There is a photo on Page One of your Clarksdale Press Register today that shows where the Village Grocery used to be.
As the caption implies, thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – walked that sidewalk with a bag of groceries. Maybe if you were a little younger, you rode your bicycle there, headed inside and bought a coke and candy with a couple of coins.
We want to be the first to say that not every old building with a million memories inside it can be saved. Yes, it is sad to watch those recollections fall under the cold, iron bucket of a track-hoe.
There was a day and age when Clarksdale was probably a little like Mayberry. There are good memories in this town and we hope you smile when you remember them and the places where they occurred.
But there is a saying about material things: Use it. Fix it. Sell it. Throw it away.
Clarksdale needs to remember that. Things change, things get old and sometimes, just like the Village Grocery, they need to be torn down. Our world changes quickly every day.
The Clarksdale Rotary Club heard newly elected Ward 2 Commissioner Jimmy Harris talk about the Clarksdale of the past with a glint in his eye on Tuesday. He frankly talked about the current Clarksdale and the need to change some things. And he also talked about a future Clarksdale with that same glint in his eye.
Crime, property values, schools, trash, burned out houses and potholes were candidly discussed by Commissioner Harris.
And Mr. Harris was also the first to say he didn’t have all the answers, but he knew the people who did. He looked out on a room full of people he has known all his life.
Things have changed in Clarksdale over the years. Things have changed in this town this week - read the headlines! Things will continue to change in your town.
Your Clarksdale Press Register hopes people will look around town and use the resources we have, fix the problems we have, sell what we have invested in and be willing to tear down negative things and throw them away.
