Who Named My School PMS?

This past weekend, Mary Lea and I were on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Biloxi.  While we were there, we ran by the local Target to buy Mary Lea's drug, Diet Pepsi.  On the way from Target's entry to the soft drink aisle, I passed a mother who had on a red t-shirt with the lettering BJHS (Biloxi Jr. High School) emblazoned across the front of her shirt in white lettering.  For some reason, the BJ in BJHS just jumped out at me.  I thought to myself, "they should rename that school".  Certainly there has to be a better name than BJHS.  Perhaps they should name it Biloxi Middle School but then that is BMS and with the "mind in the gutter" that I apparently had that day, the BM part of that acronym just wouldn't work.

Acronyms sometimes spell things that perhaps you would rather they not.  In South Carolina, Furman College (F.C.) became Furman University or F.U.  I visited there a couple of years ago and bought a purple t-shirt that had in big bold letters, "F U" and then written smaller, "Furman University".  It seemed great at the time and then I made my way home and found that sporting around Clinton, Mississippi with a F U t-shirt might not be the best thing.

I am sure that there are many more embarrassing acronyms but the one that really gets me is the one for my old junior high.

When I attended Peeples Jr. High, at the end of each pep rally, the band would stand on the gym floor and loudly play our fight song.  I don't remember any of the words to the song except at the very end when the student body would join in.  It was then in unison that a frenzied group of jr. high students would shout out, "It's P-J-H!!"

Now, the school has been renamed.  It is now Peeples Middle  School.  I am not sure how many of the traditions of the early 1970's exist at Peeples in 2012, but I have to wonder if at the end of each pep rally, if the band plays the fight song and they loudly cheer, "It's P-M-S!!"  I certainly hope not.

Have We Lost Civility?

A couple of Fridays ago, Don Hinton, Executive Director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) came and spoke to the Clinton Civitan Club about what MHSAA does in coordination with our schools around the state.  While there, he talked about how civility is becoming lost in America today.  He read to us three paragraphs on civility from the book, A Tender Warrior, by Lt. Gen. Hal Moore.

The following are the three paragraphs that Don Hinton shared with us from A Tender Warrior :

An unequalled pledge of sacred honor took place on April 9, 1865.  Before General Lee surrendered his whole Army to General Grant, all communications between the two leaders leading up to the surrender ended with, "Your obedient servent."  It was a closing used by many great Amercan leaders and presidents.  But somehow, it became less important to emphasize civility in communications as America became more sophisticated and technology rooted...

As Lee rode "Traveler" to surrender to Grant at Appomattox, Grant formed his Union troops in two lines.  They stood with their swords at attention as Lee, with great dignity, progressed the final yards to the farmhouse, riding between the "formed lines of respect."  With the slow, high-lifting discipline of each hoof, leader was preparing to meet leader at his and America's best-- in the worst of times. 

During the surrender, a personal moment of appreciated civility occurred.  General Lee removed his sword and handed it to General Grant, and Grant handed it back.  After the surrender, as General Lee mounted his horse to depart, General Grant stepped down from the porch, and moving toward Lee, saluted him by raising his hat.  All officers present followed him in this act of civility, compassion and honor.  Lee raised his hat respectfully, and rode off in great dignity... loving America still. 

Going into the Republican and Democratic conventions and the final weeks of a bitter presidential campaign, it would be nice for our leaders and their followers to find the civility that was held by Lee and Grant.

Will Nations, Sports Reporter

About ten days ago, my son, Will heard that the West Point, MS newspaper needed a sports reporter.  Last Monday, he called the editor of the newspaper and set an interview.  The next day, he drove to West Point and interviewed with the editor of the Daily Times Leader (DTL), telling him of his desire to cover high school sports for the newspaper.  Not having a portfolio, the editor of the paper told Will that he would give him a trial run and pay him a certain amount per game.

This past Friday, Will arrived in Columbus at Victory Christian Academy to cover the Victory Christian - Hebron Christian School eight man football game.  He approached the gate with his camera and notepad, turned to the person in the ticket booth and said, "Will Nations, Daily Times Leader, here to cover the game" and in he went.

The field though small and dimly lit was home to a fairly high scoring event.  Will reported that the fans and parents were very friendly and that they were very happy and surprised to have a reporter at an away game.  While much different from the 6A and 5A MHSAA, 11 man football that he is used to, Will reported that the teams played hard and that he gained great respect for 8 man football.

