Thursday, March 19, 2009

Story has been updated

It appears it was a text hoax. Visit our homepage for any updates.
Thanks.

Crime in South Meridian?

We're hearing unconfirmed reports of possible gang-related crime activity near the Bonita Wal-Mart and Sam's Club parking lots last night and early this morning. As we try to confirm it, please e-mail Cops Reporter Brian Livingston at blivingston@themeridianstar.com if you have any details.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Twitter and Facebook

So, it seems we've neglected the Blog. Sorry guys (and gals) we've been a bit busy updating our site and working on other ventures. It seems our twitter account and facebook accounts have taken over. For up-to-date news, visit our Web site at www.meridianstar.com. For up-to-date news bits and promos, visit our tweet at www.twitter.com/meridianstar. For our behind-the-scenes facebook fans page, visit facebook.com and search "The Meridian Star."
Until then, we'll try to reserve our blog for other "unique" content.


Fredie Carmichael
Editor@themeridianstar.com

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

ZOMBIES!

Ben Lockridge
blockridge@themeridianstar.com



So, do you find this funny, or not?

Monday, February 9, 2009

Christian Bale apology

Ben Lockridge
blockridge@themeridianstar.com

No doubt most everyone on the planet has either heard or heard about the tirade by Christian Bale on the set of Terminator Salvation. Anyway, for those of you who feel he needed to; he has apologized. Here is Christian calling in to the Kevin and Bean radio show on KROQ. Not a show I'm familiar with, but here you go.


Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Leaving her mark

A woman driving through downtown Meridian left her mark – and parts of her car – earlier today.

The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m., when the woman, who was traveling north on 22nd Avenue, hit a tree at the corner of Eighth Street (in front of Percy Bland's campaign headquarters and across from First State Bank), then kept going.

In addition to marks on the tree, the woman – described by an onlooker as a white female driving a black Monte Carlo – left pieces of her car and broke the radiator. A Meridian police officer began following a trail of water up 22nd Avenue in an attempt to locate the woman ... and the rest of her car.

Ida Brown

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Other ideas for the Threefoot building

The city council has approved the conversion of Meridian's iconic Threefoot building into a hotel, but a couple of weeks ago, the fate of the building was not so certain, and ideas about what else could be done with it were flying around town.

Now that the votes are cast, I thought I'd share some of the ideas for use of the building that I've heard during my coverage of the Threefoot project.

Regular readers of the Meridian Star may have read our Managing Editor Steve Gillespie's column which irreverently suggested that the building be converted into a multi-story indoor Bourbon Street. His idea inspired some other funny suggestions from Meridian Star staff and readers.

One person suggested that, instead of just Bourbon Street, the building should be made into an entire French Quarter, with different floors for Decatur Street, Royal Street, Esplanade, etc. Another suggested squeezing the entirety of downtown Meridian into the building, with one floor for shopping, one for art galleries, one for restaurants, and so forth.

While some were joking in their suggestions for the building, others had ideas that they knew wouldn't come to fruition, but that they thought would be cool if they did.

My husband thought the building, in all its art deco-ness, would make a great school of architecture for MSU. Another person, who wanted the building to provide entertainment for locals downtown, said they would have liked to see the building made into a mall with mostly local stores, and restaurants with live music on the first floor. Some who wanted to see the building put to use by the city rather than a developer suggested that it be converted into a new police station, with the first several floors as parking.

Since the council cast their votes, many people have told me they're just glad to know the building is being used for anything, and they don't want to be picky about what - though some of them have expressed a little apprehension about the city's investment.

If you have any fun ideas about what could have gone into the Threefoot building, e-mail them to me. If I get enough suggestions, I'll post them here later.

- Jennifer Jacob Brown
jjacob@themeridianstar.com

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Sea Kittens

The people at PETA, in an attempt to increase compassion for fish, have renamed the watery vertebrates. Now, PETA is calling them "sea kittens". On their website, PETA has a "make your own sea kitten" game. There, kids (or anyone else) can create a more adorable version of a fish, complete with a goatee, litter box, tiara, or kitty whiskers. And of course they come with default batting eyelashes. Just like a real fish!

Now, I'm not trashing PETA. I'm all for the ethical treatment of animals. But you'd think they would realize that making cute animated versions of food, including fish, only makes it look more appetizing, especially to kids. Haven't they noticed all the BBQ restaurants with anthropomorphic pig mascots? Or the talking, dancing Chicken McNuggets that have had decades of children screaming for Happy Meals? Kids see these animations and their first thought isn't "I want to help it!" - It's "I want to eat it!"

Trying to re-name fish isn't going to get people to stop eating fish. If anything, it will get people to stop associating the dead thing that they eat with the living thing they put on the table. PETA can call fish "sea kittens" all day long, but you're never going to walk into a restaurant be told about the "sea kitten of the day". Parents looking to cook a quick meal aren't going to tell their kids "we're having sea kitten sticks for dinner tonight".

My "sea kitten" is a tuna with a walrus 'stache, John Lennon glasses, and - despite being underwater - a bowl of water. He looks delicious.

You can create your own "sea kitten" here

- Jennifer Jacob Brown
jjacob@themeridianstar.com