Monday, January 30, 2017 Volume 101 Issue 31
student printz SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
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Former SGA president runs for city council ‘I believe in the future of our city.’
LUKE SMITH
printz reporter
Southern Miss graduate student and two-term Student Government Association President Jeffrey George announced his candidacy for the Hattiesburg City Council Jan. 23. George, 23, will run as a Republican candidate in Ward 1, which includes The University of Southern Mississippi and the Lake Terrace Convention Center. “I am running for City Council because I believe in the future of our city,” George said. “At a time when we are in great need of a different way forward, I plan to bring a different perspective and new energy to the city council. We have a lot of potential and all the assets necessary to be a great city, but I think we need new leadership and some fresh ideas brought to the
table to get us moving forward in the right direction.” George is currently a graduate student in the Trent Lott National Center at Southern Miss, where he is researching economic development and workforce trends. Originally from Covington, La., George moved to Hattiesburg in 2012 to attend Southern Miss and served as SGA president from 2014 - 2016. “[I] absolutely fell in love with this city,” George said. “The people, the culture we have here. All the different unique things that make Hattiesburg what it is. It’s the place I want to build a life and be here for the long term.” In August, Kim Bradley, who was in his third term as city councilman for Ward 1 and served as president of the council, announced he would be stepping down. George said his time serving at
Southern Miss has prepared him to step up and lead Hattiesburg. “Me serving as SGA president and having the opportunity to represent the 15,000 students that call Southern Miss home has given me a unique perspective on things,” George said. “It’s given me the ability to be innovative in the way that I reach out to people and to talk to different groups of people.” While at Southern Miss, George also served on University President Rodney Bennett’s executive cabinet, where he helped make decisions that would affect the entire university. George also had the opportunity to go before the Mississippi legislature to lobby for more funding for higher education. “Those experiences have really set me up to understand how our government works and what we need
to do to work together,” George said. “It’s going to take a lot of different parts and a lot of different people working together to get our city on the right track.” George said his goal is to make the council more transparent and work with the people to strategically plan for Hattiesburg’s future. “I want to bring a fresh voice to advocate for people that feel they aren’t represented,” George said. “I want to improve the communication and transparency that’s coming from the council. Those little things will help our council be more accountable and the citizens more informed about what’s going on.” George graduated from Southern Miss in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in marketing. He was inducted into the Southern Miss Student Hall of Fame
Courtesy Photo | Jeffery George Class of 2016. The City Council primaries will be held May 2, and the general election will take place June 6. To vote in the primaries, residents must be registered to vote by the April 1 deadline.
Mass Comm. Dept wins summer concert series for ‘Burgers DAISY STUTTS
photo editor
The Levitt AMP Your City Music Series chose Hattiesburg as a winner of a more than $25,000 grant to host 10 weeks of free music events at Chain Park during the summer of 2017. These weekly concerts will feature both local and out-of-state artists and will of no cost to the public in an effort to promote underused venues. The goal of this series is to give recognition to underground artists. Other winners of the grant include cities across the entire United States; 15 cities total were chosen for the concert series. The Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation funds The Levitt AMP Your City Music Series. The foundation focuses on smaller cities to host events that would not normally be financially feasible. These effort aids the venue, artists and the community. Cities with a population of 400,000 residents or fewer were eligible to apply, making Hattiesburg a prime candidate. The Southern Miss Department of Mass Communications entered Hattiesburg in the contest and had students in the department write the proposal necessary to enter. These efforts were headed by John Pluskota,
a professor in the department of Mass Communications, and several of his students. “If we receive this grant it will be one of the largest and longest concert series around, highlighting the talent, community and people of this region, and by hosting it in Chain Park we enrich the lives of local residents and draw positive attention to the diversity, origins and roots of Hattiesburg,” Pluskota told WDAM during the application process. “The goal of the grant is to improve the social fabric of the community through music and an underused park,” Pluskota said. “We really wanted to highlight Mississippi music, and what better place than the Hub City?” Local artists and Hub City residents couldn’t agree more now that Hattiesburg has been chosen. This event will allow students at USM to get involved, especially students in the music production area of study. “A lot of people don’t know how much work goes into events like this,” Pluskota said. “Not only will it benefit the arts and the university, but it will benefit the students also. We have opportunity for students to deal with applications for artists, event planning and all of the other parts of making
something like this happen.” Pluskota said Levitt provides the funding for the series, and there are rules that musicians cannot participate for free. “We are choosing the artists based on the community and what we think
Courtesy Photo |
will bring us together,” Pluskota said. “We want regional acts, our goal is to have very diverse music that really represents the culture in Mississippi. We also want the event to be family friendly and just something that everyone would be able to come to
and enjoy.” The series will begin toward the end of June. More information about the lineup will be released over the next few months, giving music lovers in the Hub City something to look forward to, according to Pluskota.