2 min read
University of Mississippi associate professor of sociology and international studies Miguel Centellas has officially entered the race for Board of Aldermen, running to represent Ward VI. Centellas, a Democrat and Oxford resident since 2015, will face incumbent Republican Jason Bailey for the seat.
Centellas joins Afton Thomas as the second university employee to enter the race for a seat on the Board of Aldermen. Thomas is running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Mark Huelse to represent Ward II.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Centellas said he decided to run for the position when the Lafayette County Democratic Party approached him about doing so. He said that although he made the decision to run for office suddenly, he takes it very seriously and felt it was his duty to serve his community.
3 min read
From heightened DUI arrests last month, to claims of racism in renting Oxford venues and the possibility of a Double Decker this semester, Mayor Robyn Tannehill covered a lot of ground in her town meeting with the Associated Student Body on Wednesday, Feb. 10. This was the Associated Student Body Senate’s first virtual town meeting with Tannehill in a new effort to establish a direct line of communication between students and the city of Oxford.
Tannehill said she believes the heightened number of DUI arrests in January is partly a result of bars closing at 11 p.m. and a decrease in available Uber drivers. She also said many of the DUIs are related to a benzodiazepine issue in the city.
4 min read
Afton Thomas, associate director for programs at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, entered the race for a seat on the Oxford Board of Aldermen last week. Running as a Democrat, Thomas will face Republican incumbent Mark Huelse to represent Ward II.
Thomas said she decided to run after being encouraged by members of the community to run based on her involvement with various nonprofit organizations in Lafayette County.
“I was asked, ‘Have you ever considered it?’ and I hadn’t considered it. I said, ‘You know, now you have me thinking about it,’” Thomas said.
3 min read
Last Monday, the Oxford Board of Aldermen decided to implement an outdoor mask mandate that requires patrons to wear masks outdoors when social distancing is not possible including while standing in lines for bars on the Square. This was the right call. This decision came after photos of young people in massive lines outside of the bars were posted on social media and sent to Mayor Robyn Tannehill, along with a slight increase in cases.
Some young people believe that they are invincible and that COVID-19 will not be able to touch them, which is partially true. People between the ages of 18 and 29 only have a mortality rate of 0.5%. However, the main issue is that these young people who are infected with the virus will indirectly or directly infect older and more-at-risk patients who have a much higher mortality rate.