Why does Starkville hate Mississippi State?
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People lash out at her due to her comments and lack of responsibility.
She basically said yesterday there wasn’t a problem other than a shooting.
NO. The problem led to the shooting. And it’s been a growing problem for almost 2 years.
it could have been easily solved.
Glad you said this!
but it’s 100 true. Everyone is scared to call the spade a spade and that creates a lot of problems in this country.
Stating unequivocal facts shouldn’t get you called a racist or far right OR far left.
Town to gown has always been shakey. However, under Parker Wiseman and Dan camp, the relationship has improved a lot. I sat on some boards that dealt with that on a regular basis
You’re acting like the same thing doesn’t happen in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Auburn, Oxford, etc. on many weekends.The Cotton District is a cluster17. On weekends, its been taken over by non-students, many from Columbus and West Point, who just stand in the street. There is a city ordinance against loitering that the mayor refuses to enforce.
On Super Bulldog Saturday, after a huge win over LSU and a big day in the District with the Derby, it was again taken over by non-patrons. There was a shooting. To SPD's credit, the two involved (19 and 17 year old non-students) were apprehended on Sunday morning.
X was pretty critical of the incident and how it continues to be an unsafe area. The Starkville mayor basically got on X and started replying to random people unprofessionally. The thread linked above is full of her replies. She seems to care more about getting the last word than fixing the issue.
The complicated thing isn't fixing the issue. The ordinance that is on the books can be enforced and that is that. The problem is that to a liberal white woman, the worst possible thing you can be called is racist. So if she enforces the ordinance, there is a chance that someone on X will call her a racist and she can't risk that, so people are just going to have to deal with businesses going under and people being shot.
Now, as others have said, this is a B1G/SEC college town problem. Iowa City, Bloomington, Tuscaloosa, Athens - all have seen similar problems. In Tuscaloosa a few weekends ago, the city shut down the Strip because of the issues. A city councilman said something about the real problem and had to endure the media calling him racist and attacking him for it. This is what he posted:
“The Strip is being shut down immediately - multiple arrests - guns - and much more Makes me sick - it’s not locals or UA students - it’s folks from Lipscomb Bessemer Ensley Hale County causing crap! Get rid of A Day? Sad”
People calling for his resignation, he got attacked in the media, etc.
and then there is the Ed Meek controversy from a few years ago for calling out the behavior on the Oxford Square. They took a major donor's name off the School of Journalism because he called out the problem.
A look at how the Ed Meek controversy developed
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 Between 2 and 3 p.m. — Ed Meek posts his controversial comments and images on Facebookthedmonline.com
Just looking at the scenario from this past weekend:
1) There was a crowd in the District on one of the biggest 3-4 weekends of the year for visitors to Starkville. Shocker.
2) There was a shooting, involving 3 individuals who all knew each other.
3) Two suspects were immediately apprehended by SPD….indicating that although this was tragic….police / security presence was adequate to inmediately suppress the threat and restore safety. The 3rd person was the one who was shot.
Do you have any viable solutions that the mayor in an Alderman-controlled city government that you’d like to suggest to yield a better result than what actually happened in this instance? Build a barricade around the District, and don’t let anyone from Columbus or West Point in? Metal detectors and pat-downs at every entrance / exit in an area spanning dozens of acres? WTF do you really think could solve this?
It’s a culture than can only be completely avoided, isolated by geography, or priced out.The Cotton District is a cluster17. On weekends, its been taken over by non-students, many from Columbus and West Point, who just stand in the street. There is a city ordinance against loitering that the mayor refuses to enforce.
On Super Bulldog Saturday, after a huge win over LSU and a big day in the District with the Derby, it was again taken over by non-patrons. There was a shooting. To SPD's credit, the two involved (19 and 17 year old non-students) were apprehended on Sunday morning.
X was pretty critical of the incident and how it continues to be an unsafe area. The Starkville mayor basically got on X and started replying to random people unprofessionally. The thread linked above is full of her replies. She seems to care more about getting the last word than fixing the issue.
