Starkville and MSU?

[brc925]

As far as the college goes, it's a great campus. I had a wonderful time in college. Some of the programs (like engineering and computer sciences) are better than others so your education will depend on your field of study. If I were you, I'd stick to the university - medical services, working out, clubs, etc. There are a lot of opportunities and a lot of interesting people on campus.

I'll keep that in mind. I'll be coming home a lot (DeSoto Co.) so hopefully the medical services can wait for my trips home so I can go to regular doctors my family has used. I actually don't attend church, it's my girlfriend that does and our agreement is I'll go, but it has to be nondenominational. I know the cop question was weird. The way I see it, if a police officer doesn't have the decency to say thank you when you hold the door open for him, just simple manners, then he's probably not going to be very helpful in a bad situation (ie, "I'm out of tickets"). By dog parks I didn't mean let your dog off the leash to run parks. I just meant parks where dogs are allowed to be walked. The larger dog is aggressive towards random dogs. He's picky, and unpredictable when it comes to dogs. It's the place I took him from, he's getting better about not being aggressive towards any dogs.

A friend of mine had a daughter who was bit in the face by a pit bull, and OCH had her wait for 6 hours in the ER

Ouch! I've got one and just from playing tug-of-war with him I know that'd hurt. 6 hours with a bite in the face from those jaws?? Won't even bother with that place.

[brc925]

Another question: Is there a good repair shop for older cars? A '69 Firebird to be specific.

[trueicon]

Just a few quick points. I realize that I'm not replying so much to the OP, bcr925, but rather to anyone who might click over to this thread in the future.

Originally Posted by peppermint

I'm not a fan of the Cotton District. It's crowded, expensive and reminds me WAY too much of high school. That's my very personal opinion. Most people love it.

I am not very fond of the Cotton District either. However, what I was referring to is different from the Cotton District. It's going to be called the CottonMill Marketplace. It's been planned for a while, but just recently has begun to make forward progress. It was in the Starkville Daily News a couple of weeks ago. They tore down the entire area between the old Cotton Factory, turned MSU Facilities office. That itself is going to become part of the project as a convention center. Fortunately, what I mentioned is a lot different from Cotton District. Here's a web site with more info: CottonMill Marketplace at Mississippi State University - Linking the History to the Historic

Originally Posted by bcr925

Ouch! I've got one and just from playing tug-of-war with him I know that'd hurt. 6 hours with a bite in the face from those jaws?? Won't even bother with that place.

Something tells me that if you're unfortunate enough to ever be in an urgent situation involving an ER visit, you'll change your tune.

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The city is doing some things I've been impressed with (which is why I say it's more progressive than most Mississippi towns). It might not be much, but there's way more to be excited about with our local economy than there is with our local football and basketball teams.

- There recently was a first-ever city "Twitter Townhall", where elected officials and city residents (mainly students) engaged in a 2 hour+ dialogue about the direction of the city.
- The university is considering a campus-wide smoking ban.
- There will soon be public transportation throughout the city, funded by MSU.
- The Columbus Dispatch reported that two major car parts manufacturers were close to announcing plants in Starkville, due to its proximity to regional auto manufacturing facilities.

Note that I'm comparing Starkville to other small to medium sized towns in Mississippi, not necessarily to other cities in other states.

The state, as a whole, does have its well documented problems. I'm fortunate to be earning a salary greater than an average student. That does open up some doors. However, I remember how tough life was living in bigger cities with much less money. That certainly would change someone's perspective, but I believe that no matter where anyone lives, they can make it a lot better or a lot worse depending on how active they want to be and what types of activities they're looking for. When I lived in large cities, I mostly went to the gym and watched TV (and occasionally went out for a drink with friends). Needless to say, those bases are covered here. For a student, I can't see how they would be very successful in any college program in the world if they're looking for much besides that.

[peppermint]

Originally Posted by trueicon

Just a few quick points. I realize that I'm not replying so much to the OP, bcr925, but rather to anyone who might click over to this thread in the future.

I am not very fond of the Cotton District either. However, what I was referring to is different from the Cotton District. It's going to be called the CottonMill Marketplace. It's been planned for a while, but just recently has begun to make forward progress. It was in the Starkville Daily News a couple of weeks ago. They tore down the entire area between the old Cotton Factory, turned MSU Facilities office. That itself is going to become part of the project as a convention center. Fortunately, what I mentioned is a lot different from Cotton District. Here's a web site with more info: CottonMill Marketplace at Mississippi State University - Linking the History to the Historic

Well, that's good news. The horrid building was a terrible eye sore. Starkville has done a good job with beautification, especially in the areas closer to campus.

