The old:
A – 93-100, B – 85-92, C – 75-84, D – 65-69, F – 64 and below
And the new:
A – 90-100, B – 80-89, C – 70-79, D – 65-69, F – 64 and below
What are the benefits of the change to the students? Will the change result in improvements to their education? While foreign powers seek education excellence, is the USA seeking to candy-coat the educational process in an attempt to deny its failures? Your opinions welcomed.
Riverwalk Casino, Vicksburg’s fifth, is on the verge of opening. Obviously, the owners felt that the local market could support its operation, else it would not have been built. Also evident is the fact that a county with a population of only 52,000 cannot support five casinos – there has to be an influx of gamblers from other parts of Mississippi, Louisiana, and other states. With the economy in dire straits there will have to be an intensive marketing effort for all to succeed, else one or more of the casinos may be forced to close. What’s your opinion of the future for Vicksburg’s casino industry?
If he’s not, he’s not eligible to run for the office of the presidency. One viewer writes, in another post on this blog,
“I WOULD LIKE TO SEE PROOF OF SEN OBAMA’S OFFICIAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE SHOWING THAT HE IS IN FACT, AN AMERICAN CITIZEN AS HE CLAIMS TO BE BEFORE THE ELECTION. ”
Do you agree?
Viewer post:
This was on the news on WLBT TV. A woman supposedly a public servant in a position of trust, who uses her power over a friendly family dog and takes him to a barn instead of returning him to his home, or taking him to the city pound where his family could have rescued him, where she shoots him to death. There is NO EXCUSE for what this woman did when Bingo followed a family friend to where his family once lived.
Please contact the Judge and the prosecuting attorney and support this family in their effort to seek justice for Bingo. Letters are best, and can be faxed, along with phone calls. Efforts may be made to intimidate the family in a small town situation where the woman Mayor picked a dog up and heartlessly and cruelly shot it to death. It is easy to wield power over a dog who is frightened, and to then shoot it to death. This is evil personified.
WLBT NEWS
monica@wlbt.net (at wlbt.net)
New Hebron 10/14/08
Mayor shoots, kills family dog
By Monica Hernandez
Charity and Johnny Gentry are planning to pack up and leave the New Hebron home where they’ve lived for two years. They’re shaken because the town’s mayor, Cindy Bryan, shot and killed their family dog.
“You know, he wasn’t just another dog, he was our friend, our family. I had to watch my kids cry for two days over it,” said Johnny Gentry.
The Gentry’s said Bingo escaped and followed a former neighbor to his apartment in late September. The family said Mayor Bryan picked up the dog, claiming she was going to take him to the pound, but took him to the town barn and shot him instead. According to the Gentry’s, they weren’t notified until the next day.
“She wasn’t an animal control officer, she had no business trying to transport a dog anyhow,” said Johnny Gentry.
We tried to find Bryan, but she didn’t return our phone calls or answer the door to her home, and town hall was closed for the day on Tuesday.
However, she admits to shooting the dog in the Lawrence County Press. She said the dog tried to bite her while she was enforcing the town’s leash laws.
“Bingo does not bite. I’ve never even heard him growl before,” said Charity Gentry.
In the article, Bryan said the Gentry’s had been told several times that their dog was running loose and threatening others, and finally decided to take matters into her own hands.
“In the paper she said she tried to contact us on numerous occasions. We never received anything,” said Charity Gentry.
The family filed charges against Bryan for maliciously killing their dog. Lawrence County Justice Court officials said Bryan’s tentative court date is set for October 29.
Directory of Justice Courts in Lawrence County.
Lawrence County Justice Court
P.O. Box 903
Monticello, MS. 39654 –
Phone: 601-587- 4854,
Fax: 601-587- 0755.
VICKSBURG LUNCH BUNCH
Topic: Dropout Prevention
According to the Mississippi Department of Education, this year alone, more than 10,000 Mississippi teens will choose a different road than their classmates and drop out of school. High school dropout are more likely than graduate to be employed, incarcerated, living in poverty and receiving government assistance. The cost to Mississippi is estimated to be $458 million each year.
Join Parents for Public Schools and Donnell Bell for lunch to learn about Mississippi’s dropout crisis and ways the local community can help solve the problem.
Speaker: Donnell Bell
Date: October 29, 2008
Time: 11:45 a.m.
Location: Battlefield Inn | 4137 Frontage Road | Vicksburg, MS
Please call 601-969-6936 or email info@ppseverywhere.org to RSVP. No cost to attend, $5.00 for lunch.
