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The Vicksburg Post Sunday, September 13, 2009 A5
WEEK IN
VIcKsburg
Getting somebody else to pay evolves as wise choice
Fluffy clouds and blue skies
dominated the weather week,
with highs ranging from 82
degrees to 91 and lows from 64
degrees to 72. Small amounts of
rain were measured two days,
measuring less than an inch.
The Mississippi River had a
mixed week, starting at a reading
of 13.9 feet on the Vicksburg
gauge and ending at 15.5 feet.
The forecast was for a reading of
13.7 feet today.
The United Way of West Central
Mississippi kicked off its
annual fund drive.
Supervisors agreed to reduce
the valuations for tax purposes
to three petitioners, the largest
of which was Ameristar. The
casino development was determined
to be worth $92 million
instead of the $122 million figure
first imposed.
Antonia Flaggs Jones and
Elva Smith-Tolliver were
appointed to serve complete
terms as Warren County tax
collector and District 3 election
commissioner. Both had interim
appointments, but new no opponents
for a planned Nov. 3 special
election.
Jeff Crevitt, Lisa Anglin Counts
and Sally Sheffield McDaniel
qualified to seek the office
of Central District justice court
judge in a Nov. 3 special election
and Lonnie Wooley and Gordon
Cordes qualified for a contest for
District 5 election commissioner
to be held the same day.
The Vicksburg Art Association
planned an event to mark
40 years since acquiring the old
Constitution Fire Station and
transforming it into Firehouse
Gallery.
St. Aloysius was the only
winner in local grid action, defeating
Greenville-St. Joseph in overtime,
20-14. Vicksburg High lost to
Richwood, La., Warren Central to
Hattiesburg and Porters Chapel
to River Oaks, La.
A bump in local hotel rooms
from 2,000 to 2,500 during the
past year has resulted in a lower
average occupancy rate for the
assorted inns.
A Mississippi Department of
Health grant will provide H1N1
vaccines for local students. Otherwise,
flu vaccines are not
expected to be available locally
until mid-October.
A 19-year-old shoe store
employee was charged with
embezzling five pairs of expensive
tennis shoes.
Jackson Police Department
Lt. Jeffrey Scott and 28-year
local law enforcement veteran
John Dolan were tapped as new
Vicksburg Police Department
deputy chiefs. Scott will oversee
patrol and Dolan will oversee
administration.
Vicksburg and Warren
County governing boards gave
official approval to spending
plans for the fiscal year to start
Oct. 1. Both budgets are slightly
lower and neither changes local
tax rates.
An operating permit for
Anderson Cafe, a longtime
neighborhood club on First
North Street, was again refused
by city officials.
An independent site scout for
an upcoming Warner Bros. film
made contacts about the possibility
of using some sights in the
city for filming.
Vicksburg landscaping contractor
James Dudley Maynord
faces up to 40 years in prison
after being convicted on multiple
methamphetamine charges.
Sentencing was set for Sept. 25.
Mayor Paul Winfield was one
of 18 mayors nationally chosen
for a new coalition to have local
governments more connected to
federal programs. Vicksburg was
the smallest city tapped for the
initiative and Winfield attended a
one-day meeting in New York.
Jody McMinn, a 36-year
employee of Magnolia Marine
Transport, was honored by
having the newest towboat in
the MMT fleet christened with
his name.
After admitting stealing
$227,000 from MIDD-West, former
payroll clerk Cathy Demby, 42,
was ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution.
Prosecutor Ricky Johnson
said the agency had hoped to
recover all the funds.
Deaths during the week
included Bobby W. Sanders,
Hugh Charles Holland, Jer’Lisa
Nicole Minor, Loyd Hattaway,
Richard W. Waites Sr. and Jonquil
Eddie Lee.
President Obama talks about selfsufficiency
as a good thing. America
isn’t listening. As a lifestyle in
America, independence is eroding
more every day.
I know, I know. It’s hard-hearted
to say such things. In popular culture,
the good people want everybody
to have everything. Bad people
don’t. They’re greedy. Good people
are understanding when they see a
young man talking on the latest in
cell phones while standing in line
for a free meal at a soup kitchen.
It’s only bad people who interpret
such scenes as a society gone awry
—mumble about misplaced priorities
and such.
Regardless, combining in recent
days to make the point that how we
think about dependence is changing
have been a radio preacher, a news
brief and a commercial.
Sunday mornings I like to listen to
preachers on the radio. Last week,
Moses — as a baby in the bulrushes
— was the topic of one sermon.
The preacher explained how
Pharoah had put out a decree that all
male Hebrew infants be killed and
how Moses’ mom, in an attempt to
hide or save her son, had placed him
in a reed basket and floated it in the
backwaters of the Nile. As the Bible
tells it, the basket drifted and was
found by a daughter of Pharoah, who
immediately loved the boy child and
decided to keep him as her own.
The preacher became more excited
about the next part. It’s in Exodus 2:8
and says a servant offered to find a
Hebrew woman to nurse the infant.