He is having fun with this and we pray that he is able to continue.  Being that this was his first story for the DTL, he really didn't know what to expect.  He emailed in his story and photos to the editor and waited to see what was published.  When the paper came out, he called excitedly and let his parents know that the story had been printed along with the above photo of the coach and player standing side by side.  He said that everything looked good but the paper had kind of messed up the headline.  The headline he had turned in was something like, "Eagles Soar Over Victory".  The headline that was printed in the newspaper just below the photo of the coach and player and just above his story read as follows:  "Jameson To Wed Hannah"!!

Friday night will be here soon and the lights on football fields across Mississippi will shine down onto the green grass and turf.  Fans will fill the stands, cheerleaders will jump about, the band will play the school fight song and somewhere out there in the Clay County area,   Reporter, Will Nations will cover the game.

Before the Whistle Blows



Growing up as a kid in S. Jackson on Coronet Place, groups of kids in the neighborhood would ride bikes or play some sort of ball until our parents called us home for supper.  Usually, this was around the time that the sun was beginning to set.   There was one kid on the street whose father could whistle loudly and when this man whistled, no matter what his son was doing, he took off immediately, headed home.

This past Sunday, the whistle blew for Sgt. 1st Class, Coater B. Debose.  While serving his country in Afghanistan, he was killed by small arms fire while conducting security operations.  Now, Coater Debose is headed home.

Sgt.1st Class, Coater B. Debose
State Line, Mississippi 

Debose is one of many U.S. soldiers who have died simply doing their duty.  Blame it on Bush, blame it on Obama, blame it on the terrorists, blame it on whomever you wish but maybe we should mostly blame ourselves.  For some reason, perhaps apathy, we have taken our eye off the ball.  While we say we support our troops, in some ways it seems like we have forgotten them.   In this time of short attention spans, we have simply lost interest.  Is it possible that this almost eleven year old war has become America's "forgotten war"?

Just this past July, the U.S. had the most war deaths of any month in 2012.  I did not realize this bit of information until I read it in a very recent Associated Press story.  It appears that most of the media is  disinterested in the Afghan War.  I suppose you give your viewers, readers and listeners what they want.    In doing so, we wind up watching our flags lowered to half mast for the victims of the  "Batman" shooting and the victims of the Hindu Temple shooting but not for the death of Sgt. 1st Class, Coater B. Dubose of State Line, Mississippi.  Something about that is very wrong.

Perhaps as a country, we should lower our flag to half mast each time a soldier is killed in the line of duty.  At least that way, it would keep Americans knowledgeable of the sacrifice given by so many.  Had that been done, in 2012, our flag would have barely ever been raised above half mast.  This year alone, we have averaged the death of almost one soldier per day.  In the big scheme of things and in comparison to other wars and conflicts, this is a low number.  However, to the family of Coater B. DeBose, a soldier on his third tour of duty, his number is the only one that matters and it matters big.

In 2012, the year of a presidential election, it seems that our candidates for President have very little to say about Afghanistan, most times not even being a topic in their speeches.  It is evidently a low topic of interest among the American people as both sides worry more about tax returns and birth certificates.  No matter who wins in November, Afghanistan is a problem.

I am not an expert on war strategy or foreign affairs, but to me it seems like our job in Afghanistan is done.  The sun is beginning to set on America's influence over what happens in Afghanistan.  Let's not wait for the whistle to be blown for any more of our soldiers.  Let's go on home on our own, and soon.

DEATHS BY YEAR                                    

-2012: 219
-2011: 398
-2010: 492
-2009: 305
-2008: 151
-2007: 110
-2006:   88
-2005:   93
-2004:   49
-2003:   30
-2002:   23
-2001:    3                                                                    

Monthly U.S. death tolls In Afghanistan since January 2010:

-August 2012: 26

-July 2012: 40

-June 2012: 27

-May 2012: 39

-April 2012: 34

-March 2012: 18

-February 2012: 10

-January 2012: 25

-December 2011: 15

-November 2011: 17

-October 2011: 28

-September 2011: 38

-August 2011: 71

-July 2011: 33

-June 2011: 46

-May 2011: 34

-April 2011: 46

-March 2011: 27

-February 2011: 19

-January 2011: 24

-December 2010: 33

-November 2010: 53

-October 2010: 49

-September 2010: 42

-August 2010: 55

-July 2010: 65

-June 2010: 60

-May 2010: 34

-April 2010: 19

-March 2010: 24

-February 2010: 28

-January 2010: 30

----------

These numbers are based on Department of Defense press releases and include only deaths that occurred from incidents in Afghanistan. Data includes military civilian deaths. It does not include deaths of service personnel from other countries in the U.S.-led coalition. Data is current as of Aug. 16, 2012

