WCBI News at Six

WCBI News at Six

Outraged, disappointed and saddened.

These are a just a few of the words from some of the lowndes county board of supervisors in light of recent comments that board president harry sanders made to the commercial dispatch.

Here's a look at the quote from this morning paper.

It reads... "in my opinion, they were slaves.

And because of that, they didn't have to go out and earn any money, they didn't have to do anything," he added.

"whoever owned them took care of them, fed them, clothed them, worked them.

They became dependent, and that dependency is still there.

The democrats right here who depend on the black vote to get elected, they make them dependent on them."

Again this was in the commercial dispatch today.

I spoke with supervisor leroy brooks and jeff smith today in person who tell me they feel sanders sums up blacks as nothing.

Pkg "it's simple and i'll say it.

Harry it's time for you to go home.

If you feel that strong about black people.

You're sitting at the head of the table, you represent the county and economic development.

What if as he would say, a liberal entrepreneur read that?

They'd say what kind of board president you got that's leading the charge."

Supervisor leroy brooks calls for the resignation of president harry sanders.

The comments in the commercial dispatch come just one day after brooks makes a motion to move the confederate statue from the courthouse to friendship cemetery.

"he has said things for so long that people have normalized it as harry sanders.

I've always said harry's been a good businessman.

But he shows no empathy and compassion for people."

The comments in a nutshell, brooks says paints a picture black people mean nothing.

""i'm going to have a hard time walking into that board room and wanting to interact with harry sanders when he's diminished black people to a state of nothingness."

Brooks says no one's going to be talking about the monument on the courthouse lawn, or the state flag.

Talks will now turn into handling the division that is apparent in our county he says.

Supervisor jeff smith says during this time in our nation..this now sets not only the county, but our state back.

"to have one of our five county officials publicly state his opinion about black people, in a negative way, puts us behind the eight ball, first of all appear to others we're moving forward, but more importantly to be moving forward.

It sets us back quite a bit."

Live tag i spoke with harry sanders by phone today..he tells me he has no comments to to the statement he made to the commercial dispatch.

The paper also posted an opinion piece calling for his resignation...sande rs told me they needed to shutdown.

Supervisor trip hariston also spoke with me by phone and says he doesn't agree with the comments sanders made and he doesn't feel it reflects the lowndes county board of supervisors.

Hariston along with john holliman voted against moving the monument// the columbus city council is meeting at this hour.

And there are a few hot topics on the agenda, including new policies for the police department and mississippi's stae flag..

Stephanie poole is at the meeting - she joins us live from the municipal complex with the latest..

Joey, in a 5 -1 vote the columbus city councilmen have approved the resolution to ask legislators to replace the current state flag.

Supervisors say the flag has a darkened past and affects city business.

Also mentioned in meeting is a new "use of force" policy.

Columbus police chief fred shelton presented rules officers must follow while on duty,practicing the civil rights of citizens.

In an unanimous vote, the board approved the motion to begin these new rules effective immediately.

I'll have more details tonight on wcbi news 9 and 10.

For now repotting live in columbus stephanie poole wcbi news centred up state representative gary chism is retiring from the legislature.

éé the long-time republican lawmaker says june 30th will be his last day.

éé he represents district 37, which includes portions of lowndes, oktibbeha, and clay counties.

éé chism, a columbus insurance agent, was first elected in 2000 and chaired the insurance committee in the house.

éé he cited family health concerns as the reason for his retirement.

éé governor tate reeves will set a special election date to fill the spot.

éé take developing story stinger sales tax revenue numbers are beginning to roll in across the state.

And for once the news is better for small towns than it is for larger cities.

Our cash matlock joins us live in the studio with more on the story.

That's right joey.

Starkville, for example, reports a more than 13 percent drop in sales tax revenue for the month of april.

That by the way is much better than projected.

However, the city of houston says it has experienced a record áhighá for the same month.

The city of houston is in the middle of their new downtown beautification project.

Projects like this depend on city resources.

Some of those resources stem from things like sales tax revenue.

After the coronavirus pandemic, the initial thought was that these types of resources for the city could be lower than previous years.

"like everybody, we were really scared that the numbers were going to be down tremendously because of this covid outbreak."

Sean johnson is the executive director of the chickasaw development foundation.

He says this year, the county's tax sales revenue is at a record high.

"we had a 26 percent increase in our sales tax for the month of april."

