SATURDAY

May 21, 2011

www.columbianprogress.com
continued from Page 1 the gables before acting on that request. Davis reported that JA is allocating funds and required service hours of its members to park cleanup for the upcoming year. Alderman Cheryl Bourne, Beat 2, suggested the city place a line item in the park department's 2011-2012 budget for City Park maintenance.

Facelift
Volunteers cleaned graffiti, repainted artwork and made other repairs to the playground, during a workday sponsored by JA. The two representatives asked the city to provide the linseed oil treatment and to help with painting the tallest of the gabled rooftops on the playground. The board requested more cost information on painting

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cooked nothing. Toney said they get out good food quickly. We want to provide a good product and a good service to the community. The crowds, Toney said are average for the store in Columbia from Sunday to Wednesday, but beginning Thursday night, things change. Business picks up on the night shift. Theres a market for it, and as long as it continues, we will continue to do it. In Columbia, breakfast is the most popular, Toney said. We do breakfast 24 hours a day. Hash browns and waffles are the single most popular items in Columbia.

BUSINESS FEATURE
133 Walter Payton Drive, Columbia (601) 444-4818
By Mark Rogers
Managing Editor

HUDDLE HOUSE

Air
that way in many classrooms I observed. Wedgeworth worked to explain the system. Thats the nature of the units. Some of the classrooms have ceiling fans which help to distribute the air. Ive heard nothing but negative, Shepard said. Weve got $3 million in this project and not a lot of satisfaction. Shepard said the disparity of neighboring rooms was a concern. The ultimate reason for doing this was to save on utilities and to use the set points, Wedgeworth said. It has to be for everyone or it doesnt work. Its a complicated program with settings for weekends, weekdays, mornings Shepard and Trustee Rene Dungan continued to cite examples for the architects. Tim Furr said the team was bringing in Dataloggers and will turn charts over to the schools to determine the best course of action. Were running out of time, Shepard said. The school year is almost over. The completion date for the systems is June 18. If we need to we can make adjustments at the beginning of the school year, Wedgeworth said. Certainly were going to monitor the system. Well make sure the units are working. Wedgeworth and Furr then spoke more about the system. I just think theres some misunderstanding of what theyre supposed to do, Wedgeworth said. We can get it cold, we can get it hot. Were just trying to continued from Page 1 find the set point. Some smaller units were used in special situations, and reports have been positive about those units. If we had used those in all the classrooms, the project would have been $6.5 to 7 million instead of $3 million, Furr said. The money comes from ARRA (stimulus) funds. Our ultimate goal is to make I more comfortable, Wedgeworth said. We need feedback. The board members then thanked the pair for doing the walk-throughs and being thorough about the testing. The board then heard from Business Manager Kim Rogers about the development of the FY2012 budget. Concerns are declining revenues and decreasing bank interest as well as a state decrease in MAEP funding. Weve worked hard to balance it, Rogers said of the budget. Administrators are basing the budget on a three percent increase in Ad Valorem revenue. The board also approved Superintendent Dr. Marietta James to enter into negotiations to purchase some land adjacent to Jefferson Middle School. The land owner is interested in selling because of property taxes, James said. As much as we can, we need to preserve the property around the school. The board voted to continue looking at the property acquisition and Dr. James will continue to pursue the property. The property in question is currently vacant.

The Huddle House in Columbia opened up just over a year ago and continues to expand its customer base. On Saturday and Sunday nights, Columbia is our busiest store, said Don Toney, who is the multi-unit manager over six Huddle Houses in the region. We opened this store last March and two others (in Hattiesburg and Petal) and they're not far apart on volume. A new store just opened March 15 in Waynesboro. Keith Saucier, owner of Keiths

The dining room (above) is open and inviting for customers. Below, Helen Webber (left) and Arnetra Mason cook meals for patrons. photos by Mark Rogers

