Shelby's Bill in State Legislature - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Shelby's Bill in State Legislature

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Maybe this is a sign.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

They left out the part about encouraging young females to engage in indoor athletic activity.
You know, they can commend him all day long if he'll just LEAVE.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Is it customary for the Mississippi legislature to act on such resolutions?

Date: Mar 29, 2005

S. C. R. No. 601 *SS01/R1415* N1/2

05/SS01/R1415

PAGE 1

To: Rules

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2005

By: Senator(s) Gordon, King, Morgan, Hewes,

Thames, Dearing, Robertson, Huggins, Little,

Dawkins, Walley, Williamson, Harvey, Ross,

Pickering, Burton, Carmichael, Nunnelee,

Hyde-Smith, Chaney, Albritton, Lee (35th),

Moffatt, Flowers, White

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 601

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE DEDICATED PUBLIC 1

SERVICE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF DR. SHELBY F. THAMES, PRESIDENT OF THE 2

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI. 3

WHEREAS, Dr. Thames is the eighth President of the University 4

of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He took 5

office on May 1, 2002, continuing an illustrious career of 40 6

years at Southern Mississippi; and 7

WHEREAS, his previous administrative positions at Southern 8

Mississippi were Chair of the Department of Polymer Science, Dean 9

of the College of Science and Technology, Vice President for 10

Administration and Regional Campuses, and Executive Vice 11

President. In 1970, he was the founder of the Department of 12

Polymer Science, and in 1973, co-founder of the Waterborne and 13

High-Solids Coatings Symposium, an event that has expanded to the 14

annual International Waterborne, High-Solids, and Powder Coatings 15

Symposium in which he continues as its co-director. He sought and 16

gained approval for the enhancement of the College of Science to 17

the College of Science and Technology by creating several new 18

technology programs; and 19

WHEREAS, he was instrumental in the conception and 20

implementation of the "2+2 Degree Program" between the Mississippi 21

Gulf Coast Community College and USM Gulf Coast, which provided a 22

bachelor's degree program course work on the Mississippi Gulf 23

Coast in over 26 subject areas. Another of his many 24

accomplishments involves three entities created to improve 25

statewide economics: Mississippi Polymer Institute; International 26

Coatings and Formulations Institute; and Southern Diversified 27

Products, LLC (a Mississippi University Research Authority 28

company); and 29

WHEREAS, among his numerous honors and awards are the 30

designation as Distinguished University Research Professor of the 31

Department of Polymer Science, recipient of the first 32

Distinguished Professorship by the Southern Society of Coatings 33

Technology, the 1966 USM Alumni Association Continuous Service 34

Award, the 1998 NUC Wheeler McMillan Award for his work with 35

agricultural products, the 1999 AAIC Anson Ellis Thompson Career 36

Achievement Award for his career in promoting the use of 37

agricultural-based materials as industrial raw materials, and 38

inductee in 1998 to the USM's Alumni Hall of Fame. In 1998, USM's 39

$29 Million Polymer Science Research Center was named in honor of 40

Dr. Thames and is now known as the Shelby Freland Thames Polymer 41

Science Research Center. In 2002, President Thames was recognized 42

by Modern Paint & Coatings magazine as its R&D Person of the Year. 43

Recently, President Thames was selected as one of the top ten 44

community leaders in South Mississippi by The Sun Herald and The 45

Journal of South Mississippi Business and received the Outstanding 46

College President Award from the All-American Football Foundation, 47

Inc.; and 48

WHEREAS, at the time of his selection as President of the 49

University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Thames had a research team 50

of 50 people and supervised five graduate students. Most 51

recently, this team is known for the commercialization of a 52

zero-volatile organic content (VOC) paint that is completely 53

environmentally safe, emitting no odor or harmful properties into 54

the environment. The paint called "American Pride" was used to 55

paint a section of the offices at The Pentagon in 2003; and 56

WHEREAS, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for 57

Conference USA and the Mississippi Technology Alliance, and the 58

Executive Board of the Pine Burr Area Council, Boy Scouts of 59

America; and 60

WHEREAS, Dr. Thames earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from The 61

University of Southern Mississippi in chemistry and organic 62

chemistry and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Tennessee in 63

organic chemistry; and 64

WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we recognize the 65

achievements of the University of Southern Mississippi under the 66

leadership of Dr. Thames, whose dedication to excellence in higher 67

education and research in our state is a matter of record: 68

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF 69

MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That 70

we do hereby commend the public service of Dr. Shelby F. Thames, 71

President of the University of Southern Mississippi, recognizing 72

his contributions to research and technology and dedication to 73

excellence in higher education in our state, and extending to him 74

the best wishes of the Legislature on his future endeavors. 75

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to 76

Dr. Thames, forwarded to the Board of Trustees of State 77

Institutions of Higher Learning and be made available to the 78

Capitol Press Corps. 79

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Sorry for the font size in the previous post.

