A rose to the teachers and staff at Caledonia Elementary School and the staff and management at Cadence Bank in Columbus for their support of the Rollins family, whose daughter, 14-month-old Adeline, is seriously ill with liver failure. Caledonia Elementary School employees donated sick days that have allowed Margaret Rollins, an arts teacher at the school, to stay on the payroll as she frequently misses work to care for her daughter.
Meanwhile at Cadence, where John Rollins works, bank employees have set up an account to help the family cover medical expenses for Adeline’s treatment, which includes liver transplant surgery next week.
The support, both financially and emotional, have been a godsend for the family during these difficult times.
A rose to Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, officials from the Lowndes County School District, East Mississippi Community College and business owners for this week’s meeting designed to brainstorm ways for the entire community to get the maximum benefit of two new workforce training facilities — the LCSD Career Tech Center, which opens in August and Communiversity, set to open in 2019. Maximizing access to these facilities, working with businesses of all sizes and employment needs and matching skills training to the needs of the workplace mean the tax-payer money that supports the two facilities — with a combined price-tag of $55 million — produces the best possible value to our community in the effort to build the skilled workforce today’s jobs demand.
A rose to the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library for its film series offering as a part of its celebration of Black History Month. Saturday, the library showed the first of three free movie presentations with “Detroit,” which explores the rioting and civil unrest that exploded in the city in 1967. Wednesday, at 4:30 the library will hold a viewing on “Marshall,” a drama based on the true story of future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and one of the most significant cases of his life. Finally, on Thursday, also at 4:30, the library wraps up the series with a showing of the documentary film “I Am Not Your Negro,” which follows civil rights activists and author James Baldwin, using excerpts from his unfinished book, “Remember This House.” All three films powerfully portray the real-life struggle of the Civil Rights movement and, as such, are a perfect way to commemorate Black History Month.
A rose to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, which this week approved a partnership that will increase the availability of much-needed residential options for Mississippi State University students The partnership between MSU and Memphis-based Education Realty Trust (EdR) is an important step in the development of a $67 million College View mixed-use university village.
The development will be built on an approximately 34-acre piece of land on the northwest edge of campus, where the Aiken Village apartments were formerly located before their demolition. The planned project is a multi-phase development and will include 656 beds for upperclassmen in its first phase, according to the release. The project will also include 46,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, recreational amenities, an outdoor entertainment zone, a 7,000 square-foot day care center and parking.
The first phase has an anticipated fall 2019 completion date. Additional phases may follow, pending further market analysis.
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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