I guess the “come for the POTUS election, stay to support our school system” strategy worked.
But seriously, to the Lamar County School District leadership, that’s just one hurdle cleared. There are more hurdles to clear.
For the rest of Mississippi, it will be interesting to see if other school districts also put bond issues, and perhaps levies, up for votes. All of this while we have a state lottery.
To view the entire series of posts, go to www.DougMorris.org/search and enter “It’s gonna take a lotto luck” in the search box.
Now that we’ve all had a chance to digest the news, I can say it here. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, and enjoy the beignets, 103.7FM. There are plenty to go ’round in NOLA.
With that, here in the Pine Belt, I can remember 103.7FM as an easy-listening station, a country station, a 1950s/60s oldies station, a country station (again), and rock, in some form, for about the last decade and a half. It started as active rock and morphed closer to classic rock before surrender.
I’ve written about a controversial incident regarding its morning show in The Fox/WFFX era here before. I wish not to revisit it. A polite “good riddance” to that program is also in order.
There’ve been many times 103.7FM WFFX has created confusion — making people think a certain show or song was on my radio home, Rock 104. Now that The Fox has fled for NOLA with a temporary format change to boot, the confusion it created is ending.
I’ve told others this — so I might as well confess this here. I thought for sure iHeart was going to at least retain the WFFX call letters for 103.7 here — but change the format to news/talk and affiliate with — wait for it — FOX News Radio. Heh, when I’m wrong, I’m wrong.
Welp, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
The Lamar County School District is giving its bond issue another chance in front of voters. It’s the same one as before.
As before, it needs a 60% supermajority of yes votes. If it clears that hurdle, it will mean new buildings for Purvis High School, Sumrall High School, and Oak Grove Middle School — as well as a new gymnasium for Lumberton Elementary and a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School. (Why not makeover or get new buildings for the aforementioned elementary schools? Just throwing out a question.)
The only change to the strategy — campaigning. As Doug’s Place understands it, the school district is not allowed to actively campaign. In its place, enter the Friends of Lamar County Schools Political Action Committee.
Doug’s Place Take: To borrow a line from the game show host character in the 1990s video game Smash TV, “Good luck. You’lllllll need it.” No matter who takes the lead in campaigning, this still looks like a big ask while certain parts of the service area — particularly Lumberton — are getting the short end of the stick. That’s the problem.
The vote will be part of the general election ballot on November 5.
And, as this series of posts continues to hint, how much money is Lamar County seeing from the Mississippi Lottery (if any)?
To see other posts in this series, some of which predate the first release of the bond issue, please go to www.dougmorris.org/search and enter “It’s gonna take a lotto luck” in the search box.
But — with autumn on the horizon, organizers of satellite media tours may be thinking early and inviting stations across the country to a satellite, or other live, interview from Las Vegas ahead of the 2025 CES, the initials of which originally stood for Consumer Electronics Show. Of course, certain organizers of the interviews are only going to want to showcase certain gadgets. The airtime would be paid for in advance by the makers of the products, of course, to the organizers of the SMT.
What do you, as the newscast producer, do?
First, just say no to their interview. Second, alert your leader — whether it’s the news director or executive producer — ASAP.
From there, discuss alternate routes — like these…
\ If your station is affiliated with one of the big four networks (and most likely it is), there’s a good chance you have access to NBC Orbit, CBS NewsPath, ABC NewsOne, or FOX News Edge. The odds are good these VOD services will dispatch correspondents to Vegas to cover CES, which lasts about three days, without bias.
\ If your station is owned or operated by a major conglomerate, check to see if you have a sister station in Las Vegas. Then, check to see if “your friends in Sin City” are covering CES (most likely the answer’s yes) and if you can obtain video from said station (another likely affirmative answer).
\ If all else fails, CNN NewSource is worth your newsroom’s investment. I can still remember meeting with a NewSource rep about a month or two before moving on to other work. He specifically asked if there were issues with the NewSource product. I vaguely recalled one problem about a decade prior — but told him I got over it. I also recall great CES coverage from NewSource over the years — and can’t imagine this stopping after I left (save for the pandemic).
