In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-At-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Walt Grayson about his long career as a Mississippi storyteller. Grayson is a life-long Mississippian who was born and raised in Greenville. While in high school, he started his broadcasting career at a local radio station.
After moving to Jackson after graduation, he worked at various radio stations until moving to television in 1984. He was a weather anchor and feature reporter for WLBT for over three decades before heading back to WJTV-12 (where he actually began his TV career as a part-time weekend weatherman while still working full-time “across the driveway” at Jackson’s WSLI radio.)
Grayson is also well known as the long-time host and a segment producer for Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s Mississippi Roads. Grayson graduated from Mississippi College with degrees in history and Bible. He is married to his junior high school sweetheart, “Miz Jo” and between them they have four children and four grandchildren.
Before the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Mississippians wanting to visit their state Capitol could come and go as they pleased through multiple entrances, facing no security checks or metal detectors.
It was not unusual for people to enter an unlocked Capitol after hours and roam about, never seeing a law enforcement officer.
As the World Trade Center buildings smoldered that September, former House Speaker Billy McCoy of Prentiss County, then the House Ways and Means chair, spoke to a reporter about the tragedy.
McCoy, often a shade tree philosopher from the foothills of Appalachia in northeast Mississippi, mourned the loss of lives — nearly 3,000 — but also lamented how the act would “forever change our way of life.” McCoy, who first visited the Capitol as a young boy in the 1940s when his father served in the Mississippi House, predicted no longer would access to “the people’s building” be unimpeded. As a result of 9/11, McCoy said people would face security checks going into the Capitol and at other public buildings and at many private buildings and endeavors.
McCoy, who died in 2019, was right, of course, and perhaps in hindsight it did not take great foresight, which he often had, to predict that future.
In the old days, there were normally eight entrances to the Capitol unlocked and unmanned. Today, people can access the building from just two entrances — both manned with security. Though many legislators like to tout their efforts to ensure Mississippians can openly carry a weapon with no permit or training, don’t expect to carry that gun into the Capitol.
The changes made at the Mississippi Capitol because of 9/11 are not unique. Similar changes have occurred at various buildings and events throughout the country. The Capitol is just an example of how that tragic day impacted Mississippi.
People have readily accepted that infringement on their freedom to ensure their safety. It seemed as if people got on the same page soon after the tragedy of 9/11 occurred 20 years ago.
Perhaps that should not be surprising. After all, 9/11 was a life-changing day. But many, if not most, would agree the COVID-19 pandemic has also been a life-changing event. The number of people dying from the pandemic just in Mississippi is nearly three times as many as died on 9/11.
Yet people cannot or will not get on the same page on the coronavirus. Some accuse public officials of being dictators if they speak of short-term mask mandates or of temporary shutdowns. They argue about infringement of their rights if anyone — government official or private entity — suggests a vaccination requirement, even though for decades vaccines have been required to enter kindergarten, enroll in college or, in some instances, to travel to a foreign country.
“This is still America, and we still believe in freedom from tyrants,” Gov. Tate Reeves proclaimed on social media of President Joe Biden’s plan to require certain private businesses to mandate that their employees be vaccinated.
The governor did not address whether we have been living in tyranny for decades because of other federal regulations, such as requiring certain private employees to wear steel-toed boots or other regulations. The regulation for a worker to wear a steel-toed boot protects the toes of that individual worker, while requiring an employee to be vaccinated could provide protection for multiple people.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the events of the day had an immediate impact at the Mississippi Capitol and brought people together. Late on that day, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Attorney General Mike Moore had a joint news conference even though the two Democrats were viewed as rivals in part because Moore was considered a possible challenger to Musgrove’s re-election effort.
Musgrove recently said he does not remember the details of the news conference — not even the reason for the location of the event. On what was already an unprecedented and surreal day, the rivals held their news conference on the east side of the Capitol by one of those doors that eventually would become permanently locked. It was the first and only time for a news conference to be held in that spot.
Musgrove recently said Moore asked him to join him for the news conference because of reports of price gouging. It was reported that the Attorney General’s office received more than 2,000 calls about gasoline price gouging that day as rumors circulated that the attack would impact the supply chain.
“It was to highlight that it (price spiking) was illegal,” Musgrove said. “It seemed like an appropriate thing to do though I was more focused on security risks related to 9/11.”
When it comes to COVID-19, it is hard to get on the same page on how to address those security risks.
Gov. Tate Reeves said he intends to be among a group of Republican governors suing President Joe Biden to block the president’s effort to require certain businesses to mandate their employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested weekly.
