A rose to New Hope baseball coach Lee Boyd who frequently deflected credit for the Trojans’ back-to-back state Class 5A baseball champions away from himself and to his players. While his players certainly deserve their share of the credit, Boyd’s contributions are difficult to dismiss. The Mississippi Association of Coaches obviously agreed, naming Boyd MAC 2014 Baseball Coach of the Year. It’s a well-deserved honor, even if you will never hear it from Boyd.
A thorn to Lowndes County tax assessor Greg Andrews, who acknowledged this past week that he was ordered to reimburse the state for roughly $11,000 for uncollected property taxes, along with fines and investigation costs. The errors occurred in 2009 and 2010, but this is the third time Andrews has been cited for ethics violations. While Andrews’ acumen is widely praised, these lapses occur far too often to be disregarded. We urge Andrews to be more vigilant in his handling of taxpayer money.
A rose to the town of Crawford for putting together a town-wide yard sale Saturday. The town wants to build a covered town pavilion with seating for 75, a small kitchen and restrooms. The facility would be used for family reunions, weddings, birthday parties and other gatherings. A concrete foundation has been poured, and plumbing put in place, but there is still much to be done. Saturday’s yard sale was planned to help raise money to complete the job. We love the idea of a community coming together for projects such as this. It’s not only an opportunity to raise funds, but to get together with neighbors, something that is sure to strengthen the bonds in the community.
A rose to the poll workers at this week’s dramatic Republican primary runoff. While there were unsubstantiated claims that some voters were allowed to illegally vote in the Democratic primary on June 3 and also vote in Tuesday’s GOP runoff, The Dispatch witnessed one example when poll workers got it right. A man was told he could not vote Tuesday after a poll worker looked up his information, saw that he had voted in the Democratic primary, and politely explained he could not vote in the GOP runoff. With the possible confusion over the state’s new voter ID laws and who could or could not vote in the runoff, it’s seems clear our local poll workers were on top of things.
A rose to the Lowndes County School District, which has partnered with Apple to provide all of its 5,000-plus students with a laptop or iPad by the start of the 2015/2016 school year. There’s no question that the technology will greatly enhance learning among the district and the plan makes sure the children for whom economic hardships might make buying such devices impossible are not left behind. The $3.5 million price tag seems like a bargain in that respect.
Send your suggestions for Roses and thorns to managing editor Slim Smith at [email protected].
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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