By Jennifer Jacob Brown

jjacob@themeridianstar.com



U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has been spending his legislative break in the truck stops and country stores of small town Mississippi, conducting a tour of rural areas to gain perspective on what concerns the people of our state’s less populated areas.

Wicker stopped by Meridian Friday afternoon as part of his “Back Roads” tour, and he said he’s found that the concerns of Mississippians are — from larger cities like Jackson to tiny communities that don’t make the map — “pretty much the same everywhere.”

“It’s just an opportunity to see people in out-of-the-way places,” he said. “When I meet with local officials, whether they’re in a town like Meridian or Jackson or Newton… the concerns are the same.”

Wicker visited a group of locals at Meridian’s Western Sizzlin’ restaurant Friday before heading on to the Bridge Street Grill in Enterprise and the Old Train Depot in Newton.

He said Mississippians are most concerned now with the economy and economic development and, more recently, with national security.

“The situation off the coast of Somalia captured the attention of a lot of Mississippi people,” he said.

Wicker said he has encountered primarily conservative views on the economy, and has listened to many worries about the federal budget.

“I think the economy is poised to come back from this recession in the next nine to 12 months,” he said. “What I worry about is that the economic bounce may be temporary because we’re spending so much.”

Bringing the issues of the budget and national security together, Wicker talked about his concerns with defense budget cuts, proposed by defense secretary Robert Gates, which would halt the production of the F-22 fighter jet. The F-22 is one of the planes manufactured at Meridian’s Lockheed-Martin plant.

“I’m concerned that the President may propose defense budget cuts that might leave us vulnerable,” he said. “The defense budget is not the reason we’re running a deficit… We need to be very, very careful there.”

Wicker, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said of the proposed cuts, “I expect hearings. I expect serious debate on the F-22 and on the next generation tanker.”

Despite national security concerns, Wicker said the foremost issue on the minds of Mississippians is the same issue nationwide. “Basically it’s the economy,” he said. “How soon are we going to bounce back from this slump and what have we done for the long term economy?”

Wicker said he has enjoyed taking his “Back Roads” tour and meeting small town Mississippians. “The thing that strikes me the most,” he said, “is just the basic optimism and common sense of the average Mississippian.”