THE 13TH CROSSROADS FILM FESTIVAL occurred from April 13 to April 15, 2012. It showed me that Mississippi has a film industry of  its own. The film festival showed features, short subjects, biographical films, cartoons, computerized graphic images, professionally-made films, amateur films, fictional-science-world films, rural-area made films and Mississippian films.

I am going to talk about the Mississippi-made films. These films varied in style and were made in Mississippi. They are evidence that Mississippi has filmmakers and writers with art education just as good as Hollywood writers and filmmakers. Other films were made by half-trained amateurs or filmmakers and writers with an incomplete creative writing or...

Our lieutenant governor, Tate Reeves, and governor, Phil Bryant, are doing a disservice to Northsider Dr. Carl Reddix. Reeves and Bryant are holding up the appointment of Reddix to the state Board of Health because of an insignificant link to a clinic that has done abortions.

Reddix does not do abortions, but he will try to save a woman from a botched abortion. There is a world of difference between the two. Reddix is clearly qualified. He did his residency at Johns Hopkins, one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world. He has a degree in public health from Harvard. He was appointed by Gov. Barbour.

The 58 to 42 defeat of Mississippi's proposed "Personhood" amendment should be an indication...

Freddie J. Bagley, president and CEO of Community Bancshares Inc., announces that Tony Sims has been promoted to senior vice president and director of marketing for Community Bancshares, Inc., the holding company for Community Banks.Sims lives in Brandon with his wife, Libby, and their two children Jake and Samantha.

Millsaps College earned the college the honor of being named for the fifth consecutive year to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, Millsaps was one of only five institutions nationwide recognized as a finalist for the 2012 Honor Roll’s Special Focus Area...

MADISON MAYOR Mary Hawkins Butler didn’t get exactly what she wanted with the state Legislature’s redistricting plan, but she says the city is still in a good position to have a strong voice at the Capitol.

After 2010 census data was released last year, Butler was pushing for the House to have a district containing only Madison. City officials also wanted all Madison residents included in one Senate district.

According to new House and Senate maps, which passed in both houses early this month and are on their way to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for approval, nearly all of Madison will be in Senate District 25, currently represented by Republican Will Longwitz.

And though the city will...

CONSTRUCTION has wrapped up on two major projects at St. Dominic Hospital.

Ceremonies were held recently to mark the completion of the medical provider’s new chapel and first phase of its new Behavioral Health Center on Lakeland Drive.

Both projects cost the hospital approximately $18 million.

Work finished a little behind schedule, mostly due to unfavorable weather.

The projects, according to hospital officials, were well worth the wait.

The chapel, which can be seen by drivers traveling along Lakeland, is as elegant as it is practical. It was built to replace the former chapel, which was erected in 1965.

“When the (original) chapel was built … there were two...

The Mississippi Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency of the Department of Defense, announced that Dr. Beverly Wade Hogan of Tougaloo College was honored with a Patriot Award in recognition of extraordinary support of its employee(s) who serve in the Mississippi National Guard and Reserve. According to John Fox III, Mississippi ESGR Military Services coordinator, Hogan was nominated by Capt. Eduardo V. Martinez.   Shown are (from left) Martinez, Hogan and Fox.

CONSUMERS ARE more confident, and retail sales are up in the tri-county area. 

In fact, for the fiscal year thus far (July through March were the latest statistics available), Hinds County’s retail sales are up even more than in Madison County.

Officials aren’t certain what specifically has boosted sales in Hinds County or the greater metro.

“Just what we’ve been hearing in the retail community is that they have noticed that more consumers are spending, because some of them are feeling a little bit more comfortable with the economy,” said Cynthia Buchanan, executive vice president of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

“They’ve been sitting on their...

STUDENTS AT Madison Avenue Lower and Upper Elementary will have more safe options for riding their bikes to school before long.

The Madison Board of Aldermen voted last week to advertise for bids for a project that will connect the schools to nearby neighborhoods with sidewalks.

A $564,000 grant from the federal Safe Routes to School program will fund the work. The city has previously installed some sidewalks in the area with Safe Routes to School money.

“The grant funds will be used to install sidewalks, multi-use trails, traffic calming devices and bike racks in and around the [schools],” said Chris Pace, project coordinator with the city of Madison.

Work will include the demolition,...

