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I have flown over 150 flights the last three years with Delta, many of them in and out of Tupelo. As a local business leader, I have encouraged our employees and customers to support the local airport. As a businessman who has flown almost two million miles the last 12 years based out of Tupelo, I can tell you that my frustration with the service or lack thereof has reached a new high.
A few weeks ago I was traveling back from Raleigh, N.C. It would have been much easier and cheaper to fly out of Memphis or Columbus, but I decided to fly in and out of Tupelo. On my return flight I arrived at the gate at 7:05 for a 7:30 flight only to be told that the flight had left early because of the airport’s runway expansion.
I was forced to book a one-way car rental from Memphis for $238.
When I shared my frustration with the workers in Memphis and then again back here in Tupelo, I was told that the Tupelo airport has complained to Delta to change the return flight time to Tupelo but to no avail. I was told that this flight leaving early is the norm these days because the runway is being expanded.
On top of this frustration is the absurdity of having to pay $238 for a one way car rental from Memphis. Do the car rental companies based in Tupelo not realize they are just hurting themselves if travelers start using the Columbus and Memphis airports?
We can build longer runways and talk a good game (Fly Tupelo) but service sets companies apart. Our local airport and its partners have not understood this for quite some time. Fly Tupelo has some merit but what about addressing the real issues facing the local business traveler?
It’s a shame because the people who work the Delta counter and the security at the airport are some of the best people I have ever encountered when I travel. That is why I pray that the airport can turn these other challenges around as this hampers business opportunities and hurts our local economy. Tupelo deserves better!
Stephen Tybor III
Tupelo
Clinton got it wrong about bin Laden
Former President Bill Clinton (“Slick Willie”) notes that if the bin Laden mission failed, it would adversely affect President Obama’s reelection bid. Not so. By maneuvering a plan that aforementioned Slick Willie would be proud of, President Obama gave full operational control of the mission to the Navy’s Admiral William H. McRaven.
This meant that if the operation failed it would be McRaven had a bad plan, and consequently it failed. President Obama had expertly taken himself out of the line of fire in case of failure, substituting McRaven as his patsy.
The plan was expertly designed and executed by people who knew what they were doing. This in itself was the reason for the tremendous success of the mission. Now all we can hear from the president is the “I” word of self adoration. McRaven should be awarded his fourth star. The entire Seal team should be promoted. All should receive commendations and medals for their heroic performances. This is the military way a grateful nation honors the accomplishments of heroes. God bless the United States of America.
Ralph Salter
Col., USA (Ret.)
Amory
Wildmon’s trust in Bush creates his problems
In his column on May 6, Tim Wildmon seems perplexed about the truth or fiction supporting the Iraq War. He asks, what happened to the WMD’s that were the justification for the invasion. But he bases his confidence that there were, in fact, such weapons in Iraq on the veracity (or competence) of the George W. Bush administration. Therein lies his problem.
He contends that “whatever else President Bush may have done wrong, he did not lie about the circumstances leading up to the Iraq War.” Bush claimed there were WMD’s, based on the information his administration gathered, and filtered, and twisted. There are countless instances that demonstrate that the Cheney/Bush team manipulated evidence at every turn to create the illusion that Iraq had WMD’s. Saddam himself helped build that illusion; Iraq had powerful enemies, and he needed that illusion as a deterrent. This same illusion was the basis for the support for war by the Congress and America’s allies.
All these years since the invasion of Iraq, and Wildmon still wonders about the nonexistent WMD’s. There is ample evidence to demonstrate to fair-minded investigators that they were never there. Maybe Bush didn’t actually lie about this, maybe he just got fooled, by Cheney, by his less-than-astute-foreign policy team, by his own preconceived notions. The best term for this, and for Wildmon’s misplaced confidence in our former president, is “willful disbelief”.
Tony Eldridge
Tupelo
American pot users bear partial blame in 49 deaths
Did you smoke a little pot this week? Did you run a line or two of coke? If you did either of these “recreational activities” you are probably partially responsible for 49 dismembered bodies dumped in Mexico this week.
But don’t think about it. It’s not your problem is it? I’m sure the folks on the border who are being murdered every day felt it wasn’t their problem years ago when drugs were passing through their towns, before the killers moved in. Keep using those “recreational drugs” folks. It may still be years before those people move into your neighborhood to facilitate the “needs” of their customers in Canada.
Jack Taylor
Tupelo