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ALWAYSTHET

RUTH...NOCOMPROMISE

REALSTORYPUBLIS

HING.COM

June13,2012

FROMT

HEEDITOR

by Joseph B. St. JohnEditor-in-ChiefEditorsNote

In an eight-day span in which Council-men Kabir Karriem and Joe Mickenspulled a power play on the Columbus CityCouncil in regard to both redistricting andrepaving, and Leroy and Harry (no lastnames needed) argued about 19th centurypolitics over a 21st century iPhone, theleaders of the town of Caledonia met on

June 5 and talked about...well...um...noth-ing. No kidding and no joke. Unfortu-nately, it was a slightly heated nothingness.

How a town full of so many good peoplecould be so misguided is inexplicable. Itdees logic and is seemly business as usualfor many of the people on the Board of Al-dermen. It's like a big joke, except that the

joke is on the community, and, as always,they will be the big loser. ey will bestuck with the bill of any lawsuit, judg-ment, etc.

e meeting started with the boardmembers removing every important issue

from the agenda. Granted, the issues mayhave been more appropriately discussed inexecutive session, but they needed to beaddressed and resolved immediately.Under the guise of "not liking being sur-prised" at the meeting, one by one themost pressing issues facing the town wereremoved from the program.

Regrettably for the audience, who had tosit through the charade, it was just a ruse.Even Stevie Wonder could have seenthrough the farce, and therein lies theproblem. No one is even slightly amusedabout what is occurring in their town.ey are just wondering when someone is

going to x the mess.In case youre keeping score at home,

here are the issues the "Brain Trust" ofCaledonia is ignoring:

The Never-ending Saga of theCaledonia Water Department

Nowhere in the history of civilized manhas a water department been in the middleof so much human waste. e Romanshad more organization, and they did nothave electricity. Whatever side a personlines up on, in regard to this situation, one

thing is clear: Caledonia, we have a prob-lem.

e Robertsons situation in regard to il-

legal work on their property is not re-solved. Aer months of speculation, theMayor and the Board are still waiting foran attorney general's opinion to resolve theissue. For those citizens who don't knowwhat an attorney generals opinion is, it iswhere local government officials send let-ters to other government officials to gettheir opinion on a certain matter. In thereal world, we call this cowardice. Some-one, anyone, just make up your mind andhave the guts to do the right thing.

If you have damaged the property of acitizen, x it. Period. You already pay foran attorney, why send for the opinion of

another lawyer? It is a stall tactic, and thatis all.

But, wait there's more. While thisdilemma is going on, the Robertsons son,Trey, has led a grievance against theWater Department. Trey Robertson is al-leging that, on May 4, 2012, he had a con-

versation with Water Department Head,Benny Coleman.

Trey wrote on 5-4-12:

I am lling out this grievance againstBenny Coleman. At approximately 8:10am on May 4, I asked Benny about

signing my certication. [is certi-cate allows a person to receive a raise.]His response was "Well, buddy, we'regoing to wait and see what happenswith your parents deal rst." I thenpointed out that their deal has ab-solutely nothing to do with my situationand he couldn't hold that situationagainst me, and he replied again,"We're just going to wait and see whathappens with their deal rst, and thenwe'll discuss signing you certication."

Not only is that professionally and eth-ically wrong, but that goes against myconstitutional rights as an employee of

the town of Caledonia. at is not onlydiscrimination but is also blackmail.Not very professional-acting of a super-intendent which you have appointed torun this water system in a business pro-fessional manner.

e letter had been marked with the hand-written notation received 5-9-2012 byMayor G.

Regardless of who is telling the truth,this is a time bomb that has to be cor-rected; instead, it just drags on, waiting tobecome a lawsuit. But it is all right: DougMcConaha is now saying that his property

has also been illegally damaged by thewater department. If true, this is the stuff

of legends - a one-department wrecking

crew le trolling a defenseless community.

You would think that if the board mem-bers had an ounce of respect for Bennythey would solve the problem. If he waswrong, x it, discipline him and move on.If he did nothing wrong, for heavens sake,clear his name. Don't let him be beatendown every day.

And here is the scary part: every day thatthe town does nothing, it makes the townlook more guilty. Plain and simple and nodebate! Silence oen means guilt!

The Battle of George, Ben andthe Caledonia Town MarshalsJust when you think it can't get crazier, it

does. A Caledonia Town Marshal was ac-cused of soliciting an illegal payment fromindividuals he had arrested. When the par-ent of one of the subjects who allegedlywas asked for money tried to talk aboutthe situation, he was brushed off, and,though the parent was pressed for time, noother meeting time was set. So there yougo. An accusation of gra and corruption,and the boards answer was a big zero!

Even Town Marshal Ben Kilgore was

frustrated. He wanted to be able to say thathis officer had been exonerated by theLowndes County Sheriff s Office, but to nosuccess. In "Hotdonia," the only things thatmatter are baseball elds and hot dogs.Gra, corruption and a person's goodname are pointless. Like a town with apaper plant, the leaders of Caledonia likethe town, they just hope no one notices thestink.

If nothing else, it is time for "Hotdonia"to "grab the bull by the horns" and get theirtown in order. ey owe it to the commu-nity, the people involved and themselves.

Once upon a time, a real smart guy said,

Beware of the scribes who like to walkaround in long robes and love greetings inthe marketplaces and have the best seats inthe synagogues and the places of honor atfeasts, who devour widows' houses and fora pretense make long prayers. ey will re-ceive the greater condemnation.

ere are two types of leaders: those whoreally lead and those who like the best seatin the house. For Caledonia's sake, let'shope people are listening to the reallysmart guy. Otherwise, the end of the meet-ing where the Mayor suggested that the al-dermen stick it were the sun doesn't shinewill become more commonplace. And

any board who takes away the mayor'svote at a statewide conference is just askingfor trouble. It's only cute for a moment,

and then it smells like a paperplant.

Joseph B. St. JohnMoJo

NOTE: Somewhere in a"big old" Big Star in Ab-erdeen, Jeff Doty is smiling!

Caledonia, Caledonia,Wherefore Art Thou Caledonia?EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

J.B. ST. [email protected]

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Columbus, MS 39703

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Aint NoSunshine

- Bill Withers

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ALWAYSTHETRUTH...NO

COMPROMISE

LOCALNEWS

June13,2012

REALSTORYPUBLISHING.COM

Children, Leave the Room -the City Council is in Sessionankfully, children did not witness

he squabble between CouncilmanJoseph Mickens and Mayor RobertSmith at the most recent meeting of theColumbus City Council. On the other

hand, it would have made for a greatteaching moment on diplomacy. ebickering revolved around money andre-paving streets and parking lots.

e June 5 meeting was lled with over100 friends and family who came to cel-brate graduates; the state championolumbus Under-14 boys soccer team;olice department promotions; and theswearing-in ceremony of law enforce-

ent officers.

Councilman Kabir Karriem recog-ized four attendees of the 15 graduates

rom the Ready for Work program

ho were present. A few of the formerstudents already have jobs, while othersare still seeking employment. e drug-free program lasts for 90 days and pre-

ares young people to enter theorkforce.

Program Director Kamal Karriem,said, ey worked hard. is is proofhat the community and the faith-basedommunity reaching out, working handn hand, can produce good, productiveitizens and can give encouragement to

those starting from ground zero.

Karriem asked the City Council for let-ters of support as references for the alum-nae.

Also acknowledged were nine of about40 students who graduated from theGreater Columbus Learning Center onJune 1 and received their G.E.D. So far,here have been about 112 participants

who have received their G.E.D. this year.

Director Darren Jordan said that thisallows them to move on and to improvetheir quality of life, whether it is at EastMississippi Community College, gettinga job, or joining the military.

We are doing our best to produce in-dividuals that can give back to the com-munity, whether through the work forceor community college, said Jordan.

e Columbus Under 14 boys soccerteam was presented with medals forbeing ranked number two in the state.e coaches, Tom Velek and ChrisHemphill, and the 13 youths hard workpaid off, with 35 wins, 3 losses and 1 tie.

ese boys have two state champi-onships under their belt, said Director

Greg Lewis.Lewis said that they are getting ready to

go to a Division 2 championship inGreensboro, North Carolina, to representthe city of Columbus as well as the state.e young men will be playing againstchampionship teams from 10 otherstates.

Mayor Smith congratulated them, say-ing, Continue to bring the gold back toColumbus. Great Job!

Lieutenants Corporal John Duffy,James Grant, and Rick Jones, as well asDetective Sergeant Donnie Elkin were

presented with pins from Chief SelvainMcQueen to commemorate their recentpromotions.

e Columbus Police Department has

See COUNCIL Pg. 4

Letter to the Editor fromCaledonia Town Marshal Ben Kilgore

Dear Editor:

I am the Town Marshal for Caledonia.I am at every board of aldermen meetingand observe the antics of our Mayor rst-hand. e papers represented at those

board meetings seem to give the mayor a"Free Pass", and do not disclose what isgoing on behind the scenes. e Mayorcontinues to belittle our Town Clerk andtalks to her horribly on the job and at themeetings. He is rude to the Aldermen. Hes rude to individuals that come beforehe board (especially if he knows theyidn't vote for him). He threatens the al-ermen and individuals that disagreeith him. Aer reading e Packet, thiseek, I noticed that the Board of Super-isors meetings are eerily similar to thosen Caledonia - with one exception:eorge can't play a race card. If he could,am quite sure he would.

