Established 1879 | Columbus, Mississippi

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Monday | August 17, 2020

Analysis: MONDAY PROFILE

Flag group Gone fishing
seeks image New Hope teen angler ‘born with a fishing rod in his hands’
that evokes
Mississippi
On Aug. 25, flag
commissioners plan
to hoist the final five
designs outside the Old
Capitol in Jackson
BY EMILY WAGSTER PET TUS
The Associated Press

JACKSON — Commissioners
working on a new Mississippi flag
said they don’t want a big single
star on the banner. That image is
already taken by Texas.
One also said he doesn’t want a
design that depicts one of Mississip-
pi’s next-door neighbors. A flag cho-
sen as a finalist features the west-
ern border of Mississippi in white.
It has red on the pole side of the
flag, where Louisiana and Arkansas
sit on a map, and blue on the other
side, where Mississippi is situated.
“I’ve heard a lot of comment
about, ‘I don’t want to see Louisiana
on our flag,” said J. Mack Varner, a
Vicksburg attorney who serves on
the flag commission. Antranik Tavitian/Dispatch Staff
His comment brought chuckles David Dupler, left, and his fishing partner, Brandon Bell, load a smallmouth bass that they caught during a fishing
from some at a meeting Friday. competition on Saturday at Columbus Lake. Dupler, a New Hope native, caught his first fish when he was 4 and
In late June, amid the backdrop has been fishing competitively for the last two years.
of widespread protests against ra-
cial injustice, the Mississippi Legis-
BY ZACK PLAIR the early 1990s, have been glad to On Saturday, it was Columbus
zplair@cdispatch.com have an extra hand from 14-year- Lake, where he caught a six-pound
lature voted to retire a 126-year-old

flag that was the last state banner in
the U.S. with the Confederate battle
emblem that is widely condemned
as racist. They faced pressure from
educators, business leaders, reli-
gious groups including the influen-
tial Mississippi Baptist Convention
and sports leagues including the
Southeastern Conference.
The law retiring the old flag set
two requirements for a new one. It
cannot include the Confederate em-
blem. And it must have, “In God We
Trust.”
The law created a nine-person
commission to recommend a new
flag. The group received nearly
3,000 designs from the public and
has narrowed the field twice. The
first cut was to about 150 designs.
The second, on Friday, was to nine.
On Tuesday, the group plans to nar-
row that to five designs.
See FLAG, 6A
O
n Friday afternoon at Perfor-
mance Marine on Gardner
Boulevard, David Wesley
Dupler answers the phone at the
front desk, while his mother, Mi-
chelle, helps a walk-in customer.
Dusty Dupler, David’s father, is
hidden away working in the back
of the store, occasionally walking
to the front to speak friendly with
customers he seems to have known
for decades.
Business has picked up at the
Columbus boat dealership of late,
with the COVID-19 pandemic
drawing more money and attention
to the safe, socially distanced,
“Great Outdoors.” So the Duplers,
whose family has operated Perfor-
mance Marine since its founding in
old David.
David obliges gracefully, help-
ing with whatever he’s asked. But
there’s somewhere else he’d rather
be. And whatever time it is, there’s
a good chance he’s less than 24
hours from being there again.
“He would live on his boat if I let
him,” Michelle said.
Indeed, David is, at heart, a
fisherman — and a good one, too,
if competition weigh-ins are any
indicator.
During the summer — whether
for a local competition or just for
fun — most of the New Hope High
School freshman’s days begin with
a 4 a.m. (or earlier) alarm and a
boat in a body of water by 5 or 5:30.
Sometimes, it’s his favorite Pick-
wick Lake on the Tennessee River.
bass. Still other times, it’s lakes
or rivers all over North Mississip-
pi and West Alabama, all for one
simple fix David can’t get enough
of: “setting a hook and something
pulling back.”
“He’ll be exhausted by the end
of the day,” Michelle said of David’s
mid-afternoon returns from fish-
ing. “It’s like he’s been playing in
the NFL.”
Fishing is in David’s DNA.
His grandfather, Will Dupler, is a
Fishing League Worldwide record
holder for a weighed five-fish limit,
and Dusty dabbled for about a year
among the professional ranks in
the early 2000s until he said he
“ran out of money and talent and
went back to work.”
See DUPLER, 6A

Mississippi inmate dies after attack in privately-run prison

Attack being investigated by CoreCivic, the Department
of Corrections and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JACKSON — The
Mississippi Department
of Corrections said Fri-
day that one inmate died
Wednesday after being
assaulted by another at a
privately-run prison.
The department said
the attack happened at the
Tallahatchie County Cor-
rectional Facility in Tutwil-
er.
Lester Andre Hen-
derson, 36, died before
being taken to a hospital
Wednesday, the Depart-
ment of Corrections said.
Henderson was sentenced
to 15 years on May 2, 2013,
for unlawful touching of a
child in coastal Harrison
County.
The attack is being in-
vestigated by CoreCivic,
the private company that
runs the prison; and by
the Department of Correc-
tions and the Mississippi
Bureau of Investigation.
The U.S. Justice De-
partment announced in
February that it is investi-
gating Mississippi’s prison
system. Several inmates
died during outbursts of
violence in late December
and early January.
The Tallahatchie pris-
on holds inmates from
Tallahatchie County and
the states of Mississippi,
South Carolina, Vermont
and Wyoming. It also holds
federal inmates for the
U.S. Marshals Service.
Mississippi has about
560 inmates in the Talla-
hatchie prison. They were
moved there after the vi-
olence in late December
and early January at the
Mississippi State Peniten-
tiary at Parchman.
In a separate news re-
lease Friday, the Depart-
ment of Corrections said
an inmate serving a life
sentence died Thursday in
the hospital at the Missis-
sippi State Penitentiary at
Parchman. Michael Gene
Ray, 64, had been hospital-
ized for several days.
Ray was convicted of
murder in February 2008
in Lowndes County. The
department said no foul
play is suspected in his
death, according to the
county coroner. An autop-
sy will be done.
Henderson was at least
the 60th Mississippi in-
mate to die since late De-
cember, and Ray was at
least the 61st.

WEATHER FIVE QUESTIONS LOCAL FOLKS PUBLIC

1 Pam Postema became the first wom- MEETINGS
an to assume which role in a baseball Today: Starkville
spring training game? Housing Authority
2 Which 30-mile-long Roman aq- board meeting, 3
ueduct spans a river canyon on a
bridge over the river Gard near Nimes, p.m., 101 W. Wood
France? St.
Liza Clanton 3 What hero of a classic holiday film Today: Oktibbeha
lives at 320 Sycamore?
First grade, Annunciation County Board of Su-
4 What deficiency caused Harry Tru-

91 Low 65
man to be rejected by West Point? pervisors meeting,
High 5 Which prolific aritst, famous for his Chancery Court-
Mostly sunny
“paintings of light,” hid the number house, 5:30 p.m.
5282 in his work to honor his wedding
Full forecast on date, May 2, 1982? Aug. 18: Starkville
page 3A. Answers, 6B Board of Aldermen
meeting, 5:30 p.m.,
City Hall
INSIDE Aug. 25: OCH
Regional Medical
Classifieds 6B Dear Abby 3B
Comics 3B Obituaries 4B Center Board of
Crossword 2B Opinions 4A James “Woody” Wilson is from Louisville. Trustees, 4 p.m.

DISPATCH CUSTOMER SERVICE 328-2424 | NEWSROOM 328-2471

2A MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Pelosi to call House back into

session to vote on USPS bill
Postmaster general has sparked outcry over
delays, new prices and cutbacks just as millions
of Americans will be trying to vote by mail to avoid
polling places during the coronavirus outbreak
BY LISA MASCARO
AND MAT THEW DALY
The Associated Press
WA S H I N G T O N
— Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi says she is call-
ing the House back
into session over the
crisis at the U.S. Post-
al Service, setting up
a political showdown
amid growing con- Pelosi
cerns that the Trump White House
is trying to undermine the agency
ahead of the election.
Pelosi is cutting short lawmak-
ers’ summer recess with a vote
expected the Saturday after the
Democratic National Convention
on legislation that would prohibit
changes at the agency as tensions
mount. President Donald Trump’s
new postmaster general, Louis
DeJoy, has sparked nationwide
outcry over delays, new prices and
cutbacks just as millions of Ameri-
cans will be trying to vote by mail
to avoid polling places during the
coronavirus outbreak.
“In a time of a pandemic, the
Postal Service is Election Central,”
Pelosi wrote Sunday in a letter to
colleagues, who had been expected
to be out of session until Septem-
ber. “Lives, livelihoods and the life
of our American Democracy are un-
der threat from the president.”
The decision to recall the House,
made after a weekend of high-level
leadership discussions, carries a
political punch. Voting in the House
will highlight the issue after the
weeklong convention nominating
Joe Biden as the party’s presiden-
tial pick and pressure the Republi-
can-held Senate to respond. Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
sent senators home for a summer
recess.
Earlier Sunday, Democratic
lawmakers demanded that leaders
of the Postal Service testify at an
emergency oversight hearing Aug.
24 on mail delays.
The House Oversight and Re-
form Committee said it wants to
hear from DeJoy and from the chair
of the Postal Service board of gov-
ernors, Robert “Mike” Duncan.
With heightened scrutiny of its
operations, the Postal Service is
now requesting a temporary pre-
election rate increase, from mid-Oc-
tober through Christmas, although
not for first-class letters.
The agency did not immediately
respond to requests for comment
about whether the two men would
appear before the House commit-
tee. But it said Sunday it would stop
removing its distinctive blue mail-
boxes through mid-November fol-
lowing complaints from customers
and members of Congress that the
collection boxes were being taken
away.
“Given the recent customer con-
cerns the Postal Service will post-
pone removing boxes for a period of
90 days while we evaluate our cus-
tomers’ concerns,’’ Postal Service
spokeswoman Kimberly Frum said.
House Democrats are expected
to discuss the lawmakers’ schedule
details on a conference call on Mon-
day and were likely to be in session
next Saturday, a senior Democratic
aide said on condition of anonymity
because the plans were private.

