O'Charleys coming to Oxford...who's next?

On the heels of Applebee's re-opening on West Jackson Avenue, O'Charleys recently disclosed plans to build a restaurant of its own in front of Home Depot across from Chili's.

Great news, for sure. My only question is can a town with about 25,000 residents from the middle of August through the middle of May (about 12,000 the rest of the year, including Christmas break) support so many big chain restaurants? The commercial boom that has taken place in West Oxford over the last four or five years, spurred by the new Wal-Mart Supercenter, has brought in the likes of Applebee's, Chili's, and several other smaller chains, such as Quiznos, Zaxby's and Lenny's.

So, the big question is what will be next — either next to open a new chain in town or next to go out of business because of the competitive market. How about an Olive Garden? Or Outback Steakhouse. Or what about Barnhills — at $5.99 for an all-you-can-eat country lunch buffet, that place would be packed daily. There's already a Barnhills in Starkville, Columbus and Tupelo. Cici's would be nice, as well.

Another year in the books

It seems like only last week that I was toiling away in the newsroom of the Clarion-Ledger down in Jackson anxiously awaiting the start of my junior year in college. This had to be one of the fastest — but probably the most productive — year since I've been at Ole Miss.

Here are just a few highlights (and lowlights) from 2004-2005:

• The first week of school was marked by tragedy. Just days after a roommate's mother died, the ATO fratnerity house burned down, killing three students. I received a call that morning from an editor around 7 a.m. and was on the scene shortly thereafter. I had a story on the Clarion-Ledger web site by 8:30 a.m., the first story about the fire that day.

• During the fall semester and part of the spring semester I worked alongside two other guys on 92 Sportsline, a sports talk show on Rebel Radio.

• Helped carry the goal posts around Scott Field with my Gator-fanatic friend, Joe, after Mississippi State shocked Florida 38-31 in Starkville.

• Watched Ole Miss go through its first losing football season in eight years. Subsequently, a great man was fired because his boss insisted on micromanaging his team. Now, Ole Miss has a former drunk and former alleged wife-beater as its coach.

• Saw the long process of chartering a chapter of Alpha Phi Omega on the Ole Miss campus finally come to fruition with a ceremony in December.

• Got all four of my wisdom teeth cut out a week later.

• At the end of December, a friend and I flew to Denver for a national leadership conference. We had a chance to ride up to Boulder, and ended up doing some bouldering on the Flatirons west of town.

• During January and February, I was a head coach for Upward Basketball, a Christian youth basketball league designed to teach children about Christ through the game of basketball. We finished second place after blowing an 11-point lead in our final game of the year.

• I ran for ASB Senate and won. Served until April, working on the Academic Affairs committee.

• I applied for a job at Kanakuk and got it. Will be doing public relations, mainly photography and feature writing, this summer in Branson, Mo.

• Saw a lecture by Prince Edward of England while doing a story for the Clarion-Ledger in February.

• I got to teach two fifth-grade classes at Central Elementary about the writing process and how newspaper reporters do their job. I also have had the pleasure of hanging out with their rockin' student teacher, Miss Parker.

• In my first-ever competitive tennis tournament, I won the intramural intermediate singles championship.

• I applied for ASB Cabinet and got it. Will serve as the Director of Communications through April 2006.

• Got muddy while standing in the rain to see Switchfoot at Memphis in May.

• Finished a third year of writing for the Oxford Eagle.

• And finally, out of the 11 classes I took in the fall and spring semesters, I ended up with 10 As and one B. Can't complain there.

Looking foward to August already.

Campus Creek SUED!

Pretty much everyone has heard horror stories about living at Campus Creek. The extremely unethical and rude management staff. The multitude of maintenance problems. The unsightly ditch running through the middle of the property. The community was even sold back in January, just FIVE MONTHS after it opened!

Now, you have a valid reason to believe that Campus Creek is headed up the creek without a paddle. The company that owned the property and developed Campus Creek last year, PRS Management, has been sued for $155,000 by a local construction company for compensation it never received. The lawsuit was filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court earlier this week. Why did I renew my lease? This place may be shut down by this time next year. Most places that don't pay their bills don't make it very long.

Top 10 things I thanked God for today

10.) Dr. Dolan- Was late to class (a couple minutes later than me, anyway)
9.) My job- Rent money doesn't grow on trees...well, I guess it does; but somebody's gotta pay for those trees
8.) Chapstick- Gotta have it
7.) Pancakes- The best breakfast fill-me-up
6.) Contact Lenses- Need to be able to see clearly
5.) Tennis balls- They've just got that unique brand new smell (and are fun to hit)
4.) Ace Atkins- Told me I am exempt from doing the final project in his class :-D
3.) Patience- I go to Ole Miss, have to have it
2.) My family- They always put up with me
1.) SALVATION!

Here are a few pics from El Charro Monday night:

Me and Jordan after finding out that Monta may go to State after all


Chase telling the waiter he can't find his fork in Spanish


Jessi and Turner

Emmett Till's body to be exhumed; maybe Southern Studies wasn't just a waste

I remember sitting in my Southern Studies class last fall thinking about how bored I was and how the professors (both of whom are from the North) called out all White southerners as racists as we talked about one murder and civil wrong after another after another.

One such event we studied was the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black who was beaten to death in August of 1955 and thrown in the Tallahatchie River in the Mississippi Delta. His multi-day wake and funeral was covered by the national media and turned all attention to the civil rights struggle that was still taking place in the South. Although an all-white jury found the accused murderers innocent, the men later admitted in an interview with a national magazine to killing the boy.

Today, almost 50 years later, the FBI announced that Till's body will be exhumed to collect DNA evidence and see if they can determine who was to blame for his murder. It's a cold case that should be reexamined. The murders of three people in Neshoba County in 1964 was recently reinvestigated after a series of stories by The Clarion-Ledger, and a grand jury handed down an indictment for Ed Killen late last year.

So, while I still believe that my Southern Studies profs last fall were a little ignorant in their assertions about racism, it did happen. And if a life was taken, the person who committed that crime should be held accountable.

Earthquake rocks Mid-South

Yesterday afternoon, my roommate and I told each other how we had been woken up around 7:30 that morning because of what we thought was the door slamming. He said it was so loud that it shook his bed. We both thought it was just our obnoxious roommate coming in or leaving (our fourth roommate was at home for the weekend).

Then today we saw in the news that a 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit along the New Madrid fault near Manila, Ark. The tremor happened at 7:37 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and it was felt in five states: Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and MISSISSIPPI (as you can see in the graphic below). Is that cool or what?

Beale Street Music (Mud) Festival

There's a reason they say not to wear sandals or good shoes to Memphis in May. Tom Lee Park was in its muddiest form this weekend for the annual event that draws hundreds of thousands of people and some of the best bands around. But, after investing in a poncho and later pulling out the boots it turned out to be a fun time.

Switchfoot, a Christian rock group that recently crossed over to mainstream venues, was awesome and they have a new album coming out in August. Nickle Creek has some very talented musicians. I've never seen a mandelin (sp) played like that. Of course I've rarely seen one played. Collective Soul was really good, and the Killers and Nelly had good performances as well, even though both stages had fans packed together tighter than sardines. Perhaps the most entertaining set of the night came from KC and the Sunshine Band. Now that group has been around for awhile (KC said they used to be our parents' 'NSYNC'). They had that place rockin with "Shake shake shake, shake your booty" and "That's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it." Ok, so enough of that.

How about a pic or three?

Nelly rocks the Autozone stage


Hangin out by the river (yeah that's a sillhoutte of me)


God can create some pretty cool scenes, can't he?