CLARION LEDGER (Jackson, Mississippi) 03 February 05 Senate passes bill naming gator state reptile (Andy Kanengiser)
Mississippi alligators soon might get the same recognition as the state insect and state fish.
With no debate, the 52-member Senate passed Bill 2060 designating the alligator as the state reptile. There were only two dissenting votes to a bill that next moves to the House.
Making the alligator the state reptile would add it to a list of 20 state symbols that celebrate Mississippi's history, culture and wildlife. There's also an official state dance, (square dance), a state beverage (milk), state waterfowl (the wood duck) and state fossil (prehistoric whale). The state flower and tree (magnolia) is perhaps the best known of the bunch.
Adopted by the Legislature over the years, all state symbols are listed in the "Blue Book'' published by the Secretary of State's Office.
Alligators inhabit most regions of Mississippi and supporters say they should gain the newest designation as state reptile.
Mississippi is home to about 38,000 alligators, according to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and the state has about 408,000 acres of alligator habitat.
"We have alligators all over the place. In fact, they are in my back yard," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Tommy Moffatt, R-Ocean Springs.
As chairman of the Senate Environmental Protection, Conservation and Water Resources Committee, Moffatt filed the bill at the request of fourth-grade students at St. Alphonsus School in Ocean Springs. As part of a class project on government, they discovered Mississippi lacked a state reptile and brought it to his attention.
"It's a great bill. We have a state teddy bear, a state insect and a state bird," Moffatt said as his bill awaited Senate action.
Sen. Nolan Mettetal, D-Sardis, voted for the bill. "It is a very logical choice," he said. "I'm not too fond of snakes.''
One senator didn't think the bill was a good use of time at the Capitol.
"We've not resolved the Medicaid (deficit) issue and we don't know where we are on education," said Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, who voted no on the bill. "Folks want us to focus on more serious matters in times of crisis.
"I hope the state's education system doesn't become an extinct reptile."
Some on the House side also weren't as enthusiastic.
"We're knee-deep in alligators" at the Capitol, joked House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Miles, D-Fulton. He's more concerned about getting money to improve roads. He did say northeast Mississippi has its share of real alligators.
"I wouldn't say it is a priority," said Rep. John Reeves, R-Jackson, although he noted there are alligators just miles from the Capitol in the Pearl River and at the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
Moffatt first filed the bill last year, but it was killed because of the legislative deadline. But he's confident it will pass this year because people realize it's "a serious bill."
Senate passes bill naming gator state reptile