Mississippi DA makes a difference

By Ariel Cobbert and Carlyle Owen

District Attorneys (DAs) have a very important position in the justice system, yet a lot of citizens do not know what exactly they do. A district attorney is the chief prosecutor in local government. It’s a person locally voted into office who is in charge of prosecuting charges brought by the state.

Traditionally, DAs run and are elected on “tough on crime” platforms, especially in Mississippi’s 16^th judicial district. For 26 years, the DA in charge of Noxubee, Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties was notoriously strict. He prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as he always promised he would when he ran on that platform for so long.

But what if a prosecutor did not just prosecute? What if the district attorney thought people could be saved easier than punished? In 2015, Columbus attorney Scott Colom ran against the long-standing incumbent on a platform of reform. He wanted to give people a chance to make things right, rather than just throwing them in prison. People told him he would never win, not in the South, not with a campaign calling for less jail time for anyone. Spoiler alert: he won.

There is no denying that Colom’s predecessor, Forrest Allgood, was an effective prosecutor. He was so effective at prosecuting, in fact, that one of his most famous legacies left behind was his unusually high amount of death row and life sentences being overturned. “Innocent until proven guilty” was no longer the precedent once Mr. Allgood had your case. DA Colom ran for his position because he saw a flawed system, and he felt like he could make a difference.

“I thought about the collateral damage of sending someone to prison,” Colom said. “The effect it has on their families, neighbors… and about the effect it had on them in the long term.”

He looks at factors like how a felony record can affect a person’s ability to find a job or how a first time drug offense can take a mother from her children from years at a time. Colom truly cares about his community. He believes no one is past rehabilitation, and he wants to work with people charged with nonviolent crimes to make sure they are judged fairly. Where Allgood put children in prison on murder charges that would later be overturned, Colom plays a part in keeping families in tact.

Collen Hudson, an assistant district attorney under Colom, prosecutes cases in Lowndes and Noxubee counties. She met Colom during her internship with Ole Miss Law School, and they continued to have a working relationship. This year he asked her to come on as an assistant district attorney (ADA).

“[Colom] has views that progress our criminal justice system in a different direction,” Hudson said. “It takes a lot of courage to be able to say, ‘This is where I want to see things go, and I’m not afraid to work towards that.’”

On the other hand, Scott Colom does not have a light hand when in comes to violent crime. He wants reform for nonviolent crimes, like drug charges, but he is working diligently and tirelessly to keep violent criminals off the street. Tina Rogers is the Victim Assistance Director for the Mississippi 16^th District. She interacts with any victim of a violent crime, and she can see how much Colom cares about these victims.

“Working for Scott has been one of the great things in this field,” Rogers said. “I have an opportunity to do the right thing that I love and have a really outstanding boss who really cares about how we’re doing.”

Colom is making history with his reformist way of doing this job, but his election marks another important historical victory as well. As an African American man, he is the first person of color to be elected to this position in the 16^th district. Mississippi has a rough history of racism. It is the only state to carry the Confederate battle emblem as part of the official state flag.

Even Columbus, Colom’s hometown and the seat of his district, is full of negative memorabilia. The city post office displays a mural of slaves picking cotton. The Confederate statue in front of the courthouse is shaped to look like a Klansman from a certain angle, with the soldier’s flag wrapping around his body to form the infamous KKK hood. Still though, Colom is hopeful that things are improving.

“Essentially the only way to solve racism is to change people’s hearts and minds,” Colom said. “That’s a very personal thing to accomplish, and you do so through personal relationships.”

Scott Colom is exceptional at establishing personal relationships, as anyone who knows him will tell you. His team in the office, his contributors and his friends all say he is exactly the same man in court as he is walking around Columbus. With such a personable, fair and friendly prosecutor, the 16^th District got incredibly lucky.

 

 

 

New offshore drilling leases to open in March

(written for the Endangered Species Coalition. See original post here.)

Have you ever been to New Mexico? Pretty big place, huh? Imagine if one day, out of nowhere, someone went to New Mexico and just bulldozed the entire thing to the ground. This stranger comes in and starts ripping resources from the Earth, killing any inhabitant in the way. Well that is exactly what is about to happen in the Gulf of Mexico.

