Are you smarter than a Fireballer?

Drumroll, please. Ladies and gentlemen, behold the clues to the missions given to the 2008 Fireball Run competitors during their stop here in Tupelo. The clues were given to the teams in an “Amazing Race” style challenge. They couldn’t get the next one until they finished their current challenge. So, here we go …

See if you can figure them out. And, let us know if there are any other obscure destinations you think the CVB should have sent them to visit. The images will get bigger if you click on them. And if they are squooshed on the next page, click on the image again.

Fireball mission 1

Fireball mission 2

Fireball mission 3

Fireball mission 4

Fireball mission 5

Can you find the cars?

Today is the day. The 100 teams from the Fireball Run start their challenges in Tupelo in about an hour and will be driving all over town. We’ve been told to expect KITT from TV’s “Knight Rider,” the Time Car from “Back to the Future II” and a host of Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Ferraris, BMWs, Vipers, Corvettes and Jaguars. Read our previous story.

So, the deal is to enter, the teams had to be invited. Then, they all paid a $7,000 entry fee. The teams are supposed to be business and community leaders from around the country. We’re not sure who all is here, but we hear there are a lot of bigwigs. And, they’ll be checking out our city all day.

We’re meeting up with the drivers this afternoon, but we want to see if they really are getting out in the community. Here’s where you come in. If you see a car with the Fireball Run logo on the side, tell us. Post us a comment and tell us what you saw and when. They should be zooming around from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. And, at 3:30 p.m., they’ll start heading back to the arena for a free, public autocross challenge.

New look for FairparkDistrict.com

The Tupelo Redevelopment Agency board voted this afternoon to hire Jackson-based Marketing Alliance to revamp its Web site, fairparkdistrict.com.

The new site comes with a $6,000 price tag, according to TRA Chairman John Oxford. Marketing Alliance has done several sites (see portfolio), but Oxford said he was particularly impressed with www.downtown-jackson.com, a site Marketing Alliance did for downtown Jackson. The site includes a calendar of events, a listing of available property, a listing of places to eat and live and a virtual tour of downtown Jackson with a 3D city model.

Fairparkdistrict.com currently has watercolor renderings of what planners thought Fairpark might look like. Now that there have been nine years of development, the board wants to update the Web site with actual pictures of the district.

Oxford said Marketing Alliance representatives said they could build the site in about six weeks.

And here’s some other TRA news from the past two weeks, in case you missed it in the paper:

Tim Prewitt, construction administrator at JBHM Architects, has been added to TRA’s board. He fills the empty board member slot left when Chris Rogers resigned in July.

Tupelo’s Fairpark closes in on neighborhood group
Note: Since the story ran, the date of the next neighborhood meeting has been changed to Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. at City Hall. The TRA meeting will be at 4:30 p.m.

Short-Circuit City

Things are going from bad to worse for Circuit City. Financial news about the company today, from the AP:

Circuit City Stores Inc. withdrew its outlook for the full year and posted a wider second-quarter loss Monday as it looks toward a holiday shopping season which has even the least vulnerable retailers worried.

Circuit City — which replaced its CEO last week — said it lost $239.2 million, or $1.45 per share, in the three months ended Aug. 31, compared with a loss of $62.8 million, or 38 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Somebody call the Geek Squad!

House rejects bailout plan

And the Dow is down 600 700 777 points. Oh, what fun.

An excerpt (full text) from MarketWatch:

The U.S. House rejected on Monday a proposed $700 billion financial bailout package supported by the Bush administration, the Federal Reserve and the congressional leadership of both parties. The vote was 205 for and 228 against.

More from AP (this was after the market closed, while the MarketWatch story was immediately after the vote):

NEW YORK (AP) — The failure of the bailout package in Congress literally dropped jaws on Wall Street and triggered a historic selloff — including a terrifying decline of nearly 500 points in mere minutes as the vote took place, the closest thing to panic the stock market has seen in years.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 777 points Monday, its biggest single-day fall ever, easily beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
As uncertainty gripped investors, the credit markets, which provide the day-to-day lending that powers business in the United States, froze up even further.

Southern Ice now closed Sundays

Southern Ice Cafe (previous coverage) announced today that starting this week, it will no longer be open on Sundays. This comes after a decision in July to extend Sunday hours. But hey, it’s a new business. You have to cut the owners some slack when it comes to figuring out the business model.

The new hours are Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The reason (from the daily e-mail):

As you probably know, making the quantity and variety of homemade fresh food that we do is much more intensive (and we hope more satisfying for our customers!) than typical casual restaurants. As demand for our gelato and our food has grown, including our catering, we could see that the kitchen needed a day to focus on making that food.

The Norwalk saga continues

There’s a deal. Then there’s no deal (previous coverage). And now there’s a deal again, but it doesn’t include Mississippi.

Hickory Hill Furniture’s parent Norwalk Furniture signed papers Friday night and is now Norwalk Custom Order Furniture, according to the Norwalk Reflector. Furniture Today said the purchase includes the company’s buildings, equipment and other assets in Ohio and does not include Norwalk factories in Mississippi and Tennessee. We’ll find out what this means for workers in our area.

The Inn formerly known as Ramada

You’ve been wondering, and so have we: What’s up with the Ramada Inn on North Gloster in Tupelo? The sign has been covered for a couple of weeks now.

Just called the hotel a few minutes ago, and the front desk person answered “Tupelo Inn.” However, she said that’s not the official name.

“Actually, we don’t really have a name yet,” she said.

The owner is negotiating with a company, she said, and when that goes through, then we’ll find out what the new name will be for the Ramada. And when we know, we’ll tell ya. Or, if someone finds out before us, feel free to share with us.

Cheapest gas: Corinth 9/26

And gas continues to fall (previous coverage). Hurrah!

Cheapest gas this week is in Corinth for $3.33. And, the best part is the gas station we found (Murphy’s) is selling regular, midgrade and premium for $3.33 until everything runs out.

Regular is $3.34 in New Albany (and Ripley and Pontotoc), $3.39 in Sherman, $3.68 in Oxford and $3.79 in Starkville. In Tupelo, it’s $3.43 at Kroger at Crosstown, $3.40 for Sam’s Club members and $3.41 at Horizon.

Most expensive: Houston $3.99 – the scoop is this independent gas station bought gas last week when it was high and has to keep the price up until it’s gone. Our contact was none too thrilled about the price or the situation.

Read Sunday’s Business & Money for more numbers, including a roundup of diesel prices around the the region.

Coverage for Oxford debate

We (as in the Journal) are covering the debate, but not on the Buzz. Journal reporter Patsy Brumfield is blogging from the media tent in Oxford. You’ll find her updates on 9 to 5. And from the business side of this, you gotta love the tourists this brings in.