This weekend I made my first visit to the Neshoba County Fair. I’m not a fan of crowds, carnivals or horses, so I amused myself by wandering through the forest of cabins watching the people.
One cabin, next to the pavilion, made sure to capture my attention. The residents of the cabin, who kindly let me snap a picture, had erected a large banner emblazoned with the slogan, “#Finishthepumps,” a reference to the largely ignored historic flooding in the Delta and the yet unapproved Yazoo pump project that could have mitigated the damage for hundreds of farmers.
I applaud those fairgoers’ gusto putting up a controversial sign at one of our state’s most politicized events. It’s a good lesson to candidates: If you want to be political, we will be too.
The pumps project, however, is not the only unfinished or un-started, yet desperately needed project in our state. Just last month, lawyers representing the state defended the complete lack of a plan to bring Mississippi’s mental health system into compliance with the Olmstead act, a federal law that prohibits locking people up for mental health treatment when they could be treated in a community setting.
Many of our state-run services need a “pumps project” of their own, including our department of corrections, which is dangerously overcrowded and understaffed; our child protective services, which is under a mandate from the Department of Justice to reduce the caseload of its workers; our state retirement system, which is underfunded to the point maybe half of the workers who paid into it will receive retirement benefits; and don’t even get me started on our roads and bridges.
These are not new issues. They’ve been going on for years, and our elected officials in Jackson haven’t deemed fit to seriously consider solutions. Politicians across the state bemoan the “brain drain,” the exodus of young, educated workers to other states. They give excuses like low pay, not enough opportunities, yet their actions, or lack thereof, send a much clearer message: “We don’t care about you.” Why would someone want to stay in a place they’re not valued?
Luckily, this is an election year, when we, as voters, get to let our representatives know just how much, or how little, we feel they’ve done.
On August 6, I urge all of you to go vote, let your representatives know the people of Mississippi demand they finish the pumps.
Thomas is the managing editor of the Newton County Appeal. He can be reached at thoward@newtoncountyappeal.com