“We are going to use every tool at our disposal, litigation, which I am not a big fan of ordinarily, but litigation, et cetera,” Reeves said late Friday afternoon during a hastily called news briefing on the lawn of the Governor’s Mansion.
Biden announced on Thursday a plan to try to increase the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in the nation that included:
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandating private companies with more than 100 employees have their workers to be vaccinated or have them take a COVID-19 test weekly.
Mandating most federal employees and private contractors to the federal government be vaccinated.
Requiring health care facilities that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid payments have their staffs vaccinated.
The governor, who in the past has said he opposes vaccination mandates even though Mississippi has multiple such requirements for school children and college students, refined his answer Friday afternoon. He said those state requirements were approved by the Mississippi Legislature, not just by one person.
Reeves said Biden’s actions were those of a “tyrant.”
“Every tyrant in history has said what they are trying to do is in the best interest of the people,” Reeves, the first-term governor, said. “Where does it stop? What does the president of the United States not have the ability to do? What else can he unilaterally force you to do? … This is not called a representative form of government, that’s not called a true democracy. That is tyranny.”
Reeves, a constant defender of former President Donald Trump, would not answer when asked if it was more tyrannical to try to mandate someone take a vaccine or try to overthrow an election as Trump tried to do.
“That seems to be a false choice,” Reeves said. “…I haven’t tried to do either one of them so I really can’t comment on it.”
Reeves said Biden had in the past said he would not try to impose a vaccination mandate and accused the president of breaking his promise. He also said the president announced the plan to divert attention from the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Reeves called an “absolute disaster.”
The governor said a lawsuit could not be filed until the president actually issues the executive order.
“I anticipate we will see a large number of states, and quite frankly all states should be involved in this litigation,” Reeves said. He added, “We can’t sue until there is actually an order. At this point we don’t know even what the order will say .. We don’t know when it will be enacted, or when it is going to end if ever.”
The Biden administration has said OSHA will use emergency powers it has been granted by Congress to initiate work force safety changes to ensure the protection of workers.
Of the plan of Republican governors to sue him, Biden said Friday, “Have at it.” He added, “I am so disappointed that, particularly, some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities. We’re playing for real here. This isn’t a game.”
Some Republican governors have tried to block school districts or other entities from imposing mask mandates or in some instances vaccination mandates.
In Mississippi, Reeves has refused to impose any mandates during the recent coronavirus surge, but has not tried to block school and local governments from doing so.
Governor Tate Reeves announced on Friday that he’s extending Mississippi’s state of emergency order for an additional 30 days.
About a month ago, Reeves extended the emergency order after several state officials publicly expressed concern that allowing it to expire — as he had previously announced he would do on Aug. 15 — would adversely affect several COVID-19 response and relief efforts.
Leaving the emergency order in place is essential to keeping the COVID-19 System of Care Plan, which allows a coordinated effort by Mississippi health care leaders to direct patients to open hospital beds throughout the state. It also enables expanded access to telemedicine and the option for the use of the Mississippi National Guard, which were deployed earlier in the pandemic.
The emergency order also allows local school boards and State agencies to provide paid leave to staff for issues related to the pandemic.
The announcement comes as Mississippi’s COVID numbers are on a downturn after a brutal August that saw the healthcare system on the verge of collapse. Reeves said in June that he would let the emergency order expire on Aug. 15, but reversed course due to the crisis the state is facing.
Mississippi remains one of the least vaccinated states in America, though the vaccination rate has increased substantially in recent weeks due to the threat posed by the delta variant.
Reeves has said that the coronavirus has turned “into a pandemic of the unvaccinated” but continues to oppose vaccination requirements and mask mandates.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, Mississippi’s longest serving member of Congress, has told state legislators that he would prefer that all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
State legislators will attempt to redraw the state’s four congressional districts early in the 2022 session to match population shifts found by the recently completed U.S. Census. Both the U.S. Constitution and state law mandate that all of a state’s congressional districts have close to the same population.
Thompson’s 2nd District, which includes much of the Mississippi Delta and a large portion of Hinds, the state’s most populous county, is the only one of the state’s four congressional districts to have lost population since 2010.
According to information compiled by Chism Strategies, a Mississippi-based polling and political consulting firm, Thompson’s district is 65,829 short of the ideal district size of 740,319 people.
Based on Census numbers:
The 1st District, which includes much of north Mississippi, including the Memphis suburb of DeSoto County in northwest Mississippi, and the Tupelo area in northeast Mississippi, is 17,913 people more than the ideal size.