I certainly understand her viewpoint
expressed by Kenda McMillian
in her letter printed Sept. 9, but
please allow me to express mine as
well.
Granted, the picture of the man
with a gun printed Sept. 3 by The
Vicksburg Post was a disturbing
sight; however, I feel that young
folks need to see things like this!
In a world filled with violent video
games, music (!) that espouses violence
and death and news of everyday
carnage in other lands, I think
that young folks tend to lose sight
that these kinds of things can, and
do, happen in the real world, even
in Vicksburg.
Maybe the sight of a real, live
human being threatening other
living human beings will give some
kids pause. Guns and knives ain’t
toys, to use a colloquialism! No,
I’m not saying that kids need to
see blood and gore, but I do feel
that kids need to be aware that
some of the choices they make in
life can result in terrible tragedy if
they aren’t respectful of the world
around them. I guess my point is
A big question mark continues to
loom over the nation’s financial condition,
causing more than a little bit
of speculation about if and/or when
old devil inflation and sky-high interest
rates are going to be loosed on
the populous. Meanwhile, in Mississippi
Gov. Haley Barbour, as anticipated,
used his authority to impose
a round of 5 percent budget cuts.
Because education consumes nearly
64 percent of the state budget, the hit
absorbed by education at all levels
was virtually unavoidable. Mississippi
joins nearly all of the other
states in the union in dealing with
some stage of a budget crisis.
In making the announcement of
the budget cuts, Barbour alluded
to the fact that the federal stimulus
package passed in the early days of
the Obama administration shored
up education coffers sufficiently
enough to stave off even more draconian
cuts. This has been the subject
of much ink over the last few
days. That ominous dark clouds are
gathering on the horizon is almost
unmistakable.
The facts are these. In two years
the stimulus dollars will be gone. We
will then all discover that the stimulus,
while being a virtual life saver,
nonetheless hid the fact that our old
revenue systems were not producing
sufficient dollars to support expanding
demands for education, and that
a seemingly annual series of events
that had kept Medicare and Medicaid
from falling over the cliff have probably
come to an end. The combined
post-stimulus reality of just these
two major chunks of the Mississippi
CHarLIE
mITcHELL
The daughter agreed that was a
good idea and that she’d pay. The
woman who was hired was Moses’
real mother — and the preacher
exulted about that. “She gets to keep
her baby and Pharoah pays her to
take care of it,” he said over and
over again. “She gets to keep her
baby and Pharoah pays her to take
care of it.”
In the preacher’s view, this was
Divine intervention. A way had
been created for the mother to have
somebody else to cover all the costs,
making her life easier. This was a
good thing, he said. It was creative
thinking by the Creator, with the
implication that other mothers would
be wise to seek similar deals.
The news brief reported that food
stamps — now renamed SNAP and
paid mostly via electronic benefit
transfer cards — are feeding 34 million
Americans. That means more
than one in 10 of us is having all or
some of our groceries provided by
Pharoah, known these days as the
federal treasury. The total reflects
an increase, which could certainly be
that newspapers, with coverage like
Sept. 3, can indeed help educate our
young folks. Kudos to the Post!
Jim Miller
Vicksburg
‘Tirade’ was truthful
Marty
WIsEmaN
budget may be more than most Mississippians
can physically or fiscally
stomach.
A review of how our federal system
of government operates may assist in
the anticipation of where the action
will take place. By definition, “federalism”
is a system of government
where there are two or more levels
of government, each having powers
unique to a specific level. For example,
in the United States, the national
government deals with such things
as the national defense, health, economic
well-being including agriculture
production and commerce,
national transportation infrastructure,
international trade and many
others. State governments have their
own programs dealing with roads
and bridges, health and mental
health, education, economic development
and public safety. Local governments
deliver programs where
the people live. They address such
things as public safety and local
public works, education and recreation
as well as building codes and
zoning ordinances that guarantee
the livability of communities. Central
There should be no shame in
accepting help when needed,
but should it be OK to choose
to let your neighbors feed your
family on a more or less permanent
basis?
LETTErs TO THE EDITOr
expected in times of double-digit joblessness.
But even in flush economic
times, more than 30 million people
have not been generating enough
income to feed themselves. For some,
doubtless, the Supplemental Nutritional
Assistance Program is, in fact,
a blessing because otherwise they’d
starve. But for others, it’s a choice
— the preacher says an acceptable
choice — to dodge self-sufficiency.
There should be no shame in accepting
help when needed, but should it
be OK to choose to let your neighbors
feed your family on a more or
less permanent basis?
Clearly that choice is being made,
especially in Mississippi, which, by
the way, provides nearly the lowest
benefit amount in the nation. Here,
SNAP assists in getting food on
the table for 522,305 people. That’s
18 percent of the state population
or nearly one in five people. The
number of recipients is up 16 percent
in a year.
There was a pilot food stamp program
in 1934, but the real McCoy was
born in 1964. The average monthly
Voice your opinion
Letters to the editor are published under the following guidelines: Expressions
from readers on topics of current or general interest are welcomed.
