LINK CEO Shakeup Rattles Confidence in Starkville PLUS Stafford Shurden

A CEO comes in from out of state, lasts about two months, and suddenly he’s gone. We dig into the leadership shakeup at the Golden Triangle Development LINK, why “mutual parting of ways” can land like a dodge, and what people mean when they say an organization’s culture demands transparency. We also talk frankly about how the LINK's past still shapes the present, including the expectations left behind by Joe Max Higgins and the pressure that comes when a board is trying to prove it has learned its lesson.

From there, we look at the customer side of economic development. Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill doesn’t mince words about what she sees as premature decision-making, and we break down the real tension between personnel privacy and accountability to paying clients. We also spend time on what comes next for new CEO Meryl Fisackerly, why institutional knowledge matters, and why the region can’t afford a slow reset if competition for clients heats up.

Then the vibe turns fun and surprisingly meaningful when Stafford Shurden joins us. He’s a Mississippi entrepreneur and social media personality famous for reviewing convenience store food, and he explains how his brand grew from local politics, restaurant ownership, and a love for the country stores many of us grew up on. Along the way we hit customer experience, rural small business, and a big question for the next few years: when AI makes the internet easier to fake, who becomes the trusted source?

Transcript

Cold Open And What’s Coming

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I don't know what he has come up with today to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 0:06

I'm not asking you to hide anything. You know, you know, put it out there.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Let the people see it.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

I've never not worked in a hospital working department.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

You can't argue with anybody when they're putting facts in your face. Zach, that's a hard question. I have no answer for it. From the opinion page of the commercial dispatch. This is between the headlines.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

In a wild turn of events, Ian Vasey is out as the Golden Triangle Link CEO. Before we even figured out how to pronounce his name, he is no longer a part of the equation. And in is Merrill Fasakerly. We offer congratulations to her, but we talk about the implications of it and how and what and why.

Sponsor Messages And Local Support

SPEAKER_04 0:51

Retirement looks different for everyone, so your plan should be built around you. For over 40 years, Financial Concepts has helped people create retirement strategies that fit their lives. Our team in Columbus takes the time to understand your goals and build a plan that works for you. Wherever you are in your journey, we're ready to help. We plan retirement. Financial Concepts is a registered investment advisor. This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, a bank headquartered right here in Columbus, Mississippi. That means your banking decisions aren't made hundreds of miles away by someone who doesn't know you. They're made here locally by bankers who know your name and care about the community. At Bank First, we're more than bankers. We're your neighbors. Whether we're cheering in the stands, catching up at a local pancake breakfast, or celebrating milestones across our community, we're part of the moments that matter most. Stop by your local Bank First branch or visit BankFirstFS.com to learn more. Bank First is a member FDIC and Equal Housing lender, Bank NMLS 454063.

Ian Vasey Exits The Link

SPEAKER_04 1:57

Welcome to Between the Headlines here in Catfish Alley Studio, historic downtown Columbus. A festive place, a good place as always. Absolutely. How goes it, Mr. Zach?

SPEAKER_03 2:08

My tomato plants are doing great. Oh, yeah. There's fruit all over the blooms, man. It's gonna be a good year.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

Sweet deal, sweet deal. I look forward to that salsa. Well, we've got it. Yeah, buddy. So uh we had Meryl Fisackerly actually in the studio for an episode last year, I believe it was, and she wasn't really interviewing, but she pretty much was interviewing, and she even said as much in that particular interview as we talked about all things related to the link. And you and I both, as I recall, left uh the studio here with a good impression about her and her abilities and her articulation and her professionalism.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

She clearly knows what she clearly knows her business. There's no doubt about that.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

No question. However, um the board saw fit to get someone that wasn't from around here. Was it Eugene, Oregon, that Mr. Vasey hailed from?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Some pla some place in Oregon.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

Yeah, and then other places. And so Mr. Vasey brought to the table, as we saw on his resume, a lot of different locations and a lot of different connections. But but a couple weeks into the job, it couple months. Couple Yeah. It just didn't work out. And why do we think that is?

