Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64 432,510.76
MARCH 448,312.25 449,079.94
APRIL 450,470.94 457,758.78
MAY 423,737.02 468,471.49
JUNE 426,622.12 419,652.34
JULY 418,245.73 429,807.46
AUGUST 458,004.27 490,740.10
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19 467,034.81
OCTOBER 430,336.16 460,505.34
NOVEMBER 429,947.02 473,450.02

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $4,942,981.15

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $449,361.92

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%
FEBRUARY 2.91%
MARCH 0.17%
APRIL 1.62%
MAY 10.56%
JUNE -1.63%
JULY 2.76%
AUGUST 7.15%
SEPTEMBER 0.74%
OCTOBER 7.01%
NOVEMBER 10.12%

The downtown lights can’t exactly be called Christmas lights anymore.
To call them Christmas lights is to suggest they’re coming down or turning off now that the holiday season is over. Starkville Main Street Association Manager Jennifer Gregory said this was never the case.
“We began speaking about the need for additional lighting downtown in January of 2011 in a committee meeting that included individuals from the (Greater Starkville Development) Partnership, the city of Starkville, the Starkville Police Department, Starkville Electric Department, Mississippi State University and local business owners because we had received suggestions from many community members for what they perceived as a need for additional lighting downtown,” Gregory said. “That was the plan, actually, from the very beginning … to have this lighting year-round, but we had to have support from Starkville Electric, and we got that support early on.”
The lights lining the rooftops of downtown Starkville businesses will not only stay up all year but also turn on every night.
Gregory said the easement language for the lights gives SMSA ownership of the lights and responsibility for maintenance, repairs and upgrades. She said SMSA paid $18,500 for the lighting with the Starkville Civic League contributing $4,000, the SMSA and the Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau each contributing $5,000 and fundraisers making up the difference. Fundraising efforts are still ongoing, she said, and Gregory thanks the project’s contributors.
“I also want to give much, much appreciation to SED,” Gregory said. “They spent many, many hours installing these lights, and they have been very easy to work with and community-minded throughout the project. This project would not have happened without their contribution and support.”
Gregory said SED is also paying for the extra electricity to activate the lights, an expense SED General Manager Terry Kemp said makes up a small portion of the city’s overall street lighting budget because they are LED lights instead of traditional incandescent bulbs.
“(The cost of the electricity is) really almost going to be negligible,” Kemp said. “It might be a dollar a day, roughly. It depends on how many hours they actually burn. Had it been incandescent, it could have been 20 times that. Each (bulb) is 0.37 watts. An incandescent … bulb would be 7 watts.
“You could also look at it as an equivalent to four of the cobra head street lights that are in the area,” Kemp added. “It’s a small piece if you look at the wattage as relates to the overall lighting downtown.”
Kemp said LED lights also have extended life spans, lasting as much as 50,000 hours versus 3,000 hours for incandescent bulbs. He said the lights are timed to activate using the same photocell sensors which activate street lights each evening.

Read complete article at Starkville Daily News.

Mississippi State University junior business management major Parker Stewart said he has always had business ideas, but he wanted to make one of them work.
He wanted to create a service that could help increase safety in a community while establishing financial stability for himself. After doing his homework and devising a plan to install blood alcohol content-testing vending machines in local establishments, he took his first step in accomplishing both tasks when he installed the first such machine in the state of Mississippi.
The machine, named the IntoxBox, is manufactured by Walden Innovative Resources LLC, and was installed at Rick’s Cafe on Jan. 4.
Stewart said he has been working on ideas for start-up companies before he opted to pursue an education in business, and he has had assistance from the MSU business school as well as companies he has contacted.
“I had a lot of help from the MSU Entrepreneurship Center. They helped me finish up my business plan,” Stewart said. “I made a lot phone calls, contacted several manufacturers of different (BAC-testing) vending machines and several people who are distributing now and are successful at it. They were very responsive and helpful in getting my project off the ground. I got in touch with (Walden Innovative Resources President Ryan Walden) and we worked out a deal. I was able to get exclusivity for the entire state of Mississippi.”
Stewart said after doing research on several manufacturers, he felt the IntoxBox was the best option because of the quality of its equipment.
“This machine is accurate because (it uses) fuel cell sensors which have accuracy of .005 percent at a .01 blood alcohol content,” he said. “The fuel cell sensor is better than the semiconductor sensor which a lot of machines use. The type of sensor makes a difference in the amount of accuracy.”
Stewart said he wanted to emphasize the machine is intended to educate potential users about blood alcohol content levels and not to gauge whether restaurant or bar patrons can get behind the wheel without compromising the safety of other drivers. The legal limit of blood alcohol content defined by the state for drivers who are subjected to tests is .08 percent.
“One of my initial fears was if I get into these machines and place them in any establishment that serves alcohol — what are the chances that somebody could sue and say these machines caused them to make a bad decision?” Stewart said. “This may be a business, but it’s really about keeping the community safe and helping people make better informed decisions. It’s about keeping roads safe and encouraging responsibility. It’s more of an educational tool than anything.”
In order to stress that the machine functions strictly as an educational use, users have to agree to an on-screen waiver before they can use the machine, Stewart said.

