VTMBH Article: Body
A drive through Sen. Trent Lott's hometown quickly reveals the depth of devotion residents have for their senator. There's the Trent Lott Middle School, Trent Lott International Airport and, at the ship yards, government-funded projects the senator secured.
A week after Lott made a controversial comment about segregation, followed by a series of personal apologies, many residents here remain fierce in their supportwhite residents, that is.
It's hard to find a black resident who forgives him.
Lott's fifth apology came Friday after he reopened old racial wounds with remarks on segregation at Sen. Strom Thurmond's birthday party a week ago. He asked for forbearance and forgiveness' in a personal appearance in Pascagoula.
I don't care what they say, he's not a racist, said Mary Anderson, 70, the white matriarch of Anderson's Bakery. She said that Lott has always been open to both blacks and whites.
But Oreatha Bailey, 71, who is black, said the apologies haven't been enough.
I think the damage has been done, she said.
The Rev. James Goodman Sr., leader of a small black church in neighboring Moss Point, said a small gathering of church members had talked about Lott and nobody thought the remark had been a simple slip of the tongue.
You wouldn't say something that strong, that forceful, and not feel that way, Goodman said.
Lott's hometown newspaper, The Mississippi Press, called last week for the senator to resign his leadership position. As editor Dan Davis explained, Our editorial simply was we thought Lott's comments were insensitive and were an embarrassment to Mississippi.
But Lott's support of the local defense industry has earned him backing from many residents, including the mayor.
He has helped funnel contracts to Ingalls Shipyards, now Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, where his father once worked, as well as to Naval Station Pascagoula. Northrop Grumman employs 11,000 in this town of 26,000. It has built and delivered two or three destroyers per year for the last two decades, said Mayor Joe D. Cole, Jr., a vice president at the company.
He's always been a staunch supporter of U.S. Navy shipbuilding and that's resulted ... in the company landing new business and shipbuilding contracts, said Cole, 54.
A $47.5 million high-rise bridge that towers about 100 feet over the Pascagoula River will open in mid-2003, cutting down on the wait time for shrimp boats and motorists.
Neighboring Biloxi and Gulfport eye the high-rise with envy, knowing they are stuck with their draw bridges. Todd Jordan, an engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, says the only reason Pascagoula gets the new bridge is because the project received millions of dollars in federal funding.
If we lost his leadership in the senate, and if he left the senate, we'd be hard pressed to replace Trent Lott, Cole said.
A week after Lott made a controversial comment about segregation, followed by a series of personal apologies, many residents here remain fierce in their supportwhite residents, that is.
It's hard to find a black resident who forgives him.
Lott's fifth apology came Friday after he reopened old racial wounds with remarks on segregation at Sen. Strom Thurmond's birthday party a week ago. He asked for forbearance and forgiveness' in a personal appearance in Pascagoula.
I don't care what they say, he's not a racist, said Mary Anderson, 70, the white matriarch of Anderson's Bakery. She said that Lott has always been open to both blacks and whites.
But Oreatha Bailey, 71, who is black, said the apologies haven't been enough.
I think the damage has been done, she said.
The Rev. James Goodman Sr., leader of a small black church in neighboring Moss Point, said a small gathering of church members had talked about Lott and nobody thought the remark had been a simple slip of the tongue.
You wouldn't say something that strong, that forceful, and not feel that way, Goodman said.
Lott's hometown newspaper, The Mississippi Press, called last week for the senator to resign his leadership position. As editor Dan Davis explained, Our editorial simply was we thought Lott's comments were insensitive and were an embarrassment to Mississippi.
But Lott's support of the local defense industry has earned him backing from many residents, including the mayor.
He has helped funnel contracts to Ingalls Shipyards, now Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, where his father once worked, as well as to Naval Station Pascagoula. Northrop Grumman employs 11,000 in this town of 26,000. It has built and delivered two or three destroyers per year for the last two decades, said Mayor Joe D. Cole, Jr., a vice president at the company.
He's always been a staunch supporter of U.S. Navy shipbuilding and that's resulted ... in the company landing new business and shipbuilding contracts, said Cole, 54.
A $47.5 million high-rise bridge that towers about 100 feet over the Pascagoula River will open in mid-2003, cutting down on the wait time for shrimp boats and motorists.
Neighboring Biloxi and Gulfport eye the high-rise with envy, knowing they are stuck with their draw bridges. Todd Jordan, an engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, says the only reason Pascagoula gets the new bridge is because the project received millions of dollars in federal funding.
If we lost his leadership in the senate, and if he left the senate, we'd be hard pressed to replace Trent Lott, Cole said.