During a Monday morning meeting, the Attala County Board of Supervisors voted to accept a bid from N.L. Carson to replace county bridge 5120 at a cost of $437,890.15. The project will be fully funded by state aid funding.
County Engineer Christian Gardner also gained board approval to put Bridge 180 on Attala County Road 3231 on a replacement schedule, using LSBP funds to fund the project when it comes up.
They also voted for a board order to join in a nationwide lawsuit levied by cities, towns and counties across the country against the distributors of opioid drugs.
County attorney L. Scott Pickle told the board that they are unlikely to receive a monetary award like when the tobacco class action suit was resolved, but they could potentially gain some services and support to help combat the opioid crisis locally.
During public comment, Attala County resident Jerone Garland, currently a U. S. Senate candidate, asked for county support for a program that could reduce the expense of incarceration of offenders awaiting court appearances and convicted non-violent offenders.
Garland believes that utilizing newer GPS technology would allow these offenders to stay out of jail and be more productive in the community while saving counties and cities the cost of transport and incarceration.
“Putting him in jail just allows him to be criminalized,” said Garland. “With this, they would be able to work or go to school and we wouldn’t have to care for his family since he could still support them.”
Board members and Pickle, however, told Garland that he was presenting the idea in the wrong venue.
“That’s for the judges to decide,” said Pickle.
Sheriff Tim Nail agreed, but noted that when the department calls a judge after hours on an arrest, they have an opportunity to advise the judge.
“This would give us another option because we have a lot of people who can’t afford bail,” he said.
Board members suggested to Garland that perhaps it would be the state legislature that could change to regulations to ensure judges are allowed the discretion to use such a program.
“We appreciate the concern, but we can’t do anything about this,” Board Chairman Charles Fancher told Garland in closing the discussion.
Garland said he would conduct further research and pursue the idea elsewhere, as appropriate.
