In Studio: Colin Krieger PLUS A New City Administration Gets Started

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Mayor Stephen Jones' inauguration sets a new tone for Columbus leadership, offering hope paired with practical challenges. In a ceremony and first council meeting marked by unity and unanimous votes, Jones emphasized his commitment to serving all citizens while acknowledging his faith as a guiding principle. The true test of his administration will come when inevitable disagreements arise.

As our guest and local Realtor and community advocate Colin Krieger notes, "Columbus has all the ingredients for success" - but turning potential into progress requires navigating difficult conversations with grace. From the city's approach to visible homelessness downtown to addressing workforce development gaps despite available manufacturing jobs, Columbus faces multifaceted challenges.

Education emerges as another flashpoint, with MSMS potential relocation and school consolidation rumors creating uncertainty. Meanwhile, economic realities reveal surprising statistics: only about 32% of factory workers in the area's industrial developments actually live in the Golden Triangle region, highlighting disconnects between economic opportunity and local workforce readiness.

Join the conversation and attend local government meetings – because as Krieger reminds us, these leaders are uniquely accessible if we simply show up.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
This is Between the Headlines.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
This week on Between the Headlines, we talk about the
inauguration and the inauguralsession of the Columbus City
Council, and making its way tothe forefront of discussion in
the public sphere is the issueof panhandling, and we've got
people talking about it and wewill join that discussion as
well.
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You are listening to Betweenthe Headlines with the sage of

(02:03):
the Deep South and managingeditor of the Commercial
Dispatch, mr Zach Player, who isback from his trip from Iran
and it looks like, sir, thatthey shortened your curls.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Well, yeah, I got my hair cut before I left because I
didn't want to be caughtlooking too terribly bad in the
pictures.
I don't know, but yes, yeah, Iwas on vacation last week, not
in Iran, but did see a drive-inmovie with the kids, and that
was a first for all of the above.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh man, you know, smithville used to have one of
those.
Yeah, yeah, I heard about thatand my name is David Chisholm.
We thank you for listening heretoday.
We'll start with theinauguration.
I watched the video, wasn'table to attend in person, but I
want to start off by saying thatStephanie Jones did a fantastic

(02:58):
job of her role in thatceremony.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, his sister, yeah, yeah, she emceed the thing
and I thought she did a greatjob.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Let's break it now.
Let's look at what was said,who said it and what we think is
going to be the implication ofthat.
What did you notice at theinauguration?

Speaker 1 (03:16):
I think, our guest Colin Krieger.
Today he had a lot of goodlines in his welcome at the
inauguration, talking aboutColumbus having all the
ingredients for success, talkingabout how, you know, by and
large nobody wants this councilto fail.
And you know, as far asStephen's speech it was, you

(03:38):
know I want to be a mayor foreverybody and you know it was a
nice little, you know positivemoment to to ring in the new
council, the new mayor he talkedabout the good Lord and he
opened by giving credit to hisLord and Savior, jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
OK, I say to that amen.
And I say to that amen Withoutan asterisk, anytime someone
does that.
I'm very appreciative of thatbecause I serve the same Lord
and Savior.
But with that said, anytime apolitician invokes the good book
or the name of the Lord, mymuscles get a little bit tight

(04:19):
just thinking about it, becauseto me the things of the church
and the things of religion ingeneral are just more sacred
than the things of the state andof the city.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
okay, well you can still make faith-based decisions
in the secular realm.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I hope that he does, and I kind of think that
he will.
I just I guess my message thereis if you're going to invoke
the name of Jesus Christ, youmust also walk in the steps of
Jesus Christ and remain humble.
I hope that Stephen Jones canremain humble and I'm giving him
a shot.
I agree with Colin, I'm behindthis.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't have a choice , but I'm behind this and I
don't want anybody to fail,particularly Stephen Jones

(05:27):
shaking hands, a whole lot ofceremony, I think uh daughtry
videoed like, made a point tovideo uh, the new mayor gaveling
the the meeting out there.
Keith was there to pass thegavel to steven.
It was just a yeah, uh, a nicelittle positive moment and
steven made a point about threequarters to the meeting, with
keith still in the audience.
I believe to say there's a lotof 6-0 votes tonight.

(05:48):
So you know.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Good, good, good.
Yeah, I hope that those 6-0votes continue.
Well, you know, not necessarily.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
There's a couple of things here.
We talked about the 4-2 problemin the last administration.
I think there's such a thing asa 6-0 problem too, especially
if you come in.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Columbus doesn't have that problem.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, I mean, it could develop that problem.
You know, you get too manythings that you decide in
advance behind closed doors andyou don't have enough public
discussion about it and you juststart going hands up 6-0 on
everything.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
That is as big or not a bigger problem than the
problem that we had in theprevious administration.
And here's where the rubber isgoing to meet the road with
Stephen.
We've talked about that.
The old Moltke the elder quotebefore on here that no battle
plan survives first contact withthe enemy survives first

(06:48):
contact with the enemy.
When these council people startpeeling off and having their own
things to say about something,or those 6-0 votes start turning
into 5-1 votes or 4-2 votes orgoing 6-0 the other way against
something that the mayor hasrecommended, that's when we're
going to know what kind of mayorStephen Jones is going to be.
As I've said before, stephen iscapable of being a good mayor,

(07:12):
great mayor, if he stays out ofhis pride and he avoids the
temptation to quash dissent atall costs.
He's going to have to take iton the chin and he's going to
have to be what he says he'sgoing to be, which is somebody
who can work with anybody andsomebody who wants to be the
mayor for all Columbus.
Every once in a while he'sgoing to be wrong.

(07:33):
Every once in a while he'sgoing to.
Or even if he believes verydeeply that he's right, he's
going to have to acknowledgethat there's another side to
that argument and that maybethat side is the more popular
one or the most most pragmaticone.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
But I think that a really good indicator of how
well his administration has goneis going to be if we still have
work sessions in four yearsinteresting well, let me put to
you this way I see this almostcompletely as a PR deal, in the
sense that if he is able to takethe 4-2-3-3-5-1 votes in stride

(08:16):
and if he is able to maintain asense of decorum within that
room, that's going to be apositive thing for the city of
Columbus, absolutely.
Because these businesses thatare coming in, they're looking
at us.
Most of the decisions that theymake are on sheer numbers okay,
Data, demographics, who's goingto do what?
But then they also look at citycouncil.