…now — to the SMT universe, before you respond with a potty-mouthed reply, please take this as a golden opportunity to evolve. As linked above, your competitors at Direct Media Services are your competitors no more. Take that as a wake-up call — and take this post as a call to change up your strategy.
I recommended long ago you should think at the local and regional level. Start there.
The results are in — and it’s bad news for the Lamar County School District…
YES 53.82% NO 46.18%
…a 60% supermajority of yes votes was needed for the win — hence why it’s a loss.
I’m writing this reaction to the results from the perspective of an Ohioan. Yes, I know Lamar County, Mississippi, long ago presented something like this to voters. At least one matter failed; at least another passed. They came in the pre-Mississippi Lottery era.
So for starters, why did this year’s referendum fail? Either it was a big ask overall — or it seemed like a big ask combined with others getting the short-end of a stick. If a certain meeting is any indication, it’s apparently the latter.
But first, let’s review what this would’ve meant for the district if “yes” cracked the 60% barrier: new buildings for Sumrall High, Purvis High, and Oak Grove Middle Schools; a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School; and a new gym for Lumberton Elementary School.
At a public meeting in Lumberton, months before the vote, some attendees hinted they didn’t like the idea of only getting a new gym for the elementary school. Knowing what I know, Lumberton needs and deserves more from the school district.
The school district superintendent blamed low voter turnout for the loss — as well as miscommunication and alleged wrong information in social media chatter.
Well — how’s this for chatter? Recall I lived in Ohio, another lottery state, before relocating here in 1991. The Mississippi Lottery, depending on how you look at it, started in 2018 (formation) or 2019 (selling its first scratchers). Even in that other lottery state, bond issues and levies were the norm from school districts; granted, they most likely came from city school districts as opposed to county school districts.
While there was chatter, for and against the Lamar County bond issue, I’m just asking — was there a formal campaign from the school district or friends thereof? Back in my Ohio days (most of the 1980s through the summer of 1991), when a school district put up a bond issue or levy up for a vote, a campaign immediately followed — most likely on local radio stations and in the newspapers. Good friends gave voice to a radio spot ahead of a crucial bond issue vote in ’91. Signs on sidewalks and billboards plus the newspaper ads followed suit.
For various reasons I have to keep close to the vest, I was not able to make a side-trip to Lamar County for the duration of the bond issue period — from the time it was unveiled through last night’s vote.
Still, overall, this isn’t the first bond issue I’ve seen from a school district while residing in a lottery state.
Doug’s Place Flashback #1: Thinking back to the time in the early ’90s the bond issue and levy failed in my old Ohio neighborhood, the school superintendent, while conceding defeat, admitted it was a gamble. Senior adults and retirees I recall speaking with prior to the big vote feared they were being “run out of town.” Was some of that history repeating itself in Lamar County?
Doug’s Place Flashback #2: During my time with Cindy, while visiting her neighborhoods in Delphos, Ohio, near Lima, a bond issue there was soundly defeated. One of her relatives pointed out it was a tough sell to senior adults and retirees. It made me think back to Flashback #1.
To be fair to the school district, if leaders “thought forward” with the bond issue and extremely made over five schools instead of three — with improvements for the elementary schools to match the other three schools — perhaps we’d have different results. There’d be a lot for everyone — instead of a lot for most and a little for others. Again, it sounds like the district needs to support Lumberton a lot more than it already is at the present time.
Hey, there’s still money from the Mississippi Lottery coming Lamar County Schools’ way. Right? I mean — the Mississippi Lottery just started selling tickets for Lotto America. That’s gonna rake in a lot o’ bucks for schools everywhere in Mississippi. Right?
There’s word CBS will reboot “Hollywood Squares” in primetime next January. About all that’s known is Drew Barrymore will be the center square.
Good pick. There’s a generation, and I’ll include myself in it, who’s seen her grow up in front of the camera from “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Firestarter” right on up to her current hit daytime talk show, which dedicated an episode to an “E.T.” cast reunion.
