Sitting in his sunroom, surrounded by memorabilia from the Czech Republic, Vic Zitta played the Civil War tune “Lorena” on his mandolin.
The Starkville alderman-at-large and Republican mayoral candidate has been known to play the instrument in public as well. At his campaign kick-off, he played with his bluegrass band at the Starkville Caf. His wife, Jane, plays the auto harp and sings the harmony for his band. He has also played at Bulldog Bash.
As the song ends, a 6-year-old girl in pajamas peeks into the room.
“This is my first grandchild,” Zitta said.
Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she walked over and hugged her grandfather. He stopped playing long enough to hug her back.
All around the room are memoirs from the Czech Republic, one of which is a medieval tapestry of a downtown landscape. His father, a native of the Czech Republic, came to the United States, where he raised Vic. He and his wife try to visit the Czech Republic as much as they can.
“I was born right after the depression,” he said. “That was a time when people didn’t throw away a lot of stuff. They were hard-working and thrifty.”
The sunroom is long and spacious with a door to his backyard. “My wife and I keep all of our work things on either side of the room,” Zitta said.
His grandchild ran out through the back door wearing white cowboy boots and her pajamas to play with the dog.
“He plays the same hide- and-seek games with her as he used to with me.” Zitta’s daughter Sarah Clark said. She said her father used to squeeze himself in the broom closet and yell, “You can’t find me!”
Across the yard near a dog pen there were about 10 newly cut logs for his latest project.
“I do some surveying, but I love design,” said Zitta, who taught civil engineering at MSU for 30 years.
“He’s more practical than some, being an engineer,” his wife said. “He’s always willing to listen to the thoughts and feelings of any average Starkville citizen. He understands that everyone is different, and so we need to modify our goals and compromise some of them.”
Zitta wants to use his background to benefit Starkville.
“I want to help build the city of Starkville, but never without the city’s consent,” he said.
He has served on the Starkville Board of Aldermen 16 years. He said he fears that many of the decisions made by the city government are part of an autocratic process-using the public’s resources without the consent of the public.
From visiting the Czech Republic, he said he has seen communism’s degradation of its citizens.
“One thing we have to always watch out for, no matter where we go, is our freedoms being jeopardized,” he said. “If the government gives you all you would like to have, they can also take everything you have. I take the philosophy that the least amount of government is the best amount of government. Abraham Lincoln said that government should only do for you what you cannot do for yourself, and I adopt that standard. Individual responsibility is what I’m getting at.”
Zitta used the example that if everyone were responsible for the sidewalk beyond their yard, the city wouldn’t have to clean up the weeds and trash that accumulate. He added that he cleans up the sidewalk outside his own yard.
His candidacy platform is a three-step plan created from more of his philosophies.
* Provide an honest, open city government that practices sound, common sense and fiscal policies that merit the confidence of all citizens.
* Supervise all operations in city government at a level of efficiency that all citizens can respect.
* Plan and design a capitol improvements program that includes a new city hall, a police station, and a courtroom as part of a downtown revitalization effort to be funded by a 60 percent vote of the citizens.