Best Buy Mobile is opening a store inside the Mall at Barnes Crossing.

It's slated to open this Sunday, according to an IT man at the store. The store is near the food court, between Charlotte Russe and Aeropostale.

Daymon Coppock of British Telecom was installing stuff Friday. He said the store will sell cell phones, laptops, tablets, wifi hot spots and anything else related to mobile technology.

It will sell Apple and Android devices, he said.

Best Buy Mobile has partnerships with Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

 

From the Community Development Foundation:

Be there TODAY!

Join us at the B2B at the BancorpSouth Arena.

Visit over 70 booths from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Enjoy lunch from BBQ by Jim, Chick-fil-A (Mall at Barnes Crossing), and Gigi's Cupcakes from

11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

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Serve before you're served at the Taste of Tupelo.

Bring canned food for donation to the Salvation Army as you enter the Taste of Tupelo.

Tuesday, February 7

5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

BancorpSouth Arena

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B2B Connection is free to enter.

 

From this month's Northeast Mississippi Business Journal:

Scores of local businesses maintain a Facebook presence.

They use their Facebook pages in various ways, including posting pictures of new merchandise, posting daily lunch specials and running contests to get more “likes” or fans.

And as the site grows, small businesses are looking for ways to get more out of the free service.

Here are some tips from Facebook and several business blogs.

1. Create a Facebook page, not a profile or a group. Pages are designed for public figures, businesses or organizations. Profiles are for real people. Facebook Pages are visible to everyone on the Internet by default. Log into Facebook with your personal account, scroll to the bottom and click “create a page.” Select the proper category (local business or place; brand or product; company, organization or institution; cause or community). Be as descriptive as you can with your type of business and address.

2. The name of your Facebook page should be the name of your business. Don’t get cute with punctuation or spelling because it makes it hard for people to search for you. And pay attention to typos. You can’t change your name once you make the page, warns HubSpot.com. Once you get 25  “likes” or fans, secure your username at http://www.facebook.com/username/

3. Upload an in-focus, recognizable photo of your business name, storefront or popular product. Make sure it is no older than two years if there are people in the picture, adds a blogger on next.inman.com.

4. Claim your Place page on Facebook. Be sure to provide a location on your page so people know where to find you.

5. Write a short blurb that clearly describes what your business is. Include your website, phone number and email address. List all of your locations. If you are a restaurant, post your menu. If you are a retailer, include brands you carry. And make sure you post your hours.

6. Be social. Add updates, photos, videos and links about your business to your wall. These will show up in news feed, where your fans and their friends can comment and share them.

7. Give your page consistent voice. Is your brand elegant and refined or are you a quirky sandwich shop? Pick a personality and stick with it.

8. Create an event. Celebrate a launch, holiday or anniversary and promote it to your loyal customers. Take pictures of cupcakes you’ll be serving later that day at a store birthday party. Build excitement.

9. Check your page daily. Set aside five to 10 minutes each day to post updates and respond to comments. Responding to wall posts from your customers and updating your page on a timely basis allows you to keep in touch with customers just as you would when they’re visiting your physical store location.

10. Create a conversation calendar. Write down what you want to post and on what days. Brainstorm topics in advance. Think about themes that you can do on specific days, such as the weekly specials every Monday or highlight a piece of jewelry every Wednesday.

11. Check the metrics on your page's “Insights Dashboard” regularly. Look at who your customers are, what day of the week most people visit, how often people comment and which posts are most engaging. Update your page at times when fans are most engaged and encourage participation with weekly features and other regular content that receive the most comments.

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What should you post on your page?

• Photos, videos, menus or other "sneak peaks” about new products and events.

• Photos or videos of events you’ve held or sponsored. Post photos of your business, inside and out. Post photos of your merchandise and your products. And post photos of you and your team.

• Questions. Ask for feedback on a product or service. Thinking about remodeling your store? Ask customers what their favorite feature currently is.

• Cool things your employees are doing.

• Links to blog posts on your website.

• Links to trends in your industry. For example, if you are a rental business and a trade magazine does a story about how more people are renting wooden chairs than metal, post that on your page.

• Links to stories about events near your business. If your business is downtown near a festival, post a link to the event’s website.

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How do you get more fans for your business page?

