In Studio: Jeffrey Rupp, former Columbus mayor

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Columbus municipal elections brought a major shakeup with Stephen Jones winning the mayoral race and five of seven council seats changing hands amid disappointingly low voter turnout. Former mayor Jeffrey Rupp joins the podcast to provide historical perspective on Columbus politics, economic development, and the differences between Columbus and Starkville governance.

• Low voter turnout of only 4,500 ballots in Columbus elections reflects growing political apathy
• Stephen Jones secured victory with 56.4% of votes, including strong absentee ballot performance
• Ward 4 saw surprise upset with Lavonne Harris defeating incumbent Pierre Beard
• Jeffrey Rupp discusses Columbus' strengths including historic homes and Riverwalk development
• Key differences between Columbus' confrontational politics versus Starkville's collaborative approach
• Columbus positioned for potential rebranding opportunity with new leadership
• Economic development requires strategic investments and unified vision

Keep sending your comments and questions to [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
One of our hosts of Between theHeadlines is the managing
editor of our newsroom.
Typically, we try to keep newsand opinions separate, but
reporters have a unique insightinto the workings of local
government and their analysiscan be helpful for readers and
listeners.
The Dispatch remains committedto journalistic integrity and

(00:37):
our reporting will alwaysreflect that.
And now Between the Headlines.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
This week, on Between the Headlines, the big shakeup
for the Columbus City Council.
We will break it down and inthe studio we have former mayor
and business mogul, Mr JeffreyRupp.
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That is bentonsinccom you arelistening to Between the
Headlines, with Chief PoliticalCorrespondent and Managing

(01:49):
Editor of the CommercialDispatch, Mr Zach Player, and my
name is David Chisholm.
Today we talk about elections,All right, so I've got the paper
here and I am looking at thevote counts.
Let's start with Mayor.
We've got Jones bringing inunofficially 2471, which is 56.4

(02:09):
percent, Bill Strauss 1263,which is 28.8 percent, and
Darren Leach 707, 14.8.
What do we learn from this.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Well, congratulations to Stephen for one thing.
Yeah, I know we want to talkabout the turnout.
That turnout is abysmal and Idon't know.
I mean, I think that there'sjust a lot of fatigue generally
in politics right now.
I'm not, you know, fatigue,fatigue.

(02:43):
And I don't know whether it'sbeing generated top down or
bottom up, but I thinkeverywhere you look like voting
totals are starting to to dip inelections.
I hope that's not a trend wecontinue to see.
It wasn't any better inStarkville.
As a matter of fact, it was alot worse, but yeah, the turnout
here was was pretty low.

(03:04):
Fact, it was a lot worse, but,yeah, the turnout here was
pretty low, and I really hopethat there's something that
happens that turns that around alittle bit.
I don't know if you have anyspecific thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, I mean, turnout was low.
You're looking at Columbus4,500 ballots.
Cast-ish give or takeStarkville to your point less
than 3,000 ballots cast there,starkville, to your point, less
than 3,000 ballots cast there.
I'm going to be a negative,nancy, on this.
It's pathetic.
It's absolutely awful.
My thoughts go back to and thiswas a while back Operation

(03:36):
Iraqi Freedom.
I'm not saying it was a goodwar or a bad war, but think
about that when those localsover there got liberated and
they took their thumb andpressed it against it, and they
would.
They would have the ink ontheir thumb and they were so
happy that they get to dosomething that they never before
got to do, and that is casttheir vote and not be controlled

(03:59):
by a regime or by some higherhuman power that just told them
what to do and where to do it.
And here we are with all thefreedom in the world and all the
mechanisms to complain in theworld, and we don't even show up
to vote.
And so to those who get onFacebook and complain about

(04:22):
potholes and this and that andthe other, I'm just going to be
blunt.
You need to just delete youraccount and be done.
If you're not going to show upto vote, what's the point?

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Okay, Well, I think there's a lot of apathy and I
think that there's a lot of.
I think that there's more andmore a sense of what does it
matter, what does it change?
And I'm not saying I agree withthat.
I want to make that very clear.
I don't think that apathy ishealthy, but I do think that
there needs to be I mean thereneeds to be some recognition

(04:56):
that it matters.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
And because it does, it does matter.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
It matters a whole lot to your daily life,
especially your local elections.
When you know, people argueabout the presidential election
and in most cases, the localelections are the ones that
affect you the most often andthe most profoundly.
Look no further than how youfeel if your trash isn't picked
up one day.

(05:20):
Those are the types of thingsup one day.
Those are the types of thingsand, for whatever reason, that
engagement is disconnecting,that apathy is setting in and
the fact that it doesn't matterhow I vote.
Nothing's going to change.
I think the onus is on thepeople to do a little different
than that and be willing to be apart of the process and not

(05:44):
think automatically that they'renot.
This voter turnout is a call tothe leaders who are elected by
really small minorities of theelectorate to enhance that
engagement, to reach out.
Part of the job of being acommunity leader is to recruit
that engagement, enhance thatengagement, promote that

(06:06):
engagement, and I think thatlocal leaders can do a lot
better job of that and I think ayou know, community members,
citizens generally, can do alittle bit better job knowing
that their voice does matter andgiving that a shot.
Well, certainly it matters,does matter and giving that a
shot.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, certainly it matters, and from my perspective
, there are a couple of thingsat play.
Number one Republicans havebeen in power in Mississippi for
so long that a malaise hasfallen across.
You know what I mean?
There's no drive there, becauseRepublicans tend to take things
for granted.
Well, that's going to bite myparty in the rear end.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's not a Republican specific issue.
It's not Republican.
Anytime that you've got any onegroup that you know has the
baton and has it all the time.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
What happens is you get lazy voters and lazy leaders
.
What happens is you get lazyvoters and lazy leaders and you
don't have the impetus from yourleaders to think well, I'm
going to have to compromise onsomething, I'm going to have to
think about this differentlythan I'm thinking about it.
They can ramrod through theiragendas and say, well, to heck
with you, because what are yougoing to do about it.
Tell you the last person thatthat actually paid for that, uh,

