In September I will have been getting a paycheck in this business for 40 years.
Well, there were about nine months in 2001 when I moved to Texas to work building houses. We made money hand-over-fist in a booming construction market just north of Dallas.
But it did not satisfy.
And Sara and I ultimately decided to move back to Mississippi to be around family and to let me bring quality journalism to my people – people like you.
So let’s take a look at Page One of your Clarksdale Press Register.
The Windmills
The windfarm north of Clarksdale is impressive and proves people in this state can do big and bold things in the Mississippi Delta.
And now they are hauling those giant turbine blades into Clarksdale by rail and trucking them to the good folks in Arkansas. That makes for a great photo. Ride out Hwy. 49 and take a look yourself.
Yes, I know a large portion of green energy is subsidized by federal dollars blowing out of Washington. We’ll just have to see how long that wind blows around here.
IRS offices
Don’t ever think what happens in Washington doesn’t affect people in Clarksdale.
We talked subsidies in the topic above, but the Delta is influenced by crop subsidies, education grants, housing grants and yes, welfare payments in the form of food stamps, TANF, SNAP and SSI or Supplemental Security Income.
The announcement last summer prior to the Presidential Election that IRS jobs were coming to Clarksdale was good news. But political winds change.
The head of IRS, who celebrated with us, resigned on the day President Donald Trump was elected. Rep. Bennie Thompson is a Democrat and part of the committee that sought to indict Trump. Again, politics is a hard business and political allegiances do cost us.
I will be the first to say drying up good-paying jobs in Clarksdale hurt. Please remember most of these employees were moms with mouths to feed, car payments to make and rent to pay.
They talk millions, billions and trillions of dollars in Washington. This newspaper talks about a $730 dollar a week paycheck for someone in Clarksdale.
Mayor’s March
Please read the story about a group of kids who helped with a regional food drive that benefitted Clarksdale. We always like to put a little something lite on Page One
Hunger is very real in the Mississippi Delta. It’s great to see kids learning there is a real need and they can do something about it.
I once had a wise newspaperman tell me real help doesn’t come out of Jackson or Washington. Real help comes from neighbors, churches and relatives who know you are going through hard times and help you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
If people around here are not working to solve our problems, they are part of the problem.
Roll up your sleeves, reach into your back pocket and do something to make your town a better place.
The lawsuit
On the advice of legal counsel I have been told not to discuss details of the city’s lawsuit with my company, your Clarksdale Press Register and me.
I will say this story comes at a very unique time in my career. And being a little older and wiser is has been sobering to understand I am at the heart of a fight for the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
And it is a fight.
It’s no secret newspapers have suffered from declining revenue. Yours truly and the Clarksdale Press Register have seen a local boycott, local social media and local businesses decide they can do without a hometown newspaper.
But if the Clarksdale Press Register were to go away tomorrow, who would tell you about food drives, Washington’s effect on Clarksdale and a city board that wants no one to tell you about crime, blight and how they plan to tax you or spend your tax dollars in this community?
I do want to thank everyone who has offered me a kind word, a word of caution or just a hearty handshake or hug over the past few weeks. It will never be forgotten.
Clarkdale deserves a good newspaper. Your Clarksdale Press Register works very hard to print one for you each week.
Floyd Ingram is the Editor of your Clarksdale Press Register. Short of his Bible, the U.S. Constitution is some of his favorite reading. Call him at 662-627-2201 if you want to quote him chapter and verse.