(08:38):
They look at the board ofsupervisors.
Is there craziness going on?
Okay, that does affect thesituation.
Is there discord?
That just makes us look like wedon't know what we're doing.
That's where the rubber meetsthe road for me.
Is there going to beprofessional disagreement and
moving on, or is there going tobe angst and grudges and things

(09:03):
that just put our feet in themud and make us unable to trudge
?

Speaker 1 (09:07):
forward, which goes back to you got to care about
branding and you've got to careabout image, but you can't major
so far into that or bank so farinto that, because that's its
own sort of dysfunction.
And that's going to be thebalancing act for Stephen that
is going to define hisadministration.
And going back to the worksessions, that's where a lot of

(09:29):
this stuff is hashed out for thefirst time.
And those work sessions were agood thing and even when they
didn't go particularly well,they are a good idea and they
should continue.
Didn't go particularly well,they are a good idea and they
should continue.
And as of right now, you knowStephen has indicated that they

(09:51):
probably will.
But the first time one of thosegoes haywire against his notion
of what is the correct thing todo.
You know it's going to be.
Are we going to have one again,or are those work sessions
going to continue?
It's going to be.
Are we going to have one again?
Are those work sessions goingto continue?

(10:19):
And I think that someone who iswho he says he is and who I've
seen him be, that person who canwork with anybody and that
person who can be the mayor forall of Columbus.
He's going to take it on thechin and have the next one, and
if we're having work sessions infour years, that's going to be
a really good indicator of howwell things have gone in his
administration.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
I hope he can do it, I hope he can turn the other
cheek and I hope the same Lordand Savior that put him in that
position will speak to him whenhe's got his pride out of order.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
As it happens, to all of us.
Yes sir.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yes, sir.
Well, happy belated birthday toMiss Ethel Stewart, who is our
new vice mayor by unanimous vote.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, sure is I.
You had two choices there.
You had to.
You only had two incumbentsthat are back on that council.
Yeah, and she is the one withthe with the most tenure and the
most seniority and I, you know,she's got the honor now of

(11:12):
being the vice mayor and goodluck to her in that.
I think that I think thatshe'll carry out those duties
when they arise with, with, withdignity.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
I think so too.
Who is the vice chair of theboard of supervisors right now,
jeff, I think it is.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
It is Jeff Smith.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
So I mean, the only nay saying that one might could
do about this would be to saythat, well, they should have
chosen a Republican to be thevice mayor.
But I don't, you know, in thiscase, the way that that thing is
set up.
I don't, I don't think itmatters, I don't think it
matters.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
So um, you know, you had, uh, when you know, when
Keith was mayor, Mickens was thevice mayor uh, when independent
.
So I guess, when Robert wasmayor, bill Gavin, uh, was the
vice mayor.
So you know sometimes havingthat sort of appearance of

(12:09):
balance there.
But you know like I said, msStewart is going to.
Anytime that she's put in aposition where she has to vice
mayor, she's going to handlethat with dignity.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
They also reinstalled a board of election
commissioners.
And I'll tell you, I've beenlooking at the city charter and
Section 9 calls for a singlepolling place.
It does so.
There's some ambiguity in thelanguage there that me and some
folks are looking into into.

(12:41):
I would at least hope that theywill have the conversation
about getting rid of these.
What is it?
19 polling places that the cityhas?
It's too many.
It's too many.
And then once you have somebodyto leave the ballots in a truck
that gets towed to North Port,alabama or whatever happened,

(13:01):
things can get really sketchy.
And so we have cars nowadays.
We need a single polling place.
What say you?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
I mean, we've talked about this before, David.
I think that maybe they haveone too many in each ward, but
if you've got a single pollingplace in each ward, you're going
to discourage voting in certainwards, and I think that
anything that encourages votingis better than something that
discourages voting, and that'sgoing to be my position on all

(13:30):
things voting related.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Let me ask you this Did they vote to finish the
amphitheater?
Yet they did not.
They did not.
Well, he's got 180 days left.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
He does, he does.
That was a campaign promise.
Now he has a mandate from thepeople, that's right.
But you know, you notice thathe didn't really talk about that
anymore after he beat leroy.
So I you know, maybe maybeworth asking him again if his
position has changed on that.
But during that democraticprimary campaign, remember it
was going to be finished byDecember.

(14:06):
So we shall see.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
We shall see.
Let's see here.
Let me turn to page two of mynotes.
I see that Pierre Beard haschosen to run against and has
qualified.
He will be running against theincumbent in this court-mandated
special election in an attemptto knock down.
Mr Kabir Kareem.

(14:31):
I've said on the record that Ithink this is an unnecessary
hassle for Mr Kareem at thispoint, but nonetheless we have a
campaign with two candidateshere seeking that office, and I
looked at some of Mr Beard'spositions.
One is a transit plan.
I guess he wants buses inColumbus of some sort.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
That's something he's been pushing since he was a
councilman.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
They're going to finish the Mardi Gras Amtrak
down on the coast.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
I saw that August 18th.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
I saw that.
I saw that I'm gonna ride frommobile to new orleans and I'm
gonna stop at every little townalong the way.
Okay, that's my adhd back ontrack here he says he will also
advocate and fight for ms, msand muw.
Now, on that one I've got a bigthumbs down, because to have

(15:24):
any voice or any say in thatdiscussion, you need tenure, you
need relationships and you needto be able to be taken
seriously.
And I don't know that he can betaken seriously.
Going in there as a new guy, Ijust don't see it.
I just don't see it.
What say you?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Oh well, I mean first of all, have you seen his
campaign slogan?

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Oh boy.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
That's my favorite part of all of this Pierre
Beard's going to take Columbushigher.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Do we really need more dispensaries in Columbus
then?