In October 2017, the Interior Department of the Trump Administration proposed an auction of the largest amount of offshore drilling leases ever at 77 MILLION ACRES. So, about the size of New Mexico. Oh, and this 77 million acres is the last remaining part of the Gulf’s outer continental shelf, so the whole entire outer shelf will now be dedicated to drilling. This announcement was made 11 days after 672,000 gallons of oil spilled off the coast of Louisiana. It was the largest oil spill since 2010, when a BP oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and caused the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

For those of you who don’t know what the outer continental shelf is, that is the part of the ocean you can see from the beach. That’s where you go boating or fishing. It’s the part of the ocean before the continental slope, the site where the ocean gets deeper. It’s everything off the Gulf coast until you hit the imaginary line from the bottom tip of Texas to the bottom tip of Florida.

Photo credit NOAA

The shelf is estimated to hold 48 billion barrels of recoverable oil, along with 141 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. By leasing out so much of the Gulf, the Trump Administration hopes to keep the cost of oil low, which the offshore sector has had a hard time doing. Trump sees this as upholding a campaign promise to increase U.S. energy production and make America more self-sufficient, but how far will we go to save a few bucks?

The sale of these leases will begin in March, and yes, the deal includes the site of the 2010 BP oil spill. I guess the White House decided the environment had done enough healing, even though the aftermath of that disaster is still affecting marine wildlife, as well as people who depend on the Gulf for their income.

Photo credit NOAA

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 2010 oil spill negatively affected 73 species that we know of, 38 of which were federally listed as endangered or threatened and were protected under the Endangered Species Act. For example, it is estimated that there are less than 2 million sperm whales still alive today, and they were among the species negatively affected in 2010.

With 100 percent of the outer shelf about to be opened for drilling, it is only a matter of time before another rig malfunctions and another oil spill takes place, possibly even bigger and more destructive. 11 people died last time, and there have been hundreds and hundreds of lawsuits from people whose livelihoods and even personal health was hindered by the mass pollution the oil spill caused. If the multitudes of plants and animals aren’t enough reason to leave the ocean alone, aren’t American citizens? Apparently not if it means gas will be a few cents cheaper.

Even without a devastating spill, offshore drilling is extremely invasive to the environment. Bottom line: a whole bunch of ocean life is about to die so that Trump can boost his approval ratings. The massive drilling rigs disrupt the habitat of any marine life in the area, and the area in question (to stress this again) is the ENTIRE. OUTER. SHELF. Animals and plants WILL die. Biological systems are intricate and complex. Like a clock, each part of the wilderness has an effect on the other parts, and a disruption can spell disaster for the whole mechanism.

The noise created by offshore drilling can distract animals and hinder their ability to communicate during mating season or notice predators, for example. Another problem is that even when oil isn’t “spilling” on a critical level, there is no way to prevent every drop of dangerous chemical from entering the water. Oil drills commonly release harmful amounts of methane and other toxic gases directly into the water and air.

Photo credit NOAA

Perhaps the most obvious problem this presents is that the methane emissions from oil drilling greatly contribute to climate change. Unfortunately, tons of people still don’t even believe in climate change, but that’s a different problem for a different post. (Honestly at this point how are people still denying climate change??) Anyway, according to National Geographic, “EPA estimates suggest that if these fossil fuels (that will be recovered) were burned completely, they would add the equivalent of more than 28 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere—more than five times the United States’ total carbon footprint in 2016.”

If this has scared you, good, because IT’S SCARY. In closing, probably don’t swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Like ever.

A student’s battle with cancer

Genevieve Lapola did everything right. She was active. Healthy. She played sports.

“I’ve never really had anything wrong with me my entire life”

Her junior year of high school ended the summer of 2011, and she looked forward to the excitement of senior year. Over the summer, however, things started taking a turn. Her performance decreased, and she was sick all the time. She lost 40 pounds, and her family began to worry.

She started going to doctors. They couldn’t determine what the problem was at first, but eventually she was diagnosed with Hashimoto, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. Essentially, Hashimoto causes your body to attack the thyroid gland, limiting its function. It’s traditionally seen in women over the age of 40, and Genevieve had no family history of the condition. Her doctors still don’t know what caused it to develop. With this knowledge, Genevieve, known to family and friends as Genna, moved on. She continued living her active life, but she stayed on top of her thyroid condition.

She began taking medication and continued going to doctors for the next year. This entailed regular medical tests. The next summer, following her high school graduation, she had her first ultrasound. They found nodes in her neck. This isn’t uncommon; in fact, many people have nodes and never know about it. This new information didn’t change much except that going forward she tried to be more aware of her health.