People have complained about certainroperties in Caledonia being dilapi-ated. e attorney for the town wassked to write a letter to those propertywners to get the lots cleared up. I wouldequest that one of those letters be sent to

ayor George Gerhart. He is responsibleor overseeing the grounds at the parknd Marshal's Department.

Areas of the park and the Marshal's De-artment are in similarly bad of condi-ion. e grass around the Monument athe park is a disgrace to those young menhat died for this town. When a

roundskeeper was hired, the Mayor

made it clear that this person worked forhim. He also said this person would cutthe grass at the Marshal's Department.Do not blame the young man hired tokeep the grounds up. Put the blamewhere it should be, on the Mayor. We

have a Saturday Work program for indi-viduals to work off nes. ese people arenot here to do the job of our paid em-ployees. We have them doing things likepicking up trash on the streets and other

jobs that the town does not have some-one HIRED to do.

I would like to address Mr. Clyde Jack-son's complaint. I feel that, from the wayit ended that night, he felt that the Boardof Alderman did not want to discuss theissue. at is far from the truth. Both theyand I want it brought out in the open thatNO ONE on the Marshal's Departmentis above the law. If the allegations were

found to have been true, then I wouldhave put the cuffs on that officer myself.I requested that his name not be used be-cause the Sheriffs Departments investi-gation found there was no "evidence orproof' that this officer did anythingwrong or knew anything about what wasgoing on behind his back.

Mr. Jackson didn't want to bring up thename of the person that was at the rootof this entire mess. Well, I didn't want thename of the officer brought out becausehe did nothing wrong. Yes, Mayor, theboard can "lambast" you because you arean elected official and do not get the priv-

ilege of hiding behind closed doors. e

"anyone else" you referred to isa town employee who was ac-cused and cleared of a crime.Yes, he has the right to have hisname brought up behind closeddoors. I have the report from

the Sheriff s Department. Haveyou asked for the results? NO.Have you and I spoken sincethe last board meeting over amonth ago? NO. I have told youtime and again, both verballyand in writing that you need tocome to see both the water de-partment manager and myselfso you could get the facts on different sit-uations. You could be an informed Mayorwith correct knowledge and facts. It is ashame that the mayor of a town the sizeof Caledonia cannot talk to his depart-ment heads.

Caledonia is a great place to live; sendyour children to school; shop; attend ac-tivities at the park; and live the countrylife. It does not need all of the crap atTown Hall, just because ONE persondoesn't get his way. I love Caledonia, andI don't like it portrayed as just a little"hick" town that is not moving ahead. Itis sad to say, but for the last three yearsthat has been what has happened.

is Mayor has not done one thing tomove Caledonia forward. He even ghtsagainst Caledonia Day, which is one ofthe best things going for Caledonia. enhe wants to take the credit for it, when it

is successful.

It is the responsibility of the board tomake sure things that are discussed and

voted on are handled according to theway it was voted. Some things arebrought up, voted on and nothing isdone; it is never brought up again. A fol-

low-up is not brought up at the nextmeeting. All one has to do is look at themonthly agenda.

ere are a few good things going on inCaledonia. Alderman Quinn Parham istrying to set in motion the plans for a newmunicipal building. My hat is off to himfor having the foresight to see that thisarea is growing faster than any other partof the county. e town needs to growwith it. Subway, from what I understand,is still coming, which will be great. Sopeople and businesses do believe thatCaledonia is the place to be. It will getbetter.

Ben Kilgore

Courtesy PhotoCar and over-grown grass.

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June13,

2012

LOCALNEWS

ALWAYSTHET

RUTH...NOCOMPROMISE

On Monday,June 4th, the

Columbus CityCouncil and

members of thecommunity heard a presentation fromconsultant Chris Watson of Bridge andWatson, Inc., noting the specic demog-raphy and geography of the redistrictingplan that had been proposed. Aer a planis passed, it is sent to the Department ofJustice. e purpose of redistricting is tokeep a balance between wards by popu-lation and by race. Since the city ofColumbus is a black and white city, theproposal from Watson was broken downinto white and black populations, fuelingemotions of council members, supervi-sors and citizens.

Wards 1, 2, 4, and 5 are predominantlyblack, while Wards 3 and 6 are predomi-nantly white. ere will be no changesto Wards 1 and 2, said Watson. Ward 3will move into the southwest corner ofWard 4, losing everything south of Hem-lock and west of McCrary. Ward 6 isoverpopulated, so it will be pushed intoWard 5, which will take in Fourth andird Avenues North to North 18th, andtwo blocks of Seventh Avenue.

Reverend James E. Samuel was the rst

to attack this proposal, stating, By mak-ing no changes to Wards 1 and 2, Ward 1could have lost to other wards. e fun-damental differences weaken Wards 2

and 5, so it endangers black councilmen.Samuel also said, Ward 2 has never beena black ward. e census from 2000 tellsa different story. e black population inWard 2 was above 50%, and the currentproposal would keep the same percent-age. Samuels main issues are that the al-ternative plan drawn up by the publicwasnt being taken into consideration,and that the Bridge & Watson-designedplan was being passed without consider-ation from the public.

Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriemstated, Members of the community wereasked and came to help draw up an alter-nate plan. Shouts of liar! and I wasntinvited! reverberatedthroughout the Municipal Complex.Leon Speck stood and shouted, I was notinvited. If an alternate plan has beendrawn up, it was a select few that were in-

vited. Aer Karriem proposed the alter-nate plan, he le the meeting, exitingapproximately 30 minutes before its con-clusion.

Several black members of the commu-nity, including ministers and representa-

tives of the NAACP, came to the podiumto state their opposition to the previouslyapproved plan and promised that therewould be NAACP intervention if the

plan was not changed.In strong disagreement with the plan,

District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks re-minded the black councilmen of how hehelped them get their jobs. I was friendswith Mayor Smith and knew him backwhen he worked in a hayeld. Hes comea long way. Fred Stewart is the longest-serving African-American on this coun-cil who came seeking my help. A fewyears ago, no one knew who Gene Taylorwas. He came and asked for my help, andI told him I would, as long as he wouldwork with Mayor Smith. CouncilmanKarriem also sought my assistance. eonly African-American on the councilthat hasnt beneted from Brooks politi-cal inuence in helping them get into of-ce is Councilman Joseph Mickens ofWard 2, who was the only other coun-cilmember to work on the alternate planwith Karriem. Mr. Watson was only al-lowed to do what he was told to do.(Councilmen) Box, Stewart and Taylortold him what to do. My ward has beendiluted, said Mickens.

Aer all the talk of opposition, Mayor

Smith asked, Is there anyone in favor ofthis plan? Several white citizens ap-proached the podium, giving short expla-nations of why the current plan is fair and

that there is no need for an alternate plan.ey reasoned that not only have taxpayer dollars already paid for the servicesof Bridge and Watson, but they were alsonever made aware of a meeting for an al-ternate plan. e disappointing part wasthat there was no map or information ofan alternate plan prior to the meeting, saidBerry Hinds. Karriem and Mickens weregiven a chance to present the alternateplan, and they chose not to do it. Karriemwasnt even there for the vote.

e Bridge and Watson plan, as well asthe alternate plan, are to be submitted tothe Department of Justice, although the al-ternate plan may never be considered. Outof six wards, the vote was 4-1 in favor ofthe original plan. Karriem was not presentfor the vote but would likely have votedagainst the original plan, making it 4-2.

Whit [email protected]

Whit Harrington is a Marine Corps veteran,who has a B.A. in English (creative writing)

from Texas State University. He enjoys reading,and has been a working drummer for

the past eight years.

added six police officers to their squad.Canyon Boykin, Christopher Sykes,

Kevin McCrary, Mickey Williams, Ron-

nie Davis and Charlotte Poole weresworn in by Mayor Smith.

Celebration turned to business, as the

City Council and the mayor began the

meeting with approximately 24 citizensremaining in the audience. ere were atotal of 18 matters on the policy agenda.

Councilman Kabir Karriem started adiscussion concerning railroad crossingtraffic backups. Representatives of theTennessee and Wyoming Railway, for-merly Columbus and Greenville Railway,have assured city officials that their trainsare not the ones causing the delays. At-tempts are being made to contact repre-sentatives of another railroad companythat may be the culprit so that the mattercan be addressed. e name of the othercompany was not disclosed.

Although there is a city ordinance thatstates that public delay should not bemore than 15 minutes, the Federal RailRoad Act takes precedence.

Karriem brought up a prior train delayincident that had traffic backed up for ap-proximately an hour. His concern is that,in the event of an emergency, rst re-sponders may not be able to get across thetracks and reach the scene of the emer-gency in a timely manner.

From a re protection standpoint, wehave multiple stations on each side of theriver. No matter where the delay is, wecan have responding units on the scene,probably with just a short delay, said FireChief Ken Moore.

Moore said that the responding truckswould have to get to the tracks before be-coming aware of a blockage, at whichtime they would dispatch another truck.at is where the delay would occur.