• Take advantage of features on your page. Click the “Get Started” button under your default image and “invite your friends,” Hubspot recommends.

• Tell in-store customers. Add calls to action such as “Like us on Facebook” on in-store signs, emails and business cards.

• Promote your URL. Add your Facebook page link to your business cards, flyers or receipts.

• Get the Like button on your website. Make it easy for people to like your page, even when they're not on Facebook.

• Set up “check-in” deals where fans who “check-in” at your business on Facebook earn benefits. Reward loyal customers with discounts and other special offers.

For more tips, go to http://www.facebook.com/business/pages/

We're live at the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau board meeting. Meeting started at 2 p.m.

We were a few minutes late (interviews in Corinth this morning) so we're going to come back and catch up with what we missed at the beginning.

Update: We came back at 10:15 Tuesday morning and updated with the info we missed yesterday.

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Disclaimer: I'm typing as people are talking. There may be typos. People also have a tendency to talk at the same time, so I can't always hear everything.

And, I'm not typing every word. Think of this more as the highlights of the meeting.

Something doesn't make sense? Corrections? Have questions?  Ask.

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Financial report from Kim Hanna:

The CVB ended January with a total fund balance (savings account) of $2,555,936.

North Mississippi Medical Center gave its annual "in lieu of tax" payment in January: $38,546

Fiscal year-to-date revenues over expenses: $80,240.

Tupelo’s tourism revenues grew 12.74 percent in November. CVB collected $304,739 in November, which is up 12.7 percent from November 2010.

Slight fall of 0.1 percent in October.

The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants in Tupelo. Tupelo reports the money from the month it was spent - November - but it gets the money three months later.

For the fiscal year, the tourism tax revenues have grown 9.72 percent. The CVB’s fiscal year starts in October, which is the August sales month for revenues.

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2:15 p.m. -

• Film report from Pat Rasberry (copy and paste from the report):

Tupelo Film Alliance – Next meeting Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 10 a.m.

MS High School Film Competition – March 3rd – The Link Centre – closing out submissions this week for competition and confirming judges/along with program that will be going up on website soon.

Tupelo Film Festival – The Tupelo Film Festival is underway – May 16-19, 2012 – submissions closed – receiving films in mail with postmark date of deadline (over 150 films with from all over the world) Logistics involving sponsors, workshops and judges will be completed this week.  

Indie Film Series – NY Expo: Opus Jazz  will be held at The Link Centre Tuesday, February 7th – 7 p.m.  - Filmmaker Ellen Bar  from New York will be present to discuss film with attendees.

Pending Projects

MS Film Office – continuing to work with MS Film Office on locations

Katscratchfilms – GA – continuing to work with Kat on several films pending projects which could possibly bring work into Tupelo this summer

SJ Productions – TN – project still pending – Nashville, TN

Red Planet Entertainment – Several projects in the works pending funding

American Family Studios – In addition to their short film “Paper Dream” which is scheduled to be released this spring – they have several other projects in the works they will be announcing  soon

A major effort is in place to complete the 300 applications required to accomplish the mission of securing the “Film MS” special license plate – I am working with Tupelo Film Alliance member/MS Film & Video Alliance and their members as we push forward to make this happen in our state – everyone is very positive that 2012 will be the year to accomplish this goal

Completed Projects

Food Network Channel – Restaurant Impossible segment that was filmed at Woody’s is set to air next month – March 7th.

Willie Bearden Productions – filmed in an Elvis short film in January for the Elvis Presley Birthplace – Scott and several members in his crew stayed in Tupelo three days as there were seven segments to the film that encompassed the Birthplace, Museum and offsite locations that included historical locations of Elvis roots.

Canadian Production Company – were back in Tupelo completing their post-production work on their Elvis documentary this past December and have expressed a great interest to return to Tupelo in May during the Tupelo Film Festival to screen the 1-hour Elvis documentary  

Numerous local and regional filmmakers have developed films which have been completed and have been accepted into festivals in and out of our state in they have received awards - this has been a great way for our city to be promoted as Tupelo was the location for many of the films

Question from Councilwoman Nettie Davis: What about Tupelo 77 movie?

Answer from chairman Neal McCoy and Rasberry:

We're following up on possibility of filming "Tupelo 77" here. It was a play written about life in the South in 1977. Talks about how life and people integrated back then. Loosely based on life in Tupelo. We're trying to get a script. We're doing everything we can.