Dirty Politics

Personally, I am tired of dirty politics, attack ads and attack speech.  During this difficult time in American history, It seems that both candidates should be talking to the electorate about constructive ideas on how to "fix" America.  Unfortunately, it appears that dirty politics are an American tradition. The brief transcript below is from Face the Nation (8/19/2012).  I like the last sentence of this transcript:

BOB SCHIEFFER: With all the nastiness we've seen lately, it's easy to wonder, are we headed toward one of the dirtiest campaigns ever? Well, here's a dirty little secret--the short answer is no. As author Lara Brown pointed out in U.S. News and World Report last week America has a long history of ugly presidential campaigns. They haven't gotten worse. They're just following a tradition as old as the Republic. 

Thomas Jefferson's campaign against President John Adams was probably the first really nasty one. Jefferson's supporters accused Adams of being a hermaphrodite with neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman. In response, the Adams' campaign accused Jefferson of being the son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a mulatto father. In the 1828 campaign, John Quincy Adams' supporters called Andrew Jackson a murderer, his mother a prostitute, and his wife an adulteress. 

In 1876 Democrats accused Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes of two heinous crimes shooting his own mother and stealing the pay of dead soldiers while he was a union general. And as Brown points out, the role of the media in all this has not been exactly stellar. In 1896, the New York Times was supporting Republican William McKinley and ran an article about his opponent, William Jennings Bryan titled "Is Bryan crazy." It cited one anonymous source whose identity, the newspaper said, it was not at liberty to give. On and on, it's gone down for the years. Clinton and McCain accused of fathering illegitimate children, the stuff about Obama's birth certificate, and Romney being blamed for the death of a cancer victim. 

So it's nothing new, that's for sure. But, as my mother used to say, just because something has always been that way doesn't mean it's right.

Friday Night Lights

This Friday night, there will be a lot of excitement throughout the state of Mississippi as the yellow buses hit the interstates, highways and back roads, taking high school football teams, bands and cheerleaders towards the enemy.  It doesn't matter if you are driving down Ellis Avenue in West Jackson to Hughes Field or riding the "yella dawg" down to Brookhaven or up to Calhoun City, high school football in Mississippi is about to begin.



Will Nations & Chris Sartin, 2010



I have been going to high school football games for years.  As a young child in Bay St. Louis, I can remember playing under the bleachers with the other kids, throwing crumpled up paper cups back and forth at each other.  I don't remember sitting and watching the game very much but  I do remember wandering over to the chain link fence at half time and watching a twirler in the band who would light her baton as the stadium lights were turned off, tossing the fiery stick high into the air.  At the time, it seemed almost like Cirque Du Soleil.



After my family moved to Jackson, the Jim Hill Tigers became my team and we were pretty terrible.  But football was only one reason that you went to the game on Friday night.  As I had gotten older, I had advanced from below the bleachers to being a member of the student section.



As a non-football player, the game had a social aspect to it.  Often times, my friend, John Slater and I would go to the games together.  I remember one Friday; it was cool, almost cold outside.  I was approached in the hall by a pretty dark haired, buxom girl, who asked, "You want'a go to the game tonight?"  There she stood in front of me, a tight fitting sweater, curves everywhere, her asking me out to the game on a cold night, her dark brown eyes waiting for an answer.  Oh, and I gave her one alright... "I'm going with Slater." Yeah, honestly, that is what I said.   Not many days later I would come to my senses and realize how stupid I had been...  "I'm going with Slater."  What kind of answer was that?   I suppose my social skills equaled our team's talent.

In 1986, I moved to Clinton and have been going to Clinton Arrow football games ever since.  I have seen some very good teams and some not so good teams.  In 2008, my son, Will, began playing football for the Arrows as a kicker/punter. I had always enjoyed the games but all of a sudden I was a nervous wreck every time he touched the field.  It had never occurred to me that when the kicker crosses the line going onto the field, the scoreboard reads one way, and when the kicker returns, the scoreboard should have changed.  Will did well and we endured and honestly, by his second year, all was better for his nervous parents.

