The best and the worst of 2003
By By Terry R. Cassreino / assistant managing editor
Dec. 28, 2003
When 2003 comes to a close Wednesday, it will mark the end to one of the more eventful years in recent memory.
I've lived in Mississippi since 1981, and have followed news and politics here for the same time period, and I can't remember a more edgy, tension-filled year in the state.
People didn't have time to breathe as they jumped from one incident to the next, from record floods last spring to a deadly workplace shooting in July and to statewide elections in November.
Besides that, Nissan Motor Co. opened an auto plant in Canton. And Mississippi slogged through another year with an economy that hasn't fully recovered from a nationwide downturn.
So, I offer my take on the year that was a quick look back at major events and happenings that spotlight the best and the worst of an unusual 12 months in Mississippi history.
1. Haley Barbour's gubernatorial campaign. Barbour, the former Republican National Committee chairman, showed his political prowess by staging a masterful campaign that unseated a sitting Democratic incumbent which is no easy feat.
Barbour clearly defined the issues, constantly honed his message and made himself visible statewide. Barbour, who benefited from phone banks and direct mailings, staged one of more impressive and effective campaigns in recent years.
2. Lockheed Martin shooting investigation. From the first reports of the shooting rampage all the way through the end of the official investigation, Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie was cool, calm and totally and unquestionably in charge.
Sollie arrived at the scene of the shooting minutes after Doug Williams opened fire on fellow Lockheed Martin workers. Sollie took center stage again this month when he outlined the results of the official investigation and announced it was closed.
3. Nissan's grand opening. About 2 1/2 years after plans were first announced, Nissan Motor Co. formally opened its $1.4 billion auto plant in late May in Canton a small city in Madison County just north of Jackson.
Excitement about the plant and its products has continued unabated throughout the year. And, in fact, on Dec. 20, New South Ford-Nissan in Meridian sold its first Nissan Titan pickup truck, one of several vehicles built at the Canton plant.
Worst
1. Barbara Blackmon's lieutenant governor campaign. Blackmon became the Democratic Party's biggest embarrassment of the 2003 state elections. At first, the former state senator from Canton appeared to have the momentum in a race that pitted her against GOP incumbent Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck.
But Blackmon took a crippling nosedive the minute she raised the possibility that Tuck may have had an abortion one of the most desperate political moves in state history. While Blackmon later tried to avoid the issue, she couldn't avoid a major loss. Tuck won with 61 percent of the vote.
2. Ronnie Musgrove's political fall. Musgrove was never a wildly popular governor. After all, Musgrove won the job after a tight general election race against Republican Mike Parker sent the 1999 election to the Democratically-controlled state House.
While incumbents are supposed to win re-election, Musgrove couldn't do it. He had been hampered throughout his term by an inability to work with the Legislature and by personal problems that saw his marriage disintegrate. By 2003, he was no match for Barbour's campaign.
3. Meridian's $6 million question. Meridian borrowed $6 million earlier this year to repair city streets. Even though the money has been sitting in a bank account since August, no work that's right, absolutely nothing has been done yet.
Meanwhile, the city must pay 3.76 percent interest on the loan beginning the day it received the money and whether or not the money is being used. With all those industrial-sized potholes dotting city streets, that doesn't exactly make Meridian, its officials and its city councilmen good stewards of the people's money does it?