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Meetings and conventions report from Linda Elliff (copy and paste from report):

•    Attending Bank Travel Marketplace which consists of the nation’s leading organization of Bank Loyalty Program Directors, along with tourism professionals from around the country.  The tradeshow will be held in Memphis, TN and the Tupelo CVB has 33 pre-set appointments where we will meet one-on-one with tour planners to  promote Tupelo as a travel destination for groups.

•    Attending Travel South Showcase , a regional marketplace offering travel suppliers pre-set one-on-one appointments with tour operators interested in bringing business to the 11 Southern states who are members of Travel South USA.  This year’s showcase will be held March 4-7th in Louisville, KY and we are currently in the process of finalizing our appointments at this time.

•    MS Good Sam’s Club RV Group –  This group of 300-400 people will meet in Tupelo at the Tupelo Furniture Market on March 15-18, 2012.  Attendees will be from MS and surrounding states and have previously met in cities such as Greenville and Starkville for the past few years, but never met in Tupelo.  This group enjoys tours of the local attractions, eating at local restaurants and shopping opportunities.

•    Atmos Energy Leadership Conference - Working with the local meeting organizer on bringing this conference to Tupelo in November 2012.  This is a group of 50 delegates from around the state.

•    Travelsphere -  This company is one of the UK’s largest tour operators and has been bringing groups to Tupelo for several years.  They have confirmed that they will  bring a total of 12 tours, ranging from 40 – 55 people per tour, to Tupelo in 2012.

•    MS Lions Club Association State Convention:  The Lion’s Club district meeting was held in Tupelo in January with very positive results.  The local organizer has confirmed that they have voted to bring the state convention to Tupelo in May 2013.  The 2012 convention will be held in Natchez.

•    La/MS/W.TN Kiwanis District Convention – The meeting planner for their district convention visited Tupelo for a facilities site tour and requested a proposal to be submitted from Tupelo to host this meeting in August 2014.  They are meeting in Lafayette in 2012 and Baton Rouge in 2013.  This is a group of 250-300 and they meet Fri.-Sun.  They will make a decision on the 2014 site in March.

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Motorcoach report from Linda Elliff (copy and paste from Sharon McKissick's report):

The Elvis Presley Birthplace  reported 760  visitors with 38 states and 19 countries represented.

Health Works reported 1,639 visitors.

Tupelo Automobile Museum reported 1,838 visitors. 

Tupelo Buffalo Park & Zoo reported 418 in December and 289 in January.

Tupelo Veteran’s Museum reported 258 in December and 218 in January.

I talked with Tammy Galloway with Buckeye Tours out of Cambridge, OH.  She has a tour booked for Oct. 16, 2012.

I talked with Melissa with Christian Tours out of Newton, NC.  She booked a tour for March 23, 2012. 

I talked with Joyce Lawson with Travel Tours out of Wagoner, OK.  She has booked a tour for February 17, 2012.

Recreation Adventure Tours sent in their application for the gas incentive program.

Vickey Gregory out of Hoods, TX is planning on bringing a tour Oct. 18.

West KY Travelers Group out of Paducah, KY is planning on bringing a tour in May 2012.

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Sports development report from Seth Gaines (copy and paste):

•    I met with Ole Miss Sports Clubs on Wednesday 2-1-12 about a possible fall event here in the fall 2012.

•    I present MSU Sport Clubs on Wednesday 2-15-12 about a mirrored event also in fall 2012

•    Mississippi ASA Church State was awarded to Tupelo for July 20-21, 2012 – this event has brought around 16-20 teams to Tupelo in the past.

•    We won a bid for the Ultimate Frisbee Gulf States Athletic Open Conference Championships it will be April 14 weekend, which is the same weekend as the Avett Brothers Concert at the Arena, and they have a huge college age following.

•    I attended the MHSAA Athletic Directors and Administrators Conference on January 11-13, 2012 in Vicksburg, and talk to many Board members and Staff about the possibility of hosting the 1A & 2A State Basketball Championships in Tupelo in 2013.

•    MHSAA met and approved the new format of the State Basketball Championships on February 2, 2012. That opens up the door for Tupelo to present them with a bid for the 1A & 2A State Basketball Tournament for 2013.

