Columns
& Opinions:
Dbj delta voices
Q.
“If the Delta could make one major change to improve
its business climate, what should it be?
“To me, the most obvious change would be to continue
to improve the educational system. With a top notch elementary
and secondary system that provides a quality education at
no cost to the family, I believe the Delta would certainly
be able to attract more industry to our area. For all of
us that currently live in the Delta, we have made the best
of our situation although it appears people are leaving
this area for a number of reasons. I love the area and want
to be a catalyst to maintain existing businesses (top priority),
improve the quality of life, and bring in new industries,
including capitalizing on tourism with our rich heritage.”
Willis
Frazer
Covenant Bank
Clarksdale
“To
provide the world’s finest educational system for
the population. I favor small neighborhood schools, where
parents and teachers know each other well and work as a
team to train and educate their children. Discipline should
include corporal punishment in order to provide a safe and
peaceful environment for learning to take place. The faculty
should be made up of people with high moral character and
strong credentials in their area of instruction. Our students
must master their academic subjects and they must also master
life skills to include personal discipline.
Each student and each faculty member must know that they
are here for a purpose and that part of that purpose is
to serve and support each other and to do their very best
to make their school the best that it can be by using and
developing their talents at every opportunity.
We must start early to prepare our children to compete in
the world marketplace.”
Bill
Callaway
Trustmark Bank
Greenville
“Long
term solutions include advancing the education system and
mentoring programs for the youth. A short term solution
includes focusing in on the positive side of the Delta way
of life and industry. Because we are caught up in poor mouthing
the Delta, we should begin to focus on the positive things
that are happening in the Delta. Transportation infrastructure
construction is at an all-time high. Projects such as I-69,
Great River Bridge, Greenville Bridge, MDOT four-lane program,
etc. are going to increase transportation flow into the
Delta. We need to start to improve our own game plan as
far as business is concerned to take advantage of these
future advancements in transportation.”
Peter
Nimrod
The Mississippi Levee Board
Greenville
“We need to focus on the positive potential that exists
in the Delta. The area has so much to offer those who are
searching for security in their lives. In these times of
economic challenges, we need to individually support local
businesses and American-made products for a healthy future.
Business leaders also need to push for additional tort reform.
A small business in Mississippi is one lawsuit away from
bankruptcy. Lawsuit abuse makes it harder to attract new
business to the area. There are many changes coming to the
Delta and I hope we can all work together to make the area
even better.”
Laura Lindner
The Bean Counter
Cleveland
“We
must improve the quality of education at the K through 12
levels. As a part of this we must assure that every child
‘who desires to do so’ can obtain a public education
which meets their individual need—from basic/vocational
to advanced pre-college curriculums including science, math
and language—in a safe, clean, environment which is
conducive to learning.
Recently released Mississippi and national scorecards on
our public schools give the ‘perception’ to
outsiders that we do not care about our children’s
education and that many of our children are learning at
a level which will not allow them to effectively participate
in the high tech labor force of the future.
If the Delta, and much of the rest of Mississippi, is going
to survive in the long run we must create a workforce capable
of creating world class products and services. That starts
with attitudes at home, but cannot be finished without outstanding
public schools and educators.”
Robert
Ingram
Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll
Economic Development Foundation
Greenwood