RESERVOIR residents will have more of a voice next year on the board of directors for the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District (PRV).

A bill that has passed both houses and now awaits the governor’s signature will require eight of the PRV board’s 14 directors to live at the Ross Barnett Reservoir. 

The PRV governs the reservoir and the lands around it, which include parts of Madison, Rankin, Hinds, Scott and Leake counties.

Each of those counties gets two appointees to the PRV board. The county board of supervisors picks one appointee outright and also sends a list of three names to the governor, who chooses the other appointee from among those names.

Four state agencies also...

ANOTHER SALVO HAS been fired in the battle to determine who will preside over criminal cases in Hinds County.

Last week, Senior Circuit Judge Tomie Green said in a brief that her decision to reorganize the court was well researched and will make the system “more effective and efficient ... for the citizens of Hinds County.”

The brief was filed with the Supreme Court on May 10, in response to an emergency petition from Circuit Judge Jeff Weill asking the justices to prevent Green from dividing the circuit into criminal and civil divisions.

On April 17, Green issued an order breaking the court into criminal and circuit subdivisions, with Green and Judge Bill Gowan to handle all criminal cases, and...

Relieving the best criminal judge of all his criminal cases is not the way to exercise responsibility as senior circuit judge. What on earth is Hinds County Senior Circuit Judge Tomie Green doing?

Green has averaged one criminal trial per year. Judge Jeff Weill tried 15 cases in his first year on the bench. Why would Green remove the most effective criminal judge?

Weill has filed an emergency motion with the state Supreme Court. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail.
Perhaps Green is embarrassed by Weill’s 15-fold increase in productivity. Removing Weill might eliminate a glaring black eye on Green’s performance.

Trials are where the rubber meets the road. If a judge isn’t willing to...

A chapter about Millsaps College is included in the recently released book, “Sweet Sixteen: Great Colleges of the South,” written by John Pulley, a Washington, D.C. writer and published by Associated Colleges of the South. High quality faculty and staff; distinctive academic programs that exemplify the best in liberal arts as preparation for life; and a strong sense of service and community are listed in the book as the strengths of Millsaps College.

BankPlus announced that Pattie Sheppard was recently promoted to vice president in the bank’s Treetops office in Flowood. Sheppard has more than 38 years of...

Jackson Crime

The Jackson Police Department received the following reports for:

Bounds Street, 400 block, auto burglary, April 24;

Briarwood Drive, 900 block, larceny, April 24;

Broadmoor Drive, 300 block, house burglary, April 19;

Carlisle Street, 1100 block, robbery - individual, April 29;

Cedarhurst Road, 700 block, house burglary, April 25;

Colonial Drive, 200 block, larceny, April 27;

County Line Road, 1000...

Glenn Lawson Albritton

Services were held May 7 at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home in Ridgeland, for Glenn Lawson Albritton of Jackson.

Albritton, 92, passed away May 4 at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center.

Albritton was a longtime member of First Christian Church and later First Baptist Church of Jackson. He owned Glenn Albritton Designers, and was a commercial real estate developer. He was a member of the Jackson Homebuilders Association.

Albritton was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Tommie Albritton, who passed away on February 1, 2012. Survivors...

Dr. Stuart Rockoff, a Jewish scholar, recently spoke to the members of the Rotary Club of North Jackson. Rockoff is director of the history department at the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, where he is working to preserve and document the history of Southern Jews. Shown are club members (from left) Luther Munford, Dr. Rockoff, Dave Orlansky and Joe Harris.

Baptist Health Systems President and CEO Mark Slyter (left) and Executive Medical Director for Orthopaedic Services Brian Johnson, M.D., (right) were presented the HealthGrades awards for Baptist Medical Center achieving America's 100 Best hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery and Joint Replacement. Baptist also received America's 100 Best Hospitals for General Surgery and Prostatectomy. Overall, Baptist Medical Center achieved 135-star ratings and five specialty excellence awards. 

LAYMEN AND attorneys in Hinds County will soon be able to look at court documents, access information and file briefs, all from the comfort of their homes or offices, and all with a few strokes of their keyboards.

Hinds County Chancery Court should be providing online court services this spring, meaning that attorneys will be able to enter most court filings via their computers into the Mississippi Electronic Courts System (MEC).

