Articles by Zack Plair
County officials weigh ‘what’ and ‘when’ issues for sports complex
Planning for Lowndes County’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget has already begun. How a new sports complex officials have promised to build west of Columbus fits into that remains unclear.
Sheriff’s race raises $23K-plus so far
More than $23,000 has been poured so far into the four-man race for Lowndes County sheriff, according to campaign finance reports submitted by Friday’s deadline.
Monday profile: At 82, professor emeritus Bill Jones still helping MSU crank out engineers
A stack of papers sits on a desk beside Bill Jones’ laptop in his Greensboro Street home in Starkville.
Against policy, councilman receives Trotter discount
A Columbus councilman appears to have paid a discounted rate to rent a Trotter Convention Center space in December and was almost allowed to pay half-price for another to hold his May wedding, an apparent violation of city policy.
Monday Profile: Brenda Garner spends her days trying to get to know as many people as she can
Stakeholder. Brenda Garner sat in her living room in Pecan Acres pondering the term. An administrator with the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District made special note to call her that last year, Garner recalled, though she hadn’t really thought of herself as such in almost a decade.
A vast, unseen world: Amateur radio operators use old, new technology to communicate globally
Allen McBroom stands in the backyard outside his home west of Starkville pointing up toward the sky.
“You see that?” he asks.
Barely perceptible against the dusk-darkened tree line stretches a 102-foot long, 14-gauge wire, narrower than a pencil.
“Over the past two weeks,” McBroom continues, “I’ve talked to people from as far away as Japan and South Africa through that antenna.”
Pulphus looks to return pride to Falcon football
Under new head coach Joshua Pulphus, there’s no way to know yet what offensive and defensive schemes the Columbus High School Falcons will run this fall.
CPD investigator faces discipline for misusing resources
A Columbus police investigator could face suspension or termination for misusing city time and resources earlier this year.
Home Base: On a public health matter, the South fails to rise … again
Mississippi claims the No. 1 ranking in a statistical category that might surprise you.
No, it’s not public education funding, vocational training skills or even the number of 4- or 5-star football recruits per capita.
Monday Profile: Gerald ‘Boo’ Matthews works, plays to help his Starkville community
The “Big Baller” bouncy house was finally fully inflated and ready to use for a youth group Super Bowl watch party in the Starkville First United Methodist Church gymnasium Sunday afternoon.
Home Base: Perhaps we’ve forgotten how to treat each other as human
One day when I was 15, I was sitting at my dining room table along with about five of my high school track teammates, all of us male. We were laughing about another boy from our school when my mom walked by and heard us.
City to pay consultant $100 per hour to act as temp CFO
The city plans to pay a former Columbus certified public accountant $100 per hour to handle chief financial officer duties while Milton Rawle serves a four-week suspension.
New 2-percent tax has support of local delegation
A pre-filed bill in the Mississippi Legislature to revive the 2-percent restaurant tax in Columbus includes a little something for everybody — and significantly less funding for one entity, in particular.
City asks for additional 1-percent tax to fund infrastructure, operate amphitheater
If Columbus officials have their way, the city’s restaurant sales tax will jump to 3 percent over the next 10 years.
Year in review: Top stories of 2018 in Columbus, Lowndes
Funding issues dominated headlines in Columbus and Lowndes County in 2018.
The city and county feuded over parks funding, while the Legislature allowed the more than 30-year-old 2-percent restaurant sales tax to expire, severely hampering operations for the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
City lifts carte blanche spending freeze
Columbus city councilmen lifted the city’s “spending freeze on everything” Thursday morning, replacing it with what they hope will be less drastic safeguards to rein in deficit spending.
City credit card usage largely followed policy
A Dispatch review of Columbus’ credit card expenditures revealed spending has stayed largely within the city’s expressed credit card usage policies so far this fiscal year.
Funding in-hand for first downtown roundabout
Columbus has been approved for the state funding necessary to build the first of several planned roundabouts downtown.
City freezes spending ‘on everything’
It started when Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voted against the city’s claims docket because he had questions about some of the charges.
Council: Overtime costs still ‘out of control’
Concerned city council members peppered the city’s police and fire chiefs with questions Tuesday about overtime expenses they still believe to be “out of control.”