• Letters must be original, not copies or letters sent to others,
and must include the name, address and signature of the writer. • Letters
must avoid defamatory or abusive statements. • Preference will be given
to typed letters of 300 or fewer words. • The Vicksburg Post does not
print anonymous letters and reserves the right to edit all letters submitted.
• Letters in the column do not represent the views of The Vicksburg
Post.
I want to respond to the Sept. 9
letter, “Tirade Was Pointless,” by
Richmond Sharbrough. He called
Sept. 1 guest columnist Thelma
Dukes a black angry racist female.
I guess that makes 97.5 percent
of black Americans racist, too,
because black Americans agree
with every word that was mentioned
in her article and her article
has merit.
Fact: The GOP is using fear and
hate mongering, which is something
they always use.
Fact: A high percentage of the
people who go to these town hall
meetings are on Medicare and if
they don’t want government-run
health care, then they should get off
Medicare because Medicare is government-run
health care.
Fact: Racist codes and terms are
being used. Who are the GOP, TEA
Party, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and
Fox News referring to when they
to the powers of each of these levels
of government is the power to raise
the money necessary to carry out
programs for the respective constituencies.
There are income and excise
taxes at the national level, income
and sales taxes at the state level,
and property and sales taxes at the
local levels.
It is when we put all of these systems
in motion that things can
become frightening. One should
think of a giant set of interlocking
gears grinding into motion. No one of
these three levels of government acts
independently of the other. Action
at the national level can profoundly
affect the state and local levels.
Action at the state level can affect
both of the others, but like action
of the national level is often implemented
on the ground at the local
level. Everything comes to the end
of the line at the local level.
There are two key issues here.
First, virtually all domestic programs
are implemented at the local level
and, secondly, in case the reader has
not guessed where this was leading,
the citizen who pays the bill at the
benefit was $133.65 per person before
the federal stimulus law kicked in
another $80 per month for a family
of four.
Generally, anyone qualifies who
has no savings and who, on a chart
keyed to family size, has less than
130 percent of the official poverty
level in monthly income. Owning a
home and vehicles don’t disqualify.
Also, certain payments are deducted
from income.
The SNAP-funded commercial,
also on radio, reinforces the preacher’s
view. In sum, the announcer
says, those eligible for assistance
who have not claimed it are denying
themselves and their children
the good health that can be obtained
through ample food. The individuals
— and there are many of them
— doing whatever it takes to remain
self-sufficient, he implied, are pretty
stupid.
It’s a tough topic because anyone
who questions SNAP is immediately
dismissed as favoring hungry
babies.
So leave it at this: Any notion of
equating freedom with self-sufficiency
is fast departing. But this isn’t
our grandparents’ USA. These days,
getting Pharoah to pay your obligations,
as the preacher said, is clever
and, as the announcer said, smart.
•
Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The
Vicksburg Post. Write to him at Box 821668,
Vicksburg, MS 39182, or e-mail cmitchell@
vicksburgpost.com.
Photograph of man with gun served a purpose
say they want “our” country back?
I don’t see America being under
siege by any other country!
I would not label Thelma Dukes a
racist, but a well-educated woman
who knows the truth and has the
guts to speak the truth. We have
too many racist idiots in America
trying to wreak racial havoc while
blacks, whites and other races
are trying to live in peace. I think
Mr. Sharbrough and the GOP and
others are the angry racist white
men!
Terence Judge
Vicksburg
Quick fix for shortfall
I read in the paper on Sept. 4
where Gov. Barbour was forced to
reduce states spending by $171.9
million.
All that is needed is to pass a law
requiring food stamp recipients to
pay sales tax on groceries.
Problem solved.
John L. Barrentine
Vicksburg
Governments are tiered; taxpayers are not
When we fuss about the advisability
of the stimulus package,
are we prepared to do without
the several hundred million
dollars flowing into the state
which are currently propping
up the shaky budget?
national level, the citizen who pays
the bill at the state level and the citizen
who pays the bill at the local level
is one and the same person.
Thus, if we demand that a federal
program that is implemented at the
local level be abolished then we must
ask ourselves as taxpayers if we are
prepared to do without, or whether
we will pick up the tab with either
state or local dollars. The same holds
true for things like the stimulus dollars.
When we fuss about the advisability
of the stimulus package, are
we prepared to do without the several
hundred million dollars flowing
into the state which are currently
propping up the shaky budget? Mississippians
should remember that
even in good times we get nearly $2
back for every $1 we send to Washington.
Like it or not, this may be
Mississippi’s best investment.
So we had best begin pondering
the difficult choices that will face
us beginning in 2011. Do we live
with less revenue in a state where
most of our tax dollars go for education
and health care, or do we raise
taxes at the state and local levels?
What about the projected $13 trillion
federal deficit? Remember, it
is the same individual citizen at the
national, state and local levels who
will be called upon to pay up to preserve
programs or do without at all
of these levels.
•
Marty Wiseman, Ph.D., is director of the John C.
Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi
State University. E-mail reaches him at marty@
sig.msstate.edu.