Over this past summer I completed my first full-time paid internship with a local bi-weekly newspaper. I will say that the grip that religious superstition has on this community is frighteningly tight. Save the "sermons" I overheard while eavesdropping in local vacation Bible schools, in fact save the religious utterances I heard firsthand from preachers I interviewed. The scariest part was the political influence at the highest levels of this municipality. This obligation felt by local leaders that they must espouse a impression of unchallengable patriotism bound by religious convictions and a "common" faith in God came at the price of the taxpayer's pocketbooks, and nothing else.

I will begin my elaboration by setting the scene. It is Mississippi in July and it is hot. The no outside fires ordinance that was adopted in May has been extended indefinitely. The local American Legion baseball team is playing their games beginning at 8:30 for fear of heat exhaustion. And the most important celebration of American partiotism is just over the horizon: The 4th of July. For years this community has taken pride in its heritage and historical contributions with a weekend-long festival that features talented local stage acts and one moderately famous headliner. (Last year was Little Big Town, I believe) For over ten years now this celebration has been orchestrated by the same man, with the same committee. This year was to be different.

The illustrious mayor of this community along with a local bank executive, a local business owner, and a former director of the high school marching band relieved the long-time organizer of this event from his duties, promising a grander, fancier show that would draw a record number of attendees to the community. They dubbed thier project the "The Freedom Celebration".

It is noteworthy to include that this, like over half the municipalities in the state of Mississippi, is a dry county. No alcohol coming or going out of the county borders. It is, technically, illegal to inbibe alcohol even within the confines of your own property. That being said, this is the something that has become a bit of an issue that has always seemed to fly under the radar and never truly brought into public light, until recently. You see, the county was recently chosen to be the site of a new manufacturing plant for Toyota. It was chosen over locations in Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama (that is to my knowledge, there were probably more). As you can imagine the impediment of prohibition in such an area with so much potential for growth is not a small one. This is a seperate issue that I will cover at another time it is, however, relevant to the story.

In organizing this Freedom Celebration one of the most pertinent issues was sponsorship. It obviously wasn't hard for the "Four Horsemen" (this is the nickname the orchestrators of the Freedom Celebration gave themselves; I wish I were making this up) to gain sponsorship from the local bank, the local businesses, and a grants that were reserved for a Fourth of July celebration were already in place. One of the first initiatives that was taken by the "horsemen" was to assure the public that this would be a financial sucess, with a tighter, more organized budget than in past years. This, unfortunately, was an enormous lie from the very beginning.

The horsemen did everything within their power to get the will of the people behind funding this financial catastrophe. They used words like "God and Country" and "Hometown Pride"; advertising schemes like "Restore the morale of the people during this time of War", and of course the infamous "Support Our Troops!!" were readily employed.

The Numbers:
If I can remember correctly, the estimated budget for the festival was $50,000. This was to cover three live stage acts, a parade, renting of the sight of the concert, and a fireworks show that would make Mickey Mouse cream in his pants. Oh yeah the stage. The stage itself was not unlike the one you might see at a major music festival such as Lallapalooza or what have you. This is what I know:

*The stage itself cost over 15 thousand for the production of the show. How do I know this? I spoke with the owner of the stage.
*The mainstream act, The Charlie Daniels Band, charges somewhere in the neighborhood 80-100 thousand for a concert. He did this one for 85. How do I know this? I saw the reciept.
*And finally, the culmination of the entire weekend, the fireworks show, was estimated to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 alone! (our paper had to submit a legal affadavit in order to get these numbers; needless to say, they didn't want anyone to know)

Not long after the Freedom Celebration, the mayor could be seen at the Alderman's meeting requesting additional funds to pay for costs incurred during the production of the Freedom Celebration. Costs incurred?!?! I thought you guys were going to take this bull by the horns and make us some money? (I guess the proper euphamism would be horse, by the reigns?lol)

In the proceeding weeks, the head of the local development committee was fired, for no apparent reason. This is a man that has held this position for over twenty years. He holds a Masters degree in mathematics and engineering from Ole Miss. He has dozens of years of executive experience. Who was appointed by his mayorship to replace him? None other than the former band director. Fortunately he did not recieve a majority vote by the commitee and a twenty something newby from the north mississippi development association(this isn't its actual name, but its close) was appointed as a temporary replacement.

This blatant missuse of power and display of ingnorance can be attributed to these four men that decided they wanted to stamp their names in the history books as the ones that brought the county up in this time of growth. These men, a politician, a banker, a business owner, and a band director had one thing huge common belief: They were Christians, and they attended the same church. I won't state the denomination but I will tell you it rhymes with Smothern Faptist.

So for anyone that doesn't see the danger of religious tolerance probably needs to look no further than their own community. Because it's my guess, your town has its own version of the "Four Horsemen".

-ST