Budget
approach of the end of the Columbia School Districts fiscal year, the end of June. At Mays city board meeting, city clerk Donna McKenzie reported that the city still lacked collections of $473,000 to meet the total budget required by the school district. At that time, she pointed out that the city would receive more collections toward the schools budget before the final payment to the district. Since the May meeting, McKenzie reports that the city has collection an additional $142,000 of the $473,000 required. That does not count receipts we will get from the county from car tags, mobile homes and other taxes they collect on our behalf, she said. Last year the county sent about $130,000 for May and June. Any shortfall in collections at the end of the year, must be carried over and made up by the city in the next years tax millage. With the additional receipts already reported and the projected collections from the county, the shortfall for the CSD budget will be closer to $200,000 at the years end, a figure McKenzie continued from Page 1 said is not unheard of, but still not desired. McKenzie said she reported the status so the board members would know where we stand as the fiscal year heads toward closure and the aldermen begin looking at next years budget. We often have a shortfall. A lot of it is due to the difference in our fiscal year calendars, said McKenzie. The schools end their bookkeeping year on June 30. The Citys budget goes from October to September, leaving July, August and September, each year when the city is collecting on the previous years millage rate for the schools, but is responsible for the total of the newer years millage. Last year the city had a $50,000 shortfall, but previous years have reached $200,000. The fiscal years of both the city school district and the citys operation are set by the state and are not arbitrary settings by either of the local bodies. Final figures on a shortfall, if any, in the citys collection of school taxes, will not be available until the end of June.

Districts
laws of the State of Mississippi, to the holdings of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to the proper placement of responsibility of reapportionment - the Legislature of the State of Mississippi. With this order, our citizens have retained their constitutional right to select their representatives, Hosemann said. It was so late in the game, Morgan said. Well have more time to go over a justifiable plan in the house. It just wasnt right the way my district was drawn out. Morgan, under the house plan, would have lost Columbia as part of his district. When we go back into session, well start drafting another plan. This is my first rodeo as far as redistricting. Its my understanding that things are fine as long as we have reapportionment done before the next election. State Treasurer Tate Reeves spoke continued from Page 1 out about Mondays ruling as well. Todays ruling is a victory for local election officials and voter who wont have to be rushed into contending with new maps and district lines this year, only to have them change again next year. The courts ruling now permits the election process to move forward and legislative leaders to work together in the 2012 session for a fair reapportionment plan, said Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant. As I have stated before, I believe we should follow the Mississippi Constitution which gives the legislature two years to complete the reapportionment after the Census. In my opinion, they did the right thing, with the primaries being Aug. 2, Morgan said. People Ive talked to on the street say its the wisest thing they could have done. Its been a mind-boggling situation.

Superstores is the owner. He picked out places he thought we would do well, Toney said. He picked four sites and weve done all right in all four. Huddle House is a national chain, the company recently started promotions online, including a Summer of Waffle Love campaign which began on Facebook with a waffle giveaway May 17. Its in the fledgling stage, Toney said. The Columbia Huddle House has 16 employees and is open 24 hours a day, seven day a week. The manager is Scott Robbins of Foxworth. Toney said Huddle House is often compared with other similar restaurants. Our menu is a little more diverse, he said. The Huddle House goal is to try to go more toward actual dining, not fast food. The restaurant features a seven page menu with everything from waffles to rib-eye steaks, sandwiches and salads. We have all kinds of entrees, Toney said. Our variety is a lot more than people think. One misconception people have is they think were fast food. This is not fast food; this is good food, fast. Everything is cooked to order, nothing is pre-

Toney said the store has done several promotions in the community, including going to East Marion and Columbia football games and providing footballs for cheerleaders to throw into the stands. We try to do as much community involvement as we can, Toney said. High schools sports are a good way. Huddle House was founded in 1964 by John Sparks. Having already opened a few restaurants under various names, he needed a great name for his restaurant chain. One evening in Decatur, Ga., he saw a boy meeting friends after football practice holding his helmet in one hand and a football in the other. It looked as if the group huddled up talking and laughing together. It was the moment he decided that Huddle House was the perfect name for his restaurant chain and it would be the place that people would gather or huddle up. The Huddle House, at 133 Walter Payton Drive, is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. They offer to go orders as well. Customers can call in at (601) 444-4818.