Mississippi editorial roundup

Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:

___

Oct. 22

Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal of Tupelo on political parties:

Election fatigue may well be in full swing in Northeast Mississippi.

With commercials, yard signs and mud-slinging well underway, the mad dash to the Nov. 6 elections has seemingly become a slow crawl to the finish line in light of bi-partisan bickering.

And all either side cares about is being the first one there.

It’s instructive to remember that political pendulums tend to swing in long, slow arcs in terms of change. Pietro S. Nivola, writing for the Brookings Institution, said:

“The Democratic and Republican parties today are each more cemented in their ideologies and more distinct than they were a generation ago. In Congress, party lines used to be blurred by the existence of so-called liberal Republicans and truly conservative Democrats. Now those factions are dwindling species. Why they are dying out is a long story that has been the object of an extensive study … For present purposes, suffice it to recognize that the disputes between Republicans and Democrats are about more than ’petty grievances’ … the party differences run deep and fundamentally reflect differing convictions held by large blocs of voters, not just their elected representatives.”

He says further, “Americans of the Baby Boom generation are not accustomed to seeing this high degree of party unity. They remember the old days when the main way to do business on Capitol Hill was to cobble together ad-hoc coalitions. Want a civil rights bill? Get northern Democrats and Republican moderates on your side, and hope that you have enough votes to overpower the conservative phalanx of southern Democrats and states’-rights Republicans.”

In Mississippi, one of the big efforts in the post-war years was establishing for the sake of diversity and patriotic argument a real two-party system. For all practical purposes, Mississippi had been a one-party Democratic state since the end of the Civil War. The ruling Democrats, conservative and comfortable, did pretty much as they pleased.

There was no real balance of competing ideas. The Daily Journal and some other newspapers, as well as some civic leaders, encouraged a two-party system to stimulate conversations and debate about good governance.

The need to have two strong parties debating the ideas to shape new generations continues, as sound now as 50 to 60 years ago.

Any lively democracy needs a strong, competitive partisan balance. …

Governing from the center, by coalition and compromise, has proven effective and resistant to gridlock from the left and right.

Online: http://www.djournal.com/

___

Oct. 24

The Greenwood Commonwealth on the state Crime Lab’s performance:

Sam Howell, the director of the Mississippi Crime Lab, tries to sound understanding of the funding shortages that have slowed his facility to a crawl in getting its work done.

The state’s coroners are not so charitable.

In an extensive article published this past weekend in the Clarion Ledger of Jackson, several of the county coroners grouse mightily not only about the delays but the corners that the Crime Lab is cutting on some of the work it does perform.

“Cutting” may be a poor choice of words, though, since what has the coroners especially concerned is the medical examiners’ decision to increasingly bypass traditional autopsies, in which a corpse is cut open to determine cause of death, for speedier visual examinations and a look at the deceased person’s medical records.

Questions also have been raised as to whether the Crime Lab is breaking a state law that requires autopsies on all inmates, except those on death row, who die while in state custody. There has been a rash of such deaths this year.

Howell says that the statute, which was put on the books decades ago, may be antiquated, given the advances in medical technology. But that’s not his call to make, nor that of anyone else who works in the Crime Lab. If state law mandates an autopsy be performed, and a visual examination does not meet the definition of an autopsy, then the Crime Lab needs to follow the law, regardless of what its funding or staffing situation is, unless the law is changed.

Not moved by the death of criminals behind bars? You might be moved by this: Given the current performance of the Crime Lab, not only are prosecutions being inordinately delayed for all sorts of crimes, but some perpetrators might literally be getting away with murder. Without “cut” autopsies, the potential increases that foul play in a death could go undetected.

The irony with the problems at the Crime Lab is that Mississippi spent more than $30 million just a couple of years ago building a modern, well-equipped facility, but it hasn’t put up the money to adequately operate it. The Crime Lab is running a third below full staffing. With only two overworked medical examiners, there are days when no autopsies get done because they are both called away to testify at trials. Howell told the Jackson newspaper that his operating budget this year is lower than what it was more than a decade ago.

The scenario has a familiar ring to it. Mississippi lawmakers took the same half-way approach with highways, spending billions to build nice, new ones, but not investing nearly enough to keep them up. It was a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach, as it now will cost much more to repair the crumbling transportation infrastructure than if it had been taken care of all along.

There are costs to a Crime Lab that operates at a snail’s pace, too. Cases drag out, running up the tab of prosecution. Victims and their families are left hanging, waiting for justice to be done. Insurance settlements are held up. And crimes potentially go unsolved, while those who committed them run free.

It’s a bad situation that’s not going to get any better until the state decides to invest what it takes to properly run the place.

Online: http://www.gwcommonwealth.com/

___

Oct. 23

The Natchez Democrat on the economic opportunity an airport could provide:

A key, often overlooked, economic opportunity sits in North Adams County, surrounded by forestland.

The Natchez-Adams County Airport isn’t on the minds of many local people when they think about potential industry, but it should be.

In addition to the airport often being the first stop for large corporations looking at our area for potential development, the airport itself also hold significant opportunity.

The airport commission is working on a strategic, master plan to create a glide path for the airport’s future.

The commission is to be commended for working on a master plan for the airport’s utilization and growth.

As commissioners wisely pointed out, the country is expected to experience a shortage of trained airplane pilots in the coming years, thus their hopes to recruit a flight school to the airport makes good sense.

In addition, the land surrounding the airport is prime commercial land to be marketed as well.

The airport has a runway that’s nearly 1.25 miles long. That’s huge and something most communities our size do not have. Let’s focus on developing the airport to its fullest potential and in the process, it’s certainly going to put wind beneath the wings of our area’s economy as well.

Online: https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/