Speaker 1 (16:02):
I think, look, I think the campaign slogan is
hilarious.
Pierre, he's a smart guy andhe's reasonably self-aware.
And that campaign slogan, he'strolling the haters with it and
I love it.
He knows exactly what he'sdoing and I love it.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
More power to him.
More power to him.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Now one thing Pierre's not going to beat.
Pierre's not going tobeat—Pierre's not going to beat
Kabir, especially not in thewake of losing a city election.
It would be silly to think thatyou're going to win a state
election after you've lost acity election, but you know.
I don't think that— so it's kindof a hell-why-not campaign,
yeah yeah, but I mean there is agood reason why and the more I

(16:46):
think about it, there's a reallygood reason why Pierre's
running in this.
I don't think he's going tolose anything for the effort,
other than he will lose theelection, but he has everything
to gain other than that he'sgoing to build his political
profile through the campaign.
He's staying in the publicconversation instead of fading
into obscurity.
Imagine if he just kind of wentoff for a little while and then
tried to come back.
He's staying in front of yourface and he's talking about what

(17:08):
he believes in, and I thinkthat, well, you know, at first I
thought it was desperate, buteven with Kabir beating him,
ultimately I'm coming around.
To believe in this is verysavvy move on Pierre's part to
stay in the public discussion.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
One thing he was talking about was he has a beef
with.
I don't have a number for thebill, but there's an
anti-panhandling bill out therethat will require panhandlers to
have a permit, and I want totalk about that because there's

(17:44):
been an email circulating aboutpanhandlers.
And it comes from.
Okay, ms Barbara Bigelow.
Okay, so before we dive intothis email, can you give me the
nuts and bolts of this and kindof the context of where this
email is coming from?

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Okay, so this is to Main Street Columbus member
businesses and this has been aconcern for a long time.
It's been a concern for atleast a couple of years and lots
of conversations with Barbara,with City Hall, with business
owners, of what exactly to doabout the situation.

(18:21):
To do about the situation, andbecause you do have a situation
a growing number of homelesspeople, a growing number of
panhandlers that you're seeingvery visibly downtown and in
other places in Columbus, andnow you've got this law that
okay.
So now these people have tohave a permit or they be hauled
off.
And you've got Barber in thisemail telling people to call 911

(18:45):
if they see any of these people.
If you have concerns aboutsuspicious-looking characters,
call 911.
I have expressed that thesepeople are a detriment to our
downtown, that not only are you,our merchants, concerned, but
our shoppers as well.
This is not a positive look forour downtown and it begins with

(19:07):
us reporting these individualsto 911 in hopes that we may rid
our downtown of them.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Now to be fair, toward the end of the email she
does acknowledge that thesepeople have problems.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, and she's done that in the past, when we've
done stories about this subjectand talked to her, she's done
that also.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
It's just you open straight off the bat.
Let's call the cops on them.
It's just a little jarring.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
I'll tell you this Okay, go ahead.
I am not going to call the copson a homeless person, I'm just
not going to do it.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
I'm not either, unless they're actively
aggravating or putting someonein.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, if they're threatening to harm somebody.
I mean, granted, let's saythey're.
They've got a tent set right upunder the Statue of Liberty on
Main Street right there.
I think they should move theirtent to somewhere else and we
should do something to help themout.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
And look Barbara, Bigelow and Main Street,
Columbus.
They have a very specific thingthat they are trying to do and
having vagrants and panhandlersaround downtown is a detriment,
is absolutely a detriment tothat mission.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
It's a nuanced conversation.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
It is nuanced, it's layered.
There's got to be because, allright, just because they're not
vagrant downtown, where are theygoing to be vagrant?
Because you know, all right,well, they go to jail.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
That creates another problem and what's the need?
You know, do they need?
Do they need mental services?
Yeah, do they need a job?

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
You know there's.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
there's so many different things to unpack there
when they respond when lawenforcement or the homeless
coalition or the communityoutreach department.
When they respond to thesepeople in these situations, they
arrive to find not just notsomebody who's just bothering
people who are better off,they're finding somebody who

(21:02):
needs help in some way, like yousay yeah, that said, I think
even the most bleeding heartamong us don't want to be
bothered.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Uh, while we're going into coffee house on fifth,
yeah, well, I mean, if someoneasks me for a loaf of bread, I'm
just not going to ask for theirpermit well, of course not.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Of course not, and nor should you.
And yeah, the permit thing issilly, we'll be right back.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
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Call 662-251-9004 and getmoving again.
Thanks for rolling with ustoday.
We have in the studio nowhometown hero realtor and host
of the podcast Good for Business, mr Colin Krieger.
Welcome in here today, sir.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Thanks for having me A longtime fan first-time guest,
I think.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
I've listened to every single episode.
Well, we appreciate it yeah,well, uh, I want to just jump in
here.
Uh, everybody know you, youwork with steven jones uh, yeah
your friends with steven jones.
Y'all are practically neighbors.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
I think yes, neighbors.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I think you were during the campaign, not very
visible, no sign in the yard.
You weren't really out.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
That's fair, yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, you weren't really out front in the campaign
at all.
Since he's been elected you'vebeen considerably more visible,
you know, given the welcome atthe inauguration even.
So kind of explain the dynamicthere from Colin Krieger during
his Really Good Friends campaignversus now, how that role has

(23:46):
changed, how that visibility haschanged and why it was very
similar when he ran for councilthe first time.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
It's not my job to save Columbus.
It's not my job to give moneyto a bunch of people and support
a bunch of people.
I think people need to win ontheir own merit in every level
of politics.
I have an advantage over mostof my friends who are friends
with politicians is that I don'thave some long-term scheme to
get a real estate deal done ordo anything.
I may ask you for a letter formy daughter to go to college one

(24:13):
day, but that's about thebiggest bag I have.
So yeah, I haven't had to signmy yard for anybody, including
Stephen, didn't get to giveStephen any money.
Figured, he had enough supporton his own.
I'm very proud that he won iton his own.
As I've talked to you I know youprivately, zach, about it.
Now we're on the podcast I'vetried to help him a little and

(24:37):
support where I could and givehim a little advice Over the
last few years.
I usually don't talk to himabout politics until after it's
already happened, which isunfortunate sometimes, where
people this year have accused melike I know you're running his
campaign, I'm like man.
It would look a littledifferent if I was running it.
It would be a little morepositive.
If I was running it, you knowit'd be a little more positive.
And I've told him like I'd liketo talk to you before stuff

(24:58):
gets done or you know before,not to influence where it goes,
but like at least to help what Ithink Columbus's biggest
challenge is a PR problem.
You know we've got a lot ofgood stuff going for you.
We have challenges like anyother city, but I think a lot of
things could be explainedbetter.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Well, they're looking for a PR person for the city.
I mean, that'd be a heck of apay cut, probably for you.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, no, there's no.
Uh, as much like running forelected office.
I don't think there's an actualjob for me in the that I would
like to do, and and you know.
I even told when Joe Dillon wasthere with Robert Smith and when
Joe Dillon was there at thebeginning with Keith Gaskin,
like I'd chime in every once ina while.
Hey, other cities mentionedwhen there's a shooting where
they're from.
So you know, if they're notfrom here, mention them.

