Talk:Meridian, Mississippi

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Contents

[edit] History

I have removed the "History" section, as it was a copyright violation, taken almost entirely from this page. --Calton | Talk 02:43, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

That information is probably public domain, since that is the City of Meridian's website. (unsigned)
No, information from a city government website would NOT usually be public domain. Information from a U.S. Federal government website usually is public domain, but not state and local governments. And, some information including some photos on the National Park Service website are not public domain either. If the work is produced by a Federal employee doing his/her job, it will be in public domain, though. doncram (talk) 04:30, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Shrinking?

I have a 1984 World Book that list it at 46,000 3rd largest in the state. Anyone know if it shrank and why?

I believe that many people have moved out of the city limits, but are still in Lauderdale county. The county population, which according to Wikipedia is over 78,000, has grown while Meridian population has shrunk. According to your World Book, what was population of Lauderdale county in 1984? I remember back in the late 60's and early 70's, the common belief was that Meridian population was around 49,000. I don't know if that was accurate though. Jimwilliams57 03:04, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dunn's Falls

I have a book about Dunn's Falls (mentioned in the sites of interest) that has information about the history, funding, construction, etc. of the location, but the book has no ISBN number, no copyright statements — nothing. Can I use this book as a source? How might I go about doing that? Is there anywhere that I can scan in the pages as pdfs and upload them to the web? Dudemanfellabra (talk) 02:45, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

You can use any book as a source. It does not have to be on-line, it does not have to be available for other editors to see. Actually most information relevant for wikipedia articles is not in electronic form, it is in books at local libraries. User:Murderbike in the state of Washington has done very nice work on multiple articles on NRHPs in the state, and in NHLs covered by List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, using local library books. By all means go and use them, and just use ordinary referencing, include the author name(s), title, publisher, etc. I guess including an ISBN is nice, if there is one, but it cannot possibly be required to use a source. Do ancient texts like the Bible have an ISBN? I hope not.
On the other hand, I think you probably are not allowed by copyright law to scan and post a book, even if you don't see its copyright statement, because i am guessing it is copyrighted and you cannot publish it yourself (by posting to the web). Copyright law is tricky, and much is copyrighted automatically, you don't need to separately claim copyright. But I am not a lawyer, and I am not an expert on copyright stuff, so I really don't know the particulars relevant for the book you ask about. There is a whole copyright questions area in wikipedia at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions where you could/should ask any question like this. Hope this helps. doncram (talk) 04:41, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
This thread was very helpful. Thanks for the help! Soon I plan to expand the Dunn's Falls paragraph - maybe into an entirely separate article --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:11, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Highland Park carousel

It would be great if someone local would take and donate photos of the carousel itself for this article. Sounds as if the horses are terrific.--Parkwells (talk) 13:11, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building, which is linked to on this page, contains not only the picture of the building in which the carousel is housed, but a picture of the carousel itself (Image:Highland Park Dentzel Carousel 2.JPG). Both were taken by me. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 18:48, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
That's a great shot! Can I copy it to the main city page? Not every city has an original carousel. When wikipedia said you didn't have a user page, I didn't think to check the Talk page.--Parkwells (talk) 19:23, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks! Uhh.. I mean I can't like stop you from adding the picture, but where would you add it? Sites of interest is pretty much pictured out haha (Though I do have some more pictures I want to add). I, myself, think the link to the article suffices, but if you can find a place to add the image that doesn't look tacky, go for it. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:56, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Well, to me a photo of the carousel is more interesting than of the carousel house. I'd put the carousel on the city page, and then have that and the shelter house on the other page. Thanks for adding the link to the photos of all the Carousels Abound horses - all those vibrant colors are great.--Parkwells (talk) 03:03, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More rearranging

