This article describes the efforts of my old home county in Mississippi to bring new jobs to the county.
In recent times, Clarke County has been hit hard by plant closings by Burlingame Industries, Sunbeam and Quitman Knitting Mills. The (Jackson MS) Clarion-Ledger article notes, “In September [2003], Clarke County had an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, a drastic decline from the 19.3 percent that was the state's highest in April 2002.” But I suspect that the September figure understates actual unemployment due to the number of people not actively seeking work at the moment because prospects have been so bad. (They aren’t counted as “unemployed.”)
One of the county supervisors mentioned in the article and featured in the photograph is Cleveland Peebles, an old high-school classmate of mine. They are doing the kind of patient work it takes to attract investment to rural counties like Clarke. And I don't care how often business lobbyists chant the same stale slogans that low taxes and light regulation are the only incentives that count, the reality is that public services count even more. That means decent roads and schools and a workforce educated and skilled enough to fill the jobs that need to be done.
Notice in the article that various government agencies and programs had a role in winning these investments, from the county board of supervisors to the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The current Governor Ronnie Musgrove has done a good job of attracting investment to the state. I hardly see how his Republican opponent Haley Barbour, the guy who's made a big point of cozying up to the White Citizens Council and promoting the Confederate state flag, is likely to do better. Or even as well.
If Barbour does win in the election this coming Tuesday, I hope that the state completes the stretch of four-lane on Highway 45 through the town of Shubuta, mentioned in the article as the location of the new investment by Magnolia Spinning LLC. The widening of the highway on the 55-mile section between Meridian and Waynesboro has been underway for about 15 years. If it's not done by the time Barbour takes office, it may never happen!
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