Trump makes call for new White House doctor’s virus advice
Dr. Scott Atlas has long been a critic and argued that “there’s
nothing wrong” with hav-
While younger people
are certainly at far lower
of lockdowns and has campaigned ing low-risk people get
infected, as long as the
risk of developing serious
complications from the vi-
for kids to return to the classroom vulnerable are protected. rus, they can still spread
“It doesn’t matter if it to others who may be
and for the return of college sports younger, healthier peo- more vulnerable, even
ple get infected. I don’t when they have no symp-
BY JILL COLVIN development of “natural know how often that has toms. And while their
The Associated Press herd immunity.” to be said. They have chances of dying are slim,
“In the absence of im- nearly zero risk of a prob- some do face severe com-
WASHINGTON —
munization, society needs lem from this,” he said in plications, with one study
President Donald Trump
has found a new doctor for circulation of the virus, one appearance. “When finding that 35 percent of
his coronavirus task force assuming high-risk peo- younger, healthier people young adults had not re-
— and this time there’s no ple can be isolated,” he get infected, that’s a good turned to normal health
daylight between them. wrote. thing,” he went on to say, two weeks to three weeks
Trump last week an- In television appear- “because that’s exactly after testing positive.
nounced that Dr. Scott ances, Atlas has called on the way that population
Atlas, a frequent guest on the nation to “get a grip” immunity develops.”
Fox News Channel, has
joined the White House
as a pandemic adviser.
Atlas, the former chief of
neuroradiology at Stan-
ford University Medical
Center and a fellow at
Stanford’s conservative
Hoover Institution, has no
expertise in public health
or infectious diseases.
But he has long been
a critic of coronavirus
lockdowns and has cam-
paigned for kids to re-
turn to the classroom and
for the return of college
sports, just like Trump.
“Scott is a very famous
man who’s also very high-
ly respected,” Trump told
reporters as he intro-
duced the addition. “He
has many great ideas and
he thinks what we’ve done
is really good.”
Atlas’ hiring comes
amid ongoing tensions
between the president
and Drs. Anthony Fauci,
the nation’s top infectious
diseases expert, and Deb-
orah Birx, the task force’s
coordinator. While Birx
remains closely involved
in the administration’s
pandemic response, both
she and Fauci have pub-
licly contradicted the rosy
picture the president has
painted of a virus that
has now killed more than
167,000 people in the
United States and infect-
ed millions nationwide.
Atlas, the sole doc-
tor to share the stage at
Trump’s pandemic brief-
ings this past week, has
long questioned polices
that have been embraced
by public health experts
both in the U.S. and
abroad. He has called it a
“good thing” for younger,
healthy people to be ex-
posed to the virus, while
falsely claiming children
are at near “zero risk.”
In an April op-ed in
The Hill newspaper, Atlas
bemoaned that lockdowns
may have prevented the

Buckle up...
and your child, too
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 3A

3 Mississippi police officers indicted in death of Black man

62-year-old died from bleeding on the brain
caused by blunt force trauma to the head
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JACKSON — Three Missis-
sippi police officers have been
charged with second-degree
murder in the death of a Black
man last year, according to a re-
cently unsealed indictment.
A Hinds County grand jury
indicted the officers in the Jan-
uary 2019 death of George Rob-
inson, 62, according to the Aug.
5 indictment.
It accuses the officers —
Desmond Barney, Lincoln Lam-
pley and Anthony Fox — with
“willfully, unlawfully and fe-
loniously” causing Robinson’s
death, The Clarion Ledger re-
ported. All three worked for the
Jackson Police Department at
the time.
The indictment alleges that
the three officers removed Rob-
inson from his vehicle, body-
slammed him on the pavement
and repeatedly struck him in
the head and chest.
Robinson died from bleeding
on the brain caused by blunt
force trauma to the head, Hinds
County Coroner Sharon Grish-
am-Stewart said shortly after
his death.
Neighbor Connie Bolton told
Mississippi Today that officers
hit Robinson and slammed him
down while seeking suspects
in the fatal shooting of a pastor
who had been shot in a robbery
in front of his church.
Francis Springer, one of the
attorneys representing the of-
ficers, said that “evidence will
show that the officers are not
guilty.”
“These officers did exact-
ly what they are trained to do
and used an appropriate level of
force,” Springer told The Clari-
on Ledger on Friday.
The three officers were
placed on administrative leave
as the department’s Internal Af-
fairs Division and the FBI inves-
tigated the case, The Clarion
Ledger said. The officers were
later reinstated, though Fox
and Barney currently work for
the Clinton Police Department.
After the officers posted
bond at a court hearing and
were released Thursday, sev-
eral police officers met them
outside and prayed with them
on the courthouse lawn, WLBT-
TV reported.
Robinson’s relatives said
they were grateful that charges
were brought against the offi-
cers.
“For us, the charges prove
that George’s life mattered
and no one deserves to die the
way he did,” the family said in
a statement obtained by news
outlets. “We are grateful that
the District Attorney has taken
this action. We have cooperated
with the investigation in every
way and will continue to do so
until we finally get justice for
our beloved George.”

The following arrests

AREA ARRESTS
Federal funds to help
Mississippi expand
were made by Lowndes
County Sheriff’s Office:
n Ethan McCraw, 20,

was charged with pos-
session of a controlled
substance, no insurance,
possession of alcohol by a
minor and improper equip-
ment.
n Krystle Osburn, 37,
was charged with posses-
sion of methamphetamine.
n Kristen Pierson, 23,
was charged with posses-
sion of methamphetamine.
n Amanda O’Cal-
laghan, 49, was charged
with possession of meth-
amphetamine, resisting
arrest and possession of a
controlled substance.
n James Pickens, 30,
was charged with posses-
sion of methamphetamine,
shoplifting-less than $250,
possession of parapherna-
lia and three counts failure
to appear.
n Jimmie Thompson,
49, was charged with pos-
session of methamphet-
amine.
n Samuel Varner, 24,
was charged with posses-
sion of cocaine.
n Brian Baughman, 43,
was charged with grand
larceny-more than $500.
n Tylon Porter, 17, was
charged with armed rob-
bery.
The following arrests
were made by the Oktibbe-
ha County Sheriff’s Office:
n William Carter, 36,
was charged with bond re-
vocation.
n Cole Cornish, 22, was
charged with trafficking a
controlled substance and
possession of a controlled
substance.
n Robert Gandy Jr., 41,
was charged with DUI 4th
McCraw Osburn
Varner Baughman
Parks Brandon Jr.
Winchester Vidrine
offense.
n Carnesha Parks, 23,
was charged with felony
malicious mischief and ag-
gravated assault.
n Darrell Brandon
Jr., 23, was charged with
armed robbery, grand lar-
ceny and possession of
marijuana more than 30
grams.
n Jakashea Cousins, 27,
was charged with identity
theft.
n Leonard Cofer, 40,
was charged with a bench
warrant.
n Danny Neal, 52, was
charged with possession of
cocaine.
Pierson O’Callaghan
Porter Carter
Cousins Cofer
Johnson Jones
n JD Jackson, 52, was
charged with DUI 4th of-
fense.
n Nicholas Winchester,
24, was charged with sexu-
al battery.
n Ernie Vidrine, 51,
was charged with false pre-
tense.
n Mark Johnson, 27,
was charged with hold for
other agency.
n Douglas Jones, 31,
was charged with a bench
warrant.
n Allison Cox, 22, was
charged with aggravated
domestic assault.
n Raymond Kelly, 51,
was charged with posses-
internet access
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pickens Thompson
RIDGELAND — A Mississippi-based technol-
ogy company plans to install more than 33 miles
of underground fiber infrastructure that will help
offer ultra-fast broadband internet access to rural
areas by the end of the year.
C Spire announced the project last week for
parts of Hinds, Madison, Amite and Pike coun-
ties, The Vicksburg Post reported.
Cornish Gandy Jr.
The company says 20 miles of that project
will include areas of Highway 27 between Utica
and the Warren County line, and Highway 18
southwest of Raymond. The project will provide
broadband internet access to 157 homes along the
route.
C Spire was one of 19 recipients of a total of $75
million in federal grant funds under the Mississip-
pi Broadband COVID-19 program. The program
Neal Jackson
is designed to help residents and businesses in
unserved or underserved areas of the state get
fast, reliable internet access in 2020. Each recipi-
ent is required to match 50 percent of the overall
cost of their individual project.
Cox Kelly
Sanders Clayborn
sion of schedule 1 drug.
n Malik Sanders, 24,
was charged with assault
on an officer, disorderly
conduct, two counts car- • Firestarter
rying a concealed weapon • Packing
and DUI 1st offense. Materials
n Safari Clayborn, 43,
was charged with posses- Extra • Shipping
sion of burglary tools and
disorderly conduct. Newsprint Materials
• Art Projects
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inexpensive solution for.... Cleaning

AROUND THE STATE Visit

Clarksdale mayor:
City staff hit hard with
coronavirus
CLARKSDALE — So
many employees have
contracted COVID-19 in
one Mississippi city that
the mayor has had to hire
contractors to fill in.
“COVID-19 is running
all through every depart-
ment at the city of Clarks-
dale,” Mayor Chuck Espy
said Friday on Facebook
Live. “A lot of my team
members are getting hit
with the virus.”
Espy said he hired
contractors to fill in at the
Clarksdale public works
department. A team will
begin to demolish 75
burned homes in 14 days
and doing grass cutting
work throughout the city.
To slow the spread of
the virus, Espy asked for
help. He asked that peo-
ple wear masks, practice
social distancing and
wash their hands.
He also asked for help
in keeping the city clean.
“I’m asking you to do
your part today, can you
please get out and help in
tracted the virus, only
that COVID-19 is hitting
the city “really hard.” He
said the issue has been
especially prevalent in the
public works department,
and that several police of-
ficers also had contracted
the virus.
Ex-Meridian Police
officer faces federal
extortion charges
JACKSON — A former
Meridian Police officer is
facing charges of extor-
tion, federal prosecutors
said Thursday.
Royric “Roy” Benam-
on, 27, was indicted on two
counts of extortion under
color of official right, U.S.
Attorney Mike Hurst said
in a news release.
According to the in-
dictment unsealed Thurs-
day, Benamon allegedly
pulled over two drivers
in Lauderdale County on
two separate occasions in
April and accepted cash
from them in lieu of is-
suing them a ticket. The
amount of money he al-
legedly received was not
disclosed.
Office at
released on bond. His tri- been a resident of Dia- 516 Main Street
al is set for Oct. 5 before mondhead for at least two
U.S. District Judge Daniel years prior to the election.
Columbus, MS
Cost: 80¢/lb.
P. Jordan III in Jackson. If
convicted, he faces up to
a $250,000 fine per count
and 20 years in prison.
“Fighting public cor-
ruption is a top priority
of this office, as our soci-
ety is undermined when
those in positions of pow-
er become corrupted and
abuse the public trust
for personal gain,” Hurst
said. “We will continue to
root out corrupt officials
who endanger our com-
munities and tarnish the
reputation of our law en-
forcement who serve and
protect us so honorably.”
Mississippi city
schedules special
mayoral election
DI A MONDHEA D
— Residents in a south
Mississippi city will elect
a new mayor next month
to fill the seat left vacant
when its current mayor SOLUNAR TABLE
died.
The solunar period indicates
peak-feeding times for fish and game.
Mon. Tues.
The nonpartisan spe- Major — 12:22a
Minor 5:03a 6:09a
cial election in Diamon- Major 11:54a 12:50p
head will be held Tuesday, Minor — 7:38p
Courtesy of Mississippi Department

your neighborhoods?” he Benamon resigned im- Sept. 15, WLOX-TV re- of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

said. “Please ask people
to stop littering. When
people drive in their cars,
we’re watching people
throw bags of garbage
into the streets of Clarks-
dale.”
Espy didn’t say how
many employees had con-
mediately after the allega-
tions became public.
Benamon was arrest-
ed Wednesday without
incident and appeared for
arraignment Thursday
before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Linda Anderson in
Jackson. Benamon was
ported. Residents who are
not registered to vote can
do so on Saturday from 8
a.m. to noon.
Candidates interested
in the position must qual-
ify by Aug. 26 at 5 p.m.
Those interested in run-
ning for mayor must have
The Dispatch
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Opinion
4A MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020
PETER BIRNEY IMES Editor/Publisher
BIRNEY IMES III Editor/Publisher 1998-2018
BIRNEY IMES JR. Editor/Publisher 1947-2003

