Jacket Buzz (01/29/10)
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The J acket buzz starkville high school • 603 Yellowjacket Dr. Starkville, MS, 39759 • www.shsjacketbuzz.com • VOLUME XVII, No. 4 • 01-29-10 Winter fires devastate local families... Story on Pages 4-5. By Tess Long Editor-in-Chief Though tensions are high and the debate is ongoing, it seems as though Starkville High School students will soon be wearing uniforms. Starkville superintendent Judy Couey has requested board approval to imple- ment a uniform policy for the Starkville School Dis- trict’s public schools be- ginning in the 2010-2011 school year. The board approved the drafting of a uniform poli- cy by a 3-2 vote at a board meeting on Jan. 11. No exact decisions have been made concerning the uni- form policy yet, howev- er admin- istration is certain there will be more details very soon. Even though the SSD School Board will ultimately decide the fate of the uniform pol- icy, each school’s principal will have a large say in what the policy will look like for his or her school. SHS principal Keith Fen- nell brought the issue to Stu- dent Government for input. “We’re working to recom- mend two shirts that will identify our schools,” Fen- nell said. “In efforts to keep costs down we’re not going to require any outerwear such as coats, scarves, etc.” Student Government of- ficials have recommended three shirt colors (white, black and gray) for Fennell to take back to the school board. Additionally, the students requested that blue jeans be permissible instead of khaki or black pants on Fridays. “The final vote had not been taken,” Sue Ann Morgan, Student Government advi- sor said. “[Fennell] said he wanted to have an- other sur- vey for all students.” Fennell said he plans to poll the entire stu- dent body at some point in the near future to either confirm the SGA’s color choices or to select different ones. “I would like to develop a ballot for the students to re- ply to,” Fennell said. “SGA was in charge of communi- cating with their peers, but with time as limited as it was, we just want to make sure.” When the policy was first brought to the board, there was talk that specific shoes would also be required, however Fennell has since stated that the district has “reconsidered the option of identifying a specific shoe.” One of the main concerns that brought the idea of a dress code to the board is safety. With each student wear- ing similar outfits, it will be easier for security, teachers and administrators to spot non-students on campus. “The policy is part of the district’s efforts to draft a comprehensive safety plan,” Couey said in an ar- ticle posted on the district’s website. “The underlying reason for the proposal is to increase the effective- ness of our safety plan.” There has been a broad range of reactions among students. However many feel the drafting of a uni- form policy is unnecessary. “I don’t believe it’s going to affect the students as much as people are saying,” senior Danielle Grimes said. “I just think the school has more issues that they should be focusing their at- tention on.” Hopes are that the uni- form policy will be spelled out in detail and approved by the school board in time for elementary school reg- istration in April. The next board meeting is Feb. 2 at 6 p.m. Uniform policy to promote safety The Student Government has submitted grey, black, and white polo shirts (above) as their recom- mendation for next year’s student uniform colors. Photo by Ebony Robinson “ The underlying reason for the proposal is to increase the effectiveness of our safety plan.” -Judy Couey
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The Jacket Buzz is the student newspaper of Starkville High School.
Transcript of Jacket Buzz (01/29/10)
TheJacket buzzstarkville high school • 603 Yellowjacket Dr. Starkville, MS, 39759 • www.shsjacketbuzz.com • VOLUME XVII, No. 4 • 01-29-10
Winter fires devastate local families... Story on Pages 4-5.
By Tess LongEditor-in-Chief
Though tensions are high and the debate is ongoing, it seems as though Starkville High School students will soon be wearing uniforms.
Starkville superintendent Judy Couey has requested board approval to imple-ment a uniform policy for the Starkville School Dis-trict’s public schools be-ginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
The board approved the drafting of a uniform poli-cy by a 3-2 vote at a board meeting on Jan. 11.
No exact decisions have been made concerning the uni-form policy yet, howev-er admin-i s t r a t i o n is certain there will be more details very soon.
E v e n though the SSD School Board will ultimately decide the fate of the uniform pol-icy, each school’s principal will have a large say in what the policy will look like for his or her school.
SHS principal Keith Fen-nell brought the issue to Stu-
dent Government for input. “We’re working to recom-
mend two shirts that will identify our schools,” Fen-nell said. “In efforts to keep costs down we’re not going to require any outerwear such as coats, scarves, etc.”