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Uh well, you know, that's an open question. Uh because uh the the public face of this, the press release version of this is sounds like he came to this conclusion of his own volition and he just wanted to go back to wherever. Okay. The story that uh Lynn Sproul gets, who is a client, is that this is uh a mutual parting of ways.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

You know, I I've been through breakups in my life, and um even though that's kind of the narrative that gets out there, it usually ain't that way, would you agree?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

I mean I think two things can be true at the same time. I think that you can have somebody who is very knowledgeable, somebody who uh looks at their job a certain kind of way and is, you know, uh has worked in different areas, comes to a place thinking it's gonna be wonderful, and then is just realizes very quickly that they're uh uh culturally incongruent. Um and I think that the other side can also have expectations going on at the same time that aren't being met. Now, I don't know what those would be in this case necessarily, other than the fact that uh the guy wasn't his predecessor.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Well, I mean, you say culturally incongruent. I mean, as far as getting along with folks, I would have thought he would have been a hell of a lot better than that last one. I mean, just being real. I mean, look, I'm not I'm not throwing any shade toward the uh Mr. Joel Max. What I'm saying to you is if they could put up with Joe Max, I feel like they could have put up with this guy. And so that leads me to kind of think that he might have either had an offer elsewhere or perhaps just felt he was too good to be here in the Golden Trip.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

I don't I don't I don't I don't think that last one. I I don't know about the first one. I don't think that last one. I th I I don't think that he's gonna come here um and be here for two months thinking that. Like I just don't think that he takes the job at all if he gets here and thinks he's too good for it. I I just I and I didn't get that impression from him when we had him on here either.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

But to be fair, he he he was the self-proclaimed secret sniper or something like that. Silent assassin.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Okay, so so so

Culture Clash And Transparency Expectations

SPEAKER_03 6:04

there. Let let's let's go there. That's a he was the silent assassin. There's nothing silent about the link office. There's nothing silent about the character of or the personality of that job historically. Okay. And I think that he was very clear that that was what his personality was going to be. So when I say culturally incongruent, I'm not necessarily talking about Yankee coming down south. I'm talking about silent assassin going to the link.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

The link culture They're used to knowing what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Well, they're one, used to know what's going on, and they're used to it uh, you know, they're used to the bluster, they're used to the and I mean we're all used to that.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

The good parts and the bad, and the bad parts are self-explanatory, but the good parts is the transparency.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Right. And I think that's something that that we need to acknowledge here, something that I think that we kind of tapped around when we talked about this before. We're I'm just gonna say it straight now. My opinion I don't I don't I think that to this day, gun to their heads, that executive committee reluctantly got rid of Joe Max. They did they didn't they didn't do that because they had an epiphany, they didn't do that because they had some sort of uh you know crisis of conscience or conscience or anything like that. They had a demand letter because they knew for years what he was saying on those recordings, 700 recordings. Not they may not have known that there were 700 recordings, but they they knew that. Like he was not a dial it up, dial it back type guy.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

He was your head would have to be ten feet in the sand not to know um the types of rhetoric that was allegedly.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

And so they were fine with it until they got a demand letter and it was no longer tenable for them to be fine with it. And so then they tried to go for something that was, I guess, opposite of him, to maybe change the culture of the place. And then when he gets here and he's so drastically different from what everyone is used to, who's just culturally incongruent. And you're dealing with people who are still not entirely sure they should have got rid of Joe Max or are rueful of the fact that they had to get rid of him before.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

I think he had uh some cards in the wallet back there. Well, I think Opinions are those of the speaker.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

They are, because I don't share that opinion. I don't think that that I don't think that he came here with dishonest intentions. I don't think that he came here with uh a fly by night attitude. I think that he got here, he realized that the shadow that loomed over that position. Yeah. Uh that he just his personality wasn't gonna do it, and I think that the executive committee was pushing him or the or the community or whomever or however many were pushing him toward being more that way, and that just isn't who he is, and so it wasn't a good fit. And and so be it.

Lynn Sproul Calls Shenanigans

SPEAKER_03 9:22

I want to center the conversation into uh two other places though, and the first being Mayor Sproul in Startville, her along with Octabahaw County, are one of the paying customers, paying clients for the link. Correct. She's calling shenanigans on Bain. Bain Nichols, the uh chair of the executive committee for the link, calls her a paying client or a representative of a paying client and lets her know that this is a mutual parting of ways, as it were. And she calls baloney and she says, okay, well, if it's a mutual parting of ways, what was the I can understand what his his deal might have been, but he's only been here two months. He hadn't been able to unpack his bags or find the bathroom or anything else. Why would y'all not give him more than two months before y'all came to a decision on y'all's side that it wouldn't be a a a good fit? And the answer that she got as she gave it to us on the record was, Well, I'm not gonna explain that to you. And and I think that I mean that rubbed her the wrong way. If I was a representative of a client of the link, that would rub me the wrong way too, wouldn't it, you David?

