By Billy Davis

The Batesville Board of Aldermen and Mayor Jerry Autrey indicated Tuesday they are second-guessing the placement of speed bumps on at least two city streets.

Discussion among the elected officials indicated the City of Batesville will pull up a speed bump on Dogwood Lane, citing vocal opposition from residents in the subdivision.

 Alderman Eddie Nabors, meanwhile, recommended that the city remove a speed bump on Lomax Street, near its intersection with Dabney Station.

Nabors went on to suggest the street department may replace the speed bump with a three-way stop at Dabney Station or farther south at Johnson Street or at the railroad intersection. 

Alderman Ted Stewart requested speed bumps last fall, prompting a letter from the Mississippi attorney general indicating the city has authority to place them on city streets.

A speed bump on Dogwood was mentioned at the time, last October.

At the Tuesday meeting the matter surfaced when Police Chief Tony Jones was discussing speeders on Boothe Street, when Autrey mentioned a petition had been circulating to protest the speed bump on Dogwood Lane.

“You got a petition,” the mayor told the board. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I recommend a three-way stop,” replied Alderman Stan Harrison, who went on to say he had talked to residents in the community. 

Harrison later told The Panolian he was recommending new stop signs at Birch Street.  That would add a second three-way to Dogwood, where stop signs at Oak Drive slow traffic along the long stretch.

Alderman Bill Dugger suggested that Jones and Street Superintendent Teddy Austin study the idea of a three-way stop, an idea that Harrison agreed to.

That’s when Nabors suggested replacing the Lomax speed bump with a three-way stop.

“That’s the same kind of scenario,” he said.

The conversation then moved back to traffic enforcement on Boothe Street, where the police chief said officers would enforce the speed limit when school traffic resumes in August.

A caravan of South Panola school buses travel Boothe twice a day and Jones said officers will ticket buses and others who are caught speeding. 

“If you write a school bus a (speeding) ticket, who pays it?” Harrison asked.

“The driver,” said Jones, who had looked into the same question. 

“We’re not trying to take money of out of people’s pockets,” Jones said. “Our goal is to slow people down.”