Eventually, all county, circuit and chancery courts throughout the state will participate in MEC, at the direction of the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The Madison County Chancery Clerk’s office was the...

RIDGELAND OFFICIALS are taking small steps to prepare for the future city center project off Highway 51, but it’ll be awhile before the center materializes.

The board of aldermen last week entered into an agreement with Waggoner Engineering Inc., for the firm to prepare bid packages for concrete crushing and an extension of Rice Road at the city center site.

Tecspan Concrete Structures LLC and Jackson Ready Mix formerly owned the land, which is bordered by 51 to the east, School Street to the south, Madison Drive to the west, and the Natchez Trace Parkway to the north.

Concrete left at the site will likely be crushed by a...

Mother’s Day has come `round again, and this year I feel compelled to make an editorial  tribute I should have made years ago. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom, there’s just no substitute for you! What more could any of us ask, than to know that there is one person who, regardless of age (hers or mine), circumstances of any kind, the state of the world or anything else, loves us with no reservations throughout our entire lives. That one person is mom.

Mine, Adelyn Stokes, now of Greenville, learned to appreciate family when she lost some of hers in the Great Flood of 1927. Neither that nor the Great Depression put a dent in her capacity to love without limitation. This was a good thing, because...

Mike Sturdivant’s funeral Saturday drew two former governors and one former gubernatorial hopeful.

Besides reflecting the stature and respect with which the late Glendora planter and businessman was held, the presence of William Winter, Ronnie Musgrove and Bill Luckett was also emblematic of the altered political landscape in Mississippi.

All three are part of a dying breed — white Democratic moderates.

Winter is the senior bearer of that stamp, Musgrove is the last Democrat to hold the governorship, and Luckett’s fate in the 2011 election demonstrated how steep the prospects are for a white Democrat to reside in the Governor’s Mansion.

White moderates have lost their...

ST. DOMINIC Hospital is still formulating its next steps after the Mississippi Supreme Court recently denied its request to relocate 71 acute-care beds to Madison County.

“It’s going to take some time,” said Paul Arrington, vice president of business development at St. Dominic’s.

“While we will review the [Supreme Court] decision … St. Dominic’s remains committed to the citizens of Madison County and the expressed need for quality hospital care and additional choice.

“That expressed need is based on the support of the elected officials, the community leaders and over 8,000 signatures...

Charles Royal White

Services were held April 26 at Lakeland Presbyterian Church for Charles Royal White of Jackson.

White, 78, passed away April 23 after a brief, intense battle with pancreatic cancer. Born March 26, 1934, White was the youngest son of the late J. Harold and Leta Mae White, both of Jackson.

White was a member of Jackson’s Central High School class of 1952, and upon graduation attended Ole Miss where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. A two-term president of the fraternity, and Man of the Year, he was graduated from the University of Mississippi and joined the United States Air Force as a second lieutenant where he was stationed in...

Ridgeland Crime
The Ridgeland Police Department received the following reports for:
County Line Road, 1000 block, auto burglary, April 4;
County Line Road, 1200 block, credit card fraud, April 4;
County Line Road, 1200 block, petit larceny, April 6;
County Line Road, 900 block, petit larceny, March 31;
Goodridge Drive, grand larceny, March 28;
Highland Colony Parkway, 900 block, petit larceny, April 7;
Lake Harbour, 700 block, auto burglary, April 6;
Lake Shore Drive, 2000 block, petit larceny, March 27;
Oakmont Parkway, 700 block, auto burglary, March 28;
Oakmont Parkway, 700 block, credit card fraud, two counts, March 28;
Pear...

Dr. Robert Allen Smith recently spoke at the Australian Wound Management Association in Sydney. His presentation was on the science of keratin protein, “A New Paradigm in Wound Healing.” Dr. Smith is the founder of Keraplast Technologies, LLC. His company extracts keratin protein from New Zealand wool. These proteins are used in wound care, personal care, and nutritional products.

LT. HERRIOUS COTTON will be taking on the responsibilities of Precinct Four commander next week, following the recent resignation of Wendell Watts.

Watts, whose last day with the Jackson Police Department is Monday, turned in his resignation in April.

Officials with JPD had not announced a new commander as of Friday and said there is no time line for when a replacement for Watts would be named.

Watts tendered his resignation on April 23 to take a job as head of security with Central Mississippi Medical Center.