Kevin Stafford announced that the stopsigns at Fih Street and Fourth AvenueSouth, adjacent to the Columbus Lightand Water Department, were ready to beuncovered on June 11. Another all-way

stop at Fourth Street and Sixth AvenueSouth was also approved, in addition to alowered speed limit of 25 m.p.h.

e Council also approved a request toadvertise for taxiway refurbishment at theColumbus-Lowndes County Airport.

is is where the previous accolades of

the night were forgotten and brouhahaensued, as discussion turned to the use ofremaining General Obligation Bondfunds. Re-paving First Street South, theHitch and Catsh Alley parking lots,as well as concreting the city green areasouth of Harveys parking lot, were allunder consideration.

Chief Financial Officer Mike Bernsenpresented the City Council and MayorSmith with a breakdown of money spentby each ward and what monies were leover. is led to a great deal of back-and-forth that ended with a heated exchangebetween Mickens and Smith.

Re-paving First Street South was de-feated, with the other locations being ap-proved for re-paving. e votes, in eachcase, were 4-2, with Mickens and Kar-riem voting in opposition. CouncilmanBill Gaven said that paving the parkinglots were important because they are usedby citizens from the whole community,not just those from the ward in which thefacility is located.

e last item on the agenda was the dis-cussion for the authorization of beer salesat the Juneteenth Festival for the nextthree years. e beer sales were approved,

contingent on beer sales taking place onthe street and not inside the park. evote was 5-1, with Mickens opposing.

Aer the meeting, concerned Colum-bus resident Billy Perkins said, Imagainst them giving anybody permissionto sell beer here in the city, in any place.If they want beer, go to a bar somewhere.is is supposed to be something goingon for the children.

He also said that the councilmen andmayor have one year remaining in officeand this decision should have been madewith that in mind.

COUNCIL cont. from pg. 3

Paige [email protected]

Paige is a senior communication major(theatre minor) at Mississippi University

for Women, and lives in Columbus.

City Council Votes 4-1 to ApproveOriginal Redistricting Plan

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LOCALNEWS

June13,2012

REALSTORYPUB

LISHING.COMEMCC Automotive Program: Driving Grads to Work

Grady Gra-ham pulled hisrst clutch, on a1949 Ford, whenhe was eightyears old. Backthen, on his fam-

ilys farm inEthel, decon-structing tractorsand work truckswasnt job train-ing, so much asdaily life.

Since then and up to his retirement, lastonth, from East Mississippi Commu-

ity Colleges Automotive Services Tech-ology program, aer 28 years on the job,

Grahams life has been the denition ofn-the-job training. Aer completing au-omotive skills trade classes at Mississippi

State University, he continued to spendsix months out of each year taking classeswhile working as an auto technician atmultiple car dealerships. Even aer tak-ing over the automotive program atEMCC, he still spent 20 hours a year inclass to maintain his certication as a

aster Technician through the NationalInstitute for Automotive Service Excel-lence.

e point is, when it comes to auto re-pair, theres not much Grady Grahamdoesnt know how to do or how to teach.But, as an instructor and mentor to hun-dreds of people over the years, he taughthimself a far more valuable skill: how tohelp students land a job.

Grady-Trained

Grahams presence can be felt fromservice departments at major dealershipso owner-run shops all over the Goldenriangle. Shane Orrick, service managert Starkville Ford and an EMCC alumimself, estimates 90 percent of his staff

s made up of EMCC grads. In the serviceay at Carl Hogan Chevrolet in Colum-us, you can hardly spend ve minutesalking to an EMCC grad half-buriednder the hood of a new Camaro without

another EMCC grad walking by on hisway to the parts pick-up window.

For years, whenever I went to a garageto get my car worked on, the rst thing Isaid when I walked in was, I work withGrady Graham, said Linda Gates, direc-

tor of Job Placement and Work-BasedLearning at EMCC.

Gates job is to help students nd workin their eld of study, before and aergraduation. She says automotive techni-cians are already in high demand, but

coming from EMCCs program with therecommendation of Graham and fellowautomotive instructor Dale Henry is asclose as EMCC can come to guaranteeingemployment.

eyre turning out great graduates,says Orrick. ey knowwhat they need to know toget started.

ats because Grahamand Henry have been work-ing in tandem to makeEMCC the top automotiveprogram in Mississippi,

since Henry came on boardin 2007.

e Spark Plug

Henry, from Edinburg,was an automotive instruc-tor at McKellar VocationalCenter in Columbus andserved on the committeethat granted EMCC Na-tional Automotive Techni-cians Education Foundationcertication in 2007. Andwhen he transitioned toEMCC, although Grahamhad been entrenched as thelone automotive instructor

since 1984, he said Grahamwas up for anything as longas it advanced the program.

He allowed me to come inand implement any ideas Iwanted to. We changed

things on a yearly basis, from the equip-ment to the ways we taught. Now, mychallenge is to bring someone in to re-place him who shares my vision of want-ing to be the No. 1 automotive programout there. I want to be known not justhere in Mississippi, but everywhere, said

Henry.

Another change Henry implementedwas increasing EMCCs participation inSkills USA, a state- and nationwide voca-tional skills competition. Henry, a goldmedal winner as a student at the Missis-

sippi Skills USA competition, increasedEMCCs yearly automotive participantsfrom one to four, and found immediatesuccess when an EMCC student won rstplace at state and national competition inAutomotive Job Skills Demonstration in2007. In the past ve years, EMCC has

seen three of its students nish rst at na-tional competition in automotive cate-gories and 23 gold medals at the statelevel in automotive.

Courtesy Photo

Grady Graham

Courtesy Photo

Dale Henry

See EMCC Pg. 7

Frustration at theCaledonia Town Hall MeetingIn preparation for the June 5 Caledonia Town Halleeting, an agenda was prepared prior to the date of the

meeting. While most of the topics were addressed at thateeting, some were not. Mayor George Gerhart con-

ucted the meeting with vigor and a dedicated attempto stick to the agenda. Although the meeting didnt fol-ow the written agenda to the letter, some important is-sues were heard.

Nancy Robertson of WCBI presented a local highschool sports magazine, Endzone, to be distributed in

aledonia. e magazine consists of coverage of localootball teams, as well as interviews with players andoaches. e board voted unanimously in favor of the

$375 required for production of the Caledonia version,s Mayor Gerhart added, Public interest would best be

served.

Citizen Tim Sullivan aired his complaint about a la-oon behind his home. When Sullivan was recognized

y the board, he was thanked for the work he has doneainting his church. Sullivan humbly approached the

board, saying, Its embarrassing when I have peoplecome to my house. e ies and mosquitoes are out ofcontrol, and I cant even grill outside. Benny Colemanof the Water Department commented, Septic isdumped into a pipe and discharged into a lagoon. It stays35-45 days and then goes to a creek. e board agreedto have a mosquito truck spray that specic lagoon.

Next up at the podium, also dealing with a water issue,was Charles Underhill. He brought to the table the issueof inated sewer rates, which begin July 1. ere willbe approximately a 50% increase in waste water bills.When we paid $2 a couple of years ago, now were paying$16. People with swimming pools are going to be hithardest. Ill pay it, but that doesnt mean I have to like it.He went on to ask, Why hasnt the rate for sewage beenraised over a period of time, instead of sticking citizenswith this sudden extra cost? Town attorney Jeff Smithcommented, We should have.

In another matter, it should be noted that the mayorof Caledonia is not a voting representative of the Mis-

sissippi Municipal League. Instead, the Caledonia Boardof Aldermen elected to have Alderman Bill Darnell asthe voting delegate. Since this is normally the mayors

job, when asked, Mayor Gerhart responded, e alder-men simply elected to have Bill Darnell as the voting del-egate.

e mayor also pointed out inconsistencies in themanner in which the town hall meetings are being run.Weve had issues that have been on the table for weeks,and I cant get any cooperation to have them resolved,an obviously frustrated Gerhart said. We take the timeto write up an agenda, and were not following it. As thetension built throughout the meeting, Mayor Gerhartended his remarks with, Yall can stick it where the sundont shine.

Whit [email protected]

Whit Harrington is a Marine Corps veteran, who has a B.A. inEnglish (creative writing) from Texas State University. He enjoys

reading, and has been a working drummer for the past eight years.

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REALSTORYPUBLISHI

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June13,2012

NEWS/COMMENTARY Attacking The Roots of Violence -

The Pentagons Like Me WeaponBBC News has recently reported that

the United States military has shown thatthe recitation of positive narratives cangenerate oxytocin in the brain the

chemical known colloquially as the lovehormone, which can reduce or eliminatelevels of hostility and anger towards oth-ers. Find the locus of primal emotions,says the Pentagon, create and disseminatenarratives which affect brain activity inthat area and release oxytocin, and dan-gerous situations can be diffused. iscombination of social science and thenew eld of neurobiology has producedpromising results.

One program, started last year by thePentagons Defense Advanced Re-search Projects Agency, looks atnding ways to generate versions of

events that could be used in attemptsto persuade people not to supportthe enemy. Known as Narrative Net-works, it seeks to "understand hownarratives inuence humanthoughts and behavior [and usethem] to address security challengessuch as radicalization, violent socialmobilization, insurgency and terror-ism, and conict prevention and res-olution, says the government officialleading the work.

