InkBlots

Evansville, IN Courier-Press columnist Mizell Stewart recalls heading to Gulfport and The Sun Herald two years ago to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina…

“The editor, Stan Tiner, balanced a deep concern for his staff with a fierce determination that south Mississippi’s plight would not be forgotten. Through the Sun Herald’s powerful editorials, he alerted the nation that the relief promised by the federal government was nonexistent.

“There was Publisher Ricky Mathews, who dispatched reporters to round up the region’s leaders for a meeting at the newspaper. He urged them to put differences aside and focus on rebuilding the community.

“It was a force of will that stood in sharp contrast to the reports coming out of the Crescent City, where police fled rather than help those who couldn’t help themselves…”

LA Times writer James Gerstenzang regurgitates the latest laments about New Orleans post-Katrina, including the argument Mississippi got a disproportionate share of funding as opposed to Louisiana. Not surprisingly, Gerstenzang only spent a couple of grafs reporting on the Magnolia State near the end of the article.

Campus police did their best impression of prohibition-era cops Saturday in the Grove at Ole Miss, enforcing a new alcohol policy that forbids beer and light wine but is oddly permissive of hard liquor. At least the Daily Mississippian benefited a bit: The University took out ads in the paper to warn students and others of the pending crackdown at one of America’s top party colleges.