He had been with the department for 20 years and had been head of Precinct Four since late 2011.
Precinct Four covers Northeast Jackson, Fondren and Belhaven. It runs from County Line...

WHAT DO SLICK, muddy ropes, a big pile of shoes, turkey legs, live music and beer have in common?

They were all part of the Warrior Dash, a 5K race that’s more of an all-day event, held April 21 at Mississippi Off-Road Adventures.

Nearly 9,500 people, including many Northsiders, ran in the race, which included obstacles and challenges such as a climbing wall, swimming through muddy water, and jumping over fire.

All the “warriors,” including Madison County Tax Assessor Gerald Barber, seemed to agree that climbing a 15- to 20-foot wall with nothing but a rope and one’s own strength was the most difficult obstacle.

“And just generally the unknown was the toughest part...

When I started Ole Miss in 1952 and pledged to Phi Delta Theta fraternity, I could not have imagined how many alter names and nicknames I would soon encounter.  It seems that any fragility or outstanding feature or personality trait that one possessed would soon earn a nickname.  If you didn’t have an alter name or one other than your formal one, you would soon obtain one. 

Amongst the Phi Delta Thetas the name game leaders were Billy Stitt and Captain Phi.  Captain Phi thought that he was anonymous, but  I discovered who he was.  He lives in Jackson, and is a prominent attorney named Bill with the Watkins Eager law firm. 

Captain Phi had the unnerving characteristic of...

If the National Football League truly is a bellwether of American culture, a subtle attitude shift among some of its teams may be a signal of what lies ahead for society as a whole.

The CBSsports.com Web site included a column on Monday by Mike Freeman, who reported that some team executives are no longer too wary of drafting college players that test positive for marijuana use.

Just five years ago, Freeman wrote, “A positive pot test meant possible injured draft stock. That was then. Now, pot use in college has grown so much, scouts and others say, NFL teams are scrambling to re-evaluate players who fail those tests, and in some cases significantly downplay its importance.”

Translated: Teams are...

DERRICK JOHNSON has twice blown off the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and along with it the thousands of Hinds County taxpayers that he’s supposed to be working for.

Twice, the federal agency has requested Johnson, the county’s redistricting consultant, to provide additional information on the district lines he drew up for the county in early 2011.

The lines have yet to be approved.

Despite having a contract with the county to address any questions that came up regarding redistricting, Johnson had not complied with the federal government’s requests.

What’s more, the board of supervisors, the group that brought on Johnson’s company to conduct census redistricting,...

SCHOOLS across the Northside will soon be recognizing seniors for their academic achievements, with awards and commencement programs scheduled throughout the month of May.

More than 1,400 students are expected to graduate from the area’s public, private and parochial schools.

The first ceremony is slated for May 11, with the last one penciled in for May 30.
Up first are seniors at New Summit School. Fifteen teens will don their caps and gowns for a ceremony at Woodland Hills Baptist Church. The school’s graduation and scholarship program is set for May 11 at 7 p.m. Following the program there will be a reception for families and honorees, said Executive Director Nancy New. The school does not have...

Dear Editor:

In his column of March 29, Mr. Jeanes indicates that voter ID is designed only to discourage voter fraud. However, it also discourages voters who do not have an official photo ID. There are no verified cases of fraud which the ID would prevent. Getting one requires a birth certificate which costs. Its effect on the very poorest is clearly similar to the poll tax. Mr. Jeanes’ position is that of an elitist and the saddest part is that neither he nor many of your readers realize it nor are willing to acknowledge it.

John Garner
 

In an average year, 500,000 people nationally are injured in accidents caused by drivers who are distracted.  Orthopaedic surgeons in Mississippi are the specialists who put bones and limbs back together after accidents occur on our roadways – they would rather help all drivers decide to drive each time they get in the car and to keep bones and limbs healthy. 

Serious injuries due to distracted driving can result in severe musculoskeletal injuries or loss of limbs and can take months or years of rehabilitation to regain full recovery, if at all.  Distracted driving is a growing public health threat that can cause life altering injuries to the driver, his or her passengers, and others on the road. ...

All those Titanic centennial activities this month brought back memories of my first awareness of that historic happening, as well as a very tangential personal connection.