Dispatch
The
BIRNEY IMES SR. Editor/Publisher 1922-1947

ZACK PLAIR, Managing Editor

BETH PROFFITT Advertising Director
MICHAEL FLOYD Circulation/Production Manager
MARY ANN HARDY Controller

POSSUMHAW
Beware of the ivies
“Large leaves, smooth needed for Prairie soil. careful with the Virginia Creeper. In contact with the plant.” The treatment
leaves, serrated like my vines, The backside of the the past I was told Virginia Creeper includes letting the condition run its
and half as green. I like such house drops off 4 to 5 feet was harmless. Be warned, it turns out course and using corticosteroids to
ivy bold to leap a height. down to the lake. The open approximately 5 percent of people are sooth the pain and itching. Perhaps it’s
’Twas strong to climb!” area from ground to porch is in fact allergic to Virginia Creeper, and best to check first before encountering
— Elizabeth Barrett lined with lattice — perfect I would fall into the elite group. The ex- the ivies.
Browning, “Aurora Leigh” for ivy climbing over and posure would require two doctor visits, Email reaches Shannon Bardwell of
(1856) through the lattice, forming two shots and oral prescriptions. Columbus at msdeltachild@msn.com.
a living barrier. Today ivy Though we had labored

Y
ears back the covers about a 5-foot-tall long and hard in the op-
homestead needed by 30-foot-long area and pressive heat, the clearing
foundation work. requires no care at all. turned out beautifully.
Living in the Prairie where Shannon Bardwell The ivy was so success- We left a bit of the dark
ground-shifting is a regular ful I transplanted more ivy green foliage on the deck’s
occurrence, foundation work is not surrounding a deck near the water. east side and trailing out
unusual. Since the contractors would Within a few years the massive ivy had of planter baskets. Ivy
be moving dirt around the perimeter of virtually overtaken the deck to the loves moist humid air and
the house, I needed to salvage as many point it was a bit eerie walking by what tolerates shade or sun. It
shrubs, flowers and plants as possible. might be hiding in the shelter of the gives a nice touch of green
On the east side of the house grew ivy. It was time to clear out the prodi- to winter as well as an at-
an abundance of English Ivy. The ivy gious ivy. tractive addition to flower
covered the ground, up the walls and On a blistering hot Saturday, Sam arrangements.
under the house. I pulled a batch and and I got to work clipping, cutting The next morning, I
saved it for replanting. An article by Jon and pulling ivy. We piled it into carts awakened to a blistering
VanZile describes English Ivy as a “vig- or bundles in our arms and carried and red rash up and down
orous and sometimes aggressive vine.” the cuttings off to the woods. Being my forearms. A quick
He continues it can grow as much as extremely allergic to poison ivy, I was internet check proved
100 feet outward as a ground cover, or on the lookout for “leaves of three” English Ivy “can cause
upward as a climbing vine. It will grow but found none. There was some allergic contact dermatitis
where other ground covers will not; Virginia Creeper entwined with the and is almost always pres-
it’s evergreen. This was just what we ivy. I wore gloves and was particularly ent in people who come in

CARTOONIST VIEWS

ELECTION 2020

Is Biden-Harris on Tom Dewey’s path?

A
ccused of
being a seri-
al harasser
in 2019, Joe Biden
did what comes
naturally. He apolo-
gized for perceived
past misbehavior,
and, to appease his
accusers, pledged
to choose a woman
for a Biden ticket.
Reacting to the Patrick Buchanan
racial rage that
erupted after the death of
George Floyd under the knee
of a white Minneapolis cop,
Biden reacted again. He put
out word he would be looking
closely for a Black woman to
run with.
Thus did Joe paint himself
into a corner.
For there was no Black fe-
male governor of any state in
the Union, and there was only
one Black woman in the U.S.
Senate — Kamala Harris.
This presented a problem.
For in the first debate, Har-
ris had charged Biden with
colluding with segregationist
senators in the ‘70s to block
the busing of school children
for racial balance.
Harris introduced the toxic the “lesser of two evils.”
charge against Biden with
this sweet upfront concession: cerned Black Women Lead-
“I don’t believe you are a
racist.”
This Tuesday, Biden made
a virtue out of necessity.
He chose Harris to run
with him. And did so just one
day after receiving
a letter from 100
prominent Black
men led by rap-
per Sean “Diddy”
Combs and radio
host Charlamagne
tha God that read
like an ultimatum.
“For too long
Black women have
been asked to do
everything from
rally the troops
to risk their lives for the
Democratic Party with no
acknowledgment, no respect,
no visibility, and certainly not
enough support.
“Failing to select a Black
woman in 2020 means you
will lose the election. ... We
don’t want to choose between
the lesser of two evils and we
don’t want to vote for the devil
we know versus the devil we
don’t because we are tired of
voting for devils — period.”
Astonishing. Here are
prominent Black Democrats
describing the candidates
they have had to support in re-
cent years — Bill and Hillary
Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry,
Joe Biden — as “devils” and
Last Friday, 700 “Con-
ers” delivered a similar letter
to Biden demanding he put a
Black woman on the ticket.
Wednesday, Biden com-
plied. But after the media
ovation for Biden’s selection
Astonishing. Here are prominent Black Democrats describing
the candidates they have had to support in recent years — Bill
and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Joe Biden — as “devils”
and the “lesser of two evils.”
of Harris dies down, a new
reality will emerge.
Before winning her Sen-
ate seat in 2016, Harris was
a prosecutor and two-term
attorney general of California
who had established a reputa-
tion for being tough on petty
criminals.
Biden, as chairman of the
Senate judiciary committee,
also had taken pride in help-
ing craft the Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement
Act of 1994, which dramati-
cally increased incarcerations
and disproportionately affect-
ed Black men.
However, Black Lives Mat-
ter has pulled the Democratic
Party sharply to the left on
the issue of crime and cops
with its battle cry of “defund
the police!”
Yet, today, two months af-
ter Floyd’s death, mayors and
cops in Democratic cities are
still bedeviled by rioters, loot-
ers, arsonists, anarchists and
a criminal class that settles its
quarrels with nightly killings
and weekend shootouts.
The public is getting fed
up. People want their cops
back, and leftist politicians
and police are coming into
increasing conflict.
The Black police chief of
Seattle, Carmen Best, has
retired rather than carry out
the city’s decision to cut 50%
of her budget.
Elected officials in New
York, Los Angeles and Minne-
apolis have approved plans to
reduce police budgets. Mean-
while, shooting and killings
are going up in almost every
city including D.C. and New
York, where more have died of
gunshot wounds in 2020 than
died all last year.
The president has staked
out his position, and it does
not lack for clarity. President
Donald Trump embraces the
phrase “law and order,” de-
nounces the “defund-the-po-
lice” movement as promoting
anarchy, and offers federal aid
and agents to cities that re-
quest help. He calls on mayors
and governor to demand the
National Guard to deal with
the crisis and condemns them
for their chronic failure to
safely secure cities they have
run for decades.
Trump has been accused
of taking us back to the Nixon
era.
But 1968 was the culmi-
nation of a decade of soaring
crime the likes of which the
nation had not known. At its
convention in Chicago, the
Democratic Party was ripped
apart by anarchic violence
and the police response. In
late September, even Hubert
Humphrey was denouncing
the “fascists” shouting him
down at every appearance.
Undeniably, Trump has his
problems.
But it is not certain that
Biden’s sheltering in his base-
ment and issuing his milque-
toast responses to Portland,
Seattle and the shootings,
lootings and killings in Chica-
go, will prevail on Nov. 3 over
Trump’s boisterous campaign
call to crack down on crim-
inals, go back to school, get
back to work and “play ball.”
Biden-Harris looks like a
ticket content to sit on its lead
and ride to victory in Novem-
ber, the way Governor Dewey
did in 1948.
Patrick J. Buchanan, a na-
tionally syndicated columnist,
was a senior advisor to presi-
dents Richard Nixon, Gerald
Ford and Ronald Reagan. His
website is http://buchanan.org/
blog.
 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 5A

Trump motivates Democrats

to rally behind Biden, Harris
‘... Right now we don’t
have leadership in
our country, and it’s
hurting all of us’
Georgia Democratic Chairwoman
Nikema Williams
BY BILL BARROW
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — For the second
time in four years, the Democrat-
ic presidential primary pitted the
expanding progressive movement
against an eventually victorious
establishment. But as the party
gathers virtually this week to nom-
inate Joe Biden for the presidency,
the possibility of President Donald
Trump’s reelection has become
Democrats’ unifying and energiz-
ing force.
“Nobody fits neatly and tightly
into any one bucket,” said Georgia
Democratic Chairwoman Nikema
Williams. “What we all fit into is
knowing that right now we don’t
have leadership in our country, and
it’s hurting all of us.”
That’s an important shift from
2016, when Hillary Clinton strug-
gled to build a coalition between her
supporters and those who backed
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who again fin-
ished as runner-up this year. It re-
flects both the work Biden has done
to court the left and the urgency
among Democrats to defeat Trump,
which has only intensified amid the
pandemic, economic turmoil and a
White House’s Meadows says he accepts
Harris is eligible for vice president
BY HOPE YEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said
Sunday he accepts that Sen. Kamala Harris is eligible to serve as vice
president, rejecting a false and racist conspiracy theory that President
Donald Trump had promoted.
“Sure,” said Meadows, when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union”
whether he acknowledges the fact that she meets the constitutional re-
quirements to be president or vice president. “And I think the president
spoke to this yesterday. This is not something that we’re going to pur-
sue.”
Trump twice this past week declined to say whether he believed she
met the requirements when asked about social media claims that the
California senator and former presidential candidate couldn’t serve in
the White House because her parents were immigrants to the United
States.
Trump initially said Thursday that he had just heard the claim and
had “no idea if that’s right,” but that the charge was serious and he would
look into it. Pressed again Saturday to accept her eligibility, Trump de-
murred, saying at a news conference at his New Jersey golf club that it
didn’t bother him but he had “not got into it in great detail.”
national reckoning on racism. Biden presidency.
Still, the party’s ideological “Progressives are going to vote
splits haven’t vanished. There are against Trump,” said Stephanie
disagreements over how to achieve Taylor, co-founder of the Progres-
universal health care, make higher sive Change Campaign Committee,
education affordable, overhaul law but she called it “demoralizing and
enforcement practices and reen- wrong” for Biden and the Demo-
gage with countries that are ques- cratic National Committee to give
tioning America’s role in the world. convention airtime to figures like
Leaders on the left warn that billionaire Mike Bloomberg, the
Biden must still keep their inter- former New York City mayor who
ests in mind, offering a reminder spent more than $500 million of his
that even a November victory won’t own money running for the nomina-
guarantee a united front during a tion.

