Articles by Dispatch Editorial Board

Roses and thorns: 2-27-22
A rose to alderman Hamp Beatty for his tireless work in advocating for recycling in Starkville. When curbside recycling in the city was abandoned due

Our View: CMSD town halls offer opportunity to engage with school leaders
Communication is key to any healthy relationship.

Our View: Cut taxes lead to cut services
On Monday, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing where they will discuss asking the state legislature to sell the 6,000-acre Black Prairie Wildlife Management Area off Fire Tower Road near Crawford.

Our View: A temptation the city should avoid
The city of Columbus has been awarded a $1 million MDOT grant to improve pedestrian access along Fifth Street North, roughly between the Magnolia Bowl and Highway 82. One hitch: The city must complete its overdue 2020 audit before it can accept the funds.

Roses and thorns: 2-20-22
A rose to Mike Hainsey, who announced his retirement Friday after 19 years as executive director of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. It will be

Our View: Loaves and fishes or birds and bushes?
In December, the city of Columbus hired Waggoner Engineering to help develop plans for spending its $5.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Roses and thorns: 2-13-22
A rose to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office which has enlisted the public’s help in tracking down fugitives through its “Feature Fugitive of the Month”

Our View: On medical marijuana, TVA isn’t ‘pulling the plug on anyone’
When Gov. Tate Reeves signed Senate Bill 2095 into law, making Mississippi the 37th state to sanction medical cannabis, entrepreneurs both large and small throughout the state began implementing plans that, in some cases, they have been developing for years.

Our View: Citizen apathy may be the biggest Propst Park challenge
Monday evening, the city of Columbus held a public meeting at Trotter Convention Center to discuss survey results for Propst Park and provide a draft plan for the park based on those results.

Roses and thorns: 2-6-22
A rose to Berkley Hudson for his tireless quest to preserve and champion the photographic legacy of O.N. Pruitt. Hudson’s efforts (which have spanned decades)

Our View: Hiring with urgency but not out of desperation
It’s been six months or more since the departure of the Chief Operation Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Information Technology Director for the city of Columbus and two months since the application deadline for those positions.

Our View: Town marshal idea is just the latest result of a mayor who doesn’t listen
Bad ideas come and go, generally with no harm done.

Roses and thorns: 1-30-22
A rose to Mississippi School for Math and Science history instructor Chuck Yarborough, who was selected as an Emerson Collective Cohort this week. The Emerson

Our View: Matching ARPA funds from state could be extremely impactful if used properly by local governments
From the start, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has been clear on what the priorities should be for the combined $2 billion in American Rescue

Our View: We are witnessing an monumental evolution in travel
When we think of infrastructure we most often focus on the familiar — highways, bridges and rail transportation and, more recently, broadband internet access.

Roses and thorns 1-23-22
A rose to the city of Columbus, which for the second time this month is negotiating a sale of a long-vacant city-owned building. Doug Pellum,

Our View: Looking out for each other
By the calendar, winter in the northern hemisphere lasts 89 days and began this year on Dec. 21, based on the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year (by daylight hours).

Our View: Teachers need our help for classroom supplies
Imagine telling our police officers they would have to provide their own patrol cars or telling firefighters they would have to buy their own fire hoses. Would we ever ask Air Force pilots to provide their own planes or soldiers to buy their own bullets?

Roses and thorns 1-16-22
A rose to all Americans who will use Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday to reflect on the universal truths embodied in the Civil