By Rupert Howell

Crowds weren’t overflowing at last week’s marquee match between South Panola and West Point, but there was an abundance of law enforcement, school staff and security personnel on hand following the previous week’s shooting death nine miles north on Highway 51 in Sardis.

A gang related shooting death of a North Panola High School student following a season opening ball game caused Marshall County school board to forbid the Byhalia team from traveling to Sardis for last Friday’s game. The game site was changed with North Panola receiving the gate revenue from the game played at Byhalia.

If the game had been played in Sardis, the scenario would have looked much like the one at South Panola the following Thursday, according to Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby.
North Panola Conservator Robert King said last Friday that no restrictions had yet been put on North Panola’s upcoming home games, dispelling circulating rumors that said differently.
Darby promised a show of force with plenty of additional security measures at North Panola’s home games.

While the City of Batesville put 20 officers in and around SP’s game last Thursday in Batesville, the sheriff’s department added 10 additional officers including undercover  and K-9 units.

SP School superintendent Tim Wilder confirmed that the district also employed Cobra Security Agency who provided personnel in addition to law enforcement to assist with keeping crowds moving and watching for problem areas.

Wilder noted that high school principal Roy Ballentine made adjustments putting teachers and staff in strategic areas during the game to help security and to keep crowds moving.

Ballentine has been tested under fire as he was principal at Pearl High School when student Luke Woodham in 1997 murdered two students and wounded seven others.
“He’s on top of issues that relate to school safety,” Wilder said.

He explained that the district and cooperating law enforcement would rather err on the side of caution, explaining that Thursday night’s show of force may have appeared as overkill.

By South Panola standards the crowd was below average for such a big game, probably due to several factors—the game was scheduled on a weeknight with school the next day and Ole Miss was playing its first game, a conference game, on national television.

Sheriff’s deputies greeted each fan with a metal detecting wand and Sheriff Darby says the practice will continue stating, “We are not going to lighten up.”

Wilder, Darby and Batesville Police Chief Tony Jones were all in agreement that a strong show of force will not only help alleviate potential problems, but will help fans feel safe.

“We are going to have a safe event,” Wilder said explaining, “We are charged when people come to our games, they are to feel safe.”

Wilder, who is in his first few months as superintendent,  praised local law enforcement for their voluntary participation.

Darby said school officials and municipal law enforcement along with his department are working together. He credited people coming forward with information with helping in the quick arrest of suspected shooters at the previous week’s shooting and emphasized that law enforcement is not wanting to bother law abiding people, “We’re going after bad people who want to be mean.”