Sometimes it seems Mississippi works overtime to make a poor first impression.
“You never get a second chance to make a good first impression,” famous philosopher Will Rogers once noted.
Take the inside appearance of the state’s welcome center just inside the state line on Interstate Highway 10, going west from Mobile toward Moss Point, Pascagoula, Ocean Springs and beyond. It's an awful and disgusting sight, and we can do better, despite what the bureaucrats would likely say.
It’s not the structure itself, which is of antebellum architectural style featuring eight or so massive columns out front. The thousands of visitors daily must believe they’ve landed at Tara. (That’s a theme some will find offensive to the senses, but, as said, it is what it is.)
The staff members working the facility are always gracious, kind and helpful to travelers from afar who have geographical and sociological questions about Mississippi. The visitors’ lobby was well conceived with artifacts and information about the state.
Our musical heritage is front and center, as it should be. Indeed, Mississippi is the Birthplace of America’s Music.
But.
Both bathrooms — visitors will remember these more than any other feature — are hideous and that’s being generous. They’re small for such a magnificent building, dirty, foul, smelly and breathtaking (not in a good way). The water in the sinks and toilets is brown as if there’s a pipeline bringing it straight from the Mississippi River. Properly operating hand soap dispensers and dryers are rarely found. Soap is usually in the dispensers? Not in this lifetime.
“Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression,” said novelist Cynthia Ozick.
One visitor asked, “Is Mississippi’s water always this bad?” I refused comment. (In Leland where I lived for more than a decade, their brown water is delicious.)
Litter surrounds the facility’s footprint and adjacent acreage that connects to the marshland of the Pascagoula River, which ranks among the nation’s most pristine waterways. The environmental armies have waged war to keep it that way. It must be one mighty struggle.
When we went through there in mid-August, the grass in the median of I-10 and on the right-of-way looked as if it hadn’t been cut in a month. If we’re not going to mow it, let’s turn some cows and billy goats loose on it.
After reaching U.S. highways 49 and 98 toward Hattiesburg, it was obvious county crews had been working hard to keep those byways clean. Perhaps the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which is in charge of mowing and operating the welcome centers, was involved as well, but it’s not in my heart to give them much credit right now.
Truth be known, most of Mississippi’s highways, byways and trailways are rarely mowed. (Most cities are just as bad.) MDOT farms these jobs out to private vendors but there’s not enough funding in the agency’s budget for an adequate job of keeping Mississippi presentable. Litter management is basically forgotten, except by volunteers.
That leads us straight to the halls, committee rooms and chambers of the Legislature which annually fails in its mission of appropriating enough money for the job.
Despite Mississippi’s natural beauty, at which we all marvel and talk a solid game about preserving, we apparently won’t, can’t and ain’t.
Somebody ought to be embarrassed about it, but nobody is or it wouldn’t appear like this on a seemingly continuing basis.
Perhaps we enjoy this picture, which is a damnable shame.
(Lyrics by Pete Rodriguez, 1967, paraphrased)
“Yeah, baby
"We like it like that
"You gotta believe me when I tell you
"I said we like it like that…”
— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com .
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Sometimes it seems Mississippi works overtime to make a poor first impression
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