In following months, Genna started her freshman year at Albright College in Penn. She was recruited to the girls’ division 3 field hockey team, and she started the next chapter of her life as a college athlete.

“While I was playing I noticed that my performance kept going down and down and down,” Genna remembered. “I was having bouts of seasonal asthma, which I’d dealt with before, so I thought it was that.”

Unfortunately, it turned out to be something much more serious. One night in particular she realized that something was truly wrong.

“I had been really sick,” she said. “I couldn’t run. I couldn’t breathe; my roommate actually heard me just gasping for air.”

She went to the hospital, where she was told that she had an extremely severe case of tonsillitis and that her tonsils urgently needed to be removed. She saw a specialist, and after talking it over with her parents, Genna spent her first Thanksgiving break in college undergoing minor surgery to remove her tonsils. It was at this point that her life changed drastically in a very short period of time.

The doctor who removed her tonsils noticed a larger lump in her throat. He recommended she see a thyroid specialist, since she had a history of thyroid problems. Her depleting health gave her the push she needed. She made the difficult decision to withdraw from school. She got home in December after her first semester feeling defeated. She worked hard. She did everything she was supposed to do, and now her body was attacking itself.

Genevieve Lapola never quit pushing herself to be the best she could be. However, when she moved back home things changed. She was angry; she couldn’t understand why her body was working against her. Eventually she made the time to see a thyroid specialist, and things quickly went downhill from there.

Scrambling to find a college to attend on such short notice, Genna had to enroll in a local community college. This was something she took as a personal failure, because she had always grown up in a culture that pressured a 4-year degree. She kept going to the doctor, and life continued.

In May of 2015, when Genna was 19 years old, she went in for her second ultrasound and biopsy. When she got her results, they indicated that the cells in the lump were not cancerous, yet they were still abnormal. She decided to have the left part of her thyroid removed just to be safe.

“I think it was a lot for me that they would be taking something from my body,” Genna said. “It wasn’t like a big piece of my body or anything, but still it’s scary knowing someone is about to cut into your neck.”

After this surgery, she went home to recover once again. She thought the worst was behind her. Her three-day check up revealed no complications, so when she had her 10-day check up when was not worried.

“My mom couldn’t go with me that day, and we didn’t think anything would be wrong,” she said. “I was just going to get the stitches out and the drain removed… and my doctor just kind of… told me.

I remember he said, ‘so I have some bad news,’ and I was thinking I was going to have a scar. I never dreamed what he said next was ever a possibility. I was not in that mindset.”

That was the day Genevieve Lapola was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

“I did not take it well,” she confessed. “I just sat there, blank face. He called my mom to tell her because I had no reaction, no idea what to do. I just went to my car, drove home, sat in the driveway and started crying.”

Having cancer takes a huge toll on a person’s life, both mentally and physically. However, a sickness this serious also has a great impact on the family of a person affected. Mancil Davis holds the PGA world record for holes-in-one, but no one is immune to a tragedy like cancer. Davis lost his father to brain cancer when he was just twelve years old. Watching a family member become so ill is something, he says, is hard to describe until you’ve been through it.

“To say it changes the family dynamic is a gross understatement,” Davis said. “You have to figure out how to go about a ‘normal’ day. You have to make sure they don’t feel guilty for changing the dynamic of your life, because they’re going through enough already. It’s a roller coaster for everyone involved: emotionally, physically and time-wise.”

Over the course of several months, Genna saw an oncologist and began the process of beating her cancer. Since her doctors could not yet tell if she would need radiation, she had to have a lot of dental work. This included about four root canals and eight fillings.

“My whole body was just fighting me… to this day they don’t understand why. I mean even my teeth were decaying,” she said.

According to The American Cancer Society, only about 2 percent of those diagnosed with thyroid cancer are teens or children, and Genna had no medical or family history that would suggest this could happen.

As the surgery to remove the rest of her thyroid loomed, Genna began to feel discouraged again. At the time she was working at Dick’s Sporting Goods. She had to leave that job because her recovery time was going to be too long, and once again her poor health was keeping her from living a normal life.

After the remaining half of her thyroid was removed, Genna spent time reflecting on the past few years. She became very angry. She struggled to maintain personal relationships, and she began to lose her faith in God. She spent a while living this way, unhappy and unsure what her next step was.

Eventually, her strength began to return. She realized that things would never look up for her if she didn’t make the decision to turn things around herself, so that is exactly what she did. While on a campus tour of Vanderbilt, she heard about Ole Miss and how close it was. She decided to check it out, and fell in love with the campus.

