So, City Hall appears to be full of leaks. The only problem is, they aren’t leaking correct info.
ABC didn’t approve- or deny- the Sunday sale of liquor and wine. Seems someone fed the wrong info.
Who alerted the press? Who told that person?
Mayor Parker Wiseman issued a press release saying that “the Commission is taking it under advisement.”
See release below:
Although ABC has neither approved nor denied our request, they are most certainly jerking us around. There are rumors floating around that the commission is miffed with the Board and the Mayor, and this irritation may be the root of the remanding of our city’s request. The DUI issue, however, is moot. DUI rate depends largely upon the amount of resources that a community puts into enforcement, and is a poor indicator of risk. Alcohol-related accidents is a much better measure of risk – and Starkville’s rate of alcohol-related accidents is much lower than that of Oxford and other MS town with similar number of residents.
Regardless, Dumas should NOT take it upon himself to run to the press/be interviewed by the press on a subject without having his facts straight.
Even if he had the facts, it should have been discussed among the BOA and disclosed to the public in a professional manner. Unfortunately, he chose to go off half-cocked, which leaves the entire Mayor and Board LOOKING LIKE FOOLS! Our city DESERVES better behavior than this.
First, Robert is correct. High DUI arrests is an indicator of one thing: EXCELLENT ENFORCEMENT. Congrats to SPD, MHP, and the Sherrif’s office. DUI accidents are an indicator of drinking and driving frequency.
Second, things could get real interesting should the State Tax Commission decide to deny Starkville’s request, yet approve Columbus’ request in the same meeting (which was just approved in a, you guessed it, 4-3 vote). Somebody will have some splainin’ to do.
One thing in Columbus’ favor: the mayor broke the tie in favor of Sunday sales then publicly stated why he was for it. That’s right, he took a stand. Where in the world is our mayor on this issue? “I’ll support whatever the council decides” is tepid at best. Take a stand and lead, it does matter. Especially since the board voted in favor of Sunday sales. Please move to the front of the bus and take the wheel. Waiting for the mayor to take a position is like waiting for the groundhog to come out and see his shadow…we need some leadership,now.
Bill, the mayor is probably waiting to see what his dad has to say before he creeps to the front of the bus.
So, has Alderman Dumas appointed himself acting mayor? Why in the world would he give an interview and provide information that is just wrong? I think the mayor should be the spokesperson for Starkville, not Alderman Dumas. To date, it appears we have a collection of idiots sitting on our Board of Aldermen.
The problem is this is Dumas’ pet project. $400K deficit, crumbling infrastructure, a delapidated city complex, hiring freezes on the horizon and he’s focused on alcohol and running off to the press when he perceives his pet project is at risk. If thats his idea of leadership, then we are in for a rough ride over the next 4 years.
Ward 5 alderman has got nobody do blame except himself for trying to be Mister Bigshot just like the one that came before him.
If the Ward 5 alderman wasn’t trying to be Mister Bigshot putting out the early word on the tax commission, today he wouldn’t be looking like a man who has shot himself in the foot. I bet the tax commission folks are not happy with him about now. Hope their opinion of him doesn’t hurt the city. Hope the other aldermen learn to steer clear of him and push their own ideas.
Well said, Butch. Maybe the others will overcome the desire to resort to such juvenile antics.
Ain’t it funny that Ward 5 was all over the reporters yesterday morning but then he must have come down with a sudden attack of piggy flu. The SDN says they couldn’t reach an alderman for a quote after they had gotten the story right by yesterday afternoon. Guess he was hold up somewhere licking his shot foot!
CD, CD, CD. Where’s SDN? Ya’ll on CD’s bankroll or something? If you were linking to SDN like you are CD you would have the story that a high-ranking elected official right here in Starkvegas has been arrested! Go to starkvilledailynews.com if you want to read the latest Starkville news.
It’s interesting that Kelly Daniels continues to harp on the letter that Roy Perkins wrote. I realize that she’s in favor of the issue, but I’m not sure it’s fair for her to single Mr. Perkins out since his letter was one of many.
Speaking of fair, if this worked right, there should have been a vote by current registered voters (note a mad dash to register students) on the issue and see how it really stacked up. I don’t necessarily agree that the ABC should have the last word, but since they apparently do, it would be great if they were to officially deny the request and then give our kiddie board a chance to redeem themselves by letting the citizens have the vote.
Butch, keep it up and you’ll start to sound like one of those conspiracy nuts. I’m sure you know the type.
Not a conspiracy nut, Thom. Conspiracies are hidden. This is way out in the open. SN won’t even link to the SDN on the subject in this thread. They print the mayor’s letter instead.
I’m just tired of folks in Columbus trying to call themselves coverning Starkville news. Everybody knows that the paper they can’t even give away over here is just the Columbus paper wrapped in a coupla Starkville happenings. Even the little ole ladies in Starkville don’t wanna read about who died in Columbus. Nobody west of the Oktibbeha county line has a clue what or who their columnists are talking about.
Butch-
Most folks know that Starkville-Now isn’t a paying gig. This summer, we have been swamped with video production work at Broadcast Media. And to top it all off, we bought the old Wendell’s/Black Eyed Pea restaurant and spent the summer converting it to office professional space. Broadcast Media began it’s move Friday. Other tenants will start this week.
All of this has pushed posts to rather early in the day for me. Oftentimes, the SDN doesn’t have their new stories up until after 7 AM (and sometimes they do). The Dispatch allows us to directly repost their stuff (as does NEMS360) which allows someone else besides me to link/post their stuff.
The digs include a lot more space and a dedicated podcast studio. Hopefully SN will see more content- and podcasts- over the next few weeks.
I also hope to write a column about it complete with photos. It has been a great experience taking an unused building in a stagnant part of town and rehab it into great looking offices. Stop by and we’ll give you the nickel tour.
Robbie Coblentz
StarkvilleNow editor