(25:37):
Or that they knew each otherwas a big breakthrough for them
to do it.
There was one time a strong-armrobbery right by the W, I'm
like.
Mention that they were sellingdrugs and they knew each other,
that it wasn't just some randomwild crime.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Right.
Well, and I want to kind of gooff of that a little bit.
I mean you help with a lot ofcharity events in town.
You've really been pushing that, making positivity louder
message.
Your friend, mr Jones, in thecampaign said that Columbus's

(26:14):
biggest problem I'm paraphrasingfor it it's an image problem, a
branding problem.
For you, somebody who's been inthe media and also you know on
the other side of things,selling houses and trying to
bring people in to live inColumbus, where is the line
between honesty and good brand,positive branding, branding, and

(26:36):
where's the dangerous place?

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Well, yeah, and people have asked me like why
don't you post more negativestuff?
I said we'll pray for my poorFedEx driver who who left my box
on the sidewalk a few monthsago and you know, basically
heard from every FedEx rep inthe state when I complained
about it.
It's not my job to put out eveneven practical bad and I just
want to put put out good newsbecause I think there's enough
people putting out everything.
I think, stephen, as you may beimplicating, blamed the media.

(27:00):
It's not the media's fault.
I always like to.
This is my line.
I go into it pretty quick.
For the last 10 years we'veaveraged being the 12th or 13th
largest city in Mississippi.
We've averaged between the 11thand 13th crime rate in
Mississippi, but we have thirdor fourth biggest daily paper,
the third or fourth TV stationand the biggest weekly paper
that focuses almost exclusivelyon crime that I used to run.

(27:22):
So you hear about stuff thathappens here.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Right, you know what I?

Speaker 3 (27:26):
mean.
But shouldn't you?
I mean Absolutely.
You need to hear about it and Ithink a good example like
talking negative is the we'regoing into too many details.
But during the campaign we hadthe, especially the last few
weeks, you had the grant come upand the grant from what
everyone said including I don'ttalk to Catherine DiCicco, but
like everybody on the councilwas surprised by what came up

(27:48):
that night.
It wasn't quite what they hadtalked about in the work session
and it was a bad PR for StephenJones.
It was bad for a lot of people.
The whole four to two narrativekept going and then two weeks
later it was cleared up a littlethat it was kind of sloppy and
messy and if I had had thatopportunity now and you're
saying I'm mayor I would havestopped and been like or the
council that voted against itthat night I would have been
like hey, this, this is staringat this, Keith.

(28:09):
like not blaming people, butexplain why you voted against it
, as opposed to read it in thepaper tomorrow.
Like, not from a PR guystandpoint, not the best comment
.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
Right, and you're talking about when?
That's what he told thecouncilwoman.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Well, yeah, that read in the paper tomorrow was for
the chicane thing on MilitaryRoad but like same thing it
could have.
He could have paused and Ithink he knows that he could
have paused in the moment andexplained that a little bit Like
hey, you know that we justtalked about this for hours
before this meeting, but youknow she was.
I think she may have beentrying to bring it up in public,
but you know that's a, you knowthat's something.

(28:43):
I wish every politician wassuper polished and out there and
all.
And I think Stephen's sincerein a lot of things.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
I think one of the things that Stephen Jones does
and it's unintentionally is hecomes across negative when he's
not really intending to benegative, like maybe it's a
communication thing.
Do you think he's going to beable to overcome that and do you
think that?
I know you're not hisspokesperson, but do you think
that he will be able to do thePR that's necessary from the

(29:11):
mayoral standpoint?

Speaker 3 (29:12):
I sure hope so.
You know he hasn't been largelybehind the scenes and somewhat
quiet in a lot of respectsbefore the election and he does
like going to check on potholesand fix stuff, you know anybody
who knows him can tell you thathe may be overwhelmed with that,
you know, at some point.
So I hope he can.
I mean I hope I all the time.
Like I tell people, like I saidI wish every politician was
super polished.

(29:32):
But on the flip side I alsobelieve, especially day one,
keith Gaskin wanted everythingbetter for Columbus.
You can tell the energy rightnow, everybody on that council,
they're givers, they reallyreally do want things to get
better.
And you know, sometimes it'shard to communicate that in the
moment.

(29:53):
You know I've spoken in publicsince I was a baby.
Hard to communicate that in themoment.
You know I've spoken in publicsince I was a baby, so it may be
easier for me to think like, oh, you can give me 10 minutes
notice and I'll go speakpublicly or whatever.
But not everybody has andsometimes you have to,
especially when you're the mayor.
You've got to have a plan aheadof time to talk to everybody.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
I think there's a lot to be said about private
speaking.
Whereas Stephen Jones isfrankly not a good public
speaker, he might be a goodprivate speaker.
We absolutely yes.
And a lot of times that makes upall the difference in the world
.
I want to call attention towhat you said at the
inauguration.
I thought this was justfantastic.

(30:32):
I'm just going to say it wasfantastic.
You said the people want you tosucceed, even the critics.
Nobody wants to watch yousuffer for the next four years.
I think the harshest critics,who are a lot of our- good
friends of mine, um, want thingsto change.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
You know they do, and and I don't think we have this
abject horrible situation whereeverything's falling apart.
I just think there's enoughpeople bringing up the bad stuff
that I can be like, hey, wehave this good stuff too, cause

(31:09):
perception is reality, uh and,and especially in real estate.
So, like in real estate, I'vegotten a blank stare from 100%
of the people that I brought up.
That real estate was up 10, 10%in Columbus and 5% in
Starkville last year, and theyjust go no, you must be in
Caledonia.
I'm like, no, the city ofColumbus.
And they're like, no, I meanrealtors too that just don't
believe we can win.