Researchers found that fundamentalvalues, such as those concerning sexand belief in God, triggered activity

in one part of the brain, while moreevery-day belief statements stimu-lated activity in an entirely differentone.

ese ndings, [they] suggest,means there is a biological basis forethnic conict. Many of the con-icts that we currently face, interna-tionally, are ultimately about controlof biology.

Sex and belief in God are catch-allcategories, which include convictionsabout gay marriage, abortion, and repro-ductive rights all incendiary issues intodays world. If the locus of such deeply-

held beliefs can be located, and if narra-tives can both mitigate the emotions gen-erated by these convictions and stimulatesympathetic responses towards those

perceived as hostile, aggression and vio-lence might be mitigated.

In a study published last year, re-searchers looked at what happens inthe brain when Jewish Israelis andArabs read stories intended to evokesympathy about members of eachother's group. Participants readabout children suffering physical oremotional pain, such as by cuttingthemselves with a knife or losing aparent, for example. Brain scansshowed that these stories elicitedsimilar patterns of activation in themedial prefrontal cortex, the brain

region associated with sympathy,whether subjects read about mem-bers of their own group or about "theenemy".

e US government currently spendsbillions of dollars on foreign propaganda.e Voice of America is still alive and wellas the principal organ for disseminatinginformation designed to promote posi-tive views of the United States. is re-search might point the way to morebehavioral messages; that is, rather thansimply promoting highly generic, feel-good programs about the US, they wouldfocus on changing behavior, through the

positive narratives suggested above. Notall critics agree:

In terms of promoting peace, Imnot sure that knowing where in thebrain the anger that leads to violenceis happening is going to help us dis-courage war, says an expert who hasbeen studying the effects of the re-cent Arab Spring uprisings on atti-tudes towards the West. Were goingto need to change the way they inter-pret things that happen and weregoing to need to stop doing thingsthat people interpret as insulting orchallenging to their way of life.

Although the research has been prom-ising in demonstrating positive neurolog-ical effects through narratives, the designof effective behavior change programs

will be a daunting challenge. It is hardenough to come up with advertisingcampaigns to effect fractional changes inmarket-share for toothpaste, let alone tomodify hard-held core beliefs.

Critics raise an ethical concern:

If you could somehow reliablychange peoples minds, so that theydidnt want to kill anymore, shouldthat be done? he asks. Well, youreimpinging on their freedom in a way,but on the other hand youre savinga lot of lives.

is concern is a bit disingenuous.

Propaganda machinery has been in exis-tence for years and has been ne-tunedin American commercial and social ad-

vertising. Public health officials havetried, with varying degrees of success, tochange negative behavior, such as smok-ing. Although these campaigns have notbeen based on the sophisticated neuro-logical functions suggested in this article,they have hit upon the issue of core be-liefs. Aer years of focusing unsuccess-fully on death and disease, bad teeth andbreath, and reeking clothing, Florida gov-ernment programmers nally decided tofocus on teenagers deeply held belief that

capitalism was a venal and corrosive en-terprise, and that every dollar spent oncigarettes would be a dollar in the pocketsof fat-cat monopolists. e campaign,despite the hysterical opposition of to-bacco companies, was a big success.

Other research is more familiar andmechanical, for example, to develop so-phisticated predictive models for violentbehavior:

Another Pentagon initiative, calledMinerva, conducts scientic re-search on the role of emotions in in-citing political violence. Researchersare studying language and facial ex-

pressions used by political leaders, tosee if those can be used to predict fu-ture violence.

I think that one of the most logicaldirect applications of this kind ofnding and this line of research [is]to develop sensors that can monitorthe words that are being spokenand/or the non-verbal behaviors thatare expressive of those emotions,[the senior researcher] says of thePentagons interest in his work. Ithink the development of sensorslike that would be sort of an earlywarning signal or system [to detect

violence].

is is being done, already, by theTransportation Security Administration

(TSA), which is combining face-recogni-tion soware and predictive psychologi-cal modeling to determine who is likelyto be up to no good.

Observers have pointed out thatskeptics once doubted that a com-puter could beat a chess master, butas technology advanced, computerseventually became good enough tobeat them. Of course, the idea of aBig Blue-style computer that tapsthe minds biology to generate storiessounds less like a feel-good story-telling machine than a militaryweapon designed to manipulate

peoples mental state. Its a weapon,says Montague, but its a defensiveweapon.

A little scary.

Ron [email protected]

Ron Parlato is a writerliving in Washington, DC.

He has close ties withColumbus which he visits

frequently. His writings onliterature, politics and

culture, travel, and cookingcan be found on his own

blog, uncleguidosfacts.com.

Look to this day, for it is life,

The very life of life,

In its brief course lies all the realities

And verities of existence:

The bliss of growth, the splendor of action,

The glory of power.

For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision.

But today, well lived, makes every yesterday

A dream of happiness!

Look to this Day

~Sanskrit Proverb~

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LIFESTYLES

June

13,2012


The Death of Bob Welch

When you slip into your 50s, you begin to aska lot of questions about your life and the musicthat you used to enjoy. Being a music freakfrom the 70s meant spending more time listen-ing to and reading about music than studyingfor school. Right or wrong, music is a religionfor many young men and women.

e news of former Fleetwood Mac singer,songwriter and guitarist Bob Welch's suicidewas extremely sad. Welch was the anchor andglue that kept Fleetwood Mac grounded andsolid in the post-Peter-Green era, and he wasthe bridge leading to the Nicks/Buckinghamjuggernaut. Without the American Welch,there would have been no Fleetwood Mac "Su-

perstar."

Welch was the rock of this rendition of Mac.His California cool was at the forefront of thegroup for three years, and he was the face andcenter of everything Mac. It was his talent thatkept Mac at the center of the FM radio universe.Unlike the "bluesy" rst Mac or the "poppy"third Mac, Welsh gave the world the "hippie"Mac. And it was late-night FM cool. Bumpedup against deep cuts from Zeppelin, the Stonesand the Doobies, Welch's Mac sang songs aboutthe supernatural and the mysterious - songsthat were perfect for 1970s midnight radio.

Songs about being hypnotized and the

Bermuda Triangle were standard fare for theHippie Cool Welch. It was his genre and hisstyle, and it had its place in the world of seven-ties music. He was the Mac, and the Mac washis. But time, drugs and ghts destroyed thegroup and so he was replaced by the power-house Nicks and Buckingham, and the rest ishistory.

Welch would go on to have moderate successas a solo artist, but fame is eeting and allegeddrug abuse is the killer of any career even oneas promising as Welchs. And therein is thetragedy.

When the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame came

calling in 1998, Welch was snubbed. e manthat saved the band was le off the face of therock-n-roll world. He was treated like a rogue.Even the third-string punter of the Super Bowlchamps gets a ring, but in music, the workerand glue of the band gets the sha.

Welch died June 7, 2012. His music will neverbe forgotten, and what is le is one of the bestsummer love songs of all time, SentimentalLady.

You are here and warmBut I could look away and you'd be gone

Cause we live in a timeWhen meaning falls in splinters from our lives

And that's why I've travelled farCause I come so together where you are

And all of the things that I said that I wantedCome rushing by in my head when I'm with you

14 joys and a will to be merryAnd all of the things that we say are very

Sentimental gentle windBlowing through my life again

Sentimental LadyGentle one

Now you are here today

But easily you might just go awayCause we live in a time

When paintings have no color, words don'trhyme

And that's why I've travelled farCause I come so together where you are

And all of the things that I said that I wantedCome rushing by in my head when I'm with you




You are here and warmBut I could look away and you'd be goneCause we live in a time

When meaning falls in splinters from our livesAnd that's why I've travelled far

Cause I come so together where you are

Yes and all of the things that I said that I wantedCome rushing by in my head when I'm with you




Sentimental gentle wind

Blowing through my life againSentimental Lady

Gentle one


Sentimental Lady.....(FADE TO BLACK)

RIP.MoJo

While success atcompetition cer-tainly raises theprole of EMCCsautomotive pro-gram, Henry saysits no substitute forthe ultimate indica-tor of a programssuccess: job place-ment. And that, he

says, was Grahamsspecialty.

What Gradysdone here in thepast is big shoes forme to ll, he said. He still wants us to be No. 1 and will still be a partof that in the future, serving on committees for me.

I feel like, when he retired, I had his support 100 percent and thatsa testament to our relationship over the last ve years.

Arriving At Destination

Grahams plans for the future include some conventional retirementbenchmarks. He hopes to travel and he plans to restore several of his

old cars: a 46 Chevy pickup and a pair of 70s-model Ford Broncos.But hell continue attending classes to retain his certication, ensuringhell remain a valuable asset to the program he helped build.

e program has changed a lot in 28 years, said Graham. We livein an electronic world and students have to have a good electronicsbackground. e equipment has been upgraded, but weve got one ofthe most up-to-date shops in the state.

at up-to-date equip-ment, alongwith a healthydose of hardwork and Gra-hams approval,helped PaulBaucom, 41, ofColumbus se-cure a job atCarl HoganChevrolet dur-ing his secondyear in the au-tomotive pro-gram. As soonas he gradu-ated in 2011,B a u c o m

moved to a full-time position at Carl Hogan, and it was right on time,as he had been unemployed for three years aer being laid off froman agricultural equipment dealer; not to mention his wife was preg-

nant with the couples fourth child.It was a huge relief, having a job lined up and made the second year

of the program a lot easier. If it wasnt for Mr. Graham, I wouldnt behere. He was a major help, said Baucom.

