Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / The LINK's Meryl Fisackerly PLUS MUW post-Nora Miller & Police Chief Looks to Leave

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The LINK's Meryl Fisackerly PLUS MUW post-Nora Miller & Police Chief Looks to Leave · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what he has come up with today to talk about.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not asking you to hide anything.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, put it out there.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let the people see it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: I've never not worked in a hostile working environment.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: You can't argue with anybody when they're putting facts in your face.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Zach, that's a hard question.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: I have no answer for it.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: From the opinion page of the commercial dispatch.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is between the headlines.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_04: The dispatch has reason to believe that Chief Daughtery has one foot out the door, and you bet we are going to talk about that today.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: Likewise, President Nora Miller has announced her retirement effective the end of this semester.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_04: And the crime lab in Columbus.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: That is a big story, and you'll be surprised how much of a deal that is.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: And in the studio today, we have Meryl Fasakerly of the Golden Triangle Development Link, and I bet she has a lot to say about the future.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_04: But first, retirement looks different for everyone, so your plan should be built around you.
• 1:07
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• 1:19
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• 1:22
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• 1:27
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• 1:33
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• 1:39
  SPEAKER_04: Call Bentons at 662-657-2583 or visit them online at Bentonsinc.com, that is BentonsINC.com.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, the locally owned bank that makes decisions right here at home by people who understand the needs of our community.
• 2:00
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• 2:05
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• 2:17
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• 2:22
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• 2:27
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome to season two of Between the Headlines with a guy who refuses to admit to me that he purchased a Powerball ticket at the New Hope Sprint Mart.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_04: Zach, I thought we were friends.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't me.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: But it is what it is, and Zach is also the managing editor at the dispatch, and my name is David Chisholm.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_04: So for today, welcome to Catfish Alley Studio, where it is.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: T plus nine days since the completion of the Columbus.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_05: I saw your Facebook post on New Year's Eve, and I I wrote out several different versions of a comment, and then I'm like, you know what?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: No, I'm just gonna let him have his moment.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_05: Was it cold out there that night?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: It was chilly.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: It was an exclusive New Year's Eve concert featuring the ghost of John Cage performing his renowned four minutes and 33 seconds, and it was wild.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you know, I think I have a really good uh and this is a serious uh suggestion.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_05: I think I have a really good first act for the amphitheater uh once it gets going.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_05: Dude, I came across uh this guy, his name's Lamont Landers.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: He's on uh social media everywhere.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_05: I came across his Facebook.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_05: You need to look him up.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_04: Look it look him up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, is he gonna beat John Cage, though?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_04: The guy showed up in his kayak.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna tell you the amphitheater is not this half-eaten plate of lasagna that people think it is.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's got a bathroom if if you're a man, you know, and the price, I shall say, is unbeatable.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh attendance.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_04: Look, man, you don't think I'm gonna talk about this.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_04: Attendance was lacking.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um there were actually three people there.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_04: It was me, Rufus Ward, who of course is not gonna miss a ghost on the Tom Bigby and Grandpa Hull actually was there who was impressed with the speed and progress of Mayor Jones' work.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: For those who can't pick up satire on their own.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, lots of fun out there, and based on Facebook, the whole of Columbus will be there next year.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_04: Uh probably shoot some fireworks and listen to the sounds of campaign promises slowly and gently drifting out to sea.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_04: All right, Zach is glad that I'm done with that.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: So our very first guest for 2026 is Miss Merrill Fisakerly of the Golden Triangle Link.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: And we are so glad that you are here today, and I am also glad that it is a new year for this area and for development in general.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: So welcome to the studio.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, David.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you all for having me, and happy new year to you both.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to be here.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_05: Well, thank you.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_05: And and let me just jump in with the first question here.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: I was I was at the uh the uh chamber banquet where you uh spoke.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_05: And I mean the it's been it 2025 was a wild year for the link, and you and you acknowledge that in your own way.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_05: So let me just start.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_05: How are you guys doing?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: We're good.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: So we're everybody's really good.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: I will say we've got a very capable and confident staff.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: We are very fortunate to have all the players in place that we do internally.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm really proud of us for you know really seeing through that crazy wild year and being able to just um maintain the momentum.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we were able to just never miss a beat.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: So we have still been able to do all things economic development from a three-county regional standpoint.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: So um I'm proud of our team and I'm glad that we have the team that we have.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_05: Kind of digging into that a little bit more, you're the chief operating officer.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_05: Uh that title, as far as I know, hasn't changed to this point.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's correct.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_05: Um but how I guess has the role changed as the search for a new director is ongoing?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's been a balance.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, um I commend the board, they're doing their due diligence that they should be doing in this nationwide CEO search that they are going on.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so as far as my role and what I've had to do is it's just changed from not just being a bird's eye view, but kind of being the 757 view and try having to see the organization um just from a whole different perspective.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, still doing that operational uh role and maintaining the staff and making sure everything is met in that way, but then also really stepping into making sure we don't miss out on anything from a development standpoint.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: So um it's changed a lot.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's it's been it's been interesting to kind of try to balance it all.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: So you've got spinning plates, constantly.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_05: Well, so you've got your foot in both worlds right now.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_05: I do.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I will say this, you know, I went even before all of our leadership changes and whatnot, I was still very I was very active beyond just like uh operational roles, if that makes sense.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, prior to being the COO, I was the vice president for economic development.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: And then before that, I was a project manager.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I really have learned the business from STEM to stern.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: I have been involved in a lot of project work, so none of that was new to me.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: It was just um maybe putting my focus back on that a little bit more.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but my involvement with LCIDA and with all of our project work through all my years of being there, that that never really went away.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's just maybe you saw me being more of the operational standpoint and didn't realize what I was doing behind the scenes.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell How did y'all re-establish or affirm relationships that y'all had already built, contacts that y'all had already built, leads that y'all were already pursuing for projects?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Oh, well, none of those, I mean, we were very fortunate.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: None of those really had to be re-established.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, reaffirmed probably somewhat.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: We had to do that.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, our relationship with like MDA, that has never changed because our organization is Mississippi Development Authority.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: That is Mississippi Development Authority, yes.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: Our relationship with them has never changed throughout the course.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: They are always supportive of our organization.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: We've got Cinco.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: They realize the asset that that is.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's one of their most, if not the most, um, clicked on site that they have for their website.