The complicated thing isn't fixing the issue. The ordinance that is on the books can be enforced and that is that. The problem is that to a liberal white woman, the worst possible thing you can be called is racist. So if she enforces the ordinance, there is a chance that someone on X will call her a racist and she can't risk that, so people are just going to have to deal with businesses going under and people being shot.
Now, as others have said, this is a B1G/SEC college town problem. Iowa City, Bloomington, Tuscaloosa, Athens - all have seen similar problems. In Tuscaloosa a few weekends ago, the city shut down the Strip because of the issues. A city councilman said something about the real problem and had to endure the media calling him racist and attacking him for it. This is what he posted:
“The Strip is being shut down immediately - multiple arrests - guns - and much more Makes me sick - it’s not locals or UA students - it’s folks from Lipscomb Bessemer Ensley Hale County causing crap! Get rid of A Day? Sad”
People calling for his resignation, he got attacked in the media, etc.
and then there is the Ed Meek controversy from a few years ago for calling out the behavior on the Oxford Square. They took a major donor's name off the School of Journalism because he called out the problem.
A look at how the Ed Meek controversy developed
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 Between 2 and 3 p.m. — Ed Meek posts his controversial comments and images on Facebook
I’d bet my annual salary you wouldn’t send your 18 old daughter to the CD at 10pm on a Saturday night alone. And it wouldn’t be due to the golfers and swimmers.
You are really dumb.
I live in Starkville and love Starkville.
FACT: what happened this weekend, on likely the biggest or one of the biggest weekends of the year, was preventable and terrible.
And it wasn’t a surprise.
It can be done, but it's not as simple an exercise as you make it out to be. Plenty of places HAVEN'T managed too, especially at first.
He has no solutions other than to keep people out, just like the other usual suspect in this thread.
If I had one no I wouldn't. That goes for most places like that, including the Square in Oxford. In fact, alone at 10 pm pretty much ANYWHERE is dangerous.
You certainly love bashing it. Maybe you need to move. It's a free city, love it or leave it.
I don’t think any of us thought you’re Lane Kiffin… **
Just so we are all aware, this weekend was not the first time this sort of thing has happened. I live in the district and Donald J. Spruill’s social media response was tone deaf and devoid of any real thought. She didn’t see a dozen people climb a fence into my neighbor’s backyard and then tear the fence down when they tried to get out on to Nash St. She hasn’t come and talked to the people that live over here. She doesn’t have a kid that could have been a victim. She’s not worried about property values over here. she’s worried about getting the sweep. I live over here because it’s vibrant and I love it…I want the kids and visitors alike to have a good time BUT this is about public safety and the city is not doing enough.
The city is currently putting up a camera with flashing red and blue lights by Hobies…I’m sure this “measured” response that will take care of things.
The city is currently putting up a camera with flashing red and blue lights by Hobies…I’m sure this “measured” response that will take care of things.
She should be advocating the end of the open container law and then aggressive but selective enforcement. I'm sure doing something effective and fair would offend her sensibilities, so that won't happen. But you could make people that cause problems feel unwelcome and hassled.
There is tension, but I don't know if any town so dependent on a university has been so hostile to it. The levels of dislike of students by locals in the 90's and early 2000's really was absurd. Other towns might view the university as a necessary evil; Starkville voters largely just viewed the university as an evil. That's gotten a thousand times better. Still not where it should be, but I think there have been enough people move to Starkville because they were MSU fans, and not just because the university provided a job, that it has thawed some. But I swear the average resident of Starkville in the 90's was a ***** that wanted Starkville to be Eupora, but just wanted a job made possible by having a university present.
There is an important "that" in 615's post. The only time I go to the District is to eat lunch or early dinner.
Couldn’t be anymore shortsighted. Some people actually live and work in the district.
It’s not simple once you let it get out of control but here is a simple fix
eliminate the open container law
Problem solved
Keep people out who aren’t going into businesses and spending money.
yes that simple and should be done
You are an idiot.
there are plenty of places a 21 year old female can go at 10pm and be safe
Open container law? So we’re saying that an attempted homicide occurred due to an open container of alcohol outside of a business? Seems like quite a reach.
And what is the current law there anyway?