“Squares” purists should hope Leslie Uggams receives an invite to the grid in this reboot. Between Uggams’ portrayals of Blind Al in the “Deadpool” movies and the overseer of Vault 33 in Prime Video’s adaptation of “Fallout”, I can see this happening. Anyone who knows anything about Uggams’ career knows there’s so much more than just “Fallout” and “Deadpool”. Producers would be wise to throw in clips from the original “Squares” series with Q&A gameplay between Uggams and original host Peter Marshall.
Speaking of producers, they would also be wise to pick up the pace. There’s word those who have run “Hip Hop Squares”, “Nashville Squares”, and the current “Celebrity Squares” for Paramount’s cable networks will run “Hollywood Squares”. Regardless of format, I can’t say I came back week-to-week as a viewer.
The pacing across this series of reboots was, and is, slow — noticeably slower than the John Davidson years in the 1980s. I recall a few times “Hip Hop”, “Nashville”, and “Celebrity” were so slow, that three Xs or circles would not be aligned in the allotted main game time. The match would boil down to who had the higher money score without scoring a tic-tac-toe. Where’s the fun in that?
So if the next “Hollywood Squares” wants a crash course in how to properly produce “Squares”, they should take a look at any recent episode of “Funny You Should Ask”. Select episodes of the Jon Kelley-hosted game show aired not long ago on CBS.
Yes, I know, “Funny You Should Ask” operates on a low prize budget. But it plays much like “Squares” — just with fewer celebrities and no tic-tac-toe element. Kelley reads a question to a pre-determined celebrity, the celebrity gives a joke answer, then the celebrity gives either the right answer or a bluff. It’s up to the civilian contestant to determine if the star is right or wrong. A correct determination awards money to the player’s score.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Question, joke, answer, is the answer right/wrong?
To be fair, on “Squares”, you can’t always go for the joke. Even Marshall admitted this in his memoir. Some celebrities were specifically positioned in the grid for quick “true/false”, “yes/no” or other quick multiple-choice questions because, usually, they’d be chosen for a block or a win. It helped with the — you guessed it — pacing.
Plus, there are secret square questions played for at least one vacation or a jackpot of prizes. In those situations, the host (Marshall or one of his successors) would ask the celebrity a multiple-choice question, the star would choose from among the selections, and the civilian would either agree or disagree.
Overall, we’ve got a long way to go before we see Barrymore and at least eight other stars on a new “Hollywood Squares” (married couples, comedy teams, soap co-stars, music groups, etc., have been known to occupy more than one square throughout the decades). We’re off to a good start.
Briefly, there’s word ABC is bringing back “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to the network for its silver anniversary. There’s also word celebrities will play for charity throughout the season.
Call me crazy — but I’d rather see civilians play against the house for the million. Ya know — like the good old days when Reege hosted.
Roughly four and a half years after the Mississippi Lottery sold its first scratch-off tickets, we may have our first sign it’s not helping our state’s schools.
District leaders say the maximum amount of the bond issue would be $117 million. If approved, new facilities within the district would be built including the following: new buildings for Sumrall High, Purvis High, and Oak Grove Middle Schools; a new office building for Oak Grove Elementary School; and a new gym for Lumberton Elementary School.
To clarify, I’m not a Lamar County voter. All I can do is provide food for thought in these writings from 2018 and 2019. Yeah, yeah, in the latter link, you’re going to see a reference to, at least, a hypothetical “annual fall festival.” It was written before the pandemic. Mmm’kay?
An even further Doug’s Place Flashback: Just before I left Ohio in 1991, the school system of my Dayton suburb had a levy and bond issue up for votes. Both failed.
The Ohio Lottery — even though it’s home to a TV favorite in “Cash Explosion” as noted earlier — has been in operation since 1973. While a CE host has claimed to see a difference the lottery has made in his child’s school, levies and bond issues have been submitted for Ohio voters’ approval after 1973 — many times.
Maybe I shouldn’t open up about this but I will. I gave up online dating for Lent — for the third time. Unless the Matches, Bumbles, Tinders, etc., can control scammers, this surrender will likely be permanent.
