Washington, D.C., is 1,094 miles from Natchez. That’s approximately 17 hours and 15 minutes via standard vehicle. Buy the cheap gas in Natchez and it’ll cost you roughly $76 to drive to D.C.

Stay here, and it’s free.

For many Miss-Lou residents it is difficult to stay connected to happenings in Washington. We all know decisions made there will trickle down to us sooner or later, but often we just wait for later to come.

When the president released his book of a budget Monday, most folks in Natchez didn’t skip a beat.

But this time, our fair city was directly affected, whether you knew it or not.

President Bush is proposing up to $3 billion of new money over the next 10 years for national parks. For the 2008 fiscal year, the national parks’ operating budget would exceed $2 billion.

And though we are still 1,094 miles away, Natchez has a national historic park. The proposed budget would bring home an additional $200,000 for the Natchez park.

The budget increase means Melrose and the William Johnson House could remain open to the public seven days a week, park service Superintendent Kathleen Jenkins said.

And open parks mean tourism. Tourism means visitors. Visitors mean money.

Turns out Natchez isn’t as far away from Washington as you may have thought.