SPEAKER_04 10:46

Yeah, um, that's right there. I mean, first off, I wholeheartedly agree, but but at the same time, it's it's kind of a one of those personnel deals, like maybe there's a reason that that that just he can't just air that laundry out, you know. There there may be something there that that we're just not aware of.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

Um if you're paying somebody a hundred and some odd thousand dollars for a service, right and I deserve to know what's going on. Well, yeah, you deserve to know what's going on, at least better than hey, it was a mutual parting of ways, and I'm not telling you anything else.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

I mean, if if he's cheating on his wife and having dog fights in the backyard, that that may not be pertinent to to what I'm paying for, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Well, it's pertinent to what you're paying for if he ain't there no more. How pertinent was that dog fighting to Michael Vick's football career for a couple of years? But but but so she but then she uh switches gears and she's like, I I ask her, I'm like, well, I mean, 2027 is coming. This nine compete that Joe Max Higgins has, well, you remember he has his private consulting firm, he's doing business other places now. So what are you guys gonna do when that nine compete wear uh runs out? And she says, Well, we're gonna give him a hell of a look. We're gonna give we're gonna give the situation a hell of a look. Because our citizens deserve for us to do that. They expect for us to do that, and we're gonna do that. And um she really goes in hard in the paint on the executive committee and the link generally on what she sees as the knee-jerk decisions that they're making. And premature premature behavior is what you got. A series of premature behavior.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

And um Well, you gotta remember she she never really was an advocate for Joe Max leaving. I mean, she wasn't. But hostile work environment was just um you know, uh kind of just a thing to her.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

Well, I I don't know if that's true, but she was an advocate for Joe Max and continues to be. But you want to know what else she did? When she couldn't be with the one she loved, she loved the one she was with. She gave Ian Vasey a chance. They communicated fairly regularly, according to her, and they had good conversations and she had a and she had a respect for what he brought to the table. And was giving him a chance, and after the mutual parting aways, after two months, she's the first one to come out and say, you can't really know much within six. I mean, um I've I've moved states and taken new jobs and gone into new communities, and in two months, if I was expected to be fully culturally immersed with the community or the organization inside of 60 days, I don't think I could have kept a job ever. I mean, you you you get your feet on the ground and you do a a little bit at a time and you learn from who you can learn from, but you don't know everything that you need to know in 60 days. You just don't.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

Let me ask you this. Um the pressure now is on Meryl Fisacerly, of course, to do a great job. Correct. And um when I hear you, I can't help but think the possibility exists. I wouldn't say for the ruination of the link as it stands, but definitely the breaking apart of it. Well, Starkville Octibihaw could potentially withdraw if they get a better deal elsewhere.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

And then you've got com competition between Octibihaw and Lowndes.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Well, I don't know if competition's necessarily a bad thing, but um Working Together is better and working together's better.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

I mean it's done us great. We've talked about Joe Max.

Betting On Meryl Fisackerly

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Yes. And we've talked about Ian Vasey. What we haven't talked about is Marilyn. I don't think that uh I I I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about her for a minute. She's done yeoman's work at the link as the chief operations officer. But by all accounts, did a heck of a job keeping that thing together as an interim when um when they were going through the the fallout of the Joe Max departure. Um I don't I don't I don't know how qualified I am to say because I'm not an economic developer and I don't live in that world. I don't I don't know how qualified I am to say that she's gonna knock it out of the park. I have no reason to believe that she won't, and I sure as heck am rooting for her.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Well it's kind of like you know, every now and again you'll have that church that hires the interim preacher, and that interim preacher is the bomb diggity and ends up staying for ten years and taking the place to higher levels, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:46

