Supervisors center on military

By Jennifer Jacob

May 20, 2008 12:20 am

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jjacob@themeridianstar.com

The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors met two hours early Monday in order to give the board members a chance to greet the Run for the Wall motorcyclists, who arrived in Meridian Monday evening on their way to Washington, D.C., where they will ride in honor of veterans from all wars and to raise awareness about POW/MIA's
Captain Russell Knight from Naval Air Station Meridian attended the meeting in order to present the board with a plaque of appreciation on behalf of NAS-Meridian for the county's help with the recent air show there. Capt. Knight said he expects to ask to have another air show at NAS-Meridian in 2011.
Forty-seven veterans also attended the meeting. They were there with veteran's advocate Bobbye Jerone, who asked that the board close the Lauderdale County Veteran's Service Office, which operates at around $55,000 of county money a year, saying that closing the office could save the taxpayers money during unstable economic times. Jerone said she plans to present a petition signed by more veterans at the May 29th Board of Supervisors work session.
In response to Jerone's request to close the veteran's office, board president Ray Boswell said: "Since it's such a bit of controversy in the last week or two, we're going to take things under advisement."
Boswell said that the board would not vote on the issue in the absence of supervisors Craig Hitt and Joe Norwood, who are out of town this week.
Red Cross Key Chapter Director Cheri Barry was also present at the meeting. The chapter plans to dedicate a new Veteran's Resource Center on Memorial Day, which Barry said will provide veterans with resources that currently are not fully available to them in Lauderdale County, including counseling, help with paperwork, and the companionship of other veterans. In the past, Barry has expressed a desire to integrate the county veteran's service office into the Key Chapter's veteran's resource center.
The board also heard a request by the Meridian Public School District to move all voting precincts that are inside public schools. The board agreed to move the Meridian High School polling place because of construction that is taking place there, but voted to request that the school board allow them to wait until after the November election to move the other school polling places. District 1 Supervisor Hank Florey said there is not enough time to complete all the work involved in moving the polling places, including the re-printing of voter registration cards, before the election takes place.
The next regular meeting of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for Monday, June 2, at 9 a.m., on the first floor of the Raymond P. Davis Courthouse Annex Building.