U.S. Sen Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has released an official statement saying he will vote against appointing Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Kagan, but the full Senate must still vote on the appointment. With Democrats in control of the Senate, Kagan is expected to be approved. U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has not released an official statement on Kagan but is expected to soon, his press office said today. Below is the statement released by Wicker on July 19:

Over the past several weeks, I have been reviewing the record and testimony of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ms. Kagan and discuss some of my concerns surrounding her views and past statements. We need to set the highest standards when confirming justices for lifetime appointments to the highest court in the nation. Ms. Kagan certainly has an impressive resume with extensive political and academic credentials, but her record also demonstrates a tendency to insert personal beliefs and lean toward judicial activism.

Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan

Protecting the Second Amendment

I have serious concerns about Ms. Kagan’s view on the right to bear arms, a basic constitutional right. As a clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, Elena Kagan wrote a memorandum indicating she was “not sympathetic” to a Second Amendment challenge of the gun ban in Washington, D.C. Not only was Ms. Kagan’s recommendation troubling, but the personal tone she used is even more disturbing. Rather than pointing to text and precedent, rooting her analysis in law, or looking to the Constitution, she chose to insert her personal beliefs saying, “I’m not sympathetic.” Ms. Kagan went on to serve as a key advisor to President Clinton on gun control efforts, where she advocated proposals to increase restrictions. She helped draft an executive order requiring all federal law enforcement officers to install locks on their weapons and another order limiting the importation of certain semiautomatic rifles. The Supreme Court continues to hear many challenges to state and local gun control laws on the grounds that the laws violate the Second Amendment. The most recent case this year, McDonald v. Chicago, resulted in a 5-4 decision, demonstrating that the personal Second Amendment right of every American hangs by a single vote. I am concerned that Ms. Kagan’s beliefs and political activism on gun control would influence the way she judges from the bench.

Kagan’s Support of Partial Birth Abortion

Ms. Kagan, having neither served as a judge nor spent any significant time in a courtroom, lacks a judicial record to give us insight into her views on abortion. There are, however, several red flags raised by her actions on this issue during her days in the Clinton White House. Memos from Ms. Kagan to President Clinton indicate that she believed partial birth abortion is constitutionally protected. Partial birth abortion is a truly reprehensible procedure, and I am disturbed that Ms. Kagan would find the prohibition of this act to be unconstitutional. I believe her views on this issue raise serious questions regarding how she would interpret the Constitution if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Defying the Law

During her committee hearings, Ms. Kagan was questioned extensively about her record as Dean of Harvard Law School. When meeting with the nominee, I had the opportunity to ask her to clarify the events leading up to her decision to ban military recruiters from the campus. Unfortunately, I found her explanation troubling. Ms. Kagan inherited a policy of open-access for military recruiters at Harvard but changed that policy in defiance of federal law and at a time when the United States was at war. Fortunately, Dean Kagan’s position was rejected 9-0 by the Supreme Court. While she is free to have personal opinions on the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, she should not be putting her views above the law of the land. This speaks to the larger question of whether she will interpret the law as written or as she would like it to be.

Kagan Not Right for Supreme Court

In her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms. Kagan acknowledged that it is ‘difficult to take off the advocate’s hat and put on the judge’s hat.’ I do not have confidence that Ms. Kagan would be able to restrain her personal views and political advocacy from influencing her decisions if she were confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court. Americans want a justice who will apply the law impartially and without bias. The American people do not want Congress to confirm a nominee to the highest court that would serve as a rubber stamp for this White House or any future administration. Her political advocacy on gun control and partial birth abortion, her deliberate defiance of the law banning military recruits, and her apparent belief that there is little limit to the federal government’s power over the individual rights of Americans are reasons why I will vote against the nomination of Ms. Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.

People walk on the new bridge as they make their way to the ribbon cutting ceremony.

By Josh Mitchell/Informer Publisher

Today marked a historic milestone for Marion County as the new Pearl River bridge near Goss opened.

About 100 people, including local, state and national dignitaries, showed up this morning to witness the ribbon cutting for the new bridge that went under construction two years ago.

The total project cost was $20.5 million and was paid for with funding from Marion and Lawrence counties as well as state and federal funds. The Federal Highway Administration paid for most of the project.

The bridge itself represents only about one mile of the total six-mile project. The remaining five miles is a new road that connects Highway 587 near White Bluff with Highway 13 near Goss.

The ribbon is cut for the new bridge.

The new road and bridge will open opportunities for economic development, tourism and improve response times for emergency agencies, said Marion County Development Partnership President Jerry Frazier, who emceed the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Marion County Board of Supervisors President Calvin Newsom praised the cooperation of the local, state and federal officials who made the project a reality.

“If we work together, this is just the beginning of what we can accomplish,” Newsom told the crowd.

The ribbon cutting today was just for Phase 1 of the three-phase project. Lawrence County Board of Supervisors President Steve Garrett said he looks forward to future phases being built in his county. “We need to get the second phase over to Highway 27,” said Garrett.

Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Larry "Butch" Brown addresses the crowd.

With money tight, it is uncertain when work on future phases will begin, said Newsom. Phase 2 will connect Highway 587 with Highway 27 in Lawrence County, and Phase 3 will connect Highway 27 with Highway 44 in Jayess, which is also in Lawrence County, said Newsom.