I think Transportation and Media should both go below Sites of Interest and Famous People. They are mostly lists.--Parkwells (talk) 19:48, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but the generic outline for most cities has them higher up in the article. More generic information about the city should come before specialized information, IMO. I agree that those sections are mostly lists, but some expansion IMO would be better than just moving them to the bottom... --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:56, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
It was just an idea. Have been looking at too many articles.--Parkwells (talk) 03:04, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New tables

Definitely aesthetically pleasing! Are they difficult to do? I know I should figure it out but just haven't gotten around to it. I want to set up tables to show African-American population disfranchised in each state by new constitutions at turn of the century.--Parkwells (talk) 20:07, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Nah, they're easy as pie to make.. look at the source of the section for a basic example. If you have any questions about it, go to Help:Table --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:43, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

I just made a new table for the Highways in the city. I thought about making one for the Sites of interest that would include headings of "Name", "Image", and "Information," but I think the page is beginning to be overrun by tables. Can anyone think of a better way to organize the information on this page? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 05:21, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

You are right that tables for Sites of Interest would be too much. Also, they can be harder to edit. (Was reading the guidance and they discourage overuse of tables - the ones you've made seem to fit the uses.)--Parkwells (talk) 17:34, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Famous Meridianites

This section is in 2 columns. The only method I know to do this is to make a table, but every time something is edited in that section, one must move where the columns separate to keep the columns at equal length. Does anyone know of an easier way? Like an automatic thing such as what {{reflist|2}} does for the References? That would be a LOT easier. Thanks! --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 18:00, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure if / how it's done, but you'll get a better answer somewhere around the WP:REFDESK. Deiz talk 22:45, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
I finally found a way a few days ago by looking at the source of {{reflist}}. It's currently in use, but it doesn't seem to work with Internet Explorer. I don't think this is much of a problem, though, because neither does a multi-column reflist. The 2-column layout works in Firefox, though. You should probably switch over! :D --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 23:42, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Irrelevant paragraph

In 1890, a group of specially elected state delegates met in Jackson, the state capitol, to debate topics to be included in a new constitution. The new document contained provisions including poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements for voter registration.[1] These provisions effectively disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites by imposing barriers to participation in politics. The 1890 Constitution was never sent to the people of the state for ratification.[2] Since most African Americans were prevented from voting, they could not serve on juries and were denied political representation. The state legislature proceeded to pass legislation known as the Jim Crow laws, imposing racial segregation in most facilities.[3]

The above paragraph deals with Mississippi as a whole and should not be included in the article. The information in the paragraph, though, is valid and referenced and therefore should not be deleted. I suggest moving/merging the content with the main Mississippi article. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 21:52, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree.--Parkwells (talk) 12:08, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Naval Air Station

Wow, I'm amazed at how far this article has come. Kudos to those putting in all the work, I think it's great. However, one major thing is sorely missing, Naval Air Station Meridian. Plumbarbacy (talk) 01:24, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

I've added a small bit about it with a link to it's main article. - ✰ALLSTAR✰ echo 04:03, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
I moved the NAS Meridian section to the "Sites of Interest" section. IMO, it fits more here. All the other interesting sites don't get a special heading; why should this one? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 16:58, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
I personally don't care where it is in the article. I just put in something quick because Plumbarbacy was correct in his/her observation that such an important piece of information was missing. I knew you'd be along to expand/move/reword it, either way. - ✰ALLSTAR✰ echo 18:05, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] B Class