There is one thing that I absolutely love about high school football.  As the team at Clinton walks off of the field, you see kids of all sizes, shapes, colors, socio-economic backgrounds and sometimes religions.  They play football together because they love the game, but they also play it for another reason: to represent themselves, their school and their community well.   That alone is reason enough to go and support your local team.  Go Arrows!

Emily Goes to Medical School

Seventeen years ago, I remember sitting on my front porch, camcorder in hand, waiting for my daughter, Emily to arrive on the yellow school bus after her first day of kindergarden.  She came off of the bus with a lively step and while I recorded her, she excitedly told me about her first day.  A few weeks later, at teacher-parent night, I remember her teacher, Miss Antrim (now Mrs. Rayburn) telling us that she complimented Emily on one of her drawings.  She said, "Emily, that's very good.  You might be an artist one day."  Emily replied, "I already am."

Emily has always had a certain confidence about herself and somewhere between kindergarden and Sumner Hill Jr. High, Emily began talking about wanting to be a doctor.  I have always wondered what made her want to be a physician at such an early age.  There is no one in our family who is an M.D. and I know of no one that encouraged her in that direction. BUT, Emily Nations, now Emily Nations Bufkin wanted to go to medical school.  Anyone that knows Emily knows that if she sets her mind to a goal, she generally achieves it, and so she did.  Today, she starts her first true day as a M1/first year medical student (prayers appreciated).

This past Friday, Mary Lea and I went to a parent orientation at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC).  Honestly, I thought I had gone to my last parent orientation for my children but I was incorrect.

From the administrators, we heard about the difficulties of first year medical school, especially the first semester.  I have no doubt that Emily will be able to do well.  She always has, valedictorian at Clinton HS and a 4.0 GPA at Mississippi State while  majoring in biological engineering.   If she will only keep herself as stress free as possible, she will do well.  This means that she will need to accept the fact that she will not be perfect and cannot expect to be so (class averages usually in the mid-80s).  The administrators gave great advice:  Study, Sleep, Eat and Exercise, according to them, these are the essentials of success in medical school. 

Later that day, ML, Granny, Michael and I went to the white coat ceremony.  This is where the M1 students are presented with their short white medical coats.  This is also where the students are asked to recite the Hippocratic oath for the first time.  Needless to say, we are very proud.

As I said earlier, I really do not know what drove Emily to medical school but I certainly hope it was a desire to make a difference.  In a state with the least doctors per capita and the worst health in almost every category, I certainly hope that is why.

A "Good Funeral"

A few weeks ago I attended the graveside service of Wilma Cooper.  Wilma had lived a long and productive life and I wish I had known her better.  She was a strong woman with strong convictions, a woman who was probably ahead of her time in much of the way she thought. 

For some strange reason, I have always enjoyed a "good funeral" and Wilma's graveside service was just that.  It was a celebration of a life that was well lived.  It was a gathering of friends and family in Clinton, MS at the old Clinton Cemetery on a warm summer day.  At Wilma's request, there was no funeral at the church but a simple graveside service. 

Wilma had also requested that all who attended be comfortable, no ties or jackets or suits.  So there we stood in our short sleeved shirts and dresses as the Reverend Linda McComb stood at the graveside podium and preached Wilma's funeral.  Linda, a classmate of mine from Mississippi College, told of a remarkable woman and the salvation that extends beyond the grave. 

Near the end of the service, at the request of the family, Linda read a poem, I Have Not Squandered My Life, written by Joe Cooper, Wilma's husband of 67 years, a wonderful man who holds the respect of all he has ever met.  I liked the poem.  It spoke to me and I wanted to share it.

I Have Not Squandered My Life

I have not squandered all my life.

Some, yes.  Much? Perhaps. But not all.

For I have watched the sun break through clouds mauve and vermilion;

Have sniffed aromas from new-mown hay;

Cuddled fuzzy chicks in bare hands;

Crooned thoughtlessly while rocking sleeping infants;

Caressed, and been caressed.

I have not squandered all my life.

-Joe Cooper

Thank goodness for "good funerals".  Sometimes they encourage us to live a better, less squandered life.

What If Barbour Had Done This?

At the end of Haley Barbour's last term as Governor of Mississippi, he pardoned a large number of prisoners, some of them murderers.  Needless to say, he was criticized not only in his home state of Mississippi  but throughout the United States.  

