Sylvia Autry: Getting the job done

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
Oct. 12, 2003
Sometimes, I say something that has nothing to do with trials or lawsuits, and I've been meaning to say this for awhile.
Sylvia Autry is doing a difficult job well. She's the interim superintendent for the Meridian Public School District taking care of business while the school board searches for a permanent superintendent to replace Dr. Janet McLin.
Autry is not just treading water. She's moving forward, putting innovative policies in place, seeing to it that the district's school-by-school report cards organize information from the Mississippi Department of Education in an easy-to-read format, sharing that format with the Lauderdale County School District, and helping Principal R.D. Harris fight the state on Meridian High School's accreditation level.
She doesn't evade or avoid hard questions.
Listen, it's not easy to pinch-hit in the top position while your employer looks for somebody else. But, that's OK with Autry. She doesn't want to be superintendent; as a matter of fact, she delayed her retirement for a year to hold the line for Meridian.
Quick takes
Luby's lawsuit: Bonita Lakes Mall and its owner, CBL &Associates, have filed a complaint in Lauderdale County Circuit Court against Luby's Cafeteria. The restaurant apparently broke its lease when it closed this summer.
Bryan LeBlanc, the mall's general manager, said Luby's has closed all five of its CBL locations.
Luby's is based in San Antonio, Texas, and has been posting losses for several years. The Bonita Lakes closing is part of a plan announced in March to shut down about 50 restaurants over a two-year period. Company officials hope to improve the chain's financial health by concentrating on 140 Texas locations.
Luby's was part of the mall when it opened in October 1997. Its lease was for 15 years.
The lawsuit lists about $86,000 in unpaid rent owed now, but LeBlanc said Luby's is liable for the entire term of the lease. At about $14,500 a month, and without adjusting usage fees for inflation, the damages demanded by CBL total $1.7 million.
Queen City Speedway: Remember the lawsuit against Queen City Speedway filed by 16 people who live in the Arundel community?
They said the race track was too loud, that the red dirt it kicks up got all over their houses and silted up their ponds, and that their property values had plunged. They wanted the speedway closed and they wanted financial compensation.
On the other side, race track owner Thomas Riley said he had broken no laws.
A compromise was reached in March of this year. Riley agreed not to hold races after 10:30 p.m. with a 30-minute grace period to complete races that had already begun.
The neighbors dropped their demand for financial damages and agreed to let Riley leave two of the track's big lights on until midnight so that drivers and crews could see to load equipment.
The Arundel plaintiffs have now filed a contempt of court motion in Lauderdale County Chancery Court, claiming that Queen City is not living up to its promises. A hearing before Judge Sarah Springer has been set
for Nov. 24.
No surprise: On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Robert Bailey turned the city of Meridian down on its request that he reconsider his ruling in the case of police officer Rita Jack.
Jack was fired in September 2001 amid unproven allegations that she stole money from the Meridian Police Department's front desk. Bailey ordered her reinstatement with full back pay in August of this year. The city reinstated Jack, but is fighting the judge on the back pay issue.
The next step for city officials, should they care to take it, is an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Why do I get the feeling that I may still be writing about this story two years from now?