I I've I've been in churches where that's happened. And you obviously have the institutional knowledge that you didn't have with an outsider. You've got that institutional knowledge with Meryl, you've got a very good attitude, you've got that tenacity with the professionalism that it needs to have, because I think that she's quite comfortable sitting in front of Rotary and telling it like it is without you know without uh sugar coating it. W without sugar coating it and without being performatively um vulgar. Yeah. This is this is she's somebody who like when she came in and talked to us, she shot straight from the hip. She didn't shy away from anything, and I, you know, I'd it was refreshing. I don't know whether she cussed or not, but sh she didn't it it wouldn't have mattered. She didn't leave anything out. And uh she chested up to everything that we asked her. She was chesting up to that job. Um and I think that she's gonna continue to do that. If there's any problem with Meryl, in my opinion, and again, uh this is with my uneducated opinion, because I don't live in that economic development world, I I I cover it, and that's not the same thing. Um But the only thing that I foresee being a problem would be something that is outside of Merrill's control. Would be something that would be projected onto her by people who are actively projecting that onto her. Such as such as you know what I'm saying, man. If people decide that uh she is weak or unqualified, or um can't drink whiskey in a hunting camp or can't go shoot and ski or any of those types of things. Uh what I will tell what I will tell you from what little I know about Meryl Fisacally is this. She is the type of person, in my view, that if she knows she's got to do something on Saturday that she's never done and she's got to do it competently, she's gonna start today figuring out how to do it competently. And she's not gonna embarrass herself in in any of those situations.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

I think the up-and-coming generation is sick and damn tired of the the the bourbon and the cigar smoke and the backroom deals and the butt-in up and the endless golf and all that stuff. I think the fact that that she may be um not really into that world is a next one.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Well, I mean, I don't know whether she is or not, but I I don't think that it would be fair to her for uh anybody with decision-making power or even just the general public's viewpoint to be uh, well, it's a she, and can a she do that job? Oh, I think that's a good idea. I I I think she can do that job, and I think that she's about to show you that she can.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

She's gonna be dealing with some of the smartest, brightest, most enlightened, uh hardest working, uh, most plugged in corporate.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

She's also gonna be dealing with Tate Reeves and MDA.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

So I mean Tate Reeves is not a woman hater, believe me. I'm I'm gonna tell you. I just you said something about bright and enlightened. I wasn't calling him a misogynist. Hey, the man may be a bean counter, but he's done some good things, I think, financially for the state of Mississippi. And I'll just tell you this. I I think she's gonna be a breath of fresh air, and I think Merrill Fisackerly is going to be able to reach back into her rich memory and have a lot of good examples and non-examples to pull from.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

I uh hear, here, and I can't wait for her to be making the speech welcoming whoever comes to Cinco. That's gonna be a good day, and uh I I want that for her. And I want it for the link and I want it for the region, but uh the last thing I'll say on it is again going back to Lynn Sproul and her relationship with Joe Max and the nine compete. We said in here that um or I said in here some months ago when we were talking about it, that the link had a certain amount of time to get its act together, or they were going to have to compete with Joe Max to keep its own clients. That time frame has been reduced by two months now, and they just don't have their act together. So um and that's not a reflection on Merrill. I think that's more of a reflection on the executive committee, and I will say to the extent that they feel empowered or responsible to get in the CEO's way to make sure that the this and this and this, micromanaging or whatever, they don't need to do that right now. They need to let Merrill cook and be what she can be because the link has two fewer months now to get its act together.

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Time and pressure. Two very strong forces, and I think they're gonna push us in the right direction. Time will only

Stafford Sheridan Joins The Studio

SPEAKER_04 21:09

tell. We are absolutely tickled to have in the studio today Mr. Stafford Sheridan, who is a multimedia, social media personality and reviewer of all things gas station and food related. Uh, if you've been on Instagram, TikTok, you've probably seen this guy. And you've got some roots here in Mississippi and and here in uh actually in Columbus, like an aunt or something that lives here. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

I did have an aunt that lived here.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Jolynne Vaughn.

SPEAKER_04 21:37

Okay. A lot of our listeners probably know her, absolutely. So thanks for coming in today. And Zach, take it away. Well, I mean, uh what are we doing here today?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

You man, that's a better question for Colin. I'm like, Colin's here too, by the way. Colin's here. So so they said come in and uh and do the morning show at WCBI and then And I asked him, I said, y'all gotta know Colin, because Colin and I are always talking on social media. And the next thing I know, Colin has a full day plan and rolling me out here with the red carpet like I'm some kind of superstar, you know.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

Well, how'd you I guess how did you get into the um uh the social media reviews of gas station food?

