Ask Rufus: The homeland
This past week has been a most interesting one. I had the pleasure of having four houseguests who are working on a historic sites study for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Oklahoma.
Birney Imes: Spring arrives
Kenny Lang, who pedals his bicycle around Southside relentlessly and who could do voice-overs for Disney’s “Song of the South,” was watering his garden on Thursday, the first day of spring. Kenny is cultivating a sliver of earth near the intersection of South Fifth Street and 16th Avenue. He was using two plastic soft drink bottles to sprinkle his Georgia collards, kale and onions.
Lynn Spruill: Last minute agenda changes not in public’s interest
What do we mean by Sunshine Week, anyway? Sunshine is refers to lighting up the inner workings of government. Who knew?
Slimantics: Gibbs case is about abortion, not murder
It has been 41 years since the landmark Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that barred states from outlawing abortion.
Wyatt Emmerich: Privacy, jobs and tax breaks to businesses
The rise of the Internet is eroding our expectations of privacy. Like a lobster in a big stove pot of water, we are about to get boiled.
Public’s right to know improves accountability
Sunshine Week is an opportunity to remind people of the principle of the public’s right to know about government decisions and actions that affect their lives.
Layne Bruce: A little more sunshine
Well, that’s more like it.
The Legislature last week passed two important bills on to Gov. Phil Bryant for his consideration.
Both S.B. 2507 and H.B. 928 make significant needed improvements to Mississippi’s so-called “Sunshine laws.” They’re known that way here and across the nation because of their purpose to increase transparency in government.
Possumhaw: Weaving an undeniable spell
The boys were all excited about their fishing weekend. Tim wanted to kick off his recent retirement, and Greg, looking forward to the birth of his second child, wanted a quiet weekend to fish; Sam agreed to host. Quick to seize opportunity, I called my college roommate, Toni, and suggested we meet for a girls’ night.
Charlie Mitchell: World could do worse than to go to the dogs
People say the world is going to the dogs.
We could do worse.
Lynn Spruill: Beyond our comfort zone
The Starkville Community Theater recently performed “Steel Magnolias.” The play version is similar in story line, but very different in execution from the movie. Unlike the movie, the play is an all woman show with a cast of six characters. It was a wonderful show and one that the theater and the community should be very proud of having in its complement of theater productions.
Browning on Business: Historic Columbus business facing tough time
If no buyer steps forward to purchase Sanderson Plumbing Products by the end of April the Columbus business will shutdown.
The Dispatch responds
The essence of the editorial in question is that the public is not served by the city’s practice of holding non-quorum meetings (four different instances in a month’s time, that we know of) and by slowing the process of releasing public information. We stand by those assertions.
Our View: Right question. Wrong week.
Tuesday, a week after Columbus mayor Robert Smith was the guest speaker at the Columbus Rotary Club, a Rotarian asked the guest speaker how he could exert his influence on the Columbus Municipal School Board in an effort to reverse recent decline.
This week’s speaker was not the mayor, however. It was Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins.
Mayor responds to critical editorial
I feel compelled to write a letter in answer to The Dispatch’s “Our View” piece from March 7, 2014, titled “City’s policies are an insult to the people.” The column claims that the people of Columbus should be insulted by the conduct of The City.
Lumumba administration didn’t fit detractors’ expectations
OXFORD — In the aftermath Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba’s death, a consensus seems to have emerged, at least among his detractors, that he had mellowed with age.
Our View: Crawfish shortage a depressing reality
The unseasonably cold and lingering winter has left many of us in a depressed mood.
As it turns out, that goes for crawfish, too.
Birthday baubles or knuckle-busters
Over and over again I watched Sam haul heavy bundles of yard cuttings and leaves over to the habitat pile. It touched my heart deep.
Ask Rufus: Stand Fast Mississippians
The other evening I was asked by friends to join a dinner with Bertram Hayes-Davis, the great-grandson of Jefferson Davis. Naturally, a fascinating conversation about history ensued.
Birney Imes: On the road with Louie and Sprocket
On March 1 Louie Little left Germantown, Tenn., on a bicycle pulling a trailer filled with musical equipment and a Jack Russell terrier named Sprocket.
Lynn Spruill: Maggie’s journey
Her name is Maggie and she is my oldest. She got her name from the street of her first home in Atlanta; Margaret Mitchell Drive. She is as independent and cantankerous as can be and has been accused of being just like me which all in all is OK with me.