“I just remember walking around campus and thinking, ‘this is what college is,’ so if I hadn’t gotten cancer I wouldn’t be at Ole Miss.”

Genevieve will graduate in May of 2018. She has since held two internships on Capitol Hill: one as the intern to the Ninth Congressional District of New Jersey, and one as a tour guide at the U.S. Senate. She has been in remission for three years.

 

A sweet tradition: gingerbread fun for the family

(written for Hotty Toddy News)

Who doesn’t like a craft you can eat? Building gingerbread houses is the winter version of pumpkin carving. It’s a fun social activity to do as a group, and it’s perfect for all ages. You don’t even need a knife, making it very kid-friendly! (Warning: side effects may include stickiness!)

This fun holiday tradition originated in Germany. It became popular when the Brothers Grimm wrote “Hansel and Gretel,” the story of two children who find a house made of candy in the forest. Gingerbread has been a rich part of American history. Introduced to the New World by the first English colonists, gingerbread cookies were often used to try and win votes in colonial political elections.

Gingerbread house decorating isn’t always the cleanest activity, and it can get frustrating when you remember that you aren’t as creative as you thought you were. Ole Miss junior Danny Howell studied at the Mississippi School of the Arts, and even she found it difficult to get the exact design she was going for.

“The biggest thing is waiting for the icing to dry,” Howell said. “It takes a while and you have to hold the whole thing together or it will fall apart and ruin everything. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be with children.”

So if you want to use gingerbread houses as an activity for the kiddos, you can let them decorate the cookies flat on a table. After their artwork dries you can assemble the houses for them. Don’t feel like you have to stick to the ingredients that come with the kit. Being November, it’s a good time to pick up cheap leftover Halloween candy and make your houses fall themed!

Most people who make gingerbread houses these days buy kits that come with the pre-made gingerbread cookie walls and roof, as well as the supplies needed to assemble and decorate the house. Wal-Mart currently has these kits for a little less than eight dollars each, or you can get a gingerbread village with five smaller houses for the same price. This video shows students Danny Howell and Emily Roblee working with the kits available, as well as some ideas on getting creative with your gingerbread.

*Update: Gingerbread train kits are also now available at Wal-Mart.

3-D printer lets students get creative

Ole Miss acquired a bit of the future this summer when the J.D. Williams library purchased its first 3-D printer. Since then the University has also invested in a 3-D scanner, meaning they can print 3-D objects, as well as copy existing objects to be printed.

Sean O’Hara, program coordinator at the J.D. Williams library, is in charge of testing the new technology and perfecting it for use. The eventual goal is to open the printer and scanner to the public, but it is currently available to students.

“Our point is for people to come in with an idea and leave with something in their hands,” O’Hara said. “You mess with technology in an experimental setting, and you figure out how to take the next step.”

The scanner comes on an iPad that students will eventually be able to check out and bring with them. The point of this is so users can scan objects outside of the library and come back and print them. However, as of now all scanning must be done through the same wifi the printer is connected to.

The material the printer uses to create the 3-D objects is called polylactic acid, or PLA. It is a plant based, biodegradable thermoplastic.

The printer itself is stationed in the new unnamed lab/meeting area on the first floor of the J.D. Williams library. The lab opened for use on January 2, 2018. As for cost, the technology is fairly inexpensive to use. The most expensive printing job would be around 13 dollars, with the average cost being between one and five dollars.

Students are already excited about the role the printer will play in their curriculum. Senior Elizabeth Thompson is a forensic chemistry major with a double minor in biology and anthropology.

“There’s so much stuff I’ll be able to use it for. I’m really excited about the possibility of being able to recreate bones of skeletons from across the world,” Thompson said. “With this technology I’ll be able to do things people before me at Ole Miss couldn’t accomplish.”

The printer is able to print items up to the size of a basketball. So far it has successfully created several detailed items to scale including the J.D. Williams library and the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. Danny Howell is in the Army ROTC program at Ole Miss, and she believes the printer will be a huge help.

“We use models to explain many of the concepts we implement in lab and in the field,” Howell said. “Having access to a 3-D printer would allow me to create specific models to better explain these vital concepts.”

People can use the printer for things unrelated to class as well. Students are encouraged to think of creative, innovative new ideas to bring to the lab and try out.

“The lab will be a great meeting space for start-up companies to come together and brainstorm,” O’Hara said. “Really anyone with an idea can come in and try it out. You don’t need to have experience; that’s what’s so great about it. It’s just an opportunity to play with a 3-D printer.”