•    I will meet with the Tupelo Veterans Council on February 7, 2012 to gain their support as we make a move to get the Wounded Warrior Softball Team here.

•    I will meet with Coach Andy Kirk of the ICC Softball Team Monday February 6, 2012 about an expanded fall softball event in Tupelo 2012.

•    We are looking at a 2 day fall ball tournament with 12-16 schools.

•    There was a Swim event in Tupelo this past weekend – We are still collecting numbers to provide an economic impact report.

•    Tupelo will host an ASA National Umpire School this weekend.

•    I will be attending the NASC Regional Workshop on February 23, 2012.

•    The first version of a sports calendar is complete for 2012.

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Marketing report from Sean Johnson (presented by Stephanie Moody-Coomer - copy and paste)

Traditional Media

We have currently, or scheduled to run, a number of consumer travel messaged ads running in travel-specific inserts like America’s Best Vacations, Spring Travel Planner, etc.

We also have ads targeting our group segment in Group Travel Leader and Group Tour Magazine. Travel 50 and Beyond and the Oxford American are carrying Tupelo branded ads. 

For our meetings segment, we’re running in Reunions Workbook, MSAE, and the Journal of the Mississippi Medical Association. Starting later this month we’ll be running on statewide radio campaign on MPB that will target business/association meetings as well as our festivals.

New Media

We have a number of Spring and Festival season ads that will be appearing in the next few weeks on the Internet. These ads will be in addition to the current “Treat Yourself to Tupelo” dining ads and weekend special lodging ads targeted to our proximal markets and also in addition to our Elvis themed ads that run nationally. The new campaign, which will run on a number of networks (Yahoo!, Google, AdBrite, etc.), will extend into Missouri, Georgia and Texas.

We will also be doing a strong national and international campaign on Facebook that will tout Festival and Elvis activities through August.

Key to this new campaign will be a new section of our website that we are creating. This new section will have a style that speaks specifically to the Elvis tourist. It will be an interactive site that contains Elvis pictures, videos, quotes, etc. and will also allow for users to comment via an online guest book and even post videos and pictures of their adventures in Tupelo. As well, we will be including on the site listings of tour operators who regularly come to Tupelo along with detailed information that is designed to make their travel here as effortless as possible. This new site will launch in early March.

Our Facebook “Like” Page, our App, and our Booking Engine and our Text Campaign…

We now have over 13,000 likes on our Tupelo Facebook page. This is an increase of over 5,000 (62%) over the last time that I reported to you in December.  As this number grows we are seeing continued success in the buzz of our posts – on any given day there are 2,300 people sharing, liking, or commenting on our page.

While we may not yet have the number of likes of Tunica (49,000) we have almost 10 times the people talking about us (they have 299). And the number of direct requests for information about visiting Tupelo and the folks just saying that they’re coming to Tupelo is increasing.

Our “Let’s go to Tupelo” app is growing without any real publicity. We have over 900 users (300 users from the last report) from every continent (except Antarctica).  67% of our users are domestic, 23% are in Europe and the balance are in South America, namely Brazil (we only have a couple of users in Africa and Asia, but they’re there). With the addition of our new “Music Listings” on the mobile page, we’ll be promoting the app locally as a utility and will be promoting it to visitors who are staying in our hotels and eating at our restaurants through counter displays.

Our hotel booking on the Tupelo.net is back up with 630 referrals for the month of January. Total referrals through the system since May are 4,416.

Out text campaign received 20 new subscribers in January with the bulk of them (about 65%) coming from the billboard on Hwy 78.

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Website report from Stephanie Moody-Coomer (copy and paste from report):

January 2012

www.tupelo.net –   15,402 over January 2011 in which there were 13,411 visits

www.m.tupelo.net – 2,554 visits over January 2011 in which there were 961 visits (2nd month to be live)

Total visits – 17,956 total visits – an increase of 24% over this time last year.