Student Government of-ficials have recommended three shirt colors (white, black and gray) for Fennell to take back to the school board.
Additionally, the students requested that blue jeans be permissible instead of khaki or black pants on Fridays.
“The final vote had not been taken,” Sue Ann Morgan, Student Government advi-
sor said. “[Fennell] said he wanted to have an-other sur-vey for all students.”
Fe n n e l l said he plans to poll the entire stu-dent body at some
point in the near future to either confirm the SGA’s color choices or to select different ones.
“I would like to develop a ballot for the students to re-ply to,” Fennell said. “SGA was in charge of communi-
cating with their peers, but with time as limited as it was, we just want to make sure.”
When the policy was first brought to the board, there was talk that specific shoes would also be required, however Fennell has since stated that the district has “reconsidered the option of identifying a specific shoe.”
One of the main concerns that brought the idea of a dress code to the board is safety.
With each student wear-
ing similar outfits, it will be easier for security, teachers and administrators to spot non-students on campus.
“The policy is part of the district’s efforts to draft a comprehensive safety plan,” Couey said in an ar-ticle posted on the district’s website. “The underlying reason for the proposal is to increase the effective-ness of our safety plan.”
There has been a broad range of reactions among students. However many feel the drafting of a uni-
form policy is unnecessary.“I don’t believe it’s going
to affect the students as much as people are saying,” senior Danielle Grimes said. “I just think the school has more issues that they should be focusing their at-tention on.”
Hopes are that the uni-form policy will be spelled out in detail and approved by the school board in time for elementary school reg-istration in April.
The next board meeting is Feb. 2 at 6 p.m.
Uniform policy to promote safety
The Student Government has submitted grey, black, and white polo shirts (above) as their recom-mendation for next year’s student uniform colors. Photo by Ebony Robinson
“ The underlying reason for the proposal is to increase the
effectiveness of our safety plan.”
-Judy Couey
Page 2 • 01-29-10 www.shsjacketbuzz.com News
By Ebony RobinsonStaff Writer
Starting this fall, East Mississippi Community College is offering guaran-teed tuition to high school graduates from Oktibbeha County.
Thanks to a $10,000 dona-tion granted to EMCC from the Starkville-Oktibbeha Achieving Results (SOAR) organization, EMCC will provide an annual oppor-tunity for graduates from Starkville and the surround-ing areas to attend EMCC for free tuition.
“The guaranteed tuition offered at EMCC allows a student that may not qualify
for other types of aid to attend EMCC for free tu-ition,” Asst. Financial Aid Director Gypsy Gray said.
The funds from SOAR are granted to Oktibbeha County residents who grad-uate from public, private or home-schooled high schools in May 2010 or later.
To become eligible, stu-dent must attend full-time or have at least 12 credit hours per semester and maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average.
Applicants must also ap-ply for all federal and state grants and scholarships to be eligible for the program.
Tuition at EMCC cost $880 per semester.
EMCC offers free tuition to seniors
!
Every 2 minutes someone is injured by a drunk driver
Every 30 minutes someone is killed by a drunk driver.
Funded by: U.S. Department of Education
!
Visit our website: www.projectpassonline.com
Page 4 • 01-29-10 SHS Jacket BuzzFeature SHS Jacket Buzz 01-29-10 • Page 5Feature
By Collin Whitten and Taylor Bowden
Asst. Editor and Contributing Writer
“Trailer in the country: $1000.
Xbox 360 with accessories: $300.
New clothes and shoes: $300.
Getting me and my little bro out of the trailer fire: PRICELESS.”
This was junior Rickey Em-erson’s Facebook status three days after a fire consumed everything he, his father, and his brother owned on Janu-ary 4.
“I felt that it was getting too hot in the room, so I woke up to turn the heater off,” Emerson said. “But to my surprise, the clothes that were behind the heater were on fire.
“I got up to wake my brother up and try to put out the fire. Instantly, my broth-er woke up and called 911. The house was too smoky to stand in. We stood five feet from the trailer and watched as the fire consumed every possession we had.”
Emerson has remained up-beat about the situation and, some might say, optimistic.
“When we talked about it in class, he wasn’t going to let it get him down…He couldn’t let it get him down,” close
friend and junior Ty Davis said of Emerson.