 

 

New laws in Mississippi

The Mississippi state Legislature closed session on March 29, 2017. They passed many laws in this regular session that will go into effect on July 1 of this year. Although many Ole Miss students are not residents of Mississippi, everyone is expected to follow all state laws while living here. These are the laws that you should be aware of going into effect next month.

Traffic Laws

Several years ago a law was implemented stating that it is illegal for anyone to sit in the front seat of a car without wearing a seatbelt. Senate Bill 2724 expands on that law. It says that a driver may now receive a ticket for any passenger who neglects to wear a safety belt, regardless of where they are sitting in the car. This also means that if a car seats 4 and you drive 9 people to a party, you are now subject to receiving two tickets instead of one- the ticket for overcrowding your car and the ticket for the extra people who aren’t wearing seat belts.

Armstong Walters is the assistant district attorney in 16th District, and has been practicing law for 27 years. “A lot of the injuries in automobile accidents are because the back seat passenger is not belted,” Walters said. “You’re in a head on collision and the momentum carries them into the seat in front of them and terribly injures the front seat passenger who was belted. The front belt is not designed to protect from injury from behind.”

Many students are aware of the “Move Over” law in Mississippi which makes drivers move over to the next lane if a government vehicle is pulled over within city limits. Senate Bill 2305 expands this to include mail carriers in rural Mississippi as well. This is important because students living outside of Oxford’s city limits did not formerly have to worry about this law, but now they may be ticketed if they do not move around mail trucks.

Drug and Alcohol Laws

Most Oxford residents have already heard about this one, but House Bill 1322 will now allow any “small craft brewery” in the state to sell light wine and beer on site. This does not give permission for these companies to act as an in-house beer shop. They are allowed to sell up to 10% of their yearly product or 1,500 barrels, whichever is the lesser amount. This affects Ole Miss students because the Yalobusha Brewing Company in Water Valley, less than a half hour drive from campus, falls under the jurisdiction of this law. People will be able to go to the brewery and taste their products on site, making it a more enticing tourist option.

Under Senate Bill 2194, several synthetic opioids have been added to the list of Schedule I narcotics under the Controlled Substances Act, including butyryl fentanyl and beta-hydroxythiofentanyl. These drugs have been a rising problem in Mississippi, as well as other states. They are mainly used in combination with other narcotics such as amphetamines, and the mixtures can have deadly results. Also added to the Schedule I list is AH-7921, which is similar to morphine. The Bill sites these drugs as having a potential for “abuse, overdose, and death.”

Former Columbus, Miss. chief of police Joseph St. John has over 30 years of law enforcement experience. “I think we’re having an escalation of the drugs that have perpetuated for the last 50 or 60 years,” St. John said. “We’re going to have to address it with the laws and make them more serious, because the issue is serious. Without looking deeper into the problem of what has become a spreading epidemic of the use of drugs, what are you going to do with these people after they become addicted? Incarceration is an option, and it’s the right option for some. But it’s not the only option.”

With the decriminalization of marijuana in Mississippi, use of the drug has become more common. One law currently in place makes marijuana use by parents a probably cause for law enforcement to take their child into protective custody. House Bill 652 will change this law to make provisions so that marijuana use can only cost a parent custody if the drug makes them unable to properly care for their child.

Miscellaneous Laws

Mississippi lawmakers approved House Bill 645, known as the “Back the Badge Act,” or the “Red, Blue, and Med Lives Matter Act.” This law will enhance the penalty for any crime committed against a police officer or first responder. Before Phil Bryant was governor of Mississippi, he was a law enforcement officer.

“I all too well understand the challenges that occur each and every day when you put that badge on and you go to work,” Gov. Bryant said before signing the Bill into law.

As the world shifts more and more into a technological era, lawmakers have seen fit to implement certain laws making information more readily available to the public through the internet. House Bill 1116 says that any special public meeting held must be announced on a public body’s open website at least one hour before the meeting takes place. House Bill 812 requires the Bureau of Narcotics to document each time law enforcement seizes property of a Mississippi resident on a public, searchable website.
House Bill 686 was amended to state that residents may request a revision of their tax returns for three years following each tax season, while Senate Bill 2445 provides a data match program with the Department of Revenue (DOR) that lets all financial institutions have immediate access to residents who are behind on taxes. The current law has the DOR send the financial institution levies when a person defaults on their taxes. This new law will make the process quicker and more efficient.