Graham and Henry helped Heath Crenshaw of Adaton, a 2008EMCC graduate who is also a technician at Carl Hogan Chevrolet,transition condently into his career working on cars - even if the carshe was working on at EMCC werent quite as up-to-date as the equip-ment he was using.

ey help you not to be overwhelmed, when you tear into a car,said Crenshaw of Graham and Henrys instruction. But when youget your rst few brand-new cars and youve got to start drilling holesin them, thats a bit of a surprise.

Chase Franks of Houston, a 2011 EMCC grad, said the instructorsprepared him to work autonomously, when he began as a technicianat Starkville Ford, thanks to old-fashioned repetition.

ey taught me well enough that, when I got out of school, I wasntscared to do anything. When you go through a repair, they are stand-ing right next to you and whenever they see youve got a problem,theyll come in and show you how to x it. en theyll take it apartand make you do it again, said Franks.

Henry points out that not everyone whos interested in working oncars is cut out to be a technician, but he says the environment in theshop at EMCC is close enough to industry working conditions thatthose who cant handle the grease and the sweat usually nd out inclass, rather than at work. But things are bright for those who do re-main in the program and exhibit the right traits. Demand for reliable

technicians remains very high and Graham says the best techniciansin certain parts of the South can earn more than $100,000 annually.

EMCC cont. from pg. 5

Special to e Real Story

Courtesy Photo

Heath Crenshaw of Adaton works on a 2011Chevrolet Camaro at Carl Hogan Chevrolet

in Columbus.

Courtesy Photo

Technician Chase Franks of Houston works onthe suspension on a Lincoln Navigator at StarkvilleFord. Franks is a 2011 graduate of East Mississippi

Community Colleges Automotive ServicesTechnology program.

A Womans Pleao My Husband M:

My physical abuse from you has taken my self-respect, my pride, and my ability to love you. Ihave spent three years being scared of you. I have learned the hard way to be prepared for a

uick exit from our home. During all of the slapping; chest bumping; trapping me in rooms;aking my keys, my phone, my shoes and my purse; pushing me down; and hitting me in theead - every time you did these horric things to me I lost a little more of me.

I want you to know that I am taking my life back! Your abuse will leave scars on my heart andsoul, but they are just battle scars; the wounds will heal. I will be a whole woman again, in spite

f how you mistreated my love for you K

is letter is for all the women in this town who have been hurt by someone they loved!If one woman can read this and see something in her own life, this letter was so worth it!

Its a Mystery to Me -

Do you have a question about your life,career, or relationships?

Ask Meagan!E-mail reaches her at [email protected].

Personal information, such as your name, with NOT be divulged.

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June13,2012

ITSALL

ABOUTTHEANIMALS

Do you have something that trulytouches your heart? Something that youhave a passion for that just becomes partof you or your family? ats what hap-pened, eight years ago, on a forty-acrepiece of property in Caledonia, Missis-

sippi.

Heather and Wayne McIntyre have amajor passion - a passion for rescuing an-imals. Along with the help of Heathersbiggest supporter, Pam Eads, the McIn-tyres come to nd all sorts of animals in

various situations and rescue them frombeing abused, or even being used in tro-phy hunts. Heather has also stepped upto the plate to nurse and bottle-feed aban-doned animals that wouldnt stand achance if they didnt receive assistance.

Heather and Wayne care for many dif-ferent species on their property, includ-

ing: 8 horses; approximately 300chickens; an uncounted number ofducks, geese, turkey and peafowl; 9 pot-bellied pigs; 1 standard pig; 7 donkeys; 1camel; several goats and sheep; 10 fallowdeer; 3 emus; 5 cows; 2 snakes; a gecko; aferret; a chinchilla; and dont forget thedogs and cats! e newest addition tothis menagerie is a small chocolate fallowdeer, now just over a week old. Our veryown Porkchop was even born at theMcIntyre Farm! Even though not all ofthe McIntyre animals are rescues, all ofthem are given love and attention, just thesame.

Jacob, the Jacob sheep, was raised in apetting zoo, until his horns grew too largeand they were afraid they (the horns)could hurt the children. Heather boughthim for $175, and rescued him from atrophy hunt buyer.

e peacocks were obtained from achicken house facility that could nolonger get a permit from the USDA ifthey continued to have the peacocks ontheir property. Once again, Heather andWayne came to the rescue.

e largest rescue, to date, was approx-imately seventy chickens that were re-

trieved aer the April 27, 2011 tornadodestroyed a $5,000 chicken pen. Heatherand her husband, Wayne, travelled 3nights in a row to Wren and Smithville,battling debris and slipping in contami-nated mud, while attempting to maketheir way around and under the collapsedpen, to capture the surviving chickens.

Heathers happiest rescue memory is ofSmoke, a little black lly that was rescuedfrom a kill pen in New Jersey. Heathers

best friend, Pam, arranged for the trans-port from New Jersey, so that Smokeycould live out her life being loved. A totalof ve horses were rescued from the killpen in New Jersey, and a friend ofHeathers was able to provide shipping,

free of charge, for three of them.

A sad story involved two male turkeysthat were rescued. Both were shot, withinweeks, from the road near Heathershome. In one case, the shooter was iden-tied, and ned by the Game Warden,but it is something Heather has to face al-most daily, since some of the animals sheobtains were rescued from trophy hunts,and if seen from the road, hunters thinkit is an easy kill.

When asked what her funniest storiesmight be, Heather couldnt decidewhether the chicken story - which hap-pened recently - or the possum storywould win. So, well tell both!

A few weeks ago, Heather had to makea quick trip to Caledonia Pharmacy, topick up some medicine for an ailing don-key. While inside, the pharmacy atten-dant looked out the window and noticed

a white chicken under Heathers car. Itturned out to be her white frizzle chicken,who had hitched the 4.5 mile ride to thePharmacy! e attendant and Heatherspent a full ve minutes trying to catchand convince the chicken it would besafer to ride home in the passenger seat!

Heather was bottle-feeding an aban-doned baby opossum, several years ago,that loved to curl up inside her shirt aerhe ate. Well, he was so quiet that she for-got he was there; aer helping a neighbormove for nearly two hours, they went tothe store for some supplies. As Heatherwas going in the store, she heard a little

squeak, and nally remembered the babypossum was in her brassiere!! She saidthat the look on the neighbors face, whenshe pulled the opossum out and set himon the passenger seat, was priceless.

And, lets not forget Titan. Titan is a big,beautiful, brindle male mastiff. But hewasnt always a looker. Titans eyes wereclawed out by his siblings, when he was apuppy, and doesnt have any eyes. Butyou would never know it if you saw him

running around inside the fence; havinga terric time. Heathers good friend, Ali-cia Perkins, stepped up and got Titan outof a bad situation and brought him toHeather. He was severely emaciated, andhis eye sockets were infected. Heather

nursed him back to health, and with thehelp of his best friend, Maggie, who func-tions as his seeing-eye dog, Titan couldntbe happier.

Some of the animals that nd their wayto Heathers care were animals that sheoffered to bottle-raise, to keep them fromhaving to be euthanized, or because theirmother wasnt able to care for them anylonger, due to death or medical reasons.Others were pets that people no longerwanted or could care for, only to ndHeathers heart and arms open wide forthem. She says shes not really a rescue fa-cility - more like a home for wayward,

unwanted animals. ousands of ani-mals die, every year, because people mis-treat them or simply do not know how tocare for them.

Heather doesnt have a 9-5 job. Its morelike an Ill catch a few winks, when I cankind of job. Ive only known her a shortwhile (since I rst saw Porkchops babypicture on Facebook), but I know ofmany, many nights where shes been up,every hour, to bottle feed donkeys, pigs,puppies, and who-knows-what-else! Shehas even had to bottle feed three calves atone time, before! e rst cow she bot-tle-raised was a three-day-old rescue

from a dairy farm. Unfortunately, dairyfarms tend to discard the males, as theyare not producers. Heather was able torescue three of them, at $50 each (rescueis not cheap), and one of them is now a2,000 lb. bull! Another large rescuewould be a bottle-raised male bison thatwas saved from a processing plant. Hehad to be rescued, along with three goats,because he had grown up with them andhad separation anxiety! He is now livingout his days as a herd bull in the Caroli-nas!

Another $50 rescue was Pablo. Pamand Heather like to attend exotic sales,

mainly because these sales are a way forkill buyers or trophy hunters to acquireanimals for a low price. Pam and Heatheroen purchase these animals to rescuethem, and Pablo and his mother, Genesis,were no exception. Pablo is now a beau-tiful stud, and is a mascot for a privatehigh school.

During the course of my interview withHeather, she received a phone call aboutBudro, a Mastiff/bulldog mix that had

been aban-doned andfound his wayto JohnnyKellys bar onHwy. 45

North. efolks at the barpitched in tohave Heathercome checkhim out,groom him, and get him ready to go tothe vet to take care of any infections orother problems he may have suffered.God bless you, Johnny Kelly gang!