Originally Posted by trueicon

Something tells me that if you're unfortunate enough to ever be in an urgent situation involving an ER visit, you'll change your tune.

All I can say is that you are 100% wrong about my willingness to go to that ER. Last year my father was in an emergency situation again, and my mother drove him to West Point. Our family will never go to the OCH ER again. Several years ago my father almost died on their ER table because they delayed a transfer to Tupelo for cardiac care.

Originally Posted by trueicon

The state, as a whole, does have its well documented problems. I'm fortunate to be earning a salary greater than an average student. That does open up some doors. However, I remember how tough life was living in bigger cities with much less money. That certainly would change someone's perspective, but I believe that no matter where anyone lives, they can make it a lot better or a lot worse depending on how active they want to be and what types of activities they're looking for. When I lived in large cities, I mostly went to the gym and watched TV (and occasionally went out for a drink with friends). Needless to say, those bases are covered here. For a student, I can't see how they would be very successful in any college program in the world if they're looking for much besides that.

I agree with that to an extent. While Starkville is not a place I would ever want to live again, the question was about MSU, and I loved my time in college.

[An Einnseanair]

My entire experience with medical care at Starkville was with the on-campus clinic. Other than the usual extended wait times, I had no problems.

I do have a friend who works part-time at a medical clinic in Starkville (not emergency, but another specific regular medical service), and I've heard a few rather bad stories. They've recently fired at least one person and a few others might be on the chopping block if they can find replacements.

On to more pleasant topics, I was in Starkville and West Point last week for work. I ate Monday night at Little Dooey's, and it was just as good as I remember. Still not on par with my all-time favorite BBQ joint (Jackstack in Kansas City), but good. For what it's worth, I went to LD's because I was meeting my family and I wanted a sit-down meal. If I was just grabbing a BBQ for lunch (standard pulled pork) I would have gone to Petty's over on Hwy 12.

We ate at Cappe's for lunch the next day, and it was pretty good for a meat & 3. Their steaks are also supposed to be really good, but they don't serve steaks for lunch.

Tuesday night we drove over to Columbus to grab a steak at Old Hickory. I remember it as the best steaks ever, but it's been 20 years since I'd been there. Unfortunately, my tastes must have changed. The steaks WERE good (I got a KC strip, my fiance got the small ribeye), just not what I remembered. It's possible that at the time it was the best steak I'd ever eaten, but you can get some awesome beef in Kansas City and Chattanooga so there's no real comparison.

Other "good" places include The Veranda and Harvey's ("American Food"). Also Rosy Baby's (cajun - they had alligator tail). I haven't been to Harvey's or Rosy Baby's in 20 years, but The Veranda was pretty good as of last December. There are more, but I was a broke college student so I didn't frequent the "good" places while there. You don't get much selection with a permanent town population of 25k, even it it does swell to 50k+ when school is in session and 70K+ on home game days.

Other than the Community Market (farmers/craft market) held May-October, I don't know of anything other than your standard chain grocery stores.

I agree with peppermint. I enjoyed my time there as a college student, and I grew up about 45 miles west so I was familiar with Starkville even before college. But I can't think of anything that would ever make me want to move back there permanently.


[Edit to add:]
I just re-read the original post, and came back to add a couple of additional comments.

I received two speeding tickets in Starkville, both deserved. My policy is to be polite to officers, and I've never had one be rude to me. Most police officers are just regular people. Be nice to them, they'll be nice to you.

The current theater (west side of town) is decent with stadium seating and offers 3D pictures. The original was recently torn down, and needed to be, but "Midnight Movies" on Friday nights were always awesome.

White Tail Deer is considered a "game" animal and is therefore illegal to buy or sell inside the state. However, you might be able to locate someone selling farm-raised Red Deer or Fallow Deer. I do not know of any place to buy it around Starkville.

What kind of fishing are you looking for? Mississippi has a lot of clay and silt. Consequently, the rivers and ponds are usually full of suspended clay and silt. So no crystal-clear trout streams, but some non-flood-control lakes can have decent water. Largish public lakes around Starkville include Oktibbeha County Lake (west on Hwy 82), Columbus Lake (on the Tenn-Tom Waterway to the east), and the lakes at the Noxubee Refuge to the south.

[Chris Balducci]

I live in another college town in Mississippi. Real estate tends to be expensive and, at least in the case of the town I live, there seems to be a cartel that owns most of the rental properties and a freeze on constructing apartments, making rents high. God bless.