A rose to the Starkville Partnership for its efforts in encouraging citizens to pursue a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise. “Starkville Stride” challenges both businesses and the community to track their steps using the MoveSpring app. Teams compete for the highest step count and can see their placement in real time. Starting in 2020, Oktibbeha County Hospital, Starkville Parks and Recreation and Mississippi State University partnered with the Partnership to help develop Starkville Stride. The Partnership developed a series of social media programming for the participants throughout the challenge. Topics included sleep health, mental health, nutrition, workouts, and more. Fifty-one teams, 332 individuals signed up as of Thursday. The program started on Friday and will continue until April 15. Studies show people who have support in their health goals are generally more successful than those who do not. We thank the Partnership for providing this encouragement.
A thorn to the NCAA for a baseball rule that allows a team that is winning when a game is halted to be declared the loser. That’s what happened Wednesday in Oxford, when the game between visiting Louisiana Tech and Ole Miss was delayed, then ended, by a severe lightning storm that lingered over the area until the early morning hours Thursday. At the time the game was halted, Louisiana Tech was leading Ole Miss 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning. Under the rule, however, the outcome of the game reverted to the last completed inning. Since Ole Miss led a 4-3 lead at the end of the sixth inning, the Rebels were awarded the win. That a team with a lead when the game ends could be declared the loser is an absurdity. In that situation, the game should have been declared a no-contest, which would have harmed neither team. Ole Miss has received some unwarranted criticism. The game’s outcome was determined not by the preference of the home team, but by the rules of the game. We hope this rule will be amended make sure this sort of thing does not happen again.
A rose to Mississippi University for Women’s music department and its funding partners – the Mississippi Arts Commission and The National Endowment for the Arts – for producing the seventh annual international Music by Women Festival on the MUW campus. Eighteen concerts, featuring women artists from as far away as Canada and Poland, entertained audiences with free concerts throughout the day. Movies, TV shows and stage performances are often preceded by a musical interlude, so the festival is a perfect lead-in to Women’s History Month, celebrated each March. The collection of talented musicians who gathered at The W rivals that of any university and is likely the envy of many. We thank MUW and its sponsors for providing this wonderful festival for our community’s music lovers.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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