After two years working at The Democrat, I still forget not everyone in town has access to the all of the information I have.

For a year and a half I attended nearly every meeting of the Natchez Board of Aldermen. I’ve read and analyzed the city budget, listened to arguments for and against various projects and conducted countless campaign interviews.

And I’ve stood in the dust at the sites of the bluff stabilization and Natchez Under-the-Hill Water Street projects plenty of times.

But for most of the members of this year’s Leadership Natchez class, bumping along the new dirt road beside the river a few weeks ago was a new experience.

As alumnae of last year’s class, assistant city planner Gretchen Kuechler and I planned a full day of activities for this year’s government session.

It’s too bad we couldn’t have two days — or a whole week, for that matter.

Leadership Natchez is made up of Miss-Lou professionals chosen for their leadership potential. Class members spend nine months meeting for two purposes: to learn more about the community and to develop projects to benefit the community.

Along the way, class members get to know one another, get to know Natchez, and get to know the community’s problems — and perhaps develop solutions. Class members this year are George Alles, Janet Aubic, Angela Brooks, Monica Cross, Linda Gardner, Lori Gaudet, Latonia Hall, Amy Jones, Rocky Kettering, Monica Lynch, Gerry Meraz, Tammi Mullins, Andrew Smith and Mary Stowers.

When Gretchen and I planned the session at which class members would learn about city and county government, we wanted them to have as much hands-on experiences as possible.

We began the day at the Natchez&160;Police Department, where Chief Willie Huff gave us a tour of everything from operations and dispatch to booking and the actual jail cells. (And speaking of hands-on experiences, ask Tammi what it’s like to be booked into the police department.)

Huff, wisely, also reminded the class about how they could incorporate what they’d seen at the police department into their service projects. For example, he said, underage drinking is a serious problem that needs serious solutions.

After the police department tour, we took the city’s public transportation to visit the site of the &uot;new&uot; Water Street at Natchez Under-the-Hill.

This is a project I’ve visited several times, but none of the class members has had a chance to see what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city is achieving there. After laying rock along the edge of the riverbank, the city has been able to reclaim — or rebuild — about 10 acres of land the river took over the last half-century.

And City Engineer David Gardner, who I think has been able to envision what to do with that project long before the first rock was laid, was the perfect guide for that tour, which ended on top of the bluff, where the next phase of bluff stabilization is well under way.

Next, Alderwoman Sue Stedman explained how city government works, complete with a chart of responsibilities for each department.

And after a lunch catered by the Pig Out Inn, Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell and his officers took us on a tour of the county jails — both the old one and the 25-year-old &uot;new&uot; jail.

Ferrell, who practically grew up at the old county jail — although he and his father were on the right side of the iron bars — is a wealth of information about county government and history.

The class also toured the offices of the Metro Narcotics department, where director Chuck Mayfield showed videos that depict exactly how dangerous the job of undercover drug agents actually is.

So by the end of the day, I hope class members had a better understanding of government, one you can’t get simply be sitting in a meeting or reading a newspaper account.

And I hope they’ll be able to incorporate what they learned about the community’s problems as they seek solutions through their projects.

Kerry Whipple is news editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3562 or by e-mail at kerry.whipple@natchezdemocrat.com.