The 3rd District, which stretches from east Mississippi to southwest Mississippi and includes much of the Jackson metro area, is 10,719 more than the ideal size.
The Gulf Coast-based 4th District has been the fastest growing district, 37,196 more than the ideal size.
Thompson, the state’s sole African American member of Congress, recently spoke to legislators who were holding public hearings to garner input before beginning their task of redrawing the U.S. House and state legislative districts. He told them he would prefer all of Hinds County be placed in his district.
“I have part of Hinds County. If you look at Hinds County — just give me Hinds County and you are pretty close to having it,” Thompson said, referring to having the “ideal” number of residents in his district. “I live in Hinds County. I have lived all my life in Hinds County… I think communities of interest are vitally important” to stay together in redistricting.
According to Census data, 31,150 Hinds County residents are in District 3, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Michael Guest of Rankin County. If those Hinds County residents were moved to Thompson’s district, he still would be about 35,000 residents short of the “ideal size.” Legislators still would have to look to other areas of the state to add more people to Thompson’s district.
Whether legislators would opt to move north into DeSoto and Tate counties to acquire those residents, southwest into the Natchez area or east will be watched closely.
Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, a member of the Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee, said it is not clear what path legislators will opt to take to pick up those residents for District 2, but that the intent will be to ensure the district remains predominately African American.
Mississippi has a Black population of about 37%, so it would be difficult for state leaders to justify to the federal courts not having an African American majority district.
But when legislators take people from one district, it will create a domino effect that most likely will impact all of the congressional districts at least slightly because the goal is to be as close to the “ideal size” as “practicable,” according to the law.
Rising coronavirus cases in Mississippi have caused even further delays in the state court system. Earlier this month, the Mississippi Supreme Court extended a COVID-19 emergency administrative order, allowing judges to postpone trials through Oct. 8.
When the order was originally signed in August, it gave judges the ability to postpone trials through Friday, Sept. 10, to protect against the spread of COVID-19. As the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the state, the Mississippi Supreme Court chose to continue the emergency administrative order past September and into October.
“Because there has been no discernible reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases reported daily by the Mississippi Department of Health since Emergency Administrative Order-21 was filed, in my capacity as chief administrative officer of all courts in the state, I find that Emergency Administrative Order-21 should be extended,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in a memo announcing the order extension.
In August, Mississippi saw the highest numbers of reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began in March 2020, and nearly 1,000 Mississippians died due to complications caused by COVID-19 in August. Between low vaccination rates and the raging delta variant, August was Mississippi’s darkest month of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a response to this, the Mississippi Supreme Court is not only allowing judges to delay trials until Oct. 8, but judges can also delay jury summonses until Oct. 11 and modify drug testing and home supervision until Oct. 8.
“From the onset of the national and state emergencies created by Coronavirus (COVID-19) in March 2020, the Court has issued a series of Emergency Administrative Orders to address the changing circumstances and the evolving guidance provided by health authorities…the Court has sought to properly balance individual rights, public health and safety, and the constitutional requirement that Mississippi state courts remain open and accessible,” Randolph wrote.
The Mississippi Department of Education on Thursday issued a letter to school administrators giving them the go-ahead on financial payouts to teachers and staff members who get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Some school districts were waiting on guidance from the state education department to move forward with plans to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to incentivize teachers and staff to be vaccinated with up to $1,000 payments.
“MDE hopes the vaccine incentive opportunity will help get more people vaccinated so students can continue in-person learning with fewer disruptions,” a statement from Jean Cook, the spokesperson for MDE, said. “Teacher and student absences due to COVID-19 exposure and infection interrupt teaching and learning.”
The letter from Judy Nelson, executive director of the Office of Federal Programs in MDE, says districts may incentivize vaccinations if they have local board approval prior to implementing the incentives. The district must also establish a written procedure for determining the allowability of costs and “to maintain effective internal control over the Federal award.”
The guidance also says the amount must be reasonable, which it characterizes as an amount ranging from $100 to $1,000.
“LEAs (local education agencies) shall be prepared to document what is considered reasonable,” it states.
School districts in Biloxi, Kosciusko and Bay St. Louis-Waveland all planned to use these funds for an incentive program. Their goal is to have a higher percentage of teachers and staff vaccinated to help continue in-person school and decrease absences.
“It will hopefully save me on substitute teacher costs and wasting instructional time and the time of assistant teachers — not to mention the loss of instruction,” Biloxi Superintendent Marcus Boudreaux said.
Biloxi, like several other districts across the state, is facing a major shortage of available substitute teachers to cover classes for teachers who are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantined, in addition to non-pandemic related absences.
