RogerWicker: Representing not just his district, but many Delta interests
BY Nancy Cotten Hirst
DBJ Contributing Writer
U.S. Representative Roger F. Wicker, serving Mississippi’s First Congressional District, has won the respect and admiration of people throughout the State, and has been particularly instrumental in promoting programs of great benefit to the Delta.
While his district includes some very small areas of the northern and eastern edges of the Delta, Wicker’s primary constituency is in the northeastern quarter of the state. His influence, however, is significant throughout the state (and the nation) since he sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
Within that committee, he also sits on three important Appropriations Subcommittees, two of which have direct impact on the Delta. The first of these, Energy and Water Development, oversees appropriations for Corps of Engineers’ projects, TVA, and special projects such as the Demonstration Erosion Control (DEC) project.
In the scope of that subcommittee, Wicker is a strong ally of the Mississippi Levee Board. "He’s very supportive, there’s no doubt about that," says Jim Wanamaker,
BankPlus hosts Russian visitor
Special to the DBJ
BankPlus was one of the banking organizations chosen by the Mississippi Consortium for International Development (MCID) to host its visitor, Dmitriy Shadymov, of Russia. BankPlus executives were presented with the task of demonstrating and familiarizing Shadymov with the everyday operations of a prominent, fast-growing U.S. bank.
Shadymov visited BankPlus from the Center for Communication Technologies, also known as "Union-NN," located in Nizhn'y Novgorod, Russia. He serves as Director of Public Relations and Advertising for the company. Union-NN was established in 1993 as a trade organization and was diversified after the 1998 Russian financial crisis to specialize in selling communication technologies, such as cellular phones and other types of electronic communication devices.
Governor Musgrove announces State's new tourism tag line
Governor Ronnie Musgrove has announced Mississippi's new official tourism tag line – "Mississippi: Feels Like Coming Home." The tag line was developed to reflect the essence and character of Mississippi as well as to showcase its abundant opportunities.
"Mississippi's tourism industry is a vital part of our economy," says Governor Musgrove. "The promotion of our new tag line will help improve awareness about Mississippi's vast tourism venues and the many assets Mississippi offers our visitors."
The tagline was introduced in conjunction with the recognition of National Tourism Week, which was May 6 - May 12. The tagline will be incorporated into all promotional efforts of Mississippi Development Authority's (MDA) Division of Tourism.
Delta farmers looking for stability under new Farm Bill
BY Al Fava
DBJ Contributing Writer
The Delta agricultural community is hoping the new farm legislation will restore some stability to an industry hit hard by four years of disastrous market conditions.
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, which will provide $73.5 billion in additional funding for farmers, was passed by the House May 2 and cleared the Senate May 8. The bill will go into effect this year and run through 2007.
The new farm bill will provide funding to help get farmers and the Delta economy back on track, according to Chip Morgan, executive vice president of Delta Council.
"It’s going to restore a lot of financial stability among farm families and allied agriculture businesses, and that is the underpinning issue to us," says Morgan. "We could not continue to operate under annual emergency disaster assistance packages. The system simply won’t take that much stress, here or in Washington."
The new farm bill is a good long-term policy with a price safety net for most commodities that should help prevent emergency disaster declarations due to low prices, Morgan adds.
"We think the necessary reforms have been put in place that make us less susceptible to issues such as the strong dollar and all of its effects on export demand," he says.
The new farm bill is a "tremendous improvement in the safety net for cotton growers," according to Kenneth Hood, a Bolivar County farmer and current chairman of the National Cotton Council of America.
CLEVELAND/BOLIVAR COUNTY
While challenges remain, increased industrial activity and infrastructure projects signal an economic turnaround
BY Mark Bird
DBJ Contributing Writer
From its vantage point at the heart of the Delta, Cleveland is beginning to see strong signs of economic resurgence. While agriculture still struggles, the passage of the farm bill provides the promise of better times for farmers. Although some businesses remain relatively flat, others report strong gains. Interest in Bolivar County as an industrial site is increasing, and Cleveland and its fellow county seat, Rosedale, are both pursuing a number of aesthetic and infrastructure improvements. The Great River Bridge is poised to become a reality, and the promised Interstate 69 could be underway in the foreseeable future.