Partnerships report

Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area

Hills will be hosting a Teacher Preview Day with an invitation to conduct field trips to the Exhibit Center

Print media schedule, collateral material production and a video project were approved at the last meeting

Continue to promote the Hills National Heritage Area through our partnership by :

• Presence on their website –  HYPERLINK "http://www.mshills.org" www.mshills.org
• E-newsletter participation
• Event promotion
• Involvement in their social media efforts
• Promotion at the Exhibit Center
• Participation in the “member video” project currently being organized by the Hills staff

The Natchez Trace Compact

The Compact was able to negotiate with Park Service photographer Mark Munich for use of one of his copywriten photos to be the cover of our new brochure and guide.

Tupelo hosted our January board meeting with all states represented

Facebook at almost 2800 fans, Twitter at 400 followers

Spring Prize Promotion kicking off "Faces of the Trace", we will have rights to use any photos.  Best photo will win an ipad

:30 spot complete.  We will use it for digital ads, website, partners may use, You Tube

Now working on 3 min sales piece and 7-8 Visitor Center piece for CVBs

Wrote National Scenic Byways grant for signage that will reflect the AMT.  This grant was strong with the MS Great River Rd partnering with us to submit it.

The Civil War Center Board

The MS Final Stands Civil War Interpretive Center has set their annual calendar:

• Civil War Trust Park Day- Saturday, March 31, 2012, 9 a.m. Mississippi’s Final Stands Interpretive Center

• Saturday, April 21, 2012, Decoration day/ Cemetery Tour- Bethany Historic Cemetery

• Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, 2012, Children’s Discovery Day and Living History Event, Brice’s Crossroads Battlefield and Tupelo-Harrisburg Battlefield

• Saturday, July 14 at 5 p.m, Program and Living History Encampment at Old Town Creek

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, February 7 – CVB will have a booth at CDF’s B2B.

• Wednesday, February 8 – 3rd Tourism Leadership Program Class led by Diana O’Toole with the Mississippi Division of Tourism covering the topic of customer service

Other Items of Interest

After a suggestion during last month’s meeting, we launched a “live music” calendar on  HYPERLINK "http://www.tupelo.net" www.tupelo.net.

The first weekend, we had 30 live music listings over a 4-day period.  Most of our venues with live music offerings have embraced the idea and are posting their own events.  The CVB is assisting others in getting their events promoted on our website.

Janice Marshall, part of the Young Strategies, Inc. consulting team and the former director of the Macon, GA CVB conducted our 2nd tourism leadership program.  She covered the topic of CVB’s roles, responsibilities and organization.  That afternoon, the class had a fam tour of Tupelo’s attractions.

Natchez Trace Compact held their quarterly meeting in Tupelo in January.  We had guests here who came from Nashville to Natchez.  The meeting was coupled with a second Americana Music Triangle meeting.

The MS Hills also hosted their quarterly meeting in Tupelo.

We hosted Deb Wilson from the Florence AL CVB for a quick tour.  She was doing her own fam tour of Tupelo and the Mississippi Delta to experience the music product.  Muscle Shoals has a deeply rooted music history that will tie right into Tupelo through the Natchez Trace Parkway.

We are participating in an MTA seminar next week in Oxford titled “7 Ways to Kill a Festival”.  We have offered it to our festival organizers and will take the shuttle bus over for their convenience.

I assisted with an article for Group Travel Leader who is doing a spotlight article on Mississippi.

Sent out a monthly restaurant communication about the events in February.

We turned in a culinary inventory for Mississippi Development Authority Division of Tourism that will be featured on their website – www.visitmississippi.org

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Meeting adjourned at 2:40. Going to catch up with people and then update this post. Several reports are missing. Check back.

Tuesday update: We've posted all the reports.

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5:45 p.m. Monday update:

Been working on stories and haven't had a chance to post the rest of the reports. Will have to do that tomorrow. But here are the revenues ..

Tupelo’s tourism revenues grew 12.74 percent in November, according to numbers released Monday.

The Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau said Monday that it collected $304,739 in November, which is up 12.7 percent from November 2010.

The recent number comes after a slight fall of 0.1 percent.

November marks the start of holiday shopping, plus Toyota held its official line-off ceremony that month, which translated into additional hotel rooms and food expenditures.

The money comes from a 2 percent tax on hotels, motels and restaurants in Tupelo.

For the fiscal year, the tourism tax revenues have grown 9.72 percent. The CVB’s fiscal year starts in October, which is the August sales month for revenues.