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: So um they're always going to be a partner for us.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, from like a national um perspective, we've got a national reputation.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: We have a national brand, and we're very fortunate to have that.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, I've tried to maintain that, you know, I'm involved on uh south southern um southeastern, excuse me, southeastern boards and state boards.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I've tried to maintain that presence and you know, maintain our brand and our reputation, not just from a local standpoint, but from a state and just a whole entire national standpoint.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: So a lot of those, I mean, those relationships have were established, and I think it a lot of people still knew who the team was and they're still ready to work with the team that's there.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: That brand is a big deal, and from your purview, you deal with a lot of politicians, uh, many in Jackson, some nationally, I suppose.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: Are they really paying attention to what's happening locally and regionally?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_04: And I guess my question to you is uh uh have they put that brand as something that is us, the people, or are there politicians that have affixed that brand to a certain figure of the past?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: No, I our the political support from a region and a state standpoint has remained constant throughout.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't have anything, you know, I guess negative to say about our local governmental officials and their support of the organization.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think, you know, at first it was maybe like a shock for all of them to kind of deal with in their own ways, but we have not seen anyone that is anti-link or doesn't want to support the link.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that that brand has not just been uh hyper focused.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't think anybody's hyper focused on maybe one person that used to be with that brand.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, but there is gonna be a next person that's gonna be with that brand.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's the inevitable for this year.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, I do.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_05: To the extent and I'll have a follow-up to that question.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_05: You always have a follow-up, Zach.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uh to the to the extent that you can discuss this or feel comfortable discussing this, I mean I think it's fair to say that the previous uh CEO uh established the brand a certain way, had successes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_05: Next person up in that position, uh what do they need to bring to the table to keep the momentum that you're talking about going?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think they need to be prepared to um m have the relationships already or be able to establish the relationships like we just talked about on a state and on a regional beyond just the Golden Triangle region.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think a southeastern region and a national level.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like they need to be able to have relationships or be prepared to make relationships with site selectors all across the country because our organization has those and um we rely heavily on those.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, we're directly marketing Cinco to site selectors, and that's not something that a lot of other places always get to do and can do.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I think they need to be prepared for that.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think they need to be prepared for the momentum that we already have and be able to keep that going.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Okay.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_05: So what does that person look like in your mind?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean From a qu from a qualification and from a just personal quality and presentation standpoint.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell I think what that person looks like to me all depends on what my role in that is.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, my it's Have you applied for the position?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Zach, what do you think?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm not gonna put words in your mouth.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I know you're not gonna put words in my mouth, but let me say this.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I have worked at that organization for eight years.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: I have been uh certified in more than one in one way.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: I am a certified economic and community developer, and that is our national certification.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Economic development is very niche.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um I serve on numerous boards.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um I have been very intimate in all of the project work that we have done over the last eight years.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um I have worked my way through the ranks, as one would say, um, and I take a lot of pride in what I do, and I really love what I do.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: So um I thought it might be a good idea to throw my name in the hat.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: So going back to if it's you or if it's somebody else.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: Let me ask this question the opposite way.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Who is that person not?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's not somebody that doesn't want to get their their their boots dirty.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's not somebody that just wants to um, I guess kind of like be in the headlights.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, be in the, you know, be in the lights.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's somebody that really wants to get to work is what that is.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_04: That's someone that carries a giant pair of scissors for ribbon cuttings in the back of your vehicle.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it can't just be somebody that is, you know, wanting to just cut a bunch of ribbons.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, do we want announcements?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: We absolutely do.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that our community or our region um gets a little impatient.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I understand that.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not none of this, I'm not saying any of that is a fault.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we've got Cinco, we've announced Cinco, and everybody is just adamant to get a tank, a tenant for Cinco, and that is valid, it really is.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: But I we have to, myself mainly, have to remind people constantly about, you know, look at the Infinity Mega site, which is what now houses aluminum dynamics.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: It took a while.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: That was a 10-year process.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: And throughout that 10 years, from announcing that mega site to landing the tenant for that mega site, we were infrastructuring that mega site.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: We were paving Charlie Ford Drive.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we were laying the water lines, we were laying the sewer lines as the money became available to do that.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it was a uh as it became available, you could do it until that site was just ready to go and look what the outcome was.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was well worth the wait.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're gonna have to remind ourselves on that for Cinco.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: We really are.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: I do I think that Cinco could have a tenant this year or the next year.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't think that um everything that's going to happen in between now and then is invalid or not worth the time to do.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Taking Cinco specifically, do you think that the expectations there are, you know, maybe Lowndes County in particular kind of being a victim of its own success.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: When they looked at Infinity, they were like, okay, this is how this works.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_05: So now they're looking at ADI.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: So Well, and I mean, being a victim of your own success isn't always necessarily a bad thing.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I mean, you want to keep that can that momentum and you want to have that success.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: And nobody's faulting Lowndes County or the region at all for wanting to keep that going.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, we can and we will keep that going.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, to your point earlier, you know, it's an ebb and a flow and it's a whole entire process and it's a it sometimes is a waiting game.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, Lowndes County has a lot that they've got to take care of that's already here.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: We are so fortunate to have our industrial base that we do have.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, you've got to make sure you're maintaining and taking care of that as well.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's just one of those things.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Economic development is, I mean, I don't want to say a jack of all trades, you know, but it is being able to balance and being able to understand, you know, business retention.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's a huge part of what we do and expansion.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: So taking care of the businesses that you have, maintaining them, seeing that their needs are met, making sure that they can expand here.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because when people, I do think it kind of go, I don't want to say goes over their heads, but you know, when somebody like PAC Carr reinvests in your community by doing an expansion like the remanufacturing facility and the internal capital investment that they've done, that is not anything just to like, you know, let go by the wayside, I mean just not pay attention to.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: That is then them saying, you know, we believe in your community, we believe in this workforce, we want to be here, we want to reinvest here.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: Sort of from a logistics standpoint, talking about Cynco, and then I want to secondarily ask about the ADI customer campus in the same way.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_05: What can people expect to see as far as timeline-wise, what are they gonna see next, and then after that, so start with Cinco Um to where people just kind of understand or or maybe reintroduce to the process of making a site like this work?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a great point.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: So the next thing you're gonna see on Cynco is you're gonna see the water tank being built.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: So that'll be the first vertical structure that's going to be out there.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: And this has all been planned and funded, which is a huge step as far as Cinco is concerned.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: The water tank, the water lines, the upgrading the pumping sewer station, and the sewer lines that all have to be laid um for Cinco.