“We’re definitely beginning to see an economic turnaround in the community,” says Scott Luth, Executive Director of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce. “Inquiries and industrial activity are picking up, and several new businesses have opened.
“We’ve received a USDA loan to help in expanding industry, and that is certainly helping to generate activity,” he adds. Among other projects, Luth mentions the facility soon to be occupied by motorcycle/recreational vehicle manufacturer Gas Gas North America, which he says will create around 100 new jobs. Also coming to Cleveland is a wholesale distributor moving into a vacant manufacturing facility and a metal fabrication company locating in the industrial park.
BY Carrie Wallis
DBJ Contributing Writer
In 1998 State Representative Thomas F. Cameron, III sold his advertising business, Cameron Outdoors, to Lamar Advertising Company, a move that took his small family business back to its original roots. Today the Greenville plant services 725 billboards across the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta, and is one of 152 outdoor advertising companies in 44 states, making Lamar one of the leading names in the field.
The history of Lamar stretches back 100 years to a small poster company for a vaudeville opera house in Pensacola, Florida. In 1902 J. M. Coe started the Pensacola Advertising Co. to promote the coming attractions of the opera house. Joining Coe in business was Charles W. Lamar Sr., president of American National Bank of Pensacola. When Coe and Lamar decided to part ways in 1908, they determined that neither would walk away empty handed. One would get the opera house and the other would take the poster company. The final decision rested on the flip of a coin.
Coe won the coin toss. He chose the more profitable business, the opera house, which was later lost to a fire. Lamar settled for the poster company renaming it Lamar Outdoor Advertising. By 1926 Lamar’s two sons had joined him in the business.
BY Mary Ellen Powell
DBJ Contributing Writer
There are many bright spots in Delta health care, but the good is threatened by the continued reduction in reimbursement and the danger of the legal climate
The Delta is fortunate to have access to quality, innovative health care at many health care facilities that encompass services from cancer treatment to chemical dependency. Health care entities are trying new and innovative methods to provide quality care to Delta residents in an effort to meet their ever-changing needs.
Even with all that is good, the provision of quality health care services is endangered by the lack of tort reform coupled with steadily decreasing Medicaid/ Medicare reimbursements. Many people believe that without quick and meaningful action by our state Legislature, the current situation will have a lasting, catastrophic effect on the healthcare services throughout the entire state.
A definite bright spot in the provision of health care is found at the Region I Mental Health Center in Clarksdale. The 30-year old facility has continued to provide innovative and groundbreaking services in an effort to meet the needs of Delta residents.
The center also offers a unique opportunity for mothers of young children who are in need of chemical dependency treatment to bring their children to live with them at the center. Very few centers throughout the country offer this opportunity.
BY Allen Roark
DBJ Contributing Writer
It is a new day in Grenada. Town leaders and volunteers are taking the proverbial bull by the horns to make their city more attractive to economic investors and more viable as a tourist haven. It would appear to they are succeeding.
While Grenada is not only situated in a geographically ideal place for such goals, it is also well prepared to take the necessary steps to implement them. A town rich in history and tradition, Grenada is also poised to move quickly into the 21st century with innovative and unconventional methods.
First, let's look at this thriving community and what makes it so unique.
Grenada means business
Grenada is a manufacturing community with some 35% of the town’s citizens employed in this field. Growing steadily for several years, the diversified manufacturing base of Grenada includes manufacturers of heating and refrigeration equipment, automobile wheel covers, oriented strand board, newspaper, panty hose, polyethylene foam, mirrors, treated wood, hardwood flooring, insulation, lumber, and wood chips.
