By Jeremy Weldon

An old and familiar topic led off the Panola County Board of Supervisors’ meeting Monday at the Batesville Courthouse, namely the question of whether the roads in the Enid Shores subdivision are private or belong to the county.

Several residents of Enid Shores were at the meeting seeking the same relief dozens of others have sought before various versions of the Board of Supervisors for decades.

Enid Shore residents, rightfully, point out that the U.S. Postal Service uses the roads, the South Panola School District uses the roads, the county’s garbage trucks use the roads, along with a litany of other commercial and social service vehicles. This, they say, makes the roads public and thus eligible for county upkeep.

Supervisors have always resisted the push to take over the roads, realizing the millions of dollars necessary to bring the roads up to standard and then maintain. Also, the county’s official position has been that the individual landowners actually own the roads, each parcel extending to include the road in front of it.

Board Attorney Gaines Baker said his opinion, after much research, is the roads are indeed private and included with each piece of property. This is the same opinion that longtime Board Attorney Bill McKenzie, now deceased, held and repeated at several such meetings of the supervisors and the Enid Shore petitioners over the past 30 years.

Baker said much of the problem of determining who actually owns what at Enid Shores is caused by poor and often improper recordings of metes and bounds in documented surveys for land deeds. The supervisors asked Baker to begin the process of at least helping the Enid Shore residents determine the proper boundaries of their individual land holdings.

The matter will be settled, at the earliest, when pigs fly.

In a few other routine matters, the board:

• ● Recognized Ann Jordan Gentry and Malyn Brooks Davis with $500 scholarships from the Mississippi Association of Supervisors program.
• ● Heard from John Brown, who asked supervisors to consider financial support for the Red Cross in Panola County in their upcoming budget workshops. Brown said the Red Cross spent almost $40,000 helping 188 local citizens during times of loss due to fire, flooding, and other emergencies. The board agreed to consider a donation.
• ● Heard an update from Susana Cook about the progress of two grants slated for improvement projects at the county airport. Supervisor John Thomas advised Cook that a potential industry for the airport area can’t relocate to the empty hangar space because the fuel station is too close and the largest of planes can’t get past to access the hangar. Cook said she will address the problem during the grant process and see that the fuel station is relocated.
• ● Accepted the proposal of Andrew Nowlin and Steve Jett with Affordable Employees Benefits for health and associated insurance for county workers for the coming year. The premiums are about $1.7 million. The premiums have increased some, the agents said, because of a high number of claims in the past year. Board president Cole Flint noted that the county workforce is increasing in average age, and are using medical services more each year.