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: All of that is gonna start taking place next year.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um but the first big thing So this year.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, we're in 2026.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you for that.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: All that's gonna be taking place this year.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: So the first thing you're gonna see is the water tank that will be for serving servicing the Cinco mega site.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: And from there, uh Well, from there, you know, realistically, like this is what we do for economic development.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: If anybody comes in while all that's happening and says, like, I want to locate on Cinco and they're the right fit and they're the right project for Cinco, well, you know, building a building takes what, 18 to 24 a month.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: So all of those things can then start happening in tandem because they're still going to need those water and those sewer lines.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: So whether a tenant is, you know, announced or not, those things will continue to happen.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: It'll just that prop timeline will then start following that tenant's timeline in a sense.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, once all that happens then and we're simultaneously marking it, marketing it, you know, you could see the tenant being announced this year, next year, or you know, six months, eighteen months.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, five years.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: That was the original goal, was five years.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_04: As you market these things, I'm wondering what your um, I guess, preference is when when you go out and and you seek but and and when I say this, I'm speaking from the standpoint of there are those out there in Mississippi and in Lowndes County in particular who are worried that we're getting a little heavy with solar panels and data centers and things like that.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, if we're not careful, we're gonna hurt our forests and we're gonna hurt our wetlands.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_04: Does that play into your thinking as as you talk to different companies around the world?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Sh absolutely.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I think maybe what Zach was kind of touching on earlier is maybe like a little bit more information of like the type of tenant we might see that would come to Cinco because you know, we look at data centers.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: They're so they're so big right now.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, you look at Cinco and it is a huge footprint as far as not just land, but also utility.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: So the end user for Cynco um could be anything, you know, metals related.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: It could be a data center related.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I will say that Cinco, given the investment, given the size of it, you probably aren't gonna see just a little$50 million project announced on Cinco.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna see what we call in our business a whale because it's a whale, that that site is what's gonna chase a whale of a project to locate there.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_05: So to that whale, everybody has seen now the the B-word, the billion.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, the billion.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: I was thinking of the B word.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_05: The billion.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_05: So if 500 million comes into Cinco, is that something that like heck yeah, we're happy to have it?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean a 500, I mean, 500, you know, we again we tend to forget that, you know, just a few years ago announcing 200 million was like a heck of a win.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: And it still is a great win.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that still is a great tax base to put into your community, a$200 million project, you know.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um that is not anything that anybody should sneeze at.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: So a$500 million project, yeah, because what happens if you have a$500 million project that walks in the door and they only need a hundred acres of land?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're not saying no to that.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: So, or I'm not saying no to that.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Are you saying no to that, Zach?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Are you gonna go to the politicians and say, well, we said no to that?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: No, you're not gonna do that.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: So um sure, you could see a lot and that's the other thing about projects these days and businesses, and to your point, like how they're scaling and what they're doing, you might see some of these projects with with the B behind it that their footprint doesn't need near as much as what we've seen in the past.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's the that theoretically could happen as well.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: Small modular reactors.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: Those are those, yes, yes.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if something like that would be what would be on Cinco, but I've heard all the buzz about those all throughout, you know, the power, the power worlds.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_05: And and sort of wrapping back around to that ADI customer camp, so I know you've got Klockner.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_05: Um so what's kind of the the timeline there or the projection there for filling those spaces up?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_05: And and to what extent is the link involved in that?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Ross Powell So um we are, you know, we have a great relationship with aluminum dynamics and steel dynamics, and they are our partners because they are our current industries, and so but they own that land.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so the tenants that are gonna go in that customer park will be, I guess you could say, at their discretion.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: However, we won't be uninvolved because um that park is served by the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority and the link manages the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: I serve as their administrator by chance.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, if that company is gonna need water and sewer, we'll be able to help service them, um, provide that for them.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll be um involved in that aspect.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, all of you know, everyone on that campus, that's a the fee and lie was set for that campus when the aluminum dynamics deal was done.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: So the tax, you know, kind of incentives have already been set.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um MDA could still offer some discretionary incentives to the company and we'd be involved in that um aspect of it as well.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_05: But they're coming to you and saying we want these guys.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh aluminum dynamics is coming to us and saying, you know, like Clockner is a customer of theirs.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: So they've I they they'll come to us and they'll say, we've identified this company that we want to locate on our customer park.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: We've platted them on this lot.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: Can you help us um with the utility aspect and the incentive aspect of this?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: And we say, absolutely.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_05: But it really takes y'all out of the need to convince them to come.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, we don't have to actively market that customer park like we are doing something like Cinco or the North Star Park in Starville.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you that's really more aluminum dynamics marketing.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Because I mean, again, it's their customer park.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: And the it's similar at Steel Dynamics.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Steel Dynamics has customers all around them on their facility and on their campus.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a similar um situation just across the street.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_05: And I want to shift now into the workforce development side of this and kind of where that is right now, um just through the grapevine hearing examples of you know people who've gone through EMCC programs for the uh I'm trying to get this certification so I can qualify for this job.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_05: They go and apply for those jobs and sometimes they're being told, from what I understand, hey, you don't have what you need.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean, is that something y'all are hearing?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_05: Is that something y'all are having to deal with?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I have not personally no, I've not gotten any phone call or anything from anyone saying I've gone and tried to do this program and now I can't get a job at XYZ company.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um so that is not anything that I've had to deal with yet.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um if that is something that's happening, you know, I'd love to work with EMCC and these companies because that is something that, you know, we really be in the link, linking, connecting, we need to make sure that we we're having a hold on or, you know, a say-so or a hand-in if that is a problem that's happening, because we need to be helping these companies connect with uh East Mississippi and making sure that these students are coming out with everything they need to be ready to go on the job day one at these companies.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it sounds like a deal.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, get these get these young folks that already live here as opposed to these folks that have families elsewhere and you know, build up what we've got, keep the brain drain from happening.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Maintaining our workforce here and you know, making sure that uh everybody wants to live not just work in this region, but live and stay in this region as well.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's a big that's a big thing, too.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, let me let me back up here because in the past there has been some negative chatter around the effectiveness of workforce development, participation in workforce development programs, recruitment for those programs, and those were the previous CEO of the link was uh, you know, maligned at times, those efforts.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_05: How do you see how those are going?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_05: What is y'all's relationship with EMCC, the communiversity?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um, how are y'all engaged in that process for uh workforce development and how do you see it working from where you're sitting?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: So um we're involved with East Mississippi Community College.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we had Dr.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: Busby in our office just a couple of weeks ago before we announced Firehawk.