The counties will continue to work with state and federal officials to get the funds to complete all the project phases, Newsom added.

State Reps. Ken Morgan, R-Morgantown, and Bill Pigott, R-Tylertown, both attended the ceremony. “Roads and bridges are the backbone of economic development,” said Pigott.

Chairman of the Mississippi House of Representatives Transportation Committee Warner McBride said, “It is a very incredible project. It didn’t come easy. It took a lot of hard work and working together. Transportation is so important to economic development and public safety.”

Jay Carney, chief operating officer and president of Columbia-based T.L. Wallace Construction Co., the company that built the road and bridge, said, “Without change there can be no progress.”

Also in attendance was 90-year-old Max Huff of Jackson who designed the bridge. Huff has designed many bridges across the state and this may be his last.

Former Lawrence County Board of Supervisors President James Givens, deceased, conceived the idea for the new bridge. His son, Jamie, left, and wife, Pearline, attended the ceremony in his honor.

Southern District Mississippi Department of Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown said, “May God bless this bridge and each person who crosses it.”

Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation Butch Brown said the bridge is an “edifice that will be here for 100 years. It looks like a parkway. It’s as pretty as the Natchez Trace.”

Across Mississippi there are examples of poor road and bridge designs and this one is a “good one,” said Brown. “We’re proud of it.”

Brown added that the bridge and new road are modern and surrounded by 20,000 acres of industrial quality land.

Former Lawrence County Board of Supervisors President James Givens is credited for conceiving the idea to build the road and bridge. Givens passed away in 1999, but his wife, Pearline, and son, Jamie, attended the ceremony. Jamie Givens said his dad thought there needed to be a new road connecting Marion and Lawrence counties to foster the area’s chicken and logging industries. Pearline Givens cut the ribbon to open the bridge.

As Jamie Givens stood next to his mom and looked over the bridge he said his dad “would be proud of it; he really would. It’s better than he probably would have envisioned.”

Dungan Engineering of Columbia headed up the engineering on the project. The new bridge is in Marion County Supervisor Lloyd Fortenberry’s Beat 2.

Donna Fite of Columbia protests the healthcare bill on Main Street in front of the Courthouse.

By Josh Mitchell/Informer Publisher

 Sitting on the tailgate of a truck in front of the Marion County Courthouse, Columbia resident Donna Fite was practicing democracy in its truest form today.

Clad in a “Tea Party Patriots” T-Shirt, Fite was holding a sign that stated “Kill the Bill,” referring to the healthcare reform bill which is before Congress this week.

She urges people to call their senators and representatives and tell them to vote no on the bill, adding that the majority of the people in Mississippi oppose it.

Fite used a real life anecdote to explain why she is against the health care bill: “I have a grandbaby due next month,” she said. “If that healthcare bill passes, that grandbaby will be paying for it when he’s an old man.”

Fite said she is part of a national organization called We the People that urged its members to take a stand on Main Streets across America and protest the bill.

She even took a day off from her job as public librarian in Lamar County to protest. Healthcare needs to be changed in the United States but not in the fashion that is being proposed, she said.

“We have one of the best healthcare systems in the world,” she said. “I don’t want to see what is being proposed in D.C. to happen, what they call Obamacare.”

As an opponent of abortion, she does not want her insurance paying for people to have the procedure. She said she has talked to people in other countries who have socialized medicine similar to what is being proposed in Congress and they say the quality of the healthcare is poor under the system.

It scares Fite to think that the government would make the decisions regarding her healthcare. She would not want to get into a situation where she had cancer and the government would decide to just let her die.

U.S. Sen Thad Cochran, R-Miss.

The Columbia-Marion County Airport has received a $110,790 federal grant to build a new taxiway, U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker announced Friday.

The new taxiway will accommodate present and future needs and provide access to new hangars, a news release from Cochran’s office states. The grant will also begin installation of a precision approach path indicator system to aid navigation and enhance operational safety, the release states. A perimeter fence to keep wildlife off the runway will also be paid for by the grant.

Statewide, a total of $2.3 million in grants were awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Hattiesburg Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport received $108,659 to install a new taxiway lighting system to enhance safety and operations through improved visibility. The grant also includes funding to improve drainage, reducing and preventing erosion problems.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

The Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport Authority received $720,100 to install a new taxiway lighting system to enhance safety and operations through improved visibility. The grant will also fund the installation of a new emergency generator to ensure continued airport operations when commercial power is unavailable. Funding will also be provided for rehabilitation and maintenance on Taxiway B.

The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, administered by the Federal Aviation Administration, were provided through the Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.  AIP grants are used to support infrastructure development projects that will improve operational safety and efficiency at local airport facilities.

“Airport Improvement Program grants allow Mississippi communities to make the safety upgrades they need to maintain airport facilities,” said Cochran, R-Miss. and vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “These facilities are often important to economic development efforts, so I am pleased to see these resources being directed to our state.”

Wicker, R-Miss., said, “These federal dollars are a good investment in our state’s aviation infrastructure, and they will provide greater operational safety at our local airports. These improvements will also strengthen Mississippi’s economy by keeping our airports, which are key commercial hubs, operating efficiently and competitively.”