The time was 1932, when my family had rented a cottage for the summer on Second Cliff in Scituate, Mass., a small, former fishing seaport some 30 miles southeast of where we lived in Brookline. This ‘cottage’ wasn't some little beach shack, but a spacious, classic New England grey-shingled house with an "arts and crafts" interior; all set in an acre or more of elaborate gardens. It really was more like an arboretum with exotic plants from around the world. The kitchen garden included such delicacies as raspberries, currants and...

IN THE LAST FOUR years, the nine-hole golf course at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park has fallen into disrepair.

The greens are covered with weeds. The fairways are bare in some spots while overgrown in others. And many of the hole markers that are used to inform golfers what hole they’re on are no longer in place.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (WFP) has given managers of the course 60 days to bring it up to par. If they don’t, the state could be looking for new management.
Last Friday, WFP personnel met with the Ebenezer Group, the park’s managers, to discuss two complaints that had been received from golfers.

According to a copy of a complaint obtained...

SHERRY BOYER and Jay Dean are the first to admit that the opera has had its share of financial difficulties in recent years.

Even before the Great Recession began in 2008, the Mississippi Opera had cut back on the number of performances it offered each year, and had seen some corporate funding dry up.

But Boyer and Dean, who took the reins of the state’s only opera company as executive director and artistic director in 2011 and 2010 respectively, are optimistic about the opera’s next act.
The group, under its new leadership, is working to build up the nonprofit’s political and financial support bases, while at the same time reaching out to new audiences with the inclusive art form.
...

First Baptist, Madison
Aidan Albritton,  Molly Albritton, Robert and Stacey Gaines, Elizabeth Hardy, Noel and Ruth Jacobs.

AFTER SPIKES in property crimes early last year and last summer, Jackson police ended 2011 on a positive note, with crime being down 6.2 percent in Precinct Four and 5.9 percent citywide.
Precinct Four is now leading the city in crime reduction, a year after it had the highest increase in crime among all four major precincts.

“We’re almost 10 percent down, where I wanted to be a year after I took over,” said Precinct Four Cmdr. Wendell Watts. Watts credits the reduction to a new district system put in place by the department.

The city’s four main precincts were placed in two districts. District One covers precincts one and two, and District Two covers precincts three and four.

...

THE MADISON Organization of Homeowner Associations (MONA) will meet Thursday night, April 26, with guest speaker Sheriff Randy Tucker.

Tucker will discuss his first 100 days in office and the overall state of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, including crime rates, campaign ideas he has implemented, and his office’s new community advisory group. He was elected sheriff last fall and took office in January.

MONA meets quarterly to hear from local leaders and discuss issues affecting neighborhoods in the city of Madison. All Madison residents are welcome, and MONA encourages each neighborhood to send at least two representatives.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Madison Public...

THE LAND IN the Parkway East Public Improvement District (PID) has a new name: the Germantown Business Park at Galleria.

And Parkway East itself, which runs south from Gluckstadt to Madison on the east side of I-55 and becomes Galleria Parkway halfway down, will now be Galleria Parkway in the northern half too.
Madison County supervisors voted April 16 to approve the name changes and appropriate signage to give the area an identity and attract potential property buyers.

Properties located in a PID carry special assessments. In the Germantown Business Park, the assessments go toward paying off bonds the PID issued to build the northern half of Galleria Parkway.
Half the landowners in the Germantown...

David Overby took office in January as Madison County administrator. He previously served 12 years as Ridgeland’s city clerk and director of finance and administration, and worked in public accounting for 20 years. Overby lives in Ridgeland with his wife, Gail, a counselor. He recently spoke with Sun staff writer Katie Eubanks about his new position in Madison County.

What’s the biggest difference between your previous job in Ridgeland and your current job with the county?
“The county is larger. (laughs)
“It’s a different set of challenges. We have rural areas. For instance, the fire service is volunteer rather than full-time. You have county roads, which require different...

Eagle Scouts from Jackson Preparatory School were honored recently at the Capitol with presentation of Senate Concurrent Resolution 650 that recognized their milestone achievements. The resolution was authored by Senators Dean Kirby of District 30, Josh Harkins of District 20 and Will Longwitz of District 25. Scouts present included Samuel Parrish of Troop 8, Austin Pinkerton of Troop 15, Zac Zachow of Troop 30, Thomas Dunbar of Troop 302, Nelson Parker of Troop 18, John David Polk of Troop 8, Ross Taylor of Troop 18, Thompson Moore of Troop 18, Cole McPherson of Troop 8, Pratt Rogers of Troop 302, and Jan Vise of Troop 18.

