Good Day, Selma

Ready, set....

Not quite time to go yet. Been working this afternoon readying myself for that thing called the Legislature, which meets in February. Have ideas? Send them to me. We'll be covering the statehouse like a glove from 50 miles away.

The family

All my birds are in the nest tonight. It's good having everyone home, and that includes the granddog. We're a good family together. It makes this grandma proud.

This hurts

TORONTO (Reuters) - Oscar Peterson, who sat atop the world of jazz piano for decades with his driving two-handed swing, technical wizardry and rapid-fire solos, died Sunday of kidney failure, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported. He was 82.

Just in case you don't know:

Miss Evelyn

I met Miss Evelyn Gandy while she was lieutenant governor of the state, and watched her suffer defeat twice for governor. I'm still not sure the voters of Mississippi will elect a woman as governor.

Miss Gandy was a gracious woman, but she was first a politician. She worked hard. She was one of the iron Magnolias that make covering southern politics so much fun.

Miss Gandy died Sunday night at home near Hattiesburg.

White Christmas, of sorts

It didn't snow here in Selma, so I thought I'd bring you this You Tube of some fellows on Everest. They got a little snow:

Police management letter

Here is the confidential letter Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. and a majority of the city council didn't want you to see.

Ring the bell

Wow! The pub sent this over from Fox News. Nice story:

EXTON, Pa. — An Army veteran who remembered getting free coffee and doughnuts from the Salvation Army decades ago gave a $10,000 check to a dumbfounded bell-ringer.

"The $10,000 is to help pay for my coffee and donuts," he said in a handwritten note signed, "P.F.C." "Seems fair to me after 40+ years, with inflation and everything."

The man gave the check to a volunteer outside a department store at the Exton Mall on Friday, said Capt. Gerald Morgan, a spokesman for the Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia.

The man remembered being given coffee and doughnuts while serving in World War II and wanted to return the kindness, Morgan said. His name was on the check and he has given large amounts in the past, but he asked the Salvation Army not to identify him.

Up late, listening to Nina Simone

Got the paper out early and played with the Web site a little. Sometimes, it does a body good to get back to their roots of geekdom. Here's something for you if you like Nina Simone.

Dick Cheney's office damaged

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Thick black smoke billowed from a fire Wednesday in Vice President Dick Cheney's suite of offices in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.
Cheney's office was damaged by smoke and water from fire hoses, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. The vice president was not in the building at the time; he was in the West Wing of the White House with President Bush.
More than 1,000 people who work in the building were evacuated. The fire broke out on the second floor of the building around about 9:15 a.m. and was under control within a half hour, District of Columbia fire department spokesman Alan Etter said.

Fires

Two fires this morning – one a church near Orrville and another, an abandoned house on Washington. We've got you covered. Keep watching the main page.