DailyMississippian The
thedmonline.com
Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011
Vol. 100 No. 187
Big businesses projected to bring jobs to North Mississippi BY ROSS CABELL rsscabbell@gmail.com
Mississippi residents who haven’t had any luck finding a job might discover that their luck has changed soon. The Mississippi Legislature just approved the development of two new plants that will operate in North Mississippi, including Calisolar and HCL CleanTech. Together Calisolar and HCL CleanTech are expected to bring an estimated 2,000 jobs to the area. Huntington Ingalls, a ship building company that has a site at Pascagoula, is also projected to bring around 3,000 to the area within the next four years. Having large corporations set up shop in Mississippi has become something of the norm in recent years. The first large company to come was the Nissan plant, which opened in 2003, and now companies like Toyota and Winchester are settling in the North Mississippi area, taking full advantage of the large workforce
that is present here. In an Associated Press story, John Correnti, chairman of the board for Calisolar, told the State Legislature that he plans on utilizing this workforce. “The reason we’re coming here, and I’m going to be frank, is the Mississippi farm boys and the farm girls,” Correnti said. “I wouldn’t trade a Mississippi farm boy or farm girl for any Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, South American.” Associate economics professor Jon Moen believes having these large corporations will not only help by bringing jobs to the area but will also be good for the smaller towns where companies are locating their plants. “I think it will increase the demand on local services and higher paying jobs and help local businesses,” he said. “It will increase intent involvement in local schools.” Sophomore business major Rob Turnage agrees with Moen. “I think with the unemployment rates so high in Mississippi these companies are
going to have a positive impact,” he said. Sen. Gray Tollison serves in the Mississippi state senate for the Oxford area. Tollison was one of the senators who pushed to get these businesses to come here. According to him, developments like these didn’t happen often in the past. “This is something that you didn’t have 20 years ago,” Tollison said. “I recall, there weren’t those types of opportunities, there were some but not like there are now. There certainly wasn’t a Toyota or Nissan.” “Those are the two that we passed and I think are real exciting -- we are in capacity, Toyota is coming along and going to have 2,000 jobs, we have the suppliers so that is a lot of opportunities for college graduates looking to stay in Mississippi,” Tollison said. Calisolar is a Silicon Valley based company that will be
GRAPHIC BY PETRE THOMAS | The Daily Mississippian
Recently built plants in Mississippi include Calisolar in Columbus, HCL CleanTech in several locations around the state, Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Toyota in Blue Springs and
See JOBS, PAGE 4
Winchester in Oxford.
Gubernatorial debate cancelled, due to lack of commitment BY MALLORY SIMERVILLE thedmnews@gmail.com
The push for a gubernatorial debate at the University of Mississippi quickly became a waiting game for the campus and student body. The wait is finally over, but it has ended in disappointment. Both candidates denied the invitation sent out by the Associated Student Body, Lott Leadership Institute and the Overby Center. Democratic candidate and Hattiesburg mayor Johnny Dupree asked to reschedule and come at a later date while Republican candidate Phil Bryant did not. The denial of both
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candidates resulted in the much-anticipated debate being canceled. According to Litten, both candidates are planning to attend a debate hosted by Mississippi College’s Law School on Oct. 14. After the university hosted Democratic candidates Bill Luckett and Johnny Dupree, but was unable to host a Republican debate, the pressure of hosting both parties was added to the ASB. “None of the candidates wanted to commit before the election,” Meghan Litten, ASB director of student advocacy, said. The Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics fellow Curtis Wilkie said he believes the struggle lies with Republican
Ten Minute Play Festival this weekend P. 7
candidate Phil Bryant, who also denied the invitation for the Republican debate this summer. “Generally, a guy who thinks he’s the favorite and is going to win is reluctant to debate,” Wilkie said. “Bryant was clearly the favorite and didn’t feel like he had anything to gain by coming.” The event was set for Oct. 15 in Fulton Chapel, and Litten said they are still open to hosting it. Litten said the original idea was to host a debate series between Ole Miss and Mississippi State University. The hope was to host the first debate in Starkville in midSeptember and the second and final debate in Oxford in October. With a packed schedule for
FILE PHOTO | The Daily Mississippian
PHOTO COURTESY PHIL BRYANT
LEFT: Johnny Dupree LEFT: Phil Bryamt
the fall, MSU was unable to participate. Litten helped to form a committee of 10 to 12 students to create a list of
questions that would have continued on into a week-long editing process. See DEBATE, PAGE 5
Sky Shelton to perform at the Lyric
Stoudt: “We got to stop talking about it and just freakin’ do it”
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