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www.mississippilink.com VOL. 24, NO. 29 MAY 10 - 16, 2018 50¢ A Golden Time: Thompson City Council addresses Zoo’s to celebrate fi fty years as a next location as contract Tougaloo alumnus termination closes in By Hope Reeves Student Intern After the board overseeing the Jackson Zoo approved moving the timeworn animal estate from The Mississippi Link Newswire its West Capitol Street location Walking into his offi ce at 6:30 at their meeting in late March, p.m. on a Friday afternoon, after Jackson city council members just driving in from the Jackson- are left contemplating whether Evers Airport, U.S. Congressman the management company over- Bennie G. Thompson has a jovial seeing the zoo should change. smile on his face and a Tougaloo At a regular meeting held College hat on his head. “I take April 24, council members con- Tougaloo everywhere I go, and sidered a motion to terminate everywhere I go I meet someone the zoo’s contract with a 90-day who has heard about Tougaloo notice. This item was placed on College,” says Thompson. For the agenda for discussion by Thompson, the Tougaloo hat he Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth wears is an extension of the love Stokes, who has been extremely and pride he has for Tougaloo in vocal since the subject became his heart. A love and pride that public. has spanned the course of 50 Thompson Located in the heart of West years as Thompson, and his wife Jackson for nearly 29 years, and London, celebrate their Golden What Thompson realized is managed by the Jackson Zoo- only serving a small capacity of [management company] should “There would certainly have Class Reunion this coming week- that Tougaloo was a special logical Society, Inc., the menag- just 100,000 visitors in 2017; be held accountable. to be action on the city’s part end. place that cultivated an environ- erie is currently operating under the release also detailed plans “The zoo was accredited to invest in the area,” said Lu- A native of Bolton, Miss., ment where its students could be an eight-year agreement that to transform the zoo into a bet- when they took over – all the mumba. where he still lives and serves nurtured and nourished by dedi- expires Sept. 2018; this causes ter environment for wild life animals were there – since they Ward 4 Counciman the community, whether here or cated faculty and staff and fellow the ruling of the attraction’s pro- and visitors by moving it on the [sic] took over, they [sic] aren’t De’Keither Stamps also reiter- in our nation’s capital, Thompson students. It was a place that un- posed site to be an intense battle bank of the Pearl River. accredited,” Stokes said. ated, “more city involvement expresses how Tougaloo became tapped potential was molded and between the City of Jackson and Beth Poff, who serves as the He added, “We don’t have needs to occur in order to assure a beacon of light that instilled in shaped by impactful speakers the Zoo board. executive director of the zoo, anything there…they ran this that the attraction is in the right him invaluable lessons and re- such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Just shy of being in exis- said, “For 16 to 20 years at- zoo into the ground. They [sic] place.” sources that made him the man Stokely Carmichael, Harry Bela- tence for a century, the park tendance has been going down killing this zoo, and they [sic] Although most members of he is today. fonte, Nina Simone and Richard has evolved into a place of lit- because of the blight surround- killing west Jackson.” the council favored the motion “Tougaloo is a place where the Wright. “The difference in what tle presence over the past few ing the zoo and makes people Along with Stokes’ position to keep the zoo in its current lo- lights came on. I had never read I found [at Tougaloo] is a small years, and it has also encoun- scared to attend… with the pro- to revitalize the park with pos- cation, Ward 7 Councilwoman a book before I got there. I had campus environment where we tered numerous challenges with posed new location, there’s ac- sible new management, Mayor Virgi Lindsay believes the de- never read a novel. I went to a knew everybody on campus. It its infrastructure, budget reduc- cess to the interstate and several Chokwe Antar Lumumba is also cision to do so requires more segregated school where in my was a family. We even called our tions and the run-down houses other museums on what’s being advocating for it to remain at it thought process and time. Mississippi history book, I didn’t dorm matron Mama Pete. that surround the 110 acres of billed as Trail of Museums, it of- its current site, but under two “I just think we’ve got to get past slavery; where in my “It was nurturing. My teachers land. fers a fi tter environment.” conditions – the city’s support of pause and have some real seri- American history book, I didn’t cared, you know, they would talk According to a recent press However, Stokes suggested West Jackson and the use of the ous conversations about what get past the civil war. There was to us after class and invite us over release from the zoo in March, that the inability to draw a crowd Blight Elimination program, a we are going to be able to do, just so much that I had to grasp. I to their houses to study. I met my the attraction has tremendously has been caused by the absence plan designed to eradicate drug- had the potential. But then some- declined in attendance from of animals under the current houses and abandoned homes in Zoo how I had to connect the potential Thompson over 185,000 guests in 2003 to management company and they the city. Continued on page 3 with reality.” Continued on page 3 UMMC seeking new contract with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi By Dr. Kimberly M. Smash Prolifi c Health and Wellness The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is in negotiations with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBSMS) for an updated con- tract with the insurance provider, with the hope for a new agree- ment over the next two months. UMMC notifi ed BCBSMS management Monday that it will terminate the current agreement on June 30, 2018. “During the coming weeks, Cook O’Mara as we continue to negotiate with BCBSMS, absolutely nothing established patients who need lows Blue Cross to make any will change for our patients,” continuation of care for an on- changes it wants to the terms of said Dr. Charles O’Mara, going illness. the agreement – including what UMMC associate vice chancel- Failure to reach an agreement it pays us for services we deliver lor for clinical affairs. “We en- also would not impact members to patients – without consulting courage Blue Cross members to of the State and School Employ- UMMC.” continue to visit their UMMC ees’ Health Insurance Plan and As the state’s only academic care providers just as they al- their covered dependents, be- medical center, UMMC offers ways have. Our goal is to main- cause that plan is administered the only Level I trauma center tain business as usual, so our by but not offered by BCBSMS. and children’s hospital in the sible to the people of Missis- strong, collaborative and fair can reach a new agreement be- patients do not experience any “We are committed to nego- state, the only organ transplant sippi,” said Kevin Cook, CEO partnership with Blue Cross and tween our organizations.” disruption in their care.” tiating with Blue Cross in good service, and one of the most ex- of the UMMC health system. Blue Shield that supports our Contrary to criticisms leveled Without a new agreement in faith,” O’Mara said. “However, tensive telehealth networks in Unfortunately, Cook said, mission to improve the lives of by BCBSMS about UMMC’s place by June 30, UMMC will it’s important to understand the nation. BCBSMS’ ability to manipulate Mississippians through excep- costs and quality outcomes, data become out-of-network for that our current agreement with “Equitable contracts with our reimbursement even after an tional patient care, training the suggests that UMMC hospitals’ BCBSMS customers, and those Blue Cross was developed 28 payor partners – like BCBSMS agreement is signed means that next generation of health care cost structure is among the low- patients may face higher out-of- years ago, when UMMC and – allow us to keep the physi- any rate proposal UMMC might providers, and engaging in in- est in the country, according to pocket costs. Normally, excep- the health care industry were cians, technology, facilities, agree to can’t be counted on un- novative research,” Cook said. tions are made for patients who vastly different. Most troubling, staff and resources needed to less the base contract is revised. “Through these continuing ne- UMMC need emergency medical care or the base contract from 1990 al- provide the very best care pos- “We are committed to a gotiations, we are optimistic we Continued on page 3 Hinds CC hosts ninth Adventures of Share this issue with a friend annual special Wrong Man by mailing it to: education eld day and Power Girl Inside for Hinds County students Page 7 Page 18 LOCAL 2 • THE MISSISSIPPI LINK MAY 10 - 16, 2018 www.mississippilink.com Community celebrates one-year mark helping kids in Jackson Public Schools The Mississippi Link Newswire “We’ve helped almost 1,400 It was a big day for students at kids in Jackson since launching Oak Forest Elementary School the program last fall, and we’re recently, as they were wowed on our way to help 4,000 more in by two exceptional opportuni- the upcoming school year,” said ties.

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