Democrats tap array of faith leaders to speak at convention

BY ELANA SCHOR
The Associated Press
The Episcopal bishop
of Washington, D.C., who
criticized President Don-
ald Trump after he held
a Bible aloft at a photo
op at a historic church
in her diocese, is among
the diverse group of faith
leaders selected by Dem-
ocrats to speak at their
presidential nominating
convention.
Bishop Mariann Bud-
de will deliver the ben-
ediction on Tuesday,
the second night of the
convention, according
to a list shared with The
Associated Press on
Sunday before its public
release. The convention
will be almost entirely
virtual, with online video
addresses. Former Vice
President Joe Biden is ex-
pected to accept the nom-
ination on Thursday.
Budde was outspoken
in her criticism of Trump
for staging the June 1 vis-
it to the historic St. John’s
Church across from the
White House, where he
held up a Bible after au-
thorities had cleared the
area of people protesting
peacefully against racial
injustice. “He took the
symbols sacred to our tra-
dition and stood in front
of a house of prayer in full
expectation that would be
a celebratory moment,”
Budde said in an inter-
view after Trump’s walk
from the White House.
Other faith leaders
scheduled to speak in-
clude the Rev. Gabriel Sal-
guero, the Florida-based
pastor who founded the
National Latino Evan-
gelical Coalition; Jerry
Young of the Mississip-
pi-based New Hope Bap-
tist Church; Archbishop
Elpidophoros, leader
of the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of Amer-
ica; and Rabbi Lauren
Berkun, vice president of
the Shalom Hartman In-
stitute of North America.
Reflecting Democrats’
interest in interfaith en-
gagement, Berkun is one
of four faith leaders from
three religious traditions
who are scheduled to
speak on Thursday, the
convention’s final day.
The party also planned
an interfaith service on
Sunday.

Mormons cool to Trump are finding new influence in Arizona

BY JONATHAN J. COOPER
The Associated Press
MESA, Ariz. — Yasser
Sanchez has twice worked
to defeat Joe Biden’s bids
for the vice presidency
by building support for
Republican candidates
among his fellow mem-
bers of the Church of Je-
sus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. It wasn’t hard.
Now the lifelong Re-
publican finds himself in
the surprising position of
supporting Biden — and
repelled from his party, he
says, by President Donald
Trump.
“We’re taught to be
steady, to be basically the
opposite of the way he’s
lived his life,” Sanchez
said.
Sanchez’s view isn’t
as unusual as the Trump
campaign would like.
While many conserva-
tive-leaning religious vot-
ers warmed to him long
ago, Trump has struggled
to win over Latter-day
Saints. His penchant for
foul language clashes with
the church’s culture teach-
ing modesty and self-re-
straint, and his isolationist
foreign policy is anathema
to a faith spreading rapidly
around the world.
It hasn’t helped that
Trump has made a show
of feuding with Sen. Mitt
Romney, R-Utah, among
the best known members
of the church.
Once just a headache
for the White House,
Trump’s relative weakness
with Latter-day Saints is
now a growing political
liability. His standing has
slumped in several pivotal
states, including Arizona,
where members of the
faith make up 6 percent of
the population. Many are
clustered around Phoenix,
areas where Republicans
have struggled to hold
their ground in the Trump
era.
This past week
the Trump campaign
launched its Latter-day
Saints for Trump Coali-
tion, sending Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence to Mesa,
a suburb of Phoenix, for
the kickoff.
6A MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Dupler
Continued from Page 1A
But David “was pretty much
born with a fishing rod in his
hand,” his father said. By age
3, he would cast and reel in
the grass in his yard for hours.
He caught his first fish about
age 4, when his father and
grandfather helped him land a
catfish that bit his spinner bait
in the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
Looking at old photos, David
estimates the fish — which at
the time scared him because
he thought it was an actual
“monster” — weighed 15, may-
be 20 pounds. Michelle says it
weighed closer to 30.
Fishing ‘in his blood’
About two years ago, David
started fishing competitively,
mostly taking in local “fruit
jar” tournaments where fisher-
men pay $25 or so to enter and
the top 5 weigh-ins earn pay-
outs from the pot. He’s finished
in the money several times,
even winning a few outright.
Last year, he and teammate
Dawson Jaynes, 17, of Ethels-
ville, Alabama, competed in the
Upper Tombigbee Student An-
gler Trail and earned enough
points to qualify for the Stu-
dent Angler Federation High
School National Championship
and World Finals in June at La
Crosse, Wisconsin — David’s
first multiple day tournament
that saw him on the water for
24 hours over three days.
The two-man team fared
David Dupler, right, weighs Jeff Oglesby’s smallmouth bass he caught during a fishing competition on
Saturday at Columbus Lake.
pretty well for first-timers,
finishing in the top half of the
pack among 312 teams in the
two-day nationals and in the
top 50 in the world finals on
the third day with a three-fish
bass weigh-in of 7 pounds, 12
ounces.
“It was as many boats as
I’ve ever seen on the water at
one time,” David said. “It was
way more serious, but honestly
Antranik Tavitian/Dispatch Staff
when the blast off happens and
you’re starting to fish, it’s pret-
ty much like fishing for fun.”
He will team up with Ham-
ilton senior Houston Vaiden
to try to qualify next year for
the big tournament. To one
day win it, David will have to
rely on a skill he continues to
hone: Knowing the fish and
looking at the situation from its
perspective.
“When you’re fishing com-
petitively, it’s between you and
the fish, not between you and
the other guy,” David said. “It’s
about learning what the fish
wants and how it will respond.
Say it’s a hot summer day like
this one, and we’re both fishing
for bass with a worm right be-
side each other. Say you’re reel-
ing the worm in and bumping it
every once in a while, and I let
it sit for a while and not move
it. I’m (more likely) to catch a
fish because think about it: If
you’re hot and sweating, do you
want to chase after something
or do you want to sit there, do
nothing and let it come to you?”
On the prospect of one day
becoming a successful profes-
sional fisherman, David tries to
keep his ambition in check.
“It’s something I would like
to do, but slim chances,” he
said.
Dusty thinks his son’s
chances may be a bit better.
“Once it gets in your blood,
it’s there,” Dusty said. “He’s
got a lot of God-given talent
that I didn’t have. I didn’t have
my father’s (Will’s) natural
ability. But David does.”