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: He came to meet with Firehawk just to meet the company, to meet their um, you know, CEO, to understand what their workforce needs were gonna be, to let them know that there's workforce dollars out there to help them not just uh recruit but train as well, really train.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so that, you know, is not any that there's no rub there for us.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we we work with them, we involve them.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: Accelerate Mississippi is another workforce development arm that um we have, and we have a relationship with them.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: Ray Hollis, which Ray is like a Swiss Army knife.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he is fabulous.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: And when he got that job, I said, I'm so excited for you, Ray.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, Well, they're a little, you know, sad.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, rightfully so.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: I hate that, but he's gonna be such a great person in that role because he knows all the programs and all the things at EMCC and how that works.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then now he's gonna be at the state level with their monies and their programs, and he's just gonna be really it's gonna be really great to watch him mesh all that together and you know, make that all kind of one unit.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we but we've heard about empty parking lots at the community.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: We have um the throughput, the what they're putting through as far as students, you know.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um I haven't gotten their latest enrollment numbers, so I can't tell you if they're just like skyrocketing through the roof.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I do think that EMCC is going to have to make sure that they are constantly throughputting the people because it but I mean that's just basic economics, right?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: And you if you're not putting through enough people, then you're not gonna be able to fill these jobs.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: So um that is something that they need to make sure they are still focusing on is getting enough students through these programs.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_05: I know y'all got that fire district out there.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I know y'all have already had a and I know they've already been put to work at the you know biochar facility.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um so kind of want to uh uh take those in uh in in turn here.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_05: First of all, the biochar facility, when are when are they gonna be back up and going?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: So to my understanding, I mean there's th they only were they only had to kind of shut down the one part that was affected by the um the ax or excuse me, the explosion, I think is the technical term for that.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: So that was really the only part that had to be shut down.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_03: The rest of it is still being uh able to be operational.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't think it was a full shutdown to my understanding out there.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: So once they get that kind of uh mitigated, I think that's already been kind of rebuilt, then they'll be back at full capacity, is really what they're waiting to do.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh as far as timeline on that, I don't have an exact uh exact date for when that will be.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think there was a lot of things, you know, that they they were gonna have to um internally do before they could, you know, to really say when that is.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_05: And as far as the fire district, can you in layman's terms kind of explain how that was established and what y'all are trying to do now?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: So technically that fire district is hopefully being established.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: The legislation for that fire district is being presented at this session that we've just entered into right now.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: So and that what that is gonna do is aluminum dynamics built the fire station and um equipped it.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: And we as um the community are going to the legislation and asking for a fire district to be established.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: And that goes that encompasses the entire industrial park.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um and what that allows is for then a tax to be levied on the industries within that park to then support that fire station and those efforts and those rescue efforts.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um aluminamics will then gift the station and the equipment all to the county for it to be, you know, maintained and operated by the county.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll be its own district, just like you know, district it all the other districts within the county.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_05: But the but the industries themselves will be.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: They will be the ones they will yes, essentially they through a tax levy will be funding the operations of the fire, um, fire and rescue center.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: Well, looking down the road, if I recall, Joe said this will be the final mega site for this area.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: And if that is the case, what is the future for the link and for the area in terms of development?
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I mean, I don't know if the final mega site for the area is necessarily like, you know, set in stone.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: The cold hard gospel set in stone.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's uh I don't uh it it could be the last back to my previous point.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, it could be the last one we see for the next five to ten years, you know, it could take five to ten years to get a tenant for this mega site, just like we saw um on Infinity.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: But um as far as development-wise, you know, North Star Park still has a lot of land available.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: We've still got a lot of development that we want to do at North Star, um, along with Clay County.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: They've still got a lot of industrial land over there that we're looking to develop.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: So as far as product, you know, even if we land a tenant on Cinco, um, we have other product that we're currently marketing and will continue to market.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, there is still, we're land-rich around this area, and there are still other potential places that we could have a mega site down the road.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think that should be something that whoever the next person in this seat is, or in the link CEO seat is, they need to be prepared to look down the road and say, when we land a tenant for Cinco, like where do we go next?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because um, this community, I think, wants to always keep that momentum going.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: This whole region wants to keep the momentum going, as we should, you know.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I don't, I'm not gonna say that this is the last mega site we'll ever have.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, last question I have, you're looking at the region.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_05: We've we've asked a lot about Lownds County and Columbus, and that's sort of what we center on here between the headlines.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_05: But uh the link is regional.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_05: The link is regional.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_05: And so looking at Starbilk Tibbajal, looking at uh West Point Clay, um affirming with them y'all's commitment and y'all's and y'all's partnership, and then what does success look like in those places moving forward?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Um To your point, yes.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: I mean the link is regional, and the link's regional model is one that all over has been people have tried to recreate.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: So um it's a good model and it works well here, and it's something that we need to always remind ourselves that we're fortunate to have this regional model because it's a pool of resources, and so it really does help all of the communities to be one region.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: So all three counties to be one region.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um and you know, as far as uh Octavah County and Clay County, they've um, as I've just said, they've still got a lot of available industrial land.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so um their outlook is good.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we do still work closely with the mayor and and Startville and North Star, and we've got tenants that are, we've got projects that are looking at North Star right now.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think their future is filling up that park um and same with uh Clay County, they've got a large, um, a large project, one of those B projects that's looking at them right now.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: So um all the all three of the communities are very well positioned for success over the next, you know, at least five to ten years.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_05: Anything you want to add?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this has been fun.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yes, it has been fun.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it has been.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_03: Here comes David.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's been fun.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: Like I have been on a roller coaster ride, and I'm just touring all these things coming up and all these jobs becoming available, and uh the future does look bright.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_04: We'll see how it turns out.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_04: And we wish the very best of luck to you in your endeavors, and um hopefully the large pair of scissors in the trunk of your vehicle will be coming out, and Tate Reeves will come into town and we'll have more smiles and giggles.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_04: And we'll talk about it here on the program, yeah?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was gonna say here, here, here to 26.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, cheers to that.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_04: You've been listening to Between the Headlines, and our guest has been COO of the Columbus, excuse me, the Golden Triangle Development Link, Miss Merrill Fasacerly.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, guys.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: The Good for Business Podcast features interviews, tips, and tricks from owners, operators, and innovators.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_02: Here are the inspiring stories of growth and life lessons from guests in Mississippi and around the world.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: Hosted by entrepreneur, fundraiser, and real estate broker Colin Krieger, the podcast is based right here in the Golden Triangle community.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_04: We can talk about our first story of the year, and that is Chief Daughtery with one foot out the door.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_04: I suppose he is no longer our virtuous maiden.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um where are we with this?