SPEAKER_02 22:20

So I I social media started for me as a way to run for I was an elected official, I was a justice court judge in some power. Yeah, for 14 years. And started before really social media was a thing, 2006, which is pre-iPhone. People forget that's pre-iPhone. And then by the time my last election, it was all run on social media, except for signs and knocking on doors, and I thought, boy, this is a great marketing thing. I can use this to advertise my restaurant. So it really started as let's utilize this platform to market the restaurant. And I was like doing the gas station food as a marketing toy, really, and then it blew up and became a whole nother thing that this year I'll probably make more money doing that than I make out of the restaurant. So it's a weird, weird how it goes. And then end up with a podcast like you guys and all this other stuff too.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

Well, tell us a little bit about the restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

So I'm uh I'm bad about jumping into things I know nothing about.

unknown 23:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

And and in 2002, I got really involved with the chamber of commerce. I was a young guy back then, and I'm like, all this chamber stuff is great, and we had a 501c3 that was renovating buildings in downtown Drew, and it was all good and fun, but I was like, I understood enough to know we're gonna have to have individual investment in the town. So I bought with $8,000, two dilapidated buildings, and when I say dilapidated, there's a reason they were $8,000. They were they they wanted to get rid of them really bad. And uh I thought, you know what? I'm gonna we need a restaurant downtown. We don't have one downtown. And I started renovating it in 2005. We opened up.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

Okay. Um and still still going?

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Still going. We we turned 21 like last Friday.

SPEAKER_03 24:12

You gonna have a drink?

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Well, we did celebrate a little bit, but uh it happened so fast, like I don't even keep up with it. I'm like, oh gosh, we're 21 on May 1st. And uh but we're really I wanted a place for people to be able to congregate in more of a cafe style, the meet and three places that I grew up with that are largely gone.

SPEAKER_04 24:31

Yeah, like the Traceway and Mathiston.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Yes, exactly like that. I mean, just open for lunch, and you know, all those little country stores that we all grew up with, which is really what the gas station food review is a lot about, is those places, especially like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

You know what's interesting you stay you say that when I think about gas station food, I'm thinking about fried burritos and what do they call them, uh torpedo chicken on a stick and all that kind of thing. Pizza sticks and all that stuff, yeah. So, but what you're talking about is is the sole food, something to be like like Phoebe's deli right across the state line. Have you been to that one? I have not. Oh, you need to review that part. But um, yeah, so what types of foods are in these gas stations that you're interested in?

Gas Station Food That’s Actually Good

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Well, you know, growing up, the gas station was the grocery store. You know what I mean? It was everything on the farm, and in the Delta, we had commissary stores. You guys had general stores up here. But we had comp owned farm commissary stores, and those things morphed into gas stations and then the little country stores. And so they did all those things. They were full restaurants. They weren't just frying chicken and throwing it in the hot box. That's good too, now I like that too. But so I started out looking for that, and now I've even done the gas station sushi. Like I've branched way I branched way out, man.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

Are you okay? Did you have any problems with it?

SPEAKER_02 25:51

It was actually pretty good. I'm not gonna lie. I did go in one place one time and and it was like that that several people said you need to come here and get sushi. And I I went there and it was in nowhere, Tennessee. I mean, when I say nowhere, out in the middle of nowhere, which that's kind of a red flag for me for sushi, and they did barbecue and sushi, and I went, I don't know that that's the best mix. And I I chickened out, I got the barbecue, it was pretty good, but I was afraid to get the sushi there.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

Well, how'd you find out about or like what brought you to United Delhi? And when was that six, seven years ago?

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Yeah, so the first time I went was right in the middle of COVID. I mean, we were still kind of on lockdown a little bit, and it was just people commenting on Facebook, you need to come here. This is a great place. Don't get the large sandwich, it's just good to have, you know, because it's big enough. And I get the six inch and it's thirteen inches. I measure it. I literally I'm a farmer, I had to take measure. I measured it and it was 13 inches, the six inch. And and uh just from that back and forth on social media.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

Okay. And uh you're very impressed with what you found there. Even went back.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, it it's the fresh baked bread, I think does it. Okay. For me. That's what what I loved about it. But just and John, man, you know, so many of the food reviewers just they don't talk to anybody, they just re they just get in the car, here's what I've got. And I feel like it's the totality of the experience. You know, how did the people treat you? Was it you know, what was the parking like? You know, all those things go into your total experience as a I w I want to try to convey the experience you're gonna have if you go there. It's not j the food is a big piece of it, don't misunderstand. But I've learned that too, being in the restaurant business. Oftentimes um the food is not the complaint. You know what I mean? It's other it's customer service or the bathroom. The bathroom. Man, the bathrooms I have seen doing some of that.

