Public safety concerns surrounding recent gatherings of ATV enthusiasts in rural areas have caused the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors to consider ordinances regulating them.
The board learned Monday that a recent event here may have drawn as many as 3,000 people, bringing complaints of trespassing and blocked rural roads.
While limited law enforcement was present, a lack of organized parking created a dangerous condition where emergency vehicles had limited access to the site. Discussion indicated that because the event was held on private property, law enforcement had no authority on crowd control, reports of drinking and potentially dangerous driving of the three- and four-wheeled ATVS.
The events, known as trail rides, are starting to become popular in the Delta and have drawn large crowds. They involve music, fraternization and informal competition among the ATV drivers. Drinking and gambling also have been reported at some of them, according to Monday’s discussion.
One concern that arose Monday was the possibility of gunplay. Dist. 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald told the board that a grandchild of an acquaintance was killed at one such event recently in Humphreys County when gunfire erupted in a gambling dispute.
He also said the riders ride on adjacent private property and sometimes across yards. He asked if there was some way the county could regulate these events.
Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams said that the county currently has no ordinance regulating them but one could be passed that requires a permit, adequate security and safety precautions and liability insurance.
Until such an ordinance is passed, however, law enforcement can only rely on state laws against trespassing, reckless driving and other general prohibitions.
The board asked McWilliams to research the matter for possible future action. McWilliams suggested that the county take a close look at ordinances in other counties governing this issue.
Sheriff James Haywood said that one of the biggest immediate problems is poor access to the event sites by emergency vehicles, because the large number of vehicles block narrow county roads.
In the short term, Haywood asked for assistance in posting no parking signs before events on one side of the roads leading to the events.
That way, deputies can do a better job at keeping them passable for emergencies.
Sheriff Haywood reported to the board that the heat wave blanketing the Delta has overtaxed the county’s air conditioning system, requiring emergency measures as the outdated air conditioning system became overwhelmed. Water condensation caused by the high humidity also shorted out the sheriff’s main phone line over the weekend, forcing them to use an alternate system.
He said that the phone system failure was a blessing in disguise because it led to staff entering the small closed room housing the county’s expensive emergency management communications system.
Despite being air conditioned by a small window unit, the heat wave, coupled with the heat generated by the electronics, caused the temperature in the room to rise to a level high enough to seriously endanger the equipment.
The problem was solved for now by keeping the door to the room open and using fans to vent the heat.
The board agreed to look into budgeting federal funds set aside for this purpose to construct a small auxiliary building to house the equipment better and to provide adequate ventilation.
The air conditioning problems are just one of many issues the county faces due to the age of the jail. The county is finding it more difficult to repair obsolete equipment and wiring.
Some county employees may see a boost to their paychecks after the board authorized McWilliams to research the legalities of changing the hours part-time workers may stay on the clock from the current 19 hours per week to less than 32 hours per week.
The current limit has been in use for years by the county due to compensation regulations governing part-time work.
Those regulations have now changed and the board wants to know if it can raise the limit because part-timers often cannot complete their work on a 19-hour schedule.
Supervisors also approved increasing the pay for poll workers from $125 per election to $150 due to recent legislation raising the maximum pay rate.
They also increased the hourly pay for their attending required training from $10 to $12.