Donnell Bell
Donnell Bell is the Division Director for Counseling in the Office of Dropout Prevention. Prior to this appointment, he served as Training Coordinator/Certification Analyst with the Offices of Educator Licensure and Leadership and Professional Development. He received his Master of Education in Guidance Counseling and Bachelor of Social Work from Jackson State University.
Do you know other supporters of public education who might want to attend this event? If so, please forward this email to them. If you received this email from a friend, please click here to be added to our network of public education supporters.
Wilcox Theaters is in the process of renovating the old Pemberton Square Theater with intentions of opening a four-screen theater in November. That’s the good news. The bad news is this: the prior theater on that site closed due to a number of factors, one of which was the presence of the rowdy crowds that gathered there, producing an unsafe atomosphere that most people preferred to avoid. Can the new theater avoid such? Time will tell.
Why will you vote for Obama? Why will you vote for McCain? Facts, please, and no personal attacks.
Here’s one man’s recommendation, courtesy of “Early to Rise.”
The Great Bailout Stall
By Robert Ringer
Now that the Demopublicans and their media friends have, through the magic of doublespeak, transformed the massive and fraudulent bailout bill into a heroic “economic rescue plan,” most Americans can refocus their couch-potato efforts back on reality TV shows, football, and electronic gadgets. After all, the problem has been resolved, right?
Earth to American taxpayers: Nothing has been resolved! In fact, dishonest and cowardly Congressmen/women have virtually assured us, through their actions, that the financial crisis will get worse – much worse.
Nevertheless, I’ve learned, through experience, that no one can accurately predict the timing of economic events, because everything is controlled by an entity – the government – that has a monopoly on (1) printing “money,” (2) taxing its serfs, and (3) using force against anyone who dares to defy its will.
If you could print your own money, make others give you their money, and use force in the marketplace to achieve your ends, do you think you might be able to prolong the consequences of your actions? You would, of course, eventually fail. But it would be impossible for anyone to predict at what point in time your misdeeds would bring you down.
The most practical solution to America’s financial ills is to face the music- now, rather than later. The major question of our time has not been raised by anyone in the media: Are you prepared to lower your standard of living – even suffer – so your children and grandchildren can enjoy a better standard of living and not have to suffer worse than you?
Put more directly, are you prepared to face the moral and Constitutional reality that you are entitled to absolutely nothing other than the right to pursue your own success and happiness in any way you so choose, so long as you do not commit aggression against others?
In other words, are you prepared to go “cold turkey” in exchange for freedom? I’m sorry to say that my personal take on the pulse of our country is that not many people are willing to give up (a false sense of) security in exchange for freedom. Which is why even the staunchest conservatives in the Republican wing of the Demopublican Party will not name specific government programs they would be willing to eliminate. (Not cut – eliminate.)
When the hopeless, stand-for-nothing J. McBama talks about “letting the marketplace sort things out for the economy,” he is quick to assure voters that the government will, of course, pay unemployment benefits to those “in need,” retrain (as in $$$) people who have lost their jobs, etc., etc., etc.
Message to J. McBama: It’s not the government’s Constitutional role to shore up people who have lost their jobs – nor does it have a moral right to do so. Job loss and job retraining are simply none of the government’s business.
And, contrary to what politicians, the media, and most Americans seem to believe, it’s not the government’s job to “get the economy moving again.” Sorry, but it’s simply not in the Constitution. Economic stability can be created only by allowing the market to take its natural course and rid the economy of synthetically created wealth.
In more blunt terms, what I’m talking about here is a deflationary depression. Make that a massive deflationary depression. As I’ve said so often, we’ve been in an invisible depression for at least 30 years. What I’m advocating is that we ignore the daily lies that come out of Washington and demand that the invisible depression be allowed to reveal itself.
I can already hear some readers saying, “That Ringer is a really bad guy. He lacks compassion.”
Not so. On the contrary, I have a great deal of compassion for the millions of people who are hurting financially. And, quite frankly, it makes me angry when I think about what politicians have done to bring about so much of their pain and suffering.
I know what it’s like to be homeless. I know what it’s like to have your gas and electricity shut off. I know what it’s like to be without a car. I know what it’s like to eat cold, canned soup for dinner. But I’ll tell you this: The only way I ever improved my bad situation was to look in the mirror, face the reality that suffering was going to be an integral part of my life until I could turn things around on my own, and work my tail off – sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day. I never applied for welfare and I never asked anyone to retrain me. I lowered my standard of living… I suffered… and I worked hard.