SPEAKER_05 27:49

That's a whole nother show. You gotta go.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

That's a whole nother show. I went in one and I swear it looked like they had a uh WWE event inside the man's bathroom. Like all of the toilets were broken off, and it's like um Somebody got mad at me. Yeah, it looked like they shot a movie in there where they had, you know, they always see these fight scenes at the end.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Leon Neeson must have been in it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

It looked like that, and I was like, I don't know that I can review this place.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

A couple years ago, I was trying to get a bill introduced that would penalize these places. If you're if you have a gas station on uh adjacent to state right-of-way, there should be a certain level of cleanliness that is acceptable to anybody, like like civilized folk. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

I got excited when I learned the Love's general managers get a bonus based on how many little green smiley faces you hit on there, and that gave me confidence to stop at Love's

Viral Reviews And Small Town Nostalgia

SPEAKER_05 28:40

truck stops. Did am I correct that Mr. John hadn't of course, he was is still not big on social media. He had no idea who you were the first time you came in. And tell them a story about your book signing in too below.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Oh yeah. So I go to Mr. John's the first time and and I I usually am not, especially early, I like the idea of them not knowing what was about to go down, right? And then it just being a surprise. You know, I don't do negative reviews, so I'm not there to hurt anybody. And and I can tell you as the as a restaurant owner, when the review guys come in, you get nervous, even even me, you know, because I don't nobody wants a bad review. But um I go in and I did mention, which was uncharacteristic, but I I said, you know, I'm actually doing a food review and and this will be on social media in a few days, and I met his son and all this, and they're I think they were highly unimpressed with what I told them. And then the it comes out, and that's kind of the first one that got like a hundred thousand views, right? That was my first video to do that kind of views because the people of Columbus love him so much. Yes. And that shareability factor, as soon as people saw it. And if you go in there now, I probably shouldn't even tell this, John. If you're listening, you gotta quit doing what I'm about to say. But if you go in there and say you know me, he won't let you pay. And I'm like, he's like, I've made so much money off of that one review. And then I did a book signing at um uh Reed's Gumtree bookstore in T Below, and he showed up and he's like, I want to buy 20 books.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Yeah, and they are like, We only have 27 or something like that. However, it comes in a case, you know. And he says, Well, I'm gonna hang around and buy whatever's left. And they ended up he ended up still wanting 20 books and they ordered him some. I mean, just that's the kind of guy he is. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Good guy. Well, uh so how much time did you spend in Columbus in your younger years?

SPEAKER_02 30:34

I spent a lot of time, I'm gonna do a throwback at classics in Columbus when I was in Startville.

unknown 30:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

That's one of the three big bars uh that was in the We would go to Columbus on Wednesday nights for country night in the 90s. That was a big deal. You had country night uh uh there on Wednesdays and then in Startville at Cheers, which is also gone, long gone. Right. But yeah, so I was four years at Mississippi State. I've tried to do four and a half and my parents wouldn't let me.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

Well, I mean, what were uh I guess what were your impressions back then of of here? And I guess w what are you what are you here to see today?

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Well, I can already tell you, as Anna Walton and I, my daughter's sitting over there, we drove into town. I said it looks so much better than it did in the 90s. I mean, I can see the improvements, and I'm all about um small business and supporting small business and struggling. I I know what it's like to have a live in a struggling town.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

Aaron Powell Do you consider Dollar General a small business?

SPEAKER_02 31:45

We were glad to get it in Drew.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Because we lost both grocery stores and our dollar store. And so when I this is a funny story, but I actually called Dollar General and I said, I'm I'm the economic development director for Drew, Mississippi. And they put me in touch with some guy. He says, You're not gonna believe this. I was in Drew yesterday.

SPEAKER_05 32:11

I thought all you had to do was say Dollar General three times in front of a mirror and they just show up.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Well, that worked. That's what I'm saying. I mean, I just called them and they were like, I was there you we were there yesterday. And they built but we were glad to get our little Dollar General. But yeah, when I'm thinking of small businesses, obviously I'm thinking about those mom and pop places. And um I I think in weird this weird way, there's a rejection happening for the big box stores and all there's there's more opportunity now, in especially in Mississippi for small businesses than I think in my lifetime. Because there was a certain downturn in the early 80s where that it was going the other direction. And now we talk all this garbage about millennials, right? But that group, they want to do business with people they know, like, and trust, not a big box.

