Delta Business Journal

C.A.R.E.

Written by Susan Marquez |

Group boosts economics and enhances culture of Charleston

Photography by Matthew Wood

Ray Rounsaville not only lives in the Charleston area, he wants to see it succeed. “I don’t want Charleston to end up like so many other Delta towns. So many of our towns have too many boarded up windows.”

Pleased by what he’s seeing in his hometown, Rounsaville attributes much of the town’s success to an arts program that has had far-reaching effects. The Charleston Arts and Revitalization Effort (C.A.R.E.) was formed with the mission to foster the economic growth and redevelopment of Charleston through the arts and community involvement while preserving the historical significance and heritage of the town.

“It’s working,” says Rounsaville. “Charleston is holding its own.”

C.A.R.E. was the brainchild of Glenna Callender and “six to eight like-minded Charlestonians.” Callender says it all started when she and a friend of hers were planting flowers around the DAR memorial. “I wondered out loud what it would take to get a tour bus to stop in Charleston,” Callender remembers. “He said that it would take Morgan Freeman opening up his house for tours!”

DSU E-Learning

Written by Mark H. Stowers |

Tuning into classrooms all over the state

In 1925, Delta State Teachers College opened its doors to train folks to be the best teachers and send them across the state and beyond. If those pioneers were around today, they’d see a strong building of teaching set forth on their foundation. Part of that “building” now includes E-Learning Classes. Piloted during the 2004-2005 school year, the program sought “to meet the needs of school districts by teaching courses for schools that could not offer these courses to their students.”

Delta State stepped in to fill that gap but does it from the comfort of the University classroom to high schools scattered across the Delta as many school districts struggle to make ends meet and often are hard pressed to find Spanish, Art and Science teachers.

Dr. Angela Bridges serves as the Director of the E-Learning Program with oversight from the Dean of the College of Education at Delta State University. The program has several advantages for high school students.

“We offer dual enrollment credit for some of the courses in our program which benefits the high school student because he or she not only receives high school credit for the course but also receives college credit for the course,” Bridges said. “We feel our goal to meet the academic needs of Mississippi children is being accomplished.”

Voter ID

Written by Becky Gillette |

Mississippi working to avoid problems that nixed voter ID laws in other states

As part of a national trend towards states adopting voter ID laws, about 62 percent of Mississippi voters approved a referendum in 2011 that would require voters to show a photo ID before being allowed to vote. But the failure of similar laws in other states to be approved by the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has led to questions about whether Mississippi’s new law will receive clearance from the DOJ and, if so, if it will be in time for the November presidential elections.

Sec. of State Delbert Hosemann said careful planning has been done in drafting legislation to implement the state’s voter ID requirement to address the kinds of concerns that led to voter ID laws in others states such as Texas and South Carolina not being approved by the DOJ.

Hosemann met with representatives of the DOJ to review the history of states where voter ID bills were approved. He said he told the DOJ the State of Mississippi wants to adopt a voter ID bill that meets all constitutional requirements at minimal cost to the taxpayers.