Now I’m going to share a somewhat gross analogy with you to help make my point that the only viable solution to America’s financial demise is to allow the invisible depression to become visible as quickly as possible.
Many years ago, before modern medicine had come up with more humane procedures for dealing with hemorrhoids, I suffered through a period of extreme discomfort. Over the course of about a year, I visited two proctologists, but nixed letting them put me under the knife. Instead, they gave me a variety of salves and ointments to deaden the pain. As a result, I had “invisible” hemorrhoids. They were still there, of course, but by applying medication, I could pretend they weren’t. What a marvelous delusion.
Finally, it got to the point where salves and ointments could no longer bail me out. In desperation, I went to a third doctor – one who’d been touted in a newspaper article as “the best in his field.” After a cozy little examination, he said to me: “I’ll give it to you straight. Your problem will never get better on its own. The only way to get rid of it is through surgery.”
I was in such pain that, without even thinking about it, I blurted out, “When can you do it?”
“Tomorrow,” he said. “It’s my day in surgery.”
Without giving myself the opportunity to mull over it (and probably put it off), I impulsively said, “Okay.”
Out of respect to your sensibilities, I won’t give you the gory post-operation details. Let it just suffice to say that, for the first few days, I regretted having been so impulsive. But soon I started to get progressively better. And within a month, the entire experience was nothing but a bad dream – and I was pain-free. I had survived the medical equivalent of a deflationary depression by getting it over with.
Now, I ask you to help spread the word – friend by friend, neighbor by neighbor, coworker by coworker – that what America needs is a hemorrhoid operation, not more bailouts. That means a lot of pain and suffering for all of us. And, make no mistake about it, we deserve it for having allowed our elected officials to turn the Constitution upside-down and dupe us into believing that we are obliged to answer to them rather than the other way around.
The time has come for us to tell the politicians that we don’t want any more economic salves and ointments. The only way for things to get better is for government to get out of the way and stop making things worse. I say: My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for yourself.
Read this editorial and get mad as hell…
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/608-America-Has-Died-To-Thunderous-Applause.html
Natural gas is $6.73/mbtu on the open market as of today, 10/14/08. That’s a far cry from the $16 – $18/mbtu level when Entergy began charging its 28% “rate increase,” and when the city raised its “adjustment” to the highest levels in our history. The City of Vicksburg today charges us approximately $19/mbtu, while Entergy bases its fuel adjustment charge for the most part on the price of natural gas. Will the city and Entergy pass along the natural gas savings to us?
Portions of the following copied from http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/acorn1be.html.
There’s only ONE way to STOP the apparent massive voter fraud that may be taking place right under your nose.
Simply put, if the voter registration allegations against ACORN are true, that means thousands of fraudulent votes could be cast in pivotal swing states and make a farce of our entire electoral process!
Most everyone has heard the old story about dead people voting in Chicago.
Imagine such a thing happening on a much larger scale. ACORN presently operates in 38 states!
But there is a simple solution to this potential problem!
Congress must be called back into session IMMEDIATELY and emergency legislation must be passed that simply states that voters must produce a valid state or federal ID at the polls or have their votes counted only provisionally until legitimacy can be verified.
Quite frankly, if past performance is any indication of future results, CRIMINAL INDICTMENTS OR LAWSUITS MAY NOT STOP ACORN!
According to some reports, ACORN, in the past, has actually recruited convicted felons.
The Associated Press recently reported that the Milwaukee ACORN office hired at least seven felons who were convicted of crimes ranging from drug possession to robbery.
According to the Washington Post: “Nevada Secretary of State and Attorney General who alleged in an application for a search warrant that ACORN had hired 59 felons through a work release program as canvassers…” [Emphasis Mine]
ACORN’s Wisconsin political director Carolyn Castore rather matter-of-factly told the Associated Press: “We have a lot of folks with felony records and, frankly, they need jobs.”
And yes, there is a history of complaints against ACORN.
Michael Gaynor with Canada Free Press recounts an article published in the Wall Street Journal TWO YEARS AGO:
“These are recent complaints, but ACORN’s history is riddled with criminal activity. During the last major election, the Wall Street Journal did a story about ACORN. Four ACORN workers had been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board; other ACORN workers were convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado and investigations, at the time the article was written, were under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.”
