Following my discharge from the Navy on December 20, 1958, I recall asking my father, “What’s happened to Vicksburg?”

“The power is in two few hands,” he offered.

Before entering the service, I saw my father lose his job as manager of the Stave Mill Company Store on Highway 61 North of town when the company closed down three mill operations in one day. The Kings’ community economy was depressed as a result and has never recovered to this day.

The problem for Vicksburg and Warren County lies in its governmental structure, not the character of the men in office. The salient question to be asked is: “Does Vicksburg and Warren County have the leadership to untie the Gordian Knot that effects economic progress and the social welfare of its citizens?”

As a former State/Federal Civil Servant for some 45 years, I know that there are three solutions to every problem: Accommodation, Comprise, or Ignore.

Unfortunately government in most case simply ignores a problem for lack of leadership.

Vicksburg and Warren County lacks the social ethos necessary to marshal the forces necessary for progress at this time.

There is some sign of progress being made in the area of youth services, where the city and the county have come together to provide a unified soccer program at Bovina.

In the past two years when I occasioned to see my grandson play, I saw improvement in the facilities, with the sheriff’s office providing security and public safety, while professional and business members of the community directed traffic and providing food service.

As a former youth court counselor, in Hattiesburg, (1960-1964), we managed to reduce juvenile delinquency by 42 percent in 1962 by enhancing youth services. I helped organize and became the first president of Dixie Senior Boys Baseball, and acted as the sponsor for the youth program for the Jr. Chamber of Commerce.

No major corporations will consider a major investment in Vicksburg and Warren County with the current governmental structure and lack of community leadership for its citizens.

The best model that currently exist in my opinion is the progress being made in the Golden Triangle Region in Starkville, Columbus, and West Point, where the communities have come together to create economic progress and prosperity for the community. At least five to six different foreign countries have made a substantial investment in the region with Starkville now being rated as the 34th smartest town in America.

Selby Parker Sr., Ed.D

Vicksburg