The part of the resolution I liked was :

"...and extending to him the best wishes of the Legislature on his future endeavors. 75"

Date: Mar 29, 2005

When I first saw the reference to "Shelby's Bill" I had been hoping that it was a reference to one of those bills for people who have gone missing.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Shelby has, in fact, made important contributions to higher education in Mississippi. The most important of them is that, thanks to his incompetence, all university presidents will now be evaluated yearly by the IHL. I'm sure his fellow presidents have really feelings of warmth toward him about this change.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

This part of the resolutions sounds more like an advertisement:

....this team is known for the commercialization of a

zero-volatile organic content (VOC) paint that is completely

environmentally safe, emitting no odor or harmful properties into

the environment. The paint called "American Pride" was used to

paint a section of the offices at The Pentagon in 2003....

Date: Mar 29, 2005

This is an incredible waste of state resources for the Legislature to be doing this kind of thing when there are so many pressing needs. For Pete's sake--they're probably going to have a special session in order to get down to the business of running the state!

This is another desperate attempt on the part of the Thames administration and cronies to keep him in office. First a cheer leading session at Warren Paving, now we get the Legislature involved. I'm sick of it.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Nothing was said about Soylant Green?

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Direct link I hope:

http://index.ls.state.ms.us/isysnative/UzpcRG9jdW1lbnRzXDIwMDVccGRmXHNjXHNjMDYwMWluLnBkZg==/sc0601in.pdf#xml=http://10.240.72.35/isysquery/irlfe4d/1/hilite

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Roadside billboard
"This part of the resolutions sounds more like an advertisement: ....this team is known for the commercialization of a zero-volatile organic content (VOC) paint that is completely environmentally safe, emitting no odor or harmful properties into the environment. The paint called "American Pride" was used to paint a section of the offices at The Pentagon in 2003...."

Do you think these guys came up with this stuff? They were fed all of this by SFT and his minions. Sheeeeesh.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Reporter
"Sorry for the font size in the previous post. The part of the resolution I liked was : "...and extending to him the best wishes of the Legislature on his future endeavors. 75""

Isn't that what you write on a good-bye card?

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Magnolia
This is an incredible waste of state resources for the Legislature to be doing this kind of thing when there are so many pressing needs.

They hardly had time to put a band-aid on the serious Medicaid problem, and here they are wasting their time on this nonsense.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

I wonder if they have done this for former presidents.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Good question. AKL deserves one if anybody does.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Anybody can get a resolution, it is all in knowing how. I have gotten several for different people in the past. It didn't take much Legislative time because I had to write and submit it to the Legislative legal writers dept. who put it in the correct form.

This one however, is in such poor taste with so many excellent professors leaving that it would be good if everyone would copy the list of people leaving and send it to their representative with a letter of protest.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: info
"Direct link I hope: http://index.ls.state.ms.us/isysnative/UzpcRG9jdW1lbnRzXDIwMDVccGRmXHNjXHNjMDYwMWluLnBkZg==/sc0601in.pdf#xml=http://10.240.72.35/isysquery/irlfe4d/1/hilite"

I notice Sen Morgan(Forrest County) is one of this bills sponsors....he and Lawrence Warren are very close friends(from the days when Ed was mayor of H'burg). If Ed was not at the paving plant meeting you can bet he had a stand in.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

I noticed it says very little about his "accomplishments" as president. I liked that it wished him well in his "future endeavors", because that implied they may be different from his "current endeavors".

I also had a problem with the question: "How will the IHL get SFT to leave and have everyone save face?" The only suggestion I heard on this board was SFT gets "sick" and needs to resign. I didn't think that was good enough, but this resolution may be the beginning of a big send off. I can't believe the IHL Board and commissioner would change their evaluation of SFT because of a symbloic resolution by the legislature.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Wasn't a state legislature (I think it was Texas...) once induced to pass a resolution honoring the Boston Strangler?