(07:28):
paid for taking a stand likethat publicly was, uh, jeff
smith, the former staterepresentative, who said
something very, very similar tothat at an exchange club meeting
and he got his head handed tohim at the at the polls.
But I think most of the timethat that really was saying the
quiet part out loud when he saidwhat he said at the exchange
club, which was you know, if youdon't like it, so be it, you're

(07:48):
stuck with me.
I think when the Republicans arein charge, wherever Republicans
are in charge, without any sortof democratic, valid democratic
challenge, this is what you get.
Challenge, this is what you getwhen you have Democrats, whether
it's on a city level, a statelevel or a federal level, that

(08:09):
can get the baton and not haveto worry about really getting
beaten in an election.
Might have to worry aboutgetting primaried, but they're
not going to get beat by aRepublican, then what's the use
in even talking to them?
And I think that, as people seethat to your point, I think as
people see that, whether it'scoming from the Republicans or
the Democrats on the local,state or federal level, people
get tired and people get sick,and so they ask themselves the

(08:33):
question why am I part of thisprocess?
Am I part of the problem bybeing part of this process?
So no, the answer is no, you'renot.
You need to vote.
But on the other side of it, Ithink that leaders need to act
in better faith, to be leadersfor their entire constituency
and not just the ones that theyknow are going to show up and

(08:53):
vote for.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
I think the other side of that is cultural.
You look at how we spend ourtime now.
We spend a whole lot less timewith family and a whole lot more
time on the gadgets OK, and thegadgets does not.
They do not give you localinformation, except for between
the headlines with Zach andDavid.
Ok, we give some pretty goodlocal content there, but most of

(09:18):
what you see on the gadgetthrough Facebook, whatever, it's
about that national stuff thatwe can't do a whole lot about
other than vote once every fouryears, right, and then maybe
throw our opinion out there andlet it dissolve into the ocean,
but here, locally, it matters itmatters so much
more and it does make adifference.

(09:39):
And when you look at forty fivehundred votes you really see
how much of a difference thatone powerful vote can make.
And with that I meancongratulations to Mr Stephen
Jones, who is our new mayorelect.
I thought he performed quitewell.
He had 20 percent of his voteswere absentee.

(10:01):
He had 20 percent of his voteswere absentee.
Second place Bill Strauss.
Only 8 percent of his voteswere absentee.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
I'm looking at that, wondering what we make of that.
Well, I think that it's thatI'm not going to say anything.
I'm not going to say thatthere's any funny business at

(10:54):
all, and I want to make thatvery clear, because there's.
You know, there are ways in thecity of Columbus for mayor or
for even the council seats,you're going to need to have an
absentee strategy.
That's not telling people tovote for you or intimidating
them into voting for you, butmaking sure that your folks are
calling and getting their ballot, their mail-in ballot, or
making sure they're going upthere and voting absentee if
they're not going to be here onelection day.
And I think that, uh, the jonescamp clearly did that and,
again, nothing wrong with thatat all, but it but it was

(11:16):
clearly a priority for them.
And I think that, uh, you see,in a lot of the winners up and
down the line, with theexception of one race, the ones
that the ones that made absenteevoting part of their campaign
strategy, did well.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, darren, leach 707.
Man, I thought the apostlewould have gotten more votes
than that.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Well, you know, let me just dive in here if I can,
and I want to, and I want tostart with.
I want to start with Stephen,since he won.
You know, stephen, he can be.
He can be a good mayor, even agreat mayor.
You know that takes workingwith people, communicating,
building consensus, keeping hisadministration transparent and
accountable.

(12:02):
He's capable of all thosethings.
I've seen it.
Those are his talking pointsand I think that and I think
that he's good for it.
But you know, I think aboutthis.
I think about this line fromthe Simon and that old Simon and
Garfunkel song If he acts likethe boxer from that Simon and
Garfunkel song and carries thereminders of every glove that

(12:25):
laid him down or cut him, thingsare going to suck in Columbus
for the next four years.
At times in this campaign and attimes as a councilman during
this current administration andterm, he's shown tendencies to
be like that boxer and he's gotto be better than that as mayor,
and so that's really the, Ithink, the challenge for the

(12:47):
hope and the challenge forSteven is to you know, the hope
is that he's going to do what hesays he's going to do.
He's going to be a goodcommunicator, he is going to be
willing to work with everybody.
I've seen him do that.
I've seen him do it effectively.
So he can.
But he's got to stay out of hispride and he's got to take, and
he's got to take a loss like aman when they come.
He can do that too.

(13:08):
But I just I hope for him thatthe weight of that office
doesn't have him in his pridemore often than it has him in
his, in the element of his, ofhis better angels and leadership
.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, I'll give him the benefit of a doubt.
I hope that he can do that andI feel like he is a grown adult
and I feel like he is plentycapable, and I just hope that he
will let things happen that hedisagrees with when necessary,
and I hope that he will not lethis personal grievances affect

(13:46):
his governance.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
And I mean and that's a challenge for anybody that's
elected to office but it'ssomething that we've seen him do
both things and I hope he picksthe good road more often than
the bad road there.
Now, bill's and Darren'sresults were pretty predictable.
Yeah, bill hustled his wholecampaign.
He worked his butt off, but hewasn't going to pull significant
votes away from Stephen, for awhole lot of obvious reasons.

