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(December 1, 2008) CoB News, 1 December 2008 Planegate at USM With her 28-Nov-08 article entitled "USM plan to lease airplane in the works," The Hattiesburg American's Valerie Wells follows up on USMNEWS.net's breaking story about the decision by USM to lease a Beechcraft King Air 200 airplane for about $2 million. According to Wells' story, the plane will be used by USM personnel for official business and its use will be administered by USM president Martha Saunders. Through Wells' report, Saunders used the example of her recent 1-day trip to Jacksonville, FL, to justify the lease deal. According to Saunders, a recent "one-day meeting" in Jacksonville could have been made more cost-efficient had USM taken possession of this BKA 200 by that time.

(December 1, 2008) USM’s $2 Million Bruline In January of 2005, NBC aired the 97th episode of the hit sit-com Seinfeld. That episode was entitled “The Switch,” and it became one the most famous episodes in the long-running comedy show. A small part of that episode followed Elaine’s efforts to get a tennis racquet re-strung for her boss, Mr. Pitt. The relevant portions of the dialogue involving this task are inserted below, courtesy of seinfeldscripts.com:

(December 3, 2008) A Question for President Saunders According to a recent Hattiesburg American article “Southern Miss has permission from the College Board to lease a Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft for five years from the USM Foundation for a total cost of $1.89 million. Officials stress that no paperwork has been signed yet and many details are still under consideration. ‘It's not a done deal,’ spokeswoman Jana Bryant said.”

(December 8, 2008) CoB News, 8 December 2008 Is Saunders Buckling Under Weight of Recent Scandals? It appears as though the customized textbook and planegate scandals are taking a toll on the Martha Saunders administration of USM. On 5-Dec-08 The Hattiesburg American’s editor penned “USM should consider less costly travel,” an editorial column about the planegate episode and Saunders’ ill-advised decision to spend $2 million leasing a Beechcraft King Air 200 twin-engine airplane. The editor referred to the deal, which was signed off on by Mississippi’s IHL Board, as “a bad move” and as “a luxury . . . the university can do without.”

(December 10, 2008) CoB News, 10 December 2008 More “Planegate” Turbulence by 31st & Pearl Columnist All of the various facets of the “planegate” episode now going on at USM, from whether or not the Beechcraft King Air 200 was already leased by USM when it asked Mississippi’s IHL board permission, to CoB associate professor of finance John Clark’s potential involvement in the deal, and everything in between, are intriguing. Now that the institution has apparently leased the plane already, the story promises juicy headlines well into the future. Given that the plane’s movements are traceable via the web, we’ll soon know whether or not Martha Saunders uses the 8-seater to get to and from New Orleans on/around 21-Dec-08, when USM takes on Troy University in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. (Editor's note: A 2010 Open Records Act request confirmed that Dr. Saunders spent tuition and/or taxpayer dollars to make sure her flights were not traceable via the web.)