Malco Theatres Inc., a Memphis-based Mid South movie theatre chain, plans to double the size of the former Amp, which was a 10-screen movie theatre, for the new accommodations. Malco purchased property adjacent to the old movie theatre from Kenlan Development Co. in order to expand the building.

The new family entertainment center is located on Sisk Avenue off Highway 7 in the Oxford Commons development. The development, a 480-acre area zoned for mixed commercial and residential communities, is home to two hotels, Della Davidson Elementary School and the future Oxford High School. After remaining dormant due to the economy, prosperity is looking up for the Oxford Commons development. It plans to accommodate a residential community that will add 1,000 new homes.

Along with regular film showings, Malco has big plans for movie goers.

“The additional screens in the market will allow Malco to offer a wide range of independent, foreign and smaller films that it was not previously able to show in Oxford,” said Karen Scott, Malco’s director of marketing.

Senior psychology major Sam Lyons is excited for the addition of foreign and independent films.

“I think it will be great to have more variety in Oxford,” Lyons said. “I only get to see independent films on Netflix. The showings will definitely add to the movie watching experience.”

The new movie theatre plans to open on Labor Day, but the rest of the entertainment center will not open until next year.

The addition of the bowling alley will return an old form of entertainment to Oxford. After decades of having a bowling alley in Oxford, the bowling alley off of West Jackson Avenue was destroyed in a fire in September of 2010.

“I was extremely upset when I learned that the bowling alley had burned down in 2010 because it was such a fun activity to do with your friends,” said junior accountancy major Jessica McKenzie. “I’m excited that a new one is being developed because it will be so much more convenient than having to drive to Memphis just to bowl.”

Malco, who currently runs an eight-screen movie theatre on West Jackson Avenue, intends to keep its location in spite of its new expansion.

“We are very excited about the second location and look forward to both theatres being an integral part of the Oxford community,” Scott said.

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The event will take place in the multipurpose room at the Jackson Avenue Center. The event, titled “Minority Business Expo: Making the University Connection,” starts at 1 p.m., but a complementary lunch will be served before at 12:30 p.m. The expo is being co-hosted by The University of Missisippi and Mississippi State University, and is sponsored by the offices of the Vice Chancellor for Procurement Services and Administration and Finance.

James R. Windham, director of procurement services, said that they are hoping to have 60 to 65 minority businesses present.

“This is a diversity fair,” Windham said. “It is the first one that the university has ever held and we’re looking for good things to come of it.”

After the lunch is served guest speaker Kathy Times is going to demonstrate a new website, Wheretogo411.com, which has been endorsed by the college board in Jackson.

Kathy Times has received much recognition for her work as a journalist, receiving Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award. She also works as an entrepreneur and currently serves as the president of Yellow Brick Media concepts, LLC as well as the Immediate Past President of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Windham said that Times is actually the person who asked the universities to host this expo and was instrumental to setting it up.

After Times’ demonstration, there will be networking one-on-one.

“We’re going to have well over 15 university departments, seated behind tables, and several people from Mississippi State, and the vendors that we’re hoping will show up will be able to network one-on-one, and maybe we can match some business to university departments and they can generate a relationship and hopefully it will be beneficial to both sides,” Windham said.

Donald Cole, assistant provost and assistant to the chancellor for multicultural affairs and associate professor of mathematics, said this fair will hopefully be the beginning of a series of events promoting diversity in the university vendors’ bank.

“In the process we recognize that you can’t just take the ‘we’ll build and they’ll come’ attitude,” Cole said. “We have to be a little more proactive as an institution. Not only do we have to build it, but we have to do some recruiting.  We have to say, ‘Okay, it’s built, and it’s been built for you.’ This can’t be a one-time thing.”

In addition to making connections, Cole hopes these businesses will leave with a better understanding of the process of procurement services.

“It’s not always an easy process to navigate, the rules and regulations along the way, so we’d like to share all of this with them,” Cole said. “We’d like to get them in a pipeline. There might be some where it will be easy for them to take advantage of our services and others might have to be rendered to another level for them to take advantage of it, but we’re hoping that the financial incentives are there and that will bring them (the vendors) out.”

The post Minority vendors’ fair strives to network and foster diversity appeared first on The Daily Mississippian.

Students and locals pour into his store by the numbers with dropped cell phones, frozen or damaged computers or even questions about certain software programs. McGrevey has seen it all.

“I can tell exactly what someone has spilled on their computer, I have fixed so many,” McGrevey said. “I can smell if it’s Natty (referring to the Natural Light beer). Surprisingly, I have had to fix three different computers that were covered in throw up.”

McGrevey, an entrepreneur from Fort Worth, Texas, found his passion at a very young age.

“When I was little I was always playing with technology,” McGrevey said.

Realizing his passion, he decided to make a future out of it. After high school, McGrevey chose to come to Oxford to attend The University of Mississippi.

“A bunch of my friends were going to Ole Miss, and I heard they had a good honors program,” McGrevey said.

Arriving in Oxford, McGrevey chose electrical engineering as his major. On the side, he found a job at Weir Hall, the university’s IT department, working as a technician. It was there he quickly found out it was more than just a side job. Students immediately realized he was the real deal after a few short weeks, and there was almost nothing McGrevey couldn’t fix.

“I had a line of students waiting for me to repair their stuff,” Kyle said.

After a few months, it seemed like the whole campus had heard about McGrevey and his amazing skill set. Every day, new people were coming to Kyle for help. His knowledge of computers was a gold mine for the student body as well as for himself.

McGrevey created his own business card and began charging for his work. Students were bringing their shut down hard drives and broken screens to his apartment for repair. As this new job kept developing, school work was becoming McGrevey’s second priority.

“I had no idea this many people had problems with their computers and phones,” McGrevey said.

Setting up appointments left and right, it seemed McGrevey didn’t even need the degree he came to seek. According to McGrevey, school is where people come in order to make money, and he was making plenty of it without the degree.

In his senior year at Ole Miss in 2005, the students’ need for help was only growing with advancing technology. McGrevey decided to rent out a spot in downtown Oxford to turn his passion for technology into his career. With only seven hours of classes left to receive his electrical engineering degree, McGrevey dropped out of college and committed all of his time to IT.

McGrevey’s decision to drop out wasn’t easy on his parents, but he decided to go with his gut and continue his passion.

McGrevey opened his company in a big white building on the Square, naming it Express Computer Services. For two years he was doing great, helping the people of Oxford who had technology issues, which seemed to be everyone.

It wasn’t until 2007 that McGrevey ran into a bit of trouble. His landlord strolled in one day telling McGrevey he needed to relocate because he was planning on knocking down the wall and building a stage in order to have a music venue.

McGrevey didn’t argue, simply packing up his stuff and finding a spot almost immediately on Jackson Avenue. The building eventually turned into what is now known as the Lyric, a venue for many different events.

“When they kicked me out I told myself I would never attend a concert at that place, but now they host big time musicians and I find myself going,” McGrevey said.

McGrevey’s business started as a one man operation but has grown, now employing five people. His business has had more success since relocating, repairing more than 20,000 computers since opening and being rated Oxford’s No. 1 computer shop five years in a row.

Averaging about 20-40 people daily, not including in-home repairs, McGrevey is always busy. Taking calls and making appointments all while dissecting a hard drive and recovering lost school work. McGrevey is one heck of a multi-tasker, something customers have taken notice of.

“He never stops working when I take my iPhone there,” said Chip Callahan, a student at Northwest Community College. “I think he is going to forget something but somehow he doesn’t.”

According to Ole Miss student Amanda Martin, Mcgrevey is always able to repair her computer and he never takes more than two days.

When talking to McGrevey, he seems calm but never steers away from his work. He is personable and reasonable, always assisting his customers with respect.

He took calls, fixed a broken screen and talked to a customer all at the same time. Maybe that’s why he has lasted so long in Oxford.

IT repair stores tend to “spring up” all around Oxford, according to McGrevey, though he doesn’t pay much attention. They don’t stay long because of his long-lasting relationship with the community.

McGrevey assists hundreds of various companies around town when they have technical problems or questions, including the Lyric and the University. McGrevey will also assist people at their homes.

Without McGrevey it seems like the whole town would be in technological pandemonium. McGrevey never stops taking apart computers, replacing screens, cleaning devices and much more, working in a cool, collected manner without a drop of sweat.

“Two years ago my computer crashed and I lost a bunch of assignments,” said Ole Miss student Jordan Cavanaugh. “I freaked out, but thank god for that guy. He recovered everything.”

When speaking to Cavanaugh, he talked about how he considers McGrevey a lifesaver.

“The stress of school is enough; I don’t want to have to worry about my computer crashing also,” Cavanaugh said.

Express Computer Service is also a huge hit in Oxford because of the convenience and in-stock items that no one else in Oxford carries. According to McGrevey, his is the only store in town (including the recently built AT&T store just down the road from ECS) that carries Apple AC adaptors as well as iPhone 4 and 4S screens, which are in high demand in a college town. Customers would otherwise have to drive to Memphis to buy the items he carries.

McGrevey’s business has been such a success the past eight years, and he doesn’t have any plans to change. According to McGrevey, he plans on staying in Oxford and running his business as long as possible.

When asked if he would ever return to Ole Miss to finish the last seven hours and claim his degree, he replied smiling: “I see myself in 20 years chilling on campus as an old man finishing my degree.”

McGrevey has made a name for himself in Oxford, and it seems almost everybody knows the “Express Computer Guy.”

The post Kyle ‘the computer guy’ McGrevey: Oxford’s very own technician appeared first on The Daily Mississippian.

From physical brawls to arson, there is rarely a dull day for city police and members of the community. Among the various crimes committed in city limits lies a world of violence the entire country knows all too well: gun violence.

In 2010, there were more than 50,000 crime-related incidents, with 10,384 being of a violent nature. Studies found that the violent crime rate in Memphis was 151.34 percent higher than that of the entire state of Tennessee.

Mayor of Memphis A.C. Wharton is aware of the statistics for the city he represents and has created a campaign to help curb the violence in the city by targeting those who can start a movement of change: the youth.

Memphis Gun Down, founded in February, is Wharton’s initiative to curb the gun violence in Memphis. In light of the heightened gun violence in the city, Wharton has banded together a group of five teenagers led by those who have been affected both directly and indirectly by gun violence.

This group of teenagers comprises the Social Media Team for Memphis Gun Down. Their duty is to actively seek the problems in their communities that lead to gun violence and encourage positive changes in various aspects of community life.

The goal is simple, yet it has been one that many have tried and failed to communicate in the past. Their main targets are males from the ages of 14-21, and the group says their approach will ensure greater results because it is one that hasn’t been tried before.

“This campaign is different because it’s actually youth reaching youth instead of adults reaching out to youth,” Matthieu, a member of the social media team, said. “That has been seen many times before, but it hasn’t been proven effective because not many young adults feel comfortable talking to elders or authority figures.”

The social media team intends to target South Memphis and Frayser directly, but the entire city of Memphis is in focus. Their hope is to make the city safer not only for them but generations to come.

The fight for understanding the causes of gun violence has been debated for years and has been heightened since President Obama’s re-election in January. Efforts have been made to pass stricter gun laws, though the first attempts were voted down in Congress on April 17.

In Tennessee, those who own firearms are allowed to apply for a handgun carry permit, but are held accountable for their actions and responsible for their knowledge of the laws. The government website for the state of Tennessee states “a permit to carry a handgun is not a license to use deadly force.” The right to bear arms comes with responsibilities to store and maintain these weapons safely, and to obey applicable laws.

In many states across the country, it is required the weapon be concealed. However, this is not the case in Tennessee. The law does not require concealment of handguns by those with a permit. Because no permit or licensing is required to buy a shotgun, rifle or handgun in Tennessee, such weapons are easy to obtain.

Studies have shown that states with strict gun control laws have lower numbers of gun-related deaths. While states such as California, Colorado and Connecticut look to intensify their already strict gun laws, Tennessee legislators have successfully pushed House Bill 118, a bill that allows gun-owners to carry weapons in their car wherever they go. This would include school and workplace parking lots.

While Bill 118 was passed, Tennessee Senators voted against a bill on April 17 that would have expanded background checks of those looking to buy guns, something Kayla Illich, a member of the Memphis community, believes would have helped curb the gun violence in the city.

“Guns are too easily accessible to the wrong people, especially in the city limits,” Illich said. “Turning down a piece of legislation that could’ve kept weapons out of the wrong hands is absurd and makes me question whether members of this state’s government even know of the realities of gun violence in this city.”

Illich, who has lived in Memphis since getting assigned to Coast Guard duties in the city, has found that things she once loved in Memphis have changed due to the gun violence. To her, it’s less about feeling safe and more about the experience of her go-to places being changed.

Though the area she lives is known to be one of the safer neighborhoods in the city limits, places around downtown such as the acclaimed Beale Street and surrounding blocks have seen drastic changes in the eyes of Illich.

“Even for those of us who live here, Beale and Main Street are usual hang outs,” Illich said. “It’s just devastating to have it be taken over at certain times of the day and year by the fear of getting shot.”

Last year, there were multiple incidents involving Memphis Police Officers on Beale Street that caused Wharton to make a crucial decision.

After four officers were injured on Saturday, June 9, 2012, trying to clear the streets and the police gunned down a man on Beale Street on June 12, 2012, Wharton said the city would establish a police substation in the entertainment district of Memphis to promote safety.