Abundant resources and strong infrastructure make Grenada even more attractive to investors. Grenada’s land and building costs are among the lowest in the state. Prime industrial sites with interstate access, rail and utilities are readily available. Water is abundant, requiring minimal treatment and no filtration. Not only does Grenada Lake act as a recreational showpiece, it also supplies more than 35,000 surface acres of water for business and is adjacent to the city’s Air Industrial Park.
Many outstanding industries already call Grenada home including Bowater Newsprint whose sophisticated mill produces top-quality paper for publishers nationwide, and Heatcraft (a subsidiary of Lennox International) which manufactures coils for refrigeration units.
Northern California is Paradise
BY J. Scott Coopwood
DBJ Publisher
CALIFORNIA - As I write this months column, I'm spending four days in northern California about an hour's drive north of San Francisco. During the past four years, I have been coming out here once or twice a year on business and pleasure with one of the mentors in my life - Rives Neblett from my hometown of Shelby. If you have not had the opportunity to visit nothern California, do yourself a huge favor and take the time to come out here because it is absolutely beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly.
I am from the first true TV generation and as a child during the sixties, I was glued to the television set. Today doctors say to limit the amount of television your children watch and I believe this to be true as television programming today is not what it was when I was growing up. Back then, TV programs were safe and parents didn't have to monitor what their children were tuning into.
My first exposure to California came through our living room TV set in Shelby by watching programs such as the Beverly Hillbillies, The Partridge Family, The Brady Bunch, and all of those ridiculous surfing movies. I can remember thinking that California must be unlike any other place in the world. When I reached my teens, all of the rock music that I once listened to for hours upon hours originated from the rock bands out of California.
I didn't make it out to California until August of my second year at Ole Miss. As our plane began descending a few miles east of Los Angeles, outside of my window the lights of L.A. were visible and they stretched for miles and miles. Finally, after all of those years, I ws about to land in California.
BY Bonnie Coblentz
DBJ Contributing Writer
Prices that reached some historic lows couldn't prevent Mississippi farmers from posting a farm value in 2001 that surpassed the previous year's by just over 3 percent.
Final agriculture production figures were recently calculated and show the state's largest industry had a value of $4.39 billion. Farm production value in 2000 was $4.25 billion.
"In retrospect, I don't know that we saw any huge surprises," says John Anderson, agricultural economist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service. "The value of poultry production was higher than anticipated, but the value of cotton production was lower, apparently due to greater-than-expected losses from adverse weather late in the growing season.
"Overall, you don't see a huge change in the value of ag production. The big story for all the crops was large total production and continued low prices, particularly for row crops," he says.
Poultry kept the state's top spot, with a $1.66 billion production value in 2001. This figure is higher than anticipated, and topped the $1.38 billion value of 2000.
BY Calvin H. Gray
Minor S. Gray, 95, of Georgetown, Texas, formerly of Scott and Greenville, Mississippi, and former president of the Delta & Pine Land Company, passed away April 12 in Georgetown, Texas.
He was born March 12, 1907, in Cayce, Marshall County, Mississippi, to Dr. Minor S. Gray and O. D. Johnston Gray. After his father died of typhoid fever in 1912, the family moved to Friars Point, Mississippi, where Minor graduated from high school in 1927. He attended Bowling Green Business University in Kentucky before being employed by John B. McKee, a prominent Friars Point farmer. He also did experimental work for International Harvester in mechanized farming.
In 1931, the Delta & Pine Land Company in Scott, Mississippi, at that time the world's largest cotton plantation, needed someone to take charge of a new project designed to use tractors in raising cotton. Minor Gray, age 24, was hired as supervisor of mechanized farming operations where he was in charge of 3,000 acres of "tractor cotton" scattered throughout the rambling plantation on land with pecan sprouts and poor drainage. According to Minor, the Lord blessed him and the 3,000 acres made a bumper crop. For the next several years, he worked at expanding the amount of land tilled by the new farming method as the Great Depression arrived and drew tenant farmers to the cities and to the northern industrial states.