Tax money campaign focal point

Candidates and officials enter discussion

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

A lot of hype has surrounded Clevelands tourism and economic development tax and has become a focal point for some candidates in the upcoming city elections. Debbie Holder, who will face off against incumbent Gary Gainspoletti for the alderman-at-large seat is a major opponent of how the tax money generated is used.

The tax was originally set up to build a convention center and that idea has kinda been left out there, she said. That money is not being spent the way it was told to the taxpayers  its not being used the way it was for the taxpayers and its wrong. The money is just being spent the way a couple of aldermen want it being spent  and its wrong  they are employees of the taxpayers, she continued. Theyre supposed to be doing what is in the best interest of the taxpayers and thats not what is going on in this town.

The tax was created by SB 3151 during the 1996 Mississippi Legislative Session and raised the sales tax in Cleveland by two percent on prepared food, lodging and bars. Dubbed the Tourism Tax by many in town, officials close to the project are quick to point out that is was created as an economic development and tourism tax.

CHS teacher writing history

Steven Craddock turns his love of his school into published chronicle

By Lynn Lofton
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

Whatever has happened in Cleveland and the surrounding area for the past 100 years has been reflected in the history of Cleveland High School. That close parallel will be clear in the forthcoming history of the school that is being written by Steven Craddock.

Hoping for release this summer, the book is titled A Greater Degree of Pardonable Pride: A Centennial History of Cleveland High School.  Craddock, a 1983 alumnus of the school and a history and geography teacher there for 18 years, began research for the book in 2006 when the school celebrated its 100th anniversary. Four years and lots of research later, he’s hoping to wrap it up soon.

“It has taken a lot longer than I thought it would,” he said. “I have had no sabbaticals, and I’ve interviewed about 50 people and looked at every page of every Cleveland newspaper since 1905. I’m not exaggerating!”

Bill Griffith Third Generation Farmer

Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

The Griffith farming operation, now run by Bill, is steeped in Mississippi Delta tradition. His great-grandfather, Rip Crosby, told Bill’s grandfather, Houston Griffith, to come on up to the Delta from Mt. Olive and begin farming a section of land that houses the farm headquarters today.

Bill laughingly said, “My great-grandfather bought this property out of foreclosure from the Cleveland State Bank. Grandfather always said that the down payment was the banker saying ‘I think he will pay for it.’” It was, and still is, 640 acres of some of the toughest buckshot in the county. The late 1940s were his grandfather’s early days of farming when he was breaking his back trying to farm cotton on clay soil. Bill said, “The last year they farmed cotton my grandfather got 16 bales of cotton off 640 acres.”

Prior to cotton farming, Houston even raised cows on the soil where the animals sunk up to their knees in the winter and the calves broke their legs in the summer. At this time, Milton tried to sell the 640 acres by posting ads in Jackson and Memphis, Tenn., papers but never got one bite. Fortunately for Houston, he had a good friend named Aaron Lautig, an early rice farmer, who told him to plant rice in 1951.

Gulf of Mexico Fishing at its best

Charlie Capps III
The Cleveland Current Contributing Writer

The Griffith farming operation, now run by Bill, is steeped in Mississippi Delta tradition. His great-grandfather, Rip Crosby, told Bill’s grandfather, Houston Griffith, to come on up to the Delta from Mt. Olive and begin farming a section of land that houses the farm headquarters today.

Bill laughingly said, “My great-grandfather bought this property out of foreclosure from the Cleveland State Bank. Grandfather always said that the down payment was the banker saying ‘I think he will pay for it.’” It was, and still is, 640 acres of some of the toughest buckshot in the county.

The late 1940s were his grandfather’s early days of farming when he was breaking his back trying to farm cotton on clay soil. Bill said, “The last year they farmed cotton my grandfather got 16 bales of cotton off 640 acres.”

Prior to cotton farming, Houston even raised cows on the soil where the animals sunk up to their knees in the winter and the calves broke their legs in the summer. At this time, Milton tried to sell the 640 acres by posting ads in Jackson and Memphis, Tenn., papers but never got one bite. Fortunately for Houston, he had a good friend named Aaron Lautig, an early rice farmer, who told him to plant rice in 1951.

West side land battle disagreements going to court

By Michael Simmons
The Cleveland Current Managing Editor

Charges filed in Bolivar County Justice Court against a Cleveland attorney, James Walker, and Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks officer Jimmy Russell for trespassing on March  25, have since been rebuked by the two.

On April 1, Walker filed a complaint in Bolivar County Chancery  Court, First Judicial District, against David Bailey Sr., the original complainant. According to the complaint, Walker  “respectfully requests the Court to rule and issue an Order granting  the Plaintiff, James H. Walker, permanent easement by necessity  across all real property owned by the Defendant, David M. Bailey Sr…”

On March 25, Bailey signed a general affidavit saying that the two  “did willfully and knowingly enter upon the lands of David Bailey Sr.  without permission…” He later noted that the duo were “unaccompanied by the owner with the intent to hunt without permission of Mr. Bailey. This incident occurred during Turkey Season.”

Walker claims that the two own landlocked sections of land at Donaldson Point, a hunting club located near Gunnison, and that he has tried in the past to come to an agreement with Bailey about using his land to pass through.

“Several wood roads now exist on real property of Defendant, David M. Bailey Sr., that would allow ingress and egress to real property of Plaintiff, James H. Walker,” the complaint stated. Ingress and egress are the legal terms for entering and leaving owned property.