With Wharton having taken action against crime prior to the nationwide discussion over heightened gun controls, the idea that Memphis along with the state of Tennessee would tag along and adopt stricter gun laws was what Illich had expected. However, this was not the case.

Though Wharton plans on reducing gun violence in the city, his methods are not by means of increased law. Instead of looking to lawmakers to strike a change in Memphis communities, Wharton plans to go directly into those communities and solve these problems on a person-to-person basis. He spoke further of his plans to ensure a change in communities at a town hall-type meeting on the University of Memphis campus on Tuesday, April 23.

“If you begin just taking one person at a time, you get success by success by success,” Wharton said. “It is so easy to get guns in Memphis, so we are focusing on that.”

It would seem easy for Wharton and the social media team behind Memphis Gun Down to target the Memphis community and ask for their support in stricter laws. However, they found the problem was more related to education.

As a part of Michael Bloomberg’s foundation to reduce handgun violence, Memphis had been selected in 2011 as one of the few cities to receive a $4.8 million grant. This money funds salaries for staff members and provides support throughout the project’s duration. The Mayors Project, a new innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, will work simultaneously with Wharton and his Innovation Delivery Team to educate youth, provide jobs where needed and bring vacant properties in abandoned areas of the city back to life and prosperity once again.

“Most places in the community are afraid of teens,” said Jada, a member of the Social Media Team. “Our goal is to inform teens and the population of upcoming events and job opportunities, because in essence a main cause for crime in Memphis is not having enough to do.”

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A racially diverse crowd of more than 150 people gathered outside the Mississippi Museum of Art in downtown Jackson for speeches, gospel singing and the ringing of bells to remember the NAACP leader who was killed outside his home just after midnight on June 12, 1963. Evers was 37.

The Republican governor stood by Evers’ widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, just before going on stage to speak. Bryant said Evers “paid the ultimate sacrifice” in challenging segregation.

“The young people that I met, who were here reading today, live in a vastly different Mississippi than existed 50 years ago because of the hard work of men like Medgar Evers and women like Myrlie Evers,” said Bryant, 58. “So, as we ring the bell today, we pay homage to them.”

Evers, a World War II veteran from Newton, Miss., was hired in 1954 as the state’s first field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In addition to working for black voter registration, he led a boycott of downtown Jackson’s white-owned businesses, where black customers received shoddy service and few black clerks were hired.

Evers also investigated violence against African-Americans, including the 1955 killing of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago who was said to have whistled at a white woman working in a grocery store in rural Money, Miss. Till was kidnapped from his uncle’s home near Money and was beaten beyond recognition and shot in the head. His body was weighted down with a fan from a cotton gin and dumped into the Tallahatchie River.

Till’s mother allowed photos of his brutalized body to be published in Jet magazine, and the images galvanized the civil rights movement.

Simeon Wright is one of Till’s cousins and was in the home the night Till was taken. Wright said during the memorial service Wednesday that Evers was “a light in a dark place” during the investigation of the slaying — a crime for which two white men, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, were tried and acquitted by an all-white jury.

Wright said Evers taught him how to give a sworn statement to investigators.

“He said, ‘Whatever you do, tell the truth. Tell the truth,’” Wright said.

During the service Wednesday, four young adults read several quotes from religious leaders and civil-rights activists, including this 1961 statement from Evers, which was printed on a banner with a black-and-white photo of him: “Let me of good will and understanding change the old order, for this is a new day.”

In 1967, Democrat Robert Clark of Ebenezer became the first black Mississippian since Reconstruction to win a seat in the state House of Representatives. Clark, who knew Evers, served 36 years. By the time he retired, black representation in the state House and Senate was almost equal to Mississippi’s 38 percent black population — a change that was largely made possible by two federal laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“I did not take a single vote during those 36 years that Medgar would not have taken himself,” Clark said.

Hollis Watkins, 71, of Jackson, was a teenager when he became involved in civil rights work and met Evers, who was 15 years older. He said Evers was not afraid to speak truth to power.

“Medgar did his job,” Watkins said. “The question becomes: How about us today? Are we doing our work?”

A white segregationist, Byron De La Beckwith, was tried twice for Evers’ slaying in the 1960s, but all-white juries deadlocked without convicting or acquitting him. After a reopened investigation, Beckwith was convicted of murder in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison. He was 80 when he died in custody in 2001.

In Arlington, VA

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Phase I, which goes into effect on July 1, will mean the introduction of some very interesting changes in transportation formalities. Isaac Astill, the director of parking and transportation, said the ultimate goal of the project by Phase III’s end is to “accomplish and have constructed a holistic transportation system and hub.”

