A rose to Major Allen Williams, who has transformed the Air Force Junior ROTC at Columbus High School into a dynamic program that offers students opportunities like never before, including the addition of a flight simulator. Williams wants to eventually have a program that allows 17-year-old students to receive their private pilot’s licenses and 16-year-old students to receive their drone licenses. He has started at step one: getting drones and a flight simulator into the classroom. Williams also wants students to know there are opportunities in the Golden Triangle and Southeast in the aerospace industry. Over the past school year and even into the summer, Williams has taken his students to Columbus Air Force Base, FedEx headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, overnight cybersecurity camps at University of Southern Mississippi and more. Given our many connections to the aerospace industry and the Air Force, it makes sense that our schools offer a top-notch ROTC program like the one Williams is establishing at CHS.
A rose to all those who have rallied to support Keith and Margie Brown – known by generations of area music lovers simply as “Keith and Margie” – after the couple’s home was destroyed by fire and their possession stolen last month. The Browns’ Columbus neighbors put together a fish fry at Hank Aaron Park to benefit the couple last Sunday, and the response was overwhelming, a sure sign of what the couple has meant to the community over the years. Keith and Margie have been fixtures of many of our community celebrations, providing musical entertainment that appeals to a broad audience. As a further show of support, a GoFundMe account to help the Browns had raised $10,350 from 130 donors as of Friday, exceeding its goal of $10,000. We are pleased to see so many come to the aid of the Browns. We are eager to see them back on their feet – and back on the stage – with the support of the community.
A rose to Columbus Municipal School District and Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District as they again provide meals to students during the summer break. For many students, the breakfasts and lunches they get during school are the most nutrition they receive throughout the week, so when school is out, those students would potentially not have breakfasts and lunches without these feeding programs. SOCSD provided 5,000 lunches and 2,000 breakfasts in the month of June and expects to provide a similar number of meals this month. CMSD served roughly 11,200 breakfasts and 14,500 lunches from the end of May to July 22 last year. Those numbers speak to the importance of the feeding program. We applaud our school districts for this wonderful service.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion