There have been some comments made recently in the news that truly disturb me. Let me state clearly that only allegations of wrong doing against Vance Watson have been made and, t my knowledge, no one has all (or even any) of the facts yet. There has been a rush to judgment based on opinions but not on fact.

But what bothers me are statements such as those made by the Central Mississippi Chapter of the MSU Alumni Association chair Fred Nichols. In a Clarion-Ledger article on 04 October Nichols is quoted as saying “It’s a shame all of this came out so close to the selection”. My question is why? The shame is that there may have been wrong-doing here. I fail to see the shame in it coming it out now. When is a better time for it to have come out? After the new president has been announced?

Bad news does not get better with age and the sooner it comes out, the better. The shame is that there may have some things done that are in violation of state law; not that they came out.

I have also been amazed by the number of conspiracy theories that have surfaced about this. I’ve heard and read of just about everything: From search committee members wanting to spread rumors to put “their” candidate in a better light; to other officials positioning themselves for future appointments. About the only thing I haven’t heard is that Elvis or UFOs have been involved in some way. But I have not given up hope. It looks like it will a few weeks before the state auditor completes his investigation so there is plenty of time for someone to work Elvis into this.