Heather wants to send a very specialthank you to Pam Eads for withoutPam, Heather would not be able to do thethings she is able to for these animals.Plus, Pams support and friendship keeps

her going. Pam has helped out tremen-dously - whether it is bottle feeding, tak-ing care of babies for a few days, to giveHeather a breather, or even just a shoul-der to lean on. Heather also appreciatesher husband, Wayne, for his support inallowing her to follow her dream. Wethank you, too - Pam and Wayne!

A great amount of work goes into thisoperation, just in terms of feeding andwatering them. e McIntyres spendover a hundred dollars, each week, onfeed, alone. at does not include anynecessary medical attention, bedding,hay, etc.

Heather is too proud to ask for dona-tions, but Im not. If you would like tohelp these animals and make a donation,your help would be greatly appreciated.Needed supplies include: Ultra 24 pow-der (a milk replacement, available fromBrowns Farm and Garden), hay, feed,bedding, wormer, Ivermectin, injectablepenicillin, old towels and blankets. If youwould like to make a monetary donation,a ChipIn donation link has been set upon Porkchops Facebook page at:https://www.facebook.com/Porkchop-sPigTales; or you can visit the ChipInpage here: http://aimeeshaw.chipin

.com/heather-mcintyre. Any donationscan also be dropped off to Pam Eads atAnimal Medical Center on Hwy. 69South. You can also donate to HeatherMcIntyres veterinary account (via Pam)at Animal Medical Center, as well.

Aimee Shawin collaboration with

Molly Murphree

Budro

When the world says,

Give up, Hope whispers,

Try it one more time.- Author Unknown

All Creatures - Big and SmallHeather McIntyre Cares for them All

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June13,2012


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June13,2012

FINANCIALFOCUS

Courtesy Photo

Oscar Lewis graduates from Saint Leo University with a BA in Criminal Justice.

Courtesy PhotoAnthony Nelson, Saint Leo Class of 2011, was the Tassel Turner this year;

pictured with Oscar Lewis.

Congratulations,Oscar!

Whats at Plymouth Bluff?

Plymouth Bluff Environ-mental Center, a public fa-cility that is operated byMississippi University forWomen, provides a won-derful educational experi-

ence. With environmentalexhibits, over four miles ofwalking trails and a ropescourse for team buildingpurposes, there is certainlysomething for everyone!An outdoor amphitheatreis available for events andweddings; also, there arecabins on site. So load upthe family and make yourway to Plymouth Bluff fora weekend of educationalfamily fun!

Financial Focus:

Dont Fall Victim to Investment Biases

Ryan Munson

Ryan is a Financial Advisor with EdwardJones. E-mail reaches him at

[email protected]

If youre like most people, you gothrough many complex thoughts andemotions, when choosing investments.In fact, a eld of study called behavioralnance is devoted to understanding whypeople make their investment decisions.As part of their work, behavioral nance

researchers examine biases that affectpeoples investment selections. And, as anindividual investor, you, too, can benetfrom understanding these biases sothat you can avoid them.

Here are some of the key biases identi-ed by behavioral nance experts:

Overconfdence - Overcondenceleads investors to believe they know theright times to buy and sell investments.But, if youre constantly buying and sell-ing, in the belief that you are correctlytiming the market, you may be wrongmany times, and you may incur more in-

vestment fees, expenses and taxes than ifyou simply bought quality investments

and held them for the long term.

Representativeness- If you make de-cisions based on preconceived ideas orstereotypes, you may be suffering from abias called representativeness. For ex-ample, if you see that investments from a

particular sector, such as energy, haveperformed particularly well in one year,you might think these types of vehicleswill do just as well, the next year, so youload up on them. Yet, every sector will gothrough ups and downs, so one yearsperformance cannot necessarily predictthe next year's performance. Instead ofchasing hot investments, try to build abalanced portfolio that reects your in-dividual goals, risk tolerance and timehorizon.

Anchoring - Similar to representa-tiveness, an anchoring bias occurs wheninvestors place too much emphasis on

past performance. If you own shares ofXYZ stock, for instance, and the stock

price hits $60 per share, you might as-sume XYZ will always sell for at least $60a share. But if XYZ drops to $30 per share- perhaps as a result of a broad-basedmarket decline - you might think its nowundervalued, leading you to snap upeven more shares. However, XYZ shares

could also fall due to a change in its fun-damentals, such as a shake-up in thecompanys management or a decline inthe competitiveness of its products. As aninformed investor, you need to work withyour nancial advisor to determine thecauses of an investments decline and anyactions you may need to take, in re-sponse.

Confrmation - If you are subject toconrmation bias, you may look for in-formation that supports your reasons forchoosing a particular investment. istype of bias can lead to faulty decisionmaking, because youll end up with one-sided information. In other words, you

may latch onto all the positive reasons forinvesting in something - such as a hotstock - but you may overlook the redags that would cause you to thinktwice, if you were being totally objective.To ght back against conrmation bias,take your time before making any invest-

ment decision; a quality investment willalmost always be just as good a choice to-morrow, as it is today.

Being aware of these investment biasescan help you make better decisions - andover a period of many years, these deci-sions can make a difference, as you worktoward achieving your nancial objec-tives.

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WHODOYOUABUSEMESO?

June13,2012


Across1: Temporary craze4: Masculinepossessive7: Inspired wonder11: Muhammed ___

12: Devils play14: Hay unit15: Distress call16: Judges garb17: Poses a question18: Coquettish one20: Pas mates22: Bouquet unit23: Pacic & Indian27: Pertain29: Wind direction(abbr.)30: Enthusiasm31: Nourish32: Sit-up targets

33: Pound operators(abbr.)34: One ___ time (2wds)35: Nervous twitch36: Emcee Bert ____

37: Enjoy a favoritebook39: Mamas man40: Angle starter41: Standing44: Route

47: Display sign49: Baltic, e.g.50: Site51: Volunteered52: Poetic ever53: ____ of admis-sions54: Nickname for

Theodore55: ____ cleaners

Down1: Rapid2: Popular houseplant3: Vanish

4: Highly unorthodoxbelief5: Creamy white6: Sis, for one7: Cheapen8: Had been

9: Mooses relative10: ____ Plaines13: Defective cars19: Auctioneersshout21: Fighter pilot

24: Assessed thevalue of25: Giraffes feature26: Mud bath sites27: Remote28: NFLs Rozelle29: Heroes network32: Assisting33: Debilitates35: Paving liquid36: Caused distressto38: Actor Hawke39: Show to be true42: At no time,poetically43: Indiana city44: Mat45: How ___ you?46: Earl Grey, e.g.48: Gobble up

CROSSWORD 06.13.2012

SEEANSWERSTOTHISCROSSWORDPUZZLEONPAGE18

I pick up the Real Story because it is al-ways the truth and no compromise." I seethis cute little Pit Bull puppy with the titleWhy Do You Hate Me So? ControversySurrounds Caledonia Pit Bull Issue; all

ten dogs that were surrendered were eu-thanized within a matter of days.

It looks like you are trying to say the an-imal shelter hates pit bulls and that thereis some kind of conspiracy. I can onlyspeak for me and the Shelter, and I assureyou, sir, there is no conspiracy or cover-up at the CLHS; and further, the Shelterdoesnt hate pit bulls or any breed, but Iguess its easy to make us the scapegoat.

e title should be, Why Do PeopleAbuse Me So?," along with a picture ofthe starving pit bull that was so emaciatedit was only 17 pounds and was literallyskin and bones. en, up under the title,it should read, Local Shelter Over Ca-pacity and Overrun with Stray Dogs Hasto Make Tough Decisions to Euthanize

en Abused and Neglected Pit Bulls Be-cause of the Ignorance of People." Buthey, it is easy to sell papers, I guess, if itlooks like a controversy or conspiracy.

I read the article, and I see words andphrases like, disturbing facts," murky"nd more than meets the eye," cleverords to make a story juicy when, in fact,

t is a very sad story that you are over-ooking. I think of the movieA Few Good

en, when Jack Nicholson said, Youant the truth. Do you want the truth?ou cant handle the truth. Here is someruth for you. e fact is, there is a seriouset over-population in Mississippi andlabama, and even more so nationally.ere was a study done among the shel-

ers for several years, and what theyound was that over 70,000 animals in

ississippi and 120,000 in Alabama wereuthanized each year. Why? e truth is,he over-population/neglect of any breeds a problem and is the result of irrespon-

sible people. Until we, as a society, startaluing our pets and have them spayedr neutered, local shelters will always be

verrun with unwanted animals. e

olumbus Shelter, for example, takes in,n average, 400 animals per month. Halff that number comes in via Animalontrol and the other half bywner/guardian surrender.

e sad thing is, for whatever reason,only 20 people, on average, come to theShelter to reclaim their pets each month.We average approximately 70 adoptions

per month and only have so many fosterhomes to go around. We are a small shel-ter compared to other shelters in Missis-sippi and take in well over 1,000 animalsper month! Stop and think about that!Local shelters are forced to make heart-breaking decisions that you, sir, or anyoneelse, would not want to make who lives,who dies. Do we spend hundreds, if notthousands of dollars, to treat emaciated,heartworm-positive dogs or FIV/FELV-positive cats with URIs, or do we eutha-nize them humanely so that we have themoney and space to help healthy, adopt-able pets nd a home? Sir, there are a lotworse things than death for a pet that has

to die at a shelter by the hand of someonewho cares, in a humane manner, than tobe tied to a tree only to starve to death orlive a miserable existence.