Don’t tell me they can’t control scammers. Yes, the online scamming community (won’t name nationalities) is growing in number. There are reports online scammers have a new ally in AI.
I still argue, however, if the nightclub nearest you can hire security detail, the public school nearest you can hire at least one resource officer, and the university nearest you can employ its own police force, the online dating community should seriously consider hiring police retirees to control the nonsense created by scammers.
It’s 2024. Working from home has become more and more of a thing. Scammers are likely operating from home — while making an ill-gotten fortune. It’s likely scammers are using online dating as a springboard to reach your bank account.
Okay, with that rant out of the way, one of the last times I tried online dating was last year. It with something called JustLo. At the time, it got about a 4.5-star rating in the iOS App Store from fellow users. Likely an A- at worst on the report card.
So, I thought, let’s give it a try. The good news: Two women from Hattiesburg immediately reached out to me. At least — their profiles indicated they were from Hattiesburg.
It was time to prove they were from Hattiesburg. I immediately responded with “SMTTT”. Collective response: They had no idea what “SMTTT” meant.
More Hattiesburg women were reaching out to me. Real or fake? Once again, I greet them with “SMTTT” and get the collective — “huh?”
Conversation wasn’t limited to my alma mater and related shorthand. I would bring up other things locals just instantly know: the Pocket Museum; the Saenger Theatre; The Lucky Rabbit; traditional events such as Hubfest, FestivalSouth, and the Crawfish Jam; even “Home Town”, which usually films about half an hour up the road in Laurel (HGTV ventured into The Burg and The Lucky Rabbit more than once). Sure, I could bring up a long-running radio show that celebrated 28 years on the air earlier today — but I’m fighting a losing battle on JustLo.
None of the Hattiesburg-based women I chatted with on said app knew anything about what was going on locally. Alarmingly, they wanted to change subjects.
Speaking of location, location, location, to the best of my recollection, I don’t think any of the other women who reached out were from neighboring cities and towns (read: no one from Petal, Richton, Laurel, Ellisville, Poplarville, Collins, Columbia, the list should go on and on).
To be fair, the pay-to-play platform was a bit different with their coin system as opposed to a three-, six-, or twelve-month subscription. But the coin system felt like playing an old-fashioned rigged slot machine — with a lemon popping up in the third reel every time ensuring a loss.
When I nearly had enough, I wrote a one-star review (surprise!) for the App Store. Now I didn’t go into hyper-local specifics like I have here. To keep my review short, I generalized the “SMTTT”/”huh?” exchange in writing the following…
…as you’ll see, I posted it in late September of 2023 — eight days after Earth, Wind & Fire Day, if you know what I mean.
In early November, the developer responded. Timely response? Judge for yourself.
In the following image, you’ll see the last several words of my review followed by the developer’s response dated November 8, 2023…
…to the best of my recollection, I don’t remember a “report” button. If there were, I’d report accordingly. Otherwise, I’m not dignifying the response with a lot of remarks. Looks like the developer is trying to save some face — and failing.
Regardless, if the first five posts from this blog with the title “You’re a fake, baby. You can’t conceal it.” — based on lyrics from an Alexander O’Neal hit in the 1980s — should tell you anything, it’s this: I’ve gotten good at sniffing out fakes.
And that’s the thing. When I’m spending too much time playing detective when I should be finding a date for Friday night, the apps aren’t worth my time, effort, and, where applicable, money.
Doug’s Place Flashback: Yes, it’s true Cindy, my late wife, and I met online. However, as we got to know each other, we realized we had a lot of mutual friends — one of whom regretted not playing matchmaker (this person’s long since been forgiven).
Generations of people before us didn’t need any kind of internet connection to make a romantic connection. Think about that before plunking down your hard-earned money on a dating app.
We begin with this image that’s made the rounds on Facebook.
Did the creator of this sign lose a job? I can’t say with certainty. I’ve seen worse.