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_04: Is his can is his hand in the cookie jar, sir?
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_05: Oh well, I mean, hand in the cookie jar is uh has a uh implication that I don't think we're trying to make here.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_05: But um uh yeah, he's uh he's a finalist for the it was announced by the city of Jackson that he was a final uh he is a finalist for the police chief job for Jackson Police Department.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_05: And interestingly and importantly, how did we find out about this?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, Jackson the City of Jackson announced it in a press release, put his picture and and part of his bio with it.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um and then you know, it's it's being covered pretty well statewide now.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, you know, we talked to some city officials around here attempted to talk to Daltrey, but he wouldn't talk to us.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I I will start with this.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_05: This man is making that 12 months without a murder in Columbus go as far, get as much he's trying to get as much goodie from that as he possibly can.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_05: That's uh that's something that was in the press release.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_04: Well, uh to be fair, that's a big deal, and to be fair, that's something to be congratulated about.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_04: But there's a lot of people out there that think that our murderers here are like the stormtroopers.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_04: They just can't land a shot.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_05: Right, right, right.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_05: If there hadn't been any shootings in 12 months, I would I would be a little more uh uh I would be a little more excited about his point, but he had as much to do with there being 12 months without a murder here as the lady that's pushing the shopping cart down 45.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, you know, so but I mean whatever works, right?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_05: This has been a rumor that he applied for this job uh for a long time.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_05: Uh good on him if he gets it.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, also uh good on uh Mayor Stephen Jones for kind of the attitude that he uh, you know, I what he said was that he doesn't fault him for for trying.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_05: He doesn't fault any city employee for uh try trying to apply for a job that'll pay more or be better for their family or help them advance.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and you know, I have no reason to believe he feels differently.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_05: Um so good on him for that because I think that that's a uh a major deal that keeps people from from applying for jobs or for from or and keeps cities from releasing those finalists.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that's good for Jackson to release the release the finalists.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_05: I've got more to say about that in a moment.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_05: But um you know he's trying to better himself, he's trying to advance, he's he's trying to go to a bigger department.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_05: He's been here you know, a little over three years.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't blame him for one bit.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's just an advancement of career for him.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's just like any coach in a sport or whatever.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_04: My only thing that I don't like about it is is I'm worried about the um uh how this is going to bode with the report among the department.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that that we've already got controversy and the threat of blue flu there.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh this can't help that, or can it?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_05: Uh well, I mean uh it it probably affirms it in in in a lot of ways, but you know, you do have to ask uh with Daughtry, because I think that these are fair questions, uh is this purely a move to advance and get uh new scenery?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_05: Because I mean he stayed at previous positions and has moved up to larger departments, you know, in two to three incre two to three year increments at a time already.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_05: So sort of, you know, based on his pattern, time to move on to something else.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I think that's probably part of it.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_05: But you you can't help but ask if he feels like the walls are kind of closing around him here because uh, you know, not only do you have the blue flu from uh uh threat from uh couple of months ago where officers were saying, you know, we're not being treated right, we're being unfairly asked to be on call without being paid overtime for it, et cetera, et cetera.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_05: And so we're just not gonna show up.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know to what extent that actually happened, but they did publicly threaten it.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um so I mean that shows a fissure in the department as far as if he has control of his officers.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_05: But the other thing that has been happening since really this new administration began is uh you know, at the beginning of this term we had meeting after meeting after meeting.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_05: You hardly had a city council meeting where they didn't have an executive session where they were disciplining officers or firing officers for this, that, or the other.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_05: And so there were a lot of disciplinary issues in the police department that were being dealt with.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_05: And that has slowed down a little bit, but it hasn't stopped.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so you wonder if you wonder if he's feeling those walls closing in, that those expectations are like to say that.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_05: You don't have your arms around this and you need to get your arms around this or do something else.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_04: So maybe he doesn't have that four to two vote anymore, and that kind of changes the dynamic with City Hall.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: Is that what I'm hearing?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: You said that I didn't.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'll say anything behind this mic.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's just how I am.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, his numbers are good.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: We we talked about that.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I mean, on paper at least they're good, but but I don't know about his PR.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, you look back at the scandal, I hate to bring it up, but I will bring it up.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh as far as uh the the the public dealings, uh, I don't think he's healed from that just yet.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: What say you?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I think that whether Daltrey leaves, um I I'll go ahead and say this today, whether Daltrey leaves for this Jackson job or he uh doesn't get this job and moves on at a different time and to a different place.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_05: For me and for a lot of members of the public, I think his legacy here is going to be that wreck and how he handled it.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: And how two officers lied about who was to blame for it, and how someone who had a DUI on his record and was working as a city police officer walked out of the hospital without a drug test, and that the drug test results that he allegedly took at the crime lab the next day have never materialized in any sort of meaningful way in any sort of meaningful place.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh to me it's hard to define his tenure here any other way.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: And it's hard to c it's hard to just get over.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I had a Columbus City police uh officer behind me the other day, and I'm I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but it I it it's just not a good feeling.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_04: And and I think it traces back to to trust.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_04: I want the people in blue to be uh those who are of utmost respect and and utmost trust, and most of them are unmistakably, but just the emotion behind it because of everything that happened, it is hard to get over.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_04: There's no question about that.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_04: And maybe he'll be a good fit in Jackson.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I I want to say too, and this is something that we fight for here when it happens, uh this is uh sort of a pivot to this uh pivot in this subject.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um it's something that we fight for here when big positions are open and they're trying to hire for them, whether it be school superintendent, police chief, fire chief, uh COO, CFO of the city, whatever county.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um and and Jackson played it right.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_05: They got there finally.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_05: They told the public who they were considering being the next police chief for Jackson.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_05: That gives the citizens of Jackson now the opportunity to um look at all of them, read about them, ask about them, figure out things about, ask questions to them about them, to their councilman, uh to the mayor, whomever, about you know, why this person?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_05: Did you know about this?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_05: Gives them the opportunity to do their own research about the people who are going to be uh one of whom is going to be leading their law enforcement agency.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that is so important.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: I think it is very important for the citizens of Jackson to be able to say, why did that guy walk out of that hospital without taking a drug test?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_05: That's odd.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_05: Also, why was he still working for the police department when he had a DUI?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_05: That's odd.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_05: But there are a lot of people, and there are there have been times even in Columbus where there has been resistance for abortion.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, well, uh so-and-so has applied for a position and we're considering them as a finalist.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but if we say anything about it, or if we release that name, it's a privacy issue for them because then their uh current employer might know and might take uh, you know, might if they're not hired, then they've got to go back to that old.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_05: That's just the price of doing business when you're in in in a public sphere, period.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_05: And there's a lot of people who think that's a very callous and coarse way of looking at that, but it is just what it is.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_05: And good on Jackson releasing those uh those finalists for that reason.