(14:09):
One maybe not as obvious Joneseffectively tied Bill to a
better Columbus.
He did it in the mayoral forum,he did it during his campaign.
That's something that Billnever really denied, ran away
from or made never really denied, ran away from or made any real
effort to back away from, andthat significantly reduces your

(14:29):
pool of potential supportersbecause ABC, whether you agree
with them or not, that's apolarizing bunch of people.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
We could dedicate an entire episode to A Better
Columbus and I think thatepisode would be somewhere along
the lines of you saying maybethey're a racist organization.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Well, don't cast a version of what I'm going

Speaker 3 (14:52):
to say Maybe not, maybe not, but my perspective
would be right.
My perspective would be thatthey just go after criminality
and criminality sees no color,and I could pose to you a list
of folks that they have goneafter that happen to be the same
color as I am.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
The point I'm trying to make.
Yeah.
That when you're tied to ABC,which is a polarizing group that
has been, you know, muchcelebrated and much maligned,
depending on who you are, Ithink it makes a good chunk of
your voters anti-status quo, orit made a big chunk of Bill's
voters anti-status quo more thanthey were pro-Bill, and you

(15:32):
weren't going to win with thatthis time.
I think that there are otherelection cycles.
Maybe last time that that wouldhave been a more effective
strategy wasn't going to be onethis time.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
Well, the negativity is certainly something that
pushes certain people away.
Right, that's what I'm tryingto say.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
David.
That's all I'm trying to say.
By contrast, darren had twoproblems.
He had one where theendorsement of a very obviously
unpopular Keith Gaskin and youknow we talked about last time
Darren didn't start reallycampaigning until like a month
ago.
I've believed all along andeven had a strong Stephen Jones

(16:07):
supporter tell me this week thatif Darren starts his campaign
in January and he doesn't havethe Keith albatross around his
neck, tuesday might have beenreally close.
But I would encourage Darren toshake this off and use the next
four years to get more involvedin the city in various ways.
Be more conspicuous with hisnonprofit work, apply for boards

(16:28):
and commissions.
That way you force Stephen andthe council to either reject you
or prove that they are whatthey say they are and can work
with anybody.
Then in 2029, if you thinkStephen's been a good mayor,
endorse him If he doesn't runagainst him.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
I concur.
I think that the potential isdefinitely there.
I hope he does not fade awayinto the night.
Now you talked aboutendorsements.
Stephen Jones had a couple ofvery big endorsements,
particularly toward the end.
He had a video posted by noneother than former governor

(17:03):
candidate Brandon Presley.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
That was a big deal.
And then, of course, the goodLord was on his side.
Let's not forget that.
Listen, I'm always going tomake fun of that kind of stuff.
He thanked the good Lord forhis victory, as that's fine to
do, and then he went from thereto Yobar, and I'm wondering if

(17:28):
the Lord was at Yobar, do I?

Speaker 1 (17:30):
want to go to the Lord is everywhere, David.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Well, I want to go to Yobar and experience the Lord's
presence.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Well, if you would have been to Yobar that night,
you would have probably, fromthe videos that I saw of it, you
would have experienced RickMason's presence.
You would have experienced, uh,experienced, rick mason's
presence.
Um, you would have experiencedjoseph daughtry's presence and
you would have experienced,possibly, pierre beard's
presence now, you used the wordstun in your sub headline yes
for him um.

(17:58):
Like, all right, you go first onhim well, I mean, for me that
was clearly the surprise of thenight, with LeVon Harris beating
Pierre Beard.
I saw the, I saw Pierre's videoand you know, he, he, he
congratulated LeVon.
He showed, showed a lot ofclass in his concession.

(18:19):
He conceded to her, I thinkright after the polls closed on
Facebook.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
But he wrote on Facebook that that he did six
good years, yeah, and when Iread that, to be honest, I had
to read that again because Ithought he was talking about
something else there for asecond.
But you know, let me talk aboutPierre for a second.
I like Pierre on a personallevel and I hope that he has

(18:47):
great success in the privatesector.
Now, as far as working inpublic office, I've said it and
I'll continue to say it thethings that he got in trouble
for were just not okay forsomebody that has that level of
responsibility.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
It hurt him that has that level of responsibility.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
It hurt him and you know my hat tips to the people
in Ward 4 that basically said,hey, we're tired of this garbage
, we need a better example to beset.
And it hurts me to try tocondescend, because we all have
sin, we all get in trouble.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
We all make stupid choices.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
But you know, when you're in that level you've got
to make good choices, and I justwish him well and all 18 people
living in his house.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, you know he changed his address so people
would leave his.
So ABC would leave hisgrandmama alone and I commend
him for that.
So his voter registration nowhas you where he is living on
Waterworks.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Road.
More on that in a second.
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Ok, back to politics in just asecond, but we have some
breaking news out of the ClarionLedger early this morning.

(20:55):
We have a lottery winner inColumbus the match five for one,
point two million dollars andperson may not be from Columbus,
but the ticket was bought here.
It was bought at Columbus, the69 Mart.
Okay, I think that's the one onYorkville Road right there at.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Idlewild.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
But somebody in New Hope or somewhere is going to be
quite happy very, very soon.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Well, you know, and that's a, I think that beat the
record of I want to say it was900,000 or somewhere in there
for that match five game and theprevious record holder was
somebody who bought a ticket inWest Point.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
West Point.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
The Golden Triangle is a lucky place if you want to
play match five sounds like.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Well, we need luck here.
Let's get back into politics,shall we?
We were talking about Ward 4.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Ward 4.
And the day after the electionI saw Pierre post a video on
Facebook in which he said I'mgood no fewer than a dozen times
.
And if you have to tellsomebody I'm good that many
times, I don't know if you areWell.
I hope he is good.
Well, I hope he is Well, I hopeso.

(22:12):
But he's got plans.
He said at the end of thatvideo that he was going to run
for District 5 supervisor inLowndes County in 2027.
I'm not even going to touch that.
I don't think he has a futurein county politics.
He has a better chance winningthe Ward 4 council seat back in
four years.
I think he's dependent onstaying out of trouble for the

(22:35):
next two years, then running onhis you know, honestly pretty
decent council record, withoutthe behavioral baggage.
Here's the problem with that.
I love Pierre to death but he'san emotional, impulsive guy.
I mean, that's just the honesttruth about him.
He would probably say thatabout himself.
He would have to control thosethings with great discipline at

(22:55):
a time when he's not under apublic microscope, which is
harder to do.
He didn't even get throughTuesday night without coming
into the municipal complex.
You should have been there, manIn the courtroom.
I'm talking to somebody.
All of a sudden I hear acowbell ringing behind me and I
turn around and it's Pierre inthe municipal courtroom on

(23:17):
election night ringing a cowbellover there by Stephen.
But cops had to take it awayfrom him.
So I mean, that's what he didTuesday night.
So the next two years, I don'tknow.
I do wish him well.
I hope he gets his lifetogether.
And you know, next two years, Idon't know.
I do wish him well, I hope hegets his life together and you
know, if he does, I.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Well, Pierre, if you're listening and you want to
ride with me to a state game,you can bring the cow bill to
that.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Well, he may ring it in the car, so you may want to
roll the window down.
I'll deal with it.
Okay, Now LaVon, when she saysshe knocked on 4,000 doors, I
believe it.
I also believe she has a heartfor doing this job the right way
for the right reason.
You know, it's definitely goingto be a different vibe than the
last four years and I wish herwell also.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
Yeah, I'm looking at that particular race and
comparing it with some of theothers.
I predict in the next councilis that there is going to be a
lot less, maybe, testosterone inthe room, or maybe fewer
urination contests, shall we say.

