Resident: No stop sign safety

Published 12:02 am Tuesday, January 7, 2014

NATCHEZ — The wheels on top of the asphalt and the water that sometimes flows below it dominated the year’s first meeting of the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

During its regular meeting Monday, board members heard from concerned resident Marilyn Alexander, whose Morgantown Road residence is directly across from the intersection of Morgantown and Foster Mound roads.

Two weeks ago, someone crashed into the iron gates at the end of her driveway when they did not see the stop sign at the end of Foster Mound Road, Alexander said.

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That’s the fourth time in a year it has happened, she said, and in the past people have died there.

Alexander said she believes the stop sign at the end of Foster Mound Road is difficult to see at times and should be rotated so drivers are more aware the road comes to a sudden stop.

She also told the board she was willing to put her own money into the effort to ensure future safety for drivers.

“I would be willing to pay for a caution light there if y’all will put it up if that will keep somebody from getting killed,” she said.

“I have driven out my drive and seen a guy who was dead there before, and the young man who crashed there last week should have died. If I drive out my driveway and find somebody dead there, I don’t want their blood on my hands.”

The supervisors agreed to have the county engineer and road manager go to the site and consider what to do to make the intersection safer.

The board likewise heard from concerned resident Jessie Walker Robinson, who said she is losing her Petal Lane property to erosion due to how water is diverted through the area.

The problem was exacerbated several years ago when a smaller pipe under the road was replaced with a larger pipe, Robinson said.

“In 10 years, the erosion will be up to the door,” she said.

Road Manager Robbie Dollar said the pipe was installed to allow for the natural flow of the water, which the old pipe did not allow and forced water over the top of the road, which would have eventually undermined the surface of the road and washed it out.

“The county can’t redivert the waterways from the natural flow of the creek, but it is strictly the county’s liability to keep the road from being flooded,” board attorney Scott Slover said.

Robinson said she felt like the issue was one of bullying, because all of the people with whom she was dealing were men.

Slover said that was not the intention of anybody involved and promised to work with Robinson to see if her property qualified for an Emergency Watershed Project — which helps stop erosion — through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

• The board voted to name Darryl Smith the title of chief volunteer firefighter coordinator.

Smith has been serving as the assistant volunteer firefighter coordinator, and will be taking the place of current chief coordinator Stan Owens.

Owens will take Smith’s place as assistant coordinator. Owens is also the county emergency management and E911 director, and has duties other than fire coordination.

Board President Darryl Grennell said the plan has always been for Smith to take over the chief volunteer firefighter coordinator position since he was hired as the assistant coordinator in July.

Smith was hired in order to have someone dedicate a full-time effort to growing the county’s rural fire stations into better-equipped and better-manned departments to improve countywide fire service. Grennell said the time Smith spent as assistant coordinator was for him to get comfortable in the job.