Cats and dogs dont stop coming in, andthere are only so many resources avail-able; euthanasia, while unfortunate, is atool used to control pet population. Noone likes to do it or see it performed. Noone wakes up in the morning eager to eu-thanize animals, so when you call herewanting to know details on why, whenand where - who wants to talk about it?Its a no-win situation, and you just upset

the people who commit their job andlives to care for these abused and neg-lected animals, by questioning why theyhave to be put to sleep. You offend the

very hands that feed and care for societys

unwanted animals and make the toughdecisions with article titles like Why DoYou Hate Me and suggestive statementsthat something sinister is afoot. Again,

there is nothing sinister at the shelter, justreality. If youre shing for a cover-up orconspiracy, perhaps you are barking upthe wrong tree. Why do we get the blamefor other peoples ignorance and cruelty?

Dont blame the Columbus-LowndesHumane Society for having to take careof what this community discards. It is notthe pit bulls nor any dog or cats fault ei-ther; it is people who abuse and neglecttheir animals. If you worked here at theshelter long enough, you would see hor-ror stories of what people do to thesedogs. Yes, pits get a bad rap, and yes, wedont adopt them out, but majority of pit

bulls we see coming into the shelter havebeen socially, emotionally, and physicallyneglected in such a way as to make adop-tion not viable. However, we make excep-tions, here and there, for adoptable pitsand try to get them in a rescue league. Ithink pits may be the most abused dog inLowndes County, and it is a problem towhich most are oblivious. Just do a ridealong with an Animal Control Officer,and Im sure you will see things youwouldnt believe. I am not going to con-tribute to the problem Lowndes Countyhas by allowing the adoption of an animalthat for some reason we did not screenproperly and have it maim or kill another

dog or child. Pit bull abuse is not just alocal problem - it is a national problem.

With regard to being tight-lipped," asyou put it, the Animal Control Officer

told us it was under investigation and notto talk about it to anyone, and that is ex-actly what we did no cover up here,other than the one you obviously fabri-cated in your mind. We were never told

that we could talk about it, which is whyMs. Johnwick kept referring you to Ani-mal Control or the Sheriffs Department.

We, as a society, will spend all we haveon our hobbies, addictions, and impulsesbut will huff and puff because a vetcharges over $100 to spay or neuter ourpets. Keep in mind, a vet goes to school

just the same as a people doctor, learnsthe same surgical techniques and uses thesame drugs and everything else a physi-cian does; so shouldnt they, then, charge$20,000 for the surgery? Since we, as a so-ciety, dont value our pets, we keep lettingthem multiply and multiply; some ani-

mals end up on the side of the road, somein shelters, and others much worse.When our dog or cat goes missing or iskilled by getting in the road, we as a soci-ety say, hey, Ill just go get another one."When we no longer treat our pets as ayard xture or a disposable play toy, andwhen we, as a society, say enough isenough," then your local shelter will stopbeing over-populated and overrun, eu-thanasia will only be used for emergencysituations, and the poor, sick, emaciatedpets and those with behavioral problemscan then be treated because the space andresources will be there. e next time,before you speak or write in regards to

the Shelter, make sure you know of whatyou speak and write. I would just prefer athank you for all we do.

Sincerely,CLHS Management

Editors Note: We willingly acknowl-edge and applaud the tireless and,sometimes, thankless jobs that the staffand board of the Columbus LowndesHumane Society do, every day, andthe heart-wrenching decisions thatthey must make. ose facts werenever in question. What concerned uswas the refusal to discuss details of thesituation, which, we felt, conictedwith the publics right to know.

Why Do You Abuse Me So?The Columbus Lowndes Humane Society Responds

Courtesy PhotosTeddy - the face of pit bull ghting in Macon, 2007, was given a chanceby his rescuers and was adopted by a loving family.

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WWW.SUDOKUPUZZLES.NET SEE SUDOKU ANSWERS ON PAGE 18

Kudos, Amanda!June 8, 2012

Amanda Galloway St. John

Dear Amanda:

It is a pleasure to inform you of your acceptance into the Associate DegreeNursing program at Itawamba Community College for the fall 2012 semes-ter. Congratulations! We are very excited to have you join our program.

Admissions Department

We are so proud of you!

Locks of Love

Debbie Johnston gets 10 inches of hair cut off by Cassidy Prescott at Salon 7 for theLocks of Love program.

Debbie was inspired to donate her hair, which had taken her eight years to grow, aermeeting a young girl while delivering papers for e Real Story. e young lady suffersfrom alopecia, a disease that prevents hair from growing anywhere on the body. She wasstill waiting for her chance to get a hairpiece when she met Debbie.

Debbie, who has no children of her own, decided she could help the cause. Her 10inches of hair will be enough to make three wigs for children suffering hair loss throughillnesses such as alopecia or cancer.

Its All About the Music

American Wind Symphony Orchestraconcerts begin with the spectacularopening of the vessels music shell, whichis powered by hydraulic lis. As the roofis raised, the rst strains of Aaron Cop-lands Fanfare for the Common Manare heard and an evening of fascinatingsights and sounds begins. Musicians arearrayed in a series of stainless steel sculp-

tured trees so that all are visible. Andthe percussionists are not wallowers inthis group they perform right out front,with their gleaming batteries of timpani,drums, mallet instruments, chimes andbells.

Music programs are varied and inter-esting, including classics such as HandelsWater Music or Mozarts Grande Ser-enade, as well as newly commissionedworks, Broadway medleys and Sousamarches. Since the early days of AWSOs54-year history, Robert Boudreau hasbeen searching out exciting young com-posers and has commissioned over 450works. In his 55th anniversary season,Boudreau will introduce 13 new works,emphasizing the AWSOs longstandingties to our neighbors in the Americas byincluding four compositions from Latin

America, as well as works from Latvian,Estonian, Japanese and French com-posers.

French composer Karol Beffa has writ-ten a brilliant work called BurningBright for wind orchestra, while theJapanese Kaoru Wada features the utefamily in his new composition. AWSOharpist Chen-Yu Huang will be featured

in Mexican composer Enrique SantosConcertino for Harp and Winds."

At the end of the evening, AWSO au-diences are electried by one or the otherof two tour-de-forceworks for percussionand wind orchestra. Cuban composerLeo Brouwers Cancion de Gesta takesthe audience on an epic voyage of soundand rhythm, and Japanese Kaoru Wadasree Fragments develops and mountsinto a stunning climax using Japanesetraditional instruments.

All in all, a Wind Symphony perform-ance is an unforgettable experience for

the whole family!

Special to e Real Story

Courtesy Photo

Exchangeites serve a pizza and salad lunch to the campersat Camp Rising Sun last Monday, June 4.

ColumbusExchange Club

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A Home Away from Home

Camp Rising Sun, located at Campenry Pratt, is not only a camp but aome away from home one week outf the year.

Founded in 1987 by Susan Falknernd e Columbus Junior Auxiliary,

Camp Rising Sun is a week-longamp for children with cancer,

whether they are undergoing treat-ment or are in remission.

e rst meal of each years session,served on a Monday night, is tradi-tionally provided by the Lions Clubof Columbus East. Every year since1991, the meal has consisted of ham-

urgers with all the trimmings. Inrder to serve the approximately 63ampers and staff, the Lions Clubrilled 180 burgers this year.

With a vast range of activities in-luding archery, biking, arts and

cras, watersports, and swimming,ampers always have something too. Swimming and water sports aremongst the favorites of all the activ-ties.

anks to the efforts of trainedvernight camp counselors and

edical staff, this camp has beenodied to meet every campers

specic medical needs.

"is camp gets in your blood; were like a family here. We have sev-ral campers return every year. Sadly,e also have campers that pass on,"

said founder, Susan Falkner.

Molly [email protected]

Molly is a resident of Columbus, who enjoysreading, cooking, cake decorating, and

spending time with her family.

She is a memberof Lighthouse Baptist Church.

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SUMMERHAIRSTYLES

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use

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e Real Story Staff Report

Just when you thought that you had a busy scheduleyou meet Dawn Barham and realize that everything isrelative.

Dawn took the time, between playing at a wedding re-hearsal dinner and performing at the reception (both inJackson) the next day, to talk about her life, her passionand her career.

She started out by saying that she has been inspired by

Elvis, Heart, FleetwoodMac and U2.

When asked how long she has been playing, Barhamhedged a bit and replied, Well, I rst picked up a plasticguitar when I was 5!

Barham, the music director at Mississippi School forMathematics and Science, has both a bachelors AND amasters degree in Music Education (emphasis on guitar)from the University of Southern Mississippi. e WestPoint native has been at MSMS since 1993.

During her tenure at MSMS, she has started a GuitarStudies Program to train young people how to play herfavorite instrument. She also founded the Guitar Per-formance Ensemble, comprised of students who alreadyplay the guitar.

In addition to the guitar, Barham also plays the ute.When asked which instrument was harder to learn, shequickly stated that it was the guitar. is is due to the

complexities of playing harmonies, unlike the ute,where the musician plays just one note at a time.

