STARKVILLE — It was a year of triumphs and tragedies, new possibilities and persistent problems, of expansion and change.
The year began with the arrival of broad availability of COVID-19 vaccinations, even as the toll of the disease has not decreased as it carries into the new year.
Mississippi State’s baseball team rallied spirits in its magical quest for glory. School kids will see shorter summer breaks, but more time off though the rest of the year while the city and county move forward with plans to spend a combined $16 million in federal funds intended to mitigate the toll of COVID-19.
In the municipal elections, just two new members claimed spots on the board of aldermen.
Here’s a brief look at what made headlines in 2021:
Vaccines arrive, but COVID numbers see little improvement
The new year arrived and so did wide-scale COVID-19 vaccination. OCH Regional Medical Center received its first 100 doses of the vaccine a month before the year began and county health departments began providing vaccinations for those ages 75 and older in early January. As the vaccines became more available and the age restrictions expanded, vaccination sites shifted from county health departments to larger “drive-thru” venues. On Jan 12, Gov. Tate Reeves announced the opening of 17 drive-thru vaccination centers, including the Oktibbeha County Horse Park.
Demand for vaccinations was high initially but had waned by summer. The arrival of the Delta variant along with growing “vaccine hesitancy” and relaxed COVID protocols at the state, county and city level, did little to significantly reduce the number of COVID cases and deaths.
Starkville and Oktibbeha County ended their mask mandates in late April. The city stopped short of requiring its employees to be vaccinated, instead applying a $75 health insurance premium for unvaccinated city employees.
As of this week, despite the access to vaccines that weren’t available the prior year, there were more COVID-19 cases and deaths in Oktibbeha County in 2021 (4,050 cases, 73 deaths) than in 2020 (3,360 cases, 68 deaths). The Mississippi State Department of Health reports the vaccination rate in the county is 50 percent, a figure that is higher than the state average of 44 percent. Mississippi’s vaccination rate is the fifth lowest in the nation.
The Boys of Summer
Going into the 2021 season, Mississippi State’s proud baseball program had made 11 appearances in the College World Series, including two in a row.
But it was the 12th CWS appearance that will stand apart in the memory of Bulldog fans.
Under the guidance of third-year coach Chris Lemonis and propelled by the stellar play of pitchers Will Bednar and Landon Sims and outfielders Rowdey Jordan and Tanner Allen, the Bulldogs achieved what no other Mississippi State squad had in more than 100 years of team competition. With a resounding 9-0 win over Vanderbilt in the final game of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, the Bulldogs claimed the school’s first national championship.
Bulldog fans poured into TD Ameritrade Park to witness the historic occasion, but the celebration was just beginning. Two days later, fans congregated for a parade through downtown Starkville to the MSU campus, where more than 15,000 fans poured into Dudy Noble Field for a special ceremony honoring the historic feat.
The title swelled MSU fans with pride and area retailers with sales of championship paraphernalia.
“It’s been crazy, both online and here in the stores,” said Maroon and Company store manager Alex Gomez hours before the parade. “We’ve sold 10,000 (items) in two days and it isn’t slowing down. We’ve never seen anything like this, not anything even close to this.”
Starkville Parks changes
In October, the Starkville Board of Aldermen unveiled a $16 million master plan for upgrades and additions throughout the city’s park system. Aldermen previously voted to allocate $5.5 million of its $6.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and will approach the Mississippi Legislature to provide state ARPA funds to cover the balance of the $8 million needed for the first phase of the parksmaster plan. The largest amount of the phase 1 funding — $.4.7 million — will go to improvements at McKee Park. Other projects are Moncrief Park ($1 million), George Evans Park/Needmore Center ($850,000), J.L. King Center ($725,000), Patriots Park ($400,000) and Josey Park ($370,000).
Earlier in October, aldermen voted 5-2 to approve a contract with third-party Sports Facilities Management to oversee and manage all city parks. SFM will work with the current Parks and Recreation Department to advance park operations and opportunities.
SFM already is contracted to manage Cornerstone Park, the city’s new $20-plus million baseball/softball complex under construction, and now will have a hand in managing programs at all city parks.
Annexation process nears completion
After a two-year court challenge, the city of Starkville’s plan to annex an area that would add 2.3 square miles and an estimated 1,400 residents to the city was approved by Chancery Court Judge Joseph Studdard on Nov. 30. The process will likely continue in some form into the new year.
