After building the first four Holiday Inns in Memphis, Kemmons Wilson teamed up with Mississippians Wallace Johnson and Bill Walton to begin selling franchises.

   Mike Sturdivant, of Glendora, was a recent Harvard graduate in 1956.  He recalls meeting Wilson and opening his first Holiday Inn in Meridian. Soon Sturdivant and his former college roommate, Earle Jones, began opening Holiday Inns across the state.  He remembers how the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 affected their business.

   By 1976, when Studivant sat down to reflect on twenty years in the business, their company, Mississippi Management was operating over 2000 hotel rooms.

   Today, MMI of Flowood. operates over 100 properties throughout the southeast.

Over the years, commercial fishermen and conservationists have often viewed each other as adversaries.

Peter Floyd of Pascagoula has worked as a commercial fisherman and a turtle researcher.  In a recent interview, he explains how he sees things differently.

Floyd explains how a life-long interest in herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians, led to a second career as a turtle researcher.

Floyd sees in the Gulf, an abundant variety of marine life. He feels that over-regulation of the fishing industry is costing the state millions in lost income.

Founded in 1876, P&J Oyster Company of New Orleans was the oldest continually-operating oyster business in the United States.  In June of 2010, owners Al, Sal, and Blake Sunseri were forced to close after the B.P. oil spill.

 Blake Sunseri describes how the French Quarter would awaken to the sounds of oyster shucking.

Al Sunseri explains that oyster shucking has always been done by immigrants.  He laments having to lay off long-time employees. He marvels at the out-pouring of support for their company as they look to the future.

P&J Oysters can be found online at Oysterlovers.com.

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, British Petroleum established a program to compensate those affected.  Roscoe Liebig, a shrimper from Pas Christian, says that program was poorly administered and rife with fraudulent claims.

Liebig has noticed that young people are no longer choosing a career in the shrimping industry.  He wonders about the future of the industry.