(31:30):
And you know, when you lookaround the rest of the state, at
cities our size, they'refalling apart.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
But I mean, I guess that goes back to the question I
was asking before how do you?
Because I think it's veryimportant to be honest about
yourself as a community and Ithink that one of the things
that I find probably mostendearing about Columbus is, you
know, its willingness to behonest about itself.
Where other communities I won'tname names, but other

(31:59):
communities maybe aren't sowilling to do that.
I think that's a positive thing.
We talk about positive andnegative stories.
I reject the notion that thereare positive and negative
stories, but I think that aquote-unquote negative story
done the right way, is apositive thing for the community

(32:21):
.
So I mean, where is that?
Where is that line betweenhonesty and branding?
Where is that place where yousay you talked in your speech
about Columbus has all of theingredients to to to really to
really do something, to makethings better, to improve in the
way that so many people alwayscry out, that we want to improve

(32:43):
as a citizenry, we want toimprove as a government, we want
to improve as just a citygenerally.
You say all those ingredientsare there.
I tend to agree with you.
How do you bring thoseingredients together?
And what is the line between?
Hey, let's be honest about whowe are and where we're trying to
go, and let's also focus on thepositive things that we are in

(33:04):
the process.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
Well, I think that uh , David will maybe stand up and
applaud at this.
The government is not theanswer.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Um, I think we have here here.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
I think the biggest, like one of the biggest holes we
have right now in the successof our city.
Is we Not the link's fault,it's not EMCC's fault, it's not
the vocational tech stuff.
But I have spoken threedifferent times at Columbus High
School on career day Startedwith hey, y'all shouldn't be
realtors, You're too young.
Do you know that you can go toEMCC for a year, year and a half
, and make 80 grand a year?
Not a single teacher, not asingle student had any grasp of

(33:37):
that.
They may have been told thatthere may be a fly flyer on the
wall there, but they don't knowit.
And the link has said you know,MCC, you're not doing a good
enough job.
You know MCC is having a hardtime getting involved in schools
.
Even the county schools aren'tdoing a phenomenal job with it.
Well, the world created Forge.
Individual people said Forgecomes together, encouraged
getting this thing.
They're going into the schoolsand doing it.

(33:57):
Should some of one of thesegovernment entities or sub
entities under the link's not agovernment entity thought of
that?
Yes, but the fact that we don'thave as much vocational
training in the schools orsending the kids out there?
I think the number is 30, 32%of people who work the factories
live in the Golden Triangle,and then 30% split up among the

(34:17):
counties, which is just anembarrassingly low number.
You can build as many factoriesas you want you know, if the
people aren't working there.
That being said, man, a lot ofour business, a lot of our gas
stations, a lot of our housesare only here.
I'm only here because enough ofthose factories were built and
that the city is successfulenough because of that.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Well, not to roll a live grenade into this
conversation and to acknowledgethat we're three white guys
sitting at a table.
Race relations and racedivision in Columbus
specifically, it comes up a lot.
It came up a lot during thecampaign.
People talk about it.
How much of that is drivingColumbus's politics and maybe

(35:08):
its challenges, and how do youthink that should be addressed
and dealt with?

Speaker 3 (35:11):
I mean it's a tough fight over years and you've
you've got an elected citycouncil.
You mean stephen jones dad andrusty and rusty green's dad
couldn't go to school together.
So it's not something that isthousands a year old.
Harry sanders is a racist andit was five years ago Check on
my watch and he backed it upafter he had a chance to do it.
Generally speaking, a lot ofthat stuff, when you come into

(35:31):
the greater discord of the world, really has more to do with
class than it does with race.
Like you cross the county lineover in Alabama and a lot of
people don't like white poorpeople and the city is somewhat
naturally segregatedgeographically.
You've got a quote wrong side ofthe tracks, bad side of the
tracks.
One misconception that I seemore so on the white community

(35:55):
side than the black communityside, and we have overlapping
communities.
You've got arts community, newscommunity, all this other stuff
is that all theAfrican-American politicians are
on the same side.
Politicians are on the sameside and if this election didn't
show it, nothing will but like.
There are big divisions and youknow, not everybody's holding
hands and super happy everysingle week and not every vote
has to go just along raciallines.
You know, when Keith came intooffice, mickens and the two

(36:17):
white councilmen voted lock andstep for about six, eight, for
about five council meetings andthen, once everything kind of
broke apart, then it startedgoing the other direction.
So you know the solution forthat man.
That's such a huge question onwhat you do.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
What I mean is is suspicion of the other.
How big of a factor is that in?
You know, everybody's sittingaround wanting essentially the
same thing a better.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Columbus a better city.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
But if you think you have the answer and the other
people are the problem,regardless of who's doing that,
I mean, how do you address that?
How do you attack that in aneffective way that brings people
to the table and just doesn'tleave victims?

Speaker 3 (36:59):
lying around.
I mean this without kissingy'all's butt.
I think podcasts help, I thinkdiscussions help.
I think people going to eventstogether help.
There are many events that I'vehelped with charity stuff that
just happen to be all whitefolks or happen to be all black
folks and it's a little odd forme, coming from New Orleans,
where it was a little better,you know the race relations
thing.
But then as an adult when I goback and look at it, I was

(37:21):
probably headed on withrose-colored glasses.
You know, like I mean, one ofthe Supreme Court justices went
to my high school.
She's pretty conservative andDavid Duke was in my
neighborhood.
You know like this is, it'severywhere, and obviously
Facebook during COVID and stuffreally brought out some of the
worst of those discussions, butit's getting people in the same

(37:48):
room and talking.
I'm glad the Crate Foundationis being a little more community
, like more active down here.
I think they have an eventcoming up in July but like Crate
up in Northeast Mississippi hasmade some headway with that,
literally just by havingnonprofit leaders in the same
room, you know to havediscussions as far as an
organized plan to fix it or getthrough it.
You know we're in the deepSouth.
Like I remember, when I movedhere, caledonia was still on
federal probation, like you know, I didn't know till probably a
month after my kids started atheritage that I looked at the

(38:08):
name of the school.
I'm like, oh, that's what itwas.
I mean, like that's theblissful ignorance I had about
it and that is, you know, it'sin people's memories and there's
defensiveness on both sides oflike, oh, you're not.
And then I think if people likeyou know you have a different
reaction to public facingStephen Jones than private
Stephen Jones, you know, andthat's probably with the whole

(38:29):
community.
You know I saw multiple commentsand I will unfriend people who
are negative or I won't blockpeople on Facebook, but I posted
that Ms Ethel became the thing.
There were multiple negativecomments that were like typical
Columbus.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
It was a six.
Well, what are you talkingabout?
It was a six over.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Well, what do you think about that pick?