(24:21):
You know, we've got LaVonHarris in there and I think that
she's going to do well.
I think that she's going tocommunicate effectively to do
well.
I think that she's going tocommunicate effectively and I'm
not sad about her winning thatrace at all.
I don't have a whole lot ofwords for my new friend, mr

(24:41):
Bobby Johnson IV.
I think he's going to be a goodinfluence on this town.
But look at that race andyou've got Jason Spears in now
and now.
He's a ballsy guy, but he's notgoing to be confrontational,
he's not going to get into themuck in the mire.
In fact, when I talk aboutJason Spears, I think of someone

(25:05):
who there's not going to be alot of people to want to argue
with him, because he's got a lotof facts and figures in his
mind and they will be at risk ofembarrassing themselves.
Ok, so there's that, and thenlet's see who else we've got.
We've got.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Mr Gary Jefferson.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Now, that man soft spoken, a gentleman Likewise, I
don't see him getting in themire.
That man soft-spoken, agentleman Likewise, I don't see
him getting in the mire, and soI'm very optimistic about this
particular change.
And then you've got a new guy,roderick Smith.
I hope that he's smart enoughto listen, you know, because

(25:47):
he's super young and superenergetic.
He's super young and superenergetic and if he will listen
and, you know, not be tempted tostart things right, get the ego
going, we've got some very goodpotential for positive branding
in this town.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
You've got five of the seven possible seats.
You've got five of them turningover.
One of them that didn't turnover board one, ethel, wiped the
floor with the sitting mayor,ethel Stewart, and this is the
clearest evidence that much ofwhat happened Tuesday was indeed
a referendum on Keith, and Iwasn't surprised at all by the

(26:24):
result.
Matter of fact, I think Icalled it down to the
percentages more than once onthe podcast.
I said it'd be around 70-30.
As mayor, if you're going toget anything done, you either
need the willingness to hashthings out in good faith with
people who may not agree withyou or the wherewithal to
overpower them and get them inline behind you.

(26:45):
Keith was comically lacking onboth fronts, and because of that
, a four-person majority of thecouncil decided they would
govern without him.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
If you look at the traditional classical Democrat
okay, all right, hot take here Iwould consider Keith Gaskin and
Darren Leach to be in thattraditional classical, educated
Democrat class.
Yes, I would almost put them inthe same camp of people as,

(27:18):
let's say, bridget Pichelle andthose people that are holding
signs out in front of thelibrary.
Right.
And people don't know whythey're doing it, but they're
doing it Okay.
I know why they're doing it Iunderstand.
OK, I know why they're doing it.
I understand how would it beperceived if that group of
people went into a meeting ofthe Democrat Party of Lowndes
County.

(27:38):
Would they be welcome there?
I mean, it's just why, wouldn'tthey be?
I'm not so sure they would,it's just a strange dynamic
happening in this town.
The Democrat Party of LowndesCounty has been in disarray this
campaign.
I don't want to chase this toofar, but you know, look at the
infighting, look at Mickens,this and that and the other, and

(28:00):
I just I'm seeing a factionwithin the letter D in the city
of Columbus and take that forwhat you want to, but it's just
not Keith ran as an independent.
He did.
He did, I understand that, andI think he did so for good
reason, but why did he have toand why did he choose to?
Well, I mean that's that Ithank Keith Gaskin for what he's

(28:24):
done for the town and I wishhim well, him and his family,
but looking forward.
Him well, him and his family,but looking forward.
I think we have a greatopportunity for self-awareness,
for self-sacrifice, for maybecleaning house in a way that
traditional Republicans aroundhere didn't expect, in the sense
that let's clean house byelevating the conversation

(28:48):
instead of talk about theforensic audit, which was used
to be my hobby horse and used tobe something I was big on board
with, but it's basically a deadissue.
At this point we're movingbeyond that and now what we're
talking about is how to brandthe town, how to fight the
really big problems.

(29:09):
I'll say this Mr Jones,congratulations upon your
election.
We better see that dadgumamphitheater finished, because
that was the mainstay of yourcampaign.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
And.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
I am starting the stopwatch even as of today.
Today in the studio, we welcomea man of many hats and someone
who is no stranger to the cityof Columbus and to the Golden
Triangle Mr Jeffrey Rupp.
Welcome in here today, sir.

Speaker 5 (29:37):
Thank you and I appreciate you asking me to come
.
I've listened to your podcastand think you're doing the
Lord's work.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
Oh wow, the Lord is pleased.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
And to flesh out Mr Rupp's bio.
He was a longtime anchor andnews director at WCBI Columbus
mayor from 2001 to 2006, andfrom there he left City Hall to
take a job at Mississippi State.
He's Starkville's outgoing Ward3 alderman and is currently VP
of business development at GLOW.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
My first question to you have you seen Bill Gamble in
a while?
How is he?

Speaker 5 (30:11):
Yeah, so Bill and I go to lunch about once a month.
I mean, he's 70-some years oldnow and obviously his health is
getting worse as all of us getolder.
So I go to lunch with him oncea month and it's just great
because somebody always comes upto the table usually a waitress
telling us to be quiet.
But people always come up andthey remember the days when we

(30:35):
were together and I think itpicks up his spirits, picks up
mine as well.
So yeah, I do see him and he'sdoing good.
Okay.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Well, I want to jump in here.
Just go ahead and get this outof the way.
You know you've served out yourterm as a Ward 3 alderman.
You've got a primary opponentthat defeated.
You.
Seemed to be a pretty popularalderman over there, Very, you
know, very moderate down themiddle.
What happened there?

