Home Base: Dear fellow white people

Looting is stupid.

Riots are not the “language of the unheard,” a quote I have seen so many people post on social media over the past few days.

Home Base: Quarantine’s next project: Letting my 11-year-old cut my hair

Thursday morning, I walked out of my bedroom/current work-from-home office to refill my coffee cup. My middle daughter, 11-year-old Zayley, started talking to me before I even could see her.

Monday Profile: Johnson recalls life at Starkville High as both student and teacher

Anita Milons Johnson walked into Starkville High School in 1998 as her alma mater’s new sophomore English teacher.

41-year-old Starkville native, former music minister, succumbs to COVID-19

When Kaile King visited Mississippi State University as a high school senior from Carthage in spring 1998, she had all but decided to attend Ole Miss.

Then she noticed the drummer for the MSU Black Voices and he made enough of an impression for Kaile to enroll in Starkville that fall instead.

Thirty years ago, MSU football alum won ‘American Gladiators’ first Grand Championship to keep funding dream of playing in the NFL

Brian Hutson had been here before. Four times to be exact.

Supervisor: Lowndes administrator told to resign or be fired

A Lowndes County supervisor told The Dispatch on Saturday that some members of the board are trying to force County Administrator Ralph Billingsley out of his job.

CLW will not disconnect customers, charge late fees until further notice

Columbus Light and Water will not disconnect customers or charge late fees for its services until further notice, the utility’s board voted Thursday.

Starkville dials back garbage pickup to once weekly per route

Amid an “extraordinary last few days” where news and recommendations on how to respond to the COVID-19 is “changing by the hour,” Mayor Lynn Spruill asked aldermen Tuesday to declare a local state of emergency and announced sweeping changes to how the city will operate in the coming weeks.

Lowndes elections to return to paper ballots

It appears Lowndes County elections will return to paper ballots but not in time for November.

Monday Profile: Pandemic has third-generation businessman working overtime to keep up

First they came for the hand sanitizer. Then the disinfectant. Then the toilet paper.

Home Base: Remembering Mr. Don

t was a little after 10 a.m. on a weekday. Another edition of the newspaper was printing on the press, and Don Rowe was sitting in my office.

Home Base: Better safe than sorry

My stepdaughter, Julia, has severe food allergies. We’re talking peanuts, tree nuts, soy flour and soy protein.

Ethics Commission dismisses Dispatch complaint against EMCC regarding hype videos

The Mississippi Ethics Commission last week dismissed a public records complaint The Dispatch filed against East Mississippi Community College in October in lieu of obtaining requested copies of hype videos the school produced for its football team.

LCSD weighs whether to tie West campus to Prairie Land sewer service

Lowndes County School District’s board members are still weighing whether to turn over wastewater treatment at its West Lowndes facilities to Prairie Land Water Association.

On Friday, though, the question seemed to be more of “when” than “if.”

‘It still ain’t quite right yet’: Shady Street slowly bounces back from 2019 tornado

It was cold Friday afternoon, but Willie Peterson was glad to be back to work all the same.

Climbing to the top few steps of a ladder leaned against the side of a house on Shady Street, he surveyed how well the roof work had held up to recent days of significant rainfall that finally ceased late Thursday afternoon. Then coming down from the ladder, Peterson began preparing for his next tasks.

LCSD seeks cause of 100-plus roof leaks at New Hope High

The roof at the 2-year-old New Hope High School building has leaked as many as 115 times, 38 of which are confirmed splits in the roofing material, project architect Joey Henderson told Lowndes County School board members during a special-call meeting Tuesday evening.

Aldermen issue bonds for park projects on 4-3 vote

A 4-3 vote Tuesday moved forward a resolution for Starkville aldermen to issue up to $25 million in general obligation bonds for park improvements, including building a tournament ready sports complex at Cornerstone Park off Highway 25.

SMART sees 20.5-percent rise in ridership in 2019

The Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit system saw increased ridership in 2019 for its campus and city routes, director Jeremiah Dumas reported to the board of aldermen Tuesday.

Monday Profile: A newspaper career with the wax burns to prove it

Burns from a wax machine. Tiny nicks on her hands from an exacto knife.

Stephanie Minor remembers firmly, even somewhat fondly, these markers of her early years working in the small-town newspaper business.

Buxton takes over as interim principal at Sale

Robyn Buxton roamed the halls of Sale Elementary as a wide-eyed first grader in 1971, probably at that time with no desire to ever be in the principal’s office.

Now, that’s exactly where she wants to be.