Area businesses say, this is because people are choosing to stay home and shop local instead traveling to larger cities.

"well the first two weeks was slow doing the curb- side, but after that, i mean, it was just as if we were open.

400... 300 tickets.

I mean, it was booming."

"nobody wants to travel, and i mean, everybody loves no way jose.

The waitresses, the people, it's just a good atmosphere here."

Johnson says because of the positive numbers, the city will be able to move forward with renovations for the downtown square.

"we're re-doing our downtown with new sidewalks.

We've got a couple of new ordinances that we're putting into place, sign ordinances and keeping thru- traffic of big trucks out of downtown.

So these are meant to beautify and make the square a more pedestrian friendly place."

If all goes well, the project should be complete by the upcoming holiday season.

"the holiday shopping and the christmas parades and all that... that's kind of when we're wanting to see a brand new downtown or at least see in on the horizon."

Johnson says he hopes houston residents will continue to shop local.

"it's incumbent upon small towns to up their game.

Make themselves a place people want to visit and make themselves a place people want to shop, and that's what we're working on here in houston."

The city is also working to bring power lines and utility cables underground in the near future.

Take gfx off top overall, smaller towns did see more sales tax collections than larger cities in the viewing area.

In the golden triangle, west point was the only town to see an increase from this time last year.

In these numbers from the mississippi department of revenue, the clay county town was up more than 46 thousand dollars.

Columbus saw a $118 thousand dollar drop.

Starkville fell more than 83 thousand dollars from this time last year.

Comparing years, tupelo was down more than 289 thousand dollars.

But business at restaurants in starkville could soon be spilling out into the streets// it's part of a new dining option called street side cafe.

Starkville city leaders are deciding whether to allow restaurants to set up tables in their parking lots... to serve patrons outdoors// our quentin smith speaks with a local business about what this could mean for them.... he joins us live in the studio to explain... joey... one restaurant owner tells me due of the coronavirus....som e people are still reluctant to dine inside his establishment.... thats why he's in favor of this proposal because it'll give customers a more comfortable dining option.... while also giving his business an extra boost... nat pretty soon, workers at moe's original bbq could go from their normal routine of serving customers inside the restaurant....to having an outdoor venue.

The street side cafe is something owner kiel hebert is definitely in favor of.

"we're excited about it especially with restaurants being at half capacity, any extra seating is always a good thing."

Hebert says he thinks this addition could be a revenue generator for his restaurant and bring in more foot traffic to the downtown area.

"that's one of the big sellers is if you have outdoor seating or not.

We don't have any, all of our seating is indoors right now, so the addition of this i think would help out dramatically."

According to the proposal...only moe's original bbq.... 9-29 coffee bar... and restaurant tyler... will be able to take part in this temporary street side cafe.

"we're taking about nine parking places and making them into an area that can be bounded by planters and some blocks that are colorful, and inside that area we would put small tables and chairs and umbrellas."

Mayor lynn spruill says all three restaurants will share the 9 spaces, which consists of parking places spanning from moe's down to restaurant tyler.

" i expect it to be impactful in the sense that it's new and people like to see new things, and it's kind of different so i think that it'll be a positive thing."

In the event city leaders approve this plan.....hebert says his staff is already thinking about ways to adapt to the street side cafe.... "generally we are fast casual.

You come in, you order at the counter, we don't have a waiting staff but we might implement a wait staff for people sitting outside and start doing things like that that aren't in our normal day-to- day operations right now."

Mayor spruill says moe's original bbq.... 9-29 coffee bar... and restaurant tyler have expressed interest in being a part of the street side cafe.

It's strictly for downtown businesses now... but there could be a possibility that this idea could eventually spread to other areas... the board will vote on this matter during tonight's meeting..

First look stinger first look summary: while a slow moving area of low pressure swirls in the carolinas, our region continues to be on the drier side of the system.

Look for mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies to continue through the end of the work week.

Humidity levels will come up by the weekend and that will give rise to storm chances by sunday and early next week.

Tuesday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows around 60 with light wind.

Wednesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Highs in the mid 80s.

Winds ne 5-10 mph.

A shannon high school football player collapses during practice this morning and passes away.

The lee county school district released a statement saying the 16-year-old kyshon cooper was taken to a tupelo hospital after collapsing.

District administrators called the practice routine.