(31:10):
Did you get caught up in therhinosphere?

Speaker 5 (31:14):
No, I don't think so.
I know Kyle and I wish him well.
When the mayor decided to runas a Democrat and then a viable
candidate came out, as I wasknocking on doors, folks said
well, my wife and I would wantto support you, but we're
worried about the mayor's race,and that's an important race, so

(31:35):
we're going to split our votes.
And I, you know, weeks leadingup to the election, I heard that
from more and more people andyou start doing the math and you
go, wow, this could be, thiscould be close.
Having said that, I would havedone the same thing.
I think that the mayor's raceis much more important than an
alderman's race.
But also it needs to be saidthat my dad was a coach, right.

(31:59):
So in any sports you play, yougo out and play with what you
got under the conditions of thattime right.
So I can't put an asterisk bylosing, by saying well, the
mayor's race, you know.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Well, if you had run as an independent instead of a
Republican, do you think thatyou would have fared better in
the general?

Speaker 5 (32:17):
No, that ward is always going to is the most
conservative ward in the cityand I think it was Harry Sanders
here who said I was the mostliberal Republican in the state
of and to me it was aboutrepresenting everybody, right.
But at any rate I say thatAfter the primary I took Kyle to

(32:39):
lunch and I said I'm not goingto tell you what you should do
in there, but I'm going todiscuss how, the mechanics of it
and any way I can support youin moving Starkville forward.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
I'm for it of it and any way I can support you in
moving starkville forward.
I'm, I'm for it so well, uh,having had uh a foot in, the
leadership of, uh, you know,both cities the mayor here for
five years, you're, uh, you know, been an alderman over there
for four um, I mean, I'minterested in discussing, you
know, the difference in the, uh,the personalities of those two

(33:13):
cities, what you saw, thedifference in the mechanics of
leadership in each city and whatthe successes and maybe the
challenges are in both places.

Speaker 5 (33:23):
Yeah, well, I'd be interested in your thoughts on
it too, because I seriously, theway I see it, and it's just my
opinion is that each communityis unique and with Columbus you
have the homes and the historythat Starkville will never have,
right, but also we're a rivertown, so there's always I've

(33:43):
always felt there's been alittle bit of an outlaw.
You know, columbus has sort ofalways been a little bit of an
outlaw and politics has alwaysbeen a bit more smash mouth,
right, uh, be it city or county,it's just always been a little
bit more confrontational.
Uh, starkville, uh, is not thatway, and not outwardly anyway,

(34:06):
you know what, uh, I would evensay inwardly working with the
two boards, uh, and I'll tellyou why I think it's this way in
a minute.
Even when we disagreed andstarted, we got stuff done and
walked out of the meetings andshaking hands and let's go get a
bite to eat, right, it didn'tmatter what side of the
political fence you were on.
Rarely were the meetings thatheated.

(34:29):
What I think makes Columbusdifferent is it's a special
charter, so you've got an evennumber of councilmen and then if
it's a tie, the mayor breaks atie.
Very rarely does the mayor, thechief executive, get involved
in legislative things.
In my case, when I became mayor, I had three white Republicans
and three black Democrats, so itdidn't matter what the motion

(34:53):
was.
It was going to be a three,three tie.
Right, zach, you could say Imake a motion, the sky is green.
It was going to be a three,three tie and land on my desk,
and while that was stressfulsometimes you think about the
police chief and the otherthings we went through it gave
me an opportunity to participatein shaping the legislation for
Columbus, and so I thought ifI'm going to be in the seat,

(35:15):
I'll take it Right.
And we would talk before councilmeetings about OK, we've got to
split this one, three, three.
What side you want to be on?
We'll give it to the mayor.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
That's just awful.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
What's the one that you remember that just
aggravated you the most?
I was like why couldn't thishave just been 4-2?

Speaker 5 (35:39):
Well, the police chief caused the most, I think,
heartburn in the city.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
And I think that— Read me in a little on that,
because I came here after youwere gone.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
Well, I think historically Columbus tended to
promote kind of along the goodold boy network.
I think that's fair to say andI don't mean to slight anyone.
But I think you can see if youlook at the history of the
hirings, hearings.
And then it got to the pointwhere I thought when we had the

(36:14):
48-hour special, you know theCBS special on Columbus, it just
made us look awful.
You know, we had theCrimestoppers money being paid
out for sex with an informant Ithought we needed to go outside.
In fact we did an audit.
We paid a firm from Texas tocome in and audit the police

(36:35):
department and I was told thatit was going to be like every
other audit that was ever done.
We were going to take thefindings and stick them in a
drawer and I took the top 10findings, put them on an easel
on the steps of city hall, saidhere, here you go.
And it was painful how it hadgotten so bad and we gave copies
to anyone who wanted them.

(36:55):
But the recommendation wasyou've got to go outside the
department, yeah, and so that'swhat we did.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Okay, I'm going to answer that question.

Speaker 5 (37:18):
Well, and I'm not dodging it, but I haven't kept
up with city finances.
We had the same issues when Iwas in Columbus, in fact I'll
share this with you.
Something didn't make sensewith our finances and one night,
me and Greg Mims if youremember the COO for the city

(37:39):
took a butter knife and broke into our CFO's office.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Seriously.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
And I wanted him with me because I wanted a witness.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Right.
The libertarian side of meloves this stuff.

Speaker 5 (37:53):
We found financial mismanagement.
We found the evidence.
And the next day, when thegentleman got to work, I took
Greg, we went to his office andI asked him some questions and
he kept answering the same way.
Pro tip if someone ever asksyou a question and keeps asking
you that same question, you'renot answering the question

(38:14):
truthfully or correctly, right?
So I said I'm going to ask youone more time.
You know what about this moneyand these checks?
Well, I told you I did that andI said okay, open the bottom
drawer of your desk.
And he did, and now he's staringat the evidence that showed he
was right.
I thought he should have goneto jail.
Counsel wouldn't do it.
I sent him home, locked hisoffice, took his he unplugged

(38:37):
his computer.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well, I mean, what does the counsel have to do with
whether somebody's charged witha felony?
Isn't that the DA's problem orthe grand jury's problem?

