It's not hard to find good people

May 09, 2007 02:49 pm

— For the people that normally look here to read the musings of former editor and publisher Mark Thornton, you’ll have to get used to looking at my mug for a while.
After Mark turned in his resignation, my boss lady asked me if I would be interested in taking t he job in Kosciusko. Since I am already running a newspaper in Newton, I had to give this some thought.
I had been to Kosciusko only a few times. My first time was as a sophomore in high school at Neshoba Central, playing football at Landrum Field against the Whippets.
Besides the fact that we won, only two things really stood out in my mind was how many people Kosciusko had in the stands. The second was when we arrived at the stadium that afternoon, the wind was blowing something fierce and it hadn’t rained in several weeks or months – it’s hard for me to say because at that time in my life I didn’t pay very much attention to such things. But I recall seeing little dust storms blowing across the fields and came to the conclusion that those dust storms must be where the nickname whippets came from.
My other trips to Kosciusko have been newspaper associated. I’ve been coming to town for several months now, working with Mark on certain projects.
So when I had the opportunity to come here and be the publisher, it was an easy decision to make.
And since I’ve been in town, I’ve met some wonderful people and learned that Kosciusko isn’t that different from Newton, my hometown of Philadelphia or any of the other towns in Mississippi that I have worked in.
It didn’t take me long to find the coffee club at Rib Alley besides the newspaper. Our group meets at the Depot in Newton. They play the same “numbers” game to see who is going to pay for coffee every morning. And just like Newton, nobody likes to get stuck for coffee and the new guy is always fresh meat. That’s fine with me, because like one gentleman informed me, II can find out more in that 15 minutes than I can I the whole rest of the day.
Also in my short time, I’ve found the Kosciusko Lions Club. In Newton, I’m the president of the Lions Club, only we are a little smaller. Kosciusko calls their president “King Lion,” which I suggested to my club in Newton, only to draw a laugh when I was dead serious. This group of fine men does an outstanding service to the community and cooks some pretty good chickens in the process.
Personally, I think Kosciusko proves a point I’ve been trying to make for years. It doesn’t matter where you go in Mississippi, you’ll find good people who are willing to give to the community and willing to let you pay for coffee at any time.

Robbie Robertson is publisher of The Star-Herald and The Newton Record.