Attorney General and 2019 candidate for governor Jim Hood, of Houston, outlined his ideas to help all Mississippians have opportunities for a better life, and local community servants were honored at the annual CEDA banquet last week in Calhoun City.
Hood was the featured speaker for the Calhoun Economic Development Association and stressed the importance of the state investing in its own people rather than foreign companies.
“We’re giving our money away. That’s why we have problems with mental health, why our bridges are falling in – five in Calhoun County were closed,” Hood said. “In my lifetime, I’ve never seen that happen where 
boards of supervisors are so strapped for money that they couldn’t pay or the state couldn’t provide any money to fix a bridge.”
He spoke of the needs for statewide pre-K and bring down college tuition costs.
“That’s why we have so many (young people) leaving our state every year,” Hood said. “The brain drain is hurting us. We have the equivalent of the population of Tupelo leaving this state every year.”
Hood noted the harm done to the state by failing to accept federal dollars for healthcare.
“We’ve passed up $1.2 billion a year from the federal government,” he said. “We lost our emergency room in Houston. My granddaddy practiced medicine in that emergency room in that old hospital. Put that in perspective, we had better emergency rural health care in Houston in the 1940s and ‘50s than we have today. That’s insane. Just because of partisan politics we’re unwilling to accept federal money.”
“What has all the partisanship done for us? Are our roads any better? Are our schools any better? Is your pay any better? What we’re doing isn’t working,” Hood said. “We need to take care of the least among us. (State government) has been taking care of the ones with powerful special interest, instead of the people that matter most.”
“People ought to know who is influencing our legislature, but they exempt themselves from the open records act. If someone calls the attorney general, emails me, or texts me, it’s all public record, but the legislature is not like that. They are not transparent. They’re influenced by the big money folks instead of the working people in Mississippi. It’s time we took our government back.”
Hood was presented a handful of gifts from the various communities in the county for speaking.
CEDA Director Shelia Freely then recognized the work of the chambers of commerce in Bruce and Calhoun City and the Sweet Potato Festival Committee in Vardaman.
“People don’t understand how hard these volunteer organizations work to make a difference in our community,” Freely said.
Three mayor awards were presented. Bruce Mayor Rudy Pope honored the late Theresa Nicks, former president of the Bruce Chamber.
“She was a great lady who did so much to try and help our town and anybody else in need,” Pope said.
Calhoun City Mayor Amye Hill recognized the New Century Club of Calhoun City.
“They are always willing to step up and meet any need in our community,” Hill said.
Vardaman Mayor James Casey recognized Kathy and Terry Dauzat for their volunteer efforts in many areas from the fire department to organizing the annual Christmas parade.
“They do so much for us it’s hard to keep up with it all,” Casey said.