Speaker 5 (38:43):
Well, it's a matter of how much they want to pursue
it, and they just sort of wantedhim to go right off in the
sunset.
Turns out he was sort of doingthe taxes for some of them and
you know some of those crazythings.
So, at any rate, what I wantedwas to get him out and get
someone in, and and that's whatwe did.
So I say that to say thatfinances have long been an issue

(39:04):
with with the city, andobviously it needs to be cleaned
up, but I haven't followedColumbus to tell you what they
should have.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Well, speaking of finances and speaking of the
river, I'm glad that youmentioned the river, because
we've had a lot of guests onthis show and I've asked them
what sets a Columbus apart fromStarkville or Tupelo or other
places, and none of them havesaid the river, even though I
was hoping that would be theriver.
Them have said the river, eventhough I was hoping that would

(39:33):
be the river.
And when you talk aboutfinances, I think back to the
rup administration and thetreasure that you left for us is
the river walk.
Yeah, but you've also beencriticized for how much dadgum
money that thing cost, but it's,it's a jewel.
What are your thoughts on that10 years later?
Yeah, I will tell you this.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
Uh, yeah, I think that was one of the ones that uh
roger beat me up on pretty good.
Uh, actually, my favorite rogerlarson line was he wrote uh who
was the former police chiefthat uh that passed away
recently played guitar joseph StJohn.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Yeah, Joseph St John.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (40:12):
Joseph, st John Rest his soul.
But Roger wrote in the packetone day that that guy, the
difference between me and himwas that guy was a better chief
than he was guitar player and Iwas a better guitar player than
I was mayor.
That was Roger's favorite, yeah.
But I will tell you this whatyou do to make your community a

(40:35):
place where people want to livematters, and I know that
particularly older folks tend tosay, you know, just cut taxes
and pick up the trash and that'senough.
It's not enough.
We built those ball fields overin Starkville and it has the
impact it has had on thecommunity has been crazy.
We got 70 teams coming in thisweekend.

(40:57):
We had 70 teams last weekend.
Our sales tax numbers are goingcrazy.
We're building some hotels, butit's our community that goes
and uses those fields, so thosethings matter.
And so the Riverwalk, I think,absolutely has been a huge plus
for Columbus, and it wasn't likeJeffrey did it, it was the

(41:18):
administration and the momentumand all the folks involved at
the time made that happen.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Have you noticed that Columbus tends to be a parrot
sometimes of what Starkvilledoes, even though it may be
something that's notparticularly our interest or our
strong suit?
You know, I'm saying thisbecause we had Bill Strauss at
the forum about a week ago andhe said that you know, there's

(41:43):
kids out there that areinterested in the arts and
things that are not sportsrelated, and yet we build a lot
of ball fields around here.
What say you?

Speaker 5 (41:57):
Well, I would say, in the case of Starkville, if you
look, we've got Cornerstone Park, which has been, but we caught
a lot of flack for that and itwas started before I got on the
board.
Uh, that mayor spruill, as sheis want to do, was very adamant
in pushing that and she was 100correct.

(42:17):
If you go over and look atmckee park in columbia, we are
completely doing our basicallyfamily park.
It is going to be stunning andbut it goes back to the
riverwalk question.
Uh, those things matter.
Now I drive past betweenStarkville and Columbus.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Bank, first Fields.

Speaker 5 (42:35):
Yeah, and I don't know the backstory on that, but
I honestly did when I firstdrove past it I kind of went hmm
but I don't know the back story, so there could be a great
reason to have that those ballfields.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
When you've got Probst Park essentially trying
to do the same thing there withtheir investments.
Now I think that bank firstyards and Probst Park put
together still isn't going toquite be the same size as
Cornerstone.

Speaker 5 (43:01):
Yeah, and look, one thing I said before we started
is I don't want to, you know,question other political leaders
, because I honestly don't knowthe back story.
I can tell you, though inColumbus the mayor decided very
proactively a year and a halfago to build to 12 new

(43:22):
pickleball courts.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
I've heard that pickleball is for senior
citizens.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
That's what Jeffrey takes.
Offense to that that I thinkthat he's semi-professional no I
even I am a senior citizenyou're looking quite
presidential today

Speaker 5 (43:38):
the mississippi state university pickleball team went
to nationals on any given night.
Now, uh, there are over 100people playing pickleball in
Starkville.
Some of them come from I thinkRandy Robles come from Columbus,
but also three days a weekMonday, wednesday and Friday in
the mornings you'll see 30 or 40seniors out there.

(44:01):
And what's good about that?
The exercise is fine, butthey're also bringing some you
know, watermel, watermelon, somebanana bread and they're
socializing.
I think that's really healthyfor a community and I think
there is a lot of value in that,and I think Columbus will build
.
Aren't they building somepickleball courts?

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Oh yeah.
Well, I want to change gears alittle bit to something that did
or I guess didn't happen duringyour administration.
We had Joe Higgins on here acouple of months ago now.

Speaker 5 (44:32):
I think yeah, I listened to that and well, I
mean.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
so, yeah, I think you know where this question is
going.
He talked about how and thiswas going to be during your
administration.
The city had an opportunity toinvest $3.3 million a drop in
the bucket today compared towhat's been done out there.
$3.3 million for a drop in thebucket today compared to what's
been done out there.
$3.3 million for a 40% stake inthe first mega site and y'all

(44:55):
didn't do it and, of course, hewas critical of that decision.
I want to hear your side ofthat and why that didn't happen
and if you would do it differentif you had it to do again.

Speaker 5 (45:05):
Well, first of all, I call Joe Max the Tasmanian
devil of economic development.
I mean, you know, I was on theboard that hired him on the
search committee, and nobodydoes it like he does it.
He is always, though.
It's his job to push the dealRight.