Madison Ridgeland Academy golf team dominated the field of nine teams at Washington School’s...

WHY ARE THERE so many parkways?

Madison Parkway, Galleria Parkway/Parkway East, Highland Colony Parkway, Annandale/Reunion Parkway – the list goes on.

Maybe the word gets repetitive, but it turns out that most of these parkways in Madison actually meet the dictionary definition: “a broad thoroughfare with a dividing strip or side strips planted with grass, trees, etc.”

Frederick Law Olmsted, known as the father of landscape architecture, developed some of the first parkways in the United States in the late 1800s in New York and other New England states.

“Way back when, parkways were designed where you had pedestrian traffic and carriage traffic and it was all separated, and...

All across the metro Jackson area and even throughout the United States hundreds of volunteers are busy making preparations for the 2012 Trail of Honor. This military salute event, which will be held May 19-20 in Jackson at the Harley-Davidson dealership, pays tribute to America’s armed forces and offers visitors a unique, free, and family-friendly experience. This year’s celebration marks the 10th anniversary of the Trail of Honor. Without the dedicated effort of tireless volunteers like Northsider Erik Hearon and Cheryl Shelton, the Trail of Honor would not exist.

Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Hearon is a man whose life is guided by a generous spirit. This same giving attitude has led him to dedicate more than 40 years of...

IF YOU WANT TO get a cup of coffee at Highland Village, don’t go to the bus.
The red omnibus is no longer serving coffee. The iconic double-decker will soon be moved to make way for a Whole Foods grocery store.

Java Werks, the coffee shop that has been located in the bus for the better part of the last decade recently closed its doors.

Guy Boyll III, Highland Village’s vice president of operations, said the company’s lease ended in March and was not renewed.

While the coffee shop might be gone, Boyll said the bus won’t be going far. But it will have to be moved to make way for Whole Foods, a specialty grocery store that’s expected to open at the popular shopping center in...

The House Education Committee  defeated a charter schools bill last week.  There was much hand-wringing and anguish over the bill from the public school lobby before the bill was shot down in committee. The gnashing of teeth was particularly loud over at the Clarion-Ledger where the editorial page, Jackson Public School Board member Dr. George Schimmel, and Parents' Campaign Executive Director Nancy Loome all issued fatwahs against the bill. While they writhe in agony over the thought of anyone but them approaching the altar of public schools, perhaps we should take a look at how well public schools are performing in Jackson.

The report cards on the Department of Education Web site reveal there are few bright...

Attorney General Jim Hood and the Republican majorities in the Mississippi Legislature have been at odds from the beginning of this legislative session.

It’s no secret that the Republicans would like to clip the wings of the lone statewide Democratic officeholder.

A proposal, still pending in the Legislature, would end the attorney general’s power to hire private lawyers on a contingency fee basis.

Hood and Republicans are arguing in a related matter over how best to pursue damages from oil giant BP over the massive spill in the Gulf Coast in 2010.

Hood says, if he’s not going to use a contingency-fee arrangement, he needs at least $10 million to hire outside attorneys and experts...

Mayo Flynt is 2012 chairman of the board of directors for the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. The partnership is a nonprofit group that represents approximately 2,000 businesses, both large and small, in the metro area. Flynt recently spoke to Sun Staff Writer Anthony Warren about the chamber’s plans to boost the economy and improve the quality of life for residents in the coming years.

How are things going since being named chairman?
“It’s been going well. There have been a lot of things happening in this area that are positive. Our focus this year is to finalize our long-range strategic plan for the region. The name of the plan is Vision 2022: One Voice. We are in the final stages of...

Student chemists at Belhaven University are experiencing what only a handful of universities across the country ever encounter; a completely green chemistry program.

Last year, Belhaven’s new chemistry professor, Dr. Gary Reid Bishop, walked through the doors and completely changed the way the chemistry program operates.

Dr. Bishop, who came from Mississippi College after six years as the chemistry department’s assistant professor, believes that social and environmental change begins in the classroom. “Organic chemists are indirectly responsible for the largest amounts of pollution in the world. You then realize that chemists and professors need to be the ones pushing the frontier of chemistry...

