Month: March 2022
Bay-Waveland School Bond Vote Not Even Close
Based on what little I did discuss with folks down there it was pretty obvious the bond issue was a crash and burn proposition.
Voters shoot down BWSD’s $37.8 million bond issue – Geoff Belcher
I think it was the overbuilding and accompanying price tag in the District’s construction plan that was the deal breaker for most people, especially with flood insurance rates on the verge of skyrocketing for so many people down there.
I think reasonable people could agree there are some construction needs at the BWSD that may require bonds to finance. My recommendation would be that any other such proposal be focused like a laser beam on the worsts of the needs only. With the beating the voters gave the bond proposal it would probably be wise to not get in a rush to schedule another bond election.
Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Whose Kids are being Killed?
Posted on March 17, 2022
The expression “whose ox is being gored” comes from Scripture, Exodus:21:35. Nowadays, the phrase is often used in politics to describe how different people in similar circumstances are often treated quite differently depending on the relative “importance” of the individuals.
Important people, which often means rich and powerful people, get better treatment by society and government than those in poorer circumstances. Why? Because the rich and powerful are better positioned to reward those that help them than the poor. It’s not a particularly noble phenomenon, but it reflects human nature and reality.
One would hope that this form of discrimination would not apply to children who are not old enough to be responsible for their circumstances especially in war. Not so. There is a huge difference in how children, babies even, are treated depending upon who they are and who killed them.
Let’s compare Ukraine 2022 and Gaza 2014.
The war in Ukraine started February 24, 2022. I watched a significant amount on TV. Saw the footage of buildings being destroyed residential, commercial, mixed use. It looked like a horror show. Whole portions of ten story buildings falling to the ground. Continue Reading…..
Stone School Bond Election Set for May 17th
This is the season for school bonds folks. In early January the School Board set up a steering committee to plan for the best course of action to replace the school district’s dilapidated High School including public hearings/work sessions. The proposal to emerge was to relocate the High School out to some donated land just west of Highway 49 in the southern portion of Wiggins for both the new High School and Athletic complex. Currently the schools various athletic facilities are scattered around from Perk to off Highway 26 close to Stone Elementary School. All of this can be accomplished starting with the bargain basement price of $19.8 million dollars.
By way of comparison for you readers on the coast Stone County Schools serves over 2500 kids. Some of the facilities are tight for space and/or are very old. Its a typical rural school district that has to stretch their dollars to educate the children and like many such rural school districts do a decent job with the resources they have.
Having been around for a while, my main worry is the School Board has too few dollars for what needs to be accomplished and that can cause major problems on the back end of things.
Since we do vote here we will make a recommendation to join us in voting yes on issuing the bonds in the May 17th election.
Correction: The initial post misidentified the site for the proposed school as 16th Section land.
Tomorrow is School Bond Election Day in the Bay
Slabbed broke the details last August in fact, months before the official rollout earlier this year. The lede of that old post was perceived as a cheap shot by officialdom and I get that point of view. The bonds weren’t being kept secret as much as it was a situation where they were buried in the meeting agendas coupled with locals not engaging the issue due to the pandemic in a governmental beat that is no longer covered as a matter of routine by the local newspapers and certainly not the Tee Vee news.
I suspect the short campaign season was designed to keep opposition from coalescing but there is opposition to the $37.9M bond issue including from Waveland Board Trustee Mike Bell, who ultimately voted against putting the issue on the ballot along with at least 2 Bay St Louis City Councilmen. I have not spoken at length about this with the good people down in Bay-Waveland but I do get a general sense that the 60% majority will be hard to come by. Since it is not our tax dollars, we won’t make any recommendations on tomorrow’s election besides saying to make your voice heard and to go vote.
Other Voices | Tom Callaghan: Fighting for a Tie
Posted on March 6, 2022
Russia is an anomaly. It’s too big. Nearly twice the size of the next biggest country in the world, Canada, with a population less than that of Bangladesh.
Russia is in a war where they can’t afford to win or lose. Putin has forty miles of military vehicles stuck in the mud because he violated the first rule of war in Ukraine: Don’t Start A War In the Mud Season.
Putin knew his timing was off but he had promised China Boss Xi Jinping that he would not commence military action against Ukraine until the Winter Olympics in China finished on February 20, 2022.
Putin is running out of friends fast. He can’t lose Xi Jingping.
The American Press is somewhere between Ga-Ga and Ape-Shit over Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. It doesn’t hurt that he’s Jewish. Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee called him “the bravest man in the World.” Hey, Zelensky is holding things together, from his bunker, asking for help, but he’s not going to be confused with Audie Murphy or Wild Bill Donavan.
I’ve been watching mostly BBC and CNN. Fareed Zakaria does a great job. Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer are solid and make sure nobody forgets that Zelensky is Jewish.
The whole Jewish thing is not totally irrelevant. When the Nazis overran Ukraine in WW II, Ukrainians were relieved to be out from under Russian domination. How friendly some Ukrainians were with the Nazis while they were under occupation, who knows? I don’t. Continue Reading……..