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Well, I know there was some discussion with Jason
getting on there, but theyusually lead towards an elder
statesman, so it was going to beRusty or Ethel.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Rusty or Ethel, yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
Yeah, and that's just a tradition in most of
Mississippi.
It's like you've served sometime.
You get on there as get onthere.
As far as the vice mayor, youknow it depends how much the
mayor travels or if Stephen getshit by a bus or something.
You know the council kind ofhas the power anyway.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Right, yeah, her vote has the same amount of weight,
whether she's the vice mayor ornot.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Yeah, yeah, and you know I can tell you I see it
more so in Starkville politics.
But, like you know, there'slocal business people and
Lowndes County would be a goodexample too.
There's local business peoplethat have a lot more influence
than on the council, than thecouncil.
You know a little less in thecity here, but and it's not
overbearing, but I'm just sayinglike there's some powerful
people in both cities that are,you know, about pulling strings,

(39:34):
but you know they wantsomething done that gets done.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
What'd you think about Tuesday on the whole, that
that looked like a campfiremeeting man.
Looked like a campfire meetingman.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Well, you've got to remember again, I went to go
visit Steven.
He was pulling out a thing andI don't know.
I know Roderick a little, Idon't know Greg.
I talked to Rusty a decentamount, but I know Vaughn from
being on boards.
But they did have a day and ahalf of talking to each other
before they were counsel.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Well, I mean, there was nothing nefarious, yeah,
yeah.
Well, nothing controversial onthat agenda either.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Yeah, so just wait and then, like there's always
going to be power positioningand other sort of stuff on on
any council.
Um, I'm excited about JasonSpears being in there.
Just cause it.
Whether any financial stufflooks sketchy or not which some
of that is reality over the last20 years and some of that is
branding over the last 20 yearshe's going to be there checking

(40:28):
the books and I know Jason isnot a big fan of borrowing money
.
So when I moved to town and thismay be getting some unlikes on
Facebook I used to tell peopleI'm socially liberal Leave me
alone Like 1991.
Libertarian, leave me alone,not the modern movement, and I
said fiscally conservative on alocal level, but we live in
Mississippi.
Twenty-five percent of peoplelive in poverty.

(40:49):
It's higher in Columbus andLowndes County.
Twenty-six percent of peopletheir primary source income is
from the government.
That's half and that includesLowndes County Works for the
sheriff's department, works forthe government.
That's a lot of money reliant onsome of the cuts that are
happening on a national leveland that's something that I fear
and, as a realtor, not a pitchwise, but like the national

(41:11):
average for USDA and FHA loansand VA loans, government backed
loans 8 to 10%.
It's cutting close to 60% inLowndes County.
It's higher in the countiesaround us other than in
Starkville, like that's a bigdeal.
That means we essentially havea pretty low income, you know.
That's the reason we're.
None of us, includingStarkville, will have a Red
Lobster or Sam's Club or Targetanytime soon, you know.

(41:32):
Now look, I said Target.
I'm getting in trouble.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Now Tupelo's getting a Target.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
Tupelo's you know, for as much as my wife and three
teenage daughters complainedabout us not having a Target, we
got a whole lot of Target stuffin my house and a lot of Target
boxes They'd figure out a way.
And now, at least now you know,after five years ago, when they
fixed the internet sales tax,like you know, like Kevin
Stafford said at the meeting,like we got $1.2 million coming
from the internet sales tax, Ithink that was honestly a big

(42:05):
burden, probably for three orfour years before the state got
that figured out, especially inColumbus, on how much money they
were losing.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
I mean, I think that of the 30 some odd million that
they've got in existing debtright now, over 80% of that is
old road paving debt.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, yeah, and they were.
I mean some of that, I do agree, but every county does the.
You know it's paving onelection year thing.
That's set.
It's literally set in asphalt.
It's literally set in asphalt.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
It's not set in stone .

Speaker 3 (42:28):
And they've made some progress on that.
I was very critical when I wasthe media.
I'm like, do they really justtake the six wards and just
split it up when Ward 5, notjust in Stevens defense, but two
of the wards are 48% of theroads?
Right, it's crazy.
Or that could be 47.
I'm not sure.
I don't know how the numberchanges.
Kevin told me like every yearit changes.

(42:51):
I'm like, how does it?
Is it roads?
And uh, I'm a fan.
Uh, going back to thelibertarian thing is that we
have too many roads.
I do think we have too manyroads in most of the County
jurisdictions here where youhave blacktop roads leading to
three people's houses.
But, um, you know, I like niceroads and I don't want potholes
in them.
I didn't realize this and itwasn't, uh, steven who said I
believe it was Keith, keithGaskin Um, I was.
I brought the whole Remax teamor team went down to new Orleans

(43:13):
once and I mean like theystopped outside of a hotel and
looked at the roads where thereare three foot craters on every
street, and to me it was justlike, and Keith said he's like,
you know, you went to bed.
You joke about it, you went tothe bed of sounds of gunfire
every night and you couldn'tdrive 50 miles an hour on any
city street because the carwould get destroyed.
And it's never changed.
So my perspective of here isthat it's still just magical,

(43:36):
like oh, the roads are all right.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
They're not that bad.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
I do.
I'm very defensive on Facebooknot of the city or the county or
anybody of when you blamesomebody for something like a
pothole or a traffic circle thatyou blame the right person or
you call and at least let themknow, because I do have people
who are like one of them was madat Keith about a pothole and
I'm like, did you call him?
Did you tell anybody?
Did you do anything?
And part of the reason I knowso many politicians is I may

(44:01):
have complained about 9-1-1 thismorning to Trip Harston.
He's on a boat somewhere andI'm like I had an issue with
9-1-1.
It wasn't a great experience.
It could have been better.
If you don't speak out, theydon't know.
And our town and county is theking of the squeaky nail gets
hammered or rusty door orwhatever happens.
Like the people who complain,like they don't know If nobody

(44:29):
else shows up to tell them thatyou're angry about something.
Or if you get 50 people in thatroom and say I, you know if the
parade's a good example andsomething.
I probably disagreed with thecouncil of giving $5,000 for the
parade.
I think the kids at Columbushigh getting to be deserved it.
You know if they, if they ifthey went to be and y'all have
been complaining the school'sbad for so long.
They got good.
You can't criticize that.
They threw a parade.
I don't know why it cost $5,000to do it, but I'm also a guy
who runs events for a cost ofnothing all the time.

