Former Institutions of Higher Learning Commissioner Glenn Boyce will be named the next Chancellor of the University of Mississippi on Friday, according to multiple reports. 

As Ole Miss prepares for homecoming weekend and a winnable Saturday night game against Vanderbilt, the official announcement will be made tomorrow at The Inn at Ole Miss. 

Boyce will become the third chancellor in five years at Ole Miss after former Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter stepped down in December with two years remaining on his contract. 

For multiple reason – a declining enrollment and endowment, poor performance on the football field and a half-empty stadium, and continuous decisions that alienate a large chunk of a conservative alumni base – this hire was viewed as one that had to be right. Now obviously an Ole Miss board was not the one making the decision, it was the IHL that oversees the eight public universities. Still, Ole Miss faithful could at least hope for the best. 

Regardless, and with no foresight into Boyce, what he will do, or what his plans for the university entail, this decision isn’t one that appears to have many people in Oxford celebrating. 

Boyce, after all, was hired by the University of Mississippi Foundation to be a consultant in the search. This was with the private foundation however, not IHL. His name was not included in a list of eight candidates that appeared in Mississippi Today earlier this week. 

For those that were hoping Ole Miss would step outside of the “good ole boy” system, it doesn’t pass the initial smell test. Rather, it is one that will raise eyebrows and leave more questions than answers. Such as, should a university be able to hire their own leader? Ironically, liberal professors seem as upset as members of the Make Ole Miss Great Again Facebook group.

This will be Boyce’s first involvement with a four-year university. Before running IHL, he was president of the Holmes County Community College, he served on various education-related boards, and he worked in the Rankin County School District.

He received his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from Ole Miss. He received his master’s from Mississippi College.    

According to a data analysis by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, the vast majority of forfeitures by law enforcement are not from traffic stops on the interstates. 

Data from two-plus years of the state’s forfeiture database show that 35 out of 292 forfeitures from counties along an interstate route (11.9 percent) were from traffic stops along interstates.

Of the 590 forfeitures since the database went online two years ago, 48.3 percent of them came from counties with an interstate.

We analyzed forfeiture entries from the database from the counties along the three interstates. Most mentioned whether the seizure was from a traffic stop and the general location, but with much of the relevant data missing. 

The law requires law enforcement agencies to report the value of the seizure and the date, but doesn’t mandate the exact location, direction of travel by the property owners, amount of drugs (if any) seized and whether any charges were filed against the property owners.

Information on contraband seized at these interstate stops is minimal, as only three of the entries in the database have exact quantities and type of drugs. Fifteen mentioned the presence of illegal drugs without providing the quantity or even type of contraband. Seventeen had no mention of drugs and two of these seizures, both in Rankin County, were of hidden, sealed bags of cash. 

According to the database, only 25 out of the 100 forfeitures from counties along the route of Interstate 20 originated from traffic stops along the interstate.

The numbers for Interstate 55 are even more revealing, as only eight out of 159 forfeitures from the counties along I-55 originated from traffic stops on the interstate. 

The same story was on Interstate 59, where only two out of 33 forfeitures were from traffic stops on the interstate.

Despite the low number of seizures, most are lucrative, averaging $67,261 per forfeiture. On I-20, the average stop netted $64,821, while I-55 stops were worth only $18,579 per forfeiture.

No busts along I-20’s 154.5 mile route occurred in Warren, Newton or Lauderdale counties. All of the interstate forfeitures occurred in Hinds (four out of 52 forfeitures), Rankin (13 out of 27) and Scott counties (eight out of 17).

As for I-55, eight of the counties — Lincoln, Copiah, Yazoo, Holmes, Yalobusha, Montgomery, Grenada and Tate — along the 290-mile route in Mississippi reported no forfeitures from interstate traffic stops.

All of the I-55 forfeitures occurred in Pike (three out of 19 forfeitures), Panola (one of nine) and DeSoto counties (three of 112).

Only Jasper and Lamar counties recorded seizures in the 171 miles of the I-59 corridor.

In this episode of Unlicensed, we talk about the core principle of individual liberty, and why the state has an apparent interest in restricting our liberty so often.

We start with The Sandlot and then talk about eyebrow threading, abortion protests, “fake” meat, vaping, hemp, Airbnb, and more.

Earlier this week an ordinance was passed in the city of Jackson by a 3-1 vote to “prohibit certain activities near healthcare facilities.” 

