Seen and Heard: Barbour: ‘I’ve had my last government job’
After holding forth on the merits of Mississippi Power’s Kemper County power plant under construction, Former Gov. Haley Barbour was asked at the Starkville Rotary
Mississippi Voices: State’s toughest, best editorial writer lives in Rolling Fork
Mississippi’s journalism annuls are filled with stories of courage and strength under pressure. Most of those stories emanate from the civil rights era — when truth in reporting wasn’t valued in some quarters and thugs believed they could dictate the news with their fists, a burning cross or a shotgun.
Possumhaw: Living the good life
Campers are an interesting lot. They’ve always been the nicest folks — they share, they help, they send Christmas cards.
Wyatt Emmerich: Mississippians should be proud of C Spire
As some readers may have noticed, I have been a big fan of C Spire. This is not just because my brother-in-law Terrell Knight works there. Or that my father-in-law Bob Knight and the Creekmores were college buddies. Nor is it because they run big ads in newspapers. (Though none of that hurts!)
Adele Elliott: Mississippi sinking
I suppose we are all aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are a lot of fundraisers, pink ribbons being worn and commercials reminding us to keep up with our self-exams. Even the professional football teams are on this bandwagon, with pink additions to their uniforms in gloves, shoes, socks and all sorts of masculine equipment dyed a bright, rosy pink.
Lynn Spruill: Excellence is contagious
The first and most visible step in the sea change that will be occurring in downtown Starkville has just occurred. If you haven’t looked recently, the old electric department building that served as the west end of Main Street is gone.
Slimantics: When ‘virtual’ is the only reality
Thursday’s edition of The Dispatch will include a story about a group of mostly older women who gather in Columbus once at week to compete in a bowling league.
Somewhere, there are 20-somethings shaking their heads in amusement: Don’t these women have a bowling app on their smartphones?
Charlie Mitchell: Push to personalize may pigeonhole the populace
OXFORD — Tracking. Mining. Harvesting. Drilling. If those words bring to mind Daniel Boone, coal cars wending along railroad tracks, cotton fields in October and
Frances Hairston: The beauty of the bois d’arc
If you have never had the privilege of viewing the beauty of a large bodock tree from your own yard, you’ve missed something. A gnarly looking twisting structure of a tree with big lime green fruit with a pebbly texture, the bodock could well be the official tree of the Prairie.
Possumhaw: Fall fishing at the creek
“Nose into the wake,” Sam hollered. We were out for a little kayak fishing on Bear Creek when three fancy bass boats sped by. As luck would have it, there was a bass tournament going on.
Ask Rufus: King Philip, not for sale at any price
There were many famous generals and horses that came out of the Civil War. Among the most noted was Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his favorite horse, King Phillip.
Peter Imes: Give flowers, show appreciation
About three years ago, I walked past Linda Massey’s desk and into my own office. My office has a window that looks into the front office of The Dispatch. I had noticed a man talking to Linda when I walked in, but didn’t realize it was Lloyd Vaughan until I sat at my desk and looked out that window.
Lynn Spruill: A job you love
Green Oaks is a subdivision in Starkville that has been around for a generation or two — more accurately since the late 1950’s. I know because my father developed it and my maternal grandfather who was a carpenter by trade built not only the first house but several houses on those first few streets.
Mississippi Voices: Mississippi’s opt-out creates a gap for working people
Mary is a single parent of two children. She works, earning $9.50 an hour or about $19,300 per year. She receives no child support. She might be eligible for subsidized day care for the children, but her parents keep the kids while she is on the job — and she much prefers that arrangement.
Possumhaw: Living quietly in the Prairie
“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” Blaise Pascal.
Ask Rufus: Where did that name come from?
More so than any other single question, I am asked about the origin of local names. What does Tombigbee mean? What is West Point west of? What does the Military Road have to do with the military? Our region abounds in interesting names. I will try to shed some light on a few of them.
Slim Smith: A matter of respect
In his book, “An Education of a Lifetime,” former University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat tells the story of his recollection of one of the most traumatic events in the university’s history — the riots on the Ole Miss campus associated with James Meridith’s enrollment at the school’s first black student in 1962.
Lynn Spruill: Sidewalks to humanity
Cities live beyond our here and now. Beijing is about 3,000 years old; Paris is over 2,000 years old; Rome is over 2,500 years old; London is just under 2,000 and New York is headed to its 400th birthday. Starkville is officially 175 years old.
Mississippi voices: Kemper, the math doesn’t work
It is reasonable to declare the Kemper Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project the Eighth Wonder of Mississippi. The controversial plant being built by Mississippi
Marty Wiseman: Oct. 1, a day to remember
I wonder how many others were glued to C-Span at 1:00 on a recent Sunday morning listening to the speeches from the floor of the