Human trafficking: slavery in your back yard

CLICK HERE to read this article with accompanying media

Many people believe that slavery in America ended with the Civil War, but thanks to the global industry of human trafficking this is not the case. As the second largest illegal industry in the world, human traffickers bring in an estimated $150 billion every year by exploiting others for labor or sex.

Miss. Republican Senator Roger Wicker is an advocate for policies fighting human trafficking. He backed the “Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act” in 2015, inspired by his own “End Trafficking Act,” which he introduced in 2014. Senator Wicker calls the fight against trafficking “a daily war fought by young women robbed of their freedom, their dignity, their childhoods, and often their very lives.”

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the “Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act” exists to “combat trafficking in persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and involuntary servitude.” There have been three amendments to the Act, all presented by Senator Wicker.

Young women are not the only potential victims of human trafficking, however. While the average age that girls first become victims is 13 years old, the average age for boys is 11. Louisiana-born Mississippian Julie Cantrell is the author of The Feathered Bone, a fiction novel that realistically portrays the world of sex trafficking. Cantrell met with many human trafficking survivors as part of her research, all ranging from age four to age 42.

“I think many people believe that people work in the sex industry (only) by choice or that those who are trafficked are lost causes who will do anything for drug money,” Cantrell said. “Most of those trafficked are lured into the trade at very young ages. By the time they realize the danger they’re in, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, for them to find their way back to freedom.”

Human trafficking is a rapidly increasing problem here in America. Polaris, an anti-trafficking organization based out of D.C., reported that in 2016 there were 7,500 cases of human trafficking reported in the United States. In 2015 there were just under 2,000. The International Labor Organization estimates that hundreds of thousands of the approximately 20.9 million worldwide trafficking victims are in America.

Many Americans don’t know that it is happening, making them unable to look for warning signs when trafficking occurs. Additionally, many victims are unable to help law enforcement catch traffickers, so even when some are saved their abusers continue trafficking new victims.  

Often times survivors who make it out of a trafficking ring are traumatized and want no more to do with it. Other times they are scared of what the trafficker or pimp will do to them or their families in retaliation for speaking to police. Survivors are also hesitant to seek help from the law because before they are rescued, they are technically committing the crime of prostitution. This, as well as a general lack of awareness among the public makes it hard to prevent trafficking in the United States. Unfortunately there is no way to know how many cases of human trafficking are not reported, but many believe there are more cases not reported than cases reported.

This crime is especially increasing in the South. Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana were all in the top 20 worst states for human trafficking according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. However, police are aware of several routes that are used to transport victims of human trafficking. I-10 and I-55 are two of these routes. New Orleans and Memphis are both national trafficking hubs, so it is no surprise that these highways are used by traffickers regularly.

In February of last year, Darnell Davis, 31, of Hernando was arrested on I-55 for abducting a Memphis teen and transporting her five hours from home to Natchez, Miss. Police believe he was en route back to Memphis with the girl at the time of his arrest.

“It’s very disturbing,” a neighbor (identified as “Zipper”) of the girl told Fox13. “You don’t realize the stuff is going on around you. You never know.”

Just a few weeks later in March, Pierre Braddy, of Jackson, Miss. was sentenced to 20 years in Jefferson Parish, La. after he plead guilty to forcible rape, human trafficking and obstruction of justice. Braddy was being tried for crimes he committed in April 2015 against a 25 year old woman who was found severely beaten after being forced into prostitution in New Orleans.

The woman tried to escape multiple times, and every time Braddy beat her, even forcing other women to beat her until she was unconscious. The victim was rescued by an undercover officer who answered an online ad hoping to catch a prostitute. When he got to the arranged meeting place, he found the woman with extensive injuries.

This woman met Braddy after he responded to her online advertisement. She had become a prostitute to support her drug addiction. However, many victims are trafficked by people they know, sometimes even their own parents.

The act of exploiting humans for money is not a new idea, but as awareness for human trafficking spreads many are calling for harsher and more specific laws to be put into place to deter traffickers from continuing their trade. In her research, Julie Cantrell had the chance to interview a trafficker, or pimp.

“This particular pimp did not mind the idea of his daughters being sold, but he could not tolerate the idea of the same happening to his son,” Cantrell said. “That is something to consider. Why are we more tolerant of sex abuse when it is happening to girls?”