WHAT RECESSION?
Since the Great Recession began in 2008, Ballet Mississippi’s budget has grown by nearly a third, teachers have been given a pay raise, and enrollment is at record numbers.

Similarly, the Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet (MMB) is reporting its strongest-ever enrollment for MMB’s nonprofit company and for-profit school for the 2011-12 fiscal year, following three years of stable enrollment, donations and ticket sales.

“We haven’t just weathered the storm, but have ridden right through it,” said Ballet Mississippi Artistic Director David Keary. “We’re very happy about it.”

The Sun is continuing its series on the ‘State of the Arts,...

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Michael Costello of Bastrop, La., announce the engagement of their daughter, Courtney Shannon Costello, to Thomas McIlwain Wright Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McIlwain Wright of Brandon.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Narvin Hersey Sawyer Jr. and the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles Henry Costello, all of Oak Grove, La. She is also the granddaughter of the late Arthur Rood McCleary of Natchitoches, La. The prospective bridegroom is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Knox Strahan Jr., and the late Mr. and Mrs. John Richard Wright, all of Jackson.

Miss Costello is a 2003 graduate of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in Natchitoches, where she was a...

BLOCKED TRAFFIC lanes on Old Canton Road will soon mean a smoother walking trail at Parham Bridges Park.

But at least one Jackson city leader would like to see much more done to make the park a sought-after destination for families, children and tennis enthusiasts.

The city of Jackson is currently advertising for bids to repave Parham Bridges’ mile-long trail at the corner of Old Canton and Ridgewood roads.

The work is being funded with money given to the city by Gulf South Pipeline to install a natural gas pipeline under park property.

In all, the company paid the city $150,000, money that will be used to overlay the trail and parking lot in front of Parham Bridges Tennis Center, and possibly...

A NEW SCHOOL of medicine along with a cancer and biomedical research facility will be the cornerstones of more than $120 million in new construction on tap for the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC).

The hospital is planning to spend $60 million to construct a new school of medicine (SOM), and an additional $36 million on the research facility.

The projects are part of the school’s 30-year master plan, which was designed in part to help UMMC boost its reputation as a research facility and to bring in more medical students, a move that could eventually increase the number of doctors across the state.

The work will also have a major impact locally, said Dr. David Powe, the school’s...

The Rotary Club of North Jackson recently presented a check for $1,500 to the Jackson Metro Area Salvation Army for disaster relief. Shown are (from left) Captain Ken Chapman of the Salvation Army and Don Roberts, club president. The Rotary Club of North Jackson meets at noon on Tuesdays at St. James Episcopal Church.

Veritas market
The Veritas School will hold their annual fund-raiser, The Market at Veritas, April 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on the campus on Highland Colony Parkway. Admission $5, children 10 and under free. For details call 601-713-1555 or visit theveritasschool.org.

Nature day
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science will host NatureFEST, featuring a variety of family friendly activities, April 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 601-576-6000.

Navy Seaman Timothy C. Bell Jr., son of Marty H. Bell and Timothy C. Bell Sr. recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. Bell is a 2010 graduate of Madison Ridgeland Academy.

Army National Guard Pvt. Melbron J. Gardner has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. Gardner is the son of Jack and Judy Gardner of North Deerfield Drive, Canton. He is a 2010 graduate of The Veritas School.

Germantown High School youth leaders selected to represent Germantown High School at the 2012 Madison County Youth Leadership Economic Development Day were Merrie Morgan Volk and Chance McNulty. Students visited various Madison County businesses and heard presentations from local business leaders and economic development officials.  The event was sponsored by the Madison County Business League and the Madison County Economic Development Authority.

Longtime, award winning sports journalist Rick Cleveland was named  as the new executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Cleveland, 59, succeeds the late Michael Rubenstein, the museum's only previous director.

Kristy Johnson, 21,...

Bill Boykin, chair of Rotary District 6820 water wells sub-committee, reported to the Rotary Club of Jackson on the status of the district’s project to provide clean drinking water to the people of Malawi in Africa. Rotary has sponsored 18 new water wells in various villages in Malawi and has the goal of drilling 150 wells per year. Each well costs about $3,500 and provides clean water for about 1,000 villagers. The Rotary Clubs of Jackson, North Jackson and Madison-Ridgeland have partnered to raise the money for the drilling of the wells. Shown are (from left) Heber Simmons III, president of the Rotarty Club of Jackson; Boykin; and Victor Smith, who introduced the program.