No. Open container laws make it more desirable for people to basically turn it into a block party. If you don't let people hang out and drink their own liquor and smoke weed, the trouble makers generally won't be as keen on hanging out there. And you don't have to have super strict enforcement. Savvy police are going to be able to identify the likely trouble makers before they get to the point of firing shots, and mostly those people are going to smell like liquor or weed, or somebody in their group will. A few tickets for open container or arrests for possession of weed and they largely will not want to be there anymore.
ETA: I believe the Cotton District is designated as an entertainment district. Not positive, but I think it was part of a lot of areas that allowed people to have open containers on public streets/walkways after COVID.
ETA: I'm generally a big fan of allowing people being able to have open containers in public spaces. There's no reason people shouldn't be able to be responsible for themselves and it's absurd that this is an issue at all. But there are just anti-social people that you can't have nice things around without them 17ing it up.
Yeah Greenwood might to be too nice. They used to have 2 of my favorite restaurants in Greenwood. Lusko's and The Crystal. I think Crystal shut down and maybe both of them did.....not sure. But they were certainly good back in the day.
Its not a reach if you know whats going on and use common sense.
There were likely 2,000 plus people in the cotton district who never entered an establishment due to the open container laws. They show up with weed or cheap booze and drink while never paying or even entering a business.
The crowd that does that, also brings with it serious crime. Thats not an opinion. Thats a fact.
My understanding is that you can’t just have an open container of anything, it has to be in a special cup provided by the business in order to comply. The intent is that you can bar hop without pouring your drink out when you leave IF you have it in one of those cups. The intent is not to just let people go crazy with their own alcohol they brought from the house. You’re not allowed to just roll up with a cooler, sit it on the curb, and start going to town.
If Starkville passed some laissez faire open container law that nobody else in the country was dumb enough to do, then yeah, they should probably address that. If its more like the law above, and they just aren’t enforcing it, then yeah, they should address that, too.
But, either way - it’s a huge stretch to say that either of those things was directly linked to a shooting. And I highly doubt anyone on here can point to hard evidence that any of these suspects were abusing the open container policy prior to acting out. People are going to go where the party is, regardless. If there is a harsh penalty on open container, they’ll just pour vodka in a Sprite bottle or whatever the 17 else makes sense and is difficult to enforce.
There’s no way to solve the problem without making the entire Cotton District less desirable for everyone.
I don't think that's true. Most people that you want there (i.e., paying patrons that will generally behave, or at least if they don't, will misbehave in general college kids being dumb ways, not shooting people ways) do not want to be around the type of crowd that is causing the issues. They will put up with some mild hassle if it means they don't have to worry about whether people are carrying guns or not. It's just a matter of having the will to fix it. Plenty of examples where areas get nicer when they just stop tolerating disorder and anti-social behaviors.
Maybe I’ve missed a bunch of other problems in the CD. I remember a shooting a few years back but nothing since then. But I’m 40 and don’t have kids old enough yet to be in the CD. So, my only time in the CD these days is walking through after a game.
Im not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about what happened this weekend but it certainly seems like an outlier and not a regular occurrence.
Im not saying we shouldn’t be concerned about what happened this weekend but it certainly seems like an outlier and not a regular occurrence.
There has to be a large, visible LE presence.
Was recently in Austin, their entertainment district is between the university and my hotel. They have a ton of cops out at night on foot patrolling the area. I felt completely safe.
Cops on foot in the district on weekend nights are what’s needed.
Was recently in Austin, their entertainment district is between the university and my hotel. They have a ton of cops out at night on foot patrolling the area. I felt completely safe.
Cops on foot in the district on weekend nights are what’s needed.
I can guarantee you that the open container law did not attract the people in question to the cotton district. I would put my life savings on it that they didn’t even know it exists.
Yeah, Austin LE dealt with that crazyass mass shooter quickly a few weeks back. That could have been much worse. They were ready.
The city embraces the University 100 times better than it did when I was in school. A lot of the changes go against the locals wishes and favor the students.
I don’t see what the tweet has to do with the University. It is an absurd tweet that is unacceptable though.
You don't have to live there if it's so bad. It's a free city, you can leave.
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