Press release from Toyota:

BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. (February 6, 2012) –Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc., (TMMMS), added today a second shift for production of the Corolla, the world’s best-selling car of all time.  Approximately 2,000 people are employed at the plant site.

“Adding a second shift is a significant milestone for us,” said David Copenhaver, vice president of administration at TMMMS.  “Our team members’ strong work ethic and focus on quality and safety has begun to pay dividends for Corolla customers across North America as we continue production ramp up through spring.”

TMMMS is Toyota’s fourteenth North American plant, further advancing the company’s efforts to design, develop and build vehicles where they are sold.  The plant is an $800 million investment and has the annual capacity to produce 150,000 Corollas.  

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Shift schedule from Emily Holland, Toyota spokeswoman:

First shift: 6:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Second shift: 6:30 p.m. to 3:15 a.m.

Excerpts from a press release:

TUPELO, MISS., Meals on Wheels of Lee County is joining with local restaurants and the Mall at Barnes Crossing this month for a new fundraiser, “Have a Heart…Give a Meal.”

The fundraising promotion asks diners and shoppers to add $1.00 to their total bill or to drop money in designated “Have a Heart” boxes located in restaurants throughout Lee County and at BBQ-by-Jim in the Mall at Barnes Crossing Food Court.

Meals on Wheels of Lee County’s mission is to serve hot, nutritious meals to older adults who typically are unable to prepare their own meals.

It costs approximately $1,000 to feed one person for a year. The ministry currently uses 300 volunteers to serve 28,600 meals per year. There are currently 110 older adults who receive the hot meals daily.

Due to the increase in the aging population in our area, the need for this vital service is growing, and there are approximately 65 people on the waiting list to receive daily meals. In order to meet the needs of all Lee County applicants, Meals on Wheels of Lee County needs community help.

Restaurant owners in Lee County are some of the strongest supporters of Meals on Wheels. BBQ by Jim, Ruth’s Diner, Morrison’s Senior Dining Services at Traceway Retirement Community, and many others serve as meal preparation and pick up sites for volunteers who deliver the quality, nutritious meals to recipients on designated routes.

Beginning on February 6 until the end of the month, donations can be made at

• BBQ by Jim
• Park Heights
• Applebee’s
• D’Casa
• Los Potrillos
• Johnnie’s Drive In
• Ruth’s Diner
• Nautical Whimsey
• Skybox Grill and Pizzeria
• The Mall at Barnes Crossing Food Court

The Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau is also serving as a donation drop-off site. Any restaurants who would like to serve as a collection point are encouraged to contact Lynda Moses for details.

Meals on Wheels of Lee County is operated out of Traceway Retirement Community as a ministry of Methodist Senior Services.

Fulton has the cheapest gas today in Northeast Mississippi, according to our Daily Journal survey.

You can find a gallon of regular gas in Fulton for $3.24.

Most expensive place to fill up: Starkville $3.43

--

We had another question about the survey so let's take a minute to explain what we do. The point of the survey is to find the cheapest place to fill up your vehicle with gas. We survey 13 gas stations every Friday. These stations usually have the cheapest gas in their towns. The lowest gas price is our winner. The highest number is the place where you will spend the most to fill up (most expensive gas).

The most expensive place to fill up is NOT always the station with the most expensive gas in NEMS. You can find gas in Tupelo for at least 10 cents more than the station we survey.

The premise is - I'm a driver and I need gas. I don't want to spend all my money. Which town will be the cheapest to fill up in? And, which town will force me to pay the most because there are no other options? For example, if I live in Starkville and I need gas, the cheapest I can find today is $3.43. That's my cheapest option in Starkville, but it is the most expensive in the region.

Make sense?

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Other prices:

Amory $3.33

Belden $3.25

Booneville $3.28

Corinth $3.41

Fulton $3.24

New Albany $3.27

Oxford $3.34

Pontotoc $3.35

Ripley $3.37

Sam's Club (member price) $3.29

Sherman $3.25

Starkville $3.43

Tupelo (Kroger at Crosstown before discounts) $3.35

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Read the Sunday Journal for more prices.

We're live this morning (7 a.m.) at the Community Development Foundation's First Friday event. We're in the food court of the Mall at Barnes Crossing.