According to the university’s parking and transportation website, the most notable change for 2013-14 academic year will be the introduction of hang tags instead of decals. Faculty, staff and students must register and purchase their hang tag through the department’s online portal, and it will be mailed to the individual’s permanent address. The Office of Transportation and Parking itself will not be available for faculty, staff and student parking permit purchases after June 30.

Additionally, hang tags will be “mobile” in the sense that they can be moved from one car to another. Instead of being registered to vehicles as the decals were, the hang tags are registered to the individual. The person to whom the hang tag is registered will be responsible for any citations that are accumulated under its registration regardless of the ownership of the vehicle.

Phase I will also be the beginning of a hang tag price increase for everyone. Starting July 1, commuters will pay $95 for their hang tag, and the Parking and Transportation Office claims this is “still among the lowest rates in the Southeastern Conference.” The fee will increase by ten dollars every fall for the next three years finally topping out in Phase III at $115.

Caroline Taylor Godwin, a senior theatre major, said the hang tag approach does sound like a positive move even though it’s pricey.

“Even though the hang tags are transferable from vehicle to vehicle, I don’t think the $95 is worth it,” Godwin said. “It does sound convenient. I definitely have friends who could benefit from using mine or their friend’s because they surely are not going to want to pay $95.”

Lawrence Burnett, a sophomore economics major, understands the reasoning behind the tiered increase.

“I’ve learned from my economics classes that if you want to fix a problem then you have to raise the price,” Burnett said. “And campus parking has always been a problem.”

With regard to the noticeable increase in commuter traffic this year and the concern of already inadequate commuter parking, Astill says there will be plenty of spaces ready for the fall semester.

“We are actually adding an entirely new parking lot for commuters which will be ready by the beginning of the upcoming fall semester,” Astill said. “Many commuter lots were being utilized by construction crews this past school year.”

Hang tags for residential students will cost $115 in the fall of 2013 and will increase to $135 by the fall of 2015.

Regular faculty and staff hang tags will retail for $120 with $15 increases each fall until 2015. Faculty and staff also have the option of purchasing a reserved parking space hang tag for $600, which will be on a first come, first serve basis. This fee will see a one-hundred dollar increase each year until the fall of 2015 when it tops out at $800 for Phase III. Eligible faculty and staff members can apply for pre-tax deductions of permit fees.

Visitors to the Ole Miss campus will be required as of July 1 to purchase a $1 a day hang tag, restricted to designated visitor only parking spaces. The visitor hang tags must be purchased at the Parking and Transportation Office in Lester Hall. Retired faculty and staff can buy a yearly hang tag online or use the new visitor parking system at a $1 a day rate.

For those who utilize the Oxford University Transit system (O.U.T.), the shuttles will operate an extra two hours a day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The extended hours are at the behest of what the department calls a “significant increase in monthly riders for the past fall and spring semesters.”

Although he did not directly answer the question of the possibility of increased ticket fines and citation costs, Mr. Astill says there will be additional indicators throughout campus to help clarify the parking areas.

“Additional signs and roadway lines are already being constructed so there is no question as to who can utilize the parking space.”

For more information, the 2013-15 permit price guidelines and parking map can be viewed or downloaded via the Parking and Transportation website at http://olemiss.edu/parking.

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Scores of people from the Oxford, Ole Miss and press communities gathered at Oxford-University Airport for the announcement from Southern Airways Express. The airliner encouraged all in attendance to tour and view the newly renovated aircraft.

The planes seat nine comfortably, and the airline provides passengers with iPads and Bose headphones during flights.

Chairman and CEO for Southern Airways Express Stan Little made the formal announcement.

“Frankly, you’re going to be able to fly out of here for cheaper than it would be for you to drive to Memphis and park, much less buy an airline ticket,” Little said. “Virtually any day of the week you’re going to have a flight from Oxford into Destin or Panama City Beach.”

According to a press release passengers will not be charged with baggage or parking fees. Year-round destinations include Destin, Fla., and New Orleans. Panama City begins as a seasonal destination. Other possible future destinations to and from Oxford mentioned include Nashville, Jackson, Gulfport and Atlanta.

According to Little, football weekends should see near-constant traffic.

“We will be flying routes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of every home football weekend from New Orleans, Gulfport and Destin,” Little said.

As for away games, week three at the University of Texas has been drawing attention from the public. Little says Southern Airways Express is working on a flight to Austin, Texas, for that game.

“I think from the response we’ve gotten about that — we’re going to need a bigger aircraft for that one,” Little said to a chorus of laughter from those in attendance.