I've upgraded the article to B-Class; I don't think I have to have any reviews to do so. I think the article fits the criteria for the upgrade. Comments? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:45, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment and if it meets "B", then so be it. - ✰ALLSTAR✰ echo 18:08, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
The article is actually now very well-written and interesting, a lot more so than other U.S. city articles i have read. Is it because the city has more interesting history than, say Syracuse, New York, or is it because it is better-researched and written, or both? The upfront population discussion and the economy discussion help. Anyhow, I suggest putting it up for peer review, which is often a very positive process that generates good suggestions, and which is good to have done before Good Article or Featured Article nomination. Nice work. doncram (talk) 19:18, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Well I'm not exactly well-versed in how to do that (don't even know what it is haha), so do you think you could? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:40, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
See Wikipedia:Peer review. I've commented in a number of peer reviews, though only went through it once (in this peer review for the List of NHLs in NY article that i co-authored). It has seemed like a very positive process in all instances. You need to put it up yourself, done simply by following instructions given in Wikipedia:Peer review, including providing a statement explaining why you'd like to have the peer review (typically to get feedback to assist in developing the article towards GA or FA status). See also Wikipedia:Good articles and Wikipedia:Featured articles. doncram (talk) 22:38, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
Ok, it's up for peer review. I asked a few people on the volunteers list including WP:CITIES and Wikipedia:WikiProject Mississippi. If anyone would like to comment, the review page is located here. Thanks! --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:44, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Economy

I think that an Economy section is needed for this page. I've tried to find any and all information about Meridian's economy, but there's not really much out there. I normally find massive tables and raw data that I don't really want to sift through and try to make meaning of; I don't even know where to start! Does anyone know of anywhere that would have information to put in this section of the article? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 03:20, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Maybe there is material about the county that includes data for Meridian. I would think it's more likely to find info for the larger jurisdiction, and backtrack from that.--Parkwells (talk) 22:06, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
I added an economy section a few days ago, along with a nifty table I found. I mentioned the old railroad economy and a few ways the city has attempted to create a more modern economy, but I don't know what else to add. I'd like to add some hard figures like tax revenue, expenditures, city debt, etc., but economy's not my strong point. I found Meridian's 2007 Financial Report, but the pdf is 100+ pages, and I don't know which numbers mean what. Is anyone willing to interpret the data in this report into a more meaningful format? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 23:25, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Historic Districts

I just shrunk the Historic Districts in Meridian section to a list linking to all of the districts. I also included the boundaries of said districts. The main reason I did this is because all the descriptions were carbon copies of the main articles; also, all the subheadings with hardly any text looked tacky and made the page way too long.

Also, if there's any way to find/make a map of all the historic districts in the city, that would be great. I tried to use the boundaries given by the National Register of Historic Places, but that didn't exactly work out haha. If anyone by some odd coincidence has a map or would be able to make a map, I think it would be a great addition to the section. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 05:54, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Hey, i really liked the section before. I started up one or two of the articles for the districts, copying from here, but figuring that the separate district articles could grow longer, gain numerous pictures. Just because they have the same short text temporarily, is not reason to wipe out the good section here! i am sorry if i set wheels in motion to mess this up. doncram (talk) 07:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
Well, the section was lacking to me; I mean it was only a collection of headings (making the TOC huge) with no real information other than where the districts are and what's in them. In the current section, if you want to know more than where they are, you can simply click on the link. When the individual articles grow, they will just be that much better. You're welcome to come up with a better solution, but I don't think the former section was the best way. With the addition of a map to the current section, it would be superb IMO. Possibly the districts could be numbered and the list serve as a kind of key. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:10, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
I meant i liked the full discussion of the historic districts in the 13 May version. That had actual discussion of each district, and since the city is made of districts, the discussion of these most historic ones is a help in describing the city. I just intervened to begin to create separate articles about the districts, which could grow longer, but which were starting with the same short text as in the Meridian article. I'd prefer to see the original length of discussion restored here, because it was a nice part of the overall article. Now, just a list of the historic district names is not so interesting, and in fact should be moved down to a See also section, if it is just going to be a list of links. I think i'll go back to working on List of RHPs in the City of Angels now... :) doncram (talk) 20:21, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
I see what you're saying; I agree that the districts are an intricate part of the description of the city. If you can figure out a way to describe them all without creating 561984651 headings, be my guest. Maybe something like the Sites of Interest section? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 20:44, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

I've been working on a map of the historic districts, and I've come across a problem. I got a map of the city and I've begun to draw lines on all the boundary streets of all the districts and find the actual shape/location of the districts. While mapping out the Highlands Historic District, the streets/avenues NRIS gave me didn't make a shape. Four of the five streets made a box, but 5th street was thrown in there for some reason. After research, I found out there's an error in the NRIS data. The Meridian MRA says the district is bounded by 15th St, 34th Ave, 19th St, and 36th Ave. Nowhere does it mention 5th street pertaining to this district.