BUT, what if Barbour had done something just a bit different?  What if instead of a pardon, he had offered to commute the sentence of all prisoners in the Mississippi corrections system who had not been convicted of a violent crime, robbery or burglary (invasion of another persons property)?  This commutation would have excluded murderers, rapists, armed robbers, burglars,home invaders, child molesters and other violent offenders from a pardon but would have included those convicted of drug crimes such as possession, bad checks, fraud, embezzlement, etc.


A commuted sentence is not the same thing as a pardon.  When someone is pardoned, a state official forgives the crime that the prisoner was convicted of, and waives the punishment without qualifications.  However, when a sentence is commuted, the criminal is not forgiven, and the commutation may be conditional, which is key.

What if Barbour's deal for a commuted sentence had contained one major caveat?   That caveat being that if the prisoner accepts the commuted sentence, they would agree to leave the state of Mississippi immediately for the remainder of their term.  That's right, the price of freedom would be to go and live in a state outside of Mississippi for the remainder of their term.   Any violation of this clause (residence in or visitation inside the state lines of Mississippi) would send the commuted felon back to prison to serve out the remaining sentence.

One of the reasons that a sentence is commuted is because it appears that the punishment may be  excessive.  In this case, the excessive punishment would not necessarily be for the convicted felon but more for the taxpayer who foots the bill for each inmate at an average cost of $41.47 per inmate (2010 MDOC data) per day.

As of August 1, 2012, the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) housed 25,649 prisoners.  If the prisoners of MDOC were a city, they would be the 11th largest city in Mississippi, approximately the size of Clinton, MS.

Those 25,649 prisoners at a rate of $41.47 per inmate equal $1,063,664 per day.  That is a $388,237,360 tax burden on Mississippi's citizens each year.

At present, during these hard economic times, the U.S. and Mississippi have too many people incarcerated at too large a cost to the taxpayer.  If Barbour, who was never in support of tax increases, had been a bit more creative in his release of prisoners, he could have at least helped the people of Mississippi with tax relief by reducing the cost of operating our prisons.

MDOC statistics show the following breakdown of the number of inmates and their offense:  Violent 7773 / Sex 2763 / Drug 7240 / and Property 7840.  If half of the drug related and property offense related inmates had been given commuted sentences due to their lack of bodily injury against another person or invasion of another person's property, that would have decreased the prison population by 7,540 less prisoners.

The release of 7,540 inmates from our prisons and state borders would have saved the taxpayers of Mississippi $312,683 per day and $114,129,587 annually.

The sad thing is, if Barbour had commuted the sentences of over 7,500 prisoners, he would have probably been seen of as being "soft on crime" instead of a budgetary genius and humanitarian.  That is the state of politics in 2012.

For the U.S., Mississippi and Madison County, Time Will Tell

A couple of months ago a friend of mine, Mark McComb, a professor at the School of Business at Mississippi College told me about demographic data that had been published in the Wall Street Journal on May 17, 2012.  He was kind enough to send me a link to his blog which contained the story.

After looking at the data, it becomes apparent that if we can't figure out how to get along better racially and politically then we are going to have a difficult time, nationally, statewide and on a local level.  The Wall Street Journal story breaks down the country, state by state, county by county.  One map shows the current demographic percentage that is minority.  The next map shows the racial makeup of the county using the data of non-white children under the age of five.  The map change will be significant throughout the United States and in Mississippi.

If you go by the theory that ninety percent of all black voters will vote Democrat, then the Republican Party must make immediate changes to be more inclusive of those who are not white.  In some ways, inclusion is not necessary for the Democrats, which is sad.  From the data that I reviewed, they simply have time on their side. 

On a very local level, Madison County, Mississippi, currently is 55.8% white.  The population under the age of five in that same county is 44.9%.  That could be a significant swing racially and politically in a local metro county.  Could Madison County have a majority minority Board of Supervisors in twenty years?  It is possible.   Would that same board be majority Democrat?  Probably. 

Other counties with similar demographic shifts in Mississippi are Amite, Attala, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Forrest, Grenada, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Montgomery, Neshoba, Oktibbeha, Scott, Walthall and Winston.

Hopefully, and to be honest, I don't have a lot of hope, I would love to see two things:  First, a Mississippi Democratic Party that had the ability to truly organize itself and to get over the "we're going to get you back" mentality as it relates to race inside their party.  Second, a Mississippi Republican Party that has the ability to "get over itself" and take a stand that is somewhere right of right of center instead of the extreme far right.  Inclusion is the key word for both parties.

A black Democratic party and a white Republican party will not be good for Mississippi.  Time will tell and time is on the Democrats side.