Anthony Harris & Thames - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jun 12, 2004

Anthony Harris & Thames

Date: Jun 12, 2004

Googler:

Great story about Anthony Harris, but I did want to let you know that I have it on good authority that, at least for high school, the Thames children went to public schools. Just trying to make sure that the good info that you have isn't clouded by any misinformation.

Date: Jun 12, 2004

Did Beeson Academy go through high school? It may be that they had no choice but to go to public high schools. (Someone who has been here a long time needs to answer this.)

Date: Jun 12, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
"Did Beeson Academy go through high school? It may be that they had no choice but to go to public high schools. (Someone who has been here a long time needs to answer this.)"

You know, I'm not the one to answer this...I remember in my H'burg days, it only went up to 8th grade. But I think before that (and I'm a bit younger than the Thames kids), it went up to high school. Someone else needs to verify this, though.

Date: Jun 12, 2004

Beeson Academy went through high school.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

Dana graduated from Beeson in 1972 or 1973. Sometime after 1975 the school name was changed to Hattiesburg Preparatory School. Tuition went up and enrollment dropped drastically as families picked up and moved to the Oak Grove and Petal school districts. I think Dr. Thames' sons went to Oak Grove. Hattiesburg Prep didn't last very long. It closed, I think in the early 1980s, but by then I was not in town, so I can't be sure when or why it closed.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: dizzy
"Dana graduated from Beeson in 1972 or 1973. Sometime after 1975 the school name was changed to Hattiesburg Preparatory School. Tuition went up and enrollment dropped drastically as families picked up and moved to the Oak Grove and Petal school districts. I think Dr. Thames' sons went to Oak Grove. Hattiesburg Prep didn't last very long. It closed, I think in the early 1980s, but by then I was not in town, so I can't be sure when or why it closed."

The Thames sons went to Hattiesburg High School. I know someone who went to school with them there.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: dizzy
"Dana graduated from Beeson in 1972 or 1973."

I was certain Dana graduated from Beeson. I thought that the younger Thames son attended Beeson, but admit that I could be mistaken about whether he actually graduated from there. Regardless of how many of his children graduated from Beeson, SFT was on the school's board of directors. And I still wonder if there's a SFT familial connection to W.I. Thames.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

This is EXACTLY the ugliness that is causing some of the negative reaction from the community...you can't get support with this...it only cheapens you...us...

Criticize policies, criticize actions, criticize trends...

Better yet offer positive suggestions, alternatives, vision...

How is this line of posting about the adoption of Shelby Thames, if true, possibly relevant or helpful?

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Lessons from Mama
"How is this line of posting about the adoption of Shelby Thames, if true, possibly relevant or helpful?
"

A sense of humor helps to keep the level of violence down. It's a healthy release, and preferable to despair.

But my mother would not agree with me, either.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Tinctoris
"

A sense of humor helps to keep the level of violence down. It's a healthy release, and preferable to despair.

But my mother would not agree with me, either."

Excuses and rationalizations just don't cut it.
We are engaged in a REAL struggle and as Mama said we can't keep giving the other side ammunition just because we want to be cute.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Otherside
"

Excuses and rationalizations just don't cut it.
We are engaged in a REAL struggle and as Mama said we can't keep giving the other side ammunition just because we want to be cute. "

Avoiding violence and despair is being "cute"?

Don't insult me for trying to stay sane in this situation.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Otherside
" Excuses and rationalizations just don't cut it. We are engaged in a REAL struggle and as Mama said we can't keep giving the other side ammunition just because we want to be cute. "

Remember that not everyone who posts here is on "our" side. Trolls disguise themselves in various ways.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Tinctoris
"

Avoiding violence and despair is being "cute"?

Don't insult me for trying to stay sane in this situation."

No insults intended. Are you saying you are so mad that you may lose control of yourself and become violent? This just doesn't sound very adult to me.

Troops not properly trained and conditioned for action can cause their side more harm than they realize. Have you heard of prisoners in Iraq? That is all I was pointing out. If we can't control ourselves our emotions aid the enemy.

Again, no insult intended. I'm just more interested in winning than "feeling good" and I will sacrifice my feeling for the cause.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

I'm afraid that I started this with what I hoped was gentle criticism - I didn't mean to cause a conflict among the posters.

We have all experienced anger, frustration, and despair about this debacle and as long as we all don't hit the biorhythm trough at the same time we usually get through it - occasionally with some hope for sanity on the other end of the tunnel.

I'm just suggesting that we do a better job of policing ourselves on this website...

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: dizzy
"Dana graduated from Beeson in 1972 or 1973. Sometime after 1975 the school name was changed to Hattiesburg Preparatory School. Tuition went up and enrollment dropped drastically as families picked up and moved to the Oak Grove and Petal school districts. I think Dr. Thames' sons went to Oak Grove. Hattiesburg Prep didn't last very long. It closed, I think in the early 1980s, but by then I was not in town, so I can't be sure when or why it closed."

Scott graduated from Hattiesburg HS (which I think changed its name from Blair HS due to the merger with Rowan HS that year) in 1972 or '73. Dana is younger than Scott. I think Truth/AH can verify this.

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Googler
"Given SFT's penchant for grudges, could Dr. Harris' involvement in the early desegregation of Hattiesburg's schools have been a factor in his dismissal? "

Partly in response, and partly to get this thread back on track, let me say that I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Harris on a few occasions, and I always found him to be very intellegent, focused, eloquent, and loyal. In my opinion, he is a credit to his mother, his late father, and the greater community of Hattiesburg.

When I heard that SFT had fired AH, I was flabbergasted. From what I hear, USM is subject to criticism for the small number of minorities represented in the higher echelons of faculty and administration. Why would SFT give the boot to one of the best? My first thought was that SFT was a racist, but I have heard since that he made a concerted effort to get rid of everyone who had been hired by Horace Flemmng.

If this is true, I guess we can take some comfort in the fact that Dr. Harris was not the victim of racism -- just good old, benign, garden-variety, equal-opportunity lunacy.

"Never attribute to malevolence that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Lou Grant

Date: Jun 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Lessons from Mama
"I'm just suggesting that we do a better job of policing ourselves on this website..."

Those of us who are long-time posters do the best we can. I've never heard of "Ha!" before, so I can't vouch for her/his intentions behind posting the derogatory statement about SFT. You're right about keeping the tone constructive on this board, and I believe most of us do. However, you must realize that this is the "wild west," so to speak, and anyone can make up a user name and post whatever sort of drivel they want on this board. The best form of defense we have is to isolate and ignore. They'll eventually go away.

And I'll say again that I've never seen the kind of puerile garbarge on this board that I've seen over on Eagle Talk (where in the heat of the crisis, people were posting about doing serious acts of violence on Gary and Frank and other faculty members). Talk about damaging!