End Slavery Tennessee is a Christian-based nonprofit dedicated to spreading awareness for and combating trafficking in Tenn. One girl they rescued was sold multiple times a week by her parents from the time she was five years old. The family appeared to be an average, middle class family. Her parents were active in their church and community, so no one ever suspected what was going on.

“If you think it can’t happen to you or your friend, sister, cousin, etc. you’re wrong,” Cantrell said. “If you think it can’t happen in Oxford or at Ole Miss, you’re also wrong.”

With Oxford police making two arrests for human trafficking last year, Oxford residents should be aware of trafficking now more than ever. It is important to be familiar with the warning signs that someone is being exploited, which are listed on the Polaris website. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (run by Polaris) also has a hotline with operators at all hours of the day. The hotline is in place to take calls from anyone who suspects human trafficking is taking place.

Graduate student wins $10,000 in business competition

First, second, and third place winners of the Gillespie Competition pose for a picture with the judges and CIE hosts. (At center: first place winner Lee Ingram; to his left and right are: Sam Bertolet, second place winner, and Austin Darnell, third place winner). Photo Credit: Carly Owen.

By Alexandra Morris and Carly Owen

Last Friday, MA of Accountancy student Lee Ingram won $10,000 to expand his business, Collegiate Tutoring, in the CIE’s annual Gillespie competition.

The competition awards start up money to a student who can come up with the most effective business model.

Ingram’s Collegiate Tutoring, formerly called Higher Learning LLC, is a website students can use to find student tutors who have excelled in the courses they need help in.

“I like having a service that helps students find confidence in their courses,” Ingram said about why he started this business. “The other side of that is that I like finding students that are capable of tutoring and rewarding them for knowing the material well.”

Ingram noticed a social stigma around tutoring.  Making student tutors discreetly accessible helps people who are struggling feel less embarrassed about seeking help. Currently, the options to find a tutor are not nearly as discrete as Collegiate Tutoring. Having to post on facebook group pages, consulting an advisor, or seeking the help of a star student in a course are not ideal. While prices can range from free to $60 an hour, students have no way of verifying the tutor’s qualifications.

Ingram also wanted to help students find a tutor as quickly and easily as possible. The company is also a good way for students who excel to earn some extra money. The starting price for most course is $40, but more advanced courses cost $50 an hour. The tutors hired by Collegiate Tutoring receive half of that.

“It’s kind of like Uber for tutoring,” said student tutor, Jacob Gambrell, a member of Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. “You set your own hours, decide the subjects you want to tutor, and then connect with the students individually. It takes a lot of the unnecessary hassle out of the way.”

Collegiate Tutoring has over 250 customers, as well as a partnership with two Greek houses on campus. Maria Gorla, former academic executive for Kappa Kappa Gamma’s Ole Miss chapter, said working with Collegiate Tutoring made her job much easier.

“It was clear to see how well the business side of Higher Learning (now Collegiate Tutoring) was run,” Gorla said. “All of our members that attended sessions experienced the top-notch quality (of the tutors) firsthand.”

Six student entrepreneurs competed in front of nine judges in the final round of Gillespie. Second prize was $5,000, awarded to Pontus Andersson and Sam Bertolet for their business, Myra Mirrors, a new smart mirror that combines interactive technology with an everyday mirror. In third place was Manaslu Athletics, a casual activewear company created by Austin Darnell. Darnell won $2,500. In addition to winning $10,000, Ingram also received  two iPad Pros and a year of free rent at the Ole Miss Innovation Hub.

Ingram had been continuously working and adjusting his business plan with Adjunct Instructor of Management in the University of Mississippi School of Business Administration and CIE, Owens Alexander, and Professor of Management, Dr. Clay Dibrell.

“I heard about Lee’s business that he started from scratch,” Alexander said. “So, I met with him and then got him set up with one of our student consulting teams to help him work on scheduling, his website, and other procedural things.”

Although Ingram is graduating this spring, Alexander said CIE plans to continue to work with him, given that he is such “a great representative of this university.”

Dr. Dibrell added that he will also provide assistance to Ingram beyond graduation because “we want him to be successful.”

Ingram’s company’s first-year plan is to expand his service to five campuses, including Ole Miss.

Planning commission meeting 4/10/17

Oxford’s Planning Commission met this Monday at 5 p.m. The meeting started with the committee introducing the city’s new Code Enforcement officer. After this, the committee began presenting requests to the Board on behalf of citizens.

