During the April 1 Newton County Board of Supervisors Meeting, county 4-H leaders approached the board to request the use of the county show barn for the club’s horse programs.
Extension Agent Shani Hay, joined by three other county 4-H leaders, approached the board to make their request at the beginning of the meeting.
“What we are asking for you to consider is reopening the show barn for the 4-H and FFA kids to use for horses,” Hay said. Hay told the board that kids and their families in the county can’t afford their own arena and don’t have anywhere close to ride. She added the only option kids have right now to ride horses is the use of the Lauderdale County arena, which is open for riding twice a week.
Hay introduced Joe Barrett, Justin McElhenney, and Cherelle Griffin to the board and said she wanted them to allow them a chance to express how the show barn would be an asset to the youth program. Hay said that both McElhenney and Griffin were newly certified 4-H leaders, which is the first step in getting their horse programs going.
Barrett told the board that he didn’t like that youth had to go to Meridian when the county could provide a nice facility for them to ride horses and that he thought there was no better organization for young people in the area than 4-H. He added that there is plenty of interest out there for the horse program and felt like it would grow.
McElhenney, who Hay said would be in charge of the gates opening and closing if they’re allowed to use the show barn, said that he wanted to be able to give something back to the community and kids.
“What a better way to keep the show barn up and going, like it used to be when I was a kid,” said McElhenney. “I’d like to see it come back to that. And I’ll do what I can to help preserve that.”
Griffin told the board that her six children joined 4-H while they were young and they started in Lauderdale County, but the drive from Newton County got tough for them and they started participating in 4-H in the county but were sad to learn that the equine program had declined. Since she was a member of the Union Riding Club, the club allowed 4-H to use their space, but weather was an issue last year. Griffin said the felt that being allowed to use the show barn would help the programs and the surrounding community.
“If you allow us to have the show barn, I feel like we’ll have even more members. In the future, when you have more people and parents involved, then they’re going to end up showing up in Newton County,” said Griffin. “Your businesses are going to grow, and everybody is going to want to go to fast food places to get something to eat.”
Board President Charles Godwin asked how many nights that they were asking for the facility to be open to the clubs. Hay said that they were looking to start small like two nights a month. She added that she didn’t want this to be open to everyone, she wanted the two nights specifically for kids and youth.
“There’s where your trouble is going to come, and my question is who’s going to monitor that,” asked Godwin. “If we’re going to make this for the FFA, 4-H, and for kids, who’s going to monitor anyone coming in with their horse trailer and saying, ‘We’re going to ride tonight”?
Hay said that she didn’t foresee a flux of people showing up to ride, adding that they were only going to publicly advertise it with their youth through the high school vo-tech and their 4-H people.
“If it’s a 4-H event, they would have to be 4-H or FFA,” said Hay. “And that’s the way I see it monitored. You can come, as long as you sign up and become a member of 4-H.”
Beat 3 Supervisor Terry Vance agreed, saying that they would probably have to say it was a 4-H sanctioned event so there would be no conflict.
Godwin said that the board is fully behind the clubs using the show barn, adding that the county had to start being more selective about who used it due to insurance.
“As all of you know what’s happened in the last 30-50 years is the insurance and liability,” said Godwin. “If somebody gets hurt, somebody’s suing. And that’s what we get into with this facility. And that’s why we’ve got Caleb Rice with EMA, his folks are responsible for renting it out and allow people to use it.”
Hay told the board that there is a Mississippi law 95-11-1 that states an equine or livestock sponsor is not liable for injury or death and the facility could use signs posted that would protect the county in such an instance. Godwin said that they are currently in the process of getting the signs posted.
After asking other board members if they had any other questions, Godwin told the 4-H representatives that the board would chat about it and contact them afterwards.
Later in the meeting, the board discussed the request further. Beat 5 Supervisor Aaron Clark said since 4-H has insurance, he felt they should be allowed to use the facility. When Board Attorney Jason Mangum was asked what he thought, he said they should be allowed to use it because that’s why the show barn was built.
“If 4-H kids can’t utilize it, we need to tear it down,” Mangum said.
“I’ll agree,” said Vance. “One hundred percent, I agree!”
Clark then made the motion to allow 4-H, FFA, and the Newton County Extension Office to use the Newton County Show Barn two nights a month, as they requested. Vance seconded the motion, and it passed with all voting in favor.
In other news from the meeting:
-Heard from Town of Decatur Mayor Max Anderson, who thanked the board for doing some work on Little Rock Decatur Road that was badly needed. Anderson also requested a Letter of Support from the board to include with an application for a grant through Congressman Michael Guest’s office that would help repair the road.
-Approved the Newton EMA to apply for a Homeland Security Grant.
-Approved rejecting a $210 bid for a Beat 3 scrap Ford Ranger truck.
-Approved rejecting a bid from M&D Metal for Beat 3 scrap culverts at $6 if the county loads and hauls per hundred pounds or $5 if the county loads and they haul per hundred pounds.
- Approved accepting a bid of $6 per hundred pounds for Beat 5 scrap metal with the county hauling it.
-Approved accepting a bid of $25 for a Beat 4 scrap air compressor.
-Approved Beat 1 declaring scrap metal and rubber tires as surplus.
-Approved Beat 2 declaring a Chevy truck as surplus and advertising for seal bids on the Chevy truck and a Travis Dump Trailer.
-Approved a contract with Grant Watch, as requested from the sheriff. Grant Watch has an annual membership that costs $199 and it notifies the sheriff and other departments of available grants.
-Approved transferring a copier from the comptroller’s office to the solid waste office.
-In delinquent court fines for February 21-March 20, there were $4,072.54 collected. American Municipal Services collected $3,005 in delinquent fines in the same period. 450 new cases were opened with fines in the amount of $139,458 that were levied, $8,400 were collected in new cases, and there were 61 dismissals for the period.
-Briefly discussed the Reman Building and the costs and issues that the county would have in tearing the building down themselves. After advertising for bids to tear the building down twice, they received no interest. They tabled the discussion in order to get more information on how to proceed.
-Heard from Scott Kelly with Renewable Wood Solutions, who presented how their services would benefit the county in burning rubbish at the landfill while meeting DEQ specifications with their smokeless burner. The board tabled the discussion to verify the space the space they have at the landfill that would allow their service to set up.
-The next called board meeting will be May 6 at 10 a.m.