Gaynor also writes of more recent indictments and investigations:
“Last year, The Seattle Times reported the biggest voter-registration fraud scheme in Washington history. Three ACORN employees pleaded guilty, and four more were charged for filling out and submitting more than 1,800 fictitious voter-registration cards during a 2006 registration drive in King and Pierce counties.’ (Keith Ervin, ‘Three plead guilty in fake voter scheme,’ 10-30-2007)”
“This year, an ACORN employee in West Reading, PA, was sentenced for up to 23 months in prison for identity theft and tampering with records. A second ACORN worker pleaded not guilty to the same charges and is free on $10,000 bail.
“There are also examples of indictments this year, such as the four ACORN employees in Kansas City charged with identity theft and filing false registrations during the 2006 election and the Reynoldsburg fellow indicted on two felony counts of illegal voting and false registration, after being registered by ACORN to vote in two separate counties. And there are current investigations into ACORN for voter fraud all over the map…” [Emphasis Mine]
Ask yourself the following (assuming these most recent allegations are credible), if criminal indictments have not deterred ACORN in the past, why should the prospect of criminal indictments deter ACORN NOW?
Investors’ Business Daily (IBD) recently made the following suggestion to John McCain:
“McCain would be wise to start preparing a challenge to voter registration rolls should he lose the race in a close contest. He’d be crazy not to contest the results in light of these events.”
With all due respect to IBD, the only “craziness” would be to wait. This is NOT a Republican vs. Democrat or Liberal vs. Conservative issue.
IF ACORN has already violated our system of government and IF they plan to continue violating our system through election day with impunity, closing the barn doors after the horses have gone is not a sound strategy.
Some of our elected officials are starting to talk tough but again, talk is cheap.
According to Politico.com, House Minority Leader John Boehner is already talking about cutting off federal funding to ACORN.
But his proposed actions fall short of the mark.
“Election cycle after election cycle, this organization has been at the forefront of breaking the law in order to promote their left-wing agenda. All the while, they have been the recipients of millions of dollars of federal funding through various federal programs and third-party groups. House Republicans took a stand recently to cut off funding to an ACORN slush fund created by their allies in the House Majority, but now more must be done.”
“All federal funding to ACORN must be stopped. The ACORN slush fund must be disbanded. Sources of federal funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development or any other agency must be stopped. Contracting for services between candidates for federal office and ACORN, as Senator Obama has done, must end. Now that the taxpayers own Fannie Mae, any funding from Fannie Mae’s nonprofit foundation to ACORN must stop.
“ACORN spent decades promoting the housing policies that brought America’s economy to the brink, and similarly over the years has committed fraud on our system of elections, making American voters question the fairness and accuracy of the exercise of their most fundamental right under the Constitution. Now it is time to cut off ACORN before it grows even more destructive.”
No Congressman Boehner!
Now is not the time to just cut off funding (frankly, that should have happened years ago).
NOW is the time to protect our electoral process!
Boehner does however, bring up a valid point. Your tax dollars ARE STILL going to ACORN. You’re actually paying them just as surely as if you wrote the check yourself!
Yes, we should cut off ALL funding to ACORN NOW as Boehner states. Yes, we should have Congressional investigations. And yes, if the allegations are true, we shouldn’t stop with ACORN… heads should roll in Congress as well!
Mayor Leyens is spending many of our tax dollars, plus many dollars from a federal grant, in an effort to make the local airport “luxurious.” Our taxes also fund the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport at Mound, Louisiana. The local airport had been “abandoned” by previous administrations who deemed the new (1993) VTR airport as necessary and desirable, and sufficient to serve Vicksburg and Warren County. So, why are we funding two airports? Wasn’t the danger imposed by the tall stack at the Baxter Wilson power plant the reason behind “abandoning” the local airport and building the VTR airport? Who will make use of the local airport? Who will use the VTR airport? Will the money spent on the local airport result in a return to the citizens of the city and county? If not, why upgrade the local airport at all? Is pressure from local businessmen behind the decision? Your opinions are appreciated.
So states the Post in an editorial from the Hattiesburg American. Mississippi is also in the top 20 states for foreclosures. Local realtors, however, have said that the Vicksburg area has been affected very little by the mortgage crisis. Have you or your neighbors and friends experienced difficulties related to the financial crisis? Your observations are appreciated.
In this time of financial crisis, many have had their savings ravaged in the stock market. What has been your experience, and where do you recommend placing your savings now for future growth?
VICKSBURG SPEAKS 