By Staff
Concerned about streets and trash
To the Editor:
This letter is addressed to Barbara Henson, City Council member of my district. My husband and I are hard-working, tax-paying people who have lived here, owned homes and dealt out many a dollar on taxes which, we assumed, were to better our city. We have lived on this same street for nearly 20 years. We keep our lawn free of trash, grass mowed, house trim painted, etc. This is a neighborhood convenient to everything and we love it.
However, we are almost embarrassed to have visitors because a person must first drive from the direction of old Highway 80 (which is more than neglected) or from Eighth Street (which is not TOO bad till you get to the Meridian Community College, where trash in the median is a common sight and not far from the turn-off to my home).
Maybe I don't reside in the "elite" section of Meridian but I live in the area I chose and it is a respectable area where people, such as myself, work hard to have a nice home to raise our children in and to give them a safe environment. We do our best to take care of our neighborhood.
My question is: When will the City of Meridian see fit to stop patching my street and pave it and start collecting trash along Eighth Street to Highway 19 North?
Do any of you City Council people realize the exposure Meridian gets from this locale alone? It isn't fair that only the districts housing dignitaries are well kept. Small wonder that Meridian is about 10 years behind the times.
My advice is to get off your duffs and live up to your word … put the money where it should be and get this city into shape. My mother lives in Madison, MS. I envy her the peace, beauty and progress she enjoys and in a city not nearly as large as Meridian. Yes, I would move there if my roots were not so deep here.
What good is a renovated opera house, a revitalized downtown area, or any other new change or addition to Meridian if the path to them is less than appealing? Draw your own conclusion.
Debbie Robinson
Meridian
About those gasoline prices
To the Editor:
Not that anything can be done about it, but I wonder if the average motorist in Meridian and surrounding area is aware that he is paying $.13 to $.20 per gallon more for gasoline than in the competing cities of Hattiesburg, Jackson, Gulf coast and probably many others.
If you were to take a statewide average, we probably would be average, but that is taking into account all the little whistle stops. We should, at least be competitive with cities approximating our size.
It is free enterprise but, with a vital commodity, such as gasoline, taking advantage of the motoring public  just because you can  is not a noble thing to do. If gasoline should be $2.00 per gallon, so be it. But it should not be $2.16 in Meridian, especially, since most of the gasoline is trucked to other cities from Meridian.
O.E. (Buddy) Slade
Meridian
Hayes parole denied
To the Editor:
The family of the late Vivian Powell wishes to thank The Meridian Star and all of the people who wrote letters to the Mississippi Parole Board concerning the possible parole of Harold Ray Hayes. With everyone's help, we were successful in keeping this young man in prison where he belongs. Any man who would brutally murder another person does not need to be released back into society.
Harold Ray Hayes, #79553, will come up for parole again in November 2003. We will then need for him to get the same response from society and the parole board … parole denied.
Ronald Gough
Meridian
You think that's cold?
To the Editor:
If you think it was cold this past month, wait until you read the following:
February 1940 was the coldest month of my life. Snow 18 inches deep stayed on the ground the entire month. Sowashee Creek froze over. As a matter of fact, a farm worker and I cut a 7-inch thick block of ice from the creek. Our cattle could not drink water from Sowashee.
Echo Lake, off Highway 45 south, also froze over. People from Meridian and area walked all across the frozen lake.
Flynt C. Hobgood
Marion