(44:50):
But everybody was kind ofexcited and the kids were of
recognition.
But if that vote, if everybodyknew that vote was coming, and
you get 50 people in the room toargue against it, then it might
go down.
It doesn't always work, you knowat least.
But when a lot of people callone council person or call one
mayor and bother them a lot, alot of things get changed that

(45:10):
way.
That's also sometimes where yousee, like weird obscured laws
and rules come up Right.
I can tell you, with the MSMSdebacle, when I went down, the
difference between phone callsand talking to some of the
representatives down there inperson was exponential.
A lot of them had no idea whatwas going on.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Well, I want to cut in here.
You sell houses in Columbus,you sell houses in Starkville.
You're somewhat ingrained inboth communities and you've got
a child that graduated from MSMSand another one who's going.
Where does MSMS need to be?

Speaker 3 (45:47):
If it's not in Columbus I have to be pragmatic
and you all know me off the micI try to be very pragmatic and
fair, almost to a fault Probablyshould be in a grassy field in
Madison, mississippi, and itwould be a new $100 million
building.
Geographically I'm a big fan ofplace, but in the same respect
that people are like, oh, youcan't find any good help in
Columbus People in Starkvillesay that too and then you go to

(46:08):
Harvey's and you go to Zachary'sand you see these amazing
employees and you're like, ok,well, there is a way to get help
.
And that's how I feel aboutthat that if we're going to make
the argument that MSMS shouldbe fixed and changed, moving it
20 miles down the road andspending the money it's not
saving any money.
It should be centrally located,because a lot of PAs now that
I'm trying to advertise for MSMS, a lot of people from the coast

(46:29):
don't.
It's just too far for them.
It's not centrally located.
It's a tough call to do that,because the biggest beauty that
I've realized learning this it'sessentially since Jermaine
McConnell, right before him, 12,13 years ago, to a fault, the
Mississippi Department ofEducation has absolutely ignored
MSMS.
That's the beautiful part aboutit, like the vote before them.

(46:53):
The fix, the despicable fix ofthem just passing this thing
without even talking about itwas that an 18-month name change
from, like the Tupelo District,becoming a District of
Innovation to a District ofwhatever.
It took them 18 months to lookat their pack and it took them
six weeks to do this.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Right.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
And that's the best part about the campus.
The beauty of it is the grassis tall and they've been left
alone.
The best teachers in thecountry have been left alone to
teach kids and help them, andI'm a little worried.
The more money gets involved,the more there then it becomes
more of a government, more of aregulated situation, and
especially in the fervor rightnow you know, right now, at
every level and this is whetheryou like it or not, it is a

(47:30):
conservative mindset is they'retaking the money from the
federal government, cutting itdown, putting the bearing on the
state, and then they can shrugtheir shoulders and say, oh, the
state didn't do this, includingthe Department of Education.
There may be a day where theystart calling for no Mississippi
Department of Education.
It may be a day where theystart calling for no Mississippi
Department of Education.
It may be next year, but rightnow the preeminent thought from
Delbert and everybody down isthat we have too many.
One of the perceived as thedumbest states in the country

(47:51):
has too many colleges and toomany high schools, and we may
agree with that until theyconsolidate.
The last standing ones isColumbus and Lowndes County.
Can you imagine the rage there?
If you want to talk about racerelations.
That would be crazy, but theythink we have too many schools.
Maybe they're right, maybethey're wrong, I don't know.
I the first time my kidsstarted MSMS, I really I was

(48:11):
like every school should be thisway.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
To your point.
Speaker Jason White reported tothe Magnolia Tribune that he is
expecting one big quote, boldand uncomfortable end quote bill
, and in that bill you couldpotentially see mandatory

(48:34):
consolidation of schooldistricts and I'm sitting there
looking at that thinking that'sgoing to be the Trojan horse to
rip MSMS out of here.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Well, there was a you know the Speaker of the House.
Last year they had a plan on athree districts MSMS like
schools, you know and get rid ofthe residential part of it.
The residential part's magic.
My daughter's headed up to OleMiss.
God forgive everyone in ourarea, but she is not the least
worried about living at a youknow dorm or whatever, and
that's just an advantage thatnot everybody's going to have.
Now in the Northeast that'spretty common for schools like

(49:03):
that.
Yeah, the W is on the top of thechopping block because the
dirty part was said out loud.
Slim had the best laid columnabout it in the middle of that
where they said they want to getrid of two of the
African-American colleges orhistorically black colleges.
Well, you can't do that.
First You've got to get rid ofthe W and let state take it.
I know that from everyone I'vetalked to.

(49:26):
State was resistant, didn'tcare about MSMS at first.
But when they were kind of toldlike you're getting the W,
they're like you know, we'll tryto help, but they really they
just got kind of slapped on thewrist, which was you know.
They lost several million infunding this year.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Well, I've got a question for you.
Just and I know that, and Imean this with due respect just
give you an opportunity to speakabout this in a mic.
I know you get this questionsome over the years and I know
that it's a question that gratesyou because we've talked about
it privately, but you're arealtor.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
You're a philanthropist and a brander.
Yeah, yeah, I know thatsometimes people ask you or
assume that those two things,that that the philanthropy feeds
the the other one, and that'sthe point.
How do you respond to that?

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Oh, like saying that, like I'm only doing it to get
stuff.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Yeah, you're only doing it for the house, it's OK.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
They can say it all they want, the people that know
me.
The vast majority of the stuffI do, that I'm involved with,
isn't on Facebook and doesn'thave a logo on it.
The Mississippi Real EstateCommission is part of that fault
, because realtors aren'tallowed to advertise anything
unless, specifically, they putREMAX partners or whatever
brokerage they're with on everysingle thing.

