Like most Gulf state Department heads, Dr. William Walker of the Mississippi Dept of Marine Resources is a virtual "one man gang." Until and unless the eminent Haley Barbour himself calls up to weigh in, Walker answers to no one.
When asked at a recent public forum by US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to tell the audience which exact body or group of people in Mississippi had considered public health and safety in ruling to re-open State waters and beaches impacted by the now-capped BP Oil gusher - Doctor Walker bellowed from the back of the packed room, "I did!" [...Read more]
Sort of like OJ Simpson (Yes. I figure he did it), BP "got over" in the US Justice Department's criminal case against them. They didn't win, but they gladly settled for $4 Billion rather than face a full trial with full public disclosure of exactly what happened before, during and after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010. 
January 24, 2012 – It is 12:06 am and I have just turned 45 years old on the front porch of my grandparents’ home on Rippy Road. I am sitting alone on the smooth concrete slab where my cousin Carmel n’em played “jacks” for hours on end when I was two and three years old. The steps, hedges, and onetime flowerbed where I used to sneak away to catch and play with roly-polies (potato bugs) are directly at my back. 
Today, two community advocates and regional leaders from the Gulf Coast, Bryan Parras and Derrick Evans, brought an urgent message to BP's board and shareholders, at the corporation's annual meeting. Here are Evans' remarks as prepared for delivery. Evans is the founder of Turkey Creek Community Initiatives (TCCI), a Founding Advisor of the Gulf Coast Fund, and Bridge T 
Like Holt-Peterson Road near John Wathen's place outside Tuscaloosa, I have seen total destruction in nearby Alberta City and Crescent Ridge Road, in Birmingham's African-American community of Pratt City (approximately 7,000 homes), and elsewhere.