Flag
Continued from Page 1A
The final five will be
made into real flags. And,
on Aug. 25, commission-
ers plan to hoist those
outside the Old Capitol in
downtown Jackson so peo-
ple can see how the flags
look flapping in the breeze
— or, dangling flat without
the wind.
By early September,
the commission will
choose one design to put
on the November state-
wide ballot. If voters ac-
cept the lone proposal, it
will become the new flag.
If they reject it, the com-
mission will restart the de-
sign process, with the goal
of finding a flag that voters
will like.
One of the commission-
ers, Sherri Carr Bevis,
works for a hospital sys-
tem on the Gulf Coast.
She said she looked at
flags from all 50 states and
found few she liked. She
said the South Carolina
flag, with a crescent moon
and a palmetto tree, is a fa-
vorite because it reminds
her of that state’s beauty.
She urged fellow commis-
sioners to choose a design
that does not need a de-
tailed explanation.
“Nobody reads the
stories except us and the
people that study it,” Bevis
said. “They need to look at
it and they need to think,
‘Mississippi.’”
Commissioner TJ Tay-
lor of Madison, an attor-
ney who works for House
Speaker Philip Gunn, at-
tended Friday’s meeting
remotely because he was
home with a new baby
son. Taylor spoke in favor
of designs with a stylized
magnolia tree.
Cyrus Ben, chief of the
Mississippi Band of Choc-
taw Indians, persuaded
fellow commissioners to
add a diamond shape to
each of the final designs,
because that’s an import-
ant motif in Choctaw art.
Betsey Hamilton of
New Albany, who serves
on the Union County
Heritage Museum board,
urged her colleagues on
the commission to consid-
er green as a main color.
She also urged support
for the magnolia.
“We’ve had it every-
where except on our flag,”
Hamilton said. “I’m hear-
ing from others: Let’s
complete this brand and
put it on our flag and hoist
it high.”
Most state flags promi-
nently feature red, white or
blue. New Mexico has the
only predominantly yellow
flag. Washington has the
only state flag with green
as the main color. Hamil-
ton said green represents
warmth, nature, peace, re-
newal and growth — and
she considers those appro-
priate for Mississippi.
“Driving down from the
north, I look at our fields
and our pastures and all
of the green around us,”
Hamilton said. “We are a
green state.”
Sports
MARKAKIS’ 3 RBIS HELP BRAVES BEAT MIAMI 4-0 TO TAKE SERIES
Atlanta Braves Nick Markakis (22) hits a two run double during the seventh inning against the Miami Marlins Sunday at Marlins Park.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Nick
Markakis drove in three
runs, and five pitchers
combined on a two-hitter
Sunday to help the Atlan-
ta Braves beat the Miami
Marlins 4-0 and tighten
the NL East race.
Atlanta took two of
three games from the
first-place Marlins and
trail them by only per-
centage points. The
Braves haven’t lost a se-
ries to their division rivals
since 2017, and are 31-10
against Miami over the
past three seasons.
“Our mindset is the
same with everybody,”
Markakis said. “It doesn’t
matter who we’re playing.
But division games are
extremely important.”
Markakis, who opted
out this year because of
the coronavirus and then
changed his mind five
games into the season,
had two hits and improved
his average to .323.
“Just having him here
States wrestle with playing high school football amid COVID
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THRALL, Texas — As
heat waves rose from the
crackling grass next to a
cotton field that stretched
far into the distance, Rick
Porter watched his young
football players strug-
gle through a preseason
practice.
Under every helmet
was a masked player,
breathing deep amid the
dust and stifling heat top-
ping 100 degrees Fahren-
heit (38 degrees Celsius).
August in Texas can be
cruel and the coronavi-
rus pandemic has thrown
a new set of obstacles in
the way.
“Social distancing!”
Porter yelled as the
players headed for a wa-
ter break. Nearby were
hand-washing stations
the coach built himself by
drilling holes in long piec-
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
makes me feel better and
more at ease,” Braves
manager Brian Snitker
said. “He’ll do anything.
He’s just good to have
around. He’s kind of like
my security blanket.”
Markakis’ RBI single
in the sixth off Nick Vin-
cent (1-1) gave Atlanta a
1-0 lead. The Braves add-
ed three runs in the sev-
enth after their first two
batters were retired, and
Markakis’ two-run double
made it 4-0.
“That’s what I’m here
for — I’m here to help out
and win as many games
as I can,” Markakis said.
“My team got me in posi-
tion where I could drive
in some runs today, and it
worked out.”
Dansby Swanson had
two hits and scored twice
for the Braves, who won
despite striking out 16
times.
Atlanta’s Robbie Er-
lin, making his first start
of the year, allowed only
one baserunner in four
innings.
es of PVC pipe bought at a
local hardware store.
Still, Porter wonders
if it will be enough to
stave off an outbreak and
whether his farming com-
munity 40 miles outside
Austin will see football on
Friday nights.
“I just hope,” Porters
says with a sigh through
his own cotton mask,
“that we still get to play.”
Just like big-time col-
lege football, American
high school sports is
starkly divided on wheth-
er to play this fall.
While the national
COVID-19 death toll has
passed 160,000 and to-
tal infections rise above
5 million, more than a
dozen states and the Dis-
trict of Columbia have
suspended football and
other sports at least until
spring. Their ranks in-
clude California, Oregon,
“He’s a strike thrower
who can change speeds,”
Snitker said. “He’s got a
little funky delivery. His
ability to throw the ball
over the plate is so re-
freshing here.”
Darren O’Day (2-0)
pitched 1 1/3 innings to
highlight the latest strong
effort by the Braves’ relief
corps.
“The bullpen has
been great,” Erlin said.
“There’s so much expe-
rience. Every time the
phone rings, everybody is
ready to go.”
Two of Miami’s three
baserunners were erased
on double plays.
Seeking more punch
from a Braves lineup
without the injured Ron-
ald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie
Albies, Snitker moved
Freddie Freeman up to
the No. 2 spot. It was the
first time Freeman hit
there since 2011, and he
went 1 for 4.
Snitker said he likes
the lineup because, with
the designated hitter, the
Washington, Colorado,
Maryland and Illinois.
But Texas and dozens
of other states are press-
ing on amid questions
about safety and COVID-
19’s long-term health im-
pact on young athletes.
Many teams are al-
ready practicing. Utah
played its first games this
week; at one of them, Da-
vis High coach Mitch Ar-
quette told his players to
seize the moment before
a 24-20 win over Herri-
man.
“It really is the mantra
of 2020: Win the day,” Ar-
quette told the Deseret
News. “You don’t know
when you’re going to get
another. We really don’t.
We could have our game
canceled next week.”
Florida gave its high
schools the OK Friday to
begin later this month.
Football-crazy Ohio was
No. 2 spot doesn’t come
two batters after the
pitcher.
“It’s something I may
explore more,” Snitker
said. “Freddie came up
in some big spots today.
With the DH thing, going
forward it may not be a
bad thing.”
But the Braves mus-
tered only three hits
against Miami starter
Elieser Hernandez, who
struck out nine in five in-
nings.
“Anytime you get good
pitching you’d like to be
able to put some runs on
the board for him,” Mar-
lins manager Don Mat-
tingly said.
Mattingly was eject-
ed in the fifth inning for
arguing about umpire
James Hoye’s strike zone.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Eighteen players who
went on the injured list
following the Marlins’
coronavirus outbreak
have reported to the
waiting for the go-ahead
from Gov. Mike DeWine,
who has hinted schools
will be allowed to play a
shortened season. One
top recruit has already
decided he won’t: De-
fensive end Jack Sawyer
tweeted that he won’’t
play and will wait to join
Ohio State in the spring.
Texas, which has by far
the most high school foot-
ball players in the nation
with about 170,000, will
play despite a COVID-19
death toll approaching
10,000 and health ex-
perts predicting a rise
in new cases as schools
open their classrooms.
The Lone Star State will
stagger its season with
small schools kicking off
in late August and the big
schools in late Septem-
ber.
Recent decisions by
the Big Ten and the Pac-
THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020
Rhona Wise/USA Today Sports
team’s spring training
site in Jupiter, Florida, to
begin workouts.
The group includes
starting pitchers San-
dy Alcantara and Jose
Ureña, catcher Jorge Al-
faro and shortstop Miguel
Rojas. It’s unlikely any of
the players will be activat-
ed before the next home-
stand, which starts Aug.
28.
UP NEXT
Braves: Open a three-
game series at home
against Washington on
Monday, when RHP Touki
Toussaint (0-1, 7.27 ERA)
faces Nationals RHP
Aníbal Sánchez (0-3, 9.69
ERA).
Marlins: RHP Jor-
dan Yamamoto (0-0,
9.82 ERA) is scheduled
to start Monday for the
Marlins when they open
a four-game series at
home against the New
York Mets and RHP Rob-
ert Gsellman (0-0, 9.00
ERA).
12 to call off fall sports
raise a new dilemma for
high schools. If two col-
lege conferences, with
some of the nation’s most
prestigious universities
and medical expertise,
were willing to abandon
sports then should high
schools be playing?
“That’s a good ques-
tion. I don’t think any-
body has the right an-
swer,” said Dr. Susannah
Briskin, associate pro-
fessor of pediatric sports
medicine at Rainbow Ba-
bies and Children’s hospi-
tal in Cleveland.
“We certainly know
the majority of kids
don’t develop any severe
symptoms from COVID,
but they absolutely can.
They’re susceptible to a
more significant disease
course, but at this junc-
ture it’s less often than
See FOOTBALL, 2B
SPORTS LINE
662-241-5000
BEN’S BURNING
B
SECTION
QUESTIONS
Why saliva
testing could
save CFB,
where MSU’s
receiving
corps stands
BY BEN PORTNOY
bportnoy@cdispatch.com
STARKVILLE — For
better or worse, Mississip-
pi State football is back.
The Bulldogs open fall
camp Tuesday following
Monday’s resumption of
classes.
Heading into his first
fall as the head coach in
S t a rk v i l le ,
Mike Leach
has had
few, if any,
op p or t u n i -
ties to see
his squad
play given
the ongoing Portnoy
C OV I D -1 9
pandemic. Despite that,
the train rolls on toward a
season as MSU is slated to
kick off its 10-game slate
six weeks from Saturday.
Here are your rumblings
from the week past:
How much of an impact,
if any, does the new
breakthroughs in saliva
testing have on college
football and at Missis-
sippi State?
While football is on the
horizon, we’ll start with an
off-the-field question that
may be the biggest deter-
miner as to whether a sea-
son is actually played.
Saturday, the FDA an-
nounced approval for the
SaliveDirect test by re-
searchers at Yale in con-
junction with the NBA
that, according to former
Oba m a - ad m i n ist r at ion
health executive Andy
Slavitt, could save schools
hundreds of thousands of
dollars in the fight for fall
sports.
As I reported a few
weeks ago, Mississip-
pi State and Ole Miss,
among other schools,
are looking at spending a
combined $600,000 to test
football players during
game weeks alone with
current testing methods
running anywhere from
$50 to $100. By contrast,
the new tests developed
at Yale should cost around
$10 a pop. For those keep-
ing track at home, that
would save the Mississippi
Southeastern Conference
schools in the realm of
$593,000.
“Wide-spread testing is
critical for our control ef-
forts,” Nathan Grubaugh,
an assistant professor at
the Yale School of Public
Health said in a news re-
lease. “We simplified the
test so that it only costs
a couple of dollars for re-
agents, and we expect that
labs will only charge about
$10 per sample. If cheap
alternatives like SalivaDi-
rect can be implemented
across the country, we
may finally get a handle
on this pandemic, even be-
fore a vaccine.”
Granted it’s early and
these tests still need to be
produced for widespread
use, but testing prices
have been among the
primary reasons smaller
conferences have decided
to forgo pursuing a fall
season. If the SalivaDirect
test is made available to
athletic departments na-
tionwide, college football’s
hopes for completing a
season look more hopeful
than they did just 72 hours
ago.
See PORTNOY, 2B
2B MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Welcome to the playoffs: The NBA’s best time of year is here

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
There seem to be few-
er players fishing at Walt
Disney World these days.
Getting a tee time or
streaming video games
might not be as much of
a priority as it was a few
weeks ago, either.
Summer vacation is
over.
The restart gets real
now.
The NBA playoffs start
Monday, the beginning
No. 1 overall draft pick as
well.
LeBron James is back
in the playoffs, after tak-
ing the Los Angeles Lak-
ers — who couldn’t get
to the postseason in his
injury-marred first year in
Hollywood — to the best
record in the West. He’s
gone to the NBA Finals in
each of his last eight post-
season trips; four with Mi-
ami, then four more with
Cleveland.
“We’ve been through
haps not yet fully versed
in golf etiquette, tried to
play with nine people,
compared with the typical
max of four — and every-
thing from poker table-
tops to wine fridges were
being shipped in to help
players pass the time.
Some gamers have put
down their controls for
the next few weeks; Mi-
ami’s Meyers Leonard,
generally considered the
best Call of Duty player in
the NBA, announced that
Erik Spoelstra said. “You
just see what’s going on
around the world. Other
leagues, colleges, not ev-
erybody has been given
this opportunity to contin-
ue to do what you love. We
have and we want to take
advantage of it.”
Lakers face stiff test
in playoff return from
Dame, Blazers
The Los Angeles Lak-
ers’ path to a 17th cham-

of a two-month journey
to see which team will be
able to say it won a cham-
pionship. It would come
in the most unusual, most
trying season the league
Sudoku
a lot this year,” Lakers he needs a break to focus pionship looks awfully YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
coach Frank Vogel told re- on the playoffs. perilous from the outset,
and not just because the
Sudoku
porters last week. “But re-
ally, all of it is just a build- “For now, it’s time to Western Conference’s top
Sudoku is a number- Sunday’s answer
placing puzzle based on
up to us ... going into the lock in and help my team seeds have struggled in Sudoku
a 9x9 gridis witha several
num- 4 3 9 8 6 1 7 5 2
playoffs. So we’re here, win a championship,” the bubble. ber-placing
given numbers.puzzleThe object 1 8 6 5 2 7 4 9 3

