Jones County residents meet to discuss condition of Dacetown Road

Jones County, Miss. (WDAM) - The Jones County Board of Supervisors will meet on July 18 to discuss how to allocate the American Relief Fund money. However, many residents in the Dacetown community feel the money is not being divided fairly.

On Thursday, July 14, many residents gathered to discuss the condition of Dacetown Road ahead of the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Tracy Roberts is one life-long resident who’s attended previous meetings and voiced experience with the past and current condition of the road.

“I’m fifty-two years young, and I have never ever, ever seen this road this bad,” said Roberts. “As a matter of fact, the dirt road was better than what the blacktop is, and all they’re doing is coming out and patching the holes. It rains, and it washes right back out.”

Although Roberts helped get residents involved, she wasn’t the only one concerned about the dangerous driving conditions.

Rickey Ridgeway is another resident who spoke up.

“You have to dodge people, and you’re going on the inside,” said Ridgeway. “You got hills that you can’t see over, so the hills need to be cut down, and the road needs to be fixed because somebody’s going to get hurt.

“When one of our kids gets hurt, who do we address as to why our kids get hurt because of the road, and they have to run off the road and get killed? Who do we blame? The insurance company, or do we blame the county for the road? That’s my concern about the situation. We need safety on these streets.”

The Dacetown community members said they want to protect their loved ones, their community and their children.

One bus driver and resident, Otis Waltrs, said he fears there may be another wreck on Dacetown Road.

“I really would like that the roads will become as safe as possible because that school bus, driving other people’s children around, is a great responsibility, and I want to be safe as I can with those children,” said Waltrs.

Due to the importance of the meeting and the concern of several residents, Supervisor Travares Comegys spoke on the matter.

“I think all of our citizens in beat one and beat five and Jones County as a whole should definitely take notice of how those funds are being allocated because those funds can be used to help out in a lot of areas for a lot of different places in Jones County,” said Comegys.

The Board of Supervisors meeting will be at the courthouse in Laurel at 9:30 a.m. on July 18.

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