Elected officials
should look
into gas prices
Some talks about grocery stores price gouging. Well, I can tell you who is the real ones price gouging in Eupora and that is the gas stations.
You can buy gas for as low as $1.249 a gallon some places in Mississippi and below $1 a gallon in some states. Eupora is as high as $1.699 a gallon.
These folks are the worst kind of scumbags. Yes, I said scumbags. Scott is charging their gas customers almost 30 cents a gallon more in Eupora than in Grenada. One sorry scumbag.
What gets me is why our elected officials, who are supposed to have the people's best interest at heart, do nothing to get the price of gas down. They have a phone to call the gas distributors and ask them why they are charging so much for gas. They could get the price of gas down if they really wanted to.
Shameful.
Victor "Zero" Box
Eupora
Captain jeopardized crew, nation's defense
This is in regard to the editorial “Captain’s fears were accurate” by Publisher/Editor Jack Ryan of McComb’s Enterprise-Journal published in the April 8 Progress-Times:
When you are not sufficiently informed on a subject it is usually prudent to remain silent. Your editorial concerning the captain and crew of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt shows a pathetic lack of introspection and weighing of the facts concerning the issue.
Without dissecting the entire mash of error and outright ignorant opining in the article, let me point out the most egregious mistakes in your reasoning.
First, the USS Theodore Roosevelt belongs to the American people — not to Capt. Brett Crozier. It was his responsibility to maintain this very valuable cog in our armed defense in a ready state, insuring it is always prepared to move instantly to defend our nation’s interests abroad in an efficient manner.
By compromising information concerning the readiness of this ship, he put in jeopardy not only his crew but the entire defense of our nation. Any hostile country with such information might deem this the opportunity and point of first attack. While this may or may not be likely is hardly your or my prerogative to decide, especially with our limited tactical knowledge of hostile desires or intentions.
Yes, Capt. Crozier had a valid concern about his men, and yes, he had a valid right to do all he reasonably and prudently could to ensure their health and safety. But putting the entire balance of the crew and the physical entity that is a nearly $5 billion piece of hardware in harm’s way is not the proper way to alleviate his concern.
I wonder if Capt. Crozier would be so forgiving if one of the sailors under his command were to make public a gripe about the captain’s decisions on day-to-day handling of this massive war machine? Or would the captain defend his decisions and discipline the out-of-control sailor who perhaps lacks some key and vital information known only to his superiors?
Second, there is a chain of command. Capt. Crozier violated that crucial chain by releasing information that should only have been shared with his superior officers.
This vital information was no doubt classified at the highest level of “Top Secret,” and by revealing this information he didn’t just “mess up” — he broke a very critical law and is subject to court martial and serious jail time. He was treated kindly by only being fired, with his superior officers thinking he would surely let the matter die.
"For the captain of one of America's most expensive and vital military assets to show such a monumental lack of judgment is tactically dangerous and such a person does not belong in command."
Yes, perhaps the acting secretary of the Navy also used bad judgment and poor communicating skills in his dismissal of Capt. Crozier. That mistake has taken care of itself with the resignation of the SecNav. All in all, there has been a “righting of the ship” or a “course correction” with the removal of these two men. Occasionally the wrong man is promoted.
Fortunately for our country, this did not happen in a time of “real” war.
Be thankful you have leaders who do not conduct military actions with public opinion. Officers and commanders who violate protocol through ignorance or deterioration of command ability are justly and speedily removed.
Be prepared to step up and make difficult decisions that, in times of war, can cost the lives of better men than you, or gather real facts before you speak — a foreign concept in journalism today.
Willard Easley
Mathiston
