John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

4 Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men.

5 That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

…

14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I am not engaged in the economic development business. I am a video producer with marketing and advertising clients across the country. In fact, my company has made some of our productions available to the GSDP free of charge to help promote the city and county.

As with a football coach, at the end of the day it is about wins and losses. No matter how David tries to reframe the discussion with personal attacks, the fact is that Lowndes County has over $1 BILLION in announced or constructed industrial development during his tenure. Starkville and Oktibbeha County have had no new projects over $10 million announced during that time.

Thornell’s assertion that we are outpacing Lowndes County’s sales tax collections is not true. While our percentage of growth may be greater, the overall dollar amount for Starkville is still far lower than that of Columbus. I would encourage him to read Skip Descant’s article from the 12/5/07 edition of the Commercial Dispatch for an unbiased perspective on those numbers.

Over the past week, I have gotten a large number of supportive calls and e-mails from elected leaders, business owners and citizens thanking me for my letter. My thoughts are being echoed across the community. It is time for David Thornell to resign. I hope that the board of the GSDP listens.

Apparently LetterGate has hit a little hard.

Link to David Thornell’s response from the Commercial Dispatch.

So here’s the saga of the letter sent over a week ago to the Starkville Daily News calling for GSDP helmer David Thornell’s resignation.

It was originally emailed to the editor of the SDN, Brian Hawkins, for consideration of publication mid week last week. As of Friday, 12/14, it appeared to be headed for publication Sunday 12/16.

Somewhere between Friday and Sunday, the GDSP leaned very heavily on the SDN to not publish the letter. Lo and behold, the letter did not appear in the SDN that Sunday. As of this writing it has not appeared in the SDN.

The letter was submitted to the Commercial Dispatch late Tuesday. 48 hours later, it was published in the Thursday 12/20 edition of the paper.

Apparently, the SDN listens intently to their neighbors down the road about what can be printed in the letters to the editors section. It is amazing that a letter calling for the resignation of an individual can be held from publication by that individual.

Is it that easy to keep a letter out of the SDN if you don’t agree with it? What else has disappeared before publication after pressure was applied? Is the SDN truly a journalistic independent operation?

I call upon the SDN to publish the letter to the editor calling for David Thronell’s resignation.

(Cue Billy Joel)

The letter was approved to be published in Sunday’s edition of the SDN, but “high level” discussions between the GSDP and SDN late Friday and Saturday resulted in it being pulled for publication. As of this writing, it is not known whether the SDN will continue to bow to pressure or let the letter run in a public forum to further community discussion.

Meanwhile, StarkvilleNow logged over 1000 page views Sunday and Monday during Lettergate. Regardless of the SDN’s decision to pull it from publication, it has been read by some people.

The below referenced letter to the editor didn’t make Sunday’s edition of the SDN as promised by their management. More details to follow.

I began the letter calling for David Thornell’s resignation over 6 weeks ago. After floating a few trial balloons, I decided to wait. SInce then I have talked to a number of local leaders, business people and educators and the same frustrations with the GSDP seem to surface. Where is new industry? Retail? Jobs? Why is everyone else (seemingly) in north Mississippi moving forward while we are treading water?

I’ve heard stories from different individuals about how we’ve dropped the ball.

Those stories include a lack of confidence from the Miss. Development Authority in sending any new prospects to Starkville because of fear that followup will not happen.

An Alderman relayed to me how he sought flood plain maps for the city and county for a realtor and were told that the GDSP office didn’t have them.

That same Alderman was able to get the needed info about Starkville/Oktibbeha county from the Link in Columbus.

Realtors and elected officials have expressed frustration that requests for info for new retail prospects goes unanswered or is delayed.

Do you see a pattern?

I think change is needed and have called for it. Do you?

Dear Editor,

Starkville and Oktibbeha County deserve better.

It is time for us to re-evaluate our economic development leadership. It is time for Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO David Thornell to resign.

Over the past 24-36 months Starkville has fallen behind Columbus and Lowndes County in attracting major new industry and retail. As the announcements continue to issue from the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, Starkville is left with no major recent industrial or retail development within our county.

Our leadership have been engaged in a continuous effort to try to duplicate some of our neighbor’s success. Almost three years after the first TVA-certified megasite was announced in Lowndes County, we are still only in the planning stages for creating our own. Not only has the Link succeeded in recruiting companies to their first megasite, they have prepared a second area to attract industry. We are woefully behind.

Even the job growth numbers cited by Mr. Thornell at the mid-November GSDP board meeting are questionable. A recent published news report indicated that some of the jobs celebrated as growth for the county since 2001 never materialized.

A prime example is the Viking Range R&D Center. The facility was announced in 2001 and scheduled for construction in the Thad Cochran Research Park. It has never been constructed, but those non-existent jobs are still being counted.

Even local entrepreneurship assistance seems to have languished. The Golden Triangle Enterprise Center, once on the forefront of high tech job creation for our community, has faded from existence. As the first graduate of GTEC, I find that both sad and troubling.

After more than 5 years at the helm, Mr. Thornell’s track record is lacking.

We deserve better. It is time for a change.

Sincerely

Robbie Coblentz
President
Broadcast Media Group
StarkvilleNow.com

Apparently another resignation has been tendered among the support staff at the GSDP. What is the score now over the past 18 months? Three people? Four?