I remember seeing “F BREAKFAST” on a similar display at a certain restaurant in town. There was noticeable space between “F” and “BREAKFAST” — with the sixth letter of the alphabet on one row and the nine-letter word on another row. The sign maker didn’t finish the job or letters were just lost.
The job stayed unfinished for about three days until it finally changed to something else. That’s not a great look for the restaurant. I’ll give the chain a break and not name the restaurant. They’ve had enough PR nightmares — most of their own making.
But back to ana– er, uh, annual. You laugh — but we ALL need to be careful how we use that word.
Dictionary.com provides the following two definitions of “annual.”
“of, for, or pertaining to a year; yearly: annual salary.”
“occurring or returning once a year.”
Think about it. We lost several events, normally held once a year, to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those annual festivals, shows, and other events we can set our watch by suddenly didn’t become annual, by definition.
Doug’s Place Flashback: For many of us, the Friday before Spring Break of 2020 started a long time of discontent. A number of us at FOX23 and Waypoint Media would go on to work from home — temporarily. Certain shows, festivals, and other normally annual events in and near Hattiesburg and Laurel were postponed or ultimately canceled. It would stay that way for several months.
Up I-59, my colleagues in Meridian were actively promoting “The Price is Right Live!”, a traveling stage show of the long-running CBS game show scheduled for a presentation in the downtown area in April 2020. I planned to see this. But the traveling game show’s appearance in Meridian was canceled as well.
So, back to the homeowners association. If it canceled this Easter egg hunt due to coronavirus concerns, suddenly, it’s not an annual event. You could call it a traditional Easter egg hunt or just simply call it an Easter egg hunt.
The Indianapolis 500 and Kentucky Derby are two famous races normally held in May. Casual sports fans know one’s an auto race; the other’s a horse race. But one of them has been held annually.
Two Indy 500 events were canceled due to World War I. Four Indy 500 races were lost to World War II.
The Kentucky Derby has endured both World Wars and the aforementioned pandemic. There have been postponements — one due to World War II and the other because of the beginning months of the pandemic. But no total losses.
As of this writing, approximately two months before the command to start engines at IMS, you’re going to see the carefully-worded statement 2024 marks the “108th Running of the Indianapolis 500” — as opposed to “108th (or higher ordinal number) Annual Indianapolis 500”.
Closer to home, a local broadcaster (I politely won’t say who exactly; it’s not a current co-worker) reported on the “one-month anniversary” of a certain event. By definition, a “one-month anniversary” doesn’t exist. Let’s go back to Dictionary.com for two definitions of “anniversary.”
“the yearly recurrence of the date of a past event: the tenth anniversary of their marriage.”
“the celebration or commemoration of such a date.”
So, the broadcaster should’ve said, “It’s been one month since (the event).” Wait eleven months and then you have an anniversary. Yes, as Monty Hall would say, the broadcaster missed it by a mile.
When you hear or read about an anniversary or an “annual” event, remember the sign from the homeowners association. Did it really survive the pandemic and was it held in some form during said pandemic? Did other circumstances make it a traditional event instead of an annual event?
As this writer sees it, the only people who really wanted the relocation of the Mississippi University for Women and the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science to Mississippi State University, or to have any MSU involvement at all, are the legislators who proposed this. If that’s the case, a polite request to those in North Mississippi: Remember in November.
Based on the chatter I’ve seen and heard in online versions of newscasts from the area, opponents didn’t see how the relocation would save anyone any money. Other opponents also raised the issue of MSMS’s 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old students on the campus of an SEC school — possibly being exposed to a lot of Thursday and Friday night partying and definitely being exposed to big money sports, especially on the weekends.
At a time like this, I wish Geof were still here. My younger brother passed away nearly two years ago. I’m sure he would’ve opposed this proposed move — loudly. If you knew Geof, you knew he spoke fondly of his years at MSMS and Columbus. There are a few MSMS staffers from the late 1990s who remember Geof. He’s that unforgettable.
With that, long may MUW and MSMS live in Columbus. And, if you can spare the dimes, please send a monetary contribution to: Geof Morris Memorial Fund, MSMS Foundation, 1100 College Street W-190, Columbus, MS 39701.