“We are promoting Oxford as a tourism destination,” Keith Sisson, chief operating officer for Southern Airways Express. “It is very important for us to be the transportation provider to a great tourist destination like this (Oxford).”

Little says no seat to or from Oxford will ever be more than $249.

Oxford will also have the only red-eye flight in the Southern Airways Express network. The flight leaves Oxford late Sunday night and arrives in the early morning hours in Destin.

Southern Airways Express refers to the fare options for that flight as the “Archie Manning Special” which will cost $18 and the “Chucky Mullins” which will cost $38 in tribute to the former Ole Miss Rebels football players.

Little said costumer service, quality flights and reasonable fares are what Southern Airways Express plans to bring to Oxford.

“We want to make the trip on the airplane part of the vacation and not just an inconvenience to get you to the vacation,” Little said.

The post New airline arrives to Oxford-University Airport appeared first on The Daily Mississippian.

Because it’s a college town, Oxford business owners not only depend on local business, but business from students as well.

Often when students are home for summer and holiday breaks, the economy faces hardships.

Lynn Roberts, general manager of Square Books, says September through December is the biggest sales period because the stores are getting business from students as well as people preparing for the holiday season. Roberts added that January is a month of slow business used to catch up on work put off from the holiday season.

As far as business goes year-round, Roberts stated Square Books does a lot of mail orders to people across the nation and also benefits from students enrolled in school during the summer. She also said they are busiest when there is a home football game.

“Doing a lot of mail orders helps us out because we don’t depend on people in the stores and people can order things online,” Roberts said.

Square Books hosts many authors and writers in residence that do book signing events to attract customers at different times throughout the year, also increasing their popularity. The famed bookstore was referred to by the New York Times as the “Literary Salon in Faulkner’s Hometown.”

Planning book signings at certain times is important. Will Lewis, owner and CEO of Neilson’s on the Square, would agree that timing has a lot to do with business and that one must be smart in their timing. Lewis said their strategy is timing and regulating when merchandise comes into the store.

Lewis said Neilson’s isn’t entirely dependent on student business, but since everything in Oxford revolves around the school year on the campus, they do experience a small dip in sales when students are gone.

When students are here, they make up about 30 percent of Neilson’s business, another 30 percent coming from regional business. Lewis stated regional business includes those who come on campus not for just athletic events, but spring activities and long weekends as well.

“The thing you do when you aren’t going to be that busy is you just don’t hire as many people,” Lewis said.

Larkin Akel, owner of The Blue Lark, takes a different route and doesn’t cut back on hours for her employees.

“As far as managing hours during these times, we try to give our girls steady work, and as owners we take the hit,” Akel said.

This past January Akel gathered her employees together and strategized on how to overcome these spikes in the economy.

“Our goal in January was to get really good at social networking,” Akel said. “When it’s slow on a random Tuesday for example, we use our texting program people have signed up for, and we will send out a text at 10 a.m. saying there is a 50 percent off sale on one item from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. that day to get people in the store.”

Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are just a few of the social media outlets they have used to market to college students, and they are now beginning to use Vine as a new marketing tool. Vine allows them to take a couple of mini video clips combined into one video to market their items to their “followers” on the iPhone app. The Blue Lark also keeps up with all the events on campus and coordinates their shipments around times like Greek recruitment and formals.

According to Akel, last year the Blue Lark didn’t see a dip like they did in previous years, but they have managed their shipments well and definitely schedule a lot of their merchandise around Double Decker since that is their biggest weekend of the year.

Double Decker might boost the sales at Blue Lark, but Old Venice Pizza Co. owner Spencer Treanor says they benefit from business being packed into one day. But once the tourists are gone, they don’t make near as much money.

“Orientation brings us a good size crowd in the summer, and we have a loyal base with the locals, so we are able to do business even when the students leave,” Treanor said.

Mary Allyn Hedges, tourism manager of the Oxford Convention & Visitors Bureau, says Oxford’s hotel occupancy is much lower than the national average.

“People think that our hotels are always booked, but they’re not,” Hedges said.

Hedges says this is something they have been working on and have hired Berkeley Young with Young Strategies Inc. to look further into the matter and research this problem.

According to youngstrategies.com, “The Young Strategies team works with each of our clients to develop a research methodology that will capture the voice of their travelers by segment and identify actionable strategies to drive future growth.”

With Young Strategies Inc. on board, Hedges says they have been encouraging applicants for event grants to schedule the events during the off-season months of January and February in an effort to not cram them into the same weekends. But most want to host events when they know the tourism numbers will be high.