2020 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

has ever seen because of we’re excited about it and Leonard said. Damian Lillard by him- based onthe a 9x9 7 2 5 3 9 4 8 6 1
is to place numbers
a shutdown caused by the self is enough to make grid
confident in what we can There’s no travel in 1 to 9with
in theseveral
empty spaces 8 1 3 4 5 6 9 2 7
coronavirus pandemic any team worry about its given
accomplish.” these playoffs, obvious- so that numbers.
each row, eachThe 5 7 2 1 8 9 6 3 4
and 22 teams eventually postseason prospects, yet object
The matchups: Mil- ly. It’ll be 16 teams, with column and each 3x3 the
is to place box 9 6 4 7 3 2 1 8 5
moving into a so-called the bubble MVP is just numbers
contains the1same to 9 number
in
waukee-Orlando, To- games limited to two are-
bubble at the Disney com- ronto-Brooklyn, Bos- nas at Disney. For the first one challenge looming the empty spaces so 6 5 7 2 1 8 3 4 9
before the Lakers. only once. The difficulty 2 4 8 9 7 3 5 1 6
plex in Lake Buena Vista, ton-Philadelphia and round, it’ll be four games that each row, each
The Lakers’ dubious level increases from
Florida, to salvage the Indiana-Miami in the per day at each site, mean- column and each 3 9 1 6 4 5 2 7 8
season. East, with the Lakers ing drama will begin in reward for perseverance Monday
3x3 boxtocontains
Sunday. Difficulty Level 8/15

“This is why we got
here, why we worked so
hard, why everyone put
their egos aside and put
their effort into this, so
we could get to that point
where we could crown a
champion,” said guard
Kyle Lowry of the defend-
ing champion Toronto
Raptors. “The best part
of the NBA season is the
playoffs.”
The Raptors are back,
with realistic aspirations
to repeat their title. The
Eastern Conference field
also includes the Milwau-
kee Bucks, who posted
the best regular-season
record for the second con-
secutive year and have a
likely back-to-back MVP
in Giannis Antetokoun-
mpo.
In the Western Con-
ference, for the first time
since 2015, the Golden
State Warriors won’t be
going to the NBA Finals
— their gap year, so to
speak, meant they fell to
the bottom of the West
as they look to reset with
a healthy Stephen Curry
and Klay Thompson next
season, possibly with the
against play-in game
winner Portland, the Los
Angeles Clippers against
Dallas, Denver-Utah and
Houston-Oklahoma City.
Some of those clubs
can say they are happy to
be in the postseason. For
others, only a title will do.
“I didn’t mention that
we secured the 2 seed,”
Clippers coach Doc Riv-
ers said. “I don’t think
anybody in the locker
room talked about it. We
really don’t care. Like, we
want to win it all. ... That’s
the only thing that mat-
ters right now for us.”
Teams have been in
the bubble for nearly six
weeks now, first for a
couple weeks of training
camp, then three scrim-
mages followed by eight
seeding games that were
critical to some clubs and
little more than tuneups
to others.
The vibe was different
in the opening days of
bubble life. Bass fishing
on the Disney campus
was all the rage, more
than a few players tried
golf for the first time — a
group from one team, per-
the early afternoon and
continue until late in the
evening.
Outside the Disney
gates, the coronavirus
pandemic continues.
Most NCAA sports won’t
be played this fall, and col-
lege football’s hopes seem
to be hanging by a thread.
When the U.S. Open ten-
nis tournament begins
this month, both reigning
champions — Rafael Na-
dal and Bianca Andrees-
cu — will be among the
many big names sitting
out because of virus con-
cerns. Baseball has dealt
with outbreaks, though
it continues pushing to
complete its much-short-
ened season.
But inside the bubble,
daily testing is working
and the value of the strict
protocols has been prov-
en. No players inside have
had a confirmed positive
test and now the best time
of the NBA year is set to
begin.
Finally.
“Two months ago, it
didn’t really look like
this was a realistic op-
portunity,” Miami coach
in an extraordinarily chal- the same number only once. The difficulty level
lenging and particularly increases from Monday to Sunday.
tragic season is no prize
at all: They must begin
their quest against the
streaking Trail Blazers
and Lillard, who has lit up
the Lakers and just about
everybody else for years.
“Definitely not your
typical eighth seed,” first-
year Lakers coach Frank
Vogel said. “They played
at an elite level during Sunday’s Cryptoquote:
this stretch in the bubble,
at least offensively.”
What’s more, the Lak-
ers have only a nominal
home-court advantage
when the first-round
series begins Tuesday.
They’ll play in the near-si-
lent bubble instead of a
sold-out Staples Center
cheering this beloved
franchise’s first playoff
appearance since 2013.
After going 3-5 in the
bubble with unusually
poor play by their nor-
mally sturdy defense, not
much looks certain for the
Lakers — except the lead-
ership of LeBron James,
who has already done just
about everything possible
in the NBA postseason.

Football
Continued from Page 1B
the older population,” said
Briskin, who also serves
on the American Acade-
my of Pediatrics Council
on Sports Medicine and
Fitness.
The A AP recommends
that any high school ath-
lete who shows symp-
toms of COVID-19 sit out
for two to four weeks and
not return until they see
a doctor. The group dis-
courages testing unless
an athlete is symptomatic
or has been exposed to
someone who is sick.
At the college level,
schools can throw mas-
sive resources at both
testing and follow-up care
for athletes. The Big 12
Conference will require
ACROSS
players to be tested three athlete’s family to be sure “If they just came out 1 Applaud
times per week and any- the kids are taken care in high school and said 5 Be rude, in a
one who tests positive of,” Briskin said. y’all need to test every way
must clear rigorous heart Texas will require any kid once a week, you 10 Center of a
exams, including echo- athlete diagnosed with would probably lose ev- bagel
cardiograms, a cardiac COVID-19 to be cleared ery (small) school pro- 11 Needing
MRI, blood tests and oth- by a doctor to return to gram,” said Porter, who immediate
er tests before they are play. Officials for the Uni- is also the Thrall athletic attention
cleared to return. versity Interscholastic director. 13 Computer
Briskin doesn’t see League, the governing He noted that athletes symbol
any high schools likely to body for Texas public high at the University of Texas 14 Ladybug, for
match that sort of concen- school sports, declined not far away will be “well one
trated testing and medical to comment on the Big taken care of.” 15 Nelson of
care. High school officials 12’s testing requirements “Can we even get a test South Africa
across the country have and said no further rules back in time, in a 7-day or 17 Sprinted
generally not required changes were planned. 14-day turnaround?” he 18 Like some
testing because of cost Still, Porter wondered asked. “If you can pick skirts Sunday’s answer
and availability, and time- if stricter standards will any one of the things 19 Auditor’s org. 37 Egg setting and future
ly access to a cardiologist be coming eventually in (colleges) are doing, I 20 DC. base- 38 Hunting dog 16 Greek vowels
can be a problem in both Texas or elsewhere, hur- think it would shut down baller 39 Story 21 Little flags
rural and urban areas. dles he says would be almost all of the highs 21 Book part 40 Peruses 22 Treats with
“At the high school lev- impossibly high for small schools in the state of 22 Edinburgh 41 Rose part tea
el, the onus falls on the schools like his to clear. Texas.” natives DOWN 23 Yule singer
25 Tennis star 1 Zoo favorite 24 Run

Portnoy
Continued from Page 1B
Following Malik Heath’s
DUI, what does the MSU
receiving corps look
like if he’s suspended
or has to miss games?
Before I dive into this,
let the record reflect that
Heath has not been pub-
licly suspended as of yet,
and last we heard from
MSU the situation was be-
ing monitored.
That said, it’s fair to
assume Heath could miss
a game or two and that is
undoubtedly a big hit to
an already thin MSU re-
ceiving corps.
Senior Osirus Mitchell
led the team in yards and
touchdowns a season ago
and should again be re-
lied on heavily in Leach’s
air raid offense. The big-
gest question with Mitch-
ell becomes if he can be
consistent. After averag-
ing over four catches per
game over MSU’s first six
contests, the Sarasota,
Florida product corralled
just five passes total in
the Bulldogs’ final four
games of 2019. That will
have to improve regard-
less of whether Heath is
on the field and will be ex-
acerbated if he’s not.
Other pieces to follow
include senior JaVonta
Payton and junior Austin
Williams. Payton came to
MSU as a relatively high-
ly-touted junior college
product and showed flash-
es a season ago but never
cracked the rotation reg-
ularly. Now entering his
final collegiate season,
coaches have been high
on his development and
it’s expected he will con-
tribute regularly this fall.
As for Williams,
he showed some brief
prowess in MSU’s sea-
son-opening win over
Louisiana last year when
he caught three passes
for 43 yards and a touch-
down. There will assured-
ly be more opportunities
Monica 2 From the area 25 Hearts or
26 Berets and 3 Without others clubs
beanies 4 Necklace 27 Dead ducks
27 Rifle or features 29 Sat for a
revolver 5 Rent from a portrait
for receptions in Leach’s lege and this has proved 28 Mine rock
offense compared to Joe the perfect opportunity
renter 30 Pick up the
Moorhead’s RPO-based to delve into some great
29 Identify, from
a lineup
6 Tire feature tab
7 Grow older 31 Supermarket
system and the Ocean literary work. 33 Negative link 8 Result of a section
Springs native figures to
be among the beneficia-
With that, here are my
five favorite books I’ve
34 Toronto’s hung jury 32 Tribe symbol
ries. read since being quaran-
province 9 Blow up 36 Sch. support
35 Go by 12 Past, present group
Rated the No. 2 junior tined:
college receiver in the 1. The Junction Boys:
2020 class according to How Ten Days in Hell
247sports Composite, with Bear Bryant Forged
Heath was expected to a Championship Team —
step in on day one and Jim Dent (Seriously this
contribute immediately. It book is incredible and
remains to be seen wheth- anyone who’s a college
er that’s the case, but if football fan should read it)
the former Under Armour 2. Just Kids — Patti
All-American misses time Smith
due to his offseason ar- 3. The Cost of These
rest, it will almost assur- Dreams: Sports Stories
edly affect MSU’s offen- and Other Serious Busi-
sive output. ness — Wright Thompson
4. Character Carved in
Ben’s Best Stone: The 12 Core Vir-
Throughout the pan- tues of West Point That
demic I’ve tried to afford Build Leaders and Pro-
myself more and more duce Success — Pat Wil-
time away from my Play- liams
station and Netflix ac- 5. Dixieland Delight:
count in order to read. I’ll A Football Season on the
concede I faded as a read- Road in the Southeastern
er some throughout col- Conference — Clay Travis