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_05: I think that that should happen every time, whether it's a school superintendent, fire chief, CFO, COO, whatever.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_04: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you and I are in agreement about that.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm always in favor of transparency, and I think what this amplifies really and truly is the role of the press and just uh your ability and the dispatch's ability and and others to to bring these skeletons when they occur.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_05: It's not a skeleton to apply for another job.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_04: No, not the applying for the job, but the things that that the people in other towns are gonna talk about.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're gonna talk about this stuff, and they're gonna be like, well, I don't know.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, the the the dynamic in Jackson is obviously gonna be different than it is here.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_04: They're not the friendly city, crime is materially higher.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_04: But I'll tell you at the end of the day, I don't think he's gonna get it.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: I just don't.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_04: He may be tired of us, he may be tired of between the headlines, he may be tired of transparency and accountability, but we're not slowing down on that regard.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: I wish him well in the crime fighting, and I hope we can improve morale here.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: But this right here does muddy the water at the very least.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Zach, for sure, at the end of this semester, we will be bidding fairly well to Miss Nora Miller, uh, who has tendered her resignation uh retirement, rather, retirement.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's an important distinction.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, she she's not in trouble or anything.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_04: And so uh this leaves MUW, I think, in an interesting position.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh where do we start with this?
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_05: Uh well I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, actually, David.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I think she's done a great job there in terms of the numbers.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: You look at um at her tenure there, she has held her own.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_04: I would give her an A in terms of uh her primary roles, which are enrollment and um you know completing the degrees, things like that.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_04: Uh in the fall of 2025, we saw an uptick of 8%, best in the state.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so they're they're very high.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_04: We're very high in the um completion rate, and she has maintained MUW as a great value.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it was a great value when she started, it's a great value now, uh, even as she departs.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and and she's had a lot of stuff thrown at her in the case.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_04: Not just the MSMS thing that she didn't particularly sign up for, but the pandemic.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, all this stuff together.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so I you I can't blame her for for being ready to move on to next things.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_04: I just please don't like screw it up on your way out the door.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think she will.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of where I am with it.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_04: Look.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_04: She might not, but there are other people involved in this.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_05: Well, and we'll talk about some of them in a second.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_05: But Nora Miller did not handle the MSMS thing perfectly.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_05: Of course, she didn't handle the MUW, the the attempted hostile takeover of Mississippi State of MU or of MUW by Mississippi State.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, however, she did play big minutes in that game and she did come through in key moments.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that her leadership plus the participation of this community and others, um, right now I think that MUW has a lot of momentum, and she is leaving MUW with a lot of momentum.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_05: You already mentioned the uh enrollment.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_05: The attempt to rip MSMS away from MUW, it failed.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um it it failed so miserably that uh M MSU is just like, well, we'll just come up with a different school to put them there with the M.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_04: It didn't hurt recruitment that badly.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_05: No, didn't?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_05: And um, I mean, there's gonna be challenges moving forward.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, the challenges with the facilities.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_05: That whole uh for MSMS, I think that whole just continued coverage of that and continued spotlight on that, I think that the onus now is on the legislature to do better, and I think that there's a willingness from at least uh some of the legislators, uh Rob Robertson in particular, uh to do better where those facilities are concerned.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_05: Mind you business.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_05: As an invest in making those facilities appropriate for their for Startville and I'm talking about the facilities here at MSMS, making those facilities appropriate for the jobs that they're being asked to do.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_04: Gotcha.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_04: In his role in the education as opposed to his role for bettering Startville.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: Correct.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: As his role as a legislator.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_05: Right now, MUW and MSMS are in a very good place with momentum where they were surprised and still staved it off.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_05: MUW is not part of MSU.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_05: That attempt was made, it failed.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_05: MSMS is not going to go be a part of SHS.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_05: A lot of people say that fight isn't over.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_05: I think frankly, that fight in particular is over.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think that fight is coming back.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_05: The legislature has other things to do.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_05: They have a short attention span.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_05: They had two sessions where it was really touch and go, and now they're looking at MSMS is a high value school indeed.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_05: Their facilities are crap.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_05: We're to blame for that.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna do something about it, whatever we do.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_05: You know, uh MUW's enrollment has come up, their reputation has come up.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_05: They did a good job, especially on the back end of that effort, uh, really pushing that marketing and getting off the bubble.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so my problem with that entire thing at the time was that it was so abrupt, it was so subtle, it was so out of nowhere that MUW didn't have the ball.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_05: They didn't have any control of its own of their own destiny.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_05: Right now they do.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_05: They have the ball, they have control of their own destiny.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_05: So if they lose that momentum at this point, it's gonna be momentum that they lost.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_04: So with that said, does that make it a an okay time for her to step down?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_05: No, I think.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I mean, I think she's the one that can decide that.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's her life.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I yeah, you know, there's more to a person than their career.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_05: No question.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_05: And and she has a personal life and and and she's making the decisions for the way that for the reasons that she's making it.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_05: Her replacement needs to be somebody who can keep possession of the ball.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_05: Needs to be somebody who can keep that enrollment momentum going, somebody that can keep the pressure on the legislature to to fund improvements for those MSMS facilities and MUW facilities as needed.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_05: And somebody who uh doesn't seed any of that ground, somebody who isn't afraid of them, somebody uh don't seed anything.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_04: I mean and it's hard because we're asking a lot of these people, not just anyone can step forward and be a university president, you know, like to your lobbyist, they've got to be a crisis manager, they've got to be a numbers person.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_04: Nora Miller was an excellent numbers person, I think.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_04: And they've got to be a scholar, you know, and and so uh we need someone that's not gonna play games with with the people that come in there and try to mess with stuff.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_05: Well, and I'm gonna tell you where Nora Miller's legacy is going to get most exonerated, time will prove her absolutely correct in that name change effort and the need for the name change.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_05: Because for that momentum to continue long term, for MSU to stay in Startville and not eventually swallow MUW, a name change is necessary.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_05: She has said that out loud, and the people who, you know, the people who killed that effort, they are going to see long term that I mean they're either going to pass away or they're going to see that they were wrong.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_04: And and you're on a roll today, Zach.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_05: I'm going to tell you, the new leader has got to present this in the way that Nora did not.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_05: He's got to present it what my mother-in-law calls the choice and the non-choice.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I uh dude, I I think you're right on, I think quite honestly, they need a pink-haired Donald Trump down there.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not gonna say that.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_04: Look, I'm talking uh somebody who's uh going to be just pedal to the middle, um not not gonna take any crap, will actually embarrass the politicians that try to fix things that ain't broke.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_04: That's the way I'm looking at it.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_05: Are you are you uh putting Joe Max Higgins up for MUW president?