“We sit down and review all the grants for the year and review the economic impact with number of hotel rooms you will need and when you want to schedule the event,” Hedges said. “You have to have a minimum of ten hotel rooms and advertise outside of Lafayette County.”

Super 8 Motel in Oxford has reached out to different groups in town to keep business flowing. General manager Michael Simmons has resorted to making cold calls during the dips in sales.

“I call different schools that have teams coming to play here for lacrosse, soccer, softball, or whatever it might be, mainly ones that don’t already draw large crowds,” Simmons said.

Running specials internally for repeat visitors and giving out manager specials for people who contact them are a few of the strategies Super 8 Motel has offered to lure in customers, providing a reasonable rate for the market.

“I have 116 rooms, so I try to fill as many beds as possible rather than trying to charge them a high rate,” Simmons said. “I try to give a reasonable competitive rate, but I don’t make any money when the beds are empty and the utility bills and other expenses don’t change.”

When beds are empty, Simmons is forced to cut back hours for the housekeeping staff. He added that even though hours are shorter, the housekeeping staff is still given ample hours with at least four shifts, and any cuts are done across the board so no one has more hours than others.

Mackenzie Lowery, who has been working at University Sporting Goods since 2009, said she has experienced a cut back in work hours and knows first hand how it affects employees in this community.

“On football weekends I might have to work until 10 p.m. some nights, but on a random Monday when we are slow, he (the owner) might have to let one of us go home for the day if we aren’t needed,” Lowery said.

Lowery has recently been promoted to general manager and said even in that position she won’t be paid monthly salary, but instead on an hourly salary with full benefits.

“Three years ago we had an option to be on salary or hourly, and now it’s not even an option,” Lowery said.

With the hotel and retail industry in Oxford cutting back hours for employees, Tori Puckett, owner of Panini Deli and Oxford Catering Co., says she sometimes goes weeks without seeing a paycheck because she has had to make sure her employees are getting paid.

“It’s not easy, especially when you have a 5-year-old and bills to pay, but you have to make sacrifices,” Puckett said.

Puckett and her husband own the quaint business and struggle to pay bills when business isn’t steady, which affects them monthly when the grocery and utility bills remain the same no matter what their income is like for the month.

Panini used to be booked every single weekend during the holiday season, but now it only brings in half as much revenue as it used to since corporations are scaling back on Christmas parties and other holiday events in this economy.

The restaurant has turned to others to help get the word out. Sen-Tex Solutions, which helps Panini enhance word of mouth about their business, allows them to pay a flat fee of 99 dollars a month and send out unlimited text messages a week, giving daily specials and updates to customers who signed up for the program.

Puckett says she has tried pretty much every means of advertisement over the years, from Mississippi Magazine and Alumni Review to radio ads and coupon booklets on campus. But she likes to physically see who she is reaching out to within the text messaging system. Having personalized communication with customers is key, Puckett says, using her relationships with customers to keep business steady and produce repeat customers.

“We’ve been here for twelve years, and we’ve built good relationships with businesses and corporations, and to be here for twelve years as an independent business is pretty unheard of in the food industry, usually 80 percent fail within the first year in Oxford,” Puckett said.

With numbers like 80 percent of restaurants failing within the first year, it’s hard to ignore the problem.

“If you don’t make it during those first seven months out of the year, you might as well close your doors,” Puckett said.

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While the actual construction will be done on June 30, the ceremonial opening will take place in the fall after the museum is able to get an African-American history collection in place.

Jim Pryor, president of the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation, said there will be a collection of African-American history on the walls inside of the building along with what he calls a “digital museum.”

“When people come to us with items they want to share, we will videotape them speaking about it which allows (museum visitors) to see it when they want to,” Pryor said. “Eventually we are going to have stories on Indians, whites, everyone, with viewing machines on the walls.”

Cynthia Parham, president of the Oxford Development Association, said that the renovation of the building is an important statement made by the people of Oxford.

“Oxford is the gateway to The University of Mississippi and we are a community that does not just work together, we have community unity,” she said. “There is so much history, so much African-American history.”

The Burns-Belfry Methodist Church was originally built in 1868 as the first church started by freed African-Americans in Lafayette County after the Civil War. It was then replaced by the current brick building in 1910 on the same property, which is the building being restored.

As the congregation grew, the limited space on the property meant the church had no choice but to relocate to a new site on Molly Barr Road.

The old church was owned by author John Grisham and was used as his office before he donated it to the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation in 2002. After receiving the donation, they partnered with the Oxford Development Association in a four phase effort to restore the building.

The first phase was completed in 2006 when all of the wall and roof structures were replaced. Since that time, they have been working on phases two and three, which are set to complete the restoration inside and out. The restoration should be complete June 30th. The final phase is in two parts: completing the cultural museum that will go in the building, and completing the museum plan.

