Entrepreneurial Center is named for Charles W. Capps, Jr.
Facility houses high-tech distance learning center

By DOREEN MUZZI
DBJ Contributing Writer

There was a time not long ago when including agriculture and entrepreneurship in the same sentence would have been a joke, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour told state dignitaries and research personnel attending a building dedication in the Stoneville research complex.

That’s no longer the case, he says, and the new, high-tech conference and technology center aptly named the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Entrepreneurial Center is certainly proof of that fact.
The Oct. 28 dedication of the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Entrepreneurial Center at the Stoneville research complex in Stoneville, Miss., honors Capps for his support of Mississippi State University and his service to people of the Delta.

A 32-year member of the Mississippi House of Representatives for the 28th House district, which includes the counties of Bolivar, Sunflower and Washington, Capps was rendered uncharacteristically speechless at the recent building dedication. “The honor being bestowed on me today ranks among the very highlights of my public career. I’m humbled and I’m overwhelmed by your generosity and your kindness,” the Cleveland, Miss., Democrat said.

The 15,000 square foot conference and technology center includes an auditorium that can hold 400 people and a distance learning center. "This new $2.5 million facility houses the most advanced, state-of-the-art distance learning center in Mississippi," says Jim Smith, head of the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, Miss.

At the building’s dedication, J. Charles Lee, president of Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss., said, “Rep. Capps has shepherded the message of the Delta with the fidelity that only comes from one who is a son of the Delta. His leadership is evident in so many ways. We want everyone who uses this building to be reminded that leadership truly can make a difference.”
Although he described himself as low-tech, Capps says he certainly understands and appreciates the importance of technology.

Capps says he feels deeply committed to the Stoneville research complex. “The world class research complex called Stoneville is just as unique as the Mississippi river levee that stretches 215 miles from Memphis, Tenn., to Vicksburg, Miss. It houses a large, critical mass of scientists and scientific information that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world,” he says.

Barbour says agriculture will always be an enormous part of the Delta’s economy. “One-quarter of the people in our state work directly or indirectly in agriculture and forestry and this state will continue to grow fabulous crops,” he says. “The rest of the world is not going to stand around and wait for us to catch up. Catching up is a moving target, and it’s moving faster every day, but we’ve got the ability to catch up. Stoneville is the finest research center for agriculture in America and probably in the world. We can be first in things and a center like this contributes enormously to our being first.”

Barbour says Capps has worked ceaselessly for the Delta, has gained enormous credibility in our state for all of the right reasons, and has used that credibility to help Mississippi move forward.

“Some people in the Delta spend their entire lives making excuses for the reason the Delta often appears to be such a challenged region,” Capps says. “On the other hand, I’ve spent my entire life proudly claiming the Delta as my home.”

“Even though the world is changing and we’re doing a lot of things we never dreamed of doing 10 – much less 30 years ago – agriculture is going to continue to be enormously important and have a gigantic economic impact on our state, and that’s why the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Entrepreneurial Center is so important,” says Barbour. DBJ