down the street that were burglarized and we believe that he is part of that as well" shelton says this investigation is ongoing.

We will continue to follow this story and will bring you more as it becomes available.

Pastor gary shelton says he was home sleeping when he got the call that his church was involved in a serious fire..

Covid prevented in person worship.

Sunday was the first gathering in the sanctuary in months.

Wcbi's bobby martinez is live outside the church with more.

Bobby?

Heartbroken and in shock.

Are some of the emotions from pastor gary shelton today.

And during this tragedy... shelton says he is just happy no one was hurt..

10 plus years of memories for pastor gary shelton gone in a blink of an eye.

"it's terrible, i mean my heart broke" it was around 2 a.m.

When columbus fire and rescue responded to a fire at first independent methodist church.

The fire blazing for hours early sunday morning..

Sot - martin andrews - chief - columbus fire and rescue "it took about an hour, hour and a half to get it under control but about four hours total."

Andrews says this fire could've been worse... sot - martin andrews - chief - columbus fire and rescue "it's by the grace of god that it didn't spread because it has such a big jump on us.

Firefighters worked and worked hard they did a great job we are very proud of them."

Pastor shelton says he is hurt the church is gone... but more importantly..

Sot - gary sheltoon - pastor - first independent methodist church "no one was hurt.

The building is a total write off.

It may be the church meetinghouse but it's not the church.

We are a small congregation, but the congregation, the people, they are the church."

Pastor shelton says this church was a special place to many in the area.

Sot - gary shelton - pastor - first independent methodist church "the fellowship among the people here has been sweet.

No problems between the people, no divisions, no bitterness, no sadness.

Its been , the past decade that i've been blessed to be here it's been a wonderful experience."

At this time, all that remains is the debri you see behind me as the curch has been deemed a total loss..

Live in columbus bobby martinez wcbi news another columbus church is also dealing with arson and destruction.

Two vans were set on fire at 10th avenue church of christ over the weekend.

The church is right across the street from the old hunt high school.

Fire chief martin andrews tells wcbi that investigators believe this fire is unrelated to the one in east columbus.

In fact, andrews says there is a person of interest in the van arson.

Firefighters and law enforcement are using evidence found at the scene, along with video surveillance to help them identify the person responsible.

The vans were destroyed in the blaze.

If you have any information call golden triangle crime stoppers.

When it comes to wooded areas, firefighters face an entirely different challenge.

They need special gear and that costs money.

A little later on wcbi news at 6, allie martin takes a look at how one fire department is getting help - and what that means to the people live in and around houston.

A south mississippi man is killed in a lowndes county accident this morning.

The accident happened on highway 45 alternate and martin luther king jr. drive, just before 8 am, in crawford.

State troopers say the truck 19- year-old dalton brumbaugh, of petal, was driving ran off the road and hit a culvert.

Two passengers in the pick-up were taken to baptist triangle with minor injures.

Lowndes county coroner greg merchant says brumbaugh died at the scene.

The mississippi highway patrol continues to investigate the accident.

Lowndes county supervisors decision to extend the county's mask mandate is about the only thing they agreed on at their meeting this morning.

A heated discussion centered on the nomination of a new board president.

District 5 supervisor leroy brooks nominated jeff smith from district 4 to take the position, saying his and smith's experience and qualifications made either of them the best person for the job.

Brooks went on to suggest that they both had been overlooked in the past because they are black.

Tripp hairston, who represents district two, maintained that race should not decide who becomes board president.

Brooks believes it always has.

I don't understand it.

And for a supervisor to talk about race should not be the criteria, well what criteria has been used over the years?

It is about race.

Nobody likes to talk about it, but it is.

Because if you look at the education and qualifications and training of people that sit at the head of that table, it's no comparison to the kind of experience and training that jeff and i have.

The board voted to table brooks motion, killing the discussion.

District 3 supervisor john holliman is still acting board president.

A macon man has been indicted in connection with a robbery.

Antonio roby is charged with armed robbery and aggravated assault after the grand jury indictment.

Investigators say the robbery happened on february third at cambridge manor apartments.

At the time, investigators were looking for roby and other suspects.

First look stinger first look summary: quiet and pleasant early fall weather is the norm through thursday.

Our area may be impacted by the remnants of tropical storm delta friday into saturday.

The storm could give our region heavy rain, gusty winds, and perhaps even an isolated tornado threat depending on the exact track.

Monday night: clear, quiet, and cool.

Lows in the upper 40s.

Light wind.

Tuesday: mostly sunny and mild.

Highs in the 80s.

Northerly winds 2- 7 mph.

Today, state health officials are reporting no new covid-19 deaths.

However, 215 new cases are being reported.

Hospital numbers are also trending downward... 515 people across the state are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected symptoms. 132 of those patients are in i.c.u.

, with 69 on a ventilator.

90 thousand 577 people are presumed recovered.

This means there are about 71 hundred presumed active cases in the state.

A partial veto by governor tate reeves is shot down in court.

The hinds county chancery court ruled the governor's partial veto unconstitutional.

State house speaker philip gunn sued after reeves vetoed house bill 1782, which deals with how cares act money is distributed.

Reeves said the cares act included $2 million for a hospital that has been closed for years, which prompted his partial veto.

With the court's ruling today, the legislation is passed in its entirety.

Another deserving teacher in our has an extra 500 dollars to spend in her classroom.

Kristen nichols is a winner in our "wcbi back to school essay contest."

She teaches 3rd grade at southside elementary in west point.

Ms. nichols says because of budget cuts, supplies are usually limited in her classroom.

She often spends her own money to make up the shortfall.

Our viewers voted for her essay about how she would spend the extra money for her classroom.

