Well, I’ll tell ya, this has been a whirlwind of a beginning to a new year. Next week we are releasing our annual magazine and this year’s theme is “Dawning of a New Day”. And boy oh boy is it.
Our new sheriff (and I think literally could be applied here) hit the ground running. He and the county IT guy, Jacob Red, have already saved taxpayers about $6K monthly in costs that were just…well, frankly…stupid.
Shepherd walked into his position not knowing that our local prison trusties (Yes, it’s right-all you grammar Nazis- they are criminals) were given ultimate freedom under previous administration. In fact, the only reason it came to light was because the police department did its job and pulled someone over for a traffic infraction and caught some folks in the vehicle who weren’t supposed to be there.
Anyway, both Tate County Sheriff’s Office and Senatobia Police Department have worked together to fix the issue. What a NEW DAY it really is!?!?
They are combining forces and working in unison to help Tate County and Senatobia (and Northwest Mississippi Community College Police Department and Coldwater Police Department) in any and everyway possible.
It’s refreshing. It’s endearing. It reminds me of why we, as taxpayers supply their salaries. We literally pay taxes and essentially supply the funds to pay them to protect us while we sleep.
What is shocking is that it occurred to me that the new sheriff and his new lineup of leaders might be faulted for what occurred at the Senatobia Tate County Animal Shelter.
Look…the previous TCSO administrators decided to give certain criminals freedoms to help serve the community. These criminals decided to not behave in ways they probably should have. But also, the former employees decided to not behave in a professional manner too.
So Shepherd made changes. The county and city leaders fired some people and made eliminations to fix the issues.
Weed is no longer being smoked at the animal shelter. No more illicit bedroom activities are being conducted.
The departments worked together to fix the issue.
And Mike Sansom, there isn’t a coverup.
Ya know what, Ricky Stevens, explains it pretty well in his column below. We, as newspaper people can’t report on hearsay and rumor. We print nothing in this paper that we can’t also produce legal and public documentation proving the facts. That’s the difference between newspapers and broadcast.
Brett Brown, our reporter, literally watched a local broadcast channel produce a segment only featuring what locals thought were happening at a Tate County Dollar General. They didn’t feature any actual hardcore evidence. They just interviewed people stating what they thought was going on.
Brown took initiative and called corporate Dollar General and asked them point-blank what was happening.
But here’s the thing. Dollar General is a private business… They don’t have to tell you, me or the fence post what is going on with their company. Instead, they did release a statement and we ran it.
But then because we ran a statement on what the company said, we were accused of a coverup.
Hummmm…
I might need some time on that one. Anyway, folks, we are doing the best we can on providing news to our readers. And if there is a delay for a story going out, well, its probably because we are waiting to have evidence to back it up and tell the truth as best we can.
That is one thing I made a promise to myself about. I will never publish a single story that I can’t also provide the evidence to support it.
So maybe let that sink in.
When I make the statement about our county and city departments working to help our people…I probably have something to back it.