Coroner carolyn green says an autopsy is being performed and is routine in these types of situations.

Cooper was a rising sophomore on the team.

Wipe to vo a man is killed after being hit by a vehicle, last night, in verona.

The accident happened at the intersection of raymond avenue and 8th avenue.

Lee county coroner carolyn green says the 49- year-old died after being hit.

Verona police are investigating the crash.

Stinger churches that have been empty since march are now filling up again..

We take a look at the revival of sunday services when we come back..

Churches in mississippi are starting to meet face to face again..

But under strict health guidelines.

Bobby martinez talked to two pastors about the revival of in- person services after months of empty sanctuaries- he joins us live in the studio..

So bobby, how's the transition been going?

Joey, things have been going smoothly overall// but there are still some challenges // and they are doing all they can to make sure everyone remains safe while listening to the good word... uncharted territory... "the transition has been challenging."

But with a plan in place.... "it was more about lets get together and lets just figure this out together."

Churches in mississippi are reopening in the wake of covid-19... and there is a mixture of excitement and ácautioná "we still have a number of people in our churches who are concerned about coming back.

Who are concerned about the safety of coming back not only our senior adults and many of them who have health issues but parents with small children as well."

Calvary baptist church reopened for the first time in months last week... and the church's pastor - dr. joe wiggins..

Tells us the early numbers were low..

Sot - dr. joe wiggins - calvary baptist church - west point..

"we had about 1/4 of our congregation that came back for our in person service.

But i anticipate that we are going to see that slowly increase other churches who have already already ahead of us have already seen their attendance kind of creep up a little bit."

At first christian church... pastor eric ross says covid-19 has not only had an effect on services in the sanctuary, but also áserviceá outside of the walls..

Sot - eric ross - pastor - first christian church "when will we have our ministries that we have going into the community?

Because right now we normally feed the elderly twice a month and we are not able to do that you know.

And we have a ministry where we go to the nursing home and it's a gentleman that does that every sunday and leads songs and has a lesson and he's not able to do that."

But as the writer of ecclesiastes said - to everything there is a season..

"if you are on edge stay home.

But if you are ready to go out and start to interact with places and do things then you're ready to come to church.

We need to meet together the church needs each other as the body of believers and so if you're ready to come come and we are ready for you."

Most churches have been doing their best to keep members informed, but if you have any questions or concerns about your home church - call them up..

Stinger wx open summary: while a slow moving area of low pressure swirls in the carolinas, our region continues to be on the drier side of the system.

Look for mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies to continue through the end of the work week.

Humidity levels will come up by the weekend and that will give rise to storm chances by sunday and early next week.

Tuesday night: mainly clear and quiet.

Lows around 60 with light wind.

Wednesday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Highs in the mid 80s.

Winds ne 5-10 mph.

Wednesday night: mostly clear and quiet.

Lows in the low to mid 60s.

Thursday & friday: mostly sunny to partly cloudy.

Warmer highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s.

Lows stay in the 60s.

Saturday & sunday: humidity levels rise as temperatures stay very warm.

Highs will top out in the low to mid 90s.

A few spotty storms may develop during the heating of the day sunday but we're keeping the chance at just 20%.

Early next week: scattered summer storms are more likely monday & tuesday with the chance of rain 40- 50%.

Highs will range from the upper 80s to lower 90s with muggy lows in the low 70s.

Follow @wcbiweather on facebook, twitter, instagram, and the wcbi news app stinger a bulldog basketball standout is taking his talents on a european tour..

A bulldog basketball a bulldog basketball standout is taking his talents on a european tour..

Tom explains when we come back... the longest tenured head coach in sec baseball will continue to add to his resume....ole miss locking up mike bianco for the forseeable future athletic director keith carter announcing ole miss and bianco have agreed to a 4- year extension....the maximum that's allowed for the state of mississippi bianco has become the program's all- time leader in wins in 20 seasons with ole miss bianco led the rebels to a 16-1 start in 2020 before the season was cut short, and was named the national coach of the year by collegiate baseball starkville-native tyson carter's time at mississippi state came to an abrupt hault after senior night....but the bulldog guard's basketball career isn't coming to an end there... carter signing a professional contract to join the lavrio aegean cargo basketball club located in laurium greece carter enjoyed a career year in his senior season at mississippi state, setting career highs in minutes per game, points per game, and assists per game last