Leflore County District 3 Supervisor Anjuan Brown asked the board Monday to take a small step toward helping ease tensions regarding law enforcement.
“With all these shootings going on, there’s a division between law enforcement and the community,” Brown said. “We’ve got to do something to help stop the bleeding.”
Brown proposed the supervisors approve a number of sponsorships for Leflore County youth to attend a Mississippi State Troopers Coalition camp in Jackson next summer.
This summer, he said, 75 young men and 25 young women are attending the camp, which is designed to teach leadership, mediation and communication skills between the public and law enforcement.
“There’s a lot of distrust in our community now,” Brown said. “This is not going to solve the problem, but we can help in a small way to bridge the gap.”
Brown asked board attorney Joyce Chiles to look into the legality of sponsoring youth for the program.
District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham recommended the board put the cost of the sponsorship — one per district at $150 each for a total of $750 — into the budget set to be approved next month. The board moved and approved placing the cost of sponsorships in the budget.
Brown, Abraham and District 4’s Wayne Self were present at Monday’s meeting; District 2’s Robert Moore and District 5’s Robert Collins were absent.
In other business:
nSupervisors gave Tax Assessor Leroy Ware the go-ahead to continue hearing and making adjustments to tax assessments on the real estate rolls until the August meeting. The rolls were presented to the board at the July 5 meeting.
nSupervisors met with three employees of Leflore County Justice Court in closed session.
nThe board approved the county engineer’s proposal to advertise bids for construction of 5.3 miles of reseal on Leflore County road projects.
nLeflore County Veterans Service Officer Cleo Massey advised that as of July 1, the state of Mississippi will provide five certified copies of death certificates, free of charge, to survivors of honorably discharged veterans or anyone killed on active duty.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