The annexation consists of the area northeast of MSU and Highway 82, as well as south of Highway 182, including Clayton Village and University Hills. The city originally tried to bring Mississippi State University inside limits, but the university declined, and the aldermen opted to annex a smaller portion of the county.
Originally, opponents had until Dec. 30 to file an appeal with the Mississippi Supreme Court, but the group filing the suit has asked Studdard to reconsider his ruling. If he affirms his Nov. 30 ruling, the group will have 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court upon notification from Studdard.
Municipal elections
With Mayor Lynn Spruill and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn running unopposed and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins winning the Democratic primary in May and facing no challenger in the general election, the year’s municipal elections weren’t expected to produce wholesale changes in Starkville’s government. All three incumbents facing general election challenges — Hamp Beatty, Ben Carver and Sandra Sistrunk — retained their positions on the board of aldermen where they were joined by two new arrivals, both filling positions on the board when incumbents declined to stand for re-election.
Former Columbus mayor Jeffrey Rupp was the only candidate for Ward 3 alderman while Mike Brooks defeated Kevin Daniels in Ward 4.
The Ward 1 alderman race was the most dramatic with Carver, who had defeated Christine Williams by six votes in 2017, defeating Williams again, this time by just four votes.
Guilty verdict of ‘Walmart shooter’
Following a four-day trial, it took an Oktibbeha County jury just 26 minutes to render a guilty verdict in the capital murder trial of a Kosciusko man in the shooting death of his estranged girlfriend in what became known as the “Walmart shooter case.”
William Thomas “Tommy” Chisholm, 44, was given a mandatory life prison sentence following the conviction on July 30.
Chisholm’s defense attorney did not dispute that Chisholm fatally shot Dr. Shauna Witt, an optometrist who ran the eye clinic at Walmart Vision Center on Highway 12 in Starkville, on Jan. 13, 2018. The defense had hoped to argue that Chisholm was not mentally fit to stand trial for capital murder, but that strategy was derailed when the defense’s main witness for the insanity defense was not recognized as an expert witness because she was not a licensed psychologist. The defense, in closing arguments, said Chisholm would have accepted a “heat of passion” manslaughter conviction if it had been offered.
Witt’s family declined an opportunity to pursue the death penalty because they felt it would prolong the trial, which ended 2 1/2 years after the fatal confrontation.
SOCSD adopts modified school year plan
A year after it first considered moving to a modified school calendar commonly known as “year-round school,” the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District voted unanimously to adopt the new schedule for the 2022-23 school year.
The new schedule, approved with little debate or discussion during a November board meeting, will follow a schedule that features a shorter summer break while adding longer breaks in the fall, winter and spring.
School will begin on July 26, about a week earlier than usual, and end on June 1. The extended breaks will be Oct. 3-14, Dec. 22 through Jan. 4 and March 13-24, while summer break officially begins June 2. The new school calendar still includes 180 school days for students and 187 for teachers, just like the traditional one.
The district began talking about adopting the modified school calendar in January 2020, but after holding public hearings on the proposal chose to keep the traditional calendar for the 2021-22 school year.
In February, the Columbus Municipal School District abandoned its plans to adopt a similar modified school calendar in the face of opposition from some parents and teachers.
City, county plan uses for ARPA funds
The City of Starkville is putting most of its American Rescue Plan Act funds in one basket while Oktibbeha County may commit the bulk of its funds to a single project as well.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen voted in September to designate $5.5 million of its $6.4 million in ARPA funding to cover most of the cost of the first $8 million phase of the city’s $16 million parks master plan. The city hopes to secure state ARPA funds to complete the phase one work.
Oktibbeha County will spend whatever is necessary to repair the county lake dam from its ARPA funds.
Just how much that will be remains a matter of some speculation going into the new year.
In December, supervisors unanimously approved dedicating a portion of its $9.62 million ARPA funds to repair the dam at Oktibbeha County Lake, which purportedly fell into danger of imminent failure in January 2020. However, the county is awaiting a report from Flowood-based Pickering Firm to determine what the exact cost will be. Original estimates for total replacement were $8 million, but a preliminary report from Pickering said necessary repairs would cost closer to $2 million. The final report is expected some time in January. The county also hopes to receive funding from the state’s $362 million in ARPA funding to make the necessary repairs, which could free up some county ARPA funds for other projects.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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