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's a that's a funny thing to think about.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_04: If you're on the campus of MUW, uh he might receive the spanking that's long overdue.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_04: Oh Lord.
• 50:45
  unknown: Okay.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_04: Well we're out of hand here today.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_05: I I want to go back to the choice and the non-choice.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_05: Um when you look at that name change, um they've got to understand, and you've got to have a leader that's going to make folks understand.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_05: It's either going to be MSU, it's either going to be MSU in Columbus eventually, or we're going to have to change the name if we're going to continue our momentum in our uh increasing enrollment.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_05: That's just the truth.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's a truth that Nora knew.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's one that she said, but it's one that people didn't believe.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_05: I think one of the things that the next leader has to do is make these people believe it.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that she and I think that whoever the new person is can point to the last two legislative sessions and say, Can you hear Nora Miller now?
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_04: Except I don't know that you can really change what people believe.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, there there's gonna be some um attrition, shall we say, with this particular issue.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_04: But uh at the same time.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_04: What do you mean by that, David?
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: I mean they gonna die, like you said, okay.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but I mean th there's just there's a certain um number of people who are actually on board with it and believe that um whatever the future looks like, it's it's not so much caught up in a name as it's caught up in a vision, you know, the the nursing school, the education school, the many things the that that are going so well there.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_05: What you just said was what Nora said during the night, and she was right, and she was shouted down.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_05: So the next person has to use that past, use that and the last two legislative sessions to demonstrate forward we can't do that the next time this comes up.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_04: If that is their job, I envy not that particular role.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_04: That's gonna be um well, I say it's gonna be dramatic, maybe not so much as it was last time, but we shall see.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so now I want to talk about the crime lab.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh Zach, if you will remind us the the backstory of the crime lab.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, this is one from uh kind of came out over the Christmas break when we were off the air.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_05: But uh so the crime lab has uh between uh a machine the county bought and uh another machine that the uh city is leasing, some nearly$400,000 worth of pretty new equipment in there.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_05: And when you take everything that they've got in there, they've got easily half a million dollars worth of equipment in there.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: When the new equipment the newest equipment was bought a few years ago, um one of the things that was uh brought up as a justification for it is that the crime lab, this is going to be the uh City of Columbus crime lab, could work with outside agencies and generate revenue.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_05: Now they work on Columbus Police Department cases and Lowndes County Sheriff's Office cases just as a matter of course.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_05: That that's free of charge, obviously.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um taxpayers are already paying for that.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_05: And the county bought one of their machines.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_05: But so that work that they do for them is free, but they do work for outside agencies that's supposed to generate revenue that is supposed to defray the cost of the salaries there and the machines there and the technology that they need.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_05: The re they are generating revenue, but but since those machines were bought that cost nearly$400,000, uh, they've generated the crime lab has generated something to the tune of$34,000 in in outside revenue.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_05: So the crime lab uh they mostly deal with uh drug cases, lots of drug cases, mainly identifying what the drugs are.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_05: They're working on you know, they're building up with the technology capability of quantifying those drugs.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_05: So it's primarily drug cases, but they also have the capability to um uh extract data from cell phones.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_05: They have a lab where they can uh do fingerprints, but they have a vacancy for the position needed to do that.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_04: Is there any reason for me to believe now that there are going to be more crime solved and and more test tubes making their way through the conveyor belt?
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_05: Aaron Powell Well, and I mean and I think that's where the issue is, is are they are they processing as many cases as they should be?
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_05: And I think the answer to that is no.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_05: Now here's the why, uh, in my view, and it's a it's a view that um uh b city officials have uh kind of shared, and I think that the uh crime lab director shares to a certain degree.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_05: They're understaffed.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_05: They can't keep people.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_05: They've got a director that they've got solidly there and has been there a while, and is very often the only one who can process cases who is there.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_05: They've got uh positions over there for a tech that they haven't been able to hire, a fingerprint uh person that they hadn't been able to hire, and a second chemist over there that they hadn't been able to hire.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_04: That's interesting because when I was in school, like forensic science was like one of the big time majors that everybody talked about they wanted to get into.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_05: Here's what's happening.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_05: They're getting on as a um apprentice or an intern, a crime lab like the Columbus Crime Lab, and then as soon as their uh internship is over with, they're going to the state crime lab or they're going to a private lab or just a bigger operation.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_05: So one of the things that they're trying to do to attack that is, or that uh Mayor Stephen Jones says that he wants to do, something that finance chair Jason Spears says he's open to doing, uh, is trying to make that pay more competitive to where people do their training here and then stay here.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I think that there's room for that in in the pay structure, probably.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh that's what they're gonna find out, but uh a city is not going to be able to uh compete dollar for dollar with a private lab.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I want to suggest something else.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I've been looking into this and having some conversations with people about the viability of it.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_05: There is nothing statutorily that keeps the city from saying to their chemist interns at the crime lab, hey, if we take you on as an intern, you owe us two years at the end of that, or we can garnish your wages at your at the job that you take instead until you pay us a certain amount.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_05: They're doing that very thing with police they've done that very thing with police officers that have come in and gone to academy.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_05: As soon as they get out of academy, they go to the sheriff's office or they go to Tuscaloosa or whatever.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_05: They're they're penalizing and they're and they're adding stipulations that we expect you to work here for a certain amount of time before you jump.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_05: I think that that's something that they absolutely need to do at the crime lab.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_05: And Claudette Gilman, who is the director there, I think would welcome the opportunity to have a guaranteed pipeline of people that will stay a certain amount of time.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_05: Hell, two years.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_05: Like you come in, we we train you on on how to do this.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_05: You get you get to the point where your training is over, your internship is over, and you can be hired as a full-time chemist.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_05: You stay here two years, go anywhere you want to, but you stay here two years.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_05: But are they?