Elliott wins at Daytona for 3rd straight roadie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAYTONA BEACH,
Fla. — Chase Elliott was
already NASCAR royalty.
Now he’s also the sport’s
road king.
Elliott won the Cup
Series’ first road course
race at Daytona Inter-
national Speedway on
Sunday, holding off hard-
charging Denny Hamlin
following a late restart
and notching his third
consecutive victory away
from ovals.
“I had a phenomenal
car. I don’t think I did
anything special today,”
Elliott said.
NASCAR’s most popu-
lar driver, the son of Hall
of Famer Bill Elliott, also
won on road courses at
Comics & Puzzles
DILBERT
ZITS
GARFIELD
CANDORVILLE
BABY BLUES
BEETLE BAILEY
MALLARD FILLMORE
Charlotte and at Watkins
Glen last year. He got a
tougher challenge than
many expected down the
stretch in his latest road-
ie.
The 24-year-old driv-
er had a 10-second lead
with 10 laps to go and
was pulling away when
Kyle Busch blew a tire
and brought out a caution
that gave his Joe Gibbs
Racing teammates, Ham-
lin and Martin Truex Jr.,
a chance.
But Elliott stayed out
front on the final restart.
Hamlin got to his rear
bumper on the last lap,
but couldn’t do enough
to mount any significant
pressure.
“I kept him honest
there,” Hamlin said. “He
FAMILY CIRCUS
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com
had such good drive off task, especially consid-
(the corners) I couldn’t ering Elliott was turning
do anything with him.” mistake-free laps at the
Hamlin finished sec- front of the field.
ond, followed by Truex But that late caution
and seven-time series gave both a shot, albeit
champion Jimmie John- an unlikely one given El-
son. liott’s road repertoire.
Elliott, Hamlin and Another top contend-
Truex had the cars er, points leader Kev-
to beat all afternoon. in Harvick, got turned
Truex’s chances took a around while braking
huge hit near the end into the “international
of the second segment. horseshoe” and never
He was caught speeding recovered. Harvick fin-
on pit road and forced ished 17th.
to start the last stanza Kaz Grala was seventh
at the back of the pack. in his Cup debut. Gra-
Hamlin also got stuck be- la stepped into the No.
hind slower cars early in 3 Chevrolet for Richard
the final stage. Childress Racing after
Making up that kind Austin Dillon tested posi-
of ground on a 14-turn, tive for COVID-19. Dillon
3.61-mile road course needs two negative tests
was a nearly impossible 24 hours apart before be-
Dear Abby
D
EAR ABBY:
Last month,
I found out a
friend of mine was
going to be living
out of his van. I
couldn’t let him do
that, so I offered
him my second
bedroom and put
him on the lease.
He told me
Uber doesn’t
pay much, and
he couldn’t
afford half the
$1,700-a-month
rent, so we agreed
Dear Abby
he would pay what
he could, roughly $200-$300
of the $1,700. I said it was OK
because I didn’t take him in
for money purposes. I did it to
help a friend in need, and I had
spare space.
I quickly found out that he’s
a hoarder. His entire bedroom
is full of his boxes of stuff
(manga, anime, books, etc.,
not furniture or a TV), so much
so that he’s been sleeping on
my living room couch. He also
spends all his time at home
and Ubered only the last two
days of the month to make the
$200 to pay me.
I guess my question is, our
agreement was $200-$300
a month, which he paid, but
does finding out he’s working
only two days a month to make
it change our agreement? —
TOOK IN A LOST PUPPY IN
Horoscopes
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Aug.
17). Your cosmic birthday
includes lofty expectations
met by new people. The plot
takes unexpected turns in the
thrill ride that is the end of the
year. Highlights of 2021 include
a legendary family event, a
professional opportunity and a
habit change or skill enhance-
ment that brings your game
to the next level. Cancer and
Sagittarius adore you. Your
lucky numbers are: 9, 20, 22,
1 and 17.
ARIES (March 21-April 19).
Observe until you have a gut
feeling about what to do next.
If no feeling comes, enjoy the
silence and space. After all,
ing cleared to return.
“This is far beyond my
wildest dreams for this
event,” Grala said.
Ryan Newman was
19th in his return to the
scene of his most harrow-
ing crash.
Newman delivered a
special message to safety
workers minutes before
the race started. Newman
spoke over his radio to the
control tower, a clip that
was later played during
the NBC broadcast.
“Hey everyone, just
want to say a big thank
you,” Newman said.
“This is a special day for
me. I owe a lot of it because
of all the things that you
guys did back in February.
It’s enabled me to … come
back into this racetrack
HAWAII
DEAR TOOK:
May I point
out that when
you took this
“puppy” in, it
wasn’t so he’d
be sleeping on
your couch but in
the spare room?
He shouldn’t
be using YOUR
living room or
YOUR couch for
sleeping.
Because you
put this freeload-
er on the lease —
for what reason, I
cannot fathom — you may need
an attorney to get him out of
there. Rather than working two
days a month to pay that mi-
nuscule amount of rent to you,
he should be driving enough
hours to accumulate a down
payment on a place of his own.
To say that your kindness has
been taken advantage of is an
understatement.
DEAR ABBY: I am a 21-year-
old woman who hasn’t been
very lucky when it comes to
relationships. My first real
relationship wasn’t until I was
20, and it didn’t last too long.
I have “talked” to quite a few
guys, but they never went
past the “getting to know you”
stage.
I was able to figure out
things I wanted and didn’t want
in a relationship. My best friend
silence and space is what gives
life form.
TAURUS (April 20-May
20). There’s a higher level of
intellectual activity going on
today, and you’ll get the chance
to share ideas with people
who think alike and differently.
You’ll challenge and inspire one
another.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21).
The best way to find out who
can keep a secret and who
can’t is to observe how people
do with the information you give
them — before you tell them
anything you actually would
want kept secret.
CANCER (June 22-July 22).
The victory is yours, which is
MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 3B
and do what I love.
“Thank you for your sup-
port, not only for me per-
sonally but all the things
you do for all us drivers. It
goes a long way, and I want
to say thank you from the
deepest of my heart. Thank
you.”
Newman had to be cut
from his No. 6 Ford after
wrecking while leading the
final lap of the Daytona 500
on Feb. 17.
Newman was one of the
few Cup drivers with expe-
rience on Daytona’s road
course. He won an IROC
race on the layout in 2004.
Matt Kenseth, Kurt Bus-
ch, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle
Busch, Clint Bowyer and
Michael McDowell also
had limited experience
here.
for the last eight years has
always been there to help me
get through some pretty hard
times. He has all the qualities
I’m looking for in someone.
He’s smart, funny, honest,
caring and is literally a male
version of me.
When we were younger,
he told me he had feelings for
me, but I only saw him as a
friend. Everyone would tell us
we should be together, but I ig-
nored it. After years of knowing
I didn’t feel the same way, he
gave up trying to progress our
friendship into something more.
I always told him I didn’t want
to get romantically involved
because I value his friendship
too much and I didn’t want to
lose him.
He recently started a rela-
tionship with someone, and it
made me realize I might have
romantic feelings for him that
I haven’t had before. I don’t
know what to do. Please help.
— TOO LATE IN TEXAS
DEAR TOO LATE: The longer
you remain silent, the greater
the chances that your friend’s
new relationship could develop
into something serious. Tell him
all the qualities you think are
special about him (minus the
one about being your “clone”).
Then follow it up with the fact
that it wasn’t until he started
this new romantic relationship
that you realized you have
those kinds of feelings for him.
Better late than never.
weird because you didn’t even
know you were in a competition.
Do not let that stop you from
using what you’re given.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). It’s
sometimes hard to tell whether
you’re excited or anxious. Either
way, there’s a job to be done.
Breathe through the nerves and
remind yourself what matters
here.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).
Unreasonable purchases have
their place and time. As fellow
Virgo Dorothy Parker suggested,
“Take care of the luxuries and
the necessities will take care of
themselves.”
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).
The people around you with sim-
ilar backgrounds and experienc-
es will not be the most useful
to you now. The objective and
unbiased eye is invaluable, and
it only comes from an outsider
with a different experience.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov.
21). Consider, just for one day,
doing hardly a thing beyond
showing up. It’s what most
people are doing. Pull back and
you’ll be suddenly aware of, for
better or worse, what a whole
lot of extra effort you normally
put in.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec.
21). You’re only interested in
the people who are difficult
to know and the prizes that
are hard to win. Perhaps, it’s
because you have a feeling you
can succeed with this.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan.
19). Resist persuasion. Those
who attempt to sway you in any
particular direction are more
concerned about their own
agenda than yours. Action would
be premature.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.
18). As a rule, people don’t
completely know the landscape
of their own psyche. Today,
you’re as likely to be surprised
by your own behavior as you are
by the behavior of another.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March
20). People who think they
can’t do much about their
situation will not pay nearly as
close attention as those who
are actively looking for all the
opportunities they believe are
around them.
Rest in peace
SOLUTION:
4B MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com

Homes with grandparents weigh virus risk as school starts

As of 2018, the U.S. had 51 million seniors,
with 3.3 million, or 6 percent, living with at
least one child between 5 and 18
BY TERRY TANG
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Zita Robin-
son, who’s 77 and diabetic, has
been careful around her grand-
daughter since the coronavirus
pandemic took hold.
A door connects Robinson’s
apartment in Phoenix to the
main house where 8-year-old
Traris “Trary” Robinson-New-
man and her mother live, but
it mostly stays shut. Their only
physical contact is if Trary
walks in with her back toward
Grandma. Then Robinson will
kiss her own hand and light-
ly touch Trary’s back — “like
I’m sending her a kiss with my
hand.”
“It’s very hard,” Robinson
said. “We live together, but we
live apart.”
Not hugging Grandma is
hard for Trary, too: “It’s like I
can’t see her anymore.”
The separation Trary and
her grandmother experience
in their home is becoming a
bigger issue as children go
back to school. Many public
schools nationwide are starting
remotely in the fall, but if class-
es resume in person later this
year, the chasm could grow
between generations who live
together.
Millions of seniors 65 and
up, one of the populations
most vulnerable to the virus,
live with a school-age child.
For those households, the new
school year means reconsid-
ering interactions from family
dinner to bedtime hugs.
While studies so far suggest
children are less likely to be-
come infected with COVID-19
or only experience mild symp-
toms, data isn’t conclusive on
whether infected kids easily
spread the disease. In a Geor-
gia school district that has
reopened classrooms, possi-
ble exposure has forced more
than 1,200 students and staff
into quarantine and two high
schools to close.
If a grandchild does bring
the virus home, grandparents
of color are at higher risk than
their white counterparts, ex-
perts say.
As of 2018, the U.S. had 51
million seniors, with 3.3 mil-
lion, or 6 percent, living with
at least one child between 5
and 18, according to a Kaiser
Family Foundation study. The
situation is far more prevalent
among communities of color:
19 percent of Asian and Pacif-
ic Islander seniors live with a
school-age child, 17 percent of
Hispanics, 13 percent of Amer-
ican Indian or Alaska Natives,
and 11 percent of Black people.
Just 4 percent of older whites
live with a school-age child.
“I think there hasn’t been a
lot of attention to the ripple ef-
fects on older people who may
live in the same household,”
said Tricia Neuman, one of the
report’s authors.
People of color are already
at greater risk from the virus
because they’re more likely to
be essential workers who can’t
work from home, among other
factors, Neuman said. They
more often live in multigen-
erational households because
of cultural norms, sharing ex-
penses or getting help with
child care.
That could become more
prevalent as COVID-19 clob-
bers the U.S. economy. Living
with extended family increased
during the Great Recession in
2009, according to Jaia Peter-
son, deputy executive director
of Generations United, an ad-
vocacy group focused on inter-
generational issues.

