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"I Love America Day" Speakers Urge MC Students to Get Involved


Mississippi College students were urged to get more involved as community volunteers, make sure they vote on Nov. 6, and consider a career in public service.

Those were among the messages from a trio of speakers at the annual "I Love America Day" festivities on the Clinton campus this week, including a salute to military veterans.

During the event Thursday at the B.C. Rogers Student Center, Clinton Ward 4 alderman Phil Fisher said there are plenty of volunteer activities awaiting students not far from campus. It could be anything from helping with Clinton youth sports programs to mowing the yard of an elderly neighbor, he said.

Fisher, a colonel in the Mississippi National Guard who has returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, said there's also plenty remaining to do on the Gulf Coast two years after Katrina. The Clintonian led off the trio of speakers at the event that was moved indoors Thursday due to chilly weather.

Scores of MC students, faculty and staff feasted on lunch and listened to the musical sounds of the Pates as Fisher, the incoming Hinds County District 4 supervisor in January, get the program started.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Arthur Eaves, who is a graduate of Clinton High and the University of Mississippi School of Law, and state Auditor Phil Bryant, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, rounded out the speakers.

Bryant, a native of Moorhead, said watching the 1964 Republican National Convention on TV when he was a youngster growing up in the Delta first got him interested in politics. A former law enforcement officer, Bryant holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College.

A former Mississippi House member from Rankin County, Bryant said helping others was what really drove him to get into politics. "It's not about power. It's about public service."

Eaves, who is challenging Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, spoke of his campaign push to seek full funding of public schools and said he supports healthcare for every Mississippi child.

All three speakers "were just wonderful examples of how to serve your country," said MC senior Susan Boyd of Pontotoc, who chaired the I Love America Day committee. The patriotic event at Anderson Hall attracted dozens of red, white and blue balloons, miniature U.S. flags at most tables and the Mississippi College ROTC unit to perform the flag presentation.

PHOTO: Phil Bryant, Republican candidate for Lt. Governor.