A rose to Mississippi School for Math and Sciences and the 51 area third-, fourth- and fifth-graders who participated in MSMS’s first “Math Superstars” competition. Students from Caledonia, West Point, Columbus and home-schoolers took part in the event, with the finals held Thursday on the MSMS campus. Taking home top honors were: Third grade: 1st place – Jack Mullins, Caledonia; 2nd – Miller Usry, West Point; 3rd – Ella Grace Dahlem, Caledonia; 4th – Dedric Frierson, Franklin Academy. Fourth grade: 1st – Anna McWhorter, Caledonia; 2nd – Nicholas Wade, Caledonia; 3rd – Parker Cohen, West Point; 4th – Brody Jordan, Caledonia. Fifth grade: 1st – T.J. Johns, Caledonia; 2nd – (tie) Charles Gilliam, Caledonia and Aziya Hill, Franklin Academy; 3rd – Amelia Hurt. Great job, all!
A rose of congratulation to the city government of Starkville, which made its much-anticipated move into a new $6.7 million city hall last week. The city’s board of aldermen will hold its first meeting in the new facility on Tuesday as city department staff continue to make the transition into the former Starkville Electric Power building at the west end of Main Street. The renovated building is an aesthetically-pleasing addition to Main Street, but by far the most important aspect of the new facilitiy is that it should improve services to citizens by providing adequate, up-to-date work space for the city’s governing infrastructure.
A rose to coach Ben Howland and the Mississippi State men’s basketball team, which turned in a highly-entertaining 106-88 victory over Eastern Washington Friday in Howland’s debut as the Bulldog coach. A crowd of 9,131 – the largest at Humphrey Coliseum in almost three years – made “The Hump” an electric atmosphere, something that has been missing for most of the three past years as the once-proud MSU program languished in mediocrity under previous coach Rick Ray. The Bulldogs aren’t “back” yet, but all indications are good for a quick return to prominence for the program.
A thorn to the person (and we use this term in it most charitable sense) who called in a bomb threat at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle Friday around noontime, the same day a real-life horror played out in Paris, France. The bomb threat did not result in tragedy as it did in France, but it is no less offensive. The idea that someone would find humor, or perhaps sought to exact some petty vengeance for some perceived offense, on innocent patients, family and staff at a hospital is beyond our ability to understand. We salute law enforcement and hospital staff for quickly putting this sorry incident to rest and ensuring the safety of everyone at the hospital.
We also fervently hope that the person who is responsible for this is discovered, arrested and punished to the maximum extent that the law permits.
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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