Mississippi

The Mississippi County Success Story (Clif Chitwood Commentary)

Published

4 months ago

May 27, 2024

The Mississippi County Success Story (Clif Chitwood Commentary)

Clif Chitwood visits a Nucor Steel port on the Mississippi River. He has led economic development in Mississippi County since 2001. (File photo)

THIS IS AN OPINION

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Industrial recruitment is a highly competitive sport.

Location and political atmosphere count. Workforce availability and training capacity count. And money counts, often more than double.

Mississippi County residents understand this well. They have seen the benefits of using public funds to lower the capital cost of new economic development projects and how that results in improved economic, education and quality-of-life opportunities.

You’ve undoubtedly seen many headlines in Arkansas Business related to Mississippi County attracting billions of dollars in investments.

To date, the people of Mississippi County, in partnership with local entities, have invested approximately $78 million of local economic development funds to win industrial projects. The state of Arkansas, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Entergy, the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas and four governors of Arkansas have been constant partners, along with local government leaders.

These investments have resulted in $8 billion of private capital investment in Mississippi County and the creation of approximately 8,000 jobs.

Faced with decades of population stagnation, the loss of 9,000 jobs and greater economic hardships in the 1990s — more than any decade since the Great Depression — the future did not look bright for our residents. Mississippi County residents are motivated for more.

They want opportunities. They want jobs. They want and have earned better.

In 2002, we presented a countywide sales tax designated to develop the state’s first county-level economic development foundation to recruit jobs and businesses to Mississippi County.

It worked so well that our residents renewed the 10-year tax in 2012 and again in 2022. It will now run until 2033, and I anticipate another renewal.

Three decades later, we are the largest steel-producing county in the United States.

We have advantages like the Mississippi River, the BNSF Railroad, large natural gas pipelines and lots of flat land. But what set us apart from the many communities along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi? I believe it was our people and our will to challenge a future we did not want — to challenge it with our tax dollars, public support for economic development, and, most importantly, the belief that our future belonged to us.

People seem to have less and less appetite for taxes these days. So how have we done it in Mississippi County? Well, it’s hard to beat a 10,156% return on investment. That’s the result of $78 million invested by the county and $8 billion invested by local companies.

Those companies — Nucor, Zekelman, Lexicon Inc., Big River Steel, Hybar and others — have invested in large buildings and efficiencies, in addition to our people. An average steel industry worker makes in excess of $140,000 annually.

Several of our major employers are returning the favor of our investment by helping ensure their workers live where they work. Including through the Work Here, Live Here program, which invests 10% toward the purchase price of qualifying homes. So far, approximately $3 million has been invested toward the construction of 55 new homes.

Companies are also investing in workforce training, giving residents an opportunity to gain the skills needed to join or remain in the industry as it becomes more efficient and tech-forward.

So what is the magic playbook for industrial recruitment? A region of people who are willing to invest in themselves and their future.

Clif Chitwood is CEO and president of the Great River Economic Development Foundation. He has been at the forefront of industry growth in Mississippi County that has led it to become the top steel-producing region in the U.S. He can be reached at clif@cottontosteel.com.

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Mississippi

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

Published

1 hour ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

‘When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons. She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.’

After two frustrating nights on the last weekend of the season, a Mississippi hunter caught the alligator he’d been after, but what he didn’t realize when he pulled it in his boat was that not only did it break two state records, it’s possibly a world record.

Jason Ullendorf said a cousin of his was buying a part at a boat shop last week when he was told about an alligator in the Pascagoula River. The alligator had been spotted near a sandbar and had been making people visiting the location uncomfortable.

“We figured we’d help them out and get it out of there,” Ullendorf said. “We went down there to look at it, and it was a pretty good gator. It’s kind of crazy how it happened.”

Catching it was easier said than done, though. Ullendorf and members of his hunting party repeatedly hooked the alligator, only to have the hooks pull out or break off when the alligator would go under logs.

“We chased it from about 9 o’clock until about 3 o’clock in the morning,” Ullendorf said. “By then we’d lost all our hooks.”

More: Hunters bag Mississippi alligator weighing almost 700 pounds

Another long night of hunting alligators

The following day, Ullendorf bought more hooks and returned to the river with only one other hunter, Joseph Mangano of Richton. Fortunately, they found the alligator in the same spot as the night before. Unfortunately, it was shaping up to be a replay of the night before with the two repeatedly hooking the alligator, only to have the hooks pull free.

“It was frustrating,” Mangano said. “At one point, we got so frustrated we left it and an hour later started again. We knew we would hook it, but we were going to have to get it out of the trees.”

At 4:45 a.m., the hunters got a break. The alligator surfaced in open water near the sandbar. The two hooked the alligator with a rod and reel and then got a hand line on it as the alligator towed the two men and their 18-foot pontoon boat upriver. Everything was going relatively smoothly until they pulled the gator near the boat.

“When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons,” Ullendorf said. “She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.”

More: ‘The size and mass of his head is unreal.’ Mississippi alligator hunters bag 800-pound giant

Mississippi hunters suspect their alligator is a female

The two got the alligator in their boat and while Ullendorf referred to it as a “she,” he didn’t think it was a female at the time. This alligator was too big to be a female, and the longest female alligator ever recorded in the state was caught in 2022 by Jim Denson and measured 10 feet, 2 inches.

“As soon as she came up we said, ‘That’s a male,’” Ullendorf said. “We never second-guessed it.”

But then they did. When to two took the alligator to Mangano’s business in Richton, Running M Meat Company, they discovered the alligator didn’t have male sex organs.

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Ullendorf said. “We called Andrew Arnett to come down and verify it. I didn’t believe it at all.”

Is this Mississippi alligator a world record?

Arnett is the head of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Alligator Program. He confirmed it was a female and certified it at 11 feet, 3/4 inches long and 324 pounds. Not only was it a state record for longest female, it was the new state record for heaviest.

However, it may have broken another record, if only it existed. Multiple internet searches came up empty for an official world record for female alligators, but some states keep official records. According to searches by the hunters and Arnett, the longest female alligator on record before Ullendorf’s was 10 feet, 6.75 inches long and it was caught in Florida. If that’s true, Ullendorf has the new world record for longest female alligator.

“Just from what I’ve seen online, I think so,” Arnett said.

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Mass Choir new album

Published

8 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi Mass Choir has a new album! We Still Believe is available!

The director and some choir members joined Studio 3 to discuss the songs.

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Mississippi

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

Published

16 hours ago

September 9, 2024

Press Room

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River stretches 2,350 miles from Minnesota to Louisiana, serving as a vital commercial waterway and a habitat for diverse wildlife. It’s home to abundant fish like largemouth bass and catfish, as well as waterfowl like wood ducks and Canadian geese. But what about snakes? These reptiles are abundant in and along the famous river and are worthy of analysis. Today’s video will explore 12 snake species living around the Mississippi River.

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