SPEAKER_04 32:58

You don't think they're buying up Amazon and getting stuff shipped to their house all the time.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Yeah, but but I mean, I think that's at the cost of probably Walmart. Okay. More than the small business. Walmart sending stuff too, though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Well, what are y'all gonna do today?

Local Journalism Trust In The AI Era

SPEAKER_05 33:14

Well, we're from here we're gonna go visit Mr. Mayor. That's my favorite part about this town, is everybody's so accessible. So we're gonna see Mr. Mayor. We're gonna stop by MSMS. I'm introducing him to the best history teacher in the United States, Chuck Younger, and the Mississippi School Teacher of the Year. Yeah, Yarbra, I'm sorry. Chuck, I'm gonna Chuck Younger, hold on, get the name. Chuck Chuck Younger, who's a at our esteemed state senator, Chuck has never been accused of being, he knows this, the smartest man in any room. But uh he's a good buddy of mine, depart head of department of transportation, a very powerful man, and a farmer also, allegedly a farmer. Chuck Yarborough, who has uh been named the National History Teacher of the Year before, has been on HBO. Uh we're gonna see the uh and we're also gonna see uh Mrs. Aaron Dona, Dr. Z, who was just named the Mississippi of the Year for high school teachers and going on to be the national one. And MSMS, one of those highest-ranked public schools in the United States.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

And you're gonna go back and see Mr. John, aren't you?

SPEAKER_05 34:05

Yeah, and then we're Mr. John. I'm gonna introduce him to some of the guys, uh, a couple big winners in town here doing the development at Parkview. I've got a couple other folks in the atmosphere. Friendly City Books. Yeah, Friendly City Books, Golden Triangle Theater, too, which is growing by leaps and bounds.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

So And by the end of the day, you will have bought a lot in Parkview, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

I'm like a mirror in the headlights over here. I'm really trying to I'm trying to sell them on Columbus. We're here. He something the first time he called me, uh I uh he said something to Keeley Shields on WCBI a minute ago, but we both talk a lot. He called me and I thought we both supposed to be a three-minute conversation, about an hour and a half later. Most of our discussion was people are telling him he needs to do negative news, and people have told me the same thing. And uh we're talking to people on the oldest family-run newspaper in the uh in Mississippi, and probably in the southeast, but I don't really think there is negative news when you're talking about true journalism. Like you're just reporting what's happening. And I always tell people like that stuff gets covered, I don't need to say anything. But we both connected on trying to just focus on positivity and positive, happy stuff.

SPEAKER_04 35:06

The comment section will take care of the negativity. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:09

That 8% of folks will come in there and have 90% of the content. You know, the only the only post I really didn't see anything negative on was that Aldi when the Aldi story broke. People are pretty happy about us getting an Aldi here in town. So they're a little excited about that. Every other story, anything you could put out, there's gonna be something pretty bad about.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

So Yeah. How do y'all deal with like running a family-owned local newspaper? How do y'all deal with the negative?

SPEAKER_03 35:38

I mean, we just report it.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Yeah, like you said, it's just factual. Just no bunch of opinion on it, just factual, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Context, you know, you context, yeah. Have uh do do the interviews with the right people and put it all out there as best as you can, and you know people are gonna People will know that you will consistently do that and they'll respect you for it, even if they get into the Facebook uh link on it and yeah, yeah, about this or that. Uh if they know that you're gonna do the same thing every time and you're gonna do it in good faith and try to do it right, I think the people see that for what it is. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

I I think that's what's missing in in a lot of small towns in the United States now. They're it at the city council meeting. Like there's nobody else going. And there's other places that, how do I say this, massage uh y'all's stories in other news stations and other papers around the area because they're the only ones there. So they have to get the facts from you guys. Yeah. Well it turns into a game of telephone, and I have P I see people online, I'm very a huge fan, and I have a journalist in the background too. We haven't even talked about any of this. Um I'm a big fan of the right person getting blamed. So somebody made a comment the other day about the construction on Fifth Street North, and they're like, I can't believe they didn't consult anybody in the Master Gardeners about this, about what plants they should put in the middle, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then somebody from the Master Gardeners is like, it's exactly what we did, and then the people building it are like, yeah. I'm like, and I want to jump on there and be like, this what you said already happened. Yeah. But they're mad. They're like, these plants don't this, and they're like, no, that's now not too many nerds go to city council meetings other than me.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Well, I think the other weird thing about social media and then now AI is it does put you guys in a better position in a way because you you can be more of a trusted source. Yes. So it's gonna be less and less that people are gonna less and less trust what they see on social media because of AI. And so I've been real thoughtful about I have to get this brand built up before that happens so that I can be a trusted source on social media and people know that I'm real. Because anybody that starts an account next year, you're not gonna know if they're real or not.