I'm also led to believe that there's another error - this time with Merrehope Historic District. The NRIS says it's located between 33rd Ave, 30th Ave, 14th St, 25th Ave, and 8th St. Well if you grid those out, you find a box made by all the streets except 25th Avenue, which seems randomly thrown in. The MRA doesn't have text on the Merrehope District, so I can't back up my claim, but if one mistake was made, could not another? I'm going to remove 25th Avenue from the description based on these assumptions. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 04:53, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

After some discussion over at WP:NRHP, I've presumably found the correct boundaries. I have a map now, but I'm not sure it meets copyright standards. I PrintScreened Google Maps (which I think infringes copyright haha) and overlaid the districts onto the map. I don't want to upload the map unless I know for sure that it won't break any copyright laws, but I'm almost certain it does. Is there anywhere I can get a street map of Meridian without infringing on copyright? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:28, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
Found a site that makes maps with Creative Commons licenses - OpenStreetMap.org. I made the map and uploaded it, and it is now displayed on the page! :D --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 21:15, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
Congratulations! That is so cool. Was it hard to use? I know, that's an open-ended question.--Parkwells (talk) 23:04, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
Nah, it wasn't hard at all. The map is a bit out of date (Bonita Lakes Mall isn't even there, and it was built sometime in the 90s), but it gives the general idea. All you have to do is simply zoom into the region you want on the map (or manually type in GPS coordinates), choose what type of image you want (JPG, PNG, SVG, etc.), and click export. The site opens up an image which you can save (and modify if you like). All maps are licensed under creative commons, so they're useable on Wikipedia. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:00, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
The districts are now color coded and numbered. I think this section has shaped up nicely thanks to the peer review process! Are there any more suggestions pertaining to this section? Any further suggestions about this and other sections should be listed over at Wikipedia:Peer review/Meridian, Mississippi/archive1. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:47, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
That looks so good! Congratulations!--Parkwells (talk) 20:53, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Perspective

Partly because of an article in a recent Organization of American Historians newsletter, I see what is missing in this city article - it has almost nothing about the African-American community or its history, what they worked at after the Civil War, their churches and community organizations, their schools, etc. If you have connections with the local historical society, they should do some work on documenting the history and contributions of this group. I know from other studies (in other places), it's there. There was probably postwar migration to the city to work at the greater variety of jobs, for instance. Perhaps especially on railroads (not sure.) At a minimum, some of the African-American churches probably qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, given the city's turn of the century prominence. It there is a building/home associated with James Chaney, that would be important, or the community center that CORE operated their field office from. The National Park Service, which administers the National Register of Historic Places, is aware that more buildings and landmarks need to be recognized to take account of the work that has been done by scholars in African-American history.--Parkwells (talk) 23:22, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Just wanted to say I only added this after having read the article many times. I was so taken by how well you've written and researched it. After the OAH newsletter, it struck me that some of the grassroots history is missing although you certainly identify some musicians, etc. It is hard to find everything. Maybe I can help, too. Will see later.--Parkwells (talk) 12:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
I don't necessarily want to minimize African-American history in Meridian, but I don't see why it should be highlighted. Yes, there probably was postwar migration to the city, but not only by African-Americans - all people migrated: blacks, whites, asians, latinos, etc. Why should we specify African-Americans if we're not going to talk about Asians and Latinos? Throughout the article, I've tried to talk about the population as a whole so as not to focus on one group. The unfortunate truth is that, while African-Americans did contribute to society, most of the major events in the early city were led by whites.
On another note, the entire Civil Rights section is about African-American history in the city; how can they not be included? I'm not trying to be racist (If you knew me personally, you'd know I'm one of the most liberal, unracist people in Mississippi haha), but just because African-Americans were in the city, doesn't qualify their mention in this article (except in the demographics section). If you can find a major historical contribution from an African-American, by all means put it in, but adding in that African-Americans, say, worked on the railroads and owned stores, etc., is simply superfluous in my opinion. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 16:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
No, I wasn't trying to suggest that. You have tried to approach it as a whole. It would need a longer article to include more about the social history (it's a topic of interest to me)- I was struck by what an important city it was (and you have written so much that I would like to visit to see its progress. It sounds appealing.) The demographics did make me think; in some cities, early African-American and other ethnic churches have been recognized on the National Register. Will take you up on your invitation to add something on Chaney. Checked the Mississippi State U-Meridian site but did not see anything there.--Parkwells (talk) 20:51, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Ah.. Gotcha.. well I'm not really an NRHP expert haha, but you can probably pose the question over at WP:NRHP and get a better answer than I can give you. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 21:29, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Just found out that in 2000, the MS legislature started funding grants for African-American heritage sites, administered through the Dept of Archives and History. The Wechsler Community Art Ctr Ass'n (new paragraph in Meridian article in Golden Period), received some money for their plan to stabilize and renovate the bldg for community use.--Parkwells (talk) 21:59, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
Wechsler School is on the NRHP haha. I just made the article; have fun with it :D. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 22:33, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Memorials

In New York (probably because of activist parents), the state or an upstate town named a mountain after Andrew Goodman, one of the three civil rights martyrs in MS in 1964. New York City named a 4-block stretch after him, Queens College (where he went) dedicated a clock tower to the three activist martyrs, and the private school that occupies Goodman's former school building named a building after him. Does Mississippi recognize the civil rights activists in any formal way? Does Meridian have a memorial for James Chaney?--Parkwells (talk) 03:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

I think 48th or 49th Avenue is renamed James E Chaney Dr for a stretch; not sure where, but here's a picture of its intersection with Arthur St: [4]. I think there's also a memorial site at his grave on Fish Lodge Road (I think its out in the county somewhere.... maybe even in Neshoba County), but I've never been. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 16:56, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
The cemetery is in the same county as Meridian, or so it says online; photos online do look as if it's in the country, together with the Okatibba Baptist Church it is associated with.--Parkwells (talk) 17:11, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
I think a small paragraph about how Meridian honors the civil rights workers should be added into the Civil Rights section. Since you're normally more akin African-American history, could you do the honors? Something about how Chaney is a cultural icon or something and about James E Chaney Dr.. the gravesite.. etc. Thanks! --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 21:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, also realized it really belongs on Chaney's page. University of Southern Mississippi has an interesting website on civil rights history based on many oral interviews, among other kinds of documentation.--Parkwells (talk) 21:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Civil War Era

I really want to shorten the Civil War Era section and include a main or seealso tag (WP:Summary Style), but there's a problem. Battle of Meridian is a stub that relies heavily (entirely) on one source, and I'd like to incorporate some of the sources in this section (and transfer pictures) onto the battle's article. I don't even know where to begin, though, without doing a complete article re-write, but frankly, I just don't want to do that haha :P. Anybody want to take on that task? --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 19:47, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

I got bored and did it myself haha. The section is now shortened and a {{seealso}} tag is included linking to Battle of Meridian. --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 17:49, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
You're on a roll!--Parkwells (talk) 21:14, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Semi Automated Peer Review

The following suggestions were generated by a semi-automatic javascript program, and might not be applicable for the article in question.