Read complete article at Starkville Daily News.

Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64 432,510.76
MARCH 448,312.25 449,079.94
APRIL 450,470.94 457,758.78
MAY 423,737.02 468,471.49
JUNE 426,622.12 419,652.34
JULY 418,245.73 429,807.46
AUGUST 458,004.27 490,740.10
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19 467,034.81

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $4,009,025.79

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $445,447.31

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%
FEBRUARY 2.91%
MARCH 0.17%
APRIL 1.62%
MAY 10.56%
JUNE -1.63%
JULY 2.76%
AUGUST 7.15%
SEPTEMBER 0.74%

Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64 432,510.76
MARCH 448,312.25 449,079.94
APRIL 450,470.94 457,758.78
MAY 423,737.02 468,471.49
JUNE 426,622.12 419,652.34
JULY 418,245.73 429,807.46
AUGUST 458,004.27
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19
OCTOBER 430,336.16
NOVEMBER 429,947.02
DECEMBER 499,231.46

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $3,051,250.88

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $435,892.98

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%
FEBRUARY 2.91%
MARCH 0.17%
APRIL 1.62%
MAY 10.56%
JUNE -1.63%
JULY 2.76%

Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64 432,510.76
MARCH 448,312.25 449,079.94
APRIL 450,470.94 457,758.78
MAY 423,737.02 468,471.49
JUNE 426,622.12 419,652.34
JULY 418,245.73
AUGUST 458,004.27
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19
OCTOBER 430,336.16
NOVEMBER 429,947.02
DECEMBER 499,231.46

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $2,621,443.42

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $436,907.24

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%
FEBRUARY 2.91%
MARCH 0.17%
APRIL 1.62%
MAY 10.56%
JUNE -1.63%

Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64 432,510.76
MARCH 448,312.25
APRIL 450,470.94
MAY 423,737.02
JUNE 426,622.12
JULY 418,245.73
AUGUST 458,004.27
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19
OCTOBER 430,336.16
NOVEMBER 429,947.02
DECEMBER 499,231.46

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $826,480.87

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $413,240.44

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%
FEBRUARY 2.91%

Year 2010 2011

JANUARY 448,787.31 393,970.11
FEBRUARY 420,263.64
MARCH 448,312.25
APRIL 450,470.94
MAY 423,737.02
JUNE 426,622.12
JULY 418,245.73
AUGUST 458,004.27
SEPTEMBER 463,610.19
OCTOBER 430,336.16
NOVEMBER 429,947.02
DECEMBER 499,231.46

Yearly Totals

$5,317,568.11 $393,970.11

Monthly Avg. For Year

$443,130.68 $393,970.11

% Change 10-11

JANUARY -12.21%

Year 2009 2010

JANUARY 405,289.88 448,787.31
FEBRUARY 422,317.42 420,263.64
MARCH 427,565.96 448,312.25
APRIL 428,268.92 450,470.94
MAY 387,521.75 423,737.02
JUNE 416,409.09 426,622.12
JULY 413,089.75 418,245.73
AUGUST 458,061.08 458,004.27
SEPTEMBER 442,673.00 463,610.19
OCTOBER 406,301.93 430,336.16
NOVEMBER 445,490.72 429,947.02

Yearly Totals

$5,129,757.10 $4,818,336.65

Monthly Avg. For Year

$427,479.76 $438,030.60

% Change 09-10

JANUARY 10.73%
FEBRUARY -0.49%
MARCH 4.85%
APRIL 5.18%
MAY 9.35%
JUNE 2.45%
JULY 1.25%
AUGUST -0.01%
SEPTEMBER 4.73%
OCTOBER 5.92%
NOVEMBER -3.49%

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