The Planning Commission exists to maintain the historic and “small town” integrity of Oxford. These are the people who hear requests regarding additions to homes and other property. For example, the day’s first applicants wanted to add a swimming pool and pool house to their existing property. These were each a separate request, as the pool house would have a bedroom and bathroom, making it a full residence.

Most of the requests were small, well thought out, and got approved by every board member. The first to get any downvotes was a request from Oxford Manor Condominiums. The owner, Mr. Yates, wanted to install an iron fence with an electronic sliding gate. Being a block from the square, the condos have had a problem with nonresidents taking advantage of the open (but private) parking lot. Square patrons have left their cars for days at a time, and they’ve often left a trail of trash as well.

“We’ve tried everything,” Yates said. “Numbered parking spots, parking tags… We really don’t like to tow. We hate to do that to people.”

Two board members voted against the fence. They felt it would promote anyone with a driveway to install a sliding gate, making Oxford seem like a less welcoming town. However, the motion passed with four votes in favor.

The most controversial permit sought at the meeting was a sidewalk permit at Rosemont housing complex. There were sidewalks for the outside portion approved in 2005 and installed in 2007, but now the developer wants to have the homeowners pay for and install additional sidewalks. The audience for the meeting was mostly members of the Rosemont homeowner’s association. The majority of these homeowners did not want the sidewalks, mainly because they did not want to pay for and install new sidewalks in their front yards.

“It’s a safety concern,” the property developer said. “We would add crosswalks… We just want to improve the property.”

The motion did pass in the end, but with conditions. Only about half of the sidewalks applied for were permitted, and the homeowners and developers left the meeting predominantly content with the compromise.

The Board is comprised of Oxford citizens who are actively involved in the community. Meetings occur on Mondays at 5 p.m., and any Oxford resident wanting to expand property can submit a request to the Planning Committee at City Hall.

Students get paid to sign last-minute leases

By Alexandra Morris and Carly Owen

With the school year coming to an end, most returning students have already signed new leases for the fall. However there are still some who are unsure where they will live, and the numerous student housing rental offices in Oxford are left to fight over the few remaining lease-signers. One seemingly effective approach is to give students free stuff.

Many apartment and housing complexes in Oxford are offering incentives to encourage students to sign. Whether they’re giving away free gifts or offering fee reductions, commercial residencies in town are doing their best to rope in renters – as many as they can, and as quickly as they can.

The incentives range from a waived signing fee to a free two-person cruise to anyone who signs. University Trails is even offering a raffle to a free trip to Vegas and a $1,000 gift card. Most of these promotions last about a month, and the residencies usually change their offers each year.

“This week we’re doing a ‘pick-your-perk’,” Highland Square Community Assistant Marti Poole said. “If you sign by Friday you can pick your gift (from a list of various options), and if anyone comes in and signs a lease during that time they’ll get their signing fees waived.”

The Retreat in Oxford, a housing complex for students, falls under the management of EdR Collegiate Housing, based in Memphis, Tenn. Craig Wack, Public Relations Coordinator for EdR, explained that these perks do not affect the tenants’ cost, but that the promotions come out of the company marketing budget. He also said that incentives under EdR management are only offered at locations that still have a substantial amount of spaces available.

“There are some places that fill up,” Wack said. “We’ve got a property with over 1000 beds in Connecticut that got like 700 applications on the first day, so at that place we don’t necessarily have to do incentives.”

Some commercial rentals offer incentives even to those who aren’t yet committed. Kathleen Balmes, a junior at Ole Miss, signed a lease at the Hub a week after winning a raffle for an Apple Watch.

“I wasn’t sure where I wanted to live, so I went to the housing fair (on campus) where I entered the Hub drawing,” Balmes said. “Then when I won the watch, I showed up and decided to take the tour. I was leaning towards it anyway, but the watch definitely put me in a position where I got super invested and couldn’t imagine touring anywhere else.”

Some places are even offering incentives to their current lease holders if they refer a friend who signs a lease there. Places like Molly Barr Trails and Uncommon Oxford promise $300 to any resident who can convince a friend to sign. Christina Rick renewed her lease at Molly Barr Trails last semester, but she also recently referred someone to the apartment complex.

“My friend wasn’t sure where she wanted to live, so I told her about Molly Barr,” Rick said. “I like living here and would recommend it regardless, but getting $300 just for telling someone that was a nice bonus.”

None of these perks will offset the rising cost of rent in Oxford, but they might help ease the pain.

Mallory Kelley, the Community Manager at the Retreat, explained it very simply. “People always want something.”