Mississippi Representative Mark Formby spoke at Picayune Main Street’s membership meeting Thursday evening about the importance of voting, state income tax and a project that will transport the Apollo 19 rocket to the INFINITY Science Center.
In his more than 20 years in office, Formby has noticed that it’s important for everyone to get out and vote. He said that because during one of his earlier runs for office he lost to a competitor by a mere five votes.
He also took a second to commend Picayune Main Street for the work they have done in keeping Picayune’s downtown area vibrant. Typically, as a town grows, the center of it collapses, leading to a number of buildings sitting empty in many downtowns. While that did occur in Picayune at one point, it’s not so today.
“But what Picayune Main Street has done borders on miraculous,” Formby said. “It makes me proud to live in this town.”
During his more than two decades in office, he said he has never voted for a tax increase. In fact, he said he is working with other legislators to do away with the state’s income tax. However, he added that it wouldn’t be a quick process.
To touch on other recent hot topics, he said he supports laws that allow people to carry guns, so long as they are not offenders, supports the establishment of charter schools so families have a choice in education, and would like to see personal property tax abolished.
He also recalled the days of the Saturn engine tests at Stennis Space Center. He said he remembers the days of windows rattling when the engines were tested, so he has become involved in the transfer of the Apollo 19 rocket from its location at the Michoud assembly facility in Louisiana, to the INFINITY Science Center in Hancock County. It will be transported by barge from the assembly facility to Stennis, before being carried to INFINITY along Interstate 10. Formby said the transfer by road will require a special road being constructed in the median of the interstate in order to get it to the science center.
Another six to eight months will be required to restore it before it will be put on display. Once on display, anyone traveling along that corridor will be able to see it from the interstate.