COMMERCIAL DISPATCH
OBITUARY POLICY
Obituaries with basic informa-
tion including visitation and
service times, are provided
free of charge. Extended obit-
uaries with a photograph, de-
tailed biographical information
and other details families may
wish to include, are available
for a fee. Obituaries must be
submitted through funeral
homes unless the deceased’s
body has been donated to
science. If the deceased’s
body was donated to science,
the family must provide official
proof of death. Please submit
all obituaries on the form
provided by The Commercial
Dispatch. Free notices must
be submitted to the newspa-
per no later than 3 p.m. the
day prior for publication Tues-
day through Friday; no later
than 4 p.m. Saturday for the
Sunday edition; and no later
than 7:30 a.m. for the Monday
edition. Incomplete notices
must be received no later than
7:30 a.m. for the Monday
through Friday editions. Paid
notices must be finalized by 3
p.m. for inclusion the next day
Monday through Thursday; and
on Friday by 3 p.m. for Sunday
and Monday publication. For
more information, call 662-
328-2471.
Jerry Fowler
COLUMBUS —
Jerry Fowler, 61, died
Aug. 16, 2020, at North
Mississippi Medical
Center.
Arrangements are
incomplete and will be
announced by Lown-
des Funeral Home of
Columbus.
Darryl Blansett
PHEBA — Darryl
Wayne Blansett, 61,
died Aug. 15, 2020, at
North Mississippi Med-
ical Center of Tupelo.
Graveside funeral
services will be at
10 a.m. Tuesday, in
Macedonia Cemetery
of Houston, with Terry
Rhodes officiating.
Visitation will be one
hour prior to services
at the cemetery. Calvert
Funeral Home of West
Point is in charge of
arrangements.
Mr. Blansett was
born Aug. 10, 1959, in
West Point, to the late
AREA OBITUARIES
Emma Mae Boyce and
Ricy William Blansett.
He is survived by his
siblings, Sandra Faye
Blansett of Pheba and
Rita Trull of Kennedy,
Alabama.
Pallbearers will
be Bob Trull, Danny
White, Tommy Mill-
saps, Ray Weed, Carl
Weed and Robert
Parker.
Jonathan White
ETHELSVILLE, Ala.
— Jonathan White, 33,
died Aug. 16, 2020, at
his residence.
Arrangements are
incomplete and will be
announced by Lown-
des Funeral Home of
Columbus.
Pinkie Malone
DECATUR, Ga. —
Pinkie Malone, 83, died
Aug. 11, 2020, at Emory
Hillandale Hospital.
A private family only
graveside service will
be at 11 a.m. Tuesday,
in Oddfellow Ceme-
tery of Macon, with Antonia Malone of
the Rev. Rob Houston Olive Branch; siblings,
Sr. officiating. Private Virginia Ivy of Shuqual-
family only visitation is ak, Elfreeda Lovelace
from 2-5 p.m. today, at of Macon, Ann Malone,
Carter’s Funeral Ser- Louise Bryson, Brenda
vices. Carter’s Funeral Williams all of India-
Services of Macon is napolis, Indiana, James
in charge of arrange- Malone of Macon,
ments. Manuel Malone and
Mr. Malone was born Larry Malone both of
July 15, 1937, in Noxu-
Austell, Georgia; six
bee County, to the late grandchildren; and one
West Malone and Annie great-grandchild.
Laura Malone.
In addition to his par-
ents, he was preceded Eric Holley
in death by his children, COLUMBUS — Eric
Holley, 45, died Aug. 15,
McArthur and Michael
Malone; six brothers 2020, at Baptist Memo-
and three sisters. rial Hospital-Golden
He is survived by Triangle.
his children, John Arrangements are
Malone, Gary Malone incomplete and will be
announced by Lown-
both of Decatur, Geor-
gia, Eddie Malone of des Funeral Home of
Cincinnati, Ohio and Columbus.

Robert Trump, the president’s

younger brother, dead at 71
‘He was not just
my brother, he was
my best friend’
President Donald Trump
BY JIM MUSTIAN
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s
younger brother, Robert
Trump, a businessman
known for an even keel that
seemed almost incompat-
ible with the family name,
died Saturday night after
being hospitalized in New
York, the president said in a
statement. He was 71.
The president visited his
brother at a New York City
hospital on Friday after
White House officials said
he had become seriously
ill. Officials did not imme-
diately release a cause of
death.
“It is with heavy heart
I share that my wonderful
brother, Robert, peaceful-
ly passed away tonight,”
Donald Trump said in a
statement. “He was not just
my brother, he was my best
friend. He will be greatly
missed, but we will meet
again. His memory will
live on in my heart forever.
Robert, I love you. Rest in
peace.”
The youngest of the
Trump siblings had re-
mained close to the 74-year-
old president and, as recent-
ly as June, filed a lawsuit on
behalf of the Trump family
that unsuccessfully sought
to stop publication of a tell-
all book by the president’s
niece, Mary.
Robert Trump had re-
portedly been hospitalized
in the intensive care unit
for several days that same
month.
Both longtime business-
men, Robert and Donald
had strikingly different per-
sonalities. Donald Trump
once described his young-
er brother as “much quieter
and easygoing than I am,”
and “the only guy in my life
whom I ever call ‘honey.’”
Robert Trump began his
career on Wall Street work-
ing in corporate finance but
later joined the family busi-
ness, managing real estate
holdings as a top executive
in the Trump Organization.
“When he worked in
the Trump Organization,
he was known as the nice
Trump,” Gwenda Blair, a
Trump family biographer,
told The Associated Press.
“Robert was the one people
would try to get to inter-
vene if there was a prob-
lem.”
Robert Stewart Trump
was born in 1948, the
youngest of New York City
real estate developer Fred
Trump’s five children.
The president, more
than two years older than
Robert, admittedly bullied
his brother in their young-
er years, even as he praised
his loyalty and laid-back de-
meanor.

Civil rights activist Ruby Bridges writes children’s book

BY HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
NEW YORK — Civil
rights activist Ruby Bridg-
es has written a children’s
book with a candid telling
of the past and positive
message for the future, in-
spired by the Black Lives
Matter protests.
Delacorte Press,
an imprint of Random
House Children’s Books,
announced Friday that
Bridges’ “This Is Your
Time” will come out Nov.
10. It arrives 60 years after
she made history at age
6 by becoming the first
Black student at an all-
white elementary school
in New Orleans, walking
past crowds screaming
racist slurs. She was lat-
er honored by Norman
Rockwell in the painting
“The Problem We All Live
With.”
The book is an open let-
ter from Bridges to young
readers and includes im-
ages from the 1960s and
from recent events.
“During the first few
days of watching events
unfold in our country re-
cently, I felt myself wait-
ing for guidance and I
know many were feeling
the same. Having spent
years speaking to young
people about racism, I felt
compelled to say some-
thing, and after careful
consideration, I decided
a letter to my young peo-
ple was the way,” Bridges
said in a statement.
Bridges is also the Send in your church event!
author of “Through My Email editorialassistant@cdispatch.com
Eyes,” a memoir pub-
Subject: Religious brief
lished in 1999.
The Dispatch • www.cdispatch.com MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 5B
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Garage Sales
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662-329-2323 Estate Sales
2411 HWY 45 N Burns Estate Sale
823 8th St. North
COLUMBUS, MS Columbus, MS 39701
Fri. Aug. 14, 9am−5pm
Houses For Rent: Other
Sat. Aug. 15, 9am−5pm
Sun. Aug. 16, 1pm−5pm
NEAR CAFB: 3BR/2BA @ Selling contents of nice
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lease or sale. High traffic table. Call 662−328−6224
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Possibly some owner
financing. B.F. at 662−329
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OBO. 662−241−7148.
Ads appear in The Commercial Dispatch,
The Starkville Dispatch and Online
To place ads starting at only $12,
call 662-328-2424 or visit ads.cdispatch.com
THE DISPATCH n CDISPATCH.COM n MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020 n 6B
General Merchandise Trucks, Vans & Buses Five Questions:
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Building & Remodeling General Services General Services Painting & Papering
A & T TREE SERVICES QUALITY PAINTING.
Bucket truck & stump Ext/Int Painting.
removal. Free est. Sheet Rock Hang, Finish &
Serving Columbus Repair. Pressure Washing.
since 1987. Senior Free Estimates. Ask for
citizen disc. Call Alvin @ specials! Larry Webber,
242−0324/241−4447 662−242−4932.
"We’ll go out on a limb for
you!" Painting & Papering
MAINTENANCE PROS
Specializing in: DUMP TRUCK HAULING. SULLIVAN’S PAINT
Residential Carpentry, Slag − $400 SERVICE
Electrical, Painting, Clay Gravel − $250 Special Prices.
Appliance Repair & Minor Available for hauling any Interior & Exterior Painting.
Plumbing. Free estimate. materials. Columbus. Call 662−435−6528
Call 662−570−5570. Walter, 662−251−8664.
Tree Services
Carpet & Flooring WORK WANTED: Licensed
& Bonded. Carpentry, minor Lawn Care / Landscaping J&A TREE REMOVAL
electrical, minor plumbing, Work from a bucket truck.
insulation, painting, demo− JESSE & BEVERLY’S Insured/bonded.
lition, gutters cleaned, LAWN SERVICE Call Jimmy Prescott for free
pressure washing, land− Mowing, cleanup, estimate, 662−386−6286.
scaping, cleanup work. landscaping, sodding,
662−242−3608. & tree cutting.
662−356−6525
HILL’S PRESSURE
WASHING. Commercial/ SAM’S LAWN SERVICE No
DAVID’S CARPET & Residential. House, lawn too large or too small.
UPHOLSTERY concrete, sidewalks & Mowing, trimming &
Grow your business.
CLEANING mobile washing. Free est. weedeating.
1 Room − $50 662−386−8925. Call 662−243−1694
2 Rooms − $70
3+ Rooms − $30 EA
Rugs−Must Be Seen
Car Upholstery Cleaning Got leaky pipes?
Available
662−722−1758 Find a plumber in the classifieds.
662-328-2424