Today's sponsor: TRI Realtors

Today's speaker: Keri Wright, chief operating officer of Universal Asset Management. UAM operates the jet recycling program at Tupelo Regional Airport. It also has 450,000 square feet of distribution space in Verona.

--

Disclaimer: I'm typing as people are talking. There may be typos. I also can't always hear everything.

And, I'm not typing every word. Think of this more as the highlights of the speech. Something doesn't make sense? Corrections? Have questions?  Ask.

--

Wright:

I'm very impressed with such an ambitious group to be here listening to a speech at 7 a.m. on a Friday.

Test your UAM trivia knowledge. Winners will get bullhorns off the planes from Tupelo. Winners also can get glow-in-the-dark exit signs from the planes.

Josh Abramson - you are not eligible (ha ha ha)

• How many planes are at the UAM disassembly facility in Tupelo? (hands going up all over the place - 4 - 5 - 8)

16, it is! Winner picks a bullhorn.

• Name all aircraft types in the facility (4 types)

737-300 (10 of them from United - have 4 more coming - these are narrow bodies), 747-400 (JAL plane), A310, 767-300 (most recent additions last week)

• Last operators of aircraft?

United, Fly White (Portugal), Lufthansa, JAL, Air China

(mayor is one of the winners - picks a bullhorn and tests it out)

The aviation industry is the only industry with flying factories. The factories stop moving and they stop making money.

What you see here at the airport is one side of UAM's business - aircraft disassembly.

Company started 18 years ago to buy and sell commercial jets. Some make them to Tupelo. We lease aircraft to airlines around the world. AFter that it becomes a candidate for disassembly.

We also have distribution and sales. Sell components. We also have aircraft support on the ground. Send parts via courier to wherever in the world it needs to be. That's why it's so important for us to be close to FedEx in Memphis.

Question - how many have flown a plane? (hands raise) Commercial pilots? (a few hands) Flown in a commercial plane? (lots of hands)

For any part that comes off our our planes, they have to go through FAA regulations. Have to be recertified to be installed on an operating aircraft. Batteries, lighting, fuel, etc.

I started on the asset mgmt side. I started with buying and selling planes. Four or 5 years ago, we got a call from a gentleman in Africa. He was interested in our 777. We wanted to disassemble it. He wanted to buy it and said he was coming. I said it wasn't for sale. 24 hours later, he shows up on our door with a bodyguard and an agent. Transferred the money. Now the plane is transporting the president of Gabon, Africa.

Aviation is one of the most amazing industries to me because it connects so many people around the world.

Tupelo is the place UAM uses for its show and tell. Only place you can crawl around and see what we do. We use it to show our clients and we always will. We have partners from around the world and we love to bring them to Tupelo and show them Tupelo.

Moving here from Arkansas allowed us to springboard our operations.

2011 our new initiative was so grow sales offices. Have offices in Asia, Africa and others.

Asset mgmt, component sales corporate offices are in Memphis.

Who do we sell to? Every aircraft you've flown on, UAM probably had a part in. - AA, KLM, Delta, UPS, Spirit, Air Asia.

There's not a single airline in the world that doesn't use used parts recertified.

Disassembly facility & warehouse in Tupelo - 16 current projects, 14 more coming; foreign trade zone;

We had our first engagement. Came from a plane from Japan. Pilot brought over ring. Our employee proposed. The girl didn't see it coming. As a girl, you can't get a better story than that - my ring was flown in on a private plane.

UAM employs certified A&P mechanics. We've employed people before that weren't certified but we lost too much money because they weren't certified to be working with aircraft parts.

We employ mechanics who are going to school. We offer internships.

We also build custom crates.

Most important thing for us is being green. This started long before the global green initiative. UAM focuses on every aspect of the disassembly process. For example, when we pull the fuel off, every drop is used. We use it, sell it or recycle it.

We have a hazmat team. All fluids are pulled off and recycled or disposed of properly.

"Nose to tail" recycling - we reuse carpet and seat foams to pad our crates.

The scrap guy comes in with the claw and we recycle aluminum. Beer and soda cans are recycled aluminum. We also recycle the cockpit. We cut the head off. It's used as simulators. People who want to have simulator in the basement also buy our cockpits. One of the last things we do is the cockpit removal. Scrap guy comes within 48 hours because it's just sad looking.