You may wish to browse through User:AndyZ/Suggestions for further ideas. Thanks, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 00:49, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Crap! I thought I was doing well haha.. the only one I took care of is the footnote thing. Hmph. :(
The units of measurement are all in {{convert}} tags - all the ones I can find at least. All the image captions, IMO, can't be shortened; if anyone can shorten them while still keeping content, please do. I don't see any pluralized standard abbreviations! haha.. I've done Summary style, and I can't think of a way to shorten the TOC. Grr...--Dudemanfellabra (talk) 01:04, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
Hang in there; you are doing well. I've never seen one of these semi-automated reviews, and don't remember seeing that number style (or must have skipped over it). Why do they have to make it difficult with that weird thing? Saw a couple of captions that might be shorter - just id Amtrak Station, the Front Street part could go in text. What do you think? I'll try that and one other.--Parkwells (talk) 01:49, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] My Suggestions for this article

For the past month or so, several editors have been working together to improve this article. I hope to take this article all the way to Featured Article status, but in order to reach that goal, several changes must be made to the article. I plan to work on most if not all of them, and if anyone else wants to help, here are my suggestions to upgrade this article to FA:

  1. Add a culture section. Looking through the list of all the featured articles of geographical places, I see most of them have a culture section. I suggest adding something about the Riley Center, Meridian Little Theatre, music in the city (mentioning Jimmie Rodgers and others), and some of the cultural attractions mentioned in the Sites of Interest section.
  2. Find a way to shrink the lead section while still keeping all the information.
  3. Possibly create a new article, History of Meridian, Mississippi, and use Wikipedia:Summary Style to shorten the History section. The new article can go into much deeper detail than this section currently does.
  4. Find information about Meridian in the 1970s and 80s to eliminate the history gap. I've looked through pages after pages of information about Meridian, but it seems as though the city disappeared between 1964 and 1997. I think, though, that the city was undergoing economic woes from the changing economy. Businesses probably closed and moved away from the city (this is touched on at the end of the "Golden Age" section, but there needs to be some actual dates in the 70s and 80s IMO). I can't find any hard dates for the closures of businesses and other events in this time period, but I'm sure there out there.
  5. Possibly find a list of past Meridian mayors for the Government section. Some further expansion of the section is also needed.
  6. If anyone can find some historical demographics data, that would be useful for the Demographics section to give an example of the effects of the changing economy on the population. Possibly from the 1980 and 90 census? Or censuses before then?
  7. The Geography section could probably include some more information. Examples of what to add can be found in the Featured Articles list mentioned above.
  8. I'd like to include a little more in the Economy section such as hard figures from the city's annual economic report and more detailed information on the businesses, revenues, etc. in the city.
  9. If someone could find/make a map of the interstate, U.S., and State highways in the city, that would be pretty awesome for the Highways section.
  10. Major expansion of the Education section is needed. As of now, it consists of two simple paragraphs. Perhaps some historic data about the beginnings of education in the city? Awards, nominations, merits, etc. of local schools? Average levels of education for citizens?
  11. The Media and Publishing section needs some actual text instead of just tables. Perhaps some historical aspects of The Meridian Star (when it was founded, who it serves, where it's located, etc.)? I think the AM/FM and TV stations list should be shortened to include only the major stations and be converted to paragraph form.
  12. The Sites of Interest Section is pretty long and may need to have its own article, Sites of Interest in Meridian, Mississippi. This may not be necessary if some are moved to the proposed Culture section.
  13. The Famous Meridianites section may need to be expanded, but if so, I suggest creating a separate article for it, Famous people from Meridian, Mississippi.

These are my suggestions, and, like I said, I'll be working on these in the near future, so if anyone wants to join and help, that would be appreciated. Thanks! --Dudemanfellabra (talk) 21:45, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Looks like a good plan, well informed by the peer review and your reviewing other FAs or GAs. I wonder, what about taking a printout of this list a printout and of the article to the central library reference desk, and directly asking for help. I imagine that a librarian or two could tackle item #4 above, and help in other ways. Anyhow, good luck! doncram (talk) 21:54, 12 June 2008 (UTC)