"i would really like to buy a lot of books for my students because 3rd grade has that reading gate test at the end of the year, so we really need to focus on reading.

A lot of them, with the coronavirus, they haven't had books in probably about six months since they've been at home, so we really want to get them reading again... my students said that they, um, number one they wanted me to buy a vending machine, so i said, i don't think we're going to spend the money on that ."

Nichols was presented with a 500 dollar check from food giant.

Stinger a grant from the mississippi forestry commission is a big help to fire departments in houston and chickasaw county.

We'll have that story coming up on wcbi news.

Firefighters in chickasaw county are getting new tools to help battle forest and grass fires.

As wcbi's allie martin reports, the equipment comes at no cost to taxpayers.

The grant from the mississippi forestry commission will be used to fight fires in wooded areas throughout houston and chickasaw county.

It's a big help for fire departments across the area.

Battling grass fires or blazes in wooded areas is different than fighting structure fires and that includes the tools used by firefighters.

Nats this backpack blower will help firefighters keep debris from the fire's perimeter, so the blaze won't spread.

The grant will also pay for flappers, which are used to smother fires, 800 feet of hose and backpack water sprayers.

The grant saves the fire department and taxpayers thousands of dollars.

"we've been fortunate in chickasaw county, we are very well supported by aldermen, supervisors, but it's not enough money to fully fund everything we need.

Mississippi forestry and these grants allows us to have that extra equipment that helps us to do our job a lot better."

The equipment will be used throughout the area when the houston fire department is called on to assist other departments in chickasaw county .

Chief blankenship says the mfc grants make a big difference.

"they're an unknown hero, a lot of people don't realize it, these woods fires, we respond to, a lot of times we call them, they come in with their bulldozers and what have you to actually fight those fires, but they are still providing us with money and equipment to help them out as well."

All of the equipment and tools from this mfc grant have to be in place by december.

Then the grant application process begins for next year.

In houston, allie martin, wcbi news the mississippi forestry commission also provides fire departments with surplus vehicles that are transformed into brush trucks and tanker trucks for fighting remote fires.

Stinger weather open summary: quiet and pleasant early fall weather is the norm through thursday.

Our area may be impacted by the remnants of tropical storm delta friday into saturday.

The storm could give our region heavy rain, gusty winds, and perhaps even an isolated tornado threat depending on the exact track.

Monday night: clear, quiet, and cool.

Lows in the upper 40s.

Light wind.

Tuesday: mostly sunny and mild.

Highs in the 80s.

Northerly winds 2- 7 mph.

Tuesday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows in the low 50s.

Light winds.

Wednesday & thursday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Still mild with highs in the 80s and overnight lows in the 50s.

Friday & saturday: the entire forecast depends on what happens with the remnants of delta.

Heavy rain, some flooding, and gusts over 40mph are possible.

There could even be an isolated tornado threat if our area remains east of the remnant low center& but it's too earltoo early to tell at this point.

High school football and even college football could be affected so stay tuned for additional updates on that as well from wcbi sports.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app weather wrap stinger the bulldogs looking to fix their woes on the offensive side of the ball... later in sports mike leach on quarterback kj costello's progression after shocking the college football world and defeating the defending champion lsu tigers... mississippi state lost at home... to arkansas... the bulldogs were 17-point favorites... and the razorbacks ended their 20-game sec losing streak... arkansas disrupted mike leach's air raid offense... dropping eight defenders consistently... they only gave up 14 points... after a record- breaking performance week 1 in baton rouge... quarterback kj costello threw three picks... one of them went to the house.... leach still has confidence in the stanford transfer under center... but knows what's stopping him from reaching his full potential..

"he's good at his job.

He knows his job.

The thing is he should compete and be aggressive.

You always try to take it a step further, but if you do that the whole thing gets tangled up.

I just want him to keep simple things simple and have his eyes in the right place.

Don't try to do too much.

Just try to do his job because there's a lot other weapons and receivers out there to help him.

That's going to be easier as we protect better."

Kick off is at 6:30 saturday in lexington ole miss celebrating it's first win of the lane kiffin era... the rebels took down kentucky 42- 41 in overtime... taking advantage of a missed extra point by the wildcats in the extra session... despite the victory... it was another long day defensively... the rebels have given up 93 combined points in their first two contests... ole miss now sits at 1-1 on the season with a tough road ahead... hosting nick saban and alabama this weekend in oxford... and lane kiffin knows what his crew has to do to sharpen up the defensive side of the ball ,.

Pad leverage up front, playing too high and tackling.

A lot of missed tackles.

If you don't do those two things you're not going to stop the run.

Obviously that's our emphasis é they struggled stopping the run saturday... three wildcats had over 100 yards on the ground..

Kickoff between ole miss and #2 alabama is slated for 5 o'clock saturday on espn it was a great week five of endzone with plenty of plays to choose from but only five can make the cut!

Here's our top 5 plays of the week!

#5 starkville #5 starkville academy's cj jackson takes the handoff 40 yards to the crib!

The vols win big over pillow academy 42-7 #4 lafayette's tyrus carmichael williams throws a bomb to kylen vaughn for the touchdown!

Commodores get the win over grenada 35-14 #3 cross creek rivalry from thursday.....ty- quan mc-cully 45 yard td run to end the quarter....warrior s win 47-6 #2 from our game of the week, itawamba's ty davis connects with isaac smith for the long bomb....indians win 26-14 #1 our top play...nettleton versus belmont....cardinal s fumble....jacorrien moore scoops it up for the tigers and the defense takes it to the house for a 65 yard td.....tigers remain undefeated!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new sports director jon sokoloff.

When we return...chief meteorologist keith gibson will