Districts are planning to use funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, to pay for the incentives. The U.S. Congress passed the bill in March, and it sent a total of around $1.6 billion to schools in Mississippi.
Biloxi received around $18.3 million of those funds, while Kosciusko got $7.3 million and Bay St. Louis-Waveland got around $6.6 million. The money can be used for an array of purposes, from purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean buildings to training and professional development for teachers and staff, in addition to purchasing educational technology and providing mental health supports for students.
ESSER funds may be used for vaccination outreach efforts, which “could include activities to create awareness and build confidence, facilitate clinics, and provide incentives … for staff to get vaccinated,” a U.S. Department of Education document states.
Natchez-Adams School District recently approved a plan that would offer incentives to employees who get vaccinated and require those who don’t to submit to twice-weekly testing. It is not clear what funds they are using to support that program.
Abortion-rights activists in Mississippi are troubled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed a Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect last week, but they are not surprised.
Now, they’re preparing for an upcoming Mississippi case that could put the United States in a post Roe v. Wade world.
“Mississippi, we are the testing grounds. I can’t believe Texas beat us to the punch on this one,” Derenda Hancock, co-founder of We Engage, a Jackson-based advocacy group that confronts anti-abortion protesters.
The Texas law is the most restrictive pre-viability ban — a law that prohibits access to abortion based on the amount of time pregnant before the fetus is viable, or around 24 weeks when it is able to live outside the womb — that has been allowed to star in effect post-Roe.
Mississippi’s fetal heartbeat law was blocked by an appellate court in 2019 due to it violating Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed pregnant people have a constitutional right to receive an abortion.
The Texas law is novel in that there were no defendants for abortion-rights groups to sue in attempts to block the law, as all state officials were prohibited from enforcing it. Instead, Texas deputized private citizens to enforce the ban, enabling them to sue an abortion provider who violated the law, or anyone involved in aiding or abetting someone in obtaining the procedure. Any successful case under the new law will net the plaintiff a $10,000 bounty and attorneys fees.
Though Texas groups hope to successfully challenge the law in state court, Mississippi groups are preparing for the law to be replicated here during the 2022 legislative session, where it would likely pass.
“We know that what starts in Texas doesn’t stop there, just as what starts in Mississippi impacts the nation,” the Mississippi Abortion Access Coalition said in a statement. “Texas recycled this abortion ban from others and the individual enforcement mechanism here could easily spread to other states during future legislative sessions.”
Tyler Harden, Mississippi state director of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said that they’ve been preparing for this moment since Donald Trump was elected president, promising to appoint judges that would overturn Roe.
“We’re in a space where our legislature is just so hostile. We’re fighting abortion bans every year. And I think, because of that, we were able to be intuitive about where we’re headed,” Harden said.
Mississippi’s Legislature has already passed six- and 15-week abortion bans that were struck down by appellate courts. A 20-week ban is currently enshrined in state law, as it has not been challenged in court. The case before the Supreme Court will consider Mississippi’s 15 week ban, passed in 2018.
Advocates say they’re getting ready to work in a Mississippi where women not only lack access to safe abortions, but are jailed for getting the procedure.
“We anticipate that criminalization for people seeking out abortion will be something that we have to work with local prosecutors and local government to prevent to make sure that people are able to make the choices that they need from themselves,” Harden said.
Hancock said that simply overturning Roe won’t be enough for a large swath of anti-abortion activists in Mississippi. One side of the movement wants to work within the system, and is happy with the extent of the Texas law, she said. Another believes that life starts at conception and want to see abortion banned completely and harshly prosecuted.
The Mississippi case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear in the fall — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — centers on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, passed by state lawmakers in 2018 and immediately blocked by lower federal courts. The case will provide one of the first reproductive rights cases argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020. Many pundits believe that the 6-3 conservative majority will curtail access to abortion or overturn Roe entirely.
In the meantime, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, is still providing abortions up to 16 weeks of pregnancy. Immediately after the Texas law went into effect, the clinic was inundated with calls from pregnant people in Texas, hoping to travel to the Magnolia State to seek an abortion.
“I’m sure we’ll have an influx of people from there, not that we can handle any more patients,” Hancock said. “They (JWHO) are booked, pretty much two weeks ahead.”
While time and the courts do not appear to be on their side, activists like Hancock are dedicated to doing the work they can until the clock runs out.
“We’re gonna just keep doing what we’re doing,” Hancock said. “We’re gonna keep fighting the stigma. That’s about all we’re capable of doing right now… As long as our clinic has their doors open, we’re going to be there.”
