Articles by Dispatch Editorial Board

Roses and thorns: 4-10-22
A rose to the Columbus Heritage Foundation for again honoring a part of Columbus’ history through food, fun and music via its “Catfish in the

Our View: One more opportunity to experience nationally-recognized performance
Imagine if, right here in our backyard, there were an affordable, family-friendly, educational, award-winning event featuring local students who’ve devoted months of research and rehearsal to a production that has gained national acclaim for the past three decades?

Our View: Competing baseball efforts are asinine, wasteful
The last thing a drowning man needs is more water.

Our View: More monuments can help tell a fuller truth
It has been said that a half-truth is a whole lie. But in some cases, a half-truth is worse than an outright lie. It is often a mingling of fact and falsehood that can cloud understanding, create division and sow the seeds of mistrust.

Roses and thorns: 4-3-22
A rose to the city of Columbus and Columbus Light and Water, for its foresight in investing in LED street lights, a move that is

Our View: Teacher pay raise may not be enough to make Mississippi competitive
There has rarely been a more popular bill to come out of the Mississippi legislature than House Bill 530, which provides Mississippi’s public school teachers with their first substantial raise in 25 years. After the bill emerged from conference, the Senate passed the bill unanimously (51-0) while only five of 173 representatives opposed the measure.

Our View: Disease awareness aids research, diagnosis
March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. You probably didn’t know that, which is the whole point of this editorial.

Roses and thorns: 3-27-22
A rose to Columbus Air Force Base for again providing our community one of our most anticipated public events, the biennial “Wings Over Columbus Airshow” being held this weekend at CAFB.

Our View: A shared optimism for the future after CFO hire
For local governments, hiring a chief financial officer is always important. As the person tasked with managing the budget on a daily basis, the work he or she does affects almost every aspect of city operations.

Our View: Thank you Thomas Dobbs
Years from now, when the purifying effect of time allows us to take a dispassionate view of the COVID-19 crisis, we will ask why it was that Mississippi suffered so badly from the pandemic relative to other states.

Roses and thorns: 3-20-22
A rose to Martin Andrews, who announced his retirement from Columbus Fire and Rescue effective April 18 after 35 years in the department and eight

Our view: Awareness is the first step in combating litter
Litter, like the weather, is something easy to complain about but harder to change, at least on a community-wide level.

Our View: House Speaker takes hypocritical view on infant health care
For some time now, Mississippi’s leaders have pushed restrictive abortion laws as proof that it wants to make Mississippi the safest place for children in the nation, a place where even children yet to be born are afforded state protection.

Our View: Much to like in Lowndes County’s ARPA plan
It has been a year since Congress passed the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, providing $1.9 trillion to states, counties and cities throughout the country.

Roses and thorns 3-13-22
A rose to the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School. District Board of Trustees for its efforts to inform and solicit feedback from the public during its search

Our view: Spears’ financial skills make him the obvious choice for CMSD Board
Columbus Municipal School District has its challenges, some of which have stubbornly persisted over a long period of time. But there is one area that CMSD has proven to be an unqualified success over the past 10 years, a period that coincides with Jason Spears’ membership on the CMSD Board of Trustees: finances.

Our View: Spirit of cooperation benefits both county and city
There was a day, not that long ago, when what George Irby proposed at the Monday Lowndes County Board of Supervisors’ meeting would have been an exercise in futility.

Roses and thorns: 3-6-22
A rose to the New Hope boys, Columbus girls and Noxubee County girls basketball teams, each of which fell just short of a state championship

Our View: Mayor, put out the fire, assign blame later
When firefighters respond to the scene of a burning house, they don’t first huddle together to determine what caused the fire or who is responsible. No, the first order of business is to put out the fire. There will be time enough to address the whys and whos later.

Our View: A locally-based way to help Ukraine
In times of tragedy, there is a natural instinct to help.