Robert Campbell

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"Wasn't a state legislature (I think it was Texas...) once induced to pass a resolution honoring the Boston Strangler? Robert Campbell"

http://www.snopes.com/legal/desalvo.htm

Date: Mar 29, 2005

There are 456 hits on "resolution commending" (the formula that starts such puffs) in the legislative database since Jan. 1. Each resolution produces as many as 3 hits (for successive drafts or readings?), so at minimum there have been about 150 House and Senate resolutions since the beginning of the year.

Some other Senate resolutions from the last few days include:

SCR597: A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING AUBURN1 QUARTERBACK JASON CAMPBELL OF TAYLORSVILLE, MISSISSIPPI, WHO WAS2 NAMED MVP OF THE SUGAR BOWL AND COMPLETED AN UNDEFEATED SEASON FOR3 THE TIGERS.4

SR47: A RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE PILLOW ACADEMY1 LADY MUSTANGS BASKETBALL TEAM FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING SEASON OF PLAY2 FOR 2005 AND WINNING THE MISSISSIPPI PRIVATE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION3 OVERALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP.4

SR46: A RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING COACH DURWIN1 CARPENTER FOR HIS CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS COACH OF THE PILLOW2 ACADEMY LADY MUSTANGS BASKETBALL TEAM.3

SCR573: A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE1 DELTA ACADEMY "LADY RAIDERS" GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM AND COACH CRAIG2 DAILY FOR WINNING THE DELTA ACADEMY 1A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE3 FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR.4

Date: Mar 29, 2005

From the snopes site:

Federal and state legislators see a steady stream of resolutions that have no legal impact and are offered mostly as public relations measures on behalf of one group or another. Poring over each and every one would take an inordinate amount of a legislator's time ... . If your fellow legislator introduces a resolution to honor this person or that group, you're expected to rubber stamp it as a gesture of good will; after all, he'll return the favor when you need to boost your popularity with your constituents by extending similar honors to some of them. This may not be an ideal system, but little in politics is (emphasis added).

I's with the folks who view this as a waste and an insult to the many who have been irreparably damaged by the Thames regime.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

Speaking of memorial recognitions, when I first came to USM I recall there was some sort of W.D. McCain memorial in lobby of Cook Library. As I recall, there was a very large painting of McCain with a little boy sitting in his lap, and some McCain Scottish lineage information. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time so I don't recall the details. Is all of that still in the lobby of Cook?

Date: Mar 29, 2005

So, what's the word here? Let this pass, or protest?

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Fuzzy Memory
"Speaking of memorial recognitions, when I first came to USM I recall there was some sort of W.D. McCain memorial in lobby of Cook Library. As I recall, there was a very large painting of McCain with a little boy sitting in his lap, and some McCain Scottish lineage information. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time so I don't recall the details. Is all of that still in the lobby of Cook?"

I think that's now in the lobby of McCain Library. It's not unusual for a university president to have his/her portrait painted and placed in a prominent position in a university building. I think AKL's portrait is in the dome.

Let's go ahead and get Shelby's portrait done with his paint and let him hang it in his building and get him the heck back into that building and out of the dome.

Date: Mar 29, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Magnolia
" I think that's now in the lobby of McCain Library. It's not unusual for a university president to have his/her portrait painted and placed in a prominent position in a university building. I think AKL's portrait is in the dome. Let's go ahead and get Shelby's portrait done with his paint and let him hang it in his building and get him the heck back into that building and out of the dome."

Shelby has already commissioned his official portrait. It is based loosely on the following design (I say "loosely" because Washington had hair):

Date: Mar 29, 2005

That's what us at the NY Times call an obituary. It's as if the legislature has declared him dead. Well, maybe just a bit of private legislation.

For those wondering about McCain's portrait with "the little boy": it's hanging in the north lobby of McCain Library, 2nd floor. Life size. Odd.

Date: Mar 30, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: buckskin
"That's what us at the NY Times call an obituary. It's as if the legislature has declared him dead. Well, maybe just a bit of private legislation.
For those wondering about McCain's portrait with "the little boy": it's hanging in the north lobby of McCain Library, 2nd floor. Life size. Odd.

"

The little boy is his grandson...I know because I went to school with him (the grandson, not McCain!).