USM Settles Land Dispute

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) – The University of Southern Mississippi has received $366,100 from a settlement of a land dispute at Point Cadet in Biloxi.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann presented the check to USM interim president Aubrey Lucas on Wednesday.

The check comes from the taxes generated by the Isle of Capri’s expansion in 2005 at Point Cadet. The annual payments are shared by USM, the state and the city of Biloxi.

The settlement involved property that held USM’s J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium in Point Cadet. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the center in 2005. USM rebuilt the center at its Cedar Point campus in Ocean Springs but still maintained its claim over the property.

Lucas says the money will go to the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.