Pryor joked they have yet to encounter a problem money cannot fix, and the restoration effort has managed to collect a lot. The church has received two federal government grants, the Hubs Grant and the Save America’s Treasures Grant. There have also been two Mississippi Community Heritage Grants with an additional $300,000-400,000 in city, county and private donations. Compiling the federal, state, city, county and private funds, the restoration effort has raised over $1.2 million.

Along with being a cultural museum, Pryor said that the building will also be home to weddings, wedding receptions, educational events and nonprofit meetings.

Rhondalyn Peairs has been a member of Burns Methodist Church her entire life.

“There are a couple of old families in the church. My parents were teachers in Oxford and have been here since before schools were integrated,” Peairs said, noting that her mother is one of the oldest members of the congregation. “The Redman family has been here three or four generations, including the great-granddaughter of one of the pastors from the old church.”

Peairs went further, saying the building represents not just the Burns church, but also a heritage and legacy for the local African-American community.

“It was our building and a lot of families have memories in the building, a lot of fond memories,” Peairs said. “That’s our building because we made it historic, not the building itself. Had it just been a warehouse or a storage shed over there, it wouldn’t be significant.”

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University of Mississippi alumni not only have a Rebel network to keep in touch with lifelong  friends,  they  also  have  unusual  opportunities  to  travel  the  world  with  other graduates.

Tim Walsh, executive director of the university’s Alumni Association since 2008, has been expanding the university’s 23-year-old travel program.

One of the most recent additions is a 23-day a trip around the world by private jet − with a price tag of $67,950. So far the trip has been well received, “exceeding the expectations” of Walsh’s friend who went on the trip in January of this year. Since Ole Miss’ first trip around the world in 2012, the two offerings have completely sold out and the trip scheduled for 2014 already has two people signed up.

“The rep was very nice when she pitched the idea to me but then she told me the price and I was like ‘Aw, we’re not going to do this,’” Walsh said. “But then she told me, ‘We’ve run data and the only schools we are offering this to in the Southeastern Conference are Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.’ So that stroked my ego and I said ‘OK, let’s give it a whirl.’”

According to Walsh, this trip is for travelers who can handle being in a different country every day for a three-week period. The destinations include Machu Picchu, Easter Island, Samoa, Tanzania, India and Egypt.

Some of the most popular trips offered by the travel program include Italy and a Celtic Lands cruise that visits England, Scotland and Wales.

“These are countries that have the heritage of many of our alumni friends,” Walsh said. “They are also perceived as safe countries.”

For the first time ever, University of Mississippi alumni will have the opportunity this fall to visit Cuba, a country that has been off limits to most Americans for so long. This week-long trip set for September has been made possible by an organization called Go Next Inc., which has been issued a People-to-People license by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for an educational exchange program.

Unlike most of the other trips that have a flexible daily schedule, this trip will be very tightly scripted. Participants will not be allowed to explore cities on their own, but instead are expected to follow the schedule that they have laid out for them every day.

“We were worried about whether or not we should do the trip, but we have 14 people signed up already,” Walsh said.

Another surprisingly popular destination has been Antarctica which  features a 13-day itinerary to Iceland, Greenland and the Arctic Circle aboard Le Boréal cruise ship. Walsh believes this trip draws in those who are serious world travelers.

“This trip tends to appeal to the people who are trying to visit every continent,” Walsh said.

Although the ages of Ole Miss travelers range from 20 to 70, most people taking advantage of  these  trips  are  in  their  60s.  With  more  than  50  trips  to  choose  from,  the  Alumni Association encourages alumni to invite friends and family to take part in any of the offered trips, with the exception of one annual January trip that is reserved only for people who have attended or still attend Ole Miss.

Walsh,  a  University  of  Mississippi  graduate  himself,  works  with  five  different  travel companies that pitch him trips. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has contracted with former Poland president Lech Walesa and former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev to lecture on previous trips. This year, UNESCO has contracted with Julie Nixon Eisenhower, who will lecture about the pivotal role her late father played in bringing Communist China out of isolation, for a 15-day journey this month through ancient kingdoms of China.

Kristen Vallier, who will be a senior at the university in the fall, hopes that one day she will be able to travel to another country with friends from school.

“The  trip to Cuba sounds really cool,” Vallier said. “I’ve always wanted  to go there, especially since we’re not really allowed to. It kind of makes me want to go even more. It’s nice that they have the trip all planned out for you because I think that would be one of the hardest things about going on a trip.”

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