Roses to recent graduates of East Mississippi Community College, Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi State University. Over the past week, our local colleges have graduated hundreds of students. Earning a college degree is no small feat, and we commend you for your hard work and dedication.
A rose to Starkville native Thomas Sowers, senior design and technical major at the University of Southern Mississippi, for becoming the first Mississippi student to win a national Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival award.
Sowers won the award for his work in the university”s Department of Theatre and Dance fall production of “Hitchcock Blonde.” He is also the first winner of the newly created Sound Design Award.
A thorn to the Columbus City Council for offering only lip service to citizens” concerns about nightclubs and bars in the city.
Concerned citizens went before the council last week, pleading for some sort of oversight of these neighborhood clubs. The pleas came on the heels of the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old at the Everyday Club and Lounge on Seventh Street North, April 20.
Fughetaboutit, a downtown bar also was presented as a concern. As of now, the council has taken no action on the matter and hasn”t outlined any sort of action plan.
And while we”re at it, add another thorn to the bouquet for scrapping a local ethics code for city officials. Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box suggested introducing a local code of ethics after an after-hours fist fight at City Hall between Columbus Mayor Robert Smith and Ward 5 City Councilman Kabir Karriem. The councilmen decided the new code would be redundant in light of state ethics codes. Obviously, state code or not, we need some local stipulations that give the council, by consent, some authority to punish elected city leaders for this kind of unacceptable behavior. The formal reprimand, which only has any impact in the board minutes somewhere, just like their lip service to the club concerns, is null.
Roses to the Sandfield Horizon Committee for putting on the Eighth of May celebration in the Sandfield community, Friday and Saturday. The Eighth of May festival was born in 1999 from former Sandfield resident Michael Farmer”s desire to bring the community together. The original festival was held in the parking lot of Farmer”s mother”s beauty shop, Martha”s Kut and Kurl. The festival, which soon outgrew its humble beginnings, has been going strong for 11 years.
Roses to community members who attended the special meeting last week, presenting plans for a soccer complex and park in downtown in the Burns Bottom area. It”s important for community members to get involved and show a presence as our leaders make decisions that will impact the area for years to come. Plans for the downtown park include connecting the it to the Columbus Riverwalk and The Hitching Lot Farmers” Market. Planners also want to make use of green spaces, so the sprawling park is more than just soccer fields. It will be a place for family and friends to come together and meander around beautiful scenery. The soccer complex also will offer an economic engine for the area.
A rose to Starkville”s Emerson school for launching a recycling program.
A small-scale recycling program already is in place at Overstreet Elementary, but Green Starkville went from class to class at Emerson last week to drop off recycling bins and encourage students to recycle.
Emerson Parent Teacher Organization members Alicia Wood Jones and Alison Buehler have pushed for recycling at Emerson since March 2009.
The school received bins from BluBox, a division of Columbus-based Triangle Maintenance Service, to allow students to recycle in every classroom, the cafeteria and throughout the Families First Resource Center.
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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