(45:26):
He is always, though it's hisjob to push the deal right.
I don't think Columbus wasnecessarily in that position at
that time with a history ofunproven, of not great economic
development results right.
So there was.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
So this is going to be 2004, right, 2003, 2004.

Speaker 5 (45:46):
We did not have the clarity of hindsight that you
have now.
In fact, there was a time whenthey first developed the Golden
Triangle Airport Industrial Parkwhere Starkville, west Point,
all could have participated andthey didn't.
So Lowndes County paid thefreight on all that and they're

(46:08):
getting reaping the rewards.
I mean, lowndes County isfairly well off and kudos to
them.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
You said y'all didn't have the clarity of the success
rate that you do in hindsightnow.
But what were thoseconversations, I guess, between
Joe Max and you at the time?
And I mean, did you strugglewith it at all?
Was it a situation where y'alljust didn't have the 3.3 million
, or or what were the?
What were the conversationsthat led to?

(46:36):
Well, should we or shouldn't we?
And this is where we're, thisis where we're landing.

Speaker 5 (46:41):
So you're asking me a conversation from 20 years ago
when I don't remember what I hadfor breakfast.
But I would say that there wassome skepticism on the board and
keep in mind my board wasfairly old they're like my age
now so I think they tended to bea little more fiscally

(47:03):
conservative.
We obviously were having somefinancial issues of our own.
A little more fiscallyconservative, we obviously were
having some financial issues ofour own, so I don't blame them
for being a little gun.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
shy on that Okay.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
But were you, I think I would probably have been a
little more willing to try justabout anything, I mean, be it
the river walk and some otherthings we did in Columbus.
At the time I was outdoordining.
One of our councilmen wasagainst.
It was quoted in the ClarionLedger saying that it was going

(47:39):
to hurt the concrete.
I'm not kidding that was a quotein the Clarion Ledger and as a
mayor I'm getting calls from allover the state.
People just laughing, othermayors going yeah, what kind of
concrete do you use up there?
And in Starkville right nowthey're getting ready to
completely redo Main Street.
Push the streets in and expandthe sidewalks so folks can have

(48:03):
can eat outside and enjoyoutdoor dining.
Can eat outside and enjoyoutdoor dining.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Looking at Columbus now driving through visiting you
know, eating with Mr Gamblewhen you're here are there
things when you look around andyou're like man.
I'm glad we did that besidesthe Riverwalk.
And then there are other thingslike God.

Speaker 5 (48:26):
I wish we'd have done something about that.
When I had the chance uh I I'mpleased with uh, you know, we
went through round of brack baseclosure when I was mayor and I
was part of that team and I waspleased that we put up the first
, you know, the the first jetstatic display and was told by
the department of transportationthat it would never happen.

(48:48):
The highway commissioner atthat time we called him highway
commissioners, nottransportation commissioners
said it would happen over hisdead body and there was nothing
that really, if you were indowntown columbus that really
let you know.
We were a base community andone of the criteria, one of the
boxes, uh, that the brack folkswere looking at, was, you know,
some tangible evidence, right?

(49:09):
So I wanted to get a staticdisplay up this was before they
had the one at the base even,right, and I didn't want to use
taxpayer money.
So I got the concrete donated,I got the steel donated and then
I needed to get a jet and thenthe Air Force wanted me to go
out to the boneyard in NewMexico or Arizona and truck one

(49:31):
back and that was going to costtons of money and Fogelsong
General Fogelsong was at thePentagon at the time and used to
check in because he lovedColumbus so much.
And he'd say you know, hey,mayor, what's going on?
I said, man, I'm trying to putup the static display and the
Air Force are telling me I gotto go out west to get a jet.

(49:51):
He said I'll call you back.
He called me back thatafternoon.
It's true, called me back thatafternoon.
He said go, pick one out, goout to the base and pick one out
, it's great.
So we got a T-36.
And we went out at dawn and weshut down Highway 45.
I remember the sheriff's officewasn't crazy about that.
It was at dawn.
We wanted to move it beforerush hour and Steve Schmidt was

(50:15):
the wing commander and he and Ihad four-wheelers and they
lifted the jet over the gate ofthe base, put it on the back of
the flatbed and slowly drove itdown Highway 45.
And we're buzzing along in ourfour-wheelers and the thing that
just blew me away was that, uh,and surprised me, uh, people

(50:37):
line the highway with flags,right, wow, okay, that was so
cool.
It was so cool and the sun'scoming up and you get a lot of
crap with the job, that it'sdays like that that make you
feel like it's worth it.
So we get down there and theytake the jet and they mount it
on the stand and the wingcommander when they introduced

(51:01):
the T-36, was McLeod GeneralMcLeod, that sounds right,
colonel McLeod and he I think hehad dementia at the time.
But we invited him out and Iput him up in a lift and with
like a bottle of champagne orsomething, let him christen the
plane, you know and it broughtback you could see the light

(51:25):
come on right and it broughtback memories of when he was out
at the base and with that jetand man that's the good stuff.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
What about the other side of?
That.
The stuff that you look aroundand you're like God, we had that
and we didn't get it, or I wishthat I would have approached
that different.

Speaker 5 (51:45):
There are economic development opportunities that
you wish that you could havegotten.
That didn't pan out and youwonder if you could have done
something differently.
One in particular that also hasanother point to it that's
important on why size matterspoint to it.

(52:10):
That's important on why uh, whysize matter, why, why when I,
before I left columbus, I wantedto annex bent tree plantation
and a few other spots, uh, whenI was in the mayor's office I
got a call one day from a uh, atier three automotive supplier
and he said you know, mayor, I'ma tier three automotive
supplier.
I want to to be between Mercedes, nissan and Toyota and I

(52:32):
thought the Golden Trianglemight be a good spot.
He said I'm calling you first.
And I said why are you callingme first?
He said because you're thebiggest dot on the map.
So I think that size matters ineconomic development.
For whatever reason he didn'tchoose to come here, but the
fact that he called me first inColumbus, I really wish the city

(52:53):
had preserved that Before Ileft.
I would have liked to havegrown the city to sort of
protect that, because Starkvilleis the biggest city in the
Golden Triangle now and I don'tthink there's any turning back.
Starkville has room to grow.
It's got the economic engine ofthe university.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
So Well, you've kind of gone into the private sector
pretty hard now.
What is?
What is the political futurefor Jeffrey Rupp?
And is there a situation whereI saw Jeff Turnage comment on
your Facebook post when you werecongratulating Kyle after the

(53:34):
primary?
He said come on back here andrun for something over here
again?
What is the political futurefor Jeffrey?