We had 3 airplanes arrive last week. Busiest week we've had. 2 from Lufthansa, and 1 from Air China.

First thing we do is pull the engines off. We pull out avionics, auxiliary power, landing gear, thrust reverser. Besides cutting off the head (cockpit), we cut off the legs (landing gear). At that point, it's just a sad looking plane.

Then we store the parts in a warehouse and sell them.

Where is UAM going? What I'm looking for is ways for UAM to get involved in the community. We are a for-profit company. Our goal is to make money. If we can make money, we can give back to our employees and to our community.

Telling story about how UAM gave a plane to a struggling restaurant in Arkansas. Gave over $1M to local Baptist college for a chapel. Did a graduate incentive program of giving a way a new car at graduation - had to be present to win. The school had the highest rate of people present at graduation. It always ended up that the people who won were so deserving.

I'm glad you guys are here because we want to know ways we can get involved. We're looking for schools to partner with. We're looking for training programs we can partner with.

Are we hiring? Yes. Open positions:

• A&P mechanics (apprenticeships if you have a mechanics background)
• inventory specialists for warehouse (have over $1B in inventory)
• office coordinator
• asset manager (memphis)
• sales account manager

Apply via: careers@uaminc.com

This year, we're going to open a sales office in Tupelo. Based at distribution center.

keri@uaminc.com - If you have a great opportunity that you think UAM should be involved with, let us know. Here's my email address.

We're creeping up on 50 employees in Tupelo. I expect that to grow. We want to hit 100 in the next 2 years.

All the airplanes that come in here are not bad aircraft. Purely economics. It doesn't get to a certain age and then it dies. It usually comes up to a specific check and it's too costly to fix, so they sell it.

UAM, we're as close to recession proof as we can be. Knock on wood. When the economy is good, that's when everyone wants to be flying. Prices on our parts go up because everyone wants them. When the economy goes down, airlines start letting leases go and getting rid of extra inventory. Value of the aircraft as a whole is not worth the same as the individual parts.

We are one of the largest buyers of aircrafts around the world.

Average time an aircraft sits on the ramp? First one in Tupelo sat on the ground longer than it should have because we were trying to close one facility and move here. It will improve in the future.

Widebody disassembly is is 60 to 90 days.

Narrow body is 10 business days.

Scrapper takes a little longer because we get several airplanes lined up to scrap at one time because of scrap values.

How many planes can we handle? We can handle as many as Josh (of the airport) will pour the concrete for. We're working on deals now. We have more aircraft than we know what to do with and that's why we are constantly hiring. We have to keep churning.

My goal is the next time we have a big airplane come out, we want to have everyone out there to tour around the plane. We're going to set up a community day on a Saturday to tour. If you want to tour before then, send me an email and I'll create a mailing list to let you know when the next plane tour is.

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8:07 - Wright ends. CDF gives her a gift. Now CDF is giving out door prizes (gift certificates for BWW, Reed's, Fairpark Grill).

Next speaker is Dr. Mike Ward, a public education consultant

8:09 - Meeting adjourned.

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Read the Daily Journal tomorrow for more details.

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Sidenote - Keri Wright has been racing single engine planes since she was 20. She races every year in the Women's Air Race Classic.

From an LATimes blog (full text):

J.C. Penney hired Ellen DeGeneres to get some attention -- and so far, she's delivering.

OneMillionMoms.com -- a project of the uber-conservative American Family Assn. in Tupelo, Miss. -- is upset that the retailer hired DeGeneres -- the openly gay host of the daytime talk show "Ellen" -- as a spokeswoman to help retool its brand.

"Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families," the group wrote on its website. "More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless J.C. Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war, then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful." 

The website offers readers J.C. Penney phone numbers and invites them to express their displeasure.

This drew a condemnation Wednesday from GLAAD, the gay rights organization, which dubbed the association a "hate group."

"While designated hate groups try to start 'culture wars,' it's clear that a vast majority of Americans today support Ellen as well as their LGBT friends and family members," Herndon Graddick, a senior GLAAD official, said in a statement, using the acronym for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender persons. "Selecting an out performer who has inspired and entertained millions is not only a smart business practice, but a reflection of how LGBT Americans today are an integral and valued part of the fabric of our culture."

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BTW, JCP has a new look to its website and has retooled its logo. Check it out here.