This ordinance specifically targets the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The ordinance will create a “bubble zone” around the abortion facility, forbidding pro-life speech, prayer, or activity near the building. 

Council Member Melvin Priester was largely concerned with maintaining a peaceful atmosphere in the business community. Mayor Chokwe Lumumba commented that he stands for free speech, having protested in Ferguson himself. He warned that protestors must remain, “dignified and respectful.”  Council President Virgil Lindsay stated that this is an issue of access to healthcare. 

The comments, made by city council members in regards to the ordinance, were befuddling and seemingly erroneous – but, what can be said about such a blatant violation of our rights? Apart from the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate, this ordinance restricts freedom of speech and assembly on public property. As such, it is a subject which our council members and other politicians should have impeccable clarity. 

Many, including myself, do not agree with various methods used on the sidewalk outside JWHO. If we stand for free speech, however, we must also stand for free speech that we are not personally comfortable with.

Additionally, it is difficult to understand how individuals practicing basic liberties outside of a “healthcare facility” are preventing access to basic healthcare. 

If our representatives are rendered unable to understand the importance of maintaining freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, it is not surprising that they cannot recognize the right to life of the unborn. 

Dozens of women, just this year, have chosen to walk from the abortion facility to the Cline Center, located across the street. Dozens of women, just this year, have chosen life because of the loving support of sidewalk counselors. It is now illegal for sidewalk counselors to offer this support outside of the abortion clinic.

We can hope that this shocking violation of basic rights will open many eyes to the shocking violation of rights that the abortion industry poses to mother and child.

The city of Jackson can attempt to hush the activity outside of the abortion clinic, but maybe, in that silence, we will be able to hear the truth of what is actually happening within those pink walls. 

It is not the responsibility of the government to protect you from yourself. We as citizens have given government too much authority, and that isn’t a good thing. 

Just look at the new meat-labeling regulations for unsuspecting consumers.  

One of the two comments the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce received concerning the regulations was from a rancher in Starkville. They are worried people would be unable to read the labels of meatless products because they are too close to traditional meat products.

“Kroger has marketed and is labeling the product in a way that a consumer could be in a hurry, and grab that product since it is available in the meat department, where in fact, it is not real meat. They even went so far as to place (it) next to the other ground beef and prepattied hamburger products,” the comment noted. 

It would take that busy person all of ten seconds to read the label. 

Government is not here to read for you, and we shouldn’t expect it to. It is unfortunate than any citizen thinks this is the job of government. 

While MDAC might be on the hunt for fake meat, the debate over the term “fake meat” and plant-based alternatives misses a crucial point. Plant-based companies want you to know what they are selling is not actually meat. Their consumers are specifically looking for this product and they generally pay more for it. 

There is not some conspiracy at play here. This would actually be a terrible conspiracy, if that’s what marketers were trying to pull off. 

Rather, consumer habits are shifting. If consumers were not interested in plant-based alternatives, these options would not be on our shelves. Because private companies – whether it’s Kroger, Walmart, Whole Foods, or any other grocery store – need to do one thing above all to stay in business: sell products that consumers want, at a profit. 

If there wasn’t interest, a Whole Foods would not have opened in Jackson. Plant-based options would not be available at Kroger. Subway would not have chosen Mississippi as one of a handful of states for a vegan meatball test. Burger King would not have launched the Impossible Burger.

This debate might be over veggie burgers, but this is just one example of the government in Mississippi trying to make decisions for individuals. And at the end of the day, it will just be one of 117,000 regulations on the books in Mississippi. Can’t we just try to be more free and let the voluntary exchange between consumers and producers happen without the government trying to intervene?

This is symbolic of a larger problem we have here in the Magnolia State. We don’t trust the free market and consumer choice. The sooner we do, the better off we’ll all be.

The Jackson city council has passed a controversial ordinance aimed at curbing pro-life counselors and protesters from standing outside the city’s abortion clinic in Fondren. 

The new ordinance bans individuals from approaching within eight feet of any person, unless that person consents to receiving a leaflet, bans people from protesting, congregating, or picketing within fifteen feet of the abortion center, and bans any amplified sound.

The council held a long meeting last Thursday, and eventually addressed the ordinance in a packed room, open to the public, after eight hours of other scheduled discussions.

