The Student Printz March 30, 2017

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Thursday, March 30, 2017 Volume 101 Issue 44

student printz SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927

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Budget cuts kill Eaglepalooza JULIUS KIZZEE sports editor For the past 13 years, Eaglepalooza has been known for the vibrant music that it brings to Hattiesburg. Due to educational budget cuts made by Mississippi legislature, the annual musical festival has been canceled. “We will be able to be more intentional in direct areas of the students,” said Student Government President Cameron Cloud. “Eaglepalooza was an event of 13 years of tradition, but we will be able to better to focus on student organizations and directly affect the student body. It’s bittersweet, but SGA is going to do huge things this year. We’re still going to be present in the community.” Cloud believes that even though Eaglepalooza is gone, the community will be able to recover from the loss of such a staple in the Hattiesburg community. “It has a lot to do with the budget,” Cloud said. “We have a budget we get presented at the beginning of

the year and it predicts what we get for the year. The cut was so large that we didn’t have the $45,000 to run Eaglepalooza.” Former SGA president Caroline Bradley is not just looking at the money. Bradley, who has been in the Student Government Association for almost her entire college career, said Eaglepalooza was more than a concert. “It is a great recruitment tool, so from the potential student side, not having the concert equals a loss of a great selling point,” Bradley said. “For current students, a campus tradition that brings the community together is gone. I think the loss is going to hurt, but hearing the feedback and getting ideas for bringing Eaglepalooza back are encouraging. It shows us that this community wants to work together to get it back.” The social media community was outraged by the news of cutting one of the biggest music events in the entire state of Mississippi. Last year, Keri Hilson rocked the stage, with Echosmith coming to the Hub City

the year before. Cloud said what is most important to him is transparency. Throughout his campaign for SGA president, a position he has held for just under a month, he advocated for clear communication and he followed through with SGA’s announcement of the cancellation of Eaglepalooza. “I ran my campaign on transparency,” Cloud said. “I was the bearer of bad news. It was the only option. I’m confident people will express their concerns on this issue. “Either cut Eaglepalooza or lessen the quality of the investment of student organizations or other areas of SGA. Eaglepalooza was the best choice for that.” SGA is looking for options to mitigate the loss of Eaglepalooza. “Unfortunately, cutting Eaglepalooza was one of the first things to cut in the statewide budget cuts,” Cloud said. “We work through them, work as a community and move forward.” Stay with The Student Printz for more updates on the story.

Coutesy Photo|

HB 1322 ‘beer bill’ passes in Miss. KENDRA PARKS printz reporter On July 1, Mississippi craft breweries and beer enthusiasts will celebrate the

passing of House Bill 1322, which will “authorize small craft breweries to sell light wine or beer they produce on the premises of the brewery.” Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill

Daisy Stutts | Printz Southern Prohibition Taproom on March 30, 2016.

on March 15. A portion of the bill “authorizes small craft breweries located in Mississippi that produce no more than 60,000 barrels of light wine or beer annually to sell on the

premises of the brewery light wine or beer produced at such brewery for consumption on or off the premises of the brewery,” according to HB 1322. Previously, under the three-tier system, producers sold their products only to wholesale distributors who then sold to retailers and only retailers could sell to consumers. This system was established to prevent vertical integration among the tiers listed. “Beer distributors in the state carry all the craft brewery brands and sell them to licensed retailers,” said President of the Mississippi Beer Distributors Association Richard Brown. “With the craft breweries wanting to have limited craft brewery sales, we wanted to maintain the integrity of the three-tier system as much as possible.” Mississippi Beer Distributors Association, the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and the Mississippi Brewers Guild worked together over several years to pass this legislation.

HB 1322 will protect the distributors and retailers. Small craft breweries are only allowed to sell 10 percent of beer or light wine or no more than 1,500 barrels produced annually at the brewery, according to djournal.com. “Licensed Retailers can only sell what they purchase,” Brown said. “By allowing a brewery, who is a manufacturer, to on-site sale, you get into the business of the independent Mississippi beer distributors and beer realtors, which were all involved in the bill. However, everybody came up with a proposal that both sides could accept.” The bill will benefit the three-tier system because it will insure the sale of popular beer to distributors. “It will allow us to experiment with more products [and save] money in the long run by not releasing something to the market that is not going to be a big seller,” said President and CEO of Biloxi Brewing Company Mark Cowley. “[We can save money] by doing a limited release from the brewery.” continued online |


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