(50:42):
You know we had parties foryears at my house before I was a
realtor.
It didn't say the packet onthere, I get it.
People are usually suspiciousof that because that's how
they'd be.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
People are cynical.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
Yeah and honestly before.
If you would like to go back ayear and a half before I was on
WCBI doing stuff, you're goingto have a hard time finding a
selfie of me or a picture of me.
I made my business takingpictures of other people.
I'll tell everybody where it'sfrom.
They can look it up and do itthemselves.
But Gary Vaynerchuk's a bigpopular guy here at our only Web

(51:10):
3.0 studio in Mississippi.
Josh knows is a big fan of him.
He's a personal development guy.
I got to meet him right beforeI got into real estate and he
said I see you posting all thisgood stuff about the community.
If you just take pictures ofother people instead of pictures
of yourself and promote them,things will work out.
In the aggregate, you'll win.
I yeah, the better the town does, the better it is for me, um,
but you know that's going to bepart of any single thing ever,

(51:31):
even if you show up at events.
You know, and I'm sure there'scritics, but you know if you sit
down with me or I can help youwith your charity, let me know.
Like it's not, I'm not dishingthat much money out.
You know the two biggest checksI write a year to the if the
Chamber of Commerce wants moneyfor like all the events and I
said, but other than that,they're $200 checks.
You know, if there's an eventat Zachary's, I'm giving as much

(51:51):
money as anybody, but it's alot of $200 and $300 checks, a
lot of cookies.
If you catch me and your kidsselling cookies I'll try to buy
them all.
But you know I'm addicted tothat spirit and so is my wife of
like I call it given theperfect Christmas gift, even if
everybody doesn't know, or thatfeeling of helping somebody like
that and at some point,probably during covet, it

(52:12):
switched to where I could raisemore money.
If I'm involved as opposed toyou, know I I've said it
publicly.
On the wcbi thing, I've writtena letter to y'all two years ago
about the.
Columbus hero volunteer thing.
Vaughn's a great example y'alltwo years ago about the Columbus
hero volunteer thing.
Vaughn's a great example.
In the council I can name 30people who do more volunteer

(52:32):
stuff than I do, who don't getcredit for it at all, and
they're just phenomenal group ofpeople and I have told y'all.
Y'all could take me off thelist if you want, because you
can only win so many cool awardsand it doesn't help your ego,
it doesn't help your business,it doesn't do anything.
If you're not, if you don'tbelieve you're not doing stuff
because you want to do it, it'snot going to work.
The worst post ever you'regoing to see and you'll never
find one of me which is hashtagblessed.

(52:52):
I managed to fit in four hoursat the homeless coalition today,
like when you see that you likeit, you might be liking it with
your middle fingersubconsciously, but people have
to learn that on their ownwhether they want to do it, and
I've been.
I've been in a lot of dark roomsand bad situations trying to
help people and the thing thatturned, especially with

(53:15):
Zachary's and stuff, is probablymore people are coming to me
because of they're like I seeyou doing that.
So I definitely get 10 to onephone calls of I see you do all
this good stuff.
Can you help me?

Speaker 1 (53:33):
Versus, I see all this good stuff.
Can you help me?
Versus, I see all this goodstuff.
Do you want to sell my house?
Well, um, do you, um?
If you could wave a wand andchange one thing in Columbus
permanently?

Speaker 3 (53:37):
for the better.
What would it be, man, I don'tknow.
You know I don't want to saypeople have a negative thing
about.
Um man, that's just tough rightnow.
I'd love for the w to be abrand new campus and ms ms be
beautiful.
For a purely selfish thing formy kids.
Um, man, I don't know.
Part of it probably goes downto the race relations.
For 95 of people, there'snothing there.

(53:59):
They just don't know, they justdon't go out in public and and
part of that has been mydefensiveness of the of the four
to situation where there's likeoh, they're all black folks and
they like each other andthey're voting the same way.
It's not.
You know, there's there'sthere's factions in every group
of white folks and black folksand everything else.
And you know, I'm trying ashard as I can.
I've tried before to get thethis isn't a wish but to get the

(54:20):
council.
The council right now is verysupportive of the link and I
think Stephen's trying to mendthat relationship.
Anything you want to add thatwe hadn't discussed, I can't
think of it.
Man, I really would like peopleto start going to council
meetings and supervisorsmeetings.
Just stop in and meet thesefolks.
And there's plenty of publicevents, especially in this
honeymoon period, this first sixweeks.

(54:41):
They are all going to show upto everything.
You honeymoon period, thisfirst six weeks, they are all
going to show up to everythingyou can get to them.
That is such a neat fact.
My dad was exceptional at it inNew Orleans.
I knew every mayor that was inNew Orleans.
We had no money, but like hewould go and shake Ray Nagin's
hand or Mark Morial's hand whenI was a little kid, that's
amazing.
That's a great feature that wehave here.
Starkville, too, like mostcollege town mayors aren't all
that approachable.
You can find Lynn.

(55:02):
I mean, make a bad comment onher Facebook.
You'll meet her.
Like, she'll call you tocorrect it.
She's a big fan as am I aboutcorrecting.
This is why you don'tunderstand why it?
Happened and I like that.
Community leaders too, and getinvolved in some of the
charities and volunteerorganizations in town.
Our United Way.
What Renee Sanders is doing atUnited Way I mean they're the
fastest growing United Way inthe country Like they are just

(55:25):
blowing up.
She's an effective publicspeaker.
She's good at recruiting, butlike if you need some
volunteering hours.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
And keeping that thing together when others are
closing down.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Yes, so yeah, and it's going to be more than ever
you know, it's a big challenge.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
A lot of VISTA cuts and that sort of stuff.
You've been listening to Betweenthe Headlines.
We've been pleased to have ourfriend in the studio today, mr
Colin Krueger.
Well, thank you for listening.
Let's look to the mail today.
We've got a comment coming inin response to my visit to
Juneteenth, none other than MrSlim Smith, who says Wonderful,

(56:06):
of course.
Tomorrow you'll be talkingabout black people trapped on
the Democratic plantation andhow white taxpayers are sick of
providing for quote free stuff.
End quote for lazy black peoplewhose problems are quote real
or imagined Good.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
God.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
June 10th is one day.
Who are you the other 364 days?
Well, I would respond to that,but I think he's already got me
all figured out.
I mean, what can I say?
Thank you for listening, slim.
And that will do it for today.
We want to thank our listeners.
We want to thank our sponsors.

(56:40):
We want to thank Josh Gillisfor allowing us to use his
studio.
That's where we sign off fromHist historic downtown Columbus
Catfish Alley Studios.
If you'd like to participate inthe discussion, be sure to
email us tips at cdispatchcom orreach out to me on social media
, facebook or X at dchism00.

(57:00):
You guys keep it friendly andin this studio we'll do our best
to keep it real.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Opinions expressed on this show are those of the
speakers.
No-transcript.