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, there's a there are only a certain amount of funds that are available.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_04: Correct, but they need to be.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_04: For something like this, they need to be I guess what I'm saying to you is that when I was an education major, I had the option of teaching in the state of Mississippi at one of these um uh high needs schools before you.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_05: And if you did it for four years, they'd pay off a certain amount or all your student loans.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I chose not to do that because I didn't want to be anchored down, and I'm concerned that that this similar effect might happen with this here.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_05: Because that was the very first thing that I thought of is exactly what you just said.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_05: They have that for the medical field, they have that for the teaching field, but that is a state level thing with a larger tax base to fund it.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_05: So you've got to be realistic on what a city can actually fund with the tax money that it's levying.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_05: Because you've got to shore up that crime lab because it is you've invested in the technology.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_05: You've invested heavily in the technology.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_05: That is a very good lab from a technology standpoint.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_05: So it needs to be it the personnel has got to make.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_05: I think that can happen.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_04: I think that maybe if we have certain delegation listening, I I still think it's something that needs to be looked at just from a funding standpoint because when it comes to fighting crime, I mean I I guess it could be said that we don't live in a world where crimes are hard to trace, right?
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_04: We live in a world where the truth is buried underneath too much data.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it just comes back to, you know, stuff like this.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_04: We've got underfunded tools.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I'm I'm not interested in hiring the 86,000 IRS agents to see how much money is on someone's Venmo card or you know, traffic stops, even that are I think incapable of finding drivers who are uh you know partaking of the magical gummies.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: But this right here, what we're talking about is effective.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it deters crime and it brings people to justice.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_05: And so and even as, and and to to throw a bone to Claudette here, even as she's very often been the only one that can ru run these machines, their backlog has still come down from well over a thousand to I think around eight hundred cases now.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_05: So the the turnaround time is about a year on for the for the serious cases or the cases with a bunch of exhibits.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_05: And the backlog has come down.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_05: So even with the lack of revenue, even with the lack of personnel, they're doing a good job.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_05: They're catching up, and they're catching up.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, if I remember reading correctly, they had to count every pill and and label every pill and figure out what was in every pill.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_04: And that sounds quite tedious and kind of time consuming.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_05: Here, there again, another job that I wouldn't want.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of jobs that we don't want here in Catfish Alley studio here today.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_04: Anything else on that one?
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_04: No, I think we're good.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Zach, tell me three things that I need to know starting out the new year.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_05: Number one, Mark Pritchett is the new executive director at the Frank P.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_05: Phillips YMCA.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_05: The former school administrator and U.S.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_05: Army Air Traffic Controller led two YMCAs in North Carolina before making his way to Columbus.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_05: He replaces Jimmy Woodruff.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_05: Number two, a lucky someone scored a million dollars in Powerball from a ticket purchase from the Sprint Mart at the intersection of Highway 182 and New Hope Road.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_05: Hang on.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_05: Do you think they lost the ticket?
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_05: Because nobody's claimed that yet.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you you just need to get it down to Jackson.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_05: There will be signs.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's right.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_05: It's the second big money winning ticket purchased from that sprint mart in the last eight months.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_05: It's also the second million dollar winner purchased in Columbus in that same time frame, with a Mississippi Match 5 bought at a Texco on Highway 69 scoring that prize amount.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_05: Number three,$5 raffle tickets are on sale to win a sculpture of Luxie, the mascot for the Jack K.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_05: Fossil Park.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_05: Georgia artist Rick Spears created and donated the foot tall sculpture valued at$8,000.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's the first run fundraiser for the park, and tickets are available through February 27th.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_04: All right, well, Zach, whoever it is, I hope they find that ticket because that's going to be not only good for them, but good for the store.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_04: The store gets a cut, right?
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I believe so.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_04: And any money in our county is uh better than not having money in our county.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll see what happens in that regard.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_04: Well, hey, uh season two of the show here.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_04: I want to brag on us a little bit.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_04: Listen, uh if I'm looking correctly, our our show has been played in 35 countries and 828 cities, and they're not all bots, like these are actual people.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_04: Some of them just have interest in our area because they used to live here or have family here.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, the ratings are good.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_04: I could our ratings are second to none.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_04: All other podcasts, total disasters, right?
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_04: But uh check this one out.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_04: We're in the top 25% of all of the podcasters on Buzz Sprouts.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's pretty good.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_05: Pressure's on, David, to keep it good.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_05: And what do you say?
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_05: Keep it real and keep it.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're gonna keep it real.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_04: That that's all that people want.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_04: They just need um when when people want to hear about their community, they just they just want to hear uh a genuineness of what's going on.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_04: They don't they don't want the fluff, they can see through all that.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that's what makes us a pretty good show, and I'm really thankful to our listeners.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_05: So and David Chisholm is endorsing Joe Max Higgins as the next president from Mississippi University for Women.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_04: Now look, opinions expressed are those of the speakers.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_04: So again, thanks for joining us here today.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh find that one friend of yours that needs to know what's happening here locally so they can listen in, and together we can make our hometown a better place.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_04: Reach out to us, tips at cdispatch.com.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_04: You can also follow me on X or Facebook at d Chisholm Double Zero and leave a public comment.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_04: Keeping it real here in Catfish Alley Studio in historic downtown Columbus.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_04: Your host has been Zach Plair, and I am David Chisholm.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: Y'all stay friendly out.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just a simple old country boy, but um, I think that makes sense.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've stepped out and I've said what I had to say.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_04: You've been listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_04: That's what old people do.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_02: That is.