Aiken Village

[GTAdawg]

Drove down College View and passed the old Aiken Village lot. Anyone know what the university's prospective plans may be for that area?

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I worked there in college doing maintenance and my uncle lived there as a young married lad back in the day. That compound is hard to describe, but man what a POS.

Montrell Conner used to ride his scooter through there sometimes.

 

[GTAdawg]

It's just a flat lot now. They tore all the buildings down. Property is surrounded by construction fencing.

 

[Crucifictorious]

I seem to recall hearing that they will be finally putting the much talked about parking garage there. Since the original parking garage structure behind the YMCA morphed into a Classroom Building.

 

[MeridianDog]

The wife and I lived there in the early 1970s. Was a great place to live back then. When they started to tear it down, they discovered tons of Asbestos and had to hire special people to do the demolition work. I understand the foreign students had taken the place over by then and they seriously rebelled because it was dirt cheap living space for them.

Here comes a True story.

I was in graduate school (Microbiology) back then and we had a post doc in microbiology who lived across the street from us. His name was Farook Abdule Hassad, PhD and he was from Iraq. Farook was married to Sahara and they had a small child.

When he got ready to leave and go back to Iraq we had a very cute little Med Tech major in the department. She was a classic southern beauty from Morton, or Pelahatchie or Prentiss. She was small-petite with long straight blond hair - friendly like a little speckled bird dog puppy, and Farook was infatuated with her.

In preparation for his trip home, He came to her and offered to take her back with him to Iraq as his second wife. He said that Sahara (beautiful Iraq lady - tall dark and lovely, from the royal family) would always be his first wife, but he would guarantee the girl that she would never be less than wife #2. He said she would lead a life of luxury as a member of the royal family and would never lack for anything.

For some strange reason, the cute little Christian girl took offense, and raised a huge stink with Dr. Tischer (Micro Dept Head) about it. It took Dr. Tischer forever to get it across to Farook why the girl might be offended.

Later, when US invaded Iraq in the first gulf war, we found that Farook was the King of Spades (or something like that) in the "Deck of Cards" hit list for capture or elimination by the US forces. After returning home, Farook had been appointed the Director of Chemical/Biological warfare for the Iraq military. They did catch him although he may have been killed in the capture. I can still remember when the papers interviewed Dr. Brown (Asst Dean of Arts and Science and Microbiology professor) to provide an official MSU opinion on Dr. Farook, who had been gone from State for some time then.

I was disappointed that Brown chose to not share the Wife #2 story because I always liked it.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I bet it still smells like B.O.

It's just a flat lot now. They tore all the buildings down. Property is surrounded by construction fencing.

and curry.

 

[MaroonNation]

He was "Chemical Ali"?

 

[Shooter McGavin.sixpack]

Dr Champlin was my advisor when I was at state and he took me to lunch one day. We sat with Dr Brown and he told me the wife #2 story among many many other stories about various topics. Dr Brown was something else.

 

[MeridianDog]

He was "Chemical Ali"?

No - that was someone else and not Farook.

 

[MaroonNation]

"Baghdad Bob" would have fit in very nicely in Oxford. I am originally from Morton and knew a lot of people from Pelahatchie too but I didn't know anyone from Pretiss lol. Would love to know the name of that girl.

 

[archdog]

I seem to recall hearing that they will be finally putting the much talked about parking garage there. Since the original parking garage structure behind the YMCA morphed into a Classroom Building.

Parking Garage is going just west of the new dorms across from the hump. 9 million but I am not sure if they can get 500 spots with a poured in place concrete structure with the look they are going for.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Aiken Village going to be some kind of mixed use development supposedly

Drove down College View and passed the old Aiken Village lot. Anyone know what the university's prospective plans may be for that area?

University is retaining ownership of land, but leasing to private development per folks.

 

[jakldawg]

Hey, we had the same advisor! Were you ever in his office during one of the weeks when the swarms of termites were flying around Harned?
I've heard the story, too (and as of the mid 2000's Dr. Farook was still alive and kicking).

 

[The Usual Suspect]

Someone remind me where is Aiken Village?

 

[MaroonNation]

I researched it on google and couldn't find him anywhere. Now Homeland Security will probably show up at my house.

 

[MeridianDog]

I would have called it University Village. It was west of the Hump, just west of the overpass.

 

[57stratdawg]

Cool. I hope that's correct.

 

[AFDawg]

Abdul Nassir Hindawi?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/12/15/scientists-hold-key-to-iraqi-arms-search/ae25149d-bb73-4189-ba9c-88bbd42dca0d/?utm_term=.808df2eab35e

In 1988, Abdul Nassir Hindawi, a microbiologist, wrote a letter to a British military laboratory asking for a sample of the common bacterium that causes anthrax in cattle. The specific strain he requested was known as "Ames," a variety that was little known outside microbiology at the time, but has since become infamous: It is the same strain used in the deadly anthrax attacks in Washington, Florida and New York in the fall of 2001.Hindawi's request was turned down, and it is unclear whether the U.S.-trained scientist succeeded in acquiring the strain elsewhere. But what is clear is that Hindawi played a key role in helping create Iraq's biological weapons program and shaping its direction.
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After studying microbiology at Mississippi State University, Hindawi returned to his native country in time to observe Hussein's use of chemical weapons to counter superior numbers of enemy troops in the Iran-Iraq War. In 1983, U.N. documents say, Hindawi wrote a secret paper for Iraq's ruling Baath party suggesting the possibility of mass-produced, inexpensive biological weapons as an alternative to chemicals.
Within two years, Iraq established its biological weapons program at Al Muthanna State Establishment, a project designated by officials as a "presidential priority." Hindawi was appointed to help direct the program, and he picked as one of his top aides a promising young female biologist who had recently returned to Iraq after completing her studies in Britain.
Her name: Rihab Taha, Iraq's future "Dr. Germ."

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

The wife and I lived there in the early 1970s. Was a great place to live back then. When they started to tear it down, they discovered tons of Asbestos and had to hire special people to do the demolition work. I understand the foreign students had taken the place over by then and they seriously rebelled because it was dirt cheap living space for them.

My wife and I were also stayed at University Village but in the mid 70's. There were quite a few foreign students in the Village at that time also. The smell of curry and other exotics were very strong during the dinner hour. I remember one family moved out and the MSU maintenance guys actually hosed down the apartment to get the smell and debris out of the apartment. We laughed our asses off about that one.

 

[QuadrupleOption]

Abdul Nassir Hindawi?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/12/15/scientists-hold-key-to-iraqi-arms-search/ae25149d-bb73-4189-ba9c-88bbd42dca0d/?utm_term=.808df2eab35e

This is OUR chemical weapons program!