Following this meeting, one council member, Melvin Priester, took to his official Facebook page to make some comments about the day. After addressing some of the other issues that were on the docket, he turned to the controversial new ordinance and had this to say (please note errors are his own as the statement appears unedited): 

“I am absolutely, 100% convinced that give or take 20 years from now, one of these bored kids that gets drug to City Council meetings to wait for their parent to make a public comment will be in a bar on whatever 2039's version of a Tindr/Grindr date is. His/her date is going to ask ‘so, why did you move here?’ And this person is going to reply, ‘As a kid, my family was SUPER-religious. I didn't even go to school, they just posted me up outside the only abortion clinic in a 3-hour radius day-after-day. Anyway, I'm 12 or 13 and my folks would always take me to Jackson City Council meetings to protest abortion. We'd sit there for HOURS so dad could talk for like 3 minutes. It was soooooo boring. He made me sit there and film it on my cell phone even though it was a televised meeting. Anyway, I swore to myself at like the 4 hour point of dying on one of these hard benches for the millionth time that as SOON as I turned 18, I'd get sooooo far away from Jackson and never look back. So here I am, living in San Francisco, working for planned parenthood. You know how it turns out.”

Priester suggests that religious families will see their children turn against their views, turn against them, turn against Jackson, and will seek a life working for the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The comment is incredibly hurtful for the thousands of faith-filled Mississippians who seek to imbue in their children the values that they hold dear. These good people attempt to pass on what’s important to them, teach their kids to get involved in the community, and to defend the most innocent among us, the unborn. 

These values deserve to be praised rather than shamed.

The question must be asked: would Priester fire off such a one-sided and belittling analysis of this situation if the shoe were on the other foot? I would think not, it seems much more likely that he’d praise people for exercising their civic duty, had they not had the gall to disagree with him.

Priester, himself, has tweeted that, “[I]t’s the citizens of Jackson and the families they raise that truly make Jackson great.” Apparently this doesn’t apply to those who dare to raise their children in “SUPER-religious” or pro-life houses.

Regardless of where you stand on the newly passed ordinance, many can probably agree that belittling those who show up to council meetings to participate in their civic duty and suggesting that their kids will turn against their views, probably isn’t the way to foster respectful dialogue on a controversial issue. 

Each Mississippian has a taxpayer burden of $10,000 to account for their part of the state’s $7.4 billion in debt. 

In its tenth annual Financial State of the States report, Truth in Accounting gave Mississippi a “D” for its financial condition. That placed Mississippi 31st, an uptick from their 33rd last year. A plurality of states – 36 percent – received the same grade.

“Mississippi’s elected officials have made repeated financial decisions that have left the state with a debt burden of $7.4 billion. That burden equates to $10,000 for every state taxpayer. Mississippi’s financial problems stem mostly from unfunded retirement obligations that have accumulated over the years. Of the $15.8 billion in retirement benefits promised, the state has not funded $5.8 billion in pension and $330.7 million in retiree health care benefits,” the report said. 

The $10,000 that each taxpayer owes is also slightly better than the $11,300 needed to cover the state’s bills last year. 

The report found:

• Mississippi has $6 billion available to pay $13.4 billion worth of bills. 
• The outcome is a $7.4 billion shortfall, which breaks down to a burden of 
• $10,000 per taxpayer. 
• This means that each taxpayer would pay $10,000 in future taxes without receiving any related services or benefits.

Ten years ago, the taxpayer burden in Mississippi was just $4,900. 

According to the report, ten states – including Tennessee – had a taxpayer surplus. New Jersey had the highest taxpayer burden at $65,100. 

Playing in the Southern League championship series wasn’t even enough to boost Biloxi’s continuing flagging attendance at its taxpayer-funded ballpark. 

Average attendance at MGM Park this season was almost half of what was expected by city leaders when the ballpark was in the planning stages.

Attendance at MGM Park has decreased every season since the inaugural one in 2015 and was down 8.3 percent from last year. The Biloxi Shuckers drew 146,845 fans in 63 home games, an average of 2,331 fans per game despite losing in the championship series to the Jackson (Tennessee) Generals. 

The Shuckers are the Class AA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and they play in the 10-team Southern League, which includes teams in Pearl (Mississippi Braves); Birmingham; Chattanooga; Mobile; Pensacola; Seiverville, Tennessee; Jackson, Tennessee; Jacksonville and Montgomery, Alabama. 

That’s not what was expected. 