Unwed motherhood at any age is an economic, cultural and medical disaster for the United States, but especially for the state of Mississippi. Gov. Phil Bryant has been the first recent governor to name unwed pregnancy and unwed motherhood as extremely serious problems for our state’s economic progress, and has requested solutions from political, religious, educational, medical and social services professionals. It is refreshing that finally a leader has spoken of the 500-pound gorilla in our room. By ignoring this problem for nearly 30 years, we’ve allowed the beast to homestead in our living room for generations, ransacking and destroying stability, prosperity, and sanity, and holding our families and state hostage. It is...

The Mississippi Senate did the sensible thing by not falling into the same trap as some other Southern states that passed immigration reform only to rue it later.
It was a bipartisan effort to derail an initiative on which Gov. Phil Bryant and Republican House members had heavily pandered.
Although Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan gets credit for exercising the “pocket veto” by letting the House bill die in his committee without a vote, Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was a collaborator in applying the brakes. He assigned the bill to Bryan’s committee, knowing it would most likely die there.
We’re not a big fan of the pocket veto, but this is one case where it was used judiciously. Had the bill been voted on in committee,...

Ron Mumbower is director of Summit Counseling at First Baptist Church in Jackson. He recently spoke with Sun staff writer Katie Eubanks about how people can respond to the shooting near Jackson State University, the shooting at Mississippi State University, and other recent acts of violence and hate.

How can parents help their kids process all this - JSU, MSU, the recent hate-crime trial in Jackson?
“It’s about helping [kids] to realize that … our world is just made up of a lot of people who make a lot of mistakes.
“Everybody has choices. And there are consequences for any choice we make. If you choose to go too fast on your bicycle down the street, you’re going to have a consequence. [Kids have to learn,] what are...

PENDING a review of its proposal, Hemphill Construction Company will likely be chosen to do the Fortification Street Improvement Project.
The city of Jackson opened bids at a public meeting last week, with Hemphill submitting the lowest price. Hemphill’s bid was for just under $9 million. Next was Utah Construction Company, with a bid for $11.35 million, and Southern Rock, with a bid for $11.9 million.
All three proposals came in under the city’s $12 million estimate to complete the project.
Now, all contracts will be reviewed and Public Works will make a recommendation to the Jackson City Council at its regular meeting on April 17. If the council approves a bid, it will be submitted to the Mississippi Department of...

IMAGINE Congress Street with wider sidewalks, more trees, and small open-air markets crowded with shoppers.
A study being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is doing just that.
The city of Jackson was one of five cities chosen by the federal agency to participate in the “Greening of America’s Capitals” program.
As part of the program, the EPA has brought on landscape architects, community leaders and other experts to draw up plans that would transform the street from what it is today into the “Green Government Center,” an outdoor hub for pedestrians and bicyclists in downtown Jackson.
“Greening of America’s Capitals” is a technical assistance program offered by the federal agency to help...

THE ECONOMY appears to be rebounding, and along with it, so does the Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA).
After experiencing a drop in attendance and having to make significant budget cuts as a result of the Great Recession, the museum is making a comeback and will likely be stronger and leaner than before.
With the opening of its new exhibit featuring the work of the creators of Curious George, along with the completion of MMA’s new art garden last year, museum officials are expecting strong bumps in attendance and donations.
Attendance numbers are already going in the right direction. In 2011, 65,000 people visited the museum, up from 48,000 in 2010, and 40,000 in 2009 at the height of the recession.
In the coming...

Some readers may recall a series of articles I wrote four years ago about the mother of a small toddler who was jailed by the EPA for wetlands violations. The story was beyond belief. The mother, Robbie Wriggley, was a former schoolteacher, nurse and local high school booster. She was selling lots in her father’s real estate business when she got caught in the EPA’s crosshairs. The EPA had determined that the land she was selling, called Big Hill, was wetlands. Big Hill is located at the highest point of a 30 square mile area, 20 miles north of Pascagoula. The nearest place a canoe could be floated on water is three miles away. All the land drains. Big Hill is covered with pine trees. Pine trees do not grow in consistently...