SPEAKER_05 37:46

That's true. It's so weird. And y'all have had this going on about a year, right? And this is where I send people when they're like, what's going on in the empty ownership? Oh, well, calm down. Because you're able to give some context to the stories here, you know, when they're talking.

Justice Court Stories And Moonshine

SPEAKER_03 37:59

I I've just got one more question for you because I've always found the uh I'm from Arkansas and we we don't have Justice Court uh in in Arkansas.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Well, do you do you have Justice of the Peace?

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yeah, we have JPs, but they're well I mean the the the JPs in Arkansas are like the super county supervisors are here.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Oh yeah, yeah. Well that's you know that's part of the judiciary too. Well, supervisors are technically judges, technically.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

But but um fascinated by Justice Court, and I've asked every Justice Court judge that I've talked to around here about the their stories, but I I need to know you were you said you were 14 years in that. 14 years. Okay, in the Delta. Man, what it what is the what is the wildest thing that came across your bench?

SPEAKER_02 38:46

Oh my gosh. That's a whole nother book. And I gotta say, one of the first judges I met was Judge Peggy. So I get you know, that was one of the first people I met, and um and I think one of y'all sheriffs was judge at that point when I got in. Then he became sheriff after.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Yeah, he wasn't there long. He he and I came in about the same time, 2006. But um the I will tell you this the first warrant ever signed, the first search warrant ever signed was on a moonshine deal. Oh, that's awesome. Right.

SPEAKER_03 39:18

And did it did it pop out? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

It was a moonshine deal. It was a guy making moonshine out in an abandoned house out in the country, and and I don't think they ever charged him with a crime. I think they just went in there and took a bunch of pictures and got on the front page of the paper and and everybody was happy and they, you know, it looked like 1920s, they were busting it on. Busting it up. Busting it up with with axes and stuff and letting it out on the ground. And I think it was a lot of moonshine, but they determined he was not selling it, he was giving it away. And they were like, We're not sending this guy to jail for this, you know.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Yeah. There'd be lots of stories like that, you know. Just and and we the one of the clerks was Miss Helen Downs, and she would sit next to me on the bench, and I trial be over, and she'd lean over and say, You need to save that for your book. And I didn't save those for my book. I should have had, you know. Because there were some good ones, and I've forgotten probably more than I can remember.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

Oh, I bet that's right. Well, we appreciate you coming by today.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 40:16

And I hope you have a great day in Columbus.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

And and Colin hopes you buy a light at Parkview. He'll he'll he'll explain later.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

Our special guest today has been Mr. Stafford Sheridan. He's not a bot. Look him up on social media.

Three Quick Headlines And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_03 40:34

Three things to know. Number one, two Columbus Air Force Base pilots safely ejected from a T-38 aircraft after a training exercise mishap Tuesday over West Alabama. The cause of the mishap is being investigated. The pilots received medical treatment and were home as of Wednesday. Number two, an attack on Canvas, a learning management software used by schools and universities, knocked the platform offline during finals week at Mississippi State and Mississippi University for Women, interrupting any access to coursework, class materials, or grades by students or faculty. Number three, wanna be a firefighter right out of high school? Columbus City Council is considering lowering the minimum employment age at fire and rescue to 18. Chief Charles Yarborough said the move could help with recruitment and retention, and coupled with junior fire academies and local schools, it could create a pipeline to the department.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Reach out to us, tips at cdispatch.com. You can also follow me on Facebook or X at the Chisholm Double Zero and leave a public comment. Keeping it real here in Catfish Alley Studio and Historic Downtown Columbus, your host has been Zach Plair, and I am David Chisholm. Y'all stay friendly out there.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

I'm just a simple old country boy, but um I think that makes sense. I've stepped out and I've said what I had to say.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

You've been listening to Between the Headlines with Zach and David. That's what old people do.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

That is Peter Rimes, publisher of The Dispatch. One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom. Typically, we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government, and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners. The dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity, and our reporting will always reflect that.