A $25,000 feasibility study commissioned in 2013 by the city of Biloxi predicted the stadium would draw 280,000 fans annually, or about 4,117 per game. That’s 43.4 percent less than what the Shuckers drew this year.

Those numbers would’ve put the Shuckers fifth in attendance in the Southern League this season. This season, the league average was 224,230 fans and 3,392 per game.

Instead the Shuckers finished in front of only the eventual league champions, the Jackson Generals, who drew 107,131 fans to their ballpark (1,756 per game) and a relocating team, the Mobile BayBears (95,087 total attendance for a 1,585 fans per game average).

Birmingham has led the league in attendance since moving to its downtown ballpark, Regions Field in 2013. This year, the team drew 379,707 fans with an average attendance of 5,424. 

Mississippi’s other minor league team, the Mississippi Braves, had an 8.2 percent surge in attendance at Pearl’s Trustmark Park, improving from 151,352 fans in 2018 to 163,841 this season.

The BayBears are relocating to Madison, a suburb of Huntsville, Alabama. The city agreed to pay for a $46 million stadium and a related mixed-use development to lure the team to town. The new team will be named the Rocket City Trash Pandas, a slang term for a raccoon.

Ironically, the Biloxi Shuckers were once the Huntsville Stars before leaving the Rocket City due to low attendance and an aging stadium that was the oldest in the league.

In 2018, the Shuckers had 160,364 fans through the turnstiles, an average of 2,259 per game. The team ranked seventh in the Southern League in average attendance. League averages that year were 226,183 fans and 3,388 per contest. 

The best year for attendance remains 2016, the second season for the Shuckers at MGM Park. The Shuckers drew 180,384 fans through the turnstiles or about 2,692 per game. 

That’s still 34.6 percent fewer fans that the feasibility study predicted.

The city of Biloxi borrowed $21 million to help build the $36 million stadium, which was also funded with BP settlement money and tourism rebate money from a state program. 

Biloxi Baseball LLC could also receive up to $6 million from the state from the Tourism Rebate program. The state also provided $15 million in money from the BP settlement to help build the park.

The Jackson city council will soon file their official votes on an ordinance targeted at shutting down protests outside the last abortion clinic in Mississippi.

The abortion provider lies in the heart of Fondren, one of Jackson’s few thriving neighborhoods, and one with further development incoming, including a new hotel across the street from the clinic.

Protesters and counselors seeking to offer alternatives to abortion regularly coordinate efforts outside of the building. In regard to this ordinance, council members ought to consider whether the current situation truly warrants the curtailing of free speech in this capacity.

The new ordinance would ban individuals from approaching within eight feet of any person, unless that person consents to receiving a leaflet. The proposed rule would also ban people from protesting, congregating, or picketing within fifteen feet of the abortion center and ban any amplified sound.

Proponents of the regulation have cited noise complaints and the potential for heightened conflict as the reasoning behind the legislation. However, opponents of the regulation have noted that the noise is often escalated by the abortion center who will turn up music while sidewalk participants attempt to speak with those around the abortion center and that the regulation curtails their free speech rights.

Local businesses and the new hotel seem to be concerned about the impact that these protests can have on business and seem to be in favor of the ordinance change. However, our right to free speech does not end where business interests begin, and we should be wary of choosing economic development over protections for our constitutional rights.

Perhaps, what the council members are missing is the fact that no matter what they do, protesters and sidewalk counselors who attempt to offer alternatives to abortion, will still find a way to carry out their work. Freedom of speech should rarely be curtailed, and leaders should always seek to err on the side of advancing speech rather than stifling it.

Furthermore, there are better options on the table to solve existing issues than to overregulate free speech en masse. Rather than ban all those seeking to protest or offer counsel, the city ought to better enforce existing noise ordinances, if noise truly is an ongoing issue. If we don’t execute the laws on the books, then new ordinances stand meaningless and will be ignored. If people are being assaulted, as some claim, again, we have laws on the books.   

More largely, in regard to ongoing neighborhood development, at the end of the day, the abortion center can paint itself bright pink colors, play music, and attempt to be a part of the more hip, growing Fondren community, but it can’t cover up what happens inside its walls, a continued dark stain on the neighborhood and the city.

Mississippi has a tainted history when it comes to the state using its power to stifle free speech and public protests. City leaders should tread cautiously when it comes to regulating speech they don’t like.