In response to a question about what she would tell ayoung person who expressed a desire to explore a careerin music, Barham replied, First, I would ask them, Doyou want to be famous, or do you want to be a musi-cian? - because you can be famous for being famous,but if you are musician, you just might get wealthy, too.

When she is not instilling a love of music in youngpeople, she is busy playing gigs around the area and

throughout the region withher band, e Juke JointGypsies. e band whichincludes Tony Foster onlead guitar; Gary Shaw on

drums; Mike Chain onbass; and Barham on guitar plays clubs and festivals as

well as private events like weddings and anniversaries.e band has played as far north as Cave-In-Rock, Illi-nois, and as far south as Jacksonville, Florida.

e Gypsies, as their loyal fans refer to them, playmostly southern rock and have been described asMelissa Etheridge Meets the Allman Brothers."

ey have two albums, Dodging Shadows and Bro-

ken Promises (an EP), under their belt, with a third, as-yet-unnamed album due out in mid-fall 2012.When not performing with e Juke Joint Gypsies,Barham also plays solo classical gigs on guitar.

Barham sums up her philosophy on life with the state-ment, Every day, when my feet hit the oor, I love whatI do!

e Juke Joint Gypsies can next be seen locally atFuhgetaboutit (115 5th Street South) on Friday, June 29.

More information on Dawn and e Juke Joint Gyp-sies can be found at either their Facebook page,www.facebook. com/Juke-Joint-Gypsies/164180569960,or their website, www.jukejoint-gypsies.com.

Did you know we have articles and information on ourwebsite and facebook page that are not included

in the print edition? Check us out today!

realstorypublishing.com facebook.com/rspublishing

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Eclectic," the cur-ent exhibit at theosenzweig Artsenter (501 Main

treet in Columbus),is certainly aptlynamed.

e show, whichfeatures three artistsfrom Gordo, Ala-bama, includes aplethora of artworkswhich vary in media,theme, color andmuch more.

Rhys Greens workconsists of mosaicsand photography. Al-though her mosaicsare lovely, her photo-

graphs have a beauti-fully gritty feel whichcannot be ignored.

e most captivating ofher photographs are those that make upthe series titled Roadside Evangelism."Although Green has been described as a

late bloomer, she has obviously made upfor lost time, as her work has a captivatingquality about it; one would never guess

that she has only been practicing photog-raphy since 2006.

Greens mosaics are made up primarilyof stained glass but also incorporatesmalti, agate, natural stones and fusedglass accents.

Charlie Munoz is a sculptor, jewelryartist and cellist. His small bronze g-urines evoke the human form and aremagical in their simplicity. When sculpt-ing, Charlie works with bronze, iron, steeland clay. His jewelry employs sterling sil-

ver, gold and copper.

Some of Charlies gures in the currentshow might remind one of little abstractsoldiers waiting to do battle in someminiature, table-top conict.

Linda Munozs work consists primarilyof quilts but heres where it gets inter-esting. Not only has she produced quiltsmade out of textiles, she has also createdglossy glass quilts which are equally intri-

cate in detail. Linda has been working inglass for over 30 years. Prior to that, shetook up quilting as a result of witnessingthe quiltwork done by staff nursing assis-tants at the psychiatric hospital where sheworked.

e glass quilts that she has in Eclec-tic are composed of simple geometricshapes arranged together to form morecomplex patterns. However, it is the vi-brant colors of her fabric quilts that reallygrab ones attention. Each one is morebeautiful than the one before.

Although these three artists work inwidely divergent mediums, their pieces,at least in this show, blend together intoone quite harmonious collection that is asymphony for the eyes.

e exhibit, which will be on displaythrough June, is not to be missed!

Get out and get your

culture on!

e Real Story Staff Report

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FATHERSDAY

SEE CROSSWORD PUZ ZLE ON PAGE 11 WWW.SUDOKUPUZZLES.NET SE E SUDOKU PUZZL E ON PG 12

Wait, Im not Madonna?From the ages of 6-11, I felt I had a real

shot at being a singing sensation. Iwould entertain at family gatherings,singing Michael Jackson or Cyndi Lau-per, really putting my heart and soul intoit. My mother made me enter talentshows, where I probably scarred quite afew people, singing Tomorrow, cour-tesy of the musical Annie. Did I men-tion that my hair was really short andhome-permed? ank God we didnt

own a camcorder. I think I also sangMy Favorite ings from e Soundof Music. In fact, if you were in the

vicinity of Noxubee County at the time,I really apologize for having ruined twowonderful musicals for you.

By the time I hit adolescence, I thinkit was clear to everyone that I didnt havemuch of a singing career ahead of me.(ats right, Adele, if I had pursuedthings, you might not exist. Ill take mythank-you in the form of a check.) Ibriey wanted to be a meteorologist, be-cause I was obsessed with the weather. Iwas like the walking Weather Channel.

I watched the Michelin driving reportreligiously, because it showed severe andtornadic weather all over the country,and I decided that wherever there werefrequent tornadoes, I would not visit orlive. at didnt work out so well either,considering that I spent the April 11tornadoes in my bathtub, with a com-forter over my head, reciting AmazingGrace, while the tornado hit .5 milesaway. Needless to say, Im not a meteor-ologist.

By the time I was ready to go to col-lege, I was convinced that I would be alawyer. I can possibly attribute it to see-

ing A Few Good Men 97 times and

thinking that being a lawyer would benon-stop action and would mean beingable to take down corrupt Jack Nichol-son-types, but, for a while, thats what Ireally wanted to do. I started at MUW,majoring in political science andthought I would graduate, go to lawschool, and end up being involved in thelegal case of the century. Had DaveEvans taught more than a few of myclasses, I probably wouldve done that,

but that wasnt the case. I started to takesome journalism and non-requiredEnglish classes and thought, Wait - Iactually like this. Can you do somethingyou like?

e answer is, yes and no. I did workin journalism for a total of six years,post-college - editing, not writing somuch, but I always kept writing. It issomething that I truly love to do and,hopefully, one day, it might turn intosomething bigger - as in lucrative - butwho knows? e point is that dreamsand having those passions are what keepus alive, and its okay not to know, at 19,

what you want to be. Heck, I hope itsokay, at 34, not to be 100% sure, or Imin some trouble. If you had told mytwenty-year-old self that Id be living inAlbertville, Alabama, and working as aninsurance agent, at 34, I wouldnt havebelieved you, but thats how things workout, sometimes. Sometimes, the path di-

verges a bit and you just have to followit, have faith, and enjoy.

Emily Gaither [email protected]

Emily is a former resident of Columbus, andnow lives in Albertville, Ala., with her husband.Read Emilys blog at msdemocrat.blogspot.com

A Tribute to Fatherse true meaning of being a father;a male gure involved in our lives,showing things we should know.

Teaching us is never a bother.

He teaches us the ways of strength,themeans to provide for family,

repair things broken.He will go to any length.

A father is that special one,who gives his children understanding and love,

along with determination and a strong will,whether you be his daughter or his son.

He does not have to be your birth dad,nor even a relative you've always known.

A father is that male in your life,who makes your life always good and never bad.

Remember him dearly this Father's Day,with gis, meals, hugs and greeting cards.

He is special. Tell him why.Show him you love him in every way.

Joyce White

Fathers Day: A Brief HistoryFather's Day is observed in the United

States on the third Sunday of June eachyear. It celebrates the contributions thatfathers and father gures make to theirchildrens lives. Father gures can beconsidered to be any male subject whohas helped to raise and teach someone.ey can include fathers, step-fathers,

male relatives, male family friends, fa-thers-in-law, grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

e origin of Father's Day may springfrom a memorial service that was heldin 1908 for a large group of men, manyof them fathers, who were killed in amining accident in Monongah, WestVirginia, in 1907. Mrs. Grace GoldenClayton wanted to celebrate the lives ofthe 210 fathers who had been killed inthe mining disaster. She chose the Sun-day nearest to the birthday of her re-cently deceased father.

A woman named Sonora Smart Dodd

was an inuential gure in the start ofFather's Day. Her father raised six chil-dren by himself, aer the death of theirmother. is was very uncommon at thetime, as many widowers either placedtheir children in the care of others orquickly married again. Sonora felt thather father deserved recognition for whathe had done. She was inspired by thework of Anna Jarvis, who had pushed

for the establishment of Mother's Daycelebrations.

President Calvin Coolidge recom-mended Father's Day as a national holi-day in 1924. In 1966, President LyndonB. Johnson issued the rst presidentialproclamation recognizing fathers, des-ignating the third Sunday of June as Fa-

thers Day. e rst time that Father'sDay was officially recognized as a holi-day was in 1972, when it was signed intolaw by President Nixon.

Most gis given on Father's Day rangefrom clothing to electronics, tools, out-door cooking supplies and sports items.Many children in schools make their fa-thers homemade greeting cards andsmall gis. Many restaurants are busy onFather's Day because most families treatdad to a meal.

Remember your dad or father gurethis Father's Day, Sunday, June 17. Select

the gi he really wants, or just give dada relaxing day. Make him feel special,and thank him for the all things that hedoes to make your life better.

Joyce Shaw WhiteJoyce is a single mother and grandmother,

and serves our community as the nightsupervisor for Lowndes County 911.She enjoys researching genealogy and

has lived here all her life.

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