DISPATCH EDITORIALS

Stay safe this holiday season

Posted 12/7/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

The shopping season is in full swing, and with it comes an inevitable uptick in thefts and scams.

New drama erupted around the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau this past week, with Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders proposing that the county vacate its four board appointments to the board, and make new ones.

We love a parade

Posted 12/3/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Is it Christmas already? It's getting there. New evidence will come marching down local streets over the next few days, as Christmas parades bring our communities out.

Columbus should move forward with annexation plan

Posted 12/2/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

When it comes to annexation, the city of Columbus is caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock is the heavy costs associated with providing services to new city areas.

Keep politics off of CVB board

Posted 12/1/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

The all-out war that erupted several weeks ago between the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link and the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau appears to have moved into a period of cold war.

Congrats to the bowling Bulldogs

Posted 11/30/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Few things are less predictable than college football. In Mississippi, the home team historically wins the Egg Bowl, the annual battle between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. This year, the game was played in Oxford. Yet the Golden Egg is still in Starkville.

Our view: Turkey, not texting, on Thanksgiving

Posted 11/24/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Say "Thanksgiving" and the traditional Norman Rockwell painting comes to mind, with the family gathered in anticipation around a bountiful table as Dad prepares to carve the turkey. Others may think of the first Thanksgiving, with English settlers and American Indians coming together to break bread.

A bounty of charity this Thanksgiving

Posted 11/19/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Local school kids are out today for the Thanksgiving break. Families are either making plans to travel, or stocking up for visitors, or preparing for a quiet celebration of the holidays at home. Now is also the time that many of us are also looking, in earnest, beyond our own needs.

This Thanksgiving, thank a teacher

Posted 11/18/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

If Lowndes County's teachers were to emit a warm glow, the Mississippi University for Women campus would have been bright as the sun Wednesday afternoon.

Mississippi should end corporal punishment

Posted 11/17/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Many of us who saw or read recent news reports about a Jackson high school basketball coach who whipped players with a weightlifting belt were shocked, but few of us should be surprised. Mississippi allows corporal punishment in its schools -- an outdated practice that needs to come to an end.

Jury duty an opportunity to serve, to observe

Posted 11/16/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

With Circuit Court in full swing in Lowndes County, we're reminded of one of the civic responsibilities, most all of us are called upon to perform from time to time -- jury duty.

School superintendents face tough challenges

Posted 11/12/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

The departure of Steve Montgomery as West Point Schools superintendent after four years is lamentable, but right on schedule, according to recent education studies.

Thank you, veterans

Posted 11/11/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

They walk among us, most of the time unnoticed. But they're different than us. They are the combat veterans of the U.S. military.

Get it together, West Point

Posted 11/10/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

What's going on in West Point? The mayor jumps ship with no explanation. City board meetings seem to become ever more explosive, culminating with an ex-mayoral candidate getting dragged from the room Tuesday night.

Tacky behavior

Posted 11/9/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Some disturbing behavior has accompanied the five-month-old strike at Omnova Solutions in Columbus.

Roses and Thorns 11-7-10

Posted 11/6/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Veterans of the U.S. armed forces, the Mississippi State University family, the Columbus Police Department, organizers and the army of volunteers of the Empty Bowls event, the city of Starkville's recycling committee and Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker.

Our opinion: Take the time to serve

Posted 11/4/2010 in Dispatch Editorials

Occasionally, the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link will send around a list of city and county committee vacancies. These committees work behind the scenes to make things happen -- they tackle everything from policing historic districts to planting trees.