EDITORIAL: Stopping the Rumor Mill

The City of Clarksdale hosted its quarterly forum at the Clarksdale Civic Center last year and politely asked the community to step up to the microphone and voice their concerns over issues facing the city.

Aldermen heard from city residents who were concerned or at least wanted details on a variety of issues ranging from cars speeding down city streets to safety concerns of homeless people with mental illness roaming the streets of Clarksdale.

There were also people there to discuss drainage issues and the flooding of their homes in 2016.

All had a right to be heard and we tip our hat to city officials who quietly listened to each complaint and spoke frankly about solutions and the facts surrounding each problem.

There is a story on Page One of today’s Clarksdale Press Register explaining the first tiny step toward spending that $5 million.

We were also pleased to hear city officials say once again that the $5 million taxpayers gave them in an August bond referendum will be spent only on the items listed in the bond language on the ballot.

Your Clarksdale Press Register has repeatedly listed what that bond money will be spent on. Your Clarksdale Press Register has also quoted city officials saying what those bond issue dollars will be spent on.

You see, the rumor has started that some of that bond money will be used to finance development at the proposed Sportsplex south of town.

Ward 1 Alderman Bo Plunk may have said it best.

“The money has to go where we said it will go in the referendum and it can’t go in the general fund,” said Plunk. “If we spend it on anything else, we break federal law and go to prison.”

To say this community is concerned about how the Sportsplex might be funded and who stands to profit from it are concerns indeed, but that project and the recent bond referendum are not linked and can’t be.

And if they are, somebody is going to jail.