Speaker 5 (53:40):
Rupp Zero, so I turned 65 last month.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Did you?

Speaker 5 (53:44):
really Thanks.
Thanks for the shock in yourvoice.
You need to talk more.
I turned 65 last month.

Speaker 4 (53:48):
Did you really Well thanks.
Thanks for the shock in yourvoice.
Really you need to talk more,david.

Speaker 5 (53:50):
Yeah, I've retired from the university but I still
teach a couple classes asemester.
I've gone to work for one of mystartups, a Columbus kid, hagen
Walker, at Glow.
I've got one daughter out ofthe house, another one almost
out of the house.
I'm in a pretty good spot rightnow.
I'm still able to playpickleball and I still play

(54:13):
music.
I was over here at Tampico Baya couple of weeks ago and just
had a ball with Carlos andRoberto.
So I'm done and I'm not sure Ihave a political home anymore.
I think it's become sopolarized that I don't know how
I could.
I don't know what party I couldever be a part of anymore.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
Well, I think that polarization is just absolutely
regretful, particularly on thelocal level, where it doesn't
really matter.
It doesn't matter, and it's.
It's just not necessary.
It's, it's uncalled for and, umboy, what?
What all can you say about it?
I think a lot of it has to dowith people feeling the need to

(54:58):
take credit for something, and Ithink, as a town, we will do
much better if we just pushideas, whether they're our own
or someone else's, just to makeit happen, regardless of whose
name on it.
I think that's the path forward.
And you mentioned the jet andyou mentioned these other things
, the Riverwalk.
These are brands to our townand I'm really excited about the

(55:25):
new city council in the sensethat I think Columbus will have
the opportunity to rebranditself.
And, to your credit, many, manyyears ago I remember this we
had the 98 US Women's Open.
Ok, that was in West Point andsome big shot celebrity got on

(55:45):
TV and said you know, theworld's most prestigious golf
event I have found is in themiddle of a cow field.
And you got on the air and youreminded that lady that, hey, a
cow field is not the only placeto find cow piles.

Speaker 5 (56:10):
Well, let me, let me let me tweak that a little bit
bit.
So it was an editorial that waswritten by usa today and the
lady said it was.
It was indeed in a, in a cowpasture, and I held up, went on
the air and held up the paperand said this just proves a cow
pasture is not the only place tofind cow manure.
Yes, that was uh well, that wasan easy.
That's almost like a homerthing, right?

Speaker 3 (56:28):
but but the thing is, we need to speak good things
into our town and we need tostand up for our town and fight
for positivity in ways like that.
And I mean, it's you rememberthat many years ago?

Speaker 5 (56:43):
I can't believe you.
Why are you clear that memory?
You could use that space forsomething else.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Well see, their history hinges on very small
decisions, and we have so muchnegativity being on social media
or wherever, and I think partof the reason that Columbus is
not in a, shall we say, goldenage right now are these many,
many small decisions thatembarrass potential investors,

(57:12):
make them not want to come hereor just put a dark cloud on the
town by using words that justdidn't need to come out of
someone's mouth.
So thank you for coming on theshow today.

Speaker 5 (57:25):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Yeah, anything you want to add.

Speaker 5 (57:28):
Well, I would say to your point quickly that if
you're in a leadership roleactually even if you're not, but
particularly if you're in aleadership role the real
challenge, the threading theneedle, is to understand and be
honest about your challenges andproblems, but lead from a

(57:49):
position of positivity, right,because people are going to take
their cues from you and ifthey're looking at you and
you're up there fussing ateverybody and that's going to
rub off on them, right, soyou've got to be strong but
positive.
I think Mayor Sproul is a goodexample of a starkle.
But, anyway, guys, thanks forhaving me on.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Thanks for coming on.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
Best wishes to all the new elected officials in the
Golden Triangle.
Good luck.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
And that will do it for today.
Let's dig into the mailbox.
We have some responses thisweek.
Pink Hair Lady says and Iassume this is in reference to
our episode about means ofreconciling race relations in
the city of Columbus.
She says quote said by a whiteman speaking of me with all the

(58:36):
cards in his favor.
Next up, he will claim womenplay the misogyny card too often
and just need to get over theinjustices.
I thank you for listening.
Jason Hansen says I believe theentire city council wants to
see Columbus prosper and JasonSpears is the guy that can show

(58:57):
them how to bring it intoreality.
We have an anonymous person tosay here the new council is
going to represent a huge stepforward in terms of PR.
I think we will see much lessembarrassment from the council,
which will be good for business.

(59:18):
And Judah Wilson Bennett asksbasically where did the 1,482
voters from the 2021 election go1,482 voters from the 2021
election go?
Why is there such a significantdrop in voter turnout In just

(59:38):
four years?
Our population declined by only2%.
So what is the cause?
Why did so many people sit thisone out?
Well, I hope that our episodetoday at least helped to answer
that question and we thank youfor listening and we encourage
you to stay involved in yourcommunity and go vote.
Be sure to subscribe, share andrate and send us your comments.

(59:59):
We would love to hear from youTips at cdispatchcom.
You can also follow me onFacebook or X at the Chisholm
double zero.
Tag my name and if it's public,I might just read your stuff
here on the show signing outuntil next week from catfish
alio studios in historicdowntown columbus.
Your host has been zach playerand I am david chisholm.

(01:00:22):
Until next time.
Y'all, keep it friendly, wewill keep it real.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
Opinions expressed on this show are those of the
speakers and not necessarilythose of the Commercial Dispatch
.