One week prior to the Em-ersons’ house burning down, Starkville became a center of national news when a fire claimed nine lives at the Academy Crossing apart-ment complex.
Of the nine that perished, six were children, and three, India Williams, Lakesha Gillespie, and Maria Bell, had at one point attended Starkville High School.
Neighbors who awoke to the fire attempted to rescue the victims but were met with heavy smoke, intense heat, and the absence of a func-tioning fire extinguisher.
Barely a month afterward, the Academy Crossing fire continues to instill a sense of grief in the people of Starkville.
Eight days after the Emer-son fire, a stove fire affected two families, including that of senior Ryan English, and a college student in the Green Tree Apartment com-plex, hardly a half-mile from Academy Crossing.
The fire began on the first floor of unit 26C and quick-ly spread to the apartments directly above and to the sides.
“We were all upstairs when we heard popping noises,” English said. “When my dad went to check it out, the fire
alarm went off, and he yelled for everyone to get out.”
English, like Emerson, was optimistic in talking about the fire.
“Yes, it affected me,” Eng-lish said, “but I realize that I have to move on and just thank the Lord that we all made it out safely.”
Home fires are a serious threat during the winter, es-pecially this year when tem-peratures have been particu-larly cold.
“Since the Academy Cross-ing fire, we have helped six
families, consisting of twen-ty people,” Oktibbeha Red Cross director Becky Wilkes said.
The Red Cross is a con-gressionally chartered orga-nization that exists almost completely on donations and provides immediate disaster relief in the form of food, shelter, and clothing.
The Red Cross provided the Emerson family with a voucher for the Palmer Home, and gave $500 to the
English family for expenses.The Red Cross’ response
to the Academy Crossing fire was particularly extensive, providing a central location for taking donations as well as helping to bring William Gardner, India Williams’ half brother, home from Af-ghanistan, where he was de-ployed at the time of the fire, to attend the funeral.
The Red Cross was also able to contribute $500 to-ward each victim’s burial.
Local fires hit homeSeries of winter fires leave local students, families struggling to cope
Cards, blankets, pictures, and stuffed animals have been set out on a table outside Academy Crossing Apartments on Louis-ville St. by many well-wishers. The gifts are in memorial to the nine lives lost in the Dec. 28 fire (right). Above is a card express-ing sympathy for the families. Photos by Ruth Brown
(Top) The remains of the Emerson family home lie extinguished and charred in the sun, the only remnants of the family’s possessions and the nearly hour-long fight to stop the blaze.
(Bottom) Senior Ryan English, a resi-dent of Green Tree Apartments, stands amidst the ruins of her destroyed home, looking hopefully through the haze. Photos by Ruth Brown
Page 4 • 01-29-10 SHS Jacket BuzzFeature SHS Jacket Buzz 01-29-10 • Page 5Feature
By Collin Whitten and Taylor Bowden
Asst. Editor and Contributing Writer
“Trailer in the country: $1000.
Xbox 360 with accessories: $300.
New clothes and shoes: $300.
Getting me and my little bro out of the trailer fire: PRICELESS.”
This was junior Rickey Em-erson’s Facebook status three days after a fire consumed everything he, his father, and his brother owned on Janu-ary 4.
“I felt that it was getting too hot in the room, so I woke up to turn the heater off,” Emerson said. “But to my surprise, the clothes that were behind the heater were on fire.
“I got up to wake my brother up and try to put out the fire. Instantly, my broth-er woke up and called 911. The house was too smoky to stand in. We stood five feet from the trailer and watched as the fire consumed every possession we had.”
Emerson has remained up-beat about the situation and, some might say, optimistic.
“When we talked about it in class, he wasn’t going to let it get him down…He couldn’t let it get him down,” close
friend and junior Ty Davis said of Emerson.
One week prior to the Em-ersons’ house burning down, Starkville became a center of national news when a fire claimed nine lives at the Academy Crossing apart-ment complex.
Of the nine that perished, six were children, and three, India Williams, Lakesha Gillespie, and Maria Bell, had at one point attended Starkville High School.
Neighbors who awoke to the fire attempted to rescue the victims but were met with heavy smoke, intense heat, and the absence of a func-tioning fire extinguisher.
Barely a month afterward, the Academy Crossing fire continues to instill a sense of grief in the people of Starkville.
Eight days after the Emer-son fire, a stove fire affected two families, including that of senior Ryan English, and a college student in the Green Tree Apartment com-plex, hardly a half-mile from Academy Crossing.
The fire began on the first floor of unit 26C and quick-ly spread to the apartments directly above and to the sides.
“We were all upstairs when we heard popping noises,” English said. “When my dad went to check it out, the fire
alarm went off, and he yelled for everyone to get out.”
English, like Emerson, was optimistic in talking about the fire.
“Yes, it affected me,” Eng-lish said, “but I realize that I have to move on and just thank the Lord that we all made it out safely.”
Home fires are a serious threat during the winter, es-pecially this year when tem-peratures have been particu-larly cold.
“Since the Academy Cross-ing fire, we have helped six
families, consisting of twen-ty people,” Oktibbeha Red Cross director Becky Wilkes said.
The Red Cross is a con-gressionally chartered orga-nization that exists almost completely on donations and provides immediate disaster relief in the form of food, shelter, and clothing.
The Red Cross provided the Emerson family with a voucher for the Palmer Home, and gave $500 to the
English family for expenses.The Red Cross’ response
to the Academy Crossing fire was particularly extensive, providing a central location for taking donations as well as helping to bring William Gardner, India Williams’ half brother, home from Af-ghanistan, where he was de-ployed at the time of the fire, to attend the funeral.
The Red Cross was also able to contribute $500 to-ward each victim’s burial.
Local fires hit homeSeries of winter fires leave local students, families struggling to cope
Cards, blankets, pictures, and stuffed animals have been set out on a table outside Academy Crossing Apartments on Louis-ville St. by many well-wishers. The gifts are in memorial to the nine lives lost in the Dec. 28 fire (right). Above is a card express-ing sympathy for the families. Photos by Ruth Brown
(Top) The remains of the Emerson family home lie extinguished and charred in the sun, the only remnants of the family’s possessions and the nearly hour-long fight to stop the blaze.
(Bottom) Senior Ryan English, a resi-dent of Green Tree Apartments, stands amidst the ruins of her destroyed home, looking hopefully through the haze. Photos by Ruth Brown
Page 6 •01-29-10 www.shsjacketbuzz.com Opinion
The Jacket Buzz
The Jacket Buzz is published three times each semester by the Journalism Department at Starkville High School.
The Jacket Buzz is a student-run publication committed to providing the students of Starkville High School with objective and
informative coverage of events involving or affecting the student body.
The Jacket Buzz serves SHS as a forum for student expression and thought. Content decisions are made by student editors.
Factual errors will be corrected by a retraction in the next issue.
Opinions expressed are those of students and do not necessarily reflect the views of the adviser, administration,
Starkville High School faculty, or the Starkville School Distict. Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Jacket Buzz staff.
Letters to the Editor are accepted and published, excluding those that are deemed libelous, malicious, hurtful or disruptive.
Unsigned letters will not be published, and all letters are subject to editing. Please email all letters, or other comments/concerns, to
Tess LongEditor-in-Chief
Collin WhittenAssistant Editor
Volume 17, Issue 4
R.J. MorganAdvisor
Staff Writers Ruth Brown, T’Keyia Davis, Ryan English, Leena
Mrayyan, Ty Ringo, Ebony Robinson, Jimmy Sherrod, Brooke Underwood and Cheyenne Underwood
Contributing WritersTaylor Bowden, Michael Mosely
Statement of Policy
We would like to congratulate the junior class sponsors and the prom committee on the lo-cation of the 2010 Junior/Senior prom.
After the controversial issues and the ulti-mate division of last year’s prom, we feel the prom committee, as well as the junior spon-sors and SHS administration, did an admi-rable job in finding a location that seems to please the majority of the student body and is still suitable for Starkville High School’s bud-get.
We feel that the recently constructed Sportsplex gym will be a nice, clean location to house our 2010 prom, and we feel that, given that good organization and thought is put towards planning the prom, it will be suc-cessful in creating the type of mood that the students want most.
The Sportsplex will not only be suitable due to it’s large size, but the parking space and location of the building are still ideal for
minimizing the safety issues that could arise in some other venues.
And though the results of the junior class vote on prom themes have not been an-nounced yet, we feel confident that any of the four possible themes will provide a fun, party-oriented atmosphere that everyone can enjoy.
After last year’s prom became divided when students learned it was going to be held in the gym, we’re very happy that we can all cel-ebrate together this year and have a unified prom.
We hope that everyone continues to have a positive attitude and work together to cre-ate the best prom possible and long-lasting memories for this year’s senior class.
Once again, congratulations to all those that put such hard work and effort into mak-ing our Junior/Senior prom a (hopefully) re-sounding success.
EditorialThe editorial below is a written collaboration among all members of the Jacket Buzz
staff. Ideas expressed represent the majority opinion of the staff.
Prom at Sportsplex = good idea
www.shsjacketbuzz.com 01-29-10 • Page 7SportsWhat happens in
in the
STARKVEGAS...YEARBOOKGOES
GET YOURS TODAY!!!See any Jacket Journalism staff member to order your
2009-2010 yearbook.
Regular: $45 Deluxe: $50Staff Members
Ty Ringo, Tess Long, Collin Whitten, T’Keyia Davis, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Sherrod, Leena Mrayyan, Brooke Underwood,
Cheyenne Underwood, Ryan English, and Ebony Robinson
Order early, prices will go up after Christmas!
You can also order online! www.myyear.com
By Tess LongEditor-in-Chief
The Yellow Jacket boys soccer team did an excellent job this season, making it to the first round of the play-offs with only 1 loss and 1 tied game before losing 4-0 to Northwest Rankin.
“It was a great season,” Connor Callahan said. “I’m ready for next season.”
And although they did lose, bringing the number of games lost to two, Cal-lahan still feels it was a suc-cesful run this year. The Jackets won three out of their four district games, beating Columbus 7-1 and
again 6-1, and beating Tu-pelo 1-0 for the first time since 1997.
“Tupelo was an awesome win,” assistant principal Sean McDonnall said. “The last time we beat them was Dec. of 1997 when I was an assistant coach.”
The boys on the team are also very proud of their win against Tupelo.
“It was definitely the best part of the season,” Gar-rett Batson said.
The first-round losss to NWR was disappointing after such a successful sea-son.
The game was a 0-0 tie until 18 minutes left in the
game when NWR scored the first goal.
“We were pretty evenly matched until they scored their first goal.” McDonnall said.
After that, the Jackets scored an own-goal and gave up two more to NWR.
“We got hammered,” Cal-lahan said. “We could have improved how we all worked together [all season]. Every-one ended up yelling at each other a lot.”
The Lady Jackets soc-cer team met a similar fate Tuesday night, losing on the road to Madison Central in their opening-round play-off game.
Jackets beat Tupelo, but lose first round to NWR
Sports buzzThe
By Ty RingoStaff Writer
Coach Greg Carter’s Yellow Jackets squad has had a rigorous schedule, but so far the 18-2 Jackets have stood up to the challenge.
SHS hosts South Panola at the Bee-hive tonight. The Jackets beat the Ti-gers 84-59 earlier this season in Bates-ville.
After that, SHS will close out its
home season with Senior Night next Tuesday against the Kosciusko Whip-pets.
The Jackets started the season 15-0 and were ranked No. 1 in the state un-til a heartbreaking 60-54 loss at rival Tupelo.
Three days later, the Jackets lost their next game 56-31 at Lanier.
“I believe we lost because we weren’t playing team basketball,” junior Sha-quille Hill said.
Since the losses, the Jackets have won three straight, two of which were blowouts, and Carter thinks sopho-more Gavin Ware has had something to do with it.
For the past several games, Ware has shown his skills and has made a sig-nificant difference against the Jackets’ opponents.
“I just pray and continue to thank God,” Ware said.
Though the season is going well,
Carter says the State Tournament in Jackson is still a long way down the road.
“I think we can go, but we still have games to win before we get there,” Carter said.
Hill believes if the Jackets play as a family, they can’t be beaten.
“We’re headed into the most impor-tant part of the season,” said Hill. “If we play like a family, we are going to be champions.”
Carter’s Jackets on three-game streak, host South Panola Tigers tonight
Booster Supporters : Rick’s Furniture,
Personally Yours,
Insurance Associates of Starkville,
Starkville Athletic Club